CHAPTER 2: YOU WANT BRAINS? NO BRAINS HERE!
Unknown to my current unconscious self, the moment my body was hit by the flash of white from the giant metal block in Apollo Labs, and disappeared, something unexpected happened. Atop the very same building was a man in a deep trench coat, his face hidden in the shadows of the large collars and a wide-brimmed hat. The coat's bottom was being battered by the heavy winds caused by the storm as continuous thunder and lightning cascaded throughout the sky. Even though the rain was pouring so heavily, it was like standing under a waterfall. Not a drop appeared to touch the man, as if an invisible force were pushing the water away from him. Just behind the trench coated man were several massive lighting roads that had several thick wires wrapped around it and leading into the roof. A stray bolt of lightning struck from the sky, like a diving dragon, and was on a direct collision course for the trench coated man. As if the heavens above were attempting to strike the man down.
Before the lightning bolt could reach the man, it veered to the side and slammed into the lightning rod, like it was a piece of metal to a magnet. The rod let out sparks as the lightning cascaded through the rod before funneling down the wires and into the building. The trench coated man had his back to the whole affair and even when the bolt was only a few feet from hitting him, he still disdained from moving. Completely unbothered. A gigantic spherical light, like a white bubble, suddenly exploded from within the building below the man's feet and extended out. It passed over the man and continued out into the surrounding area for several blocks before petering out.
The sight of the light finally ruffled the man somewhat as his previously crossed arms loosened and now, with hands at his sides, they began to bunch up until the gloves covering his hands let out squeaking noises due to the pressure of his clenched fists. Into the open air the man said softly, "It's finally ready. A suitable world has been found, and the transition has begun." The man moved his vision to the right, gazing into a faraway place past the large walls that circled the large city, his calm voice took on a hint of a growl, edging towards a slight hysteria as he shouted into the storm, "They call you filthy bugs the Scourge, I'll show you what a real scourge is, just you wait a little longer!" Another crack of thunder rang out right after the man finished roaring as if in agreement or anger towards the man's words, which was swiftly followed by a thunderbolt that struck right at the man. However, just before the bolt hit the man, a flash of white enveloped him as well, and he disappeared from the top of the building.
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Back on Earth X, my quick involuntary nap was apparently over as an odd foreign voice kept ringing out in my head like an annoying alarm clock that didn't have a snooze on it. My vision flickered several times, as I blinked to clear my eyes and also my mind. Feeling a weight upon my knees I craned my neck down and matched stares with a pair of milky white lifeless orbs, with what I would like to say was a manly scream I half kicked, half scurried away from the corpse, letting it fall to the floor with a thunk. I didn't stop scooting back until I ran into a wall, which broke off some of the rotted wall and sent dust and paint chips raining down upon my head. "Shit, it all!" half covering my head with one hand, I scooted forward a bit and swung my hand through the air, attempting to clear the dust from my face. Due to my frenzy breathing, I managed to get a mouthful of heavy dust and began coughing and spluttering. Just as I spat out the last of the dust and did my best to wipe my face, the annoying voice that had woken me up rang out in my head again, causing me to freeze in place. The voice sent my heart racing again. As so far, every time these robotic voices talked, it appeared to be bad news for me.
[Congratulations! Achievement Unlocked. ["What's that!? Die!"] - Kill any creature Level 1 or above in under 10 Seconds from the start of the Tutorial – Reward: A random Epic level Talent]
[Congratulations! System reward Talent received – Blood of the Troll Chieftain (Epic) - System Note: Further Information on acquired Talent is found in your Talent menu]
"What the hell is going on? Mysterious voice in my head please explain!?" After reading through the notifications that appeared in front of my eyes like floating text, my mind was fuzzy and the fear and frustration of my current situation finally caused me to yell out into the empty room. After my not so manly scream bounced around in the empty room, I waited several seconds but received no response in return, which honestly wasn't surprising. However, what did appear to react to my voice was something in what I guessed was the apartment next door, as the sound of several heavy thuds rang out against the connecting kitchen's wall to my right, sending more dust and plaster throughout the room. Rising to my feet, I backed away from the wall as quietly as I could, as the thudding started increasing. The very wall looked as if it was starting to indent towards me under the force of whatever was on the other side.
