For a creature of sloth, this grim reaper knock-off was fast. I moved to avoid another staff swing as it collided with the door behind me. The door shrieked as it bent and the thick black ooze seeped into the frame and dents.

I think my escape might have just gotten a bit trickier as the door now looked like it wouldn’t open with that gunk all over it. I threw a Purity Stone at it before running. With any luck, the stone would clean the sludge off and help me get out if I needed it.

I didn’t hear the cloak moving so I turned, keeping my flaming shield high as the Doctor turned slowly from the door. He seemed to have looked at Purity Stone rather than chase me. He grunted, moving slightly away like he smelled something bad.

Did... he not like the stone?

Well, he was a sludge leaking skeleton in a tattered cloak. I had to assume nice cleaning stones were not his go-to decor.

I grinned, sliding my metal club into a pocket as I held another Purity Stone. I embraced it in Flamebrand but prevented the combo spell from forming, like blocking off a stream with my intent.

I wanted hurty firestone, not a nice warm stone.

My Purity Stone ignited and the blazing stone caught the Doctor’s attention. I Discarded it and the damn thing streaked like a comet. The trail of minty freshness and heat was pleasing to me. Not so much to the Doctor. It impacted his arm holding the staff and the cloak fell off the bone, falling to the ground. I saw now that it wasn’t fabric or some old uniform but a coat of sludge. A noise like a screeching rat came from the Doctor’s mouth.

The stone had buried itself in the bone but it was easily dislodged and destroyed with the staff it carried. I put another stone in my pocket.

I’d love to just rain fire down on the thing but... my Energy was only 35 and a Purity Stone cost 5 on its own.

I would need to get close and do my best to deal damage and use my energy wisely. With 7 energy regen a minute I had to play it a bit safer. I made sure to hold my shield forward and took out my metal club again.

Until Flamebrand levelled up, I could only do one item at a time. I rather the giant shield than my weapon because it just have more surface area. The Doctor’s sludge was trying to recreate the sleeve but he was watching me approach. He pointed his staff and the snake flew out like a bone whip. I pushed to the side and the glowing fangs buried themselves into the ground. It had been aiming for my feet! That reaper wasn’t stupid enough to attack a fire shield head-on.

The whip retracted but I smashed down head with my shield, trapping it. The thing writhed but I wasn’t done. I grabbed the spiky spine, it was gleaming bone white. I watched as the reaper began to yank back and my entire body began to be dragged forward. I had a feeling if the snakehead was loose, it would attack me independently. Being ganged up on was bad.

No time for witty remarks it seemed. I turned on Acid Touch and instantly the bone began to give off a smoking stench. The Doctor gave another harsh yank and the damaged snake spine snapped loudly.

A headless whip flew back and I lifted the shield to see the bone head whipping and writhing before it went still, breaking apart into a sludge puddle.

“Troublesome. Killing you is becoming more trouble than it’s worth.” the Doctor sighed.

“Feel free to lay down and let me kill you. Then you get the endless sleep and naps,” I offered. The Doctor shook his head.

“No. I just need to end this now,” he disagreed. He pointed his broken staff to the black sky. His cloak shifted to covered his bones and face.

Oh, that was a boss move. I knew enough about battle talk to know where this was going.

“Herald of filth, seeker of rot. Five eyeless ravens peck at this world for fat maggots-” the reaper began and the air around me began to shudder. I Discarded my spare Purity Stone at it and the sludge coat spat out a blob of slime to meet it halfway.

Oh, I did not like it when the enemy used cheap tactics like me. My Purity Stone won but it had lost its momentum, clattering before it reached the Doctor.

“-The carcass of the sinful will feed the rotting fruit of the guilty. Life flees and death decays-” The chanting went on and the shaking got worse. I thought furiously as I tossed pebbles on fire. The fire didn’t seem to do much to the watery pus sludge other than surface damage.

I had my hand forming another Purity Stone when the sludge bubbled.

