《The Gam(bl)er》 Prologue Tim Campy was a young man with messy, curly, black hair that fell over his face and almost reached his shoulders in length. Every time He did his side job, he always wore a red jersey jacket which featured white stripes on its sleeves over a white v-neck T-shirt with dark jeans pants and white Converse sneakers. Just like the other night, Tim went home from his side job with 8,000$ on his pocket. For the celebration of his winning, as usual, Tim was eating a cheeseburger from the yellow clown chain store with his left hand, while his right hand was busy playing a virtual card game from the small indie company. And just as Tim finished his cheeseburger, there was a blinding flash of light along with a vague chilling sensation at his spine. Game on. Then the word ''Game on'' echoed inside of Tim''s skull. The streets, that had previously been lit by dozens of phone screens and streetlights, went completely dark. An image appeared before Tim, staying in the same place even though Tim turned his head. Words scrolled like the opening scene from the famous sci-fi movie, minus the epic soundtrack. Scan commencing... Scan complete. Health Point: 54. Mind: 3. Muscles: 2. Bones: 3. Nerves: 4. Heart: 4. Spirit: 2. Tim may never score more than 40% on his mathematics tests, but that didn''t mean he was stupid. Flash of light + ghostly voice + having video game style menu appeared in his vision = some real shit was going on right now. Even Tim could make that simple equation. Tim blinked the messages away. Funny, the street was completely black, yet he clearly saw the dimly light blue screen. Hewaitedseveral heartbeats for the numerous streetlights on the sidewalk to turn on or for someone to turn on their''s phone feature called a flashlight. Five seconds had passed and nothing happened. "..." It wasn¡¯t the complete blackness that scared Tim though. It was the silence. Then another five seconds, ten, then twenty passed. No one was talking, or asking, or protesting why they couldn''t access their Instagram. The only sound Tim could hear was his own heartbeat. Until... "What the h...Ugh!" Someone words cut off as another line of text appeared in front of Everyone. Their entire body going paralyzed as an electric surge flowed through their blood for about 2 or 3 seconds. Majick function initialization. Majick function initialization concluded. Majickcasting Tool: Dice. Dust (Dust generation per hour): 100 (1) As soon as the initialization was complete, Tim''s body unlocked from its paralyzed state and he reflexively letting out a deep sigh of relief. This is just a dream.I must have fallen asleep.Tim thought for himself. It didn¡¯t sound like him, but he couldn¡¯t think of any other realistic explanations. Tim pinched his cheek, "Wake up Tim." Nothing changed. He pinched himself again, harder this time. "Wake up." Still, nothing happened. Don''t tell me alien is attacking the power plant?!Thought Tim. No, there hasn¡¯t been an explosion, no ground shaking, and no loud noises. Then is it an EMP blast? But it doesn''t explain the blue screen. Please select one Majick before the time limit is up. A penalty will be waiting for anyone who doesn''t select a Majick. Time left: 29 seconds. Alteration ¨C Enhance: Sprint Conjuration ¨C Dagger Destruction ¨C Fireball Enchanting ¨C Fortify: Iron Illusion¨C Ghost Sound Mysticism ¨C Minor Detection Restoration ¨C Minor Healing Another screen appeared, and the screen showed some kind of list. He shook his head in suspicion. "What¡¯s going on?" Tim muttered in the darkness, his voice bordering on panic.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Tim used his confused mind to think. No, actually Tim did know what was this. This was a skill list, no... a Majick list, just like in the video game. "What a nasty system..." Tim muttered. This sort of game system did exist in reality, and some of these games would even hide the character¡¯s ability. 25 Seconds left. But this wasn''t the right time to think that. The ground beneath Tim began to shake violently and, for the first time, doubt begins to creep in. He''d never heard of hallucinations that were able to simulate an earthquake, and he was sure he didn''t drink any alcohol or use any drugs. This doubt was only solidified as the ground began to crack, hard and smooth tarmac crackling like a lightning fork. Tim couldn''t see it, but he had enough idea from the crackling sound alone. 20 seconds left. BOOOM!! Tim quickly turned his head from side to side, looking for any source of light and not finding any. The suffocating lack of light added weight to explosion sound he had just heard. 15 seconds left. The earth rumbled and shook with a terrifying intensity. Someone crashed onto Tim, hard enough to make him stumbled forward before violently got thrown onto the floor. 10 seconds left. Managing to stand up wobbly, Tim tripped once again and landed on his bottom. Needing to hold onto something tangible and real, He grabbed something in both hands, presumably the street sign. 5 seconds left. "The penalty!!" Tim didn''t know what kind of penalty would come toward him, but from the name ''penalty'' alone it definitely wasn''t good. 4 seconds left. Tim at least grateful to have for his eyes to focus on in the darkness. 3 seconds left. Without focusing or giving a single thought, Tim chose the very first option. 2 second left. Majick Name: Enhance: Sprint. Majick Type: Alteration Majick Difficulty: 2 Initial Cost: 10 Dust Effect: Uses dust and gives you +10 m/s speed boost to normal sprinting for ten minutes. This has no effect on other methods of movement, such as walking, jogging, climbing, or swimming and et cetera. As with any effect that increases your speed, this majick affects your jumping distance, but this majick doesn''t reduce the strain on your bones if you choose to do that. Critical Success: Double your speed boost to normal sprinting. Stamina consumption is halved. Failure: Temporarily crippled your legs for ten minutes.Double the amount of the Dust used. 1 second left. Time''s up. Two billion one hundred twenty million four hundred thousand and four people have been eliminated due to the failure of picking majick. To facilitate a satisfactory survival rate and as the repercussion from the massive loses at the human side, human will not drop dust for 100 days. "What the..." Tim muttered but immediately holding back his tongue when he heard the small coffee shop on his right began to creak and see a massive beam of whitefalling from the sky. While thetower light was shining the country of freedom, almost turning the night into the day, Tim saw somethingrunning toward him. "...Dog? No..." It felt strangely big for a dog. "Is there someone so rich in this neighbourhood that he can raise such a big one, why doesn''t he just donate some money to me?" Tim sneered in jealousy. The dog crimson fur¡¯s flavoured with wilderness, Tim wasn''t a dog person but he knew it wasn''t a dog, wasn''t a wolf, wasn''t a foreign breed, in fact, Tim wasn''t sure this kind of animal existedon Earth. Why? As the dog came closer, Tim noticed it had a size semblable to a person and Tim''s heart began to beat faster as he noticed a few words above the beast that saidBlood Hound[Lvl 22]. The moment Tim realized