12

Name: Vindictus

Race: Human

Class: Ranger

Sub-class: Archer

Level: 10 EXP: 4500/4500

EXP Pot: 1000

Health: 229/229

Mana: 195/195

Strength 23

Vitality 21

Agility 23

Dexterity 15

Intelligence 15

Speed 22 [Boots +1]

*Luck 23 [Luck stat has been unlocked since it was upgraded by the system. These effects drop rates as well as random encounters.]

**Charisma 13 [Charisma is how you are first perceived by the NPCs and their starting attitude towards you. This effects conversation options with NPC.]

Points available: 2

Skill Points: 6

[Boost Summon – Level 1]

[Harvester Skill – Level 3]

[Alchemy – Level 1]

[Smithing – Level 3]

[Leatherworking – Level 4]

[Eagle Eye – Level 1]

[Power Shot – Level 3]

Vindictus continued down the path and then down the stairs to the second floor of this dungeon. As soon as he passed the barrier at the bottom of the stairs, he was hit with a smell that almost turned his stomach. The smell of rot and decay was everywhere. For a second, he thought about turning his sensitivity off like at the tannery but this was not quite that bad. He looked around and spotted the first shambling form, this floor was covered with zombies.

They were tougher than skeletons but they did not have as much damage resistance to the arrows. There is a chance that in normal mode he could have cleared this level without the holy arrows but it would have taken a lot longer. So, with his time limit he did not slow down and used the holy arrows to march right through the floor. Unlike the first floor this one was a straight path but there were not only more monsters but also tougher monsters. But with his improved stats, new bow and holy arrows he was moving even quicker that the first floor.

As he moved, he harvested all of the bodies. He got a few bronze coins and more importantly a dead man's cloth with each zombie. These looked like just throw away rags but he did not hesitate to collect every one of them. They were almost worthless now but in a couple months a recipe for a cloak called a Dead Man's Shroud would appear and every assassin and a few mages would gladly kill each other over it. But since no one knew the value of the rags they threw all of them away in the beginning. He also knew that in a few days after the first update he could work out a deal with an NPC vendor and they would purchase items like that. Even without the recipe it would be worth a fortune if he was the only one with them in the future.

He shook his head to get it back in the dungeon and started moving just a little faster. He was focused on finishing it before sunrise. He stopped for a minute at the middle of the second floor and checked his time in the dungeon and realized that it had only been just over an hour. It was still over five hours until sunrise. He also realized that the fastest clear time of the dungeon was set at three hours and if he managed to clear it before that he would not only get credit for the first clear but also the fastest clear. He also knew that he could hide his name and then once he decided to release it to the public all of his past accomplishments would be revealed as well. But he also knew that there was a chest hidden not far from here and he wanted to get it if he had enough time.

The chest was not silver but that did not matter it was still a chest in a first clear of a dungeon that would drop double. Even an iron chest would be worth a lot at this stage of the game. He turned to the right and ran towards the wall and just before it looked like he was going to run into the wall he passed through the illusionary barrier and into the small room that held the chest. It was a bronze chest and Vindictus smiled from ear to ear.

The bronze chest opened faster than the silver one but it looked like the amount in this one was well over double what the silver one had. Of course, quantity did not make up for quality. There were two scrolls this time and they were both return scrolls like the silver chest. There were also four books this time. One was a skill book and the other three were beginner spells. There was also a bag of coins but it only had a few silver coins in it. But he would not waste them. He checked the skill and found that it was a ranger skill that he already had, Boost Summon, now it was decision time. Unlike a lot of games if you learned a skill the same book would no longer be of any use, but in Earth: Reboot you could use a book up to five times and it would increase your mastery of the skill. He could sell it and makes a lot of coin, even this early. Or he could use it and make himself stronger. He had more money that he could use right now so he quickly boosted his skill to level 2. Once that was done, he sprinted back out to where he was before and started back to killing zombies.

