The peace and quiet of the dark room was broken by the yawns and grunts of Mateo who had just woken up. After getting off his comfy king size bed, he started with his daily workout which consisted of skipping without rope for about two minutes, 20 push-ups and a light stretch, just enough to get his blood flowing everywhere. He followed his workout session with a cold shower to rinse out any last vestige of sleep from his eyes.
As he was lathering the soap, his fingers brushed on the ring he was wearing and like a thunderbolt, the events of the previous day came crashing down on him. He hurriedly tried to access his interface, praying and hoping that it wasn't one of his dreams. After a not so exaggerated period of time (5 seconds), the interface responded, and this time there were some changes.
Usually it was only his FINANCE tab that was displayed, but now there was a STATS tab there as well, right under the finance, but above the many grayed out tabs, which was also a new feature.
He willed the new tab open to check the number and type of stats unlocked. Three glowing blue words appeared, SPEED, ENDURANCE and... LUCK. He tried tapping them, mentally of course, and was surprised to find out it worked and displayed info about the selected stat.
ENDURANCE - Increases the bone and muscle density, allowing the body to tank attacks more. easily.
SPEED - Modifies the body by making it more streamlined and hollow making linear movement faster.
LUCK - Increases your chances of survival in dangerous situations. Also increases the chance of rare. drops and loot gotten from slaying dungeon monsters.
A fit of coughs was soon heard as Mateo had choked on water while trying to express his shock by sucking in air, but after what he just read, he deemed his reaction too mild. What he just read was a way of mutating the human body, forcing it to go beyond its mortal limits and step into the world of the supernatural. This was something that scientists had been working on for years and all it took for him to reap the benefits was killing some undead.
Upon calming down he realised something very crucial he had missed, there was no explanation on how to use the opportunity he had been given. Luckily, it seemed like whoever designed the interface had a PhD in Public Relations, because there was a question mark symbol at the top. As expected, there was a Frequently Asked Question heading, followed by the said questions.
After tapping on all the questions while stepping out of his extended shower, he laid on the bed with only a towel to cover his nudity, digesting all the information he received.
The questions were a lot but ultimately helpful, as they covered topics he didn't even know existed and provided him with detailed answers.
Apparently stat points could only be gotten by levelling up, more stats could be unlocked by increasing ranks and depending on your race it could take more than one stat unlock point to unlock the said stat. For example, Orcs, Hobgoblins and Trolls needed two or more points to unlock the magic stat, while fairies and elves also needed more points to unlock the strength stats. Another piece of information he found interesting was that locked stats would be the base stats of the race at the said rank. For example, an orc would always be physically stronger than an elf at the same stage even if both of them have locked strength stats. Of course if the elf has unlocked his/her strength stat, they may overpower the orc completely.
Every time an individual ranks up, their stats, both locked and unlocked are multiplied by a fixed number which wasn't stated.
A knock on the door startled Mateo, pulling him from his focused state as he hurried to clean any lingering water on his body and put on some pants. The kind and warm face of his mother revealed who his mystery knocker was. After exchanging greetings, Mateo was told that breakfast was ready and his presence was required since the family always had meals together when possible.
Brushing his teeth and looking for a top to wear took no longer than 5 minutes and he soon found himself seated at the round table with a plate of toast, bacon, eggs with a little helping of steamed veggies on the side, with a cup of hot cocoa to wash it down.
The Grace was shared before the Smith family of 5 dug into their similar meals. Halfway through the meal, the head of the family, Julian Smith asked the question that was on everyone's mind, "So, Mateo how was your second calling to the DEAD-ZONE like?"
A question so simple, but it was one whose answer would determine the fate of humanity, whether the so called plans made by the various powers of the world would prove effective or not.
Slowly swallowing the food in his mouth, Mateo looked at everyone on the dining table savouring the anxious looks on their faces, and after stretching the moment for as long as he could, he finally said "Erm, well it was okay I guess. I mean it's still zombies and other undead that you have to kill, so you can expect a smelly and disgusting experience."
The sighs of relief heard soon after the long, but not so awkward silence confirmed that Mateo's news delivery was as good as they hoped and definitely worth the suspense built up earlier. Even though fighting zombies was disgusting, it was still better to fight old opponents you have fought before than to fight newer and more dangerous opponents.
After a bit more conversation and planning for the DEAD-ZONE, the family returned their full focus back to their breakfast, all except for the youngest member, Ayleen who had a bit of worry etched on her face. A little encouragement from the family was enough to ease her mind, and although she wasn't exactly siked up about her first calling, she did not stress herself out by thinking about it.