It had only been a few hours since Terry and his group set off from the others. They had run into quite a few abandoned vehicles on their way East, taking the time to search each one and take what they thought might be useful. They didn’t find a whole lot, mostly blankets, some food and water a few other useful items.
Terry kept his eyes and ears open, making sure to keep a close eye on the fields, even though they were all open. It was getting darker out as they moved along and he started looking out for a place to camp for the night. He saw a sign for a rest stop one mile ahead, he told the group they would probably be able to hole up there for the night.
Terry pushed the group to get to the rest stop before full dark, there was some complaints about the pace but they made it. The rest stop came into view and it was a brown brick building, with pane glass windows on the front and two glass doors on each end of the windows. As they got to the rest stop, Terry went in first to clear it out. The building consisted of a front foyer with vending machines and a men’s restroom on the left and a women’s restroom on the right. Not finding any monsters in the building he motioned for the rest to come up. Each person had a backpack with some supplies in it, that they got from the vehicles. Jeremy had a crowbar and they used that to pry open the vending machines in the foyer. They could use what was in the vending machines and it should last them a few more days.
As the group started in on getting the machines open, Terry went outside and went around the building. Making sure that there were no other places of entry, he also scouted the area. It was mostly open with a few trees and picnic tables, so he should be able to see anything coming at night. When he got done scouting, he posted his minotaur minion to guard one of the doors and he went inside and sat down against the other one. The minotaur would wake him if anything came.
As Terry sat on the floor, he tuned in a little to what the others were talking about but only caught snippets of the conversation. He leaned his head against the door and closed his eyes trying to get some sleep while they were up. It wasn’t long before he was asleep, and seemed even shorter when he felt a thrum in his head from his minotaur.
Terry’s eyes flung open and he looked around. It was pitch black with just a little bit of moonlight streaming in from the windows. He saw the rest of the group laying around sleeping, he tried to be quiet and got up. Slowly turning around to look out the windows, he saw his minotaur in a ready stance and looking off into the distance. He tried to look out at what it was seeing but didn’t see anything within the darkness.
Terry slowly and quietly opened the door and stepped out into the moonlit night. It wasn’t completely dark as there was a partial moon and the stars shining down. He put his hand on his sword and walked over to his minotaur, putting his hand on it as he got close. It turned towards him and snorted, then looked back to what it was staring at before. He caught a glimpse of something out in the darkness from it but couldn’t make it out.
Just as Terry was about to leave, he heard something running. Turning to look back he squinted and just barely saw some shadow coming towards them. He drew his sword and got ready, the minotaur raising his own sword. Out of the darkness came a kid, running towards them followed by another and then a woman. They were all followed by about a dozen monsters.
“Over here!” Terry shouted. Watching as the kids and woman veered towards his voice. He then stepped over to the window and pounded on it, yelling to the ones inside. “Wake up, we’ve got incoming.”
Without waiting for a reply, he hoped they would wake up but didn’t have time to make sure. He stepped forward and waited for the group of kids to get to them, not wanting to be too far away from the building. The first kid got to him and he pushed him towards the far door telling him to go inside. The others followed suit and he could finally make out what the monsters were.
There was a dozen or so of them that were coming towards Terry. They were about a foot tall with fluffy looking fur and wicked looking fangs that shone in the moonlight. As he focused on the closest one it came up as a level six furball. Laughing at the little monsters he stepped forward and met them as they got close.
They were short so Terry had to watch his swings as he met them. One jumped at his head and he ducked under it, thinking quickly he cast his ward spell, feeling the magic wrap around him. Just as a second one jumped at his chest and tried to sink its fangs into him but bounced off the ward. He backhanded it, knocking it back, then kicked the next one that was by his foot. The minotaur was swinging his sword back and forth as six of the little monsters swarmed around it.
The other six were swarming around Terry as he backed up against the building trying to keep them all in front of him. He brought his sword up and slashed as the next one jumped at him, slicing it in two, but the halves fell to the ground and suddenly there were two furballs in their place. Looking over at his minotaur he saw that instead of six of the little bastards there were now eight. He ordered his minotaur to stop using the sword and just smash them with its hooves or hands.
Terry kicked one that jumped towards him and bolted away from the group of monsters. Looking behind him, he saw the furballs following him, so turning around he let loose a firebolt and hit the lead one. Leading them on, he kept turning and firing when he could, slowly whittling them down until the last one fell. Looking over at his minotaur he saw that it had stomped on all the furballs.
