《The System: Book 1-[Initiation]》 Chapter 1- [Where It All Began] Have you ever wondered what would be like to live in world as if it was a game? Then I hope you didn¡¯t because it isn¡¯t fun, I attest to it. Welcome to Earterra, the fusion of two worlds, one of technology and one of magic. I am Remnant, and I would be the one you would follow throughout the whole story on how Earth became the strongest world both in magic and technology. Chapter 1- Where it all began It was a Friday morning at that time, the moment that I remember where everything started. The moment that everywhere became living hell and the moment where shit bigger than the fan itself hit. I was awakened by the sound of my alarm going off. Going by the tune of a particular song I¡¯m fond of with its catchy and upbeat tune. As the routine goes, I went to the closet and took my already ironed-out clothes. Set them in somewhere I could hang them and cooked my breakfast. For today¡¯s breakfast I will have an omelet, not that much change from every day¡¯s meal but it will do. I turned on the small television I got from a sale; just to give the place some background noise. The neighborhood is awfully quiet right now. The sound of taxi and jeeps passing is barely audible. Although our neighborhood is technically isolated from other towns, we somehow maintain an autonomous place. With our town barely holding 20,000 people, we are nearly considered a very small city or a very large town. The autonomy we hold is thanks to our environment. As we are isolated and surrounded by nature, we only need to import rice and a few luxury goods from other cities since we could grow our own food and have our own water supply. I¡¯m guessing you¡¯d be probably wondering what is up with our near impossible setting, don¡¯t you? Well let¡¯s just say that the town was established by the government a few years back as some sort of experiment about an autonomous area. A project that barely passed the court and caused a lot of commotion on the higher scale of things. Not that much further in time, few companies have been given the permit to erect buildings in here, not for production, but only for offices. It seems that the local governing body wanted to make money flow easier, and the said companies wanted to have a peaceful surrounding to work in. Going back to the story, I somehow heard a strange report from the morning news show. Something along the lines of crazy people attacking others, to be precise, biting. The victims are already being rushed to the hospitals and are getting treatments. Huh, I chuckle to myself. What a clich¨¦ for a zombie apocalypse scenario, but I know that this is the work of someone with rabies, a strong strain probably, but still only rabies. Sigh¡­ if only could that zombie apocalypse happen¡­ Done with my morning dose of daydreaming I head back to preparing myself for today¡¯s school. I put on my school uniform, turn of my meager amount of appliance and head out for another day of school. As soon as I stepped out of the door, a strange thing happened just a few meters away in front of me. A man that I could somehow recognize as Mr. Eduardo is running towards Mrs. Carol, who was walking down the street with shopping bags in her hand, fitted in an attire that I would call the most realistic zombie outfit I have ever seen. Wow, he is so dedicated at this. He did something like this last year, only which last December he dressed up like Santa. Now for November he dressed up as a zombie. All of my admiration even doubled when they performed a movie-worthy act. Mr. Harold lunged at Mrs. Carol, and as planned by them probably, she screamed. A very realistic scream. It was at that moment that I realized that it wasn¡¯t an act anymore. Mr. Harold then proceeded to tear apart his unfortunate victim. He started with her throat. He flung back his head by the neck and bit her throat with all his undead might and silenced the still screaming Mrs. Carol at that moment. I could see the light in her eyes slowly fading as the abomination, not worthy enough to be even called a name, snacked on her insides next. The chaos ensued. Screams started to be heard not only from my current position but all throughout our town, Bayani. Car crashes, glasses shattering, and even wails from the zombies, as I called them as of now, were the main causes of noise. A thud was heard beside me. I whipped my head and looked at what it is, or rather, who it was. Beside me, my neighbor Mr. Jack was sprawled out; with oddly luminous veins seen on his neck. From my experience in watching all sorts of stuff; that is not a good sign, or better yet, a very bad one. My intuition didn¡¯t fail me, although I hoped it did. A dozen or so seconds passed and the corpse stood up in the most inconvenient way, then started to chase me. I ran towards my apartment with all that I could, and even then, the fat corpse of Mr. Jack looks like it could still catch up to me. As I reached the front door, I slammed it with so much power that the thin door looked like it would break. I ran to the kitchen immediately after slamming the door behind me and took hold of the most probable weapon in my house, a butcher knife (got as a gift for my birthday). I was scared to no end, seeing the middle-aged lady who always says good morning to me daily getting eaten in front of me got me shaking. I spent a few minutes calming down and assessing the situation. First, zombies started to appear. Second, they were tearing other people, alive, and turning them into one of the undead. Lastly, why isn¡¯t the zombiefied Mr. Jack trying to tear the door apart? BLAG And¡­ there is the answer. This is scaring me to the point of nearly pissing in my own pants. Why did I even jinx myself earlier? I stood there waiting for my soon-to-be murderer as it tried to smash the plywood door. Then suddenly, it just ceased. I was convinced that it already left thinking that I was a harder prey. When its head just burst straight through the wooden door, startled I almost dropped the knife at my own feet. Seeing it snarling, growling, and trying to bite at me was probably the scariest period of my life, scarier than when I confessed to a girl. With only its head I could see, I had an easier time to hack it to death, giving it all I got. Grey matter splattered all around the area near the door. Dark-blue blood oozed out from the unrecognizable head. Proving that that thing isn¡¯t a human anymore. Without the fear of my death knocking at the door I tried to look on what happened to the thing that I killed. And let¡¯s just say it¡¯s hard to do, it doesn¡¯t have a face anymore and the head is the only thing that I could see. Foolishly thinking there is no more something like this outside I opened the door. Standing there dumbfounded with my mouth gaping I had no more time to think as something materialized in front of me.
Thank you for deciding to join the system. You will receive a reward for killing a/an <1> Zombiefied Human LV.1 Rewards Received:
  • 1 Tattered Skin
  • 1 Copper Coin
  • A Beginner¡¯s Guide to the Apocalypse
  • SP Gem#0123456789
  • 1 XP
Title: Remnant, Sole Survivor NOTE: For joining the system for the first time you have received additional rewards.
Welcome to the [System]. As a new initiate you will be given a proper tutorial to what is currently happening. Your world [Earth] is currently fusing with the world [Terra]. Due to the random dice roll, [Terra] would fuse with [Earth] using the long-method, consider this as blessing in disguise, as it would only cause a slow introduction of the environment on [Terra] rather than a collision of space and time. Please consider that the monsters¡¯ population is not infinite and is limited to their reproduction rates. Further information is found in [A Beginner¡¯s Guide to the Apocalypse].
The fuck? This is bullshit! Whoever set this prank up would get his ass beaten by me! But, if that thing there is really a [Zombiefied Human] then this must be real! I really hope the government is really working on something for this cause I¡¯m going to the die if this is real. Anyways, isn¡¯t this like those stories that I read? And where the hell is the loot? Isn¡¯t it supposed to drop or spawn out of light? Could it be that, no, it isn¡¯t that practical I supposed. But, to hell with it! With all of my voice I shouted [Inventory], not fearing anything that might even hear me. But nothing happened. I tried to simply think about it and it shimmered into existence! Hooray for me! The smartest human on Earth! It isn¡¯t probably Earth anyway by now, though.
Inventory
1 Tattered Skin 1 Copper Coin
A Begginer''s Guide to the Apocalypse SP Gem#0123456789
I tried to will the guide into existence, along with the gem. And it flashed in front of me in a second. The book looked like brand new, the cover is even shining. The SP Gem, that is weird. It is flashing in a multitude of colors changing every few or so seconds. After I thought of opening the book something blurred into existence again.
Do you wish to study the book with the [Book Comprehension]? Yes/No
Obviously I selected yes. Wondering what is with all the ability that I have. The book vanished immediately as I clicked yes.
[A Beginner¡¯s Guide to the Apocalypse] Good day to you adventurous soul! For defeating a new creature introduced by the system you have been granted the privilege of knowing things more early than the others. If you are reading this in a system assisted message then that means you got the rare ability [Book Comprehension]. This book has been tailored specifically for humans for the adjustment to the apocalypse. As of now most technologically advanced items has been neutralized for fairer fights against monsters (this includes but are not limited to, cars, jets, helicopters, trains, nuclear missiles, communication, and the internet) , as deemed by the system. The neutralized items would be able to be used again after 123 days. To survive this apocalypse successfully using the SP Gem given to you by killing a monster for the first time is a must. It will grant you the access to the [Skill Tree] along with [Character] interfaces. The gem will unlock a skill path tailored to the way you live and/or how you killed your first monster. Any items without an [Anti-Identify] cast on it could be [Analyzed], there still some exceptions and restrictions over this however. Such exceptions will be addressed by the system if encountered. The inventory holds a space of 2x2 grids; you can store anything into it within your weight threshold (STRx1KG) and a within a certain volume only. Storing of living creatures is not allowed. Upgrades may be added to your inventory. Equipping a pack or bag will increase the slots, but the pack/bag will temporarily disappear. Loot drops will be put into a separate bag if you have [Auto-Loot] on; they will not be allowed to be put back into the loot bag if taken out from the inventory already. By taking in the [Soul Essence] of something you killed or by training you would be able to [LVL UP]. A level up will grant you a fix amount of [Character Points] that you may spend on your attributes or may be used to buy items on [Special Stores]. Terraforming is currently in process, places in your world will randomly be merged with places from [Terra]. Good Luck and Stay Alive.
Wow, whoever made this [System] must be something akin to a God. To be that detailed for only a few [Systems] I can¡¯t even imagine how hard it is to manage it with probably a few more [Systems]. I spent my time understanding the vast information that the book contained and fumbling around the SP Gem. Deciding to just risk it even if is possibly a bomb I willed the SP Gem to be used. And that caused another [System Message] to pop up.
You have been granted a unique class for obtaining the [SP Gem #0123456789] and a few other factors. The unique class has been custom fit for you.
You have gained the class, [Champion of Vengeance]! You have unlocked the unique skill tree of the [Champion of Vengeance].This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. With this skill tree you would be able to grow to new heights by killing enemies with the skills you are being granted. First Skill Unlocked! [Retaliation] You have unlocked the [Character System]!
[Retaliation] Active CD:5s Using 100Mana you would inflict a critical hit and a random debuff in your next attack if you hit hostile creature(s) designated by the system.
With my gamer instincts kicking in I began analyzing the words that was in front of me. It seems that, I¡¯ve been lucky with what have I done and gotten. However, remembering that I just killed my landlord, I threw the contents of my meal up and into the floor. Killing somebody I know was something I¡¯d never thought about. With me being an orphan I grew up to cherish or at least like the people I¡¯m close to. After spending a few minutes moping and sulking I stood up and took my knife and checked my character screen along with the loot description.
Name: Constantine (Remnant) Riposte Class: Champion of Vengeance Level: 1 (1/10)
Stamina: 100/100 Health:100/100 Mana: 1500/100
Titles Equipped: Remnant, Sole Survivor
STR:7 VIT:5 AGI:8
SPD:8 INT:10 WIS:9
CHR:2 LUK:9 STATPTS: 5
MNAREG: 1/sec HPREG: 0.0001/sec STAREG: 0.001/sec
[Retaliation Beginner Lv.1 0.0%] [Book Comprehension Beginner Lv.6 75.6%] None
Tattered Skin
A skin from a [Zombiefied Human]. It could be used as makeshift leather of poor quality. Can be used as an alchemy and/or necromancy ingredient.
Copper Coin
A copper coin generated by the system. Can be used to buy items from system generated shops. What were you expecting, a lucky coin?
Ignoring the obviously sarcastic comment from the system I put back the items into my inventory contemplating on what is going on. Thoughts were raging in my head trying to figure out the irregularities that was happening. Alchemy and necromancy are nothing new to my ears, but the fact that they really do exist is either very great or very terrifying. Facing a necromancer with an army of the dead at his call would be terrifying. But if you are the necromancer, that would be cool. Could this really be the apocalypse? If so why did it turn out like this? Isn¡¯t it supposed to be a raging storm of molten rocks or something? And why was my mana displayed like that? Could it be an error of the system? If so, then this must not be perfect. I must find a wa¨C
System Notice
Your mana pool is incorrectly displayed. Due to the titles [Sole Survivor] and [Remnant] that existed previously before system reboot, your mana capacity has been overwhelmed by your mana availability. This will be corrected by the system by increasing your mana capacity. Titles [Sole Survivor] and [Remnant] has been updated. . By finding a glitch in the system you have been awarded with two titles: [Mana Overloaded] Description: Your mana pathways have been overly extended before system initiation and have caused it to be set at a certain production speed. Effects: Mana Regeneration will be permanently set to 1/sec. This effect may be modified. [Glitchbane] Description: You are the natural predator of glitches caused by the system errors. This titled is awarded to the first person to discover a glitch in a [Fused World]. Effects: You will gain 20 stat points and a skill book every time you report a glitch. [Remnant] Description: [HIDDEN} Effects: Increases mana capacity by (INTx50). Grants increased adaptability to the [System]. [LOCKED]. [Sole Survivor] Description: [HIDDEN] Effects: Increases mana capacity by (INTx100). [LOCKED]. [LOCKED].
