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Date: 2022, January 1
Time: 01: 04: 23
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Ethan knew what each stat meant because he played some RPG games in the past, but the problem was that this was reality. From what he sees, the system isn't fully game-like, proven by the absence of the health bar. I mean, how would health work in real life? If they stab one's heart, would you live because you have 1 million health or die? If your arm is cut off and you regenerate your health, would your arm regrow? It was confusing and didn't fit well with reality.
With that in mind, he came up with his own description of each stat. The first is Vitality. If he puts it in-game terms, vitality normally increases health, so vitality must deal with something along with his health. He concluded that the stat affects organ functions, nutrient capacity, nutrient conversion efficiency, natural regeneration, climate adaptability, stamina, stamina regeneration, and lifespan. These all deal with health and survivability, so it should be fairly close.
Strength is a little easier. Going by game term, strength increases his strength. So in real life, it should have the same effect, or something similar. Thinking for a while, he concluded it affects average muscular strength capacity, bones density, explosive strength, lifting power, leaping capability, and increases your body's density and modifies the cellular structure, increasing the body's ability to withstand blows, shock, stabs, cuts, and other attacks.
Speed was the challenging part. In games, it normally increases one's movement or attack speed, but strength also does that. With enough strength, you can run and punch at supersonic speed. It makes no sense.
Ethan passed back and forth, thinking of what speed might do to his body. After some seconds, he stopped, thinking of something. "Maybe with speed, you move as swift as a cheetah, but with strength, you move as heavy as a Ryno. Speed might also increase your thinking and metabolism speed. Yeah, that seems about right.
"Sense is obvious. It increases your five senses and might even grant you more sense when high enough. Future sight might also be possible with a high enough sense. And finally, intelligence. In games, intelligence normally increases your mana capacity, but I doubt it is the same for real life. I have twelve, so should I use one for a test?"
He weighed his loss and gain before deciding to put one point into intelligence. His intelligence increased to 16, his points reducing to 11, and no addition to mana.
"What a waste. At least now I know not to invest in intelligence. I am already smart as it is… maybe intelligence increases memories and conditions?" It makes sense, but this is about survival and not school. It will be useful sometimes, but frankly, he thinks combat is more important.
So Vitality, Strength, and Speed are the most important stats he needs right now. Vitality is a must, but it won't be his main stat, so he had to pick between strength and speed.
Strength is going to be useful in any situation he finds himself In, except those that need intelligence and he isn't smart enough to handle. Speed is similar, but the stat fully shines when running away.
Thinking about it for a while, he decided to go for strength. The only reason being the skill he has. In its description, it said multiplying the arm strength to a certain degree, meaning the more strength he has, the more useful it becomes.
And seeing how it has helped him so far, it would be a waste not to invest in it. "Speaking of that, I should probably test out by how much my arm strength is increased by." Ethan mumbled.
Opening up his stat screen, he noticed he had 11 free points and already 13 in strength, 14 in vitality, and 13 in speed. He decided to get Strenght to 20 using 7 points. With the remaining 4, he will put 1 in vitality to get it to 15, 2 in speed to get it to 15, and the last 1 in sense, to get it to 12.
He put one point in strength, feeling his muscles squirm under his skin. It was uncomfortable and he was starting to feel tired. 'This is too real. Putting point in strength would consume nutrients for it to work. What if I don't have enough nutrients? Would I die?' He thought, a shiver running through his body. 'That's why vitality is useful. But damn, too realistic. I thought the system would add some sense of fantasy to the body, but it is mostly going the scientific path.'
Shaking his head, he put one point in Vitality, feeling warm energy flow through his body. Standing up, he walked towards his bag and began eating some smooshed snacks to regain his nutrients. He then added one point on strength before eating to regain that lost nutrient. When he added the last point to strength, getting it to twenty, he suddenly felt pain all around his boy.
His muscles gained more mass before they condensed. His bones did the same, making him grit his teeth in pain. After about ten seconds, the pain left and he felt a whole lot stronger than before, knowing full well that he can lift more than five times his body weight, which is 225 pounds. This means he could lift 1,000 pounds, over his head. To put that in perspective, the peak human lifting strength is 800, this means that he is above peak human.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Standing up, Ethan did some light stretching, feeling his tactical uniform tighten around his body. His muscles mass has increased, and "Did I become taller?" He thought out loud. "Yeah, I definitely feel taller than."
Shrugging it off, he distributed the remaining point to his stats, opening it up.
[Ethan Hawke -
Level: 6
Race: Human
Job: None
Mana: 10/10 (1/min)
Vitality: 15 | Strength: 20 | Speed: 15 | Sense: 12 | Intelligence: 16 | Free stat point: 0 | Path Point: 4
Path
Pain Path: 0/10
The Fighter Path: 0/10
Skill: Arm Enhancement]
Doing another stretch, he felt something different. "Speed might increase agility and flexibility." He said out loud, doing some light jump. "This feels incredible. Peak human strength. Damn. I feel great!!" He shouted, his voice echoing through the empty hall. "Ok, let's get out of this building."
He walked towards the monster, deciding to search the monster just to make sure it didn't drop something he didn't notice. Kicking her body, he found a gold orb as small as an apple hidden below it.
"Fucking scam. If I didn't kick this thing in anger, I would have never seen it." He mumbled, picking it up, a system message pupping up in return.