Going around and looting all the bodies Terry got some fur and sharp teeth, all of which he put in his inventory. Going back to the building he looked around before entering it, ordering his minotaur to keep watch. Looking at his combat log he noticed that indeed they would multiply if cut in two. He also got 5760 experience from the fight. Pulling up his messages he saw:
Congratulations, you have reached level 4! You have 10 unassigned stat points and 6 skill points available.
Terry put three points into constitution, six into agility and one into luck. Making his stats fairly well rounded. He also couldn’t use any of his skill points so he just saved those, making his stats look like so.
Name: Terry Roth
Unassigned Skill Points: 6
Level: 4
Health: 240
Mana:230
Stamina: 240
Race: Human, Male
Pets: 3/3
Class: Battle Necromancer (Apprentice, Unique)
Strength: 24
Constitution: 24
Agility: 23
Intelligence: 23
Wisdom: 23
Charisma: 12
Luck: 15
Non-Class Skills:
Sneak 2 Sword Mastery 4
Commanding Roar 1
Abilities:
Connection to the Universe Resurrection
Class Skills:
Summon bone weapon 1 Summon minion 1
Spells:
Apprentice Heal 1 Apprentice firebolt 4
Apprentice ward 1
Terry saw that he had gained the sneak and sword mastery skills and had leveled them up a bit. He guessed trailing those furballs had helped level his firebolt some, that should help, since he gained some damage from each of the spells level.
After Terry was done looking at his stats he looked around at the people. Everyone was up and milling about, the newest members were being comforted by the old ones. So, Terry sat back down against the door and tried to go back to sleep. All that running around wore him out.
The sun was cresting the horizon when Terry opened his eyes and looked around. Everyone was still sleeping and it looked like the women and children were grouped up with the men circling around them. He quietly stood up and opened the door, stepping outside and looking around the area. He saw all the furballs bodies and wondered if they would just disappear or what. Since there were so many of them, he decided to see if he could make weapons for everyone.
He walked up to the ones his minotaur had stomped and cast summon bone weapon on the one, pulling a long sword out from it. Repeating the process, he cast it again and again, pulling five long swords out for the men and then daggers for the rest of them. Putting them all in his inventory he went back inside where the group was just starting to wake up.
When the whole group was awake Terry asked the new woman what her plans were.
“I don’t know, I’m not even sure where exactly I am.”
“Well, we’re heading to Minnesota, you’re welcome to join us if you’d like. Are those your kids?”
“No, I just found them when I started getting chased by those fur things.”
“What about you two, what are your plans?” Terry asked as he turned to look at the kids.
“I don’t know…” the girl whispered and looked at the boy.
“Where’s your family?”
“They were killed when we were on the road, my sister and I hid while our parents drew the monsters away from us.” The boy replied as tears started to form in his eyes.
The boy looked like he was ten, maybe eleven, and the girl looked to be about eight or nine. They had a family resemblance so Terry believed them. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with them but he supposed he couldn’t just leave them to their own. Even if he brought them back to Minnesota with them, they would at least be safe. Or so he hoped.
“What classes are you guys?” Terry asked the three new people.
“I’m a light shaper, can bend light and blind people and such.” The woman answered.
“I took the thief class.” The boy answered. “But I don’t just steal things, it’s more like a rogue.”
“I’m a ranger.” The little girl answered. “I liked that I could have animals and commune with nature.”
“Well those are all pretty good classes; they should come in handy for you. Like I said you’re all welcome to come with us, but only if you’re going the same direction.”
“So, you would just leave us if we didn’t want to go with you?” The woman asked aghast.
“We’ll I’m not a babysitter, so yeah.”
“Well then I guess I’m going with you.” She pouted.
“What about you two?” Terry asked the kids.
“Well we really don’t have any other place to go and we don’t have any close family, so I guess it would be best if we came with you.” The boy answered.
“Okay, good. We should get going then while the day is still early. We have a long way to go. Also, I got these for everyone.” Terry said as he pulled out the first long sword from his inventory and went to hand it to one of the men.
“You… Want us to use those?” The man asked cringing away from Terry.
“They’re weapons, they would come in handy if you needed them. So, yes, I want you to use them.”
The man tentatively reached his hand out and took the sword. He still cringed when he touched it but the reasoning was sound so he swallowed and put the sword on his belt.
Terry handed out the rest of the swords to the men, all of them having the same reaction. Then he pulled out the daggers and handed them out to the women and children, the boy taking his with a smile on his face.
“Are you sure you should be handing sharp things to the kids?” The seamstress asked.
“They may be kids but they deserve to be able to protect themselves as well. Plus, we can teach them while we travel. And they both have classes that daggers will work good with.”
“I love it, thank you!” The boy said and rushed forward and hugged Terry.