this, he didn''t waste any second to double check or take another glimpse at the dog. Running awaywas the only option! Is this the state of mind of the last girl?! Tim thought as his feet already rotated to the maximum rpm. "G-gaaah!!" From behind, Tim could hear a man screaming in pain as life was slipping away from his body. And another Blood Hound charged forward from the nearby alley. "N-no!!! Don''t leave me!" Another scream, this time a woman. Tim didn''t have the time to look at her, but he knew it wasn''t the scream of a woman who''d just been getting dumped by her boyfriend, no... it was a scream of terror as another Blood Hound had joined the party. "HHa... HHHa... Hah." Tim had just left a plumptiousmiddle-aged lady who seemingly already ran out of her breath. Rather than a scream, the only thing Tim heard was the sound of bones getting crushed. From the corner of Tim''s eyes, the one he''d trained to peek on someone''s card, Tim saw another Blood Hound closing in. Time seemed to slow down as he imagined his impending death moved closer and closer. Until... "Keep running!" Tim stared at him for a few seconds before noticing another Blood Hound, though this time it was getting served as a well-done steak. The way Tim saw it, the man had managed to kill a Lvl 22Blood Hound. The man stood at around 1.9 meters tall and seemed to have a muscular figure wrapped behind his Armanijacket. There was nothing on his head, and he had greyish goatee surrounded his mouth. His hands pointed his right hand to the front and aiming it to the Blood Hound. "Fireball!" The man shouted. Five cards appeared from out of nowhere, floating around at his hand as it created a glowing line of systematical patterns. "Motherf-" ...There was an enormous explosion. It was as though a fist of orange flame had decided to punch its way out of the man''s body. Out of this shock,Tim felt himself issuing amid a mass of terrible sensations: the thick smoke of the explosion, the smell of charred skin, the hoarse howl of dying men as he was spitting blood from his mouth; His glare alone clearly showed he was asking for help. Yet, Tim kept rushing forward. The way Tim saw it, there was no way to save him or rather, there was no time for Tim to save him; It seemed one of the Blood Hound was enjoying rare human meat as its dinner. But whoever that man was, Tim didn''t know how to express his gratitude toward him. Up until now, Tim was too panic, panicked enough to even didn''t realize the way to use Majick. "Enhance:Sprint!" Rather than a card, six-sided dice was created out ofnowhere. A different kind of floating pattern appeared near on Tim''s legs for a second before it shattered to a cloud of dust, and his legs began to give a delicate orange light. Spoiler: Tim''s Dice (Design not mine.) At that time, for the first time in his life, Tim was running up to 115 km/h, leaving several human-sized dogs behind him. Chapter 1 The sun rose on the same but messy sideways and lit up the sparkling puddles of blood on the streets; it crept into the alley, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night before, except for the rotten corpses of rats it was human corpses. Only the buildings really showed how much time had passed. Ten hours, yes, ten hours and yet there had been lots of what looked like human bodies stripped of their skin, or humongous four-legged creature-like dogs with its skull dissected open, of a pile of meats, who knew whether it was human remain, the Blood Hound, or both. The city held no sign of activity at all, well not the conventional one. A policeman well equipped with his gun and below his police badge was the name of a town - New York City. Besides the police, there were several others: A man in a crisp white shirt pushed his way to the front. A woman with long gold hair smiled coyly at him, playing helpless. A man with blood covered shirt tried to force the car''s door open wider, there was a whole bunch of ration got left behind by the car owner. The man and woman in a lab coat looking around, searching samples for their experiments. They checked from door to door not for the survivor, but for a can of canned food. Or if they were lucky enough, they could find unraided or free from Blood Hound minimarket. "Wait." Said the woman with long gold hair. "What?" Asked the man in a crisp white shirt. She turned to face the blue sky. A sudden breeze blew through her hair. "Do you hear that?" The breeze intensified and for a moment a shadow swept past them with incredible speed and disappeared over the roof of the pizza parlour. The policeman was clocking his gun, the blood-covered man was raising his axe, the white coat pair and the blonde woman and crispy shirt man were pointing their hands to the air, but it was too late. Loud shriekings were heard and suddenly they were covered in darkness as the shadows engulfed them. With each cry of pain and agony they shouted, more shadows were landing on them and more Blood Hounds were running toward them. Yet Tim Campy was still in his apartment, asleep at the moment, but not for long. A cry of anguish was replacing his alarm for today, and it was their shrill voice that made the first noise of the day. Tim awoke with a start. Another screech of suffering pierced his ears and Tim rolled on his rough canvas mattress, he didn¡¯t want to get up. He was lazy. Well, it was permissible even if he was because the world had gone wrong. "What are they doing in the morning?" He grumbled. Last night was a night full of alarms and warnings, and this morning was full of gunshot and scream of pain. "...I''m hungry." Dragging his body, Tim went out from his mattress, yes, breakfast and another sleep. "Ah, crap." He forgot the electricity, no... all electronic devices were gone. The milk inside the refrigerator was lukewarm. Although he wanted to drink it cold, he would have to drink it now. Bringing a jug of half-filled milk in his hand, Tim went to his windows and peeking from the drapes. Smokes rose here and there and a really bald monkey creature with two pairs of bat wings, a tangle of thin legs, and a needle-sharp proboscis flew past his sight, Bat-Mon Lvl 6 floating on its head.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "That''s a new one." Tim muttered with confidence. "Well then, let¡¯s check the news on the smartph-" He forgot electronic device couldn''t be used. It was on this moment Tim realized. If there was no electronic, that meant he couldn''t use the internet! All the novels in his bookmarks were waiting, all the daily log-in reward from his games couldn''t get redeemed. Now the sense of crisis and emergency struck Tim. "E-erm... right! Let''s google how to survive in an apocalypse." Once again, he forgot there was no electronic device. Th-this is bad, right?! Drinking the rest of the milk, his brain began to work a little. First, Tim went to the kitchen cabinet and making a big smirk. Rows of canned food, instant noodles, and cereals neatly arranged. "Thank you, unhealthy lifestyle." He muttered. Next was water. Well, of course by the time he turned the tap on, the water didn''t come out. Thanks to his unhealthy lifestyle, the only drinkable liquid in his apartment was few cans of beer and energy drink. "Better than nothing..." For weapon: a