It was already four; soon Roy would need to find something to eat for dinner. The school kitchen was located just south of the gym, to get there Roy would need to turn left after exiting the room, then turn right at the first intersection. The second corridor would intersect the central commons; the gym, office, kitchen, and exit were all connected to the central commons.

Fahim and two others were still talking; the video chat on the laptop was still operating, which meant that he could still access the internet. Roy pulled out his phone, then he remembered he didn’t have data and there was no Wi-Fi in the room.

Roy tucked his phone back into his backpack and slung the bag over his shoulders. The straps were tightened so that the bag wouldn’t sway if he ever needed to run. The group in the corner was also getting up, except they made no move to grab their bags.

He made his way to the front of the room, to the pile of dead frogs. Now when he observed the frogs one by one a blue screen popped out. Most of the screens showed [Looted], however the ones at the bottom still displayed [Loot].

Roy took his time digging through the pile and looting the corpses, by the end he had found three un-looted bodies, each buried underneath the bodies of its brothers, or sisters. The loot consisted of a vial of red liquid. Which was alarming because that meant not all monsters guaranteed dropped items.

Small Vial of Swamp Berry Juice

Restore 2 HP/s (10s)

Reduce INT by 1 (5m)

The red liquid inside was close to a dull magenta. Roy equated it with a weak healing potion, with a slight drawback. He placed the vial in his pocket where it would be easy to reach, in case of emergency. It was unfortunate that there was no piece of weapon or armor included in the loot, it was unfair. What type of game made the starting equipment distributed based on RNG? Where was the tutorial and beginner equipment, how was he supposed to survive?

If there was no starting equipment then he would need to scavenge some from the classroom. Roy picked up the ruler under the blackboard, he pulled open Mr. Stenson’s drawer and took the pair of scissors, and a roll of duct tape. Remembering how Mr. Stenson had pulled out the rifle and magazines earlier, Roy stuck his hand into the drawer and felt around for anything of interest.

Roy felt his palm touch something cold and hard. Excited, Roy grasped the object and pulled it out from the recesses of the drawer, in his hand was a pistol. In the dark Roy couldn’t make out many of the details, but he could feel the worn handle and the scrapes that covered the gun. He had never held a gun before; there was not a single one in his house as far as he knew. His mother and father had a huge argument over it a few years ago; it was right after his thirteenth birthday when his dad had deemed him ready to learn to shoot. His mom on the other hand disagreed.

Roy pulled down the trigger, nothing. He pressed down several times before recalling that unused guns were usually put on safety. Roy looked down and the gun and noticed a small notch at the side, he pressed the notch up and realized he couldn’t. He then tried pushing it down and was rewarded when the notch clicked downwards. Roy tried pressing the trigger, the hammer at the back moved but still there was no action. Roy focused on the gun and a blue screen popped out.

M1911A1 Pistol of Fervor

(0) 26 Physical Damage (Puncture)

7 / 7 Rounds (.45 ACP - 230 gr FMJ)

First shot in combat deals +50% damage (once/day)

The gun was loaded, buy why wouldn't it fire? Frustrated at his lack of progress and encouraged because a single shot would only wipe out a fourth of his HP, Roy started to press and pull anything he could find. Roy pulled at the entire top of the gun and was surprised when the half slid backwards. Roy let go and the top half sprung back into place.

Roy pointed the gun at the door and tried to position himself like the movie stars did. He then pressed down on the trigger, a bullet shot out of the barrel and punched into the locker on the other side of the hall. Roy was momentarily stunned, wasn’t this what he had been hoping for?

Roy placed the gun onto the desk and flexed his hands. The rest of the class was staring at him.

“Whoa, why the heck did you do that Roy?” Fahim’s family was starting to panic again and the sounds poured from the speakers.

“Pretty cool huh.” Roy tried to keep his voice level, but the feeling of exhilaration after having this type of power was ready to burst.

“What are you doing, put the gun away where it belongs,” it was one of the kids chatting with Fahim. Roy couldn’t remember her name but he was fairly certain she was part of the student council.

“Yeah Roy, drop the gun, you shouldn’t be messing with stuff like that,” Fahim raised his head to mutter the reprimand before he returned to reassuring his family that he was alright.

