"Let's get this over with," Luke muttered, cracking his neck as his gaze locked onto the ruined city below.
He needed to exterminate every zombie while the 5x EXP multiplier was still active.
The atmosphere shifted almost instantly. The air grew heavy, pressure building until it felt like the sky itself was holding its breath. Clouds twisted and pulled together in violent spirals, forming a dense wall of gray and black.
Within seconds, daylight vanished — the world dimmed to a dull, smoky twilight. Static electricity danced across the air, and a low, throbbing hum echoed through the sky.
Then, from above the clouds, came a distant boom.
A bright streak of orange light appeared in the upper atmosphere — a meteorite, burning hot enough to melt steel, cutting through the clouds with a long fiery tail.
The sound hit a moment later — a deafening, tearing SKREEEEEEEEE as the object broke the sound barrier, the air itself screaming under the force of its descent.
BOOOOMMMMM!
The meteorite slammed into the center of Shanghai.
The explosion was catastrophic. A blinding flash of white swallowed the city's heart, and then — silence for a fraction of a second — before the shockwave followed.
KRAKOOOOOOM!
The ground split open for kilometers. Entire districts vanished instantly, swallowed by fire and collapsing debris.
Skyscrapers crumpled like tin, their glass exteriors shattering outward in a storm of molten shards. Streets turned into molten rock, glowing orange from the sheer heat.
The shockwave followed like a physical wall, tearing through everything in sight.
Zombies were obliterated by the thousands. Those closest to ground zero simply ceased to exist — vaporized before their screams could even form.
Farther out, the air pressure ripped them apart — bodies torn limb from limb, hurled into collapsing buildings that exploded on impact.
WHOOOOM!
A rolling wave of heat and dust roared outward, flattening cars, snapping bridges, and toppling whatever ruins were left. The sound of the blast echoed for miles, bouncing between mountain ranges like thunder that refused to fade.
Even from high above, Luke felt the shockwave hit him — a strong, hot wind that made his coat ripple violently.
When the dust began to settle, Shanghai was no longer a city — it was a crater, miles wide and glowing faintly orange from molten debris.
The landscape shimmered with heat, flames licking at the edges of blackened ruins. The air was filled with the crackle of fire and the deep rumble of collapsing steel.
Ash drifted upward in slow spirals, blotting out the horizon.
In Luke's vision — and in his ears — the familiar system chime began to echo.
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
The sounds came one after another, overlapping in quick succession until the notifications finally stopped.
He let out a slow breath, eyes half-closed as the last echoes of the explosion faded into distant silence.
[You have reached Level 40]
[Excess EXP is stored]
Luke glanced through the system panel hovering before him. The numbers glowed faintly, showing massive jumps in his stats and a new notification blinking at the corner of the screen.
Fifteen levels in a single go — that was his biggest jump yet.
Now, with Level 40 reached, the second class change option had finally unlocked. The next major stage.
He skimmed over his new skill points and stat distribution, noting the huge pile of stored EXP sitting untouched. It was already in the billions, easily enough to push him to Level 47, maybe even 49 if he used it all.
The calculation made sense.
Shanghai's population before the fall had been somewhere between five and ten million — most of them turned into infected long ago.
Wiping out that many in one strike, especially with a five-times multiplier active, was bound to flood him with experience.
Now that the system had finished processing his level-ups, Luke opened his skill menu.
Rows of icons and branching paths filled his vision — glowing gold from the surge in EXP.
He had 34 skill points available.
Without hesitation, he focused on his main path — Fire.
He allocated 15 points in quick succession, watching the fire skill tree flare with bright red light as new nodes unlocked one after another.
[Fire Skill Tree Maxed Out]
[New Skill Unlocked: Breath of the Dragon]
[Trait Acquired: Lord of Fire (Advanced)]
[Description: You can now use fire as an extension of yourself. 60% resistance to all fire-based attacks.]
Luke raised an eyebrow. That last one wasn't something he remembered coding.
"Huh… that's new."
When he designed the game, traits like that were reserved for unique elements — things like chaos, void, or time.
Basic elements like fire were never meant to have one. But whatever the cause, it worked in his favor.
Now, with the Lord of Fire trait and his current MP reserves, Luke's firepower had jumped into a new league entirely.
His strongest spells could now burn through small countries in under a minute — practically putting him in the country-level destroyer range.
Satisfied, he switched over to another branch.
"Now, five points into Air."
He tapped the air element tab, and five new basic abilities appeared, each building on movement, wind manipulation, and atmospheric control.
[Gale Step] – short-range flight acceleration.
[Vacuum Edge] – compressed air blades.
[Aerial Control] – precise directional flight.
[Wind Burst] – kinetic explosion of air pressure.
[Atmospheric Channel] – improves range and control of air-based spells.
As the fifth one lit up, the system chimed again.
[Conditions Met: Lightning Element Skill Tree Unlocked]
[New Elemental Path Available: Lightning]
A grin pulled at the corner of Luke's mouth.
Finally.
He'd been waiting for this one.