With that my dreams of using the system¡¯s error against itself vanished. However, I learned of two new interesting things. First [Remnant] and secondly [Sole Survivor], why and how the heck it ended up there was confusing. The fact that titles have locked effects was surprising and yet not at the same time. It was the same as expecting something but got something a bit more well than what you expected. From there I simply sat and waited for something to come up in the television that I left open due to rushing to school. I even had the time to view the previously peaceful neighborhood through the window. The apartment rows that looked eerily the same as well as the small flower I grow in front of the house. It would have been a very peaceful scene if not for the constant screaming and growling from the background. I was just about top stand up when something came up in the television. ¡°We are sorry to interrupt your favorite show for this important newscast. The global community has been in chaos as of this morning due to the sightings of various flesh eating monsters as well as the several gigantic corpse eating plants. Residents are advised to stay at their homes or head to the nearest evacuation centers that will be shown in the map.¡± The report of the newscaster dashed away all my remaining hopes. I was naively thinking that this must have only happened here and not all around the globe, but it seems that was unfounded. The reporter rattled on about something not important when something out of place happened. ¡°Holy shit! Mike, they got in here, grab the axe!¡± And someone from behind the camera was heard scuffling about, and it all ended with static. Followed by the words ¡®Please Standby¡±. My television quickly followed after that, my brand new television which cost me a few thousand pesos. All gone with a single puff, this must have been the neutralization these floating boxes were talking about. I wonder how many died already from plane crashes. After deciding that my house isn¡¯t safe anymore considering it is made of mostly wood with some foundations made of cement, I grabbed my pack and put all things necessary for me to survive in there. I decided to use a physical bag since it seemed to be the most convenient way to do at that time. I could use the inventory to store the heavies items I find and the lightest I keep to myself, to avoid cramped inventory. Just as I was about to set my put out of the gate I checked my items again. A few canned goods that would probably last a day or two. Two more knives I pocketed from the other apartment block, as well as my trusty butcher knife. Flashlights and batteries that didn¡¯t turn into various chemicals, plus the first aid kit Mr. Jack stores in his house. And my diary, to keep note of discoveries and my skills. I set out for my school; the most fortified place I know and the biggest evacuation area in the vicinity. Hoping that nothing would go wrong on my long journey. -Timeskip (1 HR)- During the hour that past I encountered about a hundred zombies on the road, another hundred in the houses, and a little more than two hundred in the passageways between buildings. This number might be considered small but our community only has a dozen or so thousands of residents so it was nice enough, for me at least. I even considered going in house by house but found that idea unappealing. Well, that was after a [Zombiefied Human LV.2] tried to bite the shit out of me literally. Its first target was my butt! What¡¯s worse is that the zombie was fat, as in very fat. I managed to outrun this one due to its weight hindering itself. By now I was already three- fourths of the way to school so I was getting more and more carefree, a bad habit of mine. I kept myself to the sidewalks looking back and forth to avoid being a meal. Just as I was about to pass the final bridge on the way I found someone crying and tried to approach her. ¡°Hey miss, are you alright? You do know that this is the apocalypse right, crying there won¡¯t do you good!¡± I quipped with a hint of concern as I tried to approach the crying lady. Who suddenly lashed out at me with claws stretched out? What the fuck?! This isn¡¯t Left 4 Dead, what is a witch doing here?! This thoughts processed in my head as I grappled with the monster trying to eat me when I saw its name.
Weepy Zombie LV.4 HP: 150/150 MP: 20/20
So that¡¯s why it was crying, it¡¯s weepy after all. Time to test my new skill then! I managed to throw off the [Weepy Zombie] damaging it for at least a few points. Unfortunately, it stood up immediately giving me as large as a second for breathing time. I took out the knife from the inventory and brandished it against her. This time however I was the first to strike. Opening the battle with [Retaliation] I immediately smashed a third of its life and casted the debuff [Limp Arm] on it. The happiness was short lived as the monster whipped out its arms in an inhuman way. The joints might have well been dislocated with her throwing her arms at full strength from her back. I pulled out the knife along with me as I jumped back to dodge which surprisingly was easy, probably due to [Retaliation] making it sharper. The final attack took out 32 HP from me and left a huge gash in my arm. Granting me the [Minor Bleeding] status that took out 2 HP every 5 seconds until it was cured. I countered with an overhead strike with my butcher knife that caused 20 damage. That left me wondering why the damage became so low, is it because of the critical or something else? I spent another five seconds dodging the crazy swipes from the previously human monster. Trying to get my skill cooldown finish as well as find an opening. I watched as it whipped out its arm again noting a minor lag on its positioning. Luckily I dodged it again and countered with [Retaliation]. That became the final strike as it severed the upper part of its body from the armpit to the head. I panted after the final strike trying to catch my breath before a new screen popped up again.
You will be awarded for slaying a/an: <1> Weepy Zombie LV.4 Rewards Received: ¡¤ 1 Mediocre Crystallized Voice ¡¤ 2 Tattered Skin ¡¤ 4 Copper Coins ¡¤ 43 XP
[Mediocre Crystallized Voice]? I didn¡¯t know that a voice could be crystallized nor it would look this beautiful. I brought up the description of the item from my inventory. It looked like a shiny rock vibrating very lightly.
Mediocre Crystallized Voice
The encased voice of a creature that uses its voice as a form of combat. This may be used as a consumable in the form of a grenade letting out a very loud noise once shattered. The rank of the item will affect its effect.
You have levelled up x2!
Wanting to check what I got, I immediately opened up [Status].
Name: Constantine (Remnant) Riposte Class: Champion of Vengeance Level: 3 (6/50)
Stamina: 110/110 Health:46/105 Mana: 1396/1500
Titles Equipped: Remnant, Sole Survivor, Glitchbane, Mana Overloaded
STR:8 VIT:6 AGI:8
SPD:8 INT:10 WIS:9
CHR:2 LUK:9 STATPTS:15
MNAREG: 1/sec HPREG: 0.0006/sec STAREG: 0.006/sec
[Retaliation Beginner Lv.1 3.3%] [Book Comprehension Beginner Lv.6 75.6%] None
The travel must have increased my vitality while the battle increased my strength. Sighing dejectedly I put my butcher knife in the inventory when I noticed something strange. My regens have increased! They have increased by 0.0005 and 0.005 respectively that means lower down time and safer travel. Of course it would increase along with the stat, it was game like, after all. I forgot to bandage myself, man that could have killed me. After bandaging myself I checked the stats of my trusty knife stored in my good old inventory.
Cutlericious Butcher Knife
Damage: 0-50 Durability: 17/25 A stainless steel knife commonly used for chopping slabs of meat. This particular one has been used for constant battle with the aid of a magic infusing skill. This knife has gained a small amount of magical properties. Effects: [Jagged]: Each time this weapon is used to counter there is a higher chance to inflict [Minor Bleeding] status.
My knife is badass! It turned magical after being used with [Retaliation]. That was a big plus for me in information but it probably wouldn¡¯t help me now. What could a bit more blood loss to a walking dead? Irritation maybe? Since the encounter with the [Weepy Zombie] I stood clear of places with distinct crying sounds. I don¡¯t even care anymore if it is a genuine person. Risking my life for something like that isn¡¯t even reasonable, a cry means a zombie and zombie means possible death. So it is a big no. The journey to the school became even easier after that. There were obvious signs of fighting around the place signified by lying zombie parts and blood smeared weapons. I encountered at least 3 more [Zombiefied Human] along the way which earned me a few more [Tattered Skin] as well as a few coins. The most valuable loot however was the XP. Thankfully, I was able to deal with them easier since they were underneath large debris of walls and cars. If what the system said about status points able to be used as currency, then I would save up my status points and earn them the hard way, grinding. Another hour has passed and I was standing in front of the school already. The smell of blood, sweat, and grime evident in the air. Just as I was about to open the gate I was halted by a person in police uniform. ¡°Stop! Who are you?! Are you here for refuge?! Be advised, everyone inside is armed don¡¯t do anything harsh or you would face the consequences!¡± After his rant he then opened the gate allowing entry to my high school. It seems that I would end up here again even after the apocalypse. A/N: Sorry for a few grammatical errors, that is what I hope at least. Note it when I made a few errors in the plot or the information, I am new to this after all. Chapter 2- [The School Error] I just arrived at the school and have met the guard, hope it isn¡¯t anything bad that awaits me. It makes me wonder, do guards during this untimely apocalypse still have to stand up straight for hours? Chapter 2- The School Error After being ushered into the school grounds by the not so friendly guard, I was left in a room along with a few others. They said that we are to wait for an interviewer so we would be put into respective jobs. The wait lasted for a few minutes when someone entered, a middle-aged lady with brown hair and small eyes wearing a wrinkled suit. ¡°Good afternoon fellow survivors, welcome to Tree Peak High School! I am May and I would help you with your assignments since our community is lacking in workers currently. Please fill up these forms that are being passed so we could assess you well.¡± The speech ended quickly followed by the presentation of said forms. That was very confusing and interesting, is the manpower really that low? Where is the military when you need them? Well, I could contribute at least nothing wrong with doing that. Hope my job doesn¡¯t concern people, those jobs are really annoying. As I was wondering where all the military went, I was constantly answering the questions in the paper. The questions where something you would expect to see in a gamer resume. Some are such: ¡°What level are you?¡± which I answered with 3. The next questions were something in the line of ¡°What could you do?¡± these I didn¡¯t answered directly since I figured that what class I currently am would surely cause a stir that I wouldn¡¯t like to be in. After the exam portion we were told to wait for the results in a dimly lighted room complete with an air conditioner. It made me wonder where they got the electricity running everything around. Generators maybe? You see these past few years Philippines have finally catch up with the leading world economic statuses. Crimes were not that often and the poverty has finally toned down to the bearable level. Even farms are now done in spiral like buildings to conserve water, space, and energy. This caused the everyday life to be generally better and welcoming. Guns became uncommon soon after. As a big plus, basements could now be made without much fear, since flood routes have been secured and a simple draining system in your basement would be good enough to remove unneeded water. After another few minutes of the agonizing wait I have to go through the evaluation have finally ended. The same lady, Denise, entered and told us our assignments. It seems I would be put in the support group who assists both the manual labor and the intellectual work. That seems fine, I think. I went around the base in the few hours that have past. I helped Eric, a college student I¡¯ve met in building his assigned structure, a simple bunker. We had about an hour before I even have to leave so he have told me a lot about what happened to him in this untimely apocalypse. The next person I helped was named Emily; she is assigned at arranging the files in the temporary office that was built. The job was mostly boring since all you would have to do is put this file in that case. Make sure that that case is only filled with this file, and so on. She was fairly interesting to talk to; she has this sense of humor that makes fun of the apocalypse itself. After the tasks I was assigned I went to my designated bunker which I coincidentally shared with both Emily and Eric. That night we shared a few tips about the apocalypse, I for the fact learned that mana and health potions do exist as drops and shop items. However, they mostly cost silver. I told them about the [SP Gem] and how you obtain a class, to become an official player. The night ended with these types of talks, we all slept like a bear afterwards. -Timeskip 5HRS- DING!
System Notice
Tree Peak High School has been turned into an [Imprisonment] dungeon! It would be impossible to get out unless the [Dungeon Boss] is defeated or a span of 2 weeks has passed. Sorry for the inconvinience and good luck! Due to the presence of unique class holders, the absence of the necessary seals, the population of above a thousand, and the [Mana Basin] underneath, the territory encompassed by the school has turned into a dungeon. Due to the presence of abundant weaponry the monsters had been custom fitted to be stronger than usual. Be noted that the monster spawned by the dungeon are not encompassed by the population count of the actual numbers of the outside world. Tree Peak High School dungeon has been named: [Beginner Dungeon of Grave Dwellers]. Advisable Level: 5.
Crap! Why the heck would I cause this! I was not even here for a day! The level isn¡¯t even low; it is 2 levels higher than mine. Maybe I could find someone with a gun and ask for their help? But the system said that the monsters have been custom fitted for fighting against guns right? Or is it just guns? To hell with this I¡¯d just wake up Emily and Eric first. ¡°Eric! Emily! Wake up! The school just turned into a dungeon! We need to get out of here fast!¡± ¡°¡±Huh?!¡±¡± came the two disheveled voice of my roommates. They were probably wondering what the heck is happening right now. ¡°The school just turned into a dungeon and the monsters are probably more effective against guns compared to the ones outside. We need to quickly get out of the school and probably rescue some people on the way.¡± The two were just starting to get fully conscious when they realized the full weight of the situation. They immediately panicked as I tried to calm them down so I could talk to them in a bearable level. ¡°Constantine, we need to get out! We are gonna die here! Level 5? That is simply insane for us who didn¡¯t even have yet killed our own monsters!¡± cried the startled lady who just fell down from her bed. ¡°Get your shit together Emily. We would get out of her alive we just need you to be perfectly sane and going. ¡®Kay? How about you Eric are you fine?¡± I asked as I kept my hands pressed at Emily¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I don¡¯t think I have any injuries, maybe just a bruise here and there but otherwise I think I¡¯m fine. Thanks for the concern, we should go to the house I¡¯m building first I have tools to make improvised weapons there.¡± He suggested with a hint of worry and fear in his voice. ¡°Then that would be our first priority, you both could at least hold weapons right? Here¡¯s the plan, we get to the house Eric is building, make weapons, equip you both, and get the hell out of here. I¡¯ll act as your guard; just make sure nothing sneaks up on us. We would also rescue anyone we could on the way, you fine with that?¡± Both confirmed their agreements by a nod and started taking anything that might prove useful in the bunker. In the end we set out with a rope and lock, a piece of wood, and my trusty [Cutlericious Butcher Knife]. A few minutes went by and we were already past our halfway milestone when we heard a cry of terror and a shriek of hunger. We streaked straight to the place where the sound was coming from. There we saw a teenage girl about my age, wearing a simple white tee and jeans. She was holding onto a piece of hollow block presumably broken by being smashed into the monster¡¯s head. Speaking of the monster, it was not that different from normal zombie. With a few patches of skin missing and chunks of meat falling to the ground, it really is no different from one until I saw its info.
Hunger-driven Corpse LV. 7 HP: 436/500 MP: 1/10
Those words made me stop in my tracks. Not only it was level 7 it also had a high amount of health, even if the girl already smashed its most vulnerable spot with a block. Thinking that I may be able to at least save the girl, I ran forward and swung down my knife with a mediocre force not wanting it to lodge to the corpse. The simple swing I did took out the remaining 36 HP till it hit 400. Obviously the corpse retaliated with fury. Doing something a corpse monster like him shouldn¡¯t, he did a noticeable jab followed by a kick and a whip of his claws. Those moves terrified me; it also hurt a lot by the way. The final attacks brought down my health to 42HP, a staggering half of my life. His combination made something happen to status now that I could see it, his MP now reached 0. Meaning that an attack of those kinds cost an MP at least. With the battle fury continuously increasing, I attacked him with [Retaliation], this one hitting him directly in the head. Inflicting the [Slowness] debuff on him. It took it down 379 of its HP a good sign for me; this freak isn¡¯t immune to knives. With only an 11 of its HP remaining it entered a mode that I haven¡¯t yet seen. Probably gone berserk I think. Its attacks became more vicious, fiercer, faster, and a hell lot scarier. Unfortunately for him, a single swipe to the head was all it took to take him down.
You will be awarded for slaying a/an <1> Hunger-driven Corpse LV.7 Rewards Received: ¡¤ Skill Book [Feeding Frenzy] ¡¤ Rotten Tooth ¡¤ 13 Copper Coins ¡¤ 168 XP
You have levelled up x2!
