《Survival World RPG》 Chapter 01 *Thump* *Thump* *Thump* ¡°Ugh, five more minutes,¡± Michael ¡°Mike¡± Tanner groaned, pulling the covers over his head. It was Saturday. He had zero desire to be up before noon. It did not feel like noon. The noise stopped. But only for a few moments before it came again. *Thump* *Thump* ¡°What?! What do you want Jeff?¡± Mike shouted. Throwing back the covers, Mike sat up in bed. Looking over at his alarm clock he saw the bright red digital numbers read 9:23am. Nope, it definitely wasn¡¯t noon yet. Groaning in frustration he shifted his attention back to the door. He sat in silence for several long moments waiting for Jeff, his roommate, to respond. The quiet lasted just long enough Mike started to consider going back to sleep. Then the thumping noise came again. ¡°Grrrrah, I¡¯m coming, dammit, I¡¯m coming. This had better be freaking important dude. I was up all night raiding¡­¡± Mike didn¡¯t have time to finish his complaint. As he opened the door a crack Jeff forced his way inside. Stumbling back into the room, instinctively, Mike knew something was wrong. Jeff was a scrawny guy. Athletic looking, but short with a wiry build. Even unprepared, Mike was still twice his size. It shouldn¡¯t have been so easy for him to push his way into the room. Sudden bursts of strength are a real phenomenon. A mother shifting the weight of a car to save a child, or the youngest sibling getting the last piece of pizza. Mike ¨C still half asleep ¨C would normally have chalked Jeff¡¯s strength up as a similar instance. Or he would have if his roommate hadn¡¯t looked so wrong. Mike had seen Jeff in the kitchenette the night before. He¡¯d looked fine ¨C normal. Now his healthy bronzed skin was a desiccated grey. His blue eyes were a milky pupil-less white. Worst of all, he gave off a faint, pungent odor, almost like rotting meat. Speaking frankly, Jeff looked like he¡¯d been dead a week. Clearly something wasn¡¯t right. An unfamiliar sense of pressure built up between Mike¡¯s shoulder blades. Having lived a relatively sheltered life, it took him a moment to realize he felt threatened. Without taking his eyes off Jeff, Mike stepped back slowly. Reaching behind his back, he fumbled around on his desk for something to use to protect himself, just in case. His fingers closed around something solid. Feeling slightly better ¨C improvised weapon in hand ¨C Mike tried to look concerned as he talked to Jeff, ¡°What happened to you man? Are you sick or something?¡± Jeff¡¯s head whipped around at the noise, like he¡¯d just noticed Mike was in the room with him. He didn¡¯t respond to Mike¡¯s questions. He just lunged forward. Backpedalling, Mike ran up against the wall. He just wanted to put distance between him and Jeff. Jeff however seemed determined to attack him. Unsure of what to do Mike shouted, ¡°Quit playing man. I¡¯m seriously about to hit you if you don¡¯t stop.¡± Jeff didn¡¯t so much as blink as he continued forward, snarling. Mike stopped thinking. He swung his weapon, an old desk lamp ¨C a hinged hunk of cheap metal and screws with a heavy base. The lamp connected with Jeff¡¯s shoulder hard enough to knock him several steps sideways. The blow didn¡¯t seem to faze Jeff at all. Mike regretted holding back instantly. Grabbing at Mike, Jeff leaned in, his mouth gaping open. Foul, putrid breath hit Mike full in the face. Jeff¡¯s jaws chomped open and closed repeatedly, as he tried bite down, into Mike¡¯s throat. Shoving his shoulder hard into his chest, Mike bowled him over. He bolted for the door. He didn¡¯t get far. Jeff caught at his ankle. In blind panic Mike kicked out, destroying the smaller man¡¯s nose. Again Jeff seemed oblivious to the pain. His death grip on Mike¡¯s ankle never loosened. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you man?¡± Mike pleaded, not caring how close to tears he sounded. He was too scared to care. Jeff wasn¡¯t messing with him. Whatever was going on, it wasn¡¯t just a prank. If it had been, Jeff would have broken character when he got hit with the lamp. If not then, then definitely after Mike broke his nose. Jeff ignored Mike¡¯s questioning. He just continued to work his jaws open and closed. His teeth got closer and closer to Mike¡¯s hairy leg meat. From out of nowhere, an uncomfortable, and far-fetched, explanation for all of Jeff¡¯s symptoms sprang to Mike¡¯s mind. Everything could be explained with one single, ridiculous, word ¨C zombie. He knew it was an absurd idea. He wasn¡¯t in a movie. People didn¡¯t just turn into zombies. That didn¡¯t happen. The idea wouldn¡¯t leave Mike alone. He suddenly felt he couldn¡¯t afford to let himself get bitten. Maybe he was crazy. That didn¡¯t mean he had to take chances. He was still holding his desk lamp in his hand. He¡¯d forgotten it in his panic. Now he slammed it down hard, again and again. Mike rained blows down on Jeff¡¯s unprotected head. Losing himself in his fears temporarily he lost all restraint. It was only after the lamp finally broke apart ¨C the metal base separating from the top half, spiraling off into the far corner ¨C that he finally snapped out of it. Feeling something on his cheek, Mike wiped it away with the back of his hand. His hand came away from his face bloody. Shocked, he forced himself to look down at Jeff.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The source of the blood was obvious. Jeff¡¯s skull was in pieces all over the room. In his berserk state Mike had not stopped until long after he quit moving. A million feelings washed over Mike all in the same moment, relief, disgust, shame, depression. He couldn¡¯t handle it all. He fled the room. Mike barely made it to the shared living room before he fell to his knees and heaved the contents of his stomach out onto the coarse blue carpeting. He¡¯d just killed a man. He¡¯d never liked Jeff. The school had assigned their housing last second. They¡¯d been given a room in the overflow housing apartments off campus. Even if they had both applied to switch roommates there would have been nowhere else for them to go. As total opposites, getting along hadn¡¯t been easy. Jeff was a neat freak, a health nut, and had terrible taste in music. Mike was a fat, slob, who made poor dietary choices and liked quiet. They¡¯d been a powder keg waiting to go off. It was only their drastically differing schedules that allowed them some semblance of harmony. None of that meant he¡¯d wanted Jeff dead. Mike just didn¡¯t think that way. Sure he might have wished he could punch the guy in the dick, from time to time. But he didn¡¯t go around dreaming of killing him. Just how long Mike sat there next to his regurgitate, he had no idea. Eventually he gathered the pieces of himself and put them back together. Forcing his legs to move Mike stood up. He grabbed the comforter off the couch and walked back into his room. Intending to cover Jeff¡¯s body until the ambulance ¨C and probably the cops ¨C showed up, Mike hesitated as he noticed a small white crystal mixed in with the bits of Jeff¡¯s grey matter. Admittedly he wasn¡¯t an expert in anatomy. Still Mike thought he would have remembered if it was common for people to grow crystals in their brains. Swallowing hard, he decided his curiosity was stronger than his revulsion. He reached down to pick it up. The moment his hand closed around the small white crystal, it pulsed warmly. The faint feeling of warmth flowed into his palm. Building for a moment the heat began to move slowly up his arm, across his shoulder and around his neck. Finally it pulsed one last time before dissipating with a comfortable sensation directly between his eyebrows. The crystal in his hand turned to powder, and slipped through his fingers. Mike¡¯s senses swam as information overloaded him. Then suddenly he, like they¡¯d been turned off at the source, he lost all sensory feedback. Blind and deaf Mike didnt even have time to panic before everything got weirder. The blackness that replaced his vision sprouted a rotating wheel of colorful light. Mike couldn¡¯t help noticing the similarity between it and a loading graphic. A feeling that strengthened as soft jazzy music began to play softly in the background. The wheel of light only lasted a few moments. As it, and the music, faded away, his vision came back, clearer than before. Everything was sharper, more vibrant, like he was suddenly seeing in high definition. His visual acuity wasn¡¯t the only thing that had changed. In the top right corner of his vision were two graphic symbols. The first was a transparent box containing a blue plus sign. Below it was an even smaller transparent bix containing a red exclamation mark. Concentrating on the exclamation mark, a transparent rectangular window opened in the middle of his vision. In the top corner of the box was a small dark x, like the common symbol for closing a window on a computer. [System] Loading¡­ Registering Player [Mike] [System] Updated¡­ Level Up! Congratulations! You have defeated a [Lvl_1 Zombie] Achievement: You have successfully slain a monster and joined the [System] Calculating Randomized Reward¡­ Reward: Common Rank Bloodline [Orc] + 1000 Credits Accept Reward: [Yes] / [No] Shaking his head did nothing to clear his vision. Rubbing hia eyes and blinking were equally useless. The box wasn¡¯t physically there, it was some sort of projection. Either that or he was crazy. Which to be fair was still a possibility. Shrugging, Mike changed tactics; rather than deny it, he embraced the insanity. He shifted the focus of his attention to [Yes] and thought of selecting it. Immediately the box blinked out, disappearing along with the red exclamation mark. The air in front of him began to shimmer slightly. A cube of blue light formed, hovering in front of Mike¡¯s face. Mike touched the box, dissolving it into tiny particles of light. Floating where the box had been there was suddenly a small metal injector ¨C filled with a brilliant blue colored liquid. The space between Mike¡¯s eyes pulsed, then fell silent. Not understanding how exactly, Mike realized he knew what the blue liquid was and how to use it. Without stopping to consider the validity of the information¡¯s source -or his own safety ¨C Mike pressed the injector needle into his neck. Pushing the plunger down sent liquid fire through his veins. For minute¡¯s Mike fought the pain. The veins on his neck bulged as he struggled not to cry out. His body shook and his fat jiggling. Every muscle in his body cramped one after the other, blinking on and off as his bones creaked from the strain. His insides burned, slowly turning to liquid, like he¡¯d drank molten iron. Inch by inch the heat purified him from the inside out. A thick greasy discharge leaked from Mike¡¯s skin, coating his body in grime. He barely noticed as lay balled up in the fetal position, gritting his teeth. The sounds of his bones creaking, escalated to cracking. Finally he broke crying out in pain over and over again as first one and then another of his bones broke and reformed under the immense pressure. Tears streamed down his face as he prayed to every deity he¡¯d ever heard of for the pain to end. The pain ignored his sudden faith continuing unabated. Slowly Mike¡¯s grip on consciousness loosened. His body betraying him as it shut down in self-defense. Mike fell limply to the floor, lying next to Jeff¡¯s corpse. His body was covered in a layer of thick, mucous-y, grease. It slowly grew as his muscles twitched under his skin, his bones continuing to snap and reset. Steam rose from Mike¡¯s body, making the room look like a sauna until he began to cool off, clearing the air. His hair and nails fell out, then quickly grew back in a matter of moments, longer and thicker than before. Mike lay still, his deep rhythmic breathing the only indication he still lived. And then he twitched. Suddenly Mike jerked awake with a mindless scream. Several seconds passed before Mike¡¯s consciousness caught up to his body. The screaming abruptly cut off. He was amazed to discover the pain was gone. More than just gone, he felt great. He felt better than he¡¯d ever felt, in his entire life. Aches and pains Mike never realized he had were suddenly gone. His body felt lighter. His breath came easier. If he hadn¡¯t been so near Jeff¡¯s body, or covered in such disgusting black grease, Mike might have started to dance. Standing up, Mike headed to the bathroom, to clean up The grease took a ridiculous amount of effort to scrub off. It was everywhere too. Even the bottoms of his feet were covered in the stuff. Luckily his balance seemed to have improved as he was forced to hop from foot to foot scrubbing as hard as he could, in order to finally get clean. Heading back to his room he grabbed clean clothes. He didn¡¯t want to be naked when the cops showed up. Belatedly he realized he should have called the before he messed around Picking up his cellphone, he walked into the living room.Moving to the opposite end of the couch from where he¡¯d spewed, Mike started to get dressed. He slipped on the ratty old shirt and pants but something felt off. It took him a second to figure out what it was ¨C his clothes were way too loose. His pants wouldn¡¯t even stay up without a belt several notches tighter than normal. Whatever else the injection had done, it caused him to lose upwards of forty pounds in an instant. Even better, there didn¡¯t seem to be any side effects to the rapid weight loss. No loose skin, or stretch marks. His body wasn¡¯t just fitter. Rushing back to the bathroom, he started to really look himself over. It was only then he noticed the dozens of other minor differences. He was taller, broader in the shoulders and his hands and feet were half again as big as they had been before. It didn¡¯t end there. His ears had formed points, his eyes were now a glowing golden color, and his lower canines had grown just enough they stuck out above his upper lip. His skin color even seemed slightly greenish. Not comic book green. It was more natural, almost sickly.It wasn¡¯t really noticeable unless someone had seen how ghostly white he¡¯d been before from years of gaming indoors. What the hell is going on? He couldn¡¯t help muttering to himself as he rubbed his ear tips for the thousandth time in a handful of minutes. Maybe I should see a doctor? No, no doctor, this must be a dream, that¡¯s it. ¡°Ouch,¡± he winced as he pinched himself hard. Then had to laugh at himself. If pain meant he wasn¡¯t dreaming then pinching himself had been stupid. He¡¯d experienced more pain earlier than the rest of his life combined. Pinching himself proved nothing. ¡°Maybe there¡¯s someone else here?¡± he reasoned out loud. Jeff having been a zombie was a point in favor of everything being a dream. The information in his head, from the crystal, disagreed. It said everything was very real, and very dangerous. Mike decided he needed to find someone else to talk it through with. If he was crazy he¡¯d never figure that out on his own. Something was telling him that life had just gotten weird. If so he wanted to know for sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt. Stuffing his over-sized feet into boots that were now too small, Mike finishing getting dressed by grabbing a long sleeve shirt and a hoodie. He layered them. If he ran into more zombies it would serve as a makeshift armor against biting. Not that it would stop a determined attack, but it might give him a second or two longer when it mattered. Mike rifled through the front closet. He quickly found what he was looking for ¨C Jeff¡¯s intermural softball gear. Including his wooden bat. Giving it a few test swings he felt satisfied. Raising his hood, and sliding his ear buds in, he selected his ¡°Get Pump¡¯d¡± playlist on his cellphone. Then he stepped up to the apartment¡¯s front door and took a deep breath ¨C his hand on the door knob. It was time to figure out what the hell was going on. Chapter 02 Mike stood there, holding the doorknob in his hand, and took a deep breath. He was acting on impulse not logic. Sure he¡¯d grabbed a bat to defend himself but what if there were ten more zombies right outside his door? Caution winning over bravado, Mike put his eye up to the peephole. The view wasn¡¯t great. It only showed a few feet of the hallway directly in front of his door. It was enough. There were already three zombies just in the little he could make out. Three on one seemed risky. Jeff hadn¡¯t actually been that dangerous once Mike finally started to fight for real. He had however been strong. Scary strong. Stepping away from the door, Mike started thinking in overdrive. His eyes wandered the room. In no time he had a simple plan. Heading into the kitchenette he grabbed the big carving knife from the drawer. Admittedly it wasn¡¯t a great anti-zombie weapon. If zombie movie logic held true, destroying the brain was the only way to stop them. Putting aknife through askull is easier said than done. A bad angle and he¡¯d get no penetration. The thought of losing his bat in a struggle and having to fight the zombies bare handed wouldn¡¯t leave him alone. Mike¡¯s paranoia was insistent, any weapon was better than none. It wasn¡¯t like he was a survivalist or doomsday prepper. He couldn¡¯t walk into his gun closet and load up on semi automatic rifles and machetes. He had to work with what he could find. Honestly speaking he was lucky Jeff had been his room mate. Both the bat, and the knife he slipped into his belt. were Jeff¡¯s. Without them his next best options were a pair of rubber hulk fists or throwing his heavier textbooks. He did own a sword. It was an actual battle-ready katana he¡¯d bought online. There were two problems with using it. The first was he¡¯d never actually learned kendo or any other sword art. The sword was just a display piece. It had been an impulse buy. A ¡°that¡¯s so cool I have to have it,¡± feeling one afternoon when his bank account had been particularly flush. After a couple of days, spent cutting watermelons and water bottles, it had turned into a fancy dresser decoration. A constant reminder to think before spending eight hundred bucks. The bigger problem with using it wasn¡¯t his lack of know how, but its location. The sword was sitting in his room back at his mother¡¯s house nearly forty miles away. As soon as he knew what was going on he would worry about getting home. His mom was tough. She could take care of herself. Although Zombies were an unexpected curve ball. His little sister was another story. At twelve, Emma, was his physical opposite. She was short, less than five feet, and petite on top of it. She would not survive getting cornered by a zombie. Knowing that made him desperate to be here for her, to protect her. The more he thought about it the less need he felt for elaborate plans and caution. He wasn¡¯t normally reckless and he¡¯d never once thought of himself as any sort of hero. But if there was one thing praiseworthy about Mike Tanner, it was his love of family. He was the man of the house. It didn¡¯t matter that he wasn¡¯t living at home, at the moment. His dad was dead and Emma¡¯s had left them years ago. He was used to stepping up and taking on that role. Now that they might need someone to protect them he could feel his blood beginning to boil. He had to figure out a way to get home. Pushing the couch up against the door frame so the door could still swing inward, Mike took another deep calming breath. He did nobody any good dead. Whatever was going on might turn out to be extremely localized, and not a big deal. Not that he believed that for a second. He made himself consider it anyway. He couldn¡¯t just go and get himself killed. Wouldn¡¯t that just be bringing his family more problems? Shaking his head to clear his thoughts Mike slapped himself in the face. ¡°Get your head in the game.¡± He mumbled to himself with a derisive smirk. Mike moved around the couch, placing it between him and the door. Hebrought up hisbat, holding it loosely ready in is off hand. Leaning forward he grabbed the doorknob. With a brief fearful prayer, he swung the door open. It would be hard to call the zombies in the hall surprised. Their faces barely twitched. But the half second pause they gave before acknowledging Mike¡¯s presence made him think they hadn¡¯t known how to react to the sudden change. Their hesitation gave him plenty of time to bring the bat up into a firm two handed grip before the first zombie stumbled into the room. *Smack* Mike was surprised at how heavily the blow landed. It practically disintegrated the poor zombie¡¯s head. It was so violent, so visceral, it felt like a joke. Like he was filming a scene for a movie, not fighting for his life. The sudden lack of resistance caused him to overbalance and fall forward into the couch. Luckily he¡¯d kept the cushions turned inward towards the room. He was able to catch himself without toppling over. The new position however was not an easy one from which to bring strength into his swings. As the two new zombies bumped into the improvised couch barrier from their side, Mike found himself in a terrifying shoving match against them. He struggled to get his bat room to work again. Without holding back he threw elbows and fought dirty. It wasn¡¯t like his honor was at stake.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Just his life. Finally one of the two remaining zombies stepped awkwardly on the first one¡¯s corpse, and fell over. Taking the opportunity presented, Mike whipped his bat around and crushed the standing zombie¡¯s temple. Unfortunately his strength was still greater than anticipated. Mike stumbled to catch himself. The zombie he¡¯d smacked fell limply against the couch. Its weight landing badly, caused the couch to tip over toward the door, and the last remaining zombie. Mike found himself falling forward with the couch. His bat slipped from his hand, bouncing out into the hallway. Panicking again Mike fell directly on top of the zombie pinning it. Lacking a weapon he struggled to protect himself from it¡¯s clamping jaws and grasping hands as he pummeled it with his elbows and fists, even jamming his thumb into a pulpy eyeball. The damage he inflicted was largely superficial. Struggling mightily he worked his knee into its chest. Leveraging his weight against it, he wrenched the zombie¡¯s head to the side. He held it there applying pressure until its neck snapped with an audible sound. Gasping for breath Mike crawled forward off the limp zombie and collapsed. He was exhausted. Watching the door he remembered the knife in his belt and laughed. So much for a backup, he thought to himself as he pulled it out, into his hand. He didn¡¯t have the strength to stand but he refused to let the next zombie just kill him if one wandered by before he could move again. Laying there within reach of the three bodies Mike had a thought. Grunting with effort he checked the zombie¡¯s brains for crystals. Sure enough all three brains had one. Half disgusted, half excited, he took them in hand and absorbed the off white crystals, feeling the same warm sensation. A new exclamation mark appeared in his vision. Noticing the new red exclamation mark, Mike focused on it. Another congratulatory message claiming he¡¯d leveled up, popped up. He quickly closed it. He was now a level two. Mike only vaguely understood what that meant. The information in his head claimed he was stronger now and richer. The proof could be observed from his status screen under the menu ¨C the larger box with the plus sign in it. Curious and having nothing better to do anyway, until the stitch in his side and the numbness of his legs worked themselves out, Mike focused on opening the menu. It brought up three rectangular option boxes ¨C [Status] [Store] [Missions]. Both the store and the mission buttons were greyed out ¨Cunselectable. He knew why after a moment¡¯s thought. The store and mission board could only be opened in safe zones ¨C specific marked areas where monsters would not intrude. The concept of an area monsters wouldn¡¯t go was strange to Mike. What would keep them out? An energy barrier? Could he make one himself? Or did they require special circumstances to come into being? He didn¡¯t have the answersto those particular questions. Since the answers hehad been given seemed right so far, Mike decided not to worry about it too hard. Further focusing on the [Status] button opened a large transparent screen with a small graphical representaton of him as he looked now with pointy ears, bigger hands and feet, and slightly green skin. His personal information was laid out,to the right of his avatar, in a simple table. Aside from his name and current stat distribution, there was a section listed as credits. Above the credits section was a box detailing he had 0.4 AP ¨C attribute points ¨C left to place.
