Author's Note: Welcome to the cliched zombie dungeon! How can I write a Gamer story without having a zombie dungeon? If anyone wants to share some ideas, they have about what other dungeons could be found in the wizarding world, please let me know! I'd love to hear your ideas!
Modus Vivendi
Chapter Four
Vir Fugiens Et Denuo Pugnabit
he who fights and runs away may live to fight another day
(Saturday the 23rd of June, 1985. The Necromancer's Den, Wisteria Walk, Little Whinging, England.)
Evelyn was, for lack of a better term, three and a half feet of gleeful excitement. Not the usual response from someone that had found themselves in a situation such as the one she had found herself in, but Evelyn wasn't exactly normal anyway and hadn't been for some time now.
Her day had started out much the same as every other day since she had woken up in Rowling's world. She had woken hours before anyone else, exactly three hours after she had gone to sleep at midnight, and had spent a few hours running through the streets and dealing with the few pests that had popped up from the woodwork. A morning jog was always the way to start a day properly. Then she had sneaked back into the house, been immediately greeted by yet another [Breakfast at the Dursleys] quest, which had been quickly followed by another five chore quests, and then once all that had been finished, she had been ordered down the corner shop on Wisteria Walk for milk and eggs.
It was Dudderkin's big day, his fifth birthday, and that meant that his cake needed to be bigger and better than last years. Thus, the need for more milk and eggs as the amount that was in the kitchen wasn't nearly enough to make a cake bigger enough. Last year Evelyn had secretly made one for Harry through the Lv.: 3-Quest [Harry's Big Day!].
So, alone she went, as Harry had been sent off to clean the windows, wash the car and mow the lawn so everything was pristine for Dudley's party.
But that wasn't why Evelyn was gleefully excited. That was due to the fact that as soon as she had come out of the shop with said milk and eggs and rounded the corner intent on walking down the alley, the alley had immediately turned dark and foggy like a Silent Hill rip-off. And much like the horror game, which she had never managed to finish, the alley was doing everything it could to kill her as it had been turned into a suburban cul-de-sac dungeon filled with undead creatures that were determined on making her join their ranks.
With a sickening crunch, she slammed her aluminium bat into the skull of a Lv.: 4 Zombie that had tried sneaking up behind her. Its skull concaved almost effortlessly, dropping its health bar down to zero from a combined effort of 27 Strength and Lv.: 3 of [Blunt Weapon Mastery] which had, in turn, gained her the skill [Power Strike].
She was so glad that she had taken the time to look through all her settings, which had allowed her to toggle her commands from verbal to mental.
[You've gained 35 EXP]
[You've looted Piece of Cloth]
Evelyn couldn't help but pull a face at the measly loot. None of the zombies had given her anything good, just the same three pieces of repeated loot. Pieces of Cloth, Teeth of the Dead and then the occasional Human Rib. What crafting item used the latter two, she had no idea, but into the crafting material category, they had all disappeared.
She turned just in time to see another zombie, this one wearing a business suit, come limping towards her. She ran forward, making use of the associated skill to give herself a boost of speed to jump into the air and slam the bat down, which resulted in a disgusting squelching sound. Classic zombie logic. Destroy the brain, kill the undead.
[You've gained 35 EXP]
The young witch hummed in interest as she picked up a small glass bottle filled with a red liquid. A quick observe showed it to be a basic Healing Potion which would heal her for a total of twenty health points. Nothing too fancy, especially since most of her food usually healed her for the same amount, but it could be useful one day.
"Smells like strawberries."
"That's because it apparently tastes like them," she replied to the snake loosely coiled around her neck.
Cassiopeia hissed, her tongue flicking out as Evelyn placed the Healing Potion into her Inventory—where it was automatically sorted into the category for potions. There was no limit to how much she could place into her Inventory and it would have looked like a warzone if she hadn't taken the time to sort through it and create categories for the items she picked up. She had spent the better part of an hour sorting everything out, tagging items with what categories she wanted them in. Thankfully, they were then automatically sorted accordingly.
In the end, she had made a total of twenty-six different categories… with her constantly debating if she needed more or not.
