AN: I had not planned to put this one out so soon, but half of it was already written. I will not be putting out another chapter till next year. For real this time.

Also: Manofsteel I tried to get back to you, but you have private messaging disabled. If you see this, know that I like the background concept for your story idea. It would definitely work for for a story, especially a cultivation style one where stats are involved.

I would not mind writing a story in that setting, however I have like eight stories that I am currently working on for this site, with about 4 of them as primary stories and a few more coming next month. The earliest I could even think about your request is maybe March, and it would have to be a short stand alone novel. :) I just don't want to promise you something only to disappoint you.

Chapter 7: Congratulations Mortal

Time marches on; it was a popular saying in many parts of the world. Life had become something of a grind for Scott since he finished the mission where he unlocked the world setting, Bounty Star. During the last few days he had performed his normal routine. He had gone on short missions and returned to his cell. Due to his increased status, and simple feats, he had a much easier time overall when it came to low-end missions.

As the time ticked by, Scott waited for the next day to begin much like he had done every day since coming to this dark hole. He spent as much time as possible on the side-missions just to avoid the room for as long as possible. There was nothing in there save for the door, the holographic display, and his own thoughts.

"Good mission. Need a good mission." muttered Scott as he clenched and unclenched his fists. He was close to saving up enough points to create a recreation room and recreation room door. Over the course of the last few days he had come to a decision. He needed better equipment, and he did not want to spend a fortune in EXP to get it.

The main reason was that he wanted to graduate out of Dead Men Walking, or at least leave it for a time, and try working in the Bounty Star setting. The opponents were worth more EXP, and the missions would feel fresh due to the change in atmosphere. Mostly, he was tired of the damned stench.

The problem was that the opponents there had proven to be much more difficult to deal with than mere zombies. So far he had taken only one side mission to that world-setting. There had been three available total since the world had been unlocked. It had been a simple infiltration mission, a mission that he had failed miserably. He had barely escaped with his life. Twenty opponents guarded a stolen goods warehouse. He had been tasked with retrieving a copy of their logs without being spotted, as apparently even pirates kept records of their loot for accounting purposes. It had been a mission rated at [G-2].

As it turned out, it was easier to deal with zombies than it was to deal with people who had proton beam weapons, a healthy desire to stay alive, and the ability to use thermal imaging and night vision equipment.

He had literally lost an arm and a leg, among other things. It had cost half the EXP that he had earned from the daily mission to repair his body. No, he was not even remotely ready to face that setting. He was agile for a normal human being. But he had neither the weapons, the armor, nor the skills to face twenty armed pirates who had all of those things in spades.

The only good thing to come out of that mission was the discovery that failing a mission meant the door would appear where he had entered the mission area. He had been forced to work his way back to his start position while avoiding the pirates at every turn, and all while the counted ticked down from sixty. Somehow he had survived, or at least most of him had. One of his legs had been lost to the pirates just before he entered the door. The other had been lost to the closing of the door as he had been forced to through in a desperate hurry.

"How long have I been here?" he asked the uncaring air as the seconds ticked by. His whole body itched to get started.

The near-death he had faced at the hands of those damned pirates had lit a fire under his ass. The skills that he learned in Dead Men Walking might translate to other places, but he had never really bothered much with stealth.

He had unlimited ammo. Surely, there was a reason to use it. Still, it was a survival horror world. He certainly felt the horror, at least until the light restored his mind and body to perfect health. The survival part had been a little light. None of the missions had really required stealth or racing for his life except for the first few. Once he had gained the stat increases and equipment from a few days ago, he had made the world-setting into a joke. It was simply too easy to kill zombies. Even the special zombies only showed up on rare occasion.

A languid sigh escaped his lips. He did not really crave difficulty so much as the EXP that might come with it. There were so many plans to bring to fruition.

Time passed, continued its relentless march. Soon midnight came, the clock struck zero.

Scott rose to his feet then stretched. "Time to make the doughnuts, I guess."

As he approached the door a brilliant brass fanfare erupted through the air. Little lights flared into existence and took on the appearance of miniaturized fireworks. The word Congratulations!! appeared before him in bright golden letters that flashed lazily.

