“Experience gained for killing 3x lvl 1 undead and 1x lvl 2 undead. You have leveled up. You are now level 3.” This was the message that appeared after they had killed the level 2, and quite frankly, it was a heaven sent as he needed more power if he was to survive in this world. And if he was being honest that level 2 had scared him. He did not want to think about what the higher leveled ones would be like. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought, but he shook it off to finally check out his status screen.
Name: Zeon Whither
Level: 3 (exp to next lvl 30/200)
Race: Human Rank Initiate
Css: N/A
Profession: N/A
Health: 50/50
Mana: 75/100
Stats: Strength: 4
Agility: 7
Toughness: 5
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 11
Perception: 7
Stat points to invest: 4
Active Skills: Avatar lvl 2 (Transform your soul into a weapon; you and your avatar fight as one. Your soul has grown in power, allowing you to take on a semi-material form.)
Passive Skills: Sorrowful Sight lvl 1 (Your Sorrowful eyes can see the damned.)
Analyze lvl 1 (By focusing on something, you can gain more information.)
Soul Slots (1/5): Apparition lvl 1 (Born from a person who died in great anguish.)
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Zeon was quite pleased with the results of his status screen, he was also happy to see that his Avatar had leveled up. It stated that he would be able to go semi-material now that it had leveled up, and he wondered how that would be useful, so he tried it out. Activating his skill, he felt the fire stemming from his abdomen expand and exit out his pores, he had an almost instinctual understanding of the changes in his skill. He knew that by sacrificing more mana to his skill, he could make it somewhat tangible. He used more mana on his skill and felt an almost instant change. His avatar felt firmer, as if previously it was just a vague idea, but now it was as if it had turned into a solid hypothesis. He knew it was a strange example but that was just how he understood it. Zeon heard a yelp from his side and as he turned to see what it was, he saw Liam and Serra looking at him in shock as if he was a monster.
Liam had been recovering from his wounds, talking to Serra to take his mind off of the pain when it happened. One second, Zeon was standing there, his eyes dazed as he was probably looking at his status screen when he was repced by a monstrous figure, it stood at 7 feet tall its skin seemed to flicker in and out of existence. It was a light blue, and its face was almost featureless, with no eyes or even a nose, only a mouth with sharp, needle-like teeth. Its hands were adorned with sharp, dagger-like cws. Needless to say, it freaked him out. The creature turned toward them. Liam was truly afraid as this creature made every hair on his body stand on end; it gave off a primordial aura of fear. Just standing close to it made his entire body want to flee. But in the next moment, just as quickly as the monster appeared, so too did it vanish, and in its pce, Zeon was ying on the ground writhing in pain. A groan escaped his lips just as he lost consciousness. Malcolm was quick to act as he moved to Zeon’s side to see if he could assist.
Zeon did not know what happened. One second, he was looking at Liam and Serra. Somehow, he could smell that they were afraid, that they saw him as a monster, and honestly, he was a bit hurt by this. As he thought he had at least gained some trust with them. The only one that seemed to be unbothered was Malcom, as he was consumed with raising the level 2 as an undead to repce the one he had lost, and it seemed he was succeeding as the undead started twitching. Zeon’s vision started to blur; he started hearing an incessant ringing in his ears, and his head was pounding. That was when the burning began, as it felt like his skin was on fire with the heat of a thousand suns. He felt like he was being destroyed and rebuilt all at once, with thousands of needles being jammed into his eyes. “Warnig!! Outside interference detected. Shutting host down.”
Zeon lost consciousness, but his mind did not shut down as he found himself within a bck void. He could not move his body as it refused to listen; he was just drifting in the dark. His mind went through a hundred different scenarios at once and the only thing he could come up with was that he was fucked. A shift happened within the void as an eye opened in front of him, then another and another until there were more eyes than he could count, and they were all staring at him. No, it was more than that. They were looking through him, observing everything that made him, him. His very soul was id bare in front of these eyes, and he would be lying if he said he was not afraid. It did not st long, though, as he yet again lost consciousness.
When he awoke, his entire body was aching like he had just run a triathlon. He tried to remember what had happened, but his mind was bnk. There was a notification demanding his attention, so he pulled it up to see what it was. “You have been marked. Effects unknown.” Zeon shot up from his lying position upon reading this. Pain fred from his aching muscles, causing him to wince, but this demanded his attention ‘Marked. What does this mean?’ he thought, but the thought was stopped as another wave of pain hit him, this time originating from his chest. He unzipped his jacket and looked underneath his shirt, and there it was; it looked like the image of an eye was tattooed in the center of his chest, and he had no idea how it had gotten there. Looking up to Malcolm, who was standing next to him, he asked.
