When he first got the system, Zain believed it was a truly strange thing, but he allowed himself to disregard all of the strange facts because the system reminded him a lot of the survival games he used to play.
He still believed that although this system falling into his hands was a drastic accident, there was no one that could utilize it better than he could. If a talented soldier had gotten something similar, they would have been stuck with the number of options while also being confused by many of the terms.
This is why when Zain saw the skill Territory Master, he thought this was a big breakthrough in the system.
[You have leveled up!]
[Horde Member Jam has leveled up!]
[Horde member Skittle has leveled up]
[Horde member War has leveled up!]
[Horde member Cobra has leveled up!]
In some games, it was best to leave the stats be and then when needed to. That way, one could adjust the stats compared to what they were going to face, but if it came to the situation they were in before, Zain felt like it was best to improve everyone straight away.
Zain
Level 11
[2,098/75,273]
[Strength: 9]
[Agility: 5]
[Intelligence: 15]
[Endurance: 7]
Skittle
Level 6
[Strength: 5]
[Agility: 0]
[Intelligence: 1]
[Vitality: 0]
'Skittle's strength is coming on nicely. For now, it's at an unbeatable level. I think I can now start focusing on increasing his intelligence, which would make him have a better sense of using his strength…and maybe, there is a chance that I can communicate with him, no matter how low it is.'
Super Undead Cobra
Level 7
[Strength: 0]
[Agility: 10]
[Intelligence: 2]
[Vitality: 0]
Cobra was the speed king in Zain's group. Also, it was the one Zain found himself taking control over most often. This zombie was good for scouting dangerous areas and getting in and out of places.
The only downside was when coming across zombies or special zombies with a harder outer skin like the Titans. Cobra would be at a heavy disadvantage.
War
Level 4
[Strength: 1]
[Agility: 1]
[Intelligence: 4]
[Vitality: 0]
With War, raising intelligence was the best, mainly for his gun skills. Another thing to note was, increasing his intelligence was also a good experiment to see at what stage Zain could perhaps communicate with another zombie that he himself had turned.
Jam
Level 3
[Strength: 1]
[Agility: 1]
[Intelligence 3]
[Vitality: 4]
Lastly, there was Jam. Honestly, although the zombie dog wasn't the most helpful of things, after having cleaned it up, it hardly looked like a zombie at all. Zain had somewhat grown attached to the dog companion leaving it by his side rather than keeping it away like he did the others.
The last thing he wanted to happen to it was for it to die, which was why Zain prioritized increasing his vitality stat. In the end, Zain was experimenting with the stats for each member, and now, he knew what to increase himself.
However, he had decided to increase his intelligence for the time being, as the intelligence seemed to be linked to the number of zombies he could control.
"Umm hey….is everything okay?" Dali called out as he continued to cover the eyes of his little brother. He had done so since the zombies had started to come after them. For a second, he truly believed that his and his brother's lives were over, and he didn't want his brother to witness such a thing.
Still, the zombies had still surrounded them, and Dali was too afraid to move.
"Oh, sorry, I was a bit busy. The two of you are free to move!" Zain shouted back.
When he did, the Zombies that were standing in his way moved to the side, opening up a path for them.
'He….he really can control zombies, but how….how is this all possible?' Dali thought.
Still covering his brother's eyes, Dali took a step at a time. He felt that the zombies could turn and bite him at any moment, even though they hadn't done such a thing so far. Slowly, he shuffled across the floor until they were finally past them.
When around two meters away, Dali turned his head, Zain was still on the platform staring off into space, and the zombies were still standing there. Dali was doing his best to inspect the zombies to see if there was anything different about them, but they looked no different from any other zombies he had previously seen.
"Thank you…thank you for saving my brother and my life." Dali bowed a little to show his gratitude because he was running up the stairs with his brother.
Now Zain had time to look at what this Territory Master skill was.
[Territory Master]
[This skill allows you to claim a territory that has been cleared as yours]
[Each day a territory is protected, the user will earn Exp depending on the size of the territory.]
[Members from your Horde can be assigned to each territory, depending on the size of the territory, the number that can be assigned will be higher or lower]
[If a territory is attacked, you will be informed]
[If a territory is successfully defended, the user will gain exp]
'This is a great way to earn passive exp. If I have loads of territories under me, and if all of them farm exp at once, I would be able to level up at a quicker pace than if I try to increase exp by hunting.' Zain couldn't help but wonder.
'I guess I should give it a go and see exactly how this thing works.'
[Skill Territory Master has been used]
[The Hockdown subway station now belongs to you]
[The maximum amount of protectors is 15]
[0/15]
[The User will gain 1000 Exp for each day the territory is yours.]
'15 protectors? But the maximum number of Zombies I can have in my horde at the moment is twenty. I wonder if the two are separate or conjoined. Hopefully, it's the former. It would be troublesome if the protectors are included in my horde, I will have very few zombies at my disposal if I leave the territory.'
Thinking about this, Zain moved his eyes over to his horde tab and selected one of the random Zombies, and then changed its assigned role. When he clicked on it, the system prompted him with another message,
[You have successfully assigned one protector]
[1/15 Protectors]
[You now have 16 out of 20 Zombies in your horde]
A big smile appeared on Zain's face. It turns out assigning a slot as a Protector would be taken away from Zain's own horde. This meant now if he was ever to get into a fight, and if he were to go into his own territory, for instance, the subway station, he would have an army of 35 zombies, but that was not it because Zain was thinking bigger, much bigger.
*****
Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free's up in the future.