章 135: 95-101
Chapter 95. Arc 2 Epilogue Into The Sea Of Stars
It's been two months since Ren Qingquan started his plan. The amount of passive income he gained from that plan is quite scary.
I am not too sure whether it is because the Spirit Qi density of the storage space is too high, or the effect of lovestones, or perhaps due to the species placed there are spiritual creatures. But their cycle to maturity is extremely fast.
Inside the storage space, most of the frogs have reached the Body Tempering stage. Some of them have even reached the Qi Refining stage. Although the Spirit Locusts are a lot worse, less than 1% of them have reached Body Tempering Stage with only a few Qi Refining Stage locusts. But their sheer numbers make up for it.
I have calculated Ren Qingquan's estimated income. Even after I subtracted the cost of light, spirit qi, Spiritual Spring Water, and other materials. Ren Qingquan's daily income has reached 700 points. Furthermore, it's still increasing steadily with every mating cycle of the frogs, locusts, and spirit plants. If this goes on, I don't think it will be difficult for it to surpass 1.000 points a day in the near future.
For the whole two months, Ren Qingquan has been staying at his cave and barely left. The most he does is going to the sect's library to look for more novels to read when he runs out of it. When he is bored of reading novels, then he'll observe the subsystem hosts or look for more suitable hosts. Currently, the number of Lv 4 subsystem hosts has reached 20 people. Which include Ren Qingchen, Su Ping, Young Master Gu, and others.
Those subsystem hosts also grant him approximately 10 points/day for each of them. With 20 people, the daily income Ren Qingquan gained from them has reached 200 points/day. Just like the frogs, the amount of daily income they give also steadily increases with the increase of the subsystem host's cultivation stage.
Meanwhile, I've been experimenting on something extremely important.
It is based on the fact that Ren Qingquan and I come from earth and there is no trace of earth in the cultivation world. Furthermore something like Immortal World where cultivators could ascend into existence. It is something I read from one of the books in the Pure Wave Sect's library.
So, I am sure other worlds exist.
With that theory in mind I thought of elongating Ren Qingquan's [Scan] into the sky to reach outer space. But, even after I tried my best, I still can't reach far beyond the world.
So, after giving up on that way, I suddenly thought of the space crack summoned by the Heavenly Will everytime I activated [Devour].
While Ren Qingquan is sunbathing at the square in front of his house, I notified him that I am going to activate a [Devour] for an experiment.
[Host, System is going to do an experiment using space crack. Please don't be shocked when one suddenly appears nearby you.]
Ren Qingquan flipped his body while lazily answering. "Mmhmm."
With his affirmation, I granted a stone with [Devour] and activated it. Soon after, a space crack appeared and tried to suck the stone inside. Then, I quickly sent Ren Qingquan [Scan] into that hole after elongating its shape from spherical to cylindrical.
When [Scan] entered the space crack, I could see the place I'll call void. It is the place where I last saw Azure Emperor and Su Ping's grandma in a necklace after she got swallowed by a space crack.
While in the void, I saw many star-like things that glowed brightly far in the distance. The size of their glow slightly differs from each other. Some are extremely bright, while some are quite dim. Although due to the distance between my [Scan] and them, which makes the movement of those stars look quite slow for me. But I am sure they moved around erratically. Furthermore, sometimes a batch of them will disappear from my sight, while another different batch suddenly appears out of nowhere.
Except for those bright stars in the distance, [Scan] also sensed several balls of energy that glow with faint light existing all over the void. The amount of energy they contain is extremely low, it is super duper low to the point I disregarded them.
After looking around, I found out the distance it could spread actually increased compared to in the cultivation world.
Before I gain the ability to change the shape of [Scan], I indeed feel a bit weird wherever my [Scan] enters the space crack. But I thought it might be just because of some space thingamajig. Who knows my [Scan] actually massively increased in size upon leaving the world.
If I calculate it vaguely, it is at least one million times? Wait, what the fak? One million?!
Ain't this number too exaggerated?!
The malleability of [Scan] in the outer space or void greatly increased compared to when in the cultivation world. If previously I can only make it into a cylinder with a 500 meter radius at most. Now, I could turn [Scan] into a cylinder with a 1 centimeter radius. That means, the length of my [Scan] has greatly increased while in the void.
I controlled [Scan] to change shape and turned back. Behind my [Scan], a massive crystal ball that glows with a blinding light akin to the sun can be seen. Many small energy balls which I previously scanned keep on gathering toward that crystal ball.
When I focused my sight, I found out there is another smaller crystal ball that's almost attached to the big crystal ball. Both of them are connected by an extremely thin thread.
That big crystal ball of light is most likely the cultivation world, because I can feel the other end of [Scan] which is Ren Qingquan, come from there. Meanwhile, the smaller crystal ball is probably the Martial Arts World?
After all, the Martial Arts World and the Cultivation World are connected to each other. But the energy within the Martial Arts world is much lower than the Cultivation World. Furthermore there are no traces of spirit qi at all in the Martial Arts World. Which is different from the Cultivation World where spirit exists in all things, albeit on different density. So, it is just logical for the two of them to be in a different world.
I am not sure why the two worlds will look like a crystal ball while seen from the void. But it made me realize something.
Is it possible the star-like things I saw in the distance are actually worlds instead of a star?
While in a trance, I can feel the space crack I opened previously started to close. So, I continuously activated [Devour] on new stones at the same spot to keep the space crack constantly open.
Meanwhile my [Scan] is moving like a tentacle in the void and trying to reach into a star-like glow which I suspect to be a world. This might take a long time, but if I somehow succeed, the benefit will be incomparable.
For one, if the cultivation world somehow got destroyed to smithereens and everything in the world, including Ren Qingquan, ceased to exist. I can still [Anchor] my existence to another host from another world.
That means, not only would I stop depending on Ren Qingquan. Even if the cultivation world got destroyed, I won't get stuck in the consciousness space!
This is freedom!
***
While controlling my [Scan] to move toward the star-like thing, I spent a small part of my attention to do some experiment about the effect of Void on my abilities.
First, I tried to send something into the Void by using [Transfer]. I found out the cost of [Transfer] has been greatly reduced. With the same amount of points, I could transfer items to a further distance compared to when in the Cultivation World.
Next, I used [Create] and made a super strong stone. It is something I found from the inheritance site Ren Qingquan visited before. Then, I activated [Anchor] on it and granted it with a [Scan]. Before sending it to the void with [Transfer].
I found out I could activate the [Scan] placed on it and see the surrounding void for a moment. But not long after, the stone lost its connection to me. I can feel it still exists, but I can't activate the abilities on the stone.
This feeling is a bit similar to what happened with Azure Emperor's [Anchor].
Is it because they have moved away from the Cultivation World? Or to be exact, is it because those things are too far away from Ren Qingquan who I have anchored with all of my skills?
A few minutes later, the stone finally can't survive in the void and gets destroyed.
After testing [Transfer], I tested the other abilities like [Devour], [Create], and [Storage] in the void.
Except for [Storage] that couldn't work when located too far from the cultivation world, the other abilities don't have any change.
With that, I concluded my experiment for now and checked the situation on Ren Qingquan's [Scan] that's currently moving toward the star-like thing in the void.
Due to most of them being located far beyond the current range of my [Scan]. It took me four months before I finally found a star that's within the range of my [Scan]. Just like the Cultivation World, it is also shaped like a crystal ball that shone like the sun.
But when [Scan] tries to enter the world, it seems to be blocked by the crystal wall.
And so, I tried to use [Transfer] on the special stone I've prepared in the Cultivation World and transferred it inside the world. This stone has been anchored with [Scan], so I can check the condition of the world. This cost me a total of slightly more than 30,000 points.
The stone I transferred quickly arrived in the world by using [Scan] as coordinates. With a simple calculation, the coordinate I set should be inside the crystal ball, and so the stone successfully entered the world.
From the stone's [Scan] I saw a mountainous scenery. Around it, there are a few insects. But soon, the stone will lose contact with me.