"The hell is all this?" he asked. This was certainly new.

System Update Notification

Congratulations mortal. You have survived the tutorial week and will now have a greater number of options to use in service of dying horribly on our behalf.

Milestone Reward: 100 EXP

Unlocked Features

Difficulty Level Adjustment: Once per day you will be able to adjust the overall difficulty of all missions. Changing the difficulty may increase or decrease the number of available missions as the mission locations may change. You may choose from the following mode options:

[Easy][Normal][Hard] – [Unlocked After Tutorial Week]

[Nightmare] – [Unlocked at Level 4]

[Hell] – [Unlocked at Level 10]

[Indescribable Terror] – [Unlocked Via Battle Dome Victories]

[Eternal Damnation] – [Unlocked Via Battle Dome Victories]

[Do You Want to Die?] – [Unlocked Via Battle Dome Victories][/b]

You have been playing on [Easy Mode].

Easy Mode – You will not normally receive a mission rating higher than G-4. Treasure items are extremely rare finds. Your missions will take place in the easiest locations in the setting with the least difficult enemies of that setting in that area. EXP Growth Potential: Very Low

--

Story Mode: Now that the tutorial period has ended, you will receive a weekly story mission that can be taken instead of the daily missions for that week.

A story mission is a lengthy, dangerous, and lucrative mission. Time will not pass in your [Home] during a story mission.

The amount of time that a story mission requires will vary, but may take between one day and several years depending on the difficulty level. Upon return from a successful story mission you will have the remainder of the week to take side-missions or visit unlocked hub locations at your leisure.

Failure of a story mission will result in death.

Battle Dome: After completion of a story mission you may wager EXP on fights in the battle dome. The wager is preset, and the payoff will be determined by the daily difficulty setting.

Battle Dome Victory will allow you access to the Battle Dome exchange office where you can acquire rare items, bloodlines, lifestyles, feats, powers, and personnel. You may also increase your fan following with greater ease if you are victorious and entertaining.

The Battle Dome can be accessed once per week, initially. You may also participate in battles at the Battle Dome. Death will still count if you do, however.

[—]

Scott lifted his hand up then pointed at the screen. "This crap was easy?" Sure, the zombies had gotten easier, but they were zombies. Other than their numbers and their viral infection ability they really did not have much going for them.

The new screens faded away and mission screens appeared. Two new options had appeared, story mode, and difficulty.

Scott was at an impasse due to the new options. He wanted to test both of them out, but did he dare do so? Difficulty could only be changed once per day, but he did not know how hard a story mission would actually be. The cautious thing to do would be to just toy with the difficulty level and wait till next week to try story mode. Alternatively, he could also be cautious and try an easy mode story mission first. Afterward he could try out difficulty ratings.

In the end, he made the only choice that felt fight. Scott increased the difficulty to normal and then chose the story mission. If he failed, he would die anyway. If he succeeded he would earn more EXP and possibly find treasure items.

"Gotta risk it to get that biscuit, man." said Scott with a nervous laugh.

Story Mission Briefing

Into the breach, my good survivalist. A group of survivors at the Jonestown Mall are besieged by the ravenous undead. Zombies claw at the walls and howl for their flesh! A devout priest named [Father Harrison] has prayed for salvation for those who are besieged.

You are tasked with becoming the answer to his prayers. Help the survivors escape to a more remote location that can serve as a survivor hub.

Go forth and kick ass, or die trying.

Protip:There's nothing wrong with doing both! We're totally OK with that.

Difficulty: E-2

World: Dead Men Walking

World Type: Survival Horror

Force Response Authorization: Solo Mission|Partner Mission|Party Mission

Primary Goal: Aid, Rescue, and Escort

- Approximate Initial Enemies: [2987]

Time Limit: 72 hours

Special: You will have access to a [Mission Map]. The mission map will allow you to discover the appropriate safe zone once you meet the survivors in person.

Success: Locate [Father Harrison] and introduce yourself as the answer to his prayers. Help at least one survivor reach the designated safe zone and set up a survivor hub.

