Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Gwen's boost in strength was exponential. And she could tell immediately once Zane had applied the upgrade. She was smarter, stronger, faster, wiser, and tougher. If she was superhuman before, then it was hard to find a word that accurately described her abilities now.

And of course, she also had the advanced set of equipment that Zane had spent a fortune upgrading to be appropriate for her level. If she were to fight with a lower ranked Tier II Horde King, then victory was most certainly assured.

Especially with her new skill. Which she could activate upon instinct. Hell, with a 25% additional speed increase, a 45% increase to the chance of a critical hit per strike. She might very well be able to take down a mid-ranked Tier II Horde King in a one-on-one battle.

Naturally, she couldn't help but express her joy towards this, and the man responsible for her sudden growth. Which she did by hugging him.

"Big brother! You're the absolute best! I feel so much stronger now! I think I might even be able to take down that bitch Evilyn!"

This was surprising to Zane, as just a day or two ago they had encountered the Ghostly Horde King, who had basically toyed with Gwen. Zane had no idea what Tier Evilyn was, or what ranking. But if Gwen said she was confident in beating her in a 1v1 fight. Then that meant she must have been Tier II.

Either way, Gwen's increase in strength was an enormous boon for Zane. As it meant he had a reliable protector. And was no longer vulnerable to the whims and wishes of Tier II Horde Kings. A more brazen fellow might use this as an opportunity to begin hunting Tier II Horde Kings.

But there was no guarantee that Gwen would win that fight, and Zane was a man who mitigated risks to his own survival. Because of this, he was happy to treat the girl as an over-powered body guard. He accepted the girl's thanks with a slight nod of his head. While looking at the rest of his inventory.

There was a substantial amount of loot he had gained from collapsing the Arena on top of its inhabitants. Thousands of awakened existed inside there, and their loot became his. Whether this was a new feature his mother had given him, or something that he had previously not unlocked. Zane did not know.

But he knew for a fact this was not the case for back in the battle of Tahoe. In fact, his inventory system had not auto looted the hearts of the Awakened he had slain in that battle. Surely this must be a new feature of his now that he was a full-fledged Horde King, right?

Regardless of his thoughts about these things, Zane knew he could not stay at the scene of the crime for long before becoming a suspect. And because of this, he was quick to tell Gwen that they needed to hightail it out of there.

"Hey, we need to go. If we stay for too long, we might catch unwanted attention. For now, let's head back to the mansion. There are some things I want to test."

Gwen naturally agreed with this sentiment, and was quite childish with her response as she sprinted off, leaving Zane behind to watch her backside.

"Race ya there!"

Zane knew this was a race he was going to lose, but for some reason he could only shake his head and chuckle as he sprinted off after the girl as if his life depended on it. Unfortunately, like he already knew the results were destined to end in Gwen's favor. With the girl sitting on the top of the fence, giving herself a manicure while mocking Zane for being so slow.

"What the hell took you so long?"

With a slight chuckle, Zane admitted his defeat. After all, he wasn't a child who would come up with an excuse for losing to a girl in a race around the playground.

"What can I say? You're faster than me…. I simply had no chance of catching up with you. You little speed demon!"

Gwen giggled as she jumped down from the fence and landed in front of Zane, giving him a snide remark as she entered the building.

"I practically died of old age waiting for you, you know? Well, anyway, that was fun. Maybe when you finally catch up to my level, we can have a real competition…."

She did not wait for Zane to respond and instead rushed inside. As for Zane himself, he had more important matters to attend to. So he didn't think twice about Gwen's challenge, and instead entered his temporary residence, and marched into the master bedroom, which he had claimed for himself.

Once inside, he unequipped his armor, so he was dressed in more comfortable clothing. From there, he looked at the alchemy feature in his system. Or more specifically, the temporary residence feature. Where he was forced to create an Alchemy Station in order to begin crafting things with the materials, he had gained.

---

After a lengthy amount of time, Zane had built the Alchemy station, in addition to this he had sorted through all his gains from the massacre earlier that day. Scrapping everything that was worthless in his eyes for their materials. While either selling those items that had some monetary value to the store. Or outright storing them away in his camp storage.

And it was only after he had done all of this that Zane approached the alchemy station. Like the Grim Forge, it was a crafting station. Here he could create potions, poisons, and a variety of other things like herbal remedies which were not nearly as effective as actual health potions, but required far less resources, and no active recipe.

Zane found that although he had the Neurotoxin Extract from the Steelclaw Scorpion, he would require a recipe to make anything out of it. But there were several options greyed out. Such as [Death's Embrace] which was a tasteless, and odorless poison that was highly lethal. Capable of killing anything with a pule seconds after consumption.

But it also required a recipe that was extremely expensive. In addition to this, it required a high Alchemy level to make. Which was strange, because in the past he had no requirements to craft the armor and weapons he had made other than obtaining their recipe.

Of course, Zane's question was solved in the very next moment by a message from the system.

---

[System Updated!]

[Now that humanity has reached a level capable of contending with Tier I Horde Kings, further restrictions have been imposed on the Crafting System!]

[From now on, a craftsman will have to meet the required skill level associated with the item they are trying to create.]

[In addition to this, awakened will have to meet a minimum level requirement for every piece of gear they equip!]

---

There was no special note attached to this update. Meaning it was probably something that was universally being applied across the board to humanity. But why? Why now all of a sudden were these restrictions that made it harder on human beings to level up and acquire gear suddenly in place?

Though Zane didn't know it, the answer to this question lied with the women he had left behind in Gravestone.

---

Elena's blade sliced through time and space itself to decapitate her opponent, whose attention was fixated on Madison, or more specifically her impregnable layer of defense. The girls' shield had effectively blocked the attack of the Tier I Horde King, which the group of five level 27 awakened women were fighting together.

With Zane having abandoned them, a fire had been lit in the hearts of these women to gain as much strength as quickly as possible. In the days since Zane's absence, they had been out day and night, grinding against Bartholomew's horde.

And they had even begun to catch up to Zane. While Zane was still level thirty, each of the five women had gained an additional two levels. And now I felt comfortable challenging a Tier I Horde King even without Zane to rely on.

Just now, Elena had dealt the final blow to the target. Cutting off its head in an unexpected and indefensible attack. One that caused the large golden crystal to appear in her inventory. She quickly pulled out the Blood crystal and gazed at it with awe.

Although Zane had been the first to kill a Horde King in this new world. He was a special case. After all, he was quite literally the son of Death. But now, for the first time since the apocalypse began. A group of normal, living human beings had done the unthinkable and slayed a mighty Horde King, and its army in combat.

And though the girls had no way of knowing this, they had set into motioning things that were well beyond their comprehension. The system and its update were just a small part about things that were to come as a result of their victory on this day.