Continuing through the cul-de-sac at a leisurely pace, Evelyn quietly hummed the tune of a song that wouldn't be out for another sixteen years to herself. A big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff was a fairly accurate way for to her explain her life, what with the time displacement and such. There wasn't much she missed from her life Before. She did, however, miss the music and books that wouldn't be out for decades yet. Especially the shows that she would binge while working late on her assignments.
Somehow the humming had managed to level her [Singing] to two, despite the fact that she wasn't actually singing. Sometimes the way the game mechanics worked made no sense at all.
"That one smells like dark magic."
She paused and turned to look towards where her familiar was looking—one day Hedwig would become her brother's and Evelyn couldn't wait to meet the owl. Crawling across one of the streets in front of her with its limbs moving in snapping, jerky motions that reminded her far too much of possessed people in films was a gaunt, skeletal being that looked somewhat similar to the zombies but also vastly different. Sort of like the wendigos from that game she remembered playing with the totems and butterflies… Dawn something or other.
Really, it was just fortunate that she had just recently managed to evolve [Accidental Magic] into [Wandless Magic] or she would have been screwed two ways to Sunday. The most efficient way of dealing with an inferius was with fire and other than her magic, she had no way of making it. Maybe she should start carrying around a backup lighter in her Inventory… it was good to have different options available to her in case one failed one way or another.
"Keep an eye on the inferius, Cassiopeia."
'I really need a ranged skill.'
'Maybe I can…'
Evelyn thumped the end of her bat down against the cold, hard concrete and used it for support as she closed her eyes and outstretched an arm. She inhaled and exhaled slowly as she reached for that thrum of power within her, that electrical current that coursed throughout every single part of her, the one that had taken hours of meditation to find in the first place.
When she felt a warm presence, she opened her eyes just in time to see the Lv.: 8 Inferius fly backwards, slamming into a nearby wall, as a jet of orange-red fire hit it.
-20MP
MP: 271 / 291
[Due to the manipulation of magic, a new skill has been created and added to your list]
[Incendio] [Lv.: 1] [PP to next Lv.: 95]
[Active]
A simple, but strong fire-making spell that can deal 15-20 damage at the cost of 20MP
] - - - [
The inferius screeched in anger as it stood back up, but Evelyn couldn't help the smile that curled her lips. She was finally doing actual magic that wasn't shrinking Dudley's clothes or making Petunia's hair change colour without the hag noticing as she tried to advance her [Accidental Magic] into the more powerful [Wandless Magic]. Despite Evelyn's extreme interest in it; it had still taken her over a full year to reach the level that had finally unlocked the advancement—level hundred and fifty.
The noise attracted the nearby zombies towards her location, but thankfully, they were still some distance away. Should be enough time for her to deal with the inferius, anyhow, even if it did have a health bar of 800 that had only been knocked down to 780 with the one fire spell in her arsenal.
She couldn't wait until she could get her hands on something more powerful like Fiendfyre. That black or blue fire ring Grindelwald had made was also something that she definitely wanted. Evelyn was far more interested in the darker spells than most of the lighter ones she really knew but didn't have access to quite yet.
The inferius gave a hair-raising screech, which caused the nearby zombies to follow suit, and it rushed towards her. Evelyn fired jet after jet of [Incendio] at it, which slowly chipped away at its health but did nothing to slow it down or prevent it from reaching her. With another hair-raising screech, the inferius swiped its clawed hand in Evelyn's direction.
Critical Hit! -35HP
HP: 865 / 900
Evelyn cursed as the inferius cut across her side and she kicked out, slamming her foot into its head to knock it back. Cassiopeia hissed in anger and before Evelyn could react, her familiar had shot forward, striking the inferius on its neck. It screeched as she bit down, and Evelyn caught another claw to the side as she jumped forward to prevent her familiar from being hit as she currently only had fifty health points. Cassiopeia then quickly slithered back up, so that she was once again coiled around the young witch's neck.
She could only watch in fascination as the inferi then began to boil from the inside out.
Apparently, her familiar's blood-boiling venom was also effective against inferius, despite them having no blood to speak of.
