CHAPTER 04

Gary was leaving Leah’s house in a hurry, but then something appeared in his path. With a rotten physique and disgusting smell, this humanoid creature with gray skin looked scary, to say the least.

“What the hell is this?” Gary found his heart beating faster with every fraction of a second.

[It’s a ghoul.] Ai quickly responded. [People who have eaten human flesh when they were alive will become ghouls when they are woken up.]

“A-Are you saying the dead are being brought out of their graves right now?” Gary was stunned to hear that. His heart pounded against his chest as the ghoul screamed and jumped at him.

Knowing and believing that he was now strong, Gary instinctively threw his fist at it.

His fist and the ghoul’s claws clashed. A shockwave of translucent energy leaked out of Gary’s fist and destroyed the ghoul’s claws and hand, but the ghoul didn’t care much. It greedily bit on his shoulder and dug its sharp teeth into his flesh.

“Ah! Let go of me!” Gary pulled the ghoul’s head by its hair, forcing it to let go of his shoulder. 

Gary suddenly felt unable to freely move his body. “W-What’s going on? Why is my body freezing up?”

[The ghoul’s saliva has a paralyzing effect!]

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner!” Gary’s heart jumped into his throat. “Can’t you do anything about it?”

[No, your level is too low, but once you defeat it, I can help you develop resistance toward it!]

“No shit,” Gary was saying, and the ghoul roared at him. He also roared back, and the roar ended up freeing his body. “Haa!” he lunged at it and wildly threw his fists. The ghoul also attacked with its loose arms, but Gary’s fists destroyed its arms and then its body. He only destroyed the upper half of the body, but the lower half also soon disintegrated into bits.

Gary found himself panting heavily. “I… I really defeated a monster now, didn’t I?” he looked at his own hands, and he could see a faintly glowing translucent energy. “What’s this warm feeling surrounding my hands?”

[That’s spiritual force. It’s a high-level skill, which you are able to use now because Chun Fu’s spiritual force is still residing in your body, but it will soon dissipate. And then you won’t be able to use it.]

“What? Then when will I be able to use it?”

[When you reach the Energy Reduction echelon, you will be able to pull it off. But you should cross level 200 for that.]

“This really feels like I’m living inside a game, and it’s not as fun as I thought it’d be. Anyway, what level am I at now?”

[The life energy that Chun Fu had given you has helped in reforming your body, so your level rose from one to eleven.]

“Oh, it’s eleven, huh. Wait, I killed the ghoul, so is my level 12 now?”

[Nope. The ghoul you faced is too weak, so your level didn’t increase, but you gained some resistance to ghoul’s saliva and other related toxins.]

“The ghoul was too weak?” Gary’s shoulders slumped more than a little. “What was Chun Fu’s level when he died?”

[First, reach level 100, and then I’ll tell you what his level was when he died.] Ai harrumphed.

“So his level was higher than 100?” Gary was shocked. “Just how many levels are there?”

[Shouldn’t you get to your girlfriend?] Ai reminded him.

“You’re right,” Gary hurried to his home. Along the way, he wondered, “How did a ghoul show up here so fast? I’m sure there are no graveyards nearby.”

[You’re not that smart, are you? Graveyards aren’t the only places where humans are necessarily buried. That ghoul was probably buried in someone’s backyard or something.]

Gary was startled to hear that. He couldn’t help but feel worried about Leah. “I shouldn’t have left her alone. What if a ghoul or some other monsters attacked her?” he increased his speed, and he was running much faster than a professional athlete at this point. He wasn’t able to take sharp turns at the ends of alleys, yet, but he was somehow able to keep himself on his feet despite going so fast and taking many turns during the run.

Before long, he arrived at his house, only to stop in his tracks after seeing a crater right in front of his house. This crater wasn’t as big as the one Chun Fu made, but this one was made in the middle of the road.

[Talk about luck, that’s the dark witch’s body. You should burn it.] Ai ordered. [Hurry!]

“I don’t have matchsticks,” Gary said.

Ai hissed. [Aish! You can’t destroy that body with ordinary fire. You’ll need spiritual fire.]

“What the hell is that?”

[You still have remnants of Chun Fu’s spiritual energy. Just aim a punch at her and throw it from this distance. Make sure you are punching with the intent to destroy her body with flames.]

“Okay,” Gary punched the air, and fist-shaped golden flame flew out of his fist and struck the dark witch’s body.

[Keep striking. Don’t stop.]

Gary continued to punch with both hands, even though it was very arduous, but it quickly set the dark witch’s whole body on fire.

Gary was gasping and sweating profusely at this point. While the dark witch’s body was burning, Gary quickly entered his house. “Leah. I’m here.” He called for her, but there was no response.

“Leah! Where are you? Please respond,” he looked for her everywhere in the house but couldn’t find her. He put his hands on his head. “Where did she go? I told her to stay here.” It still hadn’t been an hour since he left, so why did she leave? Or was she taken by someone? These thoughts greatly stressed Gary’s mind and heart.

[Go out of your house once. I need to confirm something.] Ai said in a serious tone.

Gary scuttled out of the house and began looking for Leah.

Ai, on the other hand, noticed the vapors coming out of the dark witch’s burning body. [Those are not black vapors, which means… someone touched her. Which idiot did it?]

“Someone touched her?” Gary queried. “What will happen if someone touches her?”

[The dark witch’s blood is demonic blood. It is highly parasitic in nature. If a normal human were to come into contact with it, I’m afraid they’ll go crazy and probably even die.]

Gary’s heart started beating strangely. “Leah didn’t touch the dark witch’s body, did she?”