"Uhh… Marcus, do you know where I can grab a bottle of water? I really need to rinse my mouth." John's taste wasn't as sensitive as hearing and smell, but it was very unpleasant nonetheless.

"There will be some water bottles in the conference room, come." Marcus gestured toward a three-story building with yellow paint, big prominent windows, and a guard in a chainmail similar to the one John has.

"Sir," the man nodded politely at Marcus, and let them both pass through the door.

This building used to house a wide variety of firms, but the second floor was fully used by a law firm called Radisson & Merle. Passing another set of guards, they entered a wide corridor with a small kitchen, a set of bathrooms, and a heavier door at the far left.

"Grab one here, and use the bathroom to clean up."

The kitchen had a few dozen bottles, and two open boxes of chocolate chips thrown on the table, and John grabbed the first small bottle with no flavor and left for the bathroom to finally get the unpleasant taste out of his mouth.

"Ahh, much better," John celebrated, after thoroughly rinsing his mouth, and then drinking the remaining half of the bottle.

He was standing in a typical corporate bathroom, looking into the giant mirror covering a major part of the wall behind the sinks, and his usually clean-shaven face was now showing two-day stubble, but other than that, he looked good. Frowning, he carefully observed the man with striking green eyes staring back at him.

Did I always look this well?

His previous good lifestyle helped him keep healthy skin, but somehow the person behind the mirror wasn't just healthy, he seemed at least four years younger.

Could this be another side-effect of increased attributes?

Deciding to leave the self-inspection for later, he left the bathroom and joined Marcus, who was patiently waiting near the door at the end of the hallway.

"You good?" He asked, showing actual concern about John's condition.

"Much better. I… I don't want to talk about it." John shook his head and then nodded toward the opposite end of the hallway. "Let's go?"

Grunting, Marcus opened the door, and they both entered a conference room with a big square table in the middle, and chairs lining three of its sides.

"Ahhh Blackfist, you are finally here. Mark and his lieutenants will be joining us later, but we can… John? What are you doing here?" At the opposite end, facing directly opposite the door was sitting Tom, Mirabelle, and two other women he had yet to meet, and to his left were the three leaders including Sara from the wall, leaving one seat open for their leader.

"You… know each other?" Marcus asked in an uncertain voice, caught off guard by the unexpected familiarity Tom used to address John.

"Oh yeah, John… ehhh… well… we've met during the first hour of Apocalypse…" Tom was obviously fumbling with the explanation, making Mira sigh, and Marcus frown and look between them for a couple of seconds, deep in thought.

"Wait a minute! John, don't tell me you were the mysterious guy who supposedly gave Tom the card to create this shelter." Seeing their reaction, he shook his head in defeat. "Of course you were… You know what, let's get to your business first, so you can get on your way, and we can deal with the aftermath of the second wave."

Turning to Tom, he addressed the issue in front of their eight-man council.

"John here succeeded both times in killing the Deathfiend and obtained four yellow piles. As we have discussed yesterday, half of it would be donated to the shelter and serve as funds for repairs and building new facilities. Do you agree?"

Eight raised hands followed by Ayes passed the proposal, making them turn to John, waiting for his statement.

Nodding, John opened his deck, but before pulling out the two piles, his eyes fell on the stack of now six unusable cards, making him think of a small change to the proposal.

"Hey, how about I make you a slightly different offer, I have six common cards I don't need, and I am willing to donate them in exchange for keeping one of the two yellows."

"What cards?" Immediately asked a blonde woman sitting next to Mira, making John smile.

"Staggering blows, Increased area of effect, Increased bleeding duration, Increased enhancement duration, Delayed activation, and Cooldown reduction." John listed the names one after another, carefully observing their reactions after reading each card."

Some were clearly interested, so John started pulling the cards out, forming a line in the middle of the table.

"What do you think? Those six cards plus this one," he pulled a yellow pile, placing it next to the cards, "and we consider ourselves even."

He watched them argue in hushed and some not-so-hushed whispers, but after being put to a quick vote, all eight hands were up, making the agreement valid.

"Pleasure doing business with you," John joked, making Mira scoff and roll her eyes. She was one of the largest supporters of his offer and was already holding the Increased bleeding duration in her hands with a wide grin on her freckled face. Funnily enough, Marcus was not only holding the Increased enhancement duration but also now bidding for the common Cooldown reduction, which John obtained today from one of the zombies.

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

Their arrangement was very simple. To offset the loss of one yellow pile, they would bid for the cards on the table, and the winners then put the price into the shelter funds instead, with a minimum bid of one hundred.

John, watching the frenzied bidding for the Staggering blows and the Cooldown reduction, had an idea of buying up cards from Al'drul and selling them here with a mark-up, but eventually had to reject it, because the potential gain of a few hundred whites was not worth the risk of people later figuring out he had access to an unknown hidden shelter with a card shop for the whole time.

After the bidding died down and the winners paid for their bids, they told him that he is free to leave, and moved to discuss the outcome of the recent battle, making him walk out and silently close the door behind him.