Failure: All survivors die. You die. The mission time exceeds 72 hours.

Reward: 400 EXP

[—]

"Holy shit, what am I getting myself into?" he asked, shocked at the fact that the initial enemies were listed and numbered in the thousands.

Scott quickly checked the new options under force response authorization, but they were greyed out. He had not met other champions, yet, and he did not have a companion area set up.

He walked over to the status area and spent a few of his saved points. He had been saving them for the recreation area. However, that was not important anymore. If he succeeded in his goal, he would have a large influx of EXP coming his way. If he failed, he would be dead.

Scott maxed out the level of his storage container then filled it with food and water. He then filled his backpack as well. He could access his storage from any similar sized type of container in any world. It was quite a nice thing to have, and he was sure that a mall would have at least one foot locker or something similar floating around.

Afterward he had four hundred seventy two EXP left. He purchased the leather vest he had thought about for quite some time then maxed out its level after seeing that it would provide a good hit point boost. "Two hundred sixty-two left..."

Scott rubbed his chin for a moment. He nodded then decided that more dexterity would be good. He had not tried to increase one of his four point stats since he had raised them to that level. He had been saving his points. When he attempted to increase it, a warning buzzer sounded and he was confronted by a strange and unwelcome sight. "The hell do you mean the stat is maximized?"

He had been told that he could increase his stats without limit. Yet, now the system claimed that he had reached the maximum limit for a human. He read further then groaned.

Bloodlines and Lifestyles

You seem to have come to an impasse. You want to be more powerful, but your pathetic mortal frame just isn't good enough. Standard humans are a bit underwhelming, aren't they?

If you wish to advance your attributes beyond the biological maximum, you must become non-standard. Unlock a lifestyle or bloodline that will allow you to continue to develop your stats by becoming more than an ordinary man.

[—]

"Shit..." muttered Scott. The only bloodline that he had unlocked was the one for zombies, and there was no way in hell that he was choosing that one. It was basically suicide. He would be forced to undergo the mission only with the capacity of a high-end, but normal, human being.

In the end, he opted to buy a health restorative potion for fifty EXP. He also noticed a new item in the lists, something that he would have purchased in bulk if he had the points. It was a cleansing pill to remove status effects. He bought one for eighty EXP, and then he tossed ninety points into strength. After he purchased the healing items he was able to see what they did. His eyes widened slightly. The restorative increased the rate of cellular regeneration by a factor of ten, and restored up to thirty hit points. The cleanser could cure any disease, and one of the examples cited was the zombie virus. Each item had three doses.

The forty-two remaining points seemed useless for a moment till he remembered that there was no point in holding back. He put forty more points into strength, which raised his strength to [2.40] and the last two points into concentration which raised it to [1.50]. He looked over his status one last time before heading out, not that he could do much about it now.

[Name: Scott Davidson]

[Age: 20]

[Race: Earthling]

[Level: 1][413/1000]

[EXP: 0.00]

[Life Span: 7 Day(s)]

Hit Points: 128

ATTRIBUTES

[Strength: 2.40][Resilience:4.00]

[Vitality: 4.00][Dexterity: 4.00]

[Concentration: 1.5][Charisma: 1.00]

FEATS

[Improved Regeneration I]

[Improved Hit Points I]

[Improved Coordination I]

POWERS

[None]

[—]

Scott had toyed with the idea of increasing all of his stats to four before developing any of them further, but now it seemed like it was no longer just a thought. Until he could find a bloodline or lifestyle worth having, he would have to rely on peak human stats and feats, plus whatever equipment he could scrounge up. Of course, that was only if he succeeded in this mission.

"All in... Time to win." he said in a half-hearted rhyme. There was no room for failure in this mission. He doubted that they would get any easier in the future, and something had to break now or he would be stuck in several more weeks of grinding low-end missions.

He walked over to the door then took a deep breath before finishing the mission acceptance process. He was as ready as he was going to get.

The door opened before him and revealed that his starting position was a shallow wooded area near a large parking lot. Just in front of him was a chain link fence covered in old vines. The screams and howls of the undead in the distance reached him easily. For a moment a lump rose in his throat. He could not smell them yet, he was not through the door, but he could see that there were a number of special zombies in the massive crowd.

