Early next morning, Kaius put on a backpack filled with food rations and made his way towards Belwood again.

Since the original host ran away hastily yesterday, his bike was still left at the entrance of Belwood, hence Kaius can only walk for over 10 hours to get to Belwood.

By the time Kaius arrived at the entrance of Belwood, it was almost evening. He glanced around and saw that the bike was still where the original host had left it.

Perhaps by a stroke of fate, the zombie that had bitten the original host once again showed up near the entrance of Belwood.

Just like before, the lone zombie noticed Kaius and slowly walked towards him.

Seeing the zombie inch closer towards him, not only was Kaius unafraid, he even let out a smirk.

Searching through the original host’s memories, Kaius found out that every Player has a default Scan skill. This skill allows the Player to obtain some basic information on many things such as zombies, hideous beasts, items, and even other Players.

Scan!

Name

Zombie

Level

1

“Not much info is given, what a useless skill,” Kaius muttered.

Then, he held out his right hand towards the zombie, and with a thought, cast his dark magic.

Shadow Bolt!

A dark bolt of nether energy shot towards the zombie.

Pop!

The spell accurately hit the zombie in the head and blew it into pieces. Flesh, blood and brain matter splattered all over the ground.

Thump!

The headless zombie fell to the ground.

A few seconds later, a white light seeped out of the body of the zombie and formed into an icon with a picture of a short sword inside it. The icon hovered a few inches above the zombie’s body.

Next, a series of alerts from the System flooded Kaius’ head.

[Level up!]

[3 attribute points acquired.]

[1 additional attribute point acquired due to Nether Physique.]

[Intelligence increased by 5 due to Nether Physique.]

[2 additional attribute points acquired due to Favor of the Nether God.]

A satisfied expression could be seen on Kaius’ face. He walked to the side of the headless zombie and touched the floating short sword icon.

The monotone voice of the System rang out inside his head.

[Inventory feature unlocked.]

[Basic Short Sword acquired. Would you like to put this item inside the Inventory?]

[Yes/No.]

With a thought, Kaius chose Yes.

The short sword icon turned back into a ray of white light and shot inside Kaius’ body. Inside his inventory, a short sword icon could be seen taking up a slot in a 10 by 4 grid.

Kaius examined the short sword.

Name

Basic Short Sword

Category

Weapon

Class Use Restriction

None

Strength

+1

“Not bad,” Kaius muttered to himself.

With a thought, the short sword was taken out of his inventory and materialized inside his right hand. Then with another thought, it was stored back inside his inventory again.

Next, he allocated the 6 attribute points he obtained from leveling up evenly across strength, vitality, and dexterity.

Although his Necromancer class mostly relied on casting spells, Kaius didn’t want to spend any more points on intelligence since the additional 5 intelligence gain per level from the Nether Physique was sufficient for now. In addition, as Players continued to level up, Kaius had a feeling that some Players might become more dangerous than zombies, so he wanted to increase his other stats and be prepared to deal with these Players.

With a thought, Kaius brought up his status window.

Name

Kaius

Class

Necromancer

Level

2

Health

Normal

Mana

199/205

Strength

11

Vitality

11

Dexterity

10

Intelligence

143

Skills (active)

Dark Magic

Shadow Bolt (10MP): shoot out a bolt made up of nether energy in a straight line.

Corrosive Armor (30MP): wraps the caster in armor made up of corrosive nether energy, increasing Vitality by level *2, plus an additional (50% + level%) of base Vitality stat. When anyone except for the caster comes into contact with Corrosive Armor, deal initial nether damage plus additional damage over time. Consumes 10 mana per minute.

Necromancy

Summon Skeleton (20MP): summon a skeleton warrior from a nearby corpse. Max limit: 10.

Control Undead (35MP): Takes control over any undead creature. If the undead creature is more powerful than the caster, spell may fail and caster will suffer backlash, entering into the Weakened State for 4 hours. Weakened State reduces all attributes by 70%. Max limit: 10.

Skills (passive)

Mastery of Necromancy: as a being that has formerly reached the peak of necromancy, reduce the mana cost of all necromancy spells by 50%.

Mana Mastery: as a being that has formerly reached the peak of at least one type of magic, reduce the mana cost of all spells by 20%.

