《The Last Dungeon》 [Prologue] [Prologue] ¡°Just die¡±. Those were the last words I said before my throat was crushed under a man¡¯s foot, right now I¡¯m flat on my back and choking on my own blood and the only thing I could hear were many men laughing and a single woman screaming with a mixture of pain and pleasure. My vision was blurred by my blood but I could just see the men surrounding me, they wore sadistic smiles and I understood that they found it amusing to see me suffer. As my life slowly left my body I noticed that one of the men slowly picked up something that looked like a large rock and held it above my head and before I could do anything my vision which was a bloody red suddenly turned into an empty black, it was sudden but I soon realise that the man dropped the large rock and crushed my skull. As I drifted in the empty abyss I thought long and well long enough to think about what happened and how I lived my life up till now and boy did it suck. ¡°Well, I¡¯m dead now¡­¡± oh yeah I should give some backstory otherwise you won¡¯t know the shit I¡¯ve been through, so my life up till now has been a nothing but a never ending parade of failure and fuck ups, it was disgusting, painful and just down right shameful, everything I went through all the pain and suffering to try living a better life was only to die like a dog and be forgotten like a piece of shit, cause right now I truly believe that this world thought of me as a sick joke. My name is Aerico and I was a 15-year old bastard child with a body that made me look like an 5thgrader I should be old enough to go to high school but I couldn¡¯t go for reasons. I lived in a depraved city where crime was rampant, homeless and corrupt people gather and murder is so common that no one gives a damn, not even the authorities. Being related to a drug addicted prostitute mother who only saw her son as a liability didn¡¯t make life any better, I never held anything against her mainly because most of my anger is towards my father, I¡¯ve never even seen my father, he left when I was very young and I don¡¯t plan on meeting the man that abandoned and sold us off but if I did meet him I¡¯d break all his bones, cut him up and feed him to the dogs, then the dogs would shit him out eat the shit throw him back up and then eat him again. I was living in a rundown two story apartment with my mother and the first words that came to mind were ¡°disgusting¡±, the building was located in the most isolated part of the city and this is the area where most rapes and murders occur but the building itself stood out from all the ruined concrete buildings in the area, it was made from wood that had already started to decay and trash laid by every door step, this caused diseased animals and bugs infested the building and cause many problems, normally I wouldn¡¯t call this place home but it¡¯s the only one I¡¯ve ever known. This shitty apartment is owned by a drug dealer named Rick and he¡¯s the one my father sold us to so he could pay back his gambling debt, so now Rick owns me and my mother. I work every day to pay back my father¡¯s dept. which no longer exists but as time goes on the amount to pay back keeps getting higher not just from the unnecessary interest but because my mother sells her body to earn money and would immediately use that money to buy more drugs from Rick. The drugs she took were the speed ball (which is a mixture of cocaine and heroin) and LSD (acid pills), both drugs give the consumer an insanely abnormal rush, hallucinations and the feeling of severing one¡¯s mind from reality, the side effects would leave the victim with severe brain damage, uncontrollable addiction and will most likely die, my mother was driven to insanity by the large amount of drugs she would be forced to consume every time men had their way with her. Normally the users of the drugs don¡¯t last long and from my experiences from seeing others in the same state I knew my mother wouldn¡¯t live long if she keeps using the drugs. Every day I would be woken up early in the morning and be given multiple ¡°tasks¡± by Rick that would need to be completed by the end of the day, aside from my short statue I was considerably smart for my age and that helped me survive much longer than other kids my age but the tasks were still difficult, dangerous and not only that but also extremely time consuming. They would range from making and selling the drugs that fucked up my mother, spying on opposing drug trades, sabotage policemen¡¯s cars and get a beating from any unhappy customers if I''m lucky and stealing anything I could get my hands on but the worst of the tasks by far are the ones during nighttime when I''m forced to be somebody¡¯s plaything. Having a small body and a cute face had no advantages in this type of job, there are so many fucked up people in this city that both male and female clients would love to see my little body twisted with pain and agony as they do whatever they want with me. It was so bad to the point that if you can imagine fucked up adults doing whatever they wanted to a small child that couldn¡¯t oppose them then it probably happened to me. When I finished my tasks I would be left in my crappy room until Rick had more use for me and that would be my average day in this hell hole and you may think if I could freely roam around the city why don¡¯t I run away from here and leave my no good mother? I wouldn¡¯t have to suffer any more and out there couldn¡¯t be as bad as this place. Simple because she¡¯s my mother and she¡¯s all I¡¯ve got in this world, it isn¡¯t her fault that we¡¯re here now but we must hold out a little longer until I find an opening to escape and even if she¡¯s lost all hope I still haven¡¯t, one day we¡¯ll leave this place and we¡¯ll run away from this city, we¡¯ll start a new life somewhere where we could live a normal peaceful life like I see in videos and anime but that day will have to wait since I¡¯m stuck in this room. During this time of day, I would spend the remaining time secretly watch If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.Rick play his RPG games