‘Huh? What’s this?’ Vice thought as the system buzzed the quest into his mind. ‘This is definitely different from any of the things the Mages Guild has been able to create.’

Vice rubbed his chin, wondering what to do with the system. He knew where he could find zombies, and it had just turned dark recently which meant that they would be digging out of their graves any time soon.

‘Do the quest, I wonder what type of reward you’ll get for it,’ Favian said.

‘Sure,’ Vice replied. ‘I’ve been itching to fight something after the day anyway. Nothing better to relieve stress than bashing some undead creatures into the afterlife… Or wherever they go after dying again.’

‘Look at you all talkative today, I guess you’re excited for once,’ Favian teased the boy. Had Favian had an ethereal form then Vice expected he’d be ruffling through his hair.

Vice first checked upon his mother, who was fast asleep in her room, and then took some food from the kitchen and placed it next to her bedside drawer. After making sure that she was breathing well, he left for the woods. He’d painstakingly spent the past couple of years hunting for treasures to give his mother a better life, but recently her health had plummeted, and despite him spending copious amounts of gold on the medicine, it only slowed down her illness and wasn’t able to completely free her from the ailments. The woman was suffering from memory loss and was becoming ever so frail despite her being only in her early 40s.

Vice quickly made his way out of the city of Restok, toward an area called The Echo. Your voice would echo back to you from different directions, however, nobody knew exactly what caused this, some said there were ghosts that lay in wait there to steal voices. This area came alive at night and housed many of the creatures of the dark, such as zombies and ghouls. Vice had been here once before many years ago to retrieve an arcane core of a low-level ghoul, back when he’d just started out practicing magic. Even for Vice, who was not easily scared and able to maintain his composure in most situations, The Echo gave him a weird feeling. It was as if somebody was watching him at all times when he passed through the foggy barrier that separated it from the rest of the world.

“We’re here. This place still gives me the creeps,” Vice mumbled as he walked through the foggy barrier. Even during the day, this place was mostly dark, with only tiny rays of light able to penetrate through the thick layer. It was also relatively easy to get lost here, Vice remembered.

A chilling aura surrounded Vice the moment he came out the other side of the fog, and his vision finally cleared, allowing him to look further than just where his hands were. It took almost a minute to navigate through it and the moment he came out at the other side, Vice could hear the moans and groans of the inhabitants of The Echo. Blood gurgling screams and banshee wails were ever-present, far away yet ever-present. There were a few sickly trees scattered around, but for the most part, everything was in a state of decay, be it the plants or animals. Hopping around nearby was a skeletal bunny, minding its own business when a shadow figure jumped down from the tree it was perched on, and ravaged on the few bones left of its prey.

‘Okay, five zombies should be easy enough, let’s get on with it. I’d rather not stay here a second longer than I need to,’ Vice thought to himself. He then slowly proceeded to make his way through the area, looking for the spot where the moonlight shone down to the ground, as this was the sure-fire way of finding zombies. They seemed to love bathing in the moon’s light. The light of the moon had difficulty penetrating through the fog covering The Echo, therefore it took Vice quite a while to find the spot where this occurred.

ROOAR!

A dozen zombies were dragging their feet across the dry soil, moaning and groaning in unison as they paced around. Lumps of rotten flesh were visible on all of the creatures, and their white eyes were devoid of any life. Only a deathly instinct remained inside them, their souls hollowed out completely. ‘I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. To become a mindless savage like that, unable to die naturally, how vile,’ Vice thought.

‘Chaotic Roulette, be kind to me,’ Vice thought as he closed his eyes. A burst of energy erupted from within the tall boy, and a purple aura emanated around him, causing him to glow and shine brightly in the dark. Each of the zombies tilted their heads towards Vice, and shuffled towards him, as rapid as snails.

“A staff? What the hell am I supposed to do with a damn staff?” Vice sighed in defeat. “Why’s my only spell got to be so stupid Favian?” he shouted.

‘Did I not teach you the use of a staff already? Just insert some of your mana into it and you’ll be able to work wonders out of them,’Favian said. ‘You seriously are the dumbest person I have ever taught in my life. I can’t believe that you can’t appreciate the volatility that this spell gives you. If even you can’t guess what you’re going to attack with, then that means your opponents can’t either.’

‘Yeah because that works so well against mindless opponents who can’t even think. For crying out loud I’m mostly fighting against beasts, not humans.’ Vice sighed but poured some mana into the weapon he’d just materialized. A warm feeling left his body as the mana in it revolved in cycles until finally it was released into the fingertips of his right hand, into the two-handed staff he was holding.

‘Oh, I get it, so if I do this it’ll throw out a spell?’ Vice thought as he inspected the staff with his mana. A purple bolt of energy was released from the tip of the staff and flew toward the zombies, hitting one of them square in the face. The impact of the bolt caused the zombie’s blackened face to be sent flying off its body, and with a loud thump it’s head and body fell to the ground. The two parts were separated by quite a distance.

The other zombies didn’t even budge at the sight of their fallen comrade, and instead continued their slow walk toward Vice whilst they moaned continuously. Without warning the corpse of the slain zombie exploded, and purple ashes were spread in a close proximity of the remaining monsters. The other zombies were quickly covered by the purple ashes as they’d been unable to walk far enough away. After a couple more steps, each of them collapsed to the floor, before similarly exploding into ashes.

[DING! The host has completed the quest ‘Defeat 5 Zombies’. 100 experience has been given to the host.]

Vice tilted his head in confusion, and asked, ‘What does experience do?’

[DING! The host can use experience to level up their stats and buy passive skills. With 100 experience the host can level up one stat by one level.]

‘What? That’s a bit crazy. I guess you’re just like a magical cultivation tool or something like that,’ Vice thought, trying to use his knowledge to figure out what this system was doing. ‘Okay, increase my intelligence.’

[DING! Intelligence has been increased, new value 3.]

Vice felt the arcana in the surroundings crash into him, enveloping him in a warm barrier. After a moment, his mind felt like it was opened forcibly, leaving him clutching onto his throbbing head. The pain subsided after a few minutes, but there was an uncomfortable lingering sensation on his two horns.

Vice gently rubbed at his horns for a while before making his way out of The Echo. He could slowly sense the foreign entity he also felt was watching him a bit more clearly ever since his intelligence had increased. ‘There’s definitely something watching me isn’t there?’ he thought. There was no reply from Favian. Soon he was able to make his way out of the area. It was still dark outside, and there was an uncharacteristic stillness in the air.

‘There’s usually a breeze here, why is it so quiet and still at this time?’ Vice thought as he looked out to the forest he was about to walk through. There were no animals around, none of the owls or rabbits that usually roamed were present despite this being prime time for their nocturnal lifestyle.

‘I sense it too. I’d suggest you get out of here immediately, there is something amiss,’ Favian warned.

Vice made a run for it. After running for what felt like ages, he finally reached the city gates of Restok. ‘What’s that smell?’ he thought as a bitter smoke entered his nostrils. From far away he could see a burning building. A raging inferno was brightly ravaging through one of the estates in the richer regions of Restok.

‘Wait a second, isn’t that-’ He sprinted off before even finishing his train of thought.