Scott nodded his head then made two fists. "I can do this. I'm ready."

He psyched himself up as best he could within the time allowed before the mission would be forfeited. Twenty seconds left on the door timer, he stepped through the door quietly. Immediately, he searched the area nearby to see if any zombies were lying in wait for him. As was typical, there were none behind him. They all seemed to be in the parking lot near the mall.

Instead of charging in like a screaming asshole, his typical method, he performed a perimeter check of the area. As he moved, he tried to be as silent and stealthy as possible. He needed information, not guns blazing. For the better part of one of his precious hours he circled the area. Zombies passed by his position more than once. The noise of their kindred had their full attention, and his lack of noise prevented them from noticing him.

Scott came to a conclusion, every few minutes two or three zombies staggered into the area. That was what it seemed like, at any rate.

There was no way to get to the roof of the mall without going through the horde. It was surrounded on all sides. If he ran into the mob, he would have to hope that they remained slow and stupid on the higher difficulty level.

If he went in guns blazing, he was certain that even more zombies would join the fray. The question was, could he kill more of them than the number that appeared due to his increase in noise.

A plan slowly formed. Nothing had changed, really. His best friends in a zombie apocalypse were elevation, speed, and unlimited ammunition. There were only a dozen cars in the parking lot. That meant that the store had probably been closed during the time that the plague had swept the area. Only security and after hours staff would have been there at most, initially.

If the mall was closed, surrounding businesses were probably closed as well. On the far side of the parking lot, there was what he considered to be a perfect opportunity to draw the bastards away. He needed to depopulate their numbers so that he could figure out a reliable method to get inside the mall.

He took several deep breaths, immediately wished that he had not done so due to the stench, and then walked out of his hiding spot behind a metal rail. Scott put his newfound strength to work alongside his dexterity and vitality. He set out at a flat-out run that would have made an Olympic sprinter take notice. He was not quite a world record breaker, yet. But he was damned fast and could last longer than any other runner that Earth had ever produced on its own. Maximum vitality was fun that way.

The zombies took notice after the second minute of hard running. He was one-third of the way to his goal by the time several zombies staggered out of the crowd and began to give chase. Not long after a few of those zombies began to perform a steady jog of their own. They were not running zombies, but they were definitely faster than he had seen to date.

Scott tore through the parking lot, his heart pumping hard, and his chest heaving. If he had judged the distance and the height of the structure wrongly, he would be in trouble.

Zombies jogged hungrily after him. Occasionally, one flailed its arms in a desperate bid to reach his sweet meats faster, but only managed to lose its balance and fall over.

He was halfway to his destination when something happened that made the situation far worse. A screech went up followed by what sounded like a garbled shout. "Howsha Faddergh?"

Suddenly, a zombie came from around the corner of the mall and made a bee-line toward him at a high rate of speed. Scott shouted, "Shit!" and continued to run. He was faster, or so he hoped, but that damnable thing could sprint and it didn't seem interested in slowing down.

Another screech echoed across the parking lot. "Mamagh lovsh Yoo!" Another running zombie gave chase. Scott did not have time to admire its undead appearance, but he could have sworn that she had been a pregnant woman at one point.

Three more screams rose up as Scott approached his destination. It was the gas station across the street. It had two thing that he felt could be useful, a steady raised platform to stand on, and a means to get up there.

Just as he reached his destination an extreme scream resonated through the area followed by what could only be an undead battle cry. The roaring cry grew steadily louder as the sound of pounding feet echoed behind him. Scott managed to jump up onto the hood of the eighteen-wheeler that he intended to use as a means of reaching his gun platform. He glanced back to see what was coming then wished that he had not.

The zombie screeched once more and seemed to pick up even more speed. It ran at a rate far faster than anything a human could have generated and did so with great dexterity.

"God dammit!" shouted Scott as she clambered onto the roof of the truck then jumped up and latched onto the overhead concrete awning that protected the fuel pumps. He pulled himself up just in time to see the zombie speedster leap straight onto the hood of the truck.

