ALL NOVEL Chapter 2: Chapter 2
It's been a couple of days... When arriving back at his home, he was greeted by his mother and father. They looked worried seeing their son without his white shirt and a stoic expression. Not trying to worry them, Issei simply said that the woman didn't want to see him again. There was no need to tell them about anything else.
Back to what Issei had been doing. For the past couple of days, he had been experimenting with what he needed to do to increase his stats. Turns out, the simple stuff like pushups and reading books weren't cutting it anymore after the first additional stat increase. So, Issei used weights to increase his stats, but it only increased his strength by one.
What Issei had realized is that since his strength was increasing exponentially rather than linearly, he had to apply a more ridiculous stimulus rather than the same one. It didn't matter how many reps of how many hours he read, he needed to up his game.
What did he resort to?
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Quest: Open a dungeon
Details: Using the dungeon icon in the menu, open your very first dungeon.
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All of Issei's thoughts had been interrupted when he got his second quest. Seeing the menu screen with his stats, Issei turned his focus to the small tabs that were on the side. One of them was unlocked, he could access it and there was a small arrow that was pointing to it. Clicking on it, the screen opened up with another text box.
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Dungeon Maker:
Accessible Dungeons: Tutorial Dungeon
Difficulty: Very easy
Ready to create: Yes/No
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Clicking on the yes button, he was immediately transported to a different area.
Upon appearing in the secluded area, Issue could only gasp upon seeing the many rocks, cracks, and large canyons that surrounded him. Standing on top of one huge hill, he was immediately blinded by the sun. It appeared as if he was currently in a desert. The desert had extended to unbelievable lengths, way beyond Issei's eyesight.
'This... is going to be annoying.' The heat was already taking its toll on him. Ripping his shirt off, he didn't want to be uncomfortable with whatever was going to transpire. Knowing from regular games that dungeons mean monsters trying to kill him, Issei was a little bit terrified. He was on the lookout...
Turning to see behind him, there was nothing around...
However, that was when he noticed a small little fog-like substance appearing out of thin air. There were multiple of these clustered substances all around the area...
In an instant, the fog disappeared, and some zombies were seen standing where the fog was.
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Name: Zombies (Group)
Race: Undead
Level: [1-3]
HP: [0-150]
STR: [1-3]
AGL: [0.5-1]
END: [1-3]
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The tattered-clothed zombies, with many of them missing limbs and missing huge chunks of their flesh, began slowly crawling towards him. They were much slower than Issei... but this definitely had Issei terrified. He had never seen something this... horrid.
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Quest: Defeat as many monsters as you want.
Reward: Shop unlocked
+25 bronze coins
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Looking at their stats, Issei had noticed that the zombies didn't have any mana points, nor did they have any intelligence. What Issei had noticed was that intelligence is linked to mana points. What Issei could conclude is that since these zombies are already... Dead, they didn't have the capabilities to think properly which leads them to having no intelligence nor any mana points.
While he thought of this, the zombies began approaching him extremely slowly. Backing away, Issei didn't want to attack... He was terrified... He had never needed to resort to violence...
His heart rate began increasing, his body began shaking. He didn't want to approach these... Monsters.
They slowly began approaching him... Each step that they took, one breath Issei took. However, that was when a bright little light began glowing around Issei. It began to calm him down... His body began calming down... His mind began thinking clearly.
Closing his eyes, Issei began walking towards these monsters.
He needed to do this!
Taking another deep breath in... He could win against some of these monsters. They couldn't think and were slow... He just needed to beat then down into the ground.
Looking forwards, Issei saw a scrawny zombie, easily the weakest out of the bunch. It was missing an arm and half of its neck. Rushing towards the zombie, Issei easily ran past the other ones especially when they were moving slower than sloths. Reeling his fist back, squinting his eyes in a little bit of hesitation, Issei swung his fist and directly nailed the zombie on its messed-up neck.
A loud crunch could have been heard as the zombie's bones in its neck began crumbling. The zombie howled in pain while getting knocked down onto the ground. Issei hesitated a little before reeling his right leg back and kicked the zombie directly on the neck again.
Issei, being much more powerful than the zombie, didn't realize what the kick would have done. The zombie was already near death from the condition the zombie was spawned with, but the two blows to the most critical areas of the zombie was too much.
The zombie's head was shot off the body with the neck as Issei...
Killed his first opponent...
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Achievement Unlocked: Killed first enemy
Reward: Common weapon
Level Up!
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Beginning to dawn on the realization of what he had done... Issei began panicking as the sounds of the other zombies began going null... As quickly as he began panicking, the white light returned and began calming him down.
Issei finally began rendering in the message and saw the news of a weapon being given to him. As he finished reading the text box, he quickly noticed a flying object heading towards him. Landing right in front of him, he noticed that it was a sledgehammer. He walked through the dust that formed from the impact of the hammer landing. Inspecting the weapon, another text box appeared on his screen.
