23 Where is my Opness!?

A cold, midnight breeze blew through the small grass of a beautiful garden, only stopping its track once it hit a big wall. The night was eerily dark, only a small ring of light could be seen in the sky. Inside the garden, just in front of that 2 meters tall wall, five persons stood side by side.

None of them dared to utter a word as they watched apprehensively as a few dots of golden dust appeared just in front of them. The particles were smaller at first, barely noticeable for normal eyes. Seconds after, however, they seemed to increase in size and number.

The golden dust twisted and turned in the air, yet its particles were unaffected by the cold breeze that blew past them. Suddenly, as each grew to the size of a fingernail, like a magnet, they were attracted to each other. In front of his eyes, a fist-sized golden ball formed.

At that moment, any doubt Nikolas had was erased completely. The five golden orbs stood still five feet off the ground, each directly in front of every person in the garden.

[Well… The world is f**ked up.] That was the only thought that crossed Nikolas mind. Not only him but his family, master, alongside billions of people around the world realized that the apocalypse had indeed come. Moreover, the voice they heard made sure to announce it.

*DING!*

*STARTING THE APOCALYPSE!*

*Spawning the First Wave*

*Spawn grade: F*

*Good luck!*

A somewhat robotic male voice rang in their head. The voice was emotionless and only said these simple words and nothing more.

[Now thinking about that, did the system wish good luck on the first time?] He couldn't remember. Immediately, he zoomed in on the orb floating in the air and didn't allow himself to be distracted by such thoughts.

"Don't get distracted!" He warned his family.

Suddenly the golden sphere began to emit light and less than a second later it transformed into some sort of yellow flame. The flame grew bigger, expanding even more but changing its form. From the formless energy a figure began to emerge. Yet, Nikolas would not wait until it had completely spawned, he had seen it more than once.

"KILL IT NOW!" Immediately, Nikolas unsheathed his katana and attacked the beast in one swoop.

Splash!

The sword quickly slashed across the zombie's neck. Nikolas felt only a slight resistance in his hand, which disappeared the moment the beast's neck was completely severed.

*DING!*

[Not now stupid system!] Ignoring the system notification which beeped in his ears, Nikolas Drachen looked around to see how his family was faring.

Reginald held his medieval sword high with ferocious eyes, he just about to strike the zombie's head. His brother was holding the katana tightly, the boy's knuckles were as white as his face. At the same time, master Yuemura drew his katana with a steady and calm face.

Nikolas' mother however, was struggling with a butcher knife. Her face showed fear and her legs trembled, he immediately realized she wouldn't make it!

The Ex-Dragon king quickly sprang into action: Jumping over the dead corpse he killed, with two big strides he found himself just at the right side of his mother's spawned zombie. Knowing that once they spawned, the beast would entirely focus on the first target on sight, he was able to ignore the others.

With a quick swipe of his katana, Nikolas cut off the now extended arms of the Zombie which was trying to reach Emilia. Blood splashed on the air as its arms fell with a thud. Before they were even able to touch the ground, however, Nikolas delivered a kick in the zombie's chest.

With no resistance, the monster stumbled and fell to the ground. Decisively, Nikolas thrust his katana into the zombie's belly and pinned it into the ground. His movements were so fluid and fast that his mother only noticed him when the zombie was already immobilized.

Yet, the beast was alive and Nikolas spared it for a reason.

"Mother, I'm sorry but…. you must kill this one! That's the only way to unlock the system." he signed. It was hard to order his mother like that, but desperate times….

"Son, I… I can't" tears rolled in her cheeks, she had a good heart.

Mere seconds had passed, but everyone had dealt with their zombies and came closer to Nikolas and his mother.

"Son…" Reginald said in a grave tone, he was a bit displeased.

"Listen father, I don't like it either! But if you want her to survive then she needs the System!"

"Let me lend her my gun, it's easier that way…" Reginald requested.

It sounded good, but Nikolas shook his head.

"If guns could solve this problem, I would not have bothered to train the sword! I've already explained that gunpowder won't unlock the System!"

"Alright honey, don't argue… I'll just close my eyes and do it!" Reginald knew that his son was right so he went towards his wife and put his hand on her shoulder, comforting her. "You can do it my love, it is not a living being. You must harden your heart just for now…"

Emilia held the butcher knife tightly and knelt near the monster. And only now Nikolas had the time to inspect the laid best. The spawned zombies were exactly the same as he remembered: Unlike the zombies commonly seen in the movies or literature, the spawned ones had no rotten flash and dirty, worn out clothes. On the contrary, they were quite clean! They had beautiful white skin, almost translucent that you could see the veins running through the body. They were almost human-like but were completely naked and lacked any apparent gender. Not only that, but they had pure, glowing red eyes that gave chills to anyone who looked into them.

