Free Web NovelChapter 13: Chapter 13: Alley Fight
Lucian led the zombies into a narrow alley flanked by old brick buildings with no side exits.
Lucian stood at the far end, back against the dead-end wall, and began to work.
His hands moved in precise patterns, fingers trailing crimson lines through the air. Blood seeped from his palms and shaped itself under his will. Hardened. Sharpened.
Spike after spike erupted from the alley walls and ground — hundreds of them, varying in size from finger-length to forearm-length, covering every surface like the inside of a monstrous throat. They gleamed wetly in the moonlight, their tips needle-sharp.
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║ ⚠ RESOURCE WARNING ⚠ ║
║ Blood Manipulation consumes both Blood Energy (BE) and Mana. ║
║ Current BE: 100 → 37 ║
║ Current MP: 5,400 → 3,280 MPU ║
╚═══════════════════════════╝
Lucian dismissed the warning.
The zombies rounded the corner.
Normal ones first — a tide of grey bodies pouring into the alley entrance, drawn by the blood scent, stumbling over each other in their mindless rush.
Schlick. Schlick. Schlick. Schlick.
The first row hit the spikes and kept going. Their momentum drove them deeper onto the crimson points, impaling torsos, legs, faces. The bodies piled up, creating a grisly barricade that the zombies behind them couldn’t avoid.
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║ Normal Zombie slain: +10 EXP ║
║ Normal Zombie slain: +10 EXP ║
║ Normal Zombie slain: +10 EXP ║
║ Normal Zombie slain: +10 EXP ║
║ Normal Zombie slain: +10 EXP ║
║ Normal Zombie slain: +10 EXP ║
║ Normal Zombie slain: +10 EXP ║
║ Normal Zombie slain: +10 EXP ║
╚═════════════════════╝
The Early Neophyte zombies came next. Faster, more durable, they crashed into the spike field with enough force to shatter some of the smaller blood constructs. Two of them went down immediately, pinned through the chest. A third tore itself free, losing an arm in the process, and lunged deeper into the alley before a wall spike caught it through the skull.
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║ Early Neophyte Zombie slain: +50 EXP ║
║ Early Neophyte Zombie slain: +50 EXP ║
║ Early Neophyte Zombie slain: +50 EXP ║
╚══════════════════════════╝
Then the Peak Neophyte arrived.
The zombie filled the alley entrance, its ruined face a mess of caved-in bone and dangling flesh, one eye socket empty, the other burning with dull fury as it charged forward towards Lucian.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The spikes that would have killed a lesser creature simply bent under the Peak Neophyte’s mass. It tore through the blood constructs like they were paper, ripping spikes from the walls, pulling them from its own body without slowing.
Flesh tore. Black blood sprayed but the zombie didn’t seem to care.
Lucian’s eyes narrowed.
Light Steps.
He vanished from his position at the dead end, reappearing on a ledge above the alley — a fire escape bracket, barely wide enough to stand on. The Peak Neophyte’s fist crashed into the wall where he’d been standing, punching through brick like it was sand.
Now.
Lucian raised both hands above his head. Every drop of blood he could spare — pulled from the spike field, from the puddles on the ground, from the corpses impaled on the walls — converged into a single point.
A crimson three feet long spear formed. The tip was a needle of compressed blood so dense it gleamed like metal.
"Die."
Lucian threw it.
The blood spear crossed the distance in a heartbeat. The Peak Neophyte turned its head but its body was too slow and had accumulated a lot of damage — and the spear punched through its skull from the front, the tip erupting from the back of its head in a spray of black blood and grey matter.
The zombie stood still for a long moment.
Then it collapsed.
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║★ PEAK NEOPHYTE ZOMBIE SLAINED ★║
║ Reward: +200 EXP ║
╚════════════════════════╝
The hunger hit immediately as a sharp, gnawing need that clawed at his insides. His BE had plummeted. His mana was draining. The Blood Manipulation had cost him more than he’d expected.
Need blood.
