I own no characters or settings besides the OCs, and even then that's barely.

I also apologize ahead of time for any formatting errors, the FF app does not like me and the feeling is mutual.

I'm annoyed at how much of this chapter wound up being Gamer System Stuff. And don't worry, System won't have a personality (unless y'all want that) and can currently only answer questions about how it works and the terms used.

This will be a multi cross gamer fic that takes place between multiple worlds, though the first actual world (the starting 'world' doesn't count) will be multiple worlds mixed into one. Wanna take a guess what worlds it'll be crossed with besides just HP?

On another note, I'm tempted to PM Kithrin and ask if I can use one of his Fate/Stay Night HP crossover ideas. More specifically the one he mentioned in Harry and the Botched Ritual, where instead of summoning the Medusas, he summons the Elizabeths. I find it both interesting, adorable, and can be especially morbid at times due to Liz's whole love of torture.

Please give feedback! Though please note that I write multiple chapters ahead of time before posting, so it may take a bit before I take the feedback into account.

Huh, for some reason I can feel my Teachers' disappointment from here. Both my Art and English I teachers. Okay! Enough Rambling! Let's Start!

"Verbally Speaking"

'Mentally Speaking'

[System Speaking]

[System]

"Powerful Being Speaking"

=Chapter000:Start_Up=

Waking up in a different place than where you fell asleep with no idea how you got there can be disorienting. So is waking up in a completely different set of clothes. Now, what about both at the same time along with waking up in a completely different body? It's many, many times worse. I would know as I'm currently experiencing that.

The last thing I remember is lying on my couch getting ready to play some games before a massive wave of fatigue hits me knocking me out. Now I'm in the middle of a road wearing what (vaguely) looks and feels like women's underwear (don't ask how I know what wearing that feels like), with the only thing in sight (besides a lot of trees) is a run down house and a rusted car.

Now, normally I'd play this off as some kind of joke or vivid dream, but some primal part of my mind is telling me that that isn't the case. That everything's changed, and if I can't catch up with the changes soon, and prepare myself to the best of my abilities, something horrible will happen.

I immediately hop to my feet, showing the most obvious of my new changes: my height. I used to be average height, roughly 5'8", now I'm questioning whether I'm even 4 feet tall. I sadly can't tell my exact height yet, as I don't know the dimensions of the car I'm using as comparison, but I know for sure it's larger than it should be in comparison to me.

I then twisted one of the side mirrors (it was only hanging on the wires in it) to check my new looks. My eyes immediately start twitching as I see an adorable looking young girl staring back at me. I then move my head and make a few faces, just to be annoyed that it mimics me, proving that I'm now a little girl.

With a sigh, and forcing the annoyance down, I pay a bit more attention to the details of myself so I'm not shocked if someone brings it up later. My hair, which is waist length like it was before, is a sleek black with long bangs which cover my eyes. Completely different than what it was before. My eyes are both different colors, as it appears I have heterochromia, with my right eye being a nice shade of turquoise and my left one being a dark red.

Shifting the mirror down so I can get a proper look at my clothing, my left eye starts twitching even worse. I'm wearing what appears to be a very age inappropriate succubus costume that covers the essentials and not much else. If it wasn't me wearing it, I'd very much be calling the cops on whoever made their kid wear this. Assuming I didn't shatter their jaw first, and maybe their legs.

Seeing me in it, also made me realize I'm no longer a guy. I mean, I was a barely adult dude a few hours ago, now I'm a young girl.

Guess I'm destined to never lose my virginity. Oh well, that's entirely my fault for turning down everyone who asked me out, even when I liked them back.

Turning around and off that train of thoughts, I start thinking of the best way to get a proper shirt without the police being called. I'm a good actor, and being a child could explain the gaps in my story, but I'd rather not be put in that situation to begin with.

I almost jump out of my (nonexistent) socks as I find a silver screen floating in the air. After sitting there staring at it for a solid 30 seconds, I decide that it's unlikely to be any info or cognito hazard and decide to read what it says.

[Welcome new User, would you like to start the Tutorial?]

[Yes] or [No]

Immediately getting flashbacks to some of the crappy gamer stories I've read, along with some of the really good ones, I click yes. My instincts are screaming at me that this is vital.

[Please enter Temporary Designation. You will be able to change this later.]

Thinking about it for a moment, my thoughts drift to my current outfit and I decide to go with what feels right. "Set designation: Lilith Nova."

