Breakthrough!

After the burst of energy, the body part that activated the skill becomes devoid of energy.

There's two points to take note: it feels strange having no energy circulating on that body part after getting used to it, and the muscles become stressed from overload causing it to ache.

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

The zombies started hitting the van causing it to shake. Alex was almost thrown off but he got his footing back and balanced himself.

Some of them tried to grab his ankles but he managed to stay far from their reach.

He activated his Relieve Pain to numb the aching muscles on his feet which slowly numbed the pain.

"Crap, crap, crap! What the heck is happening?"

Alex quickly used his True Sight and looked closely at the zombies.

Nothing out of the ordinary except from a white outline that glowed and highlighted their form. It's like an aura that envelopes them which he never saw when it was dawn.

"So they do become stronger in the morning... Tsk. I need to go home now or find some place I can hide."

Going back home opens up a lot of change for danger to look for him and looking for a place to hide temporarily seems to br the best option.

Especially when he already cleared the houses in this street.

"The problem is do I fight or take flight?"

He didn't take long to settle for an answer.

He plans to do both.

He will try to fight using the high ground advantage and try to pop some heads. If more zombies appear, he will immediately escape and hide house after house.

Alex didn't want to rely on Power Smash so he made sure to use basic attacks and only used the skill when a zombie tried to jump and grab him.

Thankfully, he didn't see any zombies wandering further in this location.

Alex checked if there's any loot but aside from dirty clothing, he didn't find anything else on the pile.

"I guess only variations drop that crystal? Well, that's still not proven but with more examples I can get concrete details later on."

He picked a house near the middle to give him some buffer zone in case some zombies pass by.

Though he haven't encountered a zombie that could track or find him, it's still better to be on the safe side.

Alex hopped down the van and headed to the door.

He opened the door and immediately checked the place.

Still no zombies.

Good.

He locked the front door and moved around.

No one was in the living room, no one was in the kitchen.

The place remained the same just like how he left it after clearing it earlier.

He went up the second floor and chose the room furthest from the stairs.

The room has a double decker bed with a nightstand in the middle. The window faced the road and the van.

"I don't think anyone's gonna come here but if I do get some company, I can just jump out the window and run."

Alex sat on the bed and meditated. He cancelled Relieve Pain and the familiar feeling of energy rushing to his feet slowly soothed the pain.

The pain was like a dull throb before but now, the pain was reduced to a slight ache.

His energy was passively circulating but it takes a few minutes of rest before everything fully disappear.

"Now I need to think of something I can do to deal with the pain. Using High Jump with Relieve Pain is the best fix I can think of right now."

"The other thing is I need to develop a new skill for cushioning impacts or blows to my body. Also, the impact of jumping down from a high place is a another factor I need to deal with. The earlier I can find a solution, the easier it will be for me later on."

Alex continued to meditate and think of a solution. He slowly fell into a trance and his body continued cultivating his Three-Seven Breathing Technique.

When he woke up, he felt rejuvenated. The pain and fatigue in his body disappeared.

He had a strange sense of familiarity on his whole body like he wasn't in full control before but now he could do more flexible actions and exert better control over his muscles.

Something stood out after he took a deep breath.

He stinks!

"It happened again? The last time this happened is when I first started practicing the breathing technique. Did this happen again because I kept cultivating or because I fought zombies? Or is it both?"

What does cultivating and killing zombies have in common?

He needs to do them to survive?

To become stronger?

Alex started thinking more and and delved deeper to their similarities. He found the possible answer.

"They give me more energy?" He muttered softly. "Wait... yes! Though they're using different methods, both allows me to become exposed with more energy!"

"Cultivating with the breathing technique allows for a passive and safe method to be exposed to the special energy."

"On the other side, killing or staying near a recently killed zombie allows me to absorb their leaking energy. Then when their energy runs out, they turn to dust."

Alex become shock with his realization. Figuring out the rules of the world made him elated.

With this information, he can take advantage of it and become stronger faster.

The stronger he become, the easier it will be to survive the new world.

Alex felt the sticky feeling on his body and frowned at his dirty clothes.

"No, I shouldn't be disgusted. This is actually a blessing. It's like I levelled up or had a breakthrough in my cultivation rank."

Alex become happier after he thought of the possible changes in his body and new possibilities in regards to his skills.

But before that...

He went to the bathroom and spent a good half an hour to relax and clean himself up.

"Ah, now that feels great."

Alex looked at his reflection on the mirror. His black hair, black eyes, and fair skin are all his.

He was surprised when he noticed he started to form some muscles on his stomach. Usually, it was on the 'cute' side instead of muscle-y.

Though his body was fit, it can't compare to those muscular guys who lift weights and train their body to become bigger and stronger.

He was fine being lean and he saw no problem with it.

"Maybe it's because of my age or my physique but I don't grow that much even though I did some exercise."

Alex flexed on the mirror fot a bit and then got clothed to continue his day. He wore a simple shirt and a pair of jeans.

Now, he used up all his clothes that he brought and need to get a new set when he gets home.

As for the dirty clothes, he had throw it away since he didn't even know if he could wash off the stinky smell.

He walked down and looked for some food. He didn't really search most of the kitchens when he was clearing houses earlier, so he hoped this place has some food stocked.

"The fridge and freezer are empty. Nothing. Let's try the cupboards. Hmmm... canned goods. At least there's something. Ah, this one's not bad. I've always liked sweet corn."

He got a can opener and ate the canned sweet corn.

He felt bliss.

The flavor wasn't anything special but being able to eat and relax after some hard work is always appreciated.

After finishing the sweet corn and drinking some water, he went up to his room and watched the TV.

"Oh, static?"

Alex was surprised to see a local station showing nothing, so he changed channels.

Some channels are still playing movies but more and more channels are showing static and no signal.

He opened his laptop and connected to the internet then checked online for new updates.

Nothing new.

People requesting help.

Asking for food.

Asking for tips to survive.

Trolls acting like their usual self.

All kinds of things but not one talk about cultivation or the new powers.

"Why is no one talking about it? Does no one really know about it?"

Alex couldn't believe it. He immediately felt the changes on the first hour of the apocalypse. Why does other people act like they didn't experience it?

Could it be that people who knows about these changes didn't want to tell other people about it?

Are they purposely hiding information and keeping it to themselves?

Probably... but there's also another possible reason.

For example, they are too busy trying to survive.

Just like him.

Survivors who are trying to survive need to focus on their own survival first.

He doesn't know their situation but he's quite free at the moment.

Should he publish this information?