The silence was oppressive and seemed to stretch on for far too long. Gerhard slowly exhaled, the breath leaving his lungs in a quiet plume that stirred the toxic dust drifting through the air. It took him a lot of effort not to sneeze or cough, as he didn't want to stir anything up. The air burned inside his lungs. But then, he was interrupted by a small blue screen.
[A skill has been created through a special action.]
[Through continuous observation, a skill to find the target's information, 'Observe', has been created.]
"Perfect. My first skill. And a very useful one as well."
Although Gerhard would have liked a 'night vision' skill, he was more than content with this one. The higher he levelled this, the better for him in the long run. Information was both dangerous in this galaxy and invaluable. He looked around, using [Observe] on anything he could find.
[Observe has levelled up by 1]
No movement could be heard, no Cockney-accented Ork voices and no sound of crude boots or clanking scrap armour. The Orks hadn't reached this far yet, and it was questionable if they ever would bother to. If they grew bored, they would simply launch attacks off-world. Or if they had, they hadn't settled.
That made sense. Greenskins preferred areas with functioning manufactories, large enough scrap heaps to build vehicles, and wide-open spaces where they could fight properly. The deeper regions of the Underhive were the opposite: unstable, maze-like, filled with collapsing structures, toxic air pockets, and unpredictable hazards... not that they were bothered by it, but it was just boring for them, probably.
Which made it perfect for him. Gerhard walked slowly across the massive dome floor, his eyes constantly moving as he surveyed his surroundings, using [Observe].
Collapsed habitation blocks leaned against ancient manufactorum walls. Entire buildings crumpled under the immense weight of the hive above, leaving chaotic piles of twisted steel and shattered plasteel. Scrap piles rose like small hills. But Gerhard saw something else.
Resources. Lots and lots of resources. The building blocks for his future endeavour. This place wasn't just ruins, but it was a treasure trove. A slow grin spread across his face.
"This place is basically a giant loot dungeon."
He moved deeper into the Underhive, eventually stopping beside the remains of a partially collapsed housing of some kind. It looked like someone had constructed a house with long metal pieces, very crude and basic, but he wasn't picky. Massive metal plates had fallen at an angle, forming a crude but effective barrier.
Gerhard circled the structure, studying it carefully. There was one entrance. The walls were made by stacking several pieces of thick industrial steel. And there was plenty of scrap and other usually 'useless' resources nearby for him to reinforce it in the future.
"Looks like I found my initial base."
'Inventory.'
A blue window appeared in front of him, showing him his inventory. Inside floated the handful of items he had managed to salvage. The most important one: seeds. Scrap metal, broken lasguns, the fragments of flak armour and a few other things.
Gerhard looked out across the dark corridor of the Underhive again, his mind already racing with possibilities. Suddenly... A cold shiver ran down his spine. Gerhard froze. Something was wrong.
A strange pressure filled the air around him, like an invisible weight pressing down on his instincts. And as if to confirm, a blue notification flashed in front of his eyes.
[You have acquired a new skill.]
[After repeated use of the sixth sense, you have acquired a new skill to sense a bad omen, 'Danger Sense']
|Danger Sense (Passive) Lv. 1
| EXP: 0.0%
| A natural survival instinct. It allows the user to sense when a bad thing might happen.
| The higher the skill level, the earlier it can sense danger.
"What--?"
"ROOOAAARRR!!"
The sound exploded through the dark corridor like a thunderclap, but that wasn't the worst. The worst hit was the one that struck Gerhard in the back and sent him flying into the wall. Gerhard had spun around just as something massive lunged out of the darkness between two collapsed structures and hit him. He wasn't fast enough to dodge, and the [Danger Sense] was not high enough level to warn him sooner.
"Urghh..." Gerhard groaned and looked up.
He wasn't injured thanks to [Gamer's Body], but he had lost over 100 HP and was now at 40 HP. The attacker was humanoid, but only barely. The creature stood nearly 6 feet tall, its body swollen with tumorous muscle growths and covered in patches of greyish skin that looked half-rotten. One arm was grotesquely elongated, dragging across the ground like a club, while the other ended in claws the size of knives. Its mouth opened far too wide, revealing rows of broken but otherwise sharp teeth.
Gerhard used [Observe]
|Mutant Lv. 27
| HP: 1200 MP: 20
| A Mutant that lives in the Underhive and has been affected by the high radiation and toxic waste around. Living off hunting, anyone unfortunate or unequipped enough to be eaten.
A mutant. One of the horrors born from centuries of toxic waste and radiation in the Underhive. And far stronger than Gerhard right now.
"Oh SHIT!"