“You’re welcome. And hopefully I’ll be able to get a bow for you to use soon.” He said to the girl.
Now that all the weapons were handed out and on their hips, Terry got them moving and back on the road. He thought they were making good time when they didn’t run into any monsters, which was nice. Though they didn’t run into any humans either. He wondered where everyone was at, as it was weird not seeing any people. They peeked in most of the vehicles that they passed and he picked up a few more items they might be able to use. He still hid the fact that he had a bag of holding, so he would secretly sneak things into there when he could.
After another day and night of walking Terry’s group got closer to Des Moines, Iowa. He thought they had been lucky that they hadn’t run into any monsters but as they got closer to the city he started to get worried. The terrain had changed around the city, instead of being flat and nothing around, a forest had started to grow up around the city, it wasn’t very big just yet but he thought it would be eventually. They were going to be passing through the city on their way East, so he was thinking the illusionist guy might get some good experience.
Just before they entered the city Terry and the group got ambushed by some monsters. They jumped out of the nubile forest and surrounded the group. There were eight of them and they looked like sponges, the green and yellow kind, except they were about four feet tall and two feet wide. They had arms that ended with clawed hands and fans that looked sharp.
Terry quickly casted his ward spell and felt the magic wrap around him. Looking around he yelled for the men to surround the women and children. The light shaper and guard though stepped forward and pulled their daggers out. The guards’ skin shimmered and Terry saw magic swirl around her as she cast a spell. The first sponge creature jumped forward and swiped at him, the rest following it.
Terry knocked back the one that had jumped and focused on it, it came up as a level nine sponge warrior. Ordering his minotaur to try and get as many of their attention as he could, while he used his own commanding how to draw his towards him. Reaching out his hand he let loose a firebolt at the closest one and heard it sizzle. Turning around he sliced and cut at the sponges, drawing gashes and screams from them.
Terry took off, drawing his sponges around the group, turning and firing a firebolt at the lead one and turning and slashing with his sword when they got close. It took a while but they finally got them taken care of, though with a few more cuts and scrapes.
As Terry went around and looted the bodies, he got some fangs and claws, but not much else. Looking at his messages as he got done with looting, he focused on them.
Congratulations, you have reached level 5! You have 10 unassigned stat points and 8 skill points.
Congratulations, you have reached level 6! You have 20 unassigned stat points and 10 skill points.
Terry looked at his stats and decided to put five points in constitution, agility and intelligence and three into wisdom and two into luck. He didn’t have much luck in his previous life and if he could change that just by putting a few points into a stat, he would take it. He also looked at his skills, and since he was past level five, he could unlock a few more. He put a second point into summon bone weapon and summon minion. Following those strings up he put a point into summon bone armor and increase minion health. In between those were leech life and slowing curse.
Summon bone armor allowed him to rip the bones from a corpse and form some armor around himself. Leech life damaged an enemy and then he absorbed the damage as health. Slowing curse allowed him to slow an enemy by 50% for 10 seconds. All of them seemed like they would come in handy in fights. His stats looking like so.
Name: Terry Roth
Unassigned Skill Points: 4
Level: 6
Health: 330
Mana:360
Stamina: 325
Race: Human, Male
Pets: 3/3
Class: Battle Necromancer (Apprentice, Unique)
Strength: 32
Constitution: 33
Agility: 32
Intelligence: 36
Wisdom: 34
Charisma: 16
Luck: 19
Non-Class Skills:
Sneak 2 Sword Mastery 5
Commanding Roar 1
Abilities:
Connection to the Universe Resurrection
Class Skills:
Summon bone weapon 2 Summon minion 2
Summon bone armor 1 Increase minion health 1 (Passive)
Leech life 1 Slowing curse 1
Spells:
Apprentice Heal 1 Apprentice firebolt 5
Apprentice ward 2
After Terry was done looting and checking his stats, he got the group moving again, wanting to be far enough away from the bodies before something came to eat them. As they got in the city limits Terry turned to the illusionist and asked him what he could do.
“Well I have a spell that will put an illusion around a three-meter area, but I can’t move from the area.”
“That should work well for when we camp. What about you light shaper, do you have anything useful?”
“My name is Tamara.” The light shaper woman replied. She was about five foot eight with long black hair and dark skin. She looked like she at least knew how to handle herself.
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“Okay, Tamara. Do you have anything useful that might help us out?”
“Not really, I only have one skill and it’s only for me. I can bend the light around my body to become semi-transparent and it only lasts for thirty seconds.”
“That would be useful for scouting. Anyone else have anything that might be useful on the journey?”
