Mikael reappeared in what seemed to be an abandoned city. The silence was absolute, and there were no humans or zombies in sight. The buildings around him were old and decrepit, with nature reclaiming its ground; cracks ran along the walls, and vines covered almost every surface, giving the whole place a desolate feel.
Looking around, he thought, ‘It looks like the start of a horror movie. Silent and empty until zombies suddenly spring up from nowhere and swarm me.’
He continued scanning his surroundings carefully. ‘Nothing? I thought I’d jinxed myself by thinking that, but it seems I’m in the clear.’
At that instant, he sensed a danger approaching his torso. He swiftly dodged, though he made it look as if he’d been struck by the projectile, sending him flying. Feigning injury, he fell to the ground.
Five hundred meters away, a team of five men dressed in military gear observed him.
“Got it,” said one man, putting away his sniper rifle.
Another, peering through binoculars at Mikael’s ‘body,’ remarked, “Hey, James, I think you just hit a human, not a zombie.”
James groaned. “Again? What’s with these idiots not wearing the green clothes they’re supposed to? It’s to help us tell them apart from zombies.”
The other man shrugged. “Who knows? Probably some desperate survivor trying to scavenge for food outside the Bastion.”
James grabbed another pair of binoculars to confirm if Mikael was truly a human. After a few seconds, he muttered in confusion, “Uh, Victor, I can’t find the body.”
Victor shot him an incredulous look. “Open your eyes—it’s right there.”
James, sounding nervous, replied, “No, I’m serious—the body’s gone.”
Victor, ready to vent to the other men about James’ behavior, fell silent as his gaze locked onto the horrifying scene before him. Their entire team lay decapitated, and the man James had supposedly killed was standing over the bodies, a bloody sword in hand.
Though shocked, Victor’s military instincts kicked in. He drew his gun and aimed at the figure above his fallen comrades. “DON’T MOVE, OR I’LL EMPTY MY MAGAZINE INTO YOU!”
James, startled by Victor’s yell, turned to look, but in that brief moment, Mikael moved with blinding speed. Victor barely had time to react before his hand, still clutching the gun, was severed.
“AHHHHH!” Victor screamed, clutching his bleeding stump.
Terrified, James quickly dropped his weapon and pleaded, “Wait! Don’t hurt me—I surrender.”
Mikael was about to kill them both but paused, considering the value of interrogating them for information about this world.
Grabbing the wounded Victor, Mikael dragged him over to James and said, “I have some questions for you. If you lie or refuse to answer, you’ll beg for death. Understood?”
James quickly nodded. “Yes, I understand.”
Mikael began, “First, do you have any ropes?”
James hesitated but, too scared to lie, replied, “There are some in Pedro’s bag.” He pointed to one of the dead bodies nearby.
Leaving Victor at James's feet, Mikael opened Pedro’s backpack and retrieved the ropes before he approached them. Victor, clutching his bleeding stump, asked, “What are you going to do?”
Mikael replied, “I’m going to tie you up before questioning you separately. If you lie, I’ll know, and you’ll regret it.”
James remained silent, terrified. He was just a regular man who joined the military for the relatively better living conditions compared to the dire life of a survivor. Victor, a seasoned soldier, spoke up more calmly, “If we answer your questions, will you let us go?”
Mikael gave a cold smirk. “It’s simple: answer my questions and it’ll be painless. Refuse, and I promise you a very unpleasant end.”
Victor sighed, seemingly accepting his fate, while James began to panic. “No, please don’t kill me! I can be useful!” he pleaded.
Mikael shot him a disdainful glance before slamming his head to the ground. Raising James’s now bloodied face, Mikael coldly remarked, “I’ve already told you everything you need to know.” He then bound Victor’s feet and single arm, and did the same with James.
Mikael led Victor about ten meters away from James, positioning him with his back turned so they couldn’t communicate.
“Where is the nearest bastion?” he asked.
“Twenty kilometers south,” Victor replied.
