Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel SSS Class Awakening: Start With A God-Level Choice System Chapter 43: Encountering A Group Of SurvivorsSSS CLASS AWAKENING: START WITH A GOD-LEVEL CHOICE SYSTEMC43: Encountering A Group Of Survivors
Chapter 43: Encountering A Group Of Survivors
After witnessing Rian obliterate multiple zombies in a single sword slash, Dante's first reaction wasn't to praise him but to scold, "Yo bro, leave some kills for me! You already improved your KDA before, leave most to me this time."
It wasn't that Dante was kill hungry, but aside from setting up the Fortress: First Form, he wasn't even the first to harvest the fruits of his hard work.
He wouldn't mind Rian's assistance in a life-and-death battle or a serious situation, but this was clearly them practicing their skill usage so he couldn't let his practice dummies be wiped out before he could make a move.
In response to Dante's scolding, Rian laughed and apologized, "Hahaha, sorry bro. Whenever I see targets and get a hold of the Sword of Light, it gives me the urge to cut them all off."
Since Rian apologized, Dante no longer minded. He never planned to hold him accountable; he was only reminding him not to wipe all the zombies out and leave some for him.
Soon after, Dante still maintained the Fortress: First Form as it was barely reducing his aura due to the zombies' weak attacks or lack thereof, as the zombies merely caused collision damage.
Forwarding his right hand, brown-colored aura surged from his body as he called out, "[Immovable Shield]!"
In front of Dante's right palm, his aura gathered and materialized a brown shield that was as huge as his body and wider than his body.
Immovable Shield (SSS) was one of Dante's class exclusive skills, and it allowed him to summon a shield with five times the defense proportional to the aura he inputted.
Furthermore, it had four powerful skill effects.
The first was that his shield would never get removed from his grip, and his grip would never become unsteady. The second prevented him from being thrown off his position as he could ignore and be immune to knockback and momentum.
On the other hand, the third allowed him to shift 50% of the damage he received into rebound damage against his enemy, as his shield would work like a mirror. For example, if Rian slashed a light sword slash at him, 50% of the power of the light sword slash would be reflected back to Rian, while Dante would only receive 50% of the damage.
As if that wasn't enough, his fourth skill effect caused him to transfer 50% of the remaining damage he received into his surroundings. Because of that, the damage he received after skill effect reductions would be drastically lowered, and be easier for him to tank the damage with his shield.
Moreover, that was excluding Dante's class traits as one of his literally gave him the passive buff of having an all-round defense, and if he had a shield present, the damage would be transferred to his shield.
Even if someone snuck behind his back and stabbed a spear into his butt, it wouldn't pass through his butthole and would collide as if hitting metal as it would face not only Dante's defense stat but also his damage reduction skill effects.
The same would happen if Dante's eye were hit, as any vulnerable parts of his body would no longer become vulnerable due to his class trait. His highest defense stat would be the defense of any part of his body.
Because of that, Ainsworth couldn't even find any weak points in Dante's body, much to his surprise. If he were to go all out and fight him in a life-and-death battle, Ainsworth still felt he wouldn't lose as he could bypass Dante's defense and cause penetration damage and true damage because he had the freedom to do so.
But other than an exception like him who had the freedom to do that, a main damage dealer like Rian wouldn't have any upper hand against Dante, as his skin and flesh would be too thick to penetrate and cause substantial damage.
After Dante summoned his Immovable Shield (SSS), he used a regular skill he got from a skill book to perform his attack.
Positioning his shield towards his shoulder as he held it in both hands, Dante charged towards the zombies and, like a speeding truck, he rammed towards them, "[Shield Bash]!"
When the zombies took the brunt of Dante's Shield Bash (A), their bones and flesh were pulverized and flattened. However, some of them were still alive, albeit being sent flying by Dante's attack, which caused a lot of knockback damage.
Although some of those zombies lived, they were only alive as Dante's shield bash didn't bash their skulls. Nonetheless, they couldn't move as their bodies were crippled by his shield bash.
When Dante had attacked, it didn't drag his Fortress: First Form with him, as he could freely choose whether to set up the fortress in a fixed location or let it follow him.
After Dante showed off his attack and got to kill zombies, Rian no longer held back and competed with him to eliminate the zombies.
In just under a minute, all the zombies were cleared by both Rian and Dante, with the majority being killed by Rian.
The streets, which used to be littered by zombies, were now filled with zombie corpses as Dante had already withdrawn his Fortress as they no longer needed it.
After observing Dante and Rian's attacks without interfering, Ainsworth spoke out as he concluded, "Unless we face a much tougher battle than this or even a life and death battle, I don't think we can fully portray our real combat power and teamwork. Fodders like Normal Zombies are just mobs that we can easily slaughter."
Dante agreed, "We have a much easier time in our Otherworld Mission despite choosing an unknown sixth difficulty merely because of both this being our first day here and the fact that our team consists of awakeners with one SS-rank class and two SSS-rank classes."
"If it were other awakener teams, they might not necessarily have such luxury as even having a team leader with an S-rank class is already top-notch, let alone have classes above that rank."
Dante wasn't lying, as although the three of them were blazing the Otherworld, it was ultimately because of how powerful they were, as they were all top students in Edenbridge High School.
The average awakener teams will have members with D-rank and C-rank classes, while the leader would have a B-rank class. Those were the usual team compositions of average awakener teams who harvest resources from the Otherworld for a living.
Only awakener teams from top schools like the three of them had the luxury of having a powerful line-up. But even then, that was due to Rian, Dante, and Ainsworth being top students. Even other students would be lucky to have a schoolmate with an S-rank class leading their team.
Although almost everyone on Earth could awaken a class after they become 16, that didn't mean everyone would awaken powerful classes. Only those with great luck, talent, genetics, and birthright could have powerful classes.
The world wasn't fair to begin with as even Ainsworth not only awakened a class but also a system so not everyone would be on the same starting point.
Ainsworth didn't care much about those, as what mattered to him was that he could fulfill his goals and gain enough power to take revenge against the Eye Organization.
While they were chatting, Ainsworth took the time clean up the zombie corpses and teleported them to the Church of Evolution. He didn't want to waste those zombie corpses as they could be transformed into divine wine and therefore, convert more believers for his religion so he didn't put it to waste.
Although he didn't want to micromanage every action of the Church of Evolution, he still cared about the Church of Evolution in his own way. Since they followed him due to his charisma and charm, he would let his subordinates prosper in this lawless world.
After he cleaned up the streets that were littered with zombie corpses, Ainsworth led Rian and Dante to leave, but before they could, they heard a loud shout:
"Wait!"
When someone yelled that, a group of survivors came out of hiding from a building as a tall man with a muscular build led those survivors and raised his hands in the air, saying, "We come in peace."
Hearing that man's words, Ainsworth inwardly complained, 'Sure, buddy. You definitely came in peace and weren't being opportunistic as you let Rian, Dante, and me clean up the zombies in the streets and do all the work before you all came out and didn't even bother helping.'
Although Ainsworth could kill them all and approach it like a murderhobo, he felt that killing them wasn't enough.
He was bored with not being able to move his muscles when Rian and Dante were the ones who killed all the zombies for target practice.
Since one of the reasons for leaving the Church of Evolution was in order to trigger side missions, Ainsworth decided to interact with the humans in the Otherworld to increase his chances of triggering side missions rather than just outright killing them.
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel SSS Class Awakening: Start With A God-Level Choice System Chapter 44: Ainsworth's AnalysisSSS CLASS AWAKENING: START WITH A GOD-LEVEL CHOICE SYSTEMC44: Ainsworth's Analysis
Chapter 44: Ainsworth's Analysis
In just a short period, Ainsworth started analyzing his targets, including the man leading the survivors and the survivors themselves.
'Those survivors, according to their clothing and condition, seemed to be from different streets and occupations. Furthermore, they also came from different ages, as a few are children led by their parents or older siblings, while some are middle-aged men and old people.'
'In a survivor group, if not managed well, those middle-aged men will undoubtedly complain if there is a lack of resources and especially if the cause of it is due to a surplus number of members who aren't even contributing to the team and are just being heavy teammates to carry. Most of such members are those children who couldn't go out and fight zombies, as well as very old men who'd suffer if they moved around too much.'
Looking at their microexpressions, Ainsworth analyzed further, 'The cohesion of their team isn't that strong or even could be said to be very loose. After all, it has been only a day since the start of the zombie apocalypse, and they barely knew each other, so there isn't any sense of attachment or camaraderie within the group and its members.'
