After what felt like an eternity, the pain that was overflowing my nervous system with stimuli came to a slow but welcomed end.
Opening my eyes I found them covered in a crusty layer and brought my hands up to clear them of their 'covers'. When it was finally removed I saw that the crusty layer was blood and skin, all mashed together into a crusty mixture that fell apart into a fine dust when I applied even the most delicate squeeze.
Bringing myself up from my prone position, I felt my back twist and pop, alongside my arms and shoulders. Everything in my body seemed to be...different. I couldn't describe it, it just felt different.
More solid, if I had to describe it. Even then, that didn't seem to fully get across the change.
But getting up, I was able to describe the change quite easily. Everything around me, even the bat I'd just picked up, seemed a bit smaller. Nothing drastic like I was a giant or something, but still noticeably smaller. The second thing that was apparent to me, however, was the smell.
My body was covered in the same crusty mixture of blood and skin that my eyes had been covered in, so I stiffly walked into the bathroom before checking to see if the shower still worked.
It did, thankfully.
Tearing off my t-shirt, I discovered that it had been ripped by whatever growth my body had gone through. Same with my jeans. Looking in the mirror made me grimace as I saw my crusty appearance but looking past that, I could definitely tell that I was taller. Definitely broader as well. But I ignored all of those changes and just got in the shower.
I scrubbed away, layer after layer of blood and skin sloughing off of me.
I scrubbed at my body like a mindless robot as I realized something...I didn't feel bad about killing the zombie who used to be my friend. Not anymore at least. All I felt was...nothing. A part of me, a new part of me, said that it was my right to do what I wanted because I was strong. That this was the way the world was - the survival of the fittest.
I didn't know why I was thinking this...but I'd but a bet on it being due to my reward for killing him--the zombie. It wasn't him. It was a zombie, so why should I feel anything anyway?
In the end, I ended up feeling worse over not feeling anything than the actual killing. Like some kind of idiot.
By this point I'd scrubbed my entire arm down but there seemed to be some weird staining as my normally tan skin was looking a little grey--Huh?
I scrubbed and scrubbed and even scrubbed the rest of my body before getting out of the shower, ignoring my crusty hair - I needed to look at myself in the mirror. And when I finally got to look at my cleaned and dried appearance, I saw that it wasn't a stain:
My skin was a light grey tone.
I went to run my hand through my hair but seeing the crusty appearance, I jumped back in the shower and covered it in shampoo before washing it clean...or I would have if I didn't discover another unsettling thing. Or rather two new unsettling things in the form of two little stubby horns that poked out of my forehead an inch or two near the top of my forehead and at opposite sides to one another - one on the right and the other on the left.
They looked sleek and were black in color, they didn't look like goat horns but were smooth.* They also felt incredibly hard and their point was quite sharp.
(*A/N - Like an Oni's horns, but much short. He's only a Half-Ogre, after all~)
And it got even more unsettling when I stiffly carried on washing my hair when I discovered that my ears were now pointed. Not like an Elf's - sharp and long - but definitely angled toward a point where there used to be rounded smoothness.
Everything was overloading me but I pushed past it when I realized that I was still me no matter how I looked. I could look like an actual Ogre and I'd still be me, Luther Swan.
With this renewed, yet still shaky, mindset, I checked over my body with more concentration and finally started to figure out the extent of the changes.
Whereas before I was about 5'11" - neither short or tall, really - I'd grown around 4 or 5 inches taller and my body had gotten a definite few inches wider and thicker. Whereas before I was lean like a runner, I'd now put on a bit of bulk, and when I say 'a bit' I mean about a hundred or so pounds of muscle. I was bodybuilder bulky but I did look like I spent my life working out in the gym and eating extreme amounts of protein.
If I had to compare it to anything, I'd say I looked like an especially muscular gymnast now.
My grey skin tone also didn't seem to be just for show, either, and actually felt tougher than normal. More like very thick skin or leather than the fleshy skin I used to have. Though I didn't seem to have lost any of my flexibility or the pliability of the skin. It just felt my resistant to cuts, I guess is how I'd put it.
Getting out of the shower, I just stood there and looked at myself in the mirror. Horns, grey skin, pointed ears...even my pupils were a bit elongated. I truly did look like a non-human. When I cracked a test smile at myself in the mirror I saw that my canines were a little longer and sharper as well while also being a little thicker - like four small tusks.
Shaking my head, I dismissed these thoughts before walking to my room, naked. I found that I didn't really care about stuff like this anymore - being naked, I mean. Someone could walk in and see my dick and I don't think I'd bat an eyelid let alone get embarrassed.
It was odd. It also made me wonder what else was different about me now? But such thoughts went on the back burner as I entered my room and slipped on a tank-top (the only kind of top that I had that could fit my new, bigger frame) and some very loose sweatpants that I'd been given by my grandparents before going off to college. In their classic fashion they'd gotten the size a few sizes too large. I remember laughing about growing into them when I got them but I guess that did happen, huh?
Letting out a deep and hoarse chuckle, I released my voice was a bit deeper and much more gravelly. Like the voice of a gruff action hero or something.
That thought made me chuckle some more but the chuckling came to an end when I realized I didn't have any shoes to wear. My feet had definitely gotten much too long and wide for any of my shoes and I found myself looking out at Ryan's corpse.