kitchen knife, steel pipe, a handmade flamethrower made from air freshener and lighter. For medicine, he just took everything in his first aid kit box. "...If only I paid more attention when watching surviving zombie apocalypse." Tim muttered in regret, who would''ve thought that kind of video would be useful in his current predicament. "Now that I mention about it, isn''t staying at home is bad when zombie apocalypse occurred? Or is it the other way?" Either way, his objectives were to collect information and clean water. After that, he would decide whether to stay at this place or not. Changing his clothes to a black pullover with grey pants and just when he was trying to wear his shoes. "Ah..." His sneakers were torn apart, there was a wide mouth gaping out from the toe cap. As for the sole alone, Tim only tilting his head, wondering where and how did they gone. After all, even though his feet and his bones could withstand the burden and the friction of sprinting in 115km/h, his shoes couldn''t do the same feat. "And this is my favourite shoes." letting out a sigh of regret, he walked to the door. Tim walked down the corridor. There was no sign of life or movement until Tim found one half-opened door; he wanted to check in but decided not to when he heard the sound of buzzing flies and smelled the unpleasant smell of iron from the inside. Tim strolled as quickly as he could through the corridor, still cautious, but sometimes driven by curiosity. All the rooms and corridors were deserted. Phones, canned foods and money lie strewn over the floors, a teddy bear was sleeping at the floor, wooden partition doors were smashed. In a couple of places, splashes of dried blood arched up the walls. "Did... did I really miss all of this?" Tim cringed, it was hard for him to accept he was sleeping when all of this happened and he still alive and kicking. Tim reached on the section where one wall was a row of public pay phones. He lifted a receiver, hoping this could work but the line was dead. He went down the line, trying them all. In the corner of the reception hall was a smashed soft-drinks machine, with a few cans collected at the base. Tim grabbed one, ripped off the ring-pull and downed it in one go. Then he grabbed another and headed for the main doors. Tim exited and walked out into the bright daylight. His apartment was an old building that had somehow managed to elbow its way between a hotel and a block of modern apartments. Aside from a quiet rush of wind, there was silence. No traffic, no engines, no movement. Not even birdsong. A few meters down the streets, Tim could see several pieces of humans and Bat-Mon remains, considering there were several pieces of clothes scattered around them. Fresh blood was dripping from the chunk of meat. The smell was sickening and the look was disgusting enough to give butterfly in Tim''s stomach. And just when Tim about to ignore it, he saw something interesting between them. They might be stranger and Tim might never know what kind of look they had, but he couldn''t thank them enough as Tim took a gun with its holster and an axe from the remains. "Hm?" When he accidentallystepped on the corpse on of his way, at the place where the corpse supposed to be, as if there was nothing from the beginning, the corpse suddenly vanished and there was a nail-sized red shard replacing the corpse. Chapter 2 Earned 6 Dust. There was another ghostly voice inside of Tim''s head after the Bat-Mon''s corpse vanished. "Huh... weird." Tim muttered. Unknown to him, the Bat-Mon''s corpse he accidentally stepped on was a dying one, weak enough so that even a simple kick could kill it. Squatting down, Tim''s hand was reaching out to the red shard. "...This, is it an item drop?" Tim asked to no one while playing with the red shard in his hand. Then, another blue screen appeared in front of his vision. Bat-Mon''s Shard. Please select one Majick from the current list: Destruction - Poison Spray (70 Dust to unlock.) Mysticism - Leech Life (80 Dust to unlock.) Conjuration - Leech Seed (60 Dust to unlock.) Even though Tim was the one who obtained it, it seemed he still needed to spend the Dust for buying them. Not only that, he was a little confused by the selection he was given since they didn¡¯t give any additional information. But when he thought about it, there was no additional information either on yesterday screen. Though, he still had some vague idea about what the majick would do based on its name. "Well... let''s get away from this place first." Tim muttered. As soon as he put the stone into his pocket, the blue screen was gone. "...Good." Tim said and breathed out a sigh of relief. After all, he didn''t want to walk with blue screen floating in front of his vision. Still carried a plastic bag full of soft-drink cans and red shard in his pocket. Tim walked through the empty city, from his apartment in midtown, under the bright overhead sun bleached the streets. Over the bridge, debris and human bodies drifted in the river. Past the elite residential where all the cars lie abandoned, to the market square where all shops were looted. He moved through the city and found no sign of life, not a single human nor monster, except for their remain. Not like he wanted to meet the later though. Most of the cars and Trucks were parked at the street, abandoned. Police abandoned their posts. A few human corpses seemingly chose to jump from the roof to end their life. Tim walked, checked the store, found everything was gone or totally destroyed. Then he walked, entered the store, repeat again with only the sound of the strong wind as his companions. "...How in the seven hell they looted everything in this place." He protested, holding his urge to shout out his frustration. This was the thirty-fourth store he''d finished checked and there was nothing. No, nothing wasn''t quite the word. There were electronic devices, money, tableware and another luxury, yet useless goods, but he couldn''t find any water or foods. The sun was high, perfectly located right above of Tim''s head. His voice was hoarse, his mouth dry. Down the narrow side street was the thirty-fifth store. Massaging his throat, he entered the thirty-fifth store and decided to take a rest in there. Tim reached into the plastic bag and taking out an aluminium container with 90% sugar and 10% water. Tim slugged some of it and already bored with the same overly sweet taste. A sudden noise fell on the food section. Tim jumped, startled. Something was moving out in the back. His face stiffened and he took a few moments to orient himself to grab his gun and walk backwards. Little did he know, a shadow slithered from the said direction. It was an alligator except for it had leaf green-scaled reptile looks, almost looked like a miniature crocodile with a stunted muzzle, above its head was its name and level Dogigator Lvl 3. Tim sneered, thinking it was the weakest monsters he''d ever met. Obviously, it was the perfect target to test the gun. Unlocking the safety and slid the top of the gun, Tim pointed his semi-automatic pistol toward the Dogigator, and pulled the trigger.Stolen novel; please report. "Urgh..." He cringed after the bang, he knew the sound was loud but he never thought it would be this loud. Though, in the bright side, the