How To Be A System (Dummy-Proof Edition)

Chapter 100. Random Nonsense Go Brrrr-

While I spent my time lost in thought, Alicia successfully killed the zombie.

The life energy Alicia blasted from her body has turned into a kind of telekinetic force which easily pierced through the zombie's head, which is the body part that contains most of the zombie's death energy.

Even though that zombie's level is equal to Martial Apprentice stage. But against Alicia who is much stronger, the zombie is still killed with one hit.

Upon sensing the zombie's death, I granted a nearby pebble with [Devour] and activated it.

The pebble devoured the zombie's soul and rewarded me with 0.02 points worth of energy (tax not included).

Because the pebble merely has one skill, the amount of points it received is merely 1%. Which means if I absorbed it using the stone I've granted with all of my skill, that soul will give me 2 points of energy.

It's not much but it's honest work.

Anyway, while devouring the soul, I also scanned the process and felt a slight difference in its 'taste'. If a normal dead soul's signal gives off a gentle and soft feeling, the one released by the zombie gives off a spiky feeling. Nevertheless, a soul is still a soul. As long as it can be converted to points, it is a good soul.

With the first test finished, I've made sure I can still devour the soul like usual. I started my second test.

By using the same pebble, I activated its [Devour] and swallowed the zombie's corpse.

***

While Alicia is running toward the location of a second lone zombie, she suddenly turns her head due to a flash of lightning which is followed by a loud booming sound.

That's right, my second experiment results in failure and the pebble I granted with [Devour] got struck by lightning and turned into dust.

When she saw lightning struck the location where she killed the zombie previously, Alicia asked me about it. "System, do you have the function to answer a question? What's going on with that lightning?"

[System is calibrating and testing the world's limit.]

Alicia asked once more. "Will I get struck by lightning while doing this zombie killing mission?"

[No.]

Although I replied concisely, to be honest I am not too sure. But if I answer her question with 'probably' instead of a concise 'no', Alicia might stop doing my mission altogether. Which is a big no for me.

Alicia soon arrived nearby the second lone zombie. This time I saw her use the fire axe which she always brought since before and slashed it toward the zombie instead of using her life energy and blasting it as a telekinesis thingy like before.

As for the reason, is it because the consumption for that telekinetic power is quite big? I previously sensed she lost around one fifth of her life energy doing so. Although it is recovering every moment, only a few seconds have passed since before.

Anyway, the result of this attack which used a fire axe is extremely effective.

Due to Alicia's massive strength, although that zombie has responded to her sudden attack with a claw slash. Her axe directly slashed through the zombie's rotting arms.

Without giving the zombie any chance to regain its footing, Alicia swung her axe once more and decapitated that zombie.

Once the head got decapitated, I saw the zombie's head still moved on its own.

With trained movement, Alicia used her axe and split the zombie's head into two halves. Once its head split into two, the zombie finally stopped moving.

I granted a nearby rock with [Devour] and swallowed the zombie's soul.

As this zombie hasn't even reached the level equal to Martial Apprentice, the amount of points I got from it is negligible. But it doesn't matter, I am using this zombie for a different thing.

Activating the [Devour] located inside that rock, I controlled it to absorb the death energy inside the zombie. This time, I ignored the zombie's flesh and other parts and merely focused on the death energy.

I don't want to just absorb the death energy spread throughout the world because it's not as dense as the one inside the zombie's body. Although the difference is extremely minimal, it still decreases the amount of loss I took from granting the rock with [Devour] in case it got destroyed.

Yeah, I am just that stingy.

After [Devour] touches it, the death energy doesn't immediately get converted to points. It resisted for a split second before finally getting swallowed by [Devour].

Is it because the zombie's will exists in the dead energy? Or is it due to something else?

The moment after I absorbed that death energy, a bolt of lightning struck the rock out of the blue. The size of this lightning is much thinner than the one that struck the first stone.

Has the world ran out of energy, which is why this lightning strike is much weaker?

After some thought, I decided to test it on the next zombie. With that, I sent another notification to Alicia.

[For the next zombie, please decapitate it and leave the head intact for a minute.]

While reading the request, Alicia went toward the location with red dots on the map. This time, instead of targeting a lone zombie, Alicia has targeted a group consisting of three zombies. Among the three of them, there are two zombies at the level of a normal mortal and one equal to Martial Apprentice.