[Legs Enhancement:
Effect: The user can enhance their legs, multiplying their strength to a certain degree.
Cost: 0.5 mana per second.
Cooldown: 0]
Seeing this, he was particularly shaking from happiness. "This is great!" Ethan muttered, smiling from ear to ear. "With this, my attack and escaping prowess would increase exponentially." Without waiting anymore, he immediately learned it.
[Legs Enhancement learned. You can learn 3 more active skills]
The orb shattered into golden clouds of dust, entering his body. "Only three left? I guess I can't be too reckless anymore." He thought for a while, thinking of what skill will have the best synergy with his current skills. "This is a waste of time."
Focusing on the matter at hand, he picked up his bag and iron rod, walked past the monster, going back to the first floor. Staying here might seem advantageous since he cleared all the zombies and monsters out of the building, but it wasn't. It's because he is on college grounds and his college is a large one, having more than 15,000 under-graduates. Out of those numbers, more than half would have become a zombie, so staying here was making your grave.
From where he is, which is dorm B, he would have to move through half the campus to leave through the only entrance on the north side. "This will be hard. Or... I could jump over the wall." Ethan muttered. "With this new skill, it shouldn't be that hard."
Slowly approaching the staircase door that leads to the lobby, he stiffened, noticing hundreds, if not thousands of zombies. Taking a big gulp, he slowly turned around, trying to sneak back up, but one zombie suddenly turned to him. They stared at each other for a while before the zombie let out a loud growl, with all the zombies immediately turning to him.
"Oh fuck."
Ethan immediately turned around and bolted up the stairs, practically jumping sets of stairs. The zombies also rushed after him, and to his surprise, they were faster than usual, with the closest one only some meters away.
"Evolution." He shouted, increasing his speed.
Countless growls echoed through the stares as the zombies climbed on top of each other, desperate to grab him. He soon passed the fifth floor, reaching the door that led to the roof. Raming into it, he ripped the door out of its hinge. A cold wind that made him shiver rushed through him, entering the building.
The moon hung in the sky, painting the clouds blood-red. Without stopping, he kept running to the edge of the building, activating Legs Enhancement. Multiple blue circuits like veins glowed from his legs, causing the tight combat pant and boots to rip.
Running barefoot and naked from the waist down, he took off once he reached the edge of the roof. His goal was to land on dorm A, which was in front of dorm building B, and it seemed like he would make it... or not.
"AHHHH!!!" Ethan screamed as he plummeted more than 75 feet in the air. The hoards jumped after him, falling with him as they still growled, trying to get to him.
Ethan noticed this, but he was more focused on the thousands of zombies on the ground below, their arms outstretched, awaiting his arrival. Closing his eyes, he started spinning in the air like a drill.
The force of him hitting the concrete ground send out a shockwave, raising some concrete. With his enhanced legs and his peak human strength and endurance, he survived the fall. But the same wasn't said for the zombies that jumped after him.
Running out the way, Ethan watched waves of zombies plummet to their death, some of the later ones surviving due to landing on top of their mate. Some land zombies started rushing at him, and the brawl began.
Due to losing his rod while falling, he had to use his gloved fist. Punching the first zombie that reached him, he crushed its skull, brain maters splattering on his face.
'I hope I don't get sick from this.' He thought to himself, thoroughly inspecting his surrounding. From all directions, zombies were rushing to him. Some rolled down the pile of dead zombies, some pushing their pares out of the way to get to him, and even more jumping off the roof. "No way... After all, I have been through, I am going to die here?"
Ethan remembered his fight with the chaser. The pain he felt. The pain he pushed through to finally killed it. And after all those, he was going to die by hordes of zombies? After killing the boss he was going to die to these mobs!?
His face contorted with rage as he tore into the Zombie's face with his right hand. He was furious. Die to mobs after killing the boss? Where the fuck does that happen. He activated both arm and legs enhancement, rushing through the hordes with a blue streak, ripping all of them apart with his bare hands.
In less than five seconds, the enhancement ran out, but he didn't care. Roaring in the madness, he continued rushing through the hordes, his eyes blinded with rage. He was like an elephant being attacked by hyenas, easily killing them but some attack landed.
Skins were ripped from his bare legs. His dick was ripped off.
All this pulled him deeper into the void of pain, rage... madness, and desire. The desire to devour flesh. The madness to wipe out these lowly zombies.
His eyes turned red as red veins pulsed from around his eyes, stretching to cover his face. He grew bigger, taller, bulkier, and more savage. Like a beast, he let out a roar, with his slaughter continuing.
He fell deeper. His conciseness fades. He found himself falling down an empty void, the light getting further and further.
Just them...
[Congratulation on reaching level 10]
[1 million humans has reached level 10]
[Tutorial completed]
[Your planet has been recorded in Akashic]
[System Improving]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[Completed]
[You are eligible to get your first Path]
[Scanning current held path]
[Pain and Fighter Path found]
[You are one of the first 1 million people to reach level ten, three new paths choices gained]
[Scanning stats]
[Scanning skills]
[Scanning record]
[Calibrating]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[Calibration Complete]
[Three new paths gained]
[The Berserker, Monk, and Paladin Path gained]
[Paths]
[Pain Path]
[Fighter Path]
[Berserker Path]
[Monk Path]
[Paladin Path]
[Pick your Path]