Most of the rest didn’t have any combat skills, but they did have ones that would be useful. They made it to a gas station that was still mostly intact, so Terry cleared it and they settled down for the night. Having the illusionist put up a simple illusion Terry looked out the windows at the approaching darkness. Looking back at the group, they had grabbed what they could from the shelves and were chowing down.
Terry let his minotaur stand guard at the door while he sat down and closed his eyes. He brought his stats up and looked at them, then focused on pets tab. Bringing it up he focused on the first one, pumpkin. When he selected pumpkin, he felt a connection come to life and he could feel him. He got flashes of things, hunger, silence, screams. He tried focusing on the hunger, it had been a few days now since the world went black, and the cats were locked in his apartment. Terry worried about them and if he would get there in time. He focused on Bella then, and got the same feelings.
Sighing, Terry closed the connections but he could still feel them a bit. Selecting his third pet, Claire, he reached out to her. This time he got a clearer picture and could make out some words. She was with his parents and was helping them gather survivors. He could also feel that she had grown and was about twice the size she was normally. He told her she was a good girl and to keep doing what she was doing, but to be careful.
Closing that connection left a little bit stronger one than the cats, Terry thought that it could have to do with she was being fed and leveling up. Turning his attention back to his surroundings, he saw the group sitting on the floor, chatting quietly.
“Do you think anyone is left alive in the city?” One of the men asked.
“I don’t know, but I don’t really feel like going too far into it. Those monsters that ambushed up earlier were higher levels than us and that was outside the city.” Another man replied.
“I’m with you, I’m not risking going into the city.”
“So, what’s everyone’s plans now that we’re close to Des Moines?” Terry spoke up.
The group turned and looked at Terry, one of the women speaking up. “I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m going with him.” She nodded at Terry.
The rest of the group nodded in return. “Okay then, we’ll try and skirt around as much of the city as we can tomorrow. Tamara, you should try and keep that camouflage up as much as you can, just in case.”
“I will keep my shield up as well; in case we get ambushed again.” The guard woman, Izzy, said.
“Yeah that would be wise. I think tomorrow I’ll see about getting a new minion too. I love the minotaur but he’s only a level five. Now we should all try and get some sleep; the illusion should help us sleep a little better.”
With that Terry closed his eyes again and tried to sleep. It only felt like it had been a minute when Terry opened his eyes and the sun was starting to shine in. Stretching and groaning he looked around at the rest, he was the first one up. Getting up quietly he grabbed some food and went outside to eat. There was a bench so he sat down and waited for the rest of them to get up.
Terry had just finished eating when he heard chittering and chirping coming from up the road. He looked around and figured this might be a good time to do a little hunting. Opening the door, he brought the minotaur out and started heading towards the noise. When he got closer, he ducked into a crouch and started sneaking forward. He peeked around the building corner and saw seven creatures that looked like goblins, standing around a fire. Off to the side he saw cages made of debris and garbage but he couldn’t see what was inside.
Trying to focus on the closest one didn’t bring anything up, so he figured he must not be close enough. Looking around, he saw some abandoned cars, so staying in a crouch he ran towards the nearest one. His minotaur trying to be stealthy as well and doing a surprisingly good job at it. Though it was funny watching it try and hide behind a Prius.
Terry peeked over the hood of the car; they were still about twenty yards away from the creatures but they hadn’t noticed him yet. There was another vehicle between him and them, so he rounded the car and headed for it, they were now about ten yards away. Making sure he had his ward spell up, he peeked around the vehicle and shot a firebolt at the closest one.
The firebolt hit his target and they all spun around to look at Terry. Terry focused on it and it came up as a level nine goblin. The one he hit started running towards him, raising its sword and yelling. Terry stepped out from the vehicle with his own sword raised and waited for it to get to him. He was able to fire off one more firebolt before it got to him, when it did it swung its sword and he blocked it with his own. Kicking out with his foot, he knocked the little guy onto its butt and then plunged his sword into its chest.
Pulling the sword out, Terry brought it up and blocked a strike from the next goblin. Getting a sword in his left side for his efforts, he ordered his minotaur to come up behind them and start in. He quickly cast his heal spell and back handed the goblin that had struck him. Pulling back his sword then pushing forward with it he knocked the goblin off balance and then swung his sword across its chest, cutting it deep. He didn’t have time to finish it off, as another goblin came at him from his right and he jumped back from it.
Looking around him Terry saw his minotaur pummeling goblins in the back, it looked like it was taking a beating as well. Using his commanding roar, he drew all the goblin’s attention to him. Gripping his sword tightly, he swallowed and stepped into the goblins, swinging like a madman. He felt his sword connect more than a few times but he could feel his ward getting hit as well. It was at this time that his mind went to the fact that he actually didn’t know how to use the sword, he was just going on what he had seen in movies and anime.
