“The opportunity is only once.
There’s no time to hesitate.”
“I, I…”
Yui’s personality had always been soft and gentle.
Although not particularly smart, she was very good at reading the room.
The scenes that had just unfolded were etched into the girl’s memory.
Her incompetent teammates, the indecisive Hayato, the irritable Kakeru, and her close friend, known as the “Flame Queen”—Miura Yumiko.
Yumiko wasn’t a bad person, but she had a hot temper and a strong personality.
Throughout their second year of high school, she had often stood up for Yui.
Could Yui really bring herself to abandon Yumiko and go with Yukino to seek refuge with the scary Kiryu?
“Yui, stop right there!
Think this through carefully!
If you walk out that door, it won’t be so easy to come back!!”
Watching the girl leave alongside Yukino, Yumiko’s face turned red with anger.
Her well-developed, magnificent chest heaved up and down from her rage.
She couldn’t imagine it, no matter how hard she tried, that Yui, who usually timidly followed her around like a little sidekick, would actually turn her back on her and leave.
To follow that cold woman she couldn’t stand!!!
“Sorry, Yumiko.”
Yui’s pretty face showed a trace of guilt.
But she still unhesitatingly pulled away and left.
She had no idea why she had inexplicably followed them out.
But she almost instinctively trusted Yukino.
And so, she followed her heart and left.
“Yuigahama Yui?
You heard what Miura Yukino just said to me, right?”
Kiryu, clearing the path ahead, looked back with some surprise at the girl bringing up the rear.
He hadn’t expected the ‘Dumpling’ to be so bold, directly turning her back on the group to follow him.
“Y-Yes…
Kiryu-kun, I’ll give you my ‘Newcomer Gift’,” Yuigahama Yui said, her expression timid.
[Ding, player ‘Yuigahama Yui’ invites you to receive her item ‘Newcomer Gift’.
Accept?]
[Accept]
…
[Item Name: Death Delay Aura]
[Quality: Crude]
[Description: After choosing to use this item, even if you suffer a fatal wound, you can forcibly delay the injury and maintain function until it erupts 10 minutes later.]
[Uses Remaining: Single Use]
[Equip Condition: None]
[Note: Tortoise and the Hare, right?
Ten minutes later, you’re still checking in at hell.
— By: The Grim Reaper]
…
‘A ten-minute fast-acting heart pill, huh.’
Kiryu blinked and accepted it without hesitation.
The [Death Delay Aura] item, although it had no physical form, would always linger around him once activated.
If upgraded using traits…
It could definitely become a great life-saving item!
Additionally, Yui, like Yukino, agreed to the same terms of payment.
Thanks to his earlier killing spree, there were no longer any zombies standing in the hallway outside.
‘I still have 10 white traits in my trait bank.
That’s enough to synthesize one green trait.’
Kiryu pondered to himself.
Traits could be upgraded, but the number of traits consumed would be ten times the original amount.
For example, a regular white trait required 10 copies to upgrade to green.
To upgrade a green trait to blue, it needed 10 green traits, or 100 white traits.
And so on.
The cost-effectiveness kept scaling up!
[Ding, synthesis complete.
10x White Traits successfully upgraded to 1x Green Trait.
Choose target item for infusion?]
‘Yes.
Select target item — [Air Rune].’
[Ding, item — [Air Rune] has been upgraded.]
A single green trait was invested.
Successfully completing the rune upgrade.
[Item Name: Breeze Rune]
[Quality: Common]
[Effect: When carrying the Breeze Rune, your base speed increases by 15%.
You receive the attention of the wind element, with a high probability of dealing bonus wind element damage in attacks.]
[Equip Condition: None]
[Note: The wind begins to howl.]
Under the Death Game’s classification, item grades were in order: [Crude], [Common], [Uncommon], [Refined], [Perfect], [Legendary], [Epic]…
‘Hmm…
It feels like wind is lingering around me?’
A faint, gentle breeze seemed to linger around Kiryu, like a playful girl expressing affection towards him.
Kiryu raised an eyebrow slightly, a little surprised.
He wasn’t sure if it was an illusion,
But he felt his body had become a bit lighter and nimbler.
‘This is great.
As long as I keep killing zombies, I can keep upgrading the wind element rune!’
The young man clenched his fist, a hint of joy showing on his brow.
“Graaah…”
Outside in the hallway,
Several zombies detected the trio’s presence, shakily getting up from the ground and letting out bursts of miserable, piercing howls.
Their bodies were hunched, like skin and bones.
Their movements weren’t particularly fast either.
But they were very strong.
With their sharp, hard claws, they could easily tear human flesh.
“Perfect.
Let me try out these new tricks on you!”
Kiryu smiled slightly.
Under the astonished gazes of the two girls, he charged at the zombies with his katana.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!
The blade light whistled, appearing like a startled swan.
The occasional pale green wind blades that burst forth were even sharper and more intense.
The few zombies couldn’t even react.
They kept falling like wheat stalks being cut down.
In the blink of an eye,
He harvested several more white traits and game currency.
This school had two main teaching buildings in use.
The one Kiryu and the others were in was the building backing onto the playground.
Across the courtyard was the north side of the other teaching building.
That area contained the school’s playground, including the soccer field, and other outdoor sports facilities.
To the south was the main entrance/exit.
To the west was a large indoor gymnasium, the school cafeteria, and various club activity rooms.
To the east was a bit further, hard to see clearly.
One could only vaguely guess that it should be the auditorium or some such venue.
Naturally, they proceeded with cautious exploration next.
The previous classroom was at the far right end of the hallway.
Kiryu and the two girls searched along the corridor.
They discovered that the other classrooms on this hallway had already been breached and occupied by zombies.
Without any extra words,
Kiryu kicked open a door and ferociously plunged into the zombie horde.
The katana was sharp and shadowless, like a spring of snow water, extraordinarily fierce.
On this run, he collected a total of 15 white traits.
It seemed that green and blue traits like the ones he’d found earlier weren’t so easy to grind out.
Kiryu panted slightly.
He used 10 of the white traits to synthesize another green trait.
Then he infused it into his katana.
[Item Name: Hundred-Forged Katana]
[Quality: Common]
[Description: A katana that has been forged a thousand times, tempered by time.
Its only characteristic is its unyielding, extreme toughness.]
[Special Effect: Monkey’s Prowl (Passively increases the wielder’s speed cap by 20%)]
[Equip Condition: None]
[Note: He who holds a sharp weapon will find murderous thoughts arising within.]