Investing in My Harem in the Apocalypse Makes Me Stronger

Cain raised an eyebrow.

”That’s lower than I expected.”

The amount itself was certainly not small.

However, the World-Class Mission also doubled all direct System rewards, meaning the System Points he would normally have obtained from the kill were only half of that.

Compared to the 500,000 System Points he had received from killing the Zombie King, the difference was enormous.

But after thinking about it for a moment, Cain quickly realized that it made sense because back then, he had still been Unranked.

The Zombie King had been a Level 75 2nd Echelon existence, meaning Cain had crossed two entire Echelons to kill something overwhelmingly stronger than himself.

He had nearly exhausted everything he possessed during that battle and had only managed to win after pushing his abilities to their limits.

The situation now was completely different.

Cain was already a 1st Echelon Awakener, and his strength had risen tremendously since that battle.

Let alone the fact that the Level 60 zombie he had just killed was also nowhere near as powerful as the Zombie King as he had killed it with a single attack before the battle had even properly begun.

Looking at it that way, receiving 300,000 System Points even after the World-Class Mission bonus was reasonable.

Cain quickly stopped thinking about it and turned his attention toward something that interested him far more.

The sixteen Levels.

Nathan had already told him what happened when a 1st Echelon Awakener leveled up, so Cain knew beforehand that every Level would increase each of his Stats by 2 points while also granting 6 Free Stat Points.

Still, knowing about it and actually experiencing sixteen consecutive Level increases were completely different things.

32 points had just been added to every one of his stats.

Combined with the additional stats obtained directly from killing the zombie, the increase was substantial.

Cain opened his status information.

[Level: 41]

[Free Stat Points: 96]

[Stats]: Strength: 431 (+491) / Agility: 435 (+332) / Physique: 286 (+923) / Sense: 237 (+5) / Mana: 592 (+2,960) / Magic: 392 (+1,960)

A satisfied smile appeared on Cain’s face.

His Strength had increased by 35 points after including the kill reward, while Agility had risen by 37 and Physique by 36. His sense had also increased by 35 points.

Mana and Magic had each increased by 32 points from leveling alone.

However, those were only the increases to his base Stats.

His Talents made the actual improvement considerably greater.

The bonus to Strength had risen alongside its base stat, while his increased Agility and Physique were further amplified by the effects of Undying God Body.

The difference was even more obvious with Mana and Magic as the Solar Origin Body increased both by 500%, the additional 32 base points had increased the bonus beside each of them by another 160 points.

And that was without touching the 96 Free Stat Points he had just obtained.

Cain stared at the number for a moment.

Almost a hundred Stats that he could distribute however he wanted.

He considered assigning them immediately before dismissing the idea as there was no need to increase any stats for now.

His current strength was already more than enough to deal with the enemies they had encountered so far.

Keeping the Free Stat Points untouched would also allow him to strengthen whichever Stat he needed if they suddenly encountered an unexpected situation deeper inside the Corridor.

Cain closed the status panel.

Only then did his attention return to the corpse lying several meters away.

”...That’s it?”

Despite being satisfied with the rewards, he still couldn’t help being somewhat surprised by how easily the fight had ended.

He had genuinely expected the zombie to survive at least one attack.

The Zombie King had taken everything Cain possessed at the time before finally dying, so facing another 2nd Echelon being had naturally made him expect something similar.

Apparently, using the Zombie King as the standard for every 2nd Echelon being had given him a completely wrong impression of the rank.

The battle around him had already erupted.

The dozen 1st Echelon zombies had frozen for a moment after watching their commander die before the fight had even properly begun.

That brief hesitation immediately cost them.

Elara reached the nearest one first.

Pale-blue Mana flowed across her sword as the zombie hurriedly raised its weapon to defend itself.

Her eyes swept across its stance, immediately catching the opening and swung her sword.

Shhk!

The zombie’s weapon snapped near the guard, but Elara’s slash continued without slowing down. Her pale-blue blade passed straight through the opening and swept cleanly across its neck.

Its head separated before the creature even seemed to understand what had happened.

By the time the body collapsed behind her, Elara was already moving toward another enemy.

On the other side of the battlefield, bluish-white Lightning flashed.

Ron crossed more than twenty meters instantly and drove his spear straight through the chest of a 1st Echelon zombie.

The creature desperately grabbed the shaft, trying to keep him from pulling the weapon free.

Ron twisted the spear instead, then Lightning erupted from the spearhead inside its chest.

Boom!

The zombie’s chest caved inward around the wound as the violent burst of Lightning blasted it backward.

Ron kept his grip on the spear, tearing the blade free as the corpse was thrown away from him.

His eyes immediately dropped toward the weapon in his hand.

”This thing is fucking amazing.”

”Focus!” Elara shouted from nearby.

”I am focused!”

Another 1st Echelon zombie rushed toward him before he could admire the spear any longer.

Ron grinned.

The creature never reached him as Lightning flashed across the ground and Ron disappeared from directly in front of it.

By the time he reappeared several meters behind the zombie, blood was already spraying from a hole through its throat.

The creature staggered forward for another step before collapsing.

Farther behind the frontline, Sonya noticed another 1st Echelon zombie suddenly break away from Jack and rush straight toward her.

It had most likely noticed her Level and assumed that the woman who had only just advanced to the 1st Echelon would be an easier target than the others fighting at the front.

That assumption lasted only until Sonya raised her hand.

Crimson-gold Fire Mana immediately gathered above her palm.

A small sphere formed before the flames began compressing inward. The Inferno Star rapidly became denser as the temperature around Sonya climbed.

The zombie continued charging at first, but its expression quickly changed after sensing the amount of Fire Mana packed inside the sphere.

Sonya watched it approach, a smile appeared on her face.

The Inferno Star shot forward.

The zombie immediately released Mana around its body and raised both arms in front of its chest.

The sphere slammed directly into its defense.

Sonya closed her hand.

Boom!

Crimson-gold flames erupted outward and completely swallowed the zombie.

The ground beneath it cracked from the force of the explosion as fire spread across the surrounding soil.

When the flames finally weakened, most of the zombie’s upper body had already disappeared.

Sonya stared at the burning remains, her smile widened.

”Definitely much stronger than before.”

Nathan was even more efficient as he never entered close combat.

His bowstring vibrated repeatedly as arrows continued crossing the battlefield, each one aimed at a different enemy.