The Mook Maker, Chapter 1:Go Forth and Multiply!
#1 of The Mook Maker
*The Mook Maker is the [LitRPG Fantasy Isekai adventure] originally intended for a different server - the Royal Road. It may not have the same atmosphere you expect from the stories here. It's not intended to be an erotic novel either. Hope someone will like it. *
....Synopsis...
Many possible fates cann await those whisked away from our world to another.
Some became heroes or villains, given the right power to forge their destinies as they wished.
Others, the powerless, became victims, doomed to perish, at the mercy of the cruel world filled with mystical powers they are unprepared for.
A lone man that woke up alone under the alien sky was neither of those.
He didn't get to choose what he was going to become - a disaster, an unwilling source of intelligent, yet violent monsters, rapidly rising in numbers. Stranded in a foreign land, without even knowing the language, forever locked in the unending cycle of violence he neither wished for nor can escape from. His creations may be the only company he would ever find.
The man wasn't powerless. But was he that much better off?
It just took one wrong power.
*Chapter 1: Go Forth and Multiply! *
I didn't know how it ended, but it began anew on a cold stone floor under a pale, blue sky.
The dreadful, chilly sensation quickly forced me to my feet, even before my groggy mind allowed me to consider what was going on, where I was, and why.
I was on a paved clearing - a large slab covered with carved runes forming nondescript, yet intricate patterns, surrounded by dilapidated stone ruins almost entirely consumed by the forest around.
My home was gone. Everything was gone, and I did not know what happened.
But I did not have the chance to think about how ridiculous the whole situation was.
Even before I could guess whether this was a bad dream, it immediately became even crazier.
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Choose Your First Element
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Almost as an insult to the complete insanity of this situation, a bland black and white window appeared in front of my eyes.
I waved it away. It wasn't like I knew I could wave it away I just helplessly flailed against it in shock and it disappeared.
Disoriented and confused, alone in the unfamiliar environment, I looked around again, only to be alerted by a scream, a female voice, then two warriors who looked like they came out of an Asian period drama, dressed in lamellar armour, with their short swords drawn - and covered by blood - advanced towards me.
Unwilling to test whether this was real or some nightmare, I banished the thoughts of the absurdity of the situation, turned on my heel, and ran, ignoring the fact I had no boots and movement on the cracking, carved rock that hurt my feet.
I didn't get far, anyway.
Whatever this strange stone structure was, it stood at the edge of a cliff, and I barely stopped in time. Mere centimetres stood between me and plummeting down into the foggy depths. I backed away. My heart rate spiked up and my head started spinning. I was terrified of heights.
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Choose Your First Element
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The status screen was back, almost as if it was taunting me.
I think the two not-quite-Chinese warriors taunted me as well, or at least I felt they did as they shouted something, but I didn't understand their language. They seemed entertained by the fact I almost fell to my death and took their time to approach me, with almost sadistic grins on their faces. Perhaps they expected me to jump down the cliff rather than face them.
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Choose Your First Element
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The screen was back, insisting I make a choice I didn't quite understand. Without a chance to think that through, I shouted "Fire!" in desperation.
Shockingly enough, it did something, even not what I imagined it might.
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Skill "Scorched Earth lvl.1" Gained.
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Aburst of bloody mist erupted from the ground, from which a fur-covered humanoid figure formed, fiery sparkles dancing around a rust-coloured mane and bushy tail. The swordsmen suddenly paused. The creature giggled, and with a gesture of its clawed hands released a flaming bolt towards the closest warrior.
The soldier was hit straight in the face and screamed in pain, dropping his weapon and clawing his burned face, just to be drowned in the burst of continuous flame the monster directed at him. He wailed as he burned. The second warrior threw away his sword and ran, but the furry creature lobbed a few fireballs after him, and he too ended up burning, and dead.
Paralyzed in shock, all my senses were assaulted by the gruesome display, along with the disgusting stench of the burning flesh.
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Skill "Scorched Earth lvl.2" Gained.
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Another, albeit smaller, but similarly shaped creature, materialised out of another puff of red smoke.
It was greeted by a rain of arrows from the treeline. The smaller creature jumped in front of me, shielding me from the barrage, then fell down, coughing out blood from the wooden shaft piercing its throat and a few other arrows sticking out of the body. No more shots came through, as the larger furry monster swept the possible hiding spots with its flaming attacks, setting the bushes ablaze.
Still dumbfounded, or rather terrified, I stared at the dying one. It looked like an anthropomorphic wolf or a fox, with yellow, red, white, and black fur patterns. It looked at me, and it seemed almost as if it was smiling despite many sustained injuries.
The moment it finally passed away and dissolved into the same crimson mist that gave it life, a new one formed to replace it.
Another lone arrow whizzed above my head, narrowly missing.
