Maids VS Apocalypse

[WhiteMark: and that’s how it is.

Kobayashi: Seriously?

WhiteMark: yup. Well, there is nothing to worry about. Just stay put for now.

Kobayashi: Where the hell would I even go? Lol.

WhiteMark: What? You don’t plan on leveling up?

Kobayashi: Nah I’m good. Not the monster fighting type.

WhiteMark: You sure about that?

Kobayashi: The hell you expect me to do with these stats?

(person shrugging emoji)

WhiteMark: Why not level up? You got some AP, right?

Kobayashi: Haven’t tried it yet. Kinda scared.

WhiteMark: Me neither.

Kobayashi: Then mind your own business!

WhiteMark: Your buddy here just hunted his first monster. Still level 01.

(smirking face emoji)

Kobayashi: No way!

(astonished face emoji)

WhiteMark: I will save some of the meat for you.

Kobayashi: you’re gonna eat it!?

(disgusted face emoji)

WhiteMark: The item description says it’s edible.

Kobayashi: But it’s monster meat!

(disgusted face emoji)

WhiteMark: They eat it all the time in Monster Hunter!

Kobayashi: We aren’t in Monster Hunter!]

After sealing the Rift outside the city, Lara took over driving as they made their way inside. The reason they made the switch was to give him more time to rest since his MP has yet to fully recover.

Once again Lara was going to drive. He had already asked her how she knew how to drive since she was an entity from another dimension.

Her answer was that the summoning granted her quite a few skills so she could perform her role better. Apparently, that included driving skills, fluency in several languages, and basic cooking skills among other things.

While he sat in the passenger’s seat, Mark received a text from Kobayashi which started a long conversation that led to him telling the illustrator about the isekai invaders.

It was a little pointless since he wouldn’t be able to do much if the enemy got past the Peace Keepers guarding the underground shelter, but it was always better to know something than not.

Mark glanced at his maid then returned his gaze to the screen of his phone, his smile having vanished. He scrolled past the messages they exchanged until he reached a message the illustrator sent three days ago.

[Kobayashi: Is this who I think it is?

(Attached image) ]

The timestamp showed that it was sent very early in the morning and the attached image was of a silver-haired girl in a maid’s uniform. Mark had yet to say anything about it, and the illustrator seemed to have forgotten all about it after the disaster struck.

There was no doubt that his friend would lose it once he heard about the maid summoning system, being obsessed with everything maid-related. Mark feared that the illustrator might present some unsavory demands in exchange for his cooperation, and because of that, he was hesitant to tell him about Lara.

’I would rather we do it the easy way, but...’ scrolling back down Mark reaffirmed a decision he had already made. ’If he gets any ideas, I can always lock him up somewhere...’

The topic wasn’t his favorite to think about so he quickly tried to think of something else. That was when another message caught his attention.

’leveling up, huh...’

He remembered Rebecca’s advice to avoid leveling up for the time being since it would affect his training. Even though he already had enough AP to level up twenty times.

’Come to think of it, this System doesn’t have stat point distribution...’

He opened Lara’s status window and checked once more.

[

Name: Lara Becker

Race: Dhampire

Rank: Apprentice

Stats:

Level 09

HP: 100/100

MP: 95/100

Strength 24

Endurance 32

Agility 25

Dexterity 22

Focus 40

Mind 38

Soul 33

AP:

0/455

Equipment:

CFBW type 05 (+1)

Abilities:

Force Field.

Lunar Arts (Master).

Spear Arts (Master).

]

’As I thought...’

Maids VS Apocalypse didn’t have state point distribution, and apparently neither does the LRGS. Mark compared Lara’s stats at the moment to the ones from when she was still at level 01.

It doesn’t take a lot of math skills to learn that each level only granted her one or two points in each stat, which sounds quite absurd considering how much the AP requirement increased with each level up.

’Guess there is no escaping the grind, huh...’

Mark could already see his progress slowing down as his level gets higher, forcing him to fight stronger monsters and complete more difficult quests. Grinding for EXP was annoying enough in games, but the thought of doing the same in real life was nightmarish.

After doing some thinking, Mark decided to just go ahead and ask the expert.

"Sergeant. What level are you at right now?"

There was no answer for some time before a reply came through his earpiece.

[You’re thinking of raising your level?]

"Obviously. I have been doing some calculations and-"

[You think the AP requirement gets ridiculous at some point?]

"Yup." Mark frowned. "Guess I’m not the only one who arrived at this conclusion."

There was another brief period of silence before the Peace Keeper answered.

[I have been stuck at level 27 for six years now.] He said. [I barely did much of anything in the two years so...]

"Six years!?"

[Yeah, things get really slow once you reach level 25. I just stopped bothering after Ranking up.]

"Oh, yeah," Mark looked up with a start. "I completely forgot to ask about the Rank thing in the status window."

Looking back at Lara’s status window, Mark noticed that her Rank had changed from Awakened to Apprentice.

[... You sure your memory is okay?]

Mark sighed.

"Listen, man, I have spent nine entire years with voices in my head, and when they were finally gone, one of my characters became real, the apocalypse started, and I got chased by a dragon. Are you really going to blame me for not having my thoughts in order?"

[Fair enough.] Ramsay paused for a few seconds. [Ranks basically refer to the stages of Ascension you’re at. To put it simply, it’s when your stats make you a completely different being from before.]

"Completely different?"

[Currently your Rank is Awakened, right?]

"Yeah?"

[Don’t you think you’re completely different from a normal human?]

"I... think so?"

When he thought about it, Mark realized that he was indeed different from a normal human being. He has a system, after all. And he could use what can only be described as supernatural abilities such as the Force Field.

The city gates were within sight, each one left gaping open with no one to guard them. There was a Rift for them to seal nearby so Mark knew they would be stopping soon.

[From what I heard, there used to be only two Ranks in ancient times. Dormant, which refers to a human who has yet to Awaken, and Awakened.]

The truck took a turn and the Rift came into sight. It was a couple of blocks away, on the third floor of a half-destroyed building. Just seeing it made Mark grimace.

If it were in a video game, the developers would’ve left at least one way to reach it, but since this is reality there was always the chance that all routes are blocked, forcing them to create one themselves, which looked to be the case for this one.

[Hey, are you listening?]

"Hm? Uh, sorry, I didn’t catch that part."

[Seriously. You are the one who asked for this. At least pay attention.]

Mark sighed and shook his head.

"Nah, I think this is just more exposition for the readers. I hope it doesn’t bore them to death."

[What the hell are you talking about? Do you want me to explain it or not?]

"Sorry about that. Please continue."

Mark heard a long sigh on the other side of the call, then there was a long silence.

The truck slowed down and they came to a stop. Getting off, Mark turned to the motorcycle where he saw the Sergeant glaring at him, having taken his helmet off.

"You should cut it off." He said.

"Cut what off?"

"Pretending that it’s all a book or whatever," Ramsay said, anger tinging his voice. "You think no one notices your cringe attempts at breaking the fourth wall?"

"Wha-"

"Newsflash news for you: the LRGS has been around for a while now, and our world isn’t the first to go through all of this. You are not the first one who thought they are the main character of some system novel."

"Um..."

"Do yourself a favor and stop it before anyone else notices." Ramsay clicked his tongue and turned away. "Believe me, you don’t want to experience the humiliation of people finding out about your delusions."