Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

<Ding! Welcome to THE (Post) Apocalypse Player...>

It was the beginning of everything. Before she could react, the house shook and she heard explosions and screams outside.

"Evee! Evee! Wake up! We have to hurry! There was a warning. We have to evacuate; someone is attacking the district."

Her aunt rushed into her room in a panic, grabbed her hand, and started pulling her out of the room.

"Auntie! Wait! What is going on? Did you also get that message?"

"That's not important. Click it away. We have to evacuate with the forces or else we will be left behind!"

Evee could not do anything before her aunt pulled her out of her room and towards the front door. It was night outside and she could see the burning cityscape outside through the kitchen window.

"Get whatever you can carry! We need to hurry!" Her uncle and cousin were already busy packing a few bags with food and other stuff. Her breathing sped up. It was the beginning of a panic attack.

When her brother vanished, she had waited for him at home. She called the police and stayed home alone for several days while they were processing the case. She moved in with her aunt's family after a robber broke into her home and...

Her heart was racing, and her hands started shaking as her vision got distorted.

"No, no, no.." she grabbed the couch to lean against and her nails dug into the leather. This was not the time. She had to calm down. She-

"Evee! Evee!" her aunt grasped her face between her two warms, slightly sweaty, palms.

"Evee, concentrate on my voice. You have to calm down. Concentrate on your breathing. Slow controlled breaths. We have to go, Sweety. Are you okay?"

She had slightly calmed down. She had no idea how much time had passed, but the bags were packed, and the family was ready to evacuate. Evee looked out the window. There were still screams and gunshots in the distance. The sky was tinged in a red glow from the fires in the city.

"Are-Are you sure we should leave?" she uttered.

"Of course, once we are at the shelter, there will be people to protect us. But we have to hurry."

While they were talking, she could hear her uncle from the door.

"What is this? Safe Zone? Of course, we have to leave!"

Her uncle stepped out into the hallway. Her elder cousin followed, after making a weird face and nodding.

"Come, Evee. We need to leave. Everything will be okay."

Holding her hand she stepped to the door, paused for a moment, and stepped outside. When Evee stepped toward the door, she got a message.

<You are about to leave the safe zone. Once you have left the safe zone, it will dissolve, and you can NOT return. Are you sure you wish to leave the safe zone? Y/N>

"A-Auntie, are you sure? It says this is a safe zone, so shouldn't we..."

"Sweetie. If we stay here, we will be swept away in a warzone... Hurry we-

"Noo, get back! Run. Emily, get back into the apartment!"

It was her uncle that came running back from the stairwell. He was covered in blood; the bags nowhere to be seen.

"Rick wha-What happened!?"

The answer came rushing from the stairs. It filled out almost the whole hallway. A leathery warty skin stretching over terrifying mountains of muscles. Its giant maw filled with shark teeth came shooting down the hallway. It snapped shut and her uncle had vanished. A cleanly cut-off pair of legs fell to the ground as the giant beast swallowed its bite.

The cold dead eyes focused on her and her aunt before the giant mass of flesh got back into movement.

"Come back in!" Evee screamed and pulled on her aunts' hand, but her aunt was petrified.

She tugged and pulled as tears filled her eyes and her bodily functions went haywire as the panic attack came back. She couldn't cross the door completely without answering the question. All she could do was tugging on her hand and gripping her shoulder

In one moment, she tried to pull her aunt into the safe zone, hectically looking between her and the monster. The next moment they were gone. Her aunt, the monster... her hands were gone.

The creature had charged and was on the other end of the hallway now. Leisurely crunching something with blood dripping to the floor. She fell back into the apartment and landed on her butt. All she could do was look at the bloody stumps where her hands were once supposed to be.

Tears kept clouding her vision as she fought to calm herself. Her blood kept spurting all over the place and she knew this would be her end. With feet and elbows, she searched the kitchen for the first aid kit.

She almost fell back into a panic when she realized that it was most likely in one of the bags outside. In the end, she managed to find belts among the stuff strewn over the floor. It was terribly difficult to use two belts to put a tourniquet on, just using her teeth and feet. When the blood stopped flowing, she was drowned by a wave of relief and fell unconscious.

The first thing that came to her mind when she slowly came back awake was the annoying golden sentence. The characters kept jumping and spinning. Tears started flowing when she remembered what had transpired ever since this had appeared before her.

<Ding! Title: " Precocious " gained. "You fought a monster before even finishing the tutorial. " Experience gain increased by 15%.>

<Ding! Title: "Hard to Kill" gained. "You survived a deadly encounter with an overwhelming opponent on your own." Your endurance and defense will increase slightly when you are close to death.>

What was going on with these? She had calmed down...as much as it was possible considering she just lost her family and hands. She needed to know more about the situation. She finally accepted the tutorial.

Evee learned about the system functions and the different windows and was then thrown into the battle simulation with a goblin. Without her hands. But it was fair. The goblin had no hands, too.

She had not much time to panic as the creature came charging at her. Now the creature was only about half her size and came brainlessly charging at her. In a fluid movement, she kicked the goblin against the head. Her heart raised like an engine.

She had not taken self-defense classes for nothing! The goblin faltered and knelt on the ground. She had to end it. This was her only chance! She kept kicking her opponent on the ground. She kicked and stomped and didn't stop until it moved no more.

<Ding! Title: "Desperate" gained. "A cornered rat is the most dangerous!" When facing a life-threatening danger with low chances of survival, your attack will increase by 50%.>

Now she understood what titles were and how useful they could be...but why did most of them ask her to seek death?

It was time for her to choose a job. There was a list of common jobs, a random job wheel, and a small list of jobs. From their description, she understood that these were based on the titles she got.

For example, "Berserker" a warrior that kept growing stronger, with the loss of HP. Or a "Bloodmancer" that had various occult skills that used life as a resource instead of Mana...

There was only one class among them that actually assured her survival and didn't try to drive her to her demise.