Chapter 6: Promotion (1)

The next morning.

Han-seong woke up and started his repetitive daily routine, just like yesterday.

“Open Map.”

The command that had now become completely familiar.

Soon, a map of the surroundings unfolded before his eyes. Han-seong watched the swarming red dots and touched the spot that seemed to have the highest number.

[Coordinates have been specified.]

[Please select the skill you want to use.]

▷Call Lightning (Lv.2)

There were no blue dots nearby.

After double-checking this, Han-seong activated the skill, and soon a loud noise was heard from outside the window.

Rumble! Kwaang!

It was the sound of lightning striking.

[You have defeated Hungry Zombies.]

[You have acquired (9) Coins.]

The next skill to use was Magic Arrow.

Han-seong loaded five arrows and attacked the zombies wandering around the officetel.

However, he left two arrows as a reserve.

Just in case there was a situation like last time where survivors were being chased. If the duration was about to end, he could just use them up anyway.

Then he remembered something he had forgotten.

‘Ah, right. Come to think of it, I wonder if the survivors who went to the shopping mall yesterday arrived safely?’

Han-seong looked towards the direction of the shopping mall.

The three blue dots that had been staying on the second floor had now changed to four. Just in case, he used Precise Observation and saw a familiar face.

A female student wearing Jingwang High School’s gym uniform.

After confirming the name Seo Ha-eun on the nametag, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

“Phew, I’m glad she’s safe.”

He was relieved that the survivors with her didn’t seem like bad people.

This was because last night, he had coincidentally spotted a group of survivors that looked dangerous.

‘Survivors who came out of the underground shopping mall.’

What Han-seong saw was a group of about ten people, but they looked clearly unsavory.

They didn’t hesitate to threaten survivors they encountered on the way to extort food, and even resorted to violence depending on the situation.

‘It’s best to avoid encountering them as much as possible.’

Of course, Han-seong wouldn’t have to meet them, but still.

You never know what might happen in life, so he had drawn mugshot-like sketches of the survivors he had witnessed yesterday in his notebook.

Finishing his recollection, Han-seong leaned back in his chair and muttered towards the empty air.

“Status.”

[Name]: Kang Han-seong

[Class]: Remote Support Mage

[Grade]: 1st Tier

If mana drops below 50%, dizziness sets in. So checking mana levels after using skills had become a daily routine.

Han-seong took a deep breath and concentrated.

[Meditation begins.]

[10 mana is recovered per minute.]

When he first meditated, 5 mana was recovered per minute, but now the recovery amount had doubled.

This was thanks to the Meditation skill leveling up.

Han-seong’s meditation continued until all his mana was recovered, and it was only after about twenty minutes that he was finally able to finish meditating.

“Phew.”

As he finished meditating with a long exhale.

He noticed that the cooldown for Magic Arrow had already reset. So he activated the skill and hunted five additional zombies.

After finishing his tasks, Han-seong looked at the number ‘201’ engraved on his palm. This was the amount of Coins he currently possessed.

“Alright. With this much…”

I should be able to buy a skillbook.

The cheapest skillbook cost about 100 Coins. Han-seong immediately opened the shop. The first thing that caught his eye was food.

Hamburgers, pork belly, cola, and so on.

Although the appetizing foods caught his attention, he deliberately ignored them. What Han-seong was aiming for was a skillbook. Specifically, attack magic.

‘The more attack magic, the better.’

Having more means to eliminate zombies meant being able to gather Coins faster. Enjoying that food would come later, once he had some financial leeway.

With his mind made up, Han-seong carefully examined each skillbook one by one. And after a while, he frowned with a sigh.

“Ugh, they’re too expensive.”

The skillbooks Han-seong judged to be useful were ‘Chain Lightning’ and ‘Wind Cutter’.

First, Chain Lightning was a skill that caused artificially created lightning to chain react, striking zombies within a certain range consecutively.

Depending on the situation, it seemed like it could handle more zombies than Call Lightning. The problem was that it was expensive, which was a drawback.

