Introduction Arc: Chapter 6.
The strong scent of the dead permeated the night forest, where the trees showed no life, creaking as they swayed. A thin fog, barely three inches high, remained on the ground. The night forest served as a graveyard for Newbie Town before it was long abandoned. Nowadays, it's a hotspot for the wandering undead and ambitious adventurers.
Winter stood at the entrance to the night forest, conversing with a shaky and superstitious guard. The whole night forest region was walled in despite it being a wide forest. Behind the gate entrance were multiple spiked barricades neatly lined up.
A guard held his spear tightly, and a small wooden carving of an unknown idol was wrapped near the handle. "The growls keep me up at night, but these talismans here keep them at bay; the undead don't even go near the entrance. I thank the light priests every day for their protection and dedication."
"Do you have any spares? I want some talismans for myself." Winter asked, and the guard furrowed his brows upon hearing Winter's request, lightly shaking his head in disbelief.
"What adventurer doesn't prepare for his travels? No, I don't have any spares, and if you don't have any plans or preparation, I can't let you in." The guard said with closed, exhausted eyes, offended by Winter's unpreparedness, but before he could finish his sentence.
Winter entered the night forest. The expression on his face was one of confidence.
"Wait, you! Get back here! You're going to die!" The guard pleaded, but didn't bother to go after the adventurer. "Oh, light priests, forgive me, but if an idiot wants to die, then that's his right." The guard said, muttering a quick prayer before closing and locking the gate entrance.
....
....
....
The stench of the dead grew stronger while the guttural roars were getting closer. Winter unsheathed the limitless scorch rune dagger with a huge smile on his face. "I can't wait to level up." He added as a chill crawled up his spine.
He instantly turned behind, spotting a silhouette of a humanoid that was slowly forming in front of him. The torso formed first, then the head, and lastly the limbs.
An undead corpse manifested itself in front of him. The corpse's limbs were thin with protruding bones, a weak, undead corpse. (Is this how monsters spawn? That's a bit boring, this means that there are an infinite number of them, and I can never change this place.)
The undead corpse let out a raspy roar and charged forward. Winter took one step back, thinking about fleeing, but he grit his teeth and gripped his dagger. He mustered up his courage and did one swift slash, instantly beheading the nearing undead.
The head burst into flames as it landed on the ground, then disappeared along with the body.
"That was easy, way easier than the goblins. I didn't even need Bricks for that." Winter muttered as several undead growled behind him, slowly encroaching. Winter grinned with excitement, noting that this was what he needed in life.
An excitement, a fun, easy challenge.
*Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!*
If it weren't for the de-spawning mechanics of the undead, they'd be littered around the ground, slowly piling up. Winter was relentless, killing the undead corpses as it manifested. He would sometimes wait for the undead to form before continuing the killing streak.
The undead manifestations were now hesitant, a rare showing of emotion, but they kept charging, thinking that their opponent would tire out. Winter, however, didn't notice this.
Winter felt his body surge in power twice; he was getting faster and stronger, but only in small but noticeable increments. He was killing the undead manifestations left and right, and he hadn't noticed that he had been slicing them down for almost two hours now.
◆ [ The source of the undead manifestations has been found. Head towards the glowing diamond mark and disable the source. ] ◆
Bricks said, breaking Winter's focus for a moment. "Why would I disable the source? I am gaining some experience here. I felt like I leveled up twice," He said, slashing another undead, scorch marks appearing all over its body.
◆ [ You already have a lot of combat experience, Winter. ] ◆
"No, no. I mean, experience points. Leveling up!" Winter replied, nonchalantly kicking an undead corpse, causing it to stumble and fall.
◆ [ I've heard of the term 'level up,' but I am not familiar with the exact terms. ] ◆
(What? Is it not aware of the most basic RPG mechanics? You're my system, how could you not know about that?) Winter said, stabbing an undead corpse straight to the heart.
(Wait, now that I think about it. It's an assistant that infodumps when in-game. I guess it makes sense that it doesn't know what we players see.) Winter said, cleaning the blade of his dagger with a handkerchief.
"Forget I said anything about it then. Where is this source?"
◆ [ Follow the diamond marker. ] ◆
Winter headed towards the objective marker, slicing down the undead manifestations as it arrived. An undead corpse managed to grab the collar of his leather armor, and he instantly sliced the hands and the head in less than two seconds.
"What?" Winter said, eyes bulging in surprise. "My body moved on its own again."
◆ [ It is your subconscious and instinct. You may have gotten weaker, but your senses have not. ] ◆
Winter adjusted his leather armor and continued heading straight towards the source of the manifestations. Winter stopped and squinted his eyes, peering through the trees beside him. Something was coming, and it was fast.
*Swing!* A blade came out of nowhere, almost slicing Winter's head off, but he managed to subconsciously dodge it by somersaulting backwards. The blade flew similar to a boomerang before it returned to the hands of the owner.
It was an armored undead, standing at seven feet tall. The only sign that it was an undead was the half-rotten face that it had; the rest of its body was covered in aged steel. The sword was similar to a fighter's starter sword; it was pristine and immaculate, unlike the undead owner.
Winter's expression turned grim, his heart beating fast. He could've died from that attack if it weren't for his instincts. His instincts this time were telling him to run away.
◆ [ Run. ] ◆
So was Bricks.
"Fuck, why did I even reset my character?" Winter cursed as the tall armored undead towered over him.