Zero to Hero

An eerie silence overcame the party after Markus's attack. His weak-looking sword cleanly sliced off the witch's head. Because of the momentum, the body of the witch also landed in the boat. Markus decided to break the silence, "So, turns out cutting the head off is also it's weakness."

"Pfft!" "Haa! Haha." Everyone burst out in laughter at Markus's apparent joke. However, he didn't intend it to be a joke. Critical happened when you hit a weak point. He was just trying to share this information with the group incase another witch showed up. Thinking about it again, the comment was rather funny, and he chuckled with the group.

"So, what do I do with this?" After calming down, Punch gestured to the grotesque head. Apparently, she had been holding it the whole time which gave her a creepy aura.

"Um, sis, aren't you creeped out by holding a severed head?" Fists was the first to voice his opinion, as usual.

"Not really…" She shrugged her shoulders and handed the head over to Markus. He placed it next to the body and started offering. The rewards were exactly the same, except this time the experience was shared between Markus, Fists, and Baby. Because of the experience correction, they ended up getting 3, 2, and 1 experience respectively. This was consistent with previous hunts. It seemed that the experience reduction that higher levels experienced wasn't a direct decrease from the total experience dropped, but a wastage.

This meant that if a high level wanted to power level a group of players, they needed to at least tag the monster with 1 damage. Then, the higher-level player would defeat it. All the experience that can drop from the enemy drops regardless, however, the high-level player can only earn so much from a weak monster, the rest of the experience is wasted. Since there are other players in the combat, they end up picking up the "wasted" experience based on their contribution.

This mechanic allowed for groups to stay relatively at the same level. If one player gets ahead, then they waste more experience which is then picked up by the teammates. The reason the group didn't discover this before was that the monsters they killed were just too weak. In the future when enemies dropped two, three, and even four digits of experience, this feature would become more and more beneficial.

"You had me going there for a minute. I thought you didn't have a way to quickly deal with the witch with your sword." Lloyd heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that his earlier gesture was just a way to make her not rely too much on Markus. This misunderstanding caused her to see him in a new light. She felt like he was trying to teach her a lesson and appreciated it.

Markus decided now was a good time to open the two underworld gifts. Despite killing a stronger enemy, the quality of the gifts was the same as the forsaken's drop. Markus wondered what kind of enemy it would take to drop the next rank of gift. This game left him with great anticipation, and he was excited for what came next. He took out the second box first and opened it.

[Opening…

Proof of Courage x1]

[Proof of Courage

Rank: Hero

Effect: While worn, your status is (hero).

Message: So you wanna be a hero, kid?]

Markus held the necklace which seemed to be made from something that resembled twine, but it was much sturdier. A bronze medal was being suspended on the end of the necklace which depicted a scene. When he showed the party the medal and the description, they knew they couldn't argue who should wear it. Markus hung the medal around his neck and felt a strange change. It felt as if the world had accepted him.

The scene depicted on the medal was of Markus slicing off the head of the witch. Although the drawing was more of a caricature due to the limitations of the medium, it had a very ancient vibe. The scene was clearly in reference to Markus's feat earlier. Perhaps this was a reward for dealing a certain amount of damage in a single hit. He wasn't too certain, but once more people acquired these, it would become clearer.

"This is so cool! You must be the first player to get hero status!" Punch was so giddy that she forgot about her fear of water.

"I wonder what's in the other box?" Fists said. However, Baby hit him in the back of the head for being tactless. They didn't want to argue about loot with Markus, so they were afraid to mention it. However, Fists seemed to not read the mood. However, Markus didn't mind and took it out. He hoped for something more than a single item, or something that wasn't tailored to him.

[Opening…

Soul Fragment x12]

[Soul Fragment

Rank: Mortal

Effect: Increase hp by 1 permanently.

Message: The damned eventually break and sink into the River Styx, leaving behind fragments of their life.]

After showing the item to the group, everyone's eyes were wide. Although an increase of 1 didn't seem like a lot, the existence of a consumable permanent statistic increase was significant. If Markus consumed all of them, he would have 12 more hp. That was more than a levels worth! Not to mention, this meant that the dungeon could potentially drop more. This was a huge discovery.

Markus looked over at the others and contemplated how to distribute them. However, Lloyd spoke up before he could say anything. "We discussed it, and we all agree that you should take them all. We are only playing for the gimmick, but you're a professional gamer."

"Thank you." Markus said sincerely. He was never good at expressing himself so that was the best he could muster. He took the soul fragments and began consuming them. However, after the first one he was relieved. Part of them did feel guilty, so when the notification came up, he had a valid reason to share the loot.

[Consuming Soul Fragment… +1 hp. 1/5]

[Consuming Soul Fragment… +1 hp. 2/5]

…

"Here, take the rest." Markus finished them and opened a trade menu. Lloyd was about to reject when he posted an image of the notifications. She raised an eyebrow and smiled. 'He could have kept it secret and sold it or saved it for his team…' She thought. Seeing her expression, Markus explained himself.

"I still need your help to clear the rest of the dungeon. I recommend the tank eat 5 fragments, and then the support eat the last 2. We might still get more later."

"Of course, I understand." Lloyd said but her expression stayed the same. Markus didn't bother saying anymore and turned away. He opened his status and recounted his gains.

[Name: Markus (hero) Level 3

Status: 35/35 hp | No conditions

Experience: 18

God's Favor: 5

Talents: [Lazy Genius]

Skills: [Carousing Level 1], [Bow Level 1], [Leatherworking Level 2], [Survival Level 2], [First Aid Level 1], [Deception Level 2], [Block Level 1], [Stealth Level 3], [One-handed Weapons Level 3], [Naturalist Level 3], [Looting Level 2]

Abilities: [Dismembering Strike Level 1], [Sneak Attack Level 1], [Mind Block Level 1], [Vital Strike Level 2], [Danger Sense Level 2]

Message: Hero? I've never heard of you.]

Noticing that the message changed, he was curious about the meaning of it. Perhaps this was a hint to the next stage. The next rank was deified hero. It seemed that in order to reach that stage, the player needs to become known. However, the mechanism for this could be anything. What stood out to Markus the most was the plaque outside the dungeon.

"We've got another one!" Fists shouted out, causing Markus to break out of his thoughts. Everyone got ready for battle. With the increase in stats and moral, the group was ready to farm some witches. However, the water suddenly became turbid. The water splashed onto the boat and landed on Baby's bare leg. Markus was the first to notice.

"Don't let the water touch you!" Baby shouted; due to the approaching witches he wasn't able to explain anymore. However, his leg was shriveling, and Markus instantly thought about [Decay]. Based on what it did to his armor, he could only imagine the effect on the body. Fortunately, it seemed that the water splashing was very controlled and predictable. As long as you paid attention, you could avoid it.

Then, three witches burst out of the water with their hooked claw. "Come at me!" Lloyd taunted out, distracting them for a moment. Punch recognized the situation and instantly buffed Markus with her new incantation. "Vigoris!"

Markus's eyes dilated and the world slowed down around him. Being in a fight compared to attacking the air was a completely different mental state. The experience of being in battle combined with the rush of the incantation was enough to make Markus feel omnipotent. He locked his eyes on the closest witch and exhaled slowly, a bead of sweat dripped down from his brow.

[Dismembering Strike]!