David found a pair of awesome stones. They were long, jagged, and hopefully more durable than the other stone. He didn’t want to resume looking for new stones after every fight, as that would be annoying and embarrassing.

Still, the stones were better than nothing, allowing David to move to the next step. The attribute point.

I should be able to use it…somehow.

He licked his lip and nodded slowly.

“Interface! Status! Status window! Stat sheet! Information board!” David tried several commands, but the first one would have already been enough. Once again, the intent behind his call was the crucial factor.

Name – David Stears

Class – Cleric

Rank – Iron II

Body – Low(Basic)

Mind – Low(Basic)

Soul – Lowest(Basic)

[Skill Runes]

[Cure Wounds] – [Tier-0 I]

[Cleanse] – [Tier-0 I]

Attribute Points – 1

Hmmm.

The interface was less interesting than expected.

This is quite simple, or am I missing something? Increasing my Rank grants me Attribute Points, which can be used to strengthen one of three stats. Also, since I’m gaining proficiency from using my Skill Runes, they can probably rank up as well. The more proficiency I gain, the better the Skill Runes will be. Can I gain something from training my Skill Runes? Will I receive Attribute Points if they rank up?

David had many questions, but most could only be answered with thorough research. Something he couldn’t afford right now.

“Upgrade Body!” David muttered, and the system, detecting his intent, followed his command immediately.

[One Attribute Point has been used to enhance the User’s Body.]

Low(Basic) → Low(+)(Basic)

After the rectangular screen popped up, time seemed to come to a crawl. Several seconds felt like tens of minutes as David waited for something to happen. But nothing happened. He waited for nothing.

“Seriously?” David’s eyebrows arched in surprise and contentment. The notification was lackluster, to put it simply. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but hard-earned Attribute Points, even if it was only one, should have some effect, right?

He kicked a nearby stone in a fit, expecting the peach-sized stone to fly a few meters, but that didn’t happen. There wasn’t a pang of pain either. The hellish pain he should have felt from the sudden movement was not there. It had been reduced to a minor inconvenience. Still painful, but much easier to bear.

At the same time as David noticed this, he also realized something else. The stone he’d kicked shattered upon impact.

“What the?!”

His eyes trailed behind the fleeting stone shrapnels, his brows shooting to the sky.

He swallowed hard, put the jagged stones aside, and tried lifting a heavy stone. His body was still not fully healed, and in pain; however, David lifted the heavy stone easily. He groaned in pain once, but that was it.

I wasn’t that strong before, was I? Would I have been able to lift a stone like that before all of ‘this’ happened?

David doubted it. That confirmed his suspicion.

The Body property had to be related to all physical attributes. Body should be considered a rough indicator of the User’s stamina, endurance, agility, strength, and natural regeneration.

Maybe it indicated more, but David could test the four characteristics with simple tests while the natural regeneration was apparent. David doubted he would have healed this much with his old regeneration. He’d always healed fast, but the combination of [Cure Wounds] and an increased Body property must have been the deciding factors.

To test out how much Body changed, David sprinted across the least damaged areas of the sidewalk. It hurt, but it was bearable. In the first place, it was necessary to be able to endure pain in a situation like this. The world had changed. his stamina and agility, and pinched himself and carried some heavy stones to test how much his physical endurance and strength had improved.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

It wasn’t a shocking improvement but was enough to dispel David’s dissatisfaction.

I need strength, agility, and endurance to survive in a world like this, but what exactly is this about Mind and Soul? How are they benefitting me? Will improving Mind increase my intelligence? That is…unlikely. Maybe it will improve my memory, accelerate my thinking, and enhance my Holy Sea’s recovery speed.

The latter was an uncertainty, but it was among the most important aspects in David’s opinion. Maybe the Soul property was responsible for the Holy Sea’s size and recovery speed. David had no idea but would have to figure out sooner or later.

However, for now, David was satisfied with improving Body.

He rested a little and checked on his Holy Sea before it was time to move one. David reunited with the awesome pair of jagged stones and walked along the burst concrete street.

I have no place to stay, and I’m starting to get hungry. It will be difficult to get by on food and water—or maybe only food. Mashorn Park’s lake and [Cleanse] should solve the water shortage.

Several plans to move forward formed in David’s head, but walking no less than twenty minutes revealed that his complex plans weren’t needed.

