Earth.
2024, 10th April.
Westin Continent, Ravinfox City.
In a dilapidated two-story apartnt with four small units of housing, a twenty-four-year-old black-haired young man was sleeping comfortably on his bed. It was a small house with a bed, kitchen, and living room, all in one box.
Obviously, the young man living here was not rich from the living standards, but his figure was well-built and work-hardened.
*Bang… Bang… Bang…*
While he was asleep, soone was banging on the door. The banging was increasing in intensity every second.
Erix would usually sleep very deeply such that outside noise did not affect him, however loud they were. He considered this daily deep slumber at night his weakness as a martial artist but had yet to fix it.
"Rin... Let's try in that place this ti."
Alas, the danger was approaching while he was mumbling in his dream.
*Crack..*
The dilapidated apartnt's door could no longer hold as it broke off from the wall, and a zombie entered inside while staggering.
The zombie didn't look fresh. It had dirt all over and only a few pieces of cloth attached to its rotten body. It was as if this zombie had been buried under the ground for a long ti.
"Grrr…"
The zombie made a weird growling sound as it staggered towards Erix, who was sleeping on his left shoulder side, and without hesitation, the zombie took a bite of Erix's open right shoulder.
*Karchh!*
Erix's eyes shot open as a searing pain assaulted his senses awake, causing him to scream. Imdiately at that mont, he also slled a foul odor and quickly turned his head towards the breath and saw the zombie, its rotten teeth were dug into his shoulder!
Erix was shocked, but his mind also reacted fast to escape this danger as his martial artist instincts kicked it and he quickly took out a pen from below his bed. Without hesitation, he stabbed it into the zombie's head before kicking it away.
"What... what is going on?!" Erix internally cursed as he looked at the wound on his right shoulder, feeling increasing pain and a burning sensation spreading through his body before he looked at the thing that attacked him.
"Zombie...?"
"No way!"
For a second, his mind went blank at the absurdness of his situation.
"Or am I just dreaming?"
"No, it can't be. This pain...urgh!"
"This is real..."
Erix looked at the bite mark, his mind rember the zombies movies and series he watched as he feared that he would soon turn into a zombie as well.
'No fucking way!'
Suddenly, Erix heard footsteps and saw two youngsters standing at the door. He knew them as they also lived in this apartnt in other units.
"Erix, y-you… How co you were bitten?"
"Sorry, bro. It's too late for you."
Both youngsters backed away as their gaze beca distracted for a bit, as if looking at sothing that was not visible in Erix's vision.
"No, wait!" Erix stood up.
"Don't co near!" the youngster with a baseball bat in his hand said as he warily pointed the bat at Erix with a stern expression. "Sorry, man. It's over for you because you are bitten. Let's go, Ralph."
They glanced at Erix with pity before they left.
"And here I was hoping we could rely on Mad Devil Erix... tsk, how co soone like him got bitten?"
"And he was level 0. Don't tell he was sleeping like usual... Sigh."
Erix heard them, but his mind was in chaos.
"I can't die here... No..."
"Grrr…"
The zombie in the room growled as it stood up, trying to stagger towards Erix again.
"Motherfucker, you already bit !" Erix cursed with red eyes as he stord towards the zombie and squashed its head with his right leg.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck…." Erix cursed as he started getting dizzy and didn't notice the notification about killing the zombie.
'No way… I will die from a fucking zombie bite?'
If he was awake, there was no way he would let himself get bitten by a damn zombie!
Despair manifested in his eyes as he felt his mind rapidly slipping into darkness.
'No...'
'Rin, I- how...'
His vision darkened.
'Don't... I don't want to die!'
But a second later, the light in his eyes dimd.
*Slap!*
'NOO!'
He opened his eyes wide and slapped his face before standing up.
'I AM NOT GOING TO DIE!'
Walking towards the mirror, he looked at his face and bloodshot eyes while gritting his teeth.
'Zombie? I will beco a zombie just because a fucking creep, mindless shit bit ?'
However, his vision blurred again, but he kept himself awake and alive with sheer will.
*Slap!*
And slapped his face again.
'Stay awake! Did I live this long and toil hard just to fucking die? Fuck you! Stay Alive!'
'I am not going to beco a zombie!'
'I am not!'
*Thud!*
A second later, he lost consciousness and fell on his back.
His body started losing vibrant skin color as it beca paler. The bleeding from his shoulder wound stopped while blood in his body seed to rush rapidly sowhere.
His muscles and tissues contracted, thinned, and puffed in a rhythm as his body started to transform after his death, but it didn't rise as a zombie.
