The next morning, it was already 7 a.m.
I don’t know if I overdid it yesterday…
but I woke up ter than usual.
When I got up, everyone was staring at me.
Like—“How can this guy sleep so comfortably in a situation like this?”
A normal person would probably ask that too…
if they were stuck in a zombie apocalypse.
I ate a little—wasn’t much—and by 7:20 a.m., we started killing zombies again.
Same as yesterday: defense up front, the rest waiting and watching from the back.
I kinda wanted to listen to music, but figured it wasn’t a good idea.
Wouldn’t hear anything if I got too distracted.
Still… looking at them, they seemed better. Like they could handle more zombies than the day before.
‘If I can’t listen to music by myself, then… why not let everyone listen?’
So, I set up a speaker and pyed music in the background.
Not too loud—just enough to attract zombies from around a hundred meters away.
We kept going until 12:30 p.m.
When I told them to stop, man… they looked like they could’ve kept doing it all day.
I couldn’t collect materials right now anyway.
While we were eating, I suddenly remembered something.
'The automatic conversion and upgrade system stops after I upgrade the [decompose] skill System, convert atom to energy.’
'System: Convert atom to energy.'
> Ding!
-540 tons of atom
+540,070 energy
Me:
"System, can you automatically convert atom to energy every day at 11:30 p.m.?"
> Ding!
Command added.
I checked my energy.
Yeah... it’s climbing nicely.
---
By 12:50 p.m., they really wanted to start again.
So we went back to killing zombies.
At this point, they’re almost level 6.
Curious, I decided to check their abilities.
Lena Cole
Ability: Fme
'System, can I see what that ability actually does?'
> Ding!
Host needs 10,000 energy to analyze the ability.
'Okay, use 10,000.'
> Ding!
Identification skill is slightly improving in 3… 2… 1…
'Wait… why didn’t it hurt this time?'
> Ding!
Host, the skill has only slightly improved. No significant change.
'Slightly improved? I don’t even know what you call slight anymore'
Ability Details:
[
Creature: Huma lv5(56/60);
Name:Lena Cole
Ability {
Fme Lv.1
Active:
Can generate and control fmes.
Duration: (Ability Level * 2) minutes per day.
Passive:
Fire Damage & Resistance:
(Ability Level + 100) × 0.10%}]
[
Creature: Huma lv5(56/60);
Name:Samantha Reeves;
Ability {Agility Lv.1
Active:
Agility Boost:
100% + (Ability Level × 100 × 0.05%)
Duration: (Ability Level * 2) minutes per day.
Passive:
Agility Bonus: Ability Level × 2}]
[
Creature: Huma lv5(52/60);
Name:Ethan Vance
Ability {Strength Lv.1
Active:
Strength Boost:
100% + (Ability Level × 100 × 0.05%)
Duration: (Ability Level * 2) minutes per day.
Passive:
Strength Bonus: Ability Level × 2.}]
I looked at them, lost in thought.
‘So that’s what their abilities are… But what if I killed them and absorbed their powers? I’d be overpowered in no time. That fire ability is weak now, but it can level up…’
Just as those evil thoughts were getting cozy in my head, someone smacked me on the back. I snapped out of it and turned around—Mr. Nathan was grinning at me.
Nathan: "What are you thinking, my man? That’s my daughter."
I gnced at him, then at the others.
They were all looking at me like I was some rare animal in a zoo.
Lena was pretending not to notice, obviously trying to stay far away.
Samantha was holding in her ughter.
Ethan looked a little shaken.
Zach… well, he acted like he didn’t hear anything.
‘Man… overprotective much? If he could actually read my mind, he’d have a heart attack. Trust me, old man—it’s worse than you think.’
I cleared my throat and quickly changed the topic.
"If they are level 5 already, and they will have an ability, shouldn’t they be able to activate it now?"
‘System, how can they upgrade their level?’
> Ding!
Host base now allows others to enhance their levels through use.
However, to understand how to upgrade abilities specifically, you may purchase that information.
Cost: 100,000 energy.
‘What?! Language was just 10k, and this is 10 times more?’
> Ding!
Host, nguage knowledge is common information.
Ability upgrade paths are a secret of this world.
‘Tch… forget it. So basically—use it daily, activate it often, and it’ll level up.’
I asked them to use it and see what would happen.
Lena created fire—it looked dangerous, but it only felt warm. It needs to st longer to burn anything substantial, but since it only sts for a minute, it can only ignite small things.
