《The Four Phases》 Chapter 1: The First Phase *Beep beep beep* Coming up from the abyss of a dreamless sleep I turned my head over to look at the alarm clock. I''m still not sure why I have an alarm, I retired years ago. After 22 years in the air force, since I had pretty much a paycheck for life I''ve been pursuing interests of my own, ranging from writing to programming. All the hobbies I do bring in a little extra money, even the streaming whenever I play video games. Lately though I''ve found that I''ve become extremely bored, nothing I do can quite compare to the halo left by the first experience. The first successful program, the first half decent chapter, I can feel the apathy setting in, the first time in a long time that I''ve felt like this. The beginning of depression. Trying to snap myself out of it I grab some caffiene to offset the lifeless feeling pervading my body. Another day to fight off the boredom and everything that comes with it. *Beep beep beep* "God damnit" I say as I make sure to turn the alarm off instead of hitting snooze this time. With a sigh I kick my legs over the side of the bed. "Hey Belle, what''s on the news today?" The room dims slightly as a hologram appears in the front of the room. The female looking hologram motions towards her left with a green tinged hand "It is currently raining in the local area, would you like to turn on hydrophobic coating?" Stretching while I walk down the stairs I give a quick nod and walk out of the door. Small pinpricks that barely register are the only indication I have that the layer was turned on, my clothes are already made of hydrophobic materials out of necessity considering how it rains 320 out of 365 days of the year. Climate change has been more of an annoying bitch than a murderous one. Looking down I see the nanobots have done their job, rain is rolling off my skin as if it''s covered in a layer of plastic. "Hey Belle, list my current programs and any new ones approved by the fda, toss up the beta list on the side as well." Nanites Currently installed HUD Faraday coating Active Rain coating Active Heat sink (3rd Party) Active Night vision Heat vision Tissue repair FDA recently approved Pigment correction Fixes pigment abnormality such as graying hair, darkening of the skin etc. Tissue regeneration Updated version of tissue repair, improves natural lattice of the skin, prevents scarring. Scrolling down I continue to see health, vision, quality of life updates, nothing truly noteworthy. With how restrictive everything is on getting new addons for something that can change the way your body works usually only superficial things manage to get through. Although the tissue regeneration seems moderately useful. Queueing the update I continue heading towards the mini-bx. The small cornerstore has pretty much everything you could want for convenience. I push through the door and give a nod to the cashier, "Welcome back Allen, what can I get you today?" I grab a case of energy drinks and toss them on the counter. "Just these for today Tom, I drank my last one this morning." Shaking his head he looks up after ringing it up, "These things are kinda bad for you, I''d invest in a coffee maker if I were you." I shake my head "I''m already 42, if I lose a couple years from drinkin these it wont make too much of a difference, plus they taste quite a bit better than that bitter shit you''re always downing." I said while swiping my hand over the biometric reader. With a chuckle he waves me off "well either way, have a good one." I nod and walk back to my pickup. Noticing a notification from Belle I swipe the icon swimming in my vision. It''s the beta apps I requested earlier, I thought there weren''t any, guess one just popped up. 3rd party Google Dept of Def Direct Vision Auditory Addendum Looking through the list of companies the DoD catches my eye, it has the lock icon, but since I have access based on clearance it looks like I can take a peak. I pop it open expecting message encryption or some other security feature. Instead. Skin Hardening Uses Arrector Pili muscle along with ______ to increase the surface tension and rigidity of the skin. Provides moderate protection to lacerations, minor firearms. Reserved for individuals that have _____. A lot of the specifics are redacted but it''s easy to get the gist of it. Being a programmer I can guess what''s going on. Most likely I still have an active account in the system so it included me in the update. It''s supposed to be deleted after 60 days of inactivity. Clicking the app and applying the changes to my nanites immediately I count my good graces. Every once in a while an amazing update will be pushed out, either by a third party, which means either an independent group or a corporation, or by the government. This is the 3rd app I''ve been able to snag from them, the first was Faraday which makes me practically immune to electrostatic discharge. Something everyone in a communcation squadron gets. The second was heat sink, again, had an additional duty with a supercomputer that kept overheating, the app makes the nanites spread out the heat evenly, so instead of a 3rd degree burn on your hand, your whole arm gets 2 degrees warmer. Heat vision was added along with that so techs could see overheating components and fix it before the thing fried. Night vision was released by a hunters group so they could see in low light conditions while deer hunting. Tissue repair was something I picked up after breaking a rib in an mma training session. Honestly I would prefer to have more but a lot of the additions are 3rd party and sketchy at best, most of the FDA approved ones are either not interesting or not useful. So far the only really useful one I''ve found is the hud, it basically makes you into a smartphone kind of cool really. Swiping another icon up I take a look at some news articles, "Blue box virus? What the hell" I mumble to myself. It seems someone finally uploaded a virus into the nanites. I know that nothing is truly secure but nanites are practically foolproof. The kind of havoc someone could wreak if they had access to something that could turn you inside out is kind of scary. Scrolling through I continue to read. The emergence of the first ever virus moving through the nanites. The virus automatically activates the HUD and puts up a permanent blue status bar. Differing accounts show that the bar is steadily increasing as the number of infected increases. Frowning, I finally start up my truck, sitting in your vehicle for extended periods of time while not actually doing anything used to be kind of creepy, nowadays its the same as someone playing on their phone. Pulling out and heading to my house thats only 2 blocks away. "Hey Belle, read me the headlines." Taking a slightly roundabout way home I listen to Belle rolling out all the news headlines one by one. Theres one about Trumps wall, seems it''s still being maintained. Ever since a drug cartel got into a shootout and killed a few border guards support for the wall skyrocketed, its been almost 30 years and they still harp on the necessity of it. Honestly, with the things that nanites can do to make you feel good I''m surprised there is even still a drug industry left, I guess it might die whenever everyone with a physical dependency on it is done but besides that, well no use dwelling on that subject. The next headline was about some electrical interference, seems it''s become even more rampant. There was a blackout that left a little over a million people in the dark. Along with hundreds of smaller ones. The weird thing is that there''s seemingly no indication of why there are power spikes downing major portions of the network. The only thing that''s been found are semi-precious stones near the transformers. "Zoisite?" Slightly confused looking at the picture. Even more impressive, it looks like they might all be gem quality according to the article. Shrugging since I don''t really know much about geology, I get Belle to skim through the rest of the articles, most of them are somewhat lame. Heading inside the house I crack open an energy drink, trying to get myself to wake up even a little bit more. Mornings are always hard after binging on either the console or VR. I''ve recently switched from army building games to army of one games, where instead of building an army I make it where my character can take out an entire army. I''ve got to say, I usually like the feeling of watching a well-enacted plan decimate the opposing forces but there''s also something special about being able to decimate an entire army with a glaive in hand. Looking around the game room I see my collection of weapons from the medieval era. Spears, Glaives, Swords, Shields, all manner of random equipment, only half of which is able to actually be used, the rest being there just for looks. Plopping down onto my sofa I turn on my PlayBox to see if anyones online. No luck, I send a quick text to my little brother to see if he wants to jump online. No luck unfortunately.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Seeing a flashing notification on my nanite HUD I pop it open. Update Available Install Immediately Waving it away it comes straight back. Update Available Install Immediately Update Available Install Immediately Update Available Install Immediately Update Available Install Immediately More and more blue popups stack in my vision until I can no longer see anything except blue boxes, as I attempt to swipe them away they suddenly all disappear. "Damnit!" I cursed, knowing I hit a yes button somewhere when I tried to swipe them away. They all faded away and what looked like a loading bar appeared on my HUD. 17% Sighing at the injustice I jump on google looking for any fixes for the supposed virus. In annoyance I grit my teeth, just a shit-ton of idiots saying random crap like ''OMG ILLUMINATI'' and literally no helpful information on the subject, sifting through the conspiracy theories I sigh in defeat about an hour later, I glance up, its at 24% now. Looks like theres an exponential increase in the quickness of the bar, it was at 1% for a few months, 2 for a couple months 10 for a week, now its going up by the hour. From the little experience I''ve had making viruses, the more vectors for transmission there are the higher the rate at which it spreads, at this rate, it''ll hit 100% by tomorrow morning. With a flicker all the lights in the house go out, "haaaaa, god damnit, looks like my area finally got hit. I start walking down to the basement to turn on the backup generator. If nothing else my time in the military taught me one thing, be prepared. Grabbing the gas can in the corner I pop the cap open on the generator and start filling her up. Hearing a ding startling me from my thoughts I look up. Holy shit, it''s already at 80% and rising by the second. Usable medium verified. Initializing. Current Users 8.75 Billion Viable Users 25 Million Beginning Initialization. Current User: Allen Shura Please say "Status" Laughing at the peculiarity of it all I go ahead and say "Status" User Allen Profession none HP 600 Mana 2600 Body Strength 6 + Body Control 8 + Mental Strength 18 + Mental Control 18 + Stat Points available 10 Raising my eyebrows I''m actually somewhat surprised, did they take data from the nanites to push this out? The consistency of just the first one makes me wonder, assuming 5 is the average for someone who just turned 18 years old I know that right now I have roughly 20% more muscle than average. The control is also decently high I''ve been known to have extremely steady hands which is why I used to get thrown any delicate work that came through. The mental strength and control don''t really surprise me. Literally everyone who was in my career