Not knowing what mutation the system meant, Vincent decided to check his profile first.
-----------------------------------
-Character Info-
Name: [Vincent Reyes*] Level: [4]
Hp: [43 / 43]
Mp: [300 / 300]
Xp: [1830 / 3000]
-Characteristics-
STR: [12]
DEX: [16]
CON: [12]
INT: [14]
WIS: [16]
CHA: [16]
-Equipment-
Head: None
Weapon: [Springfield Echelon Specs (Starter)]
Armor: None
Boots: None
-Mutation-
[Demon of Apocryphos]
Progress: [5%]
-----------------------------------
Vincent's eyelids twitched.
'A demon? And who or what is Apocryphos?'
The bitterness on his tongue was palpable, knowing that there was highly likely a choice in what kind of mutation he wanted. But he had blacked out.
The game had shown its vast level of customization—there was no denying he had bugged again.
'Seriously, who programmed this shit fest?'
But he didn't let his frustrations take control. A vein would surely burst if he let it.
The system also didn't give any explanations. That didn't bode well for the next tab.
Steeling himself, he checked the Skills tab.
-----------------------------------
-Basic Skills-
[Digitization] | Passive
-> Normalizes gore
-> Increased emotional stability
-> Pain receptors dulled
[Night Vision] | Passive
-> 35 meters range
-> Pitch black to normal darkness, darkness to afternoon shade
-> Shadows are faintly outlined
[Hellfire Rounds* lvl 2] | 70 mana | 3 seconds cooldown (2-24/bullet)
-> Dark/Fire Attribute
-> Requires a gun
-> Ignites targets, dealing burn damage over time (1-6/sec)
-> 5 hr Shelflife
-> Weak to light/water
-Intermediate Skills-
[Aerial Lift] | 100 mana | 6 seconds cooldown
-> Wind Attribute
-> Requires line of sight
-> Lifts 1 object (max 10kg) for 30 seconds
-> Weak to earth
Bonus Passive: -Requires 10% mutation progress-
-----------------------------------
'I knew it. This is clearly not a hunter's skill.'
Succumbing to his bugged existence, he continued to the Quest tab.
-----------------------------------
Main Quest: To The Safe Zone
-> Reach Vancouver before February 1, 2026. (1,724 km)
Side Quest: Anti-Solo
-> Gather 13 companions. (12/13)
Side Quest: Clear The Frost Troll's Zone
-> Frost Troll (0/1)
-> Frost Rabbit (10/10)
-> Snow Fox (2/10)
-> Numb Rats (10/10)
-> Chilled Geese (0/10)
-> Northern Coyotes (0/10)
-----------------------------------
Vincent had mixed feelings.
'The system really is listening. I'm glad we get an indicator for how far we are from Vancouver, but I just don't understand why it would give a time limit. Or maybe it's a coincidence, and Vancouver happened to be a real safe zone…? But why is this Anti-Solo quest counting 12? There are only eleven of us…'
A thought flashed in his mind, and Vincent stood up in shock. His eyes were wide as he locked on to everyone's startled gazes.
The party, which had been entertaining themselves with the puzzles they found in the care home's cabinets, looked at him in alarm. Reflexively, they reached for their weapons.
"Dude, what got you spooked?" Daniel glanced up from his crafting, a clumsy attempt at making a crossbow for Jackson.
Jackson himself had stated he could start with a normal wooden bow, but Daniel didn't want to choose the primitive route.
"It's just… I don't want to give us false hope. The system may have been mistaken. It happens. Moreover, I'm fucking bugged. And if we go back right now and find out it was all wrong, we would have wasted valuable time—"
"Cents." Angel gently called, her soft voice managing to ground Vincent back to reality and away from his chaotic thoughts. "It's fine. Say it."
Vincent took a deep breath, exhaling as he sat back down on the ground. He then explained what the Quest tab was showing and emphasized how the system was very particular in its wording.
"S-So you mean to say… Rusty could be alive?" Theo was in utter disbelief.
The body he had held was lifeless, headless, spilling blood until it grew cold. No matter how much the world had changed, a miracle was still a miracle. And that was exactly what Vincent was talking about—a miracle.
"Hear me out." Vincent carefully stated. "We know nothing about the game. I, myself, have to keep my weird constitution in mind. But if there's one consistent thing the system has done so far… it's that it has never lied."
