Dante returned to the Apocalypse World and found himself within the lab he had entered. He paused and trained his senses to search for any Deformed Zombies, but they were not close to his current location.
Deciding to explore the lab and see what information or benefits he could get in the meantime, Dante moved forward. As he progressed, he stumbled upon old research notes and documents on a nearby desk. The information made his face darken as he saw the details of the cruel and twisted experiments that had been conducted within these walls.
Scientists of this world had attempted to harness the power of the monsters before the apocalypse, seeking ways to control and weaponize them. It was evident that this research had played a significant role in the world's descent into chaos, if not been the direct cause.
Why was it always a bloody umbrella corp in these situations? Like, even if the corporate overlords were greedy and evil, you, the scientists, and staff, should bloody know better!
Thinking of the chaos of the wasteland, Dante's mind parsed these discoveries, piecing together a narrative of the facility's dark past. He felt disgust and lamentation for the lives that had been sacrificed in the pursuit of power.
Putting the documents aside, Dante moved forward. Eventually, his investigation led him to a hidden chamber, where a massive supercomputer hummed with mysterious energy. It seemed to be the branch hub of this sector, allowing the quantum main hub to control the Deformed Zombies and the facility's defenses in this area.
He didn't need to worry about hacking into anything; the database was left open and logged on. Apparently, he was using the account of a one Dr. Blaine Mercury, a senior researcher. Beside the display was a note that was handwritten elegantly but with a hint of hurry.
"I have left my account on for those brave ones who come here in the future. You will have limited time from the moment you access the user interface, so I advise researching into the core of what we were doing here, because the central hub will begin to investigate how I could possibly still be alive. God, please forgive us for what we did. - Dr. Mercury."
Dante's expression was serious as he took a deep breath and followed the scientist's advice to the letter. With his enhanced mind, he could easily read and consume the details of what the lab was for, and his expression changed greatly.
The research facility was not just an isolated outpost of scientists. It was part of a much larger, secretive organization known as the 'Apocalypse Research Syndicate'.
This organization had connections to the highest echelons of power in the Apocalypse World, and its true purpose was to create a weapon capable of reshaping reality itself: the Eternal Revenant.
The Eternal Revenant was meant to be an all-powerful being that could control and manipulate the very fabric of existence. It was a biological weapon of unimaginable destruction, and those who wielded it would have the power to change the world as they saw fit.
Dante realized the magnitude of the danger posed by the Eternal Revenant, but he had no idea if the experiment succeeded or not. This research facility was just one piece of the puzzle, as the true threat lay with the higher ranks of the Apocalypse Research Syndicate and their sinister plans.
He next checked to see if any of the higher-ups were still alive and managed to record some information from a digital map, but his access was quickly revoked, and the base now went into full red alert.
He knew his free time was up and he jumped up, punching through the roof of the building and landing upon it. He saw that his choice was wise as all the exits and windows were surrounded by Deformed Zombies who were ready to tear him apart.
However, he was not safe. Not to mention the zombies that jumped onto the roof to attack, many of the turrets and missiles locked onto the building and fired.
Dante simply jumped away and avoided the blast, watching as many zombies were blasted apart. He shrugged and rushed to gather their bodies together in a pile but had no time to absorb as more came.
He distanced himself from them as he could tell that the turrets and missiles were firing based on the location data of the Deformed Zombies. He was digitally invisible to the quantum computer as it could not see him using cameras or satellites, but it could see him using the eyes of the Deformed Zombies.
Dante swung his halberd and knocked a few away while cutting off many limbs, then had to leap away to avoid bullets and missiles again. The quantum computer seemed to have gone crazy from fear and was pulling all the stops to take Dante down.
It either did not know or did not care that it was blowing up its own 'eyes' with the missiles. If it ran out of Deformed Zombies, it would only be like a defenseless maiden before a brutish bandit, unable to save itself.
Dante fully made use of this strange behavior to take down more Deformed Zombies without wasting his energy. He would then gather the corpses together when he had respite and deal with the next batch.
Dante knew that dungeons were difficult, but by god, a team of C-Rank superpowered people would need a perfect configuration and specific superpowers to manage this damn place. What was annoying were the turrets that sprayed endless bullets.
One mistake, and Dante would be like a cartoon character who had been poked with holes, only it wouldn't be very funny. He could only continue to dodge rapidly while accumulating his strength.
At one point, a batch of missiles was fired and it struck the last batch of Deformed Zombies who were with him. Dante's eyes flashed as the moment the explosion occurred, he teleported away.
In the eyes of the Deformed Zombies, Dante had perished with them as they did not see him leap away in time. This allowed him to be marked as 'dead,' but the central computer, and also granted him freedom.
Dante waited for 30 minutes before moving to where the corpses were and absorbing what remained after the continuous indiscriminate blasting. There were very few intact ones, and the rest were charred messes that could not work with Absorption.
Maybe if he had Devour or something… bah, what was the use? Lamenting for what could have been was always a recipe for disaster.
His SDI now looked like this:
Player Name: Dante
Player Race: Human
HP: 661/661
Strength: 78 -> 146
Agility: 110.6 -> 230.6
Dexterity: 113.1 -> 231.1
Intelligence: 34.14 -> 60.14
Constitution: 66.1 -> 102.1
Vitality: 69.5 -> 109.5
Mutation Index: 0% (Safe)
Radiation Index: 0% (Safe)
Superpowers: Quantum Entanglement, Absorption.?
ραndαsnοvεl.cοm Dante's body expanded rapidly and then compressed, causing him to feel pain for the first time. It was brief and short, but he knew he was reaching his genetic limit. He would need to take more gene therapy treatments to strengthen his foundation so he could add more 'meat' onto his 'bones'.
Not to mention, his energy consumption directly quadrupled! The energy bars were not cheap. One costing a whole Etran. Even though Dante was rich, that was definitely an expensive price, just as much as paying for the Etraverse per year.
Yet an energy bar at his current consumption would last about 3 days in idleness.
Whew, power was sweet, and who didn't want to accumulate power? With power, your means grew, and your right to speak soared. You could pursue your interests more freely and achieve your goals.
But power had a price. There was no ultimate power that did not come with some form of cost.
Dante sighed and then moved through the compound, checking any other buildings to see if there was anything good inside. Unfortunately, since this was a 'dungeon', the monsters did not drop Mutation Cores.
The in-world reason was that they were artificial and manufactured before the apocalypse while those with mutation cores formed after the apocalypse. Of course, any player could smell the bullshit of the devs trying to forcefully limit the growth speed of the players.
However, it also made sense. You could only find one D-rank monster per 1000 kilometers in the wild, yet there were so many here. If a team of 100 skilled students came here, they could easily clear this place and make enough money to become overlords of the city they spawned from.
Everything in moderation. Clearing this dungeon had its reward waiting at the end, so the information Dante had acquired was simply flavor text for him.
But no, he didn't think so. The goal was to make Supercoins, and Supercoins came based on how much 'trouble' you caused. With these snippets of information, Dante could cause a lot of trouble.
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