Thunder Step

The cracks on the blue zombie's skull grew wider as the tip of the Reinforced Stone Spear dug deeper into the monster's head, and Dilan began to roar out.

His right hand was in agonizing pain and his right leg felt like it was being ripped apart.

The light in his eyes deepened as his expression turned ice-cold.

Using the roar as a means to force himself to use even more strength than before, Dilan continued to push the Spear and it finally pierced through the zombie's brain.

The zombie began to thrash and writhe in pain, but Dilan maintained an iron grip on the Reinforced Stone Spear.

Even when the blue zombie stopped moving, he did not loosen his hold on his weapon immediately.

His mind had blanked out, and he was breathing heavily, and only now did he realize that his mana had been completely drained.

When he regained his senses, Dilan's eyes moved towards his leg.

The tracksuit was shredded to pieces at least on four different spots, and when he rolled up the tracksuit on his right leg carefully, he saw a total of four scratches on his skin that was bruised and cut.

Even though this was somewhat shocking, Dilan couldn't help but sigh in relief as he took a look at the Log of the Ancient.

[[Lesser Immunity (Passive)] Ungraded ★★★★

-Gains small immunity against poison and infections! Immunity includes resistance to zombification, restricted to four scratches/bites a day (0/4).]

It was as expected, and a single drop of sweat trickled down his cheeks as he realized just how fortunate he was.

Just one more to scratch, and he would have turned into a zombie.

This was quite intimidating, but two things distracted him at the same time.

First, he was able to see the upgrade requirements for the [Lesser Immunity] ability.

[Upgrade requirements

1) Essence of '60' infected monsters has to be absorbed [60/60]

2) Health stat of 6 Units [4.9/6]]

It wouldn't take long for him to upgrade his passive ability, which was quite nice.

However, what made him knit his eyebrows was the fact that he sensed a stream of energy congregating above the blue zombie.

He instinctively retracted the Reinforced Stone spear, and prepared himself to fight.

His exhaustion was apparent, which was the reason for him to take a few seconds to realize that an ability crystal was forming!

Faint purplish, and almost invisible strands of light emerged from the Essence crystal of the blue zombie, only to congregate with the monster's released energy.

Dilan had no idea what kind of logic was put behind the creation of an ability crystal, but he could already gauge what kind of ability he would receive.

His prediction excited him a little bit, which was why he didn't observe the empty hallway for too long.

Rather his focus was on the grayish crystal that had faint specks of bronze color within.

[[Thunder Step(Active)] Tier-0 ★★★

-Enhances [Agility] by 30% for 5 seconds per 1 Unit of mana-]

When he picked up the ability crystal, his eyes widened in joy.

The ability was simply too powerful. Dilan's lips curled upward, and he started to read the short description of the ability.

[Once activated, creates an ear-piercing noise, and shrouds feet in electricity currents.

Danger Remark: Using it for more than 15 seconds may harm the body with a weak physique!]

The Danger remark seemed to be adjusted to the state of his current physique.

Thus, he nodded to himself, feeling that a sudden increment in his agility might harm him if the duration was too long.

30% were certainly not little, and if utilized properly, it would be extremely powerful.

A situation in which he was overwhelmed by his opponent could turn to his advantage, just by the use of this ability.

This made it pretty clear that there was no need for him to hesitate because the potential of this active ability was extraordinary.

The ability crystal crumbled in his hand, and an influx of energy and information flooded his mind.

[Ability [Thunder Step(Active)]Tier-0 ★★★ has been bound! Congratulations!]

By digesting the information that entered his mind, Dilan's excitement increased only further.

Most of the knowledge he received was about the activation of the active ability, and how exactly each of his movements would alter the effect of the ability.

It was quite complex, but also included knowledge about the utilization of mana, and how it was used to exert the final effect of the [Thunder Step].

This was certainly interesting, and kept Dilan occupied for a few minutes.

However, he later realized that he was still in a quite dangerous area, and that he shouldn't waste his time and return to safety.

With that in mind, the first thing Dilan did was to collect all Essence crystals, and absorb them immediately, while simultaneously collecting the horns of the 12 horned rats as well.

'The more horns the better,' Dilan thought before shrugging his shoulders.

He didn't really care who would use them, and it was just important not to waste potentially good weapons and leave them to rot in the open.

Every single weapon was valuable and a precious resource that could save a life in a fatal encounter with beasts and zombies alike.

Only after he absorbed the Essence of the 12 horned rats, 6 Krendels, and the Bronze Essence of the blue zombie did Dilan take a look at the notification to his right.

He ignored 18 messages because their intel was not important to him, and kept his focus on two particular messages.

[<Bronze> Essence of a Tierless Level 5 Mutated Swiftness Zombie has been absorbed→ +0.3 Health, +0.5 Agility, +0.5 Mana]

[Essence pool has been filled. Host reached level 6! +0.5 Status points can be allocated!]

Dilan knew that he would level up this time, and he had expected to receive quite a few status points as well. But the final number was quite disappointing.

Something was off.

'The Gluttonous Zombie got me 0.6 more status points and essence than the Mutated Swiftness Zombie… is that because now my level is higher, or because the extraction of the [Thunder Steps] ability required essence?'

It was impossible for Dilan to figure out the definite answer to this question.

As such, he shrugged his shoulders before taking a second glance at his injured leg.

A quick glance to his right and left told him that there was no monster around.

Thus, he entered the door from which the Mutated Swiftness Zombie had emerged before.

Taking a look at the wardrobe, he saw that there was another tracksuit in it.

Dilan wore the other tracksuit in a matter of seconds, covering the injury on his leg.

It had already stopped bleeding, and thankfully, the wound was not festering.

As such, it should heal quickly.

There was no need for him to use his Origin ability, but even if he wanted to, it was not possible to begin with.

Right now, he didn't have even a single unit of mana to use, and even if he had one unit, Dilan wouldn't use it. He knew that his next opponent was much stronger than the Mutated Swiftness Zombie.

And that was something he grew excited about!