"GRAAAW!" The monster tried to move its head to bite Emilia but was unsuccessfully. The katana stuck deep within its belly, it could only move its head and legs now, but not enough to be a real threat.

Emilia closed her eyes and held the knife high.

Tuck!

Silence followed after a small thud. Emilia got up with her eyes still closed, her body was shaking.

Nikolas nodded silently while Reginald hugged his wife, shifting his look towards the dead spawned zombie. A darker shade of blood flowed from the knife wound in its head.

[Blood! Shit, I almost forgot!] Nikolas quickly jumped to his feet.

"Grab some pots and jars to store the blood! Quickly! Now!" He ordered and ran to the kitchen, grabbing himself as many pots as he could.

Listening to his urgent tone, they dared not to delay and did as said.

The spawned zombies' blood was an important resource. In those desperate times, people did everything they could to survive, even human experiments came true. Eventually, great things were developed using the blood of the zombies as the base, and Nikolas would be a fool to waste it here.

He took a small knife from his pocket and also extracted their red eyes. Although creepy, their eyes were mesmerizing. It actually looked like two red gems, cold as a ruby by touch.

After extracting the blood and eyes from every zombie, he took the one corpse and threw it over the wall directly at the potato's farm.

"What! Why did you do that? Won't it contaminate the plants?" Master Yuemura asked, alarmed.

"Don't worry, it is a great fertilizer actually!" Nikolas smiled.

"If you say so…" Yuemura shrugged and did the same as his disciple.

Soon, the bodies were manuring the farm. After cleaning the garden and getting as much as blood as they could, Nikolas finally had the time to look at the Divine System.

He opened up the blue screen panel, only visible to himself and walked towards the house with his family.

*Congratulations, you have killed a Royal Zombie! The system was unlocked!*

*Congratulations, you have leveled up! One free attribute point awarded!"

*Name: Nikolas Drachen // Title: none // Level: 1

Physique: Mortal

STR: 7 AGI: 6

CON: 6 INT: 9

CHA: 6 ???

Points available: 1

Skills [3/5]:

-Swordsmanship [Master]

-Five Dragons Facing the Heavens [A]: Unavailable

-Shadow Steps [C]

*******

Looking at his status, Nikolas had mixed feelings. Even though he was weaker compared to the past, his starting point was far greater! Considering the fact that last time his stats were mostly not even half of what they were now, his future would be endless. Not only that, but the system had already recognized two of his strongest skills: The Five Dragons Facing the Heavens and the Shadow Steps.

The first one was the skill he used to convince master Yuemura of his past life and the second one was the skill he was teaching his brother last life. Just like the mastery in swordsmanship, everything was under his expectation.

However what caught Nikolas attention was the status "unavailable" over the Five Dragon's Skill.

[Perhaps I'm too weak to use even the first part of the skill?] Concluded him. The skill was divided in five parts and each took an immense strain on his body, back at that time when he learned the skill, his stats were incomparably stronger. [But why do I feel cheated? I was reborn but earned nothing!?]

For some reason, as he looked at the status screen, Nikolas felt wronged. He had lived ten years in the future and from the novels he read, when the protagonist goes back in time he also earns some kind of 'cheat'. But here he was, with nothing but his memories. So many difficulties and no reward?

Suddenly, as if the System had heard his complaints, another notification was issued.

*DING!*

*Congratulations on being the second person to kill a Royal Zombie: 5 free attribute points awarded!*

"...."

[THE SECOND!? Motherf*** only five points!? Where is my opness!?]

*DING!*

*And a Title: Not Fast Enough!*

"What!?" Nikolas was flabbergasted. For a moment he just stood there, looking at the notifications, agape.

[The system can't be playing with me, right?]

*********

Albeit unknown to Nikolas Drachen, on a highway in the United States a bearded man was driving his truck packed with items. He was a prepper who had listened to the warnings on the TV and was now driving to escape his city.

Puck*

His truck suddenly ran over something… or was it someone? The man didn't have enough time to respond nor to see what it was.

Suddenly, a metallic sound ringed inside his head.

*DING!*

*Congratulations! You are the first person ever to kill a Royal Zombie: 10 free attribute points awarded!*

"Oh!? Zombies? I was preparing for a war or a virus outbreak, but a zombie apocalypse is way cooler!" He laughed out loud.