Who knew?
[You've gained 50 EXP]
"That's different."
Evelyn carefully examined the small purple shard she had picked up off the ground. The pain from the inferius' claws had faded almost instantaneously, and her health was recovering but she could probably do with some food as the hoard of zombie the fight had gathered were nearby. She munched on some Toast—which healed her for ten per slice—as she observed the Soul Shard in her hand. Apparently, it healed abnormal conditions and diseases, while also recovering health and magic for fifty each.
She probably wouldn't use them then, unless she got an abnormal condition or disease… or came across someone else who had one. No point in wasting them when Evelyn had a copious amount of Toast in her Inventory due to cheesing her [Breakfast at the Dursleys] quests. If she failed at cooking a piece of food, say like burning a sausage, it then didn't count towards the total needed for said quest and another uncooked one would spawn—no-one else would notice it either.
The slightly burnt one was then sent into her Inventory and on she continued. Thus, why she had so much food on her that she could probably feed an entire county for a year.
After placing the Soul Shard into her Inventory, Evelyn tapped the bat against her leg. 'Stats.'
] – Status – [
Name: Evelyn Rose Potter [Lv.: 8] [Exp to next Lv.: 2174]
Age: 4
Class: The Gamer
Title: Orphan
HP: 900 / 900 (0.10/s)
MP: 291 / 291 (0.07/s)
STR: 27 / VIT: 30
DEX: 29 / AGI: 34
INT: 95 / WIS: 72
CHA: 16 / LUK: 1
Stat Points: 40
Currency: £470 / ʛ6
Defining Traits
[ - Potter Origins - ] [ + ]
[ - Evans Origins - ] [ + ]
[ - Gamer's Body - ] [ + ]
[ - Gamer's Mind - ] [ + ]
] - - - [
'So close to the intelligence bonus.'
'Also need to find something that increases luck...'
For only having played the game for a little over a year, Evelyn had shot up from her original starting point, which really was a testament to how much she had been doing these last few months. However, it was getting harder and harder to increase her stats now and she knew that she would have to start dipping into her stat points sooner or later. She also estimated that all of her stats would either be in or around the hundred mark by the time that she rolled up to Hogwarts and she wondered what greatness the castle had to offer her.
There was also the side thought of if she had done too much and she was now considered overpowered for her level, but she ignored it. No-one was parking the breaks on her gaming experience. Besides, there was probably a bunch of stuff to do that would take into account her stats. At least, she hoped that the rest of the world levelled alongside her.
One hitting bosses wasn't fun when it happened all the time.
She had played on god mode enough times to know that.
Evelyn swung her bat down in an arch, slamming it into the back of the zombie's head which resulted in it being a sneak attack. Double damage. Then, just as the other zombie turned towards her, she hit the bat across the side of its face before then finishing it off with another hit to its slightly exposed chest.
[You've gained 175 EXP]
[You've looted Tooth of the Dead]
[You've looted Tooth of the Dead]
. . .
Another three zombies appeared around the corner and Evelyn twirled her bat around in her grasp like a baton. Dudley always had the best presents. Before it would have greatly annoyed her how unappreciative her cousin was, but not now when she and her twin could reap the benefits of his spoiled behaviour. Evelyn had even used magic 'accidentally' to make some toys break every now and again so that he would throw them away, toys that she had seen Harry look at and knew that he wanted.
He deserved more than what he got and definitely deserved more than what Dudley got.
She rushed forward, ducking around one zombie that stretched out towards her as she slammed the bat into another. One, two, three and down they dropped before dissolving into nothingness as though they had never existed in the first place. The zombies were so much easier to deal with than the inferius had. Guess that was just what being magic did.
[You've gained 210 EXP]
[You've looted Piece of Cloth]
[You've looted Human Rib]
. . .
A burst of fire exploded at where a zombie had been standing and it was blasted back and Evelyn quickly swooped in with the killing shot, a headshot with her bat. It was definitely going to be her new strategy for dealing with them. Knock them down with [Incendio] and then come in with the kill with her aluminium bat.