Terry felt his ward spell shatter and with a thought he targeted one of the downed goblins and cast summon bone armor with a crack and rip he was suddenly encased in bone armor, covering his chest, legs and arms. He still had about twenty seconds left on his ward spell cooldown so he started to back away from the goblins and keep them fighting one on one. While their attention was on him, he could see his minotaur slashing at the backs of the goblins.
It took them nearly twenty minutes to kill all of the goblins, but they finally got them. There was a trail of bodies all over the road, it looked like a massacre, but Terry and his minotaur looked just as bad. His bone armor had cracked and chipped in places and both their swords were nicked and down to single digit durability. Going around to the bodies he quickly looted them and then cast summon bone armor on one, summon minion on another and summon bone weapon on the rest, getting a long sword for himself, a couple bows and quiver of bone arrows and a dagger for his new level nine goblin minion.
After Terry was all done summoning weapons and armor, he went over to the cages and looked inside. What he saw was not pretty, in one cage there was a man looking like he was tortured. He was curled up in a ball and mumbling about something. His hair and pants were a mess and he was missing his shirt, his torso cut and bloody. Terry cut the chain and opened the door, then moved to the next one. It was a similar scene but with a woman and she seemed to be even more out of it.
Neither one of the people moved, even after Terry had moved off a ways. They were too broken by this new world and he didn’t feel like taking them with and caring for them, especially with how unresponsive they were. He knew they were someone’s mom and dad but knowing that they were like this just made it worse. Going back to the cage with the man in it, he knelt down and put his hand on him, the man pulling away from him. The woman did the same thing.
Sighing, Terry knew what he was going to do. He couldn’t leave them and he couldn’t take them with. He went to the first cage and pulled the man out and pushed his blade into the man’s chest, then doing the same with the woman. he said a few words for them then turned and went back to the gas station. Knowing he did the right thing but still feeling sad for them, he decided not to tell the rest of the group what he’d done.
As Terry headed back to the gas station, he saw a message blinking in his vision. He focused on it and brought it up.
Congratulations, you have been awarded the title of Slayer of the Innocent. With this title you will do 15% more damage to innocent’s and +100 reputation with certain races.
Well crap, this ought to be good. Terry thought and focused on the title, hoping he would be able to hide it or something.
Would you like to hide your title? Yes/no.
Yes.
Know this, creatures with higher levels or certain skills may be able to see your titles even when hidden.
Well that should help a little at least. Terry thought. Getting to the station he looked at the illusion that covered it, it was pretty good. No one would even give it a second thought unless they knew. Going inside he found the rest of the group awake and eating, they all started when they saw his new goblin minion.
Going over to the little girl, Susan, Terry pulled out the smaller bow and a quiver of arrows. Handing them over to her he told her to take them and start practicing with them. She took the offered gifts and hugged him, smiling as she did. He helped her strap the quiver onto her back and showed her how to attach the bow when not in use.
“Okay, everyone, are we ready to head out?” Terry asked as he stood up.
“Yeah! I’m ready to kick some ass.” Susan shouted and lifted her bow.
Terry laughed and patted her on her shoulder. “I’m sure there’ll be plenty of ass to kick today.”
Grabbing a map Terry opened it and started looking to see what the best path to take would be. There seemed to be some back roads that would take them mostly around the city, hopefully there would be less monsters going that way, but he wasn’t too convinced. The group grabbed what they could for food and water, Terry sneaking some into his bag of holding and then they took off.
Taking the road to their right would avoid the scene he created earlier. Taking it slow and steady they tried to make as little noise as they could, while making the best time as well. Though it wasn’t too long before they came upon a single rat that was only a level three. Terry took care of it quickly and quietly and they continued past. That scene happened again and again, at least a dozen times, each time Terry took care of them.
Congratulations, you have reached level 7! You have 10 unassigned stat points and 6 skill points.
Terry quickly put five points into constitution, three into wisdom and two into agility, then turned his attention back to the road. They made a little better time after the twelfth encounter but that didn’t last long, as they came upon a group of eighteen or so goblins encircling a group of humans that were fighting them off.
The humans were holding them off but they were taking a beating as well. Terry stopped the group and had them head off the road a bit and hunker down. He told the illusionist to put something up and he made sure Tamara watched out for any stray goblins or monsters. Susan wanted to go with him, but since she was a lower level and didn’t have any practice with the bow, he was afraid she would do more damage to the humans than to the goblins.