and anime or I would be reading whatever books I could find while doing tasks, my favorite was about the human hero saving the princess by killing the evil monster, I really liked that story it was an amazing read but the only thing that confused me was why did the hero have to kill the monster? The story called the monster evil but it didn¡¯t mention why he was evil? It didn¡¯t say that he kidnapped the princess, did he kill someone? Did he abandon those closes to him? Was it just because he was different? Or maybe the princess fell in love with the monster and the hero was jealous. If that¡¯s what defines evil, then the hero was the real villain, he will call something evil and believes it justifies the act of murder. When I think about it the hero in the story and the humans in the real world they are both the same, anything they say can justify the inhuman actions they can commit, kill whatever they don¡¯t like, torment people because it¡¯s fun and it sickens me to think that we are from the same species, if that what it¡¯s like to be human then they can just die out cause I¡¯d rather not be one of them. Suddenly while thinking about the subject several men came barging into my room with a ¡°evil¡± look on their faces with Rick leading carrying my mother by her hair, I knew something wasn¡¯t right.[Rick] ¡°What the fuck you lookin at you little shit!!¡± Rick shouted in an enraged voice [Aerico] ¡°Rick! Let go of my mum, we finished todays work and paid you!¡±[Rick] ¡°You have a lot of balls talking like that when you tried to steal from me!!¡±Suddenly a cold chill run down my spine, I had no idea what he meant but he was accusing me for stealing.[Aerico] ¡°What are you talki¡­¡±BANG! [Aerico] ¡°Aaaaahhhhh!!¡±The pain from my leg burned as Rick shot into it, I fell face first onto the floor and as I look up towards Rick, he then threw a large bag towards me and my eyes widened to see the bag was filled with nothing but cash and drugs.[Rick] ¡°Well you little shit, this slut here was about to run off with ¡°MY¡± money, she also said it was all your idea!¡±.My vision went blank when I heard those words, I was so filled with rage that I just let out everything I was thinking.[Aerico] ¡°What the fuck mum! what were you thinking!? All this time you didn¡¯t do anything to help me and you were going to leave just like that, were you going to leave me here just like dad!?I was shocked and so betrayed that my own mother the only one I can trust in this depraved city tried to runout on me and blame for her mistakes,I was going to continue yelling at my dead brain mother but one of the men took a kicking stance and smashed his foot into my jaw dislocating it upon impact[Rick] ¡°Well even if you didn¡¯t steal from me, I don¡¯t need you anymore. Hey you guys, the brat and slut, do what you want with them but kill them afterwards!¡±[Man 1] ¡°Aw hell yeah, your too kind boss, let me get a taste of that loose bitch!¡±[Man 2] ¡°I call dibs on her ass, you can fuck that kid¡¯s ass instead!¡±[Man 3] ¡°Fine by me, I love fucking little boys anyway¡±[Man 1] ¡°That¡¯s fucked up man¡±[Man 3] ¡°Show me someone in this city that isn¡¯t fucked up¡±[All Men] ¡°Ahahaha!! [Man 2] ¡°That¡¯s so true isn¡¯t it¡±After the men exchange their pleasantries they continued to assault me till I stopped screaming and blacked out, they ravish both mine and my mother¡¯s body and spend several hours using me like some meat doll, I my body was in so much pain that I lost track of time. The feeling of being betrayed by the only person I could trust and what those men were doing to me broke my mind, suddenly a man took out his knife and stabbed the wound on my leg where the bullet was shot I snapped back into reality and started to scream again, I yelled at them with my hated filled emotions and you know what happens next, they killed me by crushing my throat and skull. While in death time was warped and the world itself was weird, I didn¡¯t know how long I¡¯ve been there or tell the difference between up from down, my feelings came together and enraged me. I was filled with hatred and complete disgust, how could I trust my mother she was broken long before I decided to run away and I believe she would be there when I needed her, being betrayed hurt so much than the beating I took. If there is god in this world, then how can he let something like this happen to me? To live my life in a cage with no chance of escape and to have those closest to me backstab me for their own benefits, it¡¯s so unfair. My mind suddenly focused when a light appeared, it was small and far away and somehow magically beautiful but something was pulling me towards it, the light grew bigger and bigger I felt strange like something incredible is happening and I thought to myself am I getting a second chance at life? If so let me live like a human again but with the power, no one will control me and I will live for me and only me. After I finished my thoughts, something phenomenal appeared before me as I entered the light. [Congratulations you have been Reincarnated] [God Title acquired ¨C Corrupt Soul] [Chapter 1 – Unlucky Resurrection] [Chapter 1 - Unlucky Resurrection] Where am I?... I¡¯m confused, my head hurts and the last thing I remember was me drifting through an empty world before being pulled towards a light that then engulfed me, now I¡¯m lying on my back again staring at a rocky ceiling, what will happen next¡­ Wait rocky? This isn¡¯t the rundown apartment I died in, it was cold and so dark that it looked like nighttime but just like the night the small glowing crystals that were embedded into the ceiling made it look like stars in the night sky, it was amazingly beautiful and gave off a magical feeling but right now all I wanted was answers. I really should get up cause staying on my back isn¡¯t gonna help me find my answers as to why I am here, I noticed something about my body it wouldn¡¯t move, my body if feels like it weighed a ton and I struggled just to sit up. After spending about 10 minutes of tiresome movements I was finally sitting up right but as I looked around the first thing