Chapter 3: First Dungeon: Zombies
With a flash of light, I found myself in the streets of a rundown city. Broken cars with fire pouring out of them giving out the sound of fire burning the already charred wreckages slowly. However, the low sound of groaning was present over everything else.
Looking around I could see pairs and trios of humanoid figures. Each of them wore wrecked clothing and their bodies were mostly broken and rotting.
Even from the distance of more than a few meters, I could smell their rotten stench like I was right next to them.
As I looked at them I felt glad that Gamer's Mind kept all types of Mental Status Effects from affecting me. Because if it didn't I'm sure I'd probably be crippled by fear.
Looking at death and rot walking about isn't easy on a human mind.
Feeling my hand wrapped around the grip of the baseball bat, I felt it's solid weight and instantly I felt my confidence bolstered by it's presence.
Looking around for a solo Zombie - I wanted to see how strong the Monsters were before I took on pairs and trios of them.
Walking around I began to realize a few things:
-The Zombies were blind and seemed to rely purely on their sense of hearing; as long as I kept quiet I could sneak past them
-They walked very stiffly so I guessed that they were just like generic zombies; Strong but slow
-And lastly, just like you'd expect of something dead they didn't seem to feel pain or any kind of fear of death
How did I know the last one? I saw one just walk into a fiery car and not even move away when it was burning alive...uhhh unalive?
Anyway, it didn't take long before I found a lone Zombie.
Creeping up behind my first victim, I saw that they were a 'she' before they became all...dead, I guess?
My creeping was quite good and the Zombie was none the wiser that I was seconds away from bashing its brains in.
I was within range so I pulled back my bat and hit the zombie on the back of its rotten head.
*BANG!*
Surprised, I felt like I hit a metal pole but I continued with my push using all of my 15 points in Strength.
The zombie flew forward and fell to the floor with a wet squelching sound.
Before it could react to what I just did, I walked over it and slammed down on its head with the bat once more.
With a ding, a screen appeared in front of me.
[You've learned 2 new Skills!]
[Blunt Weapon Mastery: Lv1] (Passive)
[EXP: 0.0%]
[Allows the user to proficiently use any kind of blunt weapon to a decent degree. Adds 5% more damage to any hit done by a blunt weapon.]
[Strong Hit: Lv1] (Active)
[EXP: 0.0%]
[AP Cost: 20 AP]
[When this skill is activated it gives the next strike +15% more damage and a chance to stun the enemy it is used against.]
Seeing these new skills, I felt a smile spread wide across my face. Using observe I looked at the now bloodied bat in my hand.
[Average Metal Bat]
[Rarity: Common]
[Damage Output: 12-18]
Taking in its stats, I looked over at a Zombie and used observe on it.
[Zombie: Lv2]
[HP: 35/35]
So it'd take me 3 hits at most to kill an Lv2 Zombie? Well, let's get to it~
After resolving myself I went on to kill as many solo Zombies as I could. They were surprisingly hard to find, however, and even after walking around for an hour, I only found 22 of them, including the one I first killed. But by this point, I had done enough and I'd leveled up 2 times and was near leveling up again.
For my first level, each zombie gave me 20% EXP but after hitting Lv2, the EXP from each Zombie only filled 10% of my bar. After that, it stayed the same, so I was 70% closer to my next level.
Opening my status I saw that I had 10 usable stat points. Seeing my fighting style revolved around hitting hard I instantly dropped 5 stat points into Strength. For the remainder, I placed 3 in Vitality and the remaining 2 in Dexterity.
Finalizing my decision, I felt a rush of power and warmth. My muscles and bones felt fortified, like they could handle more weight and put out more force, and then they felt full of energy. So full, in fact, that I felt like I could run a marathon.
Though I knew this was my mind playing tricks on me.
I couldn't feel anything different in terms of my Dexterity stat improvement but I chalked it up to the small improvement being hard to feel and that it wasn't much higher than what I guessed was the average (10, for those wondering).
By this point, I was sufficiently worn out. Bashing the back of Zombie's heads in is much more work than you'd think. Each Zombie took about 2-3 hits to take down and I'd killed 22 of the things meaning I'd swung the metal bat about 44-66 times. Take into account the running (sneakily) about and the fact I did have to sprint away from some Zombie Trios, it was quite normal that I was tired.
But the rush of energy seemed to renew my stamina, so I felt like I could go on for a bit longer.
Luckily, the ID didn't take any energy to keep up, so I could stay here and grind for as long as I want. It was a Friday after all - I had the entire weekend to do what I needed to do.
Seeing my enhanced stats, I looked towards my newest prey - duo Zombies.
I knew for a fact I could take down the first Zombie with a Strong Hit and a quick follow up, then I could take down the slow and clumsy Zombie still alive.
Not knowing if the smile stretching across my face was confident or manic, I walked like a determined man toward my goal.
To become stronger in this crazy world.
2 Hours Later~
[You have Leveled Up!]
Hearing the same chime two more times in a row, I looked down at my now bent bat covered in blackened, dead blood.