“What’s the process to acquire a physical enhancers…?” Mikael continued, asking a range of questions that helped him understand the structure of this world. Victor answered without resistance, allowing Mikael to avoid resorting to torture. He had done it once before, and he knew that the second time would be easier…
He then returned to James, asking the same questions and receiving roughly similar answers, only differing slightly in phrasing. Once he had all the information he needed, Mikael kept his promise and killed them swiftly and painlessly.
[Normal Human killed 100 xp received X5]
From his interrogation, Mikael learned much about the world. He discovered the social hierarchy within the bastions: at the bottom were the survivors, ordinary people working grueling hours for meager food rations and living in atrocious living conditions. Above them were the soldiers, regular humans equipped with firearms that are tasked with the protection of the bastion and mainting order.
Finally, at the top are the nobles, humans enhanced by the physical enhancers, vastly stronger than regular people. They live in luxury with a nearly unlimited access to food and also have access to any women that they want.
Aside from this bleak social structure, Mikael also learned that the physical enhancers were called serums, and access to them required a fortune. Currency in this world was measured in food, as traditional paper money had lost all value in the apocalypse. It became clear to Mikael that acquiring these serums without resorting to theft would be nearly impossible.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Looking up at the sky, Mikael estimated it was around noon. ‘I’ll wait until nightfall to infiltrate the bastion,’ he thought.
He began running in the opposite direction of the bastion, searching for a zombie. Since cleanup teams regularly patrol the area surrounding the bastion, he figured he’d need to go farther out to find any infected.
After covering about 20 kilometers, he finally spotted a zombie in the middle of the cracked road. It looked almost like an ordinary man, except for its extremely pale skin and pronounced blue veins. Surprisingly, it didn’t resemble a typical zombie—no rotting flesh or decomposing features—but it was unmistakably infected.
He approached the zombie and swiftly cut its legs.
Crash
“Grrrr,” the zombie groaned, collapsing to the ground, thrashing uselessly without its legs.
‘Alright, time to test my idea, but better confirm first.’ “System, if I deactivate the Immunity System before getting infected by the Z21 virus and then reactivate it, will I be cured?”
[Yes. Once the Immunity System is active, it will protect you from all pathogens and work to cure any current infections.]
‘Great, now to get myself infected by a “zombie virus.” Definitely not the most pleasant experience, but for 3K LP, it’s worth the discomfort. Besides, the quest reward covers the cost of the Immunity System and then give me a 2K bonus.’
After finishing his thoughts, he glanced at the writhing zombie on the ground. He grabbed its arm, lowered his physical defenses, deactivated the Immunity System, took a deep breath, and pierced his arm with the zombie’s sharp nail.
A few drops of blood dripped from his wound, but at first, he felt no different. After a few seconds, though, a fever crept over him, making him feel nauseous. He killed the zombie and quickly entered an abandoned house to wait out his “zombification” safely.
“Arghh…”
‘I feel awful. I just need to hold on until the quest is completed so I can reactivate the Immunity System.’
He stayed in one spot, enduring the fever for a few minutes. Gradually, an aggressive restlessness took over; everything around him began to irritate him—even the uncomfortable floor beneath him sparked an urge to destroy. Yet, he held himself together, fighting the mounting rage.
The strain grew, but Mikael forced himself to stay calm, and finally, a notification appeared:
[Quest: Infected completed.
Reward: 3K LP]
As soon as he saw this, he immediately reactivated both his physical defenses and the Immunity System. Instantly, he felt better, and within moments, he was back in top form. Mikael rubbed his temples, thinking, ‘That was tougher than I expected, but the reward was worth it. 3K LP for somes minutes of discomfort—not bad.’
‘Still, I was minutes away from reactivating the Immunity System early. No amount of LP is worth truly becoming a zombie.’
He stretched and thought ‘I’ve got a few hours to kill until nightfall. Hunting wouldn’t be too efficient without a clear location with enemy to kil, so maybe some body refinement is the best option.’
With his plan set, he re-entered the house and climbed to the second floor, choosing a windowless room. He barricaded the door to focus on his body refinement training without having to worry of being ambushed while he his training.
He removed his clothes and sat cross-legged on the floor, breathing in rhythm with the instructions in his body refinement manual. Then he began reciting the mantra.