I saw instantly gave me a cold sweat. Dead bodies everywhere even though it was dark I could see the corpses that were piled all around me, many of them from middle aged men to children were stacked on top of each other looking like a mountain of corpses you would see in a horror movie but what shocked me more was that some of them were walking around, it was more like limping but it acted like it was alive and I don¡¯t mean somebody half dead but like they¡¯ve been dead for weeks with their flesh decaying. I was terrified to the point where I tried to move my heavy body and crawl away but when I saw my arm I yelled ¡°Gaahhhhh¡­¡± I tried to say ¡°What the fuck¡­¡± but my throat felt like it was ripped apart making me sound like a dog growling, as I looked at myself I realise that my body had decayed flesh and looked like the rest of these zombies (yes I know what a zombie is). Right now I wanted to run more than anything but before that I noticed that the other zombies were walking right past me, ignoring me more like it, I know I shouldn¡¯t be surprised cause I¡¯m one a zombie now but I kind of expected them to at least noticed me a little. In the distance I saw something look like a small lake, I was trying to stand up but my body was weak so it took a while but I managed to get up and walk towards the lake so I could good look at myself. As I stare at the clear lake I saw what my new body look like, for one I¡¯m ugly but not too ugly if that¡¯s possible for a zombie having most of my average looking face intact with both my eyes giving off a scary vibe with its bright amber coloured glow. I didn¡¯t have hair but could see some remaining strands that were black so I decided to pull out the rest, I mean if I have to choose its hair or no hair not strands, my body was around 5¡¯6 in height and had retained most of its pale white skin but with many knife wounds, rotting flesh and some bones showing on my fore arms but no guts hanging out thankfully but most of all I still had my genitals, nothing is more humiliating than a man without his dick and family jewels. I was glad I wasn¡¯t too bad looking and compared to the rest of the zombies I looked better to a human than the rest of them but still being a zombie kind of sucked. I reached my hand out and touched the water to drink some but I felt weak like all my strength left me and I almost fell in, so I quickly jumped back against a mountain of corpses and realise that zombies hate water and I wasn¡¯t some character from that one anime that ended with piece, I wonder if it¡¯s the same with other undead? Suddenly I felt really hungry but I am a zombie so that kinda made sense¡­kinda. I heard voices coming from a tunnel not too far away and it sounded like people, the other zombies stopped what they were doing and moved towards the sound but I felt danger so I just hid behind a mountain of corpses plus if I can¡¯t talk they would probably think I¡¯m just another zombie. I then hear the zombies groaning and saw them get sliced to pieces by about half a dozen people in their twenties armed and equipped with a variety of tools, five wore leather armour with weapons from bows to swords to spears and the other two had weird robes on them that looked like a priest, it reminded me of the characters from the RPG games and what I¡¯d read about in novels. I wanted to talk to them and get some answers but looking like this they will attack me just like the rest, for now I watched and listened to them but they saying some weird and stupid things, like ¡°man the first level is just too easy for us¡± or ¡°don¡¯t let your guard down¡± I was starting to get annoying just listening to them saying the obvious so I was just examining their weapons and armour. I was thinking of how I could sneak away from them when something appeared in front of me.
What¡¯s that, wait I remembered something like this before coming here but I just can¡¯t remember. I focused my mind on the blue screen in front of me wanting more info and then it expanded. [Appraisal] Lv1]After examining multiple objects and people, this skill grants the user the ability to examine their status (more information is given as level goes up) After reading that I thought that this is an awesome ability and sounded very useful so I looked at all the human and with my mind said appraisal but most of the info was covered up with question marks and all I got was their names, I guess that means they must be pretty strong but why the fuck was one of the men called Rick of all things, remembering him brought up bad memories so I looked around and focused on something better a zombie of all things it doesn¡¯t look stronger than the humans so it might work. Zombie (Human) Lv1A human corpse that¡¯s been possessed by a soul.[tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab] To my disappointment the info given wasn¡¯t very helpful although the fact that this world is like a game makes things easier to understand but still that¡¯s to be expected when I¡¯m still level one, but a second later and another screen popped up. [tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab] [Appraisal] Leveled up to Lv2[tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab] That was stupidly quick, I just got this skill and it already leveled up. I used the skill on the zombie and there was a significant improvement. Zombie (Human) Lv1HP: 20/20, MP: 0/0 A human corpse that¡¯s been possessed by a soul. Same physique as living humans but lacks intelligence and has no limiter on muscles. Well that¡¯s more like it, I gained a level up and got a little more info and now the hit points and mana points for the zombie were visible to me and the same was true for the humans, it seems that this skill will become very useful when it reaches max level. When the humans left the area I stood up from my hiding spot and walked towards the tunnel that the men came from, after about an hour of walking with this heavy body I got used to it and learned most of its limits, it¡¯s was no different from a humans¡¯ body but this body was twice my original size and this new body