bullet pierced the Dogigator right on its head. Earned 3 Dust. With another voice, though this time the Dogigator didn''t vanish. "Well... I guess not every monster we kill will drop the item huh." Then more dogigators crawled out through the storage room, knocking over the garbage can and white platter, dollar bills were dragged along under the animal''s tail. Two dogigators came out. "Hah, only two. Ez~" Tim said without worry along with two headshots piercing through their head. Earned 3 dust. Earned 3 dust. Then more dogigators came out. Tim stunned for a moment and foolishly counted the number of Dogigator. Four, eight... sixteen and they kept coming in. It seemed Tim had just woken up the whole army of Dogigator. Oh, that, was bad, that was bad!! I shouldn¡¯t have done that! Tim thought as he sprinted down the tarmac while the dogigators were chasing after him. They barked, they mad, and somehow when they were together they became fast. "Enhance: Sprint!" Tim shouted. Throwing out the dice, the number that showed up was 6. Of course, it would be 6 or any number that Tim''s wanted 50% of the time, depending on the flatness of the ground, where he stood, the weight and setting of the dice, where the dice would land, the way he gripped it and with proper swing and spin; This was how Tim got called as ''Prince of Gamblers.'' It wasn''t luck, never the luck. Though, while sometimes luck was playing some part, most of the time it was all trickery, deception, and precision. And the terrain, compared to last night there was more chaos in the shopping district. A huge tangle of shopping trolleys, running up the stairs, ducking under the shop signs, slipping past the abandoned cars, avoiding the mountain of corpses, pools of blood and debris. Tim just couldn''t run at his maximum speed in this place. After some time, Tim decided to made the turn to get lost from the Dogigator. Only to get confronted with a swarm of Bat-Mon sucking and ripping hundreds of human bodies. So this is where everyone goes. Tim thought. A woman, seemingly just arrived on this hell hole. She struggled to get up, but the Bat-Mons were making sure she pinned to the street. Tim looked into the woman¡¯s eyes, which stared straight back at him. She still alive, but there was no life left there when she noticed Tim just ran through the swarm of the Bat-Mon, slipping away from the Bat-Mons while ignoring her. Helping her is a bad idea, really, really bad idea! Tim muttered in his own mind. At the very least, he was helping her by distracting several hundred Bat-Mon toward him. Completely unsure if that helped her or not. On the street, Tim could see a man, most likely a father sat slumped over the steering wheel. In the back, Tim saw a baby was strapped into an infant''s safety seat, crying loud enough even Tim could hear her. The dogigators were surrounding them, barking while thrashing their body, while the Bat-Mons were thumping to the windshield maddeningly. Nope, too many risks. Tim thought. He continued to run, while the number of his pursuer got bigger, compared to the Blood Hound, these creatures were more fierce and more persistent. Seven minutes already passed, and yet they kept coming from every corner. At the end of his path, just before the right turn was a church. Tim ran towards it when he saw the front doors were open, no blood, no human remains. Without any hesitation he rushed inside, moving without the respectful quietness that people adopt when entering a church. Immediately closing the door behind him, with enough distance from Tim and the monsters behind him, he blocked the front door with the plank and chairs. "...That was close..." Tim panted when he heard the nearest monsters slammed against the door. "Maybe... maybe it was wrong to not immediately picking the majick." Tim protested. As a gamer themselves, he always thrived of what they said as the most efficient build, but after realizing the situation it might be wiser to maximise what he had. With 100 initial Dust, 13 hours had passed, Tim lost 20 after used Enhance: Sprint twice, and gained 15 dust after killing the monster. All in all, he had 108 Dust left. Spending it for the strongest majick might be a good idea, but he still needed to have some dust left to use it. Not to mention, Tim himself didn''t know how long the church front door would be able to hold them. With a sigh, Tim eliminated Leech Life from the list and moved his finger to pick the majick. Majick Name: Leech Seed Majick Type: Conjuration Majick Difficulty: 3 Initial Cost: 12 Dust Effect: Plants a seed on the target. It will drain 8 + (Caster''s Mind) life out of the target per minute up to 32 Life, until the target destroys the seed, or the target is dead. The same amount of life will be restored to whoever eats the seed. Multiple Leech Seed draining will not affect the same target at the same time. Leech Seed will not work against Undead. Critical Success: Double the base absorption rate and the base threshold limit. Work against the Undead. Failure: Nothing happened. Lost the Dust. Critical Failure: Leech Seed will be planted on the Caster''s body, after absorbing the maximum amount of life, the seed will vaporize. Double the amount of the Dust used. The effect of this majick probably has a certain value, depending on the situation though. Tim thought as he rubbed his chin when he read the majick description. Chapter 3 The doors ahead to the main chamber were closed. Tim was pushing them, gently trying the handle, it was obvious they were locked. But another open door was to his left. Tim pulled himself inside and got choked by the heavy air. He scanned the musty room, antique furniture, a few crates. He looked to the far wall, saw a hint of light above through the crumbling limestone and greeted by a large graffiti: THE END IS HERE. "...Damn, never thought I will see this kind of thing in my life." Tim said in amazement. Right now he was looting in the church. Except for the kitchen knife and the gun he left everything else on the thirty-fifth store. His backpack, which contained canned foods and beer, then the plastic bag full of soda, the steel pipe, the handmade flamethrower and the newly obtained axe. With a sigh, Tim used the stair and moved into the gallery level, and saw, through the dust and rot, ornate but faded splendour. At the far end, a stained glass window was illuminated by the light. He padded in, stood at the gallery, facing the stained-glass window for a moment before looking down... Beneath were hundreds of dead bodies. Layered over the floor, jammed into the pews, spilling over the altar. The scene of an unimaginable massacre. Tim stood, stunned. Not because he was mesmerized by the freak show; in fact, he somehow already used to this kind of sight, but because he realized there was no monster in this room, is it already escaped? is it still hiding in this church? As he wandered through the church with a knife in his hand. Where literally anything could be hiding. He suddenly sensed movement on the next right side of the conjunction. Gulping down his saliva, Tim clenching tight the knife on his right hand and advanced cautiously, still wary of any potential ambush. He turned to the right side then saw four people, standing motionless at different positions facing away from him. Their postures and stillness make their status unclear. Tim hesitated before speaking. "...Hello?" Immediately, the four heads flick around. And something that didn''t suppose to be there appeared, right above their head were the letter and the level. Zombie Lvl 6. And the next moment, there was the powerful thump of a door at the far end of this chamber. Tim stunned by the sound as the four zombies started moving, the door thumped again - another stunningly powerful blow, the noise echoing around the chamber. As Tim started to get his act together, the four zombies already locking their sight on Tim and started sprinting. The blood smeared and collected around their nose, ears, and mouth. Darkened and crusted, with some fresh blood glistening and dripping from their mouth.