Jin stared at the unfamiliar transparent window in front of him for several minutes without moving. Other undead passed him by and every time he would get startled. They didn’t attack him, since he was one of them, but the fact he was among them still tensed his nerves.

He pondered over the screen and gazed at the incoming undead. “Upgrade, huh…? Eating brains though…”

At the thought of having to go through with it, Jin hurled. Of course, only growls came out of its mouth, but in his consciousness, he already vomited.

He sighed internally on multiple occasions, as he tried to wrap his head around the idea. “I-I have nothing to lose, right?”

An undead walked next to him. Jin stared at it. Unlike the living person he had seen earlier, there were barely any lights emitting from the brain. Just a few dark red bursts from time to time. Maybe electrons fired to move it around. “I wonder if there’s someone in there…”

He thought about that for a while, as he kept following it. At some point, Jin got closer, and a rectangular translucent window of brown and red tones popped over its head.

{Undead Lvl 1}

The high-pitched ringing echoed in Jin’s head once more, and the window from earlier floated on the side.

[Activation sequence requires a core. Eat the brain of another undead!]

[Accept!] [Refuse!]

[Rewards: Upgrade]

“This again…”

He followed the undead for a while as he pondered over his options. “Argh, damn it!”

Jin picked up a rock and threw it on the undead. The impact made it lose its balance and fall on the ground, face down. Jin approached it, picked up the rock, and growled while his consciousness shouted. “Accept!”

With the rock in his hand, Jin stood over it. The growls it let out didn’t reach his ears, but when it moved, Jin took a step back, startled. He banged the undead’s head several times until it stopped moving.

He kneeled next to its head and carefully removed the skull fragments. Jin looked away, as he rummaged through until he could feel a solid piece, all the while thinking about anything else unrelated to what he was doing.

As his mind wondered, he finally got a grab of something. Without looking at it, he put it in his mouth and began munching it. A tasteless blob of something. He had no interest in knowing what it was.

He continued like that until he could no longer grab anything else. He looked at the lifeless mass when he was done and couldn’t help but feel sorry for it. Just as he was about to get up, a buzzing, then a loud stream of noises, bombarded his head.

Jin put his hands on his ears, trying to cut some of those sounds off when a green translucent window popped up in front of him.

[Quest Completed!]

[Core Acquired!]

[Undead Level 1 Reached!]

[Rewards: Upgrade]

[System Upgrade: Hearing! Congratulations, you now have Human Hearing]

Jin crawled into a fetal position, holding his ears until one by one the noises subsided, and all he could hear were the chirping birds that surrounded him. Tranquility overwhelmed him at that point.

He remained in that position for a while and relaxed while listening to the melodies. Without him realizing it, his consciousness nodded off. He woke up several hours later, and it was already dusk.

The sun had ‌set, and he still didn’t know where he was. He got up and roamed the vastness. He came across another undead. “I wonder what else I could get out of them…”

{Undead Lvl 1}

This time around, it was easier than before. He followed the same routine and munched off the undead’s head in the same manner. He still felt uncomfortable eating brains. After he got it over with a bell resounded in his head.

[Core Acquired!]

[Rewards: Upgrade]

[System Upgrade: Speed! Congratulations! You now have Human Speed]

“Sweet!”

Jin pouted at the sound coming out of his mouth. Even though he said it clearly, its undead body translated it as a growl, which annoyed him. At least he enjoyed walking around a bit more now.

He spotted an undead a little further than his location, and a grin appeared on his face. At first, he walked in its direction, then skipped, and, in the end, he ran. He carried his trusted rock with him the whole time, and when he reached the undead, Jin bashed its head with a single strike, using the momentum of his newfound speed.

Moments later, he fed. He waited for a while, but there was no update. “I guess it doesn’t work with all of them… Why, though?”

Jin thought about it for a while before continuing his hunt. After a few unsuccessful tries, the last one gave him another bonus.

[Core Acquired!]

[Rewards: Upgrade]

[System Upgrade: Eyes! Congratulation, you now have Human Eyes]

After the upgrade, Jin rubbed his eyes. His mouth gaped when the brightness and colors became visible once again. The black membrane no longer hindered his vision, either.

Rejoiced, Jin whistled internally, since if he let it out, it’ll come out as a growl and spoil his good mood. He walked around but couldn’t spot any more undead. He ran in another direction and found himself in a familiar town.

The town he grew up in was now deserted before him. As far as he could see, there was no sign of living people. He walked around for a bit and came across a few undead herding together. With his rock in hand, he charged at them and knocked them down, one after the other.

He finished eating, and three more windows popped up in front of him.

[Core Acquired!]

[Core Acquired!]

[Core Acquired!]

[Rewards: Upgrades]

[System Upgrade: Touch, Strength, Speech! Congratulations, you now have Human Touch, Strength, and Speech.]

A breeze picked up, and Jin could feel it on his skin. He closed his eyes and enjoyed that moment. “So nice…”

He didn’t even finish his line when he heard his voice. If he could cry, a stream would run down his cheeks. He whistled out loud, and it was audible to him. He enjoyed those little things as much as he could before a scream interrupted his joyous moment.

“Noooo!”