CHAPTER 11 - Encounter II
“Damn!” I was expecting something bad, but this… I have nothing to work with as of now.
I have no clue where anyone is right now, I have no way of communicating with them due to my phone being broken and I find myself alone at home without any lead to follow.
‘Let’s be smart, let's discover the best course of action.’ I try to create the plan with the most amount of possibilities to find my family without dying in the process and being able to protect them once I find them. I am not planning to meet up with them just to witness their death first hand because of something I did.
‘Hmm’ I guess I could start with that, it could be super dangerous though...
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The first thing I thought when I discover the weird energy than I wield was to search for more ways to get stronger. It may sound childish from a pre-apocalyptic society yeah, yet now that the results are in plain sight, I can’t bring myself to deny the possibility.
There are a lot of theories I came up with, but the easiest and fastest one to prove and look into is definitely the one related to the monsters. What if it was possible to get stronger with something the monster brings to us from whenever they are coming from? Let’s put it this way, first I will name the energy I wield. It comes from my body so I would call it inner strength, however as I would prefer a shorter name let's go with qi as in some series before the apocalypse did with something similar. It will make it easier to understand how it works if I ever need to explain it to other people and quicker to say.
Let’s take for example this qi I now am able to use. In our pre-apocalyptic society there were a lot of athletes and elite individuals that were the best at doing all kinds of sports or feats of the like. However, all of those people were doing things within the range of what was possible with our capabilities, even though some of them really make it hard to agree with that. That leads me to believe that qi came with the monsters and wasn’t present here before. Following that assumption I am prepared to search for other ways of getting stronger. I will start by hunting one or more of each type of monster that I can find and do an autopsy on them. I will be searching for anything alien to me and as a side benefit I will get to know the disposition of the monster's organs which is a plus.
I think about getting some related books about anatomy, but I decide it won’t be necessary. I had the subject when I was studying and even though I didn’t pay too much attention I still got enough for full marks as in all the other ones for the sake of my family. I always had a good memory and it seems that it will come in handy now. I will have to prepare a secure place where I can inspect the corpses without being found or disturbed by anything. Even if I deem it necessary for survival purposes I am sure a lot of people will just think I am mad by the mere fact of doing anything with the monsters that doesn’t involving scaping or killing them. I don’t want to be labeled as a mad scientist or something of the like any time soon, maybe later, could be cool. There is some kind of thrill on being an entity that give rise to fear on everyone's heart and it could be useful having a veiled perception about you of what’s true and what’s deception. Sadly, it will probably be better to just go for a more likable persona. For now…
It’s been decided then, I will search for new things on monsters for a week while I wait for news from my family. Then after a week if they still don’t show up, I will go find groups or settlements to get acquaintances with more people to try and get help with the search. I need to think about something to make others keen on following me and for now the only thing that comes to mind is either have the strength to protect them or slowly make them trust me and realize the importance of my skills. Obviously I won’t waste time doing the second one if I can get the same result just with the first option. For that thought I need to get started so I part on my hunt for specimens.
An hour later
After getting hold of my first guinea pig I get back home with the body and break into one of the apartments on the top floor of my building. What I need right now could be considered some kind of laboratory and in all laboratories there are explosions at some point. It couldn’t possibly be considered one without them right? Right?
Right!
I try to enter the first one by forcing the door and I discover it is void of life, nothing strange at this point. Actually I would consider it weirder if there really was someone inside and that’s a big problem. Where the heck did all people go?
Anyways, I block myself in and I get to work on a free space I clear in the living room. Let’s hope this family doesn’t mind a little bit of blood on their sofa. Maybe I should really strive to be a villain, it would be funnier. I scan the body for anything strange and after a few hours I practice with my qi. I need to improve everything about it, from my control over it, to the quantity itself. I lose myself in the process till it is already late and after a little bit more research on the monster corpse I go to bed at my apartment. Still no one home.
At this point the whole week flies by in no time while I keep dissecting all kinds of species that I cant get hold on while practicing my qi and fighting skills for the rest of the day. I mostly focus on the qi part of it though. However after I run out of it, I need something else to do and as I have no way to try to forge anything or make any equipment with the scarce tools I have. I don't have any other choice than return to the basics and train the martial arts that I am already proficient with. Either that or get bored and anxious while doing nothing.
Regarding my little experiment with the corpses… I got nothing useful. Other than raw materials from equipment obviously. No new energies or ways to improve myself. No new organs or mutated things that are apparent while taking a look at them. They have to have something that boosts their strength to the levels they display when alive, I am sure of it, yet I find none of that.
I have no idea if it is something that stops working the moment they die or if it is some kind of technique they somehow train or inherit from one another that improves their abilities or something else. I am honestly lost on this topic. At some point of my research the thought of trying the monsters meat goes through my mind, but the mere thought of it screams danger again and again. Maybe, and just maybe, I will try it once I let others try it first.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Hopefully, I did get better at using qi and that helps me stay focused on my goals. I double the amount of time I can go on while using the energy and start to split the energy in tiny bits. I am not able to do the same as my body does for me when fighting, but I made progress, it won’t be long till I can do it better. I am sure that doing it manually instead of the ‘auto-pilot’ way of it is more efficient and stronger.