has probably been lying around for who knows how long. Thanks to the recent appraisal of the zombie he knew that a zombies was three times stronger than a normal human, it only felt a little awkward to run cause of the difference with my previous body but I could still run for long periods of time. I was still so hungry even before I entered the tunnel so I searched the area to find anything to eat, the cave was amazing it seem to stretch on forever and was nicely lit from the crystals that were embedded into the ceiling. Suddenly I saw two men leaning against the wall with multiple severe wounds on them and lots of blood coming out, they looked similar to the previous men from before but the blood coming from them smelt delicious, I licked my lips as my mouth was filled with saliva and I saw that one of the men was dead but the other was just barely alive but he smelt the tastiest. I couldn¡¯t take it any more so I snuck up to him while hiding behind rocks and staying out of sight until I was right in front of him and when he saw me he had a face mixed with fear, hatred with a little smile on top, as I widened my mouth I bit into his throat the man said something before he died I ignored it and continued to ripped out his throat killing him instantly. The meat of his flesh was hot and bursting with rich flavor but the blood felt so smooth as it flowed down my rotten throat and filled my stomach, I wanted continue eating slowly but the hunger came back and I consume as much as I could from both the men just to compare flavors. I continued to devour both the humans for about half an hour until there were more bones than meat left, the meat from that human was surprisingly delicious so much that I forgot I was eating human flesh but I didn¡¯t care about that now, I¡¯ve already accepted I wasn¡¯t a human anymore and I was free to do what I wanted and when the hunger took over the instincts of a zombie just happens to kick in and I consumed the humans.[Aerico] Leveled up to Lv8As I was wiping my face I realized that these two men were attacked by the same men not too long ago, I found out because the man said ¡°curse you Rick¡±, I couldn¡¯t believe that these men were also left for dead by a man named Rick as well, for those men to attack these two and leave them to bleed out or be eaten by a zombie it made me wonder who was worse? Someone you know leaving you for dead or a monster quickly ending your suffering, I felt sorry for the men that were betray just like myself.I then looked at the equipment that the two had and noticed that the men from before didn¡¯t take anything from them, if they left them here for dead then they could have taken all their stuff but they didn¡¯t, it made me think that those guys must have been idiots but for now I¡¯m thankful for those idiots for giving me a tasty meal and a lot of supplies. I took two one handed swords that both men had and the clothes that could fit me, there was a long sleeve shirt, long pants, boots, gloves, a fur cloak and leather amour with a hood attached. The clothes were really warm while in this cold cave and with most of my rotting skin was covered up so I could be mistaken as a human, the man¡¯s supply bag Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!which was filled with rope, bandages, a book and potions I wanted to use them but didn¡¯t know if it was safe and the book was a diary of the already dead man. Lastly I took both the men¡¯s money pouches which held many type coins that had a range of colours, I should keep these you never know when money is needed.After looting the two men and cutting off some of their meat for later I continued to walk through the tunnel, the walk was long and I something that was interesting but not really helpful, a weird flower that glowed in the dark but I couldn¡¯t see the stats aside from the name, I took it and put it in my newly acquired bag simply because I can, more zombies walked around with nothing better to do but didn¡¯t attack me even though I look like a human with a creepy head but maybe zombies only attack the living and chose to ignore me, also after examining so many different things I also leveled up my appraisal.[Appraisal] Leveled up to Lv3When I finally reached the end of the tunnel I found myself in a room very similar to the room I woke up in, as I looked around I saw a skeleton desperately fighting against a wolf, they didn¡¯t notice me by being immersed in their fight but I was tired so I stopped and took a break on a nearby rock and watched as the pair desperately try to kill each other at the same time I ate some of the leftover human meat. When I finished eating I saw that the skeleton was the only one left standing, I looked at both their stats but the skeleton was by far stronger.Skeleton (Human) Lv12HP: 10/56 MP:1/12 With the flesh removed from its body it no longer needs food or sleep, skeletons body contains a monster core that produces mana and it spreads through out it¡¯s body to maintain its form and relies on mana to move and see.[tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab] Firstly, a moving skeleton wasn¡¯t as scary as a zombie but it was a bit stronger, he was Lv12 I¡¯m a Lv7 also that thing had something called mana but after thinking about it I thought that mana could be like magic. That¡¯s so cool I want magic but the skeleton was slightly taller around 5¡¯9 and looks much stronger than me so I should back off. Wait why am I chickening out? what the hell¡¯s wrong with me that¡¯s an unarmed skeleton and I¡¯m a zombie that can think like a human and is fully armed I¡¯ve seen that zombies don¡¯t attack each other so why not skeletons? I can take the first strike and finish him off before he has a chance to attack me, now that sounded like a plan.I dropped my bag where I was sitting and drew one of my swords, I crept up behind the skeleton when he wasn¡¯t looking and saw something glow in its rib cage that must be its monster core, I planned to grab the core and hoped it would die instantly I mean the damn thing looks like it¡¯s heart. When I tried grab the core the skeleton reacted