1 Chapter 1: Tutorial
(Very long chapter but many stats. 10k words.)
(Disclaimer, My fic is trash. Don't read if dear reader dislike trash fics - Sincerely, Author.)
Sound of gunfire filled the entire hallway heading to the roof, drowning the sound of the horde of walking dead. The gunfire only escalated as time passed while several automatic turrets magically appeared like a sci-fi technology that expanded from a 1x1 inch solid metal cubes that projected the hologram of the turret before it solidified into it.
A person in a hulking suit of armor, covered from head to toe with dense kevlar and metal layers. On his head is a helmet that covers his head with built in technologies like filtered breathers, vision enhancers, communication devices, etc.
(Note:Heavy class SAS 4)
The person only continues to fire then reload and fire again for another 2 hours before the horde finally exterminates. The person under the suit finally released a sigh and lowered his overheating LMG that has a glowing orange barrel.
"The last floor is cleared… The roof is definitely empty." His voice is transmitted by the built-in speakers in the helmet.
"FUCK!" He punched the wall with his fist that carried a lot of power due to the augmented cybernetic exoskeleton suit or ACE suit. The wall cracked like a spiderweb under his powerful punch.
With another sigh, he moved to the roof and finally was able to rest. He dismissed the turrets, which shrink into a cube before disappearing. He also barricades the door using a futuristic device which is deployed in a similar manner to his turrets.
He relaxes his body and looks at the night sky and the burning city while the suit remains standing. The suit is able to stand still even if its wearer is not consciously standing upward due to ACE suit function. In fact the suit allows its wearer to fight with simple mind commands through the implant in its wearer that is connected to the advanced computer in the suit.
"This is bullshit… I didn't sign up for this shit." The man sighed and decided to not think about it anymore and let his mind rest after 52 hours of continuous fighting in this zombie infested city.
…
(53 hours prior)
A man name Ray is trying to suicide to meet a ROB by jumping on a train track. A quick death by being hit by a train moving at 240 kmph.
He died after a few seconds of extreme pain. The pain vanished instantly and he entered a void and about to meet ROB when the said ROB was killed by a golden spear that came out of nowhere. Then a man appeared with an appearance similar to Itsuka Shido from Date a Live but much older and a very beautiful woman with a well endowed body and very beautiful.
"Welcome, welcome… Ray, was it?" The man nonchalantly asked before the woman gave the man a device that looked like a tablet. He scrolled through the device while looking for something.
"Y- yes…" I replied with some hesitation in my voice after seeing a ROB being brutally murdered by impalement using a golden spear like in the legend of Vlad the Impaler.
"Hmn… Ray #487926, the usual one. So, you already know the drill right? Second life and stuff, transmigration and magical abilities."
I nodded while looking at the man doing something on the tablet and the woman smiled politely at me even when she caught me looking at her body which was clothed with a sexy and form fitting outfit that made her appearance more mesmerized.
"Good, you know the rules and so do I. Transmigration or reincarnation?"
"Transmigration" I didn't want to start from an infant.
"Multiverse or single world?"
"Multiverse of course." I replied and the person scribbled something on the device using a stylus.
"Now, with those out of the way. I would like to inform you that, since you are an individual named Ray, you are entitled to receive the privilege of free abilities and items." The man then proceeds to explain that Ray is a multiversal individual that exists in multiple parallel multiverses and I am that person but in another parallel multiverse.
"You can think of the privilege as a premium starter gift of sorts, just for you and your other parallel existence. The gift will include one of every set of equipment and a few other selected items under category of consumables and materials from Bloodborne. This will also include a very basic system that helps guide and manage those starter gifts and an Inventory skill to keep them."
I could only nod speechlessly as the man explained to me about everything. Then he flicked his finger and a roulette wheel appeared in front of me.
"I have selected 5 abilities you want the most and add them to the wheel for you to spin. The one that it lands on will be your power. Better pray to Lady Luck that you get the best one." The man smiled before he moved the roulette wheel closer to me.
On the wheel I saw Boosted Gear from DxD, Magic system of Negima, unsurprisingly the Magic farm system from a Chinese novel, SAS 4 system and Fallout 4 system. The powers seems random but those are the one I'm interested in before my suicide. I secretly cursed myself to not take interest in more OP abilities like Sosuke Aizen Zanpakuto or even Rinnegan from Naruto.
The man smiled, as if he read my mind before he reminded me that we didn't have all day to spend here since he still had more parallel universes of me to take care of.
I quickly spin the wheel while wishing to Lady Luck, the wheel stops at Boosted Gear or Negima magic system. But not even a second after the wheel spinned, the wheel stopped abruptly on the SAS 4 system. I look at the wheel then the man in disbelief.
The man then burst out laughing at my dumbfounded face while the woman looked apologetic while sighing at the man's behaviour.
"Milord, please don't tell me you're going to do this again. Didn't you promise the administrator you will give them some options to choose?"
"I am. I allowed him to select 5 abilities he wanted the most and choose one. But I didn't say I would allow him to choose one of the five abilities. I say 'The one that it lands on will be your power.' and allow him to spin." The man explained before continuing laughing as I gritted my teeth that I'm been played by him.
"But, Milord."
"Shush, Nyx. I'm the one incharge here. Besides, he should be grateful I didn't throw him into the Warhammer world butt naked like those few others. The man said before looking at me menacingly, basically telling me to be grateful and accept what I get then shut up.
"So, SAS 4 system. I will merge the previous one with the new system to make it easier to manage instead of having three separate systems to navigate through. Your first world would be an unnamed world as a tutorial and a trial by fire to get you used to your new abilities."
"Off you go, bye! And have a fun adventure, Ray!"
A black tunnel appeared below me and I dropped into the hole while hearing the shout of that damned man. There is no use crying over spilt milk, at least I'm not sent to Warhammer world butt naked like the woman, Nyx said.
Few more minutes passed before I exited the black tunnel and landed in a windowless room that looked barren with just a few foldable chairs.
[00:59:43]
"The fuck is this timer?" I ask before pressing on the small screen of the timer.
[Count down before Infection begins. Infections will have a 90% success rate and 90% of the population will become infected.]
