Chapter 1: The Books

It was supposed to be a normal day.

Sitting in a fairly full classroom, at least 20 students all around high school age, was a teen who couldn't have been older than 17. He had dark brown hair along with a pair of incredibly violet eyes, no different than the wisteria flower.

The teen expected it to be a normal day in the classroom. He had just come in, only a few minutes into his first class of the day and he was already falling asleep. All part of the course for a normal day.

But if that was the case…

'Why the hell are there so many floating books?!'

The lights in the classroom had been cut off. It was dark and in a room without windows, it was practically pitch black. The only light was that of the window on the door that led to the hallway and from the mysterious floating books.

All around him, floating softly around the room, were dozens upon dozens of books, all with a little image of a person, a title, and several stars. Everything from 1 star to 5 stars.

In the center of all the floating books, also in the center of the classroom, was a countdown timer. It only had 2 minutes left on it and if he was a betting man, which he might be, then he would guess it meant how long the books would last.

He didn't know what to do. Some of the other students had already taken a book from the air and he felt like following their example. Time was running out, he had to make a choice soon.

[Way of Hunter {***}]

[Seeker's Choice {**}]

[Magician of the Tarrot{****}]

Those were some of the book titles he saw floating in the air. Only a minute left and that four-star was the highest he'd seen so far and it was probably his best bet. With only 30 seconds left, he reac-

There was a five-star in front of him.

Right in front of him, no more than a few inches away from him, there was a five-star in front of him. It was colored blood red with a thorny vine-like green frame around the Book.

[Corpse Seed {*****}]

10.

9.

8.

7.

With the timer coming to a close, the teen reached for the five-star book with only seconds to spare. His fingers grasped the edge of the book, his fingertips briefly touching it.

When he did, the book dissolved into golden sparks of light before swirling into a drill-like motion, the tip aimed at his chest. He didn't get the chance to question it before it drilled straight into his flesh, not leaving a scratch on him but entering him.

'What the hell was that?!' The teen thought, blindingly patting his body for wounds.

3.

2.

1.

0.

The books abruptly disappeared as soon as they came into existence. Most of the 20 students didn't reach out to grab any of the books, but a few of the students did. Around one in four of them picked up a book.

"What was that?!"

"What happened?!"

"Students! Please calm down!"

Now that the books had disappeared, the students resorted back to panic, the shock of the event leaving them. Even the teacher was struggling to calm the riled-up students down.

Fortunately for the students who did pick a book, there was another screen for them. It was colored rose gold with a black frame, the same as the countdown timer he saw, but it was bigger and with a different message.

{Skill [Corpse Seed] Chosen. Allows for the creation of a Corpse Seed at the cost of blood. Corpse Seed can be implanted in corpses for the purpose of reanimating the dead. Corpses retain most of their power and abilities. More seeds are required for larger beings.}

'Are these…like powers?'

The teen considered the options. Either A, he's going absolutely insane and this is just some kind of fever-induced delusion or B, this was all real, and he just had gained powers.

Seeing as he didn't feel the slightest bit off, he was most definitely going to go with B. Also because faith and hope are real things and he didn't want to go back to being a normal teen.

He signed inside his mind, unfortunately, he didn't get to do much more before there was a rather harsh BANG! Against the door. The noise was enough to bring the classroom to silence.

The doorknob giggled as the class watched in anticipation. A creek was all they heard before rays of light peeked through the crack of the door before, from the light, emerged a hand that just couldn't be human.

Or rather, it wasn't human anymore. The hand that peeked through was that of a skeleton and with a simple push to the door, the decayed body of what should belong in a graveyard was revealed to the class.

"What the hell is that!?"

"A monster?!"

"How is it alive?!"

The panicked cries of terrified students came back in full force. A class full of 20 students all started screaming, shouting in fear, and running away to the corners of the class. Trying to be as far away as possible from the monster.

The [Corpse Seed] teen panicked, the monster raising the sword it held in its palms before it began hacking away at any person it could. He wanted to move but he couldn't. He was frozen. Fear filled his body no different than icy water traveling down his spine.

The decayed skeleton was walking towards him, while other students chose to run, he didn't get a choice. Fight or Flight, but he chose Freeze. He couldn't move. He was frozen.

The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was getting closer. The monster was get-

Somebody had a sword.

Somebody had a sword and used it to slash at the monster. The steel of the blade cut away at the hand reaching for him, decayed bone and flesh falling to the ground with a dry SPLAT!

"Hey, you alright?"

Standing in front of him was another teen, maybe a year older than him. It was a guy with light-blondish hair that was kept neat and to the side. He had sky-blue eyes and held a sword with two hands.

The monster, which he just noticed now held a different sword, and raised its blade before swinging it down at the blonde-haired teen. It cut through the air with a violent SWISH!

The blonde-haired teen brought up his own, almost like a subconscious reaction, the teen didn't even seem to realize that he brought up his own sword to block the descending blade.

The sound of clashing steel was enough to get the dark brown-haired teen, the one frozen in fear, to snap out of his scared state. His mind reacting to the danger subconsciously.

He moved out of the way of their clash, tripping over a piece of flesh and bone of his now-dead classmates. His feet stumbling over the corpses, but he just had to get away.

Fortunately, it seemed he didn't have to get far. Crashing down in front of him before rolling to a stop only a few feet away was the skull of the decayed skeleton monsters.