That one brought up my XP by a lot. Could have been an easier fight if someone had helped, I almost died! Speaking of help what happened to those two? As I turned around I saw nothing, on second thought I see both running as fast as they could to the direction we were from. Damn, those two just ran while I was fighting to death. A bit of help couldn¡¯t have hurt. Can¡¯t blame them, they were scared after all. Just as I was about to turn back to the girl I helped, I saw a figure jump out of a ditch to latch onto Emily. This caused Eric who was running beside her to stumble and fall to the ground. With my reflexes kicking in, I ran to their position faster than they did. I stabbed the [Zombiefied Human] to the death with my knife. This left me time to assess Emily. She was bleeding from her neck and would probably die soon if no medical attention is given. Her body also has some scratches from the zombie that tried to kill her. A few twitches were happening in her arm as I saw mana I think? It pulsated in her veins, which looked oddly purplish. ¡°Please¡­ kill me¡­ I feel something changing me¡­ from the inside¡­ ugh¡­ please¡­.¡± continued her begging as I tried to help her. She once again moaned and begged to be killed. Looking at her situation once more, she really looked like one of the undead already. The missing chunk on the side of her neck was really convincing to just do as she wishes. With a suppressed choke, I brought down my knife to her head finally killing her.
You will be awarded for slaying a/an <1> Emily Hearth LV.0 Rewards Received: ¡¤ Skill Book [Filing] ¡¤ Golden Necklace of Regret ¡¤ 1 Copper Coin ¡¤ 1XP ¡¤ Quest [Back to School]
Eric saw what I did and started screaming and shouting at me for being a murderer and killing Emily. Those were the final nails to coffin and I already needed to puke for what I did. ¡°Eric!¡± I shouted out to emphasize my point, ¡°I¡¯m not a fucking killer! She asked for it and I gave it to her! For fuck¡¯s sake she looked to be in so much pain, what are you gonna do, talk her into being fine?! Goddammit, you left me alone while I was fighting to death for the both of you yet talk shit about me! Fine! Leave! I don¡¯t fucking care about you anymore!¡± ¡°We could have done something about it! We- we could probably get a health potion or two to save her!¡± ¡°You fucking bastard don¡¯t you see what is happening?! Every kind of shit hit the fan and we couldn¡¯t do anything about it!¡± That ungrateful bastard! He¡¯s even got the nerves to talk to me like that after what I¡¯ve done for him! You ran as I tried to save her yet you spout this bullshit?! That conversation left a bad aftertaste in my mouth. Surely, Eric wouldn¡¯t last for an hour in here. What with all this monsters that could kill me in two full attacks, he¡¯d probably encounter something that would be his death. Now that the anger and battle fury has toned down, I began to feel my injuries. A huge gash in my arm, again, and a large bruising in my chest; I sat there waiting for my regeneration to put me back to full health. I checked my loot and status after I¡¯ve decided I¡¯ll be waiting for too long.
Rotten Tooth
This tooth could use some brushing. May be used for necromancy, witchcraft, and alchemy.
Skill Book [Feeding Frenzy]
By turning 75% of your satiety your strength, vitality, agility, and speed by 35%. During skill duration your intelligence and wisdom would drop by 70%. Duration:10s CD: 5Min
Skill Book [Filing]
This book grants the ability to instantaneously file and retrieve information perfectly from your mind. Speed of information retrieval is based on your mastery of the skill. Current Speed: 20sec CD:0s MP Cost: 5
Golden Necklace of Regret
A golden necklace formerly owned by Emily Hearth. This necklace has been blessed by a soul full of regrets, guilt, and fear. Effects: ¡¤ Halves the stats of someone who willingly puts it on. ¡¤ Gives the debuff [Times of Regret] to someone it has been forcefully put on.
Name: Constantine (Remnant) Riposte Class: Champion of Vengeance Level: 5 (3/200)
Stamina: 37/130 Health:42/110 Mana: 1476/1500
Titles Equipped: Remnant, Sole Survivor, Glitchbane, Mana Overloaded
STR:9 VIT:8 AGI:9
SPD:8 INT:10 WIS:9
CHR:2 LUK:9 STATPTS:25
MNAREG: 1/sec HPREG: 0.0016/sec STAREG: 0.016/sec
[Retaliation Beginner Lv.1 7.3%] [Book Comprehension Beginner Lv.6 75.6%] None
It seems I¡¯ve levelled up two times again, my stat points are being piled up to a quite huge number right now. Should I use some to raise my vitality? I need the regeneration after all might as well spend 5 of them into vitality. After spending 5 points into my vitality I checked my status again.
Name: Constantine (Remnant) Riposte Class: Champion of Vengeance Level: 5 (3/200)
Stamina: 37/180 Health:42/135 Mana: 1476/1500
Titles Equipped: Remnant, Sole Survivor, Glitchbane, Mana Overloaded
STR:9 VIT:13 AGI:9
SPD:8 INT:10 WIS:9
CHR:2 LUK:9 STATPTS:20
MNAREG: 1/sec HPREG: 0.0041/sec STAREG: 0.041/sec
[Retaliation Beginner Lv.1 7.3%] [Book Comprehension Beginner Lv.6 75.6%] None
Ahhhh¡­ I felt a whole lot better after that upgrade. The stats have immediate effect it seems. The experience points required to level up is starting to get steeper now and I¡¯m still at level 5 how much would I need when I reach the hundreds? Or is level 100 the level cap? And finally, the quest I¡¯ve got is suspicious. Isn¡¯t a quest supposed to be given by a person at least? Then why did the system handed it out to me just like that? I hope nothing big is supposed to happen here. Deciding to just damn it all, I opened the quest. ¡°Open Quest!¡± silence, okay I think that was the wrong way. ¡°Open Quest Log!¡± I shouted again hoping it would open up. Sadly it didn¡¯t. As I remembered the same thing that I did with they [Inventory], I thought of opening it, more like, willed it to open.
System Notice
Congratulations for opening up the [Quest Log]! The [Quest Log] is the list of quests you are currently doing. By accessing this system you have been given the ability to assign quests. Quests you assign may or may not have a reward, any reward failed to be given will cause the quest giver to be punished severely. There are two types of quests, a [System Quest] and a [Job Quest]. [System Quests] are given by the system itself and is usually rewarding. Meanwhile, a [Job Quest] is given by a person/group that has access to the system. Good luck, and don¡¯t die!
Quest Log
[Back to School] Objective: ¡¤ Rescue 750 or more people and kill 500 undead Or ¡¤ Kill 500 humans Rewards: ¡¤ 100 Gold Coins ¡¤ 50000XP ¡¤ ???This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡¤ (Reward depends on taken route)
The other objective drained me of life. Kill¡­ 500 humans? Would I be able to even do that? I just killed Emily yet the system is asking me to kill again? Is the fucking system itself kidding with me?! And from the objectives, it seems that it is even encouraging me to kill? A near-silent sob was heard. Not from [Weepy Zombies], but from the girl I tried to help. Finally behaving myself again, I set forth to helping the girl that I nearly forgot in her corner. Rushing back to the same spot I killed the [Hunger-driven Corpse], I saw her still in her spot, shaking. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Quickly followed up by, ¡°Do you need any help?¡± A sob was all the answer that I heard as an answer. After that answer from her I just tried my best to console her and coercing her into not crying. Few minutes passed and the final sob was heard, she could be talked to again. With a runny nose and red eyes she said, ¡°Huu¡­ Thank¡­hic¡­ you for saving me; I would have died if not for you¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it; I did something that everybody is supposed to do. I just helped after all, nothing big there.¡± I tried to liven up her mood with those positive words; at least they were positive for me. ¡°Anyways, we need to get out of here fast. Monsters would soon be crawling around here with all the shouting me and that ungrateful hypocrite did.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± was all she replied with. Another few of my precious minutes were spent trying to find an easily defensible place. In the end all I landed in was an enormous basement-bunker like place under a newly configured old stock room near the edge of the school grounds. Was this a bomb shelter? I lit a candle I found in a cabinet in the place with its matching lighter. These were probably left by the owner who is either already dead or stuck somewhere else in this huge school. With the light illuminating the whole place I saw everything around in here. There is a small window the size of a monitor just enough to let the light in by the door side. The cabinet I have beside me west of the door; plus an earlier tenant of the room somewhere in the middle. Did I already say he was huge, heavy, and undead? A savage howl originated from that hulking mass of dead flesh; it was posed as if a gorilla, presenting itself as a very strong opponent. The very sound instilled fear into me, confirmed by the system even.
You have been inflicted by [Fear of Corpse] debuff. Stats are temporarily halved and you will be stunned for 5 seconds. Due to the level difference, debuff has been activated to fullest power.
A groan was all I could do. I hopelessly watched as the lumbering giant walked in a gorilla-like manner towards my position. The timer ticked as the pale-skinned giant inched closer to me. 5 seconds, the giant still hasn¡¯t advance that much. 4 seconds, it is already moving at a considerable walking speed. 3 seconds, I could already feel the tremors generated by the weight of the monster even with the considerable size of the room. 2 seconds, I could hear it groaning already making the same sounds as any other undead. 1 second, it was already in front of me readying to raise its arms the size of a barrel. BLAG! The timer has already reached zero and I was making a mad dash to the door. A crater was all that was left were I was once was. The lumbering brute unleashed another cry, this one not the same as earlier but something of annoyance due to the escaping prey. I slammed the door as fast as I could once I reached it when I heard another sound coming from the same basement again. ¡°HELP!!¡± cried a distinct female sound, I nearly forgot her because of that roar. I need to go and help her but what about the brute? Could I even possibly kill it? Its health is probably in the thousands and I still haven¡¯t regenerated my health to max after the last fight. Another loud cry of help was heard and I decided to just go and save her. Before I went in though I saw a shimmer that caught my attention; the stock room held all kinds of goodies that we didn¡¯t manage to salvage due to rushing in straight to the basement. Another idiotic mistake of mine; which I¡¯d probably need to fix if I wanted to survive. The shimmer that caught my attention was actually an axe. Maybe left here by one of the previous janitor which was used for clearing out tree branches that fell from the huge mango trees the school have planted. I grabbed it and went back to that dark place again, illuminated by only a single candlelight that I hope hasn¡¯t died yet due to the situation. The girl isn¡¯t dead yet luckily. But she is currently in a corner again, she likes corners doesn¡¯t she? The dead brute is in the middle again walking forward in a leisurely pace. I finally managed to focus enough to try and see the giant¡¯s status.
Gargantuan Bloke + LV.15 HP: 1375/1375 MP: 0/5
Why do I meet all monsters who seemed to be always several leagues ahead of me? My luck was high as stated by the system even before the system appeared. Maybe that was just dumb luck factored in too, so it became that high. A plus symbol besides its name isn¡¯t probably a positive sign. As I could guess it probably signifies it as a rare monster, a miniboss, or even the boss itself. Anyway, it probably is a bad omen. I charged the now identified [Gargantuan Bloke +] with my axe posed above my head. The brute was slow in everything it did so I was able to pitch in a [Retaliation] to its head before it was even able to whack me with its giant arms. The strongest attack I have hit its head directly. However the damage was not that high compared to his health. It only took out a measly 246 of its HP, that was high for other undeads but not for him it seems. The gargantuan was already facing me at this point and I already had to backpedal to avoid being smashed. Again, the ground shook with the impact of his arms. Making me nearly lose my balance and stumble to the ground. It started to walk towards me in its leisure walking pace, filling me with dread as it imposed the aura of a true murderer. It stopped halfway through, and then punched its arm to the ground so hard I thought the ceiling may collapse. It took a chunk of the floor! Why the heck do I feel that he is about to throw that at me? Of course he does, and I try my best to avoid being a mere decoration in the wall. The cooldown for [Retaliation] was already up but I still need a little more kick to my attacks¡­ Right! The [Feeding Frenzy] skill book I got! How could I forget about it, which would probably increase my attack, but would cause me to become an idiot? I opened up my inventory and took out the skill while keeping an eye on big guy. I willed myself to learn the skill book hoping for the [Book Comprehension] skill I got to study it for me. Successfully the confirmation screen popped up again.
Do you wish to study [Feeding Frenzy] with the [Book Comprehension]? Yes/No
I answered yes and the book vanished into nothingness the same as what happened earlier. Another window popped up in front of me.
You have learned the skill [Feeding Frenzy]!
[Feeding Frenzy] Active CD:5Mins By turning 75% of your maximum satiety into energy, your strength, speed, and vitality would increase by 35% for 10 seconds. Your intelligence and wisdom will drop by 70% during skill duration.
There, the extra kick I¡¯ve been waiting for. But would the satiety drop make me really hungry? Plus the temporary debuff of idiocy, that¡¯s what I would call it, cause me to become an idiot? I hope so because that isn¡¯t gonna help fighting that gia- BLAG Another piece of the floor smashed the nearby wall, why isn¡¯t the place collapsing yet? As I was wondering on how an underground room like this is strong enough to withstand that damage, the giant was readying its fists too take another chunk of the floor. Using the opportunity of the idiot raising its arms, I charged to his front and activated [Feeding Frenzy] and felt my strength and speed rise considerably but I felt that I forgot some memories too. Shrugging of the strange feeling of memory loss, I attacked with a [Retaliation] hoping to damage the beast. The strike connected, this time to its face, it even caused him to have the debuff [Slow Attack]. It caused the beast to drop the boulder it was holding a few centimeters from my back. The attacked surely damaged him for good if not kill him. The idiotic hope that he was dead was immediately removed, however. The box signifying its health flashed and showed that it still got 377 HP. The beast moved with a faster pace this time. It swung its arms towards me; my only chance of blocking it is by accepting the damage with my axe. I fortunately put the axe in front of me in the nick of time. Sadly, that isn¡¯t enough to block the whole blunt impact. The metal handle of the axe snapped, making me hold two pieces. I flew back across the room and smashed into a wall. It hurts a lot, but I didn¡¯t die. Thanks to [Feeding Frenzy] still active, my vitality is a whole lot a higher than normal so it didn¡¯t kill me. The bloke dashed towards me in a jogging speed. It looks like I¡¯m about to really die. I can¡¯t walk yet; my arms are a bit numb from the impact. Sigh¡­ Well, looks like this is my limit. At least I got the chance to see this brand new world. PLONK Huh? What is that? Isn¡¯t that the girl? Why does it look like she just threw something? And why is the bloke burning? Holy shit! The bloke is burning! She must have thrown the candle! I need to get out of here! Struggling with all my effort, I was able to stand. I limped to the left to avoid the giant trashing about. Thinking of something I could use to fight it, I remembered that I am still holding the broken axe. With all the strength my arm could produce from its injured state, I threw the edged end with [Retaliation]. I don¡¯t know what miracle even happened but it lodged on the brute¡¯s side. Gouging a huge part of his huge torso and also inflicted [Cleansed]; this caused the damage of 1% HP/sec plus reduced speed. The giant was down in less than 20 seconds due to the fire and the damage [Cleansed] caused. Another new notification would probably pop up from this but I really need to sleep, I passed out after those thoughts not even able to see the notification that popped up. -Timeskip Unknown Time- I woke up to a comfortable feeling, like I was sleeping in a pillow but this one¡¯s a bit warm. Fresh from the laundry maybe, well anyways what could be the breakfast today? An omelet with vegetables, yeah that will be the breakfast for today. After those thoughts, I tried to stand up and open my eyes, just doing that made my body hurt. Suddenly, I remembered what just happened. I remembered that I fought that mountain and miraculously won. But that still leaves the question, what am I sleeping on? As I flicked my head about I finally understood why it was warm. I was sleeping on a girls lap¡­ Holy shit! I¡¯m sleeping on a girl¡¯s lap! Ughh, my body still hurts. A voice rang out, obviously concerned about my groan. ¡°Mister, are you okay? You passed out after that fight so I let you rest on my lap first. You slept for at least 2 hours; the sun is already up right now.¡± ¡°Thanks¡­ the bloke is already dead right? Did anything else happen after it died?¡± I asked the girl worrying if I might need to fight again. ¡°The giant is already dead you would be able to smell its body even from here. And yes, something did happen. A glowing crystal suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, and I became initiated to the system after I helped you kill it. Thank you for saving my life by the way, my name is Aria.¡± ¡°Morning Aria, I¡¯m Constantine. Please help me sit.¡± She helped me sit up after that, a disappointing thing I might say. Her lap was a comfortable place to sleep on. Leaving my delusional dream aside, I tried to see if could open up the pop-up windows that I didn¡¯t see.
