Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Zane woke up the next morning ready for war. After equipping his usual equipment that he always wore into battle, the young black-haired man discovered something unusual. It was a flashing notification from the system on the side of his vision.

It had been a while since Zane looked into his notifications. After all, he normally ignored them as a lot of them were just spam messages telling him things that were pretty much useless, or that he already knew before reading them.

But when Zane saw his messages now, he noticed he had several achievements unlocked, one of which dated back over two months. Because of this, Zane quickly went to the achievement section and saw something that shocked him.

---

[New Achievements Unlocked:

The One Who Got Away

Community Leader]

---

Zane saw the names of the three achievements, and knew it was entirely likely that they were hidden achievements, as the last time he checked the achievement tab of his system, he did not see these achievements eligible to unlock, and sure enough, the moment he looked at the three achievements unlocked he was surprised by what he saw.

---

[Hidden Achievement: The One Who Got Away]

[Description: Congratulations, you have cheated death by surviving an encounter with one of her favored children. As the first human capable of evading Death herself, you have been awarded a legendary item, and title to match!]

[Rewards:

Death's Shroud

Title: The One Who Got Away

Feature Unlock: Inventory

+ 30,000 XP]

---

Zane's jaw dropped when he saw this hidden achievement. "The One Who Got Away?" Why does that make it seem like Death is some kind of jilted lover? Whatever, that's not important, Zane was far more interested in this legendary item, and was quick to notice another message from the system in his notifications.

---

[Legendary Item Unlocked: Death's Shroud!]

---

Until now, there was no such thing as an inventory, and because of this, Zane was quick to navigate to the new section of his UI that displayed such a thing. Apparently, it was a hidden feature of the system, and when he gazed upon it, his jaw nearly dropped.

In his inventory were a variety of items, which he had failed to loot in the past for various reasons. Such as blood crystals, and his new legendary item. But there were other things as well. For example, one of things he noticed was two sets of claws, which were a stacked item. Referred to as "Stalker's Claws"

When Zane inspected the item, he found a full description of them.

---

[Stalker's Claws]

[Quantity: x20]

[Item Quality: Rare]

[Item Type: Crafting Materials]

[Value: 80g]

[Description: A Stalker's claws are made from a material unknown to the previous world. They are harder than diamond, yet are not nearly as brittle, and capable of significant resistance towards stress and flexing.

In addition, they are extremely lightweight and they can hold an edge unlike anything else the old world had ever seen. Making them an excellent material for crafting bladed weapons, and perhaps even body armor.]

---

Zane was stunned when he saw this, and when he went back into the inventory, he saw that every tier of undead he had killed had dropped some form of crafting material, or other item which he had been oblivious to until now.

While not every undead dropped an item or a resource of some kind. Enough of them had that Zane now had quite a few materials. Whose quality ranged from poor to rare, each of which had a different color to signify them. Poor quality had a grey name, Common quality had a white name, Uncommon quality had a green name, and rare quality had a blue name.

Judging by this system, which was fairly standard for MMORPGs, Zane surmised that there were probably Epic and legendary quality items that corresponded with Tier V Undead and Horde Kings. But what was more interesting was that he could sell these items, and they each had a price listed to them in gold.

Curious as to what this was, and what this gold could be used for, Zane sold a poor quality item for a measly one gold piece. Which showed up in his currency section of the inventory screen.

Apparently, he had looted quite a bit of gold so far simply from killing the undead, because he now had 1001 gold. Though Zane had no idea how much this was worth. Although the moment he thought this, he noticed there was another message in his notifications section.

---

[Hidden Feature Unlocked: Store]

---

Curious about this new feature, Zane quickly navigated to it, where he found an "in-game store" like feature. Which sold various items, everything from health potions to epic quality weapons and armor. All of which were worth an insane amount of gold. As it stood right now, Zane might be able to buy a few health and stamina potions with the amount of hold he had, but nothing significant.

With this in mind, Zane put the store aside, and instead went back to his inventory, where he looked at his one legendary item that he had gained from a hidden achievement.

---

[Death's Shroud]

[Item Quality: Legendary]

[Item Level: 25]

[Item Slot: Neck]

[Value: N/A]

[Item Effects:

+25% Stealth

+25% Damage Resistance

+25 Armor

+5 Dexterity]

---

Once more, Zane's eyes nearly shot out of his head when he saw the major effects this legendary item had on him. He quickly equipped the item, which wrapped around his neck and leather jacket, creating a stylish appearance.

The cloak itself was ragged and torn, especially on the edges, and it was as black as the abyss. It had a hood which he could pull over his head, making the one within his leather jacket no longer necessary. Because of this, Zane quickly unzipped the interior hood of his leather jacket and cast it aside.

As for the black and tattered cloak, Zane felt a strange effect when he wore it. It had a natural scent of death and decay to it, though not overbearing to those around him. It was noticeable to him.

Yet he did not feel disgust by this acrid smell. Rather, it was comforting and calming. Familial even, almost as if he were wearing a garment that belonged to a close family member, one which was the only connection he had to them.

Zane did not bother to test his newfound ability yet, and instead he glanced over at the other achievement he had unlocked.

---

[Hidden Achievement Unlocked: Community Leader]

[Description: You have fought tooth and nail to prove yourself a capable leader, so much so that you have built a thriving settlement within this wasteland, one capable of surviving on its own for the time being.]

[Rewards:

Title: Community Leader

Feature Unlocks: Settlement Management

Recipe Unlock: Grim Forge

+20,000 XP]

---

With these two achievements, Zane had unlocked another level. But he was not interested in applying those points just yet. Instead, he was more interested in what these specific titles could do for him. Thus, he was quick to navigate over to the titles section of his character screen, where he glanced upon the two titles.

---

[Title: The One Who Got Away]

[Effects:

+15% Damage to All Undead

+15% Evasion]

[Title: Community Leader]

[Effects:

+15% Weekly Income from Settlement Sources

+15 Percent Territory]

---

Zane had no idea what this settlement management tab was, but he honestly did not have enough time to figure it out at this moment. Because he had already promised the girls they would go out hunting the remaining stalkers in the area.

Thus, he turned off the system's ui for the time being, grabbed his rifle and began to head out, where he found the girls were already waiting for him eating breakfast.