Chapter 4: Awaken

Chapter 4: Awaken

“What the heck does this mean?”

Grey muttered in a confused manner, as he stared at the floating screen in front of him.

He reached out his hand to touch the words, but found that his hand and arm went past the words, not even touching them.

He didn't understand what was going on, so he figured he might as well-read the words on the floating screen.

[Congratulations, you have awakened the system.]

- You have been rewarded with 10 free stat points.

[Daily Quest Now Available]

[You have killed a zombie.]

[Level Up!]

- All stats increased by 1

- You have been rewarded with 2 free stats points

- Loot: 5 gold coin

“Stats? Level up? Loot? Quest”

Grey muttered, that sounded like terms from video games.

Grey pursed his lips in thought as he wondered if what he was seeing was real, or if he had hit his head and this was a dream.

Heck, the whole zombie apocalypse could be a whole big dream. But then Grey remembered the ferocity of the zombies, the pain he felt when it broke his ribs, the death of Jace, which caused him to shook his head.

It was real, alright.

If this was a video game, he wondered if it was going to show his stats.

As soon as he thought that, the system rang again, once again.

Tti-ring!

Name: Grey Blackwood

Level: 2

Race: Human

Class: None

Title: None

HP: 210

MP: 22

[Stat]

Strength: 11

Stamina: 11

Agility: 11

Intelligence: 11

Perception: 11

(Available point to distribute: 12)

[Skills]

- Passive Skills:

@*¥%& Lv max

- Active Skills: None

[Abilities: ]

1. Devour: Consume the abilities of those you defeat. Requirement: Physical Touch.

2. Electricity Manipulation

Skills Unlocked:

[Electric Weaponry] : Charges melee weapons with lightning, enhancing their damage.

- Lightning Slice (Unlocked)

“Electric Weaponry.” Grey muttered, and under it was an unlocked skill [Lightning Slice]. It was the skill he had used to defeat the zombie.

If the system applied to real life, and he had unknowingly used this skill when he had struck the zombie, then his attack made perfect sense.

Grey didn't understand how he even managed to awaken whatever the system in the first place. He wondered if it was because he stepped on a live wire, is why his ability was electric manipulation. Grey found it difficult to believe it wasn't somehow related to him getting electrocuted.

If that was the case, he wondered what would happen if he dipped his hand inside fire. Would he gain fire abilities?

“Nah,” he shook his head, laughing it off as ridiculous.

It didn't make sense to think like that. But when he thought of it, nothing that was happening currently really made sense.

Grey had come to his office like every normal day to work. But now fighting zombies who were his former co-workers, and was now seeing words floating in the air.

Nothing made sense, everything that happened all too suddenly.

However, Grey knew that if he wanted to survive whatever the hell was going on, he was going to have to accept things a lot quicker and adapt to the irregularities.

He looked at the screen again and placed his focus on his skills. He saw he had two types of skills, Active and Passive.

Active required a cost of a certain amount of magic point, while passive didn't.

And the only passive skill he had, read gibberish, but it was maxed out.

There was no way he couldn't understand what it was, so he turned his attention to his abilities.

[Devour]

He could take the abilities of those he defeated. It sounded powerful.

He could imagine having 100 abilities and using it to wreak havoc on his enemies.

There was also something that bothered him about what he read.

When the system said 'those you defeat' was it referring to the zombies, humans or both.

If it was zombies the system was referring to, then that meant, he would eventually come across a zombie with special abilities. The thought of it made his muscles tense as he imagined fighting a zombie with telekineses, or teleportation.

“But if it was human?”

Grey said in a low voice, staring at the system for a reply or a sort of explanation, but nothing came.

Grey sighed. He was going to find out what it meant eventually, so he chose to ignore it at the moment.

Right now, the only things he had to kill, to survive now, were zombies.

But deep down, Grey knew, that with the chaos the apocalypse would bring, human would begin to kill one another.

Grey sighed, he decided to focus on what he had now.

He opened the Daily Quest.

Tti-ring

[Daily Quest Now Available]

[Kill 20 Necrotic: 1/30]

[Penalties: Unknown]

[Reward:]

- Full Recovery

- 5 Free Stats Point

- A Special Equipment

[Time Limit: 23:59:23]

The daily quest had counted the zombies he killed from the moment he awakened, which meant he had only a single kill.

As Grey read the panel, he narrowed his eyes. By daily quest, he figured the system would require him to do it every day.

Also, the time limit was one day and if he failed, he was going to get a penalty. Grey was curious as to what these penalties were, but the system didn't reveal any details.

The rewards looked good though, full recovery of health point, free stats point to distribute and also special equipment. Grey didn't know the details of the last one but ‘special’ didn't sound like something ordinary

Also, the system had called the zombies, necrotic creatures.

Necrotic?

Grey wondered, it sounded like a sort of virus. What if it was what had infected humans, turning them into zombies? If that was the case, what was the origin of it?

So many questions he wanted to ask, but had no answer to.

Growl!

Grey heard sounds coming from up the stairs, and he then looked up and saw the zombies were coming from the 6th floor.

“Guess they finally managed to break the door.”

Grey grinned, feeling a lightness in his chest. He gripped his axe and bounced on his toes, readying himself, seeing this as an opportunity to see if the system was the real deal or if he was just suffering from severe hallucination.

The zombie climbed down the stairs slowly, as if careful not to fall.

Grey walked towards it and when it saw him, it scratched at his face agitated, but Grey casually cocked his hand backwards, and swung his axe activating [Lightning Slice]

Swish!

The zombie head easily fell off its body, just like the first one.

Grey grinned excitedly. His abilities were real, which meant the system could really make him stronger.

Grey could feel the strange energy coursing through his body.

He stared at his tingling arm intently.

“Is this mana?” Grey said softly as goosebumps slid across the back of his neck.

According to the system, what had enabled him to use the lighting slice was his mana.

He began to focus on it and attempted to manipulate it. It worked. He felt it move according to how he had imagined. But then as soon as attempted to try it again, his connection with it disappeared.

“Hmm.”

Grey grunted. Though he could manipulate the flow, it required his total concentration.

He decided to practice it later, so he could focus on hunting down the zombies

He began to climb dealing with the zombies, one by one.

Four more zombies approached him, and he dispersed them using [Lightning slice].

The more he used the skill, closer he was able to connect to his energy and manipulate it.

One more to go.

This time, Grey decided to try something different. He made a stabbing motion instead of the usual slice, which released a bolt of lightning as it pierced into the zombie, making a gaping hole in its chest.

Tti-ring

- [Lightning Stab] Unlocked

Requirement: Melee Weapon

Cost: 3 mana

Grey eyes widened in discovery.

“Don't tell me…"

(⊙_◎)