Zombie's attack and defence had both fallen by 3 points, and the only reason that Adrian could think of was the sun.
As long as the zombie was within the control room and shielded from the sun, his stats were max. But the moment he was sent outside, the stats reduced.
The loss in attack power wasn't too hurting, however the defence had crumbled by half, turning the zombie into an effective glass cannon.
Which was probably the main reason why Adrian was able to defeat him so easily.
'But, that means that all the zombies will be at their full power at night.' Adrian gulped, he needed to make ample preparations if he wanted to survive the night safely.
[ Tech Tree ]
[ Quest ]
// Wooden Chips - Completed.
1 TP rewarded! //
// Bonding Sphere - Completed.
1 TP rewarded! //
// Capture Spree. (Beginner)
Task - Capture 5 beings.
Reward - 3 TP //
// Alternate Source. (Beginner)
Task - Create energy from another source except solar.
Reward - 1 TP //
// Experience Gain. (Beginner)
Task - Level up once.
Reward - 2 TP //
[ Tech ] (2 TP)
// Fabricator //
// Bioreactor - 1 TP // (Tap to unlock)
// Extraction Altar - 2 TP //
// Purifying Altar - 5 TP //
// Farming Pot - 1 TP //
// ??? - Requirement not met. //
// ??? - Requirement not met. //
// ??? - Requirement not met. //
…
***
Adrian read through the new list of quests and tech, tapping his chin as his mind spun with theories and ways to progress without making any major mistake.
'Level up, huh?'
"Talent Window." he intoned, as a hologram appeared in front of his eyes.
[[ Host: Adrian Cross
Level: 0
Exp: 0%
HP: 100
Mana: 100
~Stats~
Physique: 10
Magic: 10
~Talent~
// 100% Capture Rate (Unique) (Passive) //
~Skills~
Nil.
~Spells~
Nil.
~Inventory~
Empty.
~Server~
Friends - (0)
Regional Chat.
Friends Chat. ]]
Adrian blinked in surprise.
The first thing he noticed was the lack of exp gain in his talent window.
'Is it because I captured him instead of killing him?' Adrian thought, 'Or maybe hunting isn't the way to gain exp, I need to do something else?'
He thought about the issue but then decided to ask about it to the AI instead.
He also noticed the new additions in his talent window, namely the friends and the regional chat, but he decided to check it later after checking the Map first as they seemed to be connected.
[ Chat ]
[ How may I help you, manager 0420? ]
"I already told you about my first capture, but I didn't gain any exp from it. How do I gain it?"
[ That's for yourself to find out, manager 0420. ]
"Okay then, what is the extraction altar, purifying altar and the farming pot that I unlocked? I already have a guess about the bioreactor, but tell me about it as well."
[ Bioreactor is an engine reactor module that can help you convert biological products into energy.
Farming pot is a pot which can help you farm.
Extraction altar allows you to extract experience, skills, stats and spells from your bonds by sacrificing them.
Purifying altar allows you to cure the corruption of a beast or zombie at a cost. ]
"Hah, so that's how you gain experience, huh? That's brutal." Adrian scoffed, "And didn't you tell me to find it out myself, alas, I found it out so easily." he mocked.
[ Asking the right questions is also a skill. ]
"Indeed, also give me a better description about the farming pot. What do you mean by a pot that helps you farm?"
[ It means that it is a pot that helps you in farming, manager 0420. ]
"..." Adrian stared at the monitor blankly, but looking at his own reflection on the screen, he felt stupid.
What was the point in arguing with an AI? Not like he could do anything to it.
"Can you gain experience if you kill a beast or a zombie?"
[ That's for yourself to find out, manager 0420. ]
"Ugh!" frustrated, Adrian clicked on the tech tree again, but then he heard a low growl from the door.
He turned to look and it was the zombie, standing with a pile of small wooden chips in his hands, staring at Adrian blankly.
"Ah you're done with them already?" Adrian asked rhetorically, but the zombie nodded nonetheless, "Good, keep them there and go gather more twigs exactly like the ones that you just broke to make these. And don't wander off more than 50 meters away from the control room, and don't make much noise."
Adrian pointed at the corner where he had previously gathered the twigs.
Zombie nodded, entering the control room and dropping the wooden chips before heading out again.
"Haah… a few more of those is all I need." Adrian nodded to himself as he watched the diligent zombie scurry off to work.
Watching for a few seconds, Adrian placed his focus back to the tech tree.
'Clearly, I need the Bioreactor, as I need both more energy and the TP it could give.' he hummed, 'What I need to decide is if to unlock the farming pot and leave the extraction altar for later, or to save the TP and then unlock the extraction altar directly.
As the control chip said, the extraction altar will lead me to lose the bond if I choose to extract from it, which I can't afford at least until I get all 5 bonds to work in my area and some to keep on myself for safety.
Catching 5 bonds will give me 3 more TP soon enough, so I think I should just take the risk and unlock the farming pot instead.'
Having made his decision, Adrian swiftly unlocked the Bioreactor and the Farming Pot technologies.
[ Technology Unlocked, Bioreactor. ]
// Bioreactor's recipe has been added to the Fabrication Grid. //
[ Technology Unlocked, Farming Pot ]
// Farming Pot's recipe has been added to the Fabrication Grid. //
'Dang, if I picked bioreactor first wouldn't I have gotten fucked?' Adrian sighed in relief, 'I need to lock-in and try not to have more of such thoughts, there are no easter eggs to exploit in real life.'
But then he paused, 'Well… there may be one, hunting zombies in the daytime.'
With zombies getting weaker in the sunlight, Adrian figured it was best to clear all the surrounding zombies like he did with the farmer.
'Let's see what this farming pot does first, it better be at least worth the TP.'