Before the stone lost contact with me due to not being within a certain distance from Ren Qingquan, I saw lightning strike that stone and it disappeared from the list of things I've anchored.
A few seconds later, the speed of my tentacle shaped [Scan] failed to follow the speed of that world. Furthermore my calculation power is insufficient to calculate the trajectory of that world and so, I lost my contact with the world.
After the first success, I continued to send my [Scan] to the void and look for a different star. This time I thought of looking for the dimmer stars instead of the one that glow brightly. The search lasted for three whole months before I successfully found a new world that could be reached by my [Scan].
Following the step from before, I successfully entered the world by transferring a stone from the immortal world, which cost me more than 50,000 points.
This time I am neither rejected nor got struck by thunder. But the scene surrounding that stone is merely a dessert with nothing but sand in it. There aren't even any sun or moon in the sky, just stars which show the coordinates of the world.
During the limited time my [Scan] can still follow that world, I checked the desert and the surrounding area. It is indeed filled with sand and nothing else. I also tried to check the amount of energy contained in the sand and the amount there is incredibly low, much lower than the Martial Arts World. So low in fact I doubt that devouring the whole world using Lv 7 [Devour] can allow me to collect 100.000 energy. Furthermore the time required to swallow the whole world won't be worth the effort.
Soon, that stone lost contact with me. But I can feel it still hasn't been destroyed.
***
One and a half years after Ren Qingquan turned into a NEET.
I continued to look for more worlds and successfully entered 4 worlds including the previous two. Two of them are a living world, which is what I call the world with living creatures. From the short time I visited the second world through the special stone, I saw a trace of civilization. I could see a human village located nearby the stone I sent. Then, the stone I sent got struck by lightning and got destroyed.
The other 2 worlds are a dead world, which is what I call the world full of sand and containing extremely small energy which I previously entered.
There are also times when [Scan] detects a world. But the speed of that world is simply too fast. The speed of [Scan] changing itself simply can't catch up with the world's movement.
Although I failed to enter any living world, for a long time there is something I've learned.
The dimmer stars lead to a dead world. Meanwhile, the brighter star leads to a living world. And, the living world seems to hate things from the outside world like my stones. Those worlds also have similar mechanisms to the Heavenly Will of the cultivation world when I tried to use [Devour] and swallow things on it.
***
While looking for the pattern in the void, I found a world that suddenly dimmed. The way it dim is different from normal. Although the world in the void will indeed randomly appear and disappear, they usually disappear just like someone turning off the switch for a light bulb. They will immediately lose all of their light .
But this world is different. It dimmed just like a lamp that is shorting. It sometimes flickers, sometimes turns dim, while other times it turns extremely bright.
In curiosity, I sent my [Scan] to that world. Before that, I pray to Ren Qingquan so his luck will rub off on me.
I hope my [Scan] can reach this world.
I also hope this world won't repel the stone I sent.
Chapter 96. My Fist Is Rated E For Everyone
While System is moving its [Scan] to reach a certain world.
Inside a certain highschool on an earth like world, a woman can be seen leaving a classroom.
After walking for a few steps, she saw an elderly man walking toward her with a slightly hunched back. "Miss Alicia, have you finished teaching your Math class?"
Alicia replied to the old man with a wry smile."Yes."
The old man nodded and spoke. "How about you accompany me to chat for a moment."
'Damn it, I don't want to do this. But getting on this guy's good book will do me good.' Alicia smiled and replied "Alright, principal."
"Hohoho, thank you." The old principal nodded and started talking. " Has it been one year already since you started teaching here? Who knows, time passes so quickly. I still remember when you first ..."
'Sigh, this is boring. I graduated in education because I thought teaching students would be interesting. Who knew, it's actually quite boring. Those school romance manga lied to me. I should've joined the military or something that would've been a lot more exciting.' While she thought so, Alicia kept on smiling as she heard the principal keep on blabbering.
In her mind, she continued. 'The worst part is this old fart that can't stop his mouth. Damn it, I somehow got caught by him while leaving the classroom. Everytime this guy meets a teacher while strolling, he will keep on babbling nonsense for a long time. I've evaded him for a long time, who knew this old guy would suddenly launch a surprise attack today.'
"What bad luck." Alicia subconsciously muttered in a low voice.
"Hmm? What's wrong, miss Alicia?" The principal asked when he heard Alicia speak.
"Nothing, I just feel a bit tired after teaching." Alicia answered. Luckily, the principal didn't hear her grumble.
While the principal and Alicia are chatting, both of them pass by a window when the initially bright afternoon sky outside suddenly darkened. Such a sudden change pulled both of their attention as Alicia and the principal paused on their track.
Amidst the dark sky, a huge thunder cloud can be seen. The lightning within it churned and changed just like a scene right out of an apocalypse movie before it suddenly split open.
From the hole in that thundercloud, a crimson meteor fell into the distance. It's soon followed by a small earthquake that can be felt from her feet. She also saw a flash of red light pass by just like an illusion.
When Alicia almost fell to the floor from the impact, she saw the principal standing next to her frozen and suddenly started spewing blood from his mouth. After a few coughs, the principal fell face first into the floor and twitched a few times.
"Principal, what's wrong?" She tried to flip the principal up and saw several blue purple veins appeared on his wrinkled face. His eyes have also turned red just like someone who hasn't slept for a few days straight.
The principal jumped from the floor and tried to bite her. In shock, Alicia subconsciously punched the principal hard on his forehead.
The old principal got knocked back before he rose up once again and roared incoherently while trying to bite her once more. She quickly kicked his leg and made him fall down before kicking him once again right in the gut.
"Wait, something is wrong!" While the beat up principal tried to stand up, Alicia could hear a cacophony of screams and roars from all around the school and even outside the building.
The fallen principal keeps on roaring incoherently while flapping around trying to stand up. When she saw that scene, Alicia was reminded of something and kicked both of the principal's legs hard.
Others might try to help the old principal when they see the old man roar as if he is in pain. But Alicia has seen enough zombie apocalypse movies to understand she is inside one right now. She just isn't sure whether this zombification is temporary or permanent. So, she merely incapacitated the old principal without injuring him too much.
After she gathered her thoughts, the first thing Alicia did was to run toward the school's hydrant box near the second floor's stairs. She remembered there is a small fire ax located inside. When she first entered the school as a teacher, she speechlessly stared at that ax while thinking about whose crazy idea it is to add a fire ax on a high school's hydrant box. Who knows it actually comes in handy right now.
During the whole time, she passed by a few classes and saw a chaotic scene inside some of them. A few teachers could be seen turning into zombie-like things as they tried to bite the students who sat nearby them.
Alicia thought of helping those students. But when she saw a student get bitten and turned into a zombie, she changed her mind and continued to run towards the hydrant box. It might sound egoistical, but she chooses to keep her own safety first and foremost.
Once she arrived, Alicia took the fire extinguisher located nearby and used it to shatter the glass sealing the fire ax.
With that fire ax in hand, she quickly ran back to the class where there was a zombified teacher inside. She hit the zombified teacher's head using the flat side of her ax. The middle aged teacher got smacked so hard his body flew toward the wall as he hit his head.
Seeing the sudden change, the students panicked. That's until one of the students who had been bitten by that teacher suddenly turned into a zombie too.
While Alicia beat that student with her ax, she shouted to the remaining students. "Everyone, calmly leave the classroom and wait in the corridor!"
Those students ran outside the classroom as Alicia kept the two zombies at bay. Once she saw every single student had left, she knocked both of the zombies and retreated outside. She also locked the door while at it.
Upon leaving the classroom, Alicia is still full of adrenaline, she gripped the ax hard on her hand while thinking. 'This is so darn exciting!'
"All of you, go and warn the other class. Some people suddenly got turned into zombie-like creatures. We'll gather at the canteen." She told the students to warn the other classroom. Meanwhile, Alicia sat on the floor and took some breather.
Those students nodded their heads and went to warn other classes. Especially when they saw the teacher and one of their classmates who had been zombified and got locked in the classroom.