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║ ★ SYSTEM LEVEL UP! ★ ║
║ Level 5 → Level 6 ║
║ NEW EXP METER: 165 / 5000 ║
║ LEVEL UP REWARDS: ║
║ ├─ System Credits: +500 ║
║ └─ Bloodline Seal: -2% ║ ║ (94% → 92%) ║
╚═══════════════════════════╝
╔═══════════════════════════╗
║ ◀ NEW QUEST ◀ ║
║ "Reach Starlight Academy" ║
║ Objective: Arrive at Starlight Academy in Vienne City. ║
║ Reward: 500 EXP, System Credits ║
║ Time Limit: None ║
╚═══════════════════════════╝
Lucian dismissed the windows and glanced north. The Core Realm zombie’s signature was distant now, retreating back toward whatever territory it had claimed. It hadn’t followed — it seemed bound to a specific area, unlike the mindless wanderers..
The sky was lightening. Pink and orange bled across the eastern horizon, and Lucian felt the familiar sting beginning to prick at his skin.
The sun was rising.
He ducked into the nearest building — an abandoned apartment, door hanging open — and pulled up the system shop.
"System. Is there anything that can help with sunlight?"
The shop interface materialized in his vision. Lucian scrolled through items — potions, talismans, accessories — until one caught his eye.
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║ ◀ DAYWALKER RING ▶ ║
║ Rank: C-Rank (Artifact) ║
║ Creates a mana barrier around the wearer that filters harmful solar radiation. ║
║ Requirement: Continuous mana channeling (10 MPU/minute) ║
║ Price: 500 SC ║
╚════════════════════════╝
Ten mana per minute. That’s six hundred per hour. About nine hours of protection before I need to feed.
"Buy."
The ring materialized in his palm — simple silver band, warm to the touch. He slid it onto his finger and channeled a thin stream of mana into it. The metal glowed faintly, and the prickling sensation on his skin faded.
He kept scrolling.
The shop was vast. Items, skills, techniques, resources — pages and pages of things he couldn’t afford. He saw a movement technique called
"Phantom Walk" for 3,000 credits.
A cultivation technique called "Vein Forging Method" for 5,000.
A set of throwing knives that returned to the user for 2,000.
Then he saw it.
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║ ◀ SWORD OF AIKIS ▶ ║
║ Rank: B-Rank Weapon ║
║ Type: One-Handed Longsword ║
║ Material: Mana-Infused Starsteel ║
║ Passive: Edge Amplification — Increases cutting power of any energy channeled through the blade by 30%. ║
║ Compatible with: Elemental abilities. ║
║ Price: 1,000 SC ║
╚═════════════════════════════╝
B-rank. Starsteel. Thirty percent edge amplification, cool.
He had 1,600 credits. The ring had cost 500. The sword would cost 1,000.
That would leave him with...
One hundred credits.
Lucian stared at the number for a moment. A hundred credits was nothing. One normal zombie kill was worth more than that in potential future rewards.
But a B-rank weapon was worth it.
"Buy."
The sword appeared in his hand — three feet of gleaming starsteel, the blade thin and elegant, the hilt wrapped in dark leather. It felt right in his grip, balanced perfectly, as if it had been made for him.
Lucian gave it an experimental swing. The blade hummed faintly, slicing through the air with a sound like a whisper.
"Nice."
He sheathed the sword at his hip and checked his status.
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║ SYSTEM CREDITS: 100 SC ║
╚══════════════════╝
One hundred. I’ll need to earn more.
He stepped out of the building.
The sun was fully up now, casting long shadows across the empty streets of Vienne City. Lucian braced for the burning— freёwebnovel.com
Nothing.
The Daywalker Ring hummed on his finger, and the sunlight washed over his pale skin like warm water. No pain. No sting. Just... light.
Hm.
He walked down the street, sword at his hip, crimson eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses he’d found in the apartment. To any observer, he would look like a survivor — pale, yes, but that wasn’t unusual in the post-Cataclysm world. Plenty of people never saw the sun.
But the hunger was gnawing.
His BE sat at 27 — low enough that the Eternal Regeneration had slowed to a crawl. He needed blood. A proper feed.
His Blood Sense expanded, searching.
A building two blocks ahead with multiple signatures — nine of them, clustered together on the second floor.
Lucian stopped in the middle of the street in front of the building seeing it was those people who used them as bait.
An evil smirk spread across his lips.
