Soon another notification came from the system:
[Mission Info:
1. Survive for at least a day.
2. Kill at least one zombie.
Note: At least one of the missions needs to be completed.]
Sanjay knew what the mission was about. He had read about it online. A horde of zombies would be coming soon.
Based on the suggestions he had read, surviving by hiding was the best way to pass the level. In an urban location, hiding could be both easy and hard since zombies could track their prey through smell and sound.
Sanjay stood up; he just needed to find the best location to hide and search for a weapon in case he was attacked. Currently, he was on the road and needed to get inside one of the buildings. Sanjay ran towards a multi-level parking garage.
He tried to open the door of one of the cars, but it wouldn't budge.
"Shit."
After looking around for a few minutes, he saw a security room in the second floor. He tried the door and, luckily, it was unlocked. He entered the room and closed the door behind him. Looking around, he noticed multiple TVs displaying security camera footage of the parking lot.
"Cool."
He sat down, watching the security cameras. "Okay, now that the location is a little secure, let's see what I can do with my powers."
He looked at his stats. It read "Replicate." But what did "replicate" mean? The basic meaning of replicate was to copy exactly. So, what could he copy?
He closed his eyes and tried to imagine a gun.
After a few seconds, "Nope." It didn't work. He couldn't create a gun out of thin air. For a moment, he had really thought he could.
He saw a pen on the desk and picked it up. He imagined "replicate," and a similar pen appeared in his hand out of nowhere . He was almost shocked.
"What the hell?" He was astonished, staring at the exact replica of the original pen. He tried writing with it, and it worked perfectly.
He then checked his mana and saw:
Mana: 8/10
Creating a pen had consumed two mana. Sanjay started thinking—if making a simple pen cost two mana, how much would a gun consume?
He tried a few more times to replicate, and after multiple attempts, he realized his power. He could replicate anything he touched once. He didn't need to keep touching the item he wanted to replicate.
Essentially, this ability worked after he acquired the skill, meaning he needed to touch all the items he had touched before, once again, to replicate them.
However, he needed more training to fully understand his powers and their uses. For now, though, completing the mission was the priority.
He glanced at the CCTV feed and saw one zombie on the floor where he was hiding. Searching the security room for weapons, he found an L-shaped baton.
"Well, this will work for now," he muttered.
He planned to start hunting zombies one by one. To increase his stats, he needed to kill zombies.
Stepping out of the room cautiously, he checked for threats. Holding the baton in his hands, he spotted the zombie he'd seen on the camera slowly walking in his direction. You had to be careful with zombies—they were slow until they saw you. Once they did, they could be as fast as an Olympic champion.
Sanjay hid behind one of the cars and waited for the zombie to come within range. When the zombie approached the front of the car and began sniffing, Sanjay lunged and struck it with the baton before it could react.
With one hit, the zombie collapsed. Sanjay didn't stop hitting until he was sure it was dead.
The system announced:
[You killed one zombie.]
"Shit," he muttered, scanning his surroundings to see if the commotion had attracted other zombies. Seeing none, he checked his stats.
STATS
Name: City Hunter
Level: 1
Exp: 2/100
Skill : Replicate
VARIABLE STATS
Strength: 7
Agility: 8
Mana: 10
INVARIABLE STATS
INT: 6
LUCK: 9
CHARISMA: 6
Current Available Points: 0
"Okay," he noted. Killing the zombie had given him two experience points. He would need to kill many more to level up. According to the system, he would receive one skill point for every level up.
As he pondered the points, he heard a sound.
"Help!"
Someone was shouting at the top of their lungs.
"Who the hell is shouting?" Sanjay muttered, bending down from the second floor to look at the roads surrounding the parking building.
He saw thousands of zombies chasing a person. Spotting the parking lot, the person ran into the building.
Sanjay glanced at the baton in his hand and then at the zombies following the person.
"Shit, I'm out of here." He knew if he stayed any longer, the zombies would completely overwhelm him. Beating so many of them with a baton is a shitty idea.
On the second floor, escaping was difficult as zombies had already started entering the building. The person who had shouted earlier was now silent. He was probably dead and in the process of joining the zombie horde.
Sanjay rushed to the rooftop to find a way out. To his luck, he encountered no zombies on the way up.
Once on the rooftop, he looked for an escape route and spotted another building with a balcony partially covered by steel railings. He could hear the sound of zombies rushing toward him—they must have heard him running.
He estimated the distance between the two buildings to be about ten meters. Making such a jump would surely set a world record back on Earth. With a little luck, he might succeed. Otherwise, he would have to jump five stories down to the ground, which was swarming with zombies.
He prepared himself, taking a few steps back to create some distance, then sprinted toward the edge of the rooftop. At the same time, the zombies reached the rooftop and charged after him.
