Skill Invoker System

Who Is Zeus ?

After saving Regina and Leo as the system requested, Drake Miller's mind was scattered.

The only thing on his mind was how to get across to his mother, the only family he had left. She lived outside that town.

"I really hope you're okay, mother. Why isn't the government doing anything about this outbreak of zombies anyway?"

As it was deep into the night and he couldn't make it out of town, he hoped to call her.

"A phone booth, finally!"

In the deserted street, accompanied by a dim and flickering light from the streetlights, a broken phone booth stood.

"I hope it still works."

Drake prayed it connected as he dialed his mother's number.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Waiting for 10 seconds, there was no answer from the other end, even though the phone was ringing.

"Mom, please pick up..." He murmured, panic clawing at his sense of resolve.

He looked around, and in some corners, he could see blood splashed on the walkways.

"How did the world turn to this? The system won't explain anything to me, leaving me in the dark. How did I awaken such abilities?"

Confusion filled his thoughts even as he kept trying to reach his mother.

"Oh God..." He muttered, leaning against the inside wall of the phone booth and sliding his back against it slowly until he sat on the floor.

"I can't reach her. What do I do?" He muttered slowly, as fatigue crept over him.

He yawned, and his eyelids slowly fell, covering his eyes.

7:00 AM

[2ND DAY OF APOCALYPSE]

Smash! Smash! Smash!

He woke up abruptly at the sound resembling a watermelon being squashed against a metal wall.

It took him 5 seconds before he felt intense pain coursing through his head, and blood flowing down his face.

That was when Drake Miller realized it was not a watermelon but his own head banging against the metal wall of the phone booth.

Ahhh!!

He groaned in pain.

When he looked through the curtain of blood on his face, he saw a female zombie grabbing his head and banging it against the wall.

A laughter erupted from her mouth each time Drake screamed in pain.

NOTIFICATION:

BODY SHIELD DEPLETED: Any Damage will henceforth eat directly into your life packs as you have exhausted both shields just now.

DEATH CHEAT: 3 LIFE PACKS.

Swap!

The system's voice ceased.

"Shit!"

Drake exclaimed, knowing the consequences of losing the body shields.

That was what saved him from losing a life when he fell from the rooftop.

He tried to struggle with the zombie, but with a mischievous laugh, the zombie let go of his head. He wondered why, until...

Slupp!!

The zombie slashed out his throat with a single hit from its claw.

His eyes widened as he covered his throat with his hands, pain coursing through his throat.

Drake's body trembled as he struggled to catch air into his lungs but failed.

He slowly slumped on his side, and he could see with a blurry sight as the zombie walked away, chasing someone else, a little kid that seemed lost.

"No!!!" Drake managed to scream, struggling to get back up to help the little boy, but Drake was already dying.

1 HOUR LATER

Gasp!!

Drake's eyes tore open, panting. He checked his throat and found no open wound.

"It has been sealed up." He murmured.

His eyes wandered off as he crawled out of the phone booth.

"8:00 am? I was dead for an hour?"

As he stood on his feet and looked around, his eyes widened.

"No, no, no, no!!!" He screamed in pain as he found the little boy he saw before dying, lying dead in the street.

Drake approached the boy, knelt down beside his corpse, and closed his eyes tightly.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you; I couldn't have saved you." With a swipe, he pulled the boys eyelids down.

As he knelt there, he heard the sound of the booting computer again.

UPGRADE COMPLETE

STRENGTH: 0%

SPEED: 20%

DEATH CHEAT: 2 LIFE PACKS

SKILL: BODY SHIELD [0]

SKILL INFORMATION: The zombie you encountered this morning exhausted your body shields for today. You only get two free body shields daily. 

GOAL 1: SURVIVE!

GOAL 2 REWARD: 10+ Speed.

"I would have had the chance to save this boy if I had not exhausted my body shields."

"But I exhausted it and I was killed, before I could wake up, he has already been killed," Drake said.

Guilt was eating into his heart.

"Don't blame yourself, Drake Miller," the voice said.

"Yes, you are right! I should blame you and this stupid system for not giving me sufficient body shields. That is the cause of everything," Drake spouted in anger.

"You cannot blame the system for the consequences of your actions. Perhaps, if you didn't sleep, the zombie wouldn't have laid an attack that would exhaust your body shields."

"Every choice you make has a consequence that follows in this new world," the robotic voice sounded in Drake's ears.

Drake stood up from his knees and clenched his fists.

"How did my strength drop to zero?" Drake asked, recalling the stats that were just mentioned.

"You crushed an entire car with your super strength, and then, you pulled an entire car, stopping it from falling into the pit," the system mentioned.

Drake's eyes drew together in uncertainty.

"So??" Drake asked.

"Each of those incidents took 7% of your strength. 14% down. Those are called high-impact exhaustion. For each of these kinds of activity, your strength will drop by 7%."

The system explained. It all was beginning to make sense.

"What about the other 6% that made it 20?" Drake asked, curious.

"They were burned off during the time you fought off the zombies."

"I see. But I'm nothing without my strength. How do I power up?" Drake said, tension rising within him.

