Jogging for a short while, they soon arrived near the place where they last encountered the zombie.
Once again trying to be sneaky about it, they snuck up close to the walls and saw the zombie aimlessly standing, his flesh lightly squirming.
And so, they started their plan.
Loann ran to the zombie, getting his attention.
He was confident to outrun the zombie with his newly gained agility point, and the creature didn't seem too clever.
Successfully getting it's attention, Loann baited it towards his friend, who was waiting around a corner.
"DO IT!" Loann said as he turned the corner, and on the floor behind him you could now see a small puddle of water that just popped out of nowhere.
And as part of their plan, the zombie didn't bother going around it and, with the momentum he had, slipped and crashed straight into the wall.
The zombie fell head-first into the wall and seemed to hurt itself quite a bit, remaining motionless on the ground in what seemed like a confused manner.
Back to our protagonists, Steven used the opportunity to rush next to the dazed zombie and throw what he could out of the gel bottle which he had cut at the top of with his knife.
Getting splattered with inflammable gel, the zombie didn't seem to care before a small jet of fire hit him on the head, putting the liquid, and by extension the zombie, on fire.
Not risking to stay close to it and also get caught on fire, the two boys retreated a safe distance away and watched as the burning zombie got up and resumed his chase towards them, clearly not bothered about the fire spreading all around him.
Thankfully the school's walls were made of concrete, so there wasn't a risk of it lighting on fire.
As the two were running away from the zombie, they could tell it was getting slower by the second, getting damaged by the fire.
After a few more seconds, they heard a loud thud behind them and, as expected, saw the zombie down on the ground, badly burnt.
They could see some spots where the skin was so charred it fell off and the white bones were visible. Still trying to get them,
the zombie was crawling on the floor with what was left of his arms, his legs already gone, being mostly bones after being burned for a few minutes.
As our protagonists were catching their breath, Loann heard the sweet sound of the system notification echo in his ear, saying:
***!!!*** You have killed a level 12 type-A mutant zombie. EXP points received. Bonus EXP points for killing a higher level enemy.
***!!!*** You have reached level 3. +1 to all stats, +5 free points.
***!!!*** You have reached level 4. +1 to all stats, +5 free points.
***!!!*** Congratulations! You are the first to complete the hidden challenge: 'kill an evolved zombie'. You received the following:
-3x lottery draw
-'Pioneer of mankind' Title
Overwhelmed by the sudden influx of information, he took his time to read it all out loud and asked Steven his thoughts
"God damn, we are the first to kill one? That's dope as hell! It looks like our efforts were worth it" said the blond boy, elated after his plan worked so well.
"But what do you think is the lottery? I mean, I know what a lottery is but how does it work with the system? And what about the title? Is it beneficial, or purely cosmetic?" Loann said, clearly more interested in the loot than the kill.
"I don't know, I guess you could try and use identify on the notifications", a suggestion by Steven that Loann quickly decided to try out.
"System lottery: A luck-based lottery where you can win anything available in the universe you are currently in. You receive draws by completing some quests or hidden challenges."
"'Pioneer of Mankind' Title: You, as a human, are one of the first to complete a hidden challenge. As such, you have proved your strength and courage. +10 all stats"
Loann quickly relayed the information to his friend, and they both understood the implication that the title meant.
After all, while a +10 upgrade to all stats may seem little, it is an incredible advantage early on, and will allow them to get ahead of others faster.
"Loann, take a look at your status and let me see it too"
Giving Steven access to his status, Loann also looked at it and was pleased with the growth it showed
Status:
Name: Loann Clemens MERCIER
Race: Human
Class: Mage
Sub-class: /
Level: 4
Health: 220/220
Mana: 157/310
Stamina: 147/230
Stats:
Strength: 21
Agility: 21
Vitality: 22
Endurance: 23
Wisdom: 31
Intelligence: 27
Free points: 10 [+]
Lottery draws: 3 [+]
Skills:
-Beginner Identify
-Beginner Flamethrower
(Bloodline): /
(Titles): Pioneer of Mankind
(Affinities): Fire (Mid-Tier).
Both boys noticed the huge growth in stat instantly, and Loann could feel his body grow beyond what he ever could have been before the system. While he had been a fairly handsome tall boy, he could tell he now crossed the 1m80 bar.
While it was an addicting feeling, he knew his strength wouldn't mean anything if he couldn't keep with the growth of others.
But having a body twice as strong as an average adult and mental capacity almost thrice as big made him yearn for even more, and he knew he had an incredible start, one he should make proper use of.
then came the obvious question of where to put the free stats points;
Should they max out one stat, or try to keep it even?
But as avid RPG players, they had the answer in mind already.
"Let's max out Wisdom for now, to get a bigger mana pool and mana regen, then focus on intelligence for damage" said Steven, and Loann couldn't agree more.
Putting his free points into wisdom, the stat went to 41, giving him a mana pool of 410, and if his theory was correct, a mana regen of just a little bit more than a point per 5 seconds, meaning it would take him a bit more than half an hour to totally fill up his mana reserves from zero.