[User Designation set, unsealing previously sealed Racial Traits.]

Immediately I feel a tingly feeling shoot up my spine, as I'm able to now feel three new limbs I'm able to control. I can feel my instincts shift as the basic knowledge someone of my new race should instinctively know flood my mind. I'm just disappointed I'm far too young to fly with my new wings. I can't even tell what my new wings and tail look like because I can't maneuver the mirror well enough to see them. Well, I could see the tail if I moved it in front of me, but I won't because I want to see how it fits my looks.

[Racial Traits unsealed. Please Say 'Menu' to open your Menu Page.]

Deciding I may as well finish the tutorial before I start messing with the mirror again, I declare: "Menu."

Another screen, just like the tutorial one, appears in front of me.

[This is your Menu. Each tab represents different things you've learned or can learn. To open a tab, and your menu, you can command them either Verbally or Mentally. Please open your Status to continue. You may have multiple windows open at once.]

[Status] [Skills] [Skill Tree] [Inventory] [Quests] [Worlds]

I decide to try and open it mentally, as I don't feel like having others think me insane. 'Status.'

The menu screen splits into four different windows, each of them filled with different information. One shows my general information, one shows my main stats, one shows my secondary stats, and the final one shows a full image of me and all equipment I'm wearing along with their descriptions.

It shows me in a much more complete way than the damn car mirror. Like the fact that most of the equipment slots are empty. And what I'm currently wearing fits in the 'underwear' slot. Though I can now see my new wings and tail along with the rest of me. My wings look (and feel) like generic bat wings, just smooth, and my tail roughly two-thirds my height and has a heart on the tip. The tail itself is no wider than a dime, but the heart on the end is both wider and thicker. It's about as thick as three quarters and just as wide as one too. The tip of the heart is very pointy and the edges sharp though, enough to stab someone with or slit their throat.

[General Characteristics]

Name: Lilith Nova

Race: Lesser Demon (S)

Title: The Gamer

Age: 8 Years Old

Class: N/A

Total Levels: 0

[Main Characteristics]

HP: 50/50

MP: 100/100

SP: 50/50

Strength (STR): 5

Agility (AGI): 5

Endurance (END): 5

Intelligence (INT): 5

Charisma (CHA): 7

Wisdom (WIS): 5

Luck (LUK): 10

Total Stats: 40

Stat Points Unspent: 6

Skill Points Unspent: 1

[Secondary Characteristics]

HP

-• Health Point Regen: 5% per Hour

MP

-• Magic Point Regen: 15 per Minute

-• Magical Damage Bonus (%): 0

-• Speed Bonus: 0

-• Resistance: 0

SP

-• Stamina Point Regen: 10 per Minute

-• Physical Damage Bonus (%): 0

-• Speed Bonus: 0

-• Resistance: 0

Max Speed

-• 7.5mph (12km/h)

Elemental Resistances

Light: -25% Holy: -50%

Dark: 25% Unholy: 50%

[Traits]

The Gamer

Effect: You are the gamer, your life runs on video game logic. No injuries and pain with linger on your body so long as you are above 50% HP. The only scars that will appear on your body are ones that you want to appear.

Demonic Nature

Effect: Due to being a demon, you are demonic in nature. Holy beings feel slightly uneasy around you, and unholy beings feel comfort around you. You gain a resistance against Dark and Unholy sources and have a weakness against Light and Holy sources.

Demonic Nature: Type-S

Effect: Due to the type of demon you are, instead of food you devour the vitality of other creatures. Increases Charisma by 2 and Normal Food does not satiate you, you must drain others of their vitality. All classes give at least 1 Charisma on Level up.

Magical Nature

Effect: You can speak, understand, read, and write all Non-Hidden Languages. Magic is easier for you to learn and control.

[HP and SP are the equivalent of (ENDTL)*10. MP is (INTTL)*10. Some traits and passives can increase and decrease these values.]

[MP Regen is equal to 5WISTL, while SP Regen is equal to 5ENDTL]

[Racial Traits can change the equations, which is why your stats may not line up up with the math given.]

After carefully reading through it, I groan as I realize I'm now an 8 year old. Great. I immediately turn my head to the tutorial window to try to get my thoughts off of that. Well, and off my horrible stats, but those stats seem about right for a child.

[Please select your class. To do so, mentally or verbally say 'Class' to open the Class SubMenu.]

