I was outside the Safe Zone, armed with a lot of stuff.

A bike helmet, a bulletproof vest, bike gloves, knee pads, and military boots. I had a submachine gun strapped to my back, an M4A1. Very reliable Assault Rifle. And a couple of hand guns, one of them was a Desert Eagle because I liked it.

In my inventory were a couple of swords with several bottles of the green potion I made.

I was already fully healed up, and now ready to do the next part of my plan.

The first Phase is a preparation phase, and gaining contribution is the best way to gain power early here. However, a single person cannot save this fucked up world, I need companions, and now I'm going to go find them.

I have to admit, shit went way past my expectations. I've came back and realized that no amount of planning could have alerted me of what happened to Oakland. Everything I tried to set up was in the thought of shit going down one month from down. And it seems that my actins, of making Oakland a more fortified and more of a safer area against the first assault of the undead backfired big fucking time.

I should have honestly seen it coming. Since the preemptive undead strike like last time started by hitting the areas with the most military powers and those that seemed to be capable of holding off even temporarily but finally in vain the assault, they were the first ones hit.

And by asking Dilburt to make this damn area as fortified as a military base I was asking to get hit.

I had plans to slowly take over the University and making it a hub for the Hunters to gather there, and make it a base. But now that it was hit so early, those plans will have to be adjusted.

Damn, this is a wake up call, a good timed one too. I cannot rely on information from what I've witnessed. Everything seemed to have changed by just my own presence and knowledge of what was to come. So I'll need to approach the upcoming trials with more prudence.

Thankfully nothing grave happened. And my friends and reliable party are all still alive. But I can't make mistakes like this again in the future. For now, I'll need to gather my party and think up of how to proceed from now onwards.

I can get two of my old party members right now, they both lived in Oakland. If I'm lucky, they should still be alive.

I need to find the God-smith, Katakuri Sakaki. A Japanese weaponsmith is the only one who still uses the old ways of forging weapons. Though he specializes in eastern weapons. His skills were so profound the system gave him his own class.

The God-smith's methods were incredible, and he could literally make diamonds out of coal. He was a great talent to have, able to repair broken weapons and armor like they were nothing, not to mention the fact that he could also forge legendary type weapons.

I didn't need to be afraid that this person might die. Because he was the one who taught me swordsmanship.

The second is the most valuable person at my old party and the most annoying in the bunch. The Cleric Class Robert Donson. The fact that he is a cleric is a joke. He has the foulest mouth of everyone I had ever known, and can spit cuss words that would make sailors blush.

He fought on the frontlines even if he was supporting, he made everything ten times more problematic, and worst of all, he acted like a god at a party, refusing to heal anyone if they pissed him off. However, he had one thing that could easily sway him.

Alcohol.

No sane person would ever want someone like him in their party, however, I would upturn the world just to have him join. Because, unlike his disgustingly twisted personality, his supporting class was top-notch, and was among the best of everyone I've ever known. Until the day he died. Of all my party members, none of us had died. All thanks to him.

Even if it pisses me off to admit it, he was damn good at his job, though he would make us sweat before he acted.

I headed out to the north, I needed to go a bit away from the Undead concentration to get to Sasaki first, he lived in a small house outside of the city, since he was using old ways to make weapons he used a lot of coal and his forge released a lot of waste, it was impossible for him to live inside the city because everyone would complain about the fumes.

So, I headed out first, I used a bike and hit the accelerator leaving the perimeter of the Safe Zone.

The ride toward God-Smith's house was uneventful, which I'm grateful for. It didn't take me much time to arrive at his home.

Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any destruction near him.

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The undead would flock to areas with a lot of noise, but this place was peaceful. And it was thanks to it that the God-Smith was safe from the events of the first Phase.

Or so I thought.

Just as I got closer to the shed, I could smell it. The Stench of the curse.

Usually, a human body would bloat and start rotting once it hits past the third day.

However, with the undead curse, they smelled like crap the moment the curse manifests in them.

This stench was not just for show, it was something for the other undead to locate and know who is a friend from a foe.

Since not all undead could use Life Signature to know if the one in front of them was another undead, the smell of the curse was enough to cause them to back off from eating each other.

It stank here, a lot.

Soon, I heard the sound of something hitting the dirt, it was behind the small house.

I circled around, and once I saw the scene in front of me, I took a breath of to ease off the stress.

I had feared that the God Smith would have been dead by now, but it seemed that my worries were for naught.

A man in a blue bloodied kimono was slowly digging a large hole, and around him were the bodies of more than twelve undead.

