"Emmm, this thing..."
On the third morning in this world, Chen Luo walked down the road eliminating scattered zombies while examining an item in his inventory.
This was the random reward obtained from completing Yuyuko's commission yesterday.
[Puppeteer (Marionettist)] (sub-class Certificate): Upon use, grants the sub-class—Puppeteer.
Puppeteer: Control and dominate! Can use any material as a medium to create puppets. At its peak, one may weave fate as threads and use the world itself as a vessel to manipulate all.
Sounds impressive, right?
In reality, it's just a talent for making puppets.
Chen Luo's main talent is his innate talent—Traveler—which cannot be changed, nor would he want to change it even if possible.
This sub-class certificate is similar to talents like alchemist, blacksmith, artist, or painter.
The purpose of sub-classs is generally to compensate for shortcomings in one's main talent.
But the problem is, Chen Luo's main talent is already extremely versatile.
Still, he ultimately decided to use it.
If nothing else, the description sounded impressive, and this sub-class certificate was actually a 5-Star item.
Sounds unbelievable, right?
It really is unbelievable.
Chen Luo had come to realize that relying solely on gacha pulls for power-ups was too unreliable. It was much more practical to strengthen himself through the random rewards from completing commissions.
Primogems were better spent on learning skills.
...If only Chen Luo could control his gacha impulses.
The results proved his luck wasn't bad either.
After using the 5-Star sub-class Certificate, Chen Luo gained what sounded like a rather peculiar class:
Puppeteer (Marionettist)
He acquired the class's innate skill:
[Manipulation]: You can control any entity with greater ease, significantly improving precision, accuracy, and force during manipulation. Can also enhance other control-based classes, talents, or skills.
Every class has its innate skill.
Just as Traveler is both a talent and a class.
This was also one of the reasons Chen Luo was willing to learn this sub-class.
Besides, sub-classs could be swapped out. As long as one had enough energy, they could learn multiple sub-classs.
In short, there was no downside to learning this.
After obtaining the talent skill, the most immediate change Chen Luo noticed was his enhanced control over Anemo energy.
When using Anemo, Chen Luo was fundamentally manipulating wind elements—so his [Manipulation] talent took effect.
He even faintly sensed his [Swordsmanship Proficiency] was on the verge of breaking through to Master level.
Because wielding a sword was, at its core, about controlling the blade.
This 5-Star sub-class's talent was ridiculously powerful.
...And yet, it still didn't change the fact that he couldn't defeat certain opponents.
Truly fitting for a sub-class—only providing auxiliary skills.
"Little Senti, if I challenged Durandal to a duel now, how do you think it would go?"
"Probably go from getting knocked out in one punch to being able to kneel afterward?" Senti said bluntly.
"..." Though Chen Luo agreed, he still found her words cutting.
Chen Luo was angry, and the consequences would be severe.
With a flick of his right hand, five sharp whistles cut through the air as a newly spawned Honkai beast was abruptly dismembered mid-air without warning.
Amidst the spray of blood, the true nature of the attack became visible—five nearly imperceptible threads of Anemo energy.
After switching to this sub-class, Chen Luo gained four things:
The talent [Manipulation]
The technique [Threads]
The skill [Puppet Crafting]
The [Puppeteer's Manual]
In simple terms, a Puppeteer (Marionettist) was a class that controlled puppets in battle.
The reason it seemed so powerful right after switching was mainly due to Chen Luo's Furniture Mastery.
It instantly elevated [Threads] and [Puppet Crafting] to Proficient level while benefiting from [Manipulation]'s enhancements.
...But again, it didn't change who he could or couldn't defeat.
While Chen Luo could effortlessly handle a Chariot-class Honkai beast, so could an A-rank Valkyrie.
For Durandal, fighting a Chariot-class was practically a warm-up exercise.
This was because a Puppeteer wasn't meant to fight with personal combat prowess—they created puppets to fight on their behalf.
Those threads were meant for controlling puppets, not slicing enemies.
Chen Luo had completely misunderstood their purpose!
"[Puppet Crafting]... What if we used Yvette's body to make a puppet?" Chen Luo mused while hunting zombies and Honkai beasts, glancing at the corpse in his inventory.
Yvette: War Angel, S-rank talent user.
Puppet crafting was actually a profound art. As the description stated, a Puppeteer could use any material to create puppets—whether ordinary stone, wood, human bodies, animals, or even angels.
To a Puppeteer, these were all just materials.
...Assuming one could actually defeat such materials first.
"The body's integrity is extremely high, with minimal soul dissipation—probably because it was stored in the inventory immediately. The angel's preservation is remarkably good."
Re-examining the angel corpse from a Puppeteer's perspective, Chen Luo felt his past self had been incredibly smart. His handling of the situation had been perfect.
"As long as you're happy," Little Senti said indifferently.
"Don't you think this is kind of... you know?" Chen Luo hesitated.
"Kind of what? Evil? Rebellious? Disrespectful to the dead? Then what about me, the Herrscher of Sentience who manipulates living minds? Doesn't that make me disrespectful to the living?"
"In a way, I control the living, you control the dead. We're a perfect match," Senti said nonchalantly.
"Good point." Chen Luo nodded.
He personally had no qualms about this—after all, if someone tried to kill him, wasn't it normal for the loser to forfeit everything to the victor?
His main concern was others finding it unacceptable.
But clearly, Senti had seen far more than Chen Luo could imagine.
With tens of thousands of years' worth of memories, her tolerance for unconventional methods far surpassed his own.
This made Chen Luo feel quite relieved.
"Forget it. Such a perfect and precious body should wait until I've truly mastered this craft before being used," Chen Luo said after some thought.