'Although it's not that obvious, the middle-aged men and more capable members had positioned themselves away from those they considered a burden to the team, as they subconsciously resisted being with them. In a normal setting, they wouldn't be this bold, but in a life and death setting like the zombie apocalypse, they didn't think or believe they were wrong.'
'Now that I know that their team isn't an elite team composed of well-seasoned people from all walks of life but instead, burdened by unnecessary members, I can make use of that to put a rift in their team or at least open a gap to make Rian, Dante, and me join their team temporarily to see if I can trigger a side mission.'
'I don't know why I haven't triggered a side mission when I established my own force, but I have to guess that it's likely due to establishing a cult doesn't directly plunder a zombie apocalypse's world origin.'
'After all, the purpose of the main missions and side missions is for the Earth's Will to plunder the world origin of an invaded Otherworld and weaken it until it could be either completely devoured and used as nutrients for the Earth's growth or taken under its wing as a subordinate world.'
'Perhaps this world might be stronger than the average apocalypse world and is more special than most, but not that much. At least, not to the point that doing something contrary to its intended world line or plot line would allow awakeners like myself to plunder its world origin that way.'
'Most worlds have their own protagonists who are called by many names, like children of destinies, chosen ones, heroes, and many more. A complete timeline where the protagonists fulfill it's roles, or at least even if the protagonist doesn't fulfill it's roles, but as long as they existed and spent their time in this world without any interference from outsiders, is a timeline considered as the world line or plot line of a world.'
Remembering his teachers' lectures in Edenbridge High School, Ainsworth pondered, 'Outside interference from otherworlders like us Earth's awakeners can stray off a world's destined world line.'
'There are ways to plunder more world origin, and aside from stealing artifacts and items that are crucial to that world or eliminating its protagonists, there's also a way, which is to do what the protagonists did in the original world line and completely replace them. After replacing them, the otherworlders can then sabotage the world line after making the protagonist irrelevant to the world.'
'Main missions in most cases are direct ways to plunder world origin, and most worlds wouldn't be easily devoured by the Earth in just one Otherworld Mission session if the Earth dealt with an Otherworld via main missions only. However, the advantage of the Earth is that it could send another batch of awakeners to do main missions again until all the world origins of that Otherworld are completely plundered.'
'On the other hand, side missions might be contrary to main missions as they mostly reenact what the protagonists did in the original world line. A side mission being completed is like an otherworlder taking over the original protagonists' role and making them useless, so most of those side missions are what the original protagonists would do in the original world line.'
'Therefore, performing better than the protagonists and doing those side missions better would lead to more world origin being successfully plundered. It could also be said that I didn't trigger any side missions when establishing my cult is that either the cult has been recently established and isn't bing enough to make an impact in the world line or the protagonists never established one so I can't take over the protagonists' role and do better than them.'
'But then again, I could be wrong in a way that establishing a cult had indeed plundered the world origin as it disrupted the world line in a way it warranted a hidden mission. Unlike main missions and side missions, hidden missions' completion will only be calculated after the main missions are completed and the awakeners are eligible to return back to Earth.'
'If my cult gets big enough and disrupts the world line even more, then I should be eligible for a high rank hidden mission completion. The mission score is mostly graded by the more world origins that are plundered, the greater the mission score would be. And the better the mission score, the better the rewards the Earth could grant to the awakeners.'
After recalling all those information, Ainsworth's attention shifted back to the survivors and the man leading them as he decided, 'Since in most zombie apocalypse world it's either a loner protagonist who doesn't affiliate themselves with survivors or they join or establish human survival bases, I can test and see if I can manipulate this survivor team and trigger a side mission.'
'It's best if my team and I could, but if not, then I can take drastic measures. Anyway, Rian and Dante will listen to my orders as the team leader, no matter how vile my actions would be, as long as it could be framed as the progression of our otherworld mission.'
'After all, Rian and Dante have no attachments to the Otherworld, and they aren't dead weight teammates who are difficult to carry as they don't have a savior complex. If they did, then even if they are my best friends, I'd rather go solo than bring them with me.'
After determining his next course of action to manipulate the survivor group as well as determining that his teammates wouldn't be against it, Ainsworth already formulated his plan in just less than a second, thanks to the usage of his Ultimate Freedom (SSS) to increase his thinking time.
This time, Ainsworth released his God-Level Charm as he had previously restrained it when Rian, Dante, and he had taken off the Church of Evolution's attires.
But unlike his previous divine-like being charm that could captivate mortals and make them revere him, this time, he used the charm of a destined sworn brother who was naturally friendly and made the other party regret not meeting them sooner.
There were different types and styles of charm, and his God-Level Charm could tailor any of them to fit his needs or his target's preference.
With the charm of a naturally friendly sworn brother that one could trust with their life, Ainsworth approached the leader of the survivor group but halted two meters away from him.
Afterward, he extended his hand for a handshake as he amiably said, "Comrade, we also came in peace. I'm Arthur, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Seeing Ainsworth propose a handshake to him and even go as far as to introduce himself, the survivor group leader felt moved and extended his hand as well and shook Ainsworth's hand, "You can call me Thomas, I'm the leader of this survivor group."
"If you aren't affiliated with any survivor group, do you want to join us? We plan to head to a survival base established by the military. With your power, we can reduce casualties as much as possible."
Even though Thomas and the survivor group had witnessed Ainsworth, Rian, and Dante's power as they had cleared a horde of zombies, Thomas still tried his best to recruit the three of them into the group.
He was well aware that Ainsworth, Rian, and Dante had achieved power beyond human capabilities, and only they could ensure that their survivor group could survive until they arrived at the human base established by the military.
After they shook each other's hands, Ainsworth didn't immediately reply to Thomas and merely smiled affably.
Knowing that there wasn't any free lunch in this world and that it was already the best outcome that Ainsworth didn't downright refuse, Thomas gritted his teeth. He offered, "If you can join our group and guarantee our group's safety, I'll let you become the leader of our survival group."
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel SSS Class Awakening: Start With A God-Level Choice System Chapter 45: Triggering A Side Mission And Choice Options Simultaneously!SSS CLASS AWAKENING: START WITH A GOD-LEVEL CHOICE SYSTEMC45: Triggering A Side Mission And Choice Options Simultaneously!
Chapter 45: Triggering A Side Mission And Choice Options Simultaneously!
When Thomas offered his group leader position to Ainsworth, none of the survivors within his group showed any resistance.
After all, for them, it didn't matter who was the leader as long as they were capable. Thomas merely did his best in leading the group, and he didn't treat any members badly, so they weren't against him being the leader.
However, they witnessed Ainsworth and his team eliminate a horde of zombies, so when compared to Thomas, they preferred that Ainsworth become their group leader. After all, Ainsworth and his team's power was more than enough to guarantee their safety.
Furthermore, they also had a very good impression of Ainsworth due to his charm and charisma. Those with great looks would naturally yield a good first impression, especially when they were capable and showed good will to those who were inferior to them.
As long as Ainsworth didn't directly curse and scold them for no reason, they all believed that someone as powerful and friendly as he was more than qualified to become their group leader.
After Thomas offered his position to Ainsworth, Ainsworth soon heard a notification sound in his mind.
-Ding!
[Eleutheron Eclipse has triggered a Side Mission!]
-Ding!
[Side Mission: Infiltration (B)]
[Objective: Infiltrate the survivor group and earn their trust. Afterwards, join the military-established human survival base with them and establish your team there.]
[Reward: Improvement of otherworld mission score (Will be graded after all the main missions are completed).]
[Time Limit: None]
[Note: This is a progression-based side mission. After completing this side mission, depending on your team's progress, you may or may not trigger another side mission related to this.]
-Ding!
[Does your team want to accept the Side Mission with a difficulty of B-grade?]
[Yes] | [No]
The notification sound and the system screens that popped up weren't from Ainsworth's God-Level Choice System but from Earth Will's Voice of The World.
In other words, both Rian and Dante had also gotten the same notification, with the exception of the lack of choice.
After all, Ainsworth was their team's designated leader, so only he had the authority to choose whether to accept the side mission or not.
That was why when establishing an otherworld team, it was highly important to have a trusted team leader who would hear out the opinions of the members rather than outright accepting any tasks regardless of difficulty just because they overestimated their capabilities.