Letting out a happy sigh, I brought my hand up and used my Instant Dungeon Escape skill.
A distinct cracking sound rang throughout the Dungeon before visual cracks ran throughout everything. The broken, fiery cars, the rundown buildings, even the Undead around me.
Before I knew it I was back in my room. Looking up toward the clock in my room, I felt revelry at the new memories in my head which I hadn't had a chance to look through. My identity in this world.
Ignoring that thought, for now, I realized I'd only been in the Instant Dungeon for an hour and a half.
Huh, guess there's some kind of time dilation? Well, it just means I can grind for longer, so I shouldn't worry about it.
Opening up my status I took in my stats and level.
Name: Tatsuya Yamamoto
Title: The Gamer*
Level: 7
EXP: 0.00%
Class: [Pick a Class*]
HP: 200/200
AP: 200/200
STR: 20
VIT: 20
DEX: 12
INT: 11
WIS: 9
LUK: ???
Unused Stats: 25
I hadn't used any of my stat points because I had plenty of strength to take down the Duos of Zombies I was using to grind against. I realized I'd need to start killing quicker because even after 2 hours of grinding, I only leveled up 5 times, one of which I was already extremely close to leveling, so it happened near instantly.
Sure, the EXP requirement was heightened every time I leveled up but still, shouldn't I be killing quicker?
Looking toward the class option on my status, I guessed that a class would help me improve my grinding speed.
Or at least I hoped it did. Well, if it didn't I just needed to get better on my own...it just sucks because it'd take a while.
Wiping these thoughts from my mind, I started to allocate my stats. 10 to Strength, 10 to Vitality and 5 to Dexterity. Clicking the finalize button, I felt the familiar rush of power and warmth but there was something new - a certain clarity.
My senses seemed to clear up - my sight, hearing and smell all felt enhanced and I could even hear the people next door speaking about what they would be having for dinner tonight.
But it wasn't just that, the way I controlled my body also seemed to get much better. If before my body was always slightly resisting my commands than now my body obediently listened to what I wanted it to do before doing it exactly as I wanted. Though this only applied to my muscles - I couldn't control my heartbeat.
I also felt my balance and flexibility increase. I can't describe how I 'felt' this but I could tell that I could easily do the splits or balance on my tip toes while standing on a wooden column now. Kinda instinctive, I guess.
If 10 was the average, and the average healthy man could bench press around 120lbs than wouldn't that mean I could now lift 360lbs? That's quite a lot, right? Nearly two times my body weight, at least. But definitely not 'Strongest Man Alive' level of strength.
But how do I measure my Vitality? Vitality is to do with the health of the body and the rate at which I regenerate my Health, Aura, and Stamina...so does that mean I have 3 times more stamina and Health than a normal person? That I recover 3 times faster?
...Questions that shall be answered after I have a shower.
Dropping the bat to the ground, I took off my clothes before walking to the shower.
When inside I realized my body had bulked up in terms of muscle mass and if before I looked like an athletic youth, then now I looked like an incredibly ripped martial artist from some kind of Fighting Manga. I guess 15 stat points in Strength would theoretically increase your muscle mass...
But that wasn't all - my body seemed harder. I didn't know whether this was because of the Strength stat or because of the Vitality stat but either way, it was welcome. Anything that increased my defense is a boon.
Suddenly, when I was thinking about which stat did what, I was greeted by multiple screens.
[STR: Strength, related to the physical power of the muscles and the power/weight they can resist/lift.]
[VIT: Vitality, related to how healthy and durable the body is. The higher the stat, the higher the recovery rate is for Health while also raising the amount of the Health Pool. The amount of Aura the user has is also determined by the Vitality Stat.]*
*If VIT is 4 times less than the STR stat, 1hp/per second will be lost every time you use your full strength
[DEX: Dexterity, related to the overall body-coordination of the user. The higher this stat, the higher their reaction time, natural balance, flexibility, and speed will be.]*
*If DEX is 4 times less than the STR stat, the user will not be able to properly control their own strength and may break objects and hurt people on accident
[INT: Intelligence, related to the Memorization, Thought Processing Speed and overall speed of learning for the User, while also increasing the potency of Mana in the body, along with increasing the Mana Pool's size.]*
*User doesn't use Mana so this Stat can only be used for its effects on the brain. It has no effect on Aura
[WIS: Wisdom, related to how you use your knowledge and how you apply it to real-life situations. Needs to be used if someone wishes to use their vast Intelligence to come up with a battle strategy/plan. But it also has the effect of increasing the regeneration of the Body's energy (applicable to Aura) while also increasing the control over said energy.]*
*A Hidden Stat is linked to Wisdom: Magical Resistance. Ever 10 points in Wisdom raises Magical Resistance by 1%.
[LUK: Luck, related to the probability of things happening in the user's favor. Also increases the chance of there being a good drop from a monster.]
Huh.
Well...all I can say is - Why didn't this appear at the start?!
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Sekiryuutei
Sekiryuutei His Class will be picked next chapter. Got any suggestions on what class you think would fit him best? Or a class you want to see?
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