Chapter 11: Fortune favours the bold
“So, what’s wrong with the summoner class then?” Sarah asked.
“Well…” Tommy started, before fading off under the intimidating gaze Sarah seemed to give him as she quite literally sledged bolts of what looked like a red smoke at the skeletons, killing them in a single shot. Despite the innocent appearance as a 5”7 brunette, the aura she gave off was quite intimidating.
It didn’t help that her eyes glowed eerily red either. Not that she knew that yet.
“When you get a class, you don’t get any skills unfortunately. But we’ve all sort of found out that it becomes very easy to get them if you just concentrate and do the right actions. Like, I’m a warrior” Tommy continued, “and all I had to do was swing a sword to get [Sword Mastery] Level 1 and scream at some of the skeletons for [Taunt]. Sure you can only have five skills at a time, but they’re pretty easy to switch out.”
“Problem is,” Billy cut in, “no one has found any skills for the summoner class. We don’t really know what to do. Someone found [Ritual Magic] and got killed instantly after they tried to summon the most basic thing they could.”
Tommy took back the lead in the conversation at this point. “We guess you need materials and all that, but it’s not the most forgiving class for the inexperienced. It’s one of those classes where you need someone to guide you to get somewhere. And right now, we just need to survive. Maybe if we had like a big book to teach us what we could do it could be better.”
And lucky for Sarah, she had something a bit better than a book helping her learn the class. As little as she trusted Lucifer, she knew he was likely the leading authority on the planet at this point on her class. Plus, it seemed that, so far, he really did seem to be looking out for her.
“What you’re doing now, throwing magic bolts, is also better if you get the mage class. I get you can use [Mana Manipulation] in either a summoner or mage, but if you want to learn spells that are way stronger than you need to be a mage,” Tommy said, “like you would have probably unlocked some kind of bolt spell by now that would be stronger and need less mana if you were a mage instead.”
“The General has turned a whole bunch of his new followers into mages though. Had a whole platoon of earth mages build the walls further out to fit all the people in, although it seems he may need to expand them again with all the stragglers arriving. He turns anyone he can into either a mage or warrior, and so far the base is pretty evenly split between them,” Billy said.
“Plus, I hear they can make stuff grow. Right now there’s plenty of stuff stored, but I can see them having a big impact long term,” Zac cut in, not one to talk much with his serious attitude. “He is a smart man, scary too.”
The conversation lapsed as they looked around for more targets to kill. The group was trying to level up, and Sarah had tagged along just to get the lay of the land. She also noticed that the skeletons seemed to give no experience to her, or if they did then it was so minute she couldn’t feel anything, but either way it was good practice for her aim.
[Identify]
Skeleton Warrior- Level 2
The gang of 6 that came with her gained practically nothing from her kills either, and so all thoughts of power-levelling them went out the window. It seemed the system was smart enough to allocate experience based on how much one contributed to the kill.
“You’re too strong for this area” Zac said. “I feel like you could almost kill the death knight alone, but it’s absolutely surrounded by low level skeletons that would probably just rush you, and it’s not afraid to run away. Only reason the General hasn’t gone in yet, they say, is he doesn’t want all the casualties. That or he’s using the low-level skeletons it can raise to level us all up. Good man either way.”
Sarah was getting a little bit irritated by how much they were praising the General, but she could see from his actions that he really did seem to be putting their lives first.
The hunting continued only briefly afterwards, but Sarah had lost a bit of motivation after seeing how little experience she got. While there were no experience bars or notifications for experience, she could still get a feeling of energy going into her when gaining some, and nothing was happening here.
“I’m going to go find something stronger to kill. I’ll catch you guys in a couple of hours back at the compound,” Sarah finally said, fed up with her lack of progress.
The group gave her some directions and, with a brief goodbye, Sarah headed off alone. The other members didn’t want to join her, content to farm low level monsters first. She could understand why they were so fearful, being a group of warrior classes that had to come very close to the action without proper weapons or armour to do so. They were currently wielding large knives and heavy equipment such as spades, which were surprisingly effective against the undead. However, against a smarter opponent they would not stand much of a chance.
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Sarah could see most of the survivors becoming mages eventually. A class that could do all the mystical things one had always wanted to do, away from the actual danger warriors had to face headfirst. At least until they can find a good source of weapons and armour, maybe from the earth mages making something, the mage class may remain dominant.
