February 20th, 2023, in the south of Lone Star City.

Fortuna University was a mid-ranking university located in the southern parts of Lone Star City within Grimsburg.

Inside a shared dormitory for the Fortune Campus, a 6ft 2" tall young man looked at himself in the mirror, neck length messy silver hair, with narrow but pretty emerald eyes just like his mother, which added a handsome tinge to his wild, gangster-like look, with a face stained with dried tears and red puffy eyes, with peach lips and a solid angular jaw stared back at him.

This boy was called Alex Faust, a second-year, an average man to himself, yet a top-ranked male god to others.

He finished changing into a comfortable casual suit, with a black jacket and pants, a dark blue shirt, with a red watch on his left hand. "We need some time apart Amy said?" Alex grimaced before he loosened the collar to make himself look wild and more aggressive.

He spent the past year dating a girl named Amy, someone his childhood friend and martial arts partner Sarah suggested.

Amy liked his previous self, an introverted nerd, despite her being a popular gal and social butterfly.

But once he began to change, their relationship became a little distant, and they missed each other as he began to spend more time in the gym and working to fund his new grooming and exercising habits.

The pair still loved each other; anyone could see, yet Amy's heart broke with each missed date, yet still just seeing him would cause her to shine a radiant smile; sadly, the pair engaged in a heated argument after drinking, and she broke up with him last night.

Which led to his brief moments of self-pity ending, realising he was to blame.

'I changed myself to match your radiance; now you cast me aside...'

He shook his head, "No, it's not her fault. I am the one who changed; why did I think she wanted me to become this?"

Once again, looking at himself in the mirror, he had a slightly fierce face and narrow eyes like a gangster. Still, his delicate features balanced it out, making him look like a "suit thug" in these casual suits, which he loved thanks to the eastern kung fu masters in movies.

"It doesn't matter; I have grown to love myself like this; maybe it wasn't meant to be, so let's accept the breakup without any needless animosity. I'm sure Amy didn't cheat or leave me for someone else; we just stopped working as a pair. "

Alex wiped his face, cleaned the mess and smiled for the first time in hours; it almost felt like a weight lifted from his shoulders, 'As my mother once said, if something is destined to be, it'll just happen naturally!'

"What a careless race; how dare you as ants cease to believe in me! I am your lord, your god! Hateful humanity living your peaceful lives, growing fatter and ignoring the path I created. You will all be put to the test from this moment on!"

A loud voice sounded before the room began to shudder. Alex's roommate owned an alien PC smashed onto the floor as the desks and beds vibrated, 'What's happening?' Alex thought, grabbing his black Davesung phone from the table and opening it to check his news feed.

"From this moment on, struggle! Oh, humanity, fight on or suffer the consequences; make me smile, please your god, otherwise perish and regret your foolish decisions! Let the games begin!"

"What's going on?"

Suddenly that woman's irritating voice began to resonate directly inside his mind, slowly saying strange words in a weird language with an odd rhythm, out of sync, while ignoring the logical flow of time. 

Alex felt a sudden shock to his system as the world outside began to turn dark; the sun turned deep red, like a blood moon, followed by high-speed winds that howled against his dormitory's cheap glass windows.

"Fuck, this isn't just a weird dream! Shit. Focus...What would Chris do...He's into this end-of-world shit!"

He tried to dial his best friend's number rapidly;

- Sorry, the number you have dialled...

"Shit, I forgot he's in Baltimora until next week... How can I contact him... Mom! I have to call her!"

07777-xxx-xxx

- Sorry, the number...

"Damn it!"

Alex slammed the phone onto the desk, although, thanks to the superior craftsmanship of Davesung phones, it didn't break, instead hurting his fingers.

"Let the new world begin! My dear humanity, struggle, fight and live! Maybe one day we can meet face to face!"

Alex's mind became chaotic; he was astonished as the world outside began to fill with screams of terror, people pleading for mercy and loud crashes and bangs from the vehicles that crashed in the distance.

-Choose a novice-level weapon:

"Novice Sword"

"Novice Axe"

"Novice bronze Gauntlets and Greaves."

"..."

A thundering bang sounded, and something slammed against his door repeatedly.

'Shit, I am out of time to think!'

"Wait, end times? Apocalypse... there must be zombies! That means I need to protect myself from bites!"

Alex had studied martial arts with Sarah since they were 8, with over 12 years of experience in kickboxing and boxing.