“From the corpse of a god, the sickly blood will wash away the threads of life! Infection art 14: Cesspool wave!”

The bubbles exploded as a literal wave of brown, black, and floating rotting meat rushed to swallow me. The wave flowed from the Doctor’s sludge and pooled over the edge of the building as it gained speed and volume as it rushed to meet me. It rose like a tidal wave

I slammed my flaming shield down, angling it slightly up and spent every last drop on Purity Stones. I got three more on top of my existing one. The overlapping rings of cleansing surrounded me.

The wave hit and my shield hissed and spat as my skill fought on. My overlapping purity stones worked together and pieces of meat vanished and the waves parted around me like I was a rock in the river.

I was still pushed forcefully back towards the edge of the building where the yawning abyss below looked eager to swallow me.

The stench was like nothing I had ever smelled. I threw up a little which my stones easily took care of. I was close to my regen and so I struggled to create another stone for my pile. The stone edge seemed to give me the edge I needed and some of the water nearby even looked passable as river water rather than sewage.

I felt myself give another inch towards the edge. I eyed my remaining two Energy and saw the last wave emerge from the slime cloak. Thicker and higher than any other.

I saw the Doctor ride it like a phantom on a tide of darkness. It was looking like he intended to wash me away into the abyss below.

It was then that I had a terrible idea. I hoped the wording of my skills were absolute or I was about to kill myself. I put my shield and stones away. I turned and the short distance to the edge where the fencing had been broken apart from the attack. I had to time this just right...

I slowed for a heartbeat, seeing the shadow of the wave fast approaching.

1... 2... 3...4!

I jumped off the building and the wave tried to follow me but quickly vanished down the side of the building. Distracted by my jump to death, the Doctor barely managed to stab the end of his staff into the rooftop edge where he dangled.

I Retraced, the feeling of rushing air moving me back to just before I jumped and stood above him.

“Good news, it only counts actual steps I’ve taken for Retracing!” I announced and the visibly smaller skeleton looked up at me with a blank stare.

“Cutting corners is nice,” he finally agreed. I leaned down.

“That was a pretty sweet attack, shame about the smell,” I said and put a hand on the staff. The Doctor gave me a skeleton grin.

“Can’t smell if you don’t have a nose. I’m going to go... nap for a while. Later... or not,” he sighed and just let go of the staff, falling away.

I stood there with the broken staff, the weapon breaking apart even as I held it.

“Damn... I wanted to say something cool before it ended,” I grunted.

A box appeared at my side.

Congratulations! You have conquered the Malice Zone! Retrieving gems from boss!

I looked up as 2 white crystals and a yellow appeared over the edge in glowing bubbles.

Sloth Plaguer Doctor defeated! Earned 150 EXP!

“That’s way more than Greed!” I said in shock.

Bosses should be worth more or what’s the point?

I didn’t have an argument for that.

As a boss reward, you may choose out of the following three on which Malice Zone Clear Reward you would like!

G-3 Gem of any colour but black or white. Purified Cape of Cleaning: A cape that increases cleaning effects, light effect, and is rather dapper. Infection Art 1: Inflamed wound: Strikes a foe which causes a weak infection to enter the enemy and cause discomfort.

I ignored the gem reward as I had little effort finding them in Malice zones and higher ones would be available sooner or later. After smelling Infection 14... I had little desire for that kind of spell tree.

Which left me with the cape!

I selected it and a long flowing that reached below my back appeared. It was soft and smelled like it was fresh out of laundry pile that had been cleaned in lemon and holy water. It was clasped easily to my shirt with two bronze pins.

I swished it.

As I did, the smell of cotton and lemon filled the air. I grinned, turning to my other notifications when the whole building shook violently. The moon above cracked like a piece of glass. I stumbled forward, stuffed the gems into my inventory and a piece of the roof fell away. I turned to run to the door and more pieces began to fall inwards. My stairway down just broke off and tumbled out of sight.

“Ah help?” I asked then the whole roof just gave and I was falling into the waiting darkness below. I screamed as I saw things down there.

