I had been overconfident and paid the price for my boldness. One should never underestimate an enemy, especially if they are in a special zone.

My father had always taught me that overconfidence in combat could lead to serious consequences, and at that moment, I was experiencing that lesson firsthand.

I gripped the combat mace tightly as I struggled to catch my breath and get back on my feet. Despite the pain in my hip, I couldn't allow the zombie to get too close. Using the adrenaline coursing through my body, I pushed myself up and assumed a combat stance.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my mind and focus on the task at hand. I watched the zombie, searching for any weakness I could exploit. Despite the injury to my hip, I couldn't afford to be passive; I had to be proactive and find a way to overcome my adversary.

The zombie advanced toward me at an excruciatingly slow pace, its arms outstretched in an attempt to grab me. I made a quick decision and decided to use its own momentum to my advantage. I sidestepped, avoiding its outstretched arms, and then executed a swift spin, striking its side with my mace in a circular motion.

The blow connected, and the zombie stumbled momentarily. However, it swung its hands in my direction and managed to strike my arm with the back of its hand, though it was a directionless attack, the force behind the zombie was tremendous and caused me great pain.

I couldn't afford to trade blow for blow with this thing; after all, it didn't feel pain. I needed to change my strategy. If I couldn't finish it quickly with headshots, then I had to go for its limbs.

I took the opportunity to step back and quickly noticed that the attack pattern repeated itself. Every time I moved away, the zombie would slowly walk toward me with its arms outstretched, so I simply had to sidestep when it got close and attack its joints.

This plan was much more successful, and after a few exchanges, I was able to dismember the zombie. Each time it advanced toward me, I would strike and destroy its joints until I could finally deliver the finishing blow.

"Congratulations on successfully clearing the infection zone. The progression of the waves will continue. You are granted 2 hours of bonus time before the start of the next wave," the system announcement caught me off guard. It seemed my assumptions were correct; if we didn't clear the infection zone, our future enemies would become stronger, and the next wave would start immediately, causing the enemies to pile up horrifyingly.

As I contemplated the rewards offered by the system, my body experienced intense pain. The blow to my hip was becoming unbearable now that the adrenaline in my body was subsiding. I also felt tremendously tired, so it was time to return to camp and buy a couple of potions.

On my way back, I couldn't see anyone in the vicinity hunting zombies for points. I didn't know what the others were thinking, but for me, it was already obvious that the only way forward was to obtain more and better things from the system, meaning getting points.

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Unfortunately, the way back was a bit more difficult. Before the fight against the boss zombie, they simply stayed in place until they saw someone directly, but now they had started to wander aimlessly, which created certain problems for me, delaying my return to the hall by almost half an hour, during which time I almost passed out.

When I finally arrived in the hall, I felt so bad that I didn't have time to pay attention to anything. I simply dragged myself to my previous corner and bought a stamina potion and a health potion. I immediately gulped down both and let the embrace of Morpheus take me.

Upon waking up, I felt confused. Two tears were running down my cheeks, but I didn't know why. No matter how hard I tried to remember, I felt there was darkness in my memory that prevented me from going any further, like a faint veil blocking my recollection. Nevertheless, there was also a wonderful feeling and a sense of purpose.

The people around me were agitated and heatedly discussing some event. I strained my ears a bit and could hear what they were talking about. Apparently, the class system had been unlocked.

What the hell is the class system? That thought lingered in my mind as I continued to listen. I realized the answer would be in the system, so I focused on opening the interface of my bracelet.

Now a new tab had appeared and was labeled as "Classes and Talents." There were a bunch of classes, apparently referring to specific combat styles since there were Warrior, Squire, Initiate, and Rogue. These classes were at the bottom, and they all branched out into many options. Warrior branched into classes like Lancer and Swordsman, Squire seemed to point toward heavy armor warriors, Rogue led to subterfuge-type classes, advancing into things like Trapper or Dual Daggers. I imagined it might also have classes like Assassin. The most intriguing class was Initiate, which, although you could see the next two advancements, I didn't understand what it aimed for.

Finally, I realized that I already possessed a class that wasn't among the basic options. I wasn't sure why, but apparently, I had unlocked the class "Knight of the Holy Ashes (Noble)," and even though you could see the next two advancements for the normal classes, I couldn't see what the advancements for mine would be.

Unfortunately, before I could focus on checking the description of my class, there was a new commotion. It seemed a new meeting would take place, and for the first time, I would be present at one, so I was curious to see how they were conducted.

I spotted Solis' group, who greeted me with a more genuine smile this time.

"Alex, my boy, thank you so much for the help earlier. Thanks to you, we were able to gather all our points and more. We're in a much better position than the other groups, and the guys have more experience."

"I'm glad to hear that, Solis. Do they know anything about this new thing that appeared in the system?"

"You mean the class system? No idea," he said, shrugging. "It was announced a few minutes ago, so no one knows much. The vast majority of us don't have any classes."

"The vast majority?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It seems there are a handful of people who unlocked a class by default as soon as it was announced. Suspected to be at least 5 people, but only one was willing to say what their class was."

"And who would that be, and what class is it?" There was genuine curiosity in my voice and gestures."

Solis frowned and looked around. There was apprehension and a kind of fear on his face. He leaned in close and lowered his voice to almost a whisper.

"Agatha," Solis immediately began to look over his shoulders with paranoia before continuing, "She said she unlocked the class of Flagellant." I could see a shiver run down Solis; he truly feared that woman.

To be honest, very few people didn't fear her since her personality was truly twisted, and the rumors about her were genuinely disturbing. Even if 1% of the things said about her were true, it was enough to classify her as one of the top 10 worst human beings in the school.

"What are you guys whispering about over there?"