and grabbed my hand with its left, it stared at me with its lifeless eyes and it surprised me at first but I quickly swung my sword at its elbow and severed its joint.I jumped back and saw the skeleton enraged as it ran towards me at the speed of a human with no muscles¡­ yeah the damn thing was slow as maybe it was only fast before because it reacted when I was too close to it but now I¡¯m just messing with it by running around the room while laughing at it I mean seriously it can¡¯t keep up the fight it just had probably took the fight out of it, I ran like this for a while and got slightly tired but when I saw the skeleton stop suddenly I was curious about something so I used appraisal and I saw my answer. When I looked at his stats his mana was still 0 and his health hasn¡¯t changed at all, I recalled its stats and seeing that a skeleton didn¡¯t need stamina but it needs mana to move, ¡°ha I¡¯m so smart, I was just messing with you but didn¡¯t realise I was making you us up what little mana you had just to catch me and now it can¡¯t move at all¡± is what I wanted to say but I sounded like a wrecked car when I tried to speak. After running back to the skeleton I cut off all its limbs except for its head because I want to see if the monster core will replenish itself over time and sure enough every minute equals 1 mana replenished but the limbs I just cut off started to regenerate themselves. I waited for the monster core to be fully replenished while removing the regrown limbs and once its core was fully restored I snatched the core from the skeleton and a watched as it turned into a pile of bones and then to dust. I didn¡¯t get a good look before but the core looked like a glowing red gem around the size of a golf ball with a bit of black on the inside, I looked at the core and saw its stats.Lesser Undead CoreThe core produces mana to its given host and constantly replenishes itself.Come on I already knew all that, well this was useless but what I noticed just now was that I didn¡¯t get a level up like when I killed that human so why not now? Hmmm this core produces mana for its host so if I eat this will I become the new host? Then I remembered that I didn¡¯t level up until after I had devoured both humans, while looking at the core in my hand I decided to eat it, well I hope nothing bad happens but hey if this works then I might get some magic. As I said that I dropped the core into my mouth and swallowed it whole, soon my whole body felt like I had a fire in my stomach and wanted to get out, I was about to pass out but I hung in there and later my body felt amazing.[Aerico] Leveled up to Lv9[tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab] [Skill Learned ¨C Mana Control]Now a pool of mana will be controllable and grow through training or leveling up. [Skill Learned ¨C Bone Growth]A skill unique to skeletons allows the user¡¯s bones to regrow or increase bone mass at the cost of mana. Hell yeah!!! I got magic and a skill unique to skeletons, firstly I tried the bone growth and after a bit of experimenting I found that I could move the bones within my body and make them into amour and weapons. [Bone Growth] Evolved into [Bone Create] [Bone Create Lv1]An advance version of Bone growth, only used by users open minded enough to create objects outside their bodies. Not bad, now I could use my bones to create sword like weapons and armour but I should avoid using this skill until I get stronger, the reason is simply because my experimenting took a total of 2 hours by creating bones as hard as a rock and I¡¯m using so much mana that most of the time spent was used to replenish my mana, the bone armour was extremely heavy that I thought that my own bones would break from the weight and the bone weapons were also dull and heavy. [Bone Create] Leveled up to Lv2[Mana Control] Leveled up to Lv2 Seeing a crack in the wall big enough for me I slide into I moved into and got comfortable in the wall while feeling exhausted, before almost falling I just realized that I haven¡¯t looked at my own stats yet, so I said status with my dog like grunt and it appeared. Name: Aerico | Race: Zombie Lv9/10HP: 48/48 MP:0/12 Status Effects: NoneStr:28 | Dex:18 | Vit:22 | Int:56 | Wis:60 | Chr:0 | Luk:0Skills: Appraisal Lv3 | Mana Control Lv2 | Bone Create Lv2Titles: Corrupt SoulNow that¡¯s a new, what¡¯s these stats mean? Strength ¨C physical strength and stamina Dexterity ¨C reflexes and speed Vitality ¨C health and defense Intelligence ¨C knowledge and magic Wisdom ¨C quick thinking and magic recovery Charm ¨C appearance and popularity Luck ¨C the gods smile on you What the fuck these stats are trippy as hell some stats look normal, my intelligence and wisdom are considerably high for my level but my charm and luck are 0, like fair enough I get I¡¯m a zombie and I don¡¯t have the butter face I use to have but why the no luck? Seriously ¡°The gods smile on you¡±, well I kinda get that, I mean I remember cursing the gods about giving me a crappy first life but come on that life was that and this life was this one now give me a break. Still how am I unlucky? I mean yeah I died and became a zombie but I was reincarnated and given a second chance at life in a world with magic and monsters, also in just a few hours I got multiple skills, ate tasty human flesh, got a large amount of loot, defeated my first enemy like it was child¡¯s play and gained magic if anything this is probably the luckiest day of both my lives. Before I go to sleep I should check up on this [Corrupt Soul] title, nah I¡¯m too tried for this I¡¯ll deal with it later time to sleep. WTF sooooo many bugs!!! [Chapter 1 - Unlucky Resurrection] Where am I?... I¡¯m confused, my head hurts and the last thing I remember was me drifting through an empty world before being pulled towards a light that then engulfed me, now I¡¯m lying on my back again staring at a rocky ceiling, what will happen next¡­ Wait rocky? This isn¡¯t the rundown apartment I died in, it was cold and so dark that it looked like nighttime but just like the night the small glowing crystals that were embedded into the