'Class,' I say mentally, trying to get this out the way.

[Select your Class. You will be able to change class to those you've unlocked the prerequisites for at Level 50 of the Class.]

[Fighter] [Mage] [Support] [Rogue] [Ranger]

I take a moment to think about this one, as it may be a while before I can change it, and immediately scratch off Fighter and Support. My short stature will make it difficult to fight due to weapon sizes and my short arms, and I have no allies right now. I then scratch off Ranger for much the same, the kickback of guns would suck and I don't know much about bows.

So I'm left with Mage and Rogue. Blasting and Stealth. Because I don't know the specifics of the disaster I'm in, I decide to go with the versatility of the Mage.

[Choose your Starting Specialization. You can still unlock classes of other specializations.]

[Elementalist] [Illusionist] [Necromancer] [Summoner] [Puppeteer] [Enchanter] [Druid]

I almost immediately went full blaster, but I paused it and instead chose to think it through.

I immediately scratch out Druid and Necromancer, as Druid just isn't to my taste and Necromancer requires grave digging. Grave digging will just set the local authorities on me. I also decide against Summoner as my summons could easily turn on me if they grow too quickly.

That just leaves Elementalist, Illusionist, Puppeteer, and Enchanter. I'm immediately leaning towards Puppeteer. I'm imagining having an army of wooden, stone, and even steel puppets charging an enemy no mortal should ever face, all while I'm behind a heavy fortress controlling them. That and I've always been interested in Puppetry.

So I choose Puppeteer.

[Class 'Puppeteer' Unlocked.]

[Class 'Puppeteer' set as Class.]

[Level Up! Puppeteer has reached level 1. Gained 1 STR, 2 INT, 1 WIS, and 1 CHA.]

[Gained 7 Attribute Points.]

[Due to Passive Skill CHA gain is Doubled]

[Unlocking Class Skills.]

[Skill Unlocked: Puppetry]

[Puppetry (1/100) Puppeteer

Cost: 10 Mana 1 Mana per 10 Seconds

Effect: You take control of a Puppet, item, or body, allowing you to remotely control them. Controlling a puppet takes concentration. You can only control INTSkillLevel*2 pounds worth of weight. Resisting Targets must have a STR higher than your INTSkillLevel to successfully resist.]

[Skill Unlocked: Parallel Processing]

[Parallel Processing (1/100) Puppeteer

Effect: You can concentrate on multiple things at a time. The amount of things you can simultaneously concentrate on is equal to 1SkillLevelINT/50. Puppets use Caster's STR, resisting targets use Caster's STR - Targets STR.]

I'm immediately hit with a headache as all the knowledge on how to use my two new skills hits me like a brick. I know the basics on how to use them, what materials I can use at my current skill, and the very very basics of magic.

"Puppetry."

I immediately try to cast it on a nearby rock. It's a small rock, barely bigger than the palm of my hand, but not quite heavy enough to be outside my weight limit. As I use my new ability, I feel a large amount of energy (Mana, my mind helpfully supplies) leave my body, taking the shape of Bright Pink Ribbons as it wraps around the rock, along with a passive drain to keep the connection running.

I know from the knowledge granted to me by the system that the Puppetry Magic should be invisible, so another skill or something must be interfering. Deciding to test it, I will the ribbons to disappear and they quickly become invisibke, but the connection stays.

I try and get the rock to do many things, but quickly stop as I can't get it to do more than roll around. I've found that moving my arms and fingers like you would a normal puppet makes it easier to control, but I'll have to move on from that eventually unless I want to be limited. I've also learned that if I try to pick it up, like as if I was raising the cross brace of a marionette, It requires me to move my arms as if physically trying to life it, and doing so puts a burden on said arms. So strength is most certainly something I want to level up.

[Skill Level Up: Puppetry (2/100]

Upon seeing the pop-up, I realize I got side tracked so I go back to finishing the tutorial. But first I decide to spend my Stat Points. But because I don't want to be caught off guard, I choose to spread 7 of them evenly before leaving the last 6 as an emergency. I turn back to the tutorial window to see what to do next.

[Open Your 'Skill' Menu.]

[To get back to the Main Menu, either say 'Back' or open a new Window. You can close opened windows by saying 'Close'.]

I choose to open a new window, so that I can see everything simultaneously, "Menu, Skills."