Once they were as safe as they could be, Terry took his goblin minion and headed towards the ring. Getting there he crouched down and snuck up behind the closest goblin since they were all focused on the other humans. Striking the goblin, he then stood up and cut it again, killing it. After that he ordered his goblin to attack and he also waded in and started hacking and slashing any goblin that came within. Making sure to keep his leech life and slowing curse up as much as he could as well.
With Terry and his goblin’s entrance the circle of goblins broke and the ones closest to him turned and started for him. That also gave the humans the courage to push forward and attack the goblins with fervor. Terry had six of the goblins on him and when he focused on the next one he attacked, it came up as a level ten goblin. He could feel their clubs and swords hit his wards and when that finally broke, he felt them cut into his skin. Though luckily, he had his armor on so his chest was mostly protected.
When they had finally taken care of all the goblins everyone was out of breath and a few of the humans were down. Looking around him, Terry sheathed his sword and started to loot the bodies around him and where his goblin had been. He and his goblin had killed twelve of the things so they had more bodies to loot. As he went around, he also cast summon bone weapon and got himself a new long sword and a new dagger for his goblin and repaired his bone armor.
When Terry was done with looting and the weapons, he turned towards the humans. There were eight still standing, three were tending to the wounded and there were five that were already dead.
“Do any of you know any healing magic or something to help them?” Terry asked as he walked over to them and indicated the wounded.
“No, we don’t.” A man said as he stepped forward between Terry and the rest.
“Well I do, if you’d like me to take a look at them for you.”
“That’s alright, I think we can handle it.” The man stepped forward more, stepping up on Terry. “Maybe you should just leave.”
Terry caught the man glancing at his goblin and took the hint. “Alright fine, have it your way.”
Terry turned and started to walk away when a woman rushed up to him and grabbed his arm. “Please, don’t listen to him, we could really use your help.”
Terry turned and looked at her, her face was dirty and tear streaked. She was about five foot four with shoulder length blonde hair and blue eyes. He let her drag him back to the man that she had been tending and he cast his heal spell on him until he was fully healed. His wounds had closed and stopped bleeding but he still looked like he had taken a beating. He then went and did the same for the other wounded people.
“Thank you for that. I don’t think we would have survived if you hadn’t come along. I’m June by the way.”
“Victor, and you’re welcome, it was lucky I had been passing through and I could always use the experience. Will you guys be okay, now that the goblins are gone?”
“I… I think so.” June said and looked around at the group of people. They were all dirty and looking like they had seen better times, though at least they still seemed to have some fight left in them.
“Be careful then. There’s lots of new and dangerous things out there.”
Terry turned and walked away, going back for his own group. He looked at his messages and read them while he walked.
Congratulations, you have reached level 8, you have 10 unassigned stat points and 8 skill points.
Congratulations, you have rescued survivors from certain death. You receive 2,000 experience. (6,000 exp total).
Congratulations, you have reached level 9, you have 20 unassigned stat points and 10 skill points.
Terry quickly put eight points into charisma and luck and four into agility. He looked at his skills and saw he had unlocked two new ones, slowing curse extension which added ten seconds to the curse and leech life compression which made leech life last one less second which dealt the damage faster. Closing out his stats he got back to the group, they all wanted to know what happened.
Terry quickly gave them a rundown of what happened and the group he rescued, then they got on their way. It was already past noon when they started up again and he was worried about how far they would get before dark. He was right to worry though as they didn’t get too far before monsters started coming for them.
Terry urged the group on ahead and he turned around and started shooting firebolts at the closest ones as he continued to run. Luckily, they could keep ahead of the monsters that were chasing them and his firebolts whittled them down. Unfortunately, he couldn’t take the time to stop and loot the bodies but as long as he kept them at bay, he wasn’t worried about the loot.
Terry lost count after three dozen monsters fell to his firebolt, but they were still coming and he was still firing as much as he could. They ranged from level five to level eleven and it didn’t seem like they would stop anytime soon.
After a while the group finally came to rest stop area and the monsters seemed to be thinning out. Terry urged the group to get inside as fast as they could, while he kept shooting firebolts at them and waited for them to get to him. There were a dozen monsters that reached him, ranging from level six to ten. They attacked him all at once and his goblin jumped in to help him. They fought, side by side, hacking and slashing and cutting their way through the bastards.
When Terry killed the last monster, he looked around and it was almost dark out. He didn’t realize that they had been running and fighting for that long but he was glad it was over. Walking around he looted the bodies and repaired his armor and weapon, also getting some more bone arrows as well. He didn’t get much from the loot but he would take what he could get. He wanted to try and start using his bow soon too, and also let Susan practice with hers as well.