Looking at their clothes, they seemed to be hikers.

The man with the shovel didn't even turn and said, "I have nothing of value, I also don't want to hurt you, please leave," he said.

"I didn't come here to fight," I said.

It was enough for him to turn towards me.

"Hmm, if you didn't come to fight, what's with all those weapons?" he asked.

"Self-Protection," I said.

"Is that so…" he said. And calmly continued shoveling.

I slowly approached him and took note of all the dead undead.

If any other person was here, they would be completely shocked. Because, without a weapon of 'mana' no one would be able to cut the head of the undead, however, the God-Smith was different.

Because he had 'true' skill with the sword.

A normal katana in the hand of a sword master is no less deadly than a gun. And if I guessed correctly, the System had probably approved of this man's skill and gave him the nascent ability to slay these things without the use of mana or a weapon made by the system.

"Impressive sword skills," I said.

"Not so impressive, it took a few blows to cut their heads off… I never thought a human head could be this hard to cut," he said.

"It's not, it's the mana around them protecting them," I said as I approached him.

He tensed up for a bit, there was a sword strapped to his waist, if I were to make a hasty move I can't guarantee my survival, I'm powerful, strong, and fast, but against true skill, I might die. I'm not the same person from before the regression. So I'm still within the human scope of reaction and speed, against a master, I will undoubtedly die.

I removed my helmet for him to see my face and at the same time expose my 'weak' point.

I placed my guns away and approached him, he was still tensed up, but not as before.

"Let me help," I said as I grabbed another shovel and began digging the ground.

The two of us continued digging without talking to each other.

After an hour or so, the two of us had finished burying all the undead in the courtyard.

He looked at me and said, "Do you require a safe house? I can't promise much, but this is all I have," he said.

"How about I'm the one to make that offer," I said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I come here to recruit you, I want your help, I have a safe house, you can settle in it," I said.

The man frowned, "I don't know you," he said.

"But I do," I said.

He didn't believe my words, I mean who would.

"How about a duel?" I asked.

"That came out of nowhere," he said.

"I'll challenge your dojo," I said.

The man turned back to his house and said, "But I don't have a dojo. It is but a house," he said.

"So do you refuse the challenge?" I said.

The man sighed and said, "No, come in," he said and walked into the house first.

I already knew the inside of this house perfectly, it was a small house with not much furniture.

The ground was made of hard waxed wood.

The old man waited for me inside the house.

I stood at the entrance and removed my shoes. Then walked inside.

He smiled at me and went deeper inside.

I followed after him until we arrived at a wide room inside his house.

It was a simple room, full of dozens upon dozens of swords all hung on the wall.

He turned to me and asked me, "Welcome, please pick a weapon," he said.

I looked around and didn't choose any of the katanas on the wall.

But I took a kendo wooden sword instead.

"Hmm, are you afraid of steel, or injury? I won't hurt you," he said.

"No, I'm afraid that I might hurt you," I smiled.

"I like your confidence, ready up," he said.

It was only fair because I knew this man, he'll never use a real sword against humans.

He then pulled a wooden sword and our match started.

It took us several moments before any of us took the first step, it was only natural. I was trained by this man for a long time, and I knew most of his moves, but he doesn't know mine.

He didn't dare make the first move until he would gauge my true strength, and I didn't dare to make the first move since he is pretty capable and can outright counter me if I were to mess up.

I needed him to do 'that'.

After a few more arduous moments, he moved first.

He was fast.

He raised his sword over his head, anyone would think that his chest was full of openings then, but unless they knew true kendo, the moment I tried to go for the chest, the sword in his hand will bust my skull open.

I dodged to the side which caused him to hesitate, that first move of his was one of his strongest opening moves but with me dodging instead of attempting to go for the 'opening' I got the advantage.

Our swords clashed, once, twice thrice, and more. We went back and forth trying to take the initiative over the other person who always seemed to retaliate by fighting back.

Our battle continued for a long time where only the sound of the kendo swords clashing against each other.

It continued on until one moment where both our swords struck each other, mine splintered breaking apart while he came down towards my shoulder.

His sword stopped before hitting me, and he said.

"Impressive…however you use too much strength, your sword can't handle your power. Who was your master?" he asked

"It was you," I said smiling, "Katakuri Sasaki, Demon of the Katakuri Clan," I said.

The words fell like a waterfall against the man's head.

I knew his past because he was the one who taught me.

And now, it's the moment of truth, I'll have to wait for his next words.