The stench of decay was the first thing Adrian noticed when his consciousness returned. It was overwhelming, choking, and oddly familiar, like an unwanted embrace that he couldn't escape. His eyes fluttered open to complete darkness, save for the faint, flickering glow of bioluminescent fungi clinging to the damp walls around him.
He tried to sit up, but his body felt foreign, sluggish, and stiff. His hands—if they could still be called that—were pale, rotting, and covered in necrotic flesh. Panic threatened to consume him as fragmented memories of his past life in Indonesia flashed before his eyes.
The bustling streets of Jakarta, his quiet apartment, and the accident... the accident.
Adrian clenched his fists—or attempted to, his brittle fingers creaking with the effort. I'm dead, he realized, his thoughts eerily calm. Yet here he was, moving, thinking, existing.
A chime echoed in his head, disrupting his spiraling thoughts.
---
[Welcome to the Evolution System]
User: Adrian Setiawan
Race: Zombie
Level: 1
Rank: F-Grade Undead
Evolution: None
HP: 25 | Mana: 5 | Physical: 15 | Senses: 8 | Strength: 10 | IQ: 120
Skills: Bite (Lv.1), Decay Touch (Lv.1)
Mission: Survive for 24 hours
Reward: Basic Skill - Consume Essence
---
Adrian blinked, his decaying eyelids moving sluggishly. A system? It was absurd, yet undeniably real. He glanced around, his heightened senses picking up faint sounds—the skittering of small creatures and the distant drip of water.
"Survive?" His voice was a rasping croak, barely audible. He didn't need further explanation. Something was lurking nearby, and whatever it was, it wasn't friendly.
Pushing himself to his feet, Adrian took stock of his surroundings. The cavern was vast and oppressive, with jagged stalactites hanging like the fangs of a beast waiting to devour him. The faint light from the fungi revealed shapes moving in the shadows—tiny, insect-like creatures with glowing red eyes.
Lesser Dungeon Crawlers.
The name surfaced in his mind as though placed there by the system itself. Their spindly legs and sharp mandibles marked them as no ordinary insects.
The first one lunged at him.
Adrian reacted on instinct, his decayed arm swinging forward. His claws raked across the creature's chitinous body, cracking the shell but failing to stop it. Pain shot through his leg as another Crawler sank its mandibles into his flesh.
---
[HP -5: Current HP: 20]
---
"Damn it!" Adrian growled, wrenching the creature off and slamming it against the cavern wall. It twitched once before falling still, its glowing eyes dimming.
---
[You have defeated a Lesser Dungeon Crawler. XP gained: 5.]
[Skill Bite (Lv.1) Activated]
---
The notification surprised him, but he had no time to dwell on it. More Crawlers emerged, their numbers growing with each passing second.
Adrian's mind raced. He couldn't fight them all head-on. His new body, while stronger than his human one, was fragile in other ways. He needed to think strategically.
Spotting a narrow crevice in the wall, Adrian stumbled toward it, squeezing his decayed form through just as the swarm descended. Safe for the moment, he leaned against the damp wall, breathing heavily.
---
[Mission Progress: 1/24 Hours Survived]
[Lesser Dungeon Crawlers Defeated: 1]
---
He stared at the notifications, the reality of his situation settling in. Surviving wasn't enough. He needed power, and for that, he needed to evolve.
The thought brought a grim determination to his undead features. If this was the hand fate had dealt him, he would play it. He wasn't just going to survive—he was going to rise.
From the lowest of the low, he would claw his way to the top. And if gods or legends stood in his way, so be it.
Let them tremble.
End of Chapter 1