Terry brought up his messages then:
Congratulations, you have reached level 10, you have 10 unassigned stat points and 12 skill points.
Congratulations, you have reached level 11, you have 20 unassigned stat points and 14 skill points.
Congratulations, you have reached level 12, you have 30 unassigned stat points and 16 skill points.
Terry quickly put ten points into constitution and agility and five points int charisma and luck. And finally, since he was level ten now, he unlocked his other skills. He put a point into each of them, making his stats look like so.
Name: Terry Roth
Unassigned Skill Points: 4
Level: 12
Health: 600
Mana:600
Stamina: 580
Race: Human, Male
Pets: 3/3
Class: Battle Necromancer (Apprentice, Unique)
Strength: 56
Constitution: 60
Agility: 60
Intelligence: 60
Wisdom: 61
Charisma: 41
Luck: 46
Non-Class Skills:
Sneak 3 Sword Mastery 9
Commanding Roar 1
Abilities:
Connection to the Universe Resurrection
Class Skills:
Summon bone weapon 2 Summon minion 2
Summon bone armor 1 Increase minion health 1 (Passive)
Elemental bone infusion 1 Summon minion army 1 (Passive)
Corrosive coating 1 Summon goliath minion 1
Leech life 1 Slowing curse 1
Leech life compression 1 Slowing curse extension 1
Minion leech life 1 (Passive) Slowing curse AOE 1
Party leech life 1 (Passive) Slowing curse reversal 1
Spells:
Apprentice Heal 7 Apprentice firebolt 14
Apprentice ward 9
Terry went into the building and saw the group sitting all huddled together. They all turned and looked at him as he closed the door and slid down the wall, having his goblin watch outside for anything moving.
“Well that was interesting.” Terry chuckled.
“Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever ran that much in my entire life.” The lumberjack said.
“Me neither, I thought I was going to die a few times there.” Susan said.
“Well, I wouldn’t have let that happen.” Terry replied.
“Do you think we’re past the city yet?” The seamstress asked.
“I’m not sure, I wasn’t paying enough attention while I was fighting but I hope so. I don’t know if I could do another day of fighting and running again, especially without a break.”
“Well with how many monsters there were, I’m not sure stopping and fighting would be an option.” Tamara chimed in.
“That’s something we can worry about tomorrow, let’s try and get some rest. I’m tired.”
With that the group settled down and tried to get some sleep, Terry fell asleep almost as soon as his eyes shut. He had dreams of stars and blackness and flashes of pain and hunger. When he opened his eyes in the morning, he felt hunger pains like he hadn’t felt before. Reaching out to his connections for his pets he felt his cats barely moving and starving, having eaten all the food available as they had grown some over the last few days. His dog though was big, almost the size of a Shetland pony and bounding with energy. She was still helping his parents protect the survivors they had saved and there were still more coming in daily.
Wishing he could make it to them sooner, he knew all he could do is trudge along and get there when he got there. Hopefully getting strong enough to handle most things on his way there.
Getting the group up and moving took some work, as some of them didn’t want to get up and were sore from all the running the day before. When they finally got, moving, the sun had already risen and was already heating up the day. They moved as fast as they could while trying to be quiet so they would attract less monsters. After what Terry thought was about an hour, they passed a sign that said Des Moines was ten miles away. Thanking his lucky stars they were past the city he had the group pick up their pace.
When the sun got to be high in the sky, it felt like it was in the eighties and it was starting to take a toll on the group. There still wasn’t much cover along the road and things were still fairly flat as they made their way East still. They had only met a handful of creatures this day and they were easily taken down by Terry and his goblin. When they came upon a row of trees, Terry called for a break and they all went to sit beneath the shadows of the trees. They were small cedar trees but they gave some good cover for them. As they broke out the food and drinks, Terry looked around and thought it would take them forever to get back to his place.
Terry looked at Tamara as she was sitting with the kids and talking with them. She looked up and met his gaze, tilting her head indicating she wanted to speak with him alone. He moved off to the side and she followed.
“I don’t know about you but this heat is killing me and it’s not doing any favors to the kids either.” Tamara said.
“Yeah, I was just wondering if it might be better to try and travel at night. The only thing is that I don’t know what kind of creatures we might face during that time.” Terry replied.
“That is true but if you keep pushing these people any further, you’ll have to wait for them to recover from heat stroke or fatigue or something.”
“Good point. If we did travel at night do you have any light spells or skills that might help fight back the darkness if needed?”
“Yeah, I’ve gained a couple new skills that might work.”