The body of an S-rank talent bearer was a rare treasure, especially one preserved at over 95% integrity. If he could truly master puppetry, he might even retain the original's memories, talents, and strength when converting it into a puppet.
That way, Chen Luo would gain an S-rank bodyguard—one that would remain loyal forever.
Family may abandon you. Lovers may betray you. But puppets? Never!
This was the opening line written in the [Puppeteer's Manual].
Though Chen Luo didn't entirely agree, he had to admit puppeteering was an incredibly powerful support class.
"It's just a shame I didn't preserve the materials dropped by suitable Honkai beasts I killed before. What a huge waste," Chen Luo remarked while eliminating zombies.
Though Honkai beasts and zombies would mostly dissipate into Honkai energy upon death, they occasionally dropped materials.
Honkai beasts were treasure troves.
These materials could also be used to craft puppets.
Of course, beyond crafting, one could manipulate them into puppets as well.
Like Chen Luo was doing now.
Threads of Anemo energy pierced the bodies of weaker zombies, allowing Chen Luo to manipulate them into attacking other zombies.
These ordinary zombies were still somewhat weak for Chen Luo. Combined with his [Furniture Mastery], controlling them was relatively simple. However, elite zombies would be much harder to manipulate.
That said, despite being able to control them normally, Chen Luo ultimately abandoned this method.
Mainly because using zombies to kill other zombies was less efficient than doing it himself.
Still, while passing through, Chen Luo would randomly select "lucky" zombies to turn into puppets, using them to grind his puppeteer proficiency.
But his mental energy was limited—he could only control up to three zombies at once via threads.
"There are so few survivors left in Nagazora. Haven't run into a single one after all this time."
"Obviously. You've been sticking to downtown commercial districts. Any survivors here would've been killed by zombies already. Try residential areas," Senti pointed out.
"Good point." Chen Luo nodded and turned toward nearby housing districts.
His promise to save survivors wasn't just empty talk.
The problem was... there simply weren't many left alive in Nagazora.
The city's population was three million, but fewer than 3,000 likely survived.
Of those, half would be lucky to have survived the initial zombie outbreak on day one.
The rest would still face Honkai energy corruption. Those fortunate enough might awaken incomplete Stigmata, at least allowing them to endure Nagazora's environment.
The unlucky ones, subjected to prolonged Honkai exposure without incomplete Stigmata, would gradually turn into zombies.
Not everyone could become a zombie, though.
For instance, you'd never see male zombies—their Honkai resistance was too low. Most died instantly during the third eruption, not even qualifying for zombification.
As for the remaining women...
Not all could become zombies either. Generally, younger women had higher Honkai resistance, making them more likely to turn—hence why most zombies took the form of young girls.
Those with even higher adaptability, like Sora in the main storyline, would awaken incomplete Stigmata instead.
With incomplete Stigmata, they could survive in the city, but the incomplete nature meant they required constant Honkai energy exposure—otherwise, withdrawal symptoms would occur.
Then there were pseudo-Herrschers, like Yuno slowly developing at Chiba Academy. Their Honkai adaptability far surpassed ordinary zombies. Of course, becoming a pseudo-Herrscher also required another factor: overwhelming negative emotions.
Pseudo-Herrschers like Yae Sakura and Yuno exemplified this.
At even higher adaptability levels, one might awaken complete Stigmata—like Mei. Even without a Herrscher core, as a Stigmata bearer, she wouldn't have died during the third eruption.
Beyond that lay true Herrschers.
Precisely because not everyone could become zombies, Chen Luo found eliminating them so troublesome now. The numbers simply weren't enough, forcing him to hunt all over.
If all three million Nagazora residents had turned, the resulting zombie horde would've made the entire Far East question reality.
"Hm. A'Luo, there's a survivor nearby. Their consciousness is extremely active—likely under intense stress," Little Senti suddenly warned.
"Oh?" Chen Luo paused, then immediately dashed toward the marked location.
Extreme mental stress in this zombie-infested city? 90% chance they were being hunted.
Sure enough—
"H-help! Is anyone there? Please, someone save me!" A little girl sat frozen on the ground, staring in terror at the white figure approaching with twin blades.
She knew the outside world had become dangerous, but not this dangerous.
What choice did she have? Her family's food had run out, forcing her to search for more.
Her parents had gone to work... she didn't even know if they were still alive.
Trembling, the girl hurled nearby rubble at the white figure while weakly scooting backward.
Just before the rocks connected, the twin-bladed zombie blurred, effortlessly dodging before raising its right sword high.
"Mom... Dad..." The girl shut her eyes in despair—though not before mustering one last act of defiance, flinging her final stone at the zombie.
Even in despair, never stop resisting.
Her father's words echoed in her heart.
But after waiting two seconds without feeling steel pierce her, the girl cautiously peeked.
"Huh? Did I... do that?" She stared blankly at the gaping hole in the zombie's forehead.
After a stunned pause, she picked up another small stone and threw it at the dissipating corpse.
"Ow!" To her disappointment, this stone didn't penetrate but instead bounced back, bonking her own forehead.
"Hey kid, what are you doing?" A male voice called out. The girl turned instinctively.
Whoosh! An arrow instantly pierced another zombie's skull—one drawn by her earlier screams.
Though Chen Luo's shot made no sound, the girl's shouts had been loud.
"Oh... so I didn't awaken superpowers?" The girl seemed slightly disappointed but hurried over when Chen Luo waved.
What little girl hadn't dreamed of becoming a magical girl? Sadly, that fantasy was now shattered.
If she'd gained magic powers, she could've searched for her parents.
She could only hope... they were still safe.