Chapter 7. The Elevation System and the Zombie Apocalypse!

I woke up not from the alarm clock, as planned, but from the loud voice that sounded in my head. He jumped abruptly from bed and listened to him.

[Rejoice, mortal! The System of Exaltation has descended into your world! Only the most adapted and strong individuals will survive. Fight and get stronger and stronger, because that's the only way... you can stay alive. The countdown begins: 5... 4… 3… 2… 1… Yes, the game will begin! Try to survive.]

These words literally surfaced in my head and, as I later learned, not only with me, but with all the inhabitants of my world! It was the beginning of a tiny hell. But at that moment I did not know this yet, and the following information surfaced before my eyes:

Nikolay Savikov. Level 1

Class -???

Rank —

Force - 25

Agility - 24

Survivability - 18

Endurance (SP) - 15/15

Spirit (MP) - 30/30

Persistence - 15

Skills: -???

It was like a character profile that can usually be found in games playing for the protagonist. It did not fit in my head that all this was real, but I did not have time to think about it. From the side of the open window that went outside, loud cries and calls for help were heard. There was still a bright sunny day outside the window. He rushed to the window and looked outside. From the picture that opened, everything got colder inside me. In the courtyard of my house, a group of the most infested real homeless ALIVE gnawed a fat man who shouted loudly in pain and tried to fight off them with a leather bag clasped in one of his hands. But with every second, his voice sounded quieter and quieter. Suddenly another man ran out into the street with a bat in his hand and tried to repel the husband from the homeless. He knocked one of them on the head, causing his neck to turn unnatural. The man was delighted and wanted to repeat a successful blow, knocking another homeless man, but, as soon as he was distracted by the next opponent, the one whom he had hit before, attacked him with a loud growl and clung to the hand holding the bat, sinking his teeth into it. Apparently, a strong blow to the neck and a curled head did not interfere with him at all.

— Release! Release me! Aaaa... - the man began to scream, trying to detach this freak from himself. He continued to stab him, but he did not succeed, and in the meantime a couple of vagrants entered the matter, clinging to him and knocking him to the ground. One of them bit him by the neck, from where red venous blood became a small fountain. Cries for help and cries of pain were heard all over my yard. As far as I could see, some people chased others, attacking them and trying to eat alive! Thoughts left my mind, with stunned eyes, I just looked at all the horror that appeared in front of me. I don't know how much time I looked at all this, a woman's scream brought me to me from the stairwell. He rushed to the front door, looked into the eye and saw that a young neighbor from a neighboring apartment was fighting off some man who was trying to bite her. But she rested her hands with a lady's bag clamped in them against his neck and did not let him do it, the same one just bowled something and tried to get to her neck.

— HELP!! SOMEBODY! PLEASE HELP! - Tanya seemed to shout, if I am not mistaken.

Man, I'm not thinking about that! We need to help the girl, only first find a weapon that will help kill this zombie. He began to rush around the apartment and look for suitable weapons. I ran into the kitchen and opened the lockers of the table, taking from there the largest knife that I had. Conveniently grabbing him, ran back to the front door. Once again, he looked in the eye to make sure that the number of infected or rather even the most real zombies did not increase if they could move with their neck rolled up.

I almost opened the door when a message flashed in front of my eyes.

[Would you like an initial and only gift from the Elevation System?

Yes/no]

From surprise I clicked "Yes," after which this message lit up and disappeared slightly, and a weapon appeared in my hands from nowhere! It was the most ordinary bat, living in iron. Grabbing her more comfortable, he turned the knife aside, opened the front door and ran out. The zombie had almost clung to her neck. He quickly ran up to them and hit the head of a zombie man with a scale, from which his petiole most naturally spread into pieces. Spraying the contents in all directions, the dead body already fell on the girl, which is why she screamed even louder. And then from the zombie that lay on it, a small ball of light flew out and rushed to my side, disappearing in my chest. There was no time to be amazed, quickly threw the corpse, lifted the girl from the floor and dragged her to her apartment, she did not even resist my actions. Judging by her appearance and the expression of her eyes, she was in deep shock. When he dragged her, he looked back, as it seemed to me that something appeared next to the corpse, which had not been there before. Indeed! Next to him lay some blue, apparently, book and a small white box.