Every strike sent my nerves racing, but I couldn't take my eyes away. I held my breath at that point and tried not to make any further noise, but that apparently didn't matter, as whatever was trying to get through the rotten wall seemed very determined. Going by what I had already experienced before knocking myself out and from the very limited information given by what I was now referring to as my nemesis, the System Voice, there was a fair chance that another zombie was on the other side of the wall. 'Got to remain calm. What did dad use to always say? Closing my eyes and tuning out the noise of the thumping and what now sounded like splintering wood, I conjured up that voice that always had the special charm of calming me down. "Son, it's natural to be afraid. There is much in this life that any sane person should be wary of, but you must remember, you should never pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them." A thick masculine voice echoed in my mind. Within moments, I felt myself settle. My heart was still racing, but I was no longer feeling strangled by the fear.
"Okay, get it together, Grubbs. You've watched thousands of zombie movies. This is a piece of cake. Just don't get cornered and bash their heads in. Yeah, simple." I pepped myself up out loud, not bothering to quiet my voice as the heavy smacking of the wall opposite me overshadowed any other sound. Feeling slightly calmer, I took a better stock of the room I had suddenly found my stupid ass transported too. I was in what was obviously the living room. Behind me was a window but was boarded up with old wood. I imagined it would be easy to rip them off in their current state, but for the moment, I didn't bother. To my right lead further into the apartment with a small hall with doors on either side. I guessed they led to the bedroom and bathroom. To my left was a thick-looking door with several locks on it, and for some reason, the condition of the door gave me pause. I stared puzzled for several second before I realised why it looked so out of place. It looked brand new, in complete contrast to the utter irreparable state of the rest of the apartment. "That's weird." I said, and as if in agreement, the wall opposite me finally lost its first big piece, revealing a half fleshless hand with jagged nails following through the hole and reaching towards me wildly.
"Shit on me." I muttered and took a reflexive step back, away from the grasping, rotting hand. My right hand reached towards where my baton usually clipped to my belt, but I found nothing but empty air. With bugged out eyes, I looked down at my belt and in a flurry, searched the ground for my baton. While I was having a sudden panic attack, the zombie apparently had come to the conclusion that its reach wasn't long enough and began to violently slam its body against the wall again, while tearing at the wood and plaster with its hand. Causing greenish black blood to streak across the floor and wall, along with bits of its dripping flesh. Now that there was already a hole, the rest of the wall appeared to have lost its durability and was quickly crumbling under the onslaught. When it came to me, I finally found my baton, which was still lodged in the zombie I had killed by accident earlier. Almost wishing to give myself a severe slap for my idiocy, I ran to the corpse and begun tugging at my baton.
"Come on, you little bugger. Give it back!" I yelled at the dead zombie as the skull's grip on my baton was turning out to be a real pain. Losing my cool at the sound of the pieces of wall hitting the floorboards only a few feet away from me, I began to kick at the already dead zombie, further smashing in the skull, coating my boots in all manner of grossness. Even though the sight sent my stomach flipping, I didn't have the patience or time to truly care. Finally, after a very anger fueled stomp, half the zombie's skull was crushed and my baton was finally yanked free. I checked the baton for damage and saw that it looked a little worse for wear, with a slight bend in the middle but still perfectly useable. A raspy, wet growl rang out to my left, brought my inspection of my baton up short as I quickly turned to face the zombie. It had finally finished smashing through the wall and was awkwardly forcing its way past the hole. Besides looking like a generic zombie, with molting flesh, rags for clothes and an open mouth filled with broken teeth, it was also liberally covered in dust and plaster from head to toe. Overall though, the zombie appeared to not be affected at all by the heavy battering its body must have taken bashing against the building and looked in top shape to devour some premium beef, which unfortunately, looked to be me.
I took a couple of steps back and raised my baton above my head, ready to bring it down on the zombie's skull just like the last. Considering I had only had limited training in hand-to-hand combat and basic firearms, which every teenager in the Federation must do as part of national service, not including I had never actually physically attacked anyone in my life, I felt the current attack posture was my best option. Waiting like a shabby knight bracing for a charge, I felt sweat began to gather on my head and soak through my shirt. The zombie didn't give me any time to truly let the fear of the situation kick me down again, as now that it had set its sights on what must look like an oh so delectable meal it let out another wet growl and stumble charged towards me. It's broken and mutilated fingers led the way as its hands made grasping actions towards me and even though I already felt the instinct to bat at the claws that were now only a few feet from me, I held back, as any horror movie enthusiast knew, damaging their hands aint do nothing to the undead.
Just as the zombie's fingertips were moments from gripping my chest, I roared a battle cry I thought sounded fierce, "Eat it!" and slammed my baton towards the zombie's head, as if I was trying to chop the monster in half. A loud crack rang out in the silent room, and as if it was a puppet whose strings were cut, the zombie's entire body lost all function and crashed forwards. Unlike last time, though, I was ready and quickly sidestepped out of the way of the falling corpse. Once again, though, I had to leave my baton in the monster as the thin metal was wedged into the bone of the skull again and I didn't want the bodi's dead weight to drag me to the floor. The now zombie unicorn crashed face first onto the floor with a meaty smack.
