Unwilling Eldritch Horror of Fortune

I was left alone in the rain again, having finished both of the tasks that I set out for myself faster than I thought. I guess the only thing I had to do now was to smash a few more zombies and see how many levels I could get.

I did take some time to check out the big building the Regressor pointed me towards, but even after poking around the floor and room number he gave me, I couldn’t find anything of note.

I guess he did say to go there to escape from the zombies, and it was relatively safe, but I couldn’t just stay there for the next few days. Instead, I went out and started to hunt some more.

And that was exactly what I did for the next 4 days. The zombies were getting progressively stronger over time; they moved faster and became more resistant to damage, and by the fifth day, I had to lure individual zombies off to finish them one by one.

Aside from sleeping every now and then, and using Noe’s luck skill to ensure no one found me, all I did was kill zombies. All of that hard work paid off, and my new stats looked like this.

 

Class: Level 17 Commoner

Free Stat points: 18

Stats:

HP:234/254

MP: 0/0

Strength: 39 (+10)

Dexterity: 45 (+10)

Endurance: 42 (+10)

Intelligence: 48 (+10)

Charisma: 60 (+10)

 

Once again, I chose to hold off on using my free points, but I was tempted to dump some into my strength. The zombies I was facing were no longer dying after one smack to the head, which really slowed down how many of them I could destroy. But I held off on making my decision right now; although it took me a lot longer to destroy each one, they did not pose any real threat to me.

It wasn’t until the start of the seventh day that I had to give in and invest some of my free points into strength, having it go from 39 all the way to 49.

The zombies on that last day were monstrous beings that looked like they came straight out of a horror flick. Some of them were the size of small cars, while others grew scythe arms and other grotesque mutations.

If that wasn’t bad enough, they also swelled in number, and I had to hide in narrow alleyways just to survive.

I spent my time like that until something happened on the last day of the Trial. I felt the Earth shake when only about 4 hours remaining and thought that maybe some kind of Boss zombie would show up, but something a lot stranger occurred.

I was hiding on the roof of a convenience store, and from my raised point of view, I saw a huge ball of fire expand in the horizon. I saw the shockwave rushing forward, and I had just enough time to jump from the roof and seek refuge in a narrow alley. The impact was staggering, despite the fact that most of the force was dissipated from hitting the walls.

Was that supposed to happen near the end of the first Trial?

Waiting a few more moments to make sure that the devastation was over, I peeked my head out of the alley I was hiding in and saw that the whole city looked like it had been hit by a bomb. But what was most surprising was that all of the mutated zombie abominations that were roaming the streets earlier were splattered all over the place.

In fact, even the ones who were not hit by the blast were pretty much half dead, and I spent the remainder of my time picking off the stragglers.

I finished off one last mutant before Noe’s timer hit zero, and all of the movement stopped then. Even the rain, which had never stopped falling, had let up, and I finally had the chance to relax.

“Notification.” Noe said, “Inferior Origin Matrix wishes to display information to Host Watt. Acknowledge this request?”

Yes, Noe.

“Affirmative.” It continued, “Displaying information now.”

 

Congratulations, Aspirant Walter, for completing the first Trial! The results of your week here is as follows:

Zombies Felled: 822

Skills used: 0

Resources scavenged: 0

Shelters created: 0

Distance Travelled: 492.09 km

Time Spent Resting: 10.24 hours

Final Rating: F+

 

Wait, an F+? Noe, that can’t be right. I busted my ass off killing zombies for the entire week, and my final rating is an F+?

“Does Host Watt wish to see the Rating Breakdown?” Noe inquired.

Yes. There must be something wrong with its grading system!

“Acknowledged. Displaying Inferior Origin Matrix’s Final Rating Breakdown.”

 

Breakdown:

Observation: Aspirant Walter made no attempts to secure proper food or water and relied solely on the provisions given to all Aspirants at the start of the trial.

Conclusion: Aspirant Walter does not have the intellectual capabilities to understand basic survival needs.

Rank: F-

 

What the fuck! The only reason I didn’t take time to secure food or water was because I didn’t need to!

 

Observation: Aspirant Walter made no attempts to secure a shelter, choosing to sleep out in the open, and spent the majority of the time outdoors in the rain.

Conclusion: Aspirant Walter lacks the mental capacity to understand the dangers of hypothermia, the dangers of being exposed to predators, or the need for proper rest.

Rank: F-

 

I can understand docking my marks because I used Noe to doze off out in the open, but not everything else! Again, I didn’t need much sleep because I had the ambrosia, and I didn’t need to keep warm from the cloak. You gave me these things, you piece of shit matrix!

 

Observation: Aspirant Walter did not utilize the skills gained through the initial enlightenment and relied solely on brute strength to fight.

Conclusion: Aspirant Walter is so mentally deficient that he does not have the brain capacity to understand or use the new tools given to him by the Glorious Central Collective.

Rank: F-

 

Can this thing stop mocking my intelligence?

 

Observation: Aspirant Walter-

 

Ok, stop Noe. I don’t want to listen to any more of this bullshit. I get it, I’m an idiot. I got the brain capacity of an infant. Fine.

