Chapter 5
[ You Have Slain A Level One Zombie. ]
[ 10 Exp and 1 Stat Point received. ]
[ Your Essence Grows Darker. ]
Dismissing the holographic screen, Arthur walked up to his father's corpse to pay his last respects.
"I will find the cause of this catastrophe, Father. I will put an end to this wrongness and avenge you all."
He stood there for a moment, staring down at the lifeless body.
His voice hardened.
"And nothing will stop me. That's the final promise I make to you, Father."
Lifting a pile of earth and debris, he buried his father. Along with the corpse, something else was buried beneath the rubble.
His belief in morality.
Armed with the blood-stained concrete cone, he would survive.
To ensure that survival, he needed to understand what he could actually do.
Arthur searched the ruined surroundings and eventually found an empty fallen structure that he considered relatively safe. It was half collapsed, but the interior gave him enough cover from wandering eyes.
Sitting down inside the wreckage, he willed his status screen to appear before him.
It did.
---
[ System T-03 P7P ]
Name : Arthur Reed
Level : 1
Title : ???
State : Normal
Fatigue : 10%
Exp : 10/50
HP (Health Pool) : 65/70
MP (Mana Pool) : 97/100
SP (Stat Points) : 1
{ Stats }
Strength : 10
Speed : 10
Stamina : 10
Perception : 10
Durability : 10
Mental Fortitude : 10
??? : Locked
??? : Locked
Arthur frowned slightly.
'What other things can I do with the system?'
The screen suddenly warped and changed.
---
[ System Interface ]
{ Type : T-03 P7P }
{ Status } { Equipment } { Shop } { Chat } { Inventory } { Map } { System Sync } { Temporal Log } { Task } { Appraisal } { Skills and Abilities } { Domain }
Curious, Arthur checked each of the functions. Almost all of them were unavailable.
The only available ones were Status, Equipment, Inventory, Map, and Skills/Abilities.
He selected Equipment first.
A naked figure of himself appeared on the screen. Two identical full-body portraits were displayed side by side, both labeled as his skin.
Around the figure were several empty slot boxes placed along different parts of the body.
Head. Chest. Arms. Legs. Accessories.
Arthur didn't have anything to put in those boxes, so he moved on.
Inventory was somewhat similar to the equipment screen, except it mostly consisted of empty slot boxes arranged in a grid. There were twenty of them in total.
The Map function looked like a simple visual GPS.
It only displayed places he had visited or was currently standing in.
Since his awakening he had barely moved from the location, so the map only showcased a single marker that represented his current position.
Skills and Abilities, however, were the most useful thing to him at the moment.
Arthur opened it immediately.
---
[ Skills / Abilities ]
{ Abilities }
»» 1. Telekinesis
»» 2. Locked
»» 3. Locked
»» 4. Locked
»» 5. Locked
»» 6. Locked
»» 7. Locked
»» 8. Locked
»» 9. Locked
{ Skills }
1. Force Manipulation
Move, lift, crush, twist, stop, accelerate objects. Including people. Especially people.
(Mana Expenditure : ???)
2. Telekinetic Strikes
Invisible, unblockable force impacts. These can range from a punch-like push to a concussive blast capable of knocking down walls.
(Mana Expenditure : ???)
3. Flight and Mobility
Self-propulsion, aerial combat, instant repositioning. Lifting and moving your own body. Grants flight, perfect balance, and wall-running.
(Mana Expenditure : 5 points per hour)
4. Force Barriers and Constructs
Shields, platforms, weapons, limbs, avatars. Creating a force barrier capable of blocking physical projectiles, melee attacks, or even atmospheric pressure and vacuum.
(Mana Expenditure : 50 points per minute)
5. Environmental Weaponization
Throwing cars, debris, or hundreds of small sharp objects as projectiles. Buildings, vehicles, debris, oceans, tectonic plates if the scale allows it.
(Mana Expenditure : ???)
{ System Note : Explore the potential of your abilities to unlock more skills. Abilities, however, can only be unlocked under special conditions or Trial Completions. }
After reading the list of what he was capable of, Arthur felt his throat run dry.
His imagination and mana pool were the only limits.
Walking out of the structure with renewed confidence, he began heading back toward the school.
Holding tightly onto the concrete cone, he moved with cautious precision.
He might be powerful, but a single mistake could spell his end.
Walking through the uneven terrain of scattered debris proved harder than expected, especially since he was trying to move stealthily.
His foot suddenly caught a metal can.
Arthur tripped forward.
He crashed headfirst into a somersaulted car.
The noise echoed loudly through the dead street.
A moment later, the growls of multiple zombies answered.
Arthur froze.
From broken houses, collapsed commercial buildings, and even beneath piles of rubble, silhouettes began to emerge.
The undead were gathering.
Arthur's palms turned cold.
'Too many.'
Climbing onto the overturned car to get a clearer view, he activated Environmental Weaponization.
The concrete cone rose from his hand and hovered above his palm.