Alicia breathed in relief as she saw those students left. "Luckily, there weren't any students who threw a tantrum or panicked."
While sitting in the corridor, she finally collected her mind while looking at the window in a daze. Currently, there are still some traces of the thunder cloud in the sky. The cloud covered the whole city and made the situation seem gloomy.
"Just a minute ago, I complained that things are boring while listening to the principal's words. Now, I am in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Although I hope my life will turn exciting, I don't mean it to turn like this." Alicia grumbles as she lay flat on the floor.
Suddenly she remembered something and jolted up. 'Wait a minute! The principal!'
Alicia remembered she forgot to lock the zombified principal and he is currently on the loose. Along the way, she found several empty or locked classrooms with several zombified students and teachers inside.
When she arrived where the zombified principal previously was, Alicia found him missing from the corridor where she knocked him before. Next to her, the glass window has been shattered. It is the window through which she saw the crimson meteor fall.
After some thought, Alicia decided to enter the school's canteen and gather with the others.
"HELP!" Midway through her journey, she heard a shrill scream coming from one part of the school.
"That sound seems to come from the biology labs." Alicia clenched the hand holding her fire ax and went towards the source of that scream. Upon arriving, she saw a bloody scene.
In front of the classroom, there is a pair of twin boys who stood in front of the door and blocked it using items from surrounding classrooms. When they heard the sound of someone approaching, both of them turned their heads toward Alicia. They looked extremely shocked upon seeing Alicia holding a fire ax.
Through the shattered glass in the lab's door and windows. Thomas, the teacher in charge of biology class, has turned into a zombie. Around him, there are many student corpses, more than 10 zombified students, and several dozen frogs. Some of those frogs had escaped through the shattered glasses in the window and reached the corridor where Alicia and the twins stood.
Luckily, the biology lab is equipped with anti burglar window bars. It should be able to block the zombies inside from escaping through the window for a short moment. But from how there are already some dents on it, the window bars most likely won't last for long.
While Alicia is observing the situation, she feels a piercing pain from her ankle. Looked below, she found out a frog had bitten her leg. She focused her sight into the frog, and saw that some of its organs had fallen due to a huge knife mark on its stomach.
Alicia quickly slashed that frog with her ax and cut it into two halves. Before pulling the part that's still stuck on her ankle while gritting her teeth.
When she saw the bite mark on her leg, Alicia muttered in shock. "A.. am I also going to turn into a zombie?"
A loud metallic collision sound from the laboratory broke Alicia from her shock. A dent has appeared on the laboratory's door. Soon, zombie teacher Thomas can be seen smashing his body into the classroom door and finally breaking some part of it.
Zombie Thomas placed his hand into the hole and grabbed around randomly. Meanwhile, his other hand repeatedly punched the door to create a bigger hole.
When the twins saw that scene, they stumbled backward and scurried back.
Alicia frowned, Thomas seems to be much stronger than the zombie teacher she previously beat with her ax. That zombified teacher can't even damage the classroom door. Zombie Thomas on the other hand has broken the laboratory door which is a bit thicker than the classroom one.
While she thinks so, Alicia has slashed her axe toward Thomas's hand that's randomly grabbing around.
Alicia held her urge to vomit upon looking at the mutilated hand and told the twins. "Let's go to the canteen and hide first."
The twins followed after Alicia as the three of them ran toward the canteen located in the school's first floor. As the labs are located at one corner of the school, its distance from the canteen is quite considerable.
While running, Alicia asked them. "How do you guys survive from the lab?"
One of the twins replied. " We went to the bathroom. Upon returning to the lab, we saw everyone in the lab had turned into zombies and decided to block the door with some tables. Luckily, the door has been closed beforehand by someone."
Alicia nodded. 'it seems one of the people running around the school to warn everyone has been smart enough to lock the door when they saw the laboratory full of zombies.
Chapter 97. Awakening Makes You Taller
When Alicia arrived inside the canteen, there were already two or three hundred people inside. Yet, there was a lot of room inside for more people.
Most of the people inside the canteen are students, with only less than 10 teachers inside. All of the teachers are currently gathered together.
Alicia went and joined the teacher's gathering. Currently, they're discussing the sudden zombification.
When Alicia arrived at the group, she heard Glenn, the teacher in charge of teaching physics, speak. "Do any of you know what's going on? While I was teaching, several students from another class suddenly broke into my class and shouted about zombies. If I hadn't come out and saw Andrew in the class next door had turned into a zombie, I would've beat that student silly."
"Same here. I still couldn't believe we are suddenly in a zombie apocalypse. This feels a tad bit too sudden." Another teacher replied. Alicia remembered his name as Edward, he was the one in charge of teaching geography. He is a normal guy with blonde hair and wearing eyeglasses. If there is a special trait of his, it is how he always speaks rapidly and at high speed as if he is rapping.
A different teacher replied, this time a woman called Berth. "Let's stop talking nonsense. We must check whether or not every student has arrived at the canteen."
Including Alicia, the teachers who survived counted the amount of students inside and checked whether there were any other classes that still hadn't arrived at the canteen.
Just when they prepared to leave and separate, one of the students arrived at their location. "There's no need for the teacher to bother about it. I've asked everyone on the student council to list the classes that have arrived."
While pushing his eyeglass, the student continued. "There are 15 classrooms with 5 classes in each grade in our school, and every class contains around 27 students. Currently, 3 classes have almost been zombified entirely with only 2 survivors, which are the twins miss Alicia has brought here. As for the other class, on average there are 2 to 3 people that have been zombified in each class. That means there are around a hundred zombies inside the school grounds."
Alicia remembered this boy as the student council president. But she can't remember his name. So, although Alicia wanted to praise the guy, she waited for others to call the boy's name first.
"Good job, student council president!" Berth spoke and patted the young man's shoulder.
"As expected of the student council president." Another teacher smiled as he praised the student council president.
This might be her gut feeling, but Alicia feels everyone also forgot about the student council president's name.
After they finished praising the student. Alicia warned about the animals she saw. "When I arrived at the biology lab before, I found a few frogs that had also been zombified. We need to block small exits where animals could crawl."
Everyone agreed and went to ask the students to help do it.
Alicia then remembered something and spoke once again. "During zombie apocalypse movies, the internet and electricity usually fail. So, while there is still electricity and internet, everyone should browse the internet and record useful things."
Berth followed suit. "Also, ask everyone to fill all of the power banks available. It will definitely be useful. We also need to fill as many containers with clean water and check our food storage."
The student council president chimed in. "I've tasked the student council member to check the amount of food stored in the canteen. There should be enough for everyone to eat for 3 days as long as we use it sparingly."
After some discussion, the teachers finally decided to separate into two groups. The first one will be in charge of taking care of the students who went to block every opening and filling water containers, while the other will go to the teacher's office. Alicia being included among the group that went to the office.
Upon arriving at the teacher's office, the group found five zombified teachers. After they beat those zombies and locked them inside several metal cabinets placed in the teacher's office, everyone quickly opened the computer and browsed the internet.
All of them found out that except for some social media, most websites are still alive and kicking. So, some teachers quickly went to print and copy information for how to create a fire, tent and other things. While another group went to print the map for the surrounding areas, the city, the country, and the world.
Linda, the teacher in charge of music class spoke."Seriously, this school's equipment is just too convenient during a zombie apocalypse."
"Also, Miss Alicia seems to be so used to this situation. Are you perhaps a regressor? Have you experienced this before? How about you give us some spoilers for the future." Edward spoke while raising his glasses. His thoughts are quite jumpy.
The student council president who joined the group of teachers followed suit and raised his eyeglasses."That's right. Miss Alicia, will we awaken some superpower? I wish I could awaken a space manipulation ability."
Alicia rolled her eyes. "Both of you should stop reading fantasy novels. I quickly adapted to this situation because every time I am bored, I think of what to do in apocalyptic events like zombie apocalypse, alien invasion, massive flood, and others."
Berth glared as she spoke. "You three weirdos, please stop spewing nonsense. We don't know how much time we still have left before the electricity and internet fail. Although the school has a generator, the amount of fuel we have is limited."