Name: Mike Tanner ¨C Race: Human (Orc) Occupation: None ¨C Level: 2 STR: 1.3 / QUI: 0.8 / BOD: 1.3 / MIN: 1.1 / SPI: 1.0 [AP: 0.4] Purse:1040 Credits Skills:[Brute Strength][Sturdy][Dark Vision][Slow Witted]
Mike¡¯smysterious information instantly began filling him in on the details. Human average was considered to be one point zero, in any given statistic. Be it strength, quickness, body, mind or spirit. Further the average human at level one had a rough distribution of five point zero. This could vary higher or lower, but true human average was five flat. Further, as a human with the bloodline of an orc, his automated growth from the system amounted to 0.2 AP per level, split evenly between STR and BOD. Meaning he had already grown 0.4 AP. He¡¯d begun with a distribution of five point one. Just barely a scratch above true average. His quickness had skewed low due to his weight and sedentary life style. But he¡¯d never been that fast or well balanced before anyway so he likely only lost point one to his health. Thinking it over for a moment Mike decided fixing his quickness was the most important thing. Since it included not just movement speed but balance it might keep him from falling every time he swung his bat. Everything suddenly seemed like a game, but it was still real life. There wouldn¡¯t be any ¡°ideal builds¡±. That would leave people vulnerable. The level of trust it would take to for a person to willingly grow their power in a direction that left an obvious weakness ¨C even in favor of an obvious strength ¨C was astronomical. At the very least Mike didn¡¯t know anyone well enough to risk it for himself. Specking pure body as a tank was all well and good until the rest of the party was dead and the tank¡¯s attack was too weak to kill a retreat path. Same with aiming for quickness and being unable to hurt strong enemies. In real life balance was best. Putting zero point three into quickness he hesitated then spent the last point one on spirit. He could immediately feel the difference in quickness. His body felt lighter and he knew he could stand. He considered his spirit as he got up. He felt less fatigued than he had, but he wasn¡¯t sure that had anything to do with spirit or not. Carrying the bloodline of an orc had given him racial skills. [Brute Strength] and [Sturdy] were straightforward. They simply ensured his growth every level included point one attribute points into strength and body respectively. The skills were a leg up on players without bloodlines. They would get point three attribute points per level to distribute at their whim. He receivedpoint four ¨C with half of it spent on a fixed direction every level. His skill [Slow Witted] was actually a negative bonus. It required point two attribute points to raise his mind point one. It was clear his bloodline was made to excel at vanguard positions. That was fine with Mike. Hitting problems was more his style than thinking through them anyway. That left[Dark Vision] which exactly like it sounded let him see in the dark with his new golden irised eyes. Dismissing the screen Mike ducked into the hall to retrieve his bat. Looking around cautiously, he spotted another clump of zombies gathered at an apartment across the atrium from his own. It was a bit disappointing really. After distributing his stats, and feeling a noticable physical difference, he was a bit eager to keep raising levels. To do that he needed zombies to dispatch. There weren¡¯t nearly as many of them around as he¡¯d expected. Whatever had happened might not be as bad ashe originally feared. Even if it wasn¡¯t, there were only two more zombies across the way. He could easily kill them and bring himself that much closer to level three. The zombies seemed attracted to noises ¨C like his earlier screams. They had a reason to be gathered around that particular door. Rescuing whoever was stuck in that apartment might help answer some of his questions. Decision made Mike hefted his bat and started toward the zombies. He was within a few feet of the zombies before they seemed to notice him. By then it was much too late. Taking a big swing he sent the first zombie stumbling back over the railing ¨C down four floors to the west lobby. Cursing the lost crystal, Mike reset his swing. He hit the next zombiein the knee so it crumpled to the floor instead of staggering around and potentially falling over like the first one. Then delivered a third and fourth strike to the skull before picking out the crystal and straightening his back. Absorbing the crystal Mike shook the sand out of his hand then knocked on the door, calling out. ¡°Hello? Anybody in there?¡± Pausing he waited a moment before adding, ¡°I took care of your zombie problem out here.¡± Mike could hear muffled surprise behind the door. A hand fumbled with the lock chain. An audible click sounded. The door cracked open. Chapter 03 Mike didn¡¯t say anything he just stood there, nonchalantly leaning against the railing, his bloody bat resting against his shoulder. A timid feminine voice asked through the crack in the door, ¡°who are you? Are you some kind of monster?¡± He recognized her instantly as Yun-ah Kim, half of the ¡°dynamic duo¡±. She was generally consideredinseparable from the ¡°duo¡¯s¡±other half Sara Cross. They were famous campus idols, the quiet Korean beauty and the enthusiastic athletic blonde. It didn¡¯t hurt that they were both nines, possiblytens, on the Schwinger scale. ¡°I¡¯m not a monster. We have that art appreciation class together remember? Back row, far corner? That¡¯s me.¡± Mike said. He didn¡¯t bother trying to explain bloodlines or the [System] to her. If she didn¡¯t know already she wouldn¡¯t believe him. He kept his voice pitched quiet, soothing, not letting any impatience show. He could easily have forced his way past the chained door. But what would he gain? A terrified coed who might attack him, thinking she had no choice? A moment¡¯s hesitation passed before he heard the chain rattle. The door opened a few more inchesand Yunah stepped backwards motioning him urgently into the room. Mike smirked at her trust. They really didn¡¯t know each other very well. From her perspective letting him into the room was a huge risk. He mentally increased his opinion of her. Trusting strangers after the zombie apocalypse took guts. She wasn¡¯t stupid about it either. In her off hand she held a knife that looked like it was weighted for throwing. In a special sheath, strapped to her left thigh, were four sisters to the knife in her hand. Mike didn¡¯t know where she found them. He did know that if she knew how to use them they were arguably better weapons than his own. Especially against people who hadn¡¯t turned like him. The apartment looked basically the same as his own. The same carpet. The same couch.Even the same entertainment system setup. It clearly wasn¡¯t Yunah and Sara¡¯s apartment. The living room had a man¡¯s touch. A discarded T-shirt, an ashtray with a couple cigarette butts, and a poster of lame science fiction movie from the nineties. The decor wasn¡¯t the only reason he knew it wasn¡¯t their apartment. The apartments were one big rectangle broken in three with a west and east side consisting of a lobby, an atrium, and six floors of rooms spaced around a square. The middle block being split into the east wall of the west square and the west wall of the east square respectively. The west side was typically malestudent housing, while the east was female. There were exceptions to the rule. A couple of guys housed in the east side or girls onthe west. But mostly the division was set in stone. If two such high profile hotties had been living on the guy¡¯s side, Mike would have known. Especially if they¡¯d been on his floor. As if she had been reading his thoughts Yunah began telling him her story as she ushered him into the room. She shut the door tight behind them. Sara and her and been heading to their morning classes when whatever happened, happened. Another girl in the elevator with them had turned just as the lift stopped on the fourth floor. They hadn¡¯t needed an invitation to run. In the heat of the moment they¡¯d ran to the guys side where there were already several other zombie individuals. A fight broke out in which Sara had actually been wounded by a student carelessly swinging his hockey stick around. Yunah didn¡¯t know what happened to that guy but with the help of another student she¡¯d managed to get Sara into an open room and lock it up tight. She led him back to one of the bedrooms where Sara lay on the bed being tended to by a tall thin black guy with a wild afro hairstyle. His name was Troy. He lived also lived on the fourth floor. Mike didn¡¯t know his exact room number but they were at least head-nod level acquaintances. At first Mike wondered why Troy was the one taking care of Sara when Yunah should have been the more concerned party. But the mystery solved itself as he got a better angle on what Troy was doing. His hands were glowing with a faint red light. Like a martial artist in a movie, it looked like he was attempting to treat Sara with his new ability. Troy obviously knew about the [System].The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Not wanting to disturb his concentration Mike watched in silence until Troy, sweating all over, eventually gave up. ¡°I guess my magic just isn¡¯t for healing,¡± he said apologetically to Yunah. Acknowledging Mike, and his appearance, with a smirk he added, ¡°I guess you killed one of them too? You picked up one of those white crystals?¡± Mike nodded back. ¡°I¡¯ve killed six so far,¡± he said, not trying to brag, but to establish his reputation early. In games he was a solo player nine times out of ten. Since this wasn¡¯t a game but real life there was a good chance he would need to work with a team if he wanted to survive. Assuming that was the case then he might as well be in charge of it when the time came. The Mike of the day before would have been appalled by the very idea of leading anything. That Mike was already dead. He¡¯d died moments after killing zombie Jeff. Practicality out weighed his comfort zone in his new reality. He¡¯d rather lead a group than listen to someone clueless give him stupid orders. If someone better or smarter did comealong he could take a back seat. As long as they helped him protect Emma and his mother anyway. ¡°Six?!¡± Yunah squeaked behind him and Troy did a double take. Whatever he saw seemed to make him believe Mike was telling the truth. He just shook his head and whistled. ¡°Glad to have you on our side then man.¡± Mike smiled back but didnt say anything. He had a lot of questions but he couldn¡¯t decide which ones to ask. Troy had obviously encountered the [System] information but was it the same? Or was it different every time? Did he know anything Mike didn¡¯t? Troy beat him to the first question. ¡°So I can see you¡¯re not the sane guy you were yesterday,¡± he said gesturing unapologetically at Mike¡¯s gut, ¡°but what exactly happened?¡± ¡°After the white crystal did its thing I received a random reward. The [system] called it a bloodline. I accepted it and after a lot of pain¡­ Well you see the result. I guess I¡¯m part monster now I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°My status still lists me as human though.¡± He threw in after seeing the look on Yunah¡¯s face, at his lack of certainty. She gave him an awkward smile like she believed him. He didn¡¯t know if she really did or not but he was glad she was at least pretending. He didn¡¯t even know how he felt about possibly being a monster yet. It was too early to worry about how it might effect his relationships going forward. Troy gave him a random thumbs up like everything was cool. He took a seat in the desk chair next to Sara¡¯s bed. Looking back at her he sighed before he said, ¡°I got the whole random reward thing too, except mine was a skill. [Magic Affinity: Fire] it was called. It¡¯s basically useless. I can make my hands glow red. If I touch something and think hard enough it might burn or melt. I can also dial it back to a barely warm light, but so far I can¡¯t seem to do anything really useful with it.¡± Realizing he was talking about Sara, Mike took it as an opening to ask if they knew what exactly was wrong with her. Neither of them did. But they had both seen what caused it. The jackass with the hockey stick who¡¯d been all happy about the zombie apocalypse had accidentally hit Sara in the head with his full force back swing. There was a fairly decent chance that guy had already leveled once or twice too. Despite her situation she was actually lucky she was still alive. It only took a few moments of silence for Mike to come up with a tenstive plan. Clearing his throat he looked from Yunah to Troy and said simply, ¡°First we need Yunah to join the system. Then we need to find a safe zone. I¡¯m betting there is probably something like a health potion or recovery spell we can buy from the store to heal Sara.¡± Troy was nodding even before Mike was finished talking. ¡°Makes sense to me,¡± he said, then cocking his head to the side he asked, ¡°but how do you want to level Yunah up exactly?¡± ¡°I figured I would kill another zombie and she could pick up the crystal. I don¡¯t think I can save them for her though, so far they dissolve in my hand the moment I touch them. So she has to go out with me.¡± ¡°Do you want me to come too?¡± Troy asked, trying not to be obvious about looking at Sara. Mike didn¡¯t known if Troy was scared of going back out or just worried something might happen if they all left. Maybe he even had personal feelings in the mix. Mike didn¡¯t care. Troy obviously wanted to stay behind and that worked for him. He said so as politically as he could. There was no sense in hinting anyone was a coward without proof. Especially not when they were volunteering for a duty that needed doing. ¡°I guess that leaves us to get it done,¡± he said turning his attention to Yunah, ¡°do you have any other weapons you could bring. Maybe some sports padding for armor or something like that?¡± Yunah smiled awkwardly and shrugged. ¡°We already searched this place once. I found these knives in a sock drawer and thought they were better than nothing. I could probably use the shower curtain rod for a few whacks before it broke,¡± she offered making Mike laugh. ¡°Just stick with knives for now I guess. I don¡¯t really want you fighting if you don¡¯t absolutely have to anyway. But you might not be able to absorb the crystal if you don¡¯t kill the zombie yourself or some nonsense like that so here,¡± Mike said, taking his carving knife and handing it over to her grip first. She thanked him politely. He considered telling her to lighten up. But then he didn¡¯t know what was keeping her together. Surely not everyone could face zombies and just be okay. If she needed to mind her manners and talk quietly he could deal with it. It was far better than having her fall to pieces on him. ¡°I guess we might as well head out. You ready?¡± He asked Yunah. She nodded. Turning back to Troy he stuck out his hand, ¡°guess we¡¯ll be seeing you then. See us out the door?¡± Troy smiled taking his hand shake with gusto. He stood and followed them to the front door. They stood there for several seconds, in a knot, waiting, till Mike realized neither of them wanted to be the one to open the door. With a grunt he stepped up and keeping his bat ready he checked the peep hole. There was nothing directly outside so he swung the door open and headed out with Yunah right behind him. Before he¡¯d even stepped over the corpse of the fallen zombie Troy had the door shut and the lock clicked back in place. Chapter 04 Mike checked their surroundings. No zombies had appeared since the ones he¡¯d killed earlier. A few doors were opened to the walkway but most apartments were shut tight. Inside some of those rooms, were more zombies. In others were students too scared to leave. Every closed door was a gamble. Mike had no desire to hold people¡¯s hands and explain the way things worked now. Not to a bunch of people who would inevitably refuse to believe him. He had even less desire to watch them cringe away from his intimidating new size and looks. Things would go infinitely smoother with several system users sharing the same story and showing off their new powers. The proof needed to be overwhelming for people to believe the truth. For years Hollywood had been preparing the masses for a zombie Apocalypse. Absurd as it was, people would accept zombies. It was unlikely the same could be said about game-like leveling and magic skills. It was easier to ignore closed doors for the time being. Yunah agreed after he explained his his thought process.She was naturally a quiet person. The idea of putting herself out there to comfort desperate strangers held even less appeal to her than it did to him. Together they worked their way toward the elevators, hoping to find the girl who¡¯d turned, in front of Sara and her, earlier. The car was no longer on the fourth floor. Pressing the button they recalled it and waited. It arrived empty, the back wall was covered in bloody handprints. Sitting alone on the floor, in a puddle of blood, was someone¡¯s hand ¨C minus a pinky. They recalled the other elevator just to check. It was cleaner, without any signs of mutilation. It was also empty. Conferring quietly they decided to check the girl¡¯s side before risking moving between floors. As a form of vertical travel the elevators were out. If the power ever cut off they¡¯d turn into a death trap. They really wasn¡¯t a choice. When the time came, they¡¯d have to take the stairwell. There was nothing wrong with taking the stairs exactly. They just made a lot of noise. Considering the zombies were attracted to noise taking the stairs meant gathering every zombie that could reach them into one big mob. One on one zombies were creepy and abnormally strong.In numbers they were exponentially more dangerous. It turned out to be an non-issue for the moment. As soon as they rounded the corner they found a a half dozen wandering zombies. There were a couple intent on entering an apartment across the way, but the other four were all moving alone. It was a zombie hunter¡¯s dream. None of the lone zombies could quickly react to any of the others being killed. Mike took it upon himself to confirm the theory by slamming his bat into the nearest zombie¡¯s shoulder knocking it to the ground. A second blow against its temple settled things. ¡°Grab the crystal from that one. I¡¯ll go ahead and get a couple more while they¡¯re spread out. Let me know if the crystal works. If it does you¡¯ll go blind for a few seconds. Don¡¯t freak out your sight will come back quickly.¡± Mike took a breath, visually planning his path through the zombies. ¡°If it doesn¡¯t work I¡¯ll need to cripple one of these bastards for you to knife so you get the credit for killing it.¡± He hadn¡¯t really needed to say any of it. They¡¯d gone over the basic plan a couple of times already. None of it was rocket science. He spoke anyway attempting to project confidence. If nothing else, as long as Yunah thought he was calm and in control she would be less likely to panic and run away. The last thing he needed was to suddenly find himself alone and surrounded by zombies. Not that the remaining five zombies were enough to worry him by themselves. It was more practice, for the future, than anything. The bigger a badass people thought he was, the easier it would be to get his way on important decisions later.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Like for instance on sending groups out to check on the smaller towns nearby. He¡¯d rather not have to go find his family alone. He would if he had to, but having a team watching his back would make things easier. He wasn¡¯t a masochist. Seeing Yunah nod, Mike smiled grimly and charged the next zombie with his shoulder lowered. It would have been safer to pull up and use his bat. He knew that, but he wanted to test the waters. It was important to know his new limits and to search for more efficient zombie hunting methods. If the world was full-on-zombie-movie, like he feared, stopping short and killing them with bats just meant taking longer to be overrun. The zombie stumbled backwards, not quite falling over and Mike took the opening to destroy its knee followed quickly by its brain. The one-two punch of low-high worked great one-on-one. Unfortunately Mike didn¡¯t think it would once the zombies were packed wall to wall coming at him. By then he¡¯d need to be destroying the brain in one swing, every swing, or running away as fast as he could move. Moving to take a third zombie on he could hear Yunah behind him shout ¡°I can¡¯t see.¡± Smirking he reminded her, ¡°that means it¡¯s working. Give it a second.¡± He paused his advice, stepping up to give a full-bodied, measured, swing against his newest zombie punching bag. The blow connected with a sickening smacking sound and the zombie¡¯s head separated from its body, now more jellied brains than solid matter. Mike¡¯s smile grew, even as his stomach lurched. ¡°See the wheel of light?¡± He prompted as he searched for the fourth loner zombie. Spotting it moving around the walkway toward him he started toward it at a fast walk. ¡°It¡¯s there,¡± Yunah sounded relieved and Mike allowed himself a soft laugh. ¡°What you didn¡¯t believe us?¡± He teased, but whether from embarrassment or nerves she didn¡¯t respond. The zombie shuffled into range of his swing and Mike leveled it. That left the last two at the door he thought to himself looking up to find them. He cursed as he saw they were missing. Given that the apartment¡¯s layout made the girls side one big square with an open air drop in the middle, it wasn¡¯t hard to spot the missing zombie couple. They were headed right for poor blind Yunah and they were much closer to her than he was. Cursing his lack of awareness Mike took off running. Leaping the rotting corpses he was pleased both with his unexpected speed and his newfound agility. Even if he¡¯d trained for years, without the system he would never have had the grace he was showing in his mad dash to save his newest companion. In the end the suspense really wasn¡¯t that suspenseful. Only a level two and already Mike was several times the man he had been. Even he underestimated his growth. Rounding the last corner he flew into the two zombie women taking then to the ground. A rough approximation of jujitsu aided by muscles that could now easily bend rebar and two necks snapped within moments of each other. Mike stood, panting as Yunah gasped. He turned to see her looking at him and how close the zombies had gotten to her. He shrugged with a laugh. ¡°Sorry. I was having too much fun I guess.¡± He offered. He was completely missing what Yunah was gasping about in the first place. In the time it took for her to join the system he¡¯d killed all five of the remaining zombies. The last two barehanded. Without anyone to compare him to he came across looking like a monster. Yunah was glad he was on her side. Still misinterpreting their little exchange, Mike, felt an awkward need for small talk. So he asked, ¡°What was your reward?