[POV – Theo]
It was lunch break, and they handed me a lunchbox.
It was a cute girl who delivered it. She looked like a teenager, but I knew she was older than me.
Anyway, I held the lunchbox and hesitated.
Caleb, next to me, said: "Not gonna eat? If you don't want it, I'll take it."
I had a knot in my stomach, but, paradoxically, I was also hungry.
After hesitating, I said: "I'm gonna eat."
Opening it, a warm air escaped from the styrofoam lunchbox.
It wasn't too hot, but at least it wasn't cold.
There was rice and stewed meat.
It was simple, but to my taste.
Picking up the fork, I started eating.
I forced myself to swallow at first, but after five forkfuls with bites of meat, I started eating better.
Taking a break, I asked: "Caleb, are we staying on this street until we crack open the heads of all the zombies?"
"No." He shook his head: "Until Violet, our leader, comes back. Her job is mainly to find places that still have food and things that might be useful, like gasoline, etc."
"I see…"
I thought about the day she found me and imagined that on that day she must have been searching for resources.
'I'm really grateful to her for saving me.' I thought as I recalled the day she saved me.
...
After resting for an hour, I got out of the Fiorino.
I was wearing the mask from before, but I didn't have gloves.
When I got close to the man collecting the cores, I asked: "Hey, do you happen to have a pair of gloves?"
Instead of answering me, he turned to talk to the girl next to him: "Get a pair of gloves for Theo."
"Ohh, yes, of course." Saying that, the girl ran to the road-clearing car and brought back a pair of gloves.
"Here you go." She said.
She was wearing a mask, but from her eyes, I knew she was smiling.
"Thanks." I said, grateful.
"Hehe, no need to be so polite." She said with a giggle.
As I walked away, I quickly calculated my targets.
On purpose, I chose an area with no one around.
I didn't want to steal all the cores and leave them cracking open zombie heads for nothing.
But I knew myself well enough to know that if I stayed nearby, I wouldn't be able to resist the temptation and would take their share too.
════════════
New Mission: [Core Thief]
Objective: Sneakily manage to level up to level 2.
Reward: 20 essence.
Bonus Objective: Unlock the Inventory.
Reward: 10 essence.
════════════
[HP: 0/215]
I froze as I was about to put my hand on a zombie's neck.
'Okay, I'm sorry for the others, but it looks like daddy here is gonna have to be a little… greedy.' I thought.
I touched the zombie right after.
[It has been identified that the Host found a level 1 core, 50% pure, do you wish to absorb it now [Yes] or [No]?]
When that page appeared, I clicked yes.
[+5 essence]
I went to the next one, this one with [HP: 0/205]
This time, I didn't even let it pass and clicked yes right away.
This process repeated until I heard some murmurs saying my luck had run out.
That was exactly what I wanted; staying in stealth mode, I went to the zombie next to the one I'd just cracked open and, with a quick stab, I pulled and grabbed the core in my hand, and with the Interface open, I went with the intention of putting it in the 'inventory'.
[Do you wish to use the level 1 core and unlock the [Inventory]?]
'Still need to ask?' I clicked 'yes'.
When I did, the core disappeared from my hand.
No message appeared after that, but I saw that in the interface, the inventory was no longer listed as locked, and I could instinctively feel how to use it.
When my mental intention 'touched' the inventory, I could 'see' the 1 cubic meter slot.
It was strange, almost like closing your eyes and imagining a small empty room with white lighting.
For now, I didn't want to think too much about it, and I moved, coming out of stealth mode, cracking open a zombie's head. This time, I deliberately chose one with a core.
"Found it." I pretended to be relieved.
Taking it, I brought it to the man who stored the cores and made my sixth mark.
"You're doing well for your first day." One of them said: "If you get ten, you're entitled to one core. Or you can trade it for credits if you prefer."
"I'll think about it when the time comes." I said, walking away.
'1 for every 10, huh…' I thought: 'If they knew the truth…'
I crouched in front of another zombie.
[HP: 9/245]
'Actually, it's still 'alive'.' I thought.
Without hesitating, I stabbed the zombie's head.
[HP: 0/245]
"…"
'Well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting to gain something from finishing this zombie's 'life'.' I sighed.
Making a face behind the mask, I put my hand on the zombie's neck.
After choosing to absorb, I finished cracking open the head and moved to the next one.
