I found the barrels of water in the shower room. There was even a place to do my laundry. It looked I was supposed to use a bucket to hold the water and then sponge down with that. I approved of the set up. Water was scarce but cleanliness was also important.

Also, I finally had some free standing water. I hadn’t been able to pull much water from the air. It felt like I should be able to but I wasn’t strong enough yet to do so.

So I decided to play with elemental mastery for a bit. I had some ideas of what I could accomplish with it. First, I created a small orb of water. The water ball rose from the bucket and floated in the air. It was a struggle to hold the water in the air. It plopped back down into the bucket with a splash. I had run out of mana.

I sat and meditated until my mana was restored. Then I tried again. This time I touched the water with the tip of my finger and I felt a connection to the water. Seemed like touch was important with this skill. I caused the water to flow up my hand and then form another ball in the palm of my hand. This was much better. The mana draw was lighter and I could tell that this would be easier to maintain.

I took off my disgusting clothes and prepared to wash myself. I realized I could use water and earth to clean myself. The water flowed over my body and I used earth to pull the soil and gunk off me. It felt so good to be clean again.

I also realized I could filter the water of the gunk. I could cause it to be separated out of the water with a little mana. After I was done cleaning myself I made a little brick out of the material. And I hadn’t really lost any of the water.

Next, it was my clothes. I went to what I thought was the wash bin. I dumped my clothes in and then dipped my hand into the water. The more contact I had with a substance, the more control I had. This is something I would have to explore more.

I swirled the water around and cleaned my clothes in the same way. I pulled the soil and grime from the clothes. There was a clothes line for drying. So I hung up my clothes. I got out a spare set I had packed and got into some fresh clothes. I looked back at the clothes and had another thought. I could probably dry them easily with my skills. I pulled the water off my clothes and let it go down the drain. I briefly considered putting the water back in the bucket but I wasn’t sure how purified I had made it.

Right before I left, I decided to try healing on the water. I didn’t get an error message but I also didn’t see anything beside a green glow briefly suffuse the water. I decided not to do anything more. I went back out to the gym to see everyone still standing and sitting around. I found Scott and strode over to talk to him.

“How’s it going Scott?” I asked. “Got any time to discuss what should be done?”

“Sure. I was going to go look for you.” Scott said. “You were in there for a while.”

“My bad.” I responded. “I got distracted with one of my abilities. Why were you looking for me?”

“You seem to have a better grasp of the things happening.” Scott said. “What class should I take?”

“I don’t know man.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ve been in this system just as long as you.”

“Yeah, but you’re already so strong.” Scott said. “We lost people to those zombies. We discussing what to do with the people that got bit.”

That grabbed my attention. “Okay. Hmmm.” I rubbed my chin in thought. “Standard zombie rules are those that get bit, turn and then take down the group. You gotta get ‘em before they turn.”

Scott interrupted me. “But you can’t know that. This isn’t some zombie movie.”

“No, it isn’t. But you didn’t let me finish.” I said. “I have a skill that says it cures ailments. Maybe the zombie thing is an ailment. In fact, I can heal. I should take a look at anyone injured. It will help a lot. Where are the zombie bitees?” I asked.

“Uh. We have them in a classroom.” Scott said. “We decided to wait and see what happens. We couldn’t bring ourselves to kill them.”

“Totally, understandable my dude.” I clapped him on the shoulder. “How about we just nip over there and given ‘em the juice before it gets worse.”

“Sounds like a deal.” Scott answered. He turned to another person. “Brad, I’m going to take Gavrin to look at Liam, Carlos and Raj. He says he might be able to help them.”

I called Thor and Loki over to me. There were sounds of disappointment for the children. My dogs were a big hit with the children. I followed Scott to the classroom. When he opened the door there was a horrid stench.

“Wow. That is definitely a smell. Don’t know how to describe that.” I complained. “Well let’s get this done.” I walked over to the nearest person not moving and just lit him up with Druidic Healing. I felt a massive mana drain that left me woozy. I tried to hold the spell longer but I quickly ran out. I was quickly coming to dislike the mana crash I got when I let my mana deplete.

“What happened? Did it work?” Scott asked.

“I don’t know.” I said. “Something happened though. I have never had such a mana draw before. I’ll need some time to recover. I walked over and sat in the teacher’s rolly chair.

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“Have you checked your log?” Scott asked.

“Log, what log?” I asked. I brought up my menu and decided to go through it again.

“Seriously?” Scott asked.

I examined my status sheet and investigated to see what went wrong. “I see. I’ve been on the status screen. I forgot to go back to the main screen. And I turned off notifications because they were interfering with the pretty lights.”

I shook my head. “I gotta stop doing stuff stoned. Now I’m a little embarrassed.” I waded through the information and found what I was looking for. “Says here ‘unknown ailment weakened.’ Sounds like they have something and I can’t heal it all the way. So I’ll just keep healing until I get it right. Is there any water in here?”

Scott pointed to the corner.

“Neat.” I told him.