Turning back to look at the man who had saved him, he saw that the blonde-haired teen was covered in blood, a fact he didn't notice before, more than likely his dead classmates' blood.

Or so he thought, obvious cuts and gashes on his body showing the battle he had just been through, a sword stuck inside his stomach. It was clear that he didn't have much time left.

"It's Abel right…?" The dying teen said with a weak voice.

"...What?" The now-named Abel said, shocked and wide-eyed that the bleeding teen could speak in the first place.

"I'm not…going to stand up…much-" His warning rang true as he immediately collapsed to the ground.

Abel rushed to his side, his hands getting covered in blood as he tried to stop the bleeding on the numerous wounds on his body. Seeing no other choice, Abel pulled out the sword.

That was a mistake, the bleeding only got worse and by the dying light in the teen's eyes, he was living on barely borrowed time. The scarlet liquid leaked from his lips.

"This is it for me…"

"No no no no…I-I'll figure something out!" Abel was struggling to keep the blood inside where it was supposed to be, but it was just too much and too late. The light faded from the teen's eyes.

Even after seeing the death before him, Abel couldn't stop trying to stop the blood, even going as far as stealing the clothes off his dead classmates to bandage the wounds.

But that was when he heard it,

Screams. So many screams. Abel could hear it down the hall, the hundreds of piercing screams of terrified and scared teens. The sound of it was horrifying, nightmare-inducing.

But the screams weren't the worst part. The worst part was when the screams abruptly cut off. He could hear the screams of teachers and students alike, the sound of some cutting off was an indication of what was happening.

People all around the school were dying.

Abel tried to rush out of the room, his legs springing into motion, but he was stopped by the crowd of rushing students and teachers alike. Their screams are much closer to him now.

"WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

"RUN FASTER!"

Abel stayed quiet, his fist clenched and face set into a grimace. He didn't want to follow after them. It was a stampede just waiting to crush him if he tried to jump into the crowd now.

Turning back into the room, he saw the headless corpse of the monster that had killed the other teen. An idea came into his mind, the thought of the book he had chosen flashing into his brain.

Abel walked up to the corpse, thinking of if he should bring the head back to it. Ultimately, he chose that he hated the monster, he needed to break the monster for what it did.

Abel brought his leg up, letting it rest on the skull. Shifting his weight, he put as much force as he could onto the skull, an angry scowl obvious and present on his face.

The Skull Shattered.

He sighed, his anger leaving him with a breath of air. He walked back to the skeleton corpse, its decayed flesh having rotted and completely gone. Abel reached down to its rib cage.

"Corpse Seed."

Blood spilled from his palms, not a cut in sight, and yet it flowed from his hand. Together, it came together to form a sort of roundish and ridged seed that sank into the rib cage of the monster.

Pitch black-colored roots exploded out of the seed, an almost screeching sound coming from the seed. Thorny vines followed soon after, wrapping around the limbs of the skeleton with vivid purple flowers blooming all over it.

The skeleton, now covered in roots, thorns, and flowers, stood up. The vines pulled on its bones, getting it to stand and move towards its forgotten sword, picking it up.

[??? {Lv.1}]

Seeing a sort of name-tag screen above the headless monster, Abel spoke. "I guess you don't have a name…I'll name you Thorn."

[Thorn {Lv.1}]

Abel was about to speak again, but that was when he heard it. A familiar voice screaming. A friend of his was in trouble and this time, Abel wasn't going to hesitate.

He sprinted out of the room, Thorn following close behind him. The crowd had dispersed and mostly left already, leaving only the crushed bodies of those unlucky enough to get caught in the stampede.

Fortunately, the hallways were empty and the screams were getting farther away from him. Abel guessed students and faculty were running away, leaving the school entirely.

Turning a corner, he saw that he wasn't so lucky. Blocking the way forward was a group of three skeletons, no different than the decayed monster that entered their classroom.

Abel spoke, not slowing down on his run.

"Thorn."

The named monster shot forward, raising its sword above its head before bringing it down upon the unsuspecting skeletons. Steel met bone and it was obvious that the skeletons were outclassed even if they were originally the same monster.

Whatever the Corpse Seed did to the monster, it was working, thankfully, his destination was only a few doors down now. He could see the red door of classroom 317, his friend's class.

[Level up! Stats increased! Select an upgrade!]

[Thorn {Lv.1} -> {Lv.2}]

[Corpse Seed Limit: 3 -> 5]

[Corpse Seed Range: 30m -> 50m]

Unfortunately, he was distracted by the screen, Abel pressed the first option of his choices, too busy trying to reach the door to actually see what he had chosen.

Barging through the door, he didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't…this. A mess of gore, bodies covered the floor with scarlet blood acting as a fresh set of paint for the walls that had witnessed the carnage.

In the center of it, they're was a monster. A monster with long black hair that fell to their back. It looked distinctly female and its face was turned away from Abel, its jaws sunken into the neck of its latest victim.

"W-What…?" Abel stammered, his eyes wide in fear, Thorn coming up to stand beside him.

His stuttered words were the only sound in the room. The monster flinched and turned to face Abel, its eyes colored a scarlet red and, oddly enough, filled with fear. The monster was scared of him.

"A-Abel…What did I do…?"

When he heard the voice and saw the trembling sight of the monster's face, Abel realized who the monster was. Or rather that it wasn't a monster in the first place.

It was his friend.