Months began to pass as the living races learned of the system. Beggars and farmhands gained the strength of monsters, nobles buried themselves in conflict pushing ever harder to gain those ever-sweet experience points. scholars interviewed anyone they could find to learn about this mysterious power.

  But although the living races stepped up their strength with the system's help, not all was good. core aspects of growth such as skill trees and core mechanic's of said system were kept a close secret by those who discovered them.

  the lizard-folk keep's beneath the surface learned of their own secrets and powers, many un-earthing stronger genetics within their bloodlines. the dwarfs discovered skills related to craftsmanship and although they didn't share, those who lived in the dwarves' mountains knew of their secret.

  Even the non-sentient races grew ever more powerful. bears gaining fur made of steel, teeth so sharp they can shred through even solid rock. insects grew hivemind's and each member closely shared all they learned about the system and mana itself.

  Birds took the skies as their own, not that they had much opposition there anyway, but they began building villages of their own in the clouds, gathering up their numbers into pseudo-armies for dive-bomb attacks on gathering hordes of zombies.

  However the zombies were not to be outdone, they fought against the birds, against the insects and against the sentient species of Zalua. and evolved nonstop. the system seeming to help them in their growth, tier 0 zombies became tier 1 variants, which then became tier 2 and 3 leaders.

  The overwhelming majority of zombies were stuck in a bitter war with the Insectoid populations that kept sprouting endlessly throughout all continents. millions of Ants, beetles, mantis', spiders and all manner of other insectoid or insectoid-adjacent creatures were fighting against them.

  leaving but the weaker of both sides to battle against the sentient creatures populations. Ants battled the dwarves throughout their expansive cave networks. spiders tormented the lizardfolk keeps from both the cave ceilings and through the floor, trapping them in endless mazes of web.

  Zombies battered the castle walls of the humans. sealing them within the pits of their own despair.

  ..

  and yet.. life still went on, the mutation that mana brought to wild animals made cattle larger, providing the surviving settlements with stronger more nourishing food. the Mana infused into the very soil beneath their feet. turning even the most inhospitable land into a cultivatable paradise for crops.

  the birds that filled the endless skies provided a more nourishing choice for those brave enough to anger their members, hunters had a more stable career path using their life skills to both hunt and grow stronger. and wiping out the daily zombie hordes provided even the frailest of humans a way to escape their fate. should they have the courage and incentive enough pay someone willing to help them.

  ...

  Young Zach opened his eyes, bright blue light swirling around his vision, suffused with tiny gray lights. 'I wonder if Uncle Gray found out what these are' he wondered before getting out of bed.

  with a shake of his hand, the light blue swirling dots condensed into a thin glowing pair of clothes, the mana clothes were oversized and lacked any degree of detail. Making them look very unrealistic. despite existing in reality.

  Yet Zach always had a lot of fun playing around with it, and his Uncle Gray would always encourage him to do it whenever he could. even to the extent of giving Zach 'treats' whenever he made something new or fun, like that time Zach made a toy mana spear after seeing one being wielded by his cousin Callum.

  He looked down, staring at his blue clothes as they began to vanish into the air, becoming more swirling blue balls. "sigh, good morning Zach", an aged voice came from his side. the old man Gray walked up to Zach, crouching and looking him in the eyes, "Keep it up kiddo, I'm sure you'll get it soon, but for now come and have breakfast, it'll get cold.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  The duo walked hand in hand to the dinner table, even though Zach could already walk easily. Sometimes his body would betray him, and the mana exhaustion didn't help his gait either.

  once all three of them were sat up at the dinner table, with a nice warm meal in front of them. Uncle Gray began to speak "So my boys, while I was gone for the last couple of days I took a trip to the nearby villages, it's not looking good, apparently 2 of the nearby empire's have fallen. the scouts just came back from their trip and zombies are everywhere."

  "Z-zombies.. zombies?" Zach muttered, trying to remember this new word. "What is.. zombie?". his skin crawled at the word, but he ignored it.

  Callum and Gray both looked at each other, smiling. "little Zach, zombies are the bad guys. they do bad things, if you ever see a Zombie run to me or your cousin alright?"

  Zach nodded, trying to internalize the information. "on brighter news, the northern village of Asglan found a new use for the system, if you copy me and say 'Show skills tab' we can find new information."

  once again Zach nodded, hearing to his left Callum saying it, he tried to copy. "s-show shkils tab!" he shouted waving both his arms in the air as he tried to summon his system in front of him.

  Zach was stunned by the glow of his long list of skills, he tried reading through them but the monotony made him get bored quickly, so he willed it away and started eating his breakfast in peace.

  though the words mana manipulation stuck in his mind, throughout the meal. he hurried it, barely savoring the juicy boar meat on his fork and the second he had finished he ran out the front door. "thanks for the breakfast Uncle!!"

  he quickly ran into the front garden before beginning his fun for the day, surrounded by mana he willed it into the shapes of eight different toys he'd seen, before trying to make them 'fight', aka floating at each other and absorbing them. he barely lasted 6 seconds with it before he fell over exhausted, but content.

  ...

  Zach spent the next months approaching his birthday like this, training his mana clothes in the morning under the eye of his Uncle Gray, and then running into the woods playing fights with his mana, before coming back inside to eat dinner and play with his new family.

  But even though his life was static, the world around him was changing...

  the sky dimmed, and night arrived upon the night of calamity, the night when mana descent. the worlds warped, continents kept in place by magic, the stars spun right above the eyes of those fortunate to witness it. in space the 12 planets became conjoined with the sun, all 13 celestial bodies merging into one, with both Zalua and the sun fighting for dominance.

  the skies flashed bright day, to dim darkness. again and again with increasing frequency, then red, the 12 worlds merged creating a pangea of planets, with the sun nestled within them, within it. the dead planet Zalua. and Zalua just like Thorim had completed its evolution...

  have a nice dayyyyy :3