"Shit" I cursed out before I quickly opened the tab for my system.
I instinctively knew how to use the system which I am grateful for because I didn't need to waste time navigating through the system. Besides, the system is very simplistic and user-friendly.
A translucent screen appeared in front of me like a Personal Device screen or the equivalent of a smartphone from the time before 2035 when brain implants perfected by Elon Musk have already become a thing and a screen that only the user can see is way better than a phone. The data transfer rate is also very fast because the implants are directly connected to the brain.
Selecting the SAS 4 icon, I am greeted with the background like the game and more icons. Then something interrupted me.
[User information calibrated, please select a class, [Medic]-[Assault]-[Heavy].]
Above each icon is an image of a different class wearing the armor and having distinct light, blue, red and yellow, respectively. I read the descriptions of each class even if I was already familiar with it. Just to double check in case there are changes.
I found out that I can start whichever class I want without losing out on other class skills since I can choose the Heavy class and grant access to the other two classes' unique skill tree after maxing my Heavy class skill tree.
Without any hesitation, I selected the Heavy class since it is the class with the best defence skill and grants a better bonus against weight penalty which is important since this is real world and not VR world. Each equipment has weight and the Heavy class can reduce the speed penalty caused by carrying heavy equipment which also translates to anything else.
[Class[Heavy] selected, Type Heavy Combat Suit obtained. Equip?]
I selected yes and a very thin body suit covered my body entirely from head to toe. It is made of carbon fibre that allows some protection and durability. Then there was an airtight mask that covered my face to protect against any foreign substances. The mask also has a breather that passively filters the air but when activated, it can supply air for half an hour from its internal tank and up to 2 hours with air recycling technology. The suit also comes along with a powered exoskeleton incorporated into the suit and a bulky left arm exoskeleton that allow Heavy class to wield firearms that normally are impossible with ease like a land mounted howitzer, on the extreme side.
At the left corner of my vision there is my health and energy being shown. My starting health is 3000 points while energy is 100 points. Then I saw a red dot on the inventory and skill icon, I opened the skill first and was greeted with two skill trees that are available and two more that belong to the Medic and Assault class being grayed out.
I opened the general skill tree first for an important skill that I wanted to get.
———
(General Skill)
(Don't worry about too much numbers and details. I copy paste the wiki for the character sheet and modify to use it here just for one time showing. The story will not include all these numbers too much, only like hp and energy.)
Fast Reload (0/25)
-Decrease reload time
(+2.4% per level, +60% max)
Fast Movement (0/25)
-Increase movement speed
(+1.6% per level, +40% max)
Toughness (0/25)
-Increase max HP
(+300 per level, +7500 max)
Health Regen (0/25)
-Passively regenerates health over time
(+4 HP/S per level, +100 HP/S max)
Energy Boost (0/25)
-Increase max energy
(+12 Energy per level, +300 Energy max)
Energy Regen (0/25)
-Increase the amount of energy regenerated per seconds
(+0.2 EN/S per level, +5 EN/S max)
Recovery Time (0/25)
-Reduce your recovery time when knocked down
(-5.2% down time per level, -130% max)
(Ray when hp reach zero are knocked down but not dead. Only the suit shut down and immobilise.)
Pay Grade (0/25)
-Increase cash reward
(+16% per level, +400% max)
Body Armour Expert (0/25)
-Increase the total resistance for all armour equipped.
(+8% per level, +200% max)
Field Supplies (0/25)
-Get extra ammo and premium ammo(Maxed at 100 per loot) when looting special loot(special crate) or looting ammunition.
(16% of clip size per level, 400% of clip size max)
Grenade Damage (0/25)
-Grenade do extra damage
(+16% damage per level, +400% damage max)
Critical Shot (0/25)
-Increase chance of critical shot and critical damage
(+1% chance and +8% damage per level, +25% chance and +200% damage max)
———
The skill I wanted to level up is Health Regen that increase my passive health regeneration. This is because the base regeneration is 0 and I rather have some passive regeneration on hand since I still don't know how to recover my health points for now.
After that I open Inventory to found HMV manufactured kevlar helmet, kevlar, tactical pants and combat boots, all coloured full green while the guns is a same manufacturer pistol, HMV 001 series and LMG, HMV 008 that painted in green. I equip it all on the slots of my avatar in the screen and those equipments magically appeared on my body and arm.
After that, I tried open the Bloodborne icon from main menu but a prompt pop up and tell me I have to finish tutorial to open. Then I spend some more time checking and exploring the system.
I found that the system are indeed modelled after a Personal Device, PD. Or rather, my PD, since it does have all the music I pirated, games and etc. However I couldn't connect to any services which is a bummer. The PD also manage my main inventory that are separated from the SAS 4 inventory that can only keep strongboxes, weapons, armors, turrets and gernades.
After checked everything, I close the screen and look at the count down that still have 30 minutes left. I decided to exit this room and hopefully find a better location or vantage point that can help me survive better.
Looking at my current appearance, I ask the system if I can toggle the armor on or off.
[Disable Combat Suit?]
[Warning! User Ray will lose critical protection and not combat ready. Equip or Remove Combat Suit will require 10 seconds.]
I choose to turn it off and exit the room.
Upon exiting, I find myself to be in middle of a busy underground metro station. The language is definitely english but the places is foreign to me. After a little exploring and investigation, I discover this planet name isn't Earth but it's Aartis. The name of human home planet in SAS 4 universe.
I quickly went to the exit to escape the metro station that filled with large crowd that people are basically squeezing against each other. However, to my despair, I couldn't exit the metro station. There is invisible wall that prevent me from existing the metro station.
[00:08:16]
[Unable to leave designated zone until event is cleared.]
[Metro Station, Tutorial Stage, Difficulty: Normal]
Looking at the count down, there is only less than 10 minutes. With no other choice, I run back to the room that located near the toilet and the emergency escape door.
Suddenly, I feel some pang of hunger. I suddenly remember that I also need food and water!
Again I quickly rush to some shops near the metro station main exit that have a lot of stores. I went in to one that look like a convinience store. Since I didn't have money… I could only resort to my pistol.