“Acknowledged.” Noe said, “And do not worry, Host Watt, Unit Noe does not think that your intellectual capabilities are infantile.”

Thank you, Noe. I thought, almost sobbing, You’re the best. Much better than this trash Origin Matrix.

“I know.” It chimed, “Display the remaining information before the Final Rating breakdown?”

Yes.

“Acknowledged.”

 

Based on the final number of Zombies killed, you are ranked 7^th out of 88 surviving Aspirants in your cohort. Congratulations on making it to the top 10!

Displaying the top 5 ranked individuals in the world:

1: Kim Jae-Hyun – 11 043 kills

2: Kim Yoona – 10 834 kills

3: Richard Barkeley – 3832 kills

4: Chen Zhong – 3811 kills

5: Li Ye Ping – 2771 kills

 

Yeah, the difference between the Kim siblings and the people behind them was pretty staggering. I guess I now knew who started that huge explosion near the end.

 

Distributing Rewards:

Unlocked the Beginner’s Inventory Space (Able to hold 10 objects)

Kill reward: 822 gold

Survival Reward: 0 gold

Top 10 reward: 2000 gold

Hidden Rewards: None

Penalties: None

Total: 2822 gold.

Account balance: 100 002 822 gold

 

A hundred million gold? Huh, guess there were more perks for being a Lord Arbiter, although I don’t intend to abuse the extra funds for now. I still had to prioritize my own growth over anything else, and relying on overpowered equipment would do more harm than good in the long run.

 

Finally, Aspirant, please choose a Class:

• Tenacious Cripple
• Moron
• Spear Peon
• Master of None

Starting equipment for the chosen class will be given out once a class is selected.

 

I gritted my teeth when I saw the selections available for me to choose from. I was starting to hate this piece of shit Origin Matrix more and more. I knew that my class options wouldn’t be great given my F+ rating, but what the fuck were these options? Showing the Tenacious Cripple class was low-key mocking me, and Moron was just straight-up an insult. Imagine telling others that my class was literally called Moron! The only real options I had were numbers 3 and 4.

Ultimately, I chose option 4, the Master of None, because at least the title sounded cool when you listen to it out of context. If all my options were shit, then I might as well choose the best-sounding shit.

“Congratulations, Host Watt, for obtaining your first class.” Noe said, “Displaying the information for Master of None now.”

 

Class: Master of None (G- Rank Frontline)

 

My eyes were twitching in anger at this point. I swear Raffiel said that classes went from E to S rank, but I managed to somehow skip F rank and get a G- class instead? How does that even make sense?

But that’s fine, I told myself, I had Noe, I had my status as an Arbiter. I could overcome anything this garbage Origin Matrix threw at me.

 

Class Description: Congratulations on your continued survival until this point, despite how absolutely, disgustingly useless you are. As a reward for such an improbable feat, you have earned the title of the Master of None. You still have the manual dexterity and intelligence of an intoxicated Neanderthal, but at least you can (mostly) hurt your enemies more than yourself when wielding a weapon.

 

Class Passive:

Master of Nothing (G- Rank): You can use any weapon equally badly.

Weapon class-specific bonuses and penalties do not apply to you.

+0.5 (rounded down) strength when holding a simple weapon.

-5 dexterity when holding a simple weapon.

-10 dexterity when holding a non-simple weapon.

 

Forget what I just said, it was pretty clear that the Origin Matrix was out to get me. That wasn’t a passive, that’s a goddamn curse! Not only do I lose out on weapon bonuses, but I lose stats as well, and what the fuck was +0.5 strength rounded down? 0.5 rounded down is just zero! That’s just zero fucking strength! What was the point of even mentioning that? And that description? Fuck you Origin Matrix! You know what, I won’t even call it by its name at this point. It’s just Trash Matrix from now on.

 

Class Active:

Blind Strike (G+ Rank Active): You use all the skill you possess to strike at your enemies.

Your strike deals 5% more damage.

You are numb, deaf and blind during the duration of the strike.

 

Yup, I wasn’t even surprised at this active now. It was pretty much useless, but at least I had the option to never use it.

I sighed, well, at least I had the option to change or upgrade my class in the future. That day could not come fast enough.

The last thing I checked was the little package that appeared when I had chosen my class. I opened it, and several items popped out. To no one’s surprise, the items looked like literal trash, but I used my Rookie Arbiter Eyes to make sure that was the case.

 

Caveman Club: A weapon made for an Ape.

+5 attack

 

Begger’s Clothes: Rags previously worn by a crippled hobo.

+0 Defence.

-20 Charisma.

 

Ersatz Footwear: Slippers made from recycled tires and old wire.

+0 Defence

-10 Charisma

 

I wanted to throw all these things right in the trash, but I thought otherwise and stuck them into my newly acquired inventory. I could always throw them out when I needed more inventory space. The items took up 3 slots, and the fourth one was taken up by my backpack. Surprisingly, the bag only took up 1 slot of the inventory, even when it was full. That was the only pleasant surprise so far.

“Notification.” Noe said again, “The Inferior Trash Origin Matrix wishes to initiate a forced transfer of locations. Does Host Watt Accept?”

That must be the signal to go out of the trials.

Yeah, I thought, feeling more exhausted than ever before, Let’s get out of here.