ceiling made it look like stars in the night sky, it was amazingly beautiful and gave off a magical feeling but right now all I wanted was answers. I really should get up cause staying on my back isn¡¯t gonna help me find my answers as to why I am here, I noticed something about my body it wouldn¡¯t move, my body if feels like it weighed a ton and I struggled just to sit up. After spending about 10 minutes of tiresome movements I was finally sitting up right but as I looked around the first thing I saw instantly gave me a cold sweat. Dead bodies everywhere even though it was dark I could see the corpses that were piled all around me, many of them from middle aged men to children were stacked on top of each other looking like a mountain of corpses you would see in a horror movie but what shocked me more was that some of them were walking around, it was more like limping but it acted like it was alive and I don¡¯t mean somebody half dead but like they¡¯ve been dead for weeks with their flesh decaying. I was terrified to the point where I tried to move my heavy body and crawl away but when I saw my arm I yelled ¡°Gaahhhhh¡­¡± I tried to say ¡°What the fuck¡­¡± but my throat felt like it was ripped apart making me sound like a dog growling, as I looked at myself I realise that my body had decayed flesh and looked like the rest of these zombies (yes I know what a zombie is). Right now I wanted to run more than anything but before that I noticed that the other zombies were walking right past me, ignoring me more like it, I know I shouldn¡¯t be surprised cause I¡¯m one a zombie now but I kind of expected them to at least noticed me a little. In the distance I saw something look like a small lake, I was trying to stand up but my body was weak so it took a while but I managed to get up and walk towards the lake so I could good look at myself. As I stare at the clear lake I saw what my new body look like, for one I¡¯m ugly but not too ugly if that¡¯s possible for a zombie having most of my average looking face intact with both my eyes giving off a scary vibe with its bright amber coloured glow. I didn¡¯t have hair but could see some remaining strands that were black so I decided to pull out the rest, I mean if I have to choose its hair or no hair not strands, my body was around 5¡¯6 in height and had retained most of its pale white skin but with many knife wounds, rotting flesh and some bones showing on my fore arms but no guts hanging out thankfully but most of all I still had my genitals, nothing is more humiliating than a man without his dick and family jewels. I was glad I wasn¡¯t too bad looking and compared to the rest of the zombies I looked better to a human than the rest of them but still being a zombie kind of sucked. I reached my hand out and touched the water to drink some but I felt weak like all my strength left me and I almost fell in, so I quickly jumped back against a mountain of corpses and realise that zombies hate water and I wasn¡¯t some character from that one anime that ended with piece, I wonder if it¡¯s the same with other undead? Suddenly I felt really hungry but I am a zombie so that kinda made sense¡­kinda. I heard voices coming from a tunnel not too far away and it sounded like people, the other zombies stopped what they were doing and moved towards the sound but I felt danger so I just hid behind a mountain of corpses plus if I can¡¯t talk they would probably think I¡¯m just another zombie. I then hear the zombies groaning and saw them get sliced to pieces by about half a dozen people in their twenties armed and equipped with a variety of tools, five wore leather armour with weapons from bows to swords to spears and the other two had weird robes on them that looked like a priest, it reminded me of the characters from the RPG games and what I¡¯d read about in novels. I wanted to talk to them and get some answers but looking like this they will attack me just like the rest, for now I watched and listened to them but they saying some weird and stupid things, like ¡°man the first level is just too easy for us¡± or ¡°don¡¯t let your guard down¡± I was starting to get annoying just listening to them saying the obvious so I was just examining their weapons and armour. I was thinking of how I could sneak away from them when something appeared in front of me.
What¡¯s that, wait I remembered something like this before coming here but I just can¡¯t remember. I focused my mind on the blue screen in front of me wanting more info and then it expanded. [Appraisal] Lv1]After examining multiple objects and people, this skill grants the user the ability to examine their status (more information is given as level goes up) After reading that I thought that this is an awesome ability and sounded very useful so I looked at all the human and with my mind said appraisal but most of the info was covered up with question marks and all I got was their names, I guess that means they must be pretty strong but why the fuck was one of the men called Rick of all things, remembering him brought up bad memories so I looked around and focused on something better a zombie of all things it doesn¡¯t look stronger than the humans so it might work. Zombie (Human) Lv1A human corpse that¡¯s been possessed by a soul.[tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab] To my disappointment the info given wasn¡¯t very helpful although the fact that this world is like a game makes things easier to understand but still that¡¯s to be expected when I¡¯m still level one, but a second later and another screen popped up. [tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab] [Appraisal] Leveled up to Lv2[tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab] That was stupidly quick, I just got this skill and it already leveled up. I used the skill on the zombie and there was a significant improvement. Zombie (Human) Lv1HP: 20/20, MP: 0/0 A human corpse that¡¯s been possessed by a soul. Same physique as living humans but lacks intelligence and has no limiter on muscles. Well that¡¯s more like it, I gained a level up and got a little more info and now the hit points and mana points for the zombie were visible to me and the same was true for the humans, it seems that this skill will become very useful when it reaches max level. When the humans left the area I stood up from my hiding spot and walked towards the tunnel that the men came from, after about an hour of walking with this heavy body I got used to it and learned most of its limits, it¡¯s was no different from a humans¡¯ body but this body was twice my original size and this new body has probably been lying around for who knows how long. Thanks to the recent appraisal of the zombie he knew that a zombies was three times stronger than a normal human, it only felt a little awkward to run cause of the difference with my previous body but I could still run for long periods of time. I was still so hungry even before I entered the tunnel so I searched the area to find anything to eat, the cave was amazing it seem to stretch on forever and was nicely lit from the crystals that were embedded into the ceiling. Suddenly I saw two men leaning against the wall with multiple severe wounds on them and lots of blood coming out, they looked similar to the previous men from before but the blood coming from them smelt delicious, I licked my lips as my mouth was filled with saliva and I saw that one of the men was dead but the other was just barely alive but he smelt the tastiest. I couldn¡¯t take it any more so I snuck up to him while hiding behind rocks and staying out of sight until I was right in front of him and when he saw me he had a face mixed with fear, hatred with a little smile on top, as I widened my mouth I bit into his throat the man said something before he died I ignored it and continued to ripped out his throat killing him instantly. The meat of his flesh was hot and bursting with rich flavor but the blood felt so smooth as it flowed down my rotten throat and filled my stomach, I wanted continue eating slowly but the hunger came back and I consume as much as I could from both the men just to compare flavors. I continued to devour both the humans for about half an hour until there were more bones than meat left, the meat from that human was surprisingly delicious so much that I forgot I was eating human flesh but I didn¡¯t care about that now, I¡¯ve already accepted I wasn¡¯t a human anymore and I was free to do what I wanted and when the hunger took over the instincts of a zombie just happens to kick in and I consumed the humans.[Aerico] Leveled up to Lv8As I was wiping my face I realized that these two men were attacked by the same men not too long ago, I found out because the man said ¡°curse you Rick¡±, I couldn¡¯t believe that these men were also left for dead by a man named Rick as well, for those men to attack these two and leave them to bleed out or be eaten by a zombie it made me wonder who was worse? Someone you know leaving you for dead or a monster quickly ending your suffering, I felt sorry for the men that were betray just like myself.I then looked at the equipment that the two had and noticed that the men from before didn¡¯t take anything from them, if they left them here for dead then they could have taken all their stuff but they didn¡¯t, it made me think that those guys must have been idiots but for now I¡¯m thankful for those idiots for giving me a tasty meal and a lot of supplies. I took two one handed swords that both men had and the clothes that could fit me, there was a long sleeve shirt, long pants, boots, gloves, a fur cloak and leather amour with a hood attached. The clothes were really warm while in this cold cave and with most of my rotting skin was covered up so I could be mistaken as a human, the man¡¯s supply bag Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.which was filled with rope, bandages, a book and potions I wanted to use them but didn¡¯t know if it was safe and the book was a diary of the already dead man. Lastly I took both the men¡¯s money pouches which held many type coins that had a range of colours, I should keep these you never know when money is needed.After looting the two men and cutting off some of their meat for later I continued to walk through the tunnel, the walk was long and I something that was interesting but not really helpful, a weird flower that glowed in the dark but I couldn¡¯t see the stats aside from the name, I took it and put it in my newly acquired bag simply because I can, more zombies walked around with nothing better to do but didn¡¯t attack me even though I look like a human with a creepy head but maybe zombies only attack the living and chose to ignore me, also after examining so many different things I also leveled up my appraisal.[Appraisal] Leveled up to Lv3When I finally reached the end of the tunnel I found myself in a room very similar to the room I woke up in, as I looked around I saw a skeleton desperately fighting against a wolf, they didn¡¯t notice me by being immersed in their fight but I was tired so I stopped and took a break on a nearby rock and watched as the pair desperately try to kill each other at the same time I ate some of the leftover human meat. When I finished eating I saw that the skeleton was the only one left standing, I looked at both their stats but the skeleton was by far stronger.Skeleton (Human) Lv12HP: 10/56 MP:1/12 With the flesh removed from its body it no longer needs food or sleep, skeletons body contains a monster core that produces mana and it spreads through out it¡¯s body to maintain its form and relies on mana to move and see.[tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab] Firstly, a moving skeleton wasn¡¯t as scary as a zombie but it was a bit stronger, he was Lv12 I¡¯m a Lv7 also that thing had something called mana but after thinking about it I thought that mana could be like magic. That¡¯s so cool I want magic but the skeleton was slightly taller around 5¡¯9 and looks much stronger than me so I should back off. Wait why am I chickening out? what the hell¡¯s wrong with me that¡¯s an unarmed skeleton and I¡¯m a zombie that can think like a human and is fully armed I¡¯ve seen that zombies don¡¯t attack each other so why not skeletons? I can take the first strike and finish him off before he has a chance to attack me, now that sounded like a plan.I dropped my bag where I was sitting and drew one of my swords, I crept up behind the skeleton when he wasn¡¯t looking and saw something glow in its rib cage that must be its monster core, I planned to grab the core and hoped it would die instantly I mean the damn thing looks like it¡¯s heart. When I tried grab the core the skeleton reacted and grabbed my hand with its left, it stared at me with its lifeless eyes and it surprised me at first but I quickly swung my sword at its elbow and severed its joint.I jumped back and saw the skeleton enraged as it ran towards me at the speed of a human with no muscles¡­ yeah the damn thing was slow as maybe it was only fast before because it reacted when I was too close to it but now I¡¯m just messing with it by running around the room while laughing at it I mean seriously it can¡¯t keep up the fight it just had probably took the fight out of it, I ran like this for a while and got slightly tired but when I saw the skeleton stop suddenly I was curious about something so I used appraisal and I saw my answer. When I looked at his stats his mana was still 0 and his health hasn¡¯t changed at all, I recalled its stats and seeing that a skeleton didn¡¯t need stamina but it needs mana to move, ¡°ha I¡¯m so smart, I was just messing with you but didn¡¯t realise I was making you us up what little mana you had just to catch me and now it can¡¯t move at all¡± is what I wanted to say but I sounded like a wrecked car when I tried to speak. After running back to the skeleton I cut off all its limbs except for its head because I want to see if the monster core will replenish itself over time and sure enough every minute equals 1 mana replenished but the limbs I just cut off started to regenerate themselves. I waited for the monster core to be fully replenished while removing the regrown limbs and once its core was fully restored I snatched the core from the skeleton and a watched as it turned into a pile of bones and then to dust. I didn¡¯t get a good look before but the core looked like a glowing red gem around the size of a golf ball with a bit of black on the inside, I looked at the core and saw its stats.Lesser Undead CoreThe core produces mana to its given host and constantly replenishes itself.Come on I already knew all that, well this was useless but what I noticed just now was that I didn¡¯t get a level up like when I killed that human so why not now? Hmmm this core produces mana for its host so if I eat this will I become the new host? Then I remembered that I didn¡¯t level up until after I had devoured both humans, while looking at the core in my hand I decided to eat it, well I hope nothing bad happens but hey if this works then I might get some magic. As I said that I dropped the core into my mouth and swallowed it whole, soon my whole body felt like I had a fire in my stomach and wanted to get out, I was about to pass out but I hung in there and later my body felt amazing.[Aerico] Leveled up to Lv9[tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab][tab] [Skill Learned ¨C Mana Control]Now a pool of mana will be controllable and grow through training or leveling up. [Skill Learned ¨C Bone Growth]A skill unique to skeletons allows the user¡¯s bones to regrow or increase bone mass at the cost of mana. Hell yeah!!! I got magic and a skill unique to skeletons, firstly I tried the bone growth and after a bit of experimenting I found that I could move the bones within my body and make them into amour and weapons. [Bone Growth] Evolved into [Bone Create] [Bone Create Lv1]An advance version of Bone growth, only used by users open minded enough to create objects outside their bodies. Not bad, now I could use my bones to create sword like weapons and armour but I should avoid using this skill until I get stronger, the reason is simply because my experimenting took a total of 2 hours by creating bones as hard as a rock and I¡¯m using so much mana that most of the time spent was used to replenish my mana, the bone armour was extremely heavy that I thought that my own bones would break from the weight and the bone weapons were also dull and heavy. [Bone Create] Leveled up to Lv2[Mana Control] Leveled up to Lv2 Seeing a crack in the wall big enough for me I slide into I moved into and got comfortable in the wall while feeling exhausted, before almost falling I just realized that I haven¡¯t looked at my own stats yet, so I said status with my dog like grunt and it appeared. Name: Aerico | Race: Zombie Lv9/10HP: 48/48 MP:0/12 Status Effects: NoneStr:28 | Dex:18 | Vit:22 | Int:56 | Wis:60 | Chr:0 | Luk:0Skills: Appraisal Lv3 | Mana Control Lv2 | Bone Create Lv2Titles: Corrupt SoulNow that¡¯s a new, what¡¯s these stats mean? Strength ¨C physical strength and stamina Dexterity ¨C reflexes and speed Vitality ¨C health and defense Intelligence ¨C knowledge and magic Wisdom ¨C quick thinking and magic recovery Charm ¨C appearance and popularity Luck ¨C the gods smile on you What the fuck these stats are trippy as hell some stats look normal, my intelligence and wisdom are considerably high for my level but my charm and luck are 0, like fair enough I get I¡¯m a zombie and I don¡¯t have the butter face I use to have but why the no luck? Seriously ¡°The gods smile on you¡±, well I kinda get that, I mean I remember cursing the gods about giving me a crappy first life but come on that life was that and this life was this one now give me a break. Still how am I unlucky? I mean yeah I died and became a zombie but I was reincarnated and given a second chance at life in a world with magic and monsters, also in just a few hours I got multiple skills, ate tasty human flesh, got a large amount of loot, defeated my first enemy like it was child¡¯s play and gained magic if anything this is probably the luckiest day of both my lives. Before I go to sleep I should check up on this [Corrupt Soul] title, nah I¡¯m too tried for this I¡¯ll deal with it later time to sleep.