"This is definitely a drop!" - flashed in my head. Having brought the girl to the apartment, he quickly ran back and took the things lying there, after which he returned back and closed the door to all the locks that I had on it. Then he sank down the door with my back, I clearly began to move away from everything that happened, my hands shook and thoughts ran back and forth. With the effort of will, I tried to calm down, trying not to think that I had just killed a man... No, not a man! It was the most natural living dead man, and I did everything right by sending him to that light, saving the girl. He began to calm himself mentally. Apparently, the old life came to an end and the very real zombie apocalypse began, as in some horror story. And the message of this, that some game had begun and only the strongest would survive, directly hinted that all these were not jokes. The thought immediately flashed about the parents who were in the hospital and definitely could not protect themselves! With a convulsively banging heart, he ran into the room to the phone, which he left on a charge. There were several missed calls from Alex, immediately called him back, long beeps were heard, but no one picked up.

— Devil! Your mother! What kind of shit is happening?! - a fierce cry broke out of me, which most clearly showed my attitude to everything that was happening. What about your parents? Are they alive? What's going on in town? What's in town, what's going on in the WORLD? To find answers to these questions, he quickly turned on the TV, switching to the news channel.

Immediately got on a live report from one of the studios of the channel. The leading girl, with a noticeable panic in her voice, spoke about what had happened.

- Dear viewers of our channel! Never leave the house on the street! Lock all doors and wait for rescuers to arrive. A large number of infected people appeared on the streets of the city, who began to pounce on passers-by! Fill all the containers you have with clean tap drinking water! Don't open the door to anyone! And may God help us all!

— Light! We finish, infected people broke into our TV tower! We have to go upstairs!

She looked terrified somewhere behind the camera, after which she turned her eyes back and the broadcasting was interrupted, a white ripple screen was highlighted, which disappeared after a couple of seconds. And again began to repeat the just-passed live broadcast with warnings from the very beginning. Quickly switched to another channel, it was about the same, we were asked not to leave our homes, hide somewhere and wait for further messages. Quickly switched to foreign channels, since I had a large television package connected. There were also panic reports and even shots of zombies lashing out at living people and starting to devour them alive. Without looking further, he turned off the TV and stared at it with an empty look. Most likely, this happened not only in Russia, but also around the globe began a complete lawlessness! From pondering the information that fell on me, I was distracted by a quiet crying, which began to come from the kitchen. I immediately remembered that a rescued girl was sitting in my kitchen, who was probably not in herself, and we should try to calm her down. Running into the kitchen, I saw Tanya sitting on a chair, who grabbed her hands and cried quietly, swinging back and forth. To be honest, I was not quite sure how to act in this situation, it is clearly not my horse to calm the girls. He approached her and began to try to bring her to a feeling as he knew how. Taking her hands, he looked into her eyes and said:

— Tanya! You're Tanya, right? Hi! I'm Nikolai, your neighbor, and I just saved you! I need your help, Tanya! Get together and help me! Do you understand me? - I asked her and shook her slightly by the shoulders so that she would recover. Slowly, but she focused her eyes on me and notes of recognition began to flicker in them, after which she roared loudly, hugged me with her hands and, crying into me, cried more than the previous one. He tried to calm her down, stroking her back and head, saying that everything would be fine, although he himself did not believe in it. But I needed to bring her to life and start thinking about what to do next and, as I thought, I had to start acting as quickly as possible.

— Tan! I want you to pick yourself up and go to the bathroom, clean yourself up and fill the bath with cold water. I asked her in a calm and confident voice. She thought a little and still nodded convulsively to me, after which she went to the bathroom on wobbly legs. Fortunately, she lived in exactly the same one-room apartment, the layout was the same. When she got up and left the room, I managed to see bloody furrows on her hands, apparently, he zombie managed to hurt her with his nails. Something will also need to be done with this, because if everything is the same as in films and books, then she is probably infected with a zombie virus and after a while can also become one of them.