“Still, 800 Coins is a bit…”

It’s an amount that would take nearly a week of hunting zombies to gather. As he pondered, Han-seong turned his attention to Wind Cutter.

Wind Cutter. As the name suggests, it’s a single-target attack magic that summons blades of wind to strike enemies.

Like Magic Arrow, it uses a method of loading a total of seven blades, but it had one significantly better point than Magic Arrow.

“If you defeat an enemy with Wind Cutter, there’s a 10% chance of recharging one blade?”

That means if you’re lucky, you could theoretically use the skill infinitely.

But the problem was, again, the price.

Wind Cutter boasted a price of about 1,500 Coins, nearly twice that of Chain Lightning. Even if he saved up diligently, it would take at least two weeks at his current rate.

“Sigh, what should I do…”

Should I save up a bit more Coins and buy one of these two skillbooks? Or should I look around some more? As he was contemplating and looking at other skillbooks, at that moment.

“Huh?”

Something caught his eye.

Han-seong touched the skillbook as if entranced.

[Skillbook: Tinder]

▷Summon a flame to set the target on fire. When a target that has caught fire dies, all enemies within the impact range automatically catch fire.

▷Cooldown: 1 hour

▶Acquisition Condition: [1st Tier]

▶Class Restriction: Mage

▶Price: [200 Coins]

Just looking at the description, it seems like an inferior version of Chain Lightning. After all, the additional effect only activates when the enemy is completely eliminated.

However, the part Han-seong paid particular attention to was the explanation that all enemies within the impact range automatically catch fire.

‘If I use this skill targeting a group of zombies clustered inside a building?’

It means that after the first specified zombie turns to ashes, all nearby zombies would be engulfed in flames.

Not bad? Plus, the price is reasonable.

It’s affordable with just the Coins he currently has. After hesitating, Han-seong made his decision.

‘Okay, let’s buy it.’

For now, he needed an attack skill that could hit as many targets as possible, rather than focusing on effectiveness. He could buy Chain Lightning or Wind Cutter later.

So Han-seong purchased the skillbook.

[You have acquired Tinder.]

[Acquisition Target: Remote Support Mage]

[The skill will be modified to fit your class.]

Along with the familiar message.

The newly learned skill revealed itself.

[Remote: Tinder (Lv.2)]

-Summon a flame with chain reaction.

▷Effective Range: Up to 300m

▷Impact Range: 3m radius

▷Mana Cost: 3 per second

▷Activation Time: Instant

▷Cooldown: 55 minutes

Tinder started at level 2 upon acquisition.

Probably the effect of automatically increasing skill level per 10 character levels was applied. The range and cooldown seem to have been affected as well.

“The effective range isn’t bad.”

A radius of 3 meters is almost on par with Call Lightning.

It’s quite a wide range. But then he discovered a problem in a completely unexpected area.

“Mana is consumed every second?”

Unlike other skills that consume mana instantly upon activation, Tinder consumed mana every second.

‘So if I don’t cancel the skill, it will continue until my mana is depleted?’

The thought alone was terrifying.

The lower the mana consumption, the more intense the dizziness and headaches become.

“Ugh, so that’s why the price was so cheap.”

Using it for just 1 minute would consume 180 mana. That’s similar to the amount of mana used for one Call Lightning and one Magic Arrow combined.

I’ll have to be careful when using it.

The best approach would be to use it while meticulously calculating the remaining mana consumption. After understanding the skill, Han-seong immediately opened the map.

“Well then, shall we test it out?”

The place Han-seong chose to use Tinder was a bus stop about 200 meters away from the officetel.

It’s a place that’s always crowded with people as dozens of buses stop there. Of course, now it was teeming with dozens, hundreds of zombies instead of people.

And there was one more reason why he selected this place in particular. It was because the entire bus stop had a transparent roof, making it impossible to hit with Call Lightning.

▷Tinder (Lv.2)

Han-seong touched a zombie in the center of the bus stop to activate Tinder.

As it was a place visible through the window, he watched with interest, and at that moment.

Whoosh!

A huge flame shot up.

The targeted zombie writhed and wandered about as its entire body was engulfed in flames.