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Yunah looked at him confused. ¡°Check the exclamation point in the top right.¡± Her eyes unfocused as she followed his directions. A heartbeat later a cube of blue light formed in front of her. Yunah reached out and touched it causing the cube to dissolve into particles of light. Floating where the box had been was a single edged sword. Basically a katana it had a straight spine and held an imprint number stamped into the blade, suggesting it had been mass produced. Despite possibily being from a factory line it was still an amazing sword. With a guard of golden metal and a hilt wrapped tightly in red leather and capped with a golden pommel cap, the blade shone with a dull business like shine. Yunah ¨C excited ¨C took it in hand and began to work through what seemed to be a kendo kata. The sword whistled through the air. As Yunah moved fluidly her speed grew along with her grace. Suddenly she stepped toward a nearby room and struck out. Her blade flashed through the closed door like it wasn¡¯t even there. A kick sent the bottom half into the apartment. Before Mike could stop her she darted inside. He heard faint noises of a struggle but by the time he followed her in Yunah had dispatched two zombie coeds. ¡°I claim these two. If you¡¯ll let me have another one of your kills I¡¯ll be a level two. You can take the rest and you should make level three. Then we can go back?¡± The way Yunah talked it was all a question. But she surprised him anyway. Had she changed so much just from joining the system? The Yunah of earlier in the morning wouldn¡¯t have been half as impulsive. And she definitely wouldn¡¯t have presumed to offer directions to him. The new Yunah didn¡¯t bug him though. Her plans were solid. Mike didn¡¯t want to be in charge so much as he wantedto avoid following an idiot. As soon as his Mom and sister were safe he would gladly become someone competent¡¯s number two. Even being a faceless grunt wasn¡¯t beneath him as long as the person at the top wasn¡¯t carelessly risking people¡¯s lives. And Yunah hadn¡¯t even made her plans demands but suggestions. Which made Mike smile. He could definitely work with her. But he really would need to watch people who joined the system and observe their changes. It might not always be for the better. Yunah had been shy to the point of it being a problem. Her suddenly becoming more confident and communicative was a great thing. On the other hand if it was someone already confident, they might come out disastrously arrogant. Maybe he was worried over nothing but he¡¯d feel better if someone was paying attention. It was better than everyone ignoring the potential problem staring them in the face. Chapter 05 After collecting the crystals Mike still hadn''t leveled up. By his count he''d taken out twelve of them. He''d lost five crystals to accidents and Yunah''s growth. Meaning he''d only used seven on himself. Getting to level two took four crystals. He''d been too optimistic hoping level three would only take three more. If he had to guess he''d say every level took three times the "experience" of the one before it. It was too early to know if he was right. Two levels was hardly a pattern to extrapolate from. Together Mike and Yunah made their way back to the room to fill Troy in on everything. They had a decision to make. Did they go door to door? Or take the stairs? Door to door meant possibly gaining companions. But they wouldn''t be the bravest and the best. They''d be the guys who hid while everyone else was fighting. The stairs, on the other hand, presented their own problems. Mainly noise. Mike wasn''t sure he could hold off thirty zombies in an enclosed space as they retreated up or down dragging an unconscious Sara with them. But the potential for exactly that scenario was built into risking the stairwell. They had bologna sandwiches and kiddy juice boxes - from the random junk in the apartment fridge - as they discussed all the angles. It didn''t take long to realize they were talking in circles. No one was really ready for the stairs - not even Mike. He was even less ready when he considered they were planning on going up to the roof before going down. Troy thought getting a better look at the city before they tried to head out into it was worth the effort. Yunah had seemed to agree and he hadn''t been able to come up with a reason why they were wrong. This time Yunah elected to stay behind as Mike took Troy through the rooms. Troy was a well know and likable guy. Maybe not the most popular guy on campus, but he was at least someone most people said hi to in passing. Even loner Mike had regularly given him the head nod of "Yeah I see you. I just don''t know you well enough to be comfortable talking to you. So I''m acknowledging you without speaking. It''s better this way." Along the way they would both try to level up to increase their strength for the trial of the echoing stairwell. Yunah reluctantly lent Mike her sword. They didn''t anticipate her needing it by Sara''s bedside. So as not to leave her defenseless, Mike left her his bat. Troy grumbled about it until Mike pointed out they could search the apartments along the way for new weapons. Yunah was stuck with what they left her. Never having taken any sort of sword based martial art, Mike used the sword like a two handed machete, cleaving and chopping with brute strength. The razor-fine edge seemed perfectly capable of holding up to his abuse, suggesting the blade wasn''t made of steel. At least not traditional steel - which would have rolled over along the edge. After the third room with no survivors they took a break. Mike had killed another five zombies, netting him two more crystals but still no level up. Troy had reached level two. In doing so he found he was able to increase the distance from his hand he could control his fire magic, giving him hope for the future of his skill. Eventually it would be useful for more than back rubs and starting campfires. While Mike took his breather Troy checked the closests. He''d found a nice pitching wedge in an earlier apartment but he wasn''t satisfied with it. He wanted something with an edge or a point he claimed. Mike just rolled his eyes. It was obvious Troy didn''t like fighting Zombies up close. Every swing he made he was forcing himself not to scream. It wasn''t that he was a coward. He wasn''t. Troy just seemed to have some sort of problem with physically damaging people. Even dead ones. The snapping sound of broken bones made him cringe. The sight of blood and brain matter turned his stomach. And perhaps his greatest drawback - he lacked the strength to end things in one blow, like Mike. Privately Mike wondered if the system hadn''t know all that and given him his "random" reward of magic accordingly. He wasn''t sure how he felt about that possibility. Was random benevolence preferred in a system that actively attempted to kill its users? Someone else would have to answer that. Mike couldn''t.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Troy came up empty on his search. He''d found a folding pocket knife and hammer. Both were decent weapons in a pinch. Neither gave him the reach or the force of his golf club. Mike took the hammer and slipped it through his belt to replace his carving knife. Troy pocketed the knife. At the door of the next apartment they heard a voice even before they started knocking. Sharing a look they changed places. Mike moving back and to the side so that he wasn''t the first face they saw. "Hello," Troy said with a smile as the door cracked open. "You guys okay in there?" "Do you know what''s happening? The internet is down and the radio is static. Neither one of us ever brought in a TV." The voice on the other side of the door was clearly in some kind of shock. They hadn''t handled the zombies well at all. Troy talked them off the ledge and before long Mike found himself standing in another identical living room watching as Troy explained things to the guys of room 413. Hector and Rajesh were numbers geeks. The kind of guys who liked to work up accurate floor plans for fictional star ships because they actually liked applying math. Average height, average build, dusky skinned and socially anxious the two of them could have been brothers for all that Hector was from Portales, New Mexico and Rajesh from Mumbai, India. Between Troy''s glowing red hands, Mike''s transformation, and a quick display of Yunah''s sword''s unimaginable sharpness, the guys were willing to believe in the possibility of the system. Troy even convinced them to grab a weapon and follow him so they could get to level one. Two empty apartments later they found another couple of zombies. Mike took them out. Hector and Rajesh both hesitantly picked through the brains to find their crystals. A brief panic over their temporary blindness later they were receiving their system rewards. Hector gained a small booklet Troy recognized as a skillbook and Rajesh found himself the proud new owner of a war hammer. Hector looked confused. He stared at the booklet floating in the air for several seconds before Rajesh nudged him and asked why he was spacing out. "My reward says it is an occupation," he said as if that explained things. "Like a class?" Troy asked but none of them needed the answer. Simultaneously they experienced a pulsing feeling between their eyebrows. The answer had been supplied for them. An occupation was a job skill. Like being a teacher or a construction worker. It had nothing to do with player classes which dictated the combat skills and items they would have access to in the future. "What''s your job then?" Rajesh asked to fill in the silence. "I''m a farmer." No one knew what to say. Mike did wonder again about the system''s supposed randomness. Could it have determining poor Hector wasn''t fit for fighting? It didn''t matter really. A farmer was as much help as anyone against level one zombies. Hector was dispirited by the reward anyway. Troy tried to tell him it was random but maybe he''d already begun to suspect the same thing as Mike because it rang hollow. They sent him to keep Yunah company while he worked things out in his mind. Then they moved on. The next few rooms held one or two zombies each and Rajesh quickly leveled up. Shortly after Mike managed to get himself to level three. They took another short break for him to distributd his AP into quickness and spirit.
Name: Mike Tanner - Race: Human (Orc) Occupation: None - Level:3 STR: 1.4 / QUI:1.2 / BOD: 1.4 / MIN: 1.1 / SPI: 1.2 [AP: 0.0] Purse:1130 Credits Skills:[Brute Strength][Sturdy][Dark Vision][Slow Witted]
From there it all began to run together. Mike was no longer personally killing every single zombie. Yhe others tried their hand at it to get the feel. Here and there they gathered survivors and leveled them into the system. Slowly they worked their way around until they cleared the last room on the fourth floor, of a fairly cute zombie with green eyes and blood smeared lips from when she''d devoured her roommate. Why some zombies ate their roommates and others turned them nobody was quite sure. Altogether there were eleven survivors. Eight of them leveled into the system. Two waiting on a zombie to kill. And Sara who needed a health potion or recovery magic before anything else. It was still early in the afternoon when they finished. To keep hunting they would have to go up or down. Mike was already beginning to feel impatient about getting out of the city to find his family, but he''d come around to Troy''s point of view about checking the roof first. Troy could be persuasive. Part of that was because he would talk every time he got a chance. The rest was all charisma. Mike envied him that. With everyone gathered into a big circle in the living room of the first apartment Troy was giving a speech. Mike had long since realized Troy was taking the excuse of being everyone''s first contact as justification to make himself into some sort of group leader. He didn''t really care. His goals hadn''t changed. He didn''t need to be in charge as long as he could find and protect his family. Besides his position as "field team leader" was stil unchallanged. Troy wouldn''t want anyone to realize he didn''t like fighting. It might be seen as a weakness. From some angles Troy being in charge of the group and him leading the field team was actually better than being in overall command. Troy would have to have to deal with all the petty day to day bullshit while he kept control of his team. All the power he wanted with none of the headaches. There were potential problems. Being "hired help" from the group''s perspective, he might face being "fired" at some point in the future. As long as he took safeguards to make sure his team was loyal to him personally, it wouldn''t matter. As Troy wrapped up his call to action about heading to the roof - among other things - everyone was nodding along, clearly sold. Standing alone in the doorway of the empty bedroom Mike smirked as he looked over the crowd catching Yunah''s eye. She looked annoyed at the delays. Her best friend was possibly dying and Troy was holding a rally. Consciously or not her thumb was gently caressing the golden pommel of her sword. She''ll do nicely as loyal team member number one, he thought to himself with a laugh. Chapter 06 Mike¡¯s dark thoughts surprised him. It hadn¡¯t even been twelve hours since zombies started walking the earth and he was already planning contingencies in case of betrayal ¨C and conscious manipulations. He wasn¡¯t under any delusions. He knew he wasn¡¯t a goody two shoes or a hero. If he randomly came across some stranger bleeding out, he would call an ambulance. But the call would be anonymous. He wouldn¡¯t wait around for it to show up either. Why should his good deed mean wasting half the day talking to cops and making official statements? It would be the same if he found a wallet full of cash. He would turn it in to the nearest lost and found. Replacing credit cards and identifications was a pain in the ass. He could empathize completely. But just because he would turn the wallet in didn¡¯t mean it would still be full of cash when he did. A handling fee should be perfectly acceptable to the wallet¡¯s owner given the time and effort he saved them. Life was a series of bendable rules and uncrossable lines. At least that was how Mike saw it. He might cheat on a test he forgot to study for but he¡¯d never steal the answers for an upcoming test he knew about. Just what was different about the two scenarios was hard to articulate. He unconsciously knew the difference in his gut. Just like his gut told him the only time it was okay to hit a woman was if she was trying to kill him. And that hate based on ethnicity was stupid. There were plenty of better reasons to hate a man besides his skin color. Hearing Troy wrapping up his speech Mike yawned and began to stretch. There was no sense in being stiff when they encountered the next group of zombies. The better condition he was in the more zombies he could kill. The more zombies he killed the stronger he became. And most importantly the stronger he became the better he could protect his loved ones in this dangerous new world. He might have a warped personality, but he really believed in things like loyalty, love and family. Walking contradiction was a perfectly valid way to describe him most days. *** ¡°Hold up,¡± Mike held up his hand for emphasis as he came to the stairwell door. He cautiously peered through the vertical rectangular window. The landing beyond the door was empty. For the moment. Unsatisfied Mike gently opened the door. Taking his ax ¨C a weapon newly acquired from the fire emergency case near the elevator ¨C he banged a half dozen times against the door frame. The sound echoed loudly in the stairwell. Mike waited till he heard grumbles from the group at his back before motioning it was safe to continue. In case he was wrong he let the grumblers go first. If they didn¡¯t have the patience to wait on him then he¡¯d gladly let them check the danger for everyone else. Eventually they¡¯d learn patience or he¡¯d get rid of the problem. Either way was fine in his opinion. Pre-apoc Mike might have been uncomfortable with his attitude, but even he would have agreed with it. The sad truth was Mike had never been a people person. He had trouble putting up with things he considered stupid. His patience was limitless and enduring¡­ until suddenly it wasn¡¯t and he was making his point with his fists. It had been a long time since he¡¯d last been sent to the principals office for fighting. But the various punishments he¡¯d recieved over the years had never fixed the problem. They¡¯d just made him limit his interactions to people he could get along with. That had worked fine. But his temper had always been there ticking away underneath. His calm, gentlemanly exterior wasn¡¯t exactly a lie but it did help to hide the fact he could be a real dick when he wanted. Honestly speaking the stairwell was a disappointment. He¡¯d built it up to be a major obstacle in his mind. It was all tight corners and loud echoing sounds. Zombies should have been in love with the place. But he¡¯d forgotten a major detail. The stairwell doors were heavy ¨C made entirely of metal. It took real effort to open. Zombies were stupid, brute strength monsters, incapable of problem solving. The doors were excellent counters to the standard level one zombie. On the way up to the roof the group met exactly one zombie.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. The student it had been, had fallen as he turned, breaking his legs quite seriously. It made him easy to dispatch as he sat there groping towards the group until Mike planted ax seeds in his skull. For a zombie Apocalypse there were a lot less roving hordes of zombies and a lot more isolated loner zombies than the movies tended to show. It did make a certain kind of sense. The system seemed geared towards life being a big dangerous game. That logic meant the zombies were essentially tutorial monsters ¨C the slimes and giant rats of a traditional role playing game. Mike had no proof his theory was right. He preferred to take things seriously in the mean time. A tutorial monster could still kill a player who wasn¡¯t careful. But he was already beginning to suspect something much worse was coming. Why would they need such impressive strength to fight zombies? An ordinary person could kill them easily, if they fought smart and careful. The zombies weren¡¯t the threat. They were more of an opportunity. The ease of the trip up the stairs hurt his credibility with the newbies. He could feel their judgement on his back. They thought he was paranoid and it annoyed him. How could they have forgotten so quickly how scared they were, hiding in their rooms, before he showed up to save them? Yunah, walking beside the stretcher, holding a still comatose Sara, grabbed his elbow and smiled ever so slightly, as she shook her head. It was by far the most intimate gesture he¡¯d ever seen her make towards anyone other than Sara. He was touched by her concern and read her meaning loud and clear. She didn¡¯t think he was paranoid. The others were idiots. He just needed to ignore them. How she knew what he was thinking was an entirely different matter. Taking a deep breath he actually managed to smile. Maybe he wouldn¡¯t have to go out of his way to get Yunah on his team. She seemed to see right through Troy¡¯s bull and had at least a little confidence in him. Once again he thought, I can work with her. Mike wasn¡¯t the first one to step out onto the roof. The group discipline had taken a hit once they decided they were safe. He was however the first to realize what he was seeing once he got there. Along the edge of the roof was a faint blue glow marking out the entirety of the roof¡¯s rectangular shape. A quick check with the non players confirmed his hunch they couldn¡¯t see the blue light because they didn¡¯t have the system HUD. The roof was a safe zone. The first one they¡¯d managed to find. One big enough for everyone in their group to spread out. Controlling his excitement Mike ignored the system for the moment. As long as the roof was safe he could check the store at his leisure. First he wanted to see the state of the city. That was what they came to the roof to do after all. Although he could already hear Troy claiming he¡¯d suspected the roof was a safe zone, implying that he had lead them there for that reason. It was a total work of fiction. It also didn¡¯t matter. The group needed a leader badly. Mike had already worked through it in his mind. He didn¡¯t mind Troy as the one in charge. Troy would leave him basically unrestricted as long as he was protecting the group through his existence. There were probably better options. His personally seizing control would be like a general taking out the president. It wouldn¡¯t win him the love of the people and it would bring endless headaches later. It would also prejudice any other groups they met against him. If Troy needed lies to establish a base that just made him a politician. It didn¡¯t make him evil. Besides, nobody else was going out of their way to talk to people and keep then calm. Anyone with eyes could see Troy really cared. Not every one that might decide they wanted power would give a crap about those under them. Mike made his way to the edge of the roof. Scanning the skyline he had to do a double take. Before he could spot things like abandoned cars and wandering zombies to judge the extent of the problem his eyes were drawn to a building that he¡¯d never seen before, one that hadn¡¯t been there when he¡¯d gone to bed. No. Not a building he decided as he looked at it longer. It was more of a rounded obelisk. A giant metal pillar. A monolith. He¡¯d never seen anything like it before in his life. And he wasn¡¯t the only one to notice it. At some point Troy had made his way up next to him to stand equally stunned. ¡°What is it?¡± Troy asked. Mike started to admit he had no idea when one of the newer rescued students cleared his throat. ¡°They¡¯re every where,¡± he said quietly adjusting his glasses as he ran a hand through his first red hair. Mike took a minute to think of his name, it was something like S-stan? Seth? No. Shawn. His name was Shawn. Realizing he was missing out on what Shawn was saying he shook his head and focused. ¡°No that¡¯s the only one in town. But the internet was still working a while ago and they were saying these things just sort of showed up all over the world. Places like New York, and Tokyo got more than one.¡± ¡°Can you shown us?¡± Someone asked but Shawn was already shaking his head. ¡°No. At about nine this morning ¨C our time ¨C they all started to release colored smoke from vents in their sides. The news was talking possible biological attacks. Then the internet just sort of went wonky.