So, that's taken care of.

He was fairly happy with the outcome. Previously, he was planning on giving them the cards for free, but this made a decent compromise. Al'drul offered one-sixty-nine, but here, he theoretically saved six-twenty-five, kept good relations, and had the possibility to earn more later.

And maybe even a rare card.

There was another idea he came up with during the attack, and now was the time to decide. He felt that having Strength and Dexterity at the same rank helped him temper the adverse and enhance the positive effects, giving him more than the sum of its parts. If that was true, Perception might be paired up with Focus, but the problem was, the temporary card didn't do any actual changes to his body… so maybe if he bought the permanent variant…

Fuck it, what else would I use the discount for anyway.

With a plan in mind, he carefully walked out of the building and into the same abandoned shop he had used yesterday.

Inviolable escape!

Inside his shelter, he headed directly to the glass door of Al'drul's emporium, and with a careful step yanked them open.

"Welcome back, John. What brings you here today?" He asked with an interested smile on his face.

"Hey Al'drul, you see… I used all three attribute cards less than an hour ago, and they fucked me up… hard."

"Oh yes, that was expected. I still remember using the first Perception boost," Al'drul chuckled, lost in his old memories.

"Why didn't you warn me!" John said in indignation, staring at Al'drul's laughing face.

"And where's the fun in that?"

Sighing, John slumped his shoulder and groaned.

"You know what, give me a common permanent Focus, and apply that discount you've promised."

"Are you perhaps expecting it to help you better control your senses?" Al'drul asked back, grinning like a greedy merchant about to fleece an easy mark.

Damn it, man, why can't you be a little more helpful.

Now, looking at the card placed on the counter and the wide smile plastered on Al'drul's face, he wasn't so sure if that was such a brilliant idea as he imagined.

Standing there in indecision, he mulled over his choices. Could his idea be incorrect? The answer to that was a resounding yes. Would it actually matter though? No, not exactly. He was planning to obtain all six of them anyway, so…

Why bother, I'll buy all of them right now.

"You know what, add the permanent Willpower to the table as well."

"Is that so? That would be one thousand and seven hundred fifty white piles." Al'drul replied with surprise in his voice.

Nodding, John slapped the yellow crystal, and willed forty-five blues and one yellow to go through.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Al'drul replied in a cheery voice, watching John collect his two new cards and carefully walk out of the store.

_____________________________________

Thirteen beings filled a massive terrace with their overwhelming presences. They were arranged in four groups of three and one, who silently watched the others as they slowly discussed the status of this new planet called Earth. She was the patroness of the Apocalypse, and hers was the responsibility to create the trials of integration and make sure the outcome of them was either a world worthy of joining the Collective or the populace taken care of and the planet parceled out to the highest bidders, filling the Council's coffers to the brim for the decades to come.

"Why did it have to be humanoids again," grumbled a grating metallic voice coming from a giant snake formed of dark-steel plates and one shining red eye in the middle of its head. "They are all so squishy and weak… how are they even holding up?"

"They are doing surprisingly well, Draedex. Out of eight billion people, there are still over three hundred million remaining. What I find very interesting is that some of them, mostly the young, are very quick to adapt and leverage their environment to their advantage." Spoke a gentle voice of a beautiful woman with a lush brown dress formed out of bark, thin branches filled with tiny leaves instead of hair, and a heart-shaped face with deep emerald eyes.

"Bah, they will fall like the vermin they are," scoffed a massive red dragon from the same group as the snake.

"Let's hear Al'drul's opinion on the matter," suddenly spoke an echoing voice coming out of a blot of darkness filling up the space between two other formless entities. "He is the second oldest among us, and surely just as wise."

"Ahh, is Sharsalasan curious about my opinion? Hmm… yes, there is potential there. But if it's for excellence or profits… that's something I can't say."

Deep throaty laughter boomed through the open terrace, making the being of darkness hiss in displeasure. A colossal golden lion with a wooden crown was enjoying the remark, before adding his small piece of information.

"By my estimates, there will be less than a hundred million humans after the end of Restless Assault. That should still be enough to give them an advantage when the gates open, and the race truly begins."

Soon, their mandatory meeting came to an end, and Al'drul, Serath, and Rograr teleported out and into their private citadel.

"You were awfully quiet out there," Serath poked his side with her sharp claw. "Don't tell me your little meddling went tits up, I was soo looking up to that. Isn't that right Rogie?" She patted the floating ball next to her.

It beeped a mixture of short and longer tones, changing color from shining white to dull blue, bright red, and back to its original white.

"See? We even had a bet of how much of a fuck up it turns out to be," she laughed, making Rograr turn bright pink and emit an embarrassed low beep.

Sighing, Al'drul put one of his six palms over his obsidian forehead. "Please stop, I am not going to comment on that."

"Oh?" She immediately perked up. "So it's not ruined yet?"

Al'drul added another three palms on top of his forehead to clearly demonstrate her stupidity.