When I opened my eyes, the monkeys were surrounding me.
I recalled everything that had happened and immediately felt for any missing body parts.
I stood up fine and saw two ready-made tree ladders by the hole.
There were 13 wolves" corpses beside me.
I saw the lady hugging one wolf, bawling her eyes out.
I didn"t know which planet she came from, but she seemed to experience emotions the same way that earthlings did.
A monkey tapped my shoulder and handed the booklet to me.
I took it and the other monkeys looked on excitedly, even breaking into a dance.
All of a sudden, she let out a growl and the ground started to vibrate violently.
Her planet started to crack and eventually pulverized.
The monkeys tapped me and pointed at the girl.
I turned around and saw that she was turning black, gradually disintegrating into burned dust along with her wolves.
My booklet shook a little and the black LV1 turned into a flaming golden LV2.
I had leveled up.
I had won the first match but my booklet had yet another black page.
Eight battles awaited me and I had nothing else except for my monkeys.
The mini forest had been stripped naked during the attack of the wolf pack.
I did not know if the girl died, but her sudden disappearance wasn"t any different from death.
I opened the booklet and saw that the burned branch was still inside, together with the torn page that was now black.
I knew that that was the page that saved my life.
Picking up the "pen", I wrote, "Give me a few boxes of weapons and ammunition."
A blue light flashed across the sky and a loud whistle went off.
I raised my head and saw four huge crates dropping from the sky.
When it landed, the monkeys immediately crowded over it and fiddled with them.
"Stop, all of you!"
"All of you!"
"You!"
...
They dropped what they were doing and I walked toward the boxes and opened them.
I was shocked by the range of guns that appeared before me, many of which I hadn"t seen before.
I looked at the black LV2 on my booklet. It was definitely and significantly better than LV1.
These four boxes supplied enough arms to cover for all 14 of us.
While I was still considering what to do, the monkeys gathered over and started touching the guns.
"Stop it!"
"Stop it!"
"It!"
...
They might be obedient, but monkeys are naturally curious creatures.
It took me three hours to get a rough understanding of all the weapons.
I distributed them to the monkeys and by the time they mastered the necessary skills, the sky was already pitch black.
These monkeys" careless and haphazard att.i.tude wasn"t something that could be corrected. Even when I was giving them lessons on how to operate the guns, I could hear all sorts of firing sounds coming from everywhere. How n.o.body got hurt was puzzling.
I had thought that all four boxes only contained guns but I eventually discovered that two boxes were carrying things like bullet-proof vests and first-aid items.
I took some vests and helmets out and put them on for the monkeys, but they hated them.
The defense armors came in different sizes so I managed to find a suitable fit for all of them.
There were even numbers on the helmets, which helped me recognized each and every one of them. I relayed their numbers to them quickly.
They were happy to have a name of their own, dancing and baring their teeth non-stop. There"s a possibility that I might have misread their expressions, but it remained a fact that things were made more convenient for me.
On my helmet, however, was an LV2 sign.
There were also grenades and the like, and I picked one up and kept it in my pocket.
After closing the box, I called the monkeys over and had them turn it over.
"No one must touch this box. Whoever touches it will be disowned by me."
"Disowned by me."
"Me."
...
The monkeys nodded solemnly and quickly stepped away from the box.
They were good in nature but were simply too restless and hyper.
Playing with guns was already worrying enough. Grenades? Forget about it.
I then consolidated three gun techniques and allocated them to the monkeys.
Each one had a specific technique they could use.
The mini forest was still around but the food supply had greatly reduced.
I rewarded them food according to their performances and was thankful that I didn"t need to starve any of them.
At night, when all of them had fallen asleep, I counted the ammunition and realized that there were just enough to fill the guns in their hands.
Restless and unable to sleep, I looked up into the sky, thinking about how this company made my life here fulfilling. If not for them, I probably would"ve hung myself off the tree by now.
I then wondered if my recent and future upgrades would mean that the monkeys could slowly evolve into human beings.
I had my fears, of course, that they would rebel one day.
Would I still be able to hand my booklet to them if they continued growing smarter? Or would they steal my booklet one day? On the other hand, could I develop a trusty ally who would a.s.sist or revive me whenever needed?
I didn"t sleep a wink, and when the sky lightened up, I saw another planet approaching.
I braced myself for the impact of the collision.
The intense shaking woke the monkeys up and one of them started firing at the planet.
The other monkeys followed suit and I wasn"t in time to stop them.
"Wait, what are you doing! They"re not here yet!"
"Not here yet!"
"Yet!"
...
I remembered telling them only to shoot when the enemy appeared. Did they regard the other planet as our enemy?
After 30 seconds of shooting, no one appeared, but the monkeys had finished their bullets.
To think that I had been worrying that they would seize my throne.
The monkeys, in their defense gears, came hiding behind me upon finishing their bullets.
What a familiar sight, I thought frustratedly as I held onto my desert eagle with a 98K slung over my shoulder.