-Aizawa Maria-

[Ding* You have killed Zombie Lord. Gained 1000 EXP]

[Ding* You have killed 999 zombies. Gained 14985 EXP]

[Ding* Quest 2 cleared]

[Gained 1 Life]

[Ding* Quest 5 cleared]

[Gained 2 levels. Received 1000 G]

[Received a Mysterious Box]

As he slew the Zombie Lord, a series of notification rang out. Coincidentally, Zombie Lord was the 1000th zombie. He was very excited about this particular mission as it’s reward was very eye-catching.

1 Life!

Who wouldn’t go crazy for an extra life, given a chance?!

Opening his stat window, he found the newest addition to his ‘lives’ stat which was previously 0. A happy smile formed on his face as he felt even more confident than before. This kind of confidence is a little hard to explain, but if compared then it would be same as having the police guard you when you loot someone else’s house.

Fully devoid of fear.

Though he didn’t know the workings and absolute limits of this new stat, he was sure that he shouldn't be that different from the RPG game.

Nothing regarding this system had differed till now!

Then he glanced at his overall stats;

[Muto Kenshin][Human]

[Class:Magic Knight(a fixed increase of 2 points in INT, STR, and DEF)]

[Level13][40700 Exps for next level up]

[HP 470/470] [MP 24/66]

[Titles: Bane of Spectres(Active)(Status: 1000% of base ATK/10 Minutes)]

[ATK: 37(+60); DEF: 30(+60); AGI: 38(+4)(-5); PHY: 37(+10); INT: 31(+2); WIS: 18; WIL: 16; LUK: 14]

[Unassigned Attribute points: 8][Unassigned Skill points: 4]

[Lives: 1]

[Skills]

[1. Replication Lv 4][4387 Exp to next level up]

[2. Passive Regeneration (Passive/Always active) Lv 6][1900 Exp to next level up]

[3. Tireless Body (Passive/Always active) Lv 2][1211 EXP to next level up]

[4. Flaming Slash Lv 4][1742 EXP to next level up]

[5. Metal Hands Lv 4][2000 EXP to next level up]

[6. Death Stare Lv 0][1000 EXP to next level up]

[7. Mirror Reflection (Passive/Always active) Lv 0][2000 EXP to next level up]

[8. Summon Minions Lv 0][1000 EXP to next level up]

[9. Death Slash Lv 0][652 EXP to next level up][Equipment effect]

[Equipment]

[Worn out Gloves DUR: 8/20][+4 AGI]

[Cape of Intelligence DUR 12/34][+2 INT]

[Skeleton Knight’s Sword DUR 98/100][+60 ATK]

[Skeleton Knight’s Chest Plate DUR 92/100][+60 DEF; +10 PHY]

Kenshin always felt happy whenever he sees his stats increase, even if a little. Replication had leveled up to 4 and is now able to store 4 copied skills. With the Summon Minions skill, he already had all his slots full.

The rewards of his fifth quest can be said as abundant, considering how easy it was to complete. First, it had given him 2 level ups. Then the monetary reward of 1000 G; this much money was enough for him to live luxuriously for a month or two. Then finally a mysterious box. In RPG games, the mysterious box usually contains some special skill, stat points, high leveled potions or unusual armors. Whatever it was, it was something that was worth getting.

Kenshin held the golden box in hishands while groping and caressing it like a pervert. He was eager to open it and see what’s inside. There was no clamp or lock on the box, only a switch like contraption at the top.

*kacha*

As Kenshin pressed the switch, the box lets out a sound and shine brightly. Slowly the shine intensified to such degrees that he had to close his eyes to avoid blinding himself. Sometime later, when he opened his eyes, the box had vanished into thin air and on its place was a golden covered book.

It was a skill book!

[Ding* you have received skill book ‘Opposites’]

[Will you read the book?]

[Yes/No]

Kenshin looked a little put off at the name of the skill. But since the skill had come out of a mystery box, it shouldn’t be a whacky skill, right?! Thinking like this, Kenshin pressed yes. The book instantly glowed goldenly and disappeared into his body. Like before, he felt his psyche being invaded as a large amount of information downloaded into it.

