Even though I hunted less today, I still managed to gather enough currency units to be able to purchase another magic potion. I ran off to purchase it and headed back to my tent. I'd be more prepared this time. I did a deep meditation, then slowly pulled out the cork and sipped the potion. The reaction wasn't as strong as last time, but it was very similar in essence. Again, a strong fatigue came over me and I fell asleep, and many changes happened to my body. In the morning, my magic power increased by another 25% and was now a full 75% stronger than before I drank these potions. Since I wasn't good with math, I didn't know if that was good or bad. I did know, however, that I needed to continue developing my powers.

The next morning I got up early, with the first rays of the sun. I had slept very well and after a short meditation and breakfast, I hurried out of the camp.

I headed towards town where some hunters were already evident. I spotted Garat's group fighting a rather large group of zombies and stopped to help them. My bear was even stronger today, its heavy paws ending in huge claws. With their help, it was able to rip through the weaker zombies, and often pick up and hurl some of them at the other zombies with great force, or slam them into the ground.

"I see your bear is getting stronger, Meridin." said Carlos.

"But we also have new stars. "Mariella, the healer of the group, chimed in. "Last night Garat, Otto, Smith, Russell, and Sophia bought potions of power. "

"Well done, soon your group will be raging like a hurricane in the outskirts. " I praised them. "And you Mariella, how are you going to buy upgrades when you don't easily make currency units?"

"Some things, like potions for example, can be bought for others. I'm saving up for training though."

"Wasn't it 320 points ?" I asked.

"I have saved 120 points so far. I'll gradually earn them."

"We selectively spread the half-dead zombies amongst us after the battles," said Garat. "That way no one is too far behind the others."

After talking some more while the archers collected their arrows, we parted ways. I hurried over to a small isolated group of zombies, with loaded crossbows.

About two hours later, I found myself closer to the edge of town, where my imp came across a group of three people I hadn't seemed to have seen before. Their occupations were rather strange and I decided to approach them.

"Why should I fight so much, Patrick? " an elderly man said to a tall youth armed with a shield and a sword "The food in the shop costs about ten points a day. I killed 35 zombies yesterday. So I don't need to work for three or four days. When my points run out, I'll start again."

"But, isn't it better to upgrade your equipment?" the young man asked him.

The man looked around and gestured the youth closer.

"Listen boy." he said in a quieter tone. "There are some pretty avid zombie hunters here. Let them clean up the streets a bit and thin out the zombies. Besides, there's talk of forming a government. We already have several political groups arguing and discussing things all day, making decisions and trying to force them on others."

"What does the government have to do with anything?"

"The government will figure out how to feed us. It will organize hunting groups and everyone will work according to their class. I, for one, chose to be an alchemist. I used to teach chemistry at a small school and the idea of alchemy fascinated me. But instead, I got to use my fire magic to shoot zombies. And do you know how much I hate meditating?"

"Really?"

"Yes! The others don't always stop to wait for me, instead they move on, and I have to stop somewhere and try to draw mana into myself. And in the meantime, a zombie or other creature could come from anywhere and ambush me. Plus, using a lot of mana gives me a beastly headache. This is so hard. I meditate, then look for the others, then shoot my mana empty, just do it all over again. I'm going crazy!"

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

During this time, I approached them from the nearby street.

"Hello, my name is Meridin Zlodar."

"The one with the speeches from yesterday?" said the elderly man, "Mr. Delucci, come we have a visitor."

"Leave it on the table, Joseppe. I'll see it later."

"Old Dellucci is a little distracted, but he is a true genius, Sir Meridin." the young man approached and shook my hand. "My name is Patrick."

Patrick explained to me that he was a chemistry student at one of our city's prestigious universities, and Mr. Dellucci was often invited to lecture there. He was the head of a private research laboratory from which hundreds of successful patents had come.

While we were talking, Giuseppe came up with Mr. Dellucci, who was rubbing his hands hard in a towel.