[You've gained 2555 EXP]
[You've looted Soul Shard]
[You've looted Piece of Cloth]
. . .
[Level has increased by 1]
"Heal together now?" Cassiopeia hissed after Evelyn had failed to prevent a zombie from taking a chunk out of her arm. She had been going through the dungeon on sort of autopilot after the first hour, so she didn't really remember much of the second hour before bitey had appeared. Maybe she should work on obtaining Protego…
"Might as well."
Cassiopeia uncurled herself from the young witch's neck and slithered down so that her bottom scales touched the wound on Evelyn's arm. Her tongue then flickered across it as she lowered her head, and the wound began to briefly glow as Evelyn told it to heal and close. The wound then began to shrink until there was nothing left but unblemished skin.
[Parselmagic has increased by 1]
[Parselmagic] [Lv.: 5] [PP to next Lv.: 4250]
[Active]
Ancient and rare magic only accessible to Parselmouths that allows them to channel their magic through a snake familiar. It can also be used for powerful healing and manipulating magic to the benefit of others. Not much is known at all about the limitations of Parselmagic and what a Parselmouth can accomplish with it
] - - - [
Cassiopeia moved back up across her. The young witch probably looked quite the sight, with a two-foot-long snake draped across her. The viper had definitely grown quite a bit since Harry had originally found her in the garden and it seemed as though she was nowhere near done. Evelyn theorized it was something to do with her familiar being a magical variant of snake. There was a lot she didn't know for sure.
The young witch would definitely need to do some experiments in the future…
[Sense Danger triggered!]
The hairs on the back of Evelyn's neck stood up suddenly and without a moment of thought, she ducked and rolled to the side, absentmindedly noticing the ray of light that hit the wall behind where her head was supposed to be. The wall which now sported a freshly made hole the size of a basketball.
"Too close…"
Evelyn looked over her shoulder. Stood at a fork in the road of the cul-de-sac was a tall, robed figure. The only part of it that was visible was the singular hand holding a wand that seemed to be glowing with black energy. The hand was greyish and rotten, much like what she had seen of the other zombies.
Lv.: 32 Zombie Wizard.
Apparently the big bad hadn't appreciated her slaughtering its undead army.
She fired [Incendio] after [Incendio] at it until her magic supply was completely drained. Then she booked it down the street, slamming the few remaining zombies out of her way with her bat. Mobs didn't have health regeneration so she could take cheap shots at the boss all day until it was dead. Time didn't move at all when inside of a dungeon. Poor way of playing the game, but Evelyn still hadn't tested the theory of if she could actually die or not. Hadn't wanted to either, just in case she was greeted with a 'Game Over!' screen.
It would have been like those stealth missions where you could run away until the mobs had lost sight of you and then come back again as though nothing had happened. Well, except the zombie wizard didn't seem to operate on the same mechanics as those missions, as it was following her relentlessly as she weaved through the winding cul-de-sac streets.
It now took a total of an hour and twelve minutes for her magic supply to completely refill. Using [Meditation] helped halve that again, but Evelyn didn't have the opportunity to do so with the robed figure chasing after her like a bat out of hell, firing magic balls at her that she could only just about dodge because of [Sense Danger].
She had managed to knock 383 health points off the boss before her magic supply had depleted, but it still had a staggering 14,817 left. [Incendio] wasn't nearly enough for her to deal with it in a timely fashion without being blasted to oblivion. It wasn't as though she could escape either, so it was either fight or die. She blamed the hag for making her go out to get milk and eggs and Dudley for being such a spoilt brat that he needed a big cake. Was it bad that she sometimes dreamt of murdering all the Dursleys in their sleep?
-100HP
HP: 850 / 950
Evelyn could barely contain the scream that ripped from her throat as something cut through the flesh of her arm. The spell should have completely loped it off at the elbow but due to [Gamer's Body] it remained attached by some unseen force, before then knitting back together leaving only a line of blood behind as evidence. Still hurt as though she had indeed lost her arm and her health had suffered a hit, but her arm was still connected to her body.