¡± ¡°My phone stopped working about the same time.¡± Rajesh added from somewhere off to the side of the group. ¡°But electronics still work. There is still electricity,¡± Troy insisted, like one thing had something to do with the other. Shawn smiled and shrugged. ¡°So it wasn¡¯t an EMP. But those things could be jamming our signals somehow. Making it hard to communicate.¡± Mike¡¯s next thought was, So it¡¯s an invasion. He didn¡¯t say anything. There was no point in panicking anyone. Out loud he asked, ¡°You said those thing just appeared? Did you see how?¡± Shawn smiled grimly but his eyes actually seemed to light up behind his glasses. ¡°Yeah they showed that a few hundred times early on. There were a couple people who filmed it with their phones. Basically a large hole opened in the sky and they just sort of dropped out. It happened fast too, like less than thirty second for the whole process. There was no collision or earth quakes afterwords either. They settled on the ground, like they were under power or something.¡± Mike didn¡¯t know what to make of that. It made as much sense as anything else had since he woke up. Thinking about the system just made him feel more confused. If it was an invasion why arm the natives? The more he thought about it, the less he was sure of anything. After a few long moments staring at the giant metal cylinder he turned back to the rooftop. Seeing Yunah still crouching over Sara he decided to check the store for something to help her. He was the only one with any credits in the group. Hopefully he could afford something to make her recover. Chapter 07 Looking around the roof Mike made sure everyone was busy. The players seemed to have accepted the idea of a safe zone readily enough. They were either mesmerized by the distant monolith, zoned out focusing on their HUD menus or taking a moment to finally relax. Mike couldn''t blame them. But he empathized more with the two guys who hadn''t yet joined the system. Technically he could have made one of them a player in the stairwell. He''d grabbed the crystal before he thought about it - ruining that chance. Without a HUD showing them the comforting blue barrier indicating safety, neither of them seems able to relax. Maybe they''re the smart ones. Mike privately considered. They hadn''t exactly tested the blue barrier''s effectiveness. Just because some alien information in their heads said the blue lights meant safety they all believed it. If the information contained inaccuracies they would only be able to blame themselves for being careless. Mike kept his cynicism to himself. It wouldn''t help anything to scare people. Quietly, to himself, he swore to keep up his guard until he was sure safe zones were actually safe. In the mean time he found a spot with his back against the roof access shed so nothing could sneak up on him. Taking a deep breath he focused first on the menu, then the store. New options appeared. The store was broken into departments. The [Armory], [Pharmacy], [Laboratory], [Workshop], [Bookstore] and finally [General]. A quick peek inside was enough to estimate their purposes. The Armory soldweapons, armors, and other combat related items. The Pharmacy held medication from the mundane to the miraculous. Everything from rash creams to stimulants was available. Considering Sara''s health was the reason he was looking at the store in the first place Mike spent a bit more time browsing it. Eventually he found a section of magical cure alls starting with a one hundred credit [{Small} Health Potion] for recovering from small wounds. The Laboratory allowed purchase of low end bloodlines, enchancements and other permanent capability improvements. The Workshop was less clear cut on its services. It seemed to offer upgrading, breaking down and generally studying of items for improvements like a research center. It was also possible to use the Workshop for maintaining cybernetic enhancements installed in the Laboratory. The Bookstore contained information for purchase. It was further broken into sections for Skills, Grimoires, and Knowledge. Skills offered system related abilities for immediate use. While Grimoires did the same for magic. The last section - Knowledge - contained actual books without the experiences necessary to immediately use what they contained. Knowledge was comparatively cheaper. It offered alternative means to learn skills and magic. More effort for less credits. General contained everything else. Camping supplies, clothing, tools, food, mineral resources and more. It was by far the largest section and was divided into countless subsections. Days would be lost attempting to catalog it all. The system was much more efficient than a normal brick and mortar store. Rather than being forced to find the right section etc. for what he was looking for all Mike had to do was winnow the selection down through mental suggestions. Eventually the filtering would narrow his results to what he actually wanted to find. Finished with his preliminary overview Mike purchased the small health potion. A nearly transparent blue hour glass surrounded by a cirlce appeared at the center of his vision. It turned over roughly once a second for a half dozen times before it disappeared. A blue box like the reward for becoming a player - or the drop item from killing a zombie - appeared floating in mid-air, in front of him. Several people looked over at him. It was obvious they were interested in what he was doing. No one was on good enough terms with him to feel like they could question his actions. He was the violent zombie-killer. What if he didnt like them nosing around in his buisness? Nobody bothered him. They needed him. But he might not need them. Mike ignored everyone, oblivious to the entire byplay. Touching the box made it dissolve, revealing a small glass vial, filled with red liquid. Grabbing it he stood and walked over to Yunah.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Taking a knee next to her he nudged her with his elbow and said, "Try this. It''s the cheapest magic potion I could find. I don''t know enough about medicine to find anything real that might help her." "Thank you," Yunah said the look on her face conflicted. She couldn''t turn his gift down but she felt awkward accepting it. Mike had never been part of her social circle - which had been quite wide due to her friendship with Sara. He owed her nothing. Looking at the bottle in her hand she felt like she had to know why. She wanted to know upfront if there were strings attached. If he was, say, attracted to her or Sara,it would just be easier to accept his help. In answer to her question Mike gave her a half smile. For a long moment he considered how to say what he wanted to say before shrugging with a hollow laugh. "It''s selfish really." He said. "How''s that?" She asked confused how doing anything for her was selfish on his part. "If you''re really going to make me say it I guess the truth is my motivation isn''t exactly pure." He paused meeting her eyes. For the first time Yunah noticed how intense their gold coloring was. Up close his gaze was mesmerizing. It was strange, considering that from a distance his looks were average - at best. Seeing she was waiting on him to finish the thought Mike made a split second decision to level with her. He was hardly a master of manipulation. If she caught him gaming her, she''d be offended. "I don''t know how all this is going to go down." He gestured vaguely at the rooftop. "But I do know I need people watching my back. Competent people. People I trust. If I have to buy that trust in the beginning," Mike nodded to the potion, "that''s fine by me. But this whole ''everybody for themselves but together'' thing we''re doing right now isn''t going to work for me long term. I have people - family- I need to find and keep safe. Just look at the potion as my way of trying to get you to be part of my team. It''s the whole ''coal in winter'' idea. The potion is my way of saying I''ll be on your side when you need me not just when things are going good." "I think that''s the most I''ve ever heard you talk." Yunah said with a curious tilt to her head. "You''re not exactly Miss Talks-a-lot yourself you know." Yunah smiled slightly and to Mike''s amazement stuck out her tongue at him. They laughed together for a moment. As their laughter died down she looked at him. Her puzzled expression was back again. "I understand what you meant. You probably could have said it better or at least clearer but I get it. What I still don''t get is why me?" Before he could answer she backtracked a step, "I mean us. Why us?" "You were right the first time." "What?" Mike rolled his eyes, answering, "You are the one I''m recruiting. Not Sara. I don''t know if she will be any help or not. But you want to save her and that''s good enough for me." Yunah started to say something. Maybe to argue with him. Mike cut her off. "Yunah. If you had to guess, how many people on this roof right now, know martial arts?" "I don''t know." "Neither do I honestly. But what I do know, is you do. Maybe there''s somebody else. If there is, I know they didn''t step up and fight any zombies. You did. The system gave you a magic sword and you actually know how to use it. Do you realize how amazing that makes you?" Under her breath Yunah grumbled, "it''s not magic just sharp," but she couldn''t argue with what he was saying. Out of the eleven people on the roof three of them had fought zombies. Troy had fought them as a rearguard in several two on two or two on three fights. But only Mike and Yunah had faced off against multiple zombies alone, and killed them. That was completely different than beheading a zombie Mike had already crippled for them. Yunah was a certified bad-ass. Mike might have fought considerably more zombies with less training. He was a big guy, made even bigger and stronger by the system. He barreled through zombies without a care in the world. The system only gave Yunah a sword. It had been down to her skills and the ability to remain calm. And she''d done it. A few awkward moments passed. Mike kept staring at her with his intense gaze. She continued to avoid meeting his eyes from embarrassment. Mike misread the situation - thinking she didn''t believe him. "You''re sword may not be magic. But you really are amazing Yunah." He said. His voice full of confidence. Despite her looks - or possibly because of them - she wasn''t used to being praised.Notanything other then her looks, anyway. A slight blush tinged her cheeks. Seeking a distraction Yunah finally unstoppered the potion and carefully poured a bit into Sara''s mouth. Unconscious Sara couldn''t swallow well, wasitng a small amount of the red liquid. Swearing gently Yunah took a mouthful and without thinking about how it would look pressed her mouth to Sara''s, helping her swallow. Nothing happened immediately but after several seconds and another mouthful Yunah could see Sarah''s coloring coming back into her cheeks. Excited Yunah looked up. This time it was Mike who couldn''t meet her eyes. Confused as to his sudden shyness it took a moment for her to realize what was wrong. Turning bright red from ear to ear she stammered out an explanation. She had no reason to be embarrassed. She had been saving a friend. But the embarrassment came all the same. Mike laughed at her cute antics. The tension broke immediately. Feeling both giddy and annoyed Yunah smacked Mike in the arm. Only Sara would have recognized the gesture of familiarity from her usually soft spoken friend. "Sorry to interrupt you," Rajesh''s voice came from over Mike''s shoulder, "but Troy asked me to get you guys for the meeting." Mike rolled his eyes as he stood and turned around. Rajesh was caressing his system given hammer as two other players - a spear user named Dan and an athletic brunette with a pipe wrench and a huge flat head screwdriver - stood behind him like they were under his command. Mike didn''t like that idea very much. Rajesh was one of the only level twos in the group along with Yunah and Troy. It was natural that he''d have some prestige. But having prestige and forming a subteam within tht team were entirely different things. Worse still, Troy would''ve had to approve any sub team''s creation, himself. He felt more than a little annoyed. Was he already beingreplaced? Mike grunted. He gestured for Rajesh to lead the way. Yunah stood. Giving Sara another look she sighed then turned and stepped up next to Mike, but a step behind like Rajesh''s goons. Mike smiled and shook his head. He already felt a million times better. Chapter 08 ¡°Thank you Rajesh. That will be all,¡± Troy dismissed him imperiously. Rajesh hesitated for a moment, but only a moment, before nodding his head in what might have been a bow. ¡°Yes Sir, call me if you need me sir,¡± he said as he gestured for his cronies to follow him. Troy turned to look at Mike and saw Yunah. He tilted his head in her direction meaningfully. Mike shook his head no. ¡°She¡¯s with me. Whatever you have to say I trust her to hear it too.¡± It wasn¡¯t strictly true. Mike didn¡¯t exactly trust anyone in the current situation. But a show of trust was necessary for their new alliance. It helped that insisting he trusted Yunah let him deny something from Troy and his rising power trip. ¡°Very well,¡± Troy snorted sounding somewhere between amused and annoyed. His hands began to glow red and a cone of red colored magic formed above the three of them. ¡°There. No one can hear what we say now.¡± Mike gave the cone a funny look, which Troy interpreted as asking for more information. He obliged, ¡°I bought a couple of basic spell books. Nothing too fancy. I didn¡¯t have the credits. But now I can do more than start a fire by touching some wood.¡± Mike didn¡¯t feel like beating around the bush. Troy¡¯s cone of silence or whatever it was called seemed excessive. He couldn¡¯t figure out why they needed it. So he asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know for sure that we do, if I¡¯m being honest,¡± Troy said. ¡°But people are acting weird and I don¡¯t want to take any chances.¡± ¡°You mean Rajesh?¡± Mike kept it blunt. If a megalomanical Troy was bad. The confused ¨C possibly scared ¨C Troy in front of him was somehow worse. Making everyone see him as the man with the answers had calmed them down. The problem was they expected him to actually have answers now. He was playing with fire. No. Maybe it was more apt to say he¡¯d mounted a tiger. He couldn¡¯t get off without the tiger turning on him. Not unless he somehow gained control of the tiger first. In other words Troy kept playing at being a mysterious and powerful leader, or he became one in truth. In his heart Mike was glad Troy had taken credit in the beginning. Otherwise he would have been the one everyone saw as a savior. In his brain he cursed that anyone had to have that roll. It made sense psychologically for people to seek out leaders in times of crisis. But things would have been easier if everyone stood firm on their own and worked together. ¡°Maybe the army or the national guard are handling things out there.¡± Yunah suggested to the other two. Troy looked a bit hopeful at that. It was too early to rule out the possibility of an intact government. The appearance of a more familiar, or traditional, authority figure would also get him off the hook. His newfound optimism only lasted a few moments. ¡°I¡¯m not sure that will happen,¡± he said. They moved to the edge of the roof. The cone of silence followed them. ¡°Look down there and tell me what you see.¡± The streets weren¡¯t exactly empty. Here and there lone zombies wandered. In a few windows Mike could see zombies moving through the surrounding buildings. No where did he see living people. Or moving vehicles. They couldn¡¯t see far. Mike only had eyes on a third of the block, maybe less. But it was, dead out there, pun intended. There wasn¡¯t so much as a hint of response from local government. No gunfire or police cruisers, and definitely no sign of a mobilized national guard. Which wasn¡¯t that strange given the unusual nature of the problem and the short time they¡¯d had to react. Local governments were rarely known for quick responses in time of crisis. They didn¡¯t generally get much practice in such areas. That didn¡¯t make the lack of coordinated response any more comforting. Mike realized he had adapted to the new reality unnaturally fast. Part of that was becoming a system user almost immediately after the change. But that couldn¡¯t account for it all. There was a certain flexibility to his mind manybothers lacked. Given real decision making power Mike knew what his basic plan would have been. It had three stages. Stage one was simply to gather as many survivors and supplies into a defensible position as soon as possible. His choice for such a stronghold would have been the college campus. There were several decent options around but the campus was the best. Large open spaces. Numerous walls and buildings built in a sturdy architectural style easily adaptable to medieval level fortification. An intact infrastructure including machine shops, generators, dorm rooms and a preexistent food supply capable of supporting several thousand people for weeks possibly months.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Stage two was a combination stage, recon and recovery. Once fortified he would send teams out to recover survivors and supplies. Their obvious secondary mission being to gather any possible information on the monolith, zombies, old government, and the system that he possibly could. Bringing them to stage three. Eventually something to counterattack had to appear. The monolith would show a vulnerability or its creators would show up. Something would show up worth attacking. That was Mike¡¯s basic plan. For one thrown together, between bashin zombie heads in, it was fairly decent. Unfortunately even if he¡¯d had the power finding his family meant more to him then saving a chunk of the city. Having been sidetracked by his own dark thoughts Mike cleared his throat. ¡°Okay. Tell me what I was supposed to have seen?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t even want to guess huh,¡± Troy mumbled like he was annoyed. The guy liked his showmanship and setup. Mike on the other hand preferred to cut the bull. ¡°Its simple. There is no one out there. No cops. No soldiers. Not even other people like us, using the system.¡± Troy paused expectantly but Mike let him down. He had noticed those very things. But his conclusions had apparently been different to the wizard¡¯s own. Sighing in exasperation Troy made his point. ¡°I don¡¯t know how bad things actually are yet. But at this point we are it. I¡¯d guess quite a few people managed to kill a zombie or two. We¡¯ve been conditioned how to deal with them from decades of movies. But how many of them thought to pick up the crystal covered in brains? My guess? Not too freaking many.¡± Yunah nodded. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have touched it without you guys telling me to, even if I had thought it looked strange.¡± ¡°See,¡± Troy said excitedly, ¡°that¡¯s what I¡¯m saying. We have a leg up on everybody else out there. That means we have a duty to start building a foundation. We need to save as many people as possible.¡± Mike didn¡¯t disagree exactly. He did feel Troy was a bit erratic. A few minutes ago he¡¯d been sure the guy was looking for a way out. Now he was clearly recruiting for some sort of tribe or kingdom scheme. Mike wasn¡¯t against the idea ¨C not really. Especially not considering he¡¯d be on top of the social order. His problem was he wasn¡¯t planning on sticking around the city for long. He had to get to his family as soon as possible. Sticking around to establish a base made it more likely his family wouldn¡¯t be there to save. Weighing his options for a moment Mike decided to make an offer. ¡°I have a basic plan for exactly what you seem to be proposing. But I¡¯m not a big picture guy. I want to stay in the field killing zombies and saving people.¡± It was a total lie. Once his family was safe he would be fully capable to settling down and ignoring the world¡¯s problems. Troy didn¡¯t need to know that. He also didn¡¯t need to know what exactly Mike planned to do in his own. He only needed to feel they were on the same side. ¡°So why don¡¯t you setup the base camp and lead it, while I take control of an elite foraging team. I¡¯ll take Yunah and her friend Sara for starters and we¡¯ll clean out this building of zombies. Then using the credits well outfit ourselves from the system and head out to hunt.¡± Troy smiled, ¡°leaving me here with a cleared base and a known safe zone to build around while we slowly hunt the surrounding buildings focusing on the apartments and grocery/convenience stores for supplies.¡± ¡°Sounds about right. You might want to add sporting goods and any sort of pawn or gun shops you can find. Guns might ruin some of the crystals but they¡¯ll also be safer to use than this crap,¡± Mike said, hefting his ax. He actually enjoyed using the ax, but that was partlybhis physical stats talking. Not everyone was part orc. Just when Mike was starting to feel good Yunah spoke up. ¡°That leaves Rajesh. When Mike isnt around he might just challenge you or something like that.¡± Mike, for one, was surprised when Yunah spoke up. It was a little surprising she was willing to accept their kingdom plan. She was the one who¡¯d mentioned the government saving them after all. Regardless of her real feelings, she had an obvious point. One Mike felt stupid for ignoring. There was something going on with Rajesh. It might just be hero worship that kept him acting stiff and sneaking glances. That was unlikely. It was far more likely he¡¯d also adjusted to the new world and decided he didn¡¯t like taking orders now that he was ¡°strong¡±. Mike being stronger still, was evident, so he¡¯d stay behaved ¨C at least in his presence. But he was almost certainly looking for a chance to strike. ¡°You could take him in your team,¡± Troy suggested. Mike snorted. ¡°Two problems with that. First it¡¯s obvious and if I do ¡®deal with him¡¯ before I come back, or even if I don¡¯t and he manages to get himself killed anyway, we look like the bad guys. Second, I don¡¯t want him at my back. Maybe I¡¯m misreading him and he¡¯s a great guy. But I don¡¯t rhink i am, and I don¡¯t want to give him unlimited chances to set me up. I¡¯m not saying I won¡¯t take him out for you if it needs to be done. I have a feeling that¡¯s exactly the kind of world we live in now. But its too early for everyone else to see it that way. Frankly in the long run it would be better to wait for some other group to demonstrate the fact our new world lacks rules. The people under you won¡¯t forget that you didn¡¯t go there first.¡± ¡°So he doesn¡¯t go with you then¡­ Can I trust him with his own team?