The Joy of Level Up

Suddenly, the system's voice chimed in. "I like this match-three game, it really gives me what I'm missing." 

He checked and saw that with the three additional slots, he now had twelve slots in total.

"Continue, continue!"

With a smile, Maxwell sent those four zombies out again, and this time, they brought back more than ten zombies. After subduing them, Maxwell counted ten zombies, six males and four females, all Level 1.

First, he fused the six male zombies, creating three Level 2 male zombies. Adding the previous Level 2 male zombies, he now had four in total, which allowed him to fuse them again into three Level 3 male zombies.

He dragged his finger across the screen, pulling two Level 3s together, and created the first Level 4 zombie.

Then, he began dealing with the four female zombies. He chose one that looked very plain and fused another one into her.

"Damn, she's quite a bit prettier now!"

After the Fusion, the previously ragged female zombie looked almost like a normal person! "Extract the essence and discard the dregs," he thought, impressed with the game. He remarked to himself that he would never have to see such ragged zombies again!

After completing the Fusion, he now had two female zombies, one Level 4 and one Level 2, and two male zombies, one Level 4 and one Level 3.

The initial female zombie, Maxwell fused with the little girl. Who could help it if the little girl had the highest beauty value?

Then, he sent these four zombies out again to bring back new zombies.

During this time, Maxwell opened the treasure chest.

"Ding, congratulations, Host. You have received 10 gene points."

Gene points? Those are valuable! Maxwell knew that the key to the power of an Evolver lies in their genes. As long as he had enough gene points, he was on his way to becoming a superhuman!

After fusing the ten gene points, there were no obvious physical changes, but he knew his genetic potential had been enhanced. Exactly how much would require specialized equipment to measure.

Half an hour later, the four zombies brought back more than ten others. Eight males and four females, all Level 1. He fused the eight males into a Level 4 zombie and the four females into a Level 3 zombie. Then, he dragged two Level 4 male zombies together.

"Ding, congratulations, Host. You have obtained a Level 5 male zombie."

After this round of Fusion, he now had three female zombies, one each of Levels 2, 3, and 4, plus one Level 5 male zombie and one Level 3 male zombie.

"A Level 5 zombie should be considered a high-level zombie around here, right?" Maxwell thought. Previously, the town had a Tier 1 Evolver. When the zombies attacked, he didn't flee back to the base city and likely died. However, a Tier 1 Evolver would turn directly into a mutant zombie upon transformation.

Mutant zombies would probably follow the majority of zombies and leave, so now he should be safe!

"Moreover, those below a Tier 1 Evolver are called Awakened and haven't reached the level of an Evolver,"

"Even if they turn into zombies, they wouldn't be high-level zombies in the short term,"

"Now, I should be able to sweep through this town."

Once decided, Maxwell wasn't interested in staying and playing the rhythmic game slowly anymore.

"I'm out of here!"

Leaping out of the bay window, Maxwell shouted loudly. His voice echoed throughout the town, and zombies from all over looked his way. Soon, a large number of zombies, howling, rushed from various parts of the town.

After his previous orchestrations, there were still sixty to seventy zombies left in the town, especially when they appeared simultaneously, the scene was quite spectacular.

Meanwhile, the five zombies coordinated under his arrangement. The Level 2 female zombie and the two Level 3 zombies were responsible for blocking the door to prevent too many zombies from rushing in. The Level 4 little girl was in charge of handling the zombies that were let in. As for the Level 5 male zombie, he acted as a bodyguard.

With this setup, the process sped up considerably. Each zombie that came through the door was quickly subdued by the little girl and then collected into the system. Soon, the number of zombies in the system rapidly increased: Level 1 female zombies, Level 1 male zombies...

Whenever Maxwell encountered two zombies of the same level and gender, a swipe of his finger would fuse them together, speeding up the process tremendously. Soon, there was an additional Level 4 female zombie and a Level 5 male zombie in the system. With a casual drag,

"Ding, congratulations, Host. You have obtained a Level 6 zombie."

Shortly after, a second Level 4 female zombie appeared. This time, Maxwell didn't rush to fuse her; instead, he continued to fuse lower-level zombies. After a while, another Level 4 male zombie was born.

Half an hour later, there weren't many zombies left outside the door, only about twenty. This was expected, as the town didn't have many zombies to begin with, and their levels were low. With a total of about one hundred zombies, even if they were all of the same gender, at most a Level 8 zombie could be fused—and that's considering different genders.

"Hmm? Is this a Level 3 zombie? Not bad!"

A Level 3 female zombie was collected into the game. Below mutant zombies, it's really hard to distinguish the levels of zombies. During the fight with the little girl, Maxwell couldn't guess that this zombie, which only lasted two seconds, was Level 3.

"Roar~"

Suddenly, a male zombie broke through the guard and rushed towards Maxwell at high speed. A high-level zombie?!

Maxwell stepped back in surprise, and the Level 6 male zombie stepped forward to meet the attacker. Before this tier, there's a significant difference in strength, speed, and reflexes among zombies of different levels.

High-level zombies are strong, fast, and have high defense, making them extremely difficult to handle.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The two zombies fought fiercely, but this high-level zombie was especially formidable, causing Maxwell's Level 6 male zombie to be steadily pushed back. Although zombies generally don't attack their own kind, if attacked, they naturally retaliate.

Seeing this, Maxwell quickly ordered the zombies blocking the door to completely seal it off. He then sent the three newly-fused Level 4 zombies into the fray. As for the little girl zombie, Maxwell was reluctant to send her in, fearing she might get torn apart.

Inside the room, it turned into a four-on-one situation, with the four zombies surrounding the high-level zombie.

"Roar! Roar!"

The high-level zombie, taking on the form of a middle-aged man, likely a high-level Awakener transformed, howled continuously. Fortunately, after becoming a zombie, they typically forget their special abilities; otherwise, his group would have been wiped out. Even so, this foe was ferocious, managing to hold his own against four opponents and even ripping off the arm of one Level 4 zombie, while the other two Level 4 zombies also sustained injuries.