The nearest shop was only a hundred meters away. Wain ran there, on the way, he encountered a zombie. Initially, Wain wanted to pass by. He saw no point in wasting precious energy on such weak monsters.

He could use the Destruction Sword and other skills quite a few times, except for the Codex of Light and Darkness. But, still, he was getting a little tired. Wain got a paltry amount of Soul Essence by killing a simple zombie. He would have to kill at least a hundred regular zombies to get to the next level, which was long and unsafe.

But, Wain remembered the effect of his new item. He wanted to see what kind of potion the Zombie Glove would give him. So Wain used Lightning Lizard’s Dash and turned it into a lightning discharge.

It instantly reached the zombie, and an electric charge burst from Wain’s body at the end of the dash. It shattered the zombie’s body into many pieces, its head flying several meters away.

Wain smiled, approached the head, and shattered the skull with one mighty blow. Then he dropped a drop of blood on the Zombie Glove.

Just as the item’s description said, the closed-mouth pattern began to materialize. In the palm of Wain’s hand, there was now a real, creepy mouth. It opened wide, wanting to swallow something.

Wain brought the gauntlet close to the zombie’s brain, and the mouth began to devour it. It was a rather unpleasant sight to behold.

‘Huh, usually zombies tend to eat people’s brains. As far as I know, they like it a lot, but now I’m the one who eats zombies’ brains. But to get the potion, I have to devour the flesh of two other creatures besides the zombies. Luckily, there are plenty of mutated insects around’. Wain thought.

When the Zombie Glove had absorbed enough brain, the jaws closed and turned back into a simple pattern. Wain smiled and headed further toward the shop place.

This was now the first time he had used an item he had received from Soul Chest. The Zombie Glove was Common Rating, but Wain was lucky to be an item with a unique effect.

Half a minute later, Wain was already approaching the shop place, and to his surprise, it was already occupied. The windows were boarded up with wooden boards. And a makeshift barricade of tables and other furniture had been created in front of the door.

‘So someone decided to hide in there? Hmm, okay, well then I’ll go in and visit. I hope they won’t mind.’ Thought Wain, and a dark sword appeared next to him. 𝒃𝒆𝒅𝙣𝒐𝒗𝙚𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝒎

Wain waved his hand, and the Destruction Sword sliced the boards apart, opening a doorway inside. Wain tried to do it as quietly as possible so the monsters wouldn’t run into the noise. He didn’t want to be trapped in the store and fight off the monsters in this situation.

When Wain went to the window, a man pointed a gun at him at once. He was a simple looking guy with short black hair. You could see in his eyes that he was afraid, but like everyone else, he wanted to survive. His name was Alan Tuin.

“Go away,” Alan said quietly. He thought Wain was a mugger and wanted to take their place, and he was partly right.

Wain put his index finger to his mouth and whispered, “That’s right, don’t make any noise, but I’m not leaving here.”

He swung his hand, and the dark sword flew instantly to Alan’s throat.

Wain smiled and said, “Let’s talk?”

Alan had no choice but to put the gun down and let Wain inside. He didn’t want to die. He was willing to do anything to survive.

Inside, Wain saw several other people. There were five people in total, not counting Alan: three men and two girls, one of whom looked like a high school student.

The Destruction Sword was around Alan’s neck, preventing him from moving. Alan looked at Wain and said, “Why did you come here? What do you want?”

Wain replied, “Don’t get so worked up. I have no use for attacking you. I just came for this.”

He took a candy bar from the shelf and showed it to Alan. Wain didn’t take all the food in the store. It just wasn’t necessary. He picked up the most calorie-dense and fast-eating foods.

One of the girls looked at the sword at Alan’s throat and said in a trembling voice, “Where…did…you get…this power?”

Wain smirked and replied, “Each of you can get your power. But, to do so, you must stop hiding and kill at least one monster. Come on, you two, stop hiding here and shivering in fear. You’ll be eaten sooner or later anyway. If you all die, this world will become too boring. You’ve had plenty of opportunities, but instead of getting stronger, you’ve decided to hide out here and eat cereal. Shame on you.”