While everyone is busy printing things, the TV inside the teacher's office is currently broadcasting a news channel.
From the TV, the news anchor's voice can be heard as he calmly spoke. "For every civilian, please stay at your house and keep calm. Our country has been attacked by a crimson meteor-like biological weapon from an unknown place. Currently there are more than a thousand sightings of this meteor throughout the world. Please store just enough food to survive and don't add to the chaos. The military will be dispatched to assist the affected city. For those who stay nearby the place where the crimson meteor fell, please stay as far away from it."
Once he finished speaking, the news anchor paused for a moment to show the scene of a crimson meteor falling from the sky. Just like the one Alicia saw, the sky also seems to be split open as the crimson meteor fell from the middle of a thunder cloud and pierced through it.
While listening to the news for further information, everyone continued to silently print more information until they ran out of paper and decided to call it a day. At this time, evening has already arrived as the sky turned orange. Luckily, neither the internet nor the electricity has fallen yet.
The group returned to the canteen with the paper they had just printed. Luckily they don't meet any dangerous zombies along the way. The most they met were some small zombified critters that were easily killed.
They also met with a few birds that hadn't turned into zombies. It seems just like the humans, not all animals got zombified.
Midway through the journey, the group saw the infirmary and decided to take all of the first aid kit inside.
Alicia also took some antipyretic and antiseptic as she felt her body turned weak and her face felt warm due to a fever. As for the cause, Alicia guessed it might come from the zombified frog that bit her before.
Upon arriving at the canteen, the teachers discussed with each other for a moment before deciding it was time to sleep.
Before everyone left to sleep, Alicia asked the other teachers. Currently her face has turned red due to a fever. "I feel a bit sick. Are there any empty rooms nearby where I could rest? I don't want to start a plague during this apocalypse."
"Did you get bitten?" One of them asked in suspicion.
Alicia shrugged. "Perhaps. That's why I wish to sleep in another room. By the way, you guys should check each other and the other students for any fresh wounds. Who knows, they might hide the fact they've been bitten."
Alicia then continued. "Although every person I've met before immediately turned into zombies upon being scratched or bitten by a zombie instead of slowly turning into one. But it is better to be safe than sorry."
Edward nodded. "That's true. I also saw the student that got bitten by a zombie turned into a zombie immediately instead of slowly. But it is better to be safe than sorry."
And so, except for Alicia who left the classroom and went to a classroom nearby the canteen to sleep. The other teachers went to check every student for fresh wounds.
Before sleeping, Alicia locked the classroom with a key she got and blocked it with a few tables. Then, she ate the antipyretic medicine she took from the infirmary and checked the wound on her ankle. It is exactly the wound caused by the zombie frog.
She pulled the antiseptic she got and applied it to her wound. Then, she took some bandages and wrapped them. "Now all I can do is wish for the best."
With the excitement from her adrenaline disappearing, Alicia got hit by a massive exhaustion and quickly went to sleep.
***
When she woke up on the day, Alicia found her fever had receded and she currently feels extremely strong like never before, her body feels like it is full of energy. "I never knew fever medicine was this effective."
Still half awake, Alicia slowly stood up and felt there was something wrong with her view, it seemed to be higher than normal. "Did I forget to remove my high heels before sleeping?"
She suddenly got jolted awake. "Wait a minute, I never wore high heels before!"
Alicia quickly ran toward the window and faintly saw her reflection on it. Just like usual, what comes into her view is a short haired blonde woman with an oval face. Her chest is still flat as usual, just like the surface of water. The only difference is her height.
Yesterday, she was approximately 5 feet 3 inches, or around 160 centimeters tall. But by comparing her body to the window, Alicia feels she is at least 10 centimeters taller.
She quickly went to the canteen to tell the others. While running, Alicia found her body had turned lighter. The strength she feels after waking up is actually not an illusion as she has indeed turned stronger. Even with a fire axe at hand, she still feels her body is lighter than yesterday.
When she arrived inside the canteen, the teachers had already gathered. She overheard them talking about how some students secretly left the canteen last night to check on their family.
"Last night, there were still slightly less than 300 people inside the canteen. But this morning the student council president counted at least 30 students secretly leaving the school grounds, which leaves the total number of people inside to slightly more than 250. Although we don't know how the situation in the city is, it is probably much worse compared to inside the school gro-"
Halfway through her speech, Berth saw Alicia slowly coming towards them. She quickly paused and stared at her with wide eyes. The other teachers who got curious also turned their head toward Alicia and stared in disbelief.
To be honest, anyone who saw someone that gained 10 centimeters in a single night would definitely get shocked.
"This is too unscientific." Glenn stared at Alicia in disbelief.
Berth asked after some thought. "Except for your height, are there any other changes?"
"I also feel much stronger." While she spoke, Alicia went to a nearby table and easily lifted it. The tables inside the school's canteen are made using solid woods with metals on some parts. It is around four to five meters long and a meter wide. The strength required to lift such a table
Seeing Alicia's sudden strength, the student council president spoke rapidly. "Miss Alicia, how about you meditate and feel the inside of your body and activate your power. You might've awakened some supernatural power!"
Alicia nodded and followed along, after all everyone would be excited to awaken a power. So, she closed her eyes and tried to meditate. But after some time, she failed to sense any sort of power within her.
Opening her eyes, she shook her head. The student council president looked extremely disappointed upon seeing it.
Meanwhile, Edward raised his glasses and said. "Didn't you say your body felt like it was full of energy this morning? How about trying to push those energy outwards?"
Alicia followed Edward's words and pushed the energy inside her. To be honest, she isn't sure how to push her energy, so she just screamed while gritting her teeth. She pushed her body just like the time when she took a massive dump.
"Harghhh!!!" With that, her clothes begin to flutter as if blown by winds. The people surrounding her stumbled backward as if they're being pushed by an unseen force.
*Ape noises*
Just like the ancestors of humans that found fire for the first time. The surrounding people screamed in amazement.
Chapter 98. System Come To Save The Day!
After she used that power, Alicia feels her body turn weak as if she has run for several hours straight. Even her newly strengthened body doesn't help with the exhaustion she feels.
The surrounding people slowly stood up after stumbling backward due to the pushing force Alicia released before.
Even Edward who suggested it is shocked once he saw Alicia could indeed release a supernatural power. "Holy shiet, it worked!"
Right after he cursed, Berth reprimanded him. "Watch your words. You're a teacher and an example for the students here."
After the small banter, everyone started to guess Alicia's newly gained supernatural abilities while she sat on the floor with exhaustion. As she is still dead tired, Alicia merely listens to them. Soon, they've concluded that her ability should be either an ability related to wind, a telekinetic ability, forcefield like ability, or an ability related to gravity.
It is mainly because when she took a massive dum- *ahem* pushed her force outward, the form it took is a repelling force which pushed everyone away.
Within a short time, everyone can only place those few abilities as their guess. As for the exact ability, it needs to be slowly experimented once Alicia regains her energy. At that time, they can slowly eliminate the wrong guesses.
"Now then, it is time to ask the most important thing." Edward pushed his glasses as he said. His words were continued by the student council president who pushed his glasses too. "Miss Alicia, do you have a guess on how you gained that power?"
Everyone also stared at Alicia who had barely regained her energy and slowly stood up.
She answered their question and said, "Yesterday, I found a small bite mark on my ankle. It must have been caused by the frog I met in the biology lab before. I guess the ability I gained should be related to that."
The student council president asked. "So, when someone is bitten by the zombified animals they will awaken a supernatural power instead of being zombified? Should we try it?"
Edward shook his head. "It's too dangerous. Perhaps the whole getting bitten is just a coincidence, and Alicia hasn't turned into a zombie because she suddenly awakened. Instead of being awakened because she got bit by a zombie frog."
They continued to chat about it for a few dozen minutes. After the excitement from someone awakening a supernatural power went away, everyone started to plan for the future.
