LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 26: Mystery
"M-M-MERVIL, YOU FUCKER! DON'T EVER LET ME SEE YOU!" His voice echoed through out the dorm, trembling with rage.
…
Minutes later, fury and rage from what had occurred still coursed through his veins. He didn't trust himself to be calm enough not to destroy the remaining books he got, so he quickly left the room after retrieving the belongings he'd come for and storing them in the storage of his watch.
He stormed down the hallway, his trait struggling to suppress his anger, but the thought kept gnawing at him. That book would have made surviving this whole ordeal so much easier. However, before he could do anything, the book went up in flames.
And even here, before he could calm his anger and fully catch his breath, the distant screams of people broke the silence.
Suddenly, the frozen time had worn off.
It was quite obvious the reason. Someone had claimed the cause of phenomenon. And what that meant was, the eerie 7-day nightmare for the rest of the world was only now beginning for them?
Then, a sudden realization hit him hard, 'If I had stayed in the hall, I would've been one of them.'
And the scenario would have been totally different. Jenny might have survived from the stadium but would have lost all the students with her, Cynthia would have mostly likely died. She wouldn't have been able to face all the zombies Jon and Jenny assisted her with before the security team came.
He wouldn't have known about Alex death, Joe's betrayal, and maybe Alexa would have been scarred for life. Finally, that giant lion would have possibly crushed the building, leading to his death.
And peradventure everyone woke up after the collapse, he would've woken up, confused, only to die afterwards from the claws of a zombie. And maybe because he had the instant calculation, he thought of all the possible scenarios.
However, his trait would not let him say this way during dangerous times. After going into effect, he pushed behind those thoughts and looked forward.
He had survived, whether by luck or on purpose, and he was here again. There was nothing serious about it.
"I should help these people," he muttered to himself. Despite trying to avoid contact with others, he couldn't stand the idea of watching them die. He was still human, after all. And his calm nature trait never prevented him from acting human.
Without hesitation, starting from his floor, he decided to go round the floor, killing all the zombies before moving on to the next.
...
"ARGHH! W-WHAT IS THIS?" A young man was sprawled on the floor, frantically dragging himself backward as his friend transformed into a zombie and lunged at him.
The scene was sudden, chaotic. The boy couldn't comprehend what was happening. He suddenly shook off what seemed like a stupor, just to see his friend turn into a zombie.
And, his instincts screamed to avoid the monster, especially the claws. He didn't know why, but it didn't matter anymore, the zombified friend was already upon him, claws inches from his face. He had already accepted his fate, when,
WHOOSH
SLASH
THUD
"Huh?" The student on the ground suddenly felt a gust of air and looked up in confusion. However, he saw his friend's headless body swaying before collapsing right in front of him. Then, he glanced sideways, only to see the severed head of the zombie staring at him.
"HELP! MATTHEW! SOMEONE JUST COMMITTED MURDER!" he screamed while scrawling on the ground. He had almost totally forgotten the zombie had almost killed him.
His cries for help were resounding and echoing, but strangely no one came to him. It was as if no one could hear him.
Then, amidst the chaos, he kept quiet for a moment, and he could hear it. The truth then dawned on him very fast. He wasn't alone in his terror because from what he could hear, the whole building was filled with screams.
Jon didn't stop to offer comfort, he didn't have the luxury of time for that. Besides, it was a situation, they would have to come out of themselves.
It was among the reasons Jon hadn't sought Alexa since the incident and Jenny and Cynthia hadn't likewise come to him. She had to come out of that state herself, no one could do it for her.
The trauma was still raw, but he would wait for the right moment, after all she was all his dead friend had left.
He quickly moved against the zombies. And since, they were in a way still newly formed, they were weak and fell easily under Jon's swift strikes.
As he moved down the corridor, he noticed that some of the students had even reacted to the danger, indicating that they, too, had traits likely similar to or was 'composure'.
However, he was beginning to be alarmed at the number of students that began fighting back. Out of the hundreds of survivors currently in the cafeteria, only about ten shared a similar trait to his. Yet here, on this single floor, he had already spotted five.
'What happened here? Could it be…?' Jon glanced at his wristwatch, musing over the puzzle.
'This is bigger than I thought. And there aren't as many zombies as there should be. '
He made a quick calculation: if the normal ratio of zombies turned from people was around 40% of the population there, this time it was only about 20%.
And clearly, the watch must've had something to do with that, but he pushed the thought aside, focusing on the task at hand.
In five minutes, he had already cleared his floor while still testing different mana techniques.
And as he climbed the stairs to the next floor, Jon decided to check his progress:
[TO OBTAIN 'MOON DREAMER' CLASS:
OBTIAN 2 FIRST REALM CORES: 1/2
FIGHT, KILL, AND ABSORB FIRST REALM CREATURES REMAINS: 1/10
FIGHT, KILL AND ABSORB UNRANKED REALM CREATURES REMAINS: COMPLETE
EVOLVE YOUR MAIN SKILL TO SECOND REALM]
[ANY REMAINS OBTAINED NOW WILL BE CREDITED AFTER REQUIREMENTS ARE FULFILLED]
The first and only first realm he had seen that also gave him both an orb and a core was the giant lion he had faced before entering his former dorm.
Now, he was getting curious as to how the remaining first realm monsters will be. Because with his current power, his evolution requirements now seemed much more feasible than the last time.
Checking the screen again, he saw the requirements to evolve his main skill:
[TO EVOLVE SKILL 'MOON' (FIRST REALM):
COME IN CONTACT WITH A MYSTERY: COMPLETE
FORM THE MIND WORLD: COMPLETE
FIRST REALM CORES: 1/5]
"What?!" He blinked in disbelief. He was much closer to evolving his main skill than he had realized. 'Come in contact with a mystery?' Then as if it hit him like an hammer, he glanced at the watch on his wrist again.
Of course, it was the watch.
But, a sigh escaped him. He immediately knew, this watch would cause unknown problems for him.
'I shouldn't let anyone have it.' Clenching his fist with his renewed resolve then shifted his attention to his remaining skills, pushing thoughts of the watch aside.
[TO EVOLVE SKILL 'INSTANT CALCULATION' (FIRST REALM):
PUSH 'INSTANT CALCULATION' TO ITS LIMIT: INCOMPLETE]
'This one will take time.' he understood immediately. The skill allowed him to accelerate his thought process and calculations and pushing it too its limit would mean continuously using it fulfils its requirements
'If it could be evolved with cores, it would've been my top priority.' It was obvious as that would increase his survival rate.
He didn't even bother to check his Moon gaze, he couldn't even evolve a first realm skill, why would he go to a second one? He didn't have the capital for that at the moment.
Next, he wanted to check the requirements for his shadow steps and speed-healing.
[TO EVOLVE SKILL…]
He was going to continue, however he had already reached the lobby of the entrance to the dorm.
Unknowingly, he had already cleared the zombies on all the floors. And though he was too late for some, he'd managed to save most.
So upon stepping out of the hall, he saw the crowd that had gathered in front of his hall. They were people from the other hostels.
And right now, all eyes were on him.