Please Touch Me, Master

"ROOOARR!!"

The Rank 1 Abomination roared loudly, its body trembling violently as it chased after Bi Chen in the massive clearing around them. It was covered in many injuries, with dark purple liquid leaking out of its open wounds.

The corrosive blood melted the ground once it landed on it, creating a hissing sound upon contact. Bits of steam rose from the affected ground before the blood evaporated, leaving only trace elements of its presence on the darkened ground. Bi Chen observed this and had an idea regarding the blood.

'If I can find a way to harvest the blood of this Abomination, or its kin, I can use it as an acid or poison…' 

Of course, these considerations were made for later engagements.

For now, he couldn't even dream of doing that.

The Abomination launched itself at Bi Chen, who had paused running for a moment. However, he quickly noticed this and dodged.

BAM!

The Abomination's hulking body collided with the wall, causing a mild tremor to spread in the clearing as the sound of impact resounded everywhere. Bi Chen gleamed darkly upon noticing this, rushing to the Abomination to slash it as hard as it could before running away again.

'That makes it the fiftieth time I've done this…' He silently observed. 'This Abomination never learns from its mistakes and keeps doing the same thing… almost like they're set movements it can't deviate from.'

This made things easier for Bi Chen, since he could easily adapt to the situation while his enemy couldn't. He had expected some more variety from the Abomination since this was real life and not just a game, but it seemed he had overestimated the enemy in his mind.

The Abomination had bled out so many times, and was covered in so many injuries, that it now looked pathetic. One of its horns was broken, and the other had cracks in it. Its tired eye was red with rage, but it was also very irritated, causing the Abomination to blink many times more than before.

Most importantly… it was already very exhausted.

'As an Undead, I feel no such thing as exhaustion. Most of my injuries have already healed too, and I barely get injured in every round now…' Bi Chen was slowly beginning to see the advantage of his Zombie body.

Even though he had very weak strength, he possessed enough tenacity to make up for it.

As long as he put in enough effort and ceaselessly grinded, he would be able to take down foes even stronger than himself. 

This was catharsis to the gamer in him; as long as he put in effort, he would be rewarded.

'A few more rounds… and victory is mine.'

*********

Just as Bi Chen suspected, after a couple more rounds, the Abomination stopped attacking and was crippled to the point of barely moving. At that point, Bi Chen only had to keep striking until the poor creature finally gave out.

It died.

[You Have Leveled Up!]

"Haa… at long last!" Bi Chen made a gesture, as if he was wiping sweat from his brows, but there was actually nothing present there. 

He was a Zombie, which meant he felt no exhaustion and, of course, didn't perspire.

A broad smile formed on his face as he reveled in this accomplishment. Even though it was hard, and he saw very little hope at first, by consistently working towards the task, he was finally able to succeed.

"I'm finally Level 2," He loudly declared. "Status Window."

[STATUS WINDOW]

- Name: Nameless Zombie (Lvl: 2)

- Race: Lesser Undead

- Status: Slave (Alive, Almost Fully Recovered)

- Integrity: 1

- Physique: 1

- Aptitude: 1 (100% Essence)

- S Points: 3

- Number of Vassals: 1

[Current System Evaluation]

You are a weak, pathetic little Zombie who has inherited the remaining embers of the Sovereign Undying Lord's power and awakened the Sovereign Undying Body. 

You need to grow stronger.

[End of Information]

'3 Stat Points once again… that's excellent!'

Just like before, Bi Chen invested everything in his Physique, thus improving his offensive power.

'This way, I can still use my current tactics, but it'll take far less time to defeat a Rank 1 Abomination.' He smiled in satisfaction, looking at the corpse of the Abomination before him. Just as he expected, the creature began to decompose very rapidly.

Within a minute or two, it was already nothing but a lifeless husk, the same way Imelda was back then. However, unlike with Imelda, no Remnant Essence was found, and the Abomination only continued to disintegrate until there was nothing left.

'Sigh… makes sense. Abominations aren't living entities of Alteir, to begin with, so they have no Remnant Essence, which means I can't make them Undying Vassals.' 

Bi Chen would be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed, but since there was nothing he could do about it, he decided to focus on his gains and discard any attachment he had to the idea of using Abominations as Vassals.

He shifted his attention to the entrance of the massive clearing and beckoned Ash over. She had been waiting there per his instructions, watching him fight. The moment she saw him call her, Ash ran forward and reached him in no time.

"You were so amazing, Lord Bi! Even in the body of a weak Zombie, you actually killed an Abomination." She continued to sing his praise, but he merely smiled and said nothing.

He actually struggled a lot in the fight, but he was glad with the results.

'Normal Zombies would not be able to kill a Rank 1 Abomination. In fact, not even ten would stand a chance against a single Abomination without the coordination of a Master.'

This was because, apart from having sluggish bodies and weak strength, Zombies also had very low intelligence.

Compared to regular Zombies, Bi Chen was a peerless genius.

"Ahh, looks like it didn't have any Essence Core…" Ash noticed this and sighed in disappointment, but Bi Chen patted her on the head and responded with a casual tone and a gentle shrug.

"Essence Cores are already very rare among Rank 1 Abominations, to begin with. We can only expect to get Essence Cores by defeating Rank 2 and above Abominations."

"Ohh… I see."

Despite saying this, Bi Chen was also mildly disappointed that he didn't get any Essence Cores even after all of his efforts. It seemed this was actually a very weak or average Rank 1 Abomination in the end, not one with impressive strength among those of the same Rank.

If it was among the stronger Rank 1s, then it would most likely have a Rank 1 Essence Core.

What were Essence Cores?

They were simply the crystallization of Essence within Abominations. They were very valuable in Alteir, particularly for making Artifacts. 

'Artifacts are items with special abilities… kind of like Geists. However, Geist Wielders use up Essence to activate their Geists, which means Artifacts need some sort of Essence source to use their special abilities… hence the need for Essence Cores from Abominations.'

Bi Chen had never thought about this as a Gamer on Earth, but ever since he transmigrated into this world and began learning new things, he naturally had thoughts like this and many others in relation to Alteir and its systems.

The result was a much deeper understanding of the world he now found himself in.

'If I combine my knowledge of the game and my understanding of the mechanics of this world, isn't it possible for me to grow stronger in some other way?' Bi Chen thought. 'For starters… I want to create an Artifact, but even though I have the materials to do that, I still lack an Essence Core.'

As for where he got the materials, he had plundered from the corpses of the Slaves that Gwain killed, he had also taken all the valuables from Imelda's previous outfit, and finally, he could use the leftover items in Ash's [Pocket World].

The only thing left was an Essence Core.

'In the end, it looks like I'll have to find that Rank 2 Abomination and eliminate it.'