¡± Troy asked, but his question didn¡¯t seem to be directed st either Mike or Yunah. After a few moments he shrugged, ¡°I guess I have to give him a team. You¡¯ll take alpha team and he¡¯ll get bravo. A subtle reminder to his pride that you¡¯re better than him. And potentially a target on your back. Sorry.¡± Mike shrugged they both knew Teoy wasn¡¯t sorry. It was a calculated move to direct Rajesh¡¯s attention away from the vulnerable base group under Troy. ¡°And in the mean time you¡¯ll be doing what?¡± Mike asked. Troy smiled vaguely. ¡°You clear the building while Rajesh guards us first. Giving you a bigger head start. Then i let him loose to explore down the block for groceries and weapons etc. That leaves my group the surrounding apartment buildings. A large number of trapped zombies for harvesting in relative safety. I¡¯ll directly monopolize the crystals on the pretext of growing my magic to lay down wards and other magical safeguards. Hopefully it will let me keep pace with you guys out in the shit.¡± The honesty was almost as shocking as the plan¡¯s simple efficiency. It gave Troy a legitimate chance to keep him as strong or stronger than everyone else with considerably less risk. The perfect Coward¡¯s plan. Clearing her throat Yunah said, ¡°if were done for now I¡¯d like to check on Sara.¡± ¡°Fine. Let me know how she is. The minute she can move around on her own I want to get started clearing this place. Giving her a few levels should only make her improve faster.¡± Yunah nodded and Troy dismissed the magic cone so she could walk off. Together the two guys stood stsrign kcer the edge of the rood in silence for several minutes before Troy sighed. ¡°You know even with everything I¡¯ve said, and all our plans I¡¯d still rather see a column of armored vehicles coming down the road. Or better yet to suddenly wake up in my room knowing this was all a dream.¡± Mike didn¡¯t respond. He didn¡¯t have to. They both knew what was real and what was a fantasy. False platitudes wouldn¡¯t change anything. Chapter 09 Sara was awake by the time they came back to her. She claimed to feel fine except for a tenderness in her shoulder. They spent a few minutes getting her up to speed. That included Yunah introducing Mike as their new team leader. If Sara had any problems with the arrangement she didn¡¯t say anything. Although her eyebrows did raise a few times over how talkative Yunah was in front of him. It seemed she noticed her usually shy best friend¡¯s change as well. With a promise to stay at the back Sara convinced Mike to let her join their floor clearing slash rescue efforts. Mike had been about to veto her request when Yunah helpfully reminded him that Sara was a people person. They weren¡¯t bringing Troy. Mike still looked monsterous to anyone that didn¡¯t know the system. They needed a Public Relations person. A face, so to speak. He¡¯d started to suggest Yunah could handle that when the look of determination on her face stopped him cold. He gave in almost immediately. It just wasn¡¯t worth arguing. If the girls didn¡¯t want to stay safe he couldn¡¯t make them. The world no longer had room for coddling. As Mike was about to call himself ready, Yunah gave a last minute suggestion. ¡°Should we check the mission screen while we¡¯re in the safe zone?¡± ¡°U-uh, yeah, obviously. I was just about to suggest we do that.¡± Mike stammered. It was obvious he hadn¡¯t had any such thought. Yunah had the grace to ignore his lame cover up. Sara couldn¡¯t help giggling a little. It was a cute sound, almost like a chipmunk on helium. Cute or not it made Mike¡¯s neck turn bright red from embarrassment. He took a deep breath. Getting mad was pointless. He was the one who told such a bad lie. If they were in the field and he told a lie that made her laugh it might be lead to terrible consequences. In the safe zone it didn¡¯t matter. Opening the Mission menu brought up a sort of job posting board. At the very top was a search box and a filter submenu for weeding down the listed jobs. Mike applied both looking for easy missions in the immediate area. There were a total of seven. All part of the same chain mission. The first six were for liberating floors of the apartment building. The last for defeating the apartment building¡¯s BOSS ¨C Randy the Janitor. Randy had a office in the basement which is where the listing indicated he could be found. The fact there were BOSSes was news to Mike. Unwelcome news. But as he checked the mission rewards he saw each floor would give him five hundred credits. Killing the BOSS and liberating the entire building would turn it into a safe zone and give him a D rank reward. Mike had to check the store to see what ranked rewards were, but it didn¡¯t take long. Basically the really good items required more than just credits. They required rewards. Rewards ranged from D to S ¨C D, C, B, A, S to be exact ¨C and each higher rank was equivalent to five lower rank rewards. In other words an S was worth 5 As, 25 Bs, 125 Cs or 625 Ds. This was in addition to level restrictions on items. Level restrictions were broad and only seemed to apply in specific instances. But they did exist. Mike was a bit intimidated when he spotted a sword requiring three A ranked rewards and a level of seventy five. What kind of power would something like that have? He could only imagine it splitting buildings in half. Zombies would never need such extreme counter measures. Which was a sobering thought. What else was out there besides zombies and BOSSes? Mike closed the store. Back in the mission menu he accepted the seven mission chain. Immediately he got a surprise as an exclaimstion mark appeared to the side of his HUD. Concentrating on it he opened the system message. Mission Accomplished! The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.Congratulations! You have liberated the [4th Floor of the Hanging Garden Apartments] Achievement: You have successfully completed your first misson. Calculating Reward¡­ Reward: 500 Credits Calculating [First Mission] Bonus Reward¡­ Bonus Reward: [Skill: Challenging Roar] Accept Reward: [Yes] / [No] Mike accepted without a second thought. The familiar blue brick appeared and he took the skill book. He then examined it closer to find its effects. [Skill: Challenging Roar] Effect: Attracts target¡¯s undivided attention to the skill user. Duration: 30 Seconds Cooldown: 5 Minutes The skill was a standard ¡°tank¡± skill, further reinforcing the ¡®world is now a game¡¯ vibe. Mike didn¡¯t need to think about whether or not he should learn it. He was currently acting like a tank anyway. Furthermore there were no restrictions on the number of skills or magics he could learn. The only restrictions were class, level and ranked reward based. Even if he never again acted like a tank the skill was not a loss. As he closed out the menus he noticed Yunah and Sara were both staring at him. ¡°What?¡± He asked. Yunah answered with her own question, ¡°What did you just do?¡± ¡°What do you mean? I registered the missions for liberating this apartment building.¡± ¡°And that gave you a skill?¡± ¡°Not directly. But I had already cleared the fourth floor. That gave me the skill.¡± He admitted. ¡°You do realize we weren¡¯t set as a party yet?¡± Mike hadn¡¯t even thought to look if players could become parties. It was such a basic concept in games and he¡¯d overlooked it completely. Before he could apologize Yunah grumbled something in Korean, probably a curse. Then a box appeared asking Mike if he wanted to join her party. Already in the doghouse Mike didn¡¯t bother trying to get her to let him create the party. He just accepted the invite. Yunah checked something in her menu then made an annoyed sound. ¡°Sara and I will both get credit for your clearing the fourth floor but we won¡¯t get the reward now. You¡¯ve already claimed it. Six people could have shared it. That¡¯s twenty five hundred credits and five skill books wasted.¡± Mike was feeling defensive. Yunah had every right to be miffed. Credits were a lifeline in this new world. A zombie only gave ten credits and only then if the player picked up their brain crystal. Five hundred credits was fifty zombies in one go. He knew he¡¯d messed up. That didn¡¯t mean he was going to let the cute little spitfire bully him over it. ¡°Fine I screwed up. I¡¯m sorry. But I call bullshit. Five people didn¡¯t miss out. Two did. There are no other members on our team yet. And don¡¯t try to tell me otherwise.¡± Yunah stood frozen for a moment then like a lightbulb had gone off inside her head she said, ¡°What if we did take three extra members?¡± Mike was about to protest when Sara said, ¡°Hear her out. She¡¯s thought of something good. I can tell.¡± ¡°I have,¡± Yunah said confidently, ¡°I admit it might not work. But like I said, why don¡¯t we register a full team. If the other three get rewards when we do then we take those too, giving them a few credits for their trouble. It might be a way to play the system that¡¯s playing us.¡± Her voice was almost desperate by the end. Mike was already smiling. It probably wouldn¡¯t work. But if it did¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll take this to Troy. I¡¯ll use it to cement our relationship with him so to speak. You two find two others we can use. As soon as Sara is in the system and on the team we¡¯ll have our six members and can start clearing floors.¡± Troy was onboard instantly. He wanted half the credits and an equal share of any non credit rewards to keep his edge over Rajesh. Mike thought it was a bit too greedy. Troy was basically demanding more from charity. He held his tongue. Troy would eventually be managing the apartment safe zone and protecting the rescued survivors. He deserved a bit of compensation for that effort. Mike had zero desire to take over if Troy changed his mind. Sara and Yunah¡¯s party member choices only wanted fifty credits a piece. That was enough for quite a few meals from the store or a very low end weapon. He was impressed by their bargaining. He told them as much before he admitted how much he¡¯d given in to Troy. Neither of them blamed him. They knew Troy was ambitious and held a certain amount of power. Having him as an ally was a good thing, even if it cost a little extra. Feeling somewhat appeased Mike took Sara down a floor and quickly beheaded a zombie for her. She picked the crystal up and after the standard reaction over being blind, handled the transition well. A few minutes later she was holding her system reward, a shield. Seeing it, Mike had thought she would be disappointed in the reward. He¡¯d been wrong. Sara practically caressed the shiny metal disk as she slipped it on her arm. Again Mike wondered over the randomness of the rewards. Maybe Sara wasn¡¯t quite over her fear from getting hit by the jackass with the hockey stick. The shield offered protection which is what she wanted most right now. His theory needed work. He for one had never imagined being an orc. But it seemes to hold true on a basic level. Adding Sara to the party officially brought them up to six members ¨C a full group. They were ready to start killing zombies. Mike fully intended to practice various methods like he was writing a how to book. It might prove useful later to have more than one quick kill technique. Level restrictions and ranked rewards were as good as guaranteeing whatever was happening with the world wouldn¡¯t stop with Hollywood zombies. Mike wanted tonraise a few levels in badass before the next wave hit. Chapter 10 Standing out on the landing of the sixth floor Mike looked through the rectangular window set in the door. Behind him Sara shuffled nervously from one foot to the other. At her side Yunah seemed unflappable. Unless one were to look down and notice her white knuckeled grip on the hilt of her sword. She was ready to draw at a moments notice. A clear sign she was just as nervous as her friend. Mike missed the tension in the air as he counted the zombies he could see. When the group had gone up to the roof they¡¯d bypassed the other floors leaving the zombies alone. More recently he¡¯d come down to the the sixth floor for a crystal. Sara had needed one to become a player. In both trips he¡¯d paid attention to the number of wandering zombies. The first time there had only been a few wandering alone. The second he¡¯d spotted roughly seven in three groups. That included the lone zombie he killed for Sara¡¯s crystal. Things were different now. The zombies had begun to find each other. They were slowly grouping up. It was becoming more and more like the movies. From Mike¡¯s limited vantage point he could make out a single large pack of at least ten zombies gathered together. Ten at once was about five more than he was comfortable with soloing. They needed at least a basic plan of attack. ¡°They¡¯re herding together into one big group now.¡± Mike said, barely above whisper. There was no sense attracting undue attention. ¡°Any ideas?¡± ¡°Kill them faster,¡± Yunah said, caressing the kashira of her sword with her thumb. Mike snorted a laugh. He quickly regained his cool. He wasn¡¯t entirely sure she¡¯d been joking but her answer had caught him off guard. Hesitating a moment Sara offered. ¡°You could borrow my shield. I¡¯ll hang back with my bat and stay out of the way. If any get behind you I¡¯ll get them.¡± Mike nodded liking the thought. ¡°Let¡¯s do that. With a twist. You hand me your shield. Then head up the stairs, out of the way, while were fighting. I don¡¯t even want you helping clean up strays until you¡¯re a level two.No sense taking risks. You¡¯re just barely recovered.¡± Thinking for a moment, he finished the quick plan. ¡°Yunah you hang behind me. I¡¯ll open the doors and funnel them through one or two at a time. If they push me back, you step up and kill them with your mag-¡± he started to say ¡®magic sword¡¯ but catching Yunah¡¯s glare, he changed mid sentence, ¡°super sword.¡± Yunah nodded. Sara, a bit reluctantly, handed over her new shield. Mike slung it on his left arm, tight to his chest and practiced swinging his ax a half dozen times. Working the angles out so he wouldn¡¯t stupidly hit his shield in the fight, Mike smiled grimly. This would be his first real test since killing Jeff. ¡°Everybody ready?¡± Mike asked. Looking over his shoulder he met Yunah¡¯s eyes. She raised one eyebrow quizzically, as if to say, ¡®you have to ask?¡¯ Mike smiled faintly. Yunah had balls. He moved his gaze upwards to catch Sara¡¯s eyes. She did seem nervous. Low leveled, and lacking her system given shield she still nodded her agreement. Mike had a feeling once she settled into things Sara too would become a bad ass. Using his shield arm Mike reached out and pulled open the door. Stepping into it he made sure it caught itself in the open position before he stepped back a bit. The door opening caused a few zombies to look in his direction but it wasn¡¯t until Mike¡¯s ax talked out a quick rhythm on the metal door well that the pack started to move as one.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. A shuffling, stumbling mass of moans and grasping hands, the zombies were still mostly intact. Unlike in the movies they hadn¡¯t been dead long enough to truly decay. Their transformations made them look and smell awful but there were no hanging jaws or dragging entrails. Perhaps Mike had already been slightly desensitized to horror by video games, but as scary as the Zombies were, he had only one thought, ¡®wait for it to cross the threshold before you swing.¡¯ He repeated it like a mantra, using the words to calm himself. His instinct was to rush the mob berserker style. It was a suicidal impulse. No one had confirmed the level of injury by zombie it took to be turned. A single bite or scratch becoming fatal had not been definitively proven. But Mike had no desire to be the guinea pig for that particular experiment. It was possible be could afford the inevitable small injuries he¡¯d receive from taking on ten zombies at once. As a player with a bloodline he was more robust than ordinary people. But a single mistake in his approach would end with him buried under a mass of biting, ripping, monsters. As he¡¯d already told Sara, ¡®why risk it?¡¯ There were no perceivable gains for being reckless. Only greater risks. That wouldn¡¯t aleays be true. Sometimes reckless risk was the right answer. But Mike had no reason to believe that was the case this time. Mike waited till the first zombie was completely over the weatherstripping before he swung. His one handed ax blow lacked some power compared to a two handed swing. It didn¡¯t seem to make much difference to the zombie. The blade sliced into its skull severing its consciousness in an instant. Using less power also caused blood and brain matter to splatter Mike¡¯s face. He had no time to care as the next two zombies pushed forward even before the first corpse had hit the floor. Sickening crunches and gurgling sucking sounds added to the din of the zombie advance as Mike tore into the herd like a woodchipper. Often killers are described as having grace to their movements. Mike had none. He was a graceless killing machine. Brutal. Unstoppable. A professional evaluating his ability would be unable to deny his potential. But they would have noted his inefficient, even clumsy movements. He often made three or four strokes where one would do. That was to say nothing of his near complete disregard for defense once he lost himself in the fight. He was fury personified, abandoning any pretense of skill. Watching him from behind Sara covered her mouth, dropping to her knees to hold back her churning stomach. Yunah¡¯s reaction was quite different as she calmly waited, sword drawn, ready to step in if necessary. Soon Mike found himself standing alone in the doorway. For several seconds he was confused as his brain strove to make sense of the disjointed mess of red tinted memories. A hand on his shoulder and a soft voice in his ear brought understanding back to his world. The fight was over. He¡¯d taken the zombies apart piecemeal. Mike looked at Yunah to thank her and found himself unsure of what to say. He was covered in gore. She¡¯d just watched him mindlessly butcher almost a dozen zombies. Then he¡¯d had to struggle to come back form the battle haze, the violence. She must be wondering what kind of monster I turned into, he thought to himself pitifully. Yunah¡¯s next words sent all such thoughts running. ¡°That was pretty f*cking awesome Mike. You didn¡¯t even need us here. What does it feel like to be unstoppable?¡± Sara, stepping back on the landing, added her opinion, ¡°it was disgusting. Seriously gross. But you were pretty amazing.¡± Mike just shrugged and smiled awkwardly. He¡¯d lived more than twenty years without being complimented by a good looking women. Then it happened twice ¨C back to back. For something he felt vaguely ashamed over in the first place, no less. He really didn¡¯t know what to say. So he stuck with business. ¡°Uh, yeah, I guess we should divide up the crystals?¡± Yunah held up her hand to stiffle a giggle as a grinning Sara said, ¡°I think its fine if you take all of these since you killed them.¡± Mike argued a bit convincing Sara to get to level two for her own safety first. But he took the other eight as offered out of the eleven crystals they found in the mess. Clearing the rest of the sixth floor was a breeze. Mike traded off and on with Yunah for breeching rooms. Even the two rooms theybfound survivors in ¨C three total, a guy named Joe and two female cousins from Wisconsin ¨C only took a few minutes to convince them to retreat to the roof after taking a crystal to become players. By the second to last room Mike even managed to level up to level four. Taking a bit of consideration he put his AP into Quickness to bring him close to evenly distributed on physical stats. Seeing his credits, a combination of zombies, mission reward and savings, Mike considered a trip to the roof after clearing the sixth floor. Ultimately he decided against it. It wouldn¡¯t be too late to take a break after the fifth floor and another six or seven hundred credits.
Name: Mike Tanner ¨C Race:Human (Orc) Occupation: None ¨C Level:4 STR: 1.5 / QUI:1.4 / BOD: 1.5 / MIN: 1.1 / SPI: 1.2 [AP: 0.0] Purse:2140 Credits Skills:[Brute Strength][Sturdy][Dark Vision][Slow Witted]
He said as much to the girls and they agreed. Barring any unforseen future accidents they were starting to see floor clearing more like work than a dangerous mission. Zombies were just too easy outside of big groups. ¡°Make sure we got all the loot. Then let¡¯s head down a level.¡± Mike said, reminding the girls to check for loot boxes. The Zombies only dropped one every twenty or so deaths, but the prizes weren¡¯t total garbage. Already Mike had found a decent dagger with a skull pommel stone and Sara had a banded leather cuirass. Sara¡¯s armor was of obviously low quality, but she was happy with it. So it didn¡¯t matter much to Mike. Chapter 11 Mike felt exhausted. He¡¯d been clearing floors all afternoon. Sara and Yunah had been with him every step of the way. It had been one long, tedious exercise, in repetition. In all that time they had only faced anything approaching serious danger, twice. The first time had been an unexpected apartment party on the third floor. Eight zombie ¡®Bros¡¯ were standing together in the apartment¡¯s living room area. Yunah stumbled onto them after using her super sword to slice through the door. Although she had been caught completely off guard, her steely nerves and competent swordsmanship saved her life. Her skills gave Mike enough time to come barrelling into the scene and clean it up. She reached level four a few apartments later. The second close call was all Mike. A lone female zombie, shuffling along on the second floor, hadn¡¯t seemed any different from her fellows. But when Mike tired to dispatch her carelessly, she¡¯d exploded into motion. Moving at a speed superior to the average unturned human, she¡¯d combined raw zombie power with terrifying control and precision. She hardly suffered at all from the twitching, jerking movements, of her level one counterparts. The shield, Mike borrowed from Sara, saved his life twice, before he saw through the zombie¡¯s pattern. As formidable she might have been, her attacks were only a limited variation on a single theme. After finding the gap in her movements he¡¯d taken off her head. An exclamation mark Mike¡¯s HUD announced his achievement. The female had been a level two zombie. The first of her kind slain in the region. He¡¯d been given a bonus reward of three hundred credits. The revelation of her level had chilled Mike to the core. It meant the gap between levels for zombies was enormous. By comparison a level two player only marginally improved from level one. the player¡¯s only hope was that zombies leveled at a significantly slower speed. Taking her crystal ¨C a larger milky white crystal of almost a thumb¡¯s length ¨C brought Mike to level five. Distributing his AP to Spirit left him feeling somewhat energized.