I settled in to try to meditate. I didn’t have a skill for it but I felt there could be. I really wanted it. I imagined reaching out and grabbing mana and pulling it towards me. I didn’t know if I should pull towards my dantian or one of my chakras. I narrowed my eyes. There was a help function. I can’t believe I missed this.”

“Support.”

I began to read the information available. This was really helpful. The system was a guide to accessing the fundamental aspects of the system. The system adapted and morphed to fit the ‘zeitgeist’ of the world. The lore portion of the system indicated the advent of the system was partially our fault. The system was essentially an advanced artificial lifeform. It would brook no competition. Humanity was on the verge of creating its first true artificial thinking machine. We triggered it.

“Scott, have you read the lore section of the help menu?” I asked. “There is some pretty wild stuff in there. What do you think it all means?”

“I don’t think I got that far?” Scott answered me. “I was looking for other things. I wanted to know how to survive this new world.”

“Well, the first order of business should be food, water and shelter. Then we can expand out for other survivors. Mixed in all that, we should hit up the stores in town and see what we can scavenge.” I explained. “In the meantime, you guys should work on clearing the nearest zombies. I didn’t get much experience from them, so the low level guys should get into that and level up. When people are confident, we can begin ranging further out.”

Scott stood there. He rubbed his head. “I should of thought of that. Are you sure you shouldn’t be in charge.”

I laughed. “Naw dog. I’d be terrible in charge. You have to trust me on this.”

“So what are you go to do next.?” Scott asked me.

“I want to experiment more with my skills.” I said. “I feel like I am missing some things. I am going to finish up healing everyone here. After I feel I got a grip on my skills, I am going to out and start roaming and make sure there isn’t out that can threaten us.”

“So we’re an ‘us’ now?” Scott asked. He had a smile on his face.

“Oh, did I overstep?” I asked. “I just didn’t want to go it alone. I can I join your group?” I didn’t want to overstep and offend anyway. At worst case, I would just leave.

“Honestly, some of the guys were saying they were scared of you.” Scott sheepishly admitted. “You are so much higher level than us. Could we even stop you if you meant any harm? You handled those zombies so easily and you can already do magic.”

I sat and thought about it. My mana was recharged and so I healed the same guy again. The green light flared around the man again but this time the mana draw wasn’t as extreme. Color seemed to return to his face. I then received a system message.

[SYSTEM ALERT: ZOMBIE INFESTATION PARTIALLY CLEARED]

Well done, Gavrin!

You have successfully neutralized the first zombie-causing agent. This is a significant step in restoring safety and balance to the area. However, multiple sources of infestation remain. Your mission to clear all zombies in the area continues.

Achievements Unlocked:

First Cleanser: Successfully neutralized the first of several zombie-causing agents.

Protector of the Innocent: Saved potential victims in the immediate vicinity from transformation.

Pathfinder of Restoration: Initiated the process of clearing the area of the zombie infestation.

Rewards:

Experience Points (XP): +200

Skill Points: +1

Reputation Increase: Your actions have been noted by local communities and factions. Continued efforts will further enhance your reputation.

Next Steps:

Locate and Neutralize Remaining Agents: There are more sources of the zombie infestation in the area. Use your skills and abilities to find and neutralize them.

Stay Vigilant: The area is still dangerous with active zombies. Proceed with caution.

Special Note: Each cleared agent reduces the number of zombies and lessens the overall threat. Fully cleansing the area will require perseverance and strategic thinking.

[Press 'OK' to continue your quest to cleanse the area]

“Oh, wow.” I gasped as I read over the prompt. “I just got a quest. After I finished healing this guy, I got a prompt. I need to finish healing everyone I can.”

“Oh, that is neat.” Scott said. “I guess, maybe, not having a class has been hurting us. We never got a prompt or anything for fighting the zombies.”

“That not be it.” I told Scott. “From the sound of it, it just might be you were never successful in finishing one off or healing one? But back to your earlier concern. I grok that. I would be worried too if something much more powerful was to appear. But I’m a fairly standup guy. I won’t knowingly do harm.”

It was Scott’s turn to be pensive. “That’s not actually very re-assuring. ‘won’t knowingly do harm,’ doesn’t sound promising.”

“It’s me telling the truth.” I explained. “We can never know all the consequences of our actions, until all the ripples end. It will be inevitable I harm someone, emotionally or physically, but like I said, it won’t be on purpose.”

“You’re an odd duck, you that?” Scott said. “Most people would try to re-assure me that they wouldn’t do any harm.”

“You got me there.” I replied. “But think about it. You know how its always the last person you’d expect?” Scott nodded so I continued on. “Its always the last person you expect because if it was a shifty looking person you would have taken proper precautions. Same thing with you keys. They are always in the last place you look because a sane person stops looking for them once you found them.”

Scott laughed. “Yeah, you can probably stay. It would help out a lot around here. But, I do have to run it by the guys first.”

“No worries.” I said. “I’ll stay here while I wait for mana to recharge.”

Scott nodded and left the room. I thought about cleaning the guy up, but decided I should save my mana for healing. I would get back to it after I was all done.