Red Dead To The World

Events

A checkered tablecloth adorned the table where my elbows rested.  I took a tentative sip of my coke and cringed.  It tasted like syrup and artificial sweeteners.  Drinking a coke was like pouring maple syrup down my gullet. 

"I told you to get the tea."  A familiar voice said. 

I looked up to see Fister, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and skinnier than I remember. 

Suddenly, the memory came back, and I looked to the bathroom.  King should be in there finishing his weed vape. 

"I hope he can eat as much as he said he could after smoking that.  I think the only one to get their money's worth is that lady timing the crab legs.  When she took them all, I wanted to hit her.  But, that hasn't happened yet; they don't come out until I get my second plate."  I said. 

"King isn't here.  We left him behind this time.  Didn't we always say we'd come back here?"  Fister said.

"That was before the food poisoning,"  I said. 

"It was before we stopped talking. So why did we do that?"  Fister asked.

"When friends leave, I don't try communicating.  You didn't either I think you had my number.  I got a new job after you left and never looked back.  Why didn't you try and stay in touch?"  I said.

"King and I stayed in touch.  I contacted him recently, and he ranted about you like a dark lord.  He doesn't sleep much anymore either."  Fister said. 

"Are you here to deal with me?  I won't go down easy."  I said.

The inhabitants of the restaurant turned into blood-thirsty zombies in the blink of an eye.  I turned and unleashed Hatchling's Flame.  In moments the whole restaurant caught fire.  Great orange flames shot up and scorched the zombies, charring them down to the bones as they crossed the fire.  I empowered the fire with my mana increasing their potency.  For the first time since I used the technique with my hand, I controlled the fire.  Suddenly, the scene changed to screams.

The humanity of the restaurant patrons and staff returned long enough for them to point at me.  Some fled towards the exit only for my flames to block them.  While these faceless people screamed and cried as their world burned around them, I returned to my food. 

Ding!

Root Of Black Dragons lvl2

Type: QI

Rank A+

Description – The essence of a black dragon lives within your qi, allowing the user to learn exclusive black dragon abilities and access dragon-only areas. 

Acts to level – Black dragons are bringers of chaos and misery omens hated by all. Therefore, actions that cause rampant destruction will level up this skill. 

Abilities

1.        Hatchling's Stomach –Food that would normally make you sick will recover HP. 

2.      Black Dragon's Blood – Immunity to most poisons and diseases.

3.      Hatchling's Flames – Dragon fire that even a hatchling can conjure. 

4.      Immature Dragon's core – With every breath, your body gathers and stores mana like a dragon.  Magic Parameter unlocked. 

5.      Immature Dragon Aura – The user's qi has spouted the black dragon's root.  10% resistance to magic attacks. 

6.      Blessed Of Earth – x2 CON and an affinity with all Earth-based skills.

Ding!

Root Of Black Dragon has reached lvl2

Qi +2

Qi 8

I sighed and turned to Fister.  "What was the point of that?"  I asked. 

"This is how King sees the people of the waking world,"  Fister said.

"I don't believe you.  Have you seen the things King's done?  Well, I have, and he knows it.  King wants to kill me or torture me until I wish I were dead.  He's desperate like a man trying to hide his horse porn collection from his girlfriend."  I said. 

Fister rubbed the back of his head.  "You're like an old art teacher obsessed with the native and their long-dead culture.  He gave you a way out, but you stayed and even tried to stop him.  How else should he react?"  Fister said.

"I don't care how he reacts.  He's a serial killer; I'm going to put him down. Did he tell you he's killing humans?  What about centaurs? I know you have a weakness for them."  I said. 

Fister looked away.  "None of this is his fault.  It's the system; his parameters are making him act like this.  He fixed your arm shouldn't that prove there is still good in him."  Fister argued.

I replayed the memory repeatedly.  The more I viewed it, the more I realized there was no benevolence in the action. 

"King only wanted to show me his power.  He wanted to say, look what I can do that you can't.  If I can fix you, then I can break you in a way you'll never recover."  I said.

The flames gathered around us as the screams died down.  I heard the sirens before jets of water shot into the building.  Yet, no matter how hard they tried, the water couldn't put out my mana-fed flames.  The flames gathered around me, blazing hotter with the fats burned from the patrons. 

"Can't you see that King is exactly what we all will become?  These skills and parameters will change us until we're all tools of the system."  Fister yelled.  It was the first time I'd ever heard him cry. 

"Remember the bomb threat and the shooting.  We got to hang out for hours because of those horrible incidents.  Now King's m******e has done the same.  Maybe we should try and stay in touch this time.  And if King can be spared, I will spare him."  I said. 

Remember my number then.  We exchanged numbers, and the dream ended. 

I awoke with my d**k gripped between Silent's cheeks and a craving for Chinese food. But, unfortunately, such a place only existed in my memory now. 

Maybe I'd meet a Chinese chef someday.     

The sun was still down, and I had things to do. But, unfortunately, beating King and letting him live raised the difficulty from legendary to impossible. 