After half an hour of walking Sarah came across a mall with a couple of undead standing outside. She could tell they were the corpses of those that had likely died, and it seemed that once they were turned they would lose their remaining flesh quite quickly until they were reduced to simply skeletons. These ones still had some remaining flesh, looking all the more gruesome for it, leading her to believe they had only been changed recently. Despite the dangers of entering the enclosed space of the mall, she proceeded anyway. She had been wearing the same set of clothes previously given to her and wanted to get into something fresh. Plus, she could use some supplies.
Maybe a new knife.
A couple of demonic bolts cleared her way as she walked through the non-functioning building. Half of it seemed to have collapsed in on itself, but that still left much of it to be explored. All electricity had stopped working since the apocalypse, maybe having something to do with the change to the earth after the quakes. More importantly, none of it looked like it had been touched yet. The first place she went to was a clothing shop, going for the more practical brands over designer. She picked a grey pair of pants and a grey shirt that would help her camouflage, along with a dark leather jacket that would help protect her against the most superficial of wounds. Dressed only in greys and blacks, she came out looking decidedly emo, and all the more survivable because of it.
The next store she entered was for camping supplies. This one seemed to have been more affected by the earthquake, with most of the stock buried under the collapsed walls. Even still, with the whole mall being relatively untouched she was able to find what she needed. She first grabbed a small travellers backpack so as to not impede her movement, packing inside of it a hunting knife, some nylon rope and a couple of packs of ‘camping meat’ which she was nearly 100% sure did not contain any meat whatsoever. Despite this, they appeared to have an absurd number of calories and seemed to be specifically designed for outdoor survival.
Now that she thought about it, it’s been over a day since she’s eaten and she hasn’t been hungry at all. It’s not the full heal on level up she wanted, but maybe killing monsters did more than just give her experience.
A towel and a small water bottle with filter attached completed her setup. Although there was plenty of other items that would undoubtedly be useful around the store, she knew she could not carry them all while in a desperate situation, and so did not want to take any risks. Looking longingly at the various sleeping bags and tents scattered throughout the store, she eventually decided they may do more harm than good. Plus, she was getting sick of the half-ruined mall and all the undead that lurked within. Although it only took her a bolt to kill them all, they seemed to come at the worst of times. Can’t a girl steal in peace?
She finally left the mall and started to head back south towards the compound. It was already getting dark, but she would be able to make it back in time bar any unexpected events. She had yet to experience a night in the apocalypse, seeming to make it her style to knock herself unconscious before it actually came about. The sheer amount of times she had fallen unconscious felt almost like poor writing from the author.
But making it back to camp without being waylaid was not to be. While passing through an area she could tell did not originally come from the city, somehow shifted into it during the earthquake, she could see what was clearly a portal. Almost 5 meters high, glowing with a mysterious purple colour, and swirling in that alluring swirl that every generic portal ever seemed to have, it practically beckoned her towards it. It lied at the centre of a depression in the earth, surrounded by scaffolding that made it look like a quarry of some kind.
Despite her trepidation, and desire to actually get a night of real sleep, she knew she would be unable to stop herself from having a peek. Perhaps it was half a day spent without gaining a single level, but the possibility of a stronger enemy attracted her.
Let’s see if this works. [Identify]
Unfortunately, no pop-up appeared as she stood there staring at the portal. She felt a bit embarrassed at the failed attempt, but who knows if it would bear fruit. The Identify skill only seemed to work on monsters thus far, not even giving an outcome if she used it on another human. Although from what she had heard from her new friends, there were stronger skills that could, just very few had them yet.
“So are you just going to stare at it like an idiot or go inside.”
She let out a brief squeal at the voice she was totally unprepared for, before a smile appeared on her face. She had not realized how much she missed the voice in her head until it spoke- and reflecting on this thought made her wonder if she really was insane. Without Lucifer, she had felt far less confident and was lost on how she should progress, but now with her guide back she was totally unwilling to have him gone. No throwing the guide into the lava in this game, she thought.
“I am in your soul. That is not physically possible, and I am basically resistant to most elements at my level, especially fire.”
So, do I go inside?
“No one knows what is inside a dungeon until you step forward, but it is likely earth related considering the location. Either way, at this stage of the assimilation of your world it should not be that strong.”
These words gave Sarah all the courage she needed to take the last few steps into the purple haze. Fortune favours the bold!