Chapter 48 - Skill Book: Appraisal
Even after running and looking for so many hours, Zach hadn't seen a single person alive in the area and he had to stop thinking that it would be foolish to walk aimlessly since the place had become very dark signing that it was already close to night. And that was one thing he had noticed, as he felt like the time in this place and on Earth were kind of similar which he then just didn't dwell deeply on it as it would only waste his time.
Along the way, Zach had killed a lot of zombies and his level increased to level 2 gaining a pitiful 2 free attributable stat points from it. Right now, he could be found on top of a large tree as there was no way he could find rest below as the place had become a zombie's den and it was already indicated as 'Dangerous' by the system seeing the place brimming with red color.
After killing a lot of them a while back, Zach observed that not all zombies were the same as there were that had abnormal strength but were slow while some were fast but weak but most of them were of average strength and speed. Furthermore, one thing he had taken note of was the fact that he could kill them just by using his own body strength without relying upon any weapon.
In fact, Zach didn't have any problem dealing with the zombies as long as there were only a number of them around, however, if they started to gather just like the situation he was in right now where there's a swarm of zombies gathering below, he could only retreat, hide, and hope that they would leave.
"Are Evolution Coins the only thing they drop?" Zach, while looking at the zombies below, said after looting nothing but Evolution Coins after their death. Some of them didn't even drop one which is quite disappointing. He was actually hoping to get something useful like skills or weapons perhaps after thinking that what was happening is really like a game so there should be something like that.
"I hope Jenny and the others are alright." Zach then just feels very worried about his family but knowing that they also trained how to defend themselves while also giving them a number of Evolution Coins to spend, he thought that they might have bought something from the store to help them survive to wherever place they were.
Following that, Zach then just found a good spot on the tree wanting to rest for the night as there's no use thinking about it knowing that he himself was in a tight spot as he didn't have a place to go to escape from the zombies below.
The next morning came and it was then that Zach thought that his observation about the time was true so he immediately just accepted it as things were already shitty as it is seeing him now holding a crossbow, and started killing the zombies below as they didn't decrease at all.
As for why Zach used a crossbow this time was for obvious reasons, he didn't want to attract more zombies to his location. In fact, he could just bombard them with grenades or annihilate them using rifles but doing so would make noise and he didn't want it to happen.
"Just how many zombies are out there?" Zach said while he continued shooting an arrow as it needed to be hit so many times just to kill one signing that it wasn't as effective as using a gun. Looking below, he could not tell how many zombies there were, but he felt like there were more or less a hundred of them around and it made him wonder if it was the case for everyone or if he was just unlucky to have been transported to this area.
"Hmmm. W-What the hell was that?" Suddenly, Zach's attention shifted in a particular direction. His eyes couldn't help but widen upon seeing a two-meter-tall and fat zombie coming in his direction. He also saw how it didn't mind what happened to the mindless zombie around it as it continued moving forward.
"Fuck." Zach cursed upon seeing that there was no use limiting his weapon since when this variant zombie came close to him then the tree he was hiding on would probably be smashed to pieces. He didn't know how strong it was but it's better not to get careless, so he immediately opened the system store and bought something in it.
The two-meter-tall fat zombie continued moving as it was getting closer and closer and as if the zombies around it were attracted, they were also following behind it. Zach, however, was already in position seeing him already pointing his newly bought RPG towards its location and when the time was right, the trigger then was pulled.
….Swoosh…
….Boom…..
The face of the fat and tall zombie was hit however, it didn't fall down as it still continued to move forward despite its face being already disfigured. Meanwhile, all the other zombies around suddenly caught on and started swarming towards the tree that Zach was hiding.
"Y-You're kidding, right? That's a fucking RPG!!" Zach said as his eyes couldn't stop widening upon seeing that it didn't kill the variant zombie. He then just immediately reloaded the RPG and shot the fucking ugly zombie again.
….Swoosh….
….Boom…..
….Swoosh….
….Boom….
After being hit the third time, the variant zombie had finally fallen down. It was something that Zach had to celebrate but he didn't seem happy at all as the tree he was standing and hiding started shaking after a swarm of zombies mindlessly tried to push the tree.
"Fuck!" Zach cursed as he held on to the trunk of the tree before buying a rifle from the system store and starting firing at them. He no longer cared whether more zombies would come since he was no longer in a situation to be holding back.
Zombie after zombie were killed as Zach continued to fire and reload the rifle he was holding however, doing such a thing only made the dead zombies get stuck below which gave opportunity to the others to start climbing up.
Zach could now be found sweating a lot as the thought of his impending death was getting closer. He looked at the place and saw that it was still dangerous, so he immediately thought of a path to take to escape but the path given by the system was also dangerous.
"If I can't find a path then I should make one myself." Zach said as he didn't plan on dying any time soon without seeing his child. With that, he immediately bought a number of grenades from the store. and threw them into the distance before firing his rifle again.
….Boom…Boom…Boom….
Sounds of loud explosions echoed which killed a lot of zombies at the back and made the swarming zombies become disoriented for a bit. Seeing this and the sudden path given by the system, Zach no longer planned to stay on the tree as he jumped towards the place where the explosion just happened. Without wasting any second, he immediately followed the path while firing his rifle against the zombies that would come at him.
