Starting Town (1)

"Couldn't you, I don't know, add a minimap to my system?" Sev groaned as his feet carried him across the grassy fields. The sunlight beat down on him, causing him to squint at its intensity, while the brisk and cool wind chilled his skin like ice on a delightful spring morning.

[Negative.]

"… What? No reason?" Sev stared at the holographic screen in front of him as his feet moved on autopilot. When the System didn't reply back, he groaned once more, a bit peeved at the fact that the System wasn't doing him any favors.

"Okay, alright. I'll just walk east… Actually, where is east anyway?" Sev pondered as his feet stopped.

[The opposite direction your current orientation.]

"… You goddamn asshole." Sev cursed and did a 180. "Couldn't you at least give me a compass?"

[Request acknowledged. Setting compass within the Status page.]

"… You know what? I'll take it. Status." The status window opened in front of Sev, and at the very bottom, a newly added feature was introduced. It looked reminiscent of the compass from that game that had a black dragon as the main antagonist and a protagonist with the soul of a dragon.

And lo and behold, he really was going the wrong way earlier. One more thing to complain about the System.

"System, can I call you Jeff?"

[Affirmative.]

[][][]

"Jeff, you are my guide in this world, right?" Sev asked as he stared incredulously at the weird animal grazing in front of him.

[You are correct, UnMortal user Sev.]

"Then explain to me what the hell that thing is." Sev pointed at said animal. It had the build of an ox, teats like a cow, the face of a cow, the horns of a goat, and, quite funnily, the beard of a goat.

[Negative. This unit's priority is to ensure UnMortal user Sev does not have a hard time acclimating to or navigating the world of Dys, not serve as a glorified Wikipedia.]

"Oh great, it has an attitude now as well." Sev facepalmed as his eyes stared at the hybrid of an animal. Said animal was also staring back at him while munching on some grass. "You have fun eating there. I'll just be going."

Sev walked past the animal, his inner voice mocking him for speaking to it.

'I don't know what will last—my first life or my sanity.'

[][][]

"Are you sure this is the right way, Jeff?" Sev stared at the canopy of trees right in front of him, the thick trunks supporting the weight of each and every one of them.

[Affirmative.]

"So, any more to add on? Like, how long should I keep walking? Or how far the damn town is?" Sev grimaced at the holographic screen in front of him while he opened his status window to confirm he was still heading east.

[If UnMortal user Sev continues at this pace, you will reach the town barely before sundown.]

"Oh." Sev looked up, seeing the sun hanging overhead him. "It's still noon… Fuck my life again."

Getting ready for the long walk ahead of him, Sev steeled himself and moved into the dense forest.

[][][]

After walking for a few minutes, Sev noted that the trees in the forest were huge. In fact, it was bigger than the normal forests back on Earth. He heard the occasional bird chirping, although with the sight of the hybrid animal earlier, he didn't know what to expect from how the birds looked in this world.

He just hoped they weren't as big as a car and wouldn't treat him like Cheetos.

"So, Jeff, I'm assuming that you won't go into specifics, but since this is about the town I'm heading to, can you tell me a little bit about it?" Sev asked the System while he batted away a branch that was in his way, his fabric clothing and pants comfortable and covering enough to provide protection against the forest nuisances such as itchy plants.

[UnMortal user Sev is correct. The town you are heading to is called Uthrut. It is surrounded by walls to keep the horrors of the night out and is, by trade, an agrarian society.]

"Oh, so it is self-sufficient then?" Sev hummed, his earlier frustration about the System vanishing slightly. "Anything else?"

[Negative. UnMortal user Sev must figure it out yourself.]

"And just when I was beginning to like you." Sev sighed out once more, his frustration creeping back into his mind.

They remained silent for several hours as Sev navigated the dense forest, his senses heightened and on high alert. Typically, fatigue would have set in by now, but as a newly changed zombie with enhanced abilities, exhaustion was nothing more than a passing illusion.

It was at this point that Sev heard something rustle in the bushes ahead of him. He tensed and crouched low to the ground.

'Something's there.' Sev noted as he crawled slowly and quietly, hoping to any deity that his crawling wasn't making any noise due to his inexperience.

It took a few excruciating seconds to reach the bush, and Sev peered at the clearing in front of him. There, his eyes lay on a cute-looking woman with ripped clothing, specifically on the private parts, her blond hair sticky and matted to the ground, and a very common monster mostly present in fantasy stories.

It had green skin, was as big as a child with a potbelly, had crooked teeth, and a demented grin that could rival that of a predator with its prey. It wore nothing but a loincloth and was licking its lips as it grabbed the woman in its grubby hands.

