7 The Appeal Of Green Gold
Not even a day after his first one, Michael found himself being the prey of yet another chase. As the voracious zombies were running behind him in hope of getting some human fresh flesh, he decided to just run around.
At every corner, Michael would wait for the horde to come and grab one zombie, kill it quickly by stomping on its skull after tossing it to the ground then continue running. The pack of zombies was not as homogeneous as it could be, therefore there were always a couple of zombies ahead of the rest. The horde was becoming big enough that all of them could not fit into a singular street.
But since the intelligence of a zombie was limited, they just tried to squeeze through at the same time, resulting in some being injured or dead. At the very least, this slowed down a majority of the group of zombies that were chasing Michael.
While running, Michael felt his breath start to come short. Even with the upgrades that his system gave him, he was unable to sustain long distances running at max speed yet. Just like he would have gotten eventually caught by Mitch and Mack as his speed inevitably decreased throughout the chase, he was feeling himself slow down gradually and zombies were catching up. Killing one zombie in every corner was not sustainable.
At the same time, Michael had the brilliant idea of checking his status while running. When he mouthed the word necessary to call up the blue screen, he felt reinvigorated all of the sudden. His eyes widened as he felt himself go a bit faster. He was running faster and with the ease of someone that just started his sprint.
The sound of the zombie horde rushing towards him was becoming farther and farther away, but Michael stopped. Once he looked at his status, he realized that his actions had a direct impact on his stats, but not in real-time. Every monster that he destroyed gave him experience and stat points. However, he needed to update his status by calling it up every time if he wanted to benefit from those supplementary points.
[Name: Gilgamesh]
[Race: Human]
[Level: I (21%)]
[Class: Warrior]
[Strength: I-329]
[Constitution: I-312]
[Endurance: I-267]
[Dexterity: I-56]
[Willpower: I-102]
He managed to win 116 points across the board with his recent activity and his experience bar was filled to nearly a quarter. He didn't get refreshed like he originally thought was what happened, like when he picked a class, instead, he just gained more of everything, therefore his previous state didn't feel as bad as before.
As he heard the sound of the horde catching up after all of his ruminations, he decided to try something.
He ripped apart a steel bar from the wall near him, thanking the fact that all the houses around here were under construction therefore there was material easily available. He prepared himself to bash the zombies with what constituted a rudimentary metal bat.
As the first zombie approached him with a speed that was completely unlike what he experienced in his previous fight, one clean hit with the metal bar left no chance for the poor monster. His head exploded under Michael's new strength. The metal seemed to be rigid enough to not be affected by the hit. It was as good as new if only a bit dirtied by yellow brain matter and coagulated blood.
Michael quickly stepped back as several zombies tried to grab him immediately afterward. Little by little, now that killing a zombie only cost him one swing, he methodically destroyed the horde with his precious metal bar.
He continuously swung his weapon until the street he was in was covered with zombie corpses.
Out of breath after the fact, Michael waited a little bit before once again checking out his status.
[Name: Gilgamesh]
[Race: Human]
[Level: II (57%)]
[Class: Warrior]
[Strength: I-421]
[Constitution: I-354]
[Endurance: I-367]
[Dexterity: I-68]
[Willpower: I-104]
Once again basking in the feeling of fast progression, he quickly noticed that his constitution wouldn't go up if he wasn't hit, as he feared. His dexterity was struggling to advance as well and his willpower was static. Michael had no idea how to progress in the last stats, so he decided to simply not bother with it.
He then clicked on his level that went from I to II to see if anything changed because of it. Instantly, another blue box appeared in front of him.
[Perk points available: 1]
[Analyzing Character:Gilgamesh's fighting style…]
[Perks available: 2]
[Choose wisely:]
[Power Strike]
[You know how to go beyond your limits, even if it is only for one moment.
Increase damage by 50% of the next strike, then decrease damage dealt by 20% for 2 seconds. Drains 5% stamina.]
[This isn't even my final speed]
[Your legs always take you further than what the enemy thought.
Once stamina goes below 10%, increase running speed by 50% for 5 seconds. Drains 5% stamina.]
Michael immediately chose the first perk, Power Strike. He thought that he lacked offensive abilities and that most of the people he tried to run away from were either fast enough that the second perk wouldn't matter or slow enough that he wouldn't need it.
However, our hero also thought that the system was accurate in terms of numbers for things that seemed not quantifiable such as his stamina. Still, he also realized once the blue screen in front of him disappeared that using his status to refresh his stats in the middle of a fight was not possible. He needed to be standing still for a few seconds before the screen appeared, and moving simply cancel the vocal command.
