Moon

Jon stood frozen, staring in disbelief at the floating message.

A zombie—something he thought existed only in movies and novels—had just been in front of him, and now, incredibly, he had killed it.

His heart raced, not just from the shock but from the gravity of what he'd just done. There, on the spot where he had struck the zombie's head, a faint light glimmered.

Not as bright as the eerie, floating message, but enough to catch his eye. He hesitated, then reached out, his hand trembling slightly. When his fingers made contact, a small, shining orb materialized in his hand.

"What... is this?" he whispered to himself, the words almost drowned out by the thudding of his heart.

As soon as he touched the orb, a strange sensation washed over him. It was as if knowledge—something ancient, vast—had been transferred into his mind. Without thinking, he willed the orb to do something, anything.

Instantly, it shattered, sending a shimmering light into the air. His eyes widened in awe as the light coalesced into an old, worn-out scroll, the kind one might expect to see in a medieval fantasy. More knowledge flooded his brain, guiding him on what to do next.

"Use mana?" he murmured in confusion, though he wasn't sure how he knew this.

Jon focused, and as he did, the scroll began to glow. It unfolded, then burst into countless pieces of light that shot into his chest.

He staggered, momentarily overwhelmed by the rush of power surging through him. Then it appeared before him again,

[YOU HAVE RECEIVED QUALIFICATION TO USE A MAIN SKILL]

[YOU HAVE RECEIVED MAIN SKILL: STAR, SUN, AND MOON FORCE]

The message floated before him, but Jon barely registered it. He was still trying to read it when distant cries and screams forced him back to reality.

He turned his head toward the people who had already started making some distance away from him. Their faces were contorted with fear and disbelief at the situation.

Jon then glanced back at the zombie's lifeless body, and strangely he didn't feel anything after doing it. It felt like something was suppressing that guilt he was trying to feel.

A voice pierced the silence, shaky and filled with fear. "H-H-How, can you kill a person? A-Are you also one of them?" The student representative for the mass communication department stepped forward, his legs trembling. "No, why did—why did you do that?"

Jon's throat tightened. He hadn't planned this. He hadn't asked for this.

"Haa…" He exhaled sharply, trying to steady his voice. "You all saw what happened. That thing—it wasn't a person anymore. Should we just wait for them to kill us instead?"

"We could've—could've found a way to bring them back!" the student representative argued, his voice cracking under the weight of fear and uncertainty.

Jon clenched his fists. He would rather not be one to argue this point. He hadn't asked for any of it. But deep down, he knew—knew that if they hesitated, they'd all be dead. "Sometimes," Jon said quietly, his voice rough with emotion, "there is no way back."

He turned his attention away from the arguing crowd, his mind still spinning from the rush of information the orb had given him. A new message hovered before his eyes.

[STAR, SUN, MOON SERIES FORCE: IT IS A SERIES THAT USES THE WORLD AROUND YOU AT YOUR DISPOSAL. YOU HAVE OBTAINED THE QUALIFICATION OF THE SERIES 'MOON'. THE MOON IS KNOWN TO BE BEAUTIFUL AND IT BRIGHTENS THE WORLD AND BLOCKS THE SUN AT NIGHT. BUT THAT IS NOT ALL.]

[THE MOON REPRESENTS MYSTERY, DREAMS, THE UNCONSCIOUS]

['MOON' (FIRST REALM) LEVEL 1: YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS TO SOME LEVEL. YOU ARE WITHIN THE SCOPE OF YOUR UNDERSTANDING.]

"So if I kill more of these things, I can get more of these things and grow stronger?" Jon mused to himself, glancing at the rotting corpse in front of him. A strange detachment washed over him as he realized the implications. Maybe, just maybe, this power could help him survive—help them all survive.

A loud BANG suddenly tore him from his thoughts. Jon whipped around, searching for the source of the noise.

Two zombies were mindlessly slamming themselves against the gate to the platform area, their grotesque bodies jerking with unnatural force.

He cursed under his breath. They didn't have much time. "We need to act now," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. He scanned the small group. "Can someone count how many of us are still here?"

A soft, nervous voice responded, "Thirteen, including the ones who fainted. Ten without them." The voice belonged to a girl standing nearby—fair-skinned, with striking grey hair that shaded into black near the tips. She looked as nervous as the rest, but there was a strange steadiness in her eyes that set her apart.

"Alright," Jon said, thinking quickly. "Try to wake the ones who passed out. If you can't, someone's going to have to carry them."

The student representative from earlier, Tunde, shifted uneasily. "Shouldn't we wait for the security team? They'll know what to do."

"Do you really think this isn't happening to them, too?" the girl with the grey hair interjected, her voice more confident this time.

"Exactly," Jon agreed. "We can't just sit here and hope someone else will save us. We need to get out of here while we still can."

Tunde reluctantly nodded, turning to the others. "Fine. Let's try to wake them up or carry them if we have to." He started directing the group, doing his best to stay calm, though his face betrayed his anxiety.

Jon, on the other hand, felt a strange calm settle over him. He turned to the grey-haired girl, surprised to see her walking toward him. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm going to help," she said firmly, though her voice wavered slightly. "You're going to need backup, right?"

Jon blinked, taken aback by her boldness. "You're... brave. But yeah, we'll need a plan." He could see the fear in her eyes, but something else was there too—a quiet determination. He realized that, like him, she must've gotten some kind of power from this nightmare.

"What's your name?" Jon asked.

"Jenny. Jenny Stalwart," she replied.

"Jon Whyte," he said, offering a brief nod. "Let's do this."

The gate stood between them and the zombies. It wasn't particularly tall, only about waist-high. Jon wasn't exactly towering at 5'10", but it was enough to give him some advantage. His mind raced as he tried to think of the best way to approach the situation. "I'll distract the one on the left," he said, glancing at Jenny. "You take out the other one. Just don't let it touch you."

Jenny swallowed hard, her breath coming quicker as the tension rose. She was clearly scared, but Jon could see her resolve building. He gave her a reassuring nod before stepping forward.

Jon ran forward and with a swift kick, Jon sent the gate flying open, knocking one of the zombies back. Immediately, he stretched out his hand, feeling the now-familiar rush of mana leaving his body.

A bluish fog surrounded him, swirling as it latched onto the zombie. The sensation was strange, like he could feel the creature's movements from within. With a surge of concentration, he froze its limbs, buying just enough time.

"Now!" Jon shouted.

Jenny moved quickly, despite the terror written on her face. She darted forward and swung her weapon—a sturdy stick—toward the immobilized zombie.

The impact was brutal, sending its head snapping to the side with a sickening crack. For a moment, the creature seemed to falter, but then it began twitching again. Jenny, panicked but determined, struck again and again until the zombie crumpled to the ground.

Breathing heavily, she stood over the lifeless body, her hands trembling. A soft light suddenly emerged from the zombie, shooting into Jenny's chest. Her eyes widened as the same notification appeared before her, though she was too stunned to react.

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED LEVEL 4 ZOMBIE REMAINS]

[YOUR LEVEL HAS INCREASED]

Jon, too, had finished off his zombie, using the same technique for the second zombie. And as finished and straightened himself up, a notification appeared before him as well.

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED LEVEL 5 ZOMBIE REMAINS]

Jon glanced at Jenny, watching as she stumbled upon her own shining scroll and absorbed its power.

He saw her begin to glow in a silver aura, and for a moment, he realized they were both changing—becoming something more than human.

And whether it was a good or bad thing was still yet to be decided.