field was in the top 97th percentile and above when testing at 18. Then I see the stat points. I start laughing, I laugh so hard my face hurts and my eyes water. "What the fuck, all the trouble for a life game?" If all that was purely a marketing stunt then I''d be surprised if this thing didn''t become popular. After filling up the generator I start it up and smile again at not only having power but also that I have a new game to play, free at that. Jumping on my sofa I bring open the status window, since theres no guides on this I''m thinking I should go ahead and round my stats up to the divisible by 10 equivalent. I click on the plus icon next to Body strength. My muscles start to get warm, frowning I look down at my arms, they''ve turned from their original slightly tan complexion to slightly pink, most likely from blood rushing to the surface of the skin. My skin gets a bit hotter to the point that it''s uncomfortable, starting to panic I rush to the shower and turn on the cold water. Panicking even more when the water doesn''t cool me down and just slides right off my skin, I quickly dismiss the rain coating. When it finally subsides I sigh in relief at the feel of the cold water across my skin, after a few minutes it finally stops feeling like I''m standing in an oven so I take a deep breath in relief and turn off the water. "What the fuck was that?" I say irritated. Coming out of the shower I pause. In the mirror I''m barely recognizable, my previously tone body looks like I packed on about 20 pounds of extra muscle. The small bits of flab that started to accumulate because of a sedentary lifestyle were completely gone. Thinking back to the status screen I bring it up. User Allen Profession none HP 685 Mana 2600 Body Strength 7 Updating... 85% Body Control 8 + Mental Strength 18 + Mental Control 18 + Stat Points available 9 Smiling I start getting excited at the implications. Never having to work out again. Getting smarter without having to spend hours learning new things. I want more stat points, looking through posts I''ve found that not everyone got the same number of stat points, I thought 10 would be standard but it looks like I was mistaken. The vast majority received 6 points, some receiving as high as 8 while some as low as 4. Looking at some of the stats I started pushing through the numbers. I had exactly 50 stat points total 6 + 8 + 18 + 18. The people that received for had a total between 10-24 most of those being teenagers. Everyone between 25-29 got 5, again the pattern continues, 30-34 got 6. Almost everyone that got to a base of 40 stat points was either an athlete or had a job that required a lot of thought. The amount of information shared is actually kind of scary, everyone is so caught up in this that they completely forgot to protect their personal information. Shutting down the site I start looking for anything related to what the stats do. The basic algorithm was for every 5 stats you received an extra stat point after 20, with a base of 4 for those who had yet to have to chance to develop themselves. In the last couple of hours there''s been thousands of people testing everything they could think of. Body Strength seems to make all of your muscles fill out to a certain point, after reaching a certain amount it seems there''s a restructuring of the muscles to make them strong, an increase in density, along with elasticity. It has to do with increasing every aspect of your muscles and how they work. Basically it increases strength, agility and flexibility. Body control, it seems is the equivalent of dexterity, it also has had a noticable increase in reflexes. Strange, I would have thought that would be in the mental category, maybe the mental stats only reflect things that are purely mental. Unfortunately the effects of the mental stats are largely unknown. So far theres a bunch of guesses and theres even some people claiming that it''s related to magic I shake my head, magic would be cool but this is obviously a result of science. Making an educated guess I figure the stats work the exact same way the physical ones work. Strength is what you have to work with, control is how well you can use what you have. I''m guessing Mental Strength or MS is related to how quickly you can learn and remember new information, while MC would be how well you can apply the new information. Turning on the shower, intent on having this shit over with I dump 3 more points into BS. Immediately the change is staggering, my muscles light up like they are on fire, I can even feel the tendons pulling at my bones, under the near ice cold water of my shower I still feel the heat. Bracing my arm against the wall I can see steam rolling off of my skin. My vision darkens and narrows from the liquid fire racing just under my skin. Gritting my teeth to stay awake I ride out the rest of the changes. Finally the heat subsides, the moderate discomfort is nothing compared to what just happened. Making sure to never, ever, do that again I sigh. Standing up and stepping out of the shower I look in the mirror. Surprisingly I changed very little that time, I look ripped but its not enough to warrant all the pain I just felt. Then I notice it, the small streaks of gray in my hair that I had been forced to get used to for the past for years. They were gone! With a newfound happiness over something I know is completely vain I head out of the bathroom and back downstairs, putting on a pair of shorts. Dripping my way to the weight room intent on testing a few things. I walk over to the plates and grab enough to put what I usually max out on my bench press. 225, not stellar but for a geek, it''s pretty damn good. Laying back on the bench I set my hands on the bar, getting it off the hooks it feels strangely light. I let the weight down slowly to my chest and push, it feels closer to 135 rather than 225. Moving up, more and more I finally max out at 375. Dumbfounded at the increase I just sit there for a second, doing some mental math. It''s almost an exact increase in ratio based on the stats I put into it. Going down into the Den I pull out a dart board from the closet. I grab 10 darts and set everything up. One at a time, I aim to the best of my ability. Out of 100 throws I got 24 bulls-eye hits, not bad for the distance I''m throwing. Opening my status window I put a point into BC. I brace myself for whatever is to come, after a few seconds I can feel what seems to be minor electric shocks across my body. Theres also a slight buzzing in my skull. That was far less painful than the damned BS increases. Another hundred darts later and the score is 27, the groupings around the bulls-eye were noticably better, thinking back I should have had more than one point of reference. Sighing I take out a tap measure and from the center of the board I measure out the furthest dart, 4cm. A few more iterations later of tossing and measuring the furthest out is almost always 4cm, never further. Putting the final point that I''m spending on BC into it I once again feel the buzzing across my body. After the changes complete I once again repeat the accuracy tests. 30 bulls-eye hits, with the average furthest from target being around 3.5cm. Being dry I head back to my game room and sit down debating on whether or not to use my last 4 points on my mental stats, to be honest I really, really like what the other stats are doing for me. If the physical stats can delay aging then I kind of want to just pump all my stats into it. After arguing the pros and cons and hating to not have even numbers I dump 2 stats into each. Hoping that the increase doesn''t royally fuck me up as much as the BS. User Allen Profession none HP 1000 Mana 2616 Body Strength 10 Body Control 10 Mental Strength 20 Updating...4% Mental Control 20 Updating...2% Stat Points available 0 My status screen is the last thing I see as my vision turns dark. A profound tiredness seems to take control of me and almost instantly I feel like I haven''t slept in days. Unable to fight it my vision closes into a pinpoint, until even that gets snuffed out and I fall into the oblivion of a dreamless sleep. Phase One Begins Chapter 2 "Allen" "Allen!" "Are you in there Allen?" I could hear Hector outside. Sitting up from the couch I righted myself. I felt, good? surprisingly good. Walking towards the door I opened it up to let him in. Brushing past me and closing the door so fast I blinked. "What''s wrong Hector?" He looked at me like I was high "dude, haven''t you checked the notifications? the world is going crazy. That new virus fucked us all." The anger and fear laced in his voice was subdued but apparent, speaking in a slightly raised voice but clearly hesitant to do more than speak loudly. I hesitate for a second, wanting to ask more but decide the notifications might be a good place to start and pull down the notifications. (26h ago) Phase One Begins There are 25 Million viable users, 8.74 Billion Users unviable. Initiate Culling Procedure. (11h ago) Error Culling of unviable users resulting 20% drop in viable users within a 24h period. 20 Million viable, 8.74B Unviable Current trend unsustainable. Safe Period Initialization. Threat reduction 40% "What the hell is all this? I dumped all my stats and passed out... 26 hours ago?" I said, clenching and unclenching my jaw nervously. "Yeah, okay so, you see the 20 million? That''s us" "What do you mean us?" "The human race man, everyone else is, well, something else" Hector says, somewhat more calm than I''d expect, the undercurrents of fear are still there but less so now than earlier. He always did feel more at ease explaining a situation than dealing with it, especially if he''s alone, strength in numbers and all that. "That''s where the problem is though, the rest of them went completely batshit crazy and started attacking the rest of us. They are easy to notice though, you''ll know what I mean soon enough. I was with a group of friends when this all started, drinking at the bar on 72nd, we had enough time to put our stats into what we wanted. A little later is when all hell broke loose, seems I got lucky because when phase one started I received a quest to escape the bar alone for a levels worth of stat points. At first I laughed because I thought it was a joke but after about 2 minutes everyone around me started groaning, like they were in pain, that''s when my girl Elise turned to me, her eyes were almost all white except the pupil and her skin was red like she had been sunburned really bad. I was worried so I turned and asked her if she was alright. Ya know, so I could take her to the doctor and shit. She sways there for a moment getting up and looking kind of out of it. Right as I started to worry, I put my hand on her shoulder to get her attention. That¡¯s when she turned and bit me man. Tore a chunk straight out of my arm, chewed and swallowed right in front of me. That¡¯s when the others noticed us, seeing everyone in the bar looking like a damn boiled lobster and with those creepy ass eyes, I bolted from the bar as fast as humanly possible with a dozen or so freaks right behind me. I got lucky and put all my stats into the body categories and got away. The second i was in a safe place I got 7 more points to dump into my stats and evened the two body stats out." Hector brought up his status screen and slid it my way. User Hector Profession none HP 2400 Mana 1400 Body Strength 17 + Body Control 17 + Mental Strength 8 + Mental Control 12 + Stat Points available 0 Looking at his stats I''m not surprised at his mental stats being higher than average, he''s always had above average wit and self-control, his body stats are staggering though, they come damn close to my mental stats. I find it weird that even with the extra stats from his quest he''s still 6 points behind me, the starting point of your stats play a huge role in how strong you can become. *Ding* Quest Available Survive the mutant horde Notes: Waking up from the stupor of adding too many stats at once you find yourself with a friend in the apocalypse, but alas, there is a horde sweeping through the local area from the east. Survive and thrive, or.. ya know, be food for the uglies, your choice. Completion Rewards: Surviving, 3x Levels of bonus stats Party Reward: Base stat gain adjustment, highest in party + 1 (gain set to 11 per level) Failure: Be eaten alive Looking to Hector, "I just got a quest?" Hectors eyes went wide, the blood clearly draining from his face. "What''s it say?" Shifting the notification towards him the nanites respond and share the information. *Quest Shared* He frowns, ¡°why are all of the notifications so¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­¡± I nod ¡°like whoever is sending them is getting some kind of fucked up enjoyment out of it? No clue, I can¡¯t tell if it¡¯s trying to help or just likes to screw with us.