บท 28: E-rank Evolution Crystal
Having no intentions to keep it a secret from Ayame, Winston replied, "From what my father had told me, zombies who have evolved and reached E-rank will have an evolution crystal inside their brain. It is the condensation of pure viral energy and with this, it can be consumed by a human to evolve and reach higher ranks of power."
"However, it's not omnipotent as just consuming one evolution crystal won't guarantee the evolution of a human. Furthermore, consuming an evolution crystal will risk being infected by the viral energy contained within it."
"You players should have the humanity percentage stat, right? As long as that attribute reaches below 50%, you will become a zombie. However, maintaining it at 50% and above will allow you to become an awakener, assuming you consumed an evolution crystal and it worked."
"The number of evolution crystals needed to evolve per person varies so just this one E-rank evolution crystal might not be enough."
"Those who have successfully awakened will have powers beyond the human limits and it varies as well from person to person. Some might just have the power to temporarily increase their physical stats, while some might have elemental-based powers."
Hearing Winston's explanation, Ayame didn't inquire about the reason for Winston's father having the knowledge of the evolution crystal when it only existed a week after the start of the game.
Ayame had already known that Winston's father was part of the military but after hearing that even Winston's father could know about this, then Winston's father should be within the upper echelons of the military.
Unless Winston himself was willing to tell her about it, Ayame wasn't nosy enough to ask about it.
Ayame asked Winston, "Other E-rank zombies should have an evolution crystal, right?"
In response, Winston nodded his head, "Yes. It has a guaranteed 100% drop rate."
"And as you can see, E-rank zombies are already powerful enough to breach the mansion's gate. If we want to survive longer, we can't always remain hiding in the mansion."
"Our next course of action is to eliminate those E-rank zombies and harvest their E-rank evolution crystals."
Hearing Winston's plan, Ayame wasn't against it.
In fact, Ayame anticipated this course of events as she was also starting to get bored staying in the mansion.
Even if this was a death game, Ayame became a game streamer since it was her hobby and she loved playing games. This game might cost her life, but Ayame wanted to make the most of it and enjoy it while she still could.
And if she happened to be one of the top three survivors or winners of Zombie Survival Online, Ayame speculated that her rewards might be dependent on what she had attained in the game.
Even if she survived long enough, Ayame felt that if she wasn't strong and just survived due to luck, the rewards she received might not be that great.
Of course, that was just Ayame's speculation, and whether it was true or not, Ayame wasn't certain yet. But she didn't disagree with Winston's plan of farming for E-rank evolution crystals.
"Winston, can I have the E-rank evolution crystal? I'll test my luck and see if I can become an awakener."
Ayame tried her luck by asking Winston for the E-rank evolution crystal.
Although Ayame stalled the E-rank muscular zombie, she didn't kill it and it was Winston who killed the E-rank muscular zombie.
And even when she was stalling it, the E-rank muscular zombie was already injured by Winston which made it easier for Ayame to stall the E-rank muscular zombie.
So, Winston would have more shares over the E-rank evolution crystal and if Winston decided to take it for himself, Ayame wouldn't disagree with it.
However, she still tried her luck and asked Winston for it. If she couldn't get it, Ayame wouldn't force Winston since there were still other E-rank zombies outside.
The muscular zombie wasn't the only E-rank zombie in Zombie Survival Online and Ayame knew that so she didn't want to ruin her alliance with Winston just for one E-rank evolution crystal.
In response to Ayame's question, Winston casually threw the evolution crystal toward Ayame, causing Ayame to catch and receive the E-rank evolution crystal.
"Kayden has his C-grade special event item while I have my E-grade special event item. You don't have any special event item so I don't mind you being the first awakener in our group."
'Furthermore, you are my sister.'
The last thought wasn't told to Ayame by Weiss. After all, he had no intentions of revealing his true identity to Ayame.
Even if Ayame was his sister, Weiss wouldn't reveal his identity as Aspro nor reveal the existence of the God-Level Game Developer System to anyone.
The only one who knew about the existence of the system aside from Weiss was Alice.
When Ayame heard Winston's words, she didn't act hypocritical and received the E-rank evolution crystal from him. "Thank you, Winston."
"But how do I consume this? Do I clean and disinfect the evolution crystal or swallow it directly? Or do I have to hammer this into powder and mix it with my food?"
บท 29: Ayame's Awakening!
Hearing Ayame's questions, Winston patiently answered, "From what my father told me, direct consumption is suggested. Just swallow it directly."