Name: Mike Tanner ¨C Race:Human (Orc) Occupation: None ¨C Level:5 STR: 1.6 / QUI:1.4 / BOD: 1.6 / MIN: 1.1 / SPI: 1.4 [AP: 0.0]l Purse:4740 Credits This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.Skills:[Brute Strength][Sturdy][Dark Vision][Slow Witted]
After a short conference with the girls they¡¯d moved on to clearing the ground floor. Not that there had been much to clear. The first floor held ¡®entertainment rooms¡¯ on both the west and east sides. It also contained a small indoor pool, a gym and a sauna, as well as a handful of offices and supply closets. There¡¯d only been a handful of zombies in the entire space. That left the only hostile place in the building as the basement. The basement and its BOSS ¡®Randy¡¯. Whoever ¨C or more likely ¨C whatever, he was now. ¡°I guess we need to talk about the basement,¡± Mike said, broaching the topic as they sat lounging on couches in the west lobby. Yunah grunted something non committal but Sara spoke clearly. ¡°We need to go to the roof first. We all have a lot of credits now. The basement is a BOSS fight. I think we should gather a full party of six.¡± Her reasoning was sound. But Mike poked at it anyway, mostly as an excuse to keep sitting for a little longer. ¡°We¡¯re the only ones higher than level three, you think they can even help?¡± Sara snorted, ¡°We formed a party already. They should have gotten some share of the experience from our crystals.¡± Mike acknowledged her point. They didn¡¯t know how, but the crystal energy was definitely split between party members. Sara had been the one to prove it by entering level three after Mike absorbed a crystal. Sara wasn¡¯t done though, ¡°Even if they only gained a single level, we need to gear up. You fought that level two zombie. According to the system it wasn¡¯t BOSS level. Do you really want to fight a BOSS right now?¡± Again she had a point. As time passed Sara had begun to step up. After getting a mace from a zombie drop she¡¯d even started to kill here and there, unprompted. As far as Mike was concerned her analysis was coming from a proven team member. Someone who really understood what they were up against. But he couldn¡¯t quite shake off his laziness. ¡°You really want to walk all the way to the roof to shop. Then pick up some cannon fodder just to come right back down here and fight the BOSS?¡± Yunah answered, clearly amused by his fake whining. ¡°We have to Mike. So suck it up. If we don¡¯t clear the BOSS the building doesn¡¯t become a safe zone. Do you really want to sleep up there with everyone we rescued today all warm and cosy under the stars?¡± If anything Yunah¡¯s point was more motivating for Mike than Sara¡¯s had been. They¡¯d found a few survivors on every floor. There had even been one guy hiding in the closet on the first. The roof now held almost thirty people. Most of which had refused to fight zombies even to save their own lives. He did not relish spending a cold, potentially wet, definitely miserable night, listening to them whine about how the government was going to show up to save them all. Or worse, to hear how barbaric he was for killing sick people. The lot of them were spoiled whimps. Mike recognized he was in the minority. He was someone who¡¯d adapted unusually fast to the violent new reality. Killing his room mate ¨C then having his body altered by a magic serum ¨C had been an eye opener for him. Even beyond that, somehow, he just clicked with the new normal. It hadn¡¯t even been a full twenty four hours and he was starting to get comfortable with the idea of leveling up and killing monsters. Concepts that should never have existed in reality. He understood where everyone else was coming from. If they survived eventually they¡¯d adapt like he had ¨C like Yunah and Sara seemed to be doing. But just because he understood where they might be coming from didn¡¯t mean he was immune to their whining. Reality was staring them in the face and most of them refused to see it. It wasn¡¯t just stupid, it was dangerous. The zombies might not have been able to knock down a door alone. But the group of ten plus zombies or that level two bitch, might have been able to get inside the rooms. Whatever they thought to themselves the survivors had been lucky. Without Mike and co. they would have run out of luck sooner rather than later. ¡°Fine. The roof it is, just give me ten minutes or so. Then we can head back up.¡± He said. Chapter 12 ¡°You¡¯re going to fight this ¡®BOSS¡¯ monster, and you want me to come with you?¡± Troy¡¯s voice sounded skeptical, and a bit condescending. Mike felt annoyed instantly. The magician had sat around on the roof gaining levels for doing nothing. Now that they actually needed his help he didnt think it was worth his time? Then Mike saw Troy¡¯s nervous swallow. Just like that things clicked into place. Everything Troy saidwas an act. A deflection. He didn¡¯t doubt the BOSS¡¯s existence. And he sure wasn¡¯t too good for the party. Troy was just scared. Mike wanted to grab him by the shirt front and shout ¡®Man Up!?¡¯ He managed to hold himself back. Troy was a coward. The more he got to know him the more Mike was sure of it. But he was also a survivor. The contradictory nature of his two sides was the key to his worth. He was a coward who knew how to step up and fight. The question always seemed to be, ¡®how do I get him to fight now?¡¯ Mike had no idea. Bargaining seemed to work sometimes. The problem was Troy always came out ahead in their little trades. It wasn¡¯t a long term solution and it left Mike with a sour taste. The two men were opposites. When they worked together their different approaches came together for a more comprehensive whole. In the end everyone was better for it. Mike could see it. It was the reason he let go of his pride so often around the other man. Surviving was more important than his newfound sense of self worth. Unfortunately it didn¡¯t seem like Troy agreed very often. Their relationship was only half a day old. Already it strained to the breaking point. Yunah put her hand on Mike¡¯s shoulder, stepping up beside him. He let her take over persuading Troy without a second thought. ¡°We came up to the roof to outfit ourselves for the fight. Why don¡¯t we all do that instead of endlessly arguing. I¡¯d really like to sleep in a bed tonight. But the only way that¡¯s happening is if we beat the BOSS.¡± She said, her voice almost seeming tonhabe a calming effect on the two men. Troy gave an awkward smile as he scratched behind his ear. ¡°I¡¯d like to so that, but I didn¡¯t get any credits from the party system, only energy.¡± It was obvious what he was driving at. He wanted credits to make himself safer if he was going to fight with them. Of course that¡¯s exactly what Yunah had been offering. She was just significantly more subtle than Mike would have been about it all. There was non haggling. Yunah, Mike and Sara each offered five hundred credits in an empty trade transfer which Troy accepted. The other two party members were given three hundred credits a piece. An additional six hundred from the team. That left Mike with roughly four thousand total credits. Party member five and six, a Hispanic guy named Romero and a short bubbly brunnete with glasses named Jessica rounded out their party of six. When Rajesh saw them gathering he brought his crew over. Aside from Dan and the original athletic girl they¡¯d added a couple of new members. Mike recognized the cousins from Wisconsin, Becky and Maggie. He¡¯d met them and a guy named Joe on the sixth floor after he¡¯d saved their lives. They both carried some sort of rifle now. He¡¯d never seen anything like it before. It reminded him of his old pellet gun only with a slightly larger bore. Behind them was a huge black guy he¡¯d never noticed before carrying an oversized battle ax that could only have been a system reward. Clearly Rajesh had his own party of six now. And he wanted in on the BOSS fight the minute he heard about it. Mike took one serious look at his group and almost laughed. They were all players. And they all carried weapons. If he understood it right the ax carrying giant ¨C a man almost as big naturally as he was after his change ¨C had fought his was to the roof from being stuck in the elevator shaft on the third floor. Some guy with a hockey stick had turned and almost killed him. He might survive. But the others were level-one, fresh, meat. Taking them was stupid. He argued his point and lost. Troy, perhaps a bit maliciously, fought particularly hard for including them. Annoyed, and worried people were going to die, Mike retreated to plan his system purchases with the girls. *** ¡°I think I want to buy the half plate armor set. That¡¯s almost all of my credits. But I have the shield and my mace so I don¡¯t need thing else¡­¡± Sara paused, thinking, ¡°except maybe the skill [Heavy Armor (Novice)] but it¡¯s a general skill so that¡¯s only another hundred credits if I need it.¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Skills came in a few different flavors. One such flavor was general skills. Skills classified as general skills were split out into five ranks: novice, apprentice, adept, master and grandmaster. Each level was exponentially more expensive then the one below it. Worse still, only novice level general skills could be purchased directly for credits. Starting with apprentice level they also required a ranked reward. Directly learning a skill at the apprentice level required a D rank reward. Adpet required a C, master a B, and Grandmaster an A rank reward. The problem was easily subverted for anyone with confidence in themselves. General skills could grow with the user through a proficiency rating. Purchasing a novice rank skill and raising it to grandmaster was a pipe dream for most. The possibility did exist. It was just significantly easier purchase the skill at a higher level with a ranked reward. Every level unlocked brought with it more of the personal experience and insights of a previous user of the skill. For a skill like [heavy armor] the difference in novice and adept was negligible. An adept might find himself running through rough terrain without worrying about stumbling over loose rocks or exposed roots. For walking and general straight line movement, however, it wouldn¡¯t matter much at all. Skills like [swordsmanship] were where the differences shined. A Master swordsman could make an ordinary sword cut iron like mud. A grandmaster could kill a man with a sheet of paper. In neither case was that directly related to their skill with the blade. It was only a side product. They could fight rings around adept swordsmen ¨C even outnumbered five and more to one. All of this before taking into account attributes, blood lines, magic and equipment. Sara¡¯s announcement made Mike laugh. He understood enough about skills and equipment to know her choice was pretty extreme. She was sacrificing a lot of potential options for a very obvious focus on defense. ¡°What¡¯s with you and armor?¡± He couldn¡¯t help asking. When Sara didnt answer him he looked up to see her zoned out. Unconsciously she was touchingthe corner of her forehead. Mike found himself feeling like an ass. Earlier in the day she was struck by a stray hockey stick. She¡¯d only just recovered from the injury with a combination of leveling up and a heath potion. Her armor fixation was obviously a reaction to the fear of getting hurt. Mike had no skill in psychology. He didn¡¯t know how to help her. Yunah seemed to be letting her friend work it out on her own so he followed her lead. ¡°Never mind. If you can move around in it feel free to get the heaviest armor you can afford.¡± It was a lame attempt to reassure her. Sara¡¯s grateful smirk told him she appreciated the effort anyway. Leaving Sara aside Yunah didn¡¯t take long to make her choices. A set black light armor enchanted with the [stealth] skill, two skills called [light foot] and [thrown weapons (novice)] respectively, and a set of system made throwing knives wiped her out of credits. Her desired role within the team was obviously the scout. She fit the mold quite nicely, quiet, observant and capable of acting on her own. Mike had no objections even though it still left direct combat entirely to him. Her guilt over that fact was likely the reason she took the throwing knives skill set. It gave her the opportunity to support him in combat. Mike¡¯s shopping took more thought. From a gaming perspective he was already fulfilling the role of a tank. He even had a tank skill he¡¯d received for free. The problem was Mike still sincerely believed specialization was too risky. Life wasn¡¯t a game no matter how game-like it had become. If he couldn¡¯t handle every situation that was the same thing as saying he would die sooner or later. Mike had zero desire to die. That left his only option as remaining a jack of all trades focused toward combat. Which might end up being just as bad in the end. Taking a look through the general store first Mike found that clothes were cheap, even work clothes and professional gear. As long as it wasn¡¯t classified as a weapon or armor it would only cost a couple of credits max. He quickly bought a set of thick work clothes in dark colors with steel toes boots and sure grip fingerless gloves. Ignoring modesty he changed right there. Yunah looked away blushing. On the other hand Sara, he noticed, checked out his newly acquired muscles. Once dressed he found he looked a bit like the special forces soldiers in most movies right before they went on a mission. He liked that idea and carried it through with his choice in armor. He selected a modern, almost futuristic looking, overlapping composite polymer plate vest. It was expensive at eight hundred credits and it left his arms exposed. But it would stop bullets, turn knives and distribute blunt force. He thought the trade off was worth it. Weapons came next. Keeping it simple he bought a combat knife and a bearded ax both close ranged system weapons and both middle of the line for non ranked melee weapons. Mike considered taking a third, larger weapon but he still wasn¡¯t sure which direction to take in the future and decided against the waste of credits. That left skills. He wasn¡¯t ready for magic, or specialization so he kept it general. [Martial arts (novice)] and [Basic un-armed Combat (novice)] at a hundred credits each. There were plenty alternative paths he could have taken including specializing in a school of fighting like [Muay Thai (novice)] or [Boxing (novice)]. Mike simply felt foundational styles would leave him more options later. Lastly for skills he took a movement skill called [Foundational Light Body Arts (novice)]. Both a passive general skill and an active one it would help him move faster and more fluidly in his day to day life. Then in combat he could focus on it for explosive increase in speed and evasion. His big spending was then on increasing his basic attributes at one hundred per tenth. The store was uneffected by his negative skills so he could raise his mental attribute without worry.
Name: Mike Tanner ¨C Race:Human (Orc) Occupation: None ¨C Level:5 STR:2.1 / QUI:1.8 / BOD:2.1 / MIN:2.1 / SPI:2.0 [AP: 0.0] Purse:40 Credits Skills:[Brute Strength][Sturdy][Dark Vision][Slow Witted]
By the time he was done he was completely broke. Mike felt he was more the sufficiently compensated for his credits. He was now twice the man he¡¯d been that morning. Better even. Stats were not so simple as one plus one equals two. In the right circumstances one plus one could easily equal three or even more. Feeling his new power washing over him for the first time Mike had no doubt he could shatter Olympic records. Any sport, any record. He felt that good. ¡°Let¡¯s head out,¡± he said as soon as he noticed the awkward stares he wss getting for nxing around so excitedly. There was no sense delaying if everyone else was ready. Chapter 13 Mike felt strange to be walking in such a large group. The two parties of six were making their way down the stairwell in silence. More than one person on the roof had whined about all of their fighters leaving at once. It had only taken Troy a moment to put them all back in line. He simply pointed out that either the roof was a safe zone or it wasn¡¯t. If it was there was no point defending it too thoroughly. If it was not then they didn¡¯t have the manpower to mount a real defense anyway. The area was too exposed and much too large for twelve amateurs to protect. Sobering words no one had wanted to hear. The dissenters had then decided to raise a ¡®militia¡¯ as they called it for when the ¡®hunters¡¯ were away. Mike¡¯s group left before their plans were finished. Not that he would have cared what they decided anyway. A militia was a step in the right direction of adapting to the new world, but it was a baby step. He was running flat out and sometimes it felt like he wasn¡¯t adapting fast enough. Just thinking of the level two zombie brought a chill to his spine that didn¡¯t go away easy. Knowing the level two¡¯s movements were patterned helped his anxiety. All he had to do was see through their movements. It meant fights would take longer but they really weren¡¯t that much more dangerous. Not if he was careful. At least one on one anyway. The story would change if he was fighting two or three of the upgraded deadmen at once. ¡°What are you thinking about,¡± Troy asked. The young mage was walking at his shoulder. He now wore a long black robe and carried a thick leather bound tome. Mike assumed it was agrimoire from the system. It gave off a cold energy, an almost suffocating feeling of death surrounded it. Mike wanted to ask about it. It didn¡¯t fit in with Troy¡¯s whole ¡®fire magic¡¯ gimmick. In the end Mike didn¡¯t ask. He wouldn¡¯t get a satisfying answer. Not unless he paid something for it. The magician guarded his secrets too closely. Maybe he¡¯d been like that before the world changed. Mike wasn¡¯t sure. But he figured Troy¡¯s hunger for power came from the same place as Yunah¡¯s sudden confidence, and his own decisiveness. Side effects of the system revealing the real people hiding in their shells. Troy craved power. Personal or political, it didn¡¯t really matter as long as it was real. Trading favors and guarding secrets was just an extension of the whole mentality. If they became actual friends he would probably open up more. Mike honestly wasn¡¯t sure it was worth the effort. Answering Troy¡¯s question he said, ¡°I¡¯m thinking we need to work together. Like one big team.¡± ¡°Why do you say that? Aren¡¯t you three super badasses now?¡± Mike grunted. Even he didn¡¯t know why he felt so paranoid about the upcoming fight. But paranoid he most definitely was. ¡°That¡¯s a problem too what if we weren¡¯t here. What would the rest of you do?¡± Troy didn¡¯t hesitate to answer grim as it was, ¡°we¡¯d probably still be huddled on the roof waiting for rescue¡­¡± ¡°If you had gotten to the roof at all,¡± Mike reminded him. Troy nodded, recognizing the point. ¡°We owe you a lot.¡± Troy said. ¡°Not my point. I¡¯m only saying you guys need to step up soon. We can¡¯t be everywhere.¡± Mike wanted to mention his mom, to stop hinting and say outright he would be leaving as soon as possible. The words just wouldn¡¯t come. He felt guilty. Had clearing out the building actually been a bad thing for the group? Had he blocked their chance to adapt and grow out of a selfish need to be strong for his family? They weren¡¯t questions he could answer. Especially not when he considered he¡¯d act the same way given a second chance. Making allies might be important. Making friends could wait. ¡°Walk me through our cooperation then.¡± For the first time he was sure he had Troy¡¯s full attention. It sucked that his first admission had to be that was just a gamer with delusions. He¡¯d never lead a combat group etc. Not outside of a game anyway. That didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t have eyes. ¡°Some things are obvious, like long ranged attackers in the back. I guess that¡¯s you, the cousins, and Jessica. There¡¯s really no way around me being in the front line so I¡¯ll take Rajesh, Sara and the big guy with the ax. Dan has a spear so I want him in the second line with Romero and Pony tail over there. Let¡¯s leave Yunah to float around with her stealth. Who knows she might just save us all when this blows up in our faces.¡± Troy thought for a minute then suggested, ¡°What if we held Dan back to protect my group then split into three prongs. You down the middle and Yunah and Rajesh both leading a team?¡± The plan wasn¡¯t significantly different only more fluid so Mike agreed. Though he did have a complaint on Rajesh leading a wing. ¡°Fine but let Sara lead Rajesh¡¯s group. She¡¯s senior and has seen more action. I trust her not to break and run at the first sign of trouble.¡±This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Fair enough,¡± Troy answered, smiling slightly, ¡°Let me tell him the bad news.