¡± Hector takes a deep breath, "Alright, ignoring the asshole commentary from the system, we have to go, now, I''ll give you the lowdown for everything I know on the way, just grab everything you think you might need and we need something to use as a weapon. Smiling I motion for him to follow, we enter my sacred game room. He stands stock still for a minute. "Make sure you grab something with an edge, otherwise it''s a prop that''s just for looks." I say while heading straight for the glaive that has a flexible shaft and a 60cm blade on the end. I have a few of these in the room but this one has always been my favorite, the shaft is a simple wooden yew with no decorations and a damascus blade attached on the business end along with another damascus spike at the bottom. Hector walks towards the axes. Ignoring the battle axe and going for one called a bardiche. The long blade attached to the shaft makes it a great weapon for cleaving through multiple enemies. All in all we picked fairly similar weapons, mine being lighter and quicker while his carried much more weight behind it. Picking it up and giving it a couple practice swings it felt light in my hands, almost as if it was made from heavy plastic. Wondering how effective these would be I glance over at Hector, his stats were clearly superior to mine by leaps and bounds, he is swinging the bardiche around like a toothpick. "This axe is pretty sweet" giving me a toothy grin I nod, "Feels a bit light though doesn''t it? My glaive feels about as dense as a nerf weapon." Hector nods at my words, "I wouldn''t put too much stock into it, I actually bulldozed through a ford focus while running away from the mutts." Pausing I look up from my weapon, "Mutts?" as soon as I ask the edges of his mouth turns down, "yeah, seems humans aren''t the only things that mutated, animals did as well, I figured I''d just call all the mutants mutts until we find a better name. I was running from a dog though, the thing was twice the size it was supposed to be. I barely managed to get away, managed to parkour between a few buildings, it got distracted when it lost sight of me. Looking at the clock it took barely 30 seconds for us to pick and have our little conversation. Hector is looking at the window I showed him, "hey man, how many stats do you get per level?" grabbing a couple straps to use as weapon slings "10, its total base stats divided by 5" raising his eyebrow, "you''re a damn cheat, you know that? 1 extra stat is already making a huge difference with an extra 3, god damn" tossing him the weapon swing I shook my head, "I only bumped my body stats to 10 and my mental to 20, i''d say you have an advantage given the situation. By the way, it says stats per level, but I don''t have a level?" Hector shrugs and shakes his head, "neither do I. I''m guessing we have to kill stuff, but until I got here I only had my bare hands and I sure as hell wasn''t wrestling with a meter high dog looking at me like I was a box of scooby snacks." I heft the spear and motion towards the door, "Any idea on where we should go?" Hector shakes his head, "honestly there''s not much to the west, the city is east but since the horde is coming from that way." I close and lock the door behind me heading to my car, it''s an old 69 Nova, most would think the truck would be better given the situation but the truck is newer, most of the outside is plastic based. Only older cars had the heavy steel frames, even though the truck is almost twice the size the car is almost the same weight, I felt it would hold better. Plus it didn''t have any of the newer electronics so it was one less thing to worry about. Pausing I realized the glaive and axe we brought along wouldn''t fit. Hector jumped into the side, rolled down the window and just stuck the blade end out of the opening. With a smile I did the same. I stuck the key in, turning the key, and nothing, frowning, I hit the killswitch, my car has almost never stalled. With a pit slowly growing in my stomach I run straight to my truck trying to start her up as well, nothing. "Damn, looks like we''re hoofin it Hector, nothing is starting, can''t even get the engine to turn." Heaving a sigh Hector looks longingly at the car, "Of course, we get the apocalypse where technology stops working" shaking my head, "my generator worked earlier, it ran out of fuel super fast though, it also showed a huge draw coming from somewhere, figured it was a short."The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Hector and I start jogging down the road, staying quiet to try and avoid notice, without the car for a quick getaway getting discovered could become messy pretty fast. "So Hec, how strong are the mutts? I mean, if we run into 2 or 3 of them, what are our chances" his face darkened for a moment, "I''m not really sure to be honest, I just panicked and ran after Elise bit me. She had a hold of my arm and i was able to shake her off but she had an iron grip, if I had to guess she''s probably got around 8 or 9 strength. Her reflexes were shit though so it''s hard to say." Before more could be said there''s a clatter of sound to our left. Feeling my heartbeat pick up both Hector and I stop, pulling our weapons from the makeshift slings. We''ve only made it a couple blocks, still not out of the area of people we recognize from around the neighborhood. Two, things, walked out from the gap between the houses. There really was no other way to describe them. It was like a freak science experiment gone wrong. One of the what I could only assume used to be people had grotesque bulges where muscles used to be in one of their arms and down their back. Blisters and other bodily fluids coating it''s skin in a sickening and painful looking layer of sweat and pus. The other looked far more lucky in its mutations, it''s hair had been replaced by scales, the arms were elongated and the fingers hooked into claws. "So, which one do you want?" I ask, taking a quick glance at Hector, he shakes his head, "I''ll take ugly, you take claws?" Seeing him notice the same thing I did I regret asking. The two things seem to notice us as we whisper back and forth. Taking no time they both start sprinting in our direction. Hector and I brace ourselves swing our weapons just as the two reach us. Hector, being the faster of the two of us makes his attack hit first on the hulking one, sensing the danger it lifts its arm to block the axe, it''s skin gaining a gray hue to it. The axe breaks the skin but barely goes an inch deep. My own weapon glides through the air but the lizardman leans back, a small scratch grazing its chest before it plunges its claws forward, in a panic I kick out and manage to catch it dead in the chest, the elongated arms give it just enough reach to where it''s 2 longest claws leave a gash on my shoulder, mere inches from my throat. Adrenaline pumping through my veins I swing the glaive in a large backhand cutting through its arm, severing it, and leaving a gash on it''s chest. Glancing to my right I see Hector literally just wailing on his opponent, a whirlwind of blade and fury. The brief glance was a mistake, by the time I look back I feel pain lance into my side, the damned lizard had taken advantage of my distracted state to shove its claws into my abdomen. Luckily it looked like the hit was shallow, using the glaive as a spear I shoved the spiked end into the things chest. It became motionless, pushing it off my glaive with my foot I look over to Hector again, he managed to cut through the things arm and just as I finished my fight his axe gets lodged into the things neck, even there it only gets halfway through because of the effect it''s thick skin has, that being said, the things head was halfway chopped off so it was as good as dead. Interrupted by a sound similar to a pot of water boiling, the lizard thing I was fighting before is steaming, disappearing inch by inch as I watch in morbid fascination. After about 10 seconds all that''s left is a red sphere shining on the ground, unable to control the sudden urge, I grab the sphere and crush it in my hands. Body Control +1 With a smile I watch Hector''s quarry disintegrate instead of a sphere however it''s a red hexagonal crystal. Seeing the same thing that happened to me he immediately picked up the crystal and crushed it in his hands. Seeing the smile on his face I''m assuming they were similar to what I got, "The sphere was body control, what about the crystal?" Clenching his fist, "Mine was for body strength. It kind of falls in line with what they were though doesn''t it? Mine was a tanky bruiser so it gave me one for body strength." Nodding at what he said, "Mine was fast, it pretty much dodged my first slash no problem and body control increases speed and reflexes so it makes sense." Roughly a minute after the battle ends a screen pops up for both of us. Victory Rewards: Experience (Safe Period Reward) rare consumable drop guarantee rare item: Body Control Stone (Drop rate 0.1%) rare item: Body Strength Stone (Drop rate 0.1%) Congratulations You''ve reached level one. Bonus stats have been added, base stats +1 I call up my status screen, immediately User Allen Level 1 Profession none HP 1200 Mana 3200 Body Strength 11 + Body Control 12 + Mental Strength 21 + Mental Control 21 + Stat Points available 10 Traits Hardened Skin - 10% increase in physical defense on activation Keen Vision - 10% higher chance to notice details that you would not normally Keen Mind - 10% higher chance to remember details that you would not normally Calm Mind - 20% less likely to panic due to unforeseen circumstances Quick Thinker - 1.1 multiplier to subjective time dilation during intense thought Quick Learner - 1.1 multiplier to learning new skills That¡¯s when Hector suddenly lets out a scream. I drop into a lowered stance and pull out my glaive, looking for what had fucked with Hector. All I saw was Hector dropping to the ground, muscles writhing. He looks up to me, worried I would think he was turning and just said ¡°stats.