Just like the others, they can only use it for two minutes. But after using it, their ability levels up.
"It seems like it takes time to level up an ability," I said.
I looked at them.
“Okay guys, let’s stop here for today. Tomorrow, we’ll head to the supermarket.”
Zach frowned. “Didn’t you say we weren’t going for another two days? Why the change?”
I turned to look at Zach.
'Man, don’t always be like this. You’re starting to get on my nerves.'
“Well, it’s because you reached level 5 faster than I expected. The sooner we check the supermarket, the better. If there’s no food there, we need to start thinking about other options—maybe even finding new sources.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
'But honestly, I just want to find more people. I need a bit of freedom. It’s getting boring always watching over you guys.'
When I woke up, it was 7 a.m. Everyone was packing their things. I walked over to Mr. Nath and asked,
“Sir, can I take some of the things here?”
I pointed at the items scattered around the pce.
Mr. Nath looked around for a moment, his eyes lingering as if lost in memory. Then he gave a small nod. “Alright, take whatever you like.”
I got to work, cleaning up the bakery until it became a spacious, spotless room—without even a trace of trash left behind.
The old man seemed like he wanted to say something, but his daughter held him back. Just by looking at them, you could tell—they didn’t need a test. Their bond was real, like that of a true father and daughter.
Samantha, on the other hand, was still skeptical about my ability. She asked again how many items I could create, and what they were truly capable of. But I just told her, “Even if it were my own family asking, I wouldn’t share that. So stop asking.”
At 8:10 a.m., we were outside. Everyone was waiting for me—but I didn’t have a compass, and I wasn’t even sure which path was the right one. I gnced at them.
'I’ll have to use Ethan as the front to lead. On his left, Lena. On his right, Samantha. Lena’s father will be next to her, and Zach on Samantha’s side. I’ll stay in the center of the triangle to collect corpses and provide support. Let’s do this... and hopefully, they won’t notice I have no idea where we’re going.'
“Alright, Ethan—you’ll lead the team. I’ll stay at the back for collection and support.”
I noticed Samantha trying to hold back a ugh, gncing at Ethan with a questioning look. Then I looked around—seemed like he was ughing at something I said, but no one else reacted. It’s pointless to dwell on it now, so I went ahead and expined the formation.
While they fought, I decomposed the corpses. Whenever I felt they needed help, I’d throw an axe to thin out the horde, making it a little easier for them.
After 30 minutes of nonstop fighting, we had moved over 260 meters away from the shop.
Then we heard someone calling for help—but we acted like we didn’t hear it, just kept moving forward. I leveled up—10 levels at once. I dumped all the points into Strength. That familiar surge of power ran through me again.
> Ding!
Host detected. The pnet’s system is granting a Css. Please choose:
Strength
Agility
Ability Time
Psychic
Looking at the panel, I decided to speak up.
“Guys, let’s take a break in one of the buildings. I need to choose a css.”
No one objected. They looked just as exhausted as I felt—from both walking and fighting.
We found the nearest building and went inside to rest. We blocked off the door, the stairs, and the elevator. After that, we cleaned everything. By 9:40 a.m., the pce was spotless. I even used [Decompose] to clear out every trace of mess.
I stared at the css choices again. They’re pretty self-expnatory... but “Ability Time”? If that doesn’t mean the duration my abilities are active, then I have no clue what it could be.
'System, can I create my own css or upgrade a css?'
> Ding!
Host can upgrade existing csses. Css upgrades add additional attributes and require 1,000,000 energy. Each subsequent upgrade will cost double the previous amount.
Alternatively, host may upgrade the [Decompose] skill and acquire csses from other creatures.
'You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me—csses are collectible too?'
Still, it’s not exactly cheat-mode... not yet useful to me. I’ll just pick what I need most for now—Physic.
> Ding!
Css chosen: Physic
Css change complete.
+5 Physic
Next, level-up bonuses will grant +5 free attributes.
---
[Status Panel]
Creature: Human – Lv. 10 (0/200)
Css: Physic
Name: Marklester Perez
Age: 24
Attributes:{
Strength: 22
Agility: 7
Physic: 4 +(5 Css bonus)}
Abilities: 8,597{
Infection – Lv. 9}
Skills{
Heat and Mass Atom Converter (600,000/day)
Identification
Decomposition (4,050 tons of atoms)
Item Creation (100 slots)
Spatial Storage (1m3)}
Energy: 660,800
Items: None
