Leon was up early despite how late he had gone to bed. Well early for him, what with the nonexistent need to do anything or be anywhere lately.
The bone warriors still had seven hours on them and he had no fear of the fox while he was awake, so he instructed them to roam the building and hunt down zombies. He was careful to make sure he told them not to hurt any living people. If they saw any they were to salute and stay still until the living were out of range. I didn't mind if they were destroyed, but hopefully, they would be useful, before they were.
In the living room, the fox had curled up on the carpet. Most of the water in its bowl was gone and the slab of beef had been devoured as well. It looked up briefly when Leon came close but then went back to sleep.
He checked it with analyze only to see that its loyalty had gone up to 23%. 'must have been the food'.
Checking his own status, he was startled to see his mana was still empty. Mentally poking around the status box finally revealed the reason why.
Mana
Necessary resource to fuel magic
Mana regeneration .0028/min
Even with the meditation boost while sleeping, he had gotten back only one MP so far. Sighing loudly, he decides to browse the shop for regeneration potions. For 50 credits each, he buys potions that restore 100 points of health, mana, and stamina. 7500 credits later, he figures that will do for now.
Opening the inventory for the mana potion, he is reminded that he still has a class book to use. The inventory also contains something that wasn't there last night.
Galactic Store sample
Card power [Stamina] - Receive power through cards. 12h
He had to browse the store to get a better understanding of the sample, but when he did, he found many types of cards that could grant power. Most were one-time use, while the sample power would let him use any type of power card at reduced cost. For now, at least he didn't think they were worth buying for a power he only had for 12 hours.
Also inside his inventory was the random class book. Leon didn't really want to use it. He's seen some of the classes available for purchase and they included just about everything one could think of. Mechanics of every type, from spaceship to motorcycles, lawyers, planetary emperors, cosplayers, cartographers, bounty hunters, Gas giant harvester.
The random class book really would grant a random class, but for 8000 credits he could somewhat choose his class instead.
Class Scan
Combine with Random Class book to find a random class within existing skills and abilities.
Last night Leon had simply chosen skills that spoke to him, but it was obvious now that he had a large preference for magic, and this would practically guarantee a magic class.
After the purchase, the two products combined into a thin booklet. It didn't seem to have many pages and when Leon opened it, a red light shot him the face, then the booklet disintegrated.
Leon waited for something to happen but nothing did. Sitting on the couch, he activated the meditate skill and watch the fox sleep.
And an hour later, his status screen popped up without his calling it.
It seemed he'd finally gotten a class.
Elemental Summoner
-30% MP cost When summoning elemental beings
-10% cost of all summoner spells and abilities
-10% cost all to all Elemental spells and abilities
+5% cost to physical skills and abilities
- 25% physical Damage
-10% light damage
-5% damage on Holy Ground
-10% Dark damage
-5% damage on Deadlands
+10% Elemental damage
+5% damage in elemental planes
Summons gain 10% Physical or Magical Damage
Elemental Prism unlocked at G. S. T.
+6 skills/spells
Can control 5 summon per level, Elemental summons take up half a summon slot
The class required a bit of exploration, but in the end, Leon understood a few things more about it. First, it was a rare class, above regular and superior, but below elite, and supreme, godly, and divine. He would have been upset at only getting a class that ranked 3 out of seven, but he learned classes can grow, once they hit Level 100. There would be the lucky few who got a godly or divine class right away, but would they be able to take full advantage of them? who knows.
The penalties and benefits seem to apply to both a mage and a summoner. Even if Leon wanted to become a melee fighter now, it wouldn't make sense to do so, with the 25% reduction in physical damage.
Most summons came with a timer, hence the Elemental prism which could hold summons and slowed the timer from progressing. He would need to buy some for light and dark elemental as well. Light and dark did not count as Elemental magic, but the Bone warrior did count as summons. The elements are the four standards and their derivatives. So Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Metal, Plants, lightning, and Ice.
The 6 extra skills he had gotten were;
Summon elemental [Fire]
50 MP lasting 8h
Level 1
Summon elemental [Water]
50 MP lasting 8h
Level 1
Summon elemental [Earth]
50 MP lasting 8h
Level 1
Summon elemental [Wind]
50 MP lasting 8h
Level 1
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Heal Summon
100 MP restoring 1 health
Level 1
Dispel Summon
retrieve 1% of MP used to cast
Level 1
After reviewing the free spells, Leon decided to buy elemental summons of the ice, metal, Lightning, and plant types, as well.
He also managed to bring up a summons list but it just listed the three summons he already had out. The fox had 16 hours left on its timer, while the warriors were down to four. They were still alive and he hadn't checked his credits so he didn't know if they had found any zombies in the building.
They took up three of Leon's five slots so he decided to summon four elemental, But that could wait until he went outside. And he was going outside. He decided that if he couldn't do it after gaining so much, then he might as well buy a gun and...
Leon made himself a hearty breakfast and then cleaned himself up. putting on the bite-resistant jacket, he left out more water and meat for the fox, the stood in front of the balcony door. After a few minutes of hesitation, he opens it... and promptly threw up.
The stench had always been there, but the closed door had blocked a large portion of it out. With the door open the overwhelming odour assaulted Leon's senses. He felt it in his throat and in his eyes. He debated buying skills to dull his senses but decided against it. Even if he was rich by the system standard, he wasn't about to waste credits in that way.