Sanjay leaped into the air, extending his hand with the baton.
" I'm not gonna make it," he thought as the baton missed the top of the railing. He was sure he would die.
But his luck stat worked. The baton's L-shaped part caught in the next hole of the steel railing.
"Shit," he muttered as he hung precariously.
The zombies on the rooftop grew more frenzied at the sight of him and began running toward the edge. With no intelligence, they started falling off in batches. Many died, but they didn't stop.
Summoning all his strength, Sanjay climbed the railing into the balcony. He watched as the zombies continued grinding their teeth and jumping from the rooftop. More zombies were now converging on the building from other parts of the city.
Sanjay didn't wait. He broke the apartment's glass door and entered. Luckily, there were no zombies inside. He checked the entire apartment for any hidden zombies and useful items.
On the wall, he found a decorative sword. He brought it down to check its quality. It wasn't a dummy; at least, it was better than the baton for now. He tucked the baton into the waistband of his pants.
He cautiously opened the corridor door and saw two zombies roaming the hallway. Closing the door quietly, he muttered, "Okay, I need to get out of this building."
The zombies in the city were already converging on the parking lot. He didn't know when he might be surrounded. With so many zombies still jumping from the roof, the ground could soon be covered with their bodies, allowing them to climb up.
The system announced:
[You killed one zombie.]
[You killed one zombie.]
[You killed one zombie.]
The announcements continued for a few minutes before stopping.
"Let's check the status first."
STATS
Name: City Hunter
Level: 5
Exp: 224/800
Skill : Replicate
VARIABLE STATS
Strength: 7
Agility: 8
Mana: 10
INVARIABLE STATS
INT: 6
LUCK: 9
CHARISMA: 6
Current Available Points: 5
Looking at the available points, he was astonished. If two points were awarded for every zombie killed, that meant he had indirectly killed three hundred sixty-two zombies. It seemed the system had allocated points for the zombies jumping off the roof due to his influence. However, the system had now stopped awarding points, likely because the subsequent batches of zombies were following instinct rather than dying due to his actions.
This windfall of points was huge. He wondered how many people had secured so many points this early.
He tried adding points to the invariable stats of Intelligence, Luck, and Charisma but found it impossible. It seemed only variable stats could be increased. He added two points to Strength, two to Agility, and one to Mana.
"Okay, the general rule of adding points to variable stats still works."
After the adjustments, he felt significantly stronger. The strength he now possessed exceeded what he had achieved after twenty years of physical training in his previous life. This place was magical.
With his upgraded stats, he took the sword and opened the door. The two zombies in the hallway howled and rushed toward him. Before they could react, he slashed one zombie's neck. As the second zombie lunged at him, he dropped the sword and fell to the ground. The zombie's strength was almost equal to his own. It tried to bite his neck, but Sanjay punched it in the face, causing it to fall to the side. Grabbing the sword, he slashed its neck. After a brief struggle, the zombie was dead.
After killing three zombies, Sanjay realized it wasn't as easy as he had thought, especially without a gun. He inspected the sword, which had become dull after only two hits. Clearly, it wasn't made for killing.
He imagined replicating the sword, and an identical, undamaged one appeared in his hand. His mana dropped from ten to eight. Now he understood his power better—he needed to touch an object to replicate it.
If he could touch guns or other weapons, perhaps he could replicate them inside the tower. The possibilities seemed endless: medicine, armor, and more. However, nothing from the outside could be brought into the tower, not even clothes. Everything had to be generated inside.
Descending the stairs cautiously, he encountered two zombies on the next floor. This time, he was much faster. He slashed both zombies as they charged. His sword became damaged again, and he created another.
By the time he reached the ground floor, he had killed one to two zombies per floor. His mana was nearly depleted after creating so many swords. The poor quality of the swords was frustrating, but they were still faster and better than the baton.
Exiting the building, he checked both sides of the road for zombies. Thankfully, most of them had rushed toward the parking lot. Spotting a gas station a few meters away, he moved cautiously, avoiding noise and scanning his surroundings.
At the gas station, he found a gallon of gasoline. Opening it, he touched the liquid and replicated it. A flow of oil emerged from his hands, and he realized he could control the speed. Checking his mana, he saw it had dropped by one for almost one liter of gasoline—not bad.
He entered the gas station's convenience store and found it empty. Gathering supplies like food, he found a bag to carry them. In the office, he locked the door and secured it with a cupboard. There was no electricity, so he didn't bother with lights—attracting zombies was the last thing he wanted. The smell of gasoline would also mask his scent, making the gas station an ideal hiding spot.
Sitting on the manager's chair, he opened a packet of chips, one of the few edible items not too expired. As night fell, he heard the occasional growling of zombies and even human screams. Holding his sword tightly, Sanjay remained alert, knowing an attack could come at any moment.