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Tim only imagined that they were a trio before some poor soul got forced to join their little band. The first zombie rushed at him, all teeth and groans. In a movement of pure instinct, Tim swung the knife just as the zombie was about to reach him - and connected directly with the man¡¯s head. Earned 6 Dust. If Tim could rate his majick, the incoming notification every time he managed to kill something was the best one. The second zombie stepped forward. "...Is this some kind of old-school JRPG?" Tim mocked the zombie action. And immediately regretted that. The second zombie was faster and stronger than the first one. Using his bulky body he charged and knocking Tim to the ground, as the result, the knife was flying from Tim''s hand. And he was no match for its savagery. It was a struggle just to keep its jaws from Tim''s throat. As if that weren¡¯t enough, the third zombie was slowly closing in. It will be through in moments. "Grh...oi, oi... where''s the turn-based rule?" They want brain, his brain. The zombie on top of Tim forced its jaws around my face. "Grh... sorry dude, I- grh... don''t swing that way." His hand was already there, on his gun holster. BANG! With deafening sound, the second zombie blood and brain splattered onto the limestone wall. The second zombie stopped moving. Earned 8 Dust. The third zombie charged. Ferocious, unstoppable but slower than the second one. In one slick fluid move, Tim took his kitchen knife, stood up and dived the knife into the third zombie''s head before slammed her to the limestone wall. Earned 6 Dust. As soon as Tim finished with the third one, he turned around and the fourth one already smacked his face toward him but Tim was faster than the stiff corpse, he pointed the gun toward his head, point blank and drilled a bullet through his forehead. Earned 6 Dust. As the fourth zombie collapsed, just before his body had hit the ground, the door at the end of this chamber smashed open. Where dozen more of zombies charged to Tim. "Shit..." Tim broke into a run, back to the gallery, where he saw all the corpses below were now starting to move around. "Jesus!" Tim run downstair shouting in his heart as he noticed every zombie was looking at him. Just keep running, just keep running, running, running. "...Sugar Honey Ice Tea." Tim said when he realized he''d blocked the entrance with chairs and plank. Into the front entrance, where the locked door now strained under the blows of the Infected inside. Tim was desperately pulling the chair back. At least he would have a better chance of surviving by being chased by the dogitator rather than hundred of zombies in closed space. "Enhance: Sprint!!!" Tim threw the dice and just the moment after he opened the plank. The locked the doors were broken open, and the zombie gave chase. In the open field, several dozen dogigator already waiting for him. Well... Several dozens were waaay smaller than hundred so without doing any equation, Tim sprinted down the stone steps, this time getting chased by the dogigators, the bat-mons, and the zombies. Chapter 4 Tim ran, with the setting sun came a sky of fire, the orange of every wintry hearth. "Do I... do I manage to shake them off?" Muttered Tim with a ragged breath. Then suddenly, from out of the shadows, a spectre-like figure lunged at him, flailing and biting at his arms. It was a dogigator, there were several bleeding wounds over its body. "Grh! These... things... are so fucking persistent!" Tim was flailing his hand while his wobbly legs kept moving forward, it was useless. Although the dogigator was weak and slow, it had a strong jaw and managed to hold on to Tim''s hand. Realizing he was having the struggle to free himself, he darted to the nearby building, trying to slam the dogigator onto the wall. Another creature suddenly appeared from the doorway. A male zombie, it staggered outfrom the door.Tim struggled with his holster trying to free his handgun. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain on his leg.Another dogigator wasbiting his ankle, embedding the teeth deeper and pulling Tim.He tried to kick it away, but with a shaky leg, he fell onto the ground. The male zombie was moving closer while Tim tried to crawl away, but the dogigators kept its hold and dragged along behind Tim, who finally managed to level off his pistol. He fired at the ghoulish head which drew closer toward him. Thezombie''s skull blew open and its grasped relaxes. Earned 6 Dust. Tim was shaking violently, trying to breakthe dogigator away from him. His arm and gun stayed in the air, still poised. He fired again... and again... and again. The bullet tore through the first Dogigator shoulder...another shot...through its neck... the last bullet blasted away through the second Dogigator''s skull. Earned 3 Dust. Earned 3 Dust. "...Finally, there is a calm." Muttered Tim as he tried to open the Dogigator''s jaw. Even when they were nothing but a corpse, their teeth still clenching tight on Tim''s limbs. Noticing there was no other monster on chasing after him, Tim sat up, trying to lean on the wall as thesun was subsiding, followed by a very faint howl from the distance. "You''re joking me..." There was hope before. A single hope to take one-minute rest, just a tiny breather before the night came. As the pillar of light fell from the sky, illuminating the night as if this wasn''t the nighttime. Tim heard another howl, clearer than before. Biting his lips, Tim stood up as if there was an Earthquake happening beneath his feet. He looked to the building in front of him; it was a liquor store, the storefront and the door were made from glass, clearly not a good place for taking shelter. But with another howl... Tim made up his mind, it was better to have a shelter rather than having none.