[Here is where it shows all your skills. Active Skills are where the Abilities you must Manually Activate appear, while Passive skills are ones that are always on.]

[Active Skills]

Observe (1/100)

Cost: 5 Mana

Effect: Gives you information about the target proportional to the skill's level.

Vitality Drain (1/100) Racial

Cost: 5 SP per Second

Effect: Devour the Vitality of the target, Dealing 5CHA Damage per second. Restored Stamina and HP equal to half the amount drained.

Puppetry (2/100) Puppeteer Spell

Cost: 10 Mana 1 Mana per Second

Effect: You take control of a Puppet, item, or body, allowing you to remotely control them. Controlling a puppet takes concentration. You can only control INTSkillLevel*2 pounds worth of weight. Resisting Targets must have a STR higher than your INTSkillLevel to successfully resist. Puppets use Caster's STR, resisting targets use Caster's STR - Targets STR.

[Passive Skills]

Gamer's Body (MAX)

Effect: Your body functions like that of a video game. A full nights rest will heal almost all wounds. Any wound that would sever a limb, instead cripples it. A crippled limb does not heal with a full nights rest, instead must be healed through either mundane or supernatural means. Crippled Limbs operate at 10% efficiency.

Gamer's Mind (MAX)

Effect: Your mind is your own. No external factors can permanently afflict your mind. Non-Supernatural Brainwashing and Mind Control has no effect on you, and Supernatural versions wear off within minutes.

Adorable Body (1/2) Racial

Effect: Doubles all positive changes to Charisma. Changes HP from (ENDTL)*10 to (CHAENDTL)*10.

Adorable Magic (1/2) Racial

Effect: Any Spell or Active Skill that uses INT can instead use CHA. Changes MP from (INTTL)*10 to (CHAINTTL)*10. Changes MP Regen from (5WISTL) to (5WISCHATL).

Parallel Processing (1/100) Puppeteer

Effect: You can concentrate on multiple things at a time. The amount of things you can simultaneously concentrate on is equal to 1SkillLevelINT/50.

I take my time carefully reading through all my skills, one by one. After reading the effects of Adorable Body and Adorable Magic, my eyes immediately open wide. Those can be absolutely broken, especially with my double charisma growth. Deciding to think about how to abuse this later, I look back to the Tutorial Screen to see that that's all this page has.

[Change Tabs to 'Skill Tree']

I, once again, open a new window for this tab and am once again immediately bombarded with information. I see countless circles connected to other circles spreading out in a tree like fashion, with the 'root' of it being a circle with my name in it.

[This is the 'Skill Tree'. You can unlock them naturally by learning them or through other methods, or you can use 'Skill Points' which you gain every 20 class levels to buy new skills. You still must have the prerequisite skills to unlock the skill. The closer a circle is to the Center of the 'Tree', the closer you are to learning it naturally. The 'Skill Tree' has every skill imaginable in the Multiverse. There is no search function as of this moment.]

Upon hearing that there's no search function, I'm immediately turned off of looking through it. So instead I decided to look at some of the circles closest to the center that aren't practically touching it, as all the far off ones require a lot of prerequisite skills. I immediately see a few of them for my Demonic nature that I'm really tempted to take, but won't because the only reason I don't have them is age. I do, however, see one that's reasonably far off with no prerequisites I don't already have.

Doll Making. It's essentially the same as Puppetry, except I can use magic to program them to act independently or on voice commands. By the time I realized It, I'm being flooded by the basic knowledge of how to make dolls of all kinds. It doesn't come with the programming knowledge, but it does come with the knowledge of how to animate them and add programs. Just not the experience in programming, that's a separate skill.

[Skill Unlocked: Doll Making]

[Animate Doll (1/100) Puppeteer Spell

Cost: Variable, Minimum 100 Mana

Effect: Allows you to animate and Program dolls to do your bidding. The more Mana used to cast the spell, the stronger the doll shall be. The doll created lasts until it runs out of Mana.]

I'm immediately excited to try it out, but my knowledge states that it has to be a proper doll, though plushies work as well, so I stuff my excitement down to finish this tutorial. The faster I finish it, the faster I can make my doll army.

[Open the 'Inventory Tab']

This tab is nothing really special. It's exactly as it says, it's an inventory. It has 32 slots that can each hold a stack of items. It also has a section purely for the different kinds of money I may find. Though there is something neat about the inventory, there's a 'hotbar'. It's a single bar of 8 items (bringing my total inventory space to 40 slots) that I can bring out with a verbal or mental command. Meaning for those 8 items I don't need to open up a large window that blocks my sight. Very useful for combat.