"The evolution crystal contains pure viral energy so even if it came from the brain of the E-rank zombie, it will neutralize the zombie virus on it. However, if you can't resist the viral energy contained within the evolution crystal, it will overwrite your DNA and mutate you in a bad direction. Hence, failure means becoming a zombie."
Winston was living up to his role as a special NPC.
Even other players and NPCs wouldn't know about this. Even if they killed an E-rank zombie, they would likely not know of the evolution crystal's existence.
Only those weirdos who read too many zombie apocalypse novels will believe that zombies will have evolution cores or crystals and only they would dissect a zombie just to find it.
But the average normal person would be ignorant of the evolution crystal's existence so Ayame and Kayden had the advantage of having a knowledgeable special NPC.
Weiss wasn't worried about exposing his identity since even if players played this game again, as long as they could earn Winston's trust, Winston wouldn't conceal this from them.
After receiving Winston's answer, Ayame no longer hesitated and directly threw the evolution crystal inside her mouth and swallowed it!
Opening her player status screen, Ayame could see that her humanity attribute was decreasing at a constant pace.
<Player Status>
Player Name: Shiro Ayame
Age: 17
Physique: E+
Strength: E+
Agility: E+
Humanity: 96%
Virus: Currently In Awakening Phase
Special Event Item: None
Surviving Players: 421/1000
<———————>
From what she could see, the Virus stat which was previously "Null" was now in "Currently In Awakening Phase".
Shiro Ayame wasn't certain whether this meant that she had consumed enough evolution crystal to awaken or not.
But she could feel that her body temperature slightly rose at a moderate pace and she started to have a headache.
There was an urge to eat flesh popping up in her mind but Ayame immediately sat in a lotus position, meditated, and resisted it.
As a martial arts master, Ayame had great discipline and a strong mental fortitude, or else she wouldn't be able to withstand those grueling physical training during the process of improving her physical body's strength as well as improving her martial arts.
At this time, Kayden hadn't come down yet and was still surveying the surroundings outside the mansion from the balcony using binoculars.
On the other hand, Winston was protecting Ayame in case a zombie ever entered the mansion's area. After all, Ayame was currently defenseless and all of her attention was focused on resisting the viral energy.
From Weiss' development, the awakening phase would be successful if a human consumed enough evolution crystals and resisted the viral energy. As long as they were conscious during the awakening phase and successfully resisted the desire to eat flesh, they would successfully become an Awakener.
Weiss could control the outcome of awakening using his game authorities and could even influence what superpower a player or NPC would awaken.
However, he didn't want to interfere much since the game mechanism for awakening was set to "awaken the superpower suited for that individual".
So for a musclehead with a straightforward attack method such as using purely brute force, it would be more suited for them to awaken a superpower that increased their physical strength temporarily.
But if Weiss were to use his authority to change that musclehead's ability into that of an elemental ability, then the musclehead whose intelligence was that of a retard couldn't make use of the elemental ability's full potential.
Because of that, Weiss wouldn't interfere with any awakening unless he believed that he needed to.
While Weiss was protecting Ayame using Winston, he saw a zombie climbing up from the zombie corpse blockade, and entering the mansion's area.
"With the existence of E-rank zombies, the mansion gate can no longer stop them. Even if I repair it, another E-rank zombie might break the mansion gate and invade the mansion."
Winston commented as he took out his two pistols and shot that zombie to death.
After thirty minutes had passed, Winston noticed that Ayame opened her eyes. However, Ayame didn't become a zombie which meant that the awakening phase was successful.
Winston felt a powerful aura being constantly released by Ayame and the surrounding space became heavier as if gravity had increased.
Opening her palm, a violet-colored orb appeared on top of it. Ayame threw it towards the zombie corpse hill and it obliterated the zombie corpses.
Examining her current power increase, Ayame breathed a sigh of relief that her awakening was successful.
"Thank you, Winston."
Ayame didn't forget to thank Winston for not only giving her the E-rank evolution crystal but also for protecting her while she was in her awakening phase.
Otherwise, if a zombie were to interfere with her awakening phase, then it would undoubtedly fail since she focused all her attention on suppressing the rampaging viral energy inside her body.
"No need to thank me. Since you have successfully awakened, then killing those E-rank zombies will be a lot more convenient."
Even if Winston didn't make it sound like a big deal, Ayame still decided that she would try her best to protect Winston even if Winston was just an NPC.
Checking on her progress, Ayame summoned the player status.
<Player Status>
Player Name: Shiro Ayame
Age: 17
Physique: D-
Strength: D-
Agility: D-
Humanity: 72%
Virus: E-rank
Ability: Space Manipulation
Special Event Item: None
Surviving Players: 402/1000
<———————>
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