"To gain strength, you need to collect Energy Cores," the system instructed.

Drake's eyes widened.

"What are those?"

"Three energy cores can boost your strength by 7% when integrated into your body," said the robotic voice of the system.

"And how do I find these Cores?" Drake's curiosity peaked.

"I need to find my mother. She's the only family I have left. She lives out of town, and for me to go that far in this damaged world, I would need my strength boosted," Drake said, expressing his concerns.

"The Energy Cores are found in deadly places. They can only be extracted by killing mutated beasts; these beasts are found only in the woods at night," the voice sounded.

There was silence as Drake imagined and assessed the risks involved. He only had 2 life packs left and no body shield.

"What if I lose a life there, or both life packs?" Drake asked, his heart throbbing.

"Then you will stay dead," the system said, and his eyes widened in shock.

"I need my strength boosted. But why is the cost higher than the reward? Three cores for 7% strength, after going to such a place for it?" Drake murmured.

"You can acquire as much as you can, depending on your risk-taking ability," The system said.

"Maybe if I had body shields, I'd have more chances of surviving against the mutated beasts, long enough to acquire the Energy Cores," Drake Miller said.

"That is why you have Goal 3." The system mentioned.

"What is Goal 3?" Drake asked.

NOTIFICATION:

GOAL 3: collect protection pyramids. 5 pyramids, make 1 body shield when redeemed. It is scattered across the apocalyptic landscape.

TIP: The protection pyramids are only visible under the rays of the first light of the sun.

The system announced.

Swap!

After the voice of the system ceased, Drake found himself looking up to the sun, which was rising slowly.

Suddenly, the ray from the sun hit a tiny triangle-shaped object that reflected a harsh golden light.

Drake quickly covered his eyes as his eyes could not accommodate the intensity of the light.

"This must be it, the protection pyramid."

He covered the light with his palm, stopping it from hitting directly into his eyes, as he looked only through his fingers.

He approached the pyramid. When he got close enough, he knelt on one knee and extended his hand towards the ring-sized pyramid.

His fingers were just an inch away from grabbing the pyramid.

Crackkk!!!

A huge brown boot stepped on Drake's fingers, and an immeasurable pain tore through his entire being.

"Ahhhhh!!!" His cry tore through the air.

"Well, Well, Well... seems I am not the only one hungry for body shields this morning..." the person stepping on his fingers said in a singsong manner.

Drake, groaning in pain, glanced up to see a young man around his age, 32, standing over him.

The next thing he knew, the man picked up the pyramid and dropped it into a transparent bowl containing up to hundreds of protection, estimated by sight.

"Who are you?" Drake murmured, the pain now making his fingers numb as the man refused to step down from his fingers.

"My name is Zeus! But everyone with a system calls me The god-summoner. I have the greatest system ever, unlike an idiot like you who only depends on speed and strength," Zeus said.

Drake thought only himself and Zeus were present there, until laughter erupted from two others.

"You have a system too?" Drake asked, curious.

"Ahhhh!!" Drake groaned in pain as Zeus increased the pressure on his fingers.

"I should be asking you that question, because you seem so weak, useless, and powerless. You can't even get back at me for stepping on your fingers. Awww, are you gonna cry and report me to your mommy?" Zeus mocked, and his followers laughed.

"Your system sucks. I bet you were stronger without it because from what I'm seeing, you are more of a chicken than a system upgrader," Zeus said.

Laughter erupted from Billy and Kenneth, his followers.

"Yes, I do have a system, along with these two here who are now my followers. I obtained the god-Summoning System after dying in an accident last night. It turned out that I had a special ring I never knew was special, given to me by my father. I was not only brought back to life but gained the ability to Summon immortals to possess my body," Zeus said.

As he spoke, Drake's mind wandered off to what happened to his heirloom locket when he woke up. It was broken.

"That was it, the heirloom locket..." he mumbled to himself.

Now, he knew what activated his own system.

"You lie; no one can possibly summon an immortal," Drake groaned, still in pain.

With those words, Zeus laughed. Picking Drake up from the floor and jacking him off the ground by his collar.

Drake had 0% strength now, and he could do nothing to retaliate at this point.

"You think it's impossible? How about I show you an example of what I can do?"

Drake's mouth fell open when Zeus's eyes became filled with a harsh red light, as his eyes changed color, so did his voice.

"Meet the lightning god!" Zeus growled, his voice deep and threatening.

Suddenly, an unexplainable amount of electric current coursed through Drake's entire body.

Drake's eyes turned white as his entire body shook violently due to the intensity of the shock running through his body.

His vision blurred out; neither could he move nor speak, only hear.

"Now you see the power-ups I obtained from my system. Not some set of useless skills like yours," Zeus said, refusing to let him go.

"I'm going to drain you of life by electrocuting you with the power of lightning."

"No one has a better system than I. A few selected people were lucky to gain the system as a means of survival in this apocalypse, but I am the lord of all systems," Zeus said.

"I'll kill any system upgrader who doesn't humble himself before me," Zeus growled. 

Drake had no idea that others existed with a system and with bad intentions.

He thought the zombies were the only problem, but there was more...