Having perfected my counter-surveillance technique as far as I could without opponents, I was getting toward the bottom of the list of things I wanted to develop. I still needed a healing skill, a way to inflict and remove status ailments, a defensive against physical and chemical attack, and a couple of other lower-priority abilities. The reason I'd put off healing was because it was going to be easiest to train it with weak enemies, and that would mean I'd be gaining experience. I could create Instant Dungeons with enemies aplenty, and I wasn't at all worried about being able to kill them. The problem was that I was likely to draw attention.
According to the Jump document, so long as I was in the world of The Gamer Instant Dungeons would draw on the souls of the dead nearby to generate monsters. That wouldn't be a problem after the Jump, but for now there were presumably a finite number of souls in a given area and at least one person actively collecting them: the Black Devil. I didn't want to cause trouble for him if at all possible, but I knew that I was going to be targeted eventually so I had to have those healing and defensive skills.
I started by going out that night, since I remembered Han Jee-Han saying he could only create the undead-type Instant Dungeons after dark. My power didn't specify any such limitation, but it was also the easiest time for me to get away. I located a shallow but thoroughly uninteresting alley about two blocks from home and started jogging there, then setting up a zombie-infested Instant Dungeon.
My first time through was terrifying. I'd never actually participated in life-or-death combat in my previous Jump with anything stronger than a horde of zubats, and they'd been pathetic. These were honest-to-Gaia zombies with rotting flesh and popped eyeballs and all sorts of disgusting things and they were all photo-realistic and smelly as fuck. Having prepared for this, I'd bought a nice heavy shovel in case any of them got too close to me. This particular "weapon" appealed to me more than a baseball bat, and the idea of eventually enchanting a shovel as a weapon always started me laughing a little. Even worse, Washu felt like being funny.
The Instant Dungeon had rolled over me and I was psyching myself up to fight some undead when her voice rang through my head: "Surprise!" The following dialog informing me that the Swarmed drawback had been re-activated was just enough warning for me to reflexively try and erect a Pokémon-style barrier around myself, which failed spectacularly. Duplicating my telekinetic skills from that Jump had taken me several tries to get started and days to get anywhere truly useful. That was the problem with having the Corrupted Save File drawback. Even if I could duplicate those skills, any mastery I had over them was reduced to theoretical knowledge that might not apply with my new power.
I started swinging my shovel at zubats, and got bludgeoned down to half hit points before I managed to put the fuckers down. Gaining the [Physical Endurance] and [Weapon Mastery] skills was helpful, amusing, and annoying all at the same time. Standing over the corpses of my long-time foes and trying to figure out fire breath so I could roast them distracted me enough that I almost missed the dialog informing me I'd gained the title "The Shoveller" and the horde of zombies that had been attracted by the noise.
[You've gained a level!]
As fast as I could I opened the drawbacks menu and turned Swarmed off again, while at the same time focusing on molding mana in the same way Han Jee-Han did when he first formed his [Mana Shield] skill. Instead of wrapping it around myself I set up a plane of mana, did my best to warp it with telekinesis into something solid, and forced it to manifest a wall between myself and the approaching horde.
[By doing something special, you've created a new skill: Force Wall!]
[Force Wall has been filed under Modular Spellcasting and Wards!]
I stepped back into the shadows and tried to be sneaky, but it didn't do much good. The zombies kept trying to approach me through the barrier, not even seeming to realize they weren't making any progress. My mana regenerated, and I scanned the area for anything to use as telekinetic projectiles. There wasn't much in the way of debris, so I started chunks of asphalt out of the ground and launching them into the horde. Heads and other body parts exploded under the force of concrete travelling at half the speed of sound.
[You've gained a level!]
This was taking too long. Maybe I could use a little more finesse? I took three final chunks of concrete and started to rotate them back and forth across the space in front of the wall around three inches off the ground. As they broke down from the pressure and numerous impacts I continued to grab the pieces and even managed to catch some of the dust in my mental grip, then continued to grind the zombies up starting at the feet until they disintegrated into loot and vapor. The obvious loot I grabbed with telekinesis and brought over to my side of the wall without even checking to see what it was, but I'm sure some of it got caught up in the field I was now rotating like a band-saw of debris to grind my attackers to mush.
[You've gained a level!]
[You've gained a level!]
[You've gained a level!]
Despite my prodigious rate of mana regeneration, I was getting low. The [Force Wall] eventually failed when I lost concentration on it and the zombies that remained standing finally figured out that they could attack it. I'd killed most of them and was getting better at grinding things to bits with telekinesis so they were falling faster, but with the debris I was using getting smaller and smaller I had to use more energy to make it damaging. As I neared the end of my mana, I dropped the grinder, launched the remaining large pieces into the crowd, and drew my shovel once more. It would take fewer than thirty seconds for my mana to refill again, but I needed to defend myself until then.
[You've obtained the title: Apprentice Undead Hunter!]
[You've gained a level!]
