Chapter 11: Job Change to Martial Artist: Innate Armor

At this moment, the night market had just opened, and the square was filled with crowds.

Couples holding hands, couples with arms linked, vendors and customers doing business.

It was originally an ordinary day, until the phenomenon of seven-colored rainbow light appeared.

Everyone was amazed, taking photos; some opened apps and posted these strange sights online.

But unexpectedly, information about the seven-colored rainbow light was flooding the internet everywhere.

It seemed this anomaly was occurring across the entire nation, even globally.

These massive abnormal phenomena sparked intense discussions among the people.

Even a trace of panic began to spread.

But not long after, a indifferent mechanical voice came.

The people beside him quickly turned into rotting, foul-smelling zombies.

"Brother Xing, you... ah! Don't come over."

"Xinxin, what's wrong? Mommy is scared."

"You damn thing, dare to bite me? I'll give you a big slap."

Screams, sounds of fear, breakdowns, blows, tearing, and fleeing began to echo around the square.

Fang Shi arrived here in half a minute and saw this chaotic scene.

His heart showed not a single ripple; the tragedies he experienced in his past life were simply too numerous.

These were merely trivial scenes; later, when order collapsed and the strong devoured the weak, even darker scenes were everywhere.

To avoid ending up like this, one must become stronger.

Strong enough to be unrivaled, strong enough to sweep away everything.

In fact, the apocalypse game had just descended; level 1 zombies had not undergone sufficient transformation and could be called defective products.

Apart from intimidating people, their own attributes were about the same as before their transformation.

A normal person, if they mustered the courage, could completely defeat a zombie without a brain.

After all, these zombies were not like those in movies or games; they were not infectious; they only looked the part.

Fang Shi's target was not those scattered zombies, but a group of zombies in the center of the square.

They gathered together; survivors saw them and trembled with fear, daring not to provoke them.

But Fang Shi was not afraid at all.

A bunch of zombies transformed from elderly people; how high could their attributes be?

With the skills he honed during three years in the apocalypse and his current abundant physical energy, Fang Shi could give it a try; if he couldn't hold on, he would just run away.

Perhaps because the elderly had weak constitutions, there were basically no survivors under the law's transformation.

From a distance, one could see about thirty zombies filled with a stench of decay, ferocious and terrifying, staggering across the square.

But no matter how disgusting or fierce they were, these zombies were just little cuties in Fang Shi's eyes.

One level 1 zombie yields 10 experience points; with just ten, he could unlock the combat profession.

"Bang."

Pushing off with his toes, Fang Shi breathed slowly and walked steadily toward the zombie group.

Even though he was in a hurry, he tried to maintain his rhythm to avoid wasting stamina.

The zombie group smelled the scent of a living person; one by one, they staggered toward Fang Shi, like old engines, constantly emitting low growls and creaking joint friction sounds.

The apocalypse game had only descended for a minute, yet the zombies' appearance already showed no trace of their former human forms; their highly decayed exteriors looked as if they had been dead for a long time.

Fang Shi felt fortunate in his heart; luckily, just like before his rebirth, he had undergone the so-called law transformation, otherwise he would have been one of them by now.

He didn't know what the laws were that those legendary strong ones spoke of; perhaps in this life, he could also investigate them.

"Roar."

The first zombie approached, its sharp claws accompanied by a foul stench rushing toward him.

A cold glint flashed in Fang Shi's eyes; he swung the bone-chopping knife in his hand.

"Pfft."

Like a butcher dissecting an ox, he sliced along the muscle texture of the zombie's neck; except for the gap in the cervical vertebrae, there was no resistance whatsoever.

Without looking back, he strode forward with agile steps,

rushing rapidly toward the next zombie.

Aged muscles and porous bones posed no difficulty whatsoever for Fang Shi.

Moreover, zombies had one biggest weakness: slow movements.

After all, the apocalypse game still held a glimmer of hope; newly born zombies, if one overcame the fear in their hearts, anyone could easily take them on alone; even with a weak body, one could set traps to lure and kill them.

Fang Shi was like a dancer wandering among the zombie group, wielding the knife in his hand, dancing gracefully.

Scattered black blood and heads adorned this beautiful dance of death.

"Weakness attack activated."

"Successfully activated weakness attack, dealt 10 points of fatal damage to the target."

"Target dead."

"Extracting target soul energy; you gained 10 experience points and 1 survival point."

"Through continuous combat, you have obtained partial information on Weakness Insight."

"Target dead."

"Through continuous combat, you have obtained partial information on Light Blade Weapon Mastery."

……

"Target eliminated."

"After continuous combat, you have obtained partial information on Intuitive Evasion."

……

The battle was easier than imagined; a Perception score as high as 19 granted Fang Shi extremely high sensitivity to danger and insight into things.

Against the claws and bites of the zombies, he detected and dodged every attack in time, even before the danger fully arrived.

Furthermore, due to his extremely high insight and rich combat experience, he could easily spot the flaws and weaknesses of the zombies, delivering a fatal blow.

When he accumulated 100 experience points, a stream of data flashed through his mind.

"Do you wish to consume 100 experience points to unlock the Combat Class?"

Fang Shi would certainly not choose the second option.

"Unlock."

The instant he chose to unlock, the wind of movement stopped, the zombies' biting halted, and the entire world fell into stillness.

Immediately, the surrounding light vanished instantly; before Fang Shi's eyes lay utter darkness. Looking down, even his own body was shrouded in darkness, merging completely with the surrounding environment.

