[You have unlocked Energy]

[Energy: F (Requires 16 experience points to upgrade to F+)]

[You have gained the perk: Aura master]

[Aura master: the ability to transform pure Energy into Aura, the subtle, luminous radiation that surrounds a person or an object]

[Energy to Aura conversion efficiency: 50%]

I felt an itching sensation in the middle of my chest, and information began flooding my mind about how to create Energy, transform it into Aura, and manifest it.

Ok, that doesn't seem half bad. Now, for the moment of truth, let's see what I can do with this new power. I began creating Aura based on the simple instruction in my head, and I felt something swell up within my chest and quickly make its way towards my hand.

A transparent red form of Energy appeared on my hand, and my mind was once again flooded with new information as my perk, Intuitive Aptitude, began working its magic.

Holy shit, I did not think that my perk would work on Energy too, but I wasn't complaining, as this is precisely what I needed right now.

Aura is a versatile power, and now that I understand all of its applications thanks to intuitive aptitude, the only thing holding me back is how little Energy I currently have, evidenced by my low Energy rating. But I digress.

There are so many ways to use Aura that I probably couldn't talk about them all in one sitting. Besides, there's no point in doing that as I can only use the basics and one advanced technique now because of the low Energy conversion rate and my own limited Energy.

Still, the techniques available to me were good enough for now, and they should be more than enough to deal with the undead and most game participants that aren't as strong as Demira.

The first and most straightforward technique I could use was Physical augmentation, which allows me to enhance my physical strength by flooding my body with Aura.

The second one was Empathy, and it allowed me to detect other people's Auras, making me capable of understanding their emotions and feelings by reading their auras.

At first glance, it might not seem helpful, but it's probably one of the best techniques currently available to me as it would give me a way of detecting people trying to sneak up on me.

It can also give me an edge if I had to negotiate with someone, as I would understand their emotions, making it easy to figure out what the other person's bottom-line is and push them towards it.

The third technique was Combat Perception, which allows me to predict my opponent's attacks to some extent by reading very subtle details in their Auras. And this is where Intuitive Aptitude truly shined, as this technique doesn't require expanding energy to use but an extensive understanding of Aura instead, which my perk provided.

There were a shit ton of other ways that I could manifest Aura, but these were the only ones available for me right now, and so they will be the tools I'm going to use to hunt zombies for EXP.

'System upgrade Energy to F+' If I'm going to rely on Aura, then I might as well not spare any expenses, even though I knew of a way to upgrade it naturally thanks to Intuitive aptitude as that way would require time.

I do not have the luxury of time right now, and you have to spend money to make money, or EXP in this case, right? With that line of thought In my mind, I left the hotel room, making my way downstairs to start hunting immediately.

"Time to vent some frustration!" I said with a smile as I made my way outside the hotel, Bloodsport (Discord) in hand and three zombies immediately noticed me and began walking towards me, grunting and growling as they did.

The three undead walking towards me looked like your typical zombies with patches of skin or flesh missing from all around their bodies, hideous faces, and an unbearable stench.

I didn't charge at the zombies but retreated backward, luring them towards a nearby cramped alley with no other undead, as I didn't want to get swarmed. I'm an asshole, not an idiot.

The zombies, dimwitted as they were, quickly followed me into the alley, politely making a neat line as they made their way towards me because of the tight space.

I didn't hesitate as I bashed the head of the first zombie to come within swinging distance of my bat, splattering its head all over the wall in a gory mess of blood, bone shards, and gray matter.

The next zombie lunged at me, but I had already seen it coming thanks to Combat Perception, so I merely took a step back and swung my bat horizontally at it the top of its head, crushing the upper half and burying the lower one in its neck.

I wasted no time in dealing with the third and the last zombie in the same manner and smiled as I heard the sound of a notification from the system.

[You have slain three F-rated undead. You have gained 12 experience points.]

So four experience points of each zombie. That's half of what I got from killing number 28, who had the same rating. Oh, well, there's plenty of zombies for me to hunt, at least.

"Let the hunt begin!" I said with a smile as I began making my way out of the alley.

...

"Flat lined," commented a woman with a satisfied smile on her face to no one in particular as she gazed at the ground littered with corpses of both zombies and game participants alike, admiring her work.

The woman, which one can hardly describe as such, was short, standing at roughly 161cm tall, with a petite body and an adorable face to match her height.

If someone had to describe her with one word, they would probably choose the word; cute. Still, there was nothing adorable about this murder machine other than her looks, which only makes the fact she killed so many humans and undead for apparently no reason that much more terrifying.

She wore a simple white shirt, black pants, meaning she was a participant in the greed games, but unlike most people who the game master and his minions kidnapped or coerced into participating in the game, she was here on a mission.

The mission her boss gave her was simple; find talented individuals and recruit them into her boss's employment, or get rid of them if that's not possible to make sure they don't cause any trouble for her boss in the future.

She agreed to do it, but everyone, including her boss, knew she didn't give a damn about the mission and that she only came here to blow some steam and have fun.

The woman, FlatLiner, was, in fact, a muscle head despite her cute, feminine appearance. She enjoyed fighting and killing, and that's what she came here to do, which is why she got so understandably pissed when her colleague, Aloka, contacted her, instructing FlatLiner to find some loser their boss was interested in recruiting or something.

FlatLiner quickly demonstrated how pissed she was at her vacation (as she calls it) being interrupted by throwing a hissy fit (as her colleague, Aloka adoringly called it), which ended in this current situation of her standing over the corpses of many undead and humans.

"That bastard better at least be interesting," FlatLiner said as she cracked her neck, turning around and walking towards a building. "Or he'll pay dearly for interrupting my vacation," she added as she casually obliterated the building's wall with a punch, creating a hole for her to pass through.

...

"Is this the man Demira mentioned in her report, Sebastian?" Asked a woman as she stood in the middle of a room with a wineglass in her hand, taking a leisure sip from a wineglass as she watched a gigantic screen split into many squares, showing live footage of greed games contestants.

"That is him, mistress," answered a man with salt pepper hair, dressed in a butler outfit in a courteous, polite tone. "What is he doing?" The woman asked with a raised eyebrow as she watched one contestant continuously luring zombies and killing them with a creepy smile on his face.

"It appears that he is luring the undead into cramped areas and killing them, mistress," the man replied with a neutral expression and the same courteous tone of voice.

"I can see that, Sebastion," the woman said with twitching eyes as she turned to look at the butler, giving him a dirty look. "I'm confused as to why he is doing that?" She asked again, glaring at the butler and daring him to give another sarcastic reply.

"Then why didn't you say so from the start?" The butler asked with His neutral expression breaking for the faintest of seconds as he gave the woman a look that suggested she was mentally challenged.

"So help me, God, if you don't answer my question immediately, Sebastian," the woman snapped at the butler with a vein visibly bulging on her forehead.

"I'm afraid that I haven't got the faintest clue about why he's doing that, mistress," the butler replied, looking away to avoid making eye contact with the woman as he did.

"Remind me, why do I keep you around exactly, Sebastian?" the woman asked as she heaved a sigh of exasperation. "Because of my gentlemanly demeanor?" The butler replied, seemingly not sure of his answer.

"Ugh, just go somewhere I don't want to see again today," the woman instructed, and the butler obliged, disappearing with a shrug of his shoulders.

(Patréon - (pat reon.com/Wicked132) - my Patr eon for those of you who wish to support my writing.)

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