Next ten minutes I spent on the cold concrete floor, staring thoughtlessly at the little spider that was weaving his web next to the windowsill. Unexpectedly, some sort of a strange feeling surfaced up in my mind: anger, hatred and confusion disappeared; only a slight fatigue remained in my body.
«Yep, something’s definitely changed» I let out another puff of smoke in surprise.
“Uncle Sasha, can I have some water?” Katya's thin voice sounded from the hallway.
I threw out the cigarette I had just started from the balcony and went back into apartment. On the way to the kitchen, I glanced at the girl - she was sitting forlornly on the rug next to the open front door, my bone spear beside her.
The bottle of spring water was empty, but there was some left in the teapot. A clean cup was also the last one - there was a pile of unwashed dishes in the sink. I then decided to check the refrigerator and the bread box. Empty. Even the potato sack under the sink was full of dust.
"Just wonderful! Rushing through a city infested with zombies, and here it is - a worthy reward... "
The last drinkable water was greedily devoured in a few sips. Although my status said that there is a disease resistance, I would never dare to drink post-apocalyptic tap water.
Katya, together with an empty glass, handed me a book glowing with yellow light:
“You dropped this at the entrance.”
As soon as I looked at the object, my eyebrows went up. Finally! At least some loot.
Active Skill book: Sacred healing. Volume 1.
Would you want to learn it?
“Yes”
Female voice rumbled in my head: “Currently impossible to learn. To learn this skill, you must abandon your current skill: Tome of Eternal Life!”
Remove Passive Skill: Tome of Eternal Life?
Attention: In case of abandoning the skill, the body transformation timer will resume.
«No, » goosebumps ran down my back.
“Uncle Sasha?” Girl looked at me strangely.
Without thinking, I handed her the book.
“Do you see the text?”
Katya nodded.
“Go ahead, learn it!”
Just a couple of seconds later, and the book in Katya's hands disappeared. Good! This will increase our chances of survival. And now, it's time for the explanations of fundamental game mechanics. Along with a skill, she now possesses characteristics of mana and magical power. Since her level was zero, there was only 5 mana left.
“How does your healing work? Can you use it?”
A pair of stunned brown eyes stared at me from under a large bump.
“Yes, I have to... mmm... and this...” She blushed from excitement and could not find words suitable for explanation. “I can show you.”
Without thinking, I pulled up my left arm's sleeve. A piece of flesh was missing from the wrist, and thick black veins ran from the bitten wound in all directions. Although the wound didn't bleed or hurt, the sight of it got on my nerves.
Katya breathed noisily; I thought that she got nervous, and hurried her a little:
“Everything's fine! Go! Use your heal.”
Katya put her palms to the wound and concentrated. Child's face took a serious expression, and I could hardly suppress my smile. The girl began to quietly read the spell. An octagram with a symbol in the center appeared on the back of her palms and glowed with a pleasant golden light.
A minute passed, then another, but nothing happened. I patiently awaited the results of my treatment. Suddenly, along with the symbol in the center, the light also changed, to some kind of poisonous purple. A sharp sense of danger shot through my body like lightning. I didn’t have time to pull my hand back - a bright flash bursted from Catherine’s palms. With eyes wide open from horror and pain, I looked at the once pale wrist. Under the effect of the healing spell, the flesh around the wound seethed like boiling water and charred. I have never experienced such severe pain in my life, it was as if I had been dipped into boiling oil.
I rushed to the bathroom and turned on the ice water to the fullest. Now I no longer care about the purity of the water, even if swill will pour out from there, as long as it’s cold. The burning sensation slowly subsided. Frightened girl froze in the doorway, her eyes the same size as the huge bump on her forehead.
“Kate!” I could hardly contain severity of my voice. “That wasn't a healing spell, did you use something else?”
She shook her head quickly.
“Then what the hell is this?” I showed her my blackened wrist.
“Uncle Sasha, I'm sorry, I really don't know. I swear it was a heal, you have to believe me!”
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It should be the truth. Where would she get offensive skills?
“Oh,” girl's eyes widened.
“What's there?”
By her behavior, it became clear that she received some kind of notification from the system.
“It says that I got 5 experience for using light magic against a dark creature.”
I thought frantically.
«Ha, it turns out I am a dark creature. »
The name of my class, of course, hints at this, as well as the description of my magic. But I didn't even think something like this would happen. It turns out no more buffs and healing for me? Although I had not been treated with magic before, I still felt somehow insulted. Yes, of course, I could abandon the Tome of Eternal Life, but then, brainless zombie Alexander will come onto the stage.
Katya's stomach pulled me out of my self-pitying spiral. The girl could hardly stand on her feet from hunger and fatigue. It wasn't easy for a child to survive such a day. To be honest, I was tired as a dog too. We need food and good rest.
“Oh.” I pulled my hand out of the icy water and turned off the faucet. “Okay, we can’t stay here any longer, I have an idea, just need to pack some things.”
It was as if a hurricane swept through the apartment: I simply threw unnecessary things on the floor. Out of habit, I took out once valuable papers: dollars, euros. Then stood there for a second, but still shoved them into the backpack. It took quite a bit of time to get ready, and after a couple of minutes, with an inflated backpack, I slammed the door to my once native home for the last time.
