Chương 2: Unique Skills

The rustling sound of grass behind him immediately sent Nyx into hyper-alert mode. He turned over and aimed his Glock 20 directly at it.

"Wh-Who's there, come out, I have a gun! An actual one!" he warned, while slowly stepping away from the source of the disturbance and towards his E-Bike. Right then, bursting out from behind the grass came a withered husk of a corpse, with tattered clothing, barely any hair, and scratched, wounded flesh colored by coagulated blood. Nyx's eyes immediately widened. His heart wanted to think that perhaps that was some beaten up homeless guy, or something, but his brain knew that wasn't the case.

The dead corpse of a zombie growled gutturally, while running towards him, its body swaying and almost falling over at times. Nyx gritted his teeth, and held the gun more steady in hand, aiming the best he could, before opening fire. The recoil shook his hands as the bullets flew all over the corpse, piercing its hands, legs, and chest.

"Raaaaagh!" The zombie screamed its last, as a bullet finally pierced its brain. Nyx immediately climbed onto his E-Bike and rode away from it. System notifications dinged around the side of his vision. He ignored them, focusing instead on catching his breath.

"Just my luck." After riding a kilometer or two away, he parked the bike beneath one of the only trees around the endless grassy plains all around him. He found a question mark hovering over the vehicle, begging for his attention. He mentally nudged it like he'd done before with the system notification, and a blue panel opened up.

[Dilapidated E-Bike] Grade: Tier 1 Vehicle Level: 0 Max Speed: 25km/h Durability: 35% (Slowly decreasing) Remaining Fuel: 1 unit (Can travel 300 kilometers) Owner: Nyx (Only Owner May use it) Upgraded Parts: None Upgradeable Parts: Frame, Engine Core, Tires Vehicle Advancement Requirements: Gold x20, Mechanical Parts x10, Iron Plates x10, Pulse Core x1, Rubber x100, Iron Beams x10, Electrical Parts x5, Leather x10 (Advancement can only be unlocked when all base parts are upgraded) Evaluation: A lightweight, old vehicle most useful for roaming around gardens.

Not necessarily suited for a zombie-infested wildland. The vehicle is still useful, though, as it makes little to no sound when driving, unlike the roar of an engine, and consumes next to no fuel. Nyx considered the information; the ownership clause was neat. The panel itself appeared very similar to a status bar often seen in games. But it didn't make him feel any better.

"The cost of advancing this thing is steep." He looked back at his inventory.

"Three gold, one unit of fuel, and ninety universal bullets. Not much, huh." Nyx sat back down beneath the tree, resting his back against its trunk. In front of him, plains of green grass stretched as far as he could see, with barely any movement of birds or anything else. It looked as desolate as it could possibly be. He opened the notification he'd received just after riding off from that zombie. [Successfully killed a Walker Zombie! Gold +0. 1! Leather x1]"That was a walker?"

He could've sworn that thing ran at him.

"Just how much faster are sprinters than…" And at night, these things were supposed to go berserk. Nyx looked at the notification again, eyeing his reward. Killing zombies gave gold, and gold was necessary for advancing vehicles. But first, he tapped one of the upgradeable parts of his E-Bike—the frame. Stolen novel; please report. [Frame] Upgrade Path: [Iron Frame] Completely transforms the rusty, weak aluminum frame into a fine, black metal-forged workhorse.

In exchange, the height and weight increases slightly, and it comes with a better, more powerful pedal for when the battery runs out. [Upgrade Requires: Gold x3, Iron Plate x5]"Hmm, should I?" Technically speaking, it was invaluable for him to keep his vehicle in top-notch condition. In fact, he of all people should have it as finely tuned as possible. An E-Bike by itself provided almost no cover, and if its frame cracked during the night on top of that, he'd very much be screwed.

He opened the [Exchange] panel to check prices.

"Whoa, they're rather cheap." He scrolled through the listed items.

"They're mostly listed by other survivors." The prices for things like iron plates were only 0. 2 gold per piece. What Nyx found odd was that some people had even listed things like Pulse Cores for a single gold piece.

"Seems like they got them from the initial chest." It could also be that these people, with their vehicles, had already begun their search for additional treasure chests.

"Sheesh, I'm already falling behind while they're speedrunning this." Nyx shook his head—there were always some nutcases who adapted to situations quickly.

