Nathan stared at his status window the way any RPG player would after finally leveling up following a long grinding session.
"…Okay," he said slowly. "Let's unpack this."
He sat down, leaning his hand back against the wooden platform while his pistol rested loosely at his side. The adrenaline from leveling up still buzzed through his veins, leaving him strangely refreshed despite an entire sleepless night.
His eyes scanned the numbers again.
"Hmm… so this confirmed that my Vitality, Strength, and Agility Increases by 0.1 every level up."
That part made sense.
Physical growth, pretty standard RPG logic.
"But Magic and Dexterity increased by 0.2," he murmured.
That part did not make immediate sense.
Nathan crossed his arms, slipping fully into analysis mode.
From the stats descriptions he'd read, Dexterity improved weapon handling, precision, and delicate control. For someone whose combat style revolved entirely around firearms, that bonus felt perfectly logical.
"Yeah, that one checks out," he nodded.
But Magic?
He frowned.
Magic supposedly increased maximum mana, spell efficiency, and spell damage output.
He looked at his hands.
There's no glowing runes.
Fireballs won't come out of it.
No dramatic anime-like aura either.
"I don't even have magic."
As far as he understood — with his modern Earth 'knowledges' — magic meant throwing fire, summoning lightning, or at the very least producing suspicious glowing circles on a particular surface.
His two skills didn't deal damage, barely consumed mana, and his class was Hunter, not Mage.
"So why mana grow at the same level as my Dexterity?"
Nathan tapped his chin thoughtfully.
Hidden scaling, maybe…? Future class evolution? Or did the System accidentally assign me wizard stats?
He imagined casting a spell… and immediately committed to the experiment.
"FAIYA BOORU!" he shouted dramatically, thrusting his hand forward in full original-anime-dub energy — hoping a fireball would somehow come out.
"AISU BUREDO!"
"RAITONINGU JAJJIMENTO!!"
"EKUSPUROOJON!!"
"ZA WARUDO!!!"
Nothing happened. Only Walkers's groan answered awkwardly.
"…Yeah. Still no magic."
After several seconds of deep philosophical experimentation — consisting mostly of shouting cringe-worthy anime lines — he shrugged.
"Well, more stats are always better," he concluded. "I'm not complaining about extra mana. It's not like I understand this world's balancing anyway."
He minimized the window halfway and glanced upward. A small system clock hovered in his vision.
[02:24 AM]
Below it, a countdown ticked steadily.
[Sunrise: 3 hours, 36 minutes, 51 seconds…]
Nathan exhaled.
"I'm assuming zombies stop spawning after sunrise. Otherwise, why even put a countdown?" he muttered.
"If this is a daily occurrence — considering the daily quest requires ten zombie kills…" he paused. Then sighed deeply. "…I'm officially becoming a nocturnal."
He raised two fingers in mock salute toward the sky.
"R.I.P. good night's sleep. Welcome, gamer sleep schedule."
• × • × • × •
The remaining hours crawled forward slowly.
Nathan decided conservation was smarter than trying to be heroic. He stopped engaging Walkers entirely. Ammo mattered more than curiosity now, and he had already learned everything necessary about their spawn behavior.
They shuffled endlessly below the wall, groaning in quiet disappointment as their midnight entertainment refused to participate.
You guys are basically background NPCs now, he thought apologetically.
Still, he made a mental note.
Later — when ammunition became less of a luxury — he would absolutely resume farming them. The Hunter's Gallery rewards granting Vitality bonuses were far too tempting to ignore long-term.
Thankfully, no more Jumpers appeared after the last one. Nathan silently thanked every cosmic entity that might exist.
With his right arm fully healed and the red-dot sight properly zeroed through repeated use, combat against Runners became almost relaxing.
They ran in straight lines — predictable, honest even. Whoever designed them probably still believed fairness existed.
As for whoever designed the Jumpers?
Nathan had only one comment:
"Screw that mo'fucker."
Now he could consistently land shots on Runners from twenty meters away (66 ft).
The improvement felt incredible.
Each trigger pull came smoother than before, his hands no longer trembled, recoil felt controlled, and target reacquisition came faster.
Dexterity is carrying my entire career right now.