¡± Dragging his body to a building we just cleared out I toss him on the couch and wait out the update of the stats. Two entire hours later he finally stops twitching and groaning. I give him another 2 hours to rest up before I go to kick him awake. Nudging him he feels, dense? Looking refreshed he sits up and with a grin I see the motion for him to look at his stats. User Hector Level 1 Profession none HP 3800 Mana 900 Body Strength 25 + Body Control 17 + Mental Strength 9 + Mental Control 13 + Stat Points available 0 Traits Atlas (Epic) - Flat 10% additive multiplier to all physical traits Muscle Memory - Learn any bodily skill 20% faster Slow Twitch - Use 20% less stamina with any movement Heavy Handed - Inflict 20% more damage with Heavy weapons and 2-Handed weapons Dense Bones - Bones can endure 20% more force before breaking Calm Mind - 20% less likely to panic due to unforeseen circumstances Sharing our statuses I let out a laugh, "didn''t waste any time dumping all your bonus stats huh?" Hector nods, "damn right I didn''t, these things are dangerous, every little bit helps, wish I would have known though, when the strength stat hit 20 everything started hurting and I felt like I was going to pass out, figuring I might as well get it all over with I just kept hitting the plus button on body strength so it¡¯d be updated by time I woke up, also not gonna lie, I was hoping it¡¯d put me under faster. Plus you saw the rare item drops right?" seeing where he was going I nod, saying "if it''s a 1 in a thousand drop chance and we can farm them right now then it''ll be a huge boost, then again, if there was a 3rd one then we probably would have lost, I had my hands full with that quick bastard, hell, if he had hit me in a vital spot I''d have probably died. Nodding his head towards my stats, "if there''s magic, considering you have mana, that''d be a good way to go since you¡¯re already leaning towards it, unfortunately we haven''t found any magic yet so I''d invest a few points into enough physical stats to survive until then. One level''s worth shouldn''t affect much in the long run and would probably help keep us both alive." Nodding, I evened the body stats out at 15, debating on how to allocate the last 3 I weighed the pros and cons but eventually decided reflexes were more important to me so I put them into body control. Hector shook his head "What about the traits though, we almost literally did the same thing just now and got a very different set." I give a noncommittal shrug, "Could be anything, how we fought, stat distribution, what we fought. There''s not enough information to really tell." Hector smirks, "My money''s on personality." Pausing for a second he looks up at me and continues, "so do we risk it and farm a bit or get the hell out of dodge?" Putting the glaive on my back in the sling I start jogging south with Hector easily keeping pace. "I think we can do a bit of both, let''s get to the edge of the city so we have a wider field of view, if we can get to the southernmost edge of the horde we can pull some stragglers off to the side. I¡¯d also like a trait so full of bullshit, like your Atlas" Satisfied with any sort of plan we both continue our jog to the southern edge of the city. Avoiding areas with higher concentrations of people. Difficult in the city but not impossible if you live near a few miles from the edge like we do. Managing to avoid any large groups we hunt down a few more of the things. All of them keep dropping physical crystals though. We managed to power up quite a bit, still no levels, seems each level requires a fair amount of experience to gain. We got roughly 6 to 7 stats each, which is fair for a day¡¯s work. At the southern edge of town, only a couple miles left the fatigue was finally getting to us. Keeping all my strikes measured and clean I was able to conserve stamina during fights, Hector just kind of kept smashing them till they disappeared into a pile of severed body parts. Panting after the last battle, I look around, we made it an area with no high-rise buildings but there¡¯s still a ton of apartment buildings, seeing a normal sized house I nod my head in it¡¯s direction. ¡°Wanna grab a rest, and if we¡¯re lucky, a bite to eat?¡± Hector leans back, in a defensive posture, ¡°we can but we have to keep an eye out, I didn¡¯t say anything earlier but I stopped by like 2 dozen houses of people we used to hang out with, nearly everyone has turned into one of those things.¡± Feeling a cold shiver run up my spine I shiver, walking towards a house with my weapon at the ready. We needed a place to rest, the battles were taking their toll and we couldn¡¯t keep it up for much longer. ¡°I think it¡¯s best to clear out a place to rest and hunker down for the night.¡± Hector just nodded at my words seemingly not even willing to waste what little energy he had left on speaking. User Hector Level 1 Profession none HP 4400 Mana 900 Body Strength 25 + Body Control 23 + Mental Strength 9 + Mental Control 13 + Stat Points available 0 User Allen Level 1 Profession none HP 2200 Mana 3200 Body Strength 16 + Body Control 24 + Mental Strength 21 + Mental Control 21 + Stat Points available 0 Chapter 3 Hector and I do another once over of the building we were already in, seems a bit dilapidated but overall it isn¡¯t that bad. Deciding on going for something on the higher end of the building, we start combing through the lower floors, gathering food and tossing trash out windows. After doing pretty much all we could we grabbed a bad and tossed it in beside one of the others in the apartment since neither I nor Hector wanted to sleep together but we still both wanted a bed while still keeping some amount of safety. With that piece of business taken care of I looked at Hector, ¡°traps and alarms? Or would you prefer to cook?¡± He stills for a moment in thought, ¡°you should probably get the traps man, you were always a bit better at that than I was. ¡°All right, but make sure you cook everything that has more weight to it, don¡¯t wanna have to carry heavy shit down the road while we fight the mutts.¡± Walking downstairs I rummage through a few apartments, doing my best to ignore all the pictures containing families and small children, avoiding some rooms all-together. On the side of the hallway I see a kite, not really a rare sight since it¡¯s windy all year ¡®round here. I lean down, snapping the string closest to the kite. Ignoring the toonish cars that indicated this kite would have most likely belonged to a kid. Starting at the first floor I decided against traps that made excess noise, a swarm would be worse than we could handle. I¡¯d leave the sound alerting traps to the one directly below room us in the apartment building. For the first floor I found couches, fridges, hell, I even used a bathtub for one. Using a drill I found in a garage on the first floor I used wood screws or self tapping screws on anything made of wood. I wasn¡¯t sure how the porcelain would react. I used to drill to help attach sharpened broomsticks and other sharp implements to the large objects. With that done I used rope or chain, as available, to secure it to the ceiling, looping through a metal walkway so if tension was released it¡¯d fly through the doorway, hopefully kicking some ass on it¡¯s way down. Using the kite string I found I used that as the tripwire, connecting it to the slipknot in a way that if the string was hit or walked through it was untie the slipknot, releasing the payload and boom. Repeating this for the lower floors until I ran out of rope I started using the rest of the string for noise alarms using empty cans, hoping our enhanced senses would pick them up. I didn¡¯t want to use bottles for this because of they made too much noise it would attract more mutts. The ones on the lower floors would hopefully stay up, as long as the rope didn¡¯t snap all that would happen is a dull thud and the heavy objects in the traps would just sit there. Finishing the last of the traps I go upstairs to buckle down for the night, it feels like it¡¯s been a long day, the emotions and adrenaline making every second last for minutes, even more so in fights. Finally settling down felt so good, the fridges and bathtubs were light compared to before the gains but they were still unwieldy and tiring. ¡°What¡¯s cookin Hector?¡± ¡°Powers out so I went looking around, found a chemistry set with a gas powered hot plate. So we¡¯re stuck with anything makeable in a pot or pan. I figured pancakes were a good start.¡± Feeling quite a bit of excitement at good food I smiled and walked into the kitchen. ¡°We got any syrup?¡± ¡°Hell yeah, the apartment across from us even had strawberry and blueberry syrup.¡± My mouth started salivating at that. Just as I was going to ask when it¡¯d be done Hector looked up. ¡°Grab a couple plates and forks we¡¯ll need ¡®em in a second¡± Rooting through a few of the cabinets I find 2 plates and put them on the table with the forks. ¡°So who had a chem set? It¡¯s not a kids one since it¡¯s got a hot plate¡± Grinning at me Hector talks around a mouthful of pancakes ¡°It was the high school science teacher, Mr. Bradford¡± Smiling, I remembered him, he always played Bill Nye videos in the classroom. With a grimace I looked across at Hector, ¡°Hey, did he?¡± Not able to quite get the words out, Hector, understanding the question, smirked. Reaching into a cargo pocket he pulled out a journal and slid it my way. Picking up the worn leather-bound journal I unclasped the front and opened it up and opened it up to the most recent entries, starting from when the mutts started raising havoc. ¡°Mutations have become common, watching from the 7th floor with my telescope I noticed people an animals both reacting weirdly shortly after the blue notification panels informed me of ¡°The Culling.¡± It seems nearly everyone is mutating and morphing, I got lucky and seem to have kept my mind intact.¡± Skimming forward through his personal thoughts and musings on who might survive I stop when I reach a particular passage. ¡°I¡¯ve notice that the creatures are starting to congregate near transformers, generators, with some of the smaller ones digging into the ground directly in front of cars, pulling something out of the ground and eating it. The curiosity is killing me to know what they are so interested in, there is an old transformer in the private fencing area parking lot that I intend to look at to see if I can find anything of note.¡± Sitting in thought for a moment I close the book and slide it across the coffee table. Looking towards the door of the apartment, ¡°There was a mutt near the entrance, he may have gotten blocked from coming back after checking out the transformer.¡± Hector shrugged, ¡°or eaten.¡± I feel slightly dejected as he adds his comment before agreeing, ¡°or eaten.¡± We got settled for the night and grabbed some sleep, taking 4 hour shifts to let each other sleep. The night was oddly uneventful, watching outside I was only able to see a few interesting things to watch to keep me from getting too bored. Mutants that clearly used to be dogs, a few that faintly resembled raccoons rummaging through debri. Nudging Hector after the 4 hours were up he sat up quickly and stretched, ¡°feels like I slept a full night, was that really only 4 hours?¡± I shrugged and laid down, ¡°you usually only sleep for a few hours anyways so how would you even know?¡± With a chuckle he goes to the counter and hops up, sitting on it rather than the chair on the balcony. ~~~~ Waking up to a buzzing, ¡°turn off the alarm Belle.¡± A low ¡°affirmative¡± reaches my ears. Looking at my phone it¡¯s got 38% left on the battery, it usually lasts a week and its less than half in 2 days and I haven¡¯t even been using it. With a sigh I sit up, Hector is still sitting by the window cleaning underneath his fingernails with a knife. Getting up and heading to the table I grab an empty 3 liter bottle that¡¯s sitting by the trash can. ¡°What¡¯s that for?¡± Hector asks as he follows from behind. I unscrew the cap and grab a funnel along with the pancake mix. ¡°Ahh, cardboard isn¡¯t the best for traveling.¡± Nodding I pour all the pancake mix into the bags, ¡°plus this stuff will stay good for more than long enough for us to eat it.¡± Hector starts to head towards the cabinets, ¡°while you repackage the good stuff I¡¯ll start grabbing some of the canned food.