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Weapon Name: Sledgehammer
Rarity: Common
Attributes: + 1 STR
Requirements: 5 STR
Details: Regular Sledgehammer
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It was bizarre... The weapon was a sledgehammer, but it didn't decrease his agility. He assumed that it may have been due to the fact that since his strength was drastically increasing with each point, the weight of the sledgehammer was non-existent.
Also, noticing that he leveled up, Issei, once more, poured his skill point into agility.
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Name: Issei Hyoudou
Race: Human
Title: None
Level: 3
HP: 150/150
MP: 100/100
STR: 5 (+1)
AGL: 5
END: 3
INT: 4
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He began seeing that his stats were beginning to get very uneven. His health stat was very low while his strength stat was very high for his level. Maybe doing all those push ups with weights for a head start wasn't a good idea.
Not only that, he also saw that his strengtb stat was separated by the attribute stat of his hammer. So his strength stat would show his raw strength on the left and next to the stat, it would show the attribute stat bonus of his sledgehammer.
Grabbing his hammer, and looking at the countless zombies in front of him...
There was no limit to how many he needed to kill...
He was going to make sure that he would be properly prepared by using this dungeon.
While Issei was going on a rampage in the dungeon, right outside of his room, his mother opened the door to see no one inside the room.
"Issei? Honey?" His mother's voice trembled as she scanned the room, her heart pounding with growing dread. Her eyes darted over the familiar surroundings, settling on the torn posters adorning the walls, remnants of her son's shattered heart. Each ripped piece was a testament to his pain, a pain she wished she could have shielded him from.
Entering the room, the air heavy with unspoken anguish, she felt her chest tighten at the sight before her. The once vibrant posters, now torn and defaced, mirrored the turmoil within her son's soul. She knew the breakup had devastated him, but seeing the aftermath laid bare before her brought a fresh wave of anguish.
"Gorou! Issei isn't here!" Her cry pierced through the silence, echoing with frantic urgency as she turned to seek solace in her husband's arms. Trembling with fear, her voice cracked as she uttered the words that had been haunting her since she first noticed Issei's absence.
Her husband's steps thundered up the stairs, a mirrored reflection of her own racing heart. Panic clawed at his chest as he reached the threshold of their son's sanctuary, his eyes widening at the sight of his wife's distress. Without a moment's hesitation, he wrapped her in his arms, trying to steady her trembling frame amidst the storm of emotions.
"What do you mean he isn't here? He was just in the room a couple of minutes ago," his voice strained with worry, each word a desperate plea for reassurance.
"He... he... isn't here." Her voice cracked, tears streaming down her cheeks as she clung to him, her fear consuming her with every passing second. "I KNEW THAT HARLOT WAS GOING TO HURT HIM! I KNEW THAT SHE WAS JUST A BITCH ON THE STREET! WE NEED TO FIND ISSEI BEFORE HE DOES SOMETHING HE WILL REGRET."
His heart clenched at the raw agony in her voice, his own fears threatening to overwhelm him. With a nod of determination, he made a silent vow to find their son, to bring him back home where he belonged.
"Just relax... I'll try and find him around town. Give me a second... Miki... Miki... hey, wake up." His voice was gentle, yet firm, as he tried to rouse her from the depths of her despair.
But the worry had taken its toll, and her strength gave way beneath the weight of her fear. With a soft whimper, she collapsed against him, her body limp with exhaustion and anguish.
As Gorou continued gently shaking his wife, Miki, trying to rouse her from unconsciousness, his heart clenched with fear and anguish. Each passing second without knowing where their son, Issei, was, felt like an eternity of torment. They had poured all their hopes and dreams into him, cherishing him as the precious gift they'd been granted after enduring the heartbreak of miscarriages.
The sight of torn posters in Issei's room, remnants of his shattered heart after being dumped, only added to their distress. Upon waking back up, Miki only continued sobbing which echoed through the house, a testament to the depth of a mother's love and worry for her child. Gorou felt a surge of helplessness, knowing that they needed to find Issei before his pain drove him to do something irreversible.
With determination etched on his face, Gorou promised to search every corner of the town until he found his son. Yet, beneath his facade of resolve, lay a father's trembling heart, terrified of the possibilities that awaited him. The thought of Issei, their only child, lost in a sea of emotional turmoil, sent shivers down his spine.
As he gently laid Miki down, he whispered reassurances, though his own doubts gnawed at him. How could they even be considered parents to Issei when they couldn't even shield him from the agony of a broken heart? The weight of parental responsibility bore down on Gorou's shoulders, a heavy burden that threatened to crush him.
"Issei... My boy, please... be safe."