CJ stood in the bathroom of an abandoned apartment the Trinchar’s were using. The door to this place was barely on its hinges but they told him it still had running water. Not hot water, CJ found out, but running water none the less. While he took a few minutes to bathe and address mother nature’s call, he decided to review the rest of his waiting slate notifications.

Skill level up. Trick Cards is now level two.

Your familiar bond has increased to thirty five percent. You may now choose one of the following advancements for your partnership; Share Spells, Share Abilities, or Share Skills.

Share Spells: Unlocks your spell book for your familiar to use as well as unlocking mana for your familiar.

Share Abilities: Unlocks your list of abilities for your familiar to use as well as any unlocked passives.

Share Skills: Unlocks your familiar’s ability to use skills you know as well as gives you a fifty percent skill growth modifier.

That was an awful lot to consider. CJ just stood in the cold water with his mouth open. Monty could do the some of the same things he could. But which one to choose. They all had their benefits. He should really speak to Monty about this before picking. Then he imagined Monty making playing cards rain on monsters as they came into range. The image of the rabbit’s ears sticking straight up as he spun in the air flinging out cards amused CJ enough, he started chuckling in the shower. Monty did say to speak with him later regarding his new class point. As soon as CJ began thinking about that a new tab popped up on his slate.

Class Progression: This tab allows the user to plot out their skill tree. Skills and abilities available from the skill tree will usually bifurcate depending on the choices they make. Once a class point is spent there is no going back so choose carefully. Class points are received at every fifth level.

“I guess that’s what he wanted to talk to me about. It couldn’t hurt for me to dig in a little bit before I talk to him,” said CJ aloud while toweling himself off.

CJ reviewed the tab, and his eyes almost bugged out of his head. This tab didn’t just resemble a grey slate piece of rock with writing chiseled into it. No, this one was as sea of stars and nebulas with three options that led deeper into the darkness of the universe. It all came to CJ’s mind in a rush. The pin pricks of light in the distance, purple and green gas nebulas brighter than anyone had ever seen through a telescope, and the rings of detritus swirling into black holes. There were even moving lights in the distance traveling through empty darkness before colliding with an over saturated galaxy of objects. But foremost in his vision were three options with tracks of light leading in different directions into the cosmos before him.

Tricks of the Trade: Gain additional skills centering on deception and distraction.

Elemental Adaptation: Gain spells that draw from Tier One elemental magic beginning at the uncommon rarity.

Greater Familiarity: