Necromancer

United States: New York City

Ethan was sitting in a chair on the porch of his house, watching people walking on the streets. It was already night, but there was still a lot of traffic with cars and people. Suddenly, a bright flash filled everything. It seemed like a flash bomb had been detonated in their faces. As the light from the explosion faded, shockwaves propagated through the atmosphere and reached the surface of the Earth. These shockwaves were felt as seismic tremors in many places, causing ground shakes and building collapses.

Buildings and houses around him began to crumble, and people panicked. Various accidents started happening, cries of pain and panic filled the air. Ethan was distracted, watching all the scenes unfolding around him with a hint of panic. Then, a part of his house began to collapse, falling on top of his position.

Ethan noticed and tried to dodge, managing to move away from the larger debris, but a large rock still fell on his head, causing him to faint on the spot.

As chaos engulfed the world, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, and many other natural disasters were occurring worldwide.

...

A few hours later.

Ethan began to wake up, but his head was pounding, and a red liquid had spread across the floor. He struggled to get up, still feeling dizzy, and all he could see was destruction.

At that moment, an interface appeared in front of his eyes.

* User injured in the head, significant blood loss, rest recommended *

* Energy detected, high death energy in the vicinity, highly compatible body for death energy, talent for death energy, class unlocked: Necromancer *

Ethan couldn't believe it, but after rubbing his eyes and realizing he was still there, a glimmer of happiness shone in his eyes. He had always dreamed of being reborn in another world with a system like the ones in the books he read, and now he finally had a system, even though everything seemed to be in ruins. It provided some relief.

'Necromancer, a very powerful class, hated by many but definitely one of the strongest,' Ethan thought as he smiled.

But at that moment, something crossed his mind.

'Did others also awaken a system or some power?' This doubt lingered in Ethan's mind as he approached the balcony to get a better look around.

Upon reaching the balcony, all he could see was destruction, dead people, and destroyed roads and buildings – a true apocalypse. Until he spotted a woman walking amidst the wreckage, moving in an odd manner.

Ethan then noticed that she was heading toward a man who had also survived but seemed badly injured, unable to walk, pleading for help. The woman continued to approach him. She got closer and closer until she reached the injured man who was still begging for assistance.

"Oh heavens, can you get me out of here? Or call someone, please? I've broken my leg," the man tried to communicate with the woman, who completely ignored him and pounced on him, biting him ferociously.

Ethan witnessed the entire scene unfolding before him and had a wild thought.

'This is a zombie apocalypse,' Ethan's heart raced as he quickly retreated from the balcony to avoid drawing any attention from the zombies.

Even inside his house, he could hear the screams of the man being chewed and many others following suit.

'I should check the system first, I need to know what it's capable of.' After thinking this, Ethan tried to open the interface, and it appeared before him.

Status:

* Physical condition: Minor head injury, significant blood loss.

* Name: Ethan

* Age: 20

* Race: Human

* Class: Necromancer

* HP: 100

* Mana: 200

* Strength: 6

* Agility: 7

* Endurance: 5

* Vitality: 5

* Intelligence: 10

* Wisdom: 10

* Luck: 6

(Note: The average for adult humans is 5 for most attributes. For young people, it's 2. Luck is measured differently: 1 to 3 is low, 4 to 7 is medium, 8 to 10 is high.)

* Abilities: None.

* Talent: Manipulation of Death Energy

Manipulation of Death Energy: A necromancer can channel and control the energy associated with death. This energy can be used to reanimate the dead, weaken the living, or create magical effects related to death.

Ethan took a deep breath. Now he had something to work with. His strength, agility, and luck were slightly above average, while his intelligence and wisdom were double the average. Ethan wasn't surprised by his stats; after all, he knew his own body well. What interested him was his talent, which was undoubtedly thanks to the Necromancer class.

'Now, I need to organize what I'll need to survive in this apocalypse. All kinds of supplies, everything I can find. Luckily, I still have plenty of food I made in the past few days, so I have enough for a month.'

Ethan assessed the supplies available in his house and then looked for something that could be used as a weapon. He found a baseball bat.

'This will have to do,' Ethan thought as he entered the bathroom for a quick shower to wash off the blood. Looking at himself in the mirror, he noticed that the wound wasn't too severe.

Ethan had short black hair, striking red eyes, and stood at 1.75 meters tall with well-defined muscles. He could be considered above average in terms of looks.

After leaving the bathroom, he heard faint knocks on the door. His heart raced, thinking it could be a zombie. He grabbed his baseball bat and approached the door cautiously.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!

The noise continued, and as he got closer to the door and looked through the peephole, he saw a thin man about his age standing there – his neighbor from the house next door.

Ethan hesitated about whether to open the door or not since he didn't know what was really happening in the world.

While he hesitated, a loud noise rang out, followed by silence. Looking through the peephole, all he could see was blood everywhere as the zombie bit into the man's neck.

Ethan stepped back from the door without making a sound.

'Damn, they're everywhere.'

'Well, since I have a system, I should be able to level up by killing zombies' Ethan gripped his bat firmly as he walked back to the door. When he opened it slightly, a click could be heard.

The zombie that had been biting the man turned toward the door.

As soon as Ethan opened the door, the zombie was already in front of him, ready to bite. He was startled by this and quickly jumped back, causing the zombie to miss its bite. Ethan took advantage of the moment and struck the zombie's head, sending it to the ground with the force of his blow.

The zombie hadn't been finished off yet, so it tried to get up again. However, Ethan didn't let it rise and delivered more blows to its skull, finally stopping it from moving.

*You killed a zombie +10 exp *

Ethan only stopped when the notification appeared, confirming that the zombie was truly dead.

'Haha, so I really level up by killing zombies.' Ethan smiled as he thought about the experience he had just gained. At that moment, he heard more noise coming from outside his house. Ethan quickly ran to the door and locked it. Looking through the peephole, he could see several zombies approaching his house, stopping just a few steps from his door.

Ethan retreated as quietly as he could.

Now, it was just Ethan and a zombie corpse at his door.

Ethan had an idea.

'I'll use this zombie to kill the others. After all, I'm a Necromancer.' he thought. He attempted to use his manipulation of death energy to reanimate the zombie corpse, but as his energy neared the body, a series of information appeared from his system.

* Attempting to reanimate zombie corpse... Failure, energy present in the zombie is conflicting with your energy, please input more energy *

Upon reading that, Ethan once again poured more energy into it. Previously, he had only used the minimum, but now his mana was rapidly depleting, and yet there was still no sign of it working.

* 0/200, reanimation failed

, your mana is depleted, please become stronger *

Ethan was surprised that even after using all his mana, he couldn't reanimate the zombie. He began to doubt whether the Necromancer class was working or not, but after some thought, he believed it was because of his low level. So, he decided to kill the zombies outside instead.

Ethan once again approached the door and lightly tapped it, making almost inaudible noise, as he looked through the peephole.

Two zombies began to shuffle toward his door. Realizing this, Ethan gently opened the door, letting the two zombies slowly enter the room.

Ethan had successfully attracted the zombies, and now it was time to finish them off.

The zombies were searching around the room, as the noise had stopped while Ethan hid behind the door. He then closed the door without making any noise and stealthily positioned himself behind one of the zombies.

With a powerful swing, Ethan struck the zombie's head, causing it to collapse. At that moment, the other zombie rushed toward the source of the noise and attacked Ethan directly. He didn't waste any time and defended himself against the bite by shoving his baseball bat into the zombie's mouth.

At that moment, the other zombie had recovered from the blow and charged at Ethan, who pushed the one in front of him aside and kicked the advancing zombie, sending it tumbling backward.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ethan struck the nearest zombie again, causing it to fall, but right after the first attack, two more zombies followed, making the fallen zombie twitch.

'Only two left,' Ethan thought as he watched the two zombies get up. He ran toward the zombie that was closer to standing up and attacked from above with his baseball bat, defeating it with a single blow.

The other zombie had already gotten up, but it was an easy target for Ethan; after all, it was just a zombie. Ethan sidestepped the zombie's attack, causing it to fall to the ground. He finished it off with a few more blows.

* You killed a zombie +10 exp *

* You killed a zombie +10 exp *

After seeing the notifications, he let out a sigh of relief.

Ethan then checked his experience points, and an interface indicating his exp appeared.

* 30/50 for the next level *

Ethan smiled.

"All right, now I just need to do that two more times, and I'll level up." After thinking this, Ethan went to the door and repeated the process.

This time, three zombies were drawn to his door. Ethan sighed but decided to proceed with the plan.

As the zombies entered the room and began searching, Ethan closed the door and quietly positioned himself behind one of them. He attacked the zombie's head with all his strength, but this time, the zombie didn't fall; it merely staggered to the side. The other zombies immediately charged at Ethan.

'Darn it, these zombies!' Ethan thought as he struck one of them with force, causing it to fall.

The other zombie continued advancing, mouth agape. Ethan used his baseball bat to defend against the bite by shoving it into the zombie's mouth.

At that moment, the other zombie had recovered from the blow and rushed at Ethan, who pushed the one in front of him aside and kicked the advancing zombie, sending it tumbling backward.

Seizing the opportunity, Ethan attacked the nearest zombie again, causing it to fall. But after the first blow, two more zombies followed, causing the fallen zombie to twitch.

'Only two left,' Ethan thought as he watched the two zombies get up. He ran toward the zombie that was closer to standing up and attacked from above with his baseball bat, defeating it with a single blow.

The other zombie had already gotten up, but it was an easy target for Ethan; after all, it was just a zombie. Ethan sidestepped the zombie's attack, causing it to fall to the ground. He finished it off with a few more blows.

* You killed a zombie +10 exp *

* You killed a zombie +10 exp *

* You killed a zombie +10 exp *

* Congratulations, you leveled up *

* You can choose one of the following skills as an advancement reward:

1. Summon Skeleton

2. Bone Blade

3. Communication with the Dead

(Note: Leveling up unlocks new skills. Skills not chosen can be learned later with attribute points gained every 3 levels.)

After reading this, Ethan felt excited. He would receive two more skills on his next level up. With newfound determination, he thought about continuing his hunt.