¡± I keep filling up the 3 liter container, not bothering to look up, ¡°remember to grab more than just the canned fruit.¡± Hearing the blatant pause in movement I smirk a bit. Laying out everything we were planning to take. I mumble to myself while going over everything, ¡°shelter, food, water, tools to cover each.¡± Meticulously going over each item we may need I try to include copies in each of our packs just in case we lost it or got separated. Hector walks back in with a few more cans and sets them on the kitchen table. ¡°Got everything that wasn¡¯t close to expiring. You know if you kept food in your house we wouldn¡¯t have had to scavenge from some randoms house.¡± Shaking my head, pizza is easier and faster than cooking for myself and as a software developer I make¡± I paused, correcting myself, ¡°.... made enough to eat out every day if I wanted.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. I briefly felt a sense of loss, all the time and patience, all the years I spent learning my trade, all of it was wasted. ~Aieeeeeeeee!!~ My thoughts were instantly derailed with a high pitched screams coming from what sounded less than two or three houses away. Hector and I jump up at the same time, seeing the question on his face I nod my head. ¡°You saw the number of people left, if we don¡¯t start looking out for each other we¡¯ll all end up goners.¡± ~Awooooooooo~ The howl split through the area as if in answer to the screaming. Wasting no more time we bolt through the door, taking just enough time to grab the packs and our weapons. Hector hefting his axe into a more comfortable position in the makeshift sling. Not bothering to take the time I keep mine in hand as we head out the door and rush down the stairs. ~Aieeeeeee!!~ The same scream resounds through the previously quite streets as we, making a beeline for the noise we cut through the oddly empty streets. Hector speaks quietly, ¡°sounds like its coming from the east and coming towards us.¡± My blood freezes, the air suddenly seeming dryer, ¡°Is the horde already here?¡± He shakes his head, ¡°not sure, it might be the fastest of them considering it sounded like a howl.¡± Suppressing the shiver we rounded the building. Running through cars we see a group of six, ¡°four women and two men.¡± I say quickly, only to see the two slowest get caught by the group of mutts chasing them. ¡°Scratch that, three girls and a guy. Along with six mutts chasing from behind.¡± Choking back the bile as I see them being chomped down on. Increasing our already fast pace into a higher gear. Still nearly 30 meters away a mutt is coming closer to one of the women. I push everything I have into sprinting, hoping that since they are already running towards us that it can shave off the just another fraction of a second. The mutt, shaped like a grotesque bobcat with scaled feet lunges. ¡°Duck!¡± I yell at the woman. Luckily she listens as she dives to the ground followed. Thrusting my spear where she used to be it almost cuts through the edges of her red hair before it pierces through the collarbone of sporadic green scales and brown fur. The weight of the thing pushing me a good 2 meters back. Luckily the 150lbs of the cat is much easier to hold back and push around after the strength enhancements or it would have bowled me over. Freeing my weapon and glancing down at the redhead who is staring up at me, mouth agape, I try not to laugh at the situation. I give her a wink, briefly wondering who she was, as my left eye opens back up I¡¯m started to see and window. User ??? Lvl 1 Skill Gained - Observe There''s a slight overlay to everything I see through my left eye. I look to the other mutts. Nothing at first but when I feel like I want to know more about them the overlay comes up again. Scaled Cat 11% Lvl 1 Scaled Cat 14% Lvl 1 Scaled Cat 12% Lvl 1 Scaled Cat 17% Lvl 1 Scaled Cat Leader 29% Lvl 1 Not having any time to ponder what the new information means I look to Hector, he¡¯s advancing towards the closest Scaled Cat. Seems the leader is sitting at the back watching us struggle. Following suit I sprint up to Hectors left just as another cat jumps in from the left. I swing the glaive on instinct and bat the cat away, the blade catching on its midsection cutting deep into its stomach. The transparent notification above its head changing. Scaled Cat 12% Dead Surprised at the convenience of knowing if an enemy is dead or not I turn to the rest of cats. There''s three left, including the leader, but it looks like he knows we¡¯ll end up winning if this keeps up. It circles us while the other two make passes at us, their reckless abandon from before is clearly gone. The easy kills we got before were only from them being completely oblivious to the fact that we could counterattack to deadly effect. The new wariness shows they have the ability to learn and adapt which worries me. The cats continue to circle us, the three-pronged assault is making it incredibly difficult to counterattack without leaving ourselves open. The four survivors are weaponless and what was support was quickly giving way to despair, the guy and one of the girls turn to run and leave us. Seeing the movement I¡¯m instantly pissed off, we came to save them and they immediately abandon us when things start to look bad. One of the cats veers off from the attack, like a magnet he was drawn to the quick sporadic movements of the fleeing survivors. Running straight past the other two unmoving women it jumps, the guy, sensing impending doom shoves the woman who was with him into its way. She gets taken down by the 150 pound cat in an instant. The asshole keeps running and gets around the corner, oblivious to the screams of his sacrificial lamb. Hector takes the chance to commit to an attack on the closest cat. The leader slides in without a sound, aiming for his exposed midsection. With barely a chance to react I thrust at the space between Hectors raised arm and the leader. Hector and I both hit our targets at the same time, ending both. We smile as we free our weapons and are about to high five when another scream interrupts us. The cat is making its way towards the two immobile women. ¡°Fuck!¡± I yell, Hefting the Glaive into a javelin throw stance, I push off the ground with the ball of my foot, swinging my arm in a blue blur. Barely registering the added color, the glaive leaves my hand like a bolt of greased lightning. The blue bolt tears through the air, arriving at the cat as if by teleportation. The cat and glaive both continue in the direction of the throw, pinning the body to the wall of a nearby building. Stopping to catch my breath for a second. ~Awoooooooo~ It¡¯s louder this time. ¡°The hell, I thought it was the things we just fought making that noise.¡± I say to nobody in particular. The redhead I saved pipes up. ¡°We need to leave now, the wolves are almost twice the size of the cats.¡± The panic in her voice puts us on edge. ¡°Follow us,¡± I say to them, grabbing the stones from the disintegrating cat corpses. Though I find a blue pyramid shaped crystal on the leader. Mental Strength + 1 Mental Control + 1 With a mental fist pump I find myself even happier as the notifications come in. First Leader Killed Leveling System Unlocked for all survivors Classification System Unlocked for all survivors Skill Gained through usage - Imbue mana Skill Gained through usage - Force Push Skill Gained through usage - Mana Manipulation With a smile on my face I free my glaive from the wall and start running southwest, within seconds it becomes apparent that our new charges have basically no stats put into the physical side. Handing the backpack to the redhead, ¡°put this on and I¡¯ll carry you.¡± Looking over to the brunette, I motion to Hector, ¡°you should do the same.¡± Luckily the redhead is smart and doesn¡¯t waste any time. The brunette however starts to disagree by standing still for a second. Before she can voice a complaint though. ~Awooooooo~ ¡°It¡¯s only a couple blocks away, we need to get away from here, the smell of blood is probably going to be like a magnet for them.¡± No longer delaying she snatches the backpack and climbs onto Hectors back. The redhead does the same, Hector and I sprint southwest, hoping the wolves are satisfied with the three bodies we had to leave behind. Better yet I hope they catch the scent of the asshole that ran away. Seconds ticked by and turned to minutes, the pace we had in the beginning was an even 20 mph. It¡¯s now tapered down to around 15 mph, better than even my best sprint free of weight before the shit hit the fan. I¡¯m still having trouble believing how easy this feels to me. Legs pumping back and forth like a well-oiled machine with barely a sign of fatigue even after ten to fifteen minutes of running. Rounding a bend we come to the river on the south side of the city, separating the suburban areas and petering off into the rural. ¡°Shit, bad news Allen, looks like the bridge is out.¡± Squinting I can barely make out a dark spot in the bridge. The angle is bad so I can¡¯t really tell but Hector has always had better sight than most. ¡°Do you know where the next closest bridge is?¡± ¡°The closest one is a mile to the east, there¡¯s another near Sir Pita to the west about 3 miles from here¡± ¡°East is too close to the howls from earlier and we don¡¯t know when the hoard will get here, I vote west¡± ¡°Ditto¡± Glancing over I nearly trip, the brunettes face is flushed red. Arms over his shoulders, hands gripped together over his chest. Seeing her wink in my direction I¡¯m confused for a second until I feel the redhead tense up, looks like the wink wasn¡¯t for me. Taking a glance over my shoulder to see red cheeks I play dumb, ¡°you okay? You tensed up a bit, let me know if I¡¯m squeezing too tight.¡± Bringing attention to my hands under her thighs, looking back just long enough to see the red spread a bit further. With a smile I pick up the pace a bit. Hoping to get to the bridge just a little sooner. I was ready to get out of this damned town plus I needed to share the info about the hud with Hector. Then, finally, we can introduce ourselves to the two girls and figure out where to go from there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ User Hector Level 1 Profession none HP 5200 Mana 900 Body Strength 31 + Body Control 24 + Mental Strength 9 + Mental Control 13 + Stat Points available 0 User Allen Level 1 Profession none HP 2800 Mana 3312/3400 Body Strength 19 + Body Control 31 + Mental Strength 22 + Mental Control 22 + Stat Points available 0 Chapter 4 Running the 3 miles to the next bridge was surprisingly easy with the upgrades, I had always prided myself in staying fit even after getting out of the service. I¡¯m almost 42 so by all rights I should feel like I¡¯m close to dieing running at the pace I am with an maybe 160 lbs of woman and 60 lbs of bag on my back. I''ve already overtaken my peak physical performance compared to when I was in my prime. It felt oddly good, like I was getting younger instead of older. I take a look in Hectors direction, he seems even less winded than I am. It¡¯s hard to understand how the stats work. You¡¯d think with stronger muscles you¡¯d be able to push harder to gain more speed but even with all the extra points into BS I¡¯m still faster. By the looks of it muscle strength is a combination of Strength, Constitution and endurance. BC looks to be the dexterity and agility based stat. Bringing up the nanite screen in the corner of my vision I look through my vitals. Heart rate is only 107, I start mentally scrolling through the screen. Pausing at a few of the tidbits I¡¯ve found interesting to keep track of, body fat 11%, telomere degradation 46%. Sighing at the last entry, telomeres are one of the things responsible for aging, not the getting wrinkles part, the more deadly kind, cancer for example. The higher the %, the higher your chances are of getting some type of cancer or other age-related illness. So much for getting younger, the degradation spiked over the last couple days, if that trend continues I probably wont last another 10 years. I do a quick scan of the area for any mutts, ¡®I¡¯m more likely to die from these things rather than anything else¡¯ The thought coming unbidden. The bridge just came into view, it¡¯s one of the old style bridges with metal supports along the whole top-side instead of the usual suspension type bridge. It might be ugly and use a ton of materials but at least it¡¯ll last for some time. Relief is evident in the group, as we¡¯ve had to skirt around 4 groups of mutts and fight just as many. They wander randomly until the find one of their own and about 60% of the time they part ways but if they stop nearby each other they have a tendency to follow. I¡¯m starting to see how the horde formed. The smallest was a group of 4, the largest was a group of probably around 30. Coming to a slow trot we round the rusted pillars on the edge of the bridge. ¡°Fuck!