Earth.

2024, 10th April.

Westin Continent, Ravinfox City.

In a dilapidated two-story apartment with four small units of housing, a twenty-four-year-old black-haired young man was sleeping comfortably on his bed. It was a small house with a bed, kitchen, and living room, all in one box.

Obviously, the young man living here was not rich from the living standards. the apartment was run-down, the door was weak, and walls had cracks. But his figure was well-built and work-hardened.

*Bang… Bang… Bang…*

While he was asleep, someone was banging on the door. The banging was increasing in intensity every second.

Erix would usually sleep very deeply such that outside noise did not affect him, however loud they were. He considered this daily deep slumber at night his weakness as a martial artist but had yet to fix it.

"Rin... Let's try in that place this time."

Alas, the danger was approaching while he was mumbling in his dream. Usually, he would have his life partner sleeping beside him, but he was alone this night as Rin was busy with Dojo-related work and couldn't come over.

*Crack..*

The dilapidated apartment's door could no longer hold as it broke off from the wall, and a zombie entered inside while staggering.

The zombie didn't look fresh. It had dirt all over and only a few pieces of cloth attached to its rotten body. It was as if this zombie had been buried under the ground for a long time.

"Grrr…"

The zombie made a weird growling sound as it staggered towards Erix, who was sleeping on his left shoulder side, and without hesitation, the zombie took a bite of Erix's open right shoulder.

*Karchh!*

Erix's eyes shot open as a searing pain assaulted his senses awake, causing him to scream. Immediately at that moment, he also smelled a foul odor and quickly turned his head towards the breath and saw the zombie, its rotten teeth were dug into his shoulder!

Erix was shocked, but his mind also reacted fast to escape this danger as his martial artist instincts kicked it and he quickly took out a pen from below his bed. Without hesitation, he stabbed it into the zombie's head before kicking it away.

"What... what is going on?!" Erix internally cursed as he looked at the wound on his right shoulder, feeling increasing pain and a burning sensation spreading through his body before he looked at the thing that attacked him.

"Zombie...?"

"No way!"

For a second, his mind went blank at the absurdness of his situation.

"Or am I just dreaming?"

"No, it can't be. This pain...urgh!"

"This is real..."

Erix looked at the bite mark, his mind remember the zombies movies and series he watched as he feared that he would soon turn into a zombie as well.

'No fucking way!'

Suddenly, Erix heard footsteps and saw two youngsters standing at the door. He knew them as they also lived in this apartment in other units.

"Erix, y-you… How come you were bitten?"

"Sorry, bro. It's too late for you."

Both youngsters backed away as their gaze became distracted for a bit, as if looking at something that was not visible in Erix's vision.

"No, wait!" Erix stood up.

"Don't come near!" the youngster with a baseball bat in his hand said as he warily pointed the bat at Erix with a stern expression. "Sorry, man. It's over for you because you are bitten. Let's go, Ralph."

They glanced at Erix with pity before they left.

"And here I was hoping we could rely on Mad Devil Erix... tsk, how come someone like him got bitten?"

"And he was level 0. Don't tell me he was sleeping like usual... Sigh."

Erix heard them, but his mind was in chaos.

"I can't die here... No..."

"Grrr…"

The zombie in the room growled as it stood up, trying to stagger towards Erix again.

"Motherfucker, you already bit me!" Erix cursed with red eyes as he stormed towards the zombie and squashed its head with his right leg.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck…." Erix cursed as he started getting dizzy and didn't notice the notification about killing the zombie.

'No way… I will die from a fucking zombie bite?'

If he was awake, there was no way he would let himself get bitten by a damn zombie!

Despair manifested in his eyes as he felt his mind rapidly slipping into darkness.

'No...'

'Rin, I- how...'

His vision darkened.

'Don't... I don't want to die!'

But a second later, the light in his eyes dimmed.

*Slap!*

'NOO!'

He opened his eyes wide and slapped his face before standing up.

'I AM NOT GOING TO DIE!'

Walking towards the mirror, he looked at his face and bloodshot eyes while gritting his teeth.

'Zombie? I will become a zombie just because a fucking creep, mindless shit bit me?'

However, his vision blurred again, but he kept himself awake and alive with sheer will.

*Slap!*

And slapped his face again.

'Stay awake! Did I live this long and toil hard just to fucking die? Fuck you! Stay Alive!'

'I am not going to become a zombie!'

'I am not!'

*Thud!*

A second later, he lost consciousness and fell on his back.

His body started losing vibrant skin color as it became paler. The bleeding from his shoulder wound stopped while blood in his body seemed to rush rapidly somewhere.

