Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Three level ups in one go. That was a new record for Zane, and he had the achievement system to thank for it. Specifically, the more sinister achievement that he unlocked fairly early on without realizing.

But Zane did not contemplate further on the ramifications of these so called "Hidden Achievements" but rather instead quickly began to allocate his points to the desired attributes.

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[User: Zane Graves]

[Race: Human]

[Subrace: Living Dead]

[Level: 8]

[XP: 2,500/7,500]

[HP: 120/120]

[Attributes:]

[Strength: 14 +/-]

[Dexterity: 13 +/-]

[Constitution: 12 +/-]

[Intelligence: 10 +/-]

[Wisdom: 10 +/-]

[Charisma: 10 +/-]

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[Attribute Points: 6]

[Skills]

[Dead Man Walking – Tier II]

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Knowing that these were his current stats, Zane decided to get his strength, dexterity, and constitution up to level 15. And he had just enough points to do so. Naturally, his character screen updated to reflect these changes afterward.

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[User: Zane Graves]

[Race: Human]

[Subrace: Living Dead]

[Level: 8]

[XP: 2,500/7,500]

[HP: 150/150]

[Attributes:]

[Strength: 15]

[Dexterity: 15]

[Constitution: 15]

[Intelligence: 10]

[Wisdom: 10 ]

[Charisma: 10]

---

The moment Zane allocated these points, he felt his body surge with power, endurance, and stamina. He felt as if doing a 200-meter sprint while carrying a full set of military equipment would be a breeze, something he would even break a sweat over. And he could do so at speeds on par with the greatest Olympians.

While at the same time, Zane felt as if he could easily lift three times his own body weight, possibly even more if he really stressed himself. Which, at the moment, his current body weight was 185 pounds.

Zane's muscles also were far more clearly defined, as if he were a superhuman in the flesh, but unlike before, he didn't bulk up in any way, still maintaining his lean figure, like that of an elite swimmer. It was truly a shocking change to his body. It was as if his entire physicality was on par, if not slightly superior to the greatest athletes in human history.

His face had, however, undergone smaller minor changes, correcting some of the flaws that remained after his previous transformation. In essence, making him an exceptionally attractive specimen of man among the human species. He almost didn't recognize himself when he ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Inspecting his newly improved appearance.

This was a phenomenon that, as of now, only Zane had experienced. Then again, he only had a sample size of three. With himself, Elean and Olivia being the test subjects. The two women were already incredibly beautiful before awakening their powers, but unlike Zane, they had not undergone any physical changes of any kind.

Although he did not have enough data to confirm his suspicion. Zane was starting to genuinely believe these changes to his body were because his physique was unique insofar that he was classified as having the "living dead" as a subrace.

Regardless of the reasons, Zane inspected his entire body, making sure there weren't any other changes that he was unaware of, and when he was finally satisfied with his borderline Greek god appearance, he got dressed again. Before going back to maintaining a watchful vigil over the neighborhood.

While doing this, Zane thought about what would happen if he increased the other states he had neglected so far. Would he become on par with humanity's greatest geniuses and wisest philosophers if he increased his intelligence and wisdom to fifteen as well?

If he rose his Charisma would he be able to compel the common man to willingly fight and die for him with just his words? The system was truly a terrifyingly powerful entity, one that he now wanted more than anything to go out and level up so he could test his hypotheses.

But Zane was on guard duty, and thus he continued to experiment with the System and its potential secrets that he had yet to discover. Zane, of course, found exactly this when he went to the title selection screen and inspected his three titles that he had unlocked with his achievements.

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[Title: Slayer of the Dead – Tier I]

[Description: You have slain many of humanity's enemies, and because you have grown more efficient at killing the Undead.]

[Effect: +15% Damage towards Walkers and other Tier I Undead.]

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Zane was surprised by the effects of what was essentially the first achievement one should normally unlock. It was pretty damn good. There was, of course, only one problem with it. And that was he was now so well outfitted that killing Tier I undead was a breeze. Because of this, Zane immediately ignored this title and instead gazed upon the next one.

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[Title: Corrupted – Tier I]

[Your body is undergoing many changes as a result of your repeated consumption of blood crystals. Because of this, your body processes them more efficiently than before.]

[Effects:

-25% Duration of Corruption Debuff

+10% XP gained from consuming Tier I Blood Crystals]

[Note: Your skill Dead Man Walking – Tier II already negates the effects of the Corruption Debuff, and thus you will gain no benefits from selecting this title.]

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At first Zane thought this would be a good Title to select if not simply because of the +10 XP gained from consuming Tier I Blood Crystals, but unfortunately the note at the bottom of the selection screen informed him this Title was entirely useless for him just like the previous one.

Finally, Zane gazed over at the dreaded hidden achievement he had unlocked and inspected its effects, hoping silently that it would provide some use to him other than just a massive amount of experience.

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[Title: Murderer]

[Description: You are a cold-blooded killer who shows no remorse in murdering your own kind. As a result, people will naturally be intimidated by your presence. You are also more efficient at taking the lives of the living, whether in self-defense or outright murder.]

[Effects:

[All Living beings who you are hostile to will suffer from the Intimidation Debuff while within your presence.]

[+15% Damage towards all living beings]

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Though Zane had no idea what the so called "Intimidation Debuff" was, or what effects it would have, he supposed he would have to find out through actual use of the skill. Ultimately, this was the title he selected. And he was happy to do so, at least until he could find a better title by unlocking more achievements.

With this in mind, Zane continued to keep an eye on Olivia and Elena, both of which slept peacefully in the house. All the while, the storm continued to rage on, as did the battle for the Safe Zone's survival.