Of course, the penalty for failing side missions wasn't that high. It was merely the deduction of the Otherworld Mission's score by the score that the team would receive if they had completed the side mission.
In a scenario where someone chose an extremely difficult side mission, didn't manage to complete it, and their Otherworld Mission's score wasn't enough, that otherworld team wouldn't suffer a negative otherworld mission score, as it would merely be zero.
Since the otherworld mission score would be zero, then there wouldn't be any rewards, and it would be treated as if they didn't do any work.
After Rian and Dante read the contents of the side mission, they didn't respond due to Thomas and the survivors being present.
Despite their lack of response, Ainsworth already knew what they meant as silence in this case would mean that they wouldn't mind if he accepted it or not. Otherwise, if it was a really difficult side mission that they knew they couldn't defeat, Rian and Dante would have already signaled Ainsworth to not accept the side mission.
Knowing Rian and Dante's opinions as well as believing that they could handle a B-grade side mission, Ainsworth was about to accept the side mission when he soon heard another notification sound, followed by the world's time being halted.
-Ding!
[Loading choices...]
-Ding!
[(1) Accept the Side Mission: Infiltration (B)
(Reward: Disguise (C) is upgraded to Flawless Disguise (SS))]
[(2) Refuse the Side Mission: Infiltration (B)
(Reward: Silent Steps (C) is upgraded to Soundless Steps (SS))]
[(3) Choose none of the given options and choose your own path.
(Reward: None)]
Observing his surroundings, the survivors, and Rian and Dante, who were stopped in time, Ainsworth muttered, "I didn't expect to trigger both the God-Level Choice System's choices as well as the Otherworld Mission's Side Mission at the same time."
Having such an uncommon event occur, Ainsworth wanted to test and answer one of his doubts. He thoroughly observed the system screen of the Earth Will's Voice of The World, and after observing it for a minute, Ainsworth determined that the Earth Will's system screen was stopped in time!
"Since the Earth's Will was stopped in time by my God-Level Choice System, then that proves that the God-Level Choice System is stronger and superior than the Earth's Will. So as long as I don't die early and I use my system properly, surpassing the Earth's strongest is just a matter of time."
"The God-Level Choice System is my ticket to surpassing the SSS-rank Awakeners on Earth as well as going beyond the SSS-rank. But even then, I can't rely too much on it and remain complacent."
Ainsworth was well aware that if he relied too much on his system, he wouldn't truly become a powerful person. Not in a sense of raw power, but both a balance of power, control, and mentality.
Furthermore, the God-Level Choice System mostly gives out resources and powers, so he wouldn't have to worry about that. But if he slacked off and became idle, then that would be shooting himself in the foot, as the choice options would only be triggered if there were events that could trigger them.
With that in mind, Ainsworth steeled his resolve and chose Option 1 as that would not only yield the Flawless Disguise (SS) skill but also allow Eleutheron Eclipse to accept a B-grade side mission, thereby killing two birds with one stone.
Moreover, Ainsworth disliked the Soundless Steps (SS) skill as it was a redundant skill. His Freedom of Movement (SSS) skill was not only superior in rank to it but also a class exclusive skill so it was much more powerful.
He didn't lack footwork-type of skill as Freedom of Movement (SSS) could do what most footwork-type skills could do and even more than that.
Deciding on Choice 1, time resumed, and Ainsworth immediately pressed the [Yes] button.
-Ding!
[Eleutheron Eclipse has accepted the Side Mission: Infiltration (B)!]
After Ainsworth accepted the side mission, he received the Choice 1 reward, so he immediately used it, upgrading his Disguise (C) skill to Flawless Disguise (SS).
SS-rank skills were very expensive, as only S-rank Awakeners who took on Hell Difficulty Otherworld Missions could have a chance to get them. Of course, those above S-rank Awakeners, such as SS-rank Awakeners and SSS-rank Awakeners, could acquire it.
Such high-ranking skills were not something that an unranked awakener like himself could obtain. After all, even the skill books given to him by his sister Kyla were only A-rank and below, as those were the ones that could be bought with money and acquired quickly.
Those who have S-rank skill books and above would rarely sell them unless it was either a duplicate or a skill that didn't suit them. So aside from money, connections were extremely important, as just knowing a powerful awakener would allow a rookie awakener to have high-ranking skill books.
Ainsworth could have asked for skill books with higher skill rank, but he knew that his sister and he were on a tight budget. And besides, even if his sister had already set aside money for his future as an Awakener, he never planned on relying on skills since he only planned to let them supplement his SSS-rank Freedom Freelancer class.
That's why he asked his sister to just get him a bunch of skills he needed so that he could be versatile and fulfill several roles. Anyway, even if he got an SSS-rank skill, it still would be inferior to his SSS-rank class exclusive skills.
After Ainsworth, Rian, and Dante received the notification from the Voice of The World, Ainsworth then shifted his attention back to Thomas.
With a friendly smile, Ainsworth agreed, "If you say so, my team will join your survivor group and become its leader."
"However!"
When Ainsworth agreed to join the survivor group, Thomas heaved a sigh of relief. He didn't care he lost his group leader position as it was pretty much useless if he wasn't powerful enough to lead the group.
Just as he was about to thank Ainsworth, he heard Ainsworth's sudden rebuttal which made Thomas who was previously relieved to feel his heart become heavy again.
Thomas gulped in nervousness as he inquired, "However?"
Looking at Thomas, who became nervous, Ainsworth patted his shoulder and assured him, "You were leading the group well before I took over. But now that I did, the security can't be as lax as before."
"You trust the members of your survivor group too much, so you overlook one thing..."
Activating his Freedom of Speech (SSS) skill, Ainsworth changed his charm to that of a reliable and experienced detective as he convincingly stated, "One of your members had hidden their injuries of being bitten by a zombie!"
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel SSS Class Awakening: Start With A God-Level Choice System Chapter 46: The Power of Freedom of SpeechSSS CLASS AWAKENING: START WITH A GOD-LEVEL CHOICE SYSTEMC46: The Power of Freedom of Speech
Chapter 46: The Power of Freedom of Speech
When Ainsworth's convincing words fell upon all the members of the survivor group present, most of them weren't worried as they knew whether they had been bitten. Nevertheless, they were still apprehensive of everyone present as any one of them could have degenerated into a zombie and bitten them.
In Thomas's case, when he heard Ainsworth's statement, he felt the urge to believe it to be the truth.
So, he didn't doubt him; instead, he asked worriedly, "Can you please reveal them and let them leave the group? I don't want to be heartless, but the lives of everyone would be at stake if even one member were hiding that they were about to transform into a zombie."
Faced with Thomas and the other members' worries, Ainsworth patted his chest confidently and swore an oath, "Fear not! For I, Arthur, will ensure that under my leadership, no pointless lives will be sacrificed in our journey to the military-established human survival base."
"And I, as a responsible leader, will make the hardest choices if that's what's good for the group, even if most people can't bear to do them."
"For the sake of everyone's lives, I'll expose the perpetrator. Since he dared to hide his injuries from being bitten by a zombie, he is, without a doubt, evil! He dared endanger everyone's lives, and as your leader, I can't allow such injustice to occur!"
Under the effect of Freedom of Speech (SSS), since Ainsworth's Charm attribute was higher than everyone's Spirit attribute, they were all affected by his speech.
Almost all members of the survivor group were moved by his selfless and responsible persona, and they couldn't help but shed tears. It felt like god had answered their prayers. Not only was someone powerful and reliable who joined their group and became their leader, he even cared about their lives and didn't treat them as expendables.
Even those who had planned to slack off and become a burden in the group no longer felt that way. Those who were deadweights were moved by Ainsworth's speech about his responsibility towards them, so they started thinking of ways to contribute to the group to the best of their abilities.
As for the member who hid the fact that he was bitten by a zombie, he, who had hidden his injuries well, could hardly keep his composure now.
Thomas didn't notice anything unusual under his previous leadership, mostly because the injured member hid it well. However, when the injured member heard Ainsworth's words that condemned him, even he couldn't help but feel like he was the most evil person to exist on Terra.
The injured member started doubting why he hid it and, instead, he should have just left the group and saved everyone. Yet, he was so selfish and vile to hide his injuries and endanger everyone's lives.
Since he was only a normal person, he naturally felt guilt, and it had been weighing him down, especially when a righteous and reliable person like Ainsworth condemned him for being evil.