Over the next few hours, three Runners appeared.
And three Runners died.
Each fight cleaner than the last, and each shot felt more confident.
When the second one fell, he completed another Runner kill quota, increasing his Agility by 0.2.
When Nathan flexed his legs experimentally, they felt lighter — more responsive.
Like his body finally matched his intentions.
• × • × • × •
The sunrise countdown ticked lower. The forest grew quieter.
And then—
[06:00 AM]
Nathan stood, ready to eliminate the remaining Walkers.
But to his surprise—
Every zombie froze mid-motion.
A nearby Runner corpse shimmered faintly.
Nathan tilted his head.
"Uh…?"
The first Walker crumbled, dissolving into gray ash that scattered into the air.
Then another.
And another.
Within seconds, every zombie disintegrated simultaneously.
Even the corpses vanished.
Even the dried blood stains on the wall.
Even the grime covering Nathan's clothes.
*Poof…* gone.
As if erased from existence.
Nathan stared in stunned silence.
"…Were they vampires' long-lost cousins?" he said thoughtfully. "That's… quite a logical explanation."
A thoughtful pause.
"…Should I bring garlic next time?" he jest.
The morning light rose slowly above the treeline, warm golden light replacing the oppressive darkness. For the first time since arriving in this world, the forest looked peaceful.
Safe.
And once the tension finally left his body—
Fatigue hit him like a truck.
His eyelids drooped.
Adrenaline gone.
Danger gone.
His brain began shutting down.
"Okay—" he yawned. "…I need some sleep. Immediately."
Nathan climbed down into the fortress interior, movements sluggish but practiced. He summoned a wooden plank in diagonal position against one wall as partial cover, then laid another flat beneath it as makeshift flooring.
Primitive, and slightly uncomfortable.
Perfect.
Comfort no longer mattered when his brain was seconds away from shutting itself off.
He collapsed without ceremony.
Less than a minute later, darkness claimed him.
And with it—
He drifted into the land of dreams.
A very fateful dream…
Unbeknownst to him, deep within the dense foliage beyond the clearing, a figure watched silently.
Unmoving.
Observing him with sharp, focused intent.
Sunrise reflected faintly in unseen eyes.
Then the figure vanished without a sound.
• × • × • × •
Nathan's consciousness returned abruptly, as if he had slept only seconds.
He opened his eyes slowly.
"Huh…?"
He wasn't inside the fortress anymore.
He sat on a chair carved from a strange white material resembling moonstone, smooth yet textured like compressed stardust. The chair seemed to grow directly from the floor, naturally formed rather than constructed.
His hands rested calmly on armrests he didn't remember touching.
The ground beneath him resembled lunar terrain — pale, softly glowing, stretching endlessly outward.
Above spread an infinite night sky filled with countless stars.
There's no wind, nor sound.
Only cosmic stillness.
Nathan blinked several times to make sure everything were real.
Okay… either this is a dream, or I finally unlocked magic through sleep deprivation.
Slowly, he looked forward.
And froze immediately.
Sitting opposite him was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen — and that wasn't an exaggeration.
Not just in this life.
In any life.
Long, flaxen hair that halfway faded into black cascaded down her back, shimmering faintly beneath starlight. Her heterochromic eyes held impossible depth, as if ocean trench and galaxy reflected within them at once. Her delicate yet striking face was framed by soft bangs, her lips curved into a faint, knowing smile.
She wore an elaborate gothic lolita dress — layers of crimson lace and jet-black fabric flowing like living blood-moon, hugging her amazing figure and her pale, white skin. Red ornaments shimmered like amaryllis woven into the design. The low cut at the front skirt exposing a pair of healthy and inviting thighs.
Elegant.
Somewhat dramatic.
But dangerously mesmerizing.
Her hands rested gently atop her thighs, hand clasped over the other with calm demeanor.
Nathan's brain stopped functioning for exactly five seconds.
…Am I died again?
But this pattern…
I've seen this way to much in modern fantasy, I can already guess it—
It seems like I'm at the present of a goddess doing cosplay.
After a silence long enough to become painfully awkward, the girl finally spoke.
"I've been expecting you, Nathan Nightshade…"