Gerhard stood up, turned and ran. Thanks to his [Gamer's Body], he could use his body even if his health dropped to 1 HP; that was the advantage of being a Gamer. The mutant howled behind him, its massive feet slamming into the metal floor as it charged after him with terrifying speed.
Gerhard sprinted across the corridor, his boots slipping over dust and rust. He hit several ducts and metal contraptions, which slowly took off from his health.
Behind him, the creature smashed through a pile of scrap metal as if it were paper. Gerhard vaulted over a fallen pipe, barely clearing it before the mutant slammed into it and sent the massive cylinder rolling across the floor.
"Too fast!"
He jumped over a collapsed railing, slid down a mound of broken machinery, and nearly lost his footing as he scrambled forward. The corridor that had looked so good earlier was now gone. Another roar echoed behind him, making him run even faster. Gerhard risked a glance back and realised that the mutant was gaining ground fast.
Its long arm slammed against the ground, propelling its body forward in grotesque leaps.
"Fuck this!"
Gerhard veered sharply toward a narrow corridor half buried beneath fallen metal plates. He squeezed through and kept running. Pipes, debris, broken walls... Everything became an obstacle he had to climb, vault, or crawl through.
Finally, he saw something. A doorway. Gerhard lunged inside a small, broken, and run-down room and spun around. He pressed his entire weight against the broken metal plate, which may or may not have once been used as a door. The door screeched as he slammed it shut just as the mutant barreled into it from the outside.
-BOOM!!-
The entire wall shook violently, causing Gerhard to stumble backwards, his heart pounding, but his mind clear and calm. The creature roared and slammed against the door again, but Gerhard had again pushed against it to prevent it from reaching inside.
-BOOM!!-
The hinges screamed, and the walls shook.
"Shit, shit, shit—!"
Gerhard frantically looked around the room and spotted a heavy metal support beam lying on the ground. He waited for the next impact and then bolted forward. He grabbed it and jammed it against the door handle, bracing it against the wall, just as the next impact arrived.
-BOOM!!-
The metal door bent inward slightly, and the mutant roared in frustration and hunger. Gerhard pressed his full weight against the support beam, his muscles shaking as the creature continued slamming into the door and tried to squeeze his thinner arm through the gaps and catch him. He couldn't hold it forever.
Gerhard's mind raced.
'Think,' he told himself. 'Think!'
The Gamer ability... Instant dungeons! The Manhwa's main character, Han Jihan, had unlocked them, which granted him training spaces, combat zones, and all other kinds of dungeons. But most importantly, it could get him out of here.
Gerhard gritted his teeth.
"If I had a dungeon right now...!"
The mutant slammed into the door again, and the beam shifted. Gerhard's eyes widened.
"I need somewhere to fight and level, a separate space to get out of this mess. In short: a dungeon!"
An illusion barrier or instant dungeon, as the Gamer system called it, could be made by simply emitting energy from one's hand and thinking of creating one. Gerhard remembered that from the story. So he did just that.
He raised his hand and thought about emitting his energy, which was Mana or MP. He thought about the strength going out of his hand, and a second later, a blue window flashed into existence.
[A skill has been created through a special action.]
[The skill to directly use mana 'Energy Bolt' has been created.]
|Energy Bolt (Active) Lv. 1
| EXP: 0.0%
| A skill that attacks by emitting Mana.
| Attack power increases with INT.
| Current range: 10m
"FUCK! Not that one!!" Gerhard cursed.
-BOOOM!!-
He was hurled through the air as the mutant finally broke down the metal door. Gerhard's eyes widened as he saw his death right in front of him. He did it again, raising his hand and this time, he finally got what he wanted. The mutant was mid charge, his claws millimetres before his face, about to tear him to shreds, when it vanished and with it, all sound.
[A skill has been created through a special action.]
[A skill to create illusion barriers, 'ID Create', has been created.]
|Instant Dungeon Create (Active) Lv. 1
| EXP: 0.0%
| A skill to make an instant dungeon. You can make stronger ones by increasing your skill level.
| Currently available IDs:
| 1. Empty ID - monsters: none
| 2. Zombie ID - monsters: zombies
| 3. Ghost ID - monsters: ghosts
Gerhard stared at the notification in disbelief and satisfaction. He was now inside an instant dungeon, which meant that he was still in the same space as before, but separated. Like a mirror dimension, just that no one was inside it. He was all alone here. For the mutant, this was as if he had teleported or simply vanished without a trace.
Then a grin slowly spread across Gerhard's face.
"Oh, yes! Let's go!! Hahahahaha! Oh shit, that was stressful."
Outside, the mutant roared again as it prepared another charge against the wall, looking frantically where its prey had gone. Eventually, it will leave, since Gerhard wasn't coming out anytime soon.