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. When he entered the store, he could see numerous bottle of liquor was smashed on the ground. "...What the fuck?" And clearly, there was something wrong with this place. At the far back of the rows of cabinets, there was four poster bed. The modern wall suddenly got split by the oak-panelled walls, and the room kept went on as if he''d just entered a soccer field. The rest of the room behind the rows of cabinets could be the best representation of a manor house in 19th maybe even 18th Century. Tim thought nothing could surprise him anymore, but gulping his nervousness down, he looked around the room like someone who didn''t know where he was. Taking several high-content alcohol drinks with him, he''d just followed what the others in the movie usually did. Bracing himself, Tim drank some alcohol and poured the rest in his left hand and his right leg, trying to disinfect the open gaping wound. The pain had an unpleasant warmth to it, eating at his stomach. There was nausea too, just enough to make him clenched the cabinet to stay awake and breath slowly. He''d often prized himself in ignoring pain and just rocking on regardless, but that just wasn''t possible right now. "Next is..." Leaning on the wall, he searched through the register and it seemed his luck hadn''t been running out. There were several pieces of handtowel, white and clean. A second after Tim finished wrapping the towel on his arm and his leg, another howl could be heard, this time closer than the last howl. "Tsk!" He could run back to the street and hoping for the best he managed to run past what he assumed as the Blood Hound in his condition, or he couldventure the mysterious building, hoping he could find some place to rest without any disturbance. Between the former and the latter, he chose the latter. Tim stepped further to the inside, compared to the street or the store area, the inner part had this kind of feeling that nothing had happened; clean, quiet, there was no smell of blood or rotten corpse. And clearly, this was bigger than the soccer field and there were several doors located on each side of this room. Curiously, Tim opened the first door he''d seen, he found another room just like this room but it was way smaller, only 3 meter square with three ancient wooden chests stood right in the middle. "...Is this the treasure chest?" Tim sighed and cradling his head in confusion. "...So this place is a dungeon?" Using his limited gaming knowledge, as far as Tim knew that most of the treasure chest would appear in the dungeon, he made that conclusion. Sighing, Tim walked forward and opened them one at a time. The first chest only contained leather shoulder bag. And when Tim''s finger touched the bag. Another screen appeared. Item Name:Item Bag Item Rarity:Uncommon Bonus Attribute: None Salvage: 100 Dust Effect: This bag has an interior space considerably larger than its outside appearances. This bag can hold up to 500 kilograms, not exceeding a volume of 20 cubic meters. If the bag is overloaded, pierced, or torn, it ruptures and is destroyed, and half of its contents are randomly destroyed. Placing Item Bag inside an extradimensional space created by majick, another Item Bag or similar item effect instantly destroys both items. A living creature can''t be stored inside. A moving thing can''t be stored inside. An unwilling sentient object can''t be stored without their agreement. Liquid and any intangible things can''t be stored inside (Unless they are contained). The second chest, neatly crisp white shirts. Very white, very conservative. Nothing happened when he touched the shirts, but when he first opened the chest, he got 200 Dust. The third chest was bigger compared to the last two. When Tim opened it, its content was: A short bow, a quiver, and 20 arrows. Just like the second chest, nothing happened when he touched it. Chapter 5 "Now, let''s test this thing." Even if it was what Tim said, he never shot a bow before. For now, he could only try by grabbing the bow with his left hand, then with the fingers of his right hand he placed an arrow on the bowstring and slowly drew the string back. "...Now I just need to release it, right?" Tim talked alone. As instructed by himself, Tim let go of the string. The next instant, the arrow vigorously cut through the air. However, it just flew past the treasure chest by a mile. "Yep, there''s no way I can hit it on the first try." He said to comfort himself. He fired another arrow. However it once again completely missed the treasure chest and stuck upright in the ground. "W-well... at least the arrow fly." Tim narrowed his eyes and glared at the treasure. He fired several times, but all of his shots missed the target and ended up as waste shot. The treasure chest wasn''t even trying to dodge them. It was just that his arrows were following a weird path. He felt like the treasure chest was laughing at him. After all, never for once in his life he thought he would be using a bow. With a deep sigh, he thought it would be useless to continue training in his current condition. At least on the bright side, some of his problems were ended. For shelter, he could use this place, at least for tonight. For water, like it or not he must use the low or zero content alcohol drink. For status... Tim stared at his screen. The look on his face said it all, his status didn''t increase a single number even with all that running and his health had the same problem, it got stuck on 48. "At least I have this crazy amount of Dust." Tim said as he looked to his screen, particularly his Dust amount:: 292. Tim woke up with a jolt from the four-poster bed. He thought he would have some serious nightmare after all shit he''d seen from today and yesterday scenery, but no... he was resting like a baby in his mother''s cradle. His dust amount increased to 294, which meant he only rested for 2 hours but somehow he felt that was enough. But something was missing... It was the pain from his hand and his leg. Not only the pain, when Tim curiously checked his wound, his eyes wide opened with disbelievement when it was also healed. He opened his screen and his health rose back to 54. "So... this place is rest area? or only this bed? Anyway, each bite does around 3 dmg, huh... well, I guess that also depends on where they bite me." Tim mumbled. With somewhat refreshing feeling, Tim continued exploring the dungeon. He opened one of the doors and found a circular stair. With a knife and gun in his hand, bow and quiver in his back, and the Item Bag strapped diagonally on his body, Tim descended a sweeping staircase. Under the stair was a hallway, this was enough as the proof for Tim that this place wasn''t normal. The underground hallway was luxurious and tasteful. Tapestries and paintings of old some figures that Tim didn¡¯t recognize adorn the walls. They had different armour but all of them wearing a metal armour with ridiculoushelmet design and straight from the video game looking swords. But there was nothing else worth mentioning or taking in here. Back to the rest area, this time Tim entered the second door on the right side and greeted by the dining room. The table was set for dinner, but there were no food or guests. No sign of life. "...Creepy." Tim muttered, though he immediately took some of the tableware and put it into his Item Bag. Entering the second door on the left, it was a dark oak lined study room. The only sound was the ticking of a grandfather clock, the time showed on it was 20:11 o''clock.Tim took a framed photograph train the desk. It was the same figures like the one in the underground hallway, maybe... It was hard to tell considering the variety from their helmet. But this time they were a group of knights standing in front of rose bushes in the garden. From the photo''s reflection, a sudden shadow was moving out in the lobby. Tim jumped, startled and looked back. Something indeed ran across the lobby.