Jessica went to the bathroom to take a shower while Marco continued browsing all the channels available. After getting tired of watching the same news on the TV, he decided that crafting gears seems to be a better way of passing time.
He searched for usable materials in the room and made a new Iron spear using an iron pole and a kitchen knife. The output item was a bit durable compared to the broom-spear but it doesn't have better damage. He decided to give the broom-spear to Jessica, so they could both have a weapon.
After getting things done, he turned curious as to what happened to him earlier and checked the system logs if there were any records.
The series of updates shocked him.
-[Automatic passive feedback collection update complete.
-[Entity HP Bars has been added. Enemies and allies now have HP Bars above their heads.
-[Building and furniture durability bar added. Objects can now be destroyed.
-[Added randomly-generated loot resources to containers and dead bodies.
-[Key locations added. Every week, a loot crate will be generated in a random area.
-Cultivation feature added. Your body has undergone a transformation and can now sense and automatically gather energy in the air. For more details, check out the feature tab.
The list continued on and several minor updates were added.
Marco felt dumbfounded by what he discovered. He believed that automatic feedback collection was just the system's way of saying that he doesn't need to submit forms and feedback was automatically collected.
However, what the system actually meant was that certain feedbacks were collected even if he doesn't send them for approval.
Marco gulped. "I should be careful about what I wish for. What if things suddenly become weird and enemies become OP?"
That can't happen! I need to restrain my thoughts! I can't have healing zombies and giant zombies chasing after me!
Oh no, I'm thinking about it now!
Marco suddenly turned paranoid with this discovery.
Jessica who has changed into a new set of clothes glanced at him then ignored his strange actions. She changed into a sexy leather jacket that only reaches up to her belly button. Usually, she would pair it with a crop top to emphasize her slim waist but times have changed and she picked a slightly thicker t-shirt so accidental scratches wouldn't hurt her. She grabbed her backpack on the table and walked closer to Marco.
"I'm ready, can we go now?" she asked, releasing Marco from the repeated cycle of paranoia.
Marco jolted and turned to her. Seeing that she was already dressed up, he pretended to pick something from the side of the sofa where she can't see what he was doing, then took out the broom-spear.
"Take this. It's not much but you can use it for now."
Jessica waved her hand to decline. "No, no, no. That's yours. I'm not a good fighter and it's better if you have it."
"Don't worry, I made myself a new one," Marco said flexing the smooth iron spear.
Jessica smiled. "Then, I'll take this. Thank you for the weapon."
"Alright, let's go now." Marco stood up and wore his backpack for extra storage,
While walking out, he was already reviewing how cultivation works.
The helper also guided him during the process. First of all, the reason for his extreme temperature earlier was the nurture and development of his dantian. Forcefully opening his dantian was a hard process and took a great toll on his body, which almost resulted in his death.
After the dantian was created, the veins cleansing followed and opening body pores. Once everything was done, he could finally sense and automatically gathered spirit in the air.
The spirit he collects were forms of energy invisible to the naked eye. It can be used as a supplement to increase physical capabilities or raise the dantian spirit limit.
Currently, Marco was generating one spirit every two minutes, which totaled thirty spirit points for every one hour. His dantian spirit limit is 1,000 spirit points and currently has 90 spirit points stored.
—
It was a new day and the start of a new adventure.
A deadly adventure.
Apparently, another acid rain poured down very early in the morning. Some parts of the roads had puddles of water with small insects in them. The insects trapped in the puddle were already half corroded and were already dead.
Marco and Jessica cautiously moved around the area, making sure they don't run to any big hordes of infected. With their combined strength, they could fight an equal battle of two versus two, but any more than that would be considered dangerous.
Just as they turned the street corner, they saw three zombies standing idly in the distance gathered outside a garage door. If they want to go to the nearest supermarket, they have to pass this street or double back and take another route.
"What do you think? Can we take them?" Jessica asked from behind.
Marco didn't answer and continued surveying the area. He saw a nearby basketball court surrounded by a wire fence and suddenly gained inspiration.
"Follow me. We'll use a time tested technique when killing zombies, pathing exploit."
The pathing exploit was an error in the monster pathing commonly found in early access games. Often times abused by players to attack targets from an unreachable place, like a height advantage, glitch, on top of a car, and several others.
This time, Marco planned to use the fence as a barricade while dealing damage to the zombies.
Jessica followed after him and the two of them got caught crossing the street. The zombies growled at them and charged forward.
"Damn it, it's locked!" Marco shouted after reaching the gate.
"What now?" Jessica frantically said as she watched the zombies running closer.
Marco looked around but found nowhere else to go. He calculated the distance between them and decided on the only option they have. "Climb!"
The wire fence shook when he jumped into it and wobbled every time he moved up. Jessica helplessly used her frail limbs for an arduous physical exercise. Despite the pain in her hand, she climbed as fast as she could since her life depended on it.