Standing on the porch and ignoring the mess that was once breakfast, he looks down at the masses of zombies, that had grown once again overnight. The gates have to be destroyed.
As far as the news could tell, before they all went off the air, the zombies weren't contagious, in that they didn't turn people into zombies with a bite, but they did spread all manner of other diseases. They poured endlessly from the swirling dimensional gates that popped up randomly anywhere they pleased.
Once the gates were destroyed, one still had to destroy the zombies that were already on earth.
Well, better get started.
Flying doesn't feel much like anything, Leon doesn't fly Superman style, he mostly levitates standing upright. It's a warm summer day, which might be what is encouraging the stench, so the 15 miles per hour of the skill don't generate enough wind to be a bother.
While it may not feel much like anything, looking below to the earth still creates a thrill in Leon's heart, he is, after all, flying.
Soaring to the top of his 20 story building and landing on the roof, Leon wonders what he should do next. Kill zombies, of course, but what's the most efficient way to go about it? He summons a fire elemental to see what they can do,
Salamander [Fire]
Level
1
--
--
Health
97
Mana
327
Stamina
134
Strength
9
Intelligence
32
Dexterity
7
Agility
16
Wisdom
16
Constitution
15
Willpower
8
Luck
13
Skills and Abilities
Bite [Stamina]
strong jaw tears flesh to recover Health
Level 1
Double Claw [Stamina]
Sharp claws have a chance to cause enemies to bleed
Level 1
Flamethrower [magic]
Long stream of fire to will cause burns
Level 1
The size of a large dog, the salamander watched Leon and waited for orders as soon as it was summoned.
'Not bad', Leon thought, It should be able to use that flamethrower to stay out of zombie swarm range.
Picking up the salamander, Leon flew down to the street and dropped the summon off, then quickly took to the air again. He mentally instructed it to use its flamethrower while staying out of range and to run when necessary.
The little beast did exactly that, filling the street with a 30-foot long stream of fire in both directions. Most of the zombies went up like torches, but a few seemed quite resistant to the fire. Leon scan revealed why.
Corpse Puppet [Pyre]
False-zombie highly resistant to fire
About 1 in 10 of the Dead had fire resistance. Curious Leon analyzed the many zombies further until he found some with resistance to all the element, including light and dark. It seemed that no matter what element was used, 10% or so were always going to be resistant to ones chosen element.
The salamander's destruction of the horde below did not go unnoticed. The swarm had always had a low moan going, but at the sight of Leon and his summon the moans and gnashing of teeth had picked up in intensity. people all along the street were pressed against their windows and came out onto their balconies to see what had riled up the deadly undead.
Most were surprised to see a flying man, having not taken the boxes that appeared seriously. Some had thought they were just going crazy. Those that had taken the boxes at their word, were surprised that someone had the credits to buy powers like flight.
As the gawkers feasted their eyes on the decimation of the zombies, hope started to bloom in many of their eyes after more than a week of thinking that the end was already here. Someone started a cheer, and slowly but surely, it was picked up by others until, up and down the street of Leons building, it sounded like humanity was determined to shake heaven itself with their voices.
The noise attracted more zombies from block around. This resulted in some people who had been trapped, managing to free themselves and flee. on Leons street, the incoming horde kept the salamander busy. The creature tried to make sure it roasted as many as possibly with each breath of fire, but eventually, it ran out of MP.
Leon was going to let it be torn apart but found he couldn't willfully allow that to happen, even if it was just a summoned beast. To let it die so horribly, after serving so well, would have hurt his soul, he felt.
Flying low enough to get the little monster in range, Leon dismissed it. It disappeared in a puff of smoke, Leon could have sworn it had a look of relief on its face. The zombies burned down to blackened skeletons that, Leon knew, would eventually dissipate, having seen it before with the Molotov's.
The cheering died down as his watchers wondered if that was it. Some people started to shoot the zombies with hoarded guns and ammunition. Some started to shoot with more exotic weapons as well. Bows, crossbows, laser guns, bombs, furniture, and some joker even threw a kitchen sink, just so he could have a story to tell later.
It made Leon smile for the first time in a week. Flying low to the ground Leon summoned four beings of earth, fire, water, and air, with the help of another mana potion.
Zilant [Air]
The Wind snake
Lampad [Fire]
An Infernal nymph
Rusalka [Water]
Undead water nymph
Monopad [Earth]
Single, large-foot warrior
Only the Rusalka had strong magic, which she used to heal the other summons. The winged snake wrapped itself around the necks other the undead and tried to use its control of wind to knock them down, but was largely unsuccessful.
The Lampad had a torch that it used to set the zombies on fire while dancing nimbly out of the way. it also kept an eye on the Rusalka, as though it would prefer to spend time with it than fight. The Monopad looked like a human with a single large foot, like a strange land mermaid. It jumped around with strength and agility and used it's sword to cut down the dead men.
The four of them couldn't keep up with the numbers of the horde, even with the help of the residents of the street. When they were about to be overwhelmed, Leon dismissed them all. The Crowd didn't lose heart this time and kept up the assault.
Leon floated up and down the street, getting the occasion wave from the people. But he was trying to think of a better way than trying to take on the swarm piecemeal.
'The Gates!'
The gates, he decided, were the problem. There had to be a few around here in order for there to be so many zombies. And they had to go!