“Really? Have you been leveling up?”
“We all seem to get a fraction of experience from your kills.”
“Huh, must be a party thing then. And I also think you’re right, or at least we will try not to travel during the hottest part of the day. Hopefully that’ll help with not wearing everyone out so fast.”
“I think that will work better besides I think we will only have to wait four or so hours while the sun is high and then be able to travel again. And with my new skills the dark won’t be so bad either.”
“Okay everyone, we’ll stay here for a while until the sun starts going down. Try and rest and catch your breath. Susan, once you’re rested up come see me.” Terry raised his voice as he gave instructions.
They all sighed with relief and tried to get more comfortable, some falling asleep while others talked amongst themselves. After about ten minutes Susan came up to Terry.
“You wanted to see me?”
“Yes, I think while we wait to get going again, we should have you practice with your bow. I know I could use some practice as well.” Terry said and he got out his bow.
Susan got hers out as well and she got a quiver of arrows our and put it on. Terry looked around the area for a good target but didn’t find anything. He did think he might have something they could use in his bag, so he secretly put his hand in and thought of a list of what was in it to take a look. The only thing that he had that might work is a blanket, so pulling it out he tied it to the trees and stepped back about ten yards.
“Okay Susan, go ahead and take a shot and let’s see how you do.”
Susan pulled an arrow from her quiver and put it on the right side of the bow and attached it to the string. She tried to pull the arrow back but it kept falling to the side.
“Here, let’s try this.” Terry said and knelt down switched the arrow to the left side, just above her hand. “That way you can use your fingers to keep it in place while you draw it.”
After that, Susan drew the arrow back and let it fly. It wasn’t a bad shot, though they were only ten yards away from the target. The arrow hit the blanket and fell to the ground. Terry told her to try again, this time she put the arrow on the left side and drew it back better than the first time but she was still a beginner. He told her to just keep shooting arrows and try and get a feel for pulling an arrow out, notching it, drawing it and shooting. They could work on aiming later.
Terry and Susan kept shooting for over an hour and only stopped when Susan said her fingers hurt. After they collected the arrows they could find they went back to the group and sat down. Thinking this might be a good time for some experimentation, he sat down and closed his eyes, concentrating on his link to the Universe.
Hello… Universe?
Ah, young one, it is good to know you are still alive.
You mean you can’t tell I’m still alive?
I could if I wanted to, it’s just that I have a lot of other things I need to concentrate on.
Oh, that makes sense. I guess I was just contacting you to see how you were doing and to get some information on a shop or something.
Ah, yes, that would be useful information for you. Well, everyone is able to access the shop and get basic supplies that are still useful. In order to get a shop with better items and access to the wider Universe there is a shop seed that is available but isn’t usable until level ten and it can only be planted in a safe zone.
That’s all that needs to be done?
Yep, that’s it.
Well that’ll make things easier than. Are the seeds expensive to buy?
Not too expensive, a few hundred credits.
So, what designates a safe zone?
A safe zone is designated when monsters haven’t passed through the area for 24 hours but that’s only temporary ones. To create a permanent safe zone, you must create or take over a town, at any level, and secure it. That will then keep the mana at bay which will keep monsters from spawning inside it. At least until it gets overrun or taken over by someone else.
That’s encouraging.
That’s just the way it works.
This has been most informative, thank you. I think that’s all I have for now. Keep up the good work.
You’re most welcome and yes, I must be going as well, lots to do.
Opening his eyes, Terry looked around, the sun seemed to be on its way down and the rest of the group was lounging around. Taking some food and drinks out of his backpack he nibbled on it and thought about his conversation with the Universe. He opened his inventory then and looked to see about his credit situation. Surprisingly, he had quite a lot, though thinking about it he did get four times the credits, times that by all the creatures he’s killed.
With that knowledge Terry closed his eyes and looked for the connection to the basic shop. He found it easily enough when he was actually looking for it, though he could see how it would be hard to find if one didn’t know to look for it. He thought there really should be a tutorial or something when this shit happened.
Terry got into the shop and started looking around it, the Universe was right this was just basic gear. He did find some clothes that he bought and put into his bag of holding and a few shop seeds. Other than those things there wasn’t much that interested him but he did look around some more to see what else it had. He wondered what the safe shop would have, it would probably be a while before he got to find out.
“Okay everyone, let’s get up and get moving.” Terry said as he got up and dusted himself off.
Terry took the map out and looked to see where they were. His best guess was that they were about twenty-five to thirty miles outside Des Moines, Iowa and they still had a long way to go to get to Minnesota. Though at least it was mostly a straight shot up now.