Berth said, "Although awakening supernatural powers is amazing and all. But we still need to care about several more important things. Currently, the amount of food inside the school is only enough for everyone to eat for another three days. Mainly because there are some students who secretly left, which decreased the burden on our food storage."
One of the teachers called Renald whispered in a soft voice. "Should we just leave most of the students? With only a few of us combining our forces, we should have a higher chance to survive."
During the discussion before, Renald rarely spoke. But, the moment he spoke, everyone was a bit surprised by his words. Even Alicia almost stumbled while trying to stand up.
The student council president is the first one to disagree, which is immediately followed by Berth who shook her head. "I disagree. Although I indeed wanna leave the school grounds and gather with my husband, I'll at least try to save as many students as I can. Otherwise, it will leave a bad taste in my mouth. The students will be hard pressed to survive without us."
With Berth's mention of her family, it's like a dam suddenly burst open as the others followed suit.
Glenn said while sighing. "Although I also wish to gather with my parents. I knew the chance they haven't turned into a zombie already is quite low. Based on the data we have gathered, the people who initially turned into a zombie when the crimson meteor fell are either old or sick. My parents are already quite old."
Lisa glared at Glenn before her eyes turned red as she cried. From the words that occasionally left her mouth, it seems she has panicked because her son should still be inside his elementary school when the zombies first appear. On her side, Berth tried to calm her down.
Finally, Edward spoke. "Even if we leave, the city is most likely much more dangerous compared to the school. Just like Glenn said, the ones who turned into zombies are those weak or sick people. Even inside the school where most of the people are teenagers or young adults, almost a quarter of us have been wiped out. Furthermore, inside the school ground, even if there are others awake like Alicia who tried to fight us for things like food, they will think twice upon seeing the amount of people inside."
"Understandable." Renald nodded at Edward's analysis. "Then, we'll need to form a group to forage for food outside. As an apology for suggesting that idea, let me join the first group that will go out to forage for food."
Alicia must say she is in awe at Renald's ability to save the situation. Although his initial suggestion to leave the students is logical, from how the others greatly reacted to that idea, he immediately went back down and apologized. Furthermore, he coupled that apologies with a real act by willing to join the foraging party.
She could see the student council president, Berth, and the other's face softened with Renald's apology.
Everyone continued to discuss for another dozen minutes until a plan was finally created.
Berth spoke. "Alright then, we'll separate into three groups. The first one will go and look for food, the second team will go and imprison the zombies inside the school, and the third team will calm down the students and control the situation."
After some thought, Alicia decided to join the team that went out to forage too. "Then, I'll join the team that went outside. I've awakened my superpower. With me around, the average power of the team that went outside will be stronger.
Berth once again said. "As for Lisa and I, we will be the one to keep the students calm. We'll also help gather suitable people to bring the foods that the first team found. After all, the food needed to feed so many people will be quite considerable in terms of size."
Edward also said. "I'll be going with Renald, Alicia, and several other students in a group of fifteen to forage for food outside. As for Glenn and the others, please clean the school ground from zombies."
Everyone followed the grouping and started their daily life in a zombie apocalypse.
***
Soon, It's been a month since the first zombie appeared.
Except for Alicia, twelve other people have awakened. Four of them are teachers while the other eight are students from varying grades. Five of those students are the one who often went to forage for food outside with Alicia, which also included the student council president. It seems killing zombies will increase the chance of someone to awaken.
By gritting their teeth and repeating what Alicia has done before, those people could release fire, water, cause surrounding metals to tremor, create a small dust storm, and create a sort of healing area that pushes plant growth and living creature's recovery. Of course, just like her, those people immediately plopped down to the ground after activating their ability.
After some discussion, everyone concluded those abilities should be related to the five elements of fire, water, earth, wood, and metal. Everyone has also finally concluded Alicia's power as a sort of telekinetic ability, which is the only kind among the people who has awakened.
The people who have awakened also gained increased physical ability, with those who can control different elements obtaining different enhancements.
The one capable of summoning fire got an enhancement in strength; those that can summon water gained increased flexibility and some strength; those awakened who the power to control metal gained enhancement in defense; the one capable of causing a small dust storm gained enhancement in strength and defense; while those that can push plant growth gained increased flexibility, recovery, and some attack power.
As for Alicia, her enhancement can be said to be an overall one. Of course as it increases every stat, the increases aren't as considerable as those with min maxed stats. She is basically a jack of all trades in terms of physical enhancement.
She seems to be getting sidetracked. The last month has been frickin difficult.
Eleven people have been zombified or killed while they went outside to forage for food in the city. Just like what everyone guessed, the city is much more dangerous than inside the school. Compared to the school where more than half people survived, the city's casualties are most likely several times higher.
This month, she has only met with less than a hundred people from outside the school.
Alicia's group that went to look for food has also taken every food from the school's surrounding area. Nowadays, everyone must go slightly further to seek for food.
Not only that, the internet and electricity finally crashed a few days ago. It also caused the situation inside the school ground to start turning chaotic. There are more and more students who secretly left the school grounds to look for their family members. Many students have also had a panic attack and caused further disorder.
Food has also become a problem once more. The group that went out to forage merely consisted of 15 people. Meanwhile, even after some students secretly left the school grounds, there are still almost 200 people inside. To be honest, Alicia started to doubt whether everyone inside the school ground could survive for much longer.
Nowadays she occasionally thinks of Renald's suggestion before.
Luckily not everything went pessimistic. After one month, everyone has concluded several things in regard to those zombies.
First, the people who got turned into zombie-like creatures when the crimson meteor fell are those who are too old like the principal, too tired like some middle aged teachers, or sick just like some students who forcefully entered school even though they're ill. Which means, hospitals and retirement homes have turned into a hellhole.
Second, the zombification seems to be irreversible as those zombies kept in the classroom don't show any sign of returning to their senses even after all this time. Some of them have even rotted.
Everyone decided to destroy those zombies who had rotted extremely badly. After all, when their eyes have started to fall and some brain liquid seeped through their orifice. Even if a medicine that can revert zombification is created, they most likely won't be able to survive.
Third, Zombie's weaknesses are their brains. To be exact, it is a certain specific part of their brain which slightly differs from one zombie to another. That seriously sounds cliched, but reality is just that weird.
Lastly, zombies who haven't eaten or infected any other living creature are only as strong as their initial body or even weaker. Meanwhile, those who have infected or eaten some humans will be incredibly strong.
The strongest zombie Alicia has ever met is almost as strong as an awakened person like her. She meets that zombie in a food street, which has turned into hell on earth.
***
Today too, everyone from the first group will be leaving to look for food.
While Alicia's group walked towards a small restaurant and going to check their food storage, she saw a flashing light appear in front of her.
[Ding! Host detected. Binding the /#?%√! System.]
[First mission: Collect the system's core.
Reward: Activate system function.
Punishment: Losing the system.
Time limit: 1 day.]
Chapter 99. System: Do Zombies Have A Soul?
A few hours ago, in the void outside the world.
Finally my [Scan] reached the world with flickering light.
While activating [Calculate], I used [Transfer] to send a special stone I created. It is a precious stone that's been especially created to be extremely hard without changing the amount of energy it contains. Just like usual, I've granted that stone with [Scan], so I can see its surroundings. As for the destination of this stone, it is the interior of that flickering world.
Activating this [Transfer] cost me 70.000 points which makes my heart ache.
After the stone I sent arrived inside the world, I started to sense the amount of energy inside. With a brief [Scan], I found the energy container inside the world's materials to be slightly lower than the cultivation world. But, still much higher than the materials inside the Martial Arts world.
During that time, I've also seen the surrounding of that stone. It is part of a modern city filled with tall buildings, and looks exactly like Earth where I come from. That is if one ignores some torn limbs and bloody scenes that occasionally happen in the city.
Currently, the stone I sent has arrived at a female underwear store nearby a three-way junction.
This view makes my heart skip a beat, or at least it should've done so if I have a heart.
Of course it's not because of being located in an underwear store. With [Scan] that's basically an x-ray, I've seen all kinds of underwear in the cultivation world.