In the end, before Ainsworth could launch another verbal attack using his Freedom of Speech (SSS) skill, the injured member stepped out of the group, bowed his head towards Ainsworth, and deeply apologized, "I'm sorry for being selfish and cruel! I didn't want to endanger the group, but I also don't want to die."
"I felt like my body was resisting the zombie virus, and I never had visible symptoms of having the zombie virus, so I had believed I could overcome it. Yet, I was only thinking about myself, which endangered everyone's life in the process."
"I won't ask everyone to accept my apology. To repent for my actions, I will leave the group and survive on my own."
Even when Kyle, the injured member, had already apologized, some of the members of the survivor group started hurling insults to condemn him for endangering their lives.
After all, if Ainsworth didn't force Kyle to own up for his crimes, there would be casualties in the survivor group if Kyle ever turned into a zombie and bit them. They dared not gamble that they wouldn't be the ones who'd be bitten by the zombie Kyle turned into.
Looking at Kyle, who had lowered his head and didn't speak up against the rebuttals and insults hurled at him, Ainsworth thought, 'Freedom of Speech sure is powerful. I could become a politician and run for president, and I'd easily win the election due to swaying those sheeples into voting for me.'
'With it, I don't even need to make exaggerated body and hand gestures as I campaign or even make a ridiculous slogan of making the country Great Again. As long as most people have a lower Spirit attribute in comparison to my Charm attribute, then they'd easily be swayed by my words.'
'Just like now, these survivors wouldn't even hesitate to gang up and execute Kyle if I order them to do so. They have already been incited to do my bidding, yet even they themselves aren't aware of that.'
'Freedom of Speech is indeed the freedom of speech. But the difference is that the freedom lies within me, not others. Kyle wasn't lying about feeling fine even when he was bitten by a zombie, as he had indeed developed resistance to the zombie virus.'
'If not for my team's intervention, Kyle would likely have become an evolver and awakened his superpower. Then, he'd be the backbone of the group, and his hiding of his zombie bite, which potentially endangered everyone's life, would be a secret he'd bring to his grave.'
'However, whether Kyle is lying, evil, or not, is not something I have to consider, as I only need to paint the narrative that he is guilty of a crime he didn't intend to commit. As for the rest, the winner takes all, and the winner gets to write history.'
'No one will remember Kyle after I eliminate him. Everyone will remember me and my team, who brought light to when everyone was suffering in the dark.'
With that in mind, Ainsworth already formulated a plan in his mind on how he'd dispose of Kyle without tarnishing the persona he had crafted for himself.
Walking towards Kyle, Ainsworth waved his hand, and a backpack appeared, being held by his right hand.
He passed that backpack to Kyle and patted his shoulder with his other hand, reassuring him with his charming smile, "Even if you have hidden your zombie bite and almost jeopardized everyone's life, what matters is that you owned up to your crimes and have the heart to repent. In doing so, you are becoming a person better than your past self."
Ainsworth gave the backpack to Kyle and informed him, "My team and I had looted supplies before, and in this backpack, you'll have enough food and water for a week if you ration it well. There are also other valuable supplies there that will ensure you won't be helpless after leaving my survivor group."
"You might have committed a crime, but it doesn't change the fact that you were once a member of my survivor group. Therefore, as your former leader, I don't want you to die because of a decision I made to save the entire group, so just take this backpack with peace of mind."
When Ainsworth handed out the backpack to Kyle and generously gave him valuable supplies, all of the members who heard Ainsworth, including Thomas, couldn't help but be jealous of Kyle, who was handed out such valuable supplies.
In their eyes, Kyle was already a dead man since he would be doomed after leaving their group. Giving such supplies to a man who was about to die was a waste of resources since they couldn't retrieve them.
After all, Kyle would likely die in a place that was too far from them, so it was impossible for them to take a detour as they were all planning to head to the military-established human survival base as soon as possible.
Some members of the survivor group were even tempted to leave the group just to get supplies from Ainsworth, yet they still remained rational and didn't let it get to them. Those supplies would be useless if they died before they could even make use of it and they knew that without Ainsworth and his team, it would be difficult for them to survive all on their own.
But no matter what, Ainsworth's generosity and selfless action earned the trust of all the people in the survivor group. Even those who still held a sliver of skepticism towards Ainsworth changed their views on him after seeing him hand valuable supplies to a dead man.
Furthermore, his feat of waving his hand to take out supplies had also assured the survivors that they wouldn't be low on supplies. They speculated that since Ainsworth had spare supplies to give to someone who'd leave the group, he should have plenty for them.
All the members of the survivor group were undoubtedly convinced of Ainsworth's role as their leader!
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel SSS Class Awakening: Start With A God-Level Choice System Chapter 47: Side Mission: Road To Zombie King (S)SSS CLASS AWAKENING: START WITH A GOD-LEVEL CHOICE SYSTEMC47: Side Mission: Road To Zombie King (S)
Chapter 47: Side Mission: Road To Zombie King (S)
After Ainsworth handed the backpack to Kyle, Kyle moved his head and body even lower. If not for the dirty asphalt road, he would have already knelt to Ainsworth.
"Thanks again, Arthur! If I ever survive, I'll repay you for this favor!"
Soon after, Kyle left under the envious gaze of the members of the survivor group. Even if they knew Kyle's fate was doomed, they still couldn't help but feel jealous of the resources he got from Ainsworth.
They knew that Ainsworth was kind, responsible, and righteous, and although they couldn't be like him, it was still reassuring for them to have such a leader. At least, they knew that with Ainsworth's kind personality, they wouldn't be left to fend off the zombies without any supplies.
However, just as Kyle left, when the members of the survivor group weren't looking, Ainsworth secretly sent out his father zombie virus strains in Kyle's direction.
The original zombie virus couldn't travel through the air. But with Ainsworth infusing viral energy into it as well as controlling the zombie virus strain, it didn't take long before it entered Kyle's wound.
Despite already having more than enough zombie virus to turn Kyle into a zombie, Ainsworth didn't let the zombie virus strains he sent to Kyle infect him.
It was only when it had been thirty minutes since the survivor group had walked on foot that Ainsworth had set a timer to let all the zombie virus strains burst within Kyle's body, infecting him in an instant before his immune system could react to counter it.
The original zombie virus in Kyle's body was assimilated by Ainsworth's father zombie virus, so in just a matter of seconds, Kyle directly turned into a zombie.
He became an Elite Zombie, even stronger than the average Elite Evolvers, due to being filled with Ainsworth's father zombie virus. Because of that, Kyle was different from most zombies as he had retained his sentience and sapience as a human despite not being a Special Zombie or stronger.
However, the price of that was that Kyle's life was no longer in his hands, as he was already part of the Hive Mind.
To prevent waste, Ainsworth had commanded Kyle, who, aside from his pale skin, looked not much different from a human, to find a human survivor group, infiltrate them, and infect more humans with the father zombie virus.
He planned to let Kyle become a Special Zombie or even higher than that, as he wanted a zombie faction within his Church of Evolution.
While walking with the survivors' group, Ainsworth secretly grinned after the first step of his plan succeeded.
'Most would assume I only gave that backpack to improve the impressions of the survivor group on me, but that's just one of my plans with it. I haven't told Dante and Rian since I didn't have the chance, and they might not know my full plan yet.'
'It's only a part of my bigger scheme, as the backpack will be used by Kyle to infiltrate the survivor group and offer it as a tribute to the survivor group. Even most survivor groups would have a good impression of him and treat him better if they were given supplies when they needed them the most due to their scarcity.'
'And when their guards on Kyle are lowered, Kyle can attack them while they are asleep and bite them at night. Or, he could also slowly infect them with the father zombie virus by releasing zombie virus strains in the air. Either way, it will end with Kyle creating his first zombie group and then using it to infect other survivor groups or even fight off and devour other stronger zombies.'
'I already created the Church of Evolution to control evolvers. The zombie faction I created can control the zombies. Furthermore, with Rian, Dante, and I infiltrating the military-established survival bases, it won't be long before the entire world will be grasped by my dark hand, controlling everything in front of and behind the scenes!'
According to Ainsworth's plan, doing it that way would let him complete hidden missions. He might not be able to check the status of the hidden missions and whether he completed them or not, but he could at least estimate that he had completed at least more than two of them.
After all, Ainsworth was the smartest student in Edenbridge High, and he had higher grades than both Mira and Elyndra. He also spent a lot of his time in the school library and databases, so he had access to a lot of public and private information.