Now, besides a Beginners Pack, there's nothing in the inventory, and I've already decided to not open the pack until after the tutorial, so I continue on with it instead.

[Open the 'Quests' Tab.]

Following the instructions, I open it in a new window.

[Quests]

Host of Knowledge - You hold a near endless amount knowledge. Gather more by completing the tutorial!

-• Open Your Menu

-• Open Your Status

-• Set Your Class

-• Use Your Stat Points (Optional)

-• Open Your Skills

-• Open Your Skill Tree

-• Buy a Skill (Optional)

-• Open Inventory

-• Open Quests Tab

-• Open World Tab

Rewards: 100XP, 5GP, Class Appropriate Weapon, (Optional 1: Class Card: Survivor), (Optional 2: Tool Kit of Choice)

I don't know if the quest rewards are actually anything notable or not, I've not even been a Gamer for an hour yet, but the weapons and tools will be useful, hopefully for Doll and Puppet making. I shake my head and decide to focus on the tutorial before I'm hit with an idea.

"Hey System, can you answer questions independent of the Tutorial, or are you the kind that only shows?" I ask. As soon as I do, another Window opens up, though this one isn't as bright looking as the other ones.

[I can answer only any questions pertaining to the System.]

"I see, so I can ask questions about stuff I'm lost on. Gotcha." I mumble.

I quickly do all the tutorial stuff on this tab, which was mostly just maximizing and minimizing different quests, along with sorting them, before I continue on with the last part of the tutorial. The part that makes me the most excited as I think about all the different worlds that may just be real, especially the ones with Cat and Foxgirls. I glance at the tutorial window and yup, it's changed.

[Open the 'Worlds' tab.]

Doing the same as usual, I open it up in another window like always. This tab is less like the others. It has no fancy visuals, just rows and rows of different names, though all but one is a question mark no matter how far I scroll. Looking for an explanation, I glance at the tutorial window.

[This is the 'Worlds' tab. It is a chronicle of all the worlds you've visited and seen since you've become a gamer. To unlock the privilege to travel to said worlds, you either need an item from a world or its parallels, or you need an ability from that world.]

"System, does magic count as an ability?"

[Yes it does, the worlds with no other prerequisites other than having magic will unlock after you finish the next Quest you'll be given.]

"Ah, so be patient, got it."

[Examine the world you're on now, do so by Mentally or Verbally saying it's name, or tapping the window as if it's a touch screen.]

"WAIT! Are all the windows touchscreens?"

[They are, Host.]

"Thank you! This will make things much easier to scroll through!" I say loudly, before immediately tapping on the only world that isn't a bunch of question marks.

[World]

Earth (Dead) (Current)

This is a dead world. No new sentient life will be born, and over the next 1000 years all other life will slowly fade. There is no future here. Due to a curse cast a few short years prior to your arrival, any Humanoid that dies here will be risen as an Undead in a few days. More than 99% of this world's population has been turned.

Upon seeing that, my first thought was 'Oh Shit,' and my second thought was 'Time to leave!'.

As soon as I think about it, two new Pop-ups appear.

[Quest Generated]

Get Outta Dodge - You're trapped in a 'dead' end world. This is a world where no new life will be born and the dimensional barriers of it are quickly breaking down. While it won't let creatures in for another few millennia, you don't want to be here when it does. Escape.

-• Find an Item from another World

-• Find 3 Items from other Worlds (Optional)

-• Find 5 Items from other Worlds (Optional)

-• Leave to this world

Rewards: 100 XP, 10GP, Companion Gem: Melusine, (Optional 1: Random Magic Ring), (Optional 2: Random Magic Weapon).

"Thank the Heavens…" and yes I do realize the irony of saying that as demon.

[Quest Complete]

Host of Knowledge - You hold a near endless amount knowledge. Gather more by completing the tutorial!

