Level One Zombie [A Dungeon Crawler LitRPG]

Frank isn’t exactly a model citizen. He's also not here to save Earth; he just wants his favorite curse word back. Too bad the World Dungeon drops him in as a zombie with a level cap of 1 and a profanity filter that turns every F-bomb into “frank.” Earth is repossessed and rebranded by a mega corp called DungeonCore. The prize is ownership of the planet. This season is Hardcore Mode: if he dies, he gets stuck in his Lair until the next expansion drops, losing everything but the account unlocks he’s scraped together. Every death adds growing galactic debt to cover his auto-respawn fees. Humanity gets a head start, but deep-pocketed aliens are lining up to buy their way in. To make matters worse, some corporate genius hands all the hero classes to the NPCs, while actual players get saddled with monster classes. Frank spawns as a lowly zombie. All he’s got is stubbornness, handyman’s grit, and an accidental Universe First achievement that lets him build a class of his own. Frank’s no hero; he’s not even alive, technically. However, he is petty enough to move mountains if it means unlocking one four-letter word. Will that be enough to win? Probably not. But it might be enough to swear again. Level One Zombie is a darkly funny, System-forward LitRPG with Lair/town building, bureaucratic satire, and a delightfully petty anti-hero. What to expect: Single POV, first-person, past-tense Cursing, and lots of it Deeply flawed, badass, anti-hero, male MC Dark themes (which are neither fetishized nor glorified) Lair building with worker and resource management Themed Instances (dungeons) with interesting boss fights Crunchy LitRPG with System messages and loads of stats and menus What not to expect: Romance Chapter length: 2k to 2.5k Schedule: Mon, Thur @ 7:05 am EST Disclaimer: If you are reading this story on any other site but RoyalRoad.com or my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Matthew_McKay) it has been stolen. Read it for FREE at https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/146717