Sighing, I picked up a backpack and stuffed in some more sweatpants and a few other tank-tops before slipping the backpack over my shoulder and walking into Ryan's room.
Ryan was around 6'2" and much closer to my new height...so it was safe to assume that some of his sneakers might fit me. It felt odd to be taking a dead man's shoes, let alone a man who used to be my friend, but I didn't feel anything negative because of it, so I just ignored such thoughts and pushed anything to do with my morality to the back of my mind as my situation finally settled into my head and I came to a realization:
I was in the Apocalypse. There were game-like screens that popped up after I killed a zombie.
This wasn't the same old world anymore. Just like my instincts were telling me...this world ran on the law of the jungle now. I didn't have time to worry about the morality of taking a dead man's shoes.
Going through his pairs, I picked up two different pairs. A pair of black, steel toe-capped boots and some plain white sneakers. Both of which fit me nice enough that they didn't feel like cages for my feet.
Putting on the sneakers, knowing that I'd rather be able to run if things get risky, I walked back into the hallway and looked at the bloodied bat next to the corpse and shook my head and entered my room. Reaching under the bed, I pulled out my own bat. It was the same as the other one but minus the blood and gore and minor damage.
Suddenly the thought to check my status struck me. This was a game and it was awfully a lot like those novels I'd read in highschool..."Status," I gave a low huff and a screen unsurprisingly appeared.
[Name: Luther Swan]
[Race: Half-Ogre]
[Racial Perks: {Greater Brute Strength}, {Robust}, {Dark Vision}, {Iron Stomach}]
[Racial Debuff(s): {Savage Mind}]
[Occupation: None – Level: 1]
[Purse: 1500 Credits]
[STR: 1.9 / AGI: 1.3 / CON: 1.8 / SPT: 1.1] [Current SP: 0.2]
"...Huh," I got out as I felt a monumental amount of information entire my head, detailing to me what all of this stuff on the screen meant.
Starting with the stats, each of them is Strength, Agility, Constitution, and Spirit, respectively. Strength or STR determines the physical force a person can muster. It determines things like how much they can carry, how hard they can hit, and how fast they can move in a linear direction.
Agility or AGI determines, as you might have guessed, the agility of the body and the maneuverability of the body and how well it can change direction and move around an opponent. Fine motor skills like balance and overall body coordination are also things determined by this stat. E.g a high AGI stat will lead to more control over your body and how it moves while also complementing the explosive speed given by the STR stat.
Next up is CON or Constitution. This stat determines the health, stamina, pain tolerance and the resistances of the person, while also determining how quickly someone recovers their health and stamina. It also has an effect on the durability of the body. So explained in the most simple way, CON makes the body both harder and able to heal injuries that do get past the enhanced defense while also enhancing the endurance/stamina of the person.
Finally we have Spirit or SPT. This one is a bit weird because it represents so much in this world. Mainly, it determines intelligence, wisdom and problem solving ability, and serves as the basic magic stat. But because of the multiple systems of energy and supernatural powers in this new world it has different effects for each system of energy/supernatural power. For example, it increases the amount of Mana a wizard/witch/magic user would have access to, while it would increase the control a Martial Artist would have over their Qi.
Other than the stats, I have the perks {Greater Brute Strength}, {Robust}, {Dark Vision}, {Iron Stomach}.
{Greater Brute Strength} gives me an advantage of giving me 0.3 Strength per level up. Which is quite a bit seeing as that I get 0.2 SP per level (SP standing for Stat Points). So basically, one of my perks gives me more than the average person gets putting me ahead of the curve for now.
{Robust} is the same kind of perk, giving me a certain amount of points in a stat per level, but it's a little less as advantageous as {Greater Brute Strength} and only gives me 0.1 Constitution per level up. Even then, it's still an advantage over other people because it gives me the chance to put my free stat points in other places that need an urgent boost without sacrificing my defense as a result.
{Dark Vision} does what it says on the tin and lets me see in the dark.
{Iron Stomach} is the same and pretty much allows me to consume most foods without having to worry about getting food poisoning. Raw meat, food that's gone out of date, even food that's slightly poisonous can't put me into a sick state. Though it does nothing for the taste of the food.
But the most troubling of the information has to be the Debuff {Savage Mind}. It pretty much means any Spirit gains outside of a class or racial perk are halved. What that means is that 0.2 SP would be equivalent to 0.1 SP whenever put into Spirit. It also makes me a bit more savage, as you would expect. More violent and sadistic in a fight, you know, what you'd expect from an Ogre, even if they were only Half-Ogre.
Letting out a sigh, I stood up before heading to the door, not even sparing the corpse a glance before I opened my door and walked into the hallway.
Getting my bat ready, I walked to the door opposite mine - Stacey's apartment. When I got in position, I brought my foot back and slammed my weight forward, blowing the door open. It seemed my increased Strength was coming in handy.
What was I doing?
What I had to: Grinding mobs so I could level up.
This new world would be one ruled through strength and power, so I couldn't afford to fall behind in levels. I had to be at the forefront. Plus, something told me my new Ogre side would allow for me to enjoy the fighting and killing to come. I could only hope it didn't fail me and then I saw the zombie inhabiting this apartment, feeding on it's ex-roommate Stacey.