Chapter 34 Apocalypse World Descent
Player Name: Dante
Player Race: Human
HP: 10/10
Strength: 1
Agility: 1
Dexterity: 1
Intelligence: 1
Constitution: 1
Vitality: 1
Mutation Index: 0% (Safe)
Radiation Index: 10% (Okay)
Superpowers: Quantum Entanglement, Absorption.?
The SDI for the virtual worlds were slightly different with each world depending on its rules and how the creator chose to present it. Also, worlds with combat like this always had game-like mechanics like HP.
Since the world rules stated that everyone would have the base stat value of their race, then that was the case. So even if Dante met another human who had 300 Strength Index outside in this world, that person would only be as strong as him right now.
Of course, to offset this, EVERYONE got a random superpower upon descent. The superpower given was not based on your physique, stats or anything, it was basically a lottery of luck.
Dante seemed to acquire the superpower called Absorption. He sincerely hoped it was what he thought and he checked the details of it.
[Superpower Name: Absorption
Superpower Rank: F
Superpower Description: Allows the users to absorb the energy of a defeated foe, increasing their own SDI by a small amount.]
Dante was pleased. It was basically as he thought, the famous ability of ‘devour/plunder’, but with a much nicer name for kids. This was one of the most coveted abilities in the universe because it promised, to some extent, limitless growth.
As for it being the lowest F rank, that wasn’t a problem. Everyone’s superpower that was granted when they descended started from the F Rank and could grow the longer they stayed and achieved certain tasks.
Most of this knowledge could be found on the forums and were downloaded to the AI chip before descent, but the specifics like what Dante had to do to increase it he would have to discover on his own.
Unfortunately, while absorption was the best potential enhancing superpower, it had no combat ability, so it did not help Donate in his current situation.
If he was found by the mutated two headed dogs, he would be killed and forced to re-descend. The good thing was that you kept the superpower you got on your first descent, so there was nothing like re-rolling.
Otherwise, we all know that the cunning students would die, and descend over and over until they got a suer power to their liking. The balance to this was that none of the random superpowers were ‘useless’ like a superpower to make your clothes clean. b𝚍𝚘𝚟l.nt
Most had some utility.
Dante stayed low and observed the animals have their meal while the stench drifted over. He would definitely have vomited if he wasn’t so determined to survive and see what this new ability could do.
However, it was clear these dogs were taking their time eating and some even went out to go and release their bowels then continue. Unlike humans who could order takeout, animals could not exactly eat on demand, so they maximized their ability to store food.
To beat the boredom, Dante checked his SDI and glanced at his Quantum Entanglement. He was aware that this interface was designed by the Eternal Academy based on their own archives, so the superpowers that were given in this world actually existed somewhere in the universe because someone had gotten it before and logged it.
[Superpower Name: Quantum Entanglement
Superpower Rank: SSS
Superpower Description: Allows the user to teleport for an unknown distance that is an estimated minimum of 10 light minutes and ignores any spatial defense/barrier/blockade.]
Dante was disappointed, but he had to reap what he sowed. He hid the truth of his ability, so while his knew the truth of Quantum Entanglement, what the academy had in their archives was what he revealed.
Still, he could understand now why they gave him an SSS rating with the potential to climb to EX. The ability to ignore spatial blockades meant that Dante could breach earth and other places with his superpower, so with the right SDI and Bionics/Psionics, he could be a lethal assassin/weapon for the military.
Then there was the distance, which was a minimum estimated 10 light minutes, or 111,800,000 miles/179,900,000 Kilometers!
My Brother in Christ, that is slightly longer than the distance from earth to the sun in our solar system. This meant that in the eyes of the academy and the officials, Dante could enter a secret area blocked by space technology, kill a target, and then teleport from planet to planet until he escaped completely.
Like, how do you even stop someone like that?
No wonder he was rated higher than the second place Humphrey who had the ability of Aerogenesis, to literally create wind from nothing even in the vacuum of space!
Just thinking of the application of such a power made sense that it was rated SS. Then there was the red-scaled lamia girl, Slessor, with the legendary Space Folding which was also SS.
If it lived up to the idea of Space Folding that Dante had in mind, then she definitely deserved third place. However, even such a killer and overpowered superpower had to bow before what they assumed Dante’s superpower to be capable of.
As for why they thought his could do that… well it was quite funny. Because Dante’s real body disappeared back to his universe despite the fact that the Eternal Academy had the highest grade spatial blockade technology covering its outer shell like a shield, Dante still left.
And because their scanner could not detect him within the range of the entire Academy’s landmass which spanned 10 light-minutes from all sides, they assumed he had teleported out.
Well, from their point of view, it made sense, but knowing the truth made it ironic… and kinda worrisome, if Dante was every made to prove the specifics and clear up the doubts, he would be hard pressed to maintain the lie unless he exponentially upped the scale of the lie.
In the time that had passed, the mutated dogs had eaten and unfortunately for Dante, one of them had specifically chosen his nice and inconspicuous bush to chose as its defecation location.
So it was either he lay and accepted a wild, radiation-infused and mutated dog’s shit all over his body, or he tried to move and alerted the beast as well as its pals.
Obviously, he chose to attack, but he needed a weapon. He glanced at the mutated dog and checked its SDI, a mechanic that should be obvious;ly present in a virtual world featuring combat.
Monster Name: Two-Headed Dog
Monster Rank: F
HP: 25/25
Strength: 3
Agility: 3.5
Dexterity: 4
Intelligence: 0.2
Constitution: 1.5
Vitality: 1.5?
The stats of the monster were based on the standard of the race inspecting it, so in Dante’s case, it was the stats of a purehuman. So its strength of 3 was not 3 times the strength of an average mutated dog, but 3 times the strength of an average pure human.
The same went of all the others. So in this case, no, Dante was not going to miraculously beat this dog in a one on one fight unless he had a great amount of wits, some advantage and plenty of luck.
However, why on earth would he fight it head-on? He placed his hand to his side and pulled out a knife, a basic weapon that his avatar carried pre-descent to protect himself.
In fact, he even had a backpack with supplies and medications, because who the heck traversed the wasteland without them?
Dante waited for the dog to come close and remained frozen. The dog was only slightly vigilant, checking the area superficially before turning around and squatting, ready to empty its bowels.
And there was Dante, like a snake that was coiled and ready to pounce that had struck out, his hand shoving the stabby end of the knife right into the closest yet weakest point near to him.
You see, in this world, it didn’t matter if you had 2 or 3 times the constitution of a person, or twice their vitality.
When you get stabbed in the asshole, its death. A painful, brown, shit-filled, bloody and agonizing death. You will scream, you will thrash, and you will roll, exacerbating the pain and making you resent the fact that death did not come instantly.
This poor two-headed mutated dog went through this experience.
Unfortunately for it, Dante was smart enough to pull his knife out before it began thrashing about so he could defend himself from its pals who had been alerted.
As for the other dogs, when they saw their body bleeding mixture of brown and red goop while squealing in an bone-chilling voice, they whimpered and took some steps back.
To go from a peaceful and happy situation to seeing such a thing, even beasts would be intimidated. Especially since they had 0.2 of the intelligence of a pure human, which was actually not bad.