"Welcome" The store clerk unenthusiastically greeted me while reading a magazine that sold in the store.
I check the CCTV and found two but the clerk cannot see it for now and he seems to be alone. I quickly use my inventory to bag all the bottled and canned drinks, sealed food and even some fresh foods like sandwiches. I didn't know if time pass or not in the inventory but this isn't the time to think about it.
With less than 4 minutes, I went to the cashier and told him to hand over all the cigarette on display. I know those are for vanity but I want them too.
"Thats all will cost 340 AD(Aartis Dollar) sir." The cashier said after putting them into a plastic bag. I also didn't forget to add some lighter into it before flashing my pistol to the cashier.
"Better shut up and walk into the toilet now!" I growled, trying my best to intimidate the pale and panicked cashier.
"*Gulp* Y-yes sir. Please don't shoot me, I have a sick mother and father and sister and un-"
"Talk again and I will shoot your ball sack bitch!" I growled again after seeing less than 3 minutes left.
"Yes sir." The store clerk nodded before quickly sprint to the toilet and lock the door. I quickly put the plastic bag into my inventory before running back to the room, not before snagging the fresh banana on display. I gorge it down while running into the room under weird stare of other people and an alarm are sounded, probably the clerk.
Well, the alarm is probably great since it probably will attract the undead there when the outbreak started.
[00:00:58]
The last minutes are on countdown and I manage to reach the unused storage room and lock the door while waiting.
Weirdly I didn't have any panic feeling or distress that a zombie outbreak about to happen. I didn't have a Gamer Mind skill for sure but I calmly eating a sandwich while drinking a bottled water while the countdown is reaching zero.
[00:00:00]
[Outbreak started.]
[Foreign virus infected User, User is immune, User is patient Zero]
'Holup, patient zero? The fuck!' I cursed loudly before calming down when I start to hear loud scream from outside.
Then I calmly address my current thought. If I am patient zero, does that mean that I am the one that passed this virus? I tried ask the system for an answer.
[User isn't the spreader of the virus. The creator placed the virus in the system in to be spread through a set sequence. The virus will infect User first but immediately adjust to give user immunity but still can be poisoned by the virus if in mass quantity. The virus then will be spread across the world to infect everyone. Only 10% population will gain slight immunity but can turn into mutated zombie if exposed to virus in mass quantity or potent virus.]
Ok, I am basically the cause the outbreak happened in this world… great, just great. I am now responsible for more than 14 billions death. Fuck that guy that transmigrated me. I can already picture him laughing at my predicament.
With another sigh, I finish up the sandwich and wash it down with the remaining water before equipping the Combat Suit. Doing a final check on my self, I saw another virtual icon that indicates 15 gernades on my right sight.
Slowly and as silent as I could, I step out of the room with my LMG out and ready to shoot.
"Grr?" Few undead that feasting on dead human look to the back to saw a fully covered human wielding a gun behind them.
"Rargh! *Bang*"
Ray open fire immediately to dispatch 4 zombies before running into the emergency exit only to be greeted with another notice.
[4/1000 Kills]
"Fuck! Fine you win you bastard!" Enraged by another requirement that force him to engage a potential horde of hundred of thousands of zombie in the metro station.
More zombie noticed Ray after his shout and now swarming on him. He throw a gernades far away to the railway, hoping that it will distract the zombie to another direction for him to mow them down.
Ray then start shooting the zombie down while the explosion cause many zombie to move to its direction and dropped into the railway, unable to get back up.
The aggro then returned to him because of the loud noise of gunshot.
"Shit! I would be dead if this continues, this place is very disadvantageous to fight. Is there anyway to-"
[Congratulations for 10 first kills, 10 HMV turrets and 10 Cyro turrets as reward]
The gunfire continue but Ray are distracted by the notification and saw two more icon appear below the gernade. Ray didn't wait anymore and deploy two turrets, one in front and another on his back if there is zombie behind him.
With the turrets, Ray now have more confidence and stay on his feet to shoot down zombie. His kill count reach hundred in an instant and received another notification.
[Congratulations for 10 first kills, 10 HMV turrets, 10 Cyro turrets, 10 Heavyshot turrets and 10 Flame turrets as reward]
Ray didn't know if the turret are limited to 2 active turrets only or unlimited. He deploy another one and indeed it was limited to who only because it didn't activate and stay in its cube form.
When his LMG suddenly clicking, it ran out of ammo and a prompt ask if he want to reload, Ray accept and his arm start to move itself under the suit's guidance to reload. The empty magazine are dropped to the floor but it vanished and a fresh magazine appeared in his hand to continue reloading.
…
Twenty minutes later, he finally reach 3 digits and he already 4 turrets and 5 magazines of 150 ammo down.
Ray quickly retreat to the emergency exit and it opened without difficulty. Throwing a cyro gernade on the door, Ray continue his escape while the door are blocked.
He climbed the 5 storey high stairs without difficulty with his exoskeleton suit. The end of it is a door that connected to the parking lot above ground.
[Congratulations, Metro Station stage cleared.]
[Level +1]x6
[Reward, 2 Titanium Strongbox and 50k SAS dollar]
"Strongboxes? Open quick!" Ray ordered the system and the animation of the box opening happend on the screen before a list of item appeared.
[HMV 005, assault rifle *4]
[HMV CF Helmet, *2]
Satisfied with his loot from strongboxes, Ray instantly equip HMV 005 on his second primary weapon slot and replace the helmet. The stars are indication to available slot for augment and the number is the level the augment can be upgraded. Ray didn't do any augment and decided to buy some gernades while keeping the remaining money for later.
Then he enter his skill tab, then the Heavy class skill tree.