What makes my heart skip a beat is the familiar world that looks exactly like earth.
While I am in shock due to the familiar scene. A few seconds later, the stone lost contact with me. Luckily, I can still feel its existence, which means the stone hasn't been destroyed by lightning or other means.
I decided to wait for a few hours and see whether the stone will be destroyed. Although I am incredibly anxious upon finding a world that might be Earth. But what I am going to do next will involve a lot of points. If things turned south due to my anxiety, I won't be able to recover from this financially.
Three whole hours quickly pass by and the stone is still intact. I can't use my skill through it, but the stone is still among the list of things I've anchored. Which means it hasn't been destroyed.
Finally, I decided to spend 1.111.110 points to attach that stone with all of my skills. This is a massive bet, I bet that once I've anchored all of my skills on a target, I'll regain my connection with them even if they are located far away from Ren Qingquan. Although I called it a bet, I've gathered enough information to be more than 90% sure things will work as I intended.
Once I added one million points to the stone and granted it with my [Anchor] skill, I can feel my connection with it strengthened. If the connection I have with Ren Qingquan is equal to that of a family, and the level of connection I have with other subsystems hosts is equal to acquaintance. Then, the level of connection I have with the stone has turned into that of a best friend.
Soon, it feels like I can activate the skills I granted on the stone once more. I followed along the connection I have with the stone and activated the stone's [Scan].
The [Scan] activated and I saw the modern city once more. As the level of this [Scan] has increased compared to before, the view radius of things I could see has increased. It has now reached 5 kilometers in radius just like the [Scan] Ren Qingquan has.
From the result of [Scan], I found out this world is currently in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Within the five kilometer radius of my [Scan], around 90% of humans have turned into zombies roaming around.
Just like the Cultivation World, this world is also filled with energy. But the density of energy is much lower and differs greatly from spirit qi. Compared to spirit qi, the energy in this world is much... staler? I'm not entirely sure how to explain the difference.
I also concluded this world is incredibly similar to the Earth I come from. As for how I reached that conclusion, it's because there are some subtle differences between this world and Earth. Of course I wasn't talking about some conceptual or philosophical thing. What I mean by subtle difference is like the McWo*a*d restaurant a few hundred meters away from me.
That's right, it is McWo*a*d, and not McDo*a*d. Just like the one from Earth which I come from, the McWo*a*d is also a fast food restaurant chain with considerable size. There are more than ten of them within my scan's radius.
Not only that brand, there are also several other familiar brands that have slightly changed from the one I remembered. It makes me feel like I am walking inside a store that sells off brand products.
Once I finished ridiculing the situation I am in, I started to feel disappointed and a bit relieved. Disappointed because this world isn't the Earth I know of, and relieved because that means Earth hasn't turned into a hell full of zombies ... yet.
Now then, it's time to get serious.
First and foremost, I must look for a suitable host. Although I could control the stone to move through using [Transfer] and [Create] by creating a repelling force of wind or something similar. But such wastefulness makes my heart ache.
I've also found a suitable target as my host among the people I've scanned before, so there is no reason to not choose a host.
As for the target, she is a twenty something years old woman. The reason I've decided on her, mainly because she is a human and not a zombie. I am not racist and such, it's just that the zombies I saw are all pretty much mindless. Having such a host will be extremely bothersome. Furthermore, she is the strongest one among the people in my surroundings.
Most people are still at the level of a mortal without much supernatural power. The occasional people with supernatural power are only around Martial Apprentice level or early Body Tempering stage in terms of cultivation level.
As for that woman, she has reached the level equal to the early stage of Martial Grandmaster level, which is around the late Body Tempering stage in the Cultivation World.
It's still low in my opinion, but that's much better than the surrounding alternative.
I first granted the woman with four of my skills, which are [Scan], [Transfer], [Create], and [Devour]. As for why I granted her four skills at once, it's because I am already used to attaching those four skills on anyone I have a good opinion on.
At this time, I missed Ren Qingquan. If he is the one who granted people with subsystems, I would be able to ask for a reimbursement from him.
Once the skill has been granted, I send the screen I've prepared toward her. Luckily, this area used a language that's mostly similar to English. I merely need to use [Calculate] on a few words which differ from the English I know.
[Ding! Host detected. Binding the /#?%√! System.]
[First mission: Collect the system's core.
Reward: Activating system function.
Punishment: Losing the system.
Time limit: 1 day.]
Below the screen, I attached a picture of a shiny round metal around the size of a thumb. It's exactly the picture of this stone I have granted with all of my skills. As for why it's shaped like a metal, it's because the stone I sent is merely around the tip of a pinky finger in size initially. But after I granted it with one million points, I coated the stone with the strongest metal I could create to make it stronger. I don't want this expensive stone to be destroyed from some random attack.
Next to the image, there is also a map with blue, golden, white, and red dots on it. Which show the location of humans, myself, the woman, and zombies respectively. I've also added a vague outline depicting the city's landscape.
Finally, I've also left the system name with a glitch-like symbol so I can fill it in later once I learn more about the world without making it seem abrupt.
I am so darn smart!
***
Inside a small restaurant, I saw the woman I've chosen paused for a moment upon seeing my screen. On the side, one of her companions called her. "Alicia, what's wrong?"
Alicia shook her head, "Nothing. Edward, can you go with Reynald and the other to check the food storage first? I need to do something for a jiffy."
Edward doesn't ask many questions and readily agrees. Before leaving toward the food storage room, he reminded Alicia. "Be careful and don't wander too far."
Hearing Edward's reminder, she nodded and separated from her group. I saw her jump toward the small restaurant's roof and looked around.
Her eyes occasionally narrowed as she focused her sight in several directions. I soon found out the direction she looked at is the place I've marked with red dots and located nearby to her. Which means there are zombies in those areas.
Is she testing whether the map I sent is real? She is quite smart.
After Alicia finished testing the map, she seemed to half believed in it and started moving toward the golden dot which marked the location I am at.
The golden dot, which is the stone I possessed, is located around five hundred meters away from her current location. It's neither far nor near. The only problem is the zombies located between both of us.
As she is an expert that has equaled a Martial Grandmaster in terms of life level, Alicia arrived at my location after eight minutes of running. That's already including the detour she took when evading the location filled with too many zombies.
Once she arrived at the three way junction near my location, I saw her looking at the surroundings before entering the underwear store I am in.
As the stone host I possessed is quite small in size, I decided to spend one point's worth of energy and created a light. I shone the light toward Alicia's sight.
When she saw a beam of light I shot, Alicia quickly turned her head and looked toward my location before slowly walking toward me. Once she saw me, she quickly took the metal coated stone and placed it in her pocket.
[Congratulation, you've finished 'First mission: Collect the system's core'. Activating mission function and point devouring function.]
After I sent her a congratulation, I gave her a new mission.
[Ding! You've received a new mission.
Mission: system calibration 1
Details: kill 10 zombies.
Reward: unlocking system shop.]
This mission is used to check whether a zombie's soul can be devoured. That's right, while scanning the zombies in this apocalyptic world, I found out they also have souls!
Once I gave her that mission, I saw Alicia's expression turn weird. As the one I granted with all of my skills is a stone, I am unable to hear her thoughts. At this time I truly hope I have the ability to read someone's thoughts.
Alicia went outside of the underwear store while opening the map. Upon finding a lone zombie, I saw her control some kind of energy inside her body and blasted it toward the zombie.
Comparing it to the energy spread throughout this world and gathered inside zombies, which gives me the feeling of staleness, the energy Alicia used gives me quite the opposite feelings. It has a sense of vigor, just like the vital energy gained by Martial Artists from the Martial Arts World. Yet there are still a lot of subtle differences.
Upon finding a new energy, of course the first thing I do is name them!
Because it is quite similar to vital energy, let's name the energy Alicia used as life energy. As for the energy gathered inside the zombies and spread throughout the world, I'll name them death energy.
After I check whether it is possible to devour the soul inside the zombies, I'll start experimenting on life energy and death energy.