"Though, that only means if I don't get moving, I'll be left behind too." His thoughts drifted to his home, his friends, how quick they were to adapt. With a self-deprecating smile, he stood up.

"First, what does this thing do?" He looked at the skill he'd been given.

"Usurper." He clicked on the question mark at its corner. [Usurper] Evaluation: A unique ability born from one's soul, allowing for theft of all kinds. Currently, however, it can only steal part of the loot off zombie corpses, regardless of whoever's the killer.

"That's interesting…" He mulled over the information as several ideas sprang to mind.

"This one could be a lifesaver." He sat back down under the tree to fully flesh out a plan. First off, the skill's evaluation mentioned it could steal loot from zombie corpses. Ignoring, for now, the fact that they were already moving corpses, it likely meant that once one was put down, the killer would receive the loot—just as he'd gotten moments ago. The system alerted the transfer of loot immediately, and it went straight to one's inventory.

The gap between a zombie being put down and the loot being transferred was very small.

"Maybe a three-second gap, between the zombie getting killed and the loot transferring to the killer." The evaluation had also specifically mentioned that Usurper could only steal loot off zombie corpses.

"That means I'd have to somehow cast it in that window." He rubbed his chin.

"But wait, there's more I need to figure out." Like range. Did he need to be looking at the corpse while using the skill?

"There wasn't any mention of hand gestures or chants, so it's likely I can activate it by command alone." He looked around the desolate land.

"I need to test it on something." The skill was his only real shot at surviving the first night. Looking at the sky above, the sun sat barely at the center of the slightly overcast sky. That meant it was around midday.

"I have limited time until sundown." Before the sun went down, he'd have to find some way to upgrade his vehicle, because the zombies already ran fast under the scorching sun. At night, they'd start sprinting like Usain Bolt.

"At that point, I'd be nothing but their dinner." He clicked on the engine core section of the bike's upgradeable parts. [Engine Core] Upgrade Path: [Extended Battery] Increases the auto-electricity recovery speed by 30%, and doubles the electricity storage. The motor and gears would be upgraded alongside the battery as a whole, doubling acceleration. [Upgrade Requires: Gold x4, Electrical Parts x20] Nyx breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, nothing expensive like a 'Pulse Core' is needed." Although the price was still steep, he had about 3. 1 gold, some fuel, bullets, and leather. The route Nyx had taken after killing that zombie had been relatively flat, and even then he'd suffered considerable ups and downs.

"This E-Bike isn't cutting it." That meant he needed to upgrade not just the frame, but the tires too—doing so would automatically upgrade the suspension as well.

"I think I can skip the frame upgrade, as long as I upgrade the tires." Nyx stood back up, dusting off his trousers, and climbed onto his bike. As it turned out, all he needed to do was twist the throttle to start it—no keys required. Then again, stealing it would've been pointless if you couldn't even use it. He rode around aimlessly over the plains for a while before stumbling across a corpse lying in the grass. He parked his vehicle a bit further away and shot it twice, making sure to ride off immediately after.

He didn't go too far, though, keeping close by. No zombie came charging out from the tall grass at the sound.

"And no notification either." That meant everything was clear—the zombie was truly dead, and there were no live ones nearby. He parked the vehicle right over the corpse this time, and focused his palm over it.

"Activate, Unique Skill [Usurper]." No sound, smoke, or anything came from his palm. Instead, he heard a notification. [Usurpation Successful] [Acquired: Gold 0. 1, Leather x1] Nyx's grin widened, and he pulled his fingers into a fist in excitement. It worked! he shouted internally. The theory, essentially, was that once a zombie was killed by a survivor, loot like gold and materials transferred to them. But what about zombies killed by beasts, or ones that simply died from sunlight exposure?

Would the system bother wasting its efforts by taking back that meager loot? Chances were, no—mainly because no other player could claim the loot of an already-dead zombie. To get the loot, you had to be the one to kill it. Nyx finally felt part of the heaviness lift from his heart as he looked out over the endless plains with renewed hope. He climbed back on his bike and twisted the throttle. The hot midday wind brushed his face as he took off again.

After an hour of scavenging corpses, Nyx spotted a streak of light emanating from a bush ahead. He drove forward to check, and his eyes widened at what he found.

"It's an Iron Treasure Chest!"