Stinky Zombies

While Operation Watch-Sapling-Despawn was in progress, Technoblade heard the familiar groans in the distance and smirked. The mob spawning mechanics were similar to those in Minecraft. It was a good thing they did not spawn in the vicinity of the player, or he might have trouble getting rid of the zombies that mysteriously appeared on his dirt platform.

The zombies that appeared looked a little different from the Minecraft zombies. If anything, they had terrifying skin textures and a scary animation that reminded him of horror games. These zombies appeared by climbing out of the dirt blocks. The animation was new, and Technoblade watched with fascination at the development.

"I don't mind the animation. It makes a little more sense how zombies came to this world, even if I never find their corpses while digging for dirt. However, must they really add the stench of rotting carcasses in Aftercraft?"

The zombies were more realistic, even if they were nowhere near as gruesome as the ones in Dying Light or 7 Days to Die. These undead monsters were splattered in blood, and their clothes were rightfully tattered, smeared with the grandest dirt where they were supposedly buried. In addition, the decaying factor was heavily randomised. Some zombies had skeletons exposed, while others had hollow eye sockets. Although they were still shaped like Technoblade's avatar in that strange block-like structure, the details gave them a touch of realism that he could have done without.

Gagging on reflex at the rancid odour, Technoblade observed their behaviours. These zombies stood motionless for the first few seconds after spawning and stared blankly at the night sky. They only started moving after the animation phase ended and started groaning while hobbling around in search of a nearby victim.

From observations, these zombies left animals and plants alone. They were also rather peaceful creatures if unprovoked. Unlike other horror survival games he played, zombies did not travel in hordes. They simply did their own things and patrolled in a fixed pattern.

Technoblade spent half the night confirming their travel route if unprovoked. It was a left turn, three blocks to the front, a right turn, two straight, another right turn, five straight, a left turn, and the pattern repeated itself, bringing the zombie further from their spawn point. If the zombie ran into any obstacles they could not jump over, they would spend a few seconds walking against the obstruction and suddenly pause in that animation of staring blankly into the sky before walking again in the same programmed pattern.

Eventually, some zombies came close enough to Technoblade, and some got close enough to his saplings. Technoblade panicked for a moment. If zombies picked up his dropped saplings, they would not despawn when morning came!

Fortunately, like everything else, the zombies bypassed his saplings on the ground below and continued their strange walk until they came close enough to seemingly sense him up on the dirt platform.

It had to be about five blocks in radius that the zombies' behaviours changed. The first zombie to appear within Technoblade's five-block radius gave off a terrifying growl instead of the usual listless groan. Its growl alerted other zombies around it, and the space beneath his dirt platform became swarmed by the angry zombie horde.

Each zombie that growled would entice other zombies within a fifteen-block radius of it to attack what they deemed a target. Technoblade automatically switched the tool in his hand to a sword. Even if he loved his pickaxe more, a sword would work better against undead mobs.

The overwhelming stench of rotting bodies made Technoblade dizzy. There were no unusual status effects, but his non-existent stomach disagreed with him. Even if these dumb zombies could not reach him from his high pedestal, that did not mean they were harmless. Technoblade was still fragile compared to these undead creatures. He could not risk fainting from their stench before the night was over.

Technoblade marvelled at the long reach and wide area effect after swinging his stone sword at them. With just a single swing of his arm, the zombies clawing at the bottom of his dirt platform flew two blocks back. He could not see their health bars, but the damage was obvious as zombie arms and legs fell onto the ground. Blood splattered everywhere, even onto Technoblade, but they quickly disappeared as part of Aftercraft's animation effects. That did not make the PVP God any less freaked out. He wanted a bath very badly, but not until he took care of the stinky zombies.

"Die!" he called out in his usual PVP voice. This felt like sky wars for some reason, and if he collected more dirt, he would speed bridge his way out of their radius and to safety among the spruce tree where he could get a better view of the night apocalypse.

Unfortunately, he was dirt poor in Aftercraft. No pun intended. Hence, he continued to smack at decaying monsters with a stone sword.

Alas, all things good were not meant to last forever. His stone sword shattered as the last of its durability wore out, and Technoblade switched over to his axe without hesitation. The axe might not deal any area damage, but it could take a zombie down in four hits.

The only thing disappointing about his zombie killing spree was the lack of mob drops. Technoblade hated doing anything without some form of payment. He would be happy with even the lousiest drop of rotten flesh upon their deaths. There may not be that many uses for rotten flesh, but it was better than nothing.

Ping!

After breaking his axe, shovel, and wearing down half of his hoe to quell the horde, Technoblade received a new mail.