Scott fired at the overly amped up critter. It actually dodged one of his shots, though it seemed more like luck than actual skill. Another shot grazed its shoulder. It paced like a rabid dog atop the hood, then jumped from side to side.

It made a hungry leap toward its desired treat, but that proved to be its mistake. Scott managed to hit it center mass. A large hole was blown in its putrid chest and it fell back from the force of the shot. The zombie hit the hood then rolled off. After slapping down onto the ground Scott fired at it again. The next shot hit it in the shoulder since it was writhing around.

"No, noh! Pleashe!" cried the zombie while covering its head. Scott blinked then his eyes widened. "Shit, are you alive?"

The other slower, but still abnormally fast zombies started to arrive. Scott took his eyes off the oddball zombie long enough to spare the others a glance. The fallen zombie took the chance to rise back to its feet, throw its arms back, and scream like it meant it.

Quick as a flash it was back on the hood and then making ready for another jump. It was too damaged from the fall to dodge as easily this time, however. Scott's next shot took it in the side of the head. Thankfully, the nature of plasma rounds caused them to act as a sort of miniaturized explosive. When they connected, the ammunition expanded outward and made large holes. Even a grazing shot to the head might prove deadly with such ammunition and a little luck. A clean center shot was always best, however. He earned five EXP for that one zombie, proving that it was meant to be a high-grade threat in this mission. It was worth more than twice the points of a riot zombie, and more than sixteen times that of a normal one.

The runners were upon him now. Just like the screaming demon before them, they climbed onto the truck and tried to reach him by jumping. They had neither the speed nor the coordination to make it work, however. Only one of them managed to reach the platform. All it did was cling uselessly to the side and provided an easy headshot for Scott.

"Mama lovsh you, baby." cried the pregnant zombie as she rose to her knees. Her shin bones stuck out through her skin, however. She would not be running anymore. Scott mercifully ended her undead existence.

By the time he finished with the runners, he was forced to reload. The joggers were close now. Scott took a deep breath then waited out the cool down timer before switching the safety off once more.

A combination of his improved coordination and maximum human dexterity made it easier to shoot the oncoming creatures. Even at the current distance, he only needed one or two shots to take them in the head. He fired till empty then waited through the reload process.

The horde lumbered toward him as he waited. They came in the thousands, some large and powerful, some a little faster than the others. All wanted one thing, his sweet man candy.

He picked off as many of them as he could from his current position, before he had to make his decision. He needed to leave that platform and get to the mall before he was surrounded by a sea of the dead. There were enough of them that they could climb atop the piled up bodies to reach him before he could finish his grisly task. So far, he had not seen any more runners after he had finished that group off. Whether there were any waiting in hiding was another story.

Scott scanned the area, his hand shading his eyes. A plan formed then he nodded. "No one promised I would live through this."

He emptied his pistol once more by taking down a few of the faster shamblers then set his weapon to reload while he made good on his plan. He hopped down from the platform and landed on the hood of the truck. It was a good drop, but nothing dangerous for him.

The champion of mankind jumped to the ground then ran behind the gas station toward a residential street behind it. A series of fences would obscure his movements from the horde and allow a relatively clear path back to the mall parking lot.

His stamina had completely returned to him in the short time that he had spent on the platform, so he was up for another hard run. Scott trotted quickly along the side-street, his gun at the ready in case another berserker zombie popped up.

A few shamblers staggered toward him from various nearby houses, but nothing truly dangerous to his health appeared. That is, not until he rounded the corner and ran smack into a pack of six zombies.

A hellish screech erupted from the throat of the zombie in the center, followed by its chest starting to heave. Scott wasted no time in opening fire on the bastard. He tore several holes in its chest and knocked it down in the process, but he was unable to finish it off before the other five were on him. They were not berserkers, but they could jog.

Scott hopped back and fired at them as best he could. He managed to kill two of them before he was forced to flee.

The berserker regained his feet and turned toward him with a feral snarl. "Come back, daddy!"

Scott did not like how clear and resonant the thing's voice had been. It was not only faster, it was probably at least a little smarter than the others.