I couldn't bring myself to do anything despite the obvious danger, overwhelmed by the whole situation unfolding, and froze.
The newly spawned creature didn't have this problem. It followed the projectile with its eyes, then probably figured out where it came from.
As a retaliation, a bolt of fire detonated among the greenery that might have hidden the attackers, which caused more movement from the scorching inferno that enveloped the forest's edge as the archer behind that shot tried to break free.
The little monster glanced back at me, and then, with one large leap, it was off, probably to chase the unseen enemies.
"For Master!"
The fact it could speak, or rather yell, in a quiet girlish sounding voice startled me even more.
A larger one seemed satisfied with setting the treeline aflame, looked back at me, then caught movement among the conflagration of bushes it helped to create, and charged after the potential enemies that escaped the flames.
They were still around; I thought. I heard the voices, even if I didn't comprehend what they were saying or shouting. More fiery explosions and more pained screams soon interrupted them.
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Skill "Scorched Earth lvl.3" Gained.
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A new announcement, a new creature appearing, following the lead of the first two.
I still could do nothing, disoriented and confused.
The monsters, however, had a great time. The giggling, high-pitched voices amongst the fiery blasts must be theirs.
"For Master! For Master!" I heard them repeating, as a chant, or a battle cry.
I stumbled forward. Away from the cliffside, the mere glimpse of the height gave me shivers, even if danger probably came from another direction.
More screaming and more fire followed, and I still had zero idea about what was going on. Then there was silence.
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Skill "Scorched Earth lvl.4" Gained.
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The haze spat out yet another creature, the fourth one so far, once again the same as the previous one.
I fell to my knees in the middle of the stone clearing where I first woke up. Shellshocked, and shaking, I just stared forward. It wasn't like I could do anything, as it seems some unseen power was simply throwing more beasts into the fray with no further input from my side.
The latest of the spawned, the same canine or vulpine-like humanoid, like the others, stared at me with curiosity.
"Master?" it asked, tilting its head. She asked - I corrected myself - as the voice had a clearly feminine tone. Her words were more though, echoing in my mind in a way sound did not.
I said nothing. I couldn't.
Another creature popped out of the ruby cloud, this time without any notification.
Then, another sword-wielding human charged out of the blazing bushes, unbothered by the crackling fire, weapon raised.
Everything happened so fast.
The she-monsters didn't hesitate and released a torrent of fire before charging the human. This time, their opponent was tough than others, and swings of his long curved blade parted and deflected the blazing wave, in blatant defiance of physics. The monsters fought with their claws, but the terrifying, supernaturally powerful warrior dispatched them with brutal efficiency, decapitating them.
Blood splashed all around, and the sheer brutality left me in shock, but the two of the remaining spawns appeared from the woods and didn't hesitate to press their attack. A small one died quickly after fearlessly leaping against the human, distracting him from raising his deadly blade against me.
This horrifying dream would not end, no matter how much I wanted to scream at it.
The largest version of the furry creature used her barrage of fireballs to close the distance, forcing him to use his undoubtedly supernatural moves to parry all of those, cutting what shouldn't be possible to cut. Eventually, despite being put on the defensive, he drove his blade through the larger humanoid monster's abdomen. It wasn't the end.
His victory turned hollow as the pyrokinetic vulpine pulled herself forward, impaling herself further on the blade, grabbing the now surprised and struggling warrior. She chuckled as the energies lit on her claws, and with her last breath, she released the blast of her magical fire in one blazing detonation. I was swept by the blast of fiery heat and forced to look away.
When my eyes wandered back, I was immediately sickened by the torn body of the nameless warrior. Only his lower body remained torn and scorched, the rest blown apart and scattered to pieces, or disintegrated in the blast. Everything smelled of death, blood, and scorched wood and flesh alike.
The bodies of the monsters were already dissolving into the same ruby mist from which they spawned.
The gory scenery made me sick, turning my stomach inside out.
Uncaring about my shaken mental state, the damned window appeared once again with a triumphant announcement I couldn't care about in my current miserable situation.
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Skill "Scorched Earth lvl.5" gained.
Skill "Scorched Earth lvl.6" gained.
Major Enemy killed. Level 2 achieved. Unit cap doubles.
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I had barely read everything before the cursed fog birthed another set of furry monstrosities in even greater numbers. Now there were over ten of them, including one larger and several of the smaller kind, the same or similar to those that perished before my very eyes a mere moment ago.
They surrounded me, looking around at the destruction and death around, and laughed in their silly, girlish voices, reverberating through my mind like a thousand little needles. I could feel their satisfaction and joy at a job well done.
The biggest of them, the exact copy of the first one spawned when I was thrown into this madness, lowered herself to me. In her playful, feminine voice that didn't quite fit the animalistic face, she asked,
"The enemies are dead. What now, Master?"