You will be awarded for slaying a/an <1> Gargantuan Bloke + LV.15 Rewards Received: ¡¤ Skill Book [Bulwark] ¡¤ Dead Man¡¯s Demi Gauntlet ¡¤ 1 Gold Coin ¡¤ 5 Small Health Potion ¡¤ 2371 XP ¡¤ Access to: [Novice Champions¡¯ Shop] ¡¤ Access to: [Elite Auction] ¡¤ Control of [Safe Zone]
System Notice
For killing an elite-class monster and having a unique class, you have been granted access to [Elite Auction]. The [Elite Auction] is a pocket dimension that connects multiple universes; there you may sell your goods or drops from monsters you have defeated. The [Elite Auction] is open only one day every three months and can only be entered while not in combat. Time till next opening:86 Days
System Notice
Congratulations for taking control of a safe zone. This is done by slaying the elite-class monster guarding the area. As the current owner you may choose who you would let to enter or evict. Your ownership may be challenged in a duel either by one-on-one or by group battle. Losing a siege battle for the safe zone would cause the safe zone to be destroyed. A safe zone is an area where monsters would not spawn. Safe zones will also double the regeneration rates of someone inside.
System Notice
Congratulations for unlocking a [Special Store]. Here you may use stat points to buy items not usually sold in common shops. [Special Stores] are usually guarded by elite variations of normal creatures so beware. Please note that [Special Stores] only appear in a place heavily controlled by the system, such as a dungeon.
You have levelled up x4!
That was a large boost to my XP, 4 level ups were nice for me. And finally! I have unlocked the shop I¡¯ve been waiting for, the one where you spend stat points to buy something. I checked my status and the loot by routine.
Name: Constantine (Remnant) Riposte Class: Champion of Vengeance Level: 9 (649/750)
Stamina: 210/210 Health:112/150 Mana: 1500/1500
Titles Equipped: Remnant, Sole Survivor, Glitchbane, Mana Overloaded
STR:10 VIT:16 AGI:10
SPD:8 INT:10 WIS:9
CHR:2 LUK:9 STATPTS:40
MNAREG: 1/sec HPREG: 0.0056/sec STAREG: 0.056/sec
[Retaliation Beginner Lv.1 16.9%] [Feeding Frenzy Beginner Lv.1 4.6%] [Book Comprehension Beginner Lv.6 78.7%] None
Skill Book [Bulwark]
By using 100 Stamina and 500 Mana your defense would increase by 35% for 30sec. Effects would be increased based on the mastery of skill. Duration: 30Sec. CD: 1Min.
Dead Man¡¯s Demi Gauntlet
Damage:0-40 Durability: 206/250 A demi gauntlet made of the mithion alloy, 5% mithril and 95% iron. This gauntlet has been inside the arms of an elite-class undead monster for a long time. The mana residing in the monster¡¯s body has been continuously corrupting the gauntlet, due to the high mana compatibility of mithion, due to this it gained a few new effects. Effects: ¡¤ [Corrupted Aura]: Prevents neutral undead from attacking you unless they were provoked. Steals mana from undead hostiles at the rate 0.50Mana/sec around 5Meters.
Small Health Potion
A small health potion of average effect. It heals 50HP per bottle.
The descriptions left me speechless, probably even more so than the store unlocked. If I remember correctly, mithril is a very rare metal in fantasy. Even if mixed with something as common as iron it would probably still be stronger than most. Its description even said so. Of course, I also learned the skill book. Additional defense wouldn¡¯t hurt me. I probably looked crazy since Aria is looking at me with a stupefied look on her face. I couldn¡¯t help it; these items were probably going to save my life at some point. That kind of feeling washing over you is uncontrollable. I explained to her why I looked like that, this seemed to earn a comprehending look from her. She even went as far as asking if she could stay with me. She saw the notice relating to me being this place¡¯s owner; she said something along the lines that she was told to ask permission from the owner to stay. Which in this case the owner was me. Obviously I answered yes, rationally speaking; it would be a mistake of mine to let her leave without even being able to be of use to me. Saving her life, not once but twice, was a very hard job especially if you had to fight monsters almost twice your level. It looks like she have deducted that already and would try her best to be seen as useful, based on how she moves and even speaks. ¡°Umm, why don¡¯t you,¡± she stopped for a moment and then continued, ¡°I mean we check the shop over there?¡± ¡°Sure, we don¡¯t have anything to do anyway,¡± I tried to think if she got anything remotely close to a reward from the help she gave me in killing the bloke ¡°Did you get anything from the bloke? You should have probably gotten a reward from that kill.¡± ¡°Yeah, I got 50 silver coins, 572 XP, an [SP Gem #0432219454], and finally a [Damned Bastard Sword]. It says here that I levelled up 5 times too.¡± She got nothing but a share of what I got but that level up really was nice. I could have used something like that to boost mine when I was starting yet; never mind, getting upset at something like that wouldn¡¯t get me anywhere productive. ¡°Could I have those coins? I really have a freaking good guess that we would need that to buy something even remotely close to useful.¡± She readily agreed with what I have told. Living here is more important to her rather than a few silver coins, that¡¯s where she is wrong. Those few coins could buy her some very useful items from a shop even if not these one. But I couldn¡¯t really blame her on that, I¡¯d be scared to if I have to fend for myself out there with nothing but a few coins. ¡°Use that [SP Gem] you have. Tell me what you would get.¡± She proceeded as my orders. The [SP Gem] flashed into multitude of colors again and it was gone. I opened my mouth when something unexpected happen.
Aria Winston wishes to show you her Class and Skill Screen Do you accept? Yes/No
Sharing like that was even possible? It really is starting to sound a like a full-blown game to me. Nevertheless, I accepted it.
[Firebug Sustenance] [Firebug Sustenance] is a magic-support class mainly suited for battle assistance. [Firebug Sustenance] class-wielders employ a diverse collection of skills mainly related to fire that focus on giving aid to allies during and after battle situations.
[Minor Phoenix Flames] Active CD: 1S Using 100Mana you are able to heal your allies in 1Meter radius for 50HP it also clears the mind of the intended target depending on the situation intensity. This skill damages undead for 20HP and debuffs them with [Cinder Belle] if they are within the spell radius.
A fire-related support class due to her helping me with fire; the system is very easy to predict in these parts but why did mine turn out like that? Vengeance? In what way did I kill for venge¨C
|[Sealed Fate] Activated|
Huh? Did something happen? Anyways, we walked towards the center where the crystal was located. I¡¯ve seen the extensive details dawning on it once were close. It was full of intricate patterns, both straight and curve lines were present. The said lines also change every few or so seconds with even a different color. I stretched out my arm to try and trace the patterns when a new screen popped up and startled me.
Welcome to [Novice Champions¡¯ Shop] To buy simply think of purchasing the selected item and any system-acknowledged currency would be deducted from your total holdings. Enjoy Shopping!
Large Overdrive Health Potion (1 Gold) Large Overdrive Mana Potion (1Gold) Scroll of Home Portal (50 Silver)
Skill Book [Sustained Antagonism] (10 Status Points) Skill Book [Unrelenting Warrior] (10 Status Points) Skill Book [Blood Debt] (10 Status Points)
Armor of Sovereign Retribution (50 Status Points) Expeditious Boots of Mental Sluggishness (10 Copper Coins) Keroth¡¯s Tome (50 Status Points)
Scroll of Hopeful Reunification (1 Gold) Medium Health Potion ( 5 Silver) Medium Mana Potion (5 Silver)
Coppard Barricade (1 Gold) Food Provision 1Person (5 Copper) Bag of Great Stowing (1 Gold)
Bloodied Broadsword (50 Silver) Flannel¡¯s Lost Legacy (1 Gold)
The list was underwhelming at first seeing it was so small. The prices got me to change my mind very quick, however. The prices were above the roof, both the book and the armor. 50Stat points and above is very expensive! Does that mean I¡¯d have to spend 10 levels without spending any stat is as much as worth as those things?! This does really suck, seeing those exorbitant prices would deter anyone from buying anything. Keep note too that this is nothing but the novice version. How much more would the elite one cost?! As I was ranting curses in my mind directed towards the system, Aria patted my arm asking for something. ¡°I have a problem,¡± she said. ¡°The system says that I would not be able to access this shop. Does that mean anything?¡± ¡°Nah, nothing at all,¡± I paused trying to find a better word, ¡°this shop is exclusively for the classes with something related to being a champion.¡± She stopped questioning after that. I used the silence she gave me to think of a better choice on what to do. Would I spend immediately for the instant boost or invest for the armor later on? That is quite a hard choice, but thinking over it again, living for today would give you a chance to live for tomorrow right? Proceeding just to do it, I thought of purchasing the skill book [Blood Debt]. If this is what I¡¯m thinking of as a DOT or buff for me then this would work well. The skill book appeared in my inventory, a system message even notifying me about it and saying thank you about purchasing the item. I willed it to be inspected while inside my inventory along with the new sword I bought. What I got was something even better than I expected.
Skill Book [Blood Debt]
At the rate of 5Mana:1HP per second you could heal yourself by stealing blood from your surroundings. For each point of life you heal, 50ml of blood is lost from your opponent. Duration: Indefinite CD: 0s
Flannel¡¯s Lost Legacy
Damage: 0-75 Durability: 17/100 The prized sword of Unvirtuous Flannel, it was sold by him a few moments from his death. The sword was infused with Flannel¡¯s soul through the continuous use of soul bond. Some effects are locked due to requirements. Effects: [Soulbound]: This item could be recalled by the user from any point in 1000 mile radius once a day. Any unauthorized attempts to wield the sword would shock the soul of the said person. This item cannot be stolen by any means. [Ravenous Chef]: The sword could be repaired using soul essence. [Avaricious Merchant]: By putting coins into the hilt, the sword would grant its user increased speed. The higher value, the better. [LOCKED] [LOCKED] [LOCKED] [LOCKED] [LOCKED]
The skill was basically a skill that heals me for the damage I cause to my opponents, a template spell already. Very useful indeed, but the cost would deter anyone possibly trying to use it, if that person was not me. As of now I was pretty sure I have a very high amount of mana. Near the end of my contemplation she asked how much mana I have, I answered truthfully; confused why she would even think of asking that. My confusion was quickly cleared up as she answered when she showed a look of surprise and told me that she only has 200Mana, enough for a two uses of her spell. The sword was a big catch too. It¡¯s giving me the feeling that it is very strong later on, especially when I unlock all those effects. Titles do make up a portion of a person¡¯s fighting power. A heavily correct conclusion I got from what she said. Now that I think about it, those titles were really overpowered, but well, why bother when they were very useful. It¡¯s not like there were no drawbacks. The permanency of my mana regeneration was very sad. I could no longer spam fireballs in battle of resilience like they were made from thin air as I imagined. Hopefully, that could be changed guessing from the description. The only thing I would be able to do in the near future where everyone has an insane amount of mana regeneration is to spam few spells every time my mana gets full enough to attack. Not that bad, I might say so. But we need to be done with what we already have; no use in crying over spilled milk. I proceeded to buy 6 Food provisions which cost me 30 Coppers. The purchase lowered my current money to 49 Silver 91 Coppers. I gave three food provisions to Aria and kept the other three to myself. She quickly opened up the surprisingly Styrofoam food holder completed with plastic utensils inside, and on a side note, a colorless drink that would taste anything we like as long we have already tasted it, in a Styrofoam cup , and started to eat. And on a side note, the viand was the undying birthday party food, fried chicken. ¡°You know,¡± she stopped to swallow the food inside her mouth, ¡°this apocalypse is really tiring. You¡¯d have to ready to be ready to fight, run, and kill at a moment¡¯s notice. I already miss my old boring life¡­¡± ¡°I agree with you on that, but shit already hit the fan, there¡¯s nothing we could do except survive and possibly save a few.¡± I told her my only known goal as of now, not inspiring but it will do for now. She grew silent after what I said; only opting to continue her meal. Now that she said that, it made me contemplate of my real goal. I really could save a few people as I am now; the problem is that if I save them would they be able to survive afterwards? Damn, trying to save all of the people I could wouldn¡¯t do good. Maybe saving a lot but not all? No, what about the others I couldn¡¯t save? This situation frustrates me; all this power I currently have and I couldn¡¯t even save anybody except for her. What would happen to me by the end of this apocalypse? After our meals I told her that we should take anything remotely close to useful from the stock room above. We got a few hammers, different kinds of saw, a sledgehammer, and many more others. Among them was a list long of materials like wood in different sizes and plastic chairs similar to the ones found in classrooms. The most I was thankful for however were the mattresses we found. They were a bit old and dusty with a few bite marks here and there but they were good; probably from old beds from the school clinic. We arranged the beds, which thankfully fit the door, to the far end of the room. The patches on the ground caused by giant were covered using some plywood lying around. The hole in the walls were a tad bit harder to fix, we had to use some huge nails we found to plant the plywood into the wall. Another few hours were spent trying to fortify the place. It was almost noon when we were done; a makeshift barricade was placed to the door leading to the basement. We also arranged the bigger furniture to be easily movable to block the doorway should anything unforetold happen. Waving through all those mess was a very difficult job; but that cleaning at least gave as a bit of semblance to how our past lives. We stopped to take our lunch and talked for a while on how we would proceed now that we¡¯re done with arranging stuffs. It was set that we would head out after resting for an hour, to look for survivors. We just finished our meal when a new notification popped up.