Also, since he needed a vocal command, there was a chance that whoever he was fighting would recognize the pattern and realize that he needed to stop Michael from talking or attack him while he was using his status. It was too dangerous to stand still in a fight for even a moment, therefore Michael knew that he wouldn't be able to abuse the way his system worked.
The zombies remaining in the vicinity were all quite far away, those were the ones that did not join the horde which meant that they weren't able to hear what was happening over here. Michael still didn't know whether the zombies got stronger naturally with time or if they got stronger with each fallen monster.
The horde that he fought through was so dense and compact that he ended up just hitting with all of his strength at random most of the time. He had no idea if the zombies grew stronger after each kill that he made, but it was likely not the case as Michael felt like if that was the way things worked, he would have gotten quickly overwhelmed considering the number of zombies he killed.
Tossing away the now bent and broken metal bar, he grabbed two others, one to fight and one as a backup, and advanced towards where the remaining zombies were, deeper in the abandoned city. The fog surrounding the buildings got thicker and thicker as Michael's hearing brought him towards the center.
Killing as silently as possible a couple of zombies on the road, Michael's vision was gradually becoming useless and he thanked whoever gave him his supernatural hearing as this was the only way he could navigate through the mist without getting lost.
The atmosphere became heavy, and even though nothing had visibly changed, Michael still felt as if he entered a place of danger.
Suddenly, a deep and nearly inhuman voice entered Michael's ears.
"Well, well, well…" Michael jumped in fear, he quickly turned to the place where the sound came from, and raised his metal bar, ready to strike, "What do we have her-"
"Who are you?! How did you sneak on me?!" nearly screamed Michael, sweat dripping from his forehead. His heart was beating as fast as possible, part because of the sudden appearance that he didn't manage to spot out, but also because of the terrifying appearance of the thing that popped next to him.
It was humanoid, at least in the general shape. Nearly 3 times his size and wearing a long blood-stained black jacket that seemed to come from the 19th century, the lower half of its body was hidden behind a glassy wooden counter in the middle of the road. The upper half showcased a black rib cage with no skin and no organs, except a beating red gem in the place where its heart should be. Separated from the bone-only body by a yellow bow tie, a putrid green and black flesh sprouted from seemingly nothing and made for a terrific smiling face. With filthy teeth, a crooked smile, and red pulsing eyes, the fashionable black hat that covered the creature's bald head could not make up for the abyssal appearance of the merchant.
Michael felt like if this creature was able to sneak past his hearing and get close to him, he had no chance of beating it. Still, he would at least try to take it down.
"How... cute." said the monster, with a disturbing pause in the middle of his words as he looked up and down at the body of Michael. Our hero still only wore the rag that Mitch offered him earlier, and displayed a young and slightly tanned flesh that made the merchant lick its lips.
At the thing's expression, Michael felt a strong shiver run down his spine and took a couple of steps back.
"But... you see… I'm only an honest merchant. My days of… glorious eating are, unfortunately… behind me." continued the merchant, putting a scary emphasis on the words 'glorious eating'. Still, it wasn't the thing's words that calmed Michael down, it was the prompt displayed by his system in the form of a blue box appearing in front of him, asking if he wanted to trade with the merchant of the dungeon of Trash Valley.
Still somehow suspicious and scared, it didn't stop Michael from trusting in his system and accepting to trade. As a new window opened in front of him, he discovered a new function of his system that he didn't know of before.
'Inventory?'
Michael, while keeping what he thought was a subtle eye on the merchant, realized that every zombie he killed dropped something called a vial of disease, which he could trade to the merchant for money or equipment. Having killed a sizable amount of monsters, he had enough of them to buy a few things that could help him down the line.
The vials of disease were the tubes filled with the corrosive green liquid that Michael experimented with within his first fights. Still not knowing what they were useful for, he didn't hesitate to give them to the merchant as they were useless for him and even dangerous.
Thankful that he didn't have to give them directly to the creepy merchant, therefore not having to approach him, he then scrolled down to see what he could buy with his money. Michael didn't hesitate to lock on a big katana, for his height, as he imagined how cool it would be to become a samurai, like in those animes.
Still, Michael continued to scroll down to see if there was a better deal. Apparently, the katana was dirt cheap and in a decent condition compared to most other weapons in the merchant's collection. Armor that had any chance of protecting Michael from the zombies were too expensive for him, and he would have to save up in order to even buy a single piece.
He ultimately decided to buy the katana. As it appeared in the air in front of him, he was shocked by how light it was considering its size.
The merchant didn't say another word, he just chuckled darkly before disappearing in front of Michael's eyes in a soundless explosion of dark fumes.
Equipped with his new weapon, Michael was ready to take on the rest of the dungeon.