It shrieked then gave chase. Scott hurled himself over a low chain link fence then whipped around to face it. The creature leapt up to clear the obstacle as well, but met two quick shots to the chest instead. It was knocked back a bit. The forward momentum of its leap was cut short and it landed hard atop the fence in a straddled position. Scott winced in sympathetic pain as any living man would have been devastated by such a fall.

The berserker did not care about its former manhood, however. The creature flailed its arms spastically then fell backward even as it reached toward him. Scott took the chance to finish it off. Two more zombies met a similar fate before he was forced to reload.

The final jogging zombie clambered over the fence then turned toward Scott, but he had already hopped over to the other side. The zombie followed suit in an attempt to get at him. However, by the time that it had made it over the top, a plasma round penetrated its putrid brain and sent bits of its thoughts splattering about the area. Scott had bought enough time to reload.

"Get some!" shouted Scott while he made a fist pumping gesture with his right hand and thrust his left one forward. Stealth had gone out the window the moment he had been forced to fight. His gun was not silent on the matter most of the time.

"Note to self, get true unlimited ammo weapon in the future." Scott finished off the zombies nearby in order to have the chance to reload his weapon once more. He wanted to know exactly how many shots he had left when he ran through the parking lot.

Normal mode story missions proved to him the fact that his twelve shot pistol might be strong enough, but it did not have the ammo capacity that he actually needed. It was fine for killing off weak zombies on easy missions, but he needed to upgrade again soon.

He took a deep breath then frowned. "Damn, you bastards smell like rotten eggs." He was so done with zombies. Fuck zombies, the rotten bastards.

With a gleam of determination in his eyes, he white knuckled his pistol then ran forward. It was time to make his play. Scott ran into the parking lot and raced past the sea of shambling horrors. They had slowly moved toward his position while he had dealt with the last six and were a little close for his comfort.

They came for him in their thousands, the undead freak parade. There were cops and janitors, white collar workers and rich men with cash. Each of them singing their song of doom. They moaned for his sweet meats, and clawed the air as he ran by in a flash. A thought crossed his mind; he should have never left his room.

The mall rose up before him. As he ran forward, he saw movement on the roof. A man kept thrusting his arms to the side. Scott ran toward the direction that he had suggested and he saw that one he rounded a corner, a rope ladder had appeared over the side.

He took a brief few seconds to put his gun away to free his hands for the climb, and then made his way up. Scott had made it to the roof long before the few remaining jogging zombies caught up to him.

"Thanks for that." said Scott. He took a few hard breaths then looked at the small group of people who had surrounded him. They had weapons drawn, but the look in their eyes was universal. They were ready to fight, but did not want to fire.

"Who are you?" asked the man in the center. He had a handgun and a thick mustache. Those were his two most notable features, as everything else about him seemed fairly ordinary.

He started to say his name, but remembered how he was supposed to introduce himself. "I'm the answer to Father Harrison's prayers."

The men gathered on the roof stared at Scott hard for a moment, and then slowly lowered their weapons and looked toward each other.

A smug looking man snorted at Scott then said, "Little late aren't you?"

"What do you mean?"

Mustache guy shook his head. "Father Harrison was bit when one of the people he was caring for turned. He doesn't have long."

Scott blinked. "Oh, I should probably cure him then. Can you take me to him?"

That brought the other men up short. "Cure?" asked Mr. Mustache. "There isn't one. You get bit and you end up just like the rest of them."

"Fine, whatever. If you want to let him die then go ahead. I can just save the few doses that I have for myself when we get on the road."

"The road? What are you talking about?" Smug guy raised his rifle up once more. "Just who the hell are you?"

Scott looked into the eyes of the frightened men around him, and then realized what he must sound like. He had run around like a jackass and shot up the place then claimed to be the answer to a dying man's prayers. "I'm someone who has been sent here to help. Take me to Father Harrison and I can prove that, if it's not too late for me to help him."

A brief, silent, moment passed then Mr. Mustache said, "Fine. Let's see this cure you claim to have."

Scott shared a smile with the gathered men. Things were going well, finally.