Rusty's name in the party window was still there, even when it was grayed out and the numbers showed 11/20. But the HP had turned to question marks a day after his death, and the mana was continuously draining.
Once it reached zero, it would start regenerating normally. And a minute later, it would drain again.
At first, the party thought that was how you would know if a player was dead. Daniel had even joked that the system made it annoying so they would kick Rusty out of the party.
But nobody wanted to.
Theo's brows were locked tight. He wanted to go. But that would mean risking everyone's lives for a fragile hope. He was long invested in everyone's safety. Being greedy was now a luxury.
Bitterly, he smiled. "I think we should keep going to the University."
Vincent was silent as he searched Theo's face. Sighing, he nodded. "I understand. Then, let's vote on it. Those who want to go back and check, raise your hands."
Vincent raised his hand, and the siblings followed without hesitation.
In a minute, Theo's eyes grew wide as more hands were raised until he was the only one left. Confused, anger surged in his chest.
"Why?! You're risking your life for what?!"
"For a party member?"
"For a friend."
"For your family." Henry was next to Theo, his voice clearer than most.
Perhaps, out of everyone in the party, he was the one who understood Theo's pain. They had grown close since the first training session, and Theo's laughter was freer before.
"What Henry said." Vincent added. "Everyone should know that if either Angel or Dan were in Rusty's state, you wouldn't find me asking for your opinions. I would go back and check. Whether you come with me or not wouldn't matter."
Vincent's straightforwardness surprised everyone, but after a moment, they thought this made sense. He had already shown his protective biases since day one. This was clearly in line with his character.
Daniel scratched at his nose before going back to his crafting, busying himself.
Angel turned to the side and hid her pursing lips, struggling to keep her smile.
Meanwhile, the emotions Theo had placed to the side were forcibly pulled forth. The man couldn't restrain himself from tearing up. Indignantly, he raised his voice.
"You damn assholes! Of course I want to go back and check! And I would do the same for any one of you! That's right! You're family now! And you can't stop me!"
Henry burst out laughing.
The tension instantly eased as the decision was finalized. They were going to leave tomorrow since it was already past 3 pm.
While the party prepared to leave the next day, Vincent checked the rest of the tabs.
The Inventory showed four slots, and he assumed it was tied to his level. After trying out various items, he learned that placing an item required touch and mental input. He found no limit to its weight at the moment, but it required things to roughly look the same in order to stack.
The same pen, but without a cap among others with their caps, wasn't allowed, for example.
But that didn't stop them from attempting to place a full backpack inside.
And it worked.
Daniel cackled at the discovery, earning him a smack on his back as Angel reminded him to tone it down.
Unfortunately, stacking full backpacks proved impossible, but Vincent was satisfied with simply freeing his shoulders.
Carrying wood for Angel's campfire wouldn't be ideal when they planned to run in the middle of a fight.
The Map tab showed all the places they had ever been since the outbreak began. There were even helpful signs for where they had encountered monsters and their levels.
Vincent confirmed that the Southland Mall was the Revenant Spider's lair, as the map showed its territory.
He mourned the lack of a radar but was nonetheless thankful for this feature.
The Social tab was empty.
'Huh, honestly, what did I expect?'
As for the Guild tab, Vincent was pleasantly surprised that there were no guilds listed yet. There didn't seem to be an option to create one either, so he assumed no one had found out how to yet.
Seeing as there was nothing else to shock him, Vincent finally chose a level-up reward.
[+100 mana]
The mutation was certainly calling for him, but if being a demon meant losing his sanity, he couldn't test it in the middle of the party.
His cautious nature had kicked in.
The last thing he did was triple-check his settings and enable everything.
Everyone's health bars were now conveniently above them, and he was a little disappointed to see nothing glowing after enabling the loot indicator.
Afterward, he passed the time playing chess with Daniel. "What do you think?"
"/suicide," Daniel blurted.
"Did you consider that [Quit] might mean you could go back to a normal Earth?"
"Pffft—sounds like a Black Mirror episode. How are we to know that our consciousness did upload to the cloud?"
Vincent snickered, trapping his king and queen with a single knight. "Hah… I'm glad you're more aware outside of chess."
"Fuck!"