Nether Physique: as a result of successfully casting Nether Rebirth, Nether Physique has been acquired. Enhances the effects of all dark magic spells by 100%. Enhances the effects of all Necromancy spells by 200%. Possessor of the Nether Physique is immune to zombie virus. Increases resistance against dark magic by 20%. Increases mana pool by level * 100. Increases mana regeneration by 500%. Gain 5 additional Intelligence stat points and 1 additional attribute point per level up.

Favor of the Nether God: gained the favor of the God of the Netherworld due to possession of the Nether Physique. Increase experience gained by 100%. Gain 2 additional attribute points per level up.

Resistance

Zombie Virus: 100%; Dark magic: 20%

Aside from his attributes increasing, Corrosive Armor, Summon Skeleton, and Control Undead spells also became better.

He noticed his mana also regenerated quite fast due to the 500% increased mana regeneration passive skill from the Nether Physique.

Satisfied with what he saw, he closed the status window and walked into Belwood for the first time.

Walking along Broadway Street, he saw houses sparsely populated along the two sides of the road. A few zombies loitered around the houses and on the street.

Four zombies noticed the arrival of Kaius and began to walk towards him.

Unfazed by the zombies coming towards him, Kaius casually cast Shadow Bolt four times in succession.

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

Each Shadow Bolt hit a zombie accurately in the head. In a matter of seconds, all four zombies had their head exploded and slumped to the ground.

After killing four zombies, the sound of the System rang out inside Kaius’ head.

[Level up!]

[3 attribute points acquired.]

[1 additional attribute point acquired due to Nether Physique.]

[Intelligence increased by 5 due to Nether Physique.]

[2 additional attribute points acquired due to Favor of the Nether God.]

Kaius distributed the attribute points evenly across strength, vitality, and dexterity again.

The commotion caused from killing the four zombies attracted some more zombies.

Without hesitation, Kaius cast Shadow Bolt and killed every zombie he saw.

The level up notification from the System came again.

After an hour, Kaius had killed every zombie on Broadway Street and inside the houses along the street.

As a result, he managed to level up an additional three more times.

Looking at his status window, Kaius was very satisfied from an hour’s worth of work.

Name

Kaius

Class

Necromancer

Level

7

Health

Normal

Mana

518/705

Strength

21

Vitality

21

Dexterity

20

Intelligence

168

Skills (active)

Dark Magic

Shadow Bolt (10MP): shoot out a bolt made up of nether energy in a straight line.

Corrosive Armor (30MP): wraps the caster in armor made up of corrosive nether energy, increasing Vitality by level *2, plus an additional (50% + level%) of base Vitality stat. When anyone except for the caster comes into contact with Corrosive Armor, deal initial nether damage plus additional damage over time. Consumes 10 mana per minute.

Necromancy

Summon Skeleton (20MP): summon a skeleton warrior from a nearby corpse. Max limit: 35.

Control Undead (35MP): Takes control over any undead creature. If the undead creature is more powerful than the caster, spell may fail and caster will suffer backlash, entering into the Weakened State for 4 hours. Weakened State reduces all attributes by 70%. Max limit: 35.

Skills (passive)

Mastery of Necromancy: as a being that has formerly reached the peak of necromancy, reduce the mana cost of all necromancy spells by 50%.

Mana Mastery: as a being that has formerly reached the peak of at least one type of magic, reduce the mana cost of all spells by 20%.

Nether Physique: as a result of successfully casting Nether Rebirth, Nether Physique has been acquired. Enhances the effects of all dark magic spells by 100%. Enhances the effects of all Necromancy spells by 200%. Possessor of the Nether Physique is immune to zombie virus. Increases resistance against dark magic by 20%. Increases mana pool by level * 100. Increases mana regeneration by 500%. Gain 5 additional Intelligence stat points and 1 additional attribute point per level up.

Favor of the Nether God: gained the favor of the God of the Netherworld due to possession of the Nether Physique. Increase experience gained by 100%. Gain 2 additional attribute points per level up.

Resistance

Zombie Virus: 100%; Dark magic: 20%

During this hour, Kaius also managed to obtain some items dropped by the zombies. He gained four Basic Short Swords, a skill book called Eye of Mana, and 161 pieces of some strange currency called System Coins.