However, he lacked skill with swordsmanship like Sarah; he could be confident in his ability to dodge and counter in those two combat schools.

"I want to be a cool sword-wielding badass, but safety and my skills come first..."

He skipped over the fun-looking weapons like a scythe and selected the bronze Gauntlets and Greaves.

A flash of light appeared before a pair of dull silver gauntlets appeared on his arms, their protective metal spread to just above his elbow, with a spiked joint on the elbow.

A pair of metal guards protected up to his thighs; he kicked out a few times and found them easy to use, 'I stand out a bit too much, though,' He thought.

-Toggle item display off?

Bang, the thudding door began to crack; not hesitating or caring about the mechanical voice, he nodded, shouting, "yes!"

With a brief swirl of light, the armour returned to his comfort suit once he regained focus, looking towards the door.

A sense of terror and foreboding filled his chest as he began to breathe faster.

Information suddenly flowed into his mind, telling him it would display anytime he thought or said "Status" again.

- Alex Faust

- Level 1

- Occupation: N/A

- Title: N/A

- Strength: 13 [10]

- Agility: 11 [10]

- Endurance: 10 [10]

- Stamina 12/12 [10]

- Willpower 7/7 [10]

Average attributes for humanity - [10]

'It's like a damn role-playing game, this guy having fun with us!'

Alex dashed to the door before using his muscles to rip down the wardrobe and cover the entrance to buy him some time, although he could go out guns blazing. He needed to take a moment and make a short plan; even for the next 24 hours, anything was better than nothing.

He walked to the other side, ignoring the loud bangs, looking out the second-floor window.

Alex looked outside; his hands clenched, trying to brace for the images he might see, 'maybe it's all a prank...' He hoped.

Suddenly, a howling scream of terror sounded from the canteen west of his dormitory.

"W-what the..."

His eyes captured the sight of a girl torn apart by several males and females, their greedy mouths filled with blood and guts as they tore her apart, the once bright eyes now dim as her last scream was silenced by a chubby woman ripping out her throat.

The sudden sight of a girl he knew from literature class dying caused his mind to become chaotic; the blood-stained "Go Fortune!" shirt now lay on the ground, as her body convulsed while consumed.

Filled with nausea, he rushed to the corner and began to vomit all he had eaten in the past few hours; sadly, he knew this was bad, vomiting would waste valuable minerals and dehydrate him, but he couldn't stop his trembling hands and the slight tears at seeing an acquaintance die so suddenly.

Several minutes later, the banging on his door became louder, and he seemed to have increased to several.

"It's zombies... the worst type. One bite, and I am fucked!'

Alex felt his muscles tense, feeling more stressed and pressured than in his last tournament for the national kickboxing championship. 'This is the worst, dumped, and now I have to fight zombies?'

"Hah... hah..."

He began to take deep breaths, not wanting to let fear and cowardice dominate him; his mother was out there! Now was the time for him to "man up", as his father might say if he hadn't passed away.

Alex stepped back, looking around the room as suddenly the original door exploded.

Thanks to the gauntlets, a piece of wood shot towards him, smashing into woodchips after he blocked with his arm.

'Well, these doors are crap, thinner than plywood!'

Four claws began to slash at the wardrobe, easily tearing the Okia furniture into waste wood.

Alex took another deep breath; now wasn't the time to be passive as his eyes narrowed and watched the two zombies that appeared from the door; only the lifeless eyes were pure white, with grey flesh and wounds filling their bodies. 'It seems they haven't decayed much yet...'

"Let's do this..." Alex said, gritting his teeth, still slightly despairing.

He lowered his core in a solid stance, moving towards the two zombies, one on the left and the other to the right, still trapped by the door's remains and wardrobe.

One of them was called Drake, a friend of Alex who would help him lift weights sometimes and act as a spotter for him. 'I'm sorry, bro, please forgive me. I need to live; you would understand, right?'

"Forgive me!"

Alex shot forward, his right leg shooting upwards, almost touching his chest before he smashed down with a violent axe kick, throwing all his power into the blow, but he couldn't kill someone he knew; the face of Drake flashed through his head as the kick missed the mark and smashed into the wooden planks beside him with a loud thud, maybe alerting nearby zombies.

'Fuck! I couldn't do it. I can't just kill him. Even if he's a corpse...'