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Tim hesitated to call out but he still did that. "Hello!" .... No one answered. "...So am I in a horror movie right now?" Tim protested. He emerged from the study and went to the third door from the left. This time was a garden, even though Tim was sure this place was indoor, in the distance he could see the dark sky. In front of him was a huge marble statue. A series of bizarre gothic characters dancing around a maypole. A walrus wearing a waistcoat, a rabbit carrying a knife, a knight in armour with a magnificent feathered helmet. Both beautiful and also strangely unsettling. In his back, Tim senses a movement at the entrance to the lobby. "Hello!" Tim shouted but there¡¯s no reply. This time he was sure it wasn''t a zombie, after all, if it was zombie it definitely would rush toward him rather than playing hide and seek. Third door from the right and also the last door. It was a maze andTim was following someone or something deeper and deeper into the maze. He already planned to spend his night on this place, and the thought of something stalker was in here making him uncomfortable.Tim was rapidly chasing to the figure but the figure within the maze was faster. With every corner Tim turned turns,he felt the tension mounted and cold sweat fell from his cheek. Tim continued chasing until he was about to turn back when he suddenly stumbled upon the middle of the maze. At the very centre point was a chair. And in the chair, a man sitting with his back to him. "Hello?" The man didn¡¯t reply. "Can you understand me?" Tim shouted while trying to hide his knife and his gun. The man still ignoring him. ...Somehow felt annoyed, with a vein throbbing in his temple, Tim cautiously approaches him. "Are you the owner? Or are you another refugee like me?" The man still doesn¡¯t speak. Didn¡¯t even move. Tim reached out to touch his shoulder. "Are you deaf?!" Shouted Tim, his hand was touching the man body. He was cold to his touch. Very cold. "F- hm?" Before saying the F-word, Tim realized that he had his hand on the shoulder of a statue. The statue is of an old man with afedora in his lap. Tim sighed. With relief. With embarrassment. He thought this man was some kind of touchable ghost or something like that. Until he realized.Then... what is that shadow that I chased? Suddenly,a shadow roared out of the bushes. It lunged forward while Tim was leaping to the side, barely avoiding it. Gaze darting, He noticed it was another monster asCat Sith Lvl 12floating on its head. The slinky black feline before Tim had a single white spot on its chest. It was a little bit bigger than the usual cat, but still smaller than normal children. Its mannerisms and movements were eerily human, it seemed to flinch and hesitate to attack when Tim aimed his gun toward it. Seeing the hesitation, Tim pulled the trigger.It clicked...empty. Cat Sith''s face moved a little too slowly, as itwas taking in the surroundings. Then he grinned. As it did so, Tim felt the temperature of the room fell a little. Even in the dim light of the night, Tim saw its bared teeth. It was a cheshire grin of sorts, the kind that was so wide it was more as if it wanted to eat Tim. He quickly and efficiently clenched his dagger.Tim swung his dagger as Cat Sith lunged at him, its bared teeth like razors. Tim slashed it away, not deep enough to kill it, but enough to throw it a few meter away, while hoping it was enough to scare it. It didn''t. The Cat Sith She turned againand took a diving leap onto him. Tim tried to avoid it, but its jaws already snapped at Tim''s thigh, trying to bite themeat clean out of his body. Tim opened his eyes wide, blinked, and tried to hurl the Cat Sith, but was unable to because of the pain.As a new spasm of pain wracked his body, he shouted out in anguish. "This... little pussy... Leech Seed!" Tim shouted, clearly this time he didn''t have an open or stable hand to cheat its number. One thing that Tim knew, a systematical pattern was created on the Cat Sith''s back. Next, with weakened hand, Tim usedhis knife only to slash across Cat Sith''s cheek and neck, the blood spurted but he didn''t have enough power to embedded his knife deeper than this. The Cat Sith continued to bite him, this time, its teeth were deepened and the suddenpain threw Tim off balance. He stumbled back and staggered down to the statue. He frantically groped the statue as he kept thrusting his knife into the Cat Sith''s body. As the cat was finally eating the meat out of Tim''s thigh, Tim collapsed to the ground. With every last bit of his power, heraised his arm and descending the knife into the Cat Sith''s back. 24 Dust earned. Tim should''ve felt relief, but his face was screwed up into a mask of agony, and he was trembling violently from head to foot. He wanted to crawl back to the lobby, but the pain was excruciating and the thought of the distance between this place and there alone was enough to make Tim gave up. Until green bud of something suddenly growing itself out of the Cat Sith''s body. Tim''s eyes were all riveted to Cat Sith''s back as the seed from his Leech Seed''s bud wascontinuing to grow out until a little bean the size of a children''s nailsticking out from the bud. From his crawling position, Tim used his hand to reach out to the bud on the Cat Sith''s body and without hesitation eating it.The texture was somewhat to be a cross between an uncooked bean and a celery stalk, andit tasted like fish. But the moment Tim gulped it down, the gaping wound from his thigh was closing down. It wasn''t completely healed but at the very least it didn''tsplatter fluids and blood anymore. Chapter 6 "...Somehow, I managed to get back huh." Tim woke up, rubbed his eyes before moving his leg, checking whether or not there was any pain when he moved it... There was none. The wound on his leg already healed. How long had he been unconscious? Opening his status, he checked the number of his dust. "My dust right now is... 326. This means I have been sleeping for 10 hours..." What should he do now? He decided he needed to get up. Decided he must manage to clamber out of his bed and another place, the more sustainable place. Indeed this safe room was a safe place, but it wasn''t sustainable enough. His health might be regenerated in this place, but he still needed food and water. With a groan, Tim raised his body and did some stretch. Arms... nothing wrong. Legs... as good as new, minus the broken shoes. Knife... already chipped but still useable. Gun... out of bullet. Bow... the string is still there so I guess this still good. For the last time, Tim once again nocked an arrow with care, drew back the bowstring and released it. An instant later, an arrow cut through the air as it flew straight towards the wall and pierced the wall as if it was getting sucked by it. "...Save the best for the last, right?" Just to make sure he shot once again. Precise precision might be impossible but at least he could hit his target with a slight error. After feeling sure and confident with his shooting skill. He took the arrow back. And as he didn¡¯t know what else to check, except the burning throat and rumbling in his stomach, nothing seemed to get wrong. Taking a deep breath, he went to the