Investing in My Harem in the Apocalypse Makes Me Stronger

”Ron, you complain too much.”

Cain shook his head before turning toward Nathan.

The green currents surrounding the archer had already weakened. Only a gentle breeze remained around him, occasionally lifting the edges of his bloodstained clothes.

Nathan was still examining the changes brought by his newly formed Mana Core.

His awareness had expanded considerably.

The movement of the surrounding air no longer felt distant or difficult to grasp. Every breath, footstep, and swinging weapon disturbed the wind around him, creating faint changes that his sharpened senses could detect.

Cain raised his voice as he looked at Nathan, ”Don’t help them.”

Ron, Jack, and Elara were still dealing with the remaining mutated zombies near the parking entrance.

Nathan looked toward them.

Cain continued, ”Let them struggle as much as they can. Step in only if one of them is about to get seriously injured.”

Ron drove the spear into a zombie’s shoulder and used the shaft to keep its snapping mouth away from his face.

”You could’ve said that without making it sound like you want us to suffer!”

Cain ignored him as he reminded Nathan.

”Don’t forget to use the Cyan Scroll.”

Nathan looked down at the rolled scroll that had appeared after his First-Echelon advancement.

The material possessed a faint glow. Cyan lines moved across its surface, vanishing whenever he tried to focus on them.

Nathan opened it.

The scroll dissolved from both ends.

Countless particles of cyan light gathered around his hands before entering his body.

A new sensation appeared inside his mind.

His fingers moved slightly as Nathan could suddenly imagine himself holding a dagger in each hand.

The imagined weapons did not interfere with one another. His right hand could attack while the left defended, and either could change roles without disrupting his balance.

[You have obtained Twin Fang Instinct.]

[Twin Fang Instinct - S-rank Talent]

[Grants exceptional instinct, coordination, precision, and comprehension when wielding two daggers. Allows both hands to attack and defend independently while maintaining a continuous flow of movement.]

Nathan read the description twice, then raised both hands and turned his wrists experimentally.

Even without weapons, the movements felt strangely natural. His shoulders remained relaxed as one hand moved forward and the other stayed close to his body.

The Talent had not granted him combat experience that he had never possessed.

However, it had given him the instinct required to develop that experience at an abnormal speed.

Nathan smiled in satisfaction.

Cain noticed his satisfied expression.

”You got something useful?”

”Very.”

Nathan looked at his empty hands.

”Unfortunately I can’t test it since we don’t have two daggers.”

”We’ll find some eventually.”

Cain turned away and walked toward the Ironhide Tyrant. Its severed head had rolled several meters away, leaving a trail of thick black blood across the concrete.

The armor around its body had already begun losing the pressure it carried while alive.

Cain approached the corpse and picked up two things as he pushed the massive limb aside.

A Yellow Scroll rested on the ground beside a Yellow Orb.

He had actually noticed that the Ironhide Tyrant dropped them, but decided to put them aside at that time since they wouldn’t run away anyway.

[Yellow Scroll]

[Contains one random Skill or Talent compatible with the user.]

[Yellow Orb]

[Contains one random Legendary-rank item.]

Cain stared at the golden objects.

The rewards were far greater than anything he had obtained until now.

Even the Cyan Scroll that granted Elara Fracture Sight had only produced an S-rank Talent.

Cain could not guess what a Yellow Scroll might contain.

The Yellow Orb was equally valuable.

Rare-rank equipment had already provided large stat increases and valuable effects. A Legendary-rank item should stand far above the Frostveil Sword and Windstep Boots.

Cain stored both objects.

The Ironhide Tyrant had given him 10 Levels, 60 additional stat points, and 20,000 System Points.

It had also dropped rewards equal to those received by Heavenly Demon after becoming the first person to kill a First-Echelon being while remaining Unranked.

Cain did not think the rewards were excessive as the battle had forced him to push Ruin Dragon Force to the limit his body could endure.

Even with the Windstep Boots, the Ironhide Combat Vest, and Elara’s Frostveil Sword, the Tyrant had still injured him.

Without Faultline Vision, he might have wasted far more energy trying to break through the thickest sections of its armor.

Without Greater Restoration, the accumulated damage could have become dangerous at some point.

Most importantly, Cain possessed Black Menagerie.

A Primordial-rank Talent.

Yet he was still struggling against it.

Though, most of its true power remained sealed and Cain could only borrow a portion of the Primordial Chaos Dragon’s power through one Skill.

Even so, his combat strength had already surpassed his Level by an absurd degree.

Heavenly Demon had accomplished the same feat before him.

Cain looked at the distant buildings through the open side of the parking structure.

’What kind of Talent did that bastard awaken?’

It might not be Primordial-rank.

There was also a possibility that Heavenly Demon possessed something just as powerful, or perhaps even more immediately useful at the Unranked stage.

But he had no way of knowing as he only knew that the man had become strong enough to kill a First-Echelon being before anyone else in the world.

That was enough to earn his attention.

Cain’s lips curved slightly.

’Interesting.’

He had never cared much about rankings before.

Competitions had felt different. Throwing a javelin farther than everyone else was satisfying, but there had always been another event and another opponent waiting afterward.

This World Ranking carried an entirely different weight as the people recorded on it were not competing for medals.

They were competing for the rewards that could help them in becoming strong enough to stand above a ruined world.

Cain wanted to see how far ahead Heavenly Demon had gone.

He wanted to know whether that lead would remain after Cain reached the First Echelon himself.

...

Somewhere extremely far away from Cain’s place, a young man crouched on top of an overturned delivery truck with his elbows resting on his knees.

The street below him was quiet in the way places go quiet after a storm, as dozens of zombie corpses lay across the road and the pavement beside it, and none of them were ordinary infected students.

He had long black hair that fell past his jaw, and eyes that matched it. His clothes had not been recently cleaned but carried no blood because he had not been touched.

The golden World Announcement remained in front of his face.

[The second player to kill a First-Echelon being while remaining an Unranked Awakener has appeared.]

[The name ”Heavenly Dragon” shall be recorded in the history of this world.]

[Heavenly Dragon has received a Yellow Scroll.]

”Heavenly Dragon.”

He said it the same way someone says a name they are trying to remember the shape of.

Then his eyebrow lifted slightly.

”Second to kill a 1st Echelon rank as an unranked Awakener.” He looked at the notification again. ”But he hasn’t advanced to the 1st Echelon.”

He stayed quiet for a moment.

The young man then stood and looked west without any particular urgency.

”Interesting,” he said softly.

He stepped off the truck and walked deeper into the city.

Soon, his figure disappeared deeper into the city.

...