His muscles and tissues contracted, thinned, and puffed in a rhythm as his body started to transform after his death, but it didn't rise as a zombie.

Time passed while Erix's body lay motionless and dead for two hours before his eyes abruptly opened.

However, his state of mind was different.

At first, he was confused as to what the actual fuck happened, but then he started recollecting his thoughts as memories of what happened surfaced in his mind.

"I am fine?"

"I didn't die…"

After standing up and looking at himself in the mirror, he raised his eyebrows in surprise. "What the..."

Suddenly after a second, a screen appeared in his vision.

[~Erix~]

_Race: Hybrid Zombie

_Level: 0

_Class: None

_Life orb: 21/100 (Need Refill)

_Stat points:

—> [ Strength: 32 / Agility: 31 / Health: 7 / Stamina: ∞ ]

"Hmm? What is this? Don't tell me I am still dreaming and it's some game dream... "Erix muttered confusedly but then shook his head.

Taking a deep breath, he collected his thoughts and accepted that everything was real.

'I feel different about my body… very different.'

He walked towards a nearby wall and punched it hard.

*Boom….*

His punch broke the wall, creating a big hole.

"No, I was not this strong before…" Erix thought of a possibility and was surprised. 'Hybrid Zombie… A zombie but with an intact mind and sanity. Or should I say, enhanced mind that broke my body's limits?'

Erix closed his eyes and put his hand on his chest. His heart was not beating, and the blood was there in a strange motion, but it was not flowing in his body. He was scientifically dead.

But his brain was working, and it was working even better than before. His emotions were within his control, and he could also think properly and calmly.

Instead of losing his mind, his brain was enhanced instead for some reason. It was like his mind broke an average human's limit, allowing him to unleash higher physical capabilities because blood no longer supported his body system but something else, which he felt was the life orb.

Although he had unlimited stamina, which also likely contributed to fueling his strength, he felt that he still had some restrictions, which were also related to that life orb.

'My health stat... Why is it so low?'

He didn't know his Health stat in numbers before, but he was sure that his Health stat became lower than average because he knew he was not average before.

He worked out every day and practiced martial arts daily.

He had solid lean muscles and a sound body because of his daily hard work. He also didn't hold back on eating to keep himself healthy despite having low finances every month.

So the lower health stat was probably because of this half-zombie situation. He was half-dead and half-alive… a hybrid zombie!

[Your innate Health immunity is lower than living beings, allowing harmful effects and ailments to take quick and increased effect on you.]

A monotone voice rang in his head, informing him about his race.

'Who is it?!'

However, no one replied to him.

Erix looked in the mirror and slightly frowned because even though he was sane, he didn't look sane. His skin was pale with a faint dark blue hue, and his eyes didn't have white eyeballs. Instead, his eyes were black with red pupils.

"Grrrr…."

Erix suddenly heard the familiar growling sound and saw two zombies standing at the door. However, they didn't enter inside to attack Erix but continued moving.

"So they won't attack me because I am also a zombie, even if partly," Erix muttered surprisedly.

He then walked out of the small two-story apartment and saw a hole in the corner of the fence. "The zombie that bit me…. Did it come out of the ground? So dead, buried people are coming out of their graves as zombies? Wtf..."

He was also surprised that someone was buried there, though he didn't care as it was none of his business. 'I guess someone was killed and buried there before i moved here.'

*chhiii…*

Erix heard some sound and turned to his left.

A giant Rat was running towards him with red eyes and two sharp bloody fangs out of its mouth. It was the size of a street dog!

After the initial surprise, Erix narrowed his eyes with focus.

He saw the Rat jumping toward him for a deadly pounce attack, but he calmly stepped to the side before punching the Rat with full strength.

*Burst…*

The Rat's body exploded into gore with the power of his 32-strength punch.

[You have killed a level 2 Famished Rat. Agility +1].

[1 mystic essence collected- Collect 100 mystic essences to commence your Class Selection].

[You have reached level 1. You have acquired 2 unassigned stat points.]

Erix heard and saw some notifications as an understanding dawned on him.

'This world…'

He looked into the sky. It was night, and the moon was glowing peacefully. But the city had smoke coming out of various places, and in reality, it was anything but peaceful in the world.

"The world has changed…." Erix muttered as he stood there and closed his eyes.

[Your life orb is lacking blood. As a Hybrid Zombie, you must drink blood to keep your life orb satiated. Otherwise, your body will lose strength, and your brain will lose normal functions].

Erix licked some blood of the Rat from his face.

Although initially disgusted, he didn't find the taste that bad.

[-Life orb: 22/100].

'Lose strength and normal brain function? That's bad.'