"Drake... man, please say it's a joke? You loved zombie movies more than any other guy I knew; why?"

With a roar, the zombie Drake shot forward and clawed towards Alex, throwing him off balance as the claws slid across the bronze gauntlets, 'If I chose something else, I'd be fucked!'

The pair rolled around, holding each other as he pinned Drake down, faced with the cold corpse with lifeless eyes as its mouth snapped towards his neck and face; Alex couldn't afford to hesitate as the one behind him fumbled closer.

"Please forgive me, Drake..."

Thud, with a solid jab, his right fist smashed into the zombie, cracking its weakened nose; despite this, the monster continued to wrestle under his body. 'Not enough!'

Several cracks sounded as he began to smash into the face of Drake, each time scenes of his time with him flashed before his eyes, as slight tears dripped from the corners of his eyes. 'Forgive me... I need to live!'

Finally, with a loud bang, his fist penetrated the skull, crushing his brain. Drake's corpse collapsed to the ground, no longer fighting against him.

"Hah... Hah, I killed my friend, although it couldn't be helped...But...I hate this feeling..."

The moment it died, a red coin appeared before shooting into Alex's body and vanishing, followed by a strange grey scroll filled with an eerie light.

"Damn it!" Alex slammed against the wooden table, the powerful force cracking the cheap wood, knocking the countless cans of energy drinks onto the floor.

Moments later, a brilliant white light shot into the body of Alex, who still lamented killing a friend.

'I felt his skull shatter...'

Alex began to lament his actions before shaking his head, rolling away to avoid the other zombie's claws that swiped towards his back, now holding a strange grey scroll in his hand.

'I cannot spend time grieving; there will be a time when I can afford a moment to apologise to him properly! For now, I must fight on to live for both his and my sake!'

Alex took a deep breath, calming his nerves, kicking the damaged wood and knocking the zombie back onto its ass with a fierce slam; something seemed to have snapped as the zombie's arm bent the wrong way.

However, Alex opened the scroll, not caring about the zombie that started to recover as a burst of information poured into his mind, almost knocking him onto the floor.

- Level 3 Skill Scroll: 'Ghoul Transformation.'

Sacrifice 3 Willpower, transforming permanently into a half-ghoul bordering on life and death, immune to the infection from creatures below double your current level. It also increases all attributes except willpower by 1.

Do you wish to learn this skill?

'Stop being human?'

He took a moment to ponder but then realised he was still half-human! Didn't this mean he was still human?

"I wish to learn!"

- You can only learn two active skills before level 40. 'Ghoul Transformation' counts as passive and will not be counted!

Alex felt a burning pain in his head like something shoved a cattle iron inside, searing parts of his brain into ash. 'This must be the pain of losing 3 Willpower... What dangerous gamble!' I almost felt like giving up for a moment.

Suddenly, his body began to convulse; once again, nausea filled his body, and he started to vomit on the spot. In contrast, the zombie, now back on its feet, began to crawl slowly towards him with those dead white eyes fixed on his body.

A strange sensation filled Alex as all the human food in his stomach was ejected, apart from the rare steak and meat products he ate.

His skin turned slightly grey but looked smoother and more defined; thankfully, his eyes were still emerald green. However, his pupils were now a thin slit instead of a circle; Alex began to stumble to his feet as the zombie clawed at his body.

"Hmph!"

Alex spun his body to the right around the zombie then used the zombie's momentum to push it down with his protected right elbow, then shot a powerful left jab towards the back of the zombie's head, the blow so fierce it caused the wind to whistle before a loud crack sounded as his punch tore through the softer rear skull and crushed the zombie's brains.

Once again, the information of his status showed in his mind before the white light shot into his body, along with two red coins.

- Alex Faust

- Lesser Half-Ghoul: Stage 1

- Level 1

- Occupation: N/A

- Title: N/A

- Strength: 14 (10)

- Agility: 12 (10)

- Endurance: 11 (10)

- Stamina 10/13 (10)

- Willpower 4/4 (10)

Immunity to any infection from sources below level 2

Skills:

The shattered glass on the floor reflected the boy's image, silky grey hair, smooth grey skin and emerald green eyes; he even noticed slight fangs now growing in his mouth.

"I should call myself Ken in the future, haha!"

- When using Ghoul-type abilities, the user will begin to display more Ghoul-like characteristics, be careful of tasteless jokes.