I stepped onto the flight of stairs, ready to face anything. However, everything was unchanged in the entrance: silence, unusual for a Friday evening, reigned over there.
Having gotten to the eighth floor, I tied a thick scarf taken from the house around my nose, and pressed the elevator button. The scarf did not help me much: elevator's booth reeked so terribly that my eyes watered. Somehow overcoming nausea, I rummaged through the pockets of the family's head. Quite quickly, a weighty bunch of keys was in my hands.
The apartment, to match its friendly owners, was bright and clean.
“Wait here.” I ordered Katya and, in order to avoid another surprise, dashed through the rooms: might be that some relatives or friends decided to stay with them overnight.
«Everything's ok, I seem to be getting too fussy. Heh, they do have a nice-looking apartment, and the glazed balcony. There shouldn't be any animals ...» I recalled Oreshek and my heart ached.
After checking every corner, I returned to the corridor. Katya, burying her head in her knees and clasping them in her arms, sat forlornly, leaning against the wall.
I had to disrupt her sleep again:
“Katya, wake up,” I shook her lightly by the shoulder; girl stared at me with pained eyes. “Go to the bathroom; I'll see if there's anything we can eat.”
She carefully took off her shoes and placed them on the slightly damp rug. And only then, hunched over, wandered into the bathroom. The kitchen's water heater rumbled and clicked loudly.
Without waiting for an answer, I wandered into the kitchen. There was a small TV on the wall next to the refrigerator. I immediately grabbed the remote control from the table and clicked through a few channels - there was only black screen and text said: «No signal». And only now I remembered about my mobile phone - rummaging through my empty pockets, I frustratedly realized that I lost it in an attempt to save my life.
My thoughts about the lost phone disappeared as soon as I opened the neighbor's refrigerator.
«Yeah, that's the difference, » the shelves in front of me were stuffed to the brim with food. My stomach roared wildly at the sight of meat. And this is not surprising: last time I ate was at the very morning and now it's already starting to get dark; I'm starving, hungry as a wolf. The time on the microwave showed 20:32. It's been more than seven hours since the madness began. I wonder how many people survived?
After a quick snack on the neighbors' groceries, I sat next to the window. Hot sandwiches with cheese and sausage, as well as a cap of coffee, kept me company in observing the horrors of the new world.
Familiar image of my native city was broken by pillars of black smoke going into the sky, though the conflagrations themselves could not be seen. But the hordes of creatures scurrying back and forth along the roadway were perfectly visible. Once again, I was amazed at our luck.
«How did we even manage to survive? How did we break through to get in here? Why even go here? Well, of course, I came here for the sake of a person dear to me, but still... how dumb»
Watching these creatures, I did not discover anything new for myself. The only thing that caused concern was their fast leveling. If they continue to destroy everything around them, will they not be running around twenty levels above me by tomorrow? Then even a single creature with one star can tear me to pieces. Or maybe they will all turn into a sub-elite?
«Brrr…» a wave of goosebumps ran down my spine.
«Most likely, we won’t be able to sit this out. If we don't fight... Damn, feels like old reality is gone forever. World with levels, skills and other game mechanics is a new reality. Perhaps it’s better to really cling to the fact that everything around is a game. And since everything around is not real, I need to comply. Crush some monsters, get a few levels and destroy all these critters. Sounds pretty easy. »
My train of thought was interrupted by Katya entering the kitchen. In boyish clothes, she looked pretty funny. Starving girl attacked food with even more frenzy than I did. The rattling of the spoon on the plate stopped only after half a minute, after which was silence, and I was in no hurry to break it.
The blood-red sun set below the horizon, and the activity of the creatures noticeably decreased. Apparently, there is still something humane left in them. Only occasionally could one see sole monsters along the street.
«Everything's crystal clear here - freaking farmers with no life and no job»
There was a soft snort behind me. Kid fell asleep at the table, resting her head on the crook of her arm. I sighed heavily and carefully, trying not to wake the child, carried her to the bed.
Now is the time to take care of myself. In the bathroom, I threw off my soiled and torn rags. I looked sadly at the reflection in the mirror: the one I liked before. There were shallow cuts from the claws all over the face up to the neck - the last gift from Liza. Just below it was a terrible-looking bite that I completely forgot about. I didn’t even want to look at my wrist... If it were the old world, then I would be lying in the hospital under an IV drip or in the morgue at the pathologists on the “chopping” table. In the current world it looks like it was nothing.
The tub was already half full; I stopped looking around and plunged into the hot water. Fatigue and stress, accumulated during the day, quickly receded. I almost fell asleep from bliss. After washing myself, I changed into clean clothes and collapsed in the bedroom of the former owners of the apartment. The bed was almost as wide as the one in my house. Beside me, I was accompanied by my new mistress - a snow-white and razor-sharp slim girl. Without her, now I won’t even go to the toilet; I’ll have to come up with a name for her.
Before I fell asleep, I dug a little into my stats and noticed some changes: bar opposite my class was at 3%, and the energy of Nihility replenished four units. Nothing new here; waving my hand to the side, I closed my status and shut my eyes.
Name: Alexander Zakharov
Level: 2
Death’s adept (progress 3%)
Experience bar: 87/480
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