By now, many zombies were dead, and Technoblade decided that the stench wasn't as overbearing as it was initially. He'd grown so accustomed to the smell of decay that his stomach stopped doing gymnastics. Hence, he took a breather on that tiny dirt platform and checked his mail.

[Dear Player

Congratulations on completing the [Monster Hunter] chain quest. You may choose your reward from the [System Shop].]

The messages were getting shorter, but it did nothing to dampen Technoblade's excitement. He had no idea when he completed the chain quest as he wasn't even aware of them. However, the chain quest found in his [Achievements] tab was marked in green. The conditions were simple. All Technoblade had to do was continuously kill monsters until he reached a hundred kills collectively. There were so many zombies, and the night was long. The chain quest was completed accidentally as his present kill count hovered across 103.

"That was easy," he grinned and checked out the rewards awaiting him in the [System Shop].

It was his first time checking the shop, and Technoblade realised his grind wasn't for nought. Each zombie he killed helped him to level passive stats that could only be accessed through the system shop.

Most of his stats were still at level one because Technoblade did not have the time to explore them. His woodcutting skills had some level of experience but nothing enough to get him to the next level. His running skills were surprisingly at level three, and his swimming was at level two. The most advanced skill he presently had was his swordsmanship skill.

"This skill allows the player to swing a sword more efficiently, increasing damage and consuming less stamina. Ahhhh…"

There were two ways to improve these skills in his System Shop. The first was to grind away practising the skills. After all, practice makes better. The second was to cheat away using his accumulated experience levels to exchange for a skill he would hardly train.

Why did this feel like Skyblock all over again?

Whatever. Technoblade's priority remained the same. However, it was a great opportunity for him to invest in new skill perks. Technoblade spent the remaining time reading and deliberating about the skills he wanted to level up with his experience levels. Apart from levelling his passive skills, there were also special one-time purchase passive abilities that could not be levelled up.

For instance, if he was crazy enough to save up fifty levels, he could exchange it for the rather useful ability of [Auto Eating] or [Night Vision]. Heck, he was tempted by the [Fast Traveller] ability to sprint without consuming any hunger or thirst and even the rather handy [Weightless] skill that allows him to never take fall damage.

When in doubt, Technoblade referred back to Sun Tzu's quotes that he had memorised all his life.

"Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical… Nah! This can wait," he concluded.

There was no merit in spending his fifteen levels in anything. What he needed most at this stage was to equip himself with the best way to survive, not to fight his enemies. As strange as it sounded, Technoblade needed to know a way to avoid spawning mobs at night instead of how to craft armour.

In other words, he needed a house, a bed and a chest to dump all his tools before night fell. Using his fifteen levels here would do nothing to contribute to his goals.

By the time Technoblade came to that conclusion, the morning sun was approaching. Technoblade waited for the sun rays to destroy his enemies but was alarmed when the zombies dug into the ground, burying themselves to retreat at the first rays of the sun from behind the tall mountain.

"Hey! That's so unfair!" he complained, but they were already gone as if the apocalypse never happened.

The sheep bleated, and everything looked peaceful again with the beautiful sunrise. The saplings were exactly where Technoblade threw them, and none of them despawned.

"I guess I can afford to toss the tools out of my inventory before night falls to avoid the horde," he reasoned before collecting the saplings back.

Even if he did not know how to make a storage container, Technoblade knew that it would not pose a problem as he found a good alternative. However, he had a new target. Eating constantly was going to be a pain, especially in combat. If he could find a way to gain fifty levels or save on buying some permanent skills, it would make his Aftercraft life way easier.

"Let's check the quests and find some good ones to do."

Browsing the [Achievements] tab, Technoblade found two simple quests that could be completed in a day. Although he did not have much stamina remaining, it was still possible to finish because of the system's bug.

"Collect 64 tree logs for a [Tree Felling] skill to cut down trees in an instance and collect 64 cobblestones to gain the [Smelting] ability? It's basically compulsory for me to complete the one-time quests before I can move forward. Why can't I smelt regularly? Also, complete both beginner quests to gain access to all wood and stone-related recipes? System Admins of Aftercraft, if you thought you could entice my laziness to complete these quests for the reward, you did your homework well. I like what you're selling even though I should technically be given the right to those skills without doing your ridiculous quests."

According to the System Shop, [Tree Felling] and [Smelting] were not purchasable. Now that he took the time to scrutinise the skills' details and descriptions, not all passive skills could be bought by accumulated experience levels. Some had to be worked for.

"This will take a while," he sighed and looked at the easier quest of the two. The exposed stone surface would be defaced even more than it was, but that wasn't his problem.