Waking up everyday to the same lifeless empty flat where I used to life with my family was killing me so I did not only focus on all that, but at some point I even started exercising again. I am in peak condition, better than I have ever been, and that is why I am trying to see if while I do it I can still get a better result just by doing the same training, but with qi in all exercises. I think I am getting some progress there too, but I can’t be too sure, I will need more time to figure it out.
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The week that I planned on staying here focusing on improving myself ends. I am stronger, I have better control over qi and I am as ready as I can be. It is no crazy increase, yet it is still a lot better than what a normal human being could possibly hope to achieve. If I were to use everything I can at once I can display an insane amount of whatever speciality I want. Once boosted by qi I am a different breed. Speed? You got an explosive rush of power on your legs that will get you anywhere you want to go in no time. Dexterity? Just let your body take over and your whole perception range improves by leaps! Strength? You have at your disposal not only the raw power of qi, but the speed you can get from it to back it up.
All of that, coupled with my impeccable technique and fighting sense due to my ingenious awareness is everything I need to play my part in any fight. Not to forget that I can follow everything that's happening in the battlefield thanks to qi boosting my already good perception and decision making. Its hard being a genius, damn it, I need to fight something strong soon or it will get to my head. I definitely need a good beating, but now its not the time for it. Even with all that I have my own problems. If I want to use everything that I said I will need a bigger amount of qi and a better control over it. Both being things I lack right now and which in turn limit my arsenal. Not to mention the lack of stamina I am noticing while using qi too. I really need to improve if I want to be able to face some of the monsters I have seen before like the orcs or even the minotaur.
Having cleared my mind is time to search again, but this time for settlements or hideouts of the little people that managed to survive. ‘Let 's go!’
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I set off at dawn with confidence in the direction of the nearest places I can think of as appropriate for a settlement. I start by combing the perimeter of the city, where the city ends and the suburbs start. This city is by no means small, having more than a million inhabitants before the apocalypse started, but I am currently on one of the neighbors that divide the city from nature. In fact, the change from urban to rural is abrupt in this case.
Changing from buildings with a little bit more than five floors to small houses or directly void plots of lands. Mostly due to the problems that arose when building in the area as the terrain is not appropriate to build. There is a river nearby that tends to flood the place every time it’s rainy season, deeming it unsuitable or not worthy to build on.
I am planning to take a peek around the river as water is a priority when establishing a base. Then I will look around the nearby strategic spots that could be a good enough place to set up something big enough.
I scout all those places and look around a little bit on the buildings close by. I do find some traces of small groups, but all of them indoors. Not even once do I find any recent trace of humans on the outside. Seeing that searching the surroundings like this will be useless, I decide to go see if the outskirts of the city are livelier. There are a few roads that can take me to a forest close by.
I just choose the one nearest the river and follow it. If I were to build a base I would probably choose somewhere like this. Somewhere close by to the city for easy access to information, supplies and new survivors while bringing the danger level to the minimum by exposing as little as possible.
After a hour of walking I rethink my decision, there is a lot less houses in the vicinity and the forest is thicker than before, yet I haven’t seen a single hint of a moving group of humans on my way here.
It’s already nearing lunch time and I start looking for a good spot to eat when I suddenly get ambushed, but this time it’s not monsters the ones that get the jump on me.
*Halt*
I stop for a second and turn to face the way the shout came from, there I see a group of humans, humans! And they are alive!
“Who are you and what are you doing wandering around here!”
The man in the front of the group shouts at me and tries to force information out of me. For the moment I inspect what I am dealing with. First, they are a group of four, they seem well equip yet only in terms of cold weapons. No range ones or any guns, which in turn makes reassures me of my safety, I can easily deal with that much if the need arises. ‘Let’s try to do it the right way.’
“Hello, I am Leo! I am here in search of a group to trade with and maybe join it!”
I let them take a peek on my intentions. I am only telling the truth, in the end I am looking for people to do things for me in exchange for protection and monster materials. For now though, the trader route is easier to follow if I want to get them to believe me and earn their trust.
“Why are you here thn in the middle of nowhere instead of searching in the city?”
“But I did accomplish my goal though, didn't I?” I say without a hint of ill intentions.
“Uhmm”
“.....”
“.....”
They start to talk between themselves as they still point their weapons at me. I take the time to take a closer look at them. They have two hatchets of poor quality, a spear that seems to be actually made by them or someone at their base and a sword of low quality too, still better than the hatchets though.
I wonder if they really don't have anything better or any way to make something of a better quality at least. Looking closely, the spear is not that bad, just that it’s not much more than a piece of wood with a piece of metal at the end, well crafted at the bare minimum, which leads me to believe there is actually someone with them able to make weapons to some degree.
I almost feel like showing them my longsword. If you compare it to their… There's no need to even mention that those rusty, crumbling, hatchets and short sword wouldn’t stand even one hit from the high quality sword I got from the monster I killed a while ago. I have no idea if it is made of steel, but the performance of it differs with the thought of it being made from steel. Leading me to believe that it's been crafted from a material akin to, if not better than steel.
They finally seem to stop mumbling to one another and the leader gets close to me slowly.
“Pleasure to meet you Leo, I am Igor. We are part of a group that settled nearby and we decided to bring you with us if you still want to. Once we get back to base it’s gonna be for the people in charge of running the base to tell you if you can trade, stay or both.”
I honestly thought they would be more assertive seeing the way they treated me before. Guess they were just surprised by me being close to their base I suppose.
“Sure, I would love to.” Let’s see how are these guys doing out here on the wild.