¡± I yell without thinking. There''s a group of 2, oddly short, human shaped mutts already turned in our direction. ¡°Run!¡± Hector and I kick off the ground from our previous direction. An ear piercing screech sounds behind us. Cringing at the sound we round the edge of the bridge as a couple large dog shaped mutts cut us off. Skidding to a stop I go to change direction, just as I take my first step in another direction I hear another screech rip from the things throat. Another two mutated animal cuts us off, the other two circling behind us. Running out of options I do a quick sweep with my eyes before they latch onto a small maintenance catwalk. I sprint towards it, trusting Hector to follow, the dogs follow while the two small humanoids watch from a distance. Jumping onto the catwalk we start to sprint, it¡¯s only a little over the width of 2 people so with the girls on our backs we have to go single file. Heading down a right turn the catwalk leads to the underside of the bridge before hitting the center and making another left. What I see next makes my blood run cold. It ends at the center of the bridge, walled off by a section of steel. The catwalk must have been used to put the oversized rivets into the connecting portions of the bridge. Shouting over my shoulder, ¡°Dead end, get the girls behind us, I¡¯ll take the right.¡± With a turn I drop my hands and let the redhead down, freeing my glaive from the band I put on the pack. Hector follows up behind a half second after, I lunge out at the chasing mutts and spear the one on the left side of the catwalk. The second one jumps, it¡¯s maw opening wide. With a bit of panic I angle the shaft of my weapon, tip still buried in the other one, to intercept the incoming attack. Unable to completely get the shaft in the way I continue pushing it upwards while I bend my knees to drop down. His jaws snap inches above my head, the shaft of my spear catching his back legs sending him for a tumble. Hector, having gotten his axe swings down onto the beast. Cutting the thing in two with little resistance. I push the mutt still attached to my glaive over the edge of the catwalk, letting its own weight remove it from the blade. The other two mutts, thankfully just as dumb, rush us with nothing but offense on their minds. Making for easy targets. Realizing in my haste that I effectively tossed a stat boost into the river I grit my teeth, angry at the waste, even if I had to clear the catwalk to fight properly. Hector starts forward, gripping my glaive and turning back to the two women, ¡°follow us up, keep a small bit of distance while we clear the way.¡± Not waiting for a reply I followed behind Hector back towards the two things still on the bridge. We round the pillar of the bridge once again, instantly sprinting to close the distance before the thing gets a chance to summon more of his minions. Hector, in the lead, takes a baseball swing at the screecher who keeps summoning the animals. Right as the axe connects it rebounds, pushed away by a thin blue bubble. Shocked at the outcome we both freeze for a second, the unexpected shield forcing our minds to process exactly what just happened. The second humanoid takes advantage of our pause and raises a hand. Fire comes to life over its open palm, growing half the size of a baseball before it sends to flying towards Hector. Eyes wide he stumbles back and to the side, still unbalanced from the rebound off the shield, trying to dodge the incoming ball of fire. The move makes it miss his throat , if it was traveling in a straight line it may have missed him completely but the lob made it fall in an arc and it impacted him on the left shoulder. The fire hisses, burning through his shirt and scorching the skin, I expected an impact but there wasn¡¯t even a bit of weight behind the attack. Roaring in pain and angry Hector abandons the shielded one knowing he can¡¯t really do any damage at the moment in favor of taking out the damage dealer. Seeing his moment the shield comes down and the screecher lets out another of his cries. A scaled cat comes running from the nearby houses. I take a swing at the screecher but his cry ends and the shield pops back into place. With no time to try and break his shield I meet the scaled cat slashing in a horizontal arc. The big cat jumps over the attack, landing in front of me while I¡¯m wide open. It¡¯s claws rake through my midsection, my attempted backpedal failing to get me out of the way. Contracting the muscles that were nearly cut through I tense up and shove the spike on the butt of the glaive straight through the cat, the adrenaline rushing through me dulling the pain. Turning to the shielded screecher I felt for my mana, pushing it into the tip of my glaive I thrust straight at the little bastard hoping my mana imbued strike will at least weaken the shield. To my surprise the strike penetrates the blue bubble with only a bit of resistance, catching the screecher near the center of the chest. Giving the thing a kick to get it off my weapon I look over to Hector only to see that he¡¯s already finished his side and is heading towards me. I look to his shoulder and grimace, instead of the usual fantasy fireball that seems to act more like a shell of compressed with a bit of heat this stuff was much nastier, acting like napalm and just sticking to the target and burning inward. Instead of getting pushed back the fire ate a good half inch into his shoulder before running out of juice. I point to the opposite side of the bridge, ¡°lets head to the toll booth, we can patch up there.¡± The two women walk up to us, clearly winded from carrying the heavy packs. Wincing I grab mine from the redhead. Using my core after the cat nearly gutted me hurts like hell but even injured I can move faster than the them with the pack. Hector does the same, opting to sling the bag over his right shoulder. Taking a moment to collect the stones, calling up the hud mentally and blinking I took a look at the stones, luckily I didn¡¯t need to wink, it was just a coincidence that it activated when I did it before. The dogs dropped 3 red stones and the two humanoids both dropped the blue pyramids, ¡°cards?¡± The confusion in Hectors voice makes me turn lying underneath the closest blue stone was a card, looking at the disintegrated remains of the screecher there are two cards. Skill Card Blue Magic Inferior Mana Barrier Skill Card Blue Magic Call Allies With a bit of glee I jog over to the other little blue gleam on the bridge where the blue stone is at, underneath is another card. Skill Card Blue Magic Inferior Fireball ~Eeeeeeeeeee~ Another piercing shriek sounds behind us, ¡°grab the stuff and run, give the girls a red.¡± We got lucky this time and got 2 red pyramids and one of the round stones. Giving each girl a red pyramid, if it followed the same as the blue then they¡¯d likely get 1 in BS and BC each. Not knowing what to do they stand there dumbly for a second, ¡°just crush it in your hands. They both squeeze, the pyramids shatter, the pieces turning to fog that seeped into their skin. They both turn a shade of scarlet, blood rushing to the surface to let out the additional heat that comes with a stat change. Even their legs had turned a shade of pink. If one point in each can do that they must have only had a value of around 6 or 7. Not willing to waste any more time I shifted the pack, ¡°we¡¯ve got to go now, adjust to your new stats while we run.¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The screeching was getting closer, we wouldn¡¯t be able to stop by the toll booth at this rate. Running past it, with a jolt of pain in my stomach every step we take, I try to concentrate on my breathing to distract myself from the pain. It¡¯s much slower going now that we¡¯re injured, after a couple minutes the screeching finally stops. Another few minutes of running and we stop to take a break, the women are getting winded and we¡¯re already starting to leave the city behind. Hector and I are also becoming fatigued from running with injuries. The edge of the city had plenty of apartment and housing complexes but now that we were on the far edge it was mostly family homes or duplexes. Still being fairly close to the city we were in the somewhat richer housing area. Close enough to the city to be able to commute with little hassle, far enough to not have to deal with all the things that come with living in the big city, which now includes hordes of ravenous mutants. Finding a relatively undamaged house, all four of us finally settle down. ¡°You ladies think you can help patch us up?¡± They both look at us, a bit of hesitation, before they each move towards one of us. ¡°There¡¯s some gauze wrap in the bag, we don¡¯t have any alcohol to clean the wounds but there might be some in the bathrooms.¡± I pause for a second in thought, ¡°If there''s any liquor we could use that as well.¡± The girls turn and each go to search for things that could help us clean and dress the cuts and burns. They return shortly after, ¡°By the way, the names Allen.¡± ¡°And mines Hector¡± he says, giving a slight wave of his hand, seemingly disinterested, turning his gaze back towards the window after a furtive glance at the two women. The brunette brushes her hand behind her ear with her fingers. ¡°Uhh, yeah, I¡¯m Victoria, Vicky for short.¡± The redhead brushes off some invisible dust from her clothes for a few moments before replying. In a quiet voice she says, ¡°My names Kate, nice to meet you.¡± Hearing the shyness in her voice I can¡¯t help but smile. I give them both a once-over, not having a chance to do so before. Vicky looks to be in her early thirties, only a few signs of aging visible that give it away. Long legs for her size, normal physique, well proportioned a bit on the shorter side at 5¡±1. The redhead on the other hand was 5¡±4 who was just as well proportioned as her friend and a size larger in all the right places. Tearing my eyes away from her I distract myself by taking a deep breath and looking down at my stomach. ¡®Yep, that¡¯s an instant fix for that problem,¡¯ I think to myself. With a sigh I stand up and struggle to take the shirt off, the blood had started to dry so it¡¯s sticking to the skin and some to the cuts themselves. Taking a second because I know it¡¯s going to be painful I lift the shirt and take it off in a quick motion, pulling off the scabs that had just starting covering the wound. The pain makes me nearly lose my balance, ¡®was it that bad when i got cut?¡¯ Collapsing back onto the floor, Kate quickly comes up and starts cleaning my chest and stomach. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have done that, we could have just cut the shirt open.¡± When I open my mouth to reply she dumps the rubbing alcohol on me, all thoughts escape me as all I can think about is the intense stinging covering the front half of my body. ¡°Argh!¡± I nearly scream but clench my teeth. Suffering through as she wipes and cleans the blood and dirt off of me. A few minutes later I have my chest and stomach covered in bandages. It¡¯s not even or neat but it¡¯s clean and covered at least. Glaring at the redhead, she smiles at me, turning around to go sit on the couch with a satisfied expression. Not understanding what I did to earn her ire, the smirk on her face is enough to show that she feels like it¡¯s evened out, whatever ¡®it¡¯ is. Deciding that the best course of action is to just ignore it I grab a spare shirt from my bag, ¡°thanks for, uhhh, patching me up¡± I say while looking down at the shoddy wrapping she did. She twists a bit and shyly says ¡°No problem.¡± Not sure what to think about the constant attitude switching, she went from shy to fairly confident, if a bit mean, right back to shy. Was it because she was busy doing something, or whatever I had done to irritate her made her shyness fade? Abandoning the useless train of thought I pull out one of the spare strength crystals from my bag, my BS has been sitting at 19 while we were running, I figured it was time to even it out to 20. Crushing it in my hand my body warms, flashing in the top left corner of my sight is a notification icon. Not sure what to make of it I open my status screen. User Allen Level 1 Profession none HP 87% Mana 43% Body Strength 20 *** Body Control 31 + Mental Strength 22 + Mental Control 22 + Stat Points available 0 Character Initialization 1/4 ¡°It changed!¡± All three jump at my shout, too excited to care that I probably just scared the hell out of all three, I sit up. ¡°Open your status,¡± waiting for them I look over the changes, looking a the body stats they have 3 stars over them. Focusing on the stats brings up another window. Genetic predisposition found Extreme fast twitch muscle tissue Note: Due to the speed at which your muscles are able to move and react The System has deemed it a specialized disposition. All future crystal gains for body strength will be transferred to body control at 50% efficiency and stored until a full point has been accrued. BS has been capped. Trait gained - Second Breath Second breath Lv1 - Stopping for a single breath of time after stamina consumption mitigates 10%* of stamina usage over the last 3* seconds, can only occur once every 10* seconds. Note: values with * denote that the values will change as the skill level increases windows pop up too quickly for me to read them, first is the tooltip, followed by the skill and finally info on my so-called genetic predisposition. I stop dead, ¡®Capped? As in I can¡¯t increase that stat anymore, but Hectors physical stats are already both higher than mine.¡¯ Thoughts flowing one after another too fast to keep track of. ¡°I hit a stat cap for body strength at 20¡­¡± Letting my words trail off and letting the info sink in, Hector paused, not understanding at first, his face hardened as realization dawned. ¡°Do you think its a stat cap based on level?¡± I shrug at his question, ¡°we can¡¯t tell until we gain levels, speaking of which, we¡¯ve killed a ton of these fuckers, where¡¯s all the experience?¡± Hector looks over my stat screen, and points at Character Initialization, ¡°It says ?, and you¡¯ve found the cap for ? of your stats, or one out of four. If I had to guess, right now is like an alpha test, it¡¯s testing the system and us at the same time to figure out how to best implement it¡¯s design. The changes in the system support that guess, even though leveling is unlocked we, the characters if you will, are going through a tutorial stage that doesn¡¯t give experience.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s the case then that means all the shit that¡¯s out there now is currently just tutorial opponents. Capping stats in the beginning like this is similar to character creation, only our stats are set by our bodies limits and predispositions.¡± Pausing I flip over the facts in my head, the pit of my stomach growing heavier. ¡°So basically we aren¡¯t even at a strength where we could start to contend with the lowest level, easiest enemies that we are most likely expected to go against¡­¡± After finishing my thought the room is silent, every new realization about what¡¯s happened and what¡¯s to come is making the atmosphere worse. The system is giving us the strength to fight back but at the same time it feels like it brought what we are currently going through to us forcibly. ¡®Is the rest of what¡¯s to come just a sick game being played out by the system or is this preparation for an inevitability?¡¯ I had read too many light novels to not know that sometimes the system is a support, while other times the system was created by some big badass who just wants to keep you under his thumb for all eternity. Figuring out which was probably going to be a huge indicator of how everything was going to play out. Fiddling with the red BS stones in my bag I toss it to Hector. ¡°You should just go ahead and use all these, I¡¯ll only get about half of what they¡¯d do for you.¡± Taking the spoils that we had been collecting along the way he uses them one by one. Before pausing, he opens his status screen and pushes it in my direction, along with a notification. Genetic predisposition found High density muscle tissue Note: User possesses unique musculature that gains strength via hyperplasia as opposed to hypertrophy. Trait gained, Monstrous Physique Clicking on each of the words a tooltip pops up for each. Hyperplasia - Strength gain is primarily due to an increase in quantity of existing muscle fibers Hypertrophy - Strength gain is primarily due to an increase in size of existing muscle fibers Monstrous Physique Lv1 - User possesses a body that can exceed level (body) stat caps by 5%* leaning primarily towards body strength. User Hector Level 1 Profession none HP 90% Mana 100% Body Strength 36 * Body Control 25 *** Mental Strength 9 + Mental Control 13 + Stat Points available 0 Character Initialization ? ¡°It¡¯s strange¡± Hector looks up from his screen towards me, brow furrowed, ¡°what¡¯s strange?¡± ¡°The skills, stats, traits, they all seem so well ordered.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t get what you mean, it¡¯s a system it¡¯s supposed to be ordered.¡± ¡°That''s the thing, all the things we¡¯ve been given are so orderly, as if it was made and perfected, adding only slight tweaks to make it easier for us in general. The execution of the system itself with how I got the smartass quest in the beginning. How leveling has been unlocked but experience can¡¯t be gained right now.¡± Pausing to catch my breath Hector nods, ¡°It¡¯s like the system wasn¡¯t prepared and something had to step in to help smooth things over. Like when one of the newbies would break the network by using the wrong protocol and we¡¯d have to come in and fix it¡± ¡°It feels more like when something unexpected happens and you have to scramble to support the change. Like the unplanned switch between python2 to python3.¡± With a laugh he leans back, ¡°yeah that was a nasty one. Still remember how pissed you were that they did that during down hours on a weekend. You kept griping about 36 hours of no sleep¡± Glancing to the two women they seem to be absorbed in a conversation of their own. Noticing the silence in the room the Vicky looks up, as she does Kate also turns towards us. ¡°Yes?¡± Vicky asks. Put on the spot I look out the window. The sky was already darkening, had it really already been another entire day? ¡°It¡¯s already starting to get dark out, I was going to suggest staying the night here. There are 3 bedrooms upstairs, I¡¯ll watch here for the first 4 hours and switch with Hector. You two can share a room or have your own if you¡¯d prefer. It honestly might help to share, sense of security from having someone you know nearby might help.¡± ¡°Yeah..¡± Vicky replied, pausing as if she wanted to say something else. Her and Kate both went upstairs locking themselves into the master bedroom apparently choosing to share a room. I chuckled, ¡°they took the best room.¡± Hector just gives me a smile, grabbing his axe and heading upstairs, ¡°wake me up in 4, if I don¡¯t wake up first.¡± Heading into the kitchen I grab a stool, it has a single support with a round base making it look like a dumbbell turned sideways. I break off the bottom half, leaving the seat attached to the pole. Satisfied I sit it on the floor before putting my weight on it. If I started nodding off or fell asleep I would almost instantly fall over. Settling back for the long haul I lean back, ready to hold out for the night. Wondering who should get what skills, we only had 3 skills but 4 people. Well I had a few hours left to think about it and I''d tell hector to give it some thought as well. Chapter 5 The night was passing by slowly, painfully slow. I look down at my new watch, the electric one I had before had died horribly. The new one was an antique powered by winding it up and using the stored energy to push the hands. To pass the time I had been looking down at it through the transparent face, watching the gears mesh together and tick away. I found it calming to see how everything worked together. Passive skill acquired from special action - Intuitive Adaption Lv1 Note: Gives the user an intuitive understand of complex processes. 5%* increase in comprehension, ability to learn/teach skills from/to other users. (special action skills cannot be taught) That actually seems fairly useful. I bring up the skills window. Skills Imbue Mana Lv1 Intuitive Adaption Lv1 Force Push Lv1 Mana Manipulation Lv1 Second Breath Lv1 Observe Lv1 Mentalling focusing on each one brings up their respective info. Imbue Mana Lv1 - Allows the user to imbue mana into an object, mana density is lost by initial mana x 0.1* per minute after contact is broken. Force Push Lv1 - Uses mana to impart kinetic energy into yourself or objects within 0* meters. Mana Manipulation Lv1 - Allows the use and manipulation of inner energy. Second breath Lv1 - Stopping for a single breath of time after stamina consumption mitigates 10%* of stamina usage over the last 3* seconds, can only occur once every 10* seconds. Observe Lv1 - Receive system verified information on the object in question. Level limits access. I ignored Intuitive Adaption since I just read it a second ago. Choosing instead to focus on imbue mana, looking around I spot a quarter on one of the coffee tables, picking it up I figure it¡¯s best to start small for practice. Feeling for the pocket of mana I search around, surprised I see 3 pockets of energy, one centered in my head, another in my heart and a 3rd in the pit of my stomach. The one in my stomach feels ethereal and out of touch and I find it next to impossible to do anything with it. The one in my heart seems to have a mind of its own pushing its energy freely through my flesh and blood. The pocket of energy in my mind is peculiar in its own right. It pulls in the energy released from my heart converting it to its own unique type before stockpiling it, the excess is leaking back into my bloodstream. It looks to be acting in a similar way to the energy my heart is giving out, but instead of strengthening and healing it¡¯s just there, using my body as an additional compartment to store itself. A blue screen flashes into existence. Intuitive Adaption has reached Lv2 - (5% --> 10%)* increase in comprehension. A small bonus, I take a glance at