Vindictus checked his inventory and realized that he was recovering his arrows at a lot higher rate killing the zombies instead of the skeletons so he had a more arrows left than he realized. He killed one last zombie and the way between him and the dungeon boss was. He got just outside of the room and then switched his arrows again. This time he used the fire arrows that he found in the chest outside of the dungeon. Zombies might have a higher defense and resist piercing damage to an extent but they were very weak against fire. Even a fire item that was not designed to do burning damage might be able to set a zombie on fire. Vindictus studied the monster.

[Zombie General

HP 2500/2500

MP 1000/1000

Skill: Stomp]

Vindictus knew that the stomp skill was going to be the biggest threat to him. Using the same three arrow technique was not going to be possible with this bow since the arrows moved so much faster but he would be able to get two off. Vindictus set his feet and sent the first two arrows out and then entered the threat range of the huge zombie.

[-107]

[-115]

[-3]

[-5]

…..

Not only did both arrows do over a hundred damage they also set the zombie on fire. But now came the hard part. This boss had an attack that had a ranged component to it. It would stomp on the ground and not only cause a shockwave to injure and knock a player over but it would also throw rocks through the areas. They were like small crossbow bolts flying everywhere. Vindictus fired another arrow and when he saw the zombie pick up his foot to stomp, he started running. He got almost all the way out of the danger zone but not quite.

[-8]

[-15]

[-9]

Only three of the rocks hit him and they took over 10% of his health. He was going to have to do better about avoiding them. Not only that, but the shockwave also prevented him from shooting another arrow. But now that the stomp was on cool down, he set his feet and started firing arrows. The zombie was closing the distance on him so Vindictus activated his power shot and rapid shot at the same time. The creature was close enough and big enough that the negatives of the skills were minimized to the point that his cool down was his only real concern. Vindictus also had the sense of mind to not only aim the arrows at vital points for a chance to do critical damage but also at the zombie's knee. In this game if you destroyed a joint, it was like real life and it could limit the creature.

By the time that the time of both skills was up, Vindictus managed eight shots and seven of them hit, one was even a critical. By the time that the damages penalty and bonus was balanced out the seven shots were still enough to drop the Zombie General down to half health. But this fight was far from over. Again, Vindictus saw the stomp coming and sprinted out of range but again he did not make it. By the time it was all done he was down to half his life as well. He wanted to keep shooting but he kept on the move and gulped down one of his health potions. He still managed to fire an arrow at the zombie before it turned towards him.

After two more exchanges Vindictus was back down to half health after managing to better avoid the next two shockwaves only taking two rocks from each, and they were small ones. The zombie on the other hand was about to hit is berserk point. Vindictus fired one last arrow and then pulled two holy waters out of his bag.

The zombie general's health bar dropped to 10% and it threw its head back and bellowed in rage. Vindictus was waiting on this and quickly threw, both holy waters at the mouth of the zombie general. Then he pulled out two more and threw them as well. Three of the four bottles landed in the general's mouth and the other hit it in the face. The one that burst on its face started to burn and bubble instantly. The ones that it swallowed to just a few seconds longer. The zombie bellowed again but this time in pain as it blew steam and pieces of its organs out of it mouth. Vindictus had not expected the organs or the intensified smell. The stench was so bad that he could not draw his bow for his gagging.

Finally, he held his breath and shot a few more arrows at the general and it took off chucks of the health bar as it continuously fell from the massive damage that the holy water was doing from inside. Despite all that the zombie tried to stomp again and Vindictus shot it in the bottom of its foot on the way down and when it went through the stomp shoved the arrow all the way through the foot and canceled the skill. The damage was finally enough to topple the zombie general.

Before he even had a chance to loot the general a hidden door in the back slide open and a voice could be heard screaming from the floor below. "Who dared to kill my guardian!"

* Luck is a stat that is assigned at random by the system and is hidden at first as a character that knows about it will try to find items that can alter it. The assigned number is usually between 1 and 10 but the MC got a boost from the system.

** Charisma is a stat that is assigned at random by the system after their first interaction with an NPC. This number is 1-10 and based on how the person is going to play their character and it is hidden so that players will not try to alter their first interaction and then change the way the character acts and then use it to manipulate NPCs.]