"Damn it!" I swore at it all again. I really would not like to make a difficult decision in which I would have to kill Tatyana so as not to be killed by her himself. From the street again there were cries of horror and pain, looking outside, I saw some small group of people running from the side of a round-the-clock store, which was in a nearby house. There were only three of them: two guys and one girl, in their hands they dragged food bags, apparently, zombies flocked to the girl's cries from all sides and almost surrounded them. Seeing that they had almost no chance of surviving such a development, one of the guys quickly turned around and hit another guy running next to him with his fist, smashing him directly into his stomach, which is why he grabbed him and fell to the ground. After that, the striking guy grabbed the girl's hand, quickly saying something to her, which is why she stopped screaming, and pulled her to the nearest entrance. Running there, they closed the magnetic door behind them and left a guy desperately screaming after them to his right death.

— OLEG! BASTARD! BURN TO YOU IN HELL, CREATURE! Aaaa, DO NOT COME!! - a guy screamed desperately, who was surrounded by zombies and began to devour him alive. In less than a minute, his cries finally subsided. Having seen such a cruel and vile act in its essence, I realized that the world will definitely not be the same. For the sake of the desire to survive, almost anyone will be ready to do almost any act, even the most inhuman. And I will need to keep that in mind in any contact with strangers. I think the most low-lying desires of people will climb out and many will begin to live on the principle - who is stronger is right, discarding the moral principles that were imposed by society.

I decided not to think about it yet and drew attention to the fact that I picked up zombies from the corpse after his murder. First of all, he took up the book and began to twist it in his hands, trying to understand what to do with it. As soon as I thought about it, I had information in my head about this book.

[Level 3 Skill Book: Transformation Skill. Active skill. It allows you to turn into any creature of your level, while maintaining your mind. Activation consumes 10 MPs every hour to continue its operation.

Do you wish to study?]

- Yes, I wish! - I quickly answered. After reading the description of this skill, I realized that it can be used in many situations.

Immediately after confirmation, the skill book shone blue and pulled into my head, about the center of my forehead. Immediately there was a knowledge of how to use this skill, for this it was necessary either to present an accurate image into which to turn, or to touch with my hand what I would like to transform into. At the same time, it was necessary to read the spell in an unknown language, which also surfaced in my head. It's definitely a game! What kind of higher entity was able to realize all this? And why did she need it? I had no answers to these questions yet, but I hoped that I could find on them and, if possible, destroy this almighty creature, which, by its whim, had probably already killed millions of innocent people! He shook a little, deciding to postpone this reflection for later, and drew attention to the white small box that lay on the table.

He opened her with slight awe, after which she lit up and disappeared, and a small necklace appeared in her place. When I picked him up, information about him surfaced in my mind.

[Novice necklace (level 1 equipment). Lifts endurance by 2 points. Fitted around the neck.]

Putting it around his neck, I looked at my characteristics and really saw how the indicator of my endurance increased by two points and was now equal to 16/17. Apparently, there are items that can lift my characteristics, just like in the game, and my "Novice Necklace" had only the first level of equipment. So, there are levels of equipment that can raise my characteristics to a higher level than now. After that, he took up his bat, wanting to know its parameters, and again the necessary information surfaced in his head.

[Living with the iron of a beginner's bat (level 1 weapon). Novice weapon, attack 0-8, strength 99/100. Can be used to kill low-level opponents.]

Judging by the incomplete scale of endurance and strength of the bat, they were spent to kill that zombie. I heard how the bathroom door clicked and Tanya came out with wet hair. Apparently, she quickly took a shower and, apparently in her face, was able to pick herself up.

- Kohl, I put on a bath. Or do you want to shower first, too? - she asked me a little timidly, yet we were not very familiar.

"No, you did the right thing. You need to get a bath as quickly as possible, and all the water tanks too. Look on the balcony, there are empty five-liter canisters, please fill them, "I gave her a task.

"What are you going to do?" she asked me with a slightly dissatisfied tone. Apparently, she didn't like the fact that I began to command her.

"I'll go there," I nodded towards the front door.

"And I'll try to help someone else if I can," I told her part of the truth, and I also intended to try to raise my level. After all, despite the fact that I killed one zombie, I never took level 2, and a scale that would indicate how much left for me to score, let there be "points" to the next level, was not in the interface. It remained to be tested only experimentally, and it will not be superfluous to experience the transformation skill.

"Kohl, maybe not?" It's very dangerous! I don't even know what I will do if you die! - she told me, after which tears began to appear in her eyes again.

