"System, tell me everything about this evolution feature." Victor was very curious about this evolution that had transformed him into a proper zombie, an even better one.
[Evolution helps transform your physical body into stronger forms that increase certain attributes and abilities. It is a faster and most efficient way to evolve yourself into a stronger being, directly skipping the long periods of time you would have to wait if you were to do it organically and the mistakes and errors that may be involved. With the help of the system, the evolution process is carried out with a hundred percent accuracy]
'I don't think this answers a lot. It's like telling me the same answer, but using different methods.' Victor said mentally.
[Don't be so quick to judge, I am not done]
'Was that exasperation in your tone? A system with attitude.'
[Unlike your first evolution, the others from this point onward will be different. The system was able to carry out the first evolution because there was pre-stored data about your form, coupled with the data gotten from some humans you bit, and this current form was created. From now on, you will have to acquire enough materials/samples for the system to study, to be able to commence an evolution]
"Hmm, and how do I get these samples and materials?"
[By ingesting]
"You mean I have to eat whatever it is I want to... you now... How do I even refer to this whole process?"
[To simplify the process, an evolution tree has been created to better depict what the system is explaining]
Another system panel appeared before Victor's eyes, this one visibly larger than the others before it. On it, an image that resembled the roots of a tree began from the top and travelled a few centimetres downward. At the beginning of this root, the word ZOMBIE was written, encapsulated in a rectangle that housed it.
"Seeing this diagram, I kind of get it now. Each of these roots signifies the various things I can evolve into, or that I will evolve into, and the zombie at the top is the base. I'm I correct?"
[Yes]
"Hmm, so what are the limitations of my evolution?" Victor asked, quite curious.
[Simply put, anything you can eat, you can evolve into, and anything you can't eat, you can't evolve into. Specifically, eating is not the problem; it just has to be swallowed]
"I see. So if there's a ghost or some shit like that, I won't be able to evolve into that. Interesting."
...
Evolution Material: 0
...
"And this means I have to eat whatever material until it reaches a hundred right?"
[No. Each evolution requires a certain amount of evolution material to integrate into the new form. Therefore, if you had 100 evolution material for a human, after evolution the number will reduce, and for the next evolution, you will need to top it up]
"Therefore it's efficient to stack up on resources?"
[Yes. Though, after a specific material has been examined, the system need not undergo that again]
"Alright, I think I understand everything you are saying, and how this evolution works. Why don't we try it out?" Victor said, anticipation clear in his tone.
Victor had wanted to try out this extraction of evolution materials, but as he looked around and could only observe zombies, it didn't really sit well with his soul. He had heard in movies and shows, of people becoming undead and losing any human feelings, but in turn, gaining a sort of feeling towards undead creatures.
Another thing to note was, that raised undead or people that became undead after they had already died were fuelled with rage and vengeance, it was basically the medium that tied them to the world of the living. Unlike them, those that were born undead, or those that were undead from the very start were a bit different from those that attained it. They still had their feelings and emotions, though, towards fellow undead, and needed no cause to bind them to the world of the living.
Victor's case was sort of a special one, as he neither needed a reason nor was he born as an undead. He had no feelings or emotions towards humans. To him looking at other creatures was like looking at insects, not all irritated him, but he didn't hate them either, just indifferent. Killing them also meant nothing as it would be like squashing an insect. He also didn't feel a particular way about his fellow undead, which sort of put him in a different category.
Even with this, zombies looked like humans, and he was a human, even the time he bit off a chunk of flesh from an adventurer, that was back when he couldn't control himself. The idea of eating humanoid creatures just didn't appeal to him at the moment, so he chose differently.
Quite a number of times, the ones responsible for Victor's deaths weren't adventurers, instead, it was other monsters, and the ones that had the highest kill count on him were the wolves, the only beast-type monsters on the first floor.
Thinking about it, Victor couldn't help but feel a bit of excitement. They had been the cause of his death so many times, it was time to return the favour!
Thinking about it again, Victor's excitement disappeared. They were all but monsters in this dungeon, tools for the dungeon. Just like him, they would just get respond if they died, he would not have truly ended them.
"So unfortunate, so lucky," Victor said as he reduced his pace a bit.
After walking for a while, he got to the part of the floor where the wolves were prominent, basically their territory. As usual, it started with faint growls, then the growls got louder. When they finally came face to face with a wolf pack, the growls had become quite aggressive and threatening.
'I'm sure these growls are supposed to have at least a paralyzing effect in them. But we are undead anyway, it doesn't matter since we aren't affected by it.' Victor thought as he continued walking forward, and towards the wolves, just like a normal zombie would.
The wolves who had been warning the wandering zombies to back off their territory lashed out with furious claw strikes, as they attempted to slice through the bunch of zombies, little did they know that this bunch was different.
Without hesitation, Victor wasted no steps, as he bore his hand through the wolf that approached from the air, tearing through its little defence and rendering its attack useless. The wolf's backbone was cut in two, and as Victor withdrew his hand and tossed the body to the side, he put into his mouth the handful chunk of meat he tore from the wolf. As he did, he immediately received a notification.
...
Evolution Material:
Fiery Tailed Wolf - 100
...
Victor didn't pay much attention to the notification, instead, he went after the rest of the wolf pack, completely dominating and killing them, easily. He didn't bother with using his controlled zombies, they would only die and would ultimately be a waste. Victor now looked at the notification.
...
Evolution Material:
Fiery Tailed Wolf - 100
...
"Just a handful produces a hundred Evo material? And the beast from which it came from is also recorded in a different section. Not bad." Victor said as he read it. Shortly after, a series of notifications followed.
[Fiery Tailed Wolf material acquired. Analyzing the sample]
"Ok? It didn't say for how long though. It's ok."
Victor went ahead to swallow more of the wolves' flesh, and when he was done, the points had risen to 1000.
"This should be enough, let's wait for the system to analyse it," Victor said as he walked away from the corpse, feeling neither happiness nor empathy for the actions he had just taken.