the clock, it¡¯s been 2 hours, only 2 more to go. Feeling for the energy once more I take the energy coming from my mind, it feels cool to the touch, calming, refreshing, like jumping into a pool on a hot day. The energy flows through my veins and I will it into the quarter. A small bit of resistance is felt as the mana slides through the outermost layer of skin causing only a trickle of what I summoned to be let out, even that small trickle though makes the quarter shine with iridescent blue light, filled to the brim in an instant. Looking at it I instinctively know that I can¡¯t put any more into the quarter. I get up and head to the garage, I remember one of the girls saying they saw a bunch of tools in there. Opening the door I¡¯m greeted with a woodworking shop, saws, drills chisels, anything you might need to work with wood was scattered around the shop. I briefly wished it had metalworking stuff instead but knew that would have been the jackpot. A lot of people picked up woodworking as a hobby so it wouldn¡¯t be strange to find house with a woodworking shop. Grabbing a chisel I set the quarter down on the table beside it I set another quarter. Setting the chisel over the normal coin I pick a hammer up from the table, set the chisel onto the coin and give it a hefty tap. A small indentation forms along where I held the chisel. Adjusting, I set the chisel back down onto the surface of the quarter and give a fair amount of strength to the swing setting it perpendicular to the previous indention. *pi~ng* The side of the coin that the bevel was facing shot out like a bullet, disappearing somewhere behind the woodworking table I was using, the rest of the coin, displaced, but still on the table still with the indention in it from the previous strike running through its center. Confident I had the amount of strength somewhat gauged I moved over to the other coin, it looked slightly duller than before, but barely. Lifting the hammer I tried to give the same amount as before when I cut the other coin in half. *dink* The hammer and chisel bounced up, peering closely at the coin I could see that the raised edges around the circumference of the coin were slightly pushed in but the face of the quarter didn¡¯t seem to have a scratch. Taking out another quarter I placed it on the table, setting the chisel I let the weight of the hammer fall onto the metal back of the chisel, adding none of my own energy into the swing.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. *clank* *clank* Dropping what i was doing I go to the window, my heart rate skyrocketing from the sounds of the noisemakers we put up. They were an early warning that something was coming, hopefully friendly but probably not. Grabbing my glaive I exited through the garage door opposite of the sounds direction, skirting around the house in a half crouch I rounded the first corner and came to rest at the second corner. A few meters in front were the lines of noisemakers we erected. Caught in one of the lines was a white siberian husky, it looked hurt, blood had matted it¡¯s fur down its left flank. Which also happened to be the leg caught in the winding. It was one of the first few non-mutated animals I had seen. I had seen plenty of birds but never a dog for whatever reason. I got up slowly to keep from startling the animal, making just enough noise for it to be aware of my presence. The dog tenses up immediately, lowering its head and looking straight at me. Stowing away my glaive I walk up to the dog, kneeling just out of reach. I stretch my hand out slowly, letting the dog get my scent. Not sure why but it seems to calm them, well it either calms them or they decide they don¡¯t like the way you smell and try to bite. Keeping outwardly calm but still ready to bring my hand back if it snaps I wait. He gingerly sniffs at the back of my hand, the moment of truth, and he licks me. Smiling I slowly move closer, scratching at the side of his chin. I reach back and carefully unwind the noisemakers from his leg, uncannily smart for a dog he pulls his leg straight up and out of the loop. Quickly running off into the night, stopping at the edge of the hill to look back before rushing off into the night. Feeling good I walk back into the garage and look around, frowning, I can¡¯t remember what I was just doing. Another side effect of old age, a moment of distraction and my thoughts slip through my fingers sand. Stopping in the garage I glance around and see the chisel on the bench, it comes back to me in a flash. ¡°So mana does seem to greatly increase the toughness of whatever it¡¯s put into.¡± Mumbling to myself I continue testing, infusing different amounts of mana into coins. Going to the shop I find a board with relatively straight grain, peering at it I try to look for aspects that might give me some clue as to what it is, trying to use the observe skill. Observe skill has reached Lv2 Maple board - Quality Fine A high quality board of maple with straight grain and few knots. I grab a pencil from the wall and mark out lines, I remember making pyramid bows when i was a kid, it was always a fairly simple way to make a bow. It might not make a really strong one but it would make a usable one. I wonder briefly if the buildings generator will hold out if I start using power tools. Shrugging and deciding we¡¯d be out of here tomorrow anyways I started up the bandsaw. The bandsaw was amazingly quiet, it was definitely high quality, I was expecting it to scream in the quiet of the night but it sounds more like a medium sized fan. Pushing the board into place I start removing the extra material on the board and shaping it. Taking only a few minutes to get the general shape I grab a small block of wood, shape it on the belt sander. I grab the wood glue and slather it on the contact points and then use twine to tightly bind the shaped handle to the body of the bow, not ideal but we don¡¯t have 24 hours for the glue to set. Making notches into the outside edges of the bow for the string to be placed I smooth the bow out with sandpaper. Grabbing some paracord from my bag I attach a loop to each end of the bow and find a place to balance it. Using a reverse clamp I ratchet the bow open until it starts to bend. The left side is a bit stiffer than the right, it¡¯s not dropping down as much. Taking the sandpaper to it I slowly sand it, watching as it drops millimeter by millimeter. After an hour or so of sanding the bow seems to have evened out nicely. Grabbing another piece of paracord I loop one end around the bow sizing the string until it seems to be about the right size. Giving it a test string I start to pull, I shake my head realizing the string it a little too long, the bow doesn¡¯t have the right amount of curve to it. Relaxing, I shorten the string a hair. Positioning the edge of the bow in front of my right ankle, the center of the bow going behind my left calf, I pull with my left hand to bend the bow and hook the string into the groove. Stepping out of the bow, I give it a quick once over. I look around the shop, looking for some type of finish to protect the bow. Seeing some boiled linseed oil I give a wry smile, not the best weather protection but it¡¯ll dry fast. Dabbing a generous amount onto a rag I finish the bow with the oil, giving it a dull sheen. ¡®Hopefully that¡¯ll protect it from the weather.¡¯ Giving it a quick pull I guess it¡¯s around a 30kg or 65-70 pound draw weight. Not bad, paracord for a bowstring isn¡¯t ideal but there isn¡¯t much else to use. I grab a candle and rub it along with string, I actually have no idea if the paracord really needs wax but I was taught to do it with my old bow so I didn¡¯t think it¡¯d hurt. I set the bow down, admiring my work. It took almost 3 hours to do, meaning my shift should be done soon. Looking it over one more time I carve a small capital A into the handle. Maple Bow - Mediocre Bow made by an aspiring crafter. Simple yet effective, this bow is held back by the makeshift parts that were substituted when suitable materials were not readily available. ¡°Huh, figures,¡± I nearly growl out. Shitty system thinks I made a shitty bow because I didn¡¯t have the right stuff to make it. Due to your attention to detail and the quality of the crafted item being higher than its materials a reward has been given. Profession gained - Crafter Profession gained, synergistic skills search. Mana Manipulation found. Imbue Mana found. Profession specialization eligible - Enchanter Would you like to use a specialization slot on Enchanter? (1/1 slots available) Yes / No I take a step back, nearly overwhelmed by the amount of information that just popped up. Reading through each piece carefully I mull over the decision. So I had one specialization slot, to use it or not? I¡¯m not sure how often we¡¯ll get slots or if we will. We could get them every 5 or 10 levels, we could get them when we accomplish special objectives. Either way I currently only had a single one. Looking at the bow I made, I knew it would only just barely be able to take down a mutt and that¡¯s if the person shooting had good aim. With a sigh, and a bit of hope I set down the bow. Hector trods out of the house as I¡¯m mulling over my options. ¡°Whats up man? You look constipated.¡± Clenching my jaw I try not to chuckle at the poor joke, he uses it every time I¡¯m trying to think. ¡°Just unlocked the crafter profession whenever I made my shitty pyramid bow.¡± I say while tossing the bow to Hector. Catching the bow expertly in his hands he straightens his left aim and gives the bow a test pull. ¡°Feels a little light for us, you¡¯d probably have to make something out of metal with how high our strength is. Maybe grind down a leaf spring from a truck?¡± He says noncommittally. Shrugging I take the bow back. I slowly push a bit of mana into it, string first, then I move to the bow itself. Pushing small amounts of mana into it while giving it test pulls every second or so. Satisfied I hand the bow back. Hector looks down at bow, glowing slightly blue in the dark of night. Lifting it up he pulls back leisurely, 2 inches. With a look of surprise he pulls back harder, the bow bends to a perfect arc. Slowly letting the bow move back to the rest position he pulls again after about a half a minute. He hands the bow back to me. The edge of his lips are turned up into an almost smile, ¡°nice, how longs it last? I felt just a little bit less resistance the second time I pulled.¡± ¡°Ten minutes roughly, getting progressively weaker as time goes along. That¡¯s actually what I¡¯ve been thinking about. When I made it I got the crafter profession and since I already had a skill for imbuing weapons with mana it says I can add a specialization as an enchanter. The only problem is I only have one slot and I don¡¯t know when I¡¯ll get more.¡± ¡°Whoa man, take a breath.¡± Hector says with a wry smile. ¡°If you could give the bow that kind of power permanently, or at least have it pull mana from it¡¯s wielder. Not sure how that works actually, anyways. If you can make that permanent, it would be a boon to us all. You could also probably do the same with clothes or armor. Plus it should be just like most games right? Enchanters should also be able to give some pretty special effects too.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll give it a bit more thought, didn¡¯t think about there possibly being special effects. I¡¯d love some extra movement speed on my boots.¡± With a wave I let hector take over the watch, heading back to the room. Going over likely scenarios of how the profession might manifest. Finally not able to keep the curiosity back I summon back the floating text. Would you like to use a specialization slot on Enchanter? (1/1 slots available) Yes / No ¡°Yes¡±