3 Unknown/Unauthorized Personnel Wishes to enter the safe house Would you like to grant them access? Yes/No
Looks like our first visitors have turned up; better check them out whether they could be acceptable or all of them are assholes. A/N: 7979 Words, maybe... Twice the words of the previous chapter; hope that nothing went wrong with this one, writing out this one while clipping errors both from the system and the story itself is very hard. Thankfully, I¡¯ve got a whole lot better at writing from this experience. For those who are really wondering about why the stats turned out like that for Constantine, it will be explained in the next chapter. Remember, Constantine does not have the same status as other due to titles.
Name: Constantine (Remnant) Riposte Class: Champion of Vengeance Level: 9 (649/750)
Stamina: 210/210 Health:112/150 Mana: 1500/1500
Titles Equipped: Remnant, Sole Survivor, Glitchbane, Mana Overloaded
STR:10 VIT:16 AGI:10
SPD:8 INT:10 WIS:9
CHR:2 LUK:9 STATPTS:40
MNAREG: 1/sec HPREG: 0.0056/sec STAREG: 0.056/sec
[Retaliation Beginner Lv.1 16.9%] [Feeding Frenzy Beginner Lv.1 4.6%] [Blood Debt Beginner Lv.1 0.0%] [Bulwark Beginner Lv.1 0.0%] [Book Comprehension Beginner Lv.6 78.7%] None
Currency: 49 Silver 91 Copper Chapter 3- [A New Home and New Tenants] Dealing with living people is undoubtedly more complicated than dealing with the dead ones, so that¡¯s why I don¡¯t talk to strangers so much. I usually have to sort out lots of things; it¡¯s pretty darn irritating. Chapter 3- A New Home and New Tenants The knocking sound didn¡¯t stop, they were probably trying to pry open the barricades we¡¯ve put on this side of the door. Idiots; that much sound would cause zombies to swarm all over the place, haven¡¯t they thought about it? ¡°Whoever you are on the other side stop knocking; the zombies outside would hear you.¡± I finally snapped when I realized their idiocy wouldn¡¯t stop. Unsurprisingly voices rang out from the inside. ¡°See,¡± a distinguishable female voice said, ¡°someone¡¯s definitely in here, I told you!¡± ¡°Yes, yes,¡± a gruff male voice replied, ¡°now shut up and remember what they said, ¡®whoever you are on the other side stop knocking; the zombies outside would hear you.¡¯ Loud noise attracts monsters and monsters mean death.¡± ¡°Oh come on man,¡± a shrill male voice reprimanded, ¡°you were the one knocking the shit out of the barricade; don¡¯t blame her for being excited.¡± I climbed up the stair and looked through a small crack we¡¯ve put on top of the door to see someone outside. The group is composed of, as I have guessed, one female and two males. The female has a small dagger like object slung on her waist while she wore something that oddly looked like a police tactical suit. One of the males, the larger one with the heavy voice was holding a silver giant Warhammer with intricate designs. And lastly, the scrawny man was holding something that looks like a branch while he himself was outfitted with a robe usually seen worn by mages in games, except that this one was cut open in the lower limb properly for easier movement. They don¡¯t look like someone who would mess you up, if you exclude their deadly-looking weapons. I called out to them with an easy going tone. ¡°Hey guys, congratulations for surviving the night. I¡¯d like to really help you all but barging in here with those weapons doesn¡¯t look so friendly.¡± At my words they immediately went into formation. They probably thought I¡¯m being hostile to them. Can¡¯t blame them, those words weren¡¯t too welcoming for me either. ¡°Hello to whoever you are in there, we would just like to take refuge in this place. We have noticed how the area seems newly constructed so we thought we could rest here.¡± Started the female, seems like they are genuine, but why the weapons though? I just asked a dumb question, didn¡¯t I? ¡°Okay I get it that you went out there using weapons then went here using weapons, but why here? Couldn¡¯t you have found a more easily defendable base? I mean, this was turned into a military camp after all.¡± I answered them, more like, tried to shoo them away. ¡°Please, we¡¯re really tired and need the rest; just let us in and we would sort it out inside; the prospect of the undead biting you while negotiating is quite high nowadays.¡± Sigh¡­ this is why I hate dealing with people. I always cave in in the end. I open the door slowly expecting a demolishing strike from the giant Warhammer or a knife to the face but nothing came. ¡°Eh?¡± Mr. Scrawny started, ¡°We were talking to a kid all along?¡± Curse you scrawny guy, I¡¯m 16. Definitely not a kid, you¡¯re lucky I¡¯m tired. A brief flash of moments of me trashing the guy appeared but I pushed it down, no use in fighting over a petty insult. ¡°I¡¯m sixteen, that¡¯s definitely not a kid, but I admit I¡¯m not an adult yet,¡± I stopped and gestured to the stairs leading down, ¡°you sure not going inside? Coz I could already hear some growls and maybe you¡¯d like to meet your new friends?¡± ¡°Sure thing kid, thanks for helping us out. We really need a secure place to stay at.¡± Mr. Scrawny said in appreciation, scratch that, mock appreciation. The trio entered our measly shelter, our giant measly shelter. The three pretty damned look impressed at our barricades and the sheer size of the area. Big guy didn¡¯t even stop himself from getting wide-eyed at our place. ¡°You were lucky to have found this,¡± she stopped and then looked and then asked again, ¡°do you know who reinforced the place?¡± ¡°Yes I know we are lucky, and yes, because we did it ourselves just this morning.¡± I replied truthfully, nothing critical from the details I told. My reply stunned the three. Expecting kids to build something this acceptable wasn¡¯t anything in their list after all, especially during these days. One word truly struck them however; ourselves. This would mean that I am not alone; I don¡¯t know whether they were contemplating to just kill me there or they were just actually surprised. I snapped my fingers to get them out of their shocked stupors and led them down the stairs. There they saw Aria arranging some furniture so that the place would look acceptable. In turn, Aria saw us and waved; new guests were what she was wanting all this time. ¡°Ok ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to our humble abode. An underground bunker of an old stockroom, turned into a shelter. Please feel free to stay and avoid being a problem, which would get you evicted.¡± I said to them with a wide grin plastered on my face. There was only a single lady though; maybe I should have said something much better? -Timeskip 1 Hour- It is already past noon, the last hour or so was used on interrogating the three new members of the house. I learned that these three were together in a bunker just like how Emily, Eric, and I are in a single bunker. David Espinosa, the huge guy with a hammer, was a foreman of a bunker being constructed. Henry Bartolome, the mage guy, was a filing officer just like Emily. And lastly the woman, Alistair Diaz, she is one of the actual authorities before apocalypse, specifically a cop. As seen in their choice of clothing, David is the party¡¯s tank. They said he acquired a [Stalwart Brute Blood Concentrate] which increased your defense and health and allowed you to consciously reduce your pain receptors. Alistair is the hit-and-run of the group; she uses a pair of daggers, one of which is hidden, as main weapons she procured from an antique store dealing with bladed artifacts. She said the weapons have been turned into something magical by a skill she uses; just like my knife. And lastly, Henry; he was sort of a rogue-mage hybrid. He uses mainly a staff but focuses on moving and continuous targeting. His firepower is not lacking, yet it is not that strong. The group doesn¡¯t have any food item on them except for the single pack of biscuit they¡¯ve been sharing all day long from the morning. I offered to buy food for them, using their money of course. The group was skeptical with offer thinking that I¡¯d just steal from them. I placated them with me saying that I only need 18 coppers so they gave in in the end, the hunger was very encouraging. I bought from the crystal shop, which earned me a whole slew of curious gazes. I brought the meals to their places and gave them a smile; I hope this leaves a nice impression. Just as I set down the Food Holder the three were already upon it. Skipping breakfast doesn¡¯t make you that hungry right? Maybe fighting zombies all the way to your meal is the taxing one; nevertheless, they were done in a minute or two. ¡°Whew,¡± Henry stopped to burp, ¡°that hit the spot, thanks for the meal kid.¡± ¡°Thank you for the hospitality.¡± Replied Alistair and David replied in unison. ¡°Ok, now that we are done with eating,¡± I stopped to look at them and see if someone¡¯s not paying attention, ¡°I would like to ask you three for permission to file your statuses as of now. I need it to let you three stay here even when I¡¯m gone.¡± This was something I found out about earlier. The [Resident Catalogue] system; it lets you get the statuses of the people in your controlled [Safe Zone]. Assigning them to be allowed to stay here needs their files; speaking of files maybe I should already learn the [Filing] skill book I got from Emily. I¡¯ve already marked Aria earlier, as free to stay once I¡¯ve found out about it. The three answered yes to the question that popped up in form of a system message. I brought up their statuses for me to see.
Name: David Espinosa Class: Draftsman Hammerer Level: 7 (45/450)
Stamina: 350/350 Health:232 /275 Mana: 50/50
Titles Equipped: Brute Blooded
STR: 25 VIT:25 AGI: 10
SPD: 6 INT:5 WIS: 11
CHR: 3 LUK: 3 STATPTS: 9
MNAREG: 0.3/sec HPREG: 0.0076 STAREG: 0.076
Name: Carlos Lancer Class: 9th Rank Mind Mage Level: 7 ( 64/450)
Stamina: 100/100 Health: 68/100 Mana: 280/280
Titles Equipped: Low Mage, Wrongdoing Advocate
STR: 7 VIT: 5 AGI:8
SPD: 9 INT: 23 WIS: 23
CHR: 5 LUK: 5 STATPTS: 0
MNAREG: 0.8/sec HPREG: 0.0001 STAREG: 0.001
Name: Alistair Diaz Class: Assassin Initiate Level: 7 (97 /450)
Stamina:140 /140 Health: 120/120 Mana: 140/140
Titles Equipped: Novice Assassin
STR: 10 VIT: 9 AGI: 22
SPD: 21 INT: 9 WIS: 11
CHR: 8 LUK: 5 STATPTS: 0
MNAREG: 0.32 HPREG: 0.0021 STAREG: 0.021
There¡¯s one thing I noticed from the [Statuses]. It didn¡¯t seem to show me all of their skills. Eve then, it would still probably a big help for me in weeding out the bad crop among all my residents. Their stats were very high, probably because they spent their stat points unlike I did. Maybe I should already start spending mine; wait, who is Carlos? Let¡¯s see dark brown skin with tatoos all over his body and scars on his cheek, a [Wrongdoing Advocate] title¡­ I don¡¯t know who he is, but I don¡¯t want him here. Highly likely that he is a criminal, I mean, who wouldn''tsuspect him? So that¡¯s why he was changing his name, to hide that he is in fact a criminal. I better evict him before he starts making any trouble. With no second thoughts, I banned Henry, or better yet, Carlos access from the safe zone. But why was he here? Wouldn¡¯t he be better off in an island somewhere only his lackeys know? Better yet, how was he able to make people, an officer to boot, dismiss him as a criminal? Hmm, [9th Rank Mind Mage], that class has probably something that would affect perception, that¡¯s only based on my gaming references of course. ¡°Hey! Why did you do that? Henry is our teammate!¡± Unsurprisingly, the first one to speak up was Officer Diaz. ¡°Well, if you want you could have stayed with that criminal. Didn¡¯t you know he was a criminal?¡± I spoke to her in a polite, read as sarcastic, manner. ¡°What the,¡± David was now the one to speak up, ¡°heck are you talking about? A criminal really? You got pissed so you called him that?¡± ¡°Well if you don¡¯t believe me,¡± I tried to show them his status just like what Aria did, ¡°See? You still don¡¯t believe me? He was probably messing with your perception since he was a [Mind Mage]; the class probably has something that would make you notice him as a criminal, less. And by the way, I¡¯m not pissed. Well, maybe just a little bit.¡± The two were speechless at what they saw. I really was speaking the truth and not some bullshit as they thought. It was David who apologized first, followed quickly by Alistair, I accepted them of course. Profanities rang out upstairs, most likely from Carlos; impeding death by the undead doesn¡¯t scare him at least. I admire him, he¡¯s brave. ¡°You fucker, you are gonna regret what you did to me! Remember that I would mess you up so good your mother wouldn¡¯t even recognize you.¡± More cusses were spat out by the voice upstairs.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Tough luck dude, you probably wouldn¡¯t even survive out there alone. Fuckin, assholes; it was the Eric situation again. Saving one less asshole is a fair game to me; you were just very unlucky to be one of them. ¡°Now that the bullshit is organized, sorry for the language, we could set you up guys here. As I said don¡¯t do anything that would get you evicted. Second, I have planned to go out and search the whole area again for any survivors. And lastly, stay alive.¡± ¡°Okay kiddo,¡± said Alistair, ¡°but shouldn¡¯t I be making the shots? I¡¯m the one in the uniform after all.¡± ¡°Yes I know that I may sound out of place to be ordering you,¡± I pointed out to her, ¡°an officer. But I am an orphan so I know how to call the shots too, if you don¡¯t know, it was me and Aria who took down the [Gargantuan Bloke +], who was by the way an elite level 15 monster, guarding the place. Anymore questions?¡± ¡°Fine then mister,¡± Alistair spoke with a hint of amusement and sarcasm, ¡°when do we start searching?¡± ¡°If you want we could start right now, I¡¯ll just set the safe zone to a lockdown.¡± Lockdown was another nifty feature of a safe zone; it will block any entry and exit unless I lift it. Of course, there are skills that bypass this lock but those were found higher up in the skill hierarchy. ¡°Why don¡¯t we party up first?¡± A question from David that hit my like a ton of bricks; of course, a game-themed apocalypse would have a party system. Why didn¡¯t I think of it earlier? ¡°How?¡± I asked, befuddled on how to do it. I have vague guesses, based on the stories that I¡¯ve read, but I¡¯ve decided to just keep silent about it. ¡°What?