A large intersection appeared before him. The intersection was wide, and destroyed beyond repair, but it revealed the shopping center to his left, and a small supermarket on the other side of the street to his right.

Contrary to David’s expectations, the shopping center seemed to be standing strong. In fact, it almost looked like more buildings across the intersection had survived the earthquake. There were still signs of destruction, but it didn’t seem to be as bad as the area behind him. That was good.

Maybe my area was the earthquake’s center. Or the entire area was built with cheap materials. Whatever… There might be survivors somewhere!

David wasn’t exactly an introvert, but he would never consider himself an extrovert. Nonetheless, fighting the end of the world alongside others increased his chances of survival drastically. Especially being a Cleric and all.

He was a bit relieved at the news he’d gathered from the condition of the shopping center and the buildings behind, but that didn’t solve his main problem.

He was hungry.

Unfortunately, the supermarket was not like the shopping center. If anything, it was far from its former glory. Before the earthquake struck, the supermarket had two floors and was crowded due to its highly competitive prices. Now, the supermarket was no more. The entire building, except for one wall, had collapsed.

There shouldn’t be any Infected in the market’s remains. Nobody works there that early. That leaves a ton of food for me to plunder without getting bothered.

Most groceries were probably crushed, but a lot could be salvaged. Maybe it would be even more if he were to use [Cleanse].

There is no way I’m wasting precious holy power for something like that!

He crossed the intersection and reached the supermarket’s remains in no time. His head flicked left and right to search for Infected, but when he couldn’t find any, David started searching for salvageable food. He had only been in the small supermarket a few times since he ate out most of the time, but he knew where he could find preservable goods. At least, he thought he knew where everything was located.

If I climb this pile of rubble, move left, and pass the billboard, I…should be near–...

David was interrupted by a sudden commotion. A woman’s scream, followed by the shout of two men, rang out to his left.

David tensed up, his head flicking to the source of screams and shouts. The first thing he saw was a young woman. She had short black hair, sharp facial features, and short legs. That was probably why she was struggling so much. The woman carried a wooden staff and rushed out of the shopping center, trying to keep up with the two men before her. One of the men was small but agile. He was at the top of the small group, his expression distorted into a hideous grimace.

David couldn’t make out every detail from the distance, but he had blonde hair and carried a bow and quiver with him. The other man, a giant of a man, was either a bodybuilder or loved working out more than his girlfriend, if he had one. He carried a double-edged longsword.

Where did they find these weapons? You’re not trying to tell me that they had a bow and longsword at home? I can accept the wooden staff and the bow, maybe, but that longsword…really?

David recognized where the sound of shattered glass was coming from. He looked behind the short woman and saw the culprits. Infected, probably two dozen, if not more, pursued the three survivors. They crashed into the entrance gates and several glass doors and shattered them.

David had no clue how the glass doors had survived the earthquake.

But what he could tell for sure was that his first encounter with survivors promised to be interesting.

The short man spun around when the woman screamed again. He grasped his bow tightly, retrieved an arrow, and nocked it smoothly. David watched the man’s posture improve drastically as he pulled the bowstring back. The bowstring was fully pulled back at once, and the man took aim and shot.

The first arrow pierced an Infected’s throat, which didn’t inflict any lasting damage. The Infected continued moving and charged forward. It took a second arrow to eliminate the first Infected. The arrow pierced the Infected’s eye socket and brain in one go.

Impressive. His Class must be Hunter.

The woman screeched again, this time in pain. An Infected reached her and scratched her several times while a blue mass gathered atop the wooden staff.

Before David could realize what was happening, the blue mass burst forward, piercing through the head of the Infected who’d just scratched her.

“Fuck!” The giant of a man cursed as he arrived behind her, “Why the hell are you so slo–...”

He swallowed the last words seeing the woman bawl her eyes out.

Grasping his longsword tightly, the man faced the incoming horde of Infected.

“Keep fighting. Once they’re dead, we will help you!” He said, but there was no confidence behind his words.

The woman had been scratched. She was already dead in his eyes.

But if he thinks she’s dead…why would he stay with her?

Did he feel bad about abandoning someone? Was it his morale that kept him there?

That was foolish, especially without a Cleric among them. The woman was as good as dead.