The woods around the Durbury creek turn deadly silent during the nights and except for the distance howling in the city of Bremond. With only the rustling of leaves and the occasional wolf howls, makes this forest the best place to catch some good ol' z's. Away from the hypocritical god, cruel world, and smack right in the middle of hordes of monsters and beautiful nature is the best place to just lie down and enjoy the beautiful night sky. Ahh… what a bliss—
"Seriously, dude. Seriously. This is something that you have to report to me? Don't you have anything better to do?!!" I clutched my fist tightly with anger and try to whisper as silently as possible without giving away my position on the trees.
"Who cares?!" I argue back, "Please, I beg you. For the last three days all you've been doing is buzzing my brain like a vibrator on drugs. Please. Stop this."
"Please. Just chill out. Yeet!"
"…"
The answer is yes, though.
"Can you PLEASE not invade my private thoughts like that?!" I whisper furiously at it but I also peeked at my behind. A sigh was released as in this life, my behind is more… proportioned.
"Instead of bickering like a frustrated teenager, it would be best if you tell me how to get rid of this damn cold! Hurrrrr! Do undeads even feel cold?" I couldn't help but wrap the three pairs of heavy, coarse cloths around me which I scavenged from the dead bodies of the prisoners.
But since, your connection has been cut off from the Undead King, your body is slowly leaking the death energy and this is weakening your soul.> "Would it have hurt you to tell this to me sooner?" "Fine, how do I reverse it?" "What's the least efficient way?" Look I don't want to be a heartless monster who goes and 'farm' other monsters for experience and whatnot. I'm not a human but that doesn't mean I should stop feeling like a human! "Hey I simply don't want to commit mass genocide for the enjoyment of a shitty evil system like you." My reply shot it off but after two days, I could no longer handle the coldness. My will was eroded by the system's incessant evil preaching. "Dammit… seems like I really wouldn't survive without killing some unfortunate being. Oh King, forgive me for my atrocities." "I will give you your soul so just don't buzz me." "Nope! In return, you must NOT speak to me unless I say so, give me all the information from the soul and adhere to the 90-10 ratio. Okay?" To be honest, it is a good deal. 10% of the soul for no shit-talking and all the information, I simply couldn't ask for more. "Good." … Hunting is an art and even though it varies depending on your environment, the basics remain the same. Be the hunter, not the hunted. With that motto in mind and all the training I received under the King's tutelage, I scout for any potential prey in my vicinity with my limited but nearly perfect night-vision. This night vision is like a passive of my Mask Wraith but in hindsight, it's exceedingly hard to see in the daylight without having a thick hood over my head. Let's see what we have for dinner… Steel-horned Moose—too big and bulky and those horns are pointy… I think those horns can impale ten of me's without difficulty. Black Wolf—They live in packs so no thank you. Berserker Boar—I might be able to take them down but one mistake and it's a battle of attrition. Not good for the 0-leveled me. Wait, I think I found the perfect first prey. Ghoul. Ghouls are solitary creatures with nearly no natural defense like thick hide or anything and appearance-wise, they look like skinny humanoid creatures with elongated stature with no body hair and extremely pale-skinned body. They walk on all four limbs and have elongated, stick-like limbs with sharp fingers, long enough to slash inches-deep wounds but unfortunately, I'm a specter class undead. Those long nails are as good as decorations to me. But there is one problem. I don't have any weapon to kill it with. Wait! I know just the right thing. I looked at my hands which were white and bony with long fingers and willed the Mana inside of me towards my hands. A slightly warm yet ominous feeling rose in my body and for a moment I thought it was all futile but then I saw my shadow flesh swirling from around my body before moving towards my hands. I intensified my focus and a large chunk of shadow flesh shifted from my abdomen and stomach and covered my hands. The usually skinny and bony hand had a mass of shadow flesh covering it, making it look more human-like. My fingers also had a transformation from as thin as matchsticks to moderately sized fingers with a visible pointy edge. <10 Mana has been consumed.> I can clearly see that by my unusually vacant abdomen and stomach. Woah! That's some Prototype shit! Anyway, I'm now armed and ready. Let's hunt some ghouls! … The Durbury woods, the forest where I currently am, is a dense forest with a canopy. Using the intertwined tree branches as my path and the agile, spectery body of mine, I weave through like a breeze in a field. It didn't take me long to find a ghoul in the distance. From the memory acquired from Aren's memory, I learned that ghouls are the lowest tier of the Skinwalker race and are a medium scavenger in the forest. They are easy prey for pack-hunters like wolves or wild dogs but in solitary fights, they hold up against moose and elks, if they don't get one-shot. Using the darkness of the night, I near the ghoul's position. The ghoul, like in Aren's memory, had no hide or hair and had extremely pale skin with large pustules and bulbous spots on its body. It looked like an extremely irradiated monster from a child's nightmare. Its only weapons are its long, snout-like mouth armed with razor-sharp teeth and its long fingers at the end of its limbs. It had non-existent eyes and its only form of detection was its excellent sense of smell which it uses to smell dead bodies from miles away. I guess that would explain how the animal got alerted of my presence. The ghoul turned up from its feast and growled at the treetops, not directly pointing at me but in my general direction. I sighed inside. It seems like I can't just kill it without a fuss. "Summon doppelganger," I whispered under my breath, and immediately, a large amount of my dense black Mana funneled out through my pores and created a carbon copy of myself. The new copy of mine, let's name it 'Carbon' looked immensely like this world's real me, like the human me named Aren. Green eyes, light green-colored hair, short stature, and an immature face, which right now was exceedingly cold. I was a little flabbergasted. Truth be said, I never really tried this new skill of mine for the last three days because I was afraid there would be a commotion but I should've tried it. Anyway, don't lose focus, William. "O-okay, please distract the ghoul with this piece of cloth while I ambush him. If you don't understand, all you have to do is dance in front of the ghoul." I say, hoping that this 'dumb' doppelganger would be fooled but he didn't. And what he does next baffles me completely. The doppelganger shakes his head before making a sign of rubbing his thumb with his index finger. A sign, I'm oh so familiar with. Money! "Y-y-y-you want money… I-I don't have any…" I reply like a genuine honest guy but why would a doppelganger request money in the first place. But he shakes his head and points at his chest making a strange symbol which is part-heart-like and part-triangular. "You want the ghoul's heart..." The doppelganger nods. I mull over it for a few seconds and even pitch in the system for its advice. How can you not? You are the system. Shut up! More importantly, where the hell did I get it? So, what should we do? Goddammit, you're sick! But you're right. Even though I want to be a great cook in this world and eat all kinds of delicacies, this bulbous creature of walking diseases is not going to be on my menu. Ever. Ignoring the system, I turn to the doppelganger and nod assuredly, "You can have as much of the meat as you want." Now, let's hunt that motherfucka! ...