Wain took a green apple from the basket and headed for the exit. He had accomplished his main goal; the rest was of no interest to him. The fate of the people in this shop depended only on themselves.

“Wait, take me with you. I can be useful.” Suddenly one man said. He was tall, with an athletic build.

Wain did not react to his words and continued walking forward.

The man didn’t like being ignored, so he tried to grab Wain’s shoulder. But when his palm almost touched Wain, he abruptly turned around and grabbed his arm.

“I’m not deaf, and I heard you just fine. But, you’re a useless piece of shit who didn’t even have the guts to activate his Soul Altar. Don’t bother me.”

Wain looked at the others and muttered, “You’re not the only one here, though.”

“Motherfucker! You think because you’re lucky, you can belittle others?! You’re as human as we are!” The man said menacingly and attacked Wain sharply.

He struck his fist with all his might, aiming for his enemy’s head.

Crackle.

Wain tightened his grip, and a loud crunch was heard. Wain broke the man’s arm, but that didn’t stop him. Wain smirked and took a step to the side to dodge the blow, his fist flying in front of his face.

Whooooooosh.

Wain then struck back with his fist to the face.

“Stop!” Shouted Alan, but it was too late.

At this moment, Wain’s Strength was 18, while the average person’s stats were 5. That meant that Wain was now almost four times stronger than his opponent.

So Wain shattered man’s skull in one blow, leaving his opponent no chance.

Everyone was shocked, they didn’t expect Wain to decide to kill him. The girls could hardly contain themselves from screaming in fear. But, they had not yet seen the worst of it.

Wain put the glove to the flesh, and it began to devour. The man was a separate race, which meant that he was also subject to the special effect of the Zombie Glove.

When Wain was finished, he headed for the exit.

“You monster…” One of the girls said with horror in her voice.

Wain shook his head, “No, I’m what monsters fear.” Wain walked out of the mart and headed in the direction of the university.

The people in the shop were very impressed. They weren’t expecting some man to barge in on them, take some of their food, and kill one of them.

Alan was the most surprised of all. He clutched his gun tightly and said, “No, he’s right.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Said one of the girls.

Alan looked at her seriously and said, “What are we going to accomplish just sitting here? Every one of us has heard these strange messages about getting a soul. Only those worthy will survive. The rest will perish in agony and despair.”

Alan took all the magazines of ammo he had with him and followed Wain out of the shop. He was afraid, but he could find the strength to try to adapt and become stronger.

He had a gun and fortitude. It was more than enough to kill the zombies and activate his Soul Altar.

‘When the damn apocalypse started, I saw a message saying that I got a soul. My soul is called Bounty Hunter, and it’s Epic Rating. I wonder how good is that?’ Thought Alan cautiously as he moved through the city’s streets, looking for a suitable opponent.

…

Wain was heading toward the university and was looking at his new glove.

‘Hmm, this Common Rating item, I wonder how strong the Rare Rating items will be or even higher?’

Wain knew of six types of Rating items, souls, skills, and so on.

Of course, the weakest was the Common Rating, but even such items could be useful. Next was the Rare Rating. Then the Epic Rating, such items or souls were received by very few people.

Above the Epic Rating was the Heroic Rating. According to Wain’s information, only a few people in one city got souls with a Heroic Rating.

Of course, even the Common Rating could be upgraded to a Heroic Rating. But, those who received such rare and strong souls had an initial advantage over other people.

A better Heroic Rating was the Ascendant Rating. As far as Wain knew, there were only a few people in each country who received such strong souls or items in his world.

In his world, the Ascendant Rating was considered the highest and most powerful for one simple reason. No one had ever heard of Legendary Rating. Moreover, no one had time to upgrade their skills to a Legendary Rating because the dark mist appeared.

‘Hmm, my soul and ring are Legendary Ratings, but what happens if I somehow improve their Rating? Is that even possible?’ Wain pondered as he approached the university.