'75%, I'm almost there…'
*VROOM! VROOM! VROOM!*
Suddenly, I heard a loud motorcycle sound.
"Everyone, back to your places!"
A shout echoed.
Full of reluctance, I had to return to the Fiorino.
After taking off the gloves and throwing them away, I also removed the mask.
Outside, I heard the sounds of footsteps from people hurrying to return to their places.
When Violet appeared, a horde of zombies came right behind her, but she simply waved her hand backward, and all the zombies were frozen.
Not satisfied, she hit the front brake, standing on one wheel and spinning toward the ice. I thought she was going to hit the ice with the back of the motorcycle, but what she did was kick the ice three times very quickly and with powerful force.
*SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!*
In an instant, the ice and the frozen zombies were shattered.
"Follow me! I found a supermarket with a lot of intact merchandise!" At her command, all the trucks and the two road-clearing cars were started.
After the road clearers passed us, Caleb followed them.
The sound of ice shards was constantly heard as we drove over the ice created by Violet.
Just like before, Violet went ahead, making a lot of noise with the motorcycle while we followed behind her.
However, this time there weren't as many zombies.
'This ice manipulation ability is really good.' I thought, knowing the reason there weren't many zombies was because Violet had killed them.
But I knew that, as good as it was, it was equally difficult to obtain.
To gain such abilities, you need to fight zombies capable of controlling ice.
It was a rare and very strong type of zombie.
I hadn't seen it personally, but I assumed it must have at least 500 HP.
There are many stories about how Violet managed to kill such a rare zombie.
Some say she killed it with a pen, others say she punched the zombie with her bare hands, while others say she had a machine gun and riddled the zombie until it was a sieve.
Now he didn't know which one was true, but he was more inclined toward the one where she used a machine gun.
Suddenly, from an alley, I saw something on fire.
"What's that?" I pointed.
"Huh?" Caleb looked and shouted: "A Firestarter a hundred meters to the left!"
[HP: 550/550]
When I saw that, I instinctively knew that if I were attacked by that zombie, I'd die on the spot.
"Oh, you little punk, wanting to play with fire, and on my watch?" I heard Violet's indifferent voice as she accelerated the motorcycle toward the 'Firestarter'.
I saw Violet's right hand emitting a cold mist, and then she waved it as she passed by the Firestarter, who tried to lunge at her with its hands, only to be turned into a massive pillar of ice.
The most unbelievable part was Violet's control; she didn't freeze the Firestarter's head.
"Someone come and take its core." She shouted.
I wanted to go, but someone from the road clearers was faster.
It was a short girl, 150 cm tall with huge breasts and short pink hair. She wore soldier-style camouflage clothing.
"Big sister, leave it to me~" She sang cheerfully.
"Mm, I'll leave it to you, Sara." Violet said.
"Of course, count on me~"
I wondered how she was going to reach it, since the Firestarter was at least my height. I even thought Violet would let her climb onto the back of the motorcycle, but I was wrong.
Then I saw Sara's legs stretch as if they were made of rubber.
She easily reached the Firestarter's height.
[HP: 590/590]
I realized that only now I was really getting a good look at this cute little girl, and although I knew she was older than me, I didn't expect her strength to be so high too.
'Well, I should've guessed.' I thought: 'Otherwise, Violet wouldn't have let her do it.'
[HP: 173/550]
Like a woodpecker, I saw Sara stabbing the Firestarter's head with her dagger until its HP dropped to 0.
"Got it~" She celebrated, making her legs return to normal while holding a bright red core, like a ruby, in her hand without even using a glove.
Violet gave a rare smile, saying: "Okay, go wash your hand."
"Hehee~" Sticking out her tongue at her, Sara ran back to the road clearer.
Before she got in, I saw someone pour water on her hand, and she also took the chance to wash the core.
'It must be a special core with fire manipulation ability.' I thought.
There was already a fire manipulation user. And all cores of this type went to him.
The same went for Violet with special ice manipulation cores, but since she had stagnated and could no longer absorb cores, they were trying to create another ice manipulation user.
In my case, it's something more annoying. They didn't know how to identify [Stealth] cores. The core looked like all the other cores he had extracted so far.
Some even think that, aside from the special ones, cores come randomly, and to enhance 'normal' abilities, you need a lot of luck.