Chapter 126

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Translator: Ace

Chapter: 126

Chapter Title: The Long-Awaited Day

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A week ago, the day that had been announced finally arrived.

It was a situation that could truly be called a natural disaster in every sense of the word.

In this harsh world of a zombie apocalypse, just surviving was no easy feat, but if electricity and fresh water supplies were cut off, even basic daily life would become impossible.

Just close your eyes and think about it for a moment, and the answer is clear.

What would happen if modern civilization, built up by human science and technology, suddenly regressed to a point where it couldn't even be used properly?

Everything from clothing, food, and shelter—things we'd taken for granted—would grind to a halt in an instant.

Ugh... Just imagining it for a second is so horrifying that I absolutely don't want to end up in that kind of environment.

Thank goodness they gave us a week's notice. If this announcement had dropped out of nowhere on the day itself, I can't even fathom how dire things would have gotten.

Of course, a week might still be far too short for some people.

Maybe there are even folks who had already prepared for life without electricity from the start.

If I couldn't acquire the Technician trait, that's probably how I'd handle it.

If there's truly no solution, you'd have to fall back on Plan B, right?

Life without electricity would be inconvenient, sure, but at least you wouldn't die.

The real issue ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠will probably be the fresh water.

No electricity is survivable without major problems, but without water, people die.

Figuring out how to solve that will be the key, but I suppose everyone will manage somehow on their own.

They could reuse whatever water they have with the small purifiers I sold at the shop a couple days ago, or relocate to a river abundant in water and drink from there.

Come to think of it, there hasn't been a drop of rain around this area since the zombie apocalypse hit. If it had rained, at least people could have collected rainwater ahead of time.

Me? I've prepared for disasters like this in advance, so no issues here.

Electricity is being steadily generated during daylight hours via the solar panels I set up beforehand, and the fresh water is produced by the base's functions—stored right in the base itself for us residents to use whenever we need ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it.

On top of that, any wastewater generated inside the base is automatically purified for reuse, so with our current population, survival isn't a problem at all.

That said, even with purification and recycling, water that's consumed by people gets absorbed into their bodies, so without new supply, it'd eventually dry up completely. We'd have to bring in more from outside.

But that's no longer an issue.

Thanks to yesterday's base upgrade, I unlocked a brand-new function that supplies water.

It pulls water from nearby rivers, lakes, or even groundwater sources, purifies it on-site, and makes it ready for our use.

I haven't tested exactly how "nearby" it has to be yet since I just got the function yesterday, so I'll have to scout around today to check.

Still, are these features even accessible to ordinary Awakeners?

To get even basic water purification in your base, you'd need to upgrade the Base Reinforcement skill to level 7—which costs a whopping 2,100 Coins.

I've racked up a ton of Coins from hunting zombies regularly, plus the massive haul from the Zombie Wave, so I got here smoothly. Especially since my Black Magic lets me handle combat without spending any Coins on related skills.

But how long would it take average Awakeners to reach this point?

Without some special trait or skill, I'd say it's damn near impossible.

They'd need at least something on the level of the skills those raider bosses I ran into recently had.

Or maybe the Politician trait or Double Skill that guy in Yeouido gathering people like a market vendor possessed.

Eh, whatever happens to those people in this mess isn't my problem anyway.

But the last part of the announcement was unexpected.

Looking at the additional traits, many were ones you couldn't learn if they conflicted with your initial choice.

For example, the Berserker trait sold in my shop required the Combat Specialist trait, so as a Technician, I couldn't touch it.

And since initial traits were permanently locked in, there was no changing them—until now, with this new feature.

They've made it possible to swap your base trait for whatever you want.

That means we can now acquire the urgently needed Technician trait by changing it for one of our companions nearby.

The catch? It costs a massive 5,000 Coins to do so.

Most people would probably think it's better to just recruit a passing Technician and invest in skill upgrades instead of shelling out for a swap.

But doesn't this suggest the survival rate for Technician trait holders is abysmally low, to the point where they had to add a feature like this?

In a world where you need combat power like Combat Specialist to survive, most Technicians have probably died off already. And honestly, it's likely one of the least-picked traits from the start.

Plus, swapping traits wipes out all your existing skills.

If you've poured Coins into combat skills, switching traits deletes them and replaces them with new ones matching the trait.

That means all those invested Coins go poof. Who'd casually accept that and change traits?

I get why the system did this, though.

Looking at how the system managing this zombie apocalypse has operated so far, it systematically prevented ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all-rounder characters who could handle combat, healing, and base management all in one.

But if swapping traits kept your old skills intact, someone with enough Coins could become that exact all-rounder.

So this is just a restriction to stop that from happening.

Whatever the reason, the system treats me as an exception—letting a Technician like me wield Black Magic to sweep zombies without issue.

Hell, it even officially recognized my Black Magic as one of my abilities midway through. Otherwise, why would it start giving Coins for zombies killed with Black Magic?

I have no clue why it made that exception, but I don't really care to know.

I'm already flying circles way above everyone else. No need to poke the bear.

I just hope things keep going like this~

Whoa, what's this now?

A new event?

And killing a single zombie can net up to 3 Coins max?

This is a total jackpot event.

It means that while everyone else hunts the same zombie hordes, someone with high Luck could rake in up to three times as many Coins.

"Whoa, what the fuck! Does this even make sense?"

A curse slipped out of my mouth before I knew it upon seeing the system announcement window.

I never imagined they'd drop a massive event like this out of the blue.

According to the notice, it seems they're throwing this to help Awakeners somehow survive the Zombie Wave—and conveniently, it lets me farm even more Coins.

I can't even guess how much more I'll pull in.

But hold on...

The amount of Coins you get is influenced by your Luck stat?

Isn't my Luck stat... 1?

Praying I'd misremembered, I quickly opened my status window to check.

What a shitty reality.

My Luck stat is really 1.

This means the odds of actually getting 3 Coins are ridiculously low!