Gerhard looked around and noticed that everything was the same as outside, simply without people or creatures. It was the most basic of instant dungeons, the empty one. He looked at his health.
17/200 HP
He would need time to regenerate it to full. And while he waited, he could have a look at his new abilities and what being a Gamer truly meant.
.
The Gamer was an ability given to Han Jihan by Gaia herself in the Manhwa, making him a Natural Ability User. Now, Gerhard was the Gamer and he had no idea who gave it to him. Maybe it was also Gaia, or a higher power, he didn't know. In the Manhwa, Gaia also assisted Jihan in using his ability, creating a system to monitor his daily life and his ability to learn and develop skills. The Gamer ability is insanely powerful when used correctly and could be considered a 'cheaty' ability, as Gerhard can learn skills quite easily from skill books and level them up quickly.
To use the Gamer ability, there were a few points to remember:
1. Certain actions in Gerhard's daily life will become Skills. Doing something special, or through sheer repetition, created skills that could then be levelled up.
2. Objects were treated as items and could be used by Gerhard. They also now had stats and maybe even special effects.
3. Gerhard's body now worked like that of a game character. He was unable to receive wounds. However, he lost HP and could still die once his health bar reached 0.
4. After sleeping in a bed, Gerhard's HP and MP were restored, and abnormal status effects were removed. This was especially broken in a setting like Warhammer 40'000. Any corruption would be gone after sleeping, that is, if he could be corrupted, but in this reality, almost anything was possible.
5. Certain technique books were treated as skill books and could be learned. This meant that if someone described what he thought of or how he used the Warp and psyker abilities, Gerhard could learn that.
6. Allies could be added to form a party. This was interesting, but he wouldn't use it probably, since he would be branded a heretic and killed.
7. The Gamer ability could also generate a range of items from killing monsters in illusory barriers, even if the monsters didn't have physical bodies. These items included crafting and healing items (usually potions), real money, weapons, skill books, and other magical items. This ability could be called mining. And it was this aspect of the Gamer ability that made it such a ridiculous cheat. It was, in essence, turning an illusion into reality and ignoring the conversion of mass, creating something from nothing.
8. The Gamer ability also had the effect of making training areas into full battle areas, as well as making a boss mob appear in instant dungeons.
9. Just by looking at some person or thing, the system automatically informs Gerhard of their name and level. Using Low Class God's Eye, he could quantify attributes accurately and without bias. That was the highest form that [Observation] could reach.
10. EXP points could be gained by defeating enemies (monsters, ability users, etc.) and completing tasks (studying, exercising, etc.). Each level-up gave 5 points, which could be used to raise attributes.
11. Skills that were related to each other can be combined into new Skills. Active and passive skills gave Gerhard a boost in attack or in any other thing they do, like a separate power. Passive skills didn't even need mana to use.
His ability, while very powerful, had some limitations.
1. He couldn't gain certain skills or techniques until he had reached a certain level in a certain area. Meaning that he couldn't gain the skills of an Alpha-class psyker just because he read the skill book. He would have to level up and increase the attribute points in certain areas to do that.
2. He couldn't 'absorb' technique books that described theories. So if something was a theory and it wasn't right, he wouldn't be able to learn it. But if the book described a fact or a skill the author possessed, it could be learned.
3. Gerhard could combine abilities that didn't mesh together, but the system would warn about negative effects if combined.
4. If the Vitality stat was more than 4 times lower than his Intelligence, a deteriorating effect would appear, which permanently removed 1 Vitality point every 24 hours.
5. Powers from or surpassing Gaia could bypass the Gamer's mind and body, but they could be reinforced through skills and would resume their effects after the thing interfering with them was gone. This was also why Gerhard was in no way immune to Chaos corruption. He probably wouldn't be affected by most demons, and maybe even greater ones, but if he were trapped in the Warp and one of the Ruinous Powers played with him... yeah, that would do it.
.
As for his status window. He had attributes which could be directly increased with points. These were:
Strength (STR) (Increases physical strength, muscle power)
Vitality (VIT) (Increases HP or health regeneration)
Dexterity (DEX) (Speed)
Intelligence (INT) (Increases MP)
Wisdom (WIS) (Increase mana resistance)
Magic Resistance increases by 1% every 10 WIS points.
Mana Regeneration increases by 1% every 10 WIS points.
Luck (LUK)
Attributes that could not be directly increased via points gained from levelling were:
Physical resistance
Mana (MP)
Mana Regeneration (MR)
Magic Resistance
Health (HP)
He lacked defensive attributes, but he had physical endurance instead.
That was more or less all the basics of the Gamer ability. Now that Gerhard had refreshed his memory, he was ready to start his plans.