Chapter 100. Random Nonsense Go Brrrr-
While I spent my time lost in thought, Alicia successfully killed the zombie.
The life energy Alicia blasted from her body has turned into a kind of telekinetic force which easily pierced through the zombie's head, which is the body part that contains most of the zombie's death energy.
Even though that zombie's level is equal to Martial Apprentice stage. But against Alicia who is much stronger, the zombie is still killed with one hit.
Upon sensing the zombie's death, I granted a nearby pebble with [Devour] and activated it.
The pebble devoured the zombie's soul and rewarded me with 0.02 points worth of energy (tax not included).
Because the pebble merely has one skill, the amount of points it received is merely 1%. Which means if I absorbed it using the stone I've granted with all of my skill, that soul will give me 2 points of energy.
It's not much but it's honest work.
Anyway, while devouring the soul, I also scanned the process and felt a slight difference in its 'taste'. If a normal dead soul's signal gives off a gentle and soft feeling, the one released by the zombie gives off a spiky feeling. Nevertheless, a soul is still a soul. As long as it can be converted to points, it is a good soul.
With the first test finished, I've made sure I can still devour the soul like usual. I started my second test.
By using the same pebble, I activated its [Devour] and swallowed the zombie's corpse.
***
While Alicia is running toward the location of a second lone zombie, she suddenly turns her head due to a flash of lightning which is followed by a loud booming sound.
That's right, my second experiment results in failure and the pebble I granted with [Devour] got struck by lightning and turned into dust.
When she saw lightning struck the location where she killed the zombie previously, Alicia asked me about it. "System, do you have the function to answer a question? What's going on with that lightning?"
[System is calibrating and testing the world's limit.]
Alicia asked once more. "Will I get struck by lightning while doing this zombie killing mission?"
[No.]
Although I replied concisely, to be honest I am not too sure. But if I answer her question with 'probably' instead of a concise 'no', Alicia might stop doing my mission altogether. Which is a big no for me.
Alicia soon arrived nearby the second lone zombie. This time I saw her use the fire axe which she always brought since before and slashed it toward the zombie instead of using her life energy and blasting it as a telekinesis thingy like before.
As for the reason, is it because the consumption for that telekinetic power is quite big? I previously sensed she lost around one fifth of her life energy doing so. Although it is recovering every moment, only a few seconds have passed since before.
Anyway, the result of this attack which used a fire axe is extremely effective.
Due to Alicia's massive strength, although that zombie has responded to her sudden attack with a claw slash. Her axe directly slashed through the zombie's rotting arms.
Without giving the zombie any chance to regain its footing, Alicia swung her axe once more and decapitated that zombie.
Once the head got decapitated, I saw the zombie's head still moved on its own.
With trained movement, Alicia used her axe and split the zombie's head into two halves. Once its head split into two, the zombie finally stopped moving.
I granted a nearby rock with [Devour] and swallowed the zombie's soul.
As this zombie hasn't even reached the level equal to Martial Apprentice, the amount of points I got from it is negligible. But it doesn't matter, I am using this zombie for a different thing.
Activating the [Devour] located inside that rock, I controlled it to absorb the death energy inside the zombie. This time, I ignored the zombie's flesh and other parts and merely focused on the death energy.
I don't want to just absorb the death energy spread throughout the world because it's not as dense as the one inside the zombie's body. Although the difference is extremely minimal, it still decreases the amount of loss I took from granting the rock with [Devour] in case it got destroyed.
Yeah, I am just that stingy.
After [Devour] touches it, the death energy doesn't immediately get converted to points. It resisted for a split second before finally getting swallowed by [Devour].
Is it because the zombie's will exists in the dead energy? Or is it due to something else?
The moment after I absorbed that death energy, a bolt of lightning struck the rock out of the blue. The size of this lightning is much thinner than the one that struck the first stone.
Has the world ran out of energy, which is why this lightning strike is much weaker?
After some thought, I decided to test it on the next zombie. With that, I sent another notification to Alicia.
[For the next zombie, please decapitate it and leave the head intact for a minute.]
While reading the request, Alicia went toward the location with red dots on the map. This time, instead of targeting a lone zombie, Alicia has targeted a group consisting of three zombies. Among the three of them, there are two zombies at the level of a normal mortal and one equal to Martial Apprentice.
Just like before, Alicia first used her fire axe and decapitated one of the weaker zombies while using her telekinetic power to target the Martial Apprentice level zombie's head. Her power easily blasted through the zombie's head and destroyed it.
As for the last one, she kicked it in the calf and slashed it with her axe.
Once Alicia destroyed the three pitiful zombies, I came into action.
Like usual, I used [Anchor] on a stone and granted it with [Devour]. First, I devoured the zombie's souls. Then, I targeted the death energy gathered within those zombie's shattered heads.
Right after I devoured those things, a lightning struck the stone I granted with [Devour]. It seems the world doesn't allow me to devour the dead energy, what a pity.
On the side, Alicia still hasn't left and watched as the lightning struck that stone and obliterated it.
This time, the size of that lightning is exactly the same as the second one. Compared to the first lightning bolt, it is much weaker.
The few lightning bolt strikes remind me of the good times in the cultivation world where Ren Qingquan and I abused the lightning strike bug.
After I am done testing a few things and gaining Alicia's trust, I'll start abusing this lightning strike bug once more.
***
For the next few zombies required for Alicia's mission, I placed some requests on it, just like the third, fourth and fifth zombies. Throughout the slaughter, Alicia just silently followed after the mission I wrote.
Once she finished the mission, I only got a few small results. For example, although all of the zombies gathered most of their death energy inside their brain. The exact location of that position slightly differs from one zombie to the other.
The place where death energy gathers is also the weak point of those zombies. That means, I can add some kind of weak point recognition function as my [Scan] could detect the location where those death energies gather inside the zombies.
There is also another important finding.
Throughout Alicia's mission to kill zombies, I've triggered a total of six lightning strikes. Except for the first one which is quite thick in size and contains a considerable amount of energy. The other five are around the same size. It is extremely thin and merely has enough power to destroy the stone I created.
With the death of the last zombie, or obliteration as they're already dead since turning into a zombie as I sensed no heartbeat. I sent a notification to Alicia.
[Congratulations, you've unlocked the system shop. You can collect points from killing things and absorbing their soul. To enter the system shop, you may press the 'Shop' button in the main menu.]
Alicia opened the main menu and went to visit the system shop I just opened. When she saw the list of items sold in the shop, I could see her expression turn into one of confusion.
That's understandable as the things I sold inside are items from the cultivation world. Any sane person will be confused upon seeing items like 'Evasion Talisman' or 'Millenium Dew Branch'.
Alicia saw the messy things sold inside and asked me. "What the hell are those items?"
[Ding! The system is initially designed to assist in cultivation and helping the host to achieve immortality. So, most of the items sold inside are related to cultivation.]
I started spewing nonsense without batting an eye.
Alicia took my nonsense and asked in curiosity. "Cultivation? You mean the story where a person will meditate and absorb things for all their lifetime to mutate and gain the ability to never shit and pee?"
I don't know what kind of messed up explanation it is. But she's kinda right, so I just agreed.
[Although the host's explanation is a bit messy, you're basically right.]
I saw Alicia lost in thought for a whole minute and pressed a button to purchase an item. What a pity, she hasn't collected enough points, so all she got is a notification.
[Insufficient points]
Alicia asked. "How do I gain points to purchase things?"
[The host may kill creatures and collect their souls. As long as they're within a certain distance from the system's core that you collected previously, you'll receive a notification.]
Alicia asked an important question, "Is it possible to gain points from killing zombies?"
[Yes]
"Then where are the points from the previous time I killed those ten zombies?"
Hmm... What kind of reason should I give her?
I spent some time thinking and decided to forgo giving any reasonable reason. I just told her I used it.
If she doesn't like it, she can come here and beat me up in the consciousness space. That is if she can even enter it in the first place.
[The points gained from previous missions were used by the system.]
"Mmhm. Then, let me test the points." Alicia nodded and then she opened the map once more. This time, she targeted a pair of zombies at the Martial Apprentice stage and quickly killed them.