There was a time he had searched the hidden missions received by other awakeners, and he noticed a similarity among them when compared to the Otherworld they were in. Most hidden missions were things that had subverted the world line of the Otherworld or had a huge impact that caused the Otherworld to lose a lot of world origin.
As long as he did something even grander than the main missions and side missions, Ainsworth was confident that he could trigger the hidden missions and complete them.
Since he has a system and also has a revenge to take, Ainsworth had long before decided that he would do things to its limit.
Most awakeners would only complete the Otherworld Mission, and they'd be satisfied if they could complete a side mission or two. However, Ainsworth wanted to overfulfill the Otherworld Mission so that he could gain more mission score.
Even if he were to treat every living being in the Otherworld as discardable pawns and the Otherworld as a chessboard, he wouldn't hesitate to do it as long as it would serve to complete his goals.
Of course, Ainsworth was well aware of the price of a chess player being caught up and entangled by the grand scheme, being reduced into the chess piece one used to control.
He was well aware of the consequences of his actions and the price of doing it, and because of that, he would do his utmost best in order not to fail. Being indecisive would only spell not just his doom but Rian and Dante's as well.
Just as he was about to command the survivor group to take a rest since it was getting dark, Ainsworth heard a notification sound in his mind.
-Ding!
[Eleutheron Eclipse has triggered a Side Mission!]
-Ding!
[Side Mission: Road To Zombie King (S)]
[Objective: Be infected by the zombie virus, become a zombie, and maintain the sentience and sapience you once had as a human. Afterward, climb up the ranks and evolve from Normal Zombie to a Zombie King, an evolution rank above Special Zombie. After becoming a Zombie King, establish a zombie kingdom with you as the king, controlling the lives of countless zombies.]
[Alternative Objective: Control a zombie to the point you can decide their life and death. The controlled zombie must become your property and have full obedience towards you. Afterward, instead of you being infected by the zombie virus and becoming a zombie, let them complete the objective on your behalf. As long as your control over them doesn't weaken when they become a Zombie King and establish a zombie kingdom, the side mission will still be considered complete.]
[Rewards: Improvement of otherworld mission score (Will be graded after all the main missions are completed), S-rank Skill Book (One per member of the team, tailored to suit the member's needs)]
[Time Limit: None]
[Note: This is a progression-based side mission. After completing this side mission, depending on your team's progress, you may or may not trigger another side mission related to this.]
[Note 2: Your team only needs one member to complete it, and it doesn't require all members to become a Zombie King. If a member of your team accepted this side mission and became a Zombie King, they can choose to stay in this world, but their identity and power as an Awakener will be revoked. If they don't plan to stay, they can return to Earth, but their power as a Zombie King will be removed as the body and the zombie virus will be cleansed so that the Awakener can regain his status as a human.]
-Ding!
[Does your team want to accept the Side Mission with a difficulty of S-grade?]
[Yes] | [No]
As usual, it wasn't just Ainsworth but also Rian and Dante who received the notification regarding the side mission.
When they finished reading its contents, Rian and Dante couldn't help but praise Ainsworth in their hearts for being an active team leader and the Awakener's role model.
It wasn't rare to trigger a side mission, but that also didn't mean it was common and easy to trigger one, especially when they just recently triggered a side mission.
It's only been the first day since they arrived in the Zombie Apocalypse World, yet they already triggered two side missions and likely completed a hidden mission.
When Rian and Dante thought about it, they couldn't help but comment in their minds, 'Sure enough, following Ainsworth is the best choice I ever made in my life!'
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel SSS Class Awakening: Start With A God-Level Choice System Chapter 48: The Possibility Of Teaming UpSSS CLASS AWAKENING: START WITH A GOD-LEVEL CHOICE SYSTEMC48: The Possibility Of Teaming Up
Chapter 48: The Possibility Of Teaming Up
When Ainsworth finished reading the contents of the S-grade side mission, he knew that Rian and Dante would agree with him in accepting the side mission.
If it were only the side mission's objective, the three of them would be resistant to doing it. After all, no one wanted to lose their humanity and become a zombie.
Fortunately, there was an alternative objective that could be fulfilled by letting a controlled zombie complete the side mission's objective for them.
It just so happened that there was already a controlled zombie that Ainsworth had, which was Kyle.
Coincidence? Most certainly not.
If any of their teammates became a zombie, whether intentional or by accident, then they would undoubtedly trigger this side mission.
However, the act of controlling a zombie met the conditions for the alternative objective which in turn, triggered the Road To Zombie King (S) side mission.
Due to Ainsworth having a wide array of skills, he could easily meet the trigger conditions of most side missions. Even the Road To Zombie King (S) side mission could only be triggered if an awakener got infected by the zombie virus, or they could control the zombies or enslave them.
No matter what, it would be difficult for most awakeners to fulfill the trigger conditions of side missions, let alone complete them.
When he remembered the alternative objective, Ainsworth couldn't help but ponder, 'Now that I think about it, Elyndra might be able to trigger and complete this side mission. After all, she could even forcibly order and command that rich young master Caspian to eat shit in a live broadcast, let alone order and command zombies.'
'As long as she exerted her control over a zombie and let it evolve to Zombie King, she could even her class exclusive skill to command countless zombies and let them join the kingdom of the Zombie King, thereby completing the side mission.'
'I wonder what Otherworld her team is in and how they are doing right now. I don't have to worry about her safety as she could even give me an SSS-rank Abandon Mission Card, so she definitely had enough for her own usage.'
'Nevertheless, Elyndra and Mira teaming up with each other is already an invincible duo that could easily complete Hell Difficulty Otherworld Missions. But, with their personalities, they wouldn't want to just complete the otherworld mission but also overfulfill it like me. To maximize efficiency, they should have formed a five-person team.'
'Putting aside my crush for Elyndra, it doesn't change the fact that Elyndra, Mira, and I are rivals. Despite Caspian being Rank 4 and only ranking lower than me, he wasn't even qualified to be treated as our rival, as he was only Rank 4 because that's the rank lower than me, not because he is qualified to be one.'
'Due to various factors in determining the school rankings, just like how my rank is lower than Elyndra and Mira due to my background, Caspian's background is also higher than the students below him, so he became Rank 4. He merely has the background and talent, but his skills can't back it up, unlike my rivalry with Elyndra and Mira.'
'With how competitive Elyndra and Mira are, they wouldn't be satisfied with just completing the otherworld mission. So like myself, they must have turned the Otherworld upside down as they would experiment with ways to trigger the side missions and complete hidden missions.'
'If conditions permit, it would be interesting to have Elyndra and Mira on my team.'
Of course, Ainsworth was only thinking about it, but for now, he didn't care much about whether they were on his team or not.
But even he had to admit that in terms of team leadership, he was lacking compared to Elyndra. Not only because Elyndra's SSS-rank Tyrannical Ruler class was suited for that, but also due to her upbringing as a royal princess.
She would undoubtedly be able to scheme and manipulate people and coordinate the team better than him. Ainsworth only relied on the god-level talents he received from the system to compensate for his lack of skill in that area but in terms of pure skill, he was no match for Elyndra.
Furthermore, Ainsworth believed that he wasn't suited to be the team leader as his class was more suited to being a lone wolf.
With his freedom-based class, he could trigger side missions and hidden missions more easily if he were on his own than leading a team.
He only led Rian and Dante because he needed an insurance as there were strength in numbers. Moreover, they were his best friends that he could trust with his life so in case he ever needed assistance, having them was better than not having them.
He also wanted them to become stronger as they were very talented and would greatly assist him in both Earth as well as his revenge against the Eye Organization.
So even if he could have gone solo, he chose not to as it would bring him more benefit if he brought Rian and Dante with him. Even Elyndra had joined forces with Mira, so he also did the same with Rian and Dante.
While the thought of being with Elyndra in the next Otherworld Mission was appealing to him, Ainsworth still focused on the matters at hand as he decided to take on the Road To Zombie King (S) side mission.
Even if Kyle didn't have the potential and talent to become a Zombie King, Ainsworth could even use his father zombie virus to turn a dog into a zombie dog and let it become a Zombie King, let alone Kyle.
For him, it didn't matter who would become the Zombie King. With his Pathogen Control (S), if given enough time, he could nurture any zombie into a Zombie King.
He only chose Kyle since at that time, he needed to silence him so recycling him into a zombie was a choice he made to prevent wastage. Otherwise, he could just choose other humans, or even his believers, and turn one of them into a zombie to control the zombie faction of this Zombie Apocalypse World.
