progress

A part of him thought the next time he came back everything would've returned to normal. It didn't. With a grim expression he listened to the unceasing moaning of husks, to the barking of skinned dogs and... many other things that he didn't know.

Aldrich looked around and found the coin pouch he looted last time. Three silver and five copper, that was a huge sum of money. Now it was shame that it all he could do was let it collect dust here.

'Wait...'

Aldrich suddenly slapped himself twice. How could he not have thought about this until now? When Isger came to the nightmare corridor he bought his sword with him and used it to battle.

Another thing when he fell out of the blue door he was wearing the smae clothes he had in the real world. His first corpse upstairs was still wearing those clothes.

This confirmed that he could bring things from the real world here. Then what about vice versa? It was highly likely. But... he just didn't know how.

How did Isger bring a replica of his sword into the nightmare? Better yet, how did he bring a replica of his own real world clothes here?

This whole entire thing was mysterious to say the least.

Aldrich was about to push away the couch blocking the door to stairway but stopped himself.

'No, it's not the right time. There's something much more urgent.'

Aldrich sat back down, deep in thought. He decided not to challenge the armored husk for now. There was a few reasons for that. First, he wasn't going to rush into the fight just because his strength increased to three.

When he recalled the fight—that wasn't even a fight— as brief as it was, he understood that the armored husk hadn't taken him seriously. He was crushed without even landing a single hit.

The difference wasn't only in strength and speed alone, it was greater still in skill. Aldrich knew he couldn't catch up to the armored husk's skill in a short amount of time. So he needed to crush it with raw power.

One attribute that he currently had his eyes on was intelligence. If it really increased his learning ability then maybe he could learn swordsmanship faster. The potential of these attributes is hard to ignore.

Granted Aldrich didn't want to fight it fairly, of course. But his current situation reminded him of the days when he was just a boy.

When he got in fights with boys around his age he could always play tricks to win, even against bigger boys. But when the debt collectors came to beat him up he tried all the tricks he could but he always got beaten black and blue.

He must be at least on the same playing ground to even try some dirty tricks. As he was now, Aldrich judged that he wasn't ready just yet. But he also didn't think he was that far off.

The second and most important reason is the noise outside. What if some of the husks were to break out of the sealed buildings? Then they would be attracted to the noise made by other husks in an unending cycle.

Aldrich imagined the whole town teeming with husks filling the streets in endless pursuit of fresh flesh, even if there was nothing but normal husks, he would be overwhelmed, not to mention even stronger types. The thought made him cringe.

So Aldrich came to a decision, he needed to clear out the surrounding buildings so that he could create a sort of safety zone that he could comfortably move in.

Aldrich decided that he would clear the surrounding seven buildings for the next week or so and then he could make a move.

He could wait for the husks to calm down but that was actually difficult, the husks reacted to noise. They were basically encouraging each other, and they didn't seem to get bored.

Aldrich picked up his shield and a long sword, before he went out he made sure to check his armor too.

As Aldrich observed the town he noticed that something was different about the town, but couldn't tell what. The fog. The always thick and heavy fog had significantly thinned out.

Now he had a much clearer look on the town. Maybe if he climbed somewhere high up he could see just how big this town was after all. And maybe the way out.

Aldrich turned to the house that was the closest to his base to the right. He decided to clear the neighboring houses.

He kicked open the wooden boards sealing the door with ease. Then he tapped his shield against the wall from the outside and didn't have to wait long for two husks to come running at him from the hallway.

Aldrich observed the first one, it was charging at him recklessly and without a weapon. Aldrich blocked with his shield and the husk slammed into his shield.

The force behind the charge was laughably weak. Imagine sprinting into a wall full speed. That was almost what happened to the husk and it stumbled backwards.

Perfect.

Aldrich took this chance and kicked the stumbling husk right back into its charging companion causing a terrible accident. Aldrich stabbed his sword through both of them at the same time.

It was not enough to kill them but certainly enough for Aldrich to keep going's until they were. Aldrich made easy work of the two of them. He barely put any effort in the sword and yet he was able to do it.

Indeed when the attributes increase to three a clear difference manifested. Swinging the long sword was troublesome before and now it felt much easier.

Aldrich searched the house and found one sealed room on the second floor. It had an iron bar in between the door handle similar to his base.

Aldrich breathed in deep and unlocked the door. A spear pierced through his abdomen. At least it would have if it wasn't blocked by the shield.

Aldrich backed away with cold sweat. The husk that attacked him was wearing the same armor as him and a metal helm. Aldrich didn't attack yet.

The husk sent a flurry of piercing attacks all of which Aldrich either blocked or dodged. When the husk slowed down Aldrich closed the distance between them, taking the advantage over the spearman and cutting its throat.

The freaky and gooey green blood of the husk splattered on him. Aldrich found it off with some of the rags he found in the house.

Aldrich then searched the house and found a coin pouch similar to the one he snagged last time only this one had seven silvers and a few coppers. Although he couldn't take them back to the real world yet, some day soon he hoped he will. And then these coins will serve him well.

He also took the liberty of relieving the husk of his armor and spear. The normal husks had rags and no weapons, beyond the essence orbs they were useless.

Aldrich collected all six essence orbs and returned to the base having completed his objective for the day.

Name: Aldrich

Age: 15.5

Strength: 3

Agility: 1+

Endurance: 1+

Vitality: 2

Intelligence: 1+

Spirit (black): 3

Essence: 7

Abilities: eyes of insight Lv.1

Condition: blood of ######

Aldrich hesitated for a good while, deliberating on if he really wanted to do this. Finally, he upgraded intelligence to two. Losing four orbs in the process.

Aldrich once again felt the familiar electrical feeling throughout his body. Good thing he was already on the couch.