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nIf the monster claimed to have a superpower of its own that was similar to the famous force scream of a certain spinning senate, Dante would believe it.

nThe sound caused him to black for a split second as it pounced on him, and he could only hurriedly dash backward lamely in response. The claws barely missed him, but they struck a tree behind him.

nTo Dante’s shock and horror, they almost sliced through the solid bark like it was butter. It got about halfway through before it got somewhat stuck near the end of the trunk.

nThe zombie stupidly tried to pull out its claw and it was actually working. It was cutting through the rest of the tree significantly and should be freed in the next few seconds.

nNow in this time, Dante had a choice. He could turn and use this chance to flee, putting distance between himself and this monster.

nOr he could use this opening to strike and deal some damage. He had a very short time window to consider the wisdom of both options in the current situation, and he made the best one he could.

nHe naturally chose to run!

nWhile it was a seemingly lame and spineless choice, Dante was not in a situation where he could boast about how he would be the one to strike it and then kill it in a heroic fight like some others.

nHis mind was incomparably clear. The monster had better stats than him, it had some bestial roar that could stun, and its claws could cut through the bark with relative ease. 𝚍ｎ𝚘ｖ𝚕．𝚘𝚛𝚐

nThis meant that – speaking bluntly – he would easily be one-shot if he made a single mistake in combat. There was no chance to accumulate injuries and battle through attrition.

nEven worse, if he did try to battle through attrition, he wasn’t qualified to outlive it. Also, a single scratch from it, even if non-fatal, would probably send his radiation index into the red.

nDante truly did consider attacking, and he ran a simulation in his head. He would dash forward with his knife in hand and strike the monster in the spine to cripple it, or the neck to inflict a fatal wound, or its head for a one-shot kill or at least, mash up its ‘brains’.

nThen he remembered. It was **ing zombie. Zombies didn’t have fatal spots, and could only be killed through dismembering.

nWelp, his knife was not thick enough to sever the head of a zombie anyway, not to mention if he had the strength to do so. With all of that in mind, he naturally turned to run from this fruitless battle.

nBut what made him think he could escape?

nFirstly, this was a forest. He could easily use the various bushes and trees to lose it if it pursued him. Secondly, putting distance between them would prevent it from using that bloody scream that stunned a person.

nThirdly, he currently had 3.2 points of agility while it had 4 points, meaning it was barely faster than Donate. With an advantage of a head start and the terrain, he could definitely outrun it.

nOf course, there were dangers in doing this. He could rush through a bush and meet a bunch of mutated dogs or a mutated bear or something, which would guarantee death.

nHowever, that – while likely – was not good reason enough not to take this path because the chances of it were significantly low. Even if he did meet such beats, he wasn’t going to stop and greet them, but could circle back and lead them to meet his attacker.

nThen all of them could discuss politics together in a forest clearing.

nDante bolted at his fastest speed, jumping over bushes and various roots stretching across the forest floor as he dashed towards the general direction of the city.

nHe did not even look back to see if he was being chased. His current speed was around 48 km

/h (29.8 Mph) which caused him to leave a blur in the eyes of onlookers and even he himself had some difficulty reacting to various obstacles in his way at first.

nThe average running speed of a pure human in this universe with an SDI of 1 in Agility was 15 km

/h, so Dante so was 3.2 times faster than that would naturally display such an unbridled speed.

nThe more Dante moved, the more he understood his advantage in this world with limited SDI and the ability to continually increase his, while he also understood the gap between him and the natives in the universe with higher SDI.

nIf it weren’t for the sake of socialization, he probably wouldn’t even be able to see them move because they would be moving and talking at speeds that he could not fathom.

nIt meant that they were literally slowing themselves down to ‘exist’ in the plane of speed for normal people with lower SDIs.

nDante held that train of thought as he reached what should be the edge of the forest. When he burst out, he was pleasantly startled to see an actual encampment before him, because he knew that these were outposts set up by the various cities to allow survivors who couldn’t get in to live there in relative safety, also acting as a resupply point for those who made it their business to enter dangerous zones.

nDante rushed over to the encampment so fast that the guards on duty were frightened. They also raised their guns and opened fire, but Dante slowed down and shouted that he was human before they reluctantly held back their itchy trigger fingers.

n“Hmph, young man, where did you come from? Do you belong to another city or are you a stray?” The guard asked in a mocking and unfriendly manner, because he was angry and embarrassed from being startled like that.

nDante was not bothered and even displayed a harmless smile to try and defuse the situation. “Big bosses, forgive me just now for my rude behavior. I was being chased down by some terrifying monster and had to erupt with all my speed and more to survive just now.”

nThe guards seemed mollified and their expressions of annoyance relaxed. After all, they could understand the fear of death given the world they were in but then now that they were calm, they realized something was wrong.

n“You, could it be that you are one of the Gifted?” one of them asked as he sized Dante up and down.

nDante knew that this term was meant for players who had superpowers to NPCs from the forums, so he nodded. The guards surprisingly did not show surprise or respect. Instead, there was a hint of pity in their eyes.

n“Ah, not another one of these tragic folk.” One guard muttered under his breath, but Dante could hear him with his upgraded senses.

nHis lips couldn’t help but twitch. The guard’s behavior might seem weird, but all NPCs in this world felt this way toward players. After all, this was a shared world meaning that it was continuous and perpetual.

nIt did not just shut down and reset because a player had finished their stay. This world had decades of history and hundreds of thousands of players had come and gone, leaving their own mark.

nBut despite their talent, power, or achievements, all of them had mysteriously disappeared after 30 days. This led natives to believe that superpowers came with a curse, that the person could only live for 30 days due to the effect of the mutation.

nThe assumption did make sense and it was not like players were going to clear up the confusion anyway. This led to some changes in how players were treated compared to the earlier years when this world was set up, but Dante would experience them later.

nRight now, he was brought inside the encampment and then to the testing device. Of course, they weren’t just going to take his word for it, they had to test if he had superpowers.

nThey had a mature testing system that worked on every superpower, but they didn’t actually require him to specifically state what it was. There was a reason for this though.

nDante was then registered and assigned a small self-contained room near the entrance. He was also made to take a disinfection treatment for radiation and mutations first before he could go and rest.

nWhen Dante arrived at the room assigned him, he was surprised. Not because it was luxurious, but because it was not very good. However, this ‘not very good’ was relative to the outside world.

nIn here, it was practically a mansion given that most others had to squeeze in long houses and sleep with everyone else whether they liked it or not.

nWhen he pushed the door open though, he saw a shadow leap towards him with a screeching cry. Dante could only raise a hand to block the sudden and unexpected attack aimed at his face.

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