Knowing that Rian and Dante would agree with him, Ainsworth didn't bother to ask for their opinion. He was about to press the button, but he halted his actions after hearing a notification sound in his mind.
-Ding!
[Loading choices...]
-Ding!
[(1) Accept the Side Mission: Road To Zombie King (S)
(Reward: Evasion (B) is upgraded to Phantom Evasion (SS))]
[(2) Refuse the Side Mission: Road To Zombie King (S)
(Reward: Condiment Manifestation (B) is upgraded to Condiment Creation (SS))]
[(3) Choose none of the given options and choose your own path.
(Reward: None)]
Faced with those three options, it was a no-brainer to choose the first choice, so Ainsworth didn't hesitate to accept Choice 1 and the Road To Zombie King (S) side mission.
-Ding!
[Eleutheron Eclipse has accepted the Side Mission: Road To Zombie King (S)!]
When Rian and Dante saw the system screen displayed by the Voice of The World, they were glad that they encountered another side mission which was now their second side mission in this Otherworld.
They were making good progress, and both of them knew that Ainsworth could easily complete that side mission despite it being S-grade. The only reason why it was S-grade was due to it being based on the average difficulty and it doesn't scale with how powerful the Otherworld team was.
Furthermore, aside from the difficulty it would pose to average awakeners, it's also based on how much world origin it would yield. The more world origin the Earth Will could get, the better the rewards it would give in return to the awakeners.
Because of that, the relationship between Awakeners and the Earth Will was a mutualistic symbiosis.
Since side missions' grading was mostly based on the world origin that it would yield after completing it, it was possible for an SSS-grade side mission to only be S-grade in true difficulty.
A good example of that would be eliminating the Otherworld's son of destiny. They might become a threat in the future worthy of an SSS-grade difficulty, but if encountered early, such as when they still have just started their journey, they could easily be killed by most Awakeners as long as those Awakeners treated the son of destiny seriously and didn't overestimate them.
It would be foolish to treat the protagonist of a world lightly. Even a lion uses its full strength to catch a rabbit.
Let alone being cautious, there were even overqualified Awakeners who camped their enemies' dead bodies for weeks to ensure that they were completely dead and didn't have any last resorts like resurrection.
Such a trend occurred due to an awakener making a mistake of letting their enemy resurrect when they didn't even thought of camping the enemy's corpse and that cost them their Otherworld Mission. If not for that awakener having an SSS-rank Abandon Mission Card, they would have also lost their life.
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel SSS Class Awakening: Start With A God-Level Choice System Chapter 49: Nighttime, Strange MoonlightSSS CLASS AWAKENING: START WITH A GOD-LEVEL CHOICE SYSTEMC49: Nighttime, Strange Moonlight
Chapter 49: Nighttime, Strange Moonlight
After Ainsworth accepted the Road To Zombie King (S) side mission, he also received the choice reward, which upgraded his Evasion (B) skill to Phantom Evasion (SS).
Furthermore, he also commanded Kyle to quicken his pace. Kyle was already his slave because he was part of his Hive Mind, so he didn't mind commanding him to do unpaid overtime work.
Even his fanatical believers were doing their best and using almost all their time in the day to spread the religion of the Church of Evolution. That didn't give Kyle, a zombie with limitless stamina, an excuse to slack off.
After deciding on the side mission, Ainsworth shifted his attention back to the survivor group who had taken a rest under his command.
When he looked up at the sky and noticed that it was getting dark, Ainsworth ordered, "There's a hotel nearby, so we'll make use of it as our temporary base until daytime."
Waving his hands, countless supplies for fortification like wooden boards, barricades, nails, etc., appeared near the hotel in a neat, segregated pile.
Ainsworth took them out from his system inventory as he wasn't lying when he had told Rian and Dante that he looted everything he deemed useful.
Pointing to the pile of fortification materials, Ainsworth commanded, "Thomas, I give you the authority to command and allocate the members in fortifying this hotel. My team and I will exterminate all the zombies inside the hotel, but whether a zombie broke in due to faulty fortification, that's no longer our fault."
"Fortify this hotel even if it's a temporary base. No need to mind about wasting resources as I have plenty. Treat it as if your life depends on it, because it does. Unless you people want a zombie assaulting you while you are asleep, you better get to it."
Even if there was a side mission based on infiltration, Ainsworth still didn't plan on letting him, Rian, and Dante do all the work. And besides, it would be better if they were put to work, as they would know not to take his generosity for granted.
It would be suspicious if he gave free supplies, did all the work, and never asked for anything in return. By letting them do their part, they wouldn't find it odd and would even feel good that they were contributing to the group.
Knowing Ainsworth's intentions as he was the former leader of this survivor group, Thomas nodded his head and solemnly replied, "Boss, I and everyone here will not let you down. Those zombies will never be able to enter any of the entrances of this hotel unless they are powerful enough to destroy the hotel walls."
After getting Thomas's promise, Ainsworth signaled Rian and Dante to enter the hotel with him.
The hotel's entrance door was not closed, so they entered easily from the front door. As soon as the hotel's door was opened, zombies swarmed towards them.
"[Shield Bash]!"
Dante attacked first by summoning his shield and using Shield Bash (A) to pulverize most of the zombies in front like a speeding truck.
With Dante creating an opening, Rian immediately followed by summoning his sword of light and raising it to the sky, "[Sword Light Rain]!"
Multiple swords made out of light materialized in the air a hundred meters above them and rained down on the zombies, hitting and impaling them accurately.
As for Ainsworth, he just walked leisurely towards the zombies without attacking; both his hands were tucked in his pockets.
When a zombie lunged at him, Ainsworth merely evaded it, and his movements were like those of a phantom. Even when zombies swarmed him, none of them could even touch a corner of his clothes.
Noticing that Ainsworth didn't attack, Rian raised his sword of light again and sent another set of Sword Light Rain (B) skill to eliminate the zombies that attacked Ainsworth.
After testing his Phantom Evasion (SS) skill against the zombies, Ainsworth shook his head in disappointment, 'These Normal Zombies, no matter their numbers, aren't enough to test the limits of my phantom evasion skill.'
'Maybe if I encountered a really powerful opponent, I could make more use of my phantom evasion skill. For now, Normal Zombies are only as powerful as the average human, aside from the advantage of limitless stamina, so they could even last longer than humans in a war of attrition.'
Although Ainsworth couldn't test the limits of Phantom Evasion (SS), he could at least prove that it was indeed useful. He hadn't even paired it with Freedom of Movement (SSS) yet, he could already move and dodge like a phantom and prevent those zombies from touching him.
While Ainsworth was testing his skills, Rian and Dante were busy dealing with the zombies.
Since the hotel being intact was needed, the two of them had to use non-destructive attacks, which reduced their efficiency in clearing out the zombies inside the hotel.
Nevertheless, it didn't take them that long, as Ainsworth later on split up with Rian and Dante inside the hotel to clear up the zombies.
With the zombies being taken care of, Ainsworth, Rian, and Dante had already chosen their hotel rooms and cleaned them up while leaving the rest of the work to Thomas and the survivors.
Resting in their respective hotel rooms, Ainsworth lay down on his bed and reached his hand towards the ceiling, looking at both his outreached hand and the ceiling.
Gazing at it, he sighed, "The unfamiliar ceiling has been a glaring proof that I'm staying in a world different from my own. There's no sister to cook for me when I wake up and no class to attend to."
"Aside from feeling a bit homesick, the Otherworld is still a place best suited for me."
'After all, the system has been active since I entered the Zombie Apocalypse World with Rian and Dante. It's the best place to trigger choice events, and I'll be able to become stronger faster in the otherworld than on Earth.'
'Even if my family is incomplete in this reality, I can fix it by becoming stronger. When I become the strongest, I can just manipulate reality and see through the truth behind the misfortune that fell upon my family.'
Clenching his outreached hand into a fist, Ainsworth muttered, "I need more power..."
Nevertheless, he wasn't in a hurry, as haste makes waste. Even those overpowered protagonists in the novels he read would still take a hundred years to reach omniverse-level power.
It hasn't even been a week since he had been transmigrated to this parallel Earth, and it has only been his first day since he started the Otherworld Mission in the Zombie Apocalypse World.