¡± Alistair asked in slightly confused tone. She pointed at Aria from where she is and looked back at me. ¡°I thought you two are already in a party, guess I was wrong.¡± ¡°Well anyways, you just need to think of being in a group with the said person and think or say ¡®Party¡¯. That¡¯s the most of it.¡± Alistair answered me, using a knowing tone. I was dumbstruck by the answer, it was the same as what I usually read and I haven¡¯t tried it yet? Such idiocy of mine¡­ I questioned them a few more times. A [Party] is encompassed within the [Party System]. A [Party] is basically a group of people who banded to gain benefits from each other. It seems that there are some skills that work exclusively when one is a party. Other features such as the ability to see the Mana, Health, and Stamina of a party member is also included. Lastly, there was a limit to a party, increasable with a skill but it is usually set at 8 members. We head out a few minutes later after waiting for Carlos¡¯ voice to disappear. Of course, we partied up first. The first one to barge out was David; sounds of the undead assaulted our ears. In an instant his Warhammer was whipped out and already smashing filthy heads left and right. It was a hellish display of how much force would a giant hammer cause to the brain. I was the next to showcase my worth. With my coin powered sword I lashed out a huge swing to reach at least three undead, of course, it was with [Retaliation]. Since undead are mostly hostile at the living, the [Retaliation] worked incredibly good. Of the 10 undead remaining from the previous 13, 7 were only still standing. The three that I slashed were now crawling on the ground, missing their lower halves. A sudden flash appeared just after the dismemberment of the undead and another three were down to ground. It seems that Officer Diaz has made her move, which makes me wonder though, how could she be so good at moving like that? The ten remaining undead growled from the death of their comrades¡­ I think? Anyways, it looks like they were angered with we have done, and now all of them lunges at us with great speeds. David was clawed and bitten by at least 4 zombies; he thankfully managed to avoid any more injuries that would be hard to treat. Our opening was much better than our follow-up attacks. We started to get scratched in our arms after the zombies berserked, Officer Diaz was starting to run more swiftly this time as well. As I was doing my best to dodge all of the undead pouncing at me, a strange zombie suddenly appeared and hugged me from my back. This scared the shit out of me, more than the zombies in front of me. You may ask why? Well, first of all, its foot was planted on the ground. Take note, that was literal not figurative. Second, is that its arms were way longer and stronger than the regular Z¡¯s. And lastly, it was fucking preventing me from dodging the zombie coming straight at me! I started to scream as I could see my murderer coming straight at me, the zombie behind isn¡¯t making a snack out of me yet so he isn¡¯t counted. All I was able to hear save for my own scream was the sound of my flesh being torn off from my shoulders. It was then that Aria decided to act; she released a [Minor Phoenix Flame] she was holding. That one move gave me 3 or so seconds to think in my normal state, I immediately activated [Blood Debt], and felt myself getting better from the healing I¡¯m receiving from the skill. Somehow, the skill was able to affect the undead surrounding me, the one hugging me became sluggish and the one biting me gradually lost its biting force. That didn¡¯t come without a cost though, my previously 1400Mana drained so fast that it dropped to 1250Mana in 30 seconds. I gained 30HP from it so the skill could be said to be a very damned nice one, the drawback is that it takes too long though. If I could somehow master the usage of the skill, it¡¯d be a very nice thing. I was able to break free from the entanglement I was in and jumped to the clear space at our left. I whipped out [Flannel¡¯s Lost Legacy] with [Retaliation], a DING was heard but I ignored it, the matter at hand is more important. I attacked viciously this time, deciding to activate [Feeding Frenzy]. The mutated zombie who restrained me turned out to be called a [Zombie Restrainer], it was not a very flashy name, but it got the point across. The two zombies who ganged up on me are now on the floor, nothing but a sack of flesh. I turned around and saw two more [Zombie Restrainer] closing in on my two party members; looks like the dungeon is giving us a headache this time. ¡°Look back! There are [Zombie Restrainers] behind you guys!¡± I shouted at the top of my lungs, my taxed lungs from all my screaming earlier. I run forward to them, looks like I need to be the one to save the day now¡­ maybe? -Change POV (David)- Looks like the kid¡¯s got some force; taking down undead like that is something that I wouldn¡¯t expect from him especially with that whiny attitude of his. I thought that they just got lucky with taking down with the [Gargantuan Bloke +] he was ranting all about. Seems that I was proven wrong though, but he seems fairly weak physically. Oh shit! This zombies are getting annoying those last swipe hit me hard in the back! I need to fall back and regroup with the two at Aria¡¯s location. Goddamn, these zombies hit harder than the guys back when I was still there in the boxing gym. I hate this blasted world even more so now. Now back to the topic, where could be the kid? I lost track of him here¡­ hmm? The kid is already being eaten alive! I need to get rid of that zombie holding him. What¡¯s that sudden flash? Oh! It¡¯s the girl! She must have used some sort of healing skill, the boy healed. I really need to thank my gaming career, gamers found their heaven, or is it hell? Anyway, lucky gamers, this leaves us with shit tons of knowledge and experience giving us edge this time around. ¡°Look back! There are [Zombie Restrainers] behind you guys!¡± the boy shouted out while I was walking his way. ¡°Fuck!¡± With wide eyes, I turned back and jumped backwards. I gave a quick shout to the kid, ¡°Need some backup!¡± I may be inherently strong and sturdy now thanks to that stray blood vial we found but bites really hurt. Now there is some space, hahaha! A single swing of this baby is all that I need. I activated my [Heavy Bash] skill, my very first skill. ¡°Oryaaaa!!!¡± BLAM A noise that sounds like someone falling from a high place was heard. Ahhhh, I really like this hammer. If she does the talking, everything is solved. Now, where is that kid again? -Change POV (Constantine)- Holy shit! That big guy is really strong. I really need to distribute my stats by now, or else I¡¯d lose to them, even if my skill is strong, without the actual power to back it up it would just be a waste. ¡°Are you okay?! Where¡¯s Alistair?¡± I shout out loud to David, it seems that she went missing. David replied, ¡°I can¡¯t seem to find her,¡± he continued, ¡°maybe she¡¯s hiding using a skill.¡± ¡°Okay, well I guess we need to clean up now, the loot would be distributed later.¡± A shimmer in the air appeared, ¡°Hey! Looks like you¡¯d be leaving me out, I¡¯m so hurt¡­¡± She tried to bat her eyelashes to give her more of the ¡®hurt¡¯ look she was trying. First, it didn¡¯t suit her. She is not necessarily ugly; actually, she is more of the above average side in the looks scale. However, her beauty matched better with the silent and cool type, not the attention-grabber and cute type. I was the first to speak up between me and David. ¡°Look, Alistair you are good looking and all, but that look just doesn¡¯t suit you. Back to the business now, we¡¯d have to¨C¡° I was interrupted by her next comment. ¡°Aww, looks like our little murderer has a crush on me.¡± Goddammit, how the heck could she have that attitude in the middle of a massacre zone? And for a greater emphasis, during an apocalypse?! There is even blood on her face for fuck¡¯s sake. I really shouldn¡¯t have said something like that. Now I¡¯ll have to tolerate her teasing when we get back underground. ¡°Why the heck did I even say that¡­fuck¡­¡± I grumbled under my breath. ¡°Hmm? What was that?¡± She said in her bubbly sounding voice. ¡°Nah, it was nothing.¡± ¡°Oh well, I¡¯ll be heading back underground, do the cleanup guys, I feel¨C¡± Before she was even able to finish what she was saying, she fell down to the floor slightly shaking. ¡°What the?! Alistair! Are you okay?¡± David was more frantic about it; after all, he was with her for a longer period of time. Of course, I tried to do something about that too, I¡¯m not that heartless you know. I took out a potion and made her drink it. Her complexion got overwhelmingly better and she even managed to speak. ¡°Goddammit¡­ I¡¯ve been infected¡­ leave me guys¡­ there is no way around this¡­¡± Her voice was starting to slur even if I made her drink a potion. ¡°You can¡¯t fucking die, dammit! We¡¯ll save you somehow! Where were you bit?!¡± By now, David is looking very frantic, even me I am beginning to feel hopeless about this. Thankfully Aria was there to help us. Looks like her skill works even on the infection caused by the zombie bites. ¡°[Minor Phoenix Flames]!¡± Shouted our resident support-type with all her might. She collapsed then afterwards, probably due to mana exhaustion? Anyways, I tended to Aria afterwards and Alistair¡¯s complexion looked fairly normal now. She even went to sleep without us noticing. ¡°Looks like they¡¯re both out, why don¡¯t we get them to the [Safe Zone] so they could rest?¡± And with that, we hauled the two back to our place. -Timeskip 2 Hours Later- -Change POV 3RD Person- The first to stir up was Aria; the forceful use of all of her mana drove her to her edge and caused her to collapse. ¡°Ugh¡­ my head hurts. Get me some medicine please¡­¡± ¡°Oh you¡¯re awake! Looks like you¡¯re fine, I¡¯ll get Constantine just wait there.¡± And so did David left, leaving the still groaning and the knocked out Alistair behind. ¡°Dammit¡­ my head hurts¡­ is this because of my overconsumption of mana?¡± By now Aria was already able to stand, albeit shaky. She tried to walk, but wasn¡¯t able to due to the fatigue still remaining in her body. ¡®I wonder?¡¯ Aria pondered, ¡®Is this really happening? All these dead people strewn about and monsters lurking about wanting to kill you. Couldn¡¯t this be reversed?¡¯ ¡°Hey,¡± a voice said from behind her, ¡°you know, I haven¡¯t really yet given my thanks to you. After saving me from those zombies, a damn good one is really needed so, thank you very much; I really tried to be as sincere as possible with that, I ask you to please accept it¡­.¡± ¡°Huh? Oh! That was nothing you helped me back then two times, me saving you once is not a big deal. By the way Constantine, where were you earlier? I didn¡¯t see you around here.¡± ¡°Oh that?¡± Constantine replied as he started to sit cross-legged, ¡°I was just training my skills aboveground, just to know how I really fair with those skills. Most undead have been killed so I didn¡¯t need to worry about sudden attacks behind my back.¡± Their conversation was ended with that. Spending a long time of silence before one of them started to speak up again, they¡¯ve probably thought about the things that just seemed to come after them wave by wave. ¡°Constantine, I just really don¡¯t want to die right now, but I¡¯ve been thinking of just killing myself. This apocalypse really got to my nerves already, every creature lurking about and just wanting to kill you. I just want my simple life back then¡­¡± It was Aria who spoke up first, hope devoid from her statement, and by her looks, she herself has lost hope. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be pessimistic by this, but, I think this is just the start... Stronger monsters would start to appear and sooner or later, by the looks of this system, something that could destroy the world might even appear to kill us all if we are not strong enough to defeat it. I myself am afraid of what is about to come and what is currently going on. But the only thing we could do is fight and survive this apocalypse throws at us and this apocalypse itself. I really want to say ¡®stay strong¡¯ but I think it¡¯s not appropriate for the situation, so, good luck and stay alive.¡± A chuckle was from Aria, followed by a full-blown laughter. It confused Constantine as each second passed and soon a minute has passed by before Aria stopped. She turned to Constantine and started to speak out. ¡°Sigh¡­ I guess you¡¯re really right. Thanks for the advice though, that was the longest I have heard of you and I¡¯ve thought you were really an unsociable person, I guess I was wrong. Anyways, that advice was really good though, I¡¯ll be sure to remember it.¡± Constantine cut in with a sentence that stopped Aria from thinking of any better. ¡°Wait. First, I need to clarify the situation. I¡¯m not sociable, in a way; I¡¯m more of an unsociable guy than a friendly one. Second, that advice is something I myself follow so it should be damn good, don¡¯t doubt it in anyway. And lastly, good bye, I¡¯m going to practice up aboveground.¡± With that, Constantine left. All Aria could see was his vanishing outline of Constantine¡¯s back as he climbed upstairs. With a loud thump, Aria let herself fall back to the bed; looking tired and happy at the same time. ¡°I guess he really is the most reliable person I have now, beggars can¡¯t be choosers, or so they said. Sigh¡­ I¡¯ll just sleep for now.¡± Her last fleeting thoughts were, ¡®I hope everything is going to be normal sooner¡­¡¯ Meanwhile aboveground, Constantine is practicing his skills trying to take advantage of the current absence of undead and the regen boost provided by the [Safe Zone]. ¡°[Blood Debt].¡± A barely audible sound can be heard from Constantine, as of now, he was currently experimenting on whether sound omission can affect skill casting, and to some extent, the effects of his ability. ¡°Hmm¡­ this is fairly good I think. It¡¯s nice to know that [Blood Debt] works on dead creatures. Hmm, what was the loot again? I don¡¯t remember combing through it.¡±
You and your party will be awarded for slaying a/an <13> Hunger-driven Corpse LV.8 Rewards Received: ¡¤ 7 Rotten Teeth ¡¤ 1 Silver Coin ¡¤ 46 Copper Coins ¡¤ 17 Tattered Skin ¡¤ 8 Gross Eyeballs ¡¤ 1 Small Health Potion ¡¤ 720 XP
You and your party will be awarded for slaying a/an <2> Zombie Restrainer LV.13 Rewards Received: ¡¤ 1 Rotten Teeth ¡¤ 154 XP ¡¤ 1 Glaberdian Rope ¡¤ 13 Copper Coins
You have levelled up!
