Chapter 5: Back to grind!

“Marcy, do you happen to sell something like a guide? Something that’ll let me know a thing or two about this place?” Teo asked Marcy after he had his moment of mental preparation. He gathered all the courage necessary and ready to throw himself at zombies.

“I’m a mystery shop owner. So, of course, I sell them.” Marcy opened her arms wide and bragged proudly. “But, it is a little costly. You probably can’t afford it. Period.”

Teo nodded his head, feeling relieved in his heart. “So you do have them. How much are you charging?” He was not worried about not having money. Killing zombies was a good source of income.

Marcy showed one gloved finger to him. “Ten thousand tutorial coins.”

“Wha-” Teo couldn’t believe his ears. He didn’t dare believe what he heard. He nearly let go of his sword. “You're kidding, right?”

Marcy shook her head from left to right.

“It’s one-fifth of that fucking dagger, and that’s a unique grade item!” Teo’s disbelief towards this ridiculous price was apparent in his pitched voice. “Why?”

“I’m just a reseller.” Marcy shrugged her shoulders.

“That excuse again?” Teo rubbed his face and exhaled out a long breath. Information, especially those that could affect positively, always had an expensive price tag, but ten thousand was just ridiculous. If converted to the currency they were using inside the base camp, it would be a whopping hundred thousand.

His confidence took a hit. Would he be able to earn that much money? How many zombies would he have to kill? Are there even that many zombies? Teo took another look at the map and mentally counted the red dots. Then he gave up halfway because there were just too many of them to count. He lacked patience.

Forget it! I will see what I can do. For now, let’s focus on leveling up. Teo sighed and refocussed on his objective. “Well then, See you later. I’ll be back after I have enough money to spend.” He stared at Marcy from the corner of his eyes.

“Okay.” She replied in a singsong voice. “By the way, since you are my first customer in a long time, I’ll give you some advice.”

Teo turned around and stared intensely at the cloaked woman. He felt excited to finally get some guidance, even though it was from an unlikely source. He could take any help given to him without much complaint.

Marcy didn’t keep him in surprise for too long. “Don’t waste skill points you get from level-ups. And better prioritize upgrading Observe as much as you can.”

“That’s it?” Teo raised his eyebrows at her.

“Yes.”

A few seconds of awkward silence settled between them as Teo patiently waited for her to explain. She didn’t.

He grunted in annoyance. “I take it there’s no follow-up, right?”

“Yup. It’ll be more fun to get the answers yourself. Believe me.”

Teo shrugged his shoulders. “I’d be a fool to believe a strange lady in a place like a dungeon. But I’ll keep what you said in mind. Thanks anyway.”

“You’re welcome.”

Teo shook his head before leaving her stall. He no longer had coins to afford anything else anyway. It was better to move on.

He set his course for one of the red dots that stood closer to his location. By his initial estimation, the target should’ve only been a few steps away from his current location. However, he didn’t meet the zombie until walking for five minutes.

Teo realized he had to re-evaluate the map, especially the scale. Things that appear ‘close’ on the map were actually a lot further apart than expected. Luckily, Teo had an average map awareness. He’d get used to it in no time.

Zombie Lv 1

HP: 40

Status: idle

From the experiences accumulated over the years and the two he killed inside the dungeon, Teo had already figured out the fastest way to get rid of zombies. One calculated hit to their head, and the game’s over.

It’s show time. Teo clenched the handle of the wooden sword and threw himself at the zombie.

Sometime later;

Teo leaned to his left side, narrowly avoiding the zombie’s hands. He narrowed his eyes, took a step forward, and shoved the tip of the sword into its neck.

**Critical Hit**

You have dealt 10x damage

You killed zombie Lv 1 x1

+20 EXP

+10 Tutorial Coins.

Congratulations! You gained a level.

Level 2 -> 3

+10 Attribute points

+2 Skill points

+50 bonus Tutorial Coins.

“Ugh! Finally!” Teo dropped on his ass where he stood, inhaling large gulps of oxygen into his burned-out lungs. He kept hunting the undeads without even stopping to take a breather like a man possessed.

With the adrenaline wearing off, Teo felt the full brunt of exhaustion he had put his body through. He fell on his back, spread eagle, and skimmed through the various notifications floating inches away from his nose.

He gritted his teeth and added all ten points to WIL. His heart ached as if someone squeezed it like a sponge when he added all those precious points to an unpopular stat, but he had no other choice. Until he could withstand the effects of [Fear] without falling into a compromising state, he would follow the system's advice and keep adding points to WIL. He was nowhere close to resisting the wraith's cry despite WIL reaching 27 points. Perhaps I need to add more points.

Adding points to WIL

WIL becomes 37

Your WIL reached 30.

You learned skill [Willpower Aura]

There was an extraordinary thing that happened after WIL reached thirty. However, Teo couldn’t read his notification at the moment as he was busy with something else. He got pulled out of his mind and transported to a vast empty world stretching for horizons.

The only other thing inside this white infinite was a sapling growing out of the ground. It only had two golden leaves. Not yellow, but golden. Teo felt electrifying energy, which he couldn’t recognize, discharging from the sapling. It wasn’t heavy and crushing like the aura of magic exuded by [Players] he had been around. This energy felt more like a cool breeze on a hot summer day.

Suddenly vertigo hit him with the force of a speeding train as he felt like getting dragged by an invisible hand. The white expanse gradually faded into a dark void, and Teo found himself back inside the dungeon.

“What the!!” He gasped, eyes wide and face pale. The experience was so extraordinary his mind failed to adjust.

That’s when Teo noticed the notifications.

“A skill? I obtained a skill just like that?” Disbelief was clear in his voice. From what little he knew about skills, as no [Player] ever divulged much about them, it was difficult –borderline impossible— to get a skill before fully awakening and getting a Class.

Does reaching thirty on an attribute will give me a related skill? Interesting…

Teo saved this bit of info to the back of his head. He’d be doing some research on this topic in the near future. For now, he focussed back on the skill.

Willpower Aura

Level 1

Proficiency: 0%

Your willpower, the strength of your subconsciousness, has reached a point where it manifested in the three-dimensional world. It augments all your physical, mental, and spiritual capabilities beyond their limit.

[Passive Perk- Accelerated Growth]

For every 5 points to WIL, +1 STR, +1.5 DEF, and +0.5 MAG

[Active Perk: Aura]

+ (30 + 7% of the attribute) to all attributes

+60% resistance to all status effects

Consumption: 10 Mana/sec

NOTE: All bonuses will apply hence-forth. No changes will be made to stat point distribution that occurred before obtaining the skill.