Kaius examined the Eye of Mana skill book.

Name

Eye of Mana

Category

Skill Book

Class Use Restriction

None

Description

Upon use, allows the Player to learn the active skill: Eye of Mana.

Eye of Mana (2MP): allows the caster to view more information on the target.

“Finally obtained a skill book,” Kaius thought to himself. He immediately used the skill book and learned the Eye of Mana skill.

It was already evening by now, and Kaius felt hunger coming on, so he made his way to the only diner in the village.

A large sign hang on the front of a small diner building.

Belwood Diner.

The light sound of a small bell rang as Kaius pushed open the door and walked inside.

The inside is surprisingly still organized and tidy.

Instead of eating right away, Kaius decided to explore the diner first to see if there were any zombies inside.

Kaius walked up to the front counter, which gave him a view into the kitchen. Seeing nothing there, he walked around the front counter and entered the kitchen.

As he pushed open the door to the kitchen, he saw someone open up the door on the other end of the kitchen.

Kaius had expected a zombie to walk out. However, contrary to his expectations, a plump, old woman wearing a typical diner worker uniform walked out of what appeared to be a storage room.

“Hello there, my name’s Heather, co-owner of this diner with my husband Joe,” the old woman said with a warm smile. “We don’t get many customers here anymore. Are you hungry? You can order from the menu, and we’ll try to make something with whatever we have.”

Then, Heather turned towards the storage room and shouted, “Joe! Come out here! We have a customer.”

A few seconds later, a bald, old man came out of the storage room. He looked at Kaius and greeted him with a friendly smile, “hi, I’m Joe. Please, have a seat. Feel free to order anything and I’ll whip it up real quick.”

Looking at this old couple, Kaius thought it was unbelievable that there were still people alive inside this zombie infested village. Moreover, it was an old couple operating a diner as though things were still normal.

With a thought Kaius activated Eye of Mana and observed Heather.

Name

Heather (PK level 10)

Level

3

Health

Normal

Mana

15/15

Strength

11

Vitality

9

Dexterity

11

Intelligence

9

Skills

???

Kaius was startled by what he saw.

First, Heather was level 3. It’s hard to imagine how an old lady was able to kill enough zombies to reach level 3 in the first place.

Second, there was the “PK level 10” red label beside her name. Recalling the explanations by the System, PK stands for Player Killing. A Player would only have the “PK level 1” label if they killed one other Player. If a Player killed two other Players, this Player would have the “PK level 2” label. PK level would increase for each Player killed up to the maximum PK level 10. PK level would decrease by 1 for every 30 days that the Player does not kill another Player.

On the flip side, if a Player killed another Player with an existing PK level, then the Player doing the killing would not gain any PK levels themselves.

Since Heather has the PK level 10 label, that means she has killed at least one Player every 30 days for the past 300 days!

These portals only appeared in January this year. This means she started killing other Players in late February or even earlier!

Lastly, her skill section is indicated by “???”. This means she somehow managed to obtain skill books and learned skills.

All these aspects combined with that fact that she and her husband are running the diner like everything is still normal make this old couple seem extremely suspicious.

Kaius used Eye of Mana on Joe and observed his status as well.

Name

Joe (PK level 10)

Level

4

Health

Normal

Mana

20/20

Strength

15

Vitality

10

Dexterity

11

Intelligence

7

Skills

???

Joe was one level higher than Heather and has even higher attributes, not to mention he has learned skills from the System as well.

All sorts of alarm bells went off inside Kaius’ head. However, on the outside, he appeared calm and collected.

Kaius returned a smile and said, “I’m afraid I don’t have money to pay for the food. I brought some food rations and just came in here to rest for a bit before heading back home.”

“This won’t do. We rarely have customers here. We can’t let our only customer for the past few weeks eat some food rations, right Joe?” Heather said enthusiastically.

“That’s right,” Joe agreed wholeheartedly. “How about I fix you up with a small portion of our special? Free of charge!”

“Yeah, let Joe cook something for you,” Heather insisted. “If you like what he cooked, you can come back next time and pay for a full meal.”

“Since you put it that way, I’ll graciously accept your offer,” Kaius said with a smile.

“That’s more like it,” said Heather with a satisfied expression. “You go on and sit at any table you like. When the food is ready, I’ll bring it over.”