-• Open Your Menu

-• Open Your Status

-• Set Your Class

-• Use Your Stat Points (Optional)

-• Open Your Skills

-• Open Your Skill Tree

-• Buy a Skill (Optional)

-• Open Inventory

-• Open Quests Tab

-• Open World Tab

Rewards: 100XP, 5GP, Class Appropriate Weapon, (Optional 1: Class Card: Survivor), (Optional 2: Tool Kit of Choice)

Choose Tool Kit:

1) Smith's Tools

2) Armorer's Tools

3) Leather Worker's Tools

20) Wood Worker's Tools

21) Doll Maker's Tools

[Rewards will be deposited in Inventory once Reward is Chosen. This is the end of the tutorial, have fun for this is a Game after all.]

"System, choose number 20, Wood Worker's Tools."

[Reward Chosen, Distributing Rewards]

[Class Level Up: Puppeteer]

[Upon Leveling Up Puppeteer, you've gained 1 STR, 2 INT, 1 WIS, and 1 CHA. 6 Stat Points gained.]

[Due to Passive Skill, CHA gain is doubled.]

[Items Rewards Deposited in Inventory]

I immediately notice a change in both my status and my Inventory. In my Status, my stats have increased, naturally. My INT and CHA have both reached 10, giving me a massive 210 Mana. None of my other stats, besides luck, is anywhere close to 10. For my inventory, all the rewards are in it.

"Hey System, what are Class Cards?"

[Class Cards are Cards that when crushed in your hands add a class to your class pool. The gained class will be Level 0 until you first switch to it.]

"I see…"

I also put the Class Weapon I got, a simple iron dagger, into the hand slot in my Status Page. After doing so, I swipe my hand out and the dagger appears in my hand.

"Neat! So I can summon whichever weapon is in my weapon slot, now how do I dismiss it?" It got dismissed as soon as I asked the question.

"Oh, so it's intent based?" Curious.

I then decide to take the Puppeteer's Pack I have out of my inventory. It comes out as a single large leather bag, slightly taller than half my size (which the System did confirm for me that I'm one inch short of being 4ft tall). After struggling with it for a solid minute due to its size, I finally manage to get the contents of the bag out of the bag, and remembered a skill I've yet to use.

"Observe."

Immediately, another (though much smaller) pop up appears in front of me.

[Wooden Marionette]

[This a simple Wooden Marionette Puppet that's had its strings cut. It has no clothing or details. It's just wood. Maybe Magic can let it start playing once again?]

I also remember to use it on my Dagger.

[Iron Dagger]

[A simple casted Iron Dagger. Does 10STR damage.]

Noticing that it has actual hands, I take my knife out and use Puppetryon the marionette. Like with the rock, Bright Pink Ribbons shoot from my hands as I feel my energy drain and wrap around the marionette, though this time they wrap around where a marionette's strings would normally go. Willing the ribbons to go invisible again, I quickly start getting used to controlling a humanoid puppet.

It takes a lot of skill, especially if I want it to do what I want to do with it, but when I'm putting all threads of my Multitask skill (I've already forgotten it's name) into this, it's actually quite quick to pick up.

Fun Fact: My passive Mana Regen of what's now 25 per Minute (5 base, 2 from Levels, 8 from WIS, 10 from CHA) actually outweighs the Mana cost to keep one under my control. It costs 6 Mana a Minute per puppet. This means I can comfortably control four puppets before the passive Mana cost becomes too much, and five puppets for a decently long while before I'm out of mana.

Though I can't actually control that many yet, I'm barely able to control one and walk at the same time.

Once I'm satisfied with my control, which takes about an hour and the Puppetry skill leveling up thrice, I give it my knife. I want to be able to fight with my puppet, so I need to practice Puppet Fighting. After spending another three hours, the sun finally rises right above me, which gives me a slight discomfort as a dark creature.

I quickly open the car I'm still next to, and loot it for everything it has. Which is not a lot. Mostly moldy food, but there's a few interesting magazines (only one of them adult, but my body is far too young to enjoy it) that I stuff in the bag the Marionette came in. There's also two large cases of water bottles in the trunk that I toss into my inventory. Luckily they stack.

Finally, after looting everything valuable from the vehicle, I start moving towards the horribly worn down house.

I immediately regret my decision, because as soon as I open the door, I see a walking corpse right in the middle of the living room. I can feel the vile magic holding it together from here, roughly 10ft away. Though the arguably worst part is that it sees me as well. Thinking quick, I move my Marionette in front of me before I cast a quick Observe at corpse.

[Skill Level Up: Observe (2/100)

[Basic Zombie - Lv 5 - Rank 1]

[Just a basic Zombie. Not particularly strong or tough. Has no particular special abilities.]

