[Status]
[Items]
[Misc]

 “Yay! Misc.” A simple menu appeared and Alice with no hesitation choose a line that most game developers used along 'other', 'trash' and so on to hide food. The main quest’s time limits had reassured her enough to up growling stomach to the highest priority.

And there was it!

“Ten BP, a liter of water, got it. Appear!”

A plastic bottle materialized right before her without any special effects and although the girl opened it with wary, the water smelled ok and quenched her thirst just as usual. Good system! Alice exhaled. Not cheap! She frowned immediately and opened the battle log. Yes indeed, two centipedes had given her 240 points of system currency and the girl could order dry vegetables, dry meat, and dry biscuits right now… to have a single meal for a whopping hundred BP. With smaller portions for a small girl, nonetheless!

Doesn’t it mean others have to pay even more? Occasional thought made her yearn for company, which in turn made her feel powerless and depressed.

I must assume there is only me. No one will save me. All alone. Alice shook her head forcefully, summoned her grudge against the system and clenched dry meat in an angry bite. After gulping down the tasteless mass, she chewed a mix of carrot, corn, broccoli and other weeds she couldn’t even recognize but which smelled and tasted like weeds. Then crunched a rock-like tough biscuit and fertilized the whole thing with the rest of the water.

Alice then stared down at plastic dishes. Having quenched her thirst and hunger, she hadn’t felt any satisfaction. She just… had functioned.

“You want me to strive harder, don’t you?”

Indeed, the thought of having to eat these… things day after day was not easy to bear for a modern girl from the first world. Especially since the system menu had some real food like soups, salads, steaks and more; drinks like juice, soda, beer, vine and more; it even contained sweets. Unfortunately, Alice was dirt poor to afford several times the price right now.

“Status shop.”

After putting down her discontent, Alice focused on the most important.

>Attention! At the present moment, only experience trading is open. Reach level 5 for skill trade.
[1 EXP per 1 BP]

“Yes!”

The shout was genuine. Alice had hoped this option to be there, and her wish came true, even if it was in a solitary and extremely penny-pinching form. The girl sighed and resolutely poured 400 of her Battle Points into it without flinching.

Fortunately, she only had a single experience bar to fill.

>Level up!
>Hunter lvl. 1 -> lvl. 2
>+5 Skill Points
>Attributes being adjusted…

Subtle pleasant sensation tickled Alice’s skin and some of her tiredness dissipated.

“Good.” The girl nearly moaned. “Now only to test...”

A thin hot needle of pain pierced her spine. Alice barely winced, gaped foolishly and fell down like a soulless doll as a molten metal spread out through her nerves to every corner of her screaming body. Her muscles ruptured, her bones broke and her blood boiled.

>Level up!
>###hidden### being adjusted...
>Skill acquisition…
>-3 Skill Points

I knew it would kick me in the butt. Fuck. Even with her brain on fire, Alice ridiculed herself. She had expected something bad to be exact yet there was no use in running away since killing monsters would have brought her to this situation sooner or later anyway.

The pain subsided in a while with the help of a mountain of curses. Alice didn’t envy that Centipede lvl. 5 (!) at all. Or was the pain just another limitation of her human race? Please don’t take my race away, the girl pleaded and tried to get up.

She failed. Her body failed her, she realized immediately in silent horror.

Alice couldn’t move at all, helpless, half-way angered and half-way being terrified into a mindless mess. What, what, what did fucking system break? Before panic engulfed her, the girl ordered herself to stop. Check the changes. Something has caused it. Look it up.

[Absolute Body Control] [Like a magical undead being, you are lacking muscle memories and have to control your body at all times. Neutralizes neural lag. Perception reaction bypasses instincts.]

Okay. You now explain things. Good. Good.

I AM NOT A FUCKING UNDEAD YOU MOTHERFUC-

Alice made herself shut up, again. System said ‘like a one’. Not ‘you are the one’, she repeated over and over. So move, the girl ordered herself after calming down. No, not that, stupid, breath.

“Ha, ha.” Alice heard herself breathing. The brain was doing its thing even unconsciously. It just needed to send the right orders. There is a skill for it there, right?

“A em ewe…”

Probably not talking first would be for the best; Alice focused on her fingers instead. She felt the hard surface, dusty and warm. The cave was really deep for its ground to be so warm. The girl jerked her arm. Not really that hard, huh? Standard undead should mostly depend on their muscle memory, like in zombie movies, right? Magical undead would be a skeleton warrior with no muscles at all or a ghost or something. They don’t really need to learn how to walk, so why would she? A proper skill includes utility! The bow mastery had proved it!

Alice hissed inwardly when she managed to turn around awkwardly by wriggling like a slug and bumped into a pointed rock. Success! She almost kissed with a dead centipede’s leg while at it too. Shouldn’t it disappear or drop some gold, anyway? Alice mused about this and many other horribly unjust things that had been happening with her recently as the skill was rapidly working its way into her old nerve conduits. Soon the girl could afford to lie down on the rocks and face the ceiling.

“Really. Undead, huh.” The sigh longed, melancholic and dark. “I need to survive, probably defend this portal thing, kill monsters and return to Earth. In one piece and my own body, preferably. Phew. Better to mind straight goals, figures.”

Alice was actually worrying about meeting goblins or anything resembling humans yet designated as monsters by the system. She would cross this bridge later; the girl closed her eyes for a moment, sighed heavily and stopped thinking about ifs.

“Other changes now. Status.”

Alice Sung-Hyun Branson
Human/###hidden###

Level 2 Hunter
Exp: 1,000/3,000
Skill Points: 2
Battle Points: 730

Strength: 3.8 -> 4.7
Endurance: 4.0 -> 4.9
Dexterity: 5.8 -> 6.9
Agility: 4.5 -> 5.6
Perception: 5.8 -> 6.9