Once she killed the pair, I sent a notification to Alicia.
[Soul found, do you wish to devour it? Yes/No]
After she pressed the 'Yes' button, I sent her a message which was followed by another question.
[You've gained 2 Points! Do you wish to activate automatic soul absorption mode? Yes/No]
Alicia once again pressed on 'Yes'. With some points on her hand, I saw Alicia open the shop once more.
Chapter 101. Breathing Makes Me Stronger
This time, with enough points in hand, Alicia went and started shopping. It didn't last long as she quickly found something to purchase. Coincidentally, it is actually the small dagger made out of Third Princess's unknown metal. The one Ren Qingquan previously purchased to beat a wolf in Martial Arts World.
Seriously, till this day I still don't know the name of that metal.
Once Alicia pressed the purchase button, I created the metal on top of her hand.
When she saw a dagger suddenly appear in her hand, Alicia almost threw it away.
While grabbing the handle of that dagger and observing it, I heard Alicia mutter. "This is just like a game. Kill monsters to get money, then purchase some equipment in the store. What's next, kill monsters to level up?"
Well, after I learned more about this world, I indeed thought of adding the leveling function. But it looks like Alicia is merely talking to herself and doesn't require any answer from me, so I decided to keep silent.
After testing the power of that dagger I created by piercing a concrete building nearby, Alicia nodded in satisfaction.
Although the dagger I created can't do something like cutting concrete like tofu, it is still sharp and strong enough to easily pierce it.
When she was done playing around, Alicia looked at her handwatch, "an hour has passed by already? Guess I'll need to return."
Alicia's journey back to the restaurant is pretty chill. With the map I gave her, she easily evaded places where a lot of zombies gathered. Soon, the small restaurant came into view.
Once Alicia returned to the small restaurant, I saw Edward and another teenage boy standing inside the small restaurant.
When he saw Alicia, Edward asked. "Alicia, where did you run off to for so long? It's an hour already!"
"Nothing much, I was just testing something. I might tell everyone about the test later. Also, why are you alone with the student council president here? Where are Reynald and the others?"
The student council president replied. "While looking for Miss Alicia a few minutes ago, the others found another restaurant nearby. Most of them went there to gather food while the two of us are left here to wait for you."
Once the student council president finished speaking, Edward spoke. "I thought the business you wanna do is something like collecting cosmetics or going to the toilet. That's why I readily agreed."
"Sorry about that. Well, now that I've returned, let's meet up with the others." Alicia stretched her body and opened the map I gave her. She saw a building nearby where a few blue dots had gathered inside. Those dots are most likely the other human from her group
Seeing as there are no red dots which symbolizes zombies nearby those groups, and they all seem to be in a safe position. Alicia just casually followed after Edward and the student council president.
Upon arriving at the new restaurant, I saw dozens of people busy packing and storing foods into backpacks. Most of the backpack has been filled to the brim with food or edible ingredients.
Once they saw Alicia's three man group, one of the man come forward while pointing at three backpack and said, "Just in time, we've also filled yout backpack"
"Sorry about the wait." Alicia apologized as she, Edward, and the student council president went towards the backpack and wore it. Then, I heard her ask, "Reynald, how much longer are we going to stay here?"
Reynald replied, "There are still some ingredients inside. But the bag we brought has been filled to the brim. We'll just take the leftovers with us the next time we go out to forage for food. Most of the people in this city have either died or turned into zombies anyway. So, we don't need to worry about it getting stolen."
Although this Reynald guy has no filter on his mouth. But damn, do I agree with his decision making skill. What a pity he is pretty weak and barely touched the Martial Apprentice stage. Otherwise I might have chosen him as my host instead of Alicia.
A few minutes later, everyone finished packing and brought their backpack and walked toward a direction while chatting in a low voice.
With Alicia subtly guiding everyone, they easily evaded any large group of zombies and safely arrived at a school.
On the school's plaque, the word 'Small Pigeon City High School No. 2' is written. The Small Pigeon City is most likely the city's name, which sounds frickin silly.
Alicia's group, which consists of fifteen people, went into the school. Inside, I sensed slightly more than 200 humans, with most haven't reached the Martial Apprentice stage and only 5 at the Martial Apprentice stage. Furthermore, I sensed no zombies within the school grounds. Which means this school is already a safe place.
The fifteen people from Alicia's group went inside and chatted with a few people while handing the food they've gathered.
As Alicia has arrived at a relatively safe place, I decided to busy myself experimenting things once more while leaving only some attention to the outside world and listening to their talk.
The first thing I do is organize the information I've gained these few hours.
My gut feeling is telling me this word's power level is pretty low. So low to the point Alicia's Martial Grandmaster level self might be counted among the strongest here.
From the short talk I heard when Alicia's group traveled and the one they currently have, the zombie apocalypse started merely a month ago. Before that, this world was exactly the same as Earth with no supernatural power.
Those who have awakened supernatural power are called awakeners by the people inside Small Dove Highschool No 2. But as the school has lost contact with the outside world for quite some time, it's unknown whether the name awakener is used globally or not.
Among the awakeners in Alicia, she has awakened on the second day. Which is the fastest among every awakener there, and also the reason I suspect Alicia is among the strongest in the world.
Especially when I found everytime those awakeners breathe, some of the dead energy in the world will get inside their body. Then, their power will slightly increase. Which is a case of turning stronger with every breath, Literally.
It is quite similar to Cultivation in the Cultivation World. But, even cultivators still need to circulate their spirit qi to increase their power. As for awakeners, they merely need to frickin breath!
As for zombies, the case is quite similar. But instead of breathing, I saw every time those moving corpses walk past a place, the density of dead energy will slightly decrease as some of it is absorbed into their body. Although some death energy is spent when they move, the gain still outweighs the loss of energy.
This also results in a similar case to awakened human's breathing being stronger. To be more specific, those zombies turn stronger every time they walk. Which is why they often roam about randomly.
Random roaming is a way for zombies to cultivate and become stronger.
Luckily, the rate of those zombies gaining power through walking is much slower than awakener. But, with how many zombies there are compared to humans, the future for everyone in this world is quite bleak.
But no worry everyone, this great me has come to save the day! As long as no super boss suddenly spawned out of nowhere, I should be able to help kill every single zombie in this world!
***
As I go to my flight of fancy while organizing the information I got, I focused myself on the twelves awakened inside the school ground, which include Alicia. After some comparison, I found even though they breathe death energy in and repel them out at almost similar pace. The amount of power everyone gained from that act differs from one another.
This difference should mean their talents. Just like spirit roots in Cultivation World, their speed of and absorbing death energy should be the way to differentiate an awakener's talent. Of course it is just my speculation. But with this much information, I am already pretty sure about it.
If the speed of power increase per breath is indeed a show of their talent, then Alicia can be said to have monstrous talent. The kind that can make everyone doubt life.
Awakening on the second day, coupled with her extremely high power increase per breath. It is no wonder Alicia could reach Martial Grandmaster within a month without using any cheat.
This gives me melancholic feelings. I am reminded of Ren Qingquan who has genius martial arts but trashy cultivation talent. Even with me as a cheat, he still took quite a long time to reach the Martial Grandmaster stage in the Martial Arts world with his so-called genius martial arts talent.
Now then, I guess my next step is to test whether cultivation methods, martial arts, etc can be used to increase the speed and push Alicia's already insane progression speed even further.
As for immediately creating energy inside her body to push her level just like what I do to Ren Qingquan, that must wait for once I've understood how absorbing death energy affects someone's life level.
While I am planning, my focus suddenly got pulled toward the attention I left on Alicia's group. As for the reason, it's because Alicia has just gone and told everyone about me!
With a casual face she dropped a bombshell, "Oh, by the way. While we're outside, I got the ability to convert zombie souls to items. It even comes with the bonus of a five kilometer wide map."
Damn it, I just praised your talent and now you went to spread your secret like a moron? Did I accidentally choose a female version of Ren Qingquan as my host?
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