The group in the corner was quietly talking amongst themselves, Roy was certain the topic was him or his gun. Now that he had the gun he wasn’t willing to give it away, the gun drove away the earlier fear and gave him confidence. Roy quickly dug around the drawer and found 2 spare magazines. He stashed the ammunition into his bag and quickly ran out the door.

Fahim was yelling after him and the girl was furious. The corner group only stared at his receeding figure. Roy didn’t stop, he pulled out the gun and ran down the hallway taking a right at the first intersection. Then he stopped.

The hallway was covered in blood, this was probably what Tristan was staring at earlier when he turned the corner to deposit Mr. Stenson’s body. Mr. Stenson sat by the lockers. But further down the hallway several bodies littered the floor, most were covered in bites and were missing chunks of flesh, a few frogs were also intermingled amongst the bodies. A door by the side of the hallway was broken down and now lay lying on the ground. The students must have poured out of the classroom, together with the frogs.

Roy steadied himself using the wall and clutched the handle of the gun. He made his way slowly down the hallway, keeping his eyes away from the ground. There were several footprints heading down the hallway towards the gym. It seemed like the frogs had burst from the classroom and the students had made a run for it. Roy looked into the open doorway and gagged. The tables and chairs were in disarray. This used to be the business room, but the business that had taken place here was evident by the bodies strewn across the ground. Most of the students were still in their seats, some were even clutching pieces of stationary.

Whatever happened had probably occurred right after the timer ended. The teacher, Mrs. Loon, was missing an arm, a meter away a dead frog held the arm in its mouth. Roy noticed that there were several varieties of the frog monsters. Some were like the ones he found in his classroom, but a few had horns protruding for their heads, and one had no fur. Instead it was covered in what resembled rocks.

Someone had bashed in its protruding eyes using a ruler; the eyes seemed like a universal weak spot. The ruler stick lay broken a few meters away. The frogs must have appeared suddenly, like how monsters spawned in DTDW and other MMOs.

It then occurred to Roy that he could loot the dead frogs. Reluctantly Roy stepped into the room, he took a few steps before a scrunching noise alerted him and he looked down. A coil of intestines was strewn across the floor, terminating in a young man whose stomach was gaping open. The dead boy’s eyes were fixed onto Roy’s and for a second Roy thought those eyes had moved. Turning back on his earlier decision Roy hightailed it out of the room and made for the end of the hall. He noted down the trail of blood which then made a right and ended at the double doors of the gymnasium.

The kitchen was just to his right as well. After eating the gym was probably as good a destination as any. The door was reinforced and there was an emergency exit at the other end. Roy walked into the intersection and immediately footsteps began to sound from his left.

There, coming towards him, were a group of people whose skin was a dark shade of turquoise. Their clothes were ripped and frayed, but they were colored a distinct shade of brown and done in a style belonging to another era altogether. Curiously the ‘man’ at the front held a pitchfork in one hand. Roy immediately took a few steps back. He concentrated on the approaching figures as he did so.

Marsh Walker

LV 1 HP 35 / 35

These were undoubtedly zombies; there was that ungainly gait, the drooping of its appendages, its diluted irises, and the scent. The three figures had an unmistakable pungence of fungus mixed with the scent of the earth after it rains. Roy steadied his arms and pointed his gun at the nearest zombie. If video games were anything to go by, he would need to hit the head. He aimed down the sights and put the small nib of iron over the head of the zombie. Its skin which was turquoise at a distance was in fact covered by a layer of fungus, some of the larger growth sprouted from its skin, small flowers and mushrooms in a myriad of colors.

Roy pressed down on the rigger and the recoil rocked his arms as the bullet flew out past the head of the zombie he was aiming at and into the head of the zombie beside it. The victim swaggered a few more feet and then collapsed onto the ground. Roy moved back a few more steps and aimed at the next zombie, again he pressed the trigger; keeping in mind the gun had 4 more bullets after this. The bullet went wide and struck a sign tacked onto the wall. “Stop School Violence,” the sign read.