She really needed to find the magical equivalent of [Physical Endurance] before properly entering into the magical world as spells were most definitely going to be flying her way on a regular basis. She had only seen a small handful of magical people hit someone and Lumpy Voodersnitch wasn't one of them.
Narrowly dodging another spell—or curse, she wasn't exactly looking—Evelyn crammed an Apple Cobbler into her mouth. As a result, her magic quickly began to climb back up for a total of 300 points—which went over her total capacity but thankfully not by much. [Cooking] was one of her most useful skills. She couldn't wait until she could make potions.
If only she could find some way of distracting the boss somehow…
It was as though a light bulb had popped up above her head in that exact moment. Maybe she could create a distraction. She already had a good handle on her magic, had moved past the times of uncontrollable, unpredictable magic. So, in theory, she could create a spell of sorts that could help her. Wouldn't know until she tried it at least.
Evelyn ran through the cul-de-sac for a few more minutes as she dodged the spells that were thrown her way, only coming to a stop when the boss had finally stopped itself and then began to retreat towards where it had originally appeared. She swallowed, knocking the back of her head against the brick wall she was leaning up against with a thump. The boundary limits applied to the boss were far bigger than what she was usually used to, but at least the boss had one, otherwise, she would have been running around for hours.
It was just a good thing that she had been levelling [Running] for months now. If it wasn't for all the morning runs the boss would have no doubt caught up to her within seconds. The Run Boy Run song usually played in the back of her mind when she went running as well. She was sort of disappointed that there wasn't an accompanying soundtrack that played in the background as she went about her days.
She would have to figure out a way of getting music into Hogwarts.
"Less thinking, more planning," Cassiopeia complained, and Evelyn blinked, before then flickering her attention down to her familiar.
She didn't know how familiars worked exactly, but the snake seemed to understand her unlike anyone else. Even Harry. It did explain his relationship with Hedwig, however. But the snake was right, Evelyn had let her mind wander again instead of focusing at the issue at hand. She needed to figure out a spell that created a distraction.
Closing her eyes, the young witch thought back over all the other spells and similar things that she could recall from games and such that caused her desired effort. Illusion spells that created an image of her could work, but she wanted something that seemed like it was her. She didn't want to make a spell that only worked against people that didn't look closely. She wanted something that even someone like Dumbledore would be tricked by.
A grin spread across her lips. 'Bingo.'
A doppelgänger spell.
Something that made an exact copy of herself, not just as a simple illusion. Yes, a spell that like could work nicely and allow for so many different possibilities if she could get it right. It would have to make it so that the copy could do what she could do, skills and all. But then again, she could also have to have some way of knowing what the clone had done…
Evelyn nodded; her mind made up about what she wanted to happen. Once again, she reached for her core and felt the electrical current that coursed throughout her. She pictured exactly what she wanted in her mind, making sure to be clear and precise to ensure there were no mistakes.
[Due to the manipulation of magic, a new skill has been created and added to your list]
[Umbra Geminus] [Lv.: 1] [PP to next Lv.: 250]
[Active]
A unique spell that creates a shadow clone, a doppelgänger of the caster. Capable of independent action and with their own MP pool, which is made up of half of the casters, they are capable of everything the caster is while also able to learn new things
] - - - [
Evelyn stared at the copy that stood before her. The spell name could probably do with some work, but it was the best she could think of one such short notice. Her own magic had been halved down to 145.5, and she hoped that by levelling the skill she could lower the loss of magic on her part. Otherwise, however, the spell had been a success.
"Time to kill the boss."
Her clone grinned.
Author's Note: Is Evelyn growing too much? Four, almost five, years old and already she's beating up zombies and inferius and a Lv.: 32 boss… But then again it took Han like two years to get superpowered so. You'll also find items, spells, and food from other games, as long as it makes logical sense that Evelyn can actually make them here. Aside from dungeon ideas, if you also have any ideas towards items and food, drinks, that sort of thing please let me know as well!
Can anyone guess what the doppelgänger spell is inspired by? Also, I saw a Tumblr post where everyone was doing the Benedict Cumberbatch thing for Voldemort and I just… I had too. They are too good. Please send me some you think Evelyn should call him!