Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Upon returning to the mansion to rest for the night, and to avoid the ever watching eye of the local Horde King and his agents embedded throughout the city. Zane quickly secluded himself in his room, where he devoured the remainder of the hearts. Or those that he had allocated for himself.

Awakened hearts were valuable resources for gaining vast amounts of experience over short periods of time. Without them he would have to rely on tens of thousands of blood crystals to get the job done for a single level gained.

Which while he could easily reap such a bounty. Such a large massacre of Victor's forces would immediately reveal Zane's identity. And that was something he wished to avoid at all costs. Because of this, he consumed enough of the Awakened hearts to instantly boost his level from 30 to 40.

As for the remainders, he fed them to Eliza. Giving her a boost from level 25, to level 30. Thus making her power raise from the bottom of the Tier I Horde Kings to a lower-mid-level Tier I Horde King.

But first, Zane needed to focus on his own gains. Which manifested themselves in the form of two skill points, and 22 attribute points. Which he applied as follows;

---

[User: Zane Graves]

[Race: Horde King]

[Level: 40]

[HP: 2700/2700]

[Attributes:]

[Strength: 29]

[Dexterity: 35 (+9)]

[Constitution: 27]

[Intelligence: 27]

[Wisdom: 27]

[Charisma: 30]

Skills:

[Dead Man Walking – Tier V]

[Commander of the Dead – Tier V]

[Heal Undead – Tier III – Royal Sacrifice]

[Raise Dead]

[Unholy Resurrection]

---

Zane noticed that upon increasing his Constitution, he was immediately given a boost to his base health. For every point of constitution he had, he gained 100 health points, rather than 10 like a normal awakened. A feature no doubt resulting from the fact that he was a Horde King.

Why this had not happened before, he did not know. But he could surmise it was a change that was only bound to take effect the moment after he invested his first attribute point into Constitution following his physical transformation.

Whether or not this was an accurate guess, he did not know. But at the end of the day, it didn't really matter. Because with the bonuses his armor provided for his health. His HP was actually somewhere around 3,000+.

As for the advancements made to his Heal Undead skill. The Tier II evolution made it so that he could apply his vampiric abilities to steal health from up to a hundred enemies, and apply it to a hundred of his undead or companions of his choosing.

However, the third tier of the skill. Known as Royal Sacrifice was a very interesting skill. One that could very well be the death of him if he foolishly activated it. But was otherwise a great boon to his Horde in times of need.

Zane quickly read the description over and over again to make sure he properly understood its abilities and limitations.

---

[Heal Undead – Tier III – Royal Sacrifice]

[Description: You sacrifice 25% of your current HP in order to heal your entire Horde and Companions by an increase of 1,000 Health Points per undead in your service.]

---

In many cases this could be extremely useful, as 1,000 HP was a full restore for most of his undead other than the Horde Kings and Death Knights. However, it would have to be skillfully used. If he were flippant with it, he could accidentally lower his hp to dangerous levels. Where death would be but an instant away.

Because of this, Zane would have to keep a close eye on his health bar, and how he used this skill in the field. Other than that however, he ultimately decided to get rest for the night. He would start by entering the shower and cleaning himself off. Before eventually climbing into bed, and laying a wake for some time lost in thought before finally passing out.

---

Zane was not the only one making serious progress in regards to leveling and the strength that came with it. In fact, Elena and the others had been ruthless in their pursuit of power. With the group finally crossing the threshold into the wondrous level of thirty.

Elena had gained a valuable new skill after she and the girls killed another Horde King from within the borders of what used to be California. As someone whose magic was bound to space and time. Her new ability naturally reflected this, as she gained the ability to teleport over short distances.

This had proven invaluable in fights with the undead. As she could instantly vanish away from danger, and in front of an opponent, using her skill Temporal Blade to slash through their defenses and end their lives in a single, decisive, and sudden blow.

While Madison took the front lines as the tank, Elena was nearby, flanking the enemy in front of her with ruthless efficiency. Meanwhile, Lily's abilities specialized in binding the enemy from afar with her control of plant life, as well as use her tamed beast to aid Elena in her efforts. All the while she stayed afar and fired her bow at the target.

Lily's mutated Ox had turned into something magnificent after she increased its level and forcefully evolved it beyond the state of an Aurochs. It now took the form of a mythical creature. The bull had turned into a beast straight out of the hall.

It was not only significantly larger in size and strength. But it appeared as if it were manufactured out of blackened iron, all while exuding flames from its feat, nostrils, and back. The Infernal Bull appeared to have the ability to not only manifest its physical prowess in combat, but could also make use of the element of fire to scorch its opponents.

It was a truly powerful pet that she could rely on in the field. And was one of many that she had begun taming and leveling up. She could freely summon and dismiss her tamed beasts, making use of their powers and abilities strategically in accordance with what was best suited to combat her enemies.

Meanwhile, Olivia continued with the same abilities. Controlling Lightning and Fire, as her two current elements. She was considered next in line by the party to gain the next Horde King's blood crystal.

Her job was to stand in the rear with Angelica, not only protecting the healer of their party. But also dishing out damage, whether in the form of a single target, or AoE towards those hostiles which Elena, Madison, and Lily were fighting on the front lines.

Angelica, of course maintained the same role, buffing, and healing her party. So that they could continue the fight on her behalf. After a day of hard work, fighting the undead, whether it be Bartholomew's Horde in the ruins of Reno.

Or those located in Sacramento which was not too far away from Gravestone. The girls continued their best efforts to raise their strength so they could be worthy of Zane's return. Entirely was unaware that he had suddenly shot ahead of them by ten levels, simply by consuming the hearts of awakened humans like themselves.

Currently, Elena was in the shower, washing off the blood and guts that she had been coated with through the day's worth of combat. Her crimson hair looked as if it was melting, as a similar colored substance washed from its length and into the drain below.

Despite the increase in her strength. She was not exactly in a good mood. Today was the one-month anniversary since Zane had left them all behind. And she was currently reflecting on all that they had been through in life.

She couldn't help but regret many of the actions she had taken in her youth, after being forced by her parents to ignore Zane as if he had not existed. She could only sigh, and hope the man would return soon so she could make up for her past.

It was when she was thinking of this that something interesting appeared in her sight. Elena saw a message from the system. That was unusual. She had no way of knowing that the recent changes which the system had undergone were the result of her, and the other women who advanced beyond the initial limitations set in place for humanity.

The entire system received a massive upgrade. And daily patches were occurring. For example, she saw a message in her inbox that was not from the system itself. But from another awakened human. And if the name was to be believed, this message had come from Zane himself.

---

[A New Message from Zane Graves!]

"Elena, is that really you? I just noticed that there is a new feature on the messages screen. Apparently, I have the ability to send messages to people who I have previously come into contact with. Answer me if you get this… It's been a while, and I kind of feel bad about leaving without saying anything to you all."

---

Elena did not even have time to respond, because the door to her bathroom was immediately kicked open by an overly excited Madison who screamed at her almost as if she had completely lost her mind.

"Elena! Get the fuck out of the shower and check your messages! You won't believe what just happened!"

Judging from the excitement in Madison's voice, Zane had sent a similar message to the others. But was this really Zane reaching out to them all, after all this time? Or was this a trick being played upon them by the system, and its mysterious designer?

The actual designer of the system was sitting in the mess hall, drinking her milk, while Zane's women were freaking out about her latest gift to her son. She couldn't help but sigh internally and think to herself that perhaps she had made a mistake.

"Why must I be such a sentimental woman?"