Yet in Fang Shi's perception, the surroundings were not pitch black at all; instead, countless star-like points appeared, radiating chaotic and enchanting colors.

Unseeable, untouchable, yet truly existing; smaller than atoms and neutrons, yet incomparably great; contradictory and bizarre, widely distributed throughout all of space and time, omnipresent like an ocean.

"Is this the truth of the world? The Ocean of Force spoken of by legends, the Source of the Dao?"

Perhaps because his Perception reached 19, the things Fang Shi perceived were far more numerous and clearer than before his rebirth.

"Buzz"

A current of electricity emerged from Fang Shi's mind, coursing through his limbs and bones, alternating between cold and hot, like countless ants crawling over him, yet also resembling the comfort of soaking in a hot spring.

A strange sensation that made one want to cry out in pain, yet also brought a feeling of comfort.

"Unlocking Combat Class... Combat Class template is fusing."

"You have successfully unlocked the Combat Class template."

"Please select a Combat Class."

A stream of data flashed through; various class information immediately appeared in Fang Shi's mind, detailing the pros and cons of each class.

As for the choice of class, he had already planned it in his heart; rather than choosing an unfamiliar class, it was better to choose one exactly the same as his pre-rebirth profession.

"【Martial Artist: For a true martial artist, martial arts far surpass battlefield combat itself—it is a way of life, a discipline of the mind, a state of spiritual realm.】"

"You have chosen the Martial Artist class; fusion and replacement have begun."

"You have promoted to Level 1 Martial Artist."

"You have obtained (4 + Intelligence (14-10)/2) × 4 + 4 (Versatility) = 28 skill points."

"Your health points have increased by 8 + Constitution (12-10)/2 = 9 points."

"You have obtained the class specializations Rapid Wind Combo I, Unarmed Strike I, and Iron Bones I."

"【Rapid Wind Combo I】: You can attack enemies at a faster speed. (Attack Speed +1)"

"【Unarmed Strike I】: You gain a certain bonus when attacking with unarmed strikes. (Damage +1, Accuracy +1)"

"【Iron Bones I】: Through arduous training, your bones are hard, and your resistance to impact is stronger. (Physical Defense +1)"

"As a Level 1 Martial Artist, you can obtain one personal specialization and one class specialization."

The maximum level of native skills equals 3 + character level; Fang Shi, having been reborn, not only had his native skills maxed out but far exceeded them.

Since skill points could not be saved, helplessly, Fang Shi randomly allocated a bunch of skills.

For the personal specialization, Fang Shi's goal was very clear; as a reborn person, he lacked nothing in terms of combat skills or output, so he set his sights on one item.

"【Resilience I】: Harsh environments or prolonged exertion will not easily cause you to fall into fatigue; you gain a +4 bonus on relevant Constitution checks. (Stamina Cap +20%)"

Simply put, this specialization means greater endurance against hunger and thirst, exhaustion and weakness, allowing one to maintain a certain combat capability under such conditions.

What does this mean?

In an environment like the apocalypse, a lack of food is nothing unusual; what is more terrifying is sometimes facing the pursuit and swarming attacks of monsters.

At such times, the effect of 【Resilience I】 comes into play; players maintaining a certain combat capability can often escape alive, or even counter-kill from a desperate situation.

As for the class specialization, Fang Shi chose 【Crushing Fist I】, which has a significant effect when dealing with enemies with high defense.

"【Crushing Fist I】: Strike the enemy with a powerful straight punch, penetrating the internal organs. (Armor Penetration +1)"

"As the first player to unlock the Combat Class template, you can obtain one additional chance to draw a specialization."

"Do you wish to draw an additional specialization?"

Indeed, the first player to unlock the Combat Class template could also receive the corresponding reward.

Had it not been that when the Apocalypse Game descended, all global firearms and electronic equipment had already failed.

Plus, many people had not yet figured out the situation; even the few smart ones did not react fast enough, wasting the golden first few minutes.

These two first-place rewards would definitely not fall to Fang Shi.

"The Apocalypse Game seems to encourage players to evolve quickly; then, is there anyone who leveled up first? Is there anyone who advanced first?"

"No wonder the strong remained strong in the previous life; with these abundant rewards, getting a head start at the beginning means one step ahead, and every step ahead; it seems I must strive to claim all the first places."

Thinking thus in his heart, Fang Shi answered in his consciousness to draw the specialization.

Instantly, a disc radiating a hazy halo appeared in his mind, about one meter in diameter, made of neither metal nor jade, looking mysterious and unfathomable.

The disc was divided into densely packed small compartments; no one knew how many there were. Each compartment looked like a tiny line, with a mysterious rune painted on it, representing a different specialization.

A white-gold pointer hovered at the twelve o'clock position.

Fang Shi was still planning to study it, but the pointer on the disc began to spin at high speed.

Immediately, not only did the pointer spin, but the disc itself spun as well.

It gave no chance for anyone to see clearly where the pointer would stop, filled with the aura of random fate.

With a "Ding," the disk and pointer stopped spinning; from the sector the pointer indicated, a white symbol flew out and merged into Fang Shi's body.

"You have obtained the racial trait 【Natural Armor I】."

"Natural Armor I!"

Fang Shi instantly grew excited; this aptitude usually appeared only in other races and did not exist in humans.

He never expected this extra draw to even yield such things; if he drew aptitudes that directly added attributes, wouldn't that be even better?

"【Natural Armor I】: Physical Defense +1."