Roy took a few more steps back and pressed on the trigger again, this time the bullet went low and struck the zombie in the chest. The target staggered for a few steps and then continued its arduous journey forwards. Roy continued his tactic of stepping backwards, firing, and then retreating again. By the time the last zombie was dead he was at the end of the hall. The last zombie fell onto the ground with one last step and a blue screen signaled his victory.

Level Up!

Level 1 > 2

+3 Stat Points

Skill Up!

Pistol Mastery LV 0 > LV 1 (Novice)

Roy fidgeted with the gun for a while and managed to eject the empty magazine. He stocked it into his bag and pulled out a fresh magazine, which he then inserted into his gun. He then brought out his status screen and contemplated his options.

His objective was to survive. Finding guns and ammo wouldn’t be difficult, but as time wore on weapons and ammo may become scarcer; as of now a gun was far superior to upping his strength and hacking away with a piece of rusted metal. INT and WIS were probably for magic, as much as Roy wanted to be a wizard it was unclear how one went about doing so; he left that as it was for now. Speed and accuracy sounded fine, especially speed which would make for a fast getaway. CON determined HP and as far as Roy was concerned HP meant not dying, so he pumped all his points into CON, raising HP by 19 points, or just over three-quarters of a bullet wound.

Roy looked over his stats one more time and then closed the window.

Character Sheet

Name Roy Stone Level 2

Race Human Condition Minor Bleeding

HP 253 / 253 HP Regeneration 0.012

MP 118 / 118 MP Regeneration 0.04

-

Statistics

STR 9 INT 10

CON 12 WIS 7

DEX 10 AGI 10

Unallocated Stat Points 0

-

Resistances

Heat 0 Cold 0

Force 0 Electric 0

Poison 0 Corrosion 0

Hallow 0 Void 0

Mental 0 Spiritual 0

-

Skills

Pistol Mastery - Novice I

Abilities

-

Traits

-

Roy moved his limbs and noticed that he actually felt better; the drowsiness from staying up late last night playing video games was gone. So was the discomfort in his stomach from the week old pizza he had eaten for breakfast. His fingers were tingling with warmth and his vision seemed to recover from the hours he spent in front of the monitor. His spirits bolstered Roy marched up to the zombies on the ground and brought up the loot menu.

To his disappointment not a single item was obtained from the loot menu. Roy looked at the twice dead corpses, unlike in a video game the bodies would remain long after death – this was only to be expected. But then again, nothing really could be expected after the events of the past few hours. The bodies would lay there, clothes, flowers, pitchfork and all. That’s when it hit him, Roy carefully approached the group of corpses and examined the pitchfork

Pitchfork of the Marsh

Armed with torches and pitchforks the townsmen descended into the marsh. They would eradicate the source, from which the never-ending fungal tides poured forth. They were like fireflies in the woods; they were gone by morning.

3 - 13 Physical Damage (Puncture & Crushing)

Infect with [Spores]

Increase HP Regeneration by 0.5/s (while in marsh)

Infect those damaged with [Spores]

It appeared that the items dropped were not limited to those within the loot menu. Could he pick the flowers on the zombies? More importantly to Roy, could he craft something out of the flowers? Surely flowers that grew on zombies would be magical flowers, of course with magical properties unlike that of the magic mushroom.

Roy temporarily left that train of though and considered the pitchfork. The damage was superior to the knife he had obtained earlier, but he didn’t like the sound of [Spores] for all he knew it could turn him into one of those zombies the second he ‘equipped it’. However, he was equally unwilling to part with a piece of well-deserved loot. The system couldn’t be that unbalanced, could it? Carefully, he picked up the pitchfork from the tip, which didn’t seem to have any fungus on it and dropped it to the side. For just an instant he felt a wave of nausea course through his body.

Quickly Roy examined his [Status]. His constitution value had dropped by 1 and the original value 12 was noted beside the lowered value. In addition his [Conditions] had changed to [Drained] with a 10 value beside it. Roy waited as the value counted down to zero and the constitution value returned to normal.

Roy surmised that this must have been the doing of the pitchfork, the effect labelled as [Spores] inflicted [Drained], which sounded reasonable considering spores were meant to reproduce and grow. The plant would need nutrients and him losing constitution may have been a result of that. Of course he could be overthinking things; this was all very gamey anyways.