The Eye Organization wasn't a looming threat, considering that his sister Kyla had ensured they wouldn't find any reason to threaten Earth. However, he still wanted to gouge out the eyes of every member of the Eye Organization, like what they did to his sister, and return his sister's eyes to her.
While Ainsworth was resting on the bed, the night fell, and the white crescent moon shone brightly in the sky.
When moonlight entered through the windows and landed on Ainsworth's skin, he felt the virochondria and zombie virus in his body becoming stronger and more efficient, albeit at a slow pace. The viral energy in his body was becoming more abundant in terms of capacity as the moonlight kept feeding it.
Feeling the change brought by this world's moonlight, Ainsworth pondered, "So this is the strangeness of this world's moon? I'm considered an evolver, so I could feel the improvement brought by it."
"However, it does have its downsides. If an evolver greedily absorbs more moonlight than they could handle, the zombie virus in their body will become more restless, and the difficulty in keeping it controllable will increase. In the worst-case scenario, they might even turn into a zombie."
"My father zombie virus is unlike the regular evolver's zombie virus, as it's completely obedient to me, and I can even infect others and control them with it. Because of that, absorbing the moonlight has all the advantages while ignoring the disadvantages."
"As for how the zombies would benefit from this..."
Curious about the strange moonlight's effects on zombies, Ainsworth spied through Kyle's senses via the Hive Mind and noticed that a lifeform filled with zombie virus like him was like a fish in the water during nighttime.
The moonlight greatly strengthened Kyle's power. Even the speed of Kyle's evolution was greatly increased, and as long as he hoarded the places with the most moonlight, it would greatly decrease the time it would take for him to evolve into a Special Zombie.
Furthermore, from Kyle's perspective, Ainsworth saw that zombies at night would go outdoors and would bask in the moonlight like a plant would eagerly do when performing photosynthesis.
The stronger zombies would even stay on the rooftops and sit in meditation to absorb the moonlight faster.
Noticing the speed of Kyle's evolution as well as the behaviors of other zombies, Ainsworth couldn't help but comment, "Aren't the humans of this world screwed?"
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel SSS Class Awakening: Start With A God-Level Choice System Chapter 50: Bloodthirsty Ring Of Lifesteal (E)SSS CLASS AWAKENING: START WITH A GOD-LEVEL CHOICE SYSTEMC50: Bloodthirsty Ring Of Lifesteal (E)
Chapter 50: Bloodthirsty Ring Of Lifesteal (E)
When Ainsworth remembered that the fourth main mission would only be revealed two weeks later, he soon realized, "Two weeks later, with how quickly zombies could evolve, Elite Zombies would become more common while Special Zombies would no longer be that rare."
"At that point, every city might even have a Zombie King, so unless the evolvers are willing to take the risk in absorbing more moonlight, I doubt they could compete with the evolution speed of the zombies."
"In the end, the zombies in this world would defeat humans due to faster evolution time. Of course, there's also the possibility of the government resorting to MAD to nuke every place on this world and ensure that zombies wouldn't even be able to rule the world if the human race can't live on."
"No matter what, this world is screwed unless the protagonist of this world is stronger than the entire zombie race combined or there would be a powerful zombie who would side with the humans which I doubt it."
Despite that, Ainsworth didn't care much, as the lives and deaths of the people in this world have nothing to do with his team.
Although that made him realize something, "No wonder this is a world with Unknown Difficulty. If it was a bunch of awakeners thrown into this world, they'd no doubt die in the first week or so when Special Zombies became more prominent."
"Even I'm not certain of how powerful a Zombie King is, so I can't say for sure whether I can defeat them or not. But, I'm still confident that with how high my freedom is, I can undoubtedly retreat from any enemies. Doesn't matter if I can't defeat them as long as I can live long to tell the tale."
"Although that would pose a problem, as I might be able to retreat easily, Dante and Rian might not. I could bring them with me using Ultimate Freedom, but there would still be a slight delay in comparison to just retreating alone."
When Ainsworth thought of that possibility, he didn't want Rian and Dante to die as they were the only few friends he could trust with his life. Such friends were valuable especially in a world where only the strong and powerful thrived so it's rare to have such friend.
He started to think of ways on increasing Rian and Dante's survivability but he then remembered that he had obtained three 100% Perfect Healing Potion from a choice reward when he was faced with the option of choosing the Unknown Difficulty from his choice system.
That was the choice option reward, where he also got the Formless Kitchen Knives (S) skill. Aside from that, there was also the random compatible E-grade growth-type equipment, which he hadn't used yet as he never found the time to sort out his gains until now.
Using the random compatible E-grade growth-type equipment reward, Ainsworth obtained relatively powerful equipment, but it would likely only be useful in the late game rather than the early game.
[Item: Bloodthirsty Ring Of Lifesteal
Item Rank: E
Item Type: Accessory (Growth)
Item Ability:
(1): There will be a blood percentage bar that you can see when wearing this equipment. When the blood percentage bar is increased to 100%, the item will be upgraded to a higher rank, and its overall abilities will be improved. The blood percentage bar can only be increased by feeding the ring with blood. The higher the quality of the blood used, such as coming from a strong enemy, the greater the increase in the progress of the blood percentage bar.
(2): You will gain 1% lifesteal for every attack you deal, no matter the type of attack. Lifesteal will be granted in the form of health, even if the attack was based on mana and not a physical attack. However, if physical health is full, excess stolen health will be redirected to your other injured parts, such as if you have a soul or mental injury, it will be healed.
In the case where you are truly at full health, your stolen life will be placed in the ring and can be used when you want to use it. If your life is in danger, the ring will automatically transfer the stolen life inside it to heal you.]
Although the 1% lifesteal from the Bloodthirsty Ring of Lifesteal (E) wasn't that high and game-changing, Ainsworth still felt it was better than nothing.
After all, in a situation where he two awakeners were equal in everything, then the one who has this equipment will have more advantage than the other who didn't have it.
E-grade equipments weren't that particularly valuable especially for a talented awakener like himself, Rian, and Dante. What Ainsworth valued from it was it being a growth-type equipment.
So even if he became an S-rank Awakener, as long as he had fed it with enough blood, then it would grow alongside him and become an S-grade equipment.
Not only would its lifesteal percentage increase, but it might even unlock more abilities. The system had described the choice reward as a random compatible growth-type equipment so the system must have chosen this equipment for him due to it being compatible with him.
No matter what strategy he would use in his playstyle, lifesteal was still important in combat. At least, he was very satisfied with the ring compared to if he got, let's say, a mage's staff or a tank's shield. Those pieces of equipment would be useless to him.
Wearing the Bloodthirsty Ring of Lifesteal (E) onto his right middle finger, Ainsworth then took out the two 100% Perfect Healing Potions from his system inventory.
Heading to Rian and Dante's rooms, respectively, he gave them a 100% Perfect Healing Potion each and explained its usage and effects. They accepted it gratefully and didn't ask why he got a ring on his middle finger or where he got the potion.
Anyway, Rian and Dante wouldn't care even if out of nowhere, Ainsworth pulled out a Tommy gun or a star-destroying cannon. For them, as long as Ainsworth was still their bro, they wouldn't care about his secrets unless he himself told them about it.
After returning to his room, Ainsworth heaved a sigh of relief that he left Rian and Dante a last resort item so he didn't have to worry much about their safety.
'Forget about a glass cannon like Rian, if someone can kill Dante before he could even use the potion, then I'd stand no chance against such an opponent. In such situations, it would be far better to abandon the team and let one of us live than let the rest of us die.'
'Anyway, the worst scenario is that I'll grind for godhood and find a way to resurrect them. It would be foolish to let everyone die just to sacrifice our lives for the sake of friendship.'
'Before we even started the team, Rian, Dante, and I had already agreed that in a scenario where one of us would undoubtedly die, it would be Dante who'd sacrifice his life. He had less mobility and could buy the most time for our escape, while Rian and I would split up and see which of us could survive.'
'As our team's tank and due to the military teachings of his family, Dante had already prepared himself to die on the battlefield in order to protect his team. Furthermore, Dante has the highest defense among us, so an enemy who could one-shot him would easily wipe our team out, so retreating would be a strategic move to preserve the fire of hope in our team rather than let it extinguish in a mere Otherworld.'
'And besides, in the Otherworld, there are plenty of resurrection items. Although a lot of them have restrictions, there is still a way to resurrect a dead teammate, even if it's by using a very valuable artifact, so not all hope is lost.'
After finishing his preparations, Ainsworth's worries lessened as he decided to make use of his free time to explore the world at night.
