Ozias dispatched the third Zombie he had come across in the last ten minutes. He appeared to be getting the hang of killing them already.
Although, at first, he thought that now that he had come to terms with everything happening, the adrenaline rush that had made him defeat the previous Zombies would have receded, and he would hesitate when killing more Zombies.
However, that was not the case.
He craved that euphoric feeling he felt whenever he defeated a Zombie, so he actively began to search for them. And before he knew it, he had taken out two more.
___
[Apocalypse System]
—
>[PROFILE]
-[Name: Ozias Draven]
-[Race: Human]
-[Race Grade: F+]
-[Title(s): —]
-[Lineage: ???]
—
>[STATS]
-[Physical: 3%]
-[Mental: 0.3%]
-[Spiritual: 0.9%]
-[Flow: 2]
-[Karma: 1]
-[Affinity: ???]
—
[Comprehension(s): Basic Spear Mastery: 0.5%]
—
>[Inventory: 1x Skill Crux, Metal Pole]
–––
His Physical and Mental stats had progressed again, meaning that he was unearthing more of his racial strength.
Flow still eluded him, somewhat. But he got the gist of it after a few more battles.
Flow was basically the mystical energy that could be used in numerous ways. And one of those ways was the activation of skills, which then led him to his inventory.
"Skill Crux," Ozias said.
He had received it after his last kill.
He remembered seeing the particles of light that should have entered his body, forming a spherical crystal instead.
The sphere was translucent, and at the centre of it was something akin to a raging storm of light particles.
He took it out of his inventory, staring at it deeply, as if trying to bore a hole through it.
___
[When the Heavens were severed from the Earth, only one concept could connect them again]
—
[Learn skill, Awakened Eyes(F)]
–––
"An F Tier skill."
Ozias willed it, and the spherical crystal in his hand shook, a web of cracks snaking through its surface.
And then, it shattered into a rain of light, washing over Ozias' figure.
A new section opened up in his status screen, showing his skill(s).
Without wasting any time, he activated the skill, wanting to see what it did. What he didn't expect though, was for his eyes to suddenly be assaulted by a scarring pain.
Ozias groaned and fell to a knee, struggling to contain a scream. Alas, he didn't last long before he opened his mouth, a piercing howl escaping it.
He grabbed at both of his eyes, tears and blood beginning to stream down them like water in a brook.
He didn't know why he had to suffer just to learn a skill. He just wanted peace, yet here he was, bleeding out from his eyes in the middle of nowhere, his screams attracting unwanted attention.
But just as soon as he had this thought, the pain vanished, and Ozias huffed out a hot breath.
Still on his knees—his hands on his thighs, and his fists clenched—he tried to pull himself together.
His eyes were closed shut, his breathing was steady, and if it wasn't for the blood streaks on his face, hands and clothing, it would look as though he was only meditating.
"What's… this?" Ozias mused to himself.
His eyes were closed… but he could 'see.'
The surrounding ten metres were painted clearly in his vision. In fact he could see better than he would have with his normal eyes.
He could see the flow of energy in the air. Colours were more vibrant and seemed to have life. He could even see ten meters into the ground beneath him.
It was something beautiful and wonderful… but there was a catch.
___
[Skill(s): Awakened Eyes(F): When the Heavens were severed from the Earth, only one concept could connect them again]
—
[Uses 0.1 Flow every 10 Seconds]
–––
"Approximately 3 minutes with the amount of Flow I now have," Ozias said. "And what's with that weird description?"
"Severed?..." He iterated, remembering something Cole had said about their Lineage.
'One Blade to sever the Heavens.'
'Did this skill perhaps have something to do with our Lineage Ability?'
'Speaking of Lineage, there's nothing but question marks in place of it.'
Ozias' eyes wandered through the system screen, until it fell on the Basic Spear Mastery progression. It seemed like constantly using the metal pole had given him a little insight on how to properly wield a Spear.
As his thoughts continued to wander—from the mysteries of the Question marks in his Lineage to the ones in his Affinity—Ozias saw something enter his Awakened Eyes range.
"Shit!" Ozias cursed.
His eyes snapped open, and he immediately regretted it.
There was a momentary flash of blue when he opened his eyes, and he shut them back, reeling back from the pain.
He took out his weapon from his inventory.
"Let's work with this, then," he voiced out, rising to his feet and spinning around.
It was then that he realised something.
'It was behind me?'
He pushed that thought to the back of his mind and stepped forward, thrusting his spear forward with practiced ease.
Killing was one way of getting stronger in this world, and another way was, of course, Cultivation.
The Apocalypse System made Cultivation easy through killing. All you had to do was kill a person with Flow, and a portion of their Flow will become yours. That was essentially what happened whenever the Zombies were killed.
Ozias, though, was soon coming to know what Cultivation was. He could see the energy in the air, and his mind couldn't help but bring up the books he had read.
'If I can harness that energy for myself, then I should be able to prolong the usage of my skill.'
Immediately Ozias had this thought, he implemented it.
The Zombie he had just killed lit up a path for him, giving him a feel for what absorbing Flow was like.
Although he had experienced the feeling lots of times, experiencing it again was like refreshing his memory, and he grabbed unto it, using Awakened Eyes as a link to sense the energy around.
Suddenly a tiny vacuum was created around him, it's influence of the world so minuscule that the energy drifting towards him would have been missed entirely had it not been for the glow that came from Ozias' body a second later.
[Congratulations!...]