storefront and opened the door, this time he had the kitchen knife in his hand. Just like yesterday, the street was dirty and clearly empty as far as eyes could see. Empty from things that moving and didn''t try to kill him. Until he stepped outside and became the only moving thing that didn''t have an intention to kill a human. He shielded his eyes against the sunlight, seeing ahead and carefully creeping under the shadow and moving toward the nearest alleyway. Unlike yesterday, his objectives this time was gathering as many foods as he could before he ran out of energy to move and immediately went away from this hellhole. He didn''t know the reason why he thought that but for now, he''d just assumed it must be because all the apocalypse movie he''d watched. A bow in one hand, another hand ready at the string. Kerchak. Tim heard something from the garbage bin, pulling back the string, he was ready to shot at it. A shadow leapt at him!... A cat, looking for scraps on the garbage. With a sigh of relief, rather than shot him he shooed him off. While wondering what the cat thought about this whole incident, he inhaled and exhaled the air, then kept moving while using the wall to hide. This time, he was making sure to check not only the minimarket or shops but also houses. Now moving to the first house. Should I knock or should I just walk in? Tim thought. And decided to lightly knock before he entered. Knock Knock .... No one answered, well... of course, no one would answer. Turning the doorknob, but the inside shows that things were pulled out messily. Perhaps they ran away in panic or this place already looted. Tim searched for a while, hoping he could find something he could use.... Except for the soap, detergent and blanket, there was nothing else.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Their fridge was clean... either the owner was the one that took this, or someone else had the same idea as Tim. Well... completely clean wasn''t quite the word. As Tim could smell and see the rotting food. Tim tried to check the other not so destroyed houses for the time being. In turn, knocked, opened the doorknob. There was no reaction in the next house and the one after that. Everyplace in this side was empty. Went down to the street, when walking in the crossing passageway he somehow felt nervous; unlike yesterday. Today. Tim already knew how hard it was to shake off the pursuing monster. But fully aware of that fact, he still crossed it. And he might just realize this but the awful sound he thought would come out every time he made a step didn¡¯t come. Perhaps this was the effect of pressure and necessity. Even when he was moving quickly through the street, his step didn¡¯t produce any sound. Come to think of it, whatshould I do if someone is in the house?I''m in a very inconspicuous state, right? Well, let''s just think that when the time comes. Knocking each house in this side. No reaction. On the last house in the corner. Knocked on. No reaction. Tim turned the doorknob and it opened just like the usual. "...Is anyone here?" Tim whispered while watching for the smallest reaction possible. He waswaiting... he concluded there was no one in here and began looting the house. "Hm?" Someone.... was here. The ice was melting and dripping away from the fridge, flooding on the floor and there were tracks, footsteps. The footsteps were small, not bigger than a child footsteps. At the next moment. "Gigiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Someone popping out from the back of the room, well Tim didn''t sure whether or not called him a person. Tim hit him with his bow instinctively, shoving him back. With the stature of a child from elementary grade school, with green skin. Wearing only a dirty loincloth and a small knife in his hand. This was a classic monster in fantasy worlds. Goblin Lvl 5. "...Even the official name is goblin, these guys sure are famous huh." The goblin slowly gazed at him. Its body clearly was much smaller than him. The arms looked underweight and its overall floomy. The feeling of intimidation wasn''t frightening. Either way, it wasn''t some fake creature that appeared on screen or in-game or animation. Frightening or not, having ahigher level or not, it still could kill Tim if it aimed right at his heart or neck. With a bow as his main equipment, he was a lot more relaxed than the yesterday, even when he didn¡¯t have enough skill with his bow. "Leech Seed." Tim shout, creating thegreen mark on the goblin''s body. The goblin took a little distance and gazed at him. In his little hand, the Goblin clenched his dagger, ready to go at Tim any time! Its expression was just showing that.Was hefurious because Tim used majick? He prepared his bow too and suddenly turned around with a curl and ran away from the place. "Giiih!?" From behind, if Tim could speak goblin language he would say that meant: "Eh? Wait!?" Then, the Goblin rushed after him and went out of the entrance in the hall. We were doing game cat and mouse for a little while, before the goblin suddenly twitched on the spot and dropped dead as a bud sprouting out from the goblin''s body. Earned 5 Dust. From what Tim counted, the time Leech Seed needed to kill him was 136 second. And depending on the ticking duration, the goblin''s health should be somewhere around 22~24. And that also meant Tim had a medicine worth of 22~24 health in his hand. Indeed, he made a deduction everything could be dead if you shot it in the heart or in the head, but there was no wrong from knowing the enemy information, right? Looting the house and shifting his kitchen knife with the goblin dagger, Tim continued checking the other houses. Compared to yesterday, the number of a monster encounter he met today was far lower. It might be because he started to raise his awareness and moving stealthily, or the monster decided already moving to another area. When he checked the houses on his journey, he met the same variety of monster as yesterday, though this time rather than running away he gave himself the trouble to check the monster health. Just when he entered Lower Manhattan and checking the first houses, he already shot a goblin with his arrow and the goblin was dead after two shots on his body. So each arrow would deal 10~12 damage? On the third goblin he''d meet, he could one shot the goblin... but it seemed like the arrow was piercing right in the middle of the goblin''s chest. Moving forward, after killing six Dogigator with Leech Seed, Tim counted they would be dead after 60~70 seconds, depending on their body sizes, but for now, he assumed their life was somewhere around 11~13. Shooting with an arrow result was varied but most of the time he could kill it with one shot, depending on where the arrow landed though. The same case happened with the dagger. Bat-Mon had health somewhere around 20~22, weird, even if their level was higher they still had lower health than the goblins. It seemed the zombie was a special case... as Tim couldn''t kill it no matter how many arrows were piercing its body. But when he let loose another arrow to its head, the zombie instantly dead. Continued moving while looting everything he could loot, just when Tim shot another arrow toward a Goblin. Its body vanished and it dropped a purple shard.