— Calm down! So it is necessary! Until I am gone, fill all the bottles with water and do not open the door to anyone, only if you understand me with your relatives? - I asked her, putting more "strength" in her voice. And I looked her carefully in the eye.

- All right, Kohl! I understood, "she told me in a slightly frightened voice, after which she quickly took her look, thereby interrupting eye contact. Satisfied with the effect, he took his bat and headed for the front door. Looking in the eye, I saw that there was no one in front of the door and on the stairwell except for the corpse of the zombie I killed. When she opened the door, went outside, Tanya quickly closed it behind me, and I heard how the locks closing the door began to click.

He looked carefully to the sides, holding the bat with both hands. At first, I carefully looked at the neighboring apartments on my floor and, seeing that the doors were locked, I went up and hit the handles to make sure that nothing would jump on me from there. I listened to what was happening inside, but I didn't hear anything suspicious. After that, he clapped his palm on his forehead and connected his "special" vision - after everything that happened, he completely forgot that I was no longer an ordinary person. Looking through the front door, did not see any of the tenants in the first apartment, it was empty. On my ninth floor there were only four apartments, Tanya was from the apartment opposite. I looked there carefully, saw in her apartment two zombies, a man and a woman, I easily recognized them, it was Tanya's parents. Apparently, they were unlucky and turned into zombies, or rather, according to the half-eaten face of Tanya's mother, her father first became a zombie and after that he killed his wife and ate part of her face.

From the opened look, everything turned me over, struggled to cope with the vomiting reflex. Moving his eyes to another apartment, he saw no one there. I don't even know how to tell you, and Tana needs to know that her parents died and became dead. I think if she doesn't get a zombie soon, I'll let her know later so she doesn't have another nervous breakdown. Convinced of the absence of danger behind his back, carefully, through the span, looked at the floor below. Next to one of the apartments was a zombie who bluntly beat his whole body against the front door, wanting, apparently, to get inside. I looked carefully at the apartment where the zombie was beating, and saw next to the front door of my neighbor from below, who was holding a dangerous kind of large band in his hands, and in the depths of the apartment in one of the rooms was his wife and daughter, who watched TV and cried together. I tried to calm down mentally and prepare for the upcoming battle, calculated in my head the sequence of my actions that I will do after I go down to the floor below. Having sighed deeply, he took the bat stronger and carefully began to descend, trying not to make noise. About three minutes later, I was already standing on the eighth floor, the zombies did not react to my appearance. So when I approached him from the back, I very much waved and hit him directly on the head. From my heavy blow, his petiole flew aside, slightly spraying me with the contents of his cranial box. This time I could not hold back the vomiting calls and turned everything that was in my stomach. While I was tearing, I saw with the edge of my eyes how a small ball of light again separated from the body of the killed zombie and flew in my direction, disappearing in my chest.

For five minutes I was turned inside out, after which I was still able to gather and flattened an unpleasant taste in my mouth. Next to the corpse I saw a small box of white color, but this time there was no book. This suggested that they "fall out" not every time after killing a zombie. He lifted the box and removed it in a backpack, which he captured from the apartment when leaving it, especially for this purpose. Apparently, hearing a noise on the stairwell, the neighbor cast a voice. There was no door eye in his door, and he could not see what was definitely happening here.

Hey, who's in there? Is there anyone alive? He yelled through the closed door.

- Yes, there is! This is Nikolay, your neighbor from above! I killed a zombie who was bursting into your apartment! - coming to the door and slightly raising my voice, answered him.

— Kolka?! How glad I am to hear that someone else survived! What kind of zombie? I do not believe in this nonsense! - he shouted to me in response excited and with notes of fear in his voice.

- Uncle Andrey! It's definitely a zombie! Haven't you seen that message recently? And look outside, it can't be ordinary infected, it's definitely zombies! - I tried to convince him.

— No! I do not trust! It's just a virus... Yeah, it's a virus! I am sure that our authorities will soon invent a cure for him and save us all! - with some blind conviction in his voice, he shouted back to me.