As the team's scout, it was Ainsworth's duty to scout for intel and acquire as much information as possible, so he planned to study the strange moonlight and the behaviors of the zombies at night.
With that plan in mind, he used Freedom of Movement (SSS) to swim through the walls and then run in the air.
While he left his hotel's room, he observed the hotel from outside and noticed that the survivors had done a good job in fortifying the hotel's windows and entrances.
'From the looks of it, it will be impossible for those Normal Zombies to break inside the hotel. Only a powerful Elite Zombie could destroy the walls of the hotel and trespass, but otherwise, the hotel should be safe for most threats.'
'However...'
Pausing his train of thought, Ainsworth surveyed his surroundings and began to notice that the zombies at night were not only much more active, but they seemed to be even stronger than in daytime!
'It's quite possible for a Normal Zombie who's on the verge of evolution, during nighttime and empowered by the strange moonlight, to break into the hotel.'
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel SSS Class Awakening: Start With A God-Level Choice System Chapter 51: Let There Be Rain!SSS CLASS AWAKENING: START WITH A GOD-LEVEL CHOICE SYSTEMC51: Let There Be Rain!
Chapter 51: Let There Be Rain!
Observing the zombies from the sky, Ainsworth noticed that they were actively going outside to take a bath in the moonlight.
From his observation, aside from the zombie ranks, it could be further divided into three stages. Those three stages were the initial stage, intermediate stage, and late stage.
Most of the zombies roaming the streets were in the Normal Rank Initial Stage. The zombies who were staying on the rooftop to meditate and absorb the moonlight at a faster pace were in the intermediate stage, and a few were on the verge of breaking through and reaching the late stage.
Analyzing the behaviors of the zombies, Ainsworth contemplated, 'From what I could estimate, the zombies will evolve to Elite rank in just two days with how fast their evolution speed is.'
'If not for this world's strange moon, it might take a lot longer for these zombies to evolve. And if I'm not mistaken, not only is this world's moon strange, but the sun is as well.'
'I'll have to examine the effects of the sunlight tomorrow and see if it's harmful or beneficial to humans, evolvers, and zombies. But first, I still have to find a moon crystal or whatever that is.'
'I had commanded my believers to find and collect them, but even I, who ordered them to do that, didn't even know what it looks like and what it could do. However, from what I could guess, it's likely a result of the strange moonlight solidifying into crystal form.'
'This should be the first night since the strange moonlight shone on this world, so I doubt if there are already moon crystals formed. My guess could even be wrong, but it's still worth the shot to see if I can find a moon crystal tonight. The sooner I can find one, the faster I can send an image of it to let my believers find more of it.'
Before starting his search, Ainsworth checked up on his believers via the Hive Mind and, from what he could see, they still haven't found a moon crystal or an artifact. Nevertheless, he still admired their effort as even now, they were still finding it while converting those survivors they see into becoming one of them.
If those capitalists saw how hardworking those believers were, they might really want to start a cult and let them work overtime without pay and frame it as doing the lord's work.
Knowing that his believers still hadn't made any progress in their search, Ainsworth ignored the zombies who were crowding in the streets, as he didn't plan to kill them.
He had already confirmed that any zombies killed by his believers would be counted toward their team's main mission kill count. In other words, the Otherworld Mission thought of Ainsworth's believers as his tools or properties, so his believers performing the main missions was the same as Ainsworth and his team doing it themselves.
His believers had already killed a lot of Normal Zombies, and Main Mission 1 required the elimination of 100 Normal Zombies, 10 Elite Zombies, and 1 Special Zombie.
More than 100 Normal Zombies were already killed, so there was no point in wasting his time killing more when his believers could do all the dirty work for him.
The only zombies that could pose a threat to his team were a horde of Special Zombies or a Zombie King, so he didn't plan to massacre these zombies. He wanted them to live and evolve so that he could harvest them later on for those sweet kills.
Traversing the skies, Ainsworth ignored those Normal-rank Intermediate Stage zombies meditating on top of the rooftops, and instead, he expanded his search for moon crystals.
An hour had passed, and yet, Ainsworth still hadn't found any moon crystals.
He didn't worry about getting lost as he had already left coordinates at the hotel where his team and the survivor group were staying, so he could expand his search for as long as he wanted.
He had the freedom to move wherever he wanted, so his travels were unhindered. Despite that, he had searched for an hour, but to no avail.
Of course, it wasn't truly without any results, as he did find three Elite Zombies and killed them. Coupled with the Elite Zombies that his believers had already killed, his team had already killed 10 Elite Zombies.
In other words, his team only needed to kill 1 Special Zombie to complete Main Mission 1.
Even with his one-hour search that covered the entire city, Ainsworth still hasn't found a Special Zombie since even Elite Zombies were rare. Only those Normal Zombies who had evolved faster, consumed more zombies, and had the right opportunity managed to evolve into an Elite Zombie.
Otherwise, an Elite Zombie on the first night of the zombie apocalypse was rare to encounter.
Sitting in mid-air several hundred meters above the ground, Ainsworth finally took a break, gazing at the night sky as he muttered to himself,
"Maybe my search is in vain after all. Not because I didn't search hard enough, but because I might've been looking at the wrong time."
He glanced at the horizon, where the crescent moon hung high but not yet at its peak.
"It's only 9 PM. If my guess is correct, moon crystals might form—or become more abundant—around midnight, when the moon is at its highest and its power at its fullest."
He leaned back slightly, floating weightlessly as the cold air whispered past. "I'll wait until then. No point in wasting energy flying in circles."
With that decision in mind, Ainsworth took a nap in the air. Since Freedom of Movement (SSS) is a passive skill, he could use it instinctively, and its mana cost was lower than his mana regeneration.
He also didn't have to worry about catching a cold as he used Ultimate Freedom (SSS) to regulate his body temperature. No matter how cold the wind would blow him, he could treat it as an air conditioner, as it wouldn't affect his health no matter how cold it would get.
Turning the air into his bed, Ainsworth took a nap.
...
A few hours later, a loud explosion occurred, which awoken Ainsworth from his nap.
Gazing at the streets below, buildings and zombies caught on fire.
The stronger Normal-rank zombies staying on top of building rooftops were alerted by the explosion. Although they didn't have any intelligence, they still had instincts like those of an animal.
Everyone was peacefully absorbing the moonlight to evolve faster, yet someone caused an explosion and destroyed the peace? That alone enraged some of the zombies as they left the rooftop and headed to the source of the explosion to deal with the human who caused a disturbance in their territory.
Ainsworth ignored the enraged zombies and focused his attention on finding the people who caused the explosion.
"It hasn't even been midnight, and someone dared to wake me up at an earlier time. It's already nighttime for god damn sake so how can someone set up an explosion this loud and bright at night?"
"Do they not want a good night's sleep?"
Ainsworth checked the time, and it was only 11 PM, so he was an hour off from his alarm.
One of the things he disliked was when his sleep was interrupted. So, like those zombies, he planned to find the one who caused the explosion and started the fire.
However, he didn't want the fire to spread too much, as that would likely reach adjacent buildings and eventually reach the hotel where they were staying. So, Ainsworth used a combo of his skill set to summon rain!
Waving his hand, Ainsworth used Freedom of Speech (SSS) and Ultimate Freedom (SSS), "Let there be rain!"
To reduce the mana cost, Ainsworth used the water-based superpowers he obtained from his believers' zombie virus strains.
His Ultimate Freedom (SSS) skill could be used to do almost anything he wanted. On the other hand, Freedom of Speech (SSS), when combined with Ultimate Freedom (SSS), would allow him to manipulate reality with his words alone.
However, summoning rain in the entire city was not something he could accomplish with his meager aura and mana pool. So, Ainsworth opted to use his superpowers from the Evolver class to reduce the mana and aura cost. It would cost less if there were materials used when using Ultimate Freedom (SSS) rather than creating it out of nothing.
Furthermore, he reduced the area from the entire city to just the streets and buildings affected by the fire.
To further reduce his mana and aura usage, he mostly used his viral energy this time as he greedily absorbed the strange moonlight to replenish his viral energy.
And with that, dark clouds appeared above the neighborhood, and rain fell.
The raindrops soon extinguished the fire, preventing it from spreading and worsening.
With the fire extinguished, Ainsworth's vision was cleared from distractions and he saw a group of survivors being chased by the zombies under the rainy night.
"Found my target."
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