I stepped forward over my pile of unexamined loot and started swinging. A couple of spectacular critical hits and a whole lot of work reduced the visible undead population to zero, but I could still hear more moaning and shuffling around. They would come for me if I continued to make noise, so there was no point in hunting them down. I hurriedly started shoving loot into my inventory, noting that it was all teeth, ribs, small purple crystals similar to some of my mana constructs, and low-denomination currency. There were a few articles of clothing, jewelry, and personal electronics. I had to have killed at least fifty zombies so far, but it was probably closer to eighty.
[You've gained a level!]
Cautious not to make a sound, I crept out of the alley just far enough to collect what remaining debris I could see with telekinesis. There were already more zombies on the way toward me, so I crept back into the alley full of debris and zubat corpses and blinked. I hadn't tried using the corpses as debris for the grinder because they were basically useless and squishy after they died, but they still kind of made me hungry. I was more affected by my time as a ninetails than I'd thought. Maybe it was time to try something else?
I brought up my hand and gathered mana to it, then pictured fire. I'd only done this in practice before, but the idea was simple: I concentrated on the image and the heat, and how it would swirl above my hand just far enough away not to burn me. My grin was positively feral when blue-white fire flared above my palm.
With zombies growing ever-nearer, I concentrated on creating a temporary heat-absorbing ward in the air above me then configured it to convert the heat into mana and feed it back to me. The yield would be low but constant, and should boost my mana regeneration by a few points per second while I used my new favorite skill in the area. If I moved too far away I'd lose the benefit, but the ward would still last for a while before it came undone.
With my mana near zero again, zombies started pouring into the alley. I had just enough left to direct a stream of flame and pressurized air at about shoulder level into the kill zone. It felt like hours later when they finally they stopped coming. I barely noticed my hit points slowly falling then jumping again at irregular intervals, but the popups finally got my attention for a moment.
[Telekinesis (Pyrokinesis) has gained a level!]
[Weapon Mastery has gained a level!]
[You've gained a level!]
[Telekinesis (Pyrokinesis) has gained a level!]
[By doing something special, you've created a new skill: Fire Affinity!]
[Telekinesis (Pyrokinesis) has gained a level!]
[Weapon Mastery has gained a level!]
I dropped the force wall and panted for a moment. The air was choked with the smell of burnt flesh and hair, and it was getting hard to breathe. I equipped the rebreather I'd picked up in the PokéVerse and it became easier, but I was fairly certain I'd used up most of the oxygen in the Instant Dungeon with that flamethrower trick. I unravelled my ward, sat down heavily, and once again started scooping loot into my inventory. I had a fair few soul gems, ribs, and teeth by now. Some of the money was burned or simply absent, having been so close to the flames and reduced to ash.
I'll admit I made an embarrassing noise when a tremendous eye loomed over me, set in the face of the biggest zombie I'd ever seen. Were it not for the unnatural calm granted to me by Gamer's Mind I would have soiled myself too. As it was I came close. I bolted to my feet and ran out of the confined space of the alley just before a massive first slammed into the place I'd been sitting and reduced the surrounding walls to rubble. How the fuck had I missed that thing!? [Observe], damnit!
That wasn't good. I'd killed enough zombies to trigger a boss monster: the Legion Zombie. It had over fifteen thousand hit points (to my two hundred fifty) and was taller than most of the buildings in the area. According the information box, it was also slow. That was the only thing that kept me alive long enough to get some distance.
I had a habit of making my Instant Dungeons as small as possible to avoid notice, so this one had only covered about a block. Compared to the ones I'd seen laying around that was positively tiny. It also meant that even the slow behemoth I was running from could cross the distance in about thirty seconds. Fortunately, I was now flush with rubble.
It took some time, but I eventually settled on a pattern of running to one corner of the block then hucking rubble with at the damn thing with geokinesis and telekinesis until it died. It dropped half a million won, six healing potions, and a book of basic magical theory. I smiled, scooped them up into my inventory, and headed back to the remains of the alley so I'd exit the Instant Dungeon the same place I entered it. I had some points to invest, and some zubat corpses to put in my inventory. What? They would be tasty if I could get all the rubble and mess off of them!
[You've gained a level!]
Leveling up appeared to be one of the exceptions to the "don't show me numbers" setting I'd selected. I had to distribute my new stat points manually, which meant I actually had to look at my status screen. That caused me to burst into hysterical giggles. I'd just killed a truck-load of zombies and a giant one at level one. The damn game started me at level one! All my stats had been ten, but my skills had been carrying me through. I guess I had been gaining health and mana even without spending my stat points, but still! I'd started at level one! My giggles died down to chuckles as I distributed points. I was not Han Jee-Han, and I would not be building a character based entirely on intelligence without actually using my brain. I'd received bonuses to health and mana from leveling up, and I brought all my mental stats up to twenty and my physical stats to fifteen. This left me with almost four times the health and seven times as much mana regenerating twice as quickly. I was also luckier, stronger, faster, more flexible, and more coordinated. Even my thoughts were clearer and coming more quickly. I regretted that I wouldn't be getting the bonus abilities every fifty stat points any time soon, but I really needed a good base and I wasn't hurting for damage potential at the moment.