In this process, it collided with other zombies, but the flames didn’t spread to them. However, 10 seconds later, when the zombie turned to ashes, the situation changed.

[You have defeated the target.]

[Additional property, ‘Chain Ignition’ activates.]

All the zombies within a 3-meter radius of the zombie that had turned to ashes were simultaneously engulfed in flames.

The number reached over a dozen.

Meanwhile, Han-seong couldn’t be entirely happy. While watching the zombies burn, he suddenly felt nauseous.

“Ugh! Urgh!”

Although they were in zombie form, they were once human beings. Seeing them burn made his stomach churn and feel sick.

Han-seong eventually turned his gaze away, and in the meantime, countless notifications began to fill the empty space.

[You have defeated Hungry Zombies…]

The number of zombies decreased rapidly as time passed.

The zombies engulfed in flames scattered in all directions, and as soon as they turned to ashes, they spread flames to a new impact range.

Of course, his mana was also depleting rapidly, and Han-seong felt a headache on top of the nausea. It meant his mana had fallen below half.

[Skill in use: Tinder]

[Do you want to cancel the skill?]

Han-seong touched the map where Tinder was activated to cancel the skill. Then, while repeatedly suppressing his nausea, he tried to focus on meditation.

But there was no need for that.

[Your level has increased.]

[All mana has been restored.]

He had defeated so many zombies that his level had increased in the meantime. The headache disappeared in the blink of an eye, and Han-seong took several deep breaths.

Some time later.

Having barely managed to suppress his nausea, Han-seong looked again at the area where the bus stop was. The place that had been full of zombies was now just covered in black scorch marks.

Han-seong silently bowed his head.

“…I’m sorry.”

Although they were zombies now, they were human beings just a few days ago. That’s why he felt like he should do this, somehow.

Of course, that doesn’t mean he intends to stop eliminating zombies. Only when all the zombies are gone will it be safe to move around outside.

“Phew, now then…”

Having regained his composure, Han-seong opened his palm to check the number of zombies he had dealt with using Tinder. And he lost the composure he had just regained.

“A-a hundred Coins?!”

To be precise, 121 Coins.

He had 1 Coin left after buying Tinder, so this means he had defeated a total of 120 zombies.

The maximum number of Coins he had gotten from Call Lightning was 13, but this far surpassed that figure. Han-seong couldn’t easily close his gaping mouth.

“If I earn Coins at this rate, I think I’ll be able to learn other skills soon too?”

It seems like he might be able to learn Chain Lightning and Wind Cutter within a week at the earliest. Just as he was thinking he had fortunately learned a good skill.

[A notification message has arrived.]

Something he had never seen before appeared.

Han-seong tilted his head and touched the empty space, and soon acquired unexpected information.

[Excluding basic unique skills]

[You have acquired a total of 3 skills.]

[Remaining skill slots: 2]

“What…?”

Wait, remaining skill slots?

Does that mean I can only learn two more skills from now on? Really?

Just as he was making a bewildered expression without realizing it.

A new message appeared.

[Additional skill slots are added according to your grade.]

[To expand skill slots, accumulate experience through meditation to raise your grade.]

“Grade?”

Ah, come to think of it, I remember there was a grade item in the status. I’m pretty sure it said 1st Tier or something like that.

Han-seong opened his status and touched the grade part. Then, a detailed explanation related to this was displayed before his eyes.

[Rank Experience]

▷Acquisition Condition: Use of unique skill

▷Unique Skill: Meditation (Lv.2)

▶Acquisition Amount: 0.1% per minute

▶Current Experience: 12.7%

Looking at the content, it seems that Rank Experience accumulates as you continue meditating. Upon learning this new fact, Han-seong chuckled and muttered.

“My to-do list has grown.”

No, in a way, it was something he would have had to do anyway. If he’s going to use Tinder as his main skill, he’ll have to meditate frequently as well.

With a positive mindset, Han-seong activated the skill once again. While watching the red dots on the map gradually decrease.

Three full days later.

Han-seong achieved 100% Rank Experience.