"So I need to get it to 100 soon, or am I done for?" Erix muttered before he went back inside the apartment and saw the two zombies acting stupid as they banged their heads and hands against a wall to break it. If they continued, they would eventually break it at the cost of their head and hands.

Erix went there and punched their heads one by one, bursting their heads.

[You have killed a level 2 zombie].

[1 mystic essence gained. 2/100].

[You have killed a level 3 zombie].

[1 mystic essence gained. 3/100].

'Hmm? I didn't get stats points. Is it because they are zombies or some other reason?' Erix thought while his eyes caught a palm-sized white patterned glowing box on the ground near the zombie's body after it turned into motes and disappeared.

He bent down and grabbed the box. The moment he touched it, the details entered his mind.

[Common Treasure Chest].

Erix tapped on a tiny lock on the treasure chest before it glowed and turned into motes as something appeared in his hand.

[Poison Dagger]

_Tier: 0

_Grade: common-grade

_Description: A powerful dagger laced with poison. Its poison can kill any creature below level 15 unless the creature has poison resistance. Note: the dagger's poison doesn't work on undead creatures like zombies, vampires, and such.

A dark green fancy dagger rested on Erix's palm. After gripping its handle, Erix bent down, dipped his finger into the zombie blood on the floor, and tasted it.

[Residual human blood in Zombies will not refill your life orb. The most optimum blood to fill it is a living human's blood. Drink a bowl of human blood to replenish the life orb to full]

'Who are you?' Erix again asked the monotone voice that spoke in his head.

No answer.

'Is it an automatic response?'

'How come this world turned into something like this?'

Erix left the apartment and went out on the road. This place was relatively far from the populated places of the city, so there was not much traffic there.

However, several zombies were still roaming the road, and he could hear a few screams and sound in the distance due to his enhanced hearing.

As he walked into the road, he soon attracted the attention of two mutated ants, which were even bigger than the Rat.

Erix held the dagger tightly and dashed towards the ants. Just as he was two meters away from them, he threw his dagger toward one Ant.

*Chree*

The Ant instantly died as the dagger hit its head and pierced through its body.

[Level 2 mutated Ant killed. +1 strength]

[+1 Mystic Essence. 4/100]

The second Ant continued toward Eric, but he simply punched it head-on.

*Crrr...*

"Oh? This one is tough..."

The Ant stood up, and Erix sensed some power from it as a gray aura came out from its mouth.

"Come on," Erix beckoned with a grin and took a front karate stance.

The Ant issued a cry, and its head turned metallic before it rushed toward Erix.

Erix's eyes narrowed upon seeing the Ant's head. 'That seems like an enhanced head.'

'Alright.'

Erix sidestepped to the left and dodged the Ant's head rush, and quickly landed a powerful chop with all of his strength on the Ant's neck before it could turn its head to bite him.

*Chaa! Thak*

The Ant's head separated from its body and fell to the ground.

[ Level 4 mutated Ant killed. +1 strength]

[ +1 Mystic essence gained. 5/100]

[You have reached level 2. You have acquired two unassigned stat points.]

Erix felt something entering his body after he killed the ants and knew that the strange energy was the thing that was increasing his strength, A.K.A giving him stats.

'It dropped something different this time,' Erix thought as he walked towards the Ant that he killed with his dagger. Then, after picking up his dagger, he picked up a dark grey scroll.

[ Metal Control (1st Tier active skill): Telekinesis exertion over metal objects according to your magic power. Range: 10 meters. Mana is consumed after your controlled metal object crosses 10 meters from you to maintain control. ]

'Magic power?' Erix wondered. He didn't see such a stat in his status, but it was obvious that his magic power played the role of deciding how heavy of a metal object he was allowed to control and how fast he could manipulate it.

Not fussing over it, he decided to learn the skill. He willed it, and the scroll disappeared into motes.

[You have unlocked magic-related stats and gained a skill, Metal Control.]

[As you have gone through a unique mutation, your magic affinity is Rank-A from the start]

[You can only have 5 active skills and passive skills, but if you learn and create skills yourself, they won't take slot.]

[~Erix~]

-Race: Hybrid Zombie

-Level: 2

-Class: None

-Life orb: 22/100

-Stat points: 4

—> Strength: 34 / Agility: 32 / Health: 7 / Stamina: ∞

—> Magic affinity: Rank-A / Magic: 78 / Mana Points: [200/200]

_Affinities: None manifested yet.

\_Active Skills: [1/5]_/

—>[Metal Control (1st-Tier)]

\_Passive Skills [0/5]_/

—>

\_Special Skills [0/3]:_/

—>