A blur of red and my Portal slithered past rubble and metal to be directly below me.

It opened wide and I fell through.

I felt squeezed and then I rolled to a stop on the dusty ground.

“Ow...” I moaned.

Welcome back, Russel. System hope you enjoyed your first zone!

I looked up at the floating box before looking back to see the Portal collapsing and vanishing.

“Is it going to be okay?” I asked instantly, worried about my saviour.

Yes. Portal will appear where Malice Zones are. So System suspects you shall see it soon.

I nodded slowly. Shame, having a handy portal about would have been nice. I groaned and stood, digging rocks out my clothes and shaking the dust off. I was cleaning than I expected until I remembered I had about 4 stones in my pocket. Where I stood, the road was looking like someone had taken a power hose to it.

I just sat down on the curb and inhaled as I looked up to see stars. The night was well on its way now. It was good for my soul to see stars and not endless darkness. Little dots of light to keep the darkness away. Stars were awesome.

I inhaled again and body began to shake as my adrenaline ran out and my body began to shudder at the things I had just done. To distract myself, I pulled up waiting notifications.

Malice Zone cleared! Location ‘Quiet Mesa Hospital’ now has a Malice level of below 2%. All spirits and sensitives will find the area more peaceful. More likely to find helpful magical creatures here. More likely to conduct spells and rituals needing a purified area more successfully here.

Quest: Horror Movie Extra: Going into the clearly haunted hospital like a white teen girl in a horror movie and hope you don’t die! Reward: 100 EXP. 1 Stat point. A place of refuge! Completed!

Retrace has reached level 3! The cost has been decreased by 1.

Purity Stone has reached level 2! Increased cleaning effect.

Discard has reached level 4! Increased damage. 1 level until skill evolves!

Flamebrand has reached level 5! Increased fire damage. Skill is ready to evolve!

Acid Touch has reached level 5! Increased Acid Damage. Skill is ready to evolve!

Small Projectile throwing has reached level 7! 3 levels until skill evolves!

Fire Affinity has reached level 4!

Did some ask for a power level? Because that was a power level. I grinned like a lunatic at the messages. So much growth and I barely cleared level 2.

I decided to evolve my skills one at a time to be safe.

Firebrand evolution: Please choose the desired path for skill to excel at.

Path of Arsenal: Be able to firebrand many items at once.

Path of Arson: A single focus target but the damage output is massive increased.

Pondering that I also turned to Acid Touch.

Acid Touch evolution: Please choose the desired path for the skill to excel at.

Path of Distance: Created the ability hit from afar with acid.

Path of Destruction: Remain contact only but gain more power.

Interesting. I knew I had to choose but I remembered my lesson from the System before and pulled out my gems. I held the two whites and yellow.

All of them were G-2 ranked.

Gems may be used to increase existing skill level or empower current items if rank is similar. Ranks show how many gems may be used. G rank items and such may only be buffed once by a gem.

I nodded at the System slowly.

“How much can a yellow gem make for money?” I asked.

Yellow gems make the equivalent of $50 per rank in the G ranks. So a G-2 could make $100. F rank goes up in the hundreds, E rank goes up by 1000 in each rank and so forth.

The issue was that I didn’t know exactly what I needed in the long run. Money was always helpful but if I could ask for an item worth more than $100 for G-2 then I get my worth out of it.

A man needs food, shelter, medicine, and company for a functioning mind in the general populace. I just had to find another Malice zone for more Yellow gems so it wasn’t like this was the end of the world.

It would be nice to sit down somewhere and enjoy a meal... sure, it wasn’t the more min-maxing use of it but I was a person. I couldn’t ignore the imperfections of wanting to have good food and not eat in the woods like an animal.

I converted the stone to money and it appeared in my inventory. The Yen exchange rate offered was stated.

System will convert value based on the local exchange rate.

Now I turned eagerly to my two glinting gems.

Oh, the possibilities.