¡®The reward is fairly small, probably because of the party, this helps out a lot, probably. With the help of Alistair and David, we will get some decent progress around here, that is if don¡¯t just get up and leave or turn into assholes. As of now, everything within the comforts of the [Safe Zone] has been going fine. Theoretically, they could survive here indefinitely by hunting monsters spawned by the dungeon and by food supplies from the [System Shop] they have a hold over. However, everyone among the small group knows that this would not be a viable solution. In the long term, such thing would theoretically work, that is not taking into account the other factors. First, there are other survivors. Meaning that a problem would surely pop-up somewhere in the middle of the line and that cause their downfall somehow. Second would be the dungeon itself. A dungeon, by literature standards, would surely want to kill them, even if it has sentience or not. They could wake up to a multitude of undead on their faces and die from the attack. The [Safe Zone] may ward out monsters but there is no guarantee that it would remain forever like that. And lastly, the place itself. Who would want to live in a place saturated with the smell of rot and decay? Plus the monsters around here are all undead, a notorious race of foul-smelling creatures. Negatives stack upon each other even if you try to think of the positive points of this forsaken place. Constantine let out a sigh out of both fatigue and nostalgia. If even he is considered to be strong beyond normal standards, he is still a human who would tire out from all of the mess that has been happening around him. He saw his neighbor die. The only rest he could possibly have had within days was hindered. The effects that his title could bring out would never be enough, at least for the current situation. He missed the cars passing by, the couple a few houses from him bickering with each other, and even the goddamned peace he could have inside the comfort room. Now he would have to deal with monsters out there wanting to bite his ass and make a feast out of him. Of course, one would get tired, enhanced by the [System] or not, one would get tired eventually, either through physical or mental fatigue. As he looked at the fog created by the dungeon, probably for the ambiance, only one thought crossed his mind. ¡®I need to survive this place somehow, someway.¡¯ -Change POV (Constantine)- I finished getting out the nostalgia out of my system and went back to the underground base. I checked out if Alistair was already fine, it turns out that she is indeed. On the way to the shop, I was called out by David. ¡°Hey,¡± he said while scratching his head, ¡°I would like to know if you could help me in finding some few materials, I would like to build something for us, as a way of saying thanks to you and to probably help us all.¡± Hmm, the tools that Eric said he would be able to get is probably still there, but maybe we could find a few more materials from this place. ¡°Let¡¯s search around this area first,¡± I replied, ¡°we could probably salvage something from here, if we are unlucky, we could go to a place that probably has some tools and materials that I know of.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± the big man replied with a grin, ¡°let¡¯s see if we could find ourselves some more tools.¡± With the both of us searching around, we were able to find some sheets of metal and a metal saw for ourselves. Where the metal sheets came from, I don¡¯t know. Probably for the upcoming school event or the military construction ongoing, but anyhow it would help us. We also found some shirt worn by the school staff stashed in a box underneath the pile of boxes scattered above. And lastly, we were able to find ourselves some magazines, the special kind of magazines. *wink* We didn¡¯t know it even got there but we were thankful it was there. In a consensus between both of us, we decided to hide the special goods somewhere we could be able to easily access but is hidden. And the more general goods we decided to haul below. ¡°Hey, I think it is still no enough for what I am planning, wanna run the place you were talking about?¡± Goddammit! I¡¯m tired already; this big guy has a lot of vitality so he could be like that huh? ¡°Sure, let me just rest for a moment. Not everyone has insane amount of vitality like you.¡± I replied, although not physically tired that much, more of the fatigue I feel right now is in the mental form. ¡°Sigh¡­ you are too lazy kid. You wouldn¡¯t get anywhere with anything you are doing right now. Come one! Move it! We will be hauling stuff all the way from there to here!¡± And the big man proceeded to slap me in the back, which was kinda strong, and I stumbled and almost fell face first to the floor. Sigh¡­ why do I have to be paired up with this big guy¡­ to damn many stamina and strength I could handle¡­ Constantine¡¯s Status
Name: Constantine (Remnant) Riposte Class: Champion of Vengeance Level: 9 (773/800)
Stamina: 220/220 Health:155/155 Mana: 1500/1500
Titles Equipped: Remnant, Sole Survivor, Glitchbane, Mana Overloaded
STR:10 VIT:16 AGI:10
SPD:8 INT:10 WIS:9
CHR:2 LUK:9 STATPTS:45
MNAREG: 1/sec HPREG: 0.0061/sec STAREG: 0.061/sec
[Retaliation Beginner Lv.1 18.9%] [Feeding Frenzy Beginner Lv.1 4.6%] [Blood Debt Beginner Lv.1 1.0%] [Bulwark Beginner Lv.1 0.0%] [Book Comprehension Beginner Lv.6 78.7%] None
Currency: 50 Silver 50 Copper Chapter 4- [Scavenge] I always like to find escape routes from everything. You ask why? Because escaping usually is less troublesome, especially these days, especially during these goddamned days. Chapter 4- Scavenge As I lead the uncharacteristically enthusiastic David to the house Eric was building, I noticed a few strange things. First is that even though that I could see the school fence, the outside seems to be blocked by the irritating fog. And secondly, it is awfully quiet around our base. Did we possibly kill every single one of the undead in our area? Highly unlikely. Is the dungeon attacking other survivors? Most probably. Is the dungeon preparing for an all-out attack against us? Hope it isn¡¯t but it is highly possible. As I was thinking about multiple redundant things, David called out to me. ¡°Oi, Constantine, are we there yet? I think some of these unfinished structures would be a good place to search and loot.¡± ¡°What? Oh, right. We might as well search these places first. I¡¯ll go scout to see if there any undead, watch my back.¡± I replied and kicked off towards the nearby buildings. I heard a shout come from David. ¡°Sure thing kid! Don¡¯t die in there!¡± Wow, that really helps out a lot sir. If we weren¡¯t in the middle of a dungeon I would probably shouted at him. Come on, who tries to lift up your spirit by saying ¡®Don¡¯t die!¡¯, does that even work? I advanced forward to the unfinished structure, making notice of any sounds made by the undead. I slowly moved my feet as if wading in water. I kept my short sword at my hands, ready to slash anything that moved, as I crept by. The construction was nearly finished, only missing roofs, some windows, and a paved pathway. After a minute of trying to be a ninja, which is quite idiotic, I reached the door. I slowly opened the door, peeking through the slight opening to see if there is anything moving inside. As I step my foot inside a sound was heard. CRUNCH Damn¡­ I just stepped at cracked glass. I wasn¡¯t able to criticize myself anymore as I heard another thud, this time sounding like footsteps. That made more alert about the situation. I¡¯ve already seen a crying zombie, what stops the [System] from popping up a stealth zombie? Another sound was heard, a shush or a hiss, maybe? The structure was probably meant to be an office. A few cubicles side by side, a smaller version of offices found in large companies. This doesn¡¯t make any sense at all, with the apocalypse going around, why would you need to build stuff like this? BLAG A sudden drop of object echoed through the silent structure. This was followed by a whimper and something sounding like someone was trying to make the other one quiet. Now I was sure there are humans, probably. ¡°Hello? Anyone in here? I¡¯m a human¡­¡± I just wanted to slap my face after that. Announcing your presence in the middle of a chaotic dungeon is pure idiocy. Anyways, no one answered up when I called. There was a very slight rustle though. I couldn¡¯t see where it happened due to my bad eyesight, I wish I had my contacts or glasses. I continued to walk along the building checking underneath every table there is. You never know when something is going to grab you from underneath. As I neared a cubicle somewhere in the middle, I heard a slightly labored sound of breathing. As cautious and as stealthily as I could, I inched closer to the desk where the sound is coming from. Trying to check if it¡¯s a fellow human or my possible murderer. Just as I could see it, something jumped at me suddenly, and it friggin hurt! I tried my best to adjust to the situation, looking for anything against the attacker. It seems that it¡¯s a male. Judging by his lack of the putrid smell the undead emit, he must be alive. ¡°[Blood Debt], [Bulwark], [Feeding Frenzy]!¡±¡± In that instant that I assessed the person, I activated my skills. Plus the skill that I forgot to activate when I was near death earlier. I must remember not to panic as much as I can especially when the fight needed my skills. With the power and the distinct memory loss that I usually have when activating [Feeding Frenzy], I was able to throw my opponent of me. After that, I scrambled to pick up the weapon that fell from my hands. Without the person attacking me, I was able to see his weapon. A goddamned nail-studded plank. In contrast to my weapon, it was dozens of leagues far. The person was about to throw himself at me when I saw his face. ¡°Andre?¡± ¡°Ha¡­ Ha¡­ Lazy Bones?¡± And there goes that crazy bastard. Even in the apocalypse that friend of mine still has that capacity to call me that name. It is actually quite fitting since I¡¯m thin and lazy, but I¡¯d rather not admit it. ¡°Where have you been for you to be in that position?¡± I asked Andre wondering about what happened to him at the start of the apocalypse. Of course, he managed to save his girlfriend too. Who was by the way, our class¡¯ most beautiful girl. Leave it to the crazy bastard to get her to answer him. ¡°Hmmm¡­ let¡¯s see where to start. Okay, it started with this. I and Denise just met up at the convenient store during morning, like what we do every day.¡± He paused afterwards, trying to think of a better way to answer. ¡°Then, shit happened. Monsters appeared, cars suddenly stopped then crashed, we even saw a lady being beat up by a group of green child-like creatures!¡± Those green creatures are probably goblins; my intuition makes me believe that. ¡°We rushed to school. At that time, military wasn¡¯t here yet. It was just a bit chaotic but it was fairly okay. Mang Lando ushered as to go inside and then the military arrived.¡± I interrupted, ¡°Then this happened right? The school turned into a dungeon and you can¡¯t go out¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, that sums it all up. By the way Den, why are you being so quiet?¡± Lucas answered as I summed up the story and began talking to his girlfriend. ¡°Huh? Ah, sorry I was spacing out just trying to get fear out of my system. I¡¯m fine, don¡¯t worry hon, anyways, what happened to you Constantine, what¡¯s your story?¡± Denise answered after snapping out of her daze. Andre then soon followed up the question. ¡°Yah, it feels like you are an investigator, why don¡¯t you tell how you ended up here?¡± I told them my story, starting from my apartment until now. I omitted my class since it may cause them to freak out or blame me for trapping them here. After hearing my tale, it was Denise who spoke first. ¡°You had it fairly easy, huh. Well, it¡¯s still considerably bad but not as much as what happened to us though.¡± Wow, now that I notice it, her voice is quite pleasant too. How did Andre even managed to end up with her? But, hey, what do you mean by that? Mine is fairly bad too, as bad as what happened to you guys¡­ probably. ¡°Yes. I agree with Denise with that bro,¡± he pauses as if remembering something, ¡°What¡¯s your class anyway? I got [Fist Fighter] and Denise got [Shocker]. Mine¡¯s self-explanatory and Denise got it after zapping a [Goblin] with her taser.¡± Oh shit¡­ ¡°Well, umm¡­ you see, mine is quite¡­ difficult to explain¨C¡° ¡°Just get on with it.¡± As I expected, he wouldn¡¯t manage not cutting me off while explaining. ¡°Okay. My class is [Champion of Vengeance].¡± Pfttt¡­ ¡°See?! That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t want to tell you!¡± Of course, it was not only but the reason but it is indeed one among the list as to why I don¡¯t want to tell him about it. Denise adjusted her glasses and started to talk. Oh? I didn¡¯t tell you she wore glasses? Probably slipped my mind. Anyways, continuing in on the story. ¡°Seriously dude? Your class is named like that? What are you, a superhero?¡± Ok. That bastard is really getting on my nerves. He better thank whoever he must since I¡¯ll let it pass by because he¡¯s my friend. ¡°Stop that or I¡¯d punch you. Anyways, it¡¯s what I got and I¡¯m stuck with it so let¡¯s just get on to what we are gonna do. We better go back to our base, my acquaintances are waiting. By the way, can you guys help us carry supplies back home?¡± I asked them. They would probably not argue since they have nothing to do anyway. Surprisingly, this time, it was Denise who answered. ¡°Sure, we¡¯ll help you. Right, hon?¡± While looking at Andre with menacing eyes. A near inaudible chuckle left my lips. He may have gotten the best girl of the class but he sure is whipped. They still love each other though, so I¡¯ll just ignore it. With a slightly stuttering voice, Andre replied, ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll help.¡± On the way home, we encountered a few wandering undead. We easily took them out due to their level and with our relatively good party. We even got nice looking loots. Plus around a silver worth of money each.
Necrosis Staff -1
Mana Cost: Variable Damage:0-23 Durability: 11/20 A staff commonly used by fledgling necromancers. This one has been particularly weakened by an outside force. Effects: ¡¤ Has the ability to summon a weak undead. Abilities may rise depending on materials. ¡¤ Removes 100 Maximum Mana from the user per every undead summoned. Maximum Mana returns if summoning has been cancelled. ¡¤ Could only summon a maximum of 2 undeads a day.
Hidden Light+2
A ring previously used by a cleric. Some parts of it have been corrupted by undead mana. Effects: ¡¤ Decreases the cost of healing skills by 1%. ¡¤ Increases the cost of healing skills by 50% if there are no undead nearby.