Just like before, Alicia first used her fire axe and decapitated one of the weaker zombies while using her telekinetic power to target the Martial Apprentice level zombie's head. Her power easily blasted through the zombie's head and destroyed it.

As for the last one, she kicked it in the calf and slashed it with her axe.

Once Alicia destroyed the three pitiful zombies, I came into action.

Like usual, I used [Anchor] on a stone and granted it with [Devour]. First, I devoured the zombie's souls. Then, I targeted the death energy gathered within those zombie's shattered heads.

Right after I devoured those things, a lightning struck the stone I granted with [Devour]. It seems the world doesn't allow me to devour the dead energy, what a pity.

On the side, Alicia still hasn't left and watched as the lightning struck that stone and obliterated it.

This time, the size of that lightning is exactly the same as the second one. Compared to the first lightning bolt, it is much weaker.

The few lightning bolt strikes remind me of the good times in the cultivation world where Ren Qingquan and I abused the lightning strike bug.

After I am done testing a few things and gaining Alicia's trust, I'll start abusing this lightning strike bug once more.

***

For the next few zombies required for Alicia's mission, I placed some requests on it, just like the third, fourth and fifth zombies. Throughout the slaughter, Alicia just silently followed after the mission I wrote.

Once she finished the mission, I only got a few small results. For example, although all of the zombies gathered most of their death energy inside their brain. The exact location of that position slightly differs from one zombie to the other.

The place where death energy gathers is also the weak point of those zombies. That means, I can add some kind of weak point recognition function as my [Scan] could detect the location where those death energies gather inside the zombies.

There is also another important finding.

Throughout Alicia's mission to kill zombies, I've triggered a total of six lightning strikes. Except for the first one which is quite thick in size and contains a considerable amount of energy. The other five are around the same size. It is extremely thin and merely has enough power to destroy the stone I created.

With the death of the last zombie, or obliteration as they're already dead since turning into a zombie as I sensed no heartbeat. I sent a notification to Alicia.

[Congratulations, you've unlocked the system shop. You can collect points from killing things and absorbing their soul. To enter the system shop, you may press the 'Shop' button in the main menu.]

Alicia opened the main menu and went to visit the system shop I just opened. When she saw the list of items sold in the shop, I could see her expression turn into one of confusion.

That's understandable as the things I sold inside are items from the cultivation world. Any sane person will be confused upon seeing items like 'Evasion Talisman' or 'Millenium Dew Branch'.

Alicia saw the messy things sold inside and asked me. "What the hell are those items?"

[Ding! The system is initially designed to assist in cultivation and helping the host to achieve immortality. So, most of the items sold inside are related to cultivation.]

I started spewing nonsense without batting an eye.

Alicia took my nonsense and asked in curiosity. "Cultivation? You mean the story where a person will meditate and absorb things for all their lifetime to mutate and gain the ability to never shit and pee?"

I don't know what kind of messed up explanation it is. But she's kinda right, so I just agreed.

[Although the host's explanation is a bit messy, you're basically right.]

I saw Alicia lost in thought for a whole minute and pressed a button to purchase an item. What a pity, she hasn't collected enough points, so all she got is a notification.

[Insufficient points]

Alicia asked. "How do I gain points to purchase things?"

[The host may kill creatures and collect their souls. As long as they're within a certain distance from the system's core that you collected previously, you'll receive a notification.]

Alicia asked an important question, "Is it possible to gain points from killing zombies?"

[Yes]

"Then where are the points from the previous time I killed those ten zombies?"

Hmm... What kind of reason should I give her?

I spent some time thinking and decided to forgo giving any reasonable reason. I just told her I used it.

If she doesn't like it, she can come here and beat me up in the consciousness space. That is if she can even enter it in the first place.

[The points gained from previous missions were used by the system.]

"Mmhm. Then, let me test the points." Alicia nodded and then she opened the map once more. This time, she targeted a pair of zombies at the Martial Apprentice stage and quickly killed them.

Once she killed the pair, I sent a notification to Alicia.

[Soul found, do you wish to devour it? Yes/No]

After she pressed the 'Yes' button, I sent her a message which was followed by another question.

[You've gained 2 Points! Do you wish to activate automatic soul absorption mode? Yes/No]

Alicia once again pressed on 'Yes'. With some points on her hand, I saw Alicia open the shop once more.