When he opened his eyes, there was already a notification box hanging infront of him.

[Opposites Lv 0][10000 EXP to next level up]

[Reverses the effect of anything for 1 second within 1-meter radius]

[MP: 10]

What is this skill? Kenshin wondered if it is strong or weak? Reversing the effectsounds a littleambiguous. What’s more, the exp required to level up next was also astronomical. What exactly this skill does?

To test, he tried to use it. Except for depletion of his MP, he found nothing else. He stopped his experimentation then and there. He shifted his attention towards his 8 AP and 4 SP. The SP he obtained seems like depending on the number of missions he had completed.

With a sigh, he assigned 6 APs to INT and theremaining 2 to WIS. His INT increased to 37, increasing his max MP to 78.He already had 10 skills; out of which 6 were active ones. If he didn’t increase his INT, he wouldn’t have enough MP to use them. As for WIS, with its increase, magic consumption will decrease.

Completing his overall upgrade, he startedwalking towards teleportation gate. Just when he was about to use it, it flashed a purple light as an outline of a woman began appearing from the inside.

The outline belonged to a very beautiful woman, Kenshin’s breath hitched when he noticed her exquisitefeatures. She had a midnight black hair and blue water like eyes. Her oval face was completely devoid of blemishes except for a small pink vertical scar below her left eye.

He had never seen any woman with such beautiful features.

“Excuse me!! Can you please move to the side?! You are blocking my way” her bell-like voice pulled some of the strings in Kenshin’s heart.

I like her!!! Inside his head, a chibi Kenshin shouted to the heavens. It was his first time encountering a love-at-first-sight kind of situation. He had a vacant look on his face as if his soul had left his body.

Frowning unhappily, she extended her snowwhite right hand infront of his face and snapped her fingers.

Click!!

The sound brought Kenshin to land of living from his daydream.

“Ehh! What?!” he was a little disoriented.

“You were, kind of, standing in my way” she repeated again. Impatience was practically oozing from her voice.

“Ahh! Yes, I am sorry!” Kenshin hurriedly apologized to her and gave her way to go. She snorted disdainfully in her heart and without sparing him a glance, she moved out. As she walked, she retrieved a short sword from her belt and held it in a reverse grip. She knew how chaotic this floor was. There would be zombies lurking just about everywhere.

Dungeons, generally don’t have a floor restriction such as one must clear a lower floor to ascend to a higher floor. If one can breach through the barricade of monsters; they can reach the teleportationpoint and can access to higher floors.

When she exited the protection bubble provided by teleportation point, she couldn’t contain her surprise of what she saw outside. Corpses filled her field of vision; small, big, round, burnt…all type of corpses. None of them were moving like they normally would. For a second she felt like she was hallucinating.

This…how can this be possible?! All the zombies slaughtered like they were common pigs! Her brain shortcircuited as she failed to assess the situation at hand. Although these zombies were weak, their large numbers are what makes them dangerous. Normally, they would surround a target before assaulting it in a hoard.

She turned her head back only to see a bewildered Kenshin still staring at her like a fool. She suppressed her rage in her heart and asked a question.

“This…is it done by you?!”

As for Kenshin, in his cloud nine-state, his ears heard a completely distorted question.

{“Are you single?”}

“YES!!!” he nearly shouted out with all his might. He then struck a pose and introduced himself.

“I am Muto Kenshin. A magic skill user, and now working for Mito branch. I receive a monthly salary of 2000 to 5000G” his self-introduction sounded more like how one would introduce himself in a mixer.

A look of astonishment flashed through her eyes. Her water like eyes scanned Kenshin like a goddamnedscanner as if she was comparing him to something. Then she stopped her scrutiny and extended a hand towards Kenshin to shake it.

“I am Aizawa Maria. A magic skill user same as you. I belong to Fujin Guild. Nice to meet you!”