“What happened?” his brow was furrowed as he was truly confused; the st thing he remembered was trying out his skill.
“You turned into a monster, but not long after, you fell to the ground writhing in pain before passing out,” Malcolm said with a shrug, seeming uninterested. Zeon had already begun to notice a change in his old friend as he was less expressive and less caring than he used to be but he just shoved the thought to the back of his mind as he asked.
“How long was I out?” but all he met was silence as Malcolm was thinking of an answer.
“By my estimation, about 3 hours,” he said in an uniterested tone.
“Damn, we need to get moving if we want to get out of here,” Zeon said as he got up, he did a few stretches to loosen up his stiff muscles before they moved out once again, they did not have time to waste.
That was when it hit him. He had not even invested his stat points, so he made a quick decision.
Name: Zeon Whither
Level: 3 (exp to next lvl 30/200)
Race: Human Rank Initiate
Css: N/A
Profession: N/A
Health: 50/50
Mana: 80/110
Stats: Strength: 5
Agility: 7
Toughness: 6
Intelligence: 11
Wisdom: 12
Perception: 7
Stat points to invest: 0
Active Skills: Avatar lvl 2 (Transform your soul into a weapon; you and your avatar fight as one. Your soul has grown in power, allowing you to take on a semi-material form.)
Passive Skills: Sorrowful Sight lvl 1 (Your Sorrowful eyes can see the damned.)
Analyze lvl 1 (By focusing on something, you can gain more information.)
Soul Slots (1/5): Apparition lvl 1 (Born from a person who died in great anguish.)
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Mark: ???? - (????)
He invested one point into strength, one point into toughness, one point into intelligence, and one point into wisdom. He had seen in his st fights that his stamina was severely cking, so he chose to correct this error by investing in toughness. Now, onto the concerning part his mark. He had no idea what it meant, and neither did the system. It was an enigma that he, unfortunately, did not have the time to solve as the group was ready to move on to the lobby of the dorm. Of course the responsibility of scouting was left to Zeon as he was the strongest fighter in the group.
Zeon went out into the lobby, and for once it seemed luck was on their side, due to the apocalypse starting at night, there were not many people in the lobby, there were only about four zombies in the lobby none above level one. He went back to his group and told them the good news, They decided that Serra and Liam would be the ones to take the kills, allowing them to gain some more experience. Zeon helped them by dismembering the zombies so that they could get the kills, and it honestly went well. They had reached a certain unity with their movements making the task that much easier. But that was when the good news ended as Liam suddenly colpsed, his veins turning bck and his skin pale as he shook violently.
Serra, who was already at his side, bent down and tried to heal him with her skill, but it did not work. The worry was evident as she continuously tried to heal him, to no avail.
“No…No…no, you can’t leave me!” she said. It started as a whisper but soon turned into a yell, the pain clear in her voice.
Zeon moved closer to him and used his Analyze to see if he could get more information and what he saw, he did not want to believe it. How could he have forgotten such an important detail? Liam was turning, and there was nothing they could do. Zeon looked at Liam, and it looked like he already knew. He grabbed Zeon by the hem of his leather jacket, pulling him closer as he whispered in his ear.
“Please… I know this is a lot to ask, but don’t let me turn into one of those things. I don’t want Serra to see me like that.” His voice was barely a whisper.
Zeon was not ready to hear this, the request weighed heavy on his heart. They had only known each other for two days, but they had gone through so many life and death experiences together. But he would not deny him his st wish, as much as it pains Zeon he would still do it as this was the duty of the strong. He stood up and activated his avatar. Serra took note of this, and somehow, she knew what he would do as she tried to stop him. She grabbed onto his arm with her entire body pressed against him, trying to stop him.
“Please! No! Don’t do this. We can still save him.” She pleaded with him, tears running down her face.
Zeon did not respond instead, he pushed her off of him and proceeded to Stab Liam through his heart with his cwed death. “I give you mercy,” He whispered, barely audible as a lone tear fell down his bloody cheek.
“Noo! We could have saved him!” Serra screamed before she started sobbing intensely.
All the while, Malcolm was watching everything unfold, his face not betraying any emotion. In fact, I would go as far as to say he looked bored, as if one of them had not just died. Zeon did not know what was going on with his friend, but he was worried. He felt sick to his stomach at what he had done, it felt like a piece of himself had died with Liam.