I took another step back, half from fear the thing may still be alive and also because the smell from the zombie was quite overwhelming. The worry that the monster was still alive was unnecessary, however, as after only a short few seconds, a floating notification appeared in my vision, accompanied by my nemesis's voice.
[Defeated – 1x Level 1 – Human Zombie – 10 Experience gained]
"Shit on me. It's really like an RPG game. I even got experience for killing a monster for god's sake. Where the hell am I?" I muttered after the notification disappeared, this time keeping my voice low. Ignoring the zombie corpse, I began to pace around the living room while gathering my thoughts. So much had happened in such a short time that I still felt muddleheaded and a little overwhelmed.
"Okay, regardless of the how or why, it appears I'm stuck wherever here is for at the least three days. The world appears to run on game mechanics like those old anime stories Dad used to read. Alright, so if this is like a game, then I must have like a status page or something, right?" First, I tried saying words like, "Status," and "Menu" out loud, but nothing happened. Pondering, I began to think of different commands in my head when I finally thought about the word "Profile". And just like that, I found a floating grid like box with several bits of information right before my eyes. It was semi transparent so I could still see the world around me, but the words were still perfectly readable.
Name:
Grubbitish Reinbach
Level:
0
Experience to next Level:
20/100
Race:
Human
Class:
None
Health:
110/110
Stamina:
100/100
Mana:
100/100
Armor Value:
0
Looking over the table, I saw it appeared simple with all common descriptors for a character in an RPG style video game. 'Mana? So, I can cast spells? That's actually kinda awesome.' I thought to myself at the sight of my mana value, even though I had no clue whether learning spells or skills was something you learned to do yourself or was something you were given from, like a skill book. Which person doesn't wish for mystical powers at least once in their life. The thought of spells and skills made me pause for a moment as I remembered I had received some special Talent as a reward for braining the first zombie within seconds of the so called Tutorial starting. Going off the previous success, I mentally thought "Talents," as if I was commanding something inside of me and, just like my profile page, a set of new grids appeared.
Talents: 1/10
Blood of the Troll Chieftain (Epic) (Non-upgradeable)
Skills: 0/5
Cost:
"Well, that explained bugger all. Hmm, let's try this." I cursed out loud before trying to focus in on the [Blood of the Troll Chieftain] Talent. As if activating something, the grid disappeared and instead a new box with the description of the talent appeared before my eyes.
[Talent - Blood of the Troll Chieftain (Epic): Your blood surges with a vibrant vitality, much like the strongest warriors of the Troll Tribe when injured you roar, "it tis but a scratch!" This talent gives you a natural regeneration of 1% of your Max Health Points per second. In and out of combat. It also activates the hidden attribute, Constitution (Which can now have free Attribute points applied to it)]
'Well, that's a lot to unpack.' I thought to myself, as I re-read the description a couple of times, trying my best to absorb the information revealed. After gathering my thoughts, I realized that the talent was actually incredible. Even though it was disappointing to see it was apparently not upgradeable, the more I thought about, I actually realised it could technically be upgraded if I could increase my total health points. And considering it says in and out of combat, I imagined there are some healing items in this messed up world that do not take effect if one is in battle. Overall, it looked like nothing but a plus, especially considering it apparently unlocked a hidden attribute. Following the same vein, I internally commanded, "Attributes". Showing a new table of values.
Strength
5
Endurance
5
Constitution
1
Agility
5
Spirit
5
Charisma
5
Seeing the standard RPG attribute tropes, I had a fair guess of what they did, but knowing that being sure was better than guessing, I focused on each individual attribute, giving me a brief description of what they did. Although most of it didn't surprise me, there were a couple nuggets of information buried in the descriptions that spoke of something happening on a deeper layer.
[STRENGTH: Measures bodily power, athletic capacity, and the extent to which you can exert raw physical force upon the world.]
[ENDURANCE: Measures health, stamina, and natural resistances to bodily harm. Each Attribute Point increase to Endurance increases total Health Points by +5 and Stamina by +5.]
[AGILITY: Measures, the body's natural reflexes, coordination and balance, increasing overall muscle twitch speed and reaction to the physical world.]
[SPIRIT: Measures one's mental acuity, brain development and capacity, and the ability to manipulate the world's energy for active use. Each Attribute Point increase to Spirit increases total Mana Points, +5 and mana regeneration by +0.5 per second.]
