13 Now, a SYSTEM?!

"Yongrui, Yongrui."

"Stop pestering me!"

"Yongrui, Yongrui."

"I said stop calling me, it's unpleasant to the ears. How insolent." I gritted my teeth as I tried to focus more on my cultivation. Still, the woman's voice in my head kept on calling out to me like a broken cassette tape. I thought it would stop after she woke me up from my five years of slumber but as it turns out, she's likely to annoy me for the rest of my life.

"Okay, fine! What do you want?!" I shouted back at her. For some reason, I didn't get distracted in my cultivation.

"Do you want to achieve a breakthrough into the Second Level of the Spirit Realm?" The voice asked.

"Of course I do! What do you think I'm doing right now?" I shot back at her. This time, I was starting to get annoyed.

<Congratulations, you've achieved your breakthrough!>

<Blood Element mastery has reached Level 1>

<Congratulations! You've unlocked Dark Element!>

Eh?!

"Who was that?!" I exclaimed.

"Hello, Yongrui, I'm the System." The voice simply answer. "I will aid you in your cultivation."

"Whaaat?! I don't need help!"

"If you don't need me, you can go back to being a zombie." The voice responded with a slight hint of irritation. "It's because of me that you got your consciousness back. Without me, you're just a mindless zombie. And it's not like I have any choice, I woke up in your head before I knew it."

"Are you really a System? Something that would give me quests and the like? That's how it works in roleplay games or system novels, right?"

"Yes, since I know your whole being, I could give you quests and things to do to hasten your cultivation. Of course, it still depends on you whether to follow them or not. And honestly, I don't know if I'm a System but seeing that I woke up in your head, then I just assumed I was one."

"Understandable, have a great day," I muttered but deep inside, I was an utter wreck! Confusion was starting to overtake me. The proud Sect Master of the Tang Sect is perplexed! How deplorable indeed.

I was a rabid human for five years... then I woke up with something unknown like the Blood Element, and now there's a girl in my head calling herself the System?! How crazy could this get?!

And what's this about element levels and unlocking the dark element?! What on earth is the Dark Element? Another weird stuff the so-called System came up with?

Argh!!!

Clap* Clap*

I opened my eyes and looked around upon hearing a few claps reverberate throughout the mall. I thought at first I was the one clapping but that would be crazy. If I had no control over my body, then it would just be better if I were dead than alive.

"So... you really are the Zombie Cultivator." Yu Sying muttered. "That's the Blood Element, right?"

"Oh, who taught you the Blood Element?! Don't tell me, are you from the Alpha Shelter?" Lin Xian asked. For some reason, she was sitting beside Yu Sying and Yu Yan as if she didn't just leave.

"What's this Blood Element you're talking about? Is this some sort of new element discovered post-outbreak?" I asked as I turned towards Lin Xian. "And also, you left, right? Why did you come back?"

"I was gone for three hours and then I returned to give you some food. I didn't venture too far into the supermarket since there were a few high-leveled zombies lurking there. And then, when I returned, you were already sitting cross-legged with your eyes closed while a dark red aura surrounded you. You were cultivating the Blood Element, right? Who taught you the Blood Element? Can you teach it to me too!"

Lin Xian's eyes sparkled as if she just saw a treasure in front of her. She went closer and closer towards me with her pupils getting larger by the second, or maybe that was just my imagination. In any case, she looked very zealous about this Blood Element even though I don't know what it's about.

"I don't even know what the Blood element is!" I retorted. It pains me to say it but there really wasn't anything I could do about it. Up until now, the only elements that I know of were the basic four elements and their deviations like thunder, ice steel, and the like. And I'm fairly certain that the Blood Element never existed five years ago.

"But, you just cultivated it, right?" Yu Sying joined in on the conversation. "That dark red aura is one of the clear signs of someone practicing the Blood Element."

"F-fine! If you're all so smart, why don't you tell me about it." I crossed my arms as I seriously stared at both Lin Xian and Yu Sying. They seem to be knowledgeable about it to say the least. And if there was an off-chance that they don't know anything about it... then I'd just laugh at them with no reprieve.

Sometimes my genius... it's almost frightening.

"Ehrmmm... I don't know anything about it but... " Lin Xian began.

Hah!

She really doesn't know anything about it!

"Ahaha! See, you don't even know what it is and you had the guts to question me? How foolish." I interrupted. It's not even a matter of competition since it was clearly my win!

"Don't interrupt me while I'm explaining!" Lin Xian shot back.

Urk!

"I don't know anything about it but everyone has heard of it. It's a fairly new element discovered by a powerful cultivator after studying zombies. It's a new element that allows a person to control their blood and it could be distinguished by a red gem-like dot at the back of someone's hand."

While explaining, Lin Xian pointed at my hand and continued. "Since it was just recently discovered, everyone just brushed it off as a rumor. However, after seeing you cultivate like that, I'm now a believer. The Blood Element really does exist."

I followed Lin Xian's forefinger towards the back of my hand and lo and behold, there really was a red gem-like dot in the middle of it. It probably manifested after I cultivated and achieved a breakthrough to the second level of the spirit realm.

So, this is a sign of achieving Level One on my Blood Element?" I asked myself, admiring the red dot that seems to glimmer as it reflects light. "It doesn't look that useful."

"Rumors has it that those who practice the Blood Element would be powerful enough to take on a horde of high-level zombies. And also, it was rumored that someone with the Blood Element wouldn't easily get infected by a zombie since they could control their blood and the zombie virus pretty much runs in the blood."

"Oh, I see... "

"... well, the more I heard about it, the more I think it's not that useful."