Starting from Zero

Book 2, Chapter 7

Catching Up

------------------

I led Lucky towards the depth of the valley, as usual, Lucky just cleared everything we came across along the way. But for some reason its leveling speed is becoming slower, almost the same pace as me.

We finally saw something new, a zombie with long fangs and enlarged sharp claws. Identified as "Mutated Zombie", level 60, whose attacks can paralyze the target while carrying a deadly poison. Movement is somewhat fast and is resistant to attacks, vulnerable to fire. Heart is weakpoint.

I approached it quickly, asking Lucky to deal with targets around us while fighting it one-on-one myself. I'm 38, could try it.

Just when I tried to slash this thing, I found its claws already in front of my face. I jerked my blade back in mid-air and jumped backwards. Damn that was close, my face was almost ruined!

I tried to move to the back and attacked, but the monster turned quickly and parried my sword with one claw, then swiped with the other one in an instant.

Ow!

I took a direct hit and lost 600 HP. Man that hurts, if I eat several more hits like this I'm a goner!

Just when I'm trying to back out I took another claw hit on my back. Turing around, I saw another Mutated Zombie just spawned behind me.

I got no other choice but to make some distance with a side-roll. But the two zombies leaped towards me while waving their big claws. This isn't good, they're too fast!

When I'm about to give up, a serial of fireballs blasted the two mobs away. I sprung myself up and got ready to dodge further attacks. But then I realized the two zombies are burning. No wonder it said they are weak to fire!

I recalled that my second class, Tamer, can use some magic too, so I started to throw small fire bullets. However with my low Intelligence they barely did much damage. Fortunately, Lucky's fireballs are quite effective.

After dealing with the Mutated Zombies, we came to a hollowed-out part on a cliff, just enough for us to hide inside. We stand at the cave exit while Lucky blocks the whole entrance, I stood on its back. (Now Lucky is above 15 meters. Of course it can't stay on my shoulder anymore!) And spam some fireballs here and there. The spawning rate here is very fast, we can't clear the area even with our full speed! Because we're killing something that is way beyond our own level, we rose fast. I reached 58 at around 8 pm, and Lucky is 58 too, just like me. During our grind I found out that the level of your Companion in [Zero] is limited by its master's level, it will never exceed master level no matter how much exp it earns. Lucky just obtain one level every time right after I level up myself.

Despite the time (the time in [Zero] is consistent with the real world), the place is still pretty bright due to our endless fireballs. Zombies outside kept trying to rush in while waving their shimmering green eyes and claws but they never succeeded. I felt hungry so I recalled Lucky and logged off.

I removed my helm and saw Wayne readying food on the table. "Aha! A perfect time to come out!"

"Pffff! Forget it. This is mine. No share for you!"

I dropped my face and pretended to be considering. "Sighhh. I finally found a nice secret spot to grind. I was planning to bring someone along, but now..."

"Boss you're the best! I'm always admiring your coolness, oh please help me level up and show that magnificent and selflessness image of yours for everyone to see! Here this dinner is my gift to show my loyalty to you! Enjoy!" Wayne immediately ran over and started to flatter.

"Haha. Now that's what I'm expecting. But seriously, are you going for an account tomorrow morning?"

"You bet I am!" Wayne passed me a bowl of food. "So what's your level now?"

"58."

"What the-- Weren't ya only like 29 yesterday?"

"Heehehe! It's a secret! Tell you what, the spot I mentioned is really good. A heaven for new players to train up. Only problem is the terrible air condition. Do you have the latest system news?"

Wayne put down his food and went carry his laptop to me. "Not much. Only two important ones. One is the female player Red Moon I told you yesterday, she got a Sacred equipment from a system reward. The other one is the system is now in auto mode, all NPCs will run according to their AI! From now on Zhong Hua Company will not manipulate anything in the system and will guarantee absolute fairness."

"Sacred equipment? What is it?"

"Rea fa ya felf!" Wayne mumbled with his mouth full.

Then I saw it on the web page. The player has obtained a Dark Bracelet, Magic Attack + 20-30, Luck +1, and can control a monster whose level is more than 100 below the wearer, but can only control one at a time. Looks nice but not that useful at the moment. My Hermit's Ring is way better!

I rested after finishing my meal, and woke up at 5 am. Dang it I overslept! I checked Wayne's bed, he's already gone to join the queue. I ate something, satisfied my toilet needs and entered the game again.

I appeared in the cave. It's totally dark, I didn't see any zombie eyes which would otherwise look like green light bulbs in here.

I called Lucky, it came out with a thunderous dragon roar which probably traveled really far. Now I know what a monster king looks like!

The roar was imposing but its only result seems to have been attracted a horde of zombies. I saw countless green dots coming this way! We're surrounded not long after that. Lucky filled the place with fireballs because it got infinite Mana points. I just stood on its back, bored. I could throw some small fireballs for fun at the beginning, but my miserable mana pool became depleted pretty fast. Considering that wasting Mana like this is meaningless, I remembered I still have an unidentified ring on me, so I took it out and started to Identify.

I never knew what the ring is, I didn't success after using Identify for somewhere like hundreds of times. The skill is now level 7, it should have pretty decent success rate by now, but I just couldn't get the ring identified. Lucky, however, is working really fast. The dawn is about to break and both of us have reached level 67.

I checked the rankings. The order didn't change but the guy on the top of the list is now 74! Man he's good!

Because of our level, the level 60 Mutated Zombies around here have begun to yield less and less exp to us. So we started to move deeper into the valley.

-------------

Um. Can't update during weekend. Just saying.