———
(Heavy Class Skill)
Hold The Line (0/25)
-While standing still, increases damage and allow bullet to penetrate zombie
(30 energy cost, 30S cooldown)
(Initial, 8S duration and +30% damage/ Max, 30s durations and +200% damage)
Heavy Gear (0/25)
-Reduces (%) negative movement modifier from equipments
(-2.5% per level, max -100%)
Tough Body (0/25)
-Increase damage resistant to all type of damage
(+2% per level, max +50%)
Die Another Day (0/25)
-Become 90% immune to damage for a short time
(40 energy cost, 50 sec cooldown)
(Initial, 4S active duration, max 10S active duration)
Brute Strength (0/25)
-Increased brute strength allow you to push through obstacles and damage enemies in your path
(Initial, +50% push force and 30 damage to obstacles/Max, +530% push force, 750 damage to obstacles)
Concussion (0/25)
-Shots have a chance to stun enemies
(Initial, 5% chance, 0.5 sec stun/ Max 25% chance, 2 sec stun)
Aerial Bombardment (0/25)
-Powerful orbital strike deals huge damage in a targeted area. [Unlock LV 15]
(60 energy cost, 90 sec cooldown)
(Initial, 6 blasts, 2000 damage each, 4m blast radius per blast/ Max, 14 blasts, 32000 damage each, 4m blast radius per blast)
———
I allocate 1 SP to 'Die Another Day' skill for emergency defensive skill and 5 SP to 'Hold The Line' for increased damage output. My reasons for this are quite simple. The next stage would probably take place in an open area outside, being overwhelmed isn't an impossibility.
With my preparation done, I pushed open the emergency exit door and entered the parking lot with caution while checking my surroundings. Surprisingly, there weren't any zombies, which confused me for a moment.
With steady pace, I walk toward the exit of the parking lot using the arrow sign as my guide. I soon reached the exit and noticed that the zombie actually couldn't enter the parking lot because the entrances are blocked and require a ticket to enter or exit. The concentration of zombies outside is also quite low because the noise from somewhere else is attracting them, probably from a highway because of the loud car alarms.
Climbing my way out, I was greeted with another notification from the system for a new objective.
[Current Objective: Survive for 24 hours and accumulate 1,000,000 kill]
[23:59:59]
I swear that the person who transmigrated me had a vengeance against me for these near impossible objectives.
With the help of HMV 005 Assault Rifle, I was able to move faster without the 35% speed reduction mod from LMG. I quickly find a better place where I can defend or hold as a choke point to create a zombie grinder.
"Rargh! Rarrr" More zombies are aware of me, killing their kin and slowly but surely increasing the concentration of zombies around me and force them to abandon the Assault Rifle that has low mag capacity and use the LMG instead. I avoid the main walkway and road in favour of alleyways or weaving through buildings that limit my encounter.
At last, I reached a medium sized hotel around 15 storeys high located 2 blocks away from the Metro Station. My reason for choosing this place is because this place has food, bed and showers, perfect for surviving a day.
I plop down two HMG turrets in the lobby area before starting to clean up the premise. The number of infected isn't much with only around 20 in the lobby area. Probably because it's still around afternoon and no one stays in their bedroom during those times when people are out having their lunches. Even the majority of the infected killed are wearing uniforms that I assume were the workers.
"Well… lobby done, 14 more floors to go or probably just barricade the rest of the floor and clear up the first only?" Ray muse to himself before he went into the first floor and checked each room, making sure there was no infected.
While he was in the midst of checking each room, he heard a few explosions that followed with the sound of a helicopter from the west of his direction. He wanted to check but decided not to and should aim to complete his task of 1 million kills.
Ray made sure to barricade the stair to the second floor and the stair from the lobby to the first floor before he left for another block. He finds a building with an open roof before barricading himself on top.
Surprisingly, he still didn't find any non-infected people. Keeping the thought at the side, he deployed a turret facing the entrance to the roof, just in case before he started shooting at the zombies on the street from the safety of this vantage point. He didn't even need to worry about missing his target because the zombies tend to form clusters before merging into a horde.
With relative ease, Ray mow down zombies while peacefully listening to music that is included into the system PD functions. He only needs to mentally command his suit to press down on the trigger and reload while he is having fun singing to his favourite song.
The gore and blood piled on the street. More and more zombies swarming from other directions non stop like a river. He even doubts the zombies are actually attracted by the noise and actually influenced by that sadistic man using his supernatural abilities strong enough to kill ROB to cause all this.
[Congratulations for first 10,000 kills, 1 Neodymium strongbox and 5 Molybdenum strongboxes obtained as reward]
(Strongbox rarity in ascending order from Steel, Titanium, Molybdenum, Iridium, Neodymium, Promethium, Thulium to Nantonium. The higher the rarity, the greater the chance to obtain gear outside of levels and higher chance to get more augment slots and its upgrade slot limit. Black strongboxes are exceptions where the chance to obtain is very low and also require a black key to open.)
[Open strongboxes?]
I think for a while before deciding to only open Molybdenum strongboxes and keep Neodymium strongbox for later simce level can affect what weapon can drop. I would rather keep it for later when I reach a higher level.
[HMV Carbon Fiber Glove **3]
[HMV Carbon Fibre Boots *6]
[Shotlite Sabre Pistol **2]
[RIA T30 Strikeforce Shotgun]
[HMV 008 LMG **6]
Checking on my boots, I quickly equip the new glove, boots and pistol before selling the replaced gear to the system for 1K SAS dollar each since they are occupying the limited SAS4 inventory.
For the LMG, I currently have a copy of the same weapon but I also scrapped the old one and equipped the new one. I contemplated if I should put an augment on it, which I did and buy a Skeletonized augment that reduces its weight and reduces the movement penalty from -35% to -18%. Not much but still a great difference, at least I don't move very slow.
I also buy the augment that increases the mag capacity from 150 normal to 230. The augment ended up costing 30k and I left with 13k SAS dollars.
Then the last but not least, the RIA T30 Strikeforce shotgun. The firearm that I am most excited to see, coming out of the strongbox. RIA or Rubicon Industries is my most favourite manufacturer because they are the producer of the best armor series, the Rubicon Assist armor, a special armor that boosts the capability of the built in exoskeleton suit. The shotgun is special because it is a thermal weapon that shoots white hot solid tungsten pellets, laced with hydrogen fluoride that cook the zombie from the inside. The letter 'T' is the indication for Thermal weapons.
The shotgun is indeed devastating but the cost is also very much the same. Each clip has 10 ammo and per purchase of magazines, $400 for 30 bullets while in comparison, the HMV 008 is $180 for 450 bullets or 3 magazines full. Shooting that shotgun is like shooting money. Using them against normal zombies is not very cost effective but they are useful against special infected that I pray I never found one or I'm screwed.
