Chapter 6: A Situation

Teo blinked a few times after he read the entire thing in one go. Feeling like he missed something that stands odd, he gave it a once over. Excluding the poetic-sounding skill introduction, the passive trait, [Accelerated Growth], was one of the best things that happened to him after coming to this dungeon.

Previously, he was stressing over not being able to add any points to his other stats. Now, with the advent of this skill, his problems were solved.

But, why is there a knot in his heart? Did he miss something? Teo squinted his eyes at the skill description.

It was not until his fifth read that he would discover the reason for the funny feeling.

Mana. For the second part of the skill, [Aura], mana was necessary. But, because he was continuously putting all his points to WIL, MAG was stuck at 0. He had not yet awakened mana.

Teo clicked his tongue. “I knew my one-track mind would bring me trouble. At least, from now on, my other attributes will benefit from this madness. Unf!” He grunted, closing his eyes for a bit.

He needed to rest his body after the strenuous hunt of three zombies. It was not an easy task to kill three monsters whose entire existence is poisonous while being a little stronger than an average human. His stamina couldn’t keep up.

Teo’s mind was in a chaotic state, however. He kept thinking about the strange white expanse and that golden-leaved sapling. He could still vividly feel the lingering sensation of that unique energy washing over his body. It felt like his years of fatigue had gone in an instant.

What was that weird place? Teo chewed on his lips, trying to figure out any possible connection between the things experienced and the skill. But it proved to be a fruitless endeavor. Try he might, Teo couldn’t make either heads or tails of anything.

“Whatever. Let’s continue with my task.”

He wasn’t even halfway through the quest to clear the first floor. Knowing that there was a lot for him to do, Teo got up to his feet before marching on his hunt. Maybe, it was because vitality had gained a few points after two level-ups, Teo noticed a faster recovery rate of his stamina.

His muscle fatigue was already gone after the visit to that white expanse. With his stamina back to full, Teo had nothing holding him back from laying waste to the zombies.

Following the map, he tracked and killed zombies with confidence he never had.

XXX

Base Camp No. 10; Public Security Head Office

A uniformed man rushed through the busy office filled with the hubbub of his coworkers.

“Aye! Lee, what got you in a hurry?” One of his colleagues noticed him and shouted from across the packed room. Several pairs of eyes followed after the voice and lined on the rapidly streaking back of the now identified Lee.

“We got a situation. You lazy bastards are in for trouble.” After dropping the ominous response, Lee didn’t bother his colleagues anymore. He doubled his speed and made a beeline towards an isolated office.

As he neared the door, the heavy thumping of flesh hitting something hard made its way to his ears. Not long after that, thick killing intent washed over his body and made his back drenched in a cold sweat.

Warning! You have inflicted with [Terror].

-90% Agility

-90% Magic

-90% Strength and defense

Lee gritted his teeth and curled his right fingers into a fist. Under his breath, he mumbled, “Cleanse.” A green light emerged from his heart and enveloped his entire body, washing away all his discomfort.

You’ve used [Cleanse].

All status effects have been removed, and you gained immunity to them for 10 seconds.

-40 Mana

+0.4% Proficiency

“Gah!! My Cleanse is already at level 9 and still, captain’s killing intent raised the proficiency by 0.4%!!” Lee wiped the sweat from his scalp and patted his chest, taking long breaths. “As expected, that woman isn’t a human.”

“I can hear you, Lee.”

Lee shivered. He felt like his heart was grasped in a vice by a cold hand as the soft voice made its way from beyond the closed door. It weighed heavily like a mountain on his shoulders.

“What’s the matter?”

Lee finally found his voice after the captain asked her second question. Pushing back the sinking feeling, he recited the report that arrived that morning. “Ma’am, we have a Grade 1 emergency situation.”

“What?” The door was thrown out from its hinges, accompanied by a blast of shockwave. Lee leaned over to his side and narrowly avoided a collision with the flying object. It stuck into the wall behind him and stayed there half embedded.

That’s the third door this month …. Lee swiped his scalp as he gave the poor door a silent prayer.

From inside the room, a beautiful woman with short brown hair and a sculpted body walked out. She wore typical gym clothes and had a towel draped over her shoulders. She snatched the papers from Lee’s hands and began reading. “What happened?”

“We got wind that a racket is at large inside our base. They are distributing Awakening stones to D and E-grade citizens. We still don’t know their base of operation or motives.”

“Say what?” Lisha exclaimed. Her eyes grew in size the more she read the report. “Is this report legit? Eighty people have already entered tutorial dungeons?”

“They are the people who entered the dungeons affiliated with our base camp. I’m afraid even more have entered other places we don’t know about.” Lee reported, wearing a grave face.

“Hmm… giving E-Grade citizens awakening stone already shows that their motives aren’t noble. Lee, form an investigation team of Mana sensors and raid all residential areas. Give me the accurate number of awakening stones used.”

Lee trembled when he heard the seriousness in her tone. He nodded before saluting her. “Yes, captain. I’ll do it right now.” Seeing that his captain had nothing else to say, Lee got ready to leave.

“Wait. Form a separate team and investigate all the gate guards. So many awakening stones smuggled inside; what were they doing?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Lisha exhaled a long breath after Lee left. She massaged her temples, feeling a headache coming from miles away. “What a fucking situation! Which fucker is screwing around in a time like this? Are they tired of living?”

XXX

Congratulations! Your level has risen.

Level 4 -> 5

+10 Attribute points

+2 Skill points

+50 bonus Tutorial coins.

Ding!

You have pushed your body beyond its limit.

VIT +1

“I’m spent!” The wooden sword slipped out of Teo’s grasp, falling to the ground with a soft thump. His muscles were screaming at him, begging him to stop his madness and take a break. But Teo didn’t listen. He kept pushing his body despite all the pain and forced himself to slaughter zombies.

The reward for such a torturing endeavor was two bonus points to Vitality. A [Player] once revealed a way to increase attributes through training in earlier stages. Teo gave his proposed method a try. Lo and behold, it worked like a charm.

Even without a level up or adding points to the stat, Vitality gained a point. Motivated by such an outcome, Teo dragged his exhausted body to fight the zombies.

Unfortunately, he reached his physical limit. Even if he was motivated, his body couldn’t handle more torture. It’d break if forced anymore.

While waiting for his body to recover, Teo opened the system. To train his body, he had been holding back on point distribution for the past two levels. Now, it was time for an upgrade.

[Displaying Status]

Name

Teo

Level

Exp

5

[50/800]

Attributes:

Unused Points: 20

STR: 9

DEF: 5

AGI: 11

VIT: 22

WIL: 37

MAG: 0

Skills:

Skill Upgrade Points: 8

Observe Lv 2

Health

220/220

Stamina

1/44

Tutorial Coins

510