¡± Mike had to laugh at that. He might not get a long with Troy but seeing how he reacted to Rajesh he knew the magician didn¡¯t actually hate him. That was enough for now. Allies and all of that¡­ The stairs down to the basement were horror movie dark. That is to say they could see but not well. Trying the switches did little good. Mike cursed himself for not thinking to bring a lamp or flashlight. He needn¡¯t have worried. It turned others had them covered. Dan from Rajesh¡¯s group and the short glasses wearing girl from his own, Jessica, had both brought lights. Jessica¡¯s was attached to a bulky plastic looking gun she¡¯d exchanged from the store. Several people took out their cellphones and switched on flashlight apps to help. Then a glaring LED flared to life. Everyone turned and there was Dan duct taping a flashlight to the end of his spear. ¡°What? I don¡¯t like the dark,¡± was all he said. Nobody bothered to ask. The lights did make the trip considerably less spooky. In the distance shadows pooled. And it was easy to imagine things moved beyond the light¡¯s reach. Nothing attacked them. Anything that might have been lurking was scared off by the intensity of their lights. Not that anyone was actually sure there were monsters in the darkness. Imagination tends to react to stress, birthing demons where there where none. As an anticlimactic feeling began to settle in over the group Mike felt his tension rising instead. The system wouldn¡¯t have sent them on a mission to kill the basement BOSS, if there was no BOSS in the basement. ¡°Hold up,¡± he called over his shoulder as he raised a hand. Looking over to the side he met Yunah¡¯s eyes and nodded forward then made a shushing motion. She understood him instantly as she went full stealth mode to silence her movements. Walking with a light footed, feline grace, she disappeared into the dark in moments. Time seemed to crawl as he waited. Had he just sent Yunah to her death? And other such negative thoughts repeated over and over in his mind on a dark loop. Just as he was getting ready to start ordering a rescue mission Yunah appeared at the edge of the light without a sound. Dropping her stealth she walked over to Mike. He motioned for Troy and Sara to join them. After a momentary pause he reluctantly added Rajesh. ¡°What did you find?¡± Mike asked the second everyone was gathered. Yunah looked around the group before locking eyes with him as if to emphasize her report was for Mike not the group. He appreciated the show of loyalty. However, Sara, snickering off to the side, did lessen its impact somewhat. Ignoring Sara, Yunah said, ¡°it¡¯s holed up in the boiler room. I don¡¯t know if it knew we were coming or was always there.¡± The boiler room was relatively small with a third of the already tight space given over to equipment. Working together as one big team would be impossible if they went in after the big guy. ¡°Any chance you can lure him out to meet us?¡± Troy asked hopefully only for Yunah to dash his hopes. ¡°None. He saw me when I entered the boiler room and just sat there watching me.¡± ¡°W-wait he saw you?¡± Mike needed the clarification. Yunah¡¯s stealth mode was impressive. He couldn¡¯t see through it in a short amount of time. It shouldn¡¯t have been surprising. But it was. ¡°Why does it look like?¡± Troy prompted. ¡°Bigger than Mike but rotting like a zombie. I think he was armed too but he didn¡¯t attack me so I didn¡¯t see his weapons.¡± Troy looked at Mike. Mike shrugged, looking around the group. No one knew how to go forward. So Mike stepped up, ¡°I guess we stick to the plan. I¡¯ll hit him first¡­¡± He paused for a second as if the thought just occurred to him.¡±Ah but if I can¡¯t hurt him then we get out of there ASAP. No one dies for a lost cause. Just run. All the way to the roof if you have to¡­¡± Nobody argued. There were a few head nods and mumbled good lucks then everyone broke out into their smaller teams, leaving Mike alone at the front. Hefting his ax in one hand combat knife in the other Mike took a deep breath. Counting to ten helped him stabilize his emotions. Until he knew exactly what he was fighting Mike didn¡¯t want his adrenaline taking hold. Finding the boiler room took little effort. It was down a short hallway from the storage cages on the opposite end of the basement from the laundry room. Mike had never had reason to go there but he knew where it was. The door had a large caution plaque and a sign that read ¡®Boiler Room¡¯ on its heavy metal door. The door was open when Mike came to it. Whether Yunah opened it or the BOSS left it that way he didn¡¯t know. Inside the long rectangular room the floor turned to a metal grating. Every step Mike took announced his presence to the dark. A snuffling in the distance caught Mike¡¯s ear. From recognizing the sound of a zombie moving to the big bastard crashing into him less than a second passed. In blind panic Mike struck out with his ax leaving it embedded deep in the zombie¡¯s chest. Then something slammed into him sending him airborne. Fire magic lit up the air and a *wuff* *wuff* sound of magic powered rifles rang out. People charged and the zombie met them ripping and crushing all in his path. As Mike struggled to stand he shifted his knife to his dominant hand. Everything hurt. His brand new armor was cracked down the front panel. And he¡¯d sprained an ankle by landing badly on it. But he could still move, still fight. Forcing his tender ankle into a momentum building jog he watched the giant monster zombie reach over and rip the ax wielding black man¡¯s left arm from his shoulder. Blood stained everything and while the zombie had several serious wounds it was still going strong. Another globe of Troy¡¯s fire burst on its chest and as it beat the first out with its palms Dan peeked out from behind a workbench to stab the monster in the eye socket. His blow missed by inches, bouncing off the upper cheek bone but the monster¡¯s reaction indicated it had been plenty painful. Stepping on a body Mike recognized as Romero in a detached corner of his mind, he stumbled a half step. It likely saved his life ¨C or at least a few broken bones ¨C as the monster¡¯s weapon, a giant bone mace flew through where his head had been. Swearing he spotted Yunah behind the monster cradling Sara¡¯s head in her hand. He yelled her name as he recovered his balance. She looked up, fury and pain both discernible in her eyes. Without words Mike nodded his chin at the zombie boss. Yunah closed her eyes, breathing out then lifted her sword.She was in. Finally through the chaos Mike shouldered into the zombie. It staggered but Mike was the one overmatched. His strength was not enough to over power the monster so he switched to shallow cuts of his knife. Distracting and annoying he had help from Dan, Troy and at least one of the gun users as he danced within the zombie¡¯s embrace. As the fight dragged on it became obvious Mike¡¯s attacks were not working. Had he not known Yunah was out there waiting to deliver a decisive blow the mental burden might have been too much. Rolling under a nasty swing of the zombie¡¯s mace, Mike caught a glimpse of Rajesh huddled up against some crates. Terrified his gaze constantly moved between the fight and the door. Mike spat at him in disgust, returning to the dance. His energy was far from unlimited though and soon he found himself a half step too late. Mike¡¯s only consolation was he ate fist not mace as the blow took him straight to the floor. Grinning and spitting blood Mike noticed movement in the corner of his eyes. Praying he was right he used his skill challenging roar. Instantly the zombie¡¯s attention was focused on him, even ignoring a fireball from Troy. Though the fire seemed to be smaller than before. The zombie raised its mace in a two handed grip high over head. Mike closed his eyes in resignation for a moment until he heard the scream. Yunah, having jumped to the zombies back, rammed her sword into the monster¡¯s neck. Even after the seemingly fatal wound, the zombie still reached back and unslug Yunah hard into the metal grating. Seeing the zombies face so close to his own Mike exploded upwards in pain and desperation. Taking his combat knife he drove it into the zombies throat, up into the roof of its mouth and deep into its brain. Collapsing he felt the zombie¡¯s weight added to his own. A red system announcement appeared in his HUD. He was too busy to bother with it. ¡°Troy!?¡± Mike called, praying things weren¡¯t as bad as they seemed. Chapter 14 ¡°Troy!?¡± Mike called again. The magician rushed into view looking a bit singed around the edges but otherwise fine. ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Check on Yunah.¡± Troy knelt down next to the big man and touched the zombie Boss corpse. Whatever he was thinking he didn¡¯t share it as he looked down into Mike¡¯s eyes. ¡°We¡¯re checking on everyone right now. I¡¯ve got us more or less organized.¡± Mike closed his eyes. A singular moment replayed in his mind as if on a loop. Helplessly he watched again and again as Yunah¡¯s body hit the ground with such force she bounced off the grating. He cringed and pushed the thought away. Every life was important. Not just Yunah¡¯s. ¡°Get me a status update then. As quick as you can¡­¡± He hesitated, realizing he sounded commanding. Letting his voice soften he added, ¡°please.¡± ¡°I¡¯m on it. You should probably do your voodoo and make this place a safe zone. We don¡¯t want to be surprised by another wave of zombies. We might need the store for medical supplies too.¡± Troy was already walking off as he spoke. His voice trailed away leaving Mike alone with his thoughts. The magician was right, completing the mission was priority one. Delaying helped no one. Checking the system announcement he saw the boss had been a level four zombie, a Brutus. It wasn¡¯t even a real BOSS just a regular named monster type. One they would probably be fighting regularly in time. The thought was the worst one he¡¯d had all day. Unlike the fast level two the Brutus had been independent thinking. It didn¡¯t use preset attack patterns. It reacted directly to stimulus. Worse still it had muscles dense enough to turn bullets, strength enough to bust concrete, and the agility of a professional linebacker. Even considering the five hundred credits he received for contributing a death blow against one, Mike personally hoped never to see another. Officially registering the mission as complete added another five hundred credits to his account. Immediately after the familiar blue of a safe zone began to glow out from the outer walls and floor of the building. In the dark basement it was enough to almost make up for the lack of the usually fluorescent lighting. Now that the building was safe theybcould spend the night indoor on soft beds. It was funny how important that had seemed before the attack.Now Mike wondered if they shouldn¡¯t have just slept outside. Taking on a ¡®BOSS¡¯ blind had been a mistake. A mistake they could no longer take back. One that had cost lives. His only real comfort was the decision had not been his alone. Sharing the blame around might just be enough to let him sleep at night going forward. Worried about the wounded, Mike decided it was time to get up. Grunting and groaning he managed to leverage himself out from under the big dead zombie. As it fell back to the floor with a *whump* of air Mike saw the BOSS had dropped an item box. He ignored it. There was little chance it was a healing item. Anything that couldn¡¯t help the immediate situation could wait. It seemed wrong to take the loot before checking on the wounded. They weren¡¯t in a game, real people actually died. Disrespectful didn¡¯t begin to cover it if he put his personal gain first. Besides he wasn¡¯t the only one with claim on the item. Mike did pick up his knife and ax, cleaned them off on the zombie¡¯s ripped pants then slide them into their places on his gear. They were his, bought and paid for. Retrieving them was sensible not looting. Spotting Troy huddled with Dan off to the side Mike jogged over. He purposely kept his eyes off the ground as if not seeing the carnage would somehow make it less real. Stepping up to the huddle Mike cleared his throat and pointed vaguely at the shimmering blue walls. ¡°I turned in the mission. We should be safe for now.¡± Then looking over at Troy added a hesitant, emotional, ¡°Status update?¡± Troy scanned the ground for a few moments before looking up. Only Mike would meet his eyes. Nodding as if he¡¯d expected no less he said, ¡°We got f*cked up. I¡¯m sure everyone is perfectly aware of that fact.¡± Mike grunted, not amused. Troy ignored him. His round about way of talking was as much a personal thing as it was for the group. He¡¯d never seen anyone close to him die before. ¡°Luckiky it seems like things aren¡¯t as bad as they look. We only lost five people outright, Hector, Maggie, Becky, Emily¡­¡±Troy had to pause. Mike wasn¡¯t an idiot. He understood the fifth casualty could only be one of two. It just came down to which one. His fists clenched and he swallowed. He hated the fact he had a preference. It only made the news worse when it came, ¡°Yunah.¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Tears fell down his cheeks but no sobs. Frankly the tears were a surprise. He¡¯d known he was getting close to her but ultimately it had been less than a day. They were barely friends much less in a relationship. Swallowing Mike forced his mind on business. The athletic looking brunette from Rajesh¡¯s team should have been the Emily listed. What happened to the big black guy? He distinctly remembered watching as the monster ripped off one of his arms. He asked as much. Troy gave a grim smile. ¡°Daruis is one tough bastard. I had to use magic to stop his bleeding. But he will live.¡± Dan off to the side laughed once hysterically, interrupting, ¡°right, ¡®use magic¡¯. He burned the dude¡¯s wounds shut with his bare hands. It was some of the manliest sh*t I¡¯ve ever seen.¡± Troy glared at Dan who ignored the other man¡¯s anger with a smirk. It seemed to Mike that whatever shell Dan had been behind before the battle it was broken now. They weren¡¯t two teams anymore. Which reminded him, ¡®where was Rajesh?¡¯ The hammer wielding ass hid most of the fight. He needed some kind of punishment for that. Maybe delivering it would help Mike¡¯s mood. Troy cleared his throat adding, ¡°Darius might never fight again. He could easily turn into a huge liability. But I don¡¯t think he will. There are several system enhancements for missing limbs. He may not like the idea but I think Darius would make a pretty great cyborg.¡± Mike imagined the giant with a metal arm and thick leather duster and smiled. The idea had potential. ¡°Sounds good. And Sara?¡± Mike didn¡¯t even realize the group was listening to him like a leader. He asked questions and expected answers. The fact Troy had gone out of his way to provide them went completely over his head. Troy looked to Dan who blinked in surprise at the sudden attention. Taking a deep breath he ran a hand through his unruly mat of dirty blonde hair. ¡°Umm, well, the girls are all down for the count. Sara lost a lot of blood. Its too early to say for now. Maggie, Becky, and Emily all died instantaneously. The big bastard hit the cousins with a bunch of scrap metal. No aim but a lot of sharp edges. Then poor Emily took a shot to the face that took her head clean off. I suppose Jessica will make it. But she¡¯s in camp Darius. Her right foot got mangled bad and she lost her left eye.¡± Mike swore. He¡¯d known Sara was in bad shape. But he had assumed Jessica was safe after not hearing her listed as dead. He also noticed Dan didn¡¯t mention Yunah¡­ He felt strangely grateful for the gesture though. So he didn¡¯t mention it. Shaking it off he said, ¡°Cyborg parts for Jessica too? We really can¡¯t afford to drop too many fighters at once.¡± It was Troy, who answered. ¡°Maybe she can be convinced in time but this is all still pretty new. Psychologically it will probably be harder to get her to consider the upgrades. Guys are raised to think robots are cool. Girls are not.¡± Dan shook his head defensively, ¡°Jessica will get a new foot and she¡¯ll take the eye too. She understands the bigger picture. A cripple won¡¯t survive for very long outside a safe zone. She¡¯s practical enough to see that.¡± He sounded like he knew her intimately. Maybe he did. Mike didn¡¯t much care beyond what they were going to do for Sara. About that time a feminie scream of pain sounded further into the room. Mike didnt so much as hesitate before he was running, cranking his light body arts full tilt, and holding his ax ready to use. He came upon them faster than anyone expected. Rajesh had found a wicked looking dagger with black blade worked in pulsing red runes. Without a doubt Mike knew it was the zombie boss¡¯s drop. And he¡¯d already used it. Darius the one armed guy was staring up at the ceiling, forever unseeing. Not far from him Jessica clutched at the stump of her right elbow. In some detached part of Mike¡¯s brain he saw Jessica and thought, ¡®lucky she¡¯s going to be a cyborg anyway¡¯. The stray thought did nothing to lessen his anger at Rajesh¡¯s betrayal. It was too low, too despicable. On some level he¡¯d know the guy was a sleazebag and a coward. But Troy wasn¡¯t exactly a warrior and he still contributed. He¡¯d just expected Rajesh would do the same in time. Having dispatched Darius and incapacitated Jessica Rajesh had his back to Mike as he dug through the zombie boss¡¯s skull. No explanations were necesary. Cold fury gripped Mike¡¯s heart. Only in the moments after his ax separatedRajesh¡¯s head from his shoulders did it occur to Mike he could have stopped the man without killing him. Jessics for one seemed grateful he acted so decisively. Troy also seemed fine with his actions. Dan however hooked more like he wanted to vomit than anything. Mike decided to justify himself. He kept it short and sweet. ¡°He murdered Darius. Stole from the group. And he hid during the big fight. This wasn¡¯t complicated or political. The world outside isn¡¯t safe. We don¡¯t have the luxury of coddling a murderer caught in the act.¡± In the back of his mind Mike was aware he¡¯d just laid down a part of what could become their group¡¯s operating procedure. The realization brought a sudden need for validation. ¡°Tell me I¡¯m wrong?¡± No one argued with him. Not even Dan who¡¯d been part of Rajesh¡¯s little crew from the start. Satisfied he hadn¡¯t over stepped his authority Mike turned to Jessica. ¡°What do you need to stop the bleeding?¡± She smiled weakly looking at the stump of her arm laying on the ground and said, ¡°I don¡¯t see any need in healing if I¡¯m just going to buy a system enhancement anyway.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± Mike asked and as she nodded he clarified, ¡°you can afford that?¡± She gave him a strange look at the question, before seeming to realize he was offering to help her pay for the upgrades. ¡°As part of your party I got five hunded credits for the mission and another hundred for the Boss kill. All the genetic enhancements that would regrow my body are too expensive. But I can actually afford the lowest grade cybernetics. It will be a while before anyone calls me pretty again though.¡± As if to emphasize she opened the box that appeared floating in front of her. When the robotic arm came out she jammed it against her bleeding elbow with a wince. Several black cables shot out and into her upper arm connecting the two. Moments later she was operating her new metallic fingers with a look of wonder. From start to finish she never cried out. Mike couldn¡¯t help being impressed by her balls. Her new hand was on the bulky side, looking like something from a cheap 80s science fiction movie. It seemed to meet her approval anyway. Two more times Jessica added cybernetics to her body. A bliking red eye and a pair of large metal boots that went over her damaged foot without replacing it. As she had said by the end she was no longer the cute mousey brunette but a deadly cyborg. Mike didn¡¯t think her change was as dramatic as she¡¯d made it out to be. Her eye was distracting and he¡¯d never ask to hold her hand but her freckles were no less cute and her lips no less soft looking or pink. Remembering Yunah the direction of his thoughts made him feel guilty for some reason. He decided against telling Jessica she still looked cute to him. Instead he looked around a bit flustered trying to find Troy. Spotting the mage hunched over excitedly examining the black knife Rajesh had stolen he made his way over. Whatever the knife was Troy clearly seemed to think it was important which meant it probably was. Hopefully it wouldn¡¯t lead to another mission so soon. Mike really wasn¡¯t really up for another fight. Chapter 15 ¡°What is it?¡± Mike asked startling the mage as he stepped up to his side. Troy snorted, not amused at being bothered. His annoyance passed almost as quickly as it arrived. ¡°It¡¯s a second chance is what it is,¡± he answered. The answer meant nothing to Mike, making it useless. ¡°What do you mean? What second chance?¡± Troy was already lost in his thoughts. He couldn¡¯t be distracted by logical questions. Instead he answered Mike¡¯s questions with a couple of his own. ¡°You¡¯ve seen my new book? Felt it?¡± Mike hesitated to answer. Could anyone feel a book? But he knew the answer. As absurd as it seemed he had in fact felt the book. It felt cold. Deathlike. Oppressive. He had not gotten a good impression from it. He also had the distinct feeling it ran counter to Troy¡¯s own system-given fire elemental affinity. Troy read the answer on his face, without needing him to say a word. ¡°I knew you noticed it. You¡¯re the only one whose gaze lingered. The only person to think it was a strange way to spend my credits. You really can feel it can¡¯t you? I¡¯m not wrong?¡± Mike wanted to deny it, to ignore the book entirely. His instincts screamed it was bad news. But Troy was so excited and lying didn¡¯t gain him anything. He answered succinctly. ¡°It feels cold. Almost like death.¡± Troy laughed, ¡°amazing you really can feel it. Yeah that¡¯s exactly right. There is a perfectly valid reason it feels like death though. It¡¯s the grimoirie of an apprentice necromancer. It was the best I could afford. At least he was taught by a real master.¡± Mike stared back at him neither excited nor repulsed. He¡¯d played enough games over the years to understand the theoretical appeal of the necromancer class. Controlling vast armies of skeletal warriors, punctuated by stronger undead and other foul death magics. It was a mage class built primarily for solo play ¨C or, in parties, crowd control. If anything in the new world-turned-game its appeal was even greater. Mike just failed to see how it fit with the knife and their situation in general. ¡°Hold up. Rewind. Finish your first thought. Why were you excited about the knife?¡± Troy nodded. Still excited he cleared his throat and straightened his robes. But despite his regained calm he didn¡¯t immediately start talking about the knife. He began to explain his choice of grimiores instead. ¡°I bought the grimoirie to learn about zombies ¨C from the source so to speak.