After Jacob awakened his talent, his overall combat effectiveness improved by leaps and bounds. He could handle five ordinary zombies simultaneously without losing his edge or exposing a single opening.
Summer sat atop a high wooden crate, watching his movements with pure fascination. It was not because his newly awakened talent was anything visually spectacular, but rather because of the sophisticated, deliberate way he fought.
Every single joint in his body seemed to respond to his intent with complete harmony. She had a strong feeling that even without an awakened talent, Jacob had possessed the physical ability to fight off ordinary zombies all along.
It was merely his initial terror and panic that had held him back. Now, armed with a talent, his confidence was through the roof.
’He is stronger than I was when I first killed that feral zombie,’ Summer thought, her crimson eyes following his clean swings. ’He is definitely capable of killing feral zombies now.’
An alarming, dark thought suddenly surfaced in her simple mind, making her stiffen where she sat. ’What if he gains a few more levels? Could he eventually become strong enough to kill me too?’
[Humans do not gain levels.]
Summer blinked, her eyebrows shooting up. ’Eh?’
[They awaken talents, yes. But they do not receive levels and direct stat points from the System. Instead, they have to train and master the talents they unlock. Jacob’s talent is ’Striker’, which is merely an F-rank talent. The highest mastery he can reach with it is Peak Apprentice. The ranks of talent mastery are Apprentice, Initiate, Adept, Elite, Master, and Grandmaster.]
’Oh...’ Summer digested the information slowly.
[However, if he actually managed to master ’Striker’ to Peak Apprentice, which equates to Level 30 of that specific talent, you would never be his match in a purely physical fistfight. That is, unless you possess a high-tier offensive skill.]
Summer’s shoulders instantly slumped in heavy disappointment.
[...That is only on paper, dummy. In an actual battle, you are literally unkillable thanks to your Undead Body racial trait. Combine that with your Puppeteer class skill, and you could simply overwhelm him with a swarm of zombies. Furthermore, you gain stat points every time you level up. Your raw physical traits will always be vastly superior to his, unless he manages to awaken several complementary talents that directly negate your abilities.]
’Oh!’
[Summer, you never have to worry about being weak compared to a human. In the future, there will be no one in this world capable of matching your strength...]
Summer’s ruined mood instantly reversed course, her bright red eyes shining with renewed satisfaction.
The praise from the bully system made her happy. It was such a rare moment for the system to praise her like this.
[Don’t smile like an idiot. They will think you are a dumb zombie.]
Summer pouted. It seemed she had praised the system way too early. Its nature was unchangeable.
But she didn’t know the major reason the system had asked her to stop smiling was that her smile was far too fascinating, to both zombies and humans alike.
From afar, One’s eyes were completely focused on her face. A tinge of respect suddenly flashed in that pair of dull eyes before returning to its previous empty gaze.
With her mind set at ease, she spent the rest of the afternoon helping the remaining family members lure out isolated zombies to awaken their own talents.
By the time the sky outside began to darken into deep twilight, all four humans were in exceptionally high spirits.
Ella had successfully awakened ’Lunge Punch’, a physical F-rank talent that drastically increased the forward momentum and blunt force of a straight strike.
Ilas had awakened ’Fireball’, an elemental F-rank talent allowing her to condense a small sphere of flame in her palms and throw it at distant targets.
Mary, after much trembling and encouragement from her daughters, managed to finish off a pinned zombie and awakened ’Silent Steps’, a utility F-rank talent that suppressed the sound of her footsteps.
Among all the new abilities, Summer was completely mesmerized by Ilas’s ’Fireball’ talent.
She watched in wide-eyed wonder as the young girl created small bursts of crackling red flame out of thin air and hurled them across the lobby floor.
Her poor ex-squad leader, One, was nearly burned to a crisp during the training session when Ilas accidentally lost control of a fire projectile, sending it straight into the male zombie’s chest.
Summer tilted her pale head to stare at One, who stood quietly near the entrance.
The charred, smoking zombie seemed to radiate a silent aura of deep grievance toward her, though he was merely a mindless corpse obeying her mental hold.
As she continued staring at One’s burnt torso, a brand-new thought suddenly popped into her head.
’Can he evolve too?’ she asked the voice in her head.
[Yes...]
’How?’ Summer’s heart skipped a beat with intense excitement. If her controlled zombies could evolve from sluggish, ordinary corpses into terrifying feral brutes, how wonderful would that be?
Imagining a small army of swift, muscular feral zombies following her every command, Summer began rubbing her pale palms together eagerly.
[Not right now...]
The system’s words instantly deflated her joy like a balloon losing its air. Her hands stopped moving, and her lips pouted into a deep frown.
[Why that heartbroken expression? Stop doing that, as it hurts my feelings. I did not say it was impossible, dummy. You simply need to reach Level 10 and evolve into an Elite Zombie first. Once you do that, you will unlock your second class skill. That skill will allow you to directly feed cores to your puppets to evolve them.]
’Really?’
[No, I am lying. Hmph.]
’Hehe. I am just joking,’ Summer giggled internally.
What Summer did not realize was that whenever she smiled genuinely, two soft, distinct dimples appeared on both of her pale cheeks.
Ella and Ilas, who were watching Summer from the other side of the lobby while resting on a bench, could not help but find the sight unbelievably cute.
As Summer had leveled up over the past day, her physical appearance had subtly improved.
It was not as if her skin was suddenly turning back into pristine, healthy human flesh, but rather that her pale grey skin was gaining firmer, healthier mass underneath.
The hideous, pitch-black veins that used to bulge wildly across her neck and temples were slowly fading away, leaving behind a smooth, pale tone that made her look like a quiet, delicate girl who was simply very sick.
Her cheeks, in particular, looked surprisingly soft and full.
’So chubby...’ both sisters thought at the exact same time, clutching their hands over their chests as their fingers twitched with the overwhelming urge to pinch them.
Without Summer ever knowing, the twin sisters secretly gave their terrifying zombie protector a brand-new nickname in their minds.
’Chubby Cheeks...’