I lay in bed snuggled up against Silent for a while, and let my mind wander to the possibilities.  So long as there were living creatures for him to drain, he could recover. But, on the other hand, getting him out of the city might be impossible. 

My first solution was to burn the city down and hope I got him.  I imagined that was how a black dragon would handle this.  Burning down the town would also power level my Root Of Black Dragons skill.  I gained a level from the dream, which showed how the skill worked.  It fed off of mayhem; whether that mayhem was real or not didn't matter. 

Then I had an idea for an all-out brawl but shelved that.  Not only did I not have enough strength to matter, but King had clones with comparable strength and intelligence to himself. Furthermore, my B rank skill Force wasn't enough at its current level.  I'd need to power level it to have any hope of winning.  While the first one was morally impossible but possible.  The second one was morally possible but physically impossible. 

Finally, I could ask him to leave.  Even if I used burning the city down as leverage, it wouldn't work.  He values these people as food, but there were other cities.  King doesn't seem to mind devouring humans.  So, in conclusion, I can burn the city down with everyone in it, but he'd more than likely just go to another town. 

If I could reliably kill a single clone, then maybe I could deal with him in a position of power.  At the moment, I had nothing.  It was like trying to sell a car insurance policy higher than the competition.  There wasn't a chance in hell the customer would buy unless the other companies burned them.  In this case, burning would be a consequence or a s**t ton of guilt.  Since there wasn't a hint of guilt, I didn't think talking was likely.

In conclusion, I had nothing viable. 

With nothing better to do, I opened my phone and booted up the shop app.  Everything was expensive.  While there were tons of skill die on here and weapons, armor, and slaves.  Nothing was free.  I'd have to sell some of my dice if I wanted anything.  So, I checked the skill menu and tabbed over to qi skill. 

For the next hour, I searched for any skill that might be able to deal with King's clones and massive health bar.  There was nothing that I could afford or wouldn't also destroy the city.  Skills that are guaranteed were precious.  Even if I sold all three of my skill dice, I could only afford E-rank skills. 

I continued to explore the shop until I found events.  As I scrolled down, I found a zombie world event. 

The world of Tyre has been overrun with the undead.  Sapient zombies have appeared, retaken the world, and it's only a matter of time before they rediscover space flight.  You, as a system member, have 2 hours to inflict as much damage as possible.  Damaging property, destroying their flesh plantations, and assassinating VIPs will earn points that can be traded for event prizes.  Select yes to enter this world. 

I swapped over to the event prizes.  There were several bronze, silver, and even gold skill dice for gaining over 100,000points.  From there, the points and rewards increased.  The event opened in five minutes. 

I selected yes without a second thought.  The prizes were too good to pass up. Usually, I'd have to complete a quest to receive a reward. However, an event was just what I needed. 

Other events were locked or coming soon. Finally, there was one that could only be entered with an S rank skill. 

If this was anything like a mobile game, events would give special skills, rare items, and powerful weapons.  I had other plans.  If this was a technological world, I planned to steal a car.  Maybe one with a horse trailer. 

Did military Humvees have trailer hitches?  I'm sure they did.  I planned to steal one and inventory it.  Then again, for what I needed, maybe a heavy-duty F350 would be better. But, of course, I would only have 2 hours to steal what I wanted and earn points. After that, the system might drop me in the middle of nowhere.  Even if I used Sprint, finding civilization would be difficult.  Honestly, I was just as likely to fall on the roof of some building. 

I eased myself out of bed and started writing a note.  Through my other, I was able to make a reasonably legible note.  After that, the clock started counting down. 

Ding!

System Message: Welcome to our first-ever event.  I hope you're as excited.  Those who participate in this event will gain many rewards.  Your mission is to stop the zombies of the world Tyre from gaining space flight.  If they manage to leave their planet, they will eventually cause an unending zombie apocalypse.  It is your job as users to combat this threat.

Targets

Dr. Eyepatch – A one-eyed mad scientist that can transform into a massive muscle-bound beast called The Ravenous Cyclops.  It produces vast clouds of poisonous gas from the pours of its skin.  Poison Resistance, Poison Wards, or poison immunity ability is required to fight this target.  Its strength rating is 35 and grows the hungrier for flesh it gets. 

Blonde Bimbo – A blonde zombie obsessed with preserving her looks.  She's known to skin living females to wear their flesh like a suit.  Bimbo pressurizes the gases produced in her rotten body to increase her strength and speed.  STR and AGL rating 30

Grog – He's 9ft mutated and a very popular politician in zombie society.  Some believe he'll become president, but for now, he's just a senator.  Grog pushes for space flight harder than most other senators.  He owns more flesh farms than most businessmen.  Killing him won't stop the space program, but it will slow it down.  STR and CON rating 25

I read over the targets and relaxed a little.  Sure, they were stronger than me, but the poison gas wouldn't bother me much.  I actually had a higher Constitution than Grog, so that made me feel better.  Now, where would the system teleport me?  I hoped I wouldn't take over another other. 

Ding!

Teleporting In 30s

After checking my AR15 and my machete for any c****s in the blade, I was ready.  Blue light surrounded me as Silent turned over. 

Ding!

Teleporting