¡± A true knee jerk reaction Mike couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°but they could have been medical or voodoo zombies, not necromantic.¡± He¡¯d played enough games and read enough fiction to know there wasn¡¯t just one type of zombie. Troy smiled, almost but not quite, condescendingly. ¡°I did consider those options. In fact there was a voodoo priestess¡¯s grimoirie, one who worshiped a fire loah, which would have been more compatible with my existing magic. A little research into voodoo zombie creation was enough to rule it out. Medical zombies too. Maybe you didn¡¯t notice but these zombies are all cold. Dead.¡± Seeing confusion written plain on Mike¡¯s face he held up his hand, ¡°No you don¡¯t have to ask. I¡¯ll explain,¡± Troy cut off Mike¡¯s questions before he could ask them. ¡°Just think about it. Any time you¡¯ve touched the zombie¡¯s they¡¯ve felt room temperature or colder right? Well the voodoo zombies I looked at are brought back to life by igniting their soul¡¯s fire again. That brings back a base desire to feed. A warmth also seeps into their bodies. By the same token medical zombies are constantly running a high fever. Of course that¡¯s all just conjecture. But it was enough to make me realize I needed to look for magic to create ¡°cold zombies¡±. That¡¯s how I found my grimoirie on necromancy. It has nothing to do with fire or fever.¡± Troy paused looking at Mike like he was explaining basic math ¨C one plus one is two. It didnt feel so basic to Mike. But it was impressive. Unless Troy was full of it, he was claiming to have discovered how to recreate zombies like the ones they were fighting. Less than twenty four hours ago they hadn¡¯t even known zombies were real. Now Troy could make them. ¡°Like I said, my original goal was to find their weaknesses. If a line of salt, or a phrase in Latin, would stop them I wanted to know. Except it turns out these basic zombies we are fighting are too simple even for that. They take zero effort to build. There is no spell work or enchanting involved. Literally all that¡¯s needed is a dead body and magic. More specifically the life energies used in magic ¨C called mana. Just inject a corpse with mana and it gets up and walks again. There are obvious side effects of course. No safe guards were used or control systems put into place. The zombie¡¯s are literally mindless reanimated corpses. Blank slates.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. It does seem the system somehow allows them to level. Consequently they slowly gain an ever increasing strength of will and autonomy. But I have to admit that side of things is beyond me right now.¡± Mike stood there dumbstruck for a moment that magic could be so simple. Inject mana into dead body and it comes back as a zombie? An idiot could achieve that. Assuming he had the ability to generate mana anyway. There were several implications to Troy¡¯s research. Potentially the undead tide could not only be stopped, but controlled, even directed. There was just one thing bugging him. ¡°What does this have to do with that damn knife?¡± Mike asked pointing. Troy rolled his eyes at the ¡®Orc¡¯s impatience. He wasn¡¯t done with his explanations. Obviously everything he was saying would lead back to the knife. But Mike was too damn impatient. ¡°Obviously the book talks about more than zombies¡­¡± Mike couldn¡¯t help snorting. What Troy was actually saying ¨C he felt ¨C washe forgot the question Mike had asked him in the first place. It wasn¡¯t true and wasn¡¯t fair to Troy for Mike to write him off like that. Troy had simply chosen to share all of his new understandings rather than the strictly pertinent ones. It was a show of Tory¡¯s trust not an attempt to avoid answering questions about the knife. Glaring at Mike, Troy cleared his throat, ¡°I would think some people would be more grateful considering what I¡¯ve learned.¡± Mike rolled his eyes. Privately he swore, ¡®but i can¡¯t know what you¡¯ve learned until you share it!¡¯. Publically he played along, apologizing he begged to be enlightened. ¡°Very well.¡± Troy said, somewhst appeased, ¡°the ¡®knife¡¯, as you call it, is vampiric in nature. Specifically it contains the spirit of a lesser vampire.¡± Mike was lost. He admitted as much. ¡°Everything else aside, what Im saying is by sacrificing this dagger ¨C through a minor necromantic ritual ¨C we can potentially revive a fallen companion as a vampire¡­ Well as alesser vampire anyway.¡± Mike understood the second time. Not the how. But the how didn¡¯t matter to him anyway. All that mattered was the fact they had a chance to revive someone. For a moment he couldn¡¯t breathe. Then reality came rushing back. His smile became a serious stoic mask. ¡°Three questions,¡± Mike said struggling to remain calm, ¡°first question, what is the exact cost?¡± ¡°U-uh exact cost is¡­¡± ¡°Second question. How sure are you it will work? A ballpark percentage.¡± Again Troy stammered out an indecisive statement as Mike continued over him. ¡°Third question. What could go wrong?¡± Troy stared at Mike for several minutes. The silence hung awkward in the air. Both Dan and Jessica excused themselves to return to the roof and inform everyone else what had happened. Still they sat there quietly staring. Just as Mike¡¯s patience reached its end, Troy cleared his throat. ¡°I will answer your questions, but first I will say this, a resurrection item from the system cost a minimum of ten thousand credits and a C rank reward. It also requires a complete intact body and a safe zone That¡¯s how much the system ¡®valuates¡¯ the ability to defy death.¡± Mike nodded. If Troy said it was that high it meant he had already looked it up. The numbers were intense but not unbelievable. Seeing he wouldn¡¯t have to argue Troy continued, ¡°so you can see how circumventing the system to revive someone would likely have risks involved?¡± Mike nodded. That much was obvious. All he wanted to know was the level of risks. So he was making an informed decision, not just a blind leap of faith. ¡°Very well then. To answer the first question. What is the cost? I do not know. It could be as simple as credits or as dark as years from our lives. What I do know is according to the spell, the more who participate in the ritual the less each must give up.¡± Again that made sense. Mike nodded keeping his silence. ¡°Your second question ¨C will it work? Is intimately connected to the third -what could go wrong? The short answer is it will work. Once the forces are invoked they will complete their task. How they complete it is where the problems come in. I have no guarantee the only soul we will pull back will be Yunah¡¯s or that she will even want to come back. In either case we could end up with a monster in our midst.¡± Understanding the risks Mike sighed. The smart answer was to walk away. But he knew he couldn¡¯t do that. A new question occurred to him then. ¡°Its probably stupid to ask but we only get one revive out of that thing?¡± ¡°Yes. One spirit one revive. And everyone else is pretty mangled up. Yunah¡¯s spine can be restored with a potion then her soul can be restored from the ritual. None of the others are as lucky. Even if she wasn¡¯t already our choice she¡¯d still be the only option.¡± Mike set him to work. Then he purchased a couple of potions. Waking Sara first he explained the situation and she agreed to join in sharing the cost, then they restored Yunah¡¯s ¡®vessel¡¯ for the ritual. Soon the floor was covered in chalk lines and circles interspaces with Latin, Sanskrit, oracle bone script and even older languages. In the middle of the circle lay Yunah¡¯s body. Hands crossed under her pert breasts she clutched the vampiric dagger point downward towards her naval. Pale white with raven dark hair she was only missing the vibrant red lips to be a ¡®Cinderella awaiting her Prince¡¯ or another ¡®sleeping beauty¡¯. ¡°Take your places,¡± Troy said looking up from where he was just finishing a section of the spell work. Mike hesitated. He¡¯d been expecting they would call everyone from the roof down to share the costs. But Sara and Troy were already moving and the circle had begun to glow ghostly white. The ritual was happening with or without him. He took his place with a grim smile of resignation. He had wanted her back it was only fair he pay the cost. Troy was only involved as a chance to test his new magic and Sara had just exited a coma for the second time in twelve or so hours. He was under no delusions about who would be paying ¡®the price¡¯. At least he went in thinking that way. It soon became apparent something was wrong with the distribution of cost. Troy alowly began to shake and sweat, his face a mask of pain. Mike watching his struggle however felt only the barest tingling over his skin. If Sara felt even that much it was hard to tell. The ritual was not just a few hands waves and mumbled words in some foegotten demonic tongue. It drew on longer and longer. The more time passed the more obvious the ritual¡¯s costs became. First Troy¡¯s robes began to smoke then his skin crackled and painfully burned away without so much as a pause in his chanting. The magic had its hold. The spell would be finished. Even as he burned down to skeleton his voice continued chanting, his gestures and movements directed by magical force not tendon and muscle. As the inevitable climax built Troy¡¯s hands shot up toward the heavens and the dagger upon Yunah¡¯s chest shattered in a spray of dark black smoke. The smoke rushed down her throat through her node and mouth causing her body to jerk and twitch. Slowly color returned to her skin. At the same time the magic released them finally allowing Troy¡¯s screaming howling pain to be heard in one compressed inhumane yowl. His bones collapsed into a heap as his robes turned to ashes around him. To the side Sara collapsed spitting up a mouthful of congealed blood on the concrete and passing out. Her shallow breathing still visibly pumped her chest up and down. But she was clearly down for the count. Confused and alone, only Mike stood unaffected. Chapter 16 ¡°W-T-F?¡± Mike said softly and without inflection as he looked over the aftermath of Troy¡¯s magic experiment. His mind was in too much of a mess to do much more than stand in shocked silence. The girls were both deathly pale but breathing, albeit shallowly. Troy on the other hand had been burned down to his skeleton, his body ¨C nothing more than a pile of bones ¨C sat in the ashes of his destroyed equipment. The concrete floor around his feet was burnt into a strange skull like symbol Mike had never seen before. Obviously something had gone wrong. Maybe everything had gone wrong. Mike didn¡¯t know. He just knew he felt completely fine. That, strangely, worried him. Sara was the first to stir. Her pained groan cut through Mike¡¯s shock, bringing his awareness back into the moment Mike immediately considered stepping over and buying her another potion. Pragmatism stayed his hand. He¡¯d wasted two potions on her already for no return. He saw no benefit to wasting another. If he did end up spending the credits it made more sense to wait till Yunah was up and watching. Then at least he earned brownie points. Sara¡¯s obvious pain did concern him. He felt terrible about not helping more. Pragmatism warred with sentimentality in an invisible battlefield. Mike stuck with his decision anyway. Reminding himself that Sarahadn¡¯t bothered to learn his name, until after the world went to shit, did help make him feel a bit better. The thoughts weren¡¯t apples and oranges. How someone treated him before zombies and after both said things about their character. The Sara before hadn¡¯t been rude exactly, just disinterested. The Sara since had only ever been nice to him. Still feelings aren¡¯t always logical. Mike not giving her a potion was a logical decision based on contribution versus cost. So far Sara simply hadn¡¯t contributed as much as she cost. Further increasing that gap made no sense. ¡°Are you okay Sara?¡± Mike asked, hoping she didn¡¯t take the initiative to ask for a potion. Turning her down would be more than a little awkward. Her voice was weak when she finally answered, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Mostly. I just feel weak. Like someone drained my energy.¡± The more she talked the stronger she sounded. With a visible struggle she sat up where she fell, taking in the immediate area. If she noticed the pile of bones or the scorch marks and made the connection between them and Troy she gave no visible reaction. Her eyes were completely focused on Yunah who had yet to move. Mike didn¡¯t talk, he wasn¡¯t sure what to say. Instead he bought a cold pack of soda from the system and handed her a can. He hoped the sugar would help energize her. Drinking also gave them both a reason to sit in companionable silence. The longer they sat the better Yunah looked. It wasn¡¯t a quick process. Slowly her skin began to glow. Her breathing rhythm normalized. From there it only took Sara gently shaking her shoulder to bring her back. ¡°Ahhhhh!?¡± She screamed, her spine arching as her had shot out and grabbed Sara around the throat. Mike, sweating on the inside lunged forward and wrestled her into submission. Holding her arms pinned from a high mount position he could only smirk at how awkward things were when she finally recognized him. ¡°Mike?¡± ¡°Yeah, its me,¡± he said. ¡°Could you get off of me? You¡¯re pretty heavy.¡± Even Sara laughed a little, lightening the mood somewhat. As soon as everyone was under control Mike let Sara explain what exactly had happened. ¡°So I died?¡± Was understandably Yunah¡¯s first question. Feeling the heavy vibe in the room Mike didn¡¯t known what to say as he cozied up to the side of a warm metal pipe a few feet further into the room. Sara had handled things well to that point. He let her retain control of the conversation. For a while he just watched the two girls as they talked. Staring at them so openly even the day before would have had him labeled a creep. He felt no shame in his actions. He was hardly planning anything untoward. It just struck him that two of the most attractive girls on campus had come to depend on him over the last twelve hours. Before, he¡¯d largely managed to ignore the strangeness of that. It was becoming harder without and immediate a threat to preoccupy his thoughts. Sara was a traditional cheerleader type outgoing blonde with full lips and breasts and long smooth legs. Tanned but to her chosen level of perfection with an impeccable sense of fashion. She was almost the generic ¡°pretty girl¡± from any highschool in America.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Yunah was shorter with raven black hair. Her proportions were smaller. But she carried then off with a dignified air, like royalty. An air that would occasionally be spoiled by a childish joke or impish grin so at odds with her princess like aura the gap could make the most stone hearted man feel moved. Her new changes only seemed to enhance her base beauty. Where before her skin had been porcelain, now it was jade. Her dignified brown eyes ¨C now red¨C held a hint of actual power. Her cute little ears were now pointed like a Vulcan¡¯s and her ¡°fangs¡± were simply her upper canine teeth elongated by a fraction. ¡°Done with your inspection?¡± Yunah asked him, clearly amused at his blatant ¡®checkout¡¯. Mike almost stammered some embarrassed apology but caught himself. ¡°Just taking in the scenery.¡± He said instead with a smirk. Sara laughed sending a playful wink at him. Yunah just rolled her eyes though Mike thought her cheeks might have flushed a bit ¡°The world really has completely changed,¡± a familiar voice grunted out sounding equal parts amused and displeased. Mike knew that voice. But it was impossible he was hearing it. The confusion and fear that followed gave him a lot to consider. Even having seen Yunah rise from the dead hearing Troy speaking after being turned into bones was too insane. Were there any limits to this so-called ¡®system¡¯? Clearly it could mess with such a fundamental force as death. Was there even a level beyond that kind of power? The questions didn¡¯t really matted but they wouldn¡¯t stop coming either. Eventually Mike recovered enough to ask the obvious question, ¡°Troy? Is that you?¡± A slight movement in the pile ofbones and the black magician¡¯s skull seemed to sort of hop on top of the pile. Then, with no obvious vocal chords or other means of sound generation he spoke by virtue of moving his jaws. ¡°As far as I can tell I¡¯m still me. St least mentally. Metaphysically I¡¯m probably pretty fucked up looking.¡± Mike let the bait slide away without reacting. He wanted real world answers not a pointless debate none would win so Troy could fee sorry for himself. They needed to start small and keep it more or less general. ¡°How?¡± Was the best Mike could come up with. Troy laughed, receiving an awkward laugh from Yunah and Sara who both seemed to be coming out of their shell shock after seeing Mike talking more or less normally with the pile of bones. ¡°The question is both simple and impossibly complex. The simple answer is I walked right into a curse. The system didn¡¯t like my loophole so it punished me. If I was really cynical I could say the spell was a trap for arrogant beginners. But its more complicated then that.¡± ¡°How so?¡± Mike had asked before it even registered consciously. Giving Troy the perfect chance to sidetrack the conversation towards the whys and how¡¯s of his problem. Troy seemed to get Mike¡¯s unspoken annoyance to some degree and mercifully kept his answer short. Short for such a complex and multifaceted topic anyway. ¡°As near as I can tell the magic and items offered in the system are all real somewhere.¡±Surprisingly Troy held up a hand from the voice ltof bones to forestall any questions. Taking the momentary pause he rebuilt himself to waist-high with his head once more on his shoulers. Only now it was even harder for Mike to accept the Skeleton was the one talking. Closing his eyes for a moment he focused only on Troy¡¯s renewed voice. ¡°Basically at some point my magic book belonged to an actual necromancer¡¯s apprentice somewhere. It was him who actually devised the ritual. The problem is this ¡®system¡¯ that governs everything seems to be sentient on some level.¡± ¡°Are you saying you think the system has thoughts and feelings? Like it¡¯s a living and breathing thing?¡± Yunah asked, the idea seeming to fill her with a sense of awe. Troy snorted, but his answer wasnt condescending only doubtful, ¡°I don¡¯t think igiant Artificial Intelligence or some equivalent to that concept. I can¡¯t say too much for certain but I can tell you the system has actual emotions. It was offended and angered by my attempt to circumvent its rules. At the same time it seemed to be mildly impressed and unable or maybe only unwilling to directly interfere.¡± ¡°If it didn¡¯t interfere then how were you cursed?¡± Sara asked pointedly. Troy sighed, Mike opened his eyes to see the skeleton completely lreformed, hunched over running a finger against the concrete distractedly. After a moment troy sat up and his ¡®eyes¡¯ ¨C living flames in the sockets of his skull ¨C flared with intensity. ¡°Everything I¡¯m saying is speculation. Like an ant catching a glimpse of a humans mind and creating conjectures based on it¡¯s understanding of life.¡± He waited for the others to nod before he continued. ¡°I felt real emotion. Anger, betrayal, and then amusement and even finally acceptance. But it wasn¡¯t human, it was too abstract and intense for that. Maybe I totally misread everything. It doesn¡¯t really matter though because I do understand my curse. Originally the cost of reviving Yunah would have been split among those whoanted her back. I judged that was probably the three of us. Adding someone insincere might have backfired. Anyway all the curse did was split the cost differently. I paid the cost of flesh, bone and blood for reshaping. Sara paid the cost of spirit and vitality of the calling. And Mike paid the system¡¯s toll of credits.¡± Looking at Mike he added that¡¯s why you feel fine. But your purse probably took white a hit. Suppressing a groan Mike confirmed Troy¡¯s hypothesis. He was bankrupt. Less than ten credits to his name. He hadn¡¯t noticed earlier when he bought the soda cause the cost ratio was so low it only took a single credit for mist general items. He¡¯d need to get hunting again as soon as possible Yunah had shrunk in on herself during Tory¡¯s narrative. She looked down at the concrete in what was probably a mixture of self pity andshame as she said, ¡°sorry guys. I¡¯ll try to be worth it.¡± Mike almost laughed at her but held it back. She was the most ¡°worth it¡± member of the group or would be soon as far as he could tell. Combat capable with stealth abilities, brains and more than a little courage, she was the complete package. He was just a reckless bruiser and Troy was a cowardly armchair general. Troy¡¯s answer was quite different from whatever he might have said had he trusted himself to speak. ¡°No worries. I think I might actually like this body better for now. It has drawbacks, like I think I¡¯m technically a monster for now so I level slower and evolve between monster types. But I get benefits like restless, and indefatigable. Basically I can study magic without end and never get hungry sleepy or mentally drained. Eventually I can evolve into a player race again and be a necromancer. Or possibly stay a monster to become a lich of some sort.¡± Mike felt chills from the new Troy¡¯s outlook. The coward was gone that was for sure. On the one hand it was comforting. On another it was potentially terrifying. Suddenly feeling the day¡¯s exhaustion like a weight between his shoulders Mike shrugged and suggested they head to bed. In the morning he¡¯d bring up finding his family and see what they said. In the mean time he was tired and hungry.