Ti passed while Erix's body lay motionless and dead for two hours before his eyes abruptly opened.
However, his state of mind was different.
At first, he was confused as to what the actual fuck happened, but then he started recollecting his thoughts as mories of what happened surfaced in his mind.
"I am fine?"
"I didn't die…"
After standing up and looking at himself in the mirror, he raised his eyebrows in surprise. "What the..."
Suddenly after a second, a screen appeared in his vision.
[~Erix~]
_Race: Hybrid Zombie
_Level: 0
_Class: None
_Life orb: 21/100 (Need Refill)
_Stat points:
—> [ Strength: 32 / Agility: 31 / Health: 7 / Stamina: ∞ ]
"Hmm? What is this? Don't tell I am still dreaming and it's so ga dream... "Erix muttered confusedly but then shook his head.
Taking a deep breath, he collected his thoughts and accepted that everything was real.
'I feel different about my body… very different.'
He walked towards a nearby wall and punched it hard.
*Boom….*
His punch broke the wall, creating a big hole.
"No, I was not this strong before…" Erix thought of a possibility and was surprised. 'Hybrid Zombie… A zombie but with an intact mind and sanity. Or should I say, enhanced mind that broke my body's limits?'
Erix closed his eyes and put his hand on his chest. His heart was not beating, and the blood was there in a strange motion, but it was not flowing in his body. He was scientifically dead.
But his brain was working, and it was working even better than before. His emotions were within his control, and he could also think properly and calmly.
Instead of losing his mind, his brain was enhanced instead for so reason. It was like his mind broke an average human's limit, allowing him to unleash higher physical capabilities because blood no longer supported his body system but sothing else, which he felt was the life orb.
Although he had unlimited stamina, which also likely contributed to fueling his strength, he felt that he still had so restrictions, which were also related to that life orb.
'My health stat... Why is it so low?'
He didn't know his Health stat in numbers before, but he was sure that his Health stat beca lower than average because he knew he was not average before.
He worked out every day and practiced martial arts daily.
He had solid lean muscles and a sound body because of his daily hard work. He also didn't hold back on eating to keep himself healthy despite having low finances every month.
So the lower health stat was probably because of this half-zombie situation. He was half-dead and half-alive… a hybrid zombie!
[Your innate Health immunity is lower than living beings, allowing harmful effects and ailnts to take quick and increased effect on you.]
A monotone voice rang in his head, informing him about his race.
'Who is it?!'
However, no one replied to him.
Erix looked in the mirror and slightly frowned because even though he was sane, he didn't look sane. His skin was pale with a faint dark blue hue, and his eyes didn't have white eyeballs. Instead, his eyes were black with red pupils.
"Grrrr…."
Erix suddenly heard the familiar growling sound and saw two zombies standing at the door. However, they didn't enter inside to attack Erix but continued moving.
"So they won't attack because I am also a zombie, even if partly," Erix muttered surprisedly.
He then walked out of the small two-story apartnt and saw a hole in the corner of the fence. "The zombie that bit …. Did it co out of the ground? So dead, buried people are coming out of their graves as zombies? Wtf..."
He was also surprised that soone was buried there, though he didn't care as it was none of his business. 'I guess soone was killed and buried there before i moved here.'
*chhiii…*
Erix heard so sound and turned to his left.
A giant Rat was running towards him with red eyes and two sharp bloody fangs out of its mouth. It was the size of a street dog!
After the initial surprise, Erix narrowed his eyes with focus.
He saw the Rat jumping toward him for a deadly pounce attack, but he calmly stepped to the side before punching the Rat with full strength.
*Burst…*
The Rat's body exploded into gore with the power of his 32-strength punch.
[You have killed a level 2 Famished Rat. Agility 1].
[1 mystic essence collected- Collect 100 mystic essences to comnce your Class Selection].
[You have reached level 1. You have acquired 2 unassigned stat points.]
Erix heard and saw so notifications as an understanding dawned on him.
'This world…'
He looked into the sky. It was night, and the moon was glowing peacefully. But the city had smoke coming out of various places, and in reality, it was anything but peaceful in the world.
"The world has changed…." Erix muttered as he stood there and closed his eyes.
[Your life orb is lacking blood. As a Hybrid Zombie, you must drink blood to keep your life orb satiated. Otherwise, your body will lose strength, and your brain will lose normal functions].
Erix licked so blood of the Rat from his face.
Although initially disgusted, he didn't find the taste that bad.
[-Life orb: 22/100].
'Lose strength and normal brain function? That's bad.'
