Dungeon Core

The sound of water trickling down the sides of a sewer's walls could be heard. With every step which Zed took, an echo would ring out. Nothing he did in these tunnels could be considered quiet.

"Ugh, I can't believe that I had to retreat from mere stage one zombies, " Zed sighed loudly with evident disgust.

The fact that he was already strong yet not strong enough to beat that hoard with his blade made him a little annoyed. Well, actually 'little' would be an understatement. He was pissed off.

Zed took out his blade and began practising the art of sharpening his blade with water. It felt stronger than before, but only a little.

He checked his status screen to confirm this and was happy to see that Diamond Cutting Water Dance Technique now sat at (4/100).

This number was so small so why was Zed so happy to see it. Well, that's because some techniques took a lot longer than others to master. This was one of those. In his previous life, it had taken him around 5 years to fully master it, but that's because he was so skilled. For anyone else, it might have taken them from the beginning of the apocalypse until the end of life on Earth to only reach 50%. That was 30 years from now.

Zed once again smiled knowing that the reason he was so talented was that he was irregular. While some believed this to be a burden to both the person and their family, Zed simply saw it as an advantage.

Zed continued practising the technique until he heard a noise at the end of the tunnel. He quickly activated his class ability and his speed, agility and strength all doubled.

Zed lowered his body to keep quiet as he moved towards the origins of the noise. Getting closer to the point where he had heard something, the sound once again reached his ears. This time it was louder and didn't stop.

Zed giggled as he realised what this sound was. The sound belonged to a dungeon core. "Hehe... Wait why are they spawning so early I wonder."

Intrigued, Zed moved forward through the sewers. Finally, he reached a point where the sound was louder and a faint red glow could be seen off in the distance.

Quickly but quietly, Zed sprinted towards the glow. When he arrived he saw the dungeon core. Beside it was two newly formed ghouls.

Ghouls were like zombies, but a lot stronger and only lived inside a dungeon. They were one of many subspecies of the undead. Therefore they looked very similar to zombies, just taller and more muscular. These ghouls we're obviously formed by this newly born dungeon core.

Zed wouldn't pass up the chance to gain the ability of a core. As well as this, the system told him that he could upgrade his car with one.

"System, how do I collect the core?" Zed asked with a whisper.

The system responded in his head, "Defeat the cores spawns and place your hand upon it. This will make it your servant. Warning, this core is far stronger than you are. If you take it on and absorbed a small portion of its power you should level up at least 7 times."

Zeds mind was going crazy. For a stage 2 zombie like himself, 7 levels was a large difference if attributes were spent wisely. "How much stronger is the core than me? Can I used the remaining life force of the core for my cars upgrade after absorbing it?" Zed asked while crouching behind a wall.

"The core seems to be two times your current strength and it's ghoul spawns are about half of yours. This is because dungeons are stronger than the outer world. If you absorbed the maximum amount of power that you can, there will still be enough remaining life force to use it in an upgrade for your vehicle," responded the system.

Zed enjoyed having the system around since usually, he spent his time alone. This was much better in his opinion.

With this Zed sprinted at the core, blade in hand. Zed activated his magic technique. Quickly water shot out from his sword hand and surrounded the blade, therefore increasing its speed and cutting power.

The core, a floating ball of power, noticed his presence and the ghouls awoke from their sleep. The one on the left stepped in and swung its large grotesque claws at Zed.

In turn, Zed ducked under and then sprung back up bringing his sword upwards with him. The blade sliced through the air grazing the ghouls chin on its way.

The ghoul bent backwards only receiving a small cut on its chin. A second ghoul saw this and sprinted straight at Zed, not allowing him even a second to think. As the ghoul was right in front of Zed, it reached its claws out to grab him in his moment of weakness.

But this was exactly what Zed wanted. He stepped diagonally backwards and to the left. The ghoul missed his attack and was quick to notice a blade flying down at itself with breakneck speed.

The ghoul couldn't react in time and had its arm severed. The ghoul's arm hadn't been fully cut off, but instead hung by a few strings of meat.

Zed didn't stop at this as he closed in on the injured ghoul and swung his blade upwards diagonally from his right. The ghoul's arm was now on the ground and it let out a loud screech.

Seeing as it's fellow undead had been injured, the first ghoul came at Zed. This time the undead creature made contact with him. It's arms held him and mouth opened as to tear into Zeds neck.

Zeds face showed only calmness as a blade of water pierced straight through his enemies head. The undead slumped to the ground and the even fight now turned into a slaughter.

Zed rushed the remaining ghoul who had finally come back to and brought his blade down on its head. The undead had its entire body split in two as the water on Zeds katana spat out chunks of flesh everywhere.

"Ah, that was actually fun. Now for you, " Zed announced while pointing at the dungeon core.

The dungeon core realised his intentions and began humming loudly and glowing a dark crimson red which reminded Zed of blood.

Ignoring the cores intimidation method, he moved closer to the core until he stood right in front of it. He stretched out his hand and grasped the red ball which floated in mid-air.

Immediately Zed could feel power flowing through his body. This power was unique and nothing like what he had expected it to feel like. He felt it physically and it rivalled some of the worst torture he had ever experienced. This pain continued until he fainted.

"Core absorbed. Ability gained. Core added to inventory."

...