"Congratulations, humans of Earth! Your planet was chosen to participate in the competition for Supremacy!"
"Every human will receive their own System that will guide you forward in this New Era!"
Bai Shen felt complicated; he knew that this day would come, but not that it was knocking on his door. He didn't know how to feel.
Should he feel better now that his friends won't call him delusional? Or should he feel bad that someone he knows may die any moment?
No matter what, Bai Shen knew one thing: he had improved a lot, with his attributes being the best proof of that.
Name: Bai Shen (18)
Level: 1 [0/100]
Talent: Steal, Prediction
Attributes:
Strength: 16.6
Agility: 16.2
Physique: 15
Charisma: 9.5
Luck: 1.1
Skills:
Inventory:
Since Meixue and Fatty Jiang were here, it would've been a pity not to use Steal on them. He also used Steal on Ruoxi, but his charm only increased by 0.5 and 0.4 respectively.
'It seems that Steal also has a limit of 3 uses. But that Prediction didn't budge at all. Also, it seems my level is now unlocked, and I also gained a new section, Skills and Inventory.'
A bit disappointed that he couldn't do it permanently, Bai Shen was still happy that he had such a powerful talent.
As for the other sections, he kind of understood what they did.
Ding! Steal Talent updated.
Steal - Can be used 3 times on the same target to absorb a part of its attributes; Luck is a deciding factor. Cooldown on the same target: 12 hours.
"S-Shen?" Li Meixue, Fatty Jiang, and Lin Ruoxi all looked toward Bai Shen. He was the only one they could ask something now since he seemed to have been prepared for a while.
"Follow me." As he said this, Bai Shen walked toward a room. But before he could take another step, Aunt Xiu couldn't help but ask.
"What's happening? Did you hear that voice?" She was clearly confused by what she heard; Bai Shen signaled Fatty Jiang with his eyes, and the young man quickly understood what to do.
"Aunt... Let me tell you something."
Since Fatty Jiang was busy taking care of Aunt Xiu, Bai Shen took Li Meixue and Lin Ruoxi with him to his secret weapon room.
Once inside, the two girls were stunned to see ten, if not hundreds, of medieval-looking weapons and shields, even bows, crossbows, spears; everything was there.
"We're going to use this mansion as a temporary base. After that, we should try to make our way toward my villa in Guangzhou."
"That place is very secluded and has some distance between the closest town, thus, zombies and the likes can't access it easily."
"For now, I want you to pick a weapon of your choice. I didn't bother to buy firearms, since they may not give XP at all."
After Bai Shen finished his speech, he saw the two girls looking at each other. They quietly went on and tried to pick a fitting weapon.
"Meixue, you're good with archery, right? Why don't you try picking up a bow or crossbow?"
Bai Shen asked.
"That's what I'm thinking. I also received a Talent called Aim; it increases my precision, arrow speed, and gives me a 10% chance of dealing double damage."
Hearing that, Bai Shen's eyes lit up. How could he forget to ask about their Talents?!
"Ruoxi, what's yours? It's important." Seeing such a serious Bai Shen, Lin Ruoxi quickly nodded.
"My Talent is Charm All; I have a low chance of making monsters submit to me, a middle chance for mutants, and a high chance for zombies; everything depends on our level difference and Luck attribute, apparently."
Once again, Bai Shen was happy. Both Meixue and Ruoxi had such good talents, depending on the situation. They could be more useful than his Steal, especially Ruoxi's Talent; she may one day command entire armies to fight for her.
"That's good. On a side note, don't you ever divulge your Talents to other people. We can't trust anyone right now."
"But what's yours? Since we are now a team, we should get to know if there's a synergy between our Talents."
Li Meixue asked, she was dying to know what Bai Shen's Talent was since he seemed so confident.
"Mine? It's called Steal; I can take a portion of someone's attributes and add them to my own, forever."
As soon as he finished, he saw the two girls' shocked expressions. 'That's right, be amazed by this, daddy.'
Wearing a smug expression, Bai Shen continued, "As for my second Talent, it's-"
"You have two Talents?!" Both Meixue and Ruoxi shouted in unison. The girls were incredulous.
How could Bai Shen be so lucky as to have two Talents? No. They didn't even know if it was possible to have two Talents in the first place.
"...it's called Prediction. It's this Talent that allowed me to have a glimpse of the future and know that the Apocalypse would hit Earth."
"Unfortunately, that's all. I only saw when it would begin, what creatures and zombies are there, and the System."
"I had the System since a month ago when I woke up from my dream, probably because it found me ahead of time, as I 'possessed' the ability to see it."
After Bai Shen finished speaking, they all got busy trying to arm themselves.
Bai Shen chose only two lightweight swords to accompany him. He was going to use one of them, and the other would be his reserve, in case the first one broke.
Li Meixue, different than Bai Shen expected, chose a bow.
"Aren't you going for a crossbow?"
"No. I'm more familiar with bows, even if a crossbow may be stronger, it would tire me out, my Strength is also around 9."
Nodding to the girl, Bai Shen turned to look at Ruoxi. Before he could say something, she already opened her mouth to speak, "I choose a sword, just like you. I can't be using any other weapons, since I don't have any idea how to."
"A spear is too heavy, I think an axe is too short, and as for bows and crossbows, I don't have any knowledge of how to use them."
A bit surprised that Ruoxi was so thoughtful, Bai Shen was happy to see that she didn't seem to be afraid.
'Meixue is the same,' thought Bai Shen with a smile, before being reminded of something.
"That's right! I have some Kevlar vests that are also bulletproof. I spent some time looking for them, but unfortunately, I only have eleven."
But even then, it was still all right, since their group only had five people.
After taking their equipment, Bai Shen turned around and saw that Fatty Jiang entered the room with a pale-faced Aunt Xiu.
She quickly recovered her composure before asking, "What's the next step?"