He did not try to convince him, but decided to continue his hunt for zombies. Before that, however, I decided to try to apply my skill of level 3: "Transformation" on the zombies I killed. Approaching the corpse, he touched him with his hand and tried to apply the skill. My lips began to whisper, some unknown spell, after which a message flashed before my eyes.

[Verifying that you can use the skill... Check is undergone. Would you like to apply the Transformation skill? To be spent 10МП.]

- Yes! - I confirmed the use of the skill. After that, I felt how my body began to change from the inside. It was not painful, but there were very unpleasant feelings, as if some thick worms were moving under my skin. Just a minute later, the unpleasant sensation disappeared, and I felt a strong cold, which seemed to penetrate directly into my soul.

[The Transformation skill has been used successfully. The purpose of the appeal: Zombies 1 level. In this state, you are not at risk of viral infection. Remaining circulation time: 59 minutes. 10 MP will be used to extend the skill.]

Carefully examined his body after transforming into a zombie. The need for breathing has disappeared, nor have I felt the beating of my heart. Carefully examined his hands, the skin of which became whiter by several shades than before. And I think the whole body has no other changes, at least without a mirror. I did not feel much from such a change in my body, there was a feeling that my feelings were currently "frozen." A little used to the state of his "new" body, he decided not to waste time and began to go down to the floor below, where some kind of fuss was also heard. Having looked through the span with his special vision, he saw there as many as two zombies who enthusiastically devoured some unfortunate already dead woman. Very carefully began to go down to them and track their reaction to themselves after transforming into zombies. They did not pay any attention to me, so I slightly hit the railings with a bat, which made a small ringing when the iron part of the bit came into contact with the iron railing. The zombies reacted to the sound and raised their faces smeared in blood, breaking away from their bloody meal. Looking at me empty without the spark of intelligence, they returned to the further devouring of the woman's corpse. Slowly approached them and stood behind, trying on, forcefully hit one of the zombies on the head, causing his petiole to curl up, but did not scatter into pieces, as before! I didn't quite understand why it happened, but I hit his head again. After another blow, his skull finally cracked, and he collapsed to the floor, no longer moving. Without wasting time, he hit the next zombie on the head, who stopped chewing the corpse and measured in indecision. This time it cost only one blow.

Relieved of spirit, my idea of using the Transformation skill is almost entirely justified! Zombies did not respond to me, however, they did not fully understand why my force of attack fell.

Two small balls of light flew again from two zombie bodies and disappeared in my chest, and a pleasant voice sounded in my mind:

[You have moved to the second level. Please distribute 2 feature items!]

I decided to leave the distribution of characteristics for later when I am in a calm and safe environment. He drew attention to his characteristics and saw that my endurance sank quite strongly and equaled 10/17. In just two short fights, she spent as much as six points! Meanwhile, the following message surfaced in his head:

[Congratulations, you survived and killed the monsters. The Elevation System rewards you with a bonus skill. Please make a choice: the "Eyes of Perception" skill - you can get information about monsters that are no more than 5 levels higher than you, or the "Knowledge of the language" skill - you can easily master the language of any country (you can speak, read and write). These skills are passive and do not occupy slots for active skills!]

A little thinking, I chose the skill I need now the most.

- I choose the skill "Eyes of perception"! - I made a simple, in essence, choice. The message flashed with light, and a new knowledge appeared in my brain in the form of a rune hanging there about how to use this spell.

Immediately tried to use it on the newly killed zombie.

[Primary carrier of infection - Zombie (level 1). They are infected with a virus that left them with only a desire for flesh and blood. They have the skill "Viral infection" - the ability to infect the virus through any cut on the skin and, depending on the immunity, a person will be infected with the infection within 30-60 minutes. With the exception of three curative elixirs, modern medicine is unable to cure this virus in the next 10 years.]

Here's confirmation from the System that this is the most real zombies that can infect people with the virus. And most likely, Tanya could already become a zombie upstairs or become one soon, which was very sad, no matter how look. Still, she was not a bad person. Once again, he threw extra thoughts aside and raised the drop lying next to the corpses in the form of one white box and a black book of skill. He removed everything in a backpack and, having intercepted the bat more conveniently, decided to go down one or two more floors below, after embezzlement of endurance, rise back to his apartment and "digest" what he received. Having connected his vision, he went to the seventh floor. I had a lot of work to do.