“Thanks, looking forward to the food.” Kaius walked out of the kitchen and sat at a random table.

Heather stayed in the kitchen to help Joe.

Soon, the sound of meat grilling could be heard coming from the kitchen.

Roughly ten minutes later, Heather came out of the kitchen with a plate of food. She walked to Kaius’ table and put the plate on the table.

“Hope it’s to your liking,” said Heather with a smile. “It’s nothing fancy. Just some grilled meat and mashed potatoes.”

“Thanks, it looks really good,” said Kaius. Then, he activated Eye of Mana on the plate of food.

Name

Mashed Potato

Category

Food

Description

Edible. Consume to decrease hunger.

Name

Grilled Human Meat

Category

Food

Description

Edible. Consume to decrease hunger.

“!!!” Kaius looked at the results and was inwardly shocked.

“What kind of meat is this?” Kaius asked calmly.

“Oh, this is just some leftover pork. Hope you don’t mind.” Heather replied with a smile.

“Not at all, it smells delicious,” Kaius smiled back. “You mentioned I was your only customer in the past few weeks. Did you have another customer come in a few weeks ago?”

“Yes, a nice young man came in here three weeks ago. He was very hungry, so we gave him some food, free of charge of course. Told him to just pay us back next time if he can,” Heather replied.

Hearing this, Kaius combed through the original host’s memories and recalled that Jack had heard about one of the youths in Milton going missing roughly three weeks ago after he went out to attempt to kill a zombie.

“Do you know where he went?” asked Kaius.

“I’m not sure. We just fed him then he left,” said Heather.

“I come from Milton and we had someone go missing three weeks ago. I think he might be the person we’re trying to find,” said Kaius. “Once I go back, I’ll inform the people from the Canadian Army stationed in the city. I hope you don’t mind if they come by to ask some questions.”

A cold expression flashed across Heather’s face for a quick moment before turning back into a warm smile.

“Not at all. Always happy to cooperate with authorities.” Then, she pointed to the plate of food. “Now go on and eat or the food will get cold soon.”

“Yes, of course,” Kaius turned his attention back to the plate of food.

In the next moment, a Basic Short Sword suddenly appeared in Heather’s right hand, and she slashed it at Kaius without any warning.

A cruel and smug expression could be seen on Heather’s face as the sword was inches away from Kaius’ neck.

Clank!

The sound of metal colliding sounded out in the diner.

“Eh?” Heather’s expression quickly changed.

A Basic Short Sword had appeared in Kaius’ right hand as well and he easily blocked Heather’s sneak attack.

With Kaius’ dexterity attribute being nearly twice as high as Heather’s, he had no trouble reacting to her attack.

Then, while Heather was still in shock at the unexpected situation, Kaius aimed his left hand at Heather’s chest.

Shadow Bolt!

The spell found its mark and hit Heather squarely in the chest. A hole the size of a fist could be seen on her chest. Blood squirted out of what remained of her heart.

Thud! Clank!

Heather’s lifeless body slumped to the ground and the sword she was holding fell as well.

A clump of white light came out of Heather’s body and formed into the shape of some System Coins.

Unceremoniously, Kaius bent down and stored Heather’s Basic Short Sword and the System Coins inside his inventory.

“What’s going on out here?” Joe came out of the kitchen. “Heather did you kill him alrea-”

Joe stopped mid-sentence as the stared at the scene in front of him.

He had expected to see his wife Heather standing beside the young man’s dead body. However, reality showed him the opposite scene.

“YOU!” Joe shouted. “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!”

Unperturbed at Joe’s shouting, Kaius smirked lightly. “Nothing. I was merely getting rid of a cannibalistic psychopath. Don’t worry, you’ll join her soon enough.”

“You little shit! I’ll kill you!” A Basic Short Sword appeared in Joe’s right hand as well. Then, he began to exude a very faint red aura.

“Oh? Interesting.” Kaius looked at Joe with amusement and activated Eye of Mana.

Name

Joe (PK level 10)

Level

4

Health

Normal

Mana

5/20

Strength

18 (+3)

Vitality

10

Dexterity

11

Intelligence

7

Skills (active)

Lesser Strength Enhance (15MP): temporarily increases Strength by 3. Duration: 15 minutes.