"So I need to get it to 100 soon, or am I done for?" Erix muttered before he went back inside the apartnt and saw the two zombies acting stupid as they banged their heads and hands against a wall to break it. If they continued, they would eventually break it at the cost of their head and hands.
Erix went there and punched their heads one by one, bursting their heads.
[You have killed a level 2 zombie].
[1 mystic essence gained. 2/100].
[You have killed a level 3 zombie].
[1 mystic essence gained. 3/100].
'Hmm? I didn't get stats points. Is it because they are zombies or so other reason?' Erix thought while his eyes caught a palm-sized white patterned glowing box on the ground near the zombie's body after it turned into motes and disappeared.
He bent down and grabbed the box. The mont he touched it, the details entered his mind.
[Common Treasure Chest].
Erix tapped on a tiny lock on the treasure chest before it glowed and turned into motes as sothing appeared in his hand.
[Poison Dagger]
_Tier: 0
_Grade: common-grade
_Description: A powerful dagger laced with poison. Its poison can kill any creature below level 15 unless the creature has poison resistance. Note: the dagger's poison doesn't work on undead creatures like zombies, vampires, and such.
A dark green fancy dagger rested on Erix's palm. After gripping its handle, Erix bent down, dipped his finger into the zombie blood on the floor, and tasted it.
[Residual human blood in Zombies will not refill your life orb. The most optimum blood to fill it is a living human's blood. Drink a bowl of human blood to replenish the life orb to full]
'Who are you?' Erix again asked the monotone voice that spoke in his head.
No answer.
'Is it an automatic response?'
'How co this world turned into sothing like this?'
Erix left the apartnt and went out on the road. This place was relatively far from the populated places of the city, so there was not much traffic there.
However, several zombies were still roaming the road, and he could hear a few screams and sound in the distance due to his enhanced hearing.
As he walked into the road, he soon attracted the attention of two mutated ants, which were even bigger than the Rat.
Erix held the dagger tightly and dashed towards the ants. Just as he was two ters away from them, he threw his dagger toward one Ant.
*Chree*
The Ant instantly died as the dagger hit its head and pierced through its body.
[Level 2 mutated Ant killed. 1 strength]
[ 1 Mystic Essence. 4/100]
The second Ant continued toward Eric, but he simply punched it head-on.
*Crrr...*
"Oh? This one is tough..."
The Ant stood up, and Erix sensed so power from it as a gray aura ca out from its mouth.
"Co on," Erix beckoned with a grin and took a front karate stance.
The Ant issued a cry, and its head turned tallic before it rushed toward Erix.
Erix's eyes narrowed upon seeing the Ant's head. 'That seems like an enhanced head.'
'Alright.'
Erix sidestepped to the left and dodged the Ant's head rush, and quickly landed a powerful chop with all of his strength on the Ant's neck before it could turn its head to bite him.
*Chaa! Thak*
The Ant's head separated from its body and fell to the ground.
[ Level 4 mutated Ant killed. 1 strength]
[ 1 Mystic essence gained. 5/100]
[You have reached level 2. You have acquired two unassigned stat points.]
Erix felt sothing entering his body after he killed the ants and knew that the strange energy was the thing that was increasing his strength, A.K.A giving him stats.
'It dropped sothing different this ti,' Erix thought as he walked towards the Ant that he killed with his dagger. Then, after picking up his dagger, he picked up a dark grey scroll.
[ tal Control (1st Tier active skill): Telekinesis exertion over tal objects according to your magic power. Range: 10 ters. Mana is consud after your controlled tal object crosses 10 ters from you to maintain control. ]
'Magic power?' Erix wondered. He didn't see such a stat in his status, but it was obvious that his magic power played the role of deciding how heavy of a tal object he was allowed to control and how fast he could manipulate it.
Not fuzzing over it, he decided to learn the skill. He willed it, and the scroll disappeared into motes.
[You have unlocked magic-related stats and gained a skill, tal Control.]
[As you have gone through a unique mutation, your magic affinity is Rank-A from the start]
[You can only have 5 active skills and passive skills, but if you learn and create skills yourself, they won't take slot.]
[~Erix~]
\_Race: Hybrid Zombie
\_Level: 2
\_Class: None
\_Life orb: 20/100
\_Stat points: 4
—> [ Strength: 34 / Agility: 32 / Health: 7 / Stamina: ∞ ]
—> [ Magic affinity: Rank-A / Magic: 78 / Mana Points: 200/200 ]
_Affinities: None manifested yet.
\______Active Skills [1/5]:______/
—>[tal Control (1st-Tier)]
\______Passive Skills [0/5]:______/
—>
\______Special Skills [0/3]:______/
—>
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