Chapter 7: [Titles]

Teo scratched his chin and contemplated how to make the distribution work in a way that’ll benefit him a lot. His lack of formal education in this topic grabbed him by the ankle, preventing him from reaching any intellectual conclusion. He could only blame his low-grade citizenship as people below grade-C are not allowed to attend higher education schools. Well, I should be thankful they didn’t give me an E-grade citizenship. Sheesh! Can’t imagine my life as free labor.

Even though Teo never attended a high school, he had something those fresh graduates lacked. Public contact. He started working in different jobs from a very tender age. Throughout the years, he was involved in all sorts of fieldwork and made direct or indirect contact with people from all walks of life. And people talk.

Teo knew things that even a grade-B citizen wouldn’t. But, those ‘talks’ were useless here. Knowing about the inner workings of the base camp’s government wouldn’t help him distribute his points. Why did no one ever talk about their point distribution? Arrgh!!

Needless to say, Teo was frustrated at those [Players] who liked to gossip about scandals involving the senior officials of the camp. Useless garbages. He spat in contempt at those needlessly nosey [Players].

Krrraaa!!!

“Fuck!!”

The familiar soul-chilling scream of the wraith hammered Teo with a dose of [Fear] out of nowhere, paralyzing him for a few moments. Four seconds, to be exact. After adding points to WIL, he developed considerable resistance to negative statuses. Despite that, he had only managed to shrink the effect time by a handful of seconds.

From six seconds when he first arrived inside this graveyard to four, Teo had grown a lot in a span of a few hours.

But… It is not enough! He needed more oomph to survive in this hellscape. And he just happens to have the necessary juice. Let’s start with 13 points to WIL. I want to see if there will be anything special when it reaches fifty.

Adding points to WIL

WIL turns 50

Accelerated Growth(P) bonus:-

+3 STR

+4 DEF

+1 MAG

Teo doubled over, clutching his stomach in pain. There was something inside his belly trying to gnaw its way out of his stomach. He teared up as the never felt before pain pricked his lower abdomen.

Teo heard a familiar chime, but he could care less about anything when his stomach felt like it’d burst open any moment. Then, as suddenly as it came, the pain went away, leaving Teo in a sweating mess. And probably PTSD.

What was that? Teo gasped, gulping a large mouthful of air into his lungs. What the fuck was that?

He had never been in so much pain before. Not even that time when he broke his leg could compare to this harrowing experience. Just what went wrong?

Answers to his questions came in the form of a system notification.

Unclogging of [DanTian] went successfully.

Mana flows through your body.

**Congratulations!**

You have above-average talent in Mana.

+1 MAG -> +5 Mana

“All this was because of mana?” Teo rolled over to his back and quietly stared at the soul lamp hung from the ceiling. “I finally have a [DanTian].” He whispered under his breath, a grin forming on his dried lips. He finally took a step towards becoming a real [Player].

He could already see the pudgy ward captain running over to him, holding his newly upgraded C-grade citizenship license.

As if! Teo chuckled to himself, shaking his head at his own daydream. Hmm? What’s this?

Just then, his fleeting eyes caught a few notification boxes seemingly overshadowed by the new one. With curiosity, he dismissed the [DanTian] window to unearth the ones it was covering.

You have obtained a [Title]

[Supremacy of the Strong]

The willpower of a truly powerful individual could bring even the world to its knees.

Perk 1: +30% WIL

Perk 2: Weakening Domain

“A title?” Teo furrowed his face. He never heard any [Players] ever mentioning titles before. Not even a hint.

There was a limit to free information. The [Players], known for their tightlipped nature, were already generous enough to give out simple tips and tricks for free. Logically, he shouldn’t expect them to reveal everything.

“At 30 a skill and 50 a title, huh? Neat.” Teo raised his brows but was not surprised at all. He somewhat expected something to happen after WIL reach fifty. “What’s the deal with this second perk though? Is that a skill?”

With burning curiosity, he interacted with the second perk. The system showed the details he wanted.

[Weakening Domain]

Level Max

Proficiency: NIL

Forms a ring of domain around the user that reduces all the attributes of anyone who enters.

Area and potency scales with WIL.

Current Area:- 5 Sq feet

Current debuff effect:- -25% all stats

Warning: If the opponent’s WIL is stronger/equal to the user, the ability will lose its effect.

Consumption: 5 Stamina/minute

“Wow! It’s actually a pretty decent ability.” Teo couldn’t believe his eyes. It surpassed his expectations by a huge mile. What he really liked about the ability was how it only consumed a scant amount of stamina to function. He had more than enough stamina to spare.

Teo stared at the remaining seven attribute points as the cogs in his head spun rapidly. What to do, He wondered. How to spend these remaining points? Due to the 30% buff to WIL after equipping the [Title], the related stats also saw growth. That includes MAG too.

“Hmm— thirteen is such an ominous number.” With that, it was decided where those remaining seven points would go. The lucky winner was MAG.

Adding points to MAG

MAG turns 8(+3)

Mana instantly jumped from a measly 13 to 48 in an instant. Unfortunately, it also brought an uncomfortable vertigo-like feeling. Teo groaned, cradling his head as he suppressed urges to puke.

“This disgusting feeling… how good it’d be without it!?” Teo complained, wiping his face with his palms. But, all his discomfort evaporated and a smile shined upon his paled face when he looked at his attributes.

They looked so full! A stark contrast to what it had been a few hours prior. Teo felt his struggles were worth it.

Inside a tutorial dungeon, the metabolism somehow slows down. One wouldn’t feel hunger, thirst, or any other bodily need. There was no need for restroom breaks.

Despite that, the recovery speed inside this place was extraordinarily fast. Teo regained all his lost juice in only a matter of minutes. Even his mental fatigue was gone, leaving him in a refreshed mood. He was ready to go another round against the zombies.

“Might as well finish my task.”

XXX

Lee masked his face with all the seriousness he could muster before entering the general office. His presence immediately attracted everyone’s attention. Many pairs of eyes locked on him like lasers-bound missiles. This kind of attention would give anyone stage fear, but not Lee. He was experienced and a professional.

“What got your panties in a twist, Lee?” The same colleague, who called him when he was going to meet the captain, snickered. His words brought about a round of laughter from bystanders.

Lee sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He noticed that he had been sighing a lot recently. He blamed his stressful job and ‘toxic’ colleagues. In fact, he blamed the latter even more.

Lee tactfully ignored Gabe’s goading and recited the same thing he has to his captain minutes prior. At the end of the long speech, he also conveyed their captain’s orders clearly to make sure everyone understood.

The whole office that housed seventy staff had gone silent. Colorful emotions flashed on everyone’s faces while their jaws were seemingly unhinged.

Lee allowed a smile to form on his lips. If only I had a camera….