It was nearly morning, and I'd discovered to my great surprise that my clothes were not torn and burned to the point of being unusable. My gear seemed to be indestructible as long as I was wearing it, even to the point it wasn't getting dirty. I wondered if that last part was an aspect of the Gamer ability or Ever-Cleansed, and wondered why I'd been doing laundry if nothing was actually dirty before realizing I didn't care. It was amazing either way. When I got home I ended up gaining another point in [Stealth], which indicated to me that either my mother was home or I got experience for it regardless of whether there was anyone to hide from. I went upstairs, swapped into my pyjamas, did my business, washed up, turned on my alarm, and went to bed. Even if I didn't technically need sleep, I wanted to after all that work.
I woke up completely healed, and cursed at myself for forgetting to develop an actual healing skill before I went to bed. It was on the list, darnit! I should have remembered! Thankfully it was the weekend, so I didn't have classes. That meant I might be able to spend an entire day working instead of waiting until night time. I spent a few minutes investing more MP into the the anti-[Scry] ward I'd put up, then set about my morning routine while I let my mind chew on the problem of healing skills. I should be able to create one easily, but what was the best way to go about making it useful? I'd recently gained [Fire Affinity], which both increased the damage I dealt and reduced the damage I received from fire...if I was careful I could alternately burn and heal myself to gain experience in all three skills. Then again, I was bound to start attracting attention soon if I hadn't already. Killing monsters and earning levels was an excellent way to gain power quickly, and would improve my skills only a bit more slowly.
When I got downstairs Mom was already gone, probably because of Big House, All Alone. It was odd that she hadn't waited for me to make coffee though, especially given that I always got up at the same time despite the weekend. No witnesses meant no worries, though. I prepared enough food for two and stored half of it in my inventory in case I needed something later, then headed out to the alley I'd been using as a starting point for my Instant Dungeons. It was early morning and I was still in the mood for zombies, but it was already light out. I shrugged, and tried to create the zombie dungeon anyway. There was a bit of resistance, so I pictured a huge shambling mob of slow zombies like I'd seen in a few movies and the world changed.
I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. I was in the entrance to a mall of some sort. The doors were barred but still transparent, and my entrance had not gone unnoticed. Very soon the zombies beating at the doors would come pouring in and I would be set for enemies. I raised a hand to call on fire and paused. I did want to roast these guys to grind my fire skills, but I also wanted to see if I could do some things I'd seen in a game a long time ago. I also needed a healing/positive energy/debuff-dispel skill for my plans. Concentrating on the idea of light, I started pooling MP into the palm of my hand. Before it could stabilize into something stupid like a flashlight I started to run through concepts and push them into the light: cleansing, life, healing, opposition of death, opposition of undeath, and opposition of evil. The concepts were easy enough to link in my head.
Glass shattered, metal was battered down, and a zombie started chewing on my neck. A few of his buddies were coming to join the party when it finally clicked, and just this once I wanted to call out the names of my moves like an anime character. Even if they were all the same move, really. I gathered my will and shouted, "PEARL NOVA!"
A wave of silver-white energy erupted from my body and turned the undead within a few meters of me to ash. I'd just wasted several undead and made a joke about bad translation/cultural censorship at the same time. Take that Final Fantasy Six localization team! "Pearl bolt!" A sphere of the same silvery-white energy shot from my hand and disintegrated another zombie. One last time. "Pearl fist!" My hands lit up to near blinding levels with silvery-white light and I just started punching things. It was cathartic, and I kept going until I'd lost about half my HP before I backed up to try the skill on myself. Instead of a fist, I laid an open palm over where the first zombie had chewed on my neck. My HP went up and my MP went down. Nice.
[By doing something special, you've created a new skill: Pearl/Holy!]
[Pearl/Holy has been folded into Modular Spellcasting and Wards!]
"By THE LIGHT you shall PERISH!" I yelled with enthusiasm, then started throwing around [Pearl/Holy] bolts with one hand and gouts of fire with the other. My laughter echoed eerily through the halls of the Instant Dungeon, and I felled hundreds of undead. My mana regeneration was good enough and the zombies were weak enough that I could do this all day, and I was having a lot of fun. When inspiration struck again I grabbed my shovel out of my inventory and infused it with the [Pearl/Holy] aura I'd been using on my fists earlier.
"I dub thee the SHOVEL OF LIGHT! I shouted obnoxiously as I bashed in heads and chopped off limbs with the head of the shovel. Mad laughter that wasn't my own echoed in my head as Washu joined in my merriment, and I released a devastating wave of [Pearl/Holy] energy before striking a heroic pose with my shovel.
[You've obtained the title "Junior Light-Bringer!"]