{ Oopsie! My bad! } Lorna chirped, entirely unbothered by her own astronomical incompetence. { System interface updating now! Loading Host’s Newbie Allowance! }
A blinding, iridescent blue panel exploded directly in front of Ingrid’s vision, completely blocking her view of the foggy trail.
[ NEWBIE STARTUP PACK UNLOCKED! ]
[ CLAIM YOUR WELCOME REWARDS IMMEDIATELY! ]
’CLAIM! CLAIM IT NOW, YOU STUPID PIECE OF SOFTWARE!’ Ingrid screamed in her mind, pumping her heavy arms as she ran for her literal life.
DING! DING! DING!
A magnificent list of items flashed across the screen in golden typography:
[ REWARDS RECEIVED: ]
{ Three Special System Skills: Gluttony Skill (Passive/Active), Time Stop (Active), Invisibility Skill (Active). Three Miracle Pills: Basic Healing Pill x1 (Instantly seals physical wounds and stops bleeding), Primal Energy Surge Pill x1 (Temporarily boosts physical strength by 200% for 10 seconds), Miasma Detox Pill x1 (Cures low-tier poison). Bonus Points: 70 System Points Awarded! }
Ingrid blinked, her eyes darting across the floating text as she narrowly dodged a falling boulder. ’That’s it?! That’s all I get for almost getting eaten alive?!’
Lorna ignored her complaint completely, sliding into a fast-paced, rapid-fire explanation mode. { Listen up, you ungrateful potato! The Gluttony Skill is your core survival trait! It allows your body to devour and digest the energy of any Beast Core you consume or absorb, whether it belongs to a low-tier Beast Zombie or a high-tier Evolved Mutant! Normally, absorbing foreign cores turns a beastman into a mutated freak, but Gluttony converts that raw energy directly into pure System Points and physical stats! }
Lorna’s voice glitched playfully. { And because I am such a generous, benevolent System who definitely didn’t forget your startup pack for three hours, you get one free use for each active skill without consuming any energy! }
Ingrid’s eyes widened. Her modern, analytical brain instantly went into overdrive, connecting the dots in a fraction of a second.
One free use for each skill. Time Stop. Gluttony.
If she stopped time right now, the horde would freeze in place! She wouldn’t have to run like a terrified pig anymore! She could walk right up to the lead Beast Zombie, smash its skull, steal its core, devour it with the Gluttony skill, gain an instant stat boost, and help Lysander wipe out the rest of these rotting creeps!
It was a foolproof, genius battle plan!
"WE DON’T HAVE TO RUN ANYMORE!" Ingrid yelled at Lysander, a wild, confident grin spreading across her face.
Lysander glanced back at her over his shoulder, his single purple eye widening in sheer bewilderment. "What are you talking about?! Keep moving, you foolish girl..."
’LORNA! ACTIVATE TIME STOP AND GLUTTONY SKILL RIGHT NOW!’ Ingrid roared in her mind.
{ Free skill activation authorized! } Lorna announced. { Activating Time Stop and Gluttony! }
A massive, reverberating ripple exploded from Ingrid’s chest, washing over the entire Whispering Ravine in a wave of monochrome light.
Instantly, the world lost all color, turning into a frozen grayscale landscape. The roaring wind died. The drifting fog locked solid in mid-air like thick white cotton. Beside her, Lysander was frozen mid-stride, his dark veil suspended in an awkward, floating wave, his single purple eye locked in a startled glare.
Behind them, the terrifying horde of thirty Beast Zombies was completely paralyzed, one rotten wolf was caught mid-leap with its jaws wide open, a glob of black drool frozen hanging from its decayed fang.
Ingrid stopped running. She stood in the middle of the frozen canyon, panting heavily, her chest heaving as she looked around in absolute awe.
"Holy crap..." she whispered, her voice echoing in the dead silence. "It actually worked! I’m a god! I am literally the main character!"
A surge of arrogant adrenaline coursed through her veins. She rolled her thick, heavy arms, cracking her knuckles with a smug, menacing grin. She lowered her head, squaring her broad shoulders like an enraged, three-hundred-pound bull lining up a target.
"Alright, you decaying ugly bastards," Ingrid growled, locking her eyes on the frozen lead Beast Zombie three feet away. "Time to see how you like getting pulverized by three hundred pounds of vengeful mass!"
She took a massive, powerful stride forward, winding her heavy right fist back like a wrecking ball, ready to cave the wolf zombie’s chest in and rip its core out.
But suddenly, the monochrome world flashed violently. The color snapped back into the environment in an instant. The frozen fog dissolved, the roaring wind exploded back into her ears, and the lead Beast Zombie, which was supposed to be completely paralyzed, instantly completed its mid-air leap!
"Wait, WH—?! AAAGHH!" Ingrid shrieked, a blood-curdling scream tearing from her throat.
The zombie’s razor-sharp claws swiped brutally across her exposed left forearm, tearing away a massive chunk of flesh and spraying blood all over the stony ground. The momentum and pain knocked Ingrid off balance. Her heavy body crashed sideways into the dirt with a sickening thud.
Pain flared through her arm, making her vision instantly spin out of control. Black spots danced across her eyes as she clutched her bleeding arm, gasping and sobbing in the mud.
"Ingrid!" Lysander yelled, his voice filled with worry but Ingrid’s ears were ringing, she could barely hear anything.
As her consciousness began to rapidly slip away into the dark, Lorna’s voice popped up in her head, sounding entirely casual, like someone casually mentioning the weather.
{ Oh! Silly me! } Lorna giggled sheepishly. { I completely forgot to mention! Due to your current trash-tier level and abysmal physical stamina, Host, your Time Stop and Gluttony skill can only last for about five seconds! My bad! }
Ingrid’s blurred vision caught a glimpse of Lysander’s dark form spinning around in horror, his bone dagger flashing as he lunged toward her falling body.
With the last shred of her fading strength, Ingrid let out one final, profanity-laced scream into the void of her mind.
’YOU... FUCKING ... PIECE OF SH—!’
And then, everything went black.