With that out of the way, I spend a few more hours until it's near sunset before returning to the hotel. By then, my kill count had already reached six digits since my efficiency had increased greatly.
Something that I am dissatisfied with is the reward from killing the zombies that are being withheld until a quest or scenario is completed. My level didn't increase and my money started to dwindle below 10k after non-stop zombie shooting action.
For my first 100k kills, I didn't receive money or strongboxes. Instead I received a Heavy class kit that contains the Hardplate series. This armor is unarguably the best in terms of protection above all armors but has the worst movement penalty of total 40% when equipped the whole set. The armor provides the best physical and thermal defence but is moderate for energy and toxic defence.
Along with the armor is a RIA 40 LMG from the same manufacturer of the Hardplate series. This LMG has greater damage and piercing ability than HMV 008 with -38% movement speed penalty. None of the armor and gun have an augment slot which is expected of free equipment.
Ray finds a room at the edge of the hallway before putting down a turret facing the hallway before barricading his room with furniture. Then he finally relaxed and unequipped his Combat Suit. He is immediately assaulted by the sour smell of sweat and his skin is sticky from all the dried sweat. He quickly took a shower after deploying another turret in front of the toilet. Thankfully water still works as usual and the electricity too.
Ray took a well deserved dip in the hot water, in the bathtub and all the tiredness slowly vanished. Taking a canned apple juice from his inventory, Ray drinks it all down before eating two more sandwiches while still dipping in the hot bath.
[Special event triggered, Night battle. Zombies become more aggressive and their senses enhanced! Please survive until sunrise.]
[09:59:56]
"GODDAMMIT!!! Gimme a fuckin break bich!" Ray spat out the apple juice and half chewed sandwich instantly before jumping out of the bath and equipping his Combat suit.
To his horror, he already started to hear loud growls and grunts of undead outside of the window! The stairs are useless now because the outside turret is shooting something and it means that zombie is rushing up to his room.
[User state of mind is compromised. Administering performance enhancing drugs.]
I felt something prick my skin on the neck and my heartbeat instantly became stronger and faster. My previous panic vanished and was replaced with a serene state of mind. After a few seconds of logical thinking, I retrieve the turret near the toilet and climb to the roof from the balcony.
With the assistance of an exoskeleton suit, I climbed up without problem and reached the roof of the hotel. I quickly reach the sole entrance to the roof and put down two Heavyshot turret that shoot AA guns ammunition like a sniper rifle. The shots will pierce in a straight line and usually aim for the centre of body mass which usually end up splitting the zombie by half or blast open, depending on the distance.
The sound of the HMG turret below suddenly cutted off because I deployed two turrets and the new one is prioritized. I equip the pistol for now and kill the small group of zombies instead of wasting the Heavyshot turrets. I soon change to my LMG when the few zombies turn into dozens. The main horde still making their way up, I can hear the growl and grunts becoming louder.
Then, something that I dreaded finally happened. The normal infected zombies are categorised as Shamblers and basically just infected humans but I suddenly saw a Stalker within the Shambler horde. Stalkers are similar ro Shambler but thicker skin due to mutations. They grow an extra layer of muscle on their body which requires more hits to take them down. The Shambler will only need one hit on their centre of body mass but Stalker needs two or three shots.
The drug administered to me prevent me from panicking but the feeling of terror still present as I mow down the incoming zombies. My 7 years of playing the improved VR SAS 4 helped me improve my response greatly. I can differentiate some of their growl, footsteps or even the noise of bullets impacting them.
The moment I hear rapid footsteps, I retreat to the range of Heavyshot turrets and brace for the incoming Runner zombie. An annoying fast but fragile zombie that only has great speed to surprise me. It is the bane of most players because of how slender their body is after mutations to allow faster movement. Their bodies are very hard to aim at unless you have an aimbot like the turrets. Another alternative to this is a shotgun that attacks a wide area.
Then the main horde finally arrived from the stairs. I chuck a grenade that exploded on them and thinned the horde a little and I activate 'Hold The Line' skill for increased firepower and piercing power. My adrenaline is pumping harder than a horny rabbit in its mating season. The sensation of thrill flooded my brain due to overproduction of dopamine. The sense of reality becomes blurry as I think that I'm back in the game again.
When the sound of gunfire became clicks, I tsked and threw a cryo grenade to block the horde for a moment for me to reload before resuming my dopamine fueled massacre. I rinse and repeat the method until I have to start spending money to buy more ammunition and cryo grenades.
[04:21:53]
Four more hours left till sunrise, I feel like a drug addict on withdrawal when the adrenaline and dopamine reduces and the drugs start to wear off. The Combat Suit is dangerous because it can forcefully administer drugs to me.
The zombie thinned down to almost none when the entrance from the stairs were blocked with tons of dead corpses. I have to use a cryo grenade to flash freeze them before destroying them into finer chunks or they might resort to climbing the building which is the last thing I wanted.
Although they are zombies, they still have some intelligence to find another entrance if the previous one is blocked. Their behaviour is similar to the game. I can explain it as how the game works but here? I don't know and I didn't have time to think about it with a zombie horde literally below my feet. The growl and grunts didn't reduce at all and in fact are louder than before.
Breaking out of my thoughts, I feel a vibration on the floor which causes my brow to furrow before I spat out profanity while running to the edge of the roof to check who caused the vibrations.
"You gotta be kidding me!" I exclaimed after seeing not one but three 5 meter tall bloated abominations covered in dried blood and an unnatural pale green skin.
"You skipped the other variants and threw three bosses at me! This has to be a damn joke!" I cursed out loud before changing my weapon from HMV 008 LMG to the RIA T30 Strikeforce shotgun. I need my mobility more than firepower right now.
Bosses are rather easy to fight as long as you can out pace them with clever use of a cryo turret and kiting them using terrain in the game but in this real world. Zombies are still everywhere around the place and leaving this roof is more dangerous as the zombies can jump out from any corner.
