The One Luna

*Grinding is a term mostly used by gamers to describe an act of killing monsters to get gains such as EXP, materials, equipment etc.

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Luna's house was something he inherited from his parents before they passed away, rather than calling it a house, it might as well be called a fortress. High walls, along with a towering gate, with metal spikes jutting out from the top, a design quite common in houses in the Philippines, just that his was on a larger scale, he had no maids in his house, as he was used to taking care of himself back when he lived in the USA, with him only having a cleaning lady come once a week to maintain the huge abode's cleanliness.

The party of 3 cleared the whole house of any spawned zombies before cleaning up the mess and heading out, Boni also reached level 2 within this time.

"Sura, tell me more about yourself. If we're going to work together, it's best if I know your capabilities."

"I am from the Asura race, in your world we would be known as a warrior race. In the ancient times, we had worked together with humans, but it's been so long that your race probably only has vague records, if any, left of us."

Luna had a thinking expression before he replied "Yes, even with what knowledge we have left of your race, you had always been associated with combat, even in video games."

"Video games?"

"Ah, never mind. Anyway, what world did you come from? Weren't you surprised when I summoned you out of nowhere?" Luna eyed her, looking for any type of expression resembling resentment. After all, if anybody was forcefully summoned, they would not be so pleased, so he was surprised she was so obedient.

"The entity that you call God, him and his allies have different worshipers in your world. Their purpose, it's best that you don't concern yourself with it for now, as it will not do you any good."

"That's... " both Luna and Boni had surprised expressions on their faces, as this information might very well shake every religion in the world.

"All you need to know is that I was aware I was going to be summoned, my father, the leader of our race, sent me and informed me that I will be following someone. My soul is now bound to you, so if you die, I will cease to exist."

"But, what's in this for you, Sura?" Boni couldn't help but ask.

"Evolution. These monsters, they were not created by your Gods, they are from somewhere else, a place that would usually not be able to enter any of the myriad worlds, but your Gods have allowed them to, while they may only seek to devour you all, to evolve themselves, you can kill them as well, but using only equipment that is provided by the <System>."

"You mean, like these wooden clubs?"

"Yes."

Luna pondered some more, eventually figuring out that since this new <World> had a <System> similar to MMORPGs, probably to give a more solid representation of how far one has evolved through stats, items would drop from mobs as well.

As the group was walking towards the next block, 5 zombies came into view, Luna wanted to use this opportunity to see how well they'd do against multiple zombies, that way they could somehow use this as a basis on what fights they should or shouldn't take in the future.

Much to their surprise, Sura actually took care of 3 of them before Luna and Boni killed theirs, but knowing that she wasn't using a <system> weapon, but instead dual-wielding two Katanas that Luna owned, she only cut them in half, leaving the last hit for Luna.

"Master, please kill these three."

"Oh, right.. Thank you." After killing another 4 zombies, Luna felt a surge of energy enter his body, he had reached level 3, gaining +1 to all his stats, and an extra stat point, which he appointed to VIT.

His main goal for going hybrid this early, which he usually wouldn't do in a regular MMORPG, was due to the fact that he wanted to hit that "sweet spot" for having enough VIT to regenerate enough endurance where he can continuously fight zombies without getting too tired, too quickly, he assumed 20 VIT would probably meet his needs.

It wasn't a surprise that they didn't see any other regular person out in the streets, besides the zombies that probably spawned, when this apocalypse started. They proceeded normally with Boni usually handling 1 zombie, Luna handling 2, and Sura usually handling the rest, slicing them in half and offering them to Luna.

Along the way, they would overhear screams from other houses, to which they rushed to help out, but they would always be too late, in the end, they could only save a pair of siblings to whom they sincerely offered advice of mourning the loss of their parents who defended them from the zombies but to quickly adapt to this new world, and evolve, or die and make their parent's sacrifices be in vain.

By the time they got to the grocery store Luna and Sura were already level 5, with Boni being level 4 after grinding zombies along the way. Luna noticed that he had gained another skill point he continued to pump points into VIT, while Boni did the same as well. At this point, Boni already had 19 points in VIT, and observed that he didn't feel tired after fighting with a zombie at all, and even after fending off more than one zombie in a short amount of time, he'd feel some form of tiredness, but it would disappear within the next 30 seconds or so.

Something they had noticed as well, was that while it only took a few zombies to level up in the early levels, it seems that the amount needed would grow exponentially. This grind was about to get harder.