Funmi was laying down on her bed looking at the ceiling as the memory of Mira’s fight replayed in her mind. The new undead had some interesting tricks but Mira just seemed to always have an answer for everything they brought.

After Pentagons first clash with the dual long sword wielding prodigy she understood that they were fighting at a disadvantage. The horse gave the Prodigy a crazy amount of mobility and force, combined with the long reaching weapons of the prodigy.

Mira had the right idea; long range attacks were the right counter to the rider but the genius already had that covered. The undead were a perfect team, they complemented each other well and held out against a group of Rank 4s even though they were Rank 4s themselves.

Funmi sighed and thought ‘But none of that mattered since the prodigy couldn’t cut through Mira’s armor, her defense was impeccable as well as here long range attacks that were swift and spontaneous.

Mean while I was just there in the background, good old Funmi playing her role in the team. I know most of her achievements are because of her equipment but it doesn’t change the fact that they were her achievements. I need something that gives me an edge’

Funmi freshened up and headed to the SSC. She checked her en-code stats and body stats:

[En-code state:

Strength: 33,429/1,000,000

Agility: 0/1,000,000

Stamina: 345/1,000,000

Durability: 173/1,000,000

Intelligence: 0/100,000,000

Senses: 2,302/1,000,000

Energy: 91/10,000

Unattributed: 253,330/105,010,000]

[Current State:

Strength: Intermediate (intermediate)

Agility: Intermediate (high)

Stamina: Intermediate (high)

Durability: Intermediate (low)

Intelligence: Low (intermediate)

Senses: Intermediate (high)

Energy: Low (high)]

Funmi thought ‘I just don’t see a way to improve beyond what I have here without steady progress. If only the internet was still working, I would at least learn martial arts or something. I’m sure with my stats I would be able to do some really freaky shit… It doesn’t matter now’

As Funmi made her way to the SSC, jumping from building to building, she remembered how she became Rank 4.

It happened about 1 month ago, It was during a Rank 3 raid, She had requested to have a chance against a Rank 4 Hive Brute; it was an undead with a relatively balanced speed and strength stat ratio. She had her current set of stats at that time.

Her fast reflexes and comparable strength had won her the battle. The Brute didn’t even get to hit her once; it was a cake walk.

Funmi thought ‘It wasn’t a challenge, maybe that is what I’m lacking; a challenge that will push me beyond my limits and bring me to newer heights of power or kill me’

Funmi reached the SSC and went to the office for solo jobs. She looked through the listings and thought ‘I’m sure I can’t kill 5 Brutes on my own, if I could I would have been able to contribute more to the battle, I would probably have been able to kill the Prodigy on my own. That aside, I’m low on en-code, I need to get a ton of it, maybe I’ll be able to bring my agility to High (low).’

Funmi checked the basic solo missions:

[Basic missions

Bring 20 Rank 3 undead corpse – reward: 1,201 – 5,000 encodes per corpse depending on the rarity, it can even be higher.

Bring a Rank 4 undead corpse – reward: 10,001 – 70,000 encodes depending on the rarity, it can even be higher.

Join a Rank 2 raid – reward: 40,000 en-codes guaranteed and any undead corpse that you kill.]

Funmi thought ‘It’s about time I beat a Rank 4 on my own’. She took the ‘Bring a Rank 4 undead corpse’ mission and headed to the North-West gate of the city.

Before the apocalypse Funmi had a great life. She was in college, she was one of those rare people that were both popular and smart. Her grades were always among the highest and she was always invited to the best parties and hangouts.

Funmi had always been an extremely competitive Diva. Her attitude had always gotten her some disapproval but her parents always encouraged her. She luckily was an only child so she didn’t have to compete for her parents attention.

Some might say Funmi’s parents spoiled her, buying her all the cloths and accessories she wanted. Sadly the apocalypse wasn’t very forgiving, especially to people who were just living there normal lives.

The undead swarmed the area where she lived, eating anyone who wasn’t like them. Her parents told her to hide in her wardrobe while they hide in their house toilet. The undead were not the best searchers but they did search every door.

She heard her parents scream as they were ripped apart by a group of undead, she could only cry in silence. She wondered whether staying and hiding was the right choice, what if 3 undead had killed her parents? If she were braver would she have made a difference? She would never know the answer.

After staying in her wardrobe for a day she didn’t hear the footsteps of the undead anymore. She came out and went to the toilet but she only found blood, the undead wasted nothing.

She sat down and cried for a while wondering what she should do now that she had survived. And as if the world was mocking her 3 days later as she wondered in search of food and safety she heard a voice in her head saying ‘Congratulations, for surviving until this point you receive an IP’.

She later found the sanctuary but she was too defeated. She was too much of a wimp to kill herself and too sad to take hold of her life.

Some days later she signed up for a raid, she wondered if she would make it back alive but she wasn’t so attached to life anymore. When she saw the undead rushing at her with their hideous expressions, she thought ‘I can’t believed they died to such ugly creatures’.

The fear that should have been in her heart, the fear that was in the hearts of all the Rank 1s and 0s, was drowned in rage and the desire for revenge. Funmi slaughtered the creatures.

Every slash and stab of her laser machete brought returned the undead to the grave that they had escaped. Funmi was the star of the raid, people chanted her name after the raid, she broke the record for the highest undead kill before evolving.

As flimsy as the praise was as pointless as the achievement Funmi loved it. She was so happy she stood out even though the people praising her would probably forget her after a few days in that time in that moment, she was the best, she was the star.

Funmi made it her sole purpose to stand out and gain achievements like no other. She quickly rose in power after her evolution and became one of the elte Rank 4s without the sponsorship of a Rank 5.

But now Funmi was forgotten. With every Rank she climbed it became extremely harder to get to the next. One needed to have 2 stats in the High (low) rank or one stat in the High (intermediate) rank to be given a shot at Rank 5.

After getting to Intermediate (high) it was advised that people use the automatic stat improvement style since it cost more than 1 million en-code to train the stat to the High rank. This was information that Jola’s company got from their Rank 5 member’s experience. From their statement, it cost at least 2 million en-code to train one’s stats to High (low).

Funmi would have to kill about 28 undead at the peak of Rank 4 to qualify.