‘I am refining my body.’
‘I am my body, and my body is me.’
‘I train my body for myself and only for myself.’
‘I choose to brave the pain to become stronger.’
‘My goal is a qualitative upgrade.’
‘I choose level 5 of body refining.’
This time, by choosing Level 5 instead of Level 4, the pain intensified dramatically. It no longer felt like tiny cuts; now, it was as if his bones were enduring continuous micro-fractures, with each passing second bringing fresh waves of agony.
Crack
The faint sound of bones breaking echoed chillingly, but Mikael was too absorbed in enduring the pain to notice. He clenched his teeth and balled his fists so tightly that his nails drew blood.
The pain was excruciating, yet he persevered, letting out only the occasional groan. Even with his iron will, he could only last five minutes before collapsing onto his back, gasping for air.
“Haah... haah... haah…”
He lay there, spent, for about ten minutes before forcing himself back into the painful training. He continued this way for hours, taking only brief ten-minute breaks between each session.
By midnight, he had managed to endure 16 minutes of Level 5 body refinement before needing to rest.
[Body Refinement Qualitative Stats Value: 1.03 → 1.08]
Mikael calculated the training time against the progress he made and concluded that each level of body refinement is twice as effective as the previous one.
While Level 5 was effective, the intense pain forced him to take frequent breaks, making it ultimately no more efficient than training at Level 4.
A surprising thing happened when he was only an hour away from finishing his body refinement: the orc core he’d been using—the same one as always—crumbled to dust.
‘Looks like I’ve finally reached its durability limit. Honestly, though, it lasted longer than I expected. I must’ve trained with it for, what, 20 hours? Pretty durable!’
After he finished thinking about the orc core he looked at himself, Mikael sighed. ‘Now I’m in desperate need of a shower... but I kind of forgot that this post-apocalyptic world obviously doesn’t have functional showers.’
‘A cleaning spell would’ve been incredibly useful, but I still haven’t learned magic. Nothing I can do about it—I’ll just have to take a dip in the lake…’
Searching the house, he found some old clothes to wear. He wouldn’t be going outside naked, after all. Soon, he was running in the direction of a lake he’d passed earlier.
After a brief jog, he arrived by the lake. A small beach preceded it, giving a tranquil vibe to the surroundings. The stillness of the water accentuated this calm but deadly atmosphere. In the darkness of the night, the lake’s waters were ominous, giving the impression of a lurking monster waiting to grab anyone foolish enough to swim.
Mikael took a moment to appreciate the beauty of nature, then shed his clothes and stepped into the water.
The cold would’ve deterred an average person, but his reinforced body barely registered the temperature, unless he specifically chose to.
He washed himself, then floated on the water, gazing up at the clear sky. With no city pollution after five years without humans, the stars shone brilliantly. He could even make out some constellations.
While he was enjoying this moment of relaxation, a shadow slowly emerged from the lake's depths, approaching him without a sound.
Unaware of the threat, Mikael floated peacefully. When the shadow was only 10 meters away, he suddenly felt a sense of unease. Trusting his instincts, he didn’t linger like a character in a horror movie.
With a powerful kick, Mikael propelled himself a meter above the water. As he soared, he caught a glimpse of the gigantic shadow only a few meters away. Although he couldn’t see it clearly, what he did see sent chills down his spine and sparked an urgent need to get the hell out of the water.
Splash!
The second he touched the water, he swam at a fear-fueled speed, reaching the shore in an instant. The moment his feet hit the ground, he sprinted away from the lake.
Within a second, he was 50 meters from the water. Now ‘safe,’ he turned to assess the threat. In the water, a massive, green-scaled body surfaced—a crocodile-like creature over 15 meters long and several meters wide.
“Nope,” he muttered, then took off running again. Fighting a giant crocodile, especially naked, unarmed, and near the water, didn’t appeal to him in the slightest.
After a few minutes, he reached the same house where he had done his body refinement training. He entered and started putting on his clothes, thinking dejectedly, ‘Seriously, what are the chances the lake I decide to bathe in has a dinosaur-sized crocodile? Safe to say, I’m steering clear of lakes for a while…’