Running for his life, Zach suddenly caught the attention of the shining things on the corpse of the variant zombie. Seeing that it was not that far from him, he bravely confronted the zombies in its direction. He didn't even collect the Evolution Coins that they dropped as they were not important to him so he continued moving hastily.
Arriving at the corpse of the Variant Zombie, Zach finally saw what the shining things were upon seeing not just Evolution Coins, but also a steel sword and an ordinary-looking book. Not having the time to look carefully at them, he put the book in his inventory while taking the sword in his hand.
[Item: Steel Sword
Item Tier: 1]
That was the only thing that Zach saw after looking at the sword before swinging it against the zombie that was in front of him and there he saw how it was cut smoothly. Greatly surprised by what just happened, he swung it again towards another zombie and it did the same while not breaking apart.
As if he has gained confidence, Zach no longer plans to leave the area as he starts killing the zombies instead seeing him skillfully swinging his sword against them while having a smile on his face. However, the more he exerted strength while fighting against the zombie, the sooner he got tired so he slowly retreated to find a play to hide in and rest for a while.
When night came, Zach found himself on top of a sturdy tall tree and finally had a breather seeing him now looking at the items he had acquired. Now that he took a great look at it, the sword doesn't have any peculiar design as it really just looks like an ordinary sword. Meanwhile, the book was more normal-looking than the sword and Zach didn't know what it was and what it could do until the system notified him.
[Skill Book: Appraisal
Skill Tier: 1
Skill Type: Active]
[Do you want to learn it?]
[Yes/No]
Seeing the system notification, Zach was surprised after seeing that it was a skill book that he was looking for. He was just quite disappointed upon seeing that it did not show what it could do however, just from the name of it, he could tell what kind of skill it was. He was just skeptical of learning it since he knew that the skills he could have had a limitation upon seeing how it was described in his own status window.
Hesitating for a while, Zach still used it as he was not in a situation to be picky. He just hoped that it was something useful but before that, he didn't forget to test if it could be duplicated which was really the case just like what happened to the Evolution Coins, and with that, he excitedly left behind a copy in his inventory before finally using it.
[A Skill Book has been used.]
[Skill Book: Appraisal has been learned.]
[Skill: Appraisal
Skill Tier: 1
Skill Type: Active
Skill Rating: 1 Star
Skill Description: Using the skill, the host can discern all the information of anything under any ordinary class of Tier 1.
Skill Cost: 5 Spirit
Skill Evolution Requirement: 1 Evolution Crystal (Tier 1)]
"Just like I thought it would be." Zach couldn't help but exclaim after seeing the skill he just acquired. After that, he then opened up his status window and saw that he had now one skill in the active skill section.
"But what does it mean that it needs 5 Spirit to use the skill?" Zach asked himself before taking out the sword that he acquired and using the skill Appraisal on it since he had only known about its name and its Tier before. He thought that there might be something in it that made it different from the weapon he had.
[Item: Steel Sword
Item Tier: 1
Item Rating: 1 Star
Item Classification: Ordinary
Item Function: When equipped, an additional + 4 to attacking power.
Item Evolution Requirement: 1 Evolution Stone (Tier 1)]
"Is that it? What is this Evolution Crystal and Evolution Stone? Where can I find them?" Zach was quite disappointed after seeing how plain the description of the sword was. He then wondered about the requirement to evolve the skill and item which was something he never had a clue about.
[Name: Zach Anderson
Tier: 1
Level: 4 (Progress: 78 %)
Class: None
Age: 19 (Lifespan:150 years)
Strength: 200
Agility: 70
Vitality: 70
Endurance: 70
Stamina: 70
Spirit: 145/150 (Replenish 1 Spirit every thirty minutes.)
Free Attributable Stat Points: 76
Active Skills (1/5): Appraisal
Passive Skills (0/5): None
Pet/s: None
System Inventory (∞): Glock 7 Pistol, Boat, Humvee, Katana, Bow, Arrow, RPG, Rifle, Steel Sword.
Survival Inventory (1/10): Evolution Coin, Appraisal Skill Book
Evolution Store
Evolution Coins: ∞]
"So, that's how it is." Zach finally understood how the skill works and that it would not permanently reduce his Spirit attribute seeing that it would replenish after some time. Following that, he then was excited to know that his Survival Inventory was just too overpowered and that he really needed to keep it secret as it was very abnormal.
"Will this also work for humans and these zombies?" Zach muttered before he shifted his attention to the zombies below and used Appraisal on one of them curious if it would work because if it did then it would be a very useful skill to have.
[Monster: Undead
Monster Tier: 1
Monster Level: 3
Monster Classification: Ordinary
Monster Skills: None]
"So, it's not a zombie but an Undead. Well, I thought it would also show its stats but still, it's already a great skill as it is." Zach said upon seeing that it only portrayed the name, Tier, and level of the Undead. Looking at the skill once again, he doesn't know if its function will change once he evolves the skill since there are still many things that he doesn't know and is still waiting to be discovered.
"I can probably leave this place tomorrow." Zach said as he looked at the Undead below who had already reduced in number after killing a lot during the day. He then looked for a place to rest as he needed to lie down after feeling the strains on his body and also to prepare himself for tomorrow.