[CHARISMA: Measures your ability to interact effectively with other intelligent beings. It also affects the force of your being upon the world.]
[CONSTITUTION: Measures the overall physical condition, natural resistances to toxins and poisons and increases the strength of one's Vital Force. Each Attribute increase to constitution increases total Health Points by +10.]
'Fairly standard stuff. The spirit stat appears to be like the intelligence and wisdom stat in one. And going off the fact that Constitution was a hidden stat, there is a high chance there are other hidden stats, like maybe perception or dexterity.' After reading over the descriptions, I began to think about what they revealed and what they hadn't. There appeared to be a lot that was undefined, and I imagined that meant I needed to wait until I get these Attribute points so I could actually feel out the differences once their values were increased. Going off the fact that my Health Points were a 110 instead of what appeared to be the standard of 100 for a human, as I was definitely just a standard human, in more ways than one, the one Attribute Point, which I will now call AP for short, in constitution has already taken effect.
Checking and feeling my body all over, I didn't notice any increase to my form; I did feel slightly more energized than I probably should, but that could also be a side effect of the adrenaline pumping through my veins from my recent confrontation with the walking dead. Pushing these thoughts to the side for a moment as there was no way to get an answer at that moment, I instead began to go over other common tropes found in RPG style games. I of course tried to internally command a "Log out" but that didn't do anything, which wasn't a surprise, instead another common function of games came to my head as I looked over the two corpses in the middle of the dusty living room. Loot!
With somewhat hesitant steps I made my way to the zombie I had just brained and first looked at the corpse and internally commanded "Loot" this did nothing, I then crouched down and touched the corpse with the tip of my finger on what was the remnant of a floral patterned styled shirt. Doing my best to not get any of the monster's goo on me. Luckily, this action appeared to work, and a set of floating text appeared above the corpse.
[Loot Level 1 Zombie - Yes or No?]
I internally said yes and then, in a soft flash of light, the corpse disintegrated into a pile of ashes, causing me to fall back on my ass with a cry that I quickly muffled by placing a hand over my own mouth. I waited for several seconds, with my heart beating out of my chest, but after not hearing any reciprocating noises after my shout, I removed my hand, letting out a breath of relief. Crawling back over to what was now a pile of ash, I saw two items withing the pile. Reaching out, I grabbed the first item that looked like a plain packet of salted biscuits with no label. Once the item was in my hand, a floating text flashed in my eyes.
[20 x Salted Cracker (Common) - One cracker can satiate average human hunger for four hours]
'Oh, how generous of the system. I'm not worthy of such a prize.' I internally scoffed while putting the packet of crackers in my pocket. Reaching out again, I grabbed the next item that was buried in the ash. Grabbing a handful of what felt like a small roll of grey colored leather, the description of the item soon followed as I brought it closer to my face.
[Zombie Skin (Common) (Material) - Can be used as crafting material by someone with the appropriate Profession and recipe. Zombie skin holds high natural resistance to poison and toxins.]
With a manly, "Ew!" I dropped the grey roll after reading the description and kicked it across the living room. With a full body shudder at the thought that I had just held a piece of rolled up skin in my hands, I cursed my shitting luck for the hundredth time that day. Taking a couple of seconds, and a couple of light slaps to my face, I regained my bearings and walked over to the first corpse I had brained and touched the least grossest part of its body, internally saying yes to the loot option again. This time I was prepared and only took a small step back when the body turned to ash. It appeared there was only one item in the remnants of this zombie. However, compared to the last two, this item's form made my eyes sparkle.
Snatching the item by its slightly discolored handle, I lifted what was a classic firearm before my eyes. Even though I knew what the weapon was, I still excitedly read the description that appeared once it was within my grasp.
[M1911 Semi-Automatic Pistol (Common) - No Stat or Level Requirements.]
Durability: 37/50
Requires .45ACP ammunition, Current Clip 7/10.
Damage +10
System Note: A favorite sidearm in Human societies during the Hot Weapon periods.
"Score." I said, as I held the weapon gently as if it was a newborn baby. Tracing my memory, I tried to remember the details about this weapon that hadn't been in circulation for well over two-hundred years. It held a simple brown textured grip that sat comfortably in one hand. The barrel was a slightly dirty silver color. During national service, I received a crash course on firearms. Although I would never say I was an expert, I was still apt enough to know the general ins and outs. I first released the clip in my hand and saw that just like the description screen had said there were seven bullets within, I then put the clip back in, pulling the barrel back on its slide to make sure the first bullet loaded within the chamber correctly and then checked to make sure the safety was on before I tucked the handgun into the back of pants, now with a very happy grin upon my pale face.