"I don't have time Joseppe, corpses spoil very quickly."

"Good afternoon Mr. Dellucci." I greeted. "My imp noticed that you were researching zombie corpses and thought I'd ask you about your work."

Joseppe whispered something in his colleague's ear, and I pulled out my alchemy book that I had purchased as part of my starter kit. At the sight of the book and the symbols and diagrams written on its leather cover, the old chemist's eyes lit up and he hurried over to me.

"Good day to you as well, Sir Meridin."

"Marquis Meridin." I corrected him.

"Marquis Meridin." he said with a smile. "May I see that book of yours."

"Sure." I said and handed it to the enthusiastic alchemist.

During the next half hour I learned a lot about the alchemy training that Giuseppe and Dellucci had gone through, and about their experiments in recent days. They were trying to research zombies and deduce some of their alchemical ingredients.

They were planning to make a poison that would work on the zombies. They had achieved some success and could even make several types of slow-acting necrotic poisons from different parts of zombies.

This greatly intrigued me and I decided to help them. During the next few hours I hunted zombies and with the help of my bear I carried them to the edge of town, where Patrick and Joseppe moved them to the camp with a wooden stretcher. Mr. Dellucci drew me several pictures of the parts of the zombies that were of interest to his research and I left him my alchemical book. Also I was so impressed that I promised to buy them some things from the store and help with their research.

Then I went back to hunting. Had lost a lot of time today and needed to catch up. I hunted for a long time, coming out only when the sun had all but hidden from the skyline. I had encountered various types of abnormal zombies, with varying abilities. I put a lot of effort into removing the alchemical parts from Mr. Delucci's drawings, but I didn't have the right tools and the job was not done well. I'm sure I had damaged quite a few of them. Anyway, on the way back, my bear was carrying a huge bag full of zombie parts, and the sight of the various heads, limbs, and organs as well as the dried blood oozing from them, made quite a few people start to shudder in horror.

I hurried to explain out loud to some of my acquaintances about the alchemists and the poison they were trying to make, as well as the rest of their plans.

At that moment I remembered that there were several dozen summoners and necromancers in the camp, most of them hunting with one group or another, and that eased my concern somewhat. “I wouldn't be the only freek in town.”

I then met Mr. Dellucci and dropped off my load. Then I hurried to release my bear and took a bath in the ice-cold water of the river.

When I came out I wrapped myself in my blanket and sat by the fire I had made for myself. One of the young men I had rescued yesterday came from nowhere and we chatted while I was drying off.

He asked me repeatedly how he could repay me, and I finally decided to make him wash my clothes, meanwhile I headed to the store, wrapped in my blanket. On the way, the smell of freshly cooked food drew me in.

"Fresh venison steaks, fish chowder with chives, different kinds of fruit, low prices, high quality.." a white clad cook shouted to the customers, and behind him was a field kitchen with a dozen workers. To the left there were quite a few tables and chairs made from tree trunks and there were quite a few customers.

"How much is the soup?" asked I. "Besides, can I order grilled fish?"

"Sorry the fish ran out my friend. Since there's no money in this world yet, you can exchange a few servings with us on credit, for some of the things on this list." the chef said, then handed me a list.

There were quite a few things there, and they priced them each for special credit "points" for the restaurant. For example, various utensils, knives, pots, spices, alcohol, etc. could be purchased from the store, as well as things like wild fish, meat and fruit. Further down some had added in different handwriting another group of items - baskets, tables, firewood, etc.

Items and services were exchanged for points, ten points being a steak and six points a fish or vegetable stew. From what I gathered from the credit statements and bookkeeping documents on one of the tables, quite a few people had taken advantage of the credit system and probably soon more kitchens would open for those interested.

I hurried to the store and purchased some of the things on the list and soon after exchanging them for credit, I was eating a hearty dinner of fish chowder, juicy venison steak and a handful of fruit and nuts for dessert.