Sev also noticed some white fluid flowing down the legs of the woman, to which he connected the dots.

'Fuck…' Sev gritted his teeth in anger. He may not be the most morally sound, but even he had limits, and rape was one of the things he wouldn't tolerate. 'Okay, Sev. Time to put your new body to the test.'

[Quest Received!]

[Rescue the woman from the Goblin!]

'And now I even have more of an incentive to beat the hell out of that monster.' Sev snarled. 'Before that, however.'

"Status." Sev whispered, opening his status window. Sev pondered for a bit with his status points and dumped everything into strength.

Name: Sev

Race: Zombie

Title: N/A

Str: 15

Vit: 5

Agi: 5

Dex: 5

Int: 5

Wis: 5

Points Available: 0

'If I can just grab that goblin, maybe I can snap its neck.' Sev thought to himself, adrenaline coursing through his veins.

In a burst of speed, Sev rushed out of the bush, startling the goblin as it turned towards him. The goblin snarled and dodged to the side, leaving Sev to eat its dust and fall to the ground.

"Ack!" Sev quickly pushed himself up, feeling a bit disoriented from the impact with the ground. He immediately scanned his surroundings for the goblin and saw him a few meters away, vividly noting that he was now between it and the unconscious woman.

"Ari! Krom muz gala!" The goblin yelled with a sneer. Sev didn't understand a thing, but with how the goblin was yelling at him, he knew it was swearing like a sailor.

Probably.

While Sev was busy staring at the goblin for any chance to attack, it suddenly lunged at him, its mouth forming into a vicious snarl.

Letting instinct take over, Sev brought his arm towards the lunging goblin and grabbed its head; its lunge stopped forcefully from the sudden grip.

It yelled and screamed while Sev squeezed hard.

The goblin tried to escape Sev's grasp, but his strength was too great. Its screams reached a new pitch, and in a sudden burst, its head popped like a grape, staining the ground as well as Sev with its rich and disgusting blood.

"Ah shit!" Sev cringed and backpedaled like an arachnophobe who just saw a giant spider. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

Sev felt bile rise up in his throat. Even with his zombified body, for some reason, he still functions like a normal human being, albeit with some differences. Finding a bush, he rushed towards it and let out his lunch.

After a few seconds of retching, Sev groggily moved towards the unconscious woman, who turned out to be not unconscious but catatonic.

"Don't worry, I'll get you… you to safety." Sev promised as he hefted the woman into a princess carry, trying not to worsen her visible scratches and wounds. He then looked at his blood-stained clothes and grimaced. "Just need to hurry and find you a good healer, before you get an infection that is."

Leaving behind the headless corpse of the goblin, Sev trudged through the forest, going east.

[][][]

"Finally!" Sev cheered once he saw the telltale signs of civilization, that being the well-maintained dirt road and the wooden walls just on the horizon. "We're close."

Sev looked at the woman, who gave no response. Feeling a bit down about the fact that the woman was not responding, Sev continued on his way towards the town.

A few minutes later and he was harassed b the gate guards.

"Halt!" One of the guards raised his spear towards Sev. "State your busine- wait, is that Joy!"

"What!?" Another guard yelled, and he quickly made his way towards Sev. "Gods above. Hurry, get a healer!"

"Yes, Captain!" The guard placed his hand over his heart before quickly running into the city.

"You! Bring Joy here, quickly!" Sev was a bit frayed at the suddenness of the situation but complied immediately.

"Is she gonna be alright? I found her next to a goblin in the forest west of here." Sev said to the guard captain, to which the captain grimaced.

"She will be fine, citizen." The grimace faded, and the captain turned to regard Sev with a raised eyebrow. "That said, you've done a fine job bringing her back here. For that, you have my gratitude."

Sev couldn't do anything but nod towards the captain's response.

"Judging by your clothes, I assume you took care of the goblin in question?" The captain asked, and Sev nodded. "Good. One less of the bastards is always good in my book. Here, for your troubles."

The captain handed Sev a pouch of money that clinked when dropped into his palms.

"Get some rest, son; you look like you need it. That, and brand new clothes. Wouldn't want to get any infections now, do we?" Sev glanced down at his bloodied shirt and grimaced.

"Yeah, that would be nice." Sev nodded and headed into town, to which the guards obliged and opened the gate. "Thanks for the money."

"Don't mention it. That was just the reward for finding Joy here." The captain sighed.

'Was she missing for a few days now?' Sev frowned as he walked through the town, idly noting the other people giving him a wide berth due to the stench and his current appearance. 'Well, at least it isn't because of them knowing I'm a zombie.'

[Quest Complete!]

[Rewards: 10 Status Points]