I immediately curse myself for not leveling Observe earlier. In its current state, I'm fighting blind.

"Hey system, can I be afflicted by the curse if it bites me?"

[No you cannot be afflicted by this curse.]

"No explanation on why, eh?" I mumble keeping an eye on the zombie as it slowly starts shuffling towards me, "I guess if you did it would spoil how this curse works."

I almost start panicking, before I realize I had a plan for this already. I already knew hand motions reduced the mental burden when it came to controlling the puppets, but I also learned when testing that It doesn't take as much focus to have a connection and just leave it be. It still takes focus to keep the connection up, but just holding the connection takes little more focus than not having one at all.

As such, forcing my nerves down, I calmly cast my new favorite spell, "Puppetry!"

Bright Pink Ribbons spring from my hand, but this time I don't will them away. They quickly wrap around it's wrists, shins, neck, and stomach. I quickly ball up my fist and drag it up, trying to stop my enemy from moving, while also sending my marionette forward to attack.

Terrifyingly, the Walking Corpse is stronger than I thought. The Ribbons holding onto it immediately snap, disappearing into pink motes of light. It immediately starts to slowly shuffle towards me, but my marionette stands between us. It takes a slow swing, which gives me the time to quickly drag my marionette away before moving it forward and making a stab that lands in the middle of it's chest.

"Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic don't panic don'tpanicdontpanicdont…" I start chanting to myself.

It takes another swing at my puppet, getting a heavy hit against it as it's too close for me to get out of the way. The wood of the arm luckily doesn't snap, but I can see cracks starting to form in the wood. I cast another Puppetry, this time focusing all the ribbons on the leg, before yanking as hard as I can towards me.

The ribbon, unable to take the strain, snaps. However, it brings the leg of the zombie forward enough to the walking corpse to fall backwards, hitting it's head against the wooden floor. Immediately, before it can get up and start swinging, I have the marionette rush up and start stabbing it.

The marionette gets 5 stabs in, mostly due to the Zombie being slightly stunned from hitting its head, before it retaliates. It swings its arm from the floor, landing another hit against my unsuspecting puppet. This attack, while not as strong as the last one, leaves the cracks on the arms even more noticeable.

Immediately I bring my marionette back towards me, as the zombie slowly stands back up. Luckily these things aren't the smartest, because the exact same strategy as last time works. A quick Puppetry towards one of its legs and a hard pull and it's back on the ground again. Though this time I don't risk my puppet.

I'd rather not lose my only way to attack at range, even if I may be able to make a new one it may not be soon enough. So instead, I rush forward and touch it's foot.

"Thank the heavens that this guy is wearing shoes…" I say under my breath before casting another spell, "Vital DRAIN!"

The effects are immediate. Bright pink energy starts to form around my hand before dissipating, motes of pink light entering the Zombie's body from near where I'm touching. Almost immediately afterwards, lances of red light shoot from the Zombie and enter my body. Near immediately I feel the urge to throw up, as the Zombie's energy tastes far more foul than I ever could have imagined. I have to stop using my Puppetry spell and instead use all my focus on keeping Vitality Drain on, simply because it tastes so horrible.

Each second, more lances of red light shoot into me, filling me with the Zombie's stamina and vitality. Until a painfully long 5 seconds has passed and the zombie is finally out of vitality. I immediately rush to the door I entered from and puke off to the side, twitching slightly as I realize that until I leave this world, these foul tasting creatures will be my only source of food.

Once I'm done puking my guts out, a new notice appears in front of me.

[Enemy Defeated: Basic Zombie Lv5]

[Gained 75xp]

I check my status and it shows that I'm now 72% of the way to leveling up. I don't remember what it was before, so I can't tell how much 75xp gave me, but I'll still take it. I also notice how my Health and Stamina now are higher than their max values. I'm assuming that's because of the Vitality Drain, but I'll test it again on the next valid target I find, hopefully a living person.

I quickly check the Zombie's corpse and find nothing of interest on him, besides a shirt that's both far too large and has a bunch of holes in it. My hand reaches for the shirt before I decide to look through the house to see if I can find a better quality one. Though not before using Puppetry to control my marionette.

"Well, Marionette, let's hunt for shirts for us!"

Yes I am talking to an inanimate object. No I won't stop.

=Chapter000:Start_Up=

=Chapter000:END=