Level One Zombie [LitRPG, World Dungeon]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

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-tenseCursing, and lots of itDeeply flawed, badass, anti-hero, male MCDark themes (which are neither fetishized nor glorified)Lair building with worker and resource managementThemed Instances (dungeons) with interesting boss fightsCrunchy LitRPG with System messages and loads of stats and menus What not to expect:Romance Chapter length:2k to 2.5k Schedule:Mon, Tue, Thur @ 7:05 am EST

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2026
Author: Matthew-McKay

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 785
Views: 80,723

Chapters(57 total)

What readers say about Level One Zombie [LitRPG, World Dungeon]

“A somewhat political start with a novel reason for being a zombie... I blame Nepotism the book seems to be heading to a dungeon esk game like playing field but we are just getting to the "meat" of the book. The micro transaction, weird gambling laws, and ot…”
mustachRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Good read! I like the story so far and the characters are interesting. The fights are cool and make sense. I like the worldbuilding, the players being monsters makes cool dynamics. I like the mc’s motivations and his growth (stats and character). Overall lo…”
CuddlemathRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

mustachRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A somewhat political start with a novel reason for being a zombie...
I blame Nepotism
the book seems to be heading to a dungeon esk game like playing field but we are just getting to the "meat" of the book.
The micro transaction, weird gambling laws, and other ironic rules keep it fresh and funny.
Will update as we get to chapter 50
May Frank be with you
CuddlemathRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Good read! I like the story so far and the characters are interesting. The fights are cool and make sense. I like the worldbuilding, the players being monsters makes cool dynamics. I like the mc’s motivations and his growth (stats and character). Overall lots of fun, I highly recommend reading.
DiceRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Level One Zombie is a story filled with heart (and guts and brains) from the very beginning, and managed to draw me in almost immediately!You can tell that the story was written by someone passionate about writing, and making something good and solid in the process. I won't even get into the Grammar, because it's absolutely immaculate, so there's nothing to even say. It's obvious that the author spent a lot of time refining this story.But now, let's get into some specifics.It's blatantly obvious who the bad guys are and what the moral of the story is, and personally, I love it. Even at the start, the racist, red hat wearing MEGA crowd is unequivocally shown to be in the wrong. Sure, they might have a point in not wanting to be controlled by alien overlords, but sadly more for the alien part than the overlord part. They've already got one of those, anyway.The whole swapped Player↔Monster Class swap is legitimately an idea that I simply haven't seen this way before, and it's a concept that I am excited to see fleshed out within the story and how exactly McKay is going to play with the idea.The profanity filter bit is funny, and as someone who shares a favourite word with Frank, I get the frustration.Now, to Frank himself. He's a likeable guy and character, has good values, and although he drew the short end of the stick in terms of his class, deals with it amazingly and makes the most of it. Dick seems to make for a good partner in all of this, at least for the time being, and since both his and Frank's motivations are ultimately aligned, he's a trustworthy ally. That seems hard to come by as a literal man-eating monster.I'm extremely excited to see where this all goes, and see all the building blocks that have been put down expand into what is clearly a well-thought out system and world.Long story short: This is a great story, and if you don't give this a look, you're a franking idiot.
AlejoTheBearRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
So far this has been ana amzing read. Id compare ot to peoples favorite boxer anarchist in tone, though maybe not quite there yet in other ways. It is extremely close though and id put it neck and neck with most first books out there.
Overall a great read if you like the first few chapters ypu will love the whole story I think.
GygaxFanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Good story, I've enjoyed it so far. Zombie antics are fun and the quest for swearing is admirable
Looking forward to future chapters and completion of the story. I enjoy the memes asking for reviews
Looking forward to future chapters and completion of the story. I enjoy the memes asking for reviews
Looking forward to future chapters and completion of the story. I enjoy the memes asking for reviews
HeavyporkerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This starts with several interesting twists, what with switching up the expected heroes and monsters, the very specific profanity filter, the solitary MC that doesn't act sociopathically (well... If you get past the brain-eating zombie aspect ). The humor its solid and enjoyable. I'm really enjoying what I've read so far.
J. G. SadsquatchRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This hooked me fast.Frank's voice is nasty-funny, self-aware, and weirdly likable even when he's doing objectively horrifying things. Frank is the kind of sarcastic, no-nonsense protagonist you can't help but root for despite watching him literally eat his way back to sentience.One of the things I like most is the "profanity filter" gag, which is a smart, consistent running bit that says something about control and censorship without getting preachy.The plot escalates smoothly from a hit-and-run to an alien "World Dungeon" to the brutal consequence of a bad class pick.The zombie NPC twist is a great complication that turns a standard LitRPG setup into a survival-horror comedy, and watching Frank mentally scream at himself not to hurt Taylor while his feral body does its thing is genuinely tense.Character-wise, Frank and his manager (Dick) have strong chemistry. Though the satire is so sharp, some readers may bounce from how real it feels.The system elements are easy to follow, and the lair and chest rewards are satisfying, though a few exposition stretches with menus and rules run a bit long and could be tightened, but that is just a personal opinion. I don't normally read a lot of LitRPG stories, but I enjoy this take on it. Grammar and readability are strong overall, with clear action beats and great sensory detail.TLDR: super punchy start, big personality, and a fresh, grimy LitRPG premise that commits fully to its consequences.
Jtye88Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
DCC has good jokes.. but its hard to find them in the pile of the 4 reused cuck or foot jokes.
DCC has.. mediocre combat, this has great combat that feels real and satisfying.
also no romance is great.
its good the mc wants to go solo, authors always struggle with word vomit when they add too many side characters.
they tend to describe places twice for each individual...
and the side characters normally just feel like reskinned weaker copies of the mc or are just annoyances.
KathrynAlexRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Since I'm outta chapters to read, I'm gonna drop a review. I don't follow a lot of stories, but this one has piqued my interest while I wait for the next HWFWM & DCC books.I'm loving the role reversal of heroes vs monsters. The story has got me hooked. The main character's sass is one of my favorite things. And most of all, the ass kicking--it's probably the reason I read litRPG in the first place. I often find myself rooting for Frank despite him being kinda an asshole. 😆Also very curious to see how the lair system shakes out. It's legit making me want to play this as a video game.It's really well written and I rarely, if ever, find grammatical errors. There’s not much to say about grammar when someone’s doing it allright.As for the style, I'd say its gotta real Dungeon Crawler Carl vibe to it, of which I'm also a big fan. The sass, the absurdity, and the NPCs. The pacing feels good. The characters feel real, including the NPCs.Overall, it's feeling REAL cathartic given the world we live in right now. And thank Frank for that. It's giving me LIFE. Like I legit just want to watch Frank frank sh*t up.
Never MorrisonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Absolutely cannot express properly at midnight on the end of a 12 hour workday and a 3 hour shopping tour just how amazing this fic is! That I stayed awake and hiding in the bathroom long enough to finish the last few chapters currently out instead of going to bed when I have to be up at 4am is testament to it’s awesomeness!