The last one may have not been that nice, but hey, it works in conjunction with the first one right? And a necromancer¡¯s staff? Heck yeah! I¡¯m definitely using that. Maybe I could get the people to let me have that since I have the highest mana capacity anyways. With that, we reached the [Safe Zone], along with our spoils and the new members, safely. We all flopped down as we set foot inside and rested. ¡°Constantine.¡± Someone called me while I was napping away at my spot. ¡°Hmm? Oh, why Aria?¡± I answered as I sat up. ¡°Could you¡­ umm¡­ this sounds a bit unthankful but, could you help me find someone in this dungeon?¡± Why did she bring it up just now? And who is the person anyway. Let¡¯s just get on with it. ¡°Sure, sure. Within an hour we¡¯ll talk with the rest of the group and check if they are with us. If not, we¡¯ll go save that person with just the tow of us.¡± I replied. It may have sounded a bit cool, just a little bit, but saying that while rubbing the sleep out of your eyes contradicts the image. ¡°Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!¡± With an unexpected move, she hugged me.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Sure feels nice being hugged. Makes it worth it trying to act hero. However, I could not say I did it out of pure sympathy. I have a quest to finish and that¡¯s one of the criteria. -Timeskip 1HR- ¡°Okay. So guys, Aria here,¡± I pointed to Aria, ¡°requested for help in rescuing a person she knows. I just wanted to know if you are with us in this rescue operation. I¡¯m not forcing any of you to come; it¡¯s just that the extra set of hands may come in handy.¡± ¡°I and Denise are in.¡± After a few minutes of talking, my oh so reliable friend along with his girlfriend decided to join us. ¡°Both of us too.¡± Chimed in Alistair, signifying that she and David are in. ¡°Well then, it seems that the rescue operation would be ongoing. Please prepare supplies we will leave tomorrow morning once. Oh, and anyone needing to buy from the shop may ask me for access.¡± With that, the impromptu meeting was adjourned. We set out in the morning just as we talked about. I¡¯m giddily holding the [Necrosis Staff -1], somehow, they allowed me to have this. David was saying that he didn¡¯t need it since he had the role of a tank in the first place. Alistair and Andre rejected too. One is an assassin and the other a brawler. It comes down to just two people, Denise and Aria. Aria, well she immediately let me have it when she saw me pleading. Denise, seeing that everyone just gave it to me in the end, allowed it as well. With that, here I am strolling around this god-forsaken place with a giant smile plastered on my face. Swinging my staff around with a badass sword hanging on my waist. I really like this kind of moments, makes me forgive the apocalypse just a little bit. Half an hour passed, we just entered the vicinity of the place where Aria said she last had contact with the guy she was with. This place seemed much worse than the area near our base. Mangled bodies are strewn around. In worse cases, it¡¯s only a chunk of meat sticking to a skeleton is all that is left. Oh, and don¡¯t forget all those big swarm of flies chilling around. Slowly, the team inspects each half-built bunker. All that we could find are tools and materials used for construction, which immediately went into our inventories. Candles, flashlights, and batteries are immediately looted too. After checking the fourth or maybe fifth house someone spoke out loud, very loud. ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t you think it is too silent? There is no undead in he¡ª¡° If you are wondering who the heck is shouting about the situation, it¡¯s Andre. And no, he is not right. Because just as he was about to finish talking, a dozen or so of growls were heard. [Zombiefied Humans] are converging at our group. There are some that only has their upper bodies, while some only has half of their faces dangling about. ¡°Get ready! Those [Creeper Dogs] are faster than an average human¡¯s walking speed.¡± David shout from his position hoisting his hammer up high. As he shouted that, everything sprang into action. The fastest to move was Alistair. With her pair of daggers, she disappeared from her spot and reappeared near a pair of undead. With a single stroke of her blade, the two fell. I prepared my staff and swung it in a flashy way with the intention to summon undead at my heed. ¡­ It seemed like the whole party stopped and stared at me. It was just about for a second but I think they really did, some of the undead included. ¡°Idiot! What the heck are you doing?! Fight!¡± Thank you Andre for that wonderful encouragement. I almost pulled out my sword when I felt something clicked. Somehow, I was able to understand what to do to summon the undead. Again, I swung the staff and concentrated on the feeling of mana leaving my body when using a skill. The miniature skull on top of the slightly vibrated. After that, the two corpses that Alistair just killed started twitching again. Soon after, they stood up again. A bit weaker but they could help anyways. With that, everyone returned to what they were doing. The pair of Denise and Andre are doing pretty great. Andre would stand in front of Denise swinging his fists. A straight, then a jab, followed by an uppercut. The already ugly and botched up face of the zombie turned into an even worse one. Meanwhile, Denise would shoot out small arcs of electricity from the tip of her hand, stopping the undead for less than a second. Andre would be safe from attacks while he dishes out damage. Alistair and David fought as usual. Each being a force to be reckoned with. A baseball worthy swing from David caused a zombie¡¯s head to look like a golf ball. Then there is Alistair, being the rouge type of our group, she was the one to take out the [Creeper Dogs], with precision nonetheless. Does that look like a person who just got up from a bite to you? Excitement rushed through my blood. I know that I shouldn¡¯t be thrilled about it with all the people who died, but I can¡¯t help but get his feeling. It feels like I¡¯m fighting with my party inside and RPG. With the adrenaline rushing, I ran forward to take care of a few undead that manage to slip through my party members¡¯ onslaught. I slid a few copper coins into the hilt of my sword, I immediately felt the effect of enhanced speed. With a whip of my sword, [Retaliation] was instantly activated. The undead in front of me crumbled within a second. Now that I saw it, the undead are not really that strong, how come the military hasn¡¯t gone back up yet? We continued at this pace, never letting an undead get past us to take a bite at our healer. You may think that she was just leeching XP of from us but Aria did help. When Andre was bit, she immediately cast her spell and he was fixed up in seconds. The battle ended with no casualties. The drops were no all that great. A few potions, enough for a distribution of a potion a person and some skins and other body parts. They simply paled in comparison to [Necrosis Staff-1] and [Hidden Light+2]. XP was not that great too; sharing XP with five other people must have cut it down. Nevertheless, we managed to accomplish our goal. Denise managed to find a message written in red paint, they said it was paint but I really think it is blood, behind one of the bunkers. It read ¡®Aria, I¡¯m going to the gymnasium, I hope you¡¯ll go there if you have read this message.¡¯ I was surprised at first, of course, who wouldn¡¯t be? I mean, the clue is seating there painted in red(blood) waiting us to see it. ¡°We need to go to the gymnasium right now!¡± Aria has gone a bit hysterical after reading that. Maybe telling her what we saw out of the blue might have not been the best decision. ¡°Listen Aria, the sun is already setting; we need to get back as soon as possible. Otherwise, you may not be able to see that guy anymore; you would be nothing but a corpse.¡± Wow, I sounded nice there. I should do that often. Now she started to cry, what wrong did I say? Ah, it was about the corpse thing, wasn¡¯t it? ¡°Hey Constantine,¡± I looked back to find David glancing around, ¡°we should get moving is the girl alright already?¡± ¡°Aria,¡± it was Denise¡¯s turn to cheer her up now, ¡°I know what you feel, all of us do. We lost somebody important to us the moment this all started. Why don¡¯t we get back to our base to be ready for tomorrow I¡¯m sure we will head out as fast as possible tomorrow morning. Right guys?¡± Hey, why are you staring at me? I should just go with the flow I guess. ¡°Hmm? Oh, yes, we will head out to the gymnasium tomorrow morning, as soon as we are all geared up.¡± ¡°Okay fine; as long as you guys promise.¡± Those were Aria¡¯s words after she recovered from her hysteria. We set foot back on our home. I checked my notifications once I¡¯ve sat on my bed.
You have levelled up!
You have earned a title!
[Necromancy Prodigy] Description: You have a talent for practicing necromantic arts. Effects: Proficiencies regarding [Necromancy] increases faster than other skills. You can¡¯t learn any light magic. [Necromancy] spells cost 25% less. You can summon an additional undead per day.
It seems that I¡¯m going to be necromancer from now on. The restriction is kind of a bummer, but well; at least I get to summon the undead. Which fits in right into this dungeon considering it¡¯s full of the undead. This deserves a victory cheer. ¡°Oi, what the fuck are you doing?¡± I turned back to see Andre staring at me as if I am an idiot. ¡°You do know that you look like an idiot doing your victory cheer by yourself, right?¡± ¡°This deserves a cheer, I assure you. Cause from now on, we¡¯ve got a necromancer on our team.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, whatever, Alistair¡¯s calling you go to her room.¡± You may be wondering what the rooms are, basically it¡¯s just a square shaped space enclosed with a curtain. I told them that they could put that up if they wanted some sort of privacy. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m coming right after you.¡± Wonder what she¡¯s calling me for. I thought of my soon to exploits as a necromancer of our team. By the way, I left the two undead that I summoned upstairs, they¡¯ll stink if I bring them here. ¡°You called me Alistair?¡± I peeked behind the curtain and asked Alistair. She looked surprised and quickly folded a picture she was holding. ¡°Are you reminiscing? I should just leave you alone for now, take your time.¡± I said that as I tried to close the partition as silently as I could. She called out to me before I could even do so. ¡°No, no, no, it¡¯s just that I¡¯m really sad. Come in, come in, I have something to say to you.¡± ¡°Okay, well, what¡¯s it all about?¡± Alistair took a paper from her waist pocket, she spread it out and started to speak, ¡°This is the map of the area we¡¯ve been to, I tried to be as accurate as possible¡ª¡° ¡°Wait, wait, since when have you started writing this?¡± I asked, curious about this map of hers. ¡°Well, I started doing this when I teamed up with David and Henry, I mean Carlos, and have been continuing it since then. I was just about to ask you to help me fill out the map and ask about what are the plans tomorrow.¡± ¡°Sure, if it¡¯s just that I could help.¡± An hour passed by as I described the whole school grounds as accurately as I could from my memory. From the vending machines to benches and even toilets; I¡¯m rather surprised that Alistair could draw maps so well. ¡°That¡¯s pretty much it, that¡¯s all that I could remember.¡± ¡°Thank you, now what about the plan?¡± I tried to formulate a plan to the best of my abilities. Thinking of where to start searching, how to do the searching, and what would be our contingency plans. ¡°Okay, the plan starts here,¡± I pointed to the [Safe Zone]¡¯s location at the map, ¡°we are here and the gymnasium is north from our direction. The distance is not that big but considering the dangers, it would be a pretty far location.¡± I pointed again at several areas, the canteen, the auditorium, and the faculty all of which are placed before the gymnasium in the same direction. ¡°The canteen, auditorium, and the faculty are the most likely places where survivors would be. We don¡¯t know much about the newly installed bunkers near the quadrangle, but it would not be in the direction of our first search.¡± ¡°Yeah, but what about if there are indeed people there? I mean, there are others that wouldn¡¯t be able to fend for themselves, surely.¡± Alistair asked, she probably has her own plan about that already but we made a promise to Aria. ¡°Yeah, I know that not saving them is a bad idea, but we must consider that there may be more people in the spots I said, what¡¯s more, the gymnasium is in that direction. We could either gamble with saving a few lives there or visit spots that are surely populated, I know it sounds harsh but we must be logical here.¡± I think I made a fair argument there since Alistair started to seem to be thinking about it. ¡°The general plan would be to thoroughly inspect each key buildings and loot all that we could, large things should be put in our [Inventory] and small ones like nails to our carried sacks. We¡¯ll do this until we get to the gymnasium. Should there be survivors found, a pair from our team would guide them back to the base and give them necessary supplies until we get back.¡± I wrapped up my plan with that. I really think it¡¯s not a good one though, not bad but not just really good enough. ¡°That¡¯s fine with me, it¡¯s not as if I got any better plans, we better discuss this to our team, fortify the first floor, and retire for the day.¡± We did just as Alistair said; we got the whole crew together and explained the whole plan. The most attentive one during the discussion was Aria followed up by David. After that, we fixed up the first floor. We put up a removable barricade from the inside and boarded up the windows. The metals sheets were put up outside to reinforce the thin walls. Andre even rigged up a trap that was modified to be deadly from a previous prank that he did. It was designed to drop wooden stakes from the top of the door outside if someone forced to open the door. Effective against zombies and unsuspecting humans with ill intents. Soon enough, the construction work was finished. Miraculously, there were no undead that showed during our loud construction. Allowing us to finish it faster than the goal time. I went down the stairs, I stopped mid-stairs to stare at the [Safe Zone], and the place seems to be growing. Back then, it was about the size of a large classroom, but now, it was the size of four large classrooms, placed side by side, already. Some way or another, the [Safe Zone] was expanding at a noticeable rate. As soon as everyone hit their own mattresses, all sounds ceased. The only sound left was the light breathing and the snore of Andre¡­ It¡¯s not that loud but it adds up to the fact that I can¡¯t seem to sleep. Although, it may be due to the effect of the [Safe Zone], the idea would instantly be shot down since everybody else seemed too able to sleep normally. Nor would it be about my increased [Vitality] since David is literally sleeping like a log with him being one of the largest people that I¡¯ve encountered so far. The most likely cause right now would be the [LOCKED] effects of my titles. As to what they actually affect directly, I don¡¯t know. They might decrease my needed sleep time or increase my energy¡ª
You have unlocked a [LOCKED] effect of your title. [Sole Survivor] Description: [HIDDEN] Effects: Increases mana capacity by (INTx100). Needed time to sleep has been decreased by 50% if inside a dungeon and 75% if outside one. [LOCKED].
Umm, isn¡¯t that a little bit too strong? How am I supposed to sleep now? In the first place, why didn¡¯t it trigger when I was here the first day? Or is it just that I didn¡¯t notice it since I¡¯m stressed back then? With nothing else to do, I tried to increase the proficiencies of my skills. I will exploit the increased regeneration effect of the [Safe Zone] and the effect of my title shortening my needed sleep. The only thing that I could practice would be [Bulwark]. There is no one near me who is hostile so [Retaliation] is out. I¡¯d rather not bring in dead bodies in here just to practice [Blood Debt] since it may disturb the others¡¯ sleep. And [Feeding Frenzy] is pure waste of resources anyways. I sat about in the corner, putting up the skill¡¯s name in my mind. ¡®[Bulwark].¡¯ I could feel the drain in my mana; it felt as if my body was heavy even if I know that I¡¯m physically fine. The drain in my stamina is something that I felt too. My energy to move started to just diminish. Concentrating even more, I felt the flow of mana and my energy. It is noticeable that they are flowing into a single direction, but to which direction it is, I don¡¯t know. That is the only feeling that I felt. No matter how hard I focus, I just can¡¯t seem to get it how it works. I was only able to sleep after midnight. I may need only half as much sleep as a normal person, but I still need to sleep for, let¡¯s say, about 4 hours, give or take. Although I did manage to raise my [Bulwark] by two levels; it was still far from the next level which I assume would be labelled intermediate. By the end of this day, I managed to raise my agility vitality and strength all by 1. Real fighting experience was also gained. Which I hope would help me survive tomorrow. Just after thinking of what good I have done for today, I followed the others to dreamland. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª We set out exactly after sun rise. The travel to our first destination is safer than normal, we only encountered a pack of undead (are they even called a pack?) numbering about a dozen. We immediately took them all down with ease and proceeded forward. The canteen was even larger than our base. If our base is the size of 4 large classrooms, this one would the size of 5 or 6 of those. I felt sad seeing its condition. One of the normally lively place within our school, brimming with noise and other sounds, looks like this now. There were military tents crumpled down and the benches placed inside are now outside some looking like a barricade, some just really scattered about. It seems that my decision was right. There are really people inside; I hope that they are still alive. Alistair moved forward and said, ¡°I¡¯ll scout ahead to check if there are still people inside and if there are, let¡¯s hope they¡¯re friendly.¡± ¡°Okay, just be sure to prioritize you safety, run outside if you¡¯re in danger.¡± The one to say this was David; he was with her the longest time in our group. ¡°Sure thing.¡± All that he got was that simple reply from her. She is speaking quite normally, even last night I could converse with her as if she is a normal person. Is it just the effect of the virus that she was spouting non-sense yesterday? ¡°Aahhh!¡± A scream echoed from inside, just half minute after Alistair entered. ¡°Oh shit! Let¡¯s rush in!¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Constantine¡¯s Status
Name: Constantine (Remnant) Riposte Class: Champion of Vengeance Level: 10 (75/1000)
Stamina: 230/230 Health:160/160 Mana: 1500/1500
Titles Equipped: Remnant, Sole Survivor, Glitchbane, Mana Overloaded
STR:11 VIT:17 AGI:11
SPD:8 INT:10 WIS:9
CHR:2 LUK:9 STATPTS:50
MNAREG: 1/sec HPREG: 0.0066/sec STAREG: 0.066/sec
[Retaliation Beginner Lv.1 30.8%] [Feeding Frenzy Beginner Lv.1 4.6%] [Blood Debt Beginner Lv.1 10.0%] [Bulwark Beginner Lv.2 76.8%] [Book Comprehension Beginner Lv.6 78.7%] None
Currency: 51 Silver 26 Copper