Ability awakening

Chen Luo retrieved a pale white crystal the size of a grain of rice from between the Maid Zombie's brows.

It had been a long time since Chen Luo had seen such a low-grade crystal. Within six months at most, zombies this weak and low-level would become a rare sight.

Let alone twelve years later, when any random zombie he encountered would be a full-fledged boss by today's standards.

Zombies were constantly growing stronger too.

After awakening an ability, one could absorb the energy in crystals to advance faster or speed up recovery.

Chen Luo remembered suddenly feeling a mysterious energy appear inside his body around ten o'clock in his previous life. Back then, though, he had no idea what it was, much less how to use it.

Chen Luo placed the pale white crystal in a small box he had prepared in his ability space, then opened up Chen Jian'an's and Chen Fei's heads.

Sure enough, neither contained a crystal. Crystals would only form inside survivors' heads after they awakened.

Chen Luo didn't care. Even if they had any, they would have been the lowest-grade crystals. There were plenty of zombies outside, and getting more would be easy.

With his revenge complete, Chen Luo was in no hurry to leave. His ability would awaken in about half an hour, bringing a brief burst of intense pain in his head. He might as well wait here.

Dharma King should awaken too.

Earlier, Chen Luo had told Dharma King to stay in the car. Now he went outside to bring him in.

The whole sky had been clear before he arrived, but now it was dark and gloomy, like the moments before a torrential thunderstorm.

It wouldn't rain. This strange sky would linger for three days before clearing.

Inside the car, Dharma King was getting nervous. A teenage girl zombie stood outside the courtyard, staring fixedly at him and roaring nonstop.

Dharma King thought, Come in here if you've got the guts. All you do is yap.

When the girl zombie saw Chen Luo, she turned and roared at him instead.

The iron gate outside Chen Jian'an's courtyard was sturdy, and the girl zombie couldn't get in.

Chen Luo smiled. "Come here. Uncle will put you out of your misery."

As Chen Luo approached, the girl zombie immediately thrust her arms through the gaps in the iron gate, trying to grab him.

"Here's something tasty for you."

Chen Luo took out the Stun Baton and extended it toward the girl zombie. She had no idea what it was and felt no fear, grabbing it with her own hands.

The iron gate rattled as the girl zombie's body shook violently. It looked like she was getting quite a shock.

Two or three seconds later, the girl zombie toppled stiffly to the ground.

Chen Luo marveled at how handy the Stun Baton was.

"Uncle put you out of your misery. Taking a little payment isn't too much to ask, is it?"

Seeing no other zombies nearby, Chen Luo opened the iron gate without worry and extracted the crystal from between the girl zombie's brows.

Dharma King, who had witnessed everything, was stunned. Master, why are you so vicious?

After closing the iron gate, Chen Luo let Dharma King out of the car and brought him into the building.

Seeing the three corpses, including Chen Jian'an's, gave Dharma King quite a fright. He had never seen anything like this before and hurried to stick close to Chen Luo.

With nothing else to do, Chen Luo rummaged through the room's cupboards and drawers.

Chen Luo cleaned out Chen Jian'an's treasured stash of fine cigarettes and liquor. He only smoked occasionally, but there were plenty of heavy smokers out there.

For many heavy smokers, going without cigarettes was worse than going without food.

Chen Luo picked up an apple and leisurely peeled it.

The frightened Dharma King pressed close against Chen Luo.

Chen Luo smiled and thought nothing of it. Dogs had feelings too. If he hadn't lived through all this once before, he would have handled his first sight of such a scene even worse than Dharma King.

Just as Chen Luo was about to take a bite of the peeled apple, a purple arc of electricity flashed across Dharma King's black fur.

Pressed right against Dharma King, Chen Luo took the shock head-on.

Chen Luo's entire body twitched, and the apple fell to the floor before he could get it into his mouth.

Chen Luo was both startled and delighted. Had Dharma King awakened his ability?

"You little bastard," Chen Luo scolded with a laugh. "You awakened, and I'm the first one you shocked?"

Chen Luo immediately moved farther away from Dharma King. What if he got shocked again?

Arcs of electricity began flickering across Dharma King's body, and pain showed on his canine face.

But the pain lasted only a dozen or so seconds before Dharma King grew calm again.

Chen Luo felt a little envious. The strength of someone's ability talent depended mainly on two things. First was the time of awakening: the earlier they awakened, the greater their talent.

Second was how quickly their ability grew. Without question, the faster their strength increased, the greater their talent.

Even with an unlimited supply of crystals, two Esper Ability Users with different talents would grow at different rates.

Dharma King's talent was unquestionably the pinnacle among Lightning users.

And by now, Dharma King's intelligence should have undergone a second development.

Chen Luo cursed inwardly. I'm not even as good as a dog.

Just then, Chen Luo felt a surge of intense pain inside his head too, as though something were forming there.

Instead, a smile appeared on Chen Luo's face. I'm not bad either.

Despite the pain in his skull, Chen Luo's expression remained calm. He was long accustomed to pain at this level. Every advancement of his ability brought the same experience.

Chen Luo felt a mysterious power suddenly appear inside his body.

At this point in his previous life, Chen Luo wouldn't have been able to master and use this power anytime soon.

Now, though, he knew it like the back of his hand.

Chen Luo extended his hand and slowly guided the power inside his body into his palm.

Spatial power emerged in Chen Luo's hand. Never mind anyone else-even he couldn't see the invisible force.

But Chen Luo could sense it, and he condensed the spatial power into a transparent sphere.

With a sweep of his hand, Chen Luo hurled the spatial power at the opposite wall.

An area of cracks instantly appeared in the wall, a little over ten centimeters across and about four or five centimeters deep.

Beside him, Dharma King's eyes went wide.

Chen Luo, however, shook his head. An attack at this level couldn't kill even the weakest zombie in one hit. It would take two.

And that single spatial sphere had consumed roughly a quarter of the ability power inside Chen Luo.

The destructive power of a spatial ability wasn't weak in its early stages. It simply consumed a little more energy than other abilities.

But with Chen Luo's precise, practiced control, he actually used less energy than others at this stage.

A spatial ability wasn't particularly powerful early on. It only began to shine in the middle and later stages.

Once he mastered Void Walk, Energy Pulse, and Dimensional Blade, his destructive power would be every bit as great as that of Fire and Lightning Esper Ability Users, while his ability to stay alive would be unmatched.

Chen Luo immediately took out the two crystals he had just obtained, gripped them tightly in his palm, and began absorbing them.

Chen Luo couldn't see the crystal inside his head, but he could sense its presence.

Five minutes later, after completely absorbing the energy of both crystals, Chen Luo sensed that the crystal inside his head had grown a little, by roughly one-fifth.

After absorbing about twenty more crystals, the crystal inside his head would undergo a minor transformation, marking his advancement from a Level One Ability User to a Level Two Ability User.