At least those bosses cannot enter the hotel to fight me but Regurgitator is a boss that regurgitates mutated larvae of zombies cultivated in its bloated body. Those larvae are jam packed with acidic toxic bile and viruses. Once it attacks me, I will be poisoned and probably have my gears melted from the acid because this isn't a goddamn game! Those acids will definitely ruin my gears.
With turrets handling the entrance just fine, I start to open fire on the bosses using the HMV assault rifle. The entrance should be jam packed with zombies for now and prevent those larvae from reaching me. Those Regurgitators are more than 50 meters away from the hotel and plenty of distance away.
I aimed at their legs to hopefully cripple them and stop their advances. The bullets effortlessly pierced their flesh and cause green mucus to spill out and corrode the asphalt and concrete paving but due to how chubby the Regurgitator are, I don't think I hit it's bones.
*Urgehhh*
All three of them vomit out a pool of green biles and along with 4 dog sized larvae that quickly wriggle its way into the horde. I wanted to use the thermal shotgun but they are still out of range and I would rather not waste bullets yet considering my cash is down to 3k.
[Congratulations for reaching first 500,000 kills, 1 Nantonium strongbox, 3 Neodymium strongboxes and 10 of each turrets are obtained as reward]
[Feeling pity for your predicament, the creator rewarded User with a special reward.]
Ignoring the milestone reward, I focus on the other notifications. I immediately feel anger boiling in my heart.
'Pity? Bring me out of this world if you feel pity for me bitch!'
I feel distracted that I missed my shots. I ordered the system to open the reward. Hopefully there is a skill that can help me out on this.
[Opening…]
[Exclusive skill obtained]
[Elite Squad, summoning a squad of elite SAS 4 operators under your absolute command for 10 minutes. Each unit will have double user base stats and will vanish if HP reaches 0.
(No cost, 4 hours cooldown per use.)]
(Upgraded version of Assault class ultimate skill)
After reading the description, I grinned widely as my hopeless situation was about to turn for the better. I instantly activate the skill and a blue hologram expands like a door before 1 Heavy class, 2 Assault class and 1 Medic class SAS 4 operators appear. They are all geared with equipment that complement their class.
"Awaiting order… hostiles detected, permission to engage?"
One of them asked me through the communication device equipped in my Combat Suit. The voice is too mechanical for my taste but that's for later.
"Kill those zombies" I don't know formal crap. All I need them to do now is kill.
"Permission accepted, opening fire." The Heavy class operator lifts his Smoke Stack manufactured Proposition LMG that looks like a gatling gun and starts blasting hot lead into those ugly ass Regurgitators that even ugly bastards are more 'palatable'.
The two Assault class operators also joined the fray and activated their class ultimate skill, summon 4 more Assault operators each and wield various guns from rifle to shotgun and rocket launcher.
The Medic operator throws two grenades on the horde that release blue and green gas. The green gas is Biocleanse Bomb that work similar like antibiotics to kill an biological existence within the gas while the blue is Zombie Antidote that suppose to kill the virus. I don't know how it work but it worked as the zombies start to die in rapid pace in the gases and my kill count also increase very rapidly. Their kill are counted as mine too.
"Initiate Aerial Bombardment, brace for impact." The Heavy class operator radioed to me before I saw 10 bombs magically appeared from the sky with similar hologram effects. According to the game, those are orbital bombardment from special drone aircraft in orbit.
Soon, 10 consecutive explosions with 1 second delay from each explosion blast opened the soft bodies of the Regurgitators and splattered their flesh and toxic bile all over the place.
I could only stare speechlessly and have my mouth opened wide behind the airtight helmet. The bosses that I struggle to kill now turned into chunks of flesh, splattered the road in just 3 minutes by the summoned Elite Squad.
"Major threat eliminated, engaging others infected." The same mechanical speech reaches my comms and they continue attacking the hordes with great efficiency.
Waking up from my stupor, I also joined them using my re-equipped HMV 008 LMG. The Heavy class operator did something insane and jumped into the horde of undead after calling another Aerial Bombardment. He stays within the gases that the Medic created and blasts his gatling gun on the horde.
The Assault class operator injects himself with Adrenaline before joining the Heavy class operator. They didn't seem to be affected by the 10+ storeys high drop and very quickly dispatched the infected with great skill in firearms combat and CQC with their knife.
By the time the skill expired, my kill count had already reached 800k. Mainly due to the second and third Aerial Bombardment on the horde. There is still 3 hours before sunrise. The horde is already thinning down a lot. I didn't say anything to prevent myself from jinxing myself.
With two Heavyshot turrets on the roof entrance, I have some time to rest. My body itself is in a wrecked state, the continuous secretion of whatever chemicals or hormones during the last 5 hours are draining on my body.
I take a seat somewhere facing the entrance with a gun on my side, easy to reach. I open my helmet before smelling the rotten and burnt smell of flesh in the air. Thankfully I didn't gag and I quickly hydrated myself with half a bottle of water. When I tried to eat, the bad smell in the air was very distracting and vomit-inducing. Quickly passed on the food and put on the helmet.
…
[00:00:00]
[Special event ended. Reward is being calculated…]
[Level +1] x24
[$ 1,420,69]
[Special reward is being calculated…]
[32 Steel Strongboxes]
[10 Titanium Strongboxes]
[3 Molybdenum Strongboxes]
[1 Iridium Strongboxes]
[Augmented Cybernetic Exoskeleton Suit, ACE Suit]
[Red series Heavy class armor set]
[Cybernetic Implant Upgrade]
[Armor Repair Kit]
[Weapon Repair Kit]
…
…
[Deluxe Happy Meal]
…
Sitting on the roof of the hotel, Ray finally has time to actually relax when the horde stops targeting him immediately after the countdown reaches 0. His body is drenched with sweat and his armor is tattered in bad conditions.
Turns out that the Regurgitators' bile can cause mutation to the zombies and turn them into Spitters. A more agile acid spitting zombie. There are multiple potholes on the roof because of them and their acid spits help unblock the entrance by dissolving the dead zombie's corpses.
He went down to the lower floors to search for an undamaged room and take a bath again. He makes sure to barricades and puts down a turret just in case before he strips himself in the bathroom.