Arthur thrust his hand forward.
Clumsily, the cone shot in the direction of his movement.
Moments later a zombie collapsed, its head violently ruptured.
[ You Have Slain A Level One Zombie. ]
[ 10 Exp received. ]
[ Your Essence Grows Darker. ]
Arthur stared at the growing number of silhouettes surrounding him.
He had work to do.
Pointing his hand toward another zombie, the cone flew again.
It pierced the undead's skull effortlessly.
Slowly, Arthur began to understand how his new power worked.
Turning in circles to track the nearest threats, he directed the cone repeatedly.
One zombie after another fell.
Nevertheless, they were getting closer.
Arthur could see it clearly.
Soon he would be surrounded.
He had to clear a path.
And fast.
'That's impossible… these things are unending.'
Arthur possessed several other skills that might help him escape this situation.
But he hadn't tested them.
He wasn't willing to place his faith in something unfamiliar.
Instead, he relied on the one ability he was beginning to grasp.
Jumping down toward the road leading back to his school, Arthur moved quickly.
Behind him, the overturned car began to float.
Before Arthur even landed, the vehicle flew over his head.
It crashed directly into the advancing zombies.
The impact triggered a violent explosion.
Several zombies were torn apart.
But the blast also attracted more.
[ You Have Leveled Up ]
[ Current Level : 2 ]
[ You Have Received 6 Free Stat Points To Distribute ]
Arthur didn't stop to think about it.
Before the undead could fill the newly opened path, he sprinted forward.
The concrete cone orbited around him like a vicious satellite, striking down zombies that appeared in front of him.
Yet the sounds behind him continued.
The growls were following him.
'They'll follow me to the school if I don't lose them.'
The noises behind him grew louder and louder, merging into an unpleasant cacophony.
Arthur kept running.
Minutes passed.
Running and killing without pause quickly drained his strength.
When he had leveled up, he felt his mana pool refill and deepen.
But that didn't mean he wasn't exhausted.
Soon the system confirmed it.
[ Fatigue : 70% ]
Arthur gritted his teeth.
He needed a plan.
Abruptly changing direction, he ran toward a nearby building.
'Let this not be a bad idea, Arthur.'
Stretching out his hands, the front doors burst open.
His cone immediately shot forward, piercing the skull of the first zombie that staggered out.
Arthur rushed inside and slammed the doors shut behind him.
Focusing on nearby furniture, he dragged desks, cabinets, and chairs across the floor with telekinesis.
Within seconds, a barricade blocked the entrance.
Arthur exhaled slowly.
'That definitely strained my mana pool.'
The system responded.
[ Fatigue : 90% ]
Arthur sat down on a nearby chair and finally examined the interior of the building.
The layout looked familiar.
Metal desks.
Weapon lockers.
Holding cells.
A police station.
'What luck.'
But the moment of relief lasted barely a second.
Three zombies staggered out from deeper within the station.
Arthur leaned back in his chair.
The concrete cone hovered calmly above his palm.
Like a bullet, it shot forward and pierced the skull of the zombie standing to his left.
The corpse collapsed instantly.
There were only two remaining.
Arthur rose from the chair and grabbed a metal pipe leaning against the wall.
While the cone handled the other distant zombie, Arthur rushed toward the one descending the stairs toward the first floor.
The undead lunged at him the moment he got close.
Arthur stepped aside.
The zombie stumbled forward and fell face-first onto the ground.
Arthur raised the pipe.
Then brought it down.
Once.
Twice.
Again.
Again.
Bone cracked.
Blood splattered.
Arthur continued until the zombie's head was nothing more than a crushed mass of bone, blood, and brain matter.
Finally he stopped.
Arthur stood there breathing heavily.
A maniacal smile slowly formed across his blood-covered face.
If an ordinary person saw him at this moment, they might mistake him for a monster rather than a survivor.
'I am starting to enjoy this.'
His eyes drifted toward the hovering cone.
Arthur wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt before walking toward a dark corner of the station.
He lay down on the cold floor.
Exhaustion finally caught up with him.
His eyes slowly closed.
And for the first time since the apocalypse began…
Arthur Reed fell asleep.
' I am starting to enjoy this.' He thought looking at the hovering cone. Wiping his face with his shirt he walked over to his cone and picked it up.
Sluggishly he walked towards the first room at the left, he scanned the room but saw nothing. He then went to the second room, no threat resided there.
The pungent smell of the zombies bodies started making him sick, further increasing his fatigue. When he climbed to the first floor he saw two staff rooms on the right and on the left were cells which faced each other.
Approaching the room labeled head officer, he heard the footsteps of multiple zombies. The room besides it had no creature in it but shelves, chairs and desks.
Too weak to mentally move anything apart from his cone, he lifted the shelves with his enhanced strength and blocked the head officer's office.
With that done he walked into one of the cells with a padlock and its key. He locked himself in and lay down on a bunk bed extremely tired.
His eyes slowly shut and he fell asleep for the first time in the apocalypse.