After a warm water shower, he washed away all the sweat and grime before dipping in warm water.
Here he checks the rewards that he obtained. He opened all the Steel strongboxes but found none of them useful. Most of them are armor, worse than his current one or weapons with lower quality than his own. Only notable one is a revolver pistol, Trailblazer that shoots a special bullet that will explode and send millions of volts to nearby enemies and shock them.
He sells off the rest and starts opening all Titanium strongboxes. He found nothing good at all again and sold off all the equipment since it clogged up his limited inventory space. Then moving on to Molybdenum strongboxes, he got two decent armor piece out of it.
[Shotlite Dragonfly glove *7]
[Shotlite Starwalker boots **3]
Both from the same manufacturer but different series. Dragonfly focuses on toxic resistance while the other one is thermal resistance. However they have one common trait which is speed, the glove allows faster reload and boots allow faster walking speed. I equip them on my avatar before opening the Iridium strongboxes.
Suddenly he felt that he soaked too long in the water and he changed location to the bed. He dried himself up before putting on a white T-shirt and sports long pants he found in the wardrobe that he used to block the door.
Resting his head on the pillow, he opened the Iridium strongboxes. He almost jumped from the bed in excitement.
[Rubicon Power Assist **5]
He just obtained one of the best armor that he remembered himself always using in the game. This armor grants 12% movement mod which is good for any task that requires speed.
Then he checked for anything he missed and found a notification for 750k kills that he missed that have more Molybdenum and Iridium strongboxes. He also found the 1 Nantonium and 3 Neodymium strongboxes that he put aside. He also open all of them.
Unsurprisingly the Nantonium strongbox gives the best gun with three augment slots and ten augment levels. The weapon is actually an assault rifle from Critical Mass manufacturer.
Sub-Light COM2, a rare and most powerful firearm in the assault rifle class. This rifle has great damage and piercing power due to this being a railgun rather than a firearm that relies on propellant. The rounds can travel close to 100,000 meters per second and leave a big hole in just about anything, according to its description.
This firearm is definitely going to become my main firearm for now, replacing the HMV assault rifle. With just rough estimation, the Sub-Light COM2 is 200 times stronger than the HMV assault rifle. Its main drawback is the small magazine capacity which means more reloads where I couldn't fight back unless changing to side arm or second primary weapon.
For skills, I put 1 to Aerial Bombardment just to unlock it, 15 in Heavy Gear to reduce the movement mod penalty to 60% that basically allow me to equip Hardplate set and the Sub-Light COM2 without speed reduction, and 8 in Toughness to increase my HP since Heavy class is a tank that need big HP and lot of armor.
Unlike the VR version of the game, players usually rely on speed to keep outpacing the horde since they have a mini map or change to a birds eye view of the stage. They know where to walk to and which route to follow. For me however, it isn't a game.
There is no mini map or birds eye view stuff to help me navigate. The outpacing strategy is pretty much obsolete and fully embracing stronger armor seems to be the safer option. Besides, I have already been given the Red series Hardplate armor set. That set provides the best protection to physical and thermal while moderate but still decent protection to energy and toxic damage.
…
Two hours later, around 8 am in the morning, Ray walks out of the hotel while being fully equipped with brand new armor, ACE Suit, Implants and an assault rifle. Thanks to his Heavy Gear skill, the speed penalty from Hardplate set and Sub-Light COM2 is fully removed and he is able to travel at his max speed.
He takes a short nap and feels more refreshed after a stressful night. He had some time to think about other stuff and he discovered something weird about the lack of action by the military forces of this world.
He remembered hearing the sound of a helicopter from his west and a few explosions which is the direction he is going to follow for now. He embarks on his journey in this zombie infested city or metropolis.
His travel is made quick due to improved ACE Suit that enhance his speed and strength. His fully suited normal speed now is around 40 mph, around the top speed of the fastest sprinter, Usain Bolt. He can overclock his suit to add another half of his normal speed for a few minutes.
He meets zombies along the way but none of them is mutated or specially infected. Ray just rammed them over with sheer weight of his armor, moving at 40 mph. Sadly he didn't have Brute Strength skill that allowed him to do it in a more efficient way without losing his momentum when ramming through small clusters. He did this to reduce the usage of firearms which are loud and attract zombies. With this method, he only attracts little attention until he reaches an area without tall skyscrapers.
He is lucky indeed because he found a military installation after exiting the forest of skyscrapers. He was hoping there is a living human instead of being infected but he is out of luck it seems. The small bases are wrecked like a gigantic bull were let loose on a rampage. There are also signs of battle all around the base that extend to nearby buildings. The most significant ones are the crashed helicopters and a jet fighter that crashed into the side of a tall building.
[Find the CEO of MediTek mega corporation, hiding inside the military base.
Quest is Optional but completion will provide a sequence of quests that assist with completion of Tutorial Stage.]
"A quest chain?" Ray exclaimed a little as he returned to normal walking speed and steadily walked into the wrecked military base.
[Detecting user entering quest area, quest are accepted.
Quest:Find the CEO of MediTek mega corporation that holds information about a cure of the zombie virus that is being experimented by the military.]
[For user information, the virus is incomplete but completed by the Creator and used to create a tutorial stage for the user.]
I am about to address my confusion but the system already gave me an answer. I nodded to myself, already acknowledging that the Creator or that guy killed this whole world using me as a borrowed knife. He even used me to defile those already dead people now as a walking corpse.
Entering the base, it was infested with zombies and even mutated one like Stalker but more armored because they are former soldiers and their flesh grows over their protective gear. The said gear happens to be a bulletproof riot shield. Nothing my Sub-light COM2 cannot handle as they get shredded like paper by its 100,000 meter per second bullet.
Easily breeze through the base, Ray reaches deep inside the base and basically goes through each locked door until he finds the guy. The inside has very little zombies which made his search more easier. When reached the command centre of this base, Ray saw a lot of bodies around its hallway which indicated there was a struggle between the survivors and the infected. This also means that anyone that survived will be inside the room.
Reloading his gun, Ray prepares himself to break into the room because it is definitely barricaded.
Anchoring my left leg on the floor, Ray uses his right leg to stomp the door open with a power boost from the ACE Suit. The door fell down to the floor as its hinges tore away from the wall and he saw 2 men hugging each other at the corner of the room while only one was holding his gun to shoot but visibly shaking.
The two men on the side instantly stop hiding in the corner and jump toward Ray after seeing that he isn't a zombie and wearing military grade equipment.
"Thank goodness! The help finally arrived! You must be a military personnel right? Your mission is to rescue me right?" The well dressed man shoots multiple questions but Ray is distracted by notifications.
[Find the CEO of MediTek mega corporation, hiding inside the military base.(Complete)
Extract information about vaccine location by persuasion or by force.
Quest is Optional but completion will provide a sequence of quests that assist with completion of Tutorial Stage.]
[Additional quest item are provided, SAS personnel ID]
"Yes. You are the CEO of MediTek corporation?"
"Yes, yes. You are sent here to save me right? I have importance to the military, they must save me." The man blabbered in paranoia, probably caused by the outbreak and fending himself off zombies.
"Excuse me but I am the vice captain of this military base for city X. Can you identify yourself?" The previous man that wielded his gun asked with respect in his speech and he also saluted when the CEO introduced me as a special operator for the military."
Since the system already gave me a fake ID, I showed them the ID which caused the vice captain to gasp before exclaiming.
"A SAS personnel? Guardian rank Heavy class operator! What is a SAS special operator with such a high rank doing in a backwater settlement like this?"
"Unfortunately I cannot disclose my mission but I will require his cooperation for a classified mission."
Since Ray didn't really know any formal way of talking, he just imitated what he knew from movies and games and hoped for the best.
"Of course! A SAS will never get involved unless it is a global level threat. We, the local military force, will try our best to cooperate!" The vice captain says while saluting.
Did he not realize that he is the only military personnel of this base that isn't an infected?
"Before we leave, I require your cooperation to retrieve a package that was created by your corporation with the cooperation of the military."
"B- but… aren't you taking me to safety first?" The CEO shut up when I tried to intimidate him by raising my rifle to his head. At this point, I'm just bluffing my way out to complete this quest and this guy is a coward that easily succumbs under pressure.
"Your safety is secondary, the mission has greater priority than rescuing you. Do you understand?" The CEO kept nodding while the vice captain acted as if this was normal and didn't care.
With suggestions from the vice captain, we grab an ACV(amphibious combat vehicle) that this base has 3 units of. I went and got them all on the vehicle before clearing the path for the vehicle to reach the main road outside. While I'm at it, I yoinked one in my inventory before exiting the military base.
We leave for the industrial park where a secret MediTek secret lab is located. I stayed silent along the way to maintain my air of professionalism but in reality, I was banging anime songs using the system that was considered a relic by the standards of my time after the year 2060. Mostly from the Myth & Roid band.
…
"The industrial park is definitely one of the safest places on the planet since robots and AI have already replaced the human workforce since the third millennium and fully replaced in the fourth millennium!" The CEO, who sounded very enthusiastic, explained about the greatness of the industrial park that is majority owned by him.
The vice captain nodded throughout the explanation which helped confirm the details. I am not very keen to trust the CEO to cooperate with me, he definitely is plotting something.
We all disembark from the ACV and continue on foot, into the secret lab that is hidden under a MediTek production plant. The whole area is really devoid of any infected. The CEO and the other one who is his assistant helped us navigate into the secret facility while the vice captain decided to stay behind in the ACV to try to contact any other military force using the communication devices in the ACV.
I entered a hidden elevator and descended for a few minutes before arriving at the lab. The CEO seems cooperative for now and immediately brings me a small briefcase that is made out of unknown alloy but the CEO boasts that only a nuke can destroy the briefcase.
"Now, let's hurry and bring me to safety. I already brought you the vaccine you wanted." The CEO pleaded and I nodded.
[Find the CEO of MediTek mega corporation, hiding inside the military base.(Complete)
Extract information about vaccine location by persuasion or by force.(Complete)
Obtain the Vaccine.(Complete)
Deliver the Vaccine to the Aartis army general.
-Go to space elevator in city Y
Quest is Optional but completion will provide a sequence of quests that assist with completion of Tutorial Stage.]
"Let's return to the surface and I will bring you to a still functional military base or any safe location." I said while returning to the elevator. The CEO nodded and his assistant also followed but holding another briefcase.
…
On the road again, I said my destination is city Y and the vice captain is now taking us there. He said that city Y is a hub city that is comparable to the capital of my old world. Hub city possesses almost all facilities the world can offer and most importantly, the space elevator. Only 8 hub cities exist around the planet.
When we arrived, it's almost afternoon and there was too much infected. Just looking from the intercity highway, I can see hordes swarming the city edge. Who knows how much more is behind that forest of skyscrapers.
[Objective Complete: Survive for 24 hours and accumulate 1,000,000 kill]
[Level +1] x10
[1,006,197 SAS dollar]
A notification popped up while I was peeking out of the ACV gunner seat. Well, there isn't any additional reward but damn, if I know that each zombie killed will be one dollar, I would spam the Elite Squad on every horde I found. Useless to cry over spilt milk… I sighed and asked if there was another route we could take to reach the military base of city Y.
The vice captain says we can enter through the beach since this vehicle is amphibious.
"The space elevator is actually in the middle of the city while the military base is on the edge of the city, near the sea. It is better to go through here using the underground highway directly to the city center." The vice captain added while being genuine to assist me in my mission.
"Hm, thank you. I will follow your advice." I replied before disembarking. The vice captain gave me another salute before going to the direction of the sea on my left if facing the city.
I sigh before looking at the city filled with infected. Rough estimation, this city or metropolis has around 20 million people and 90% of them are zombies. The one thing I am worried about is Purge Nest.
Purge Nest is created when too many infected gather around and their virus mutates, turning them into an incubator of sorts to produce more virus then absorb biomass to create more zombies. There is a high chance the zombie will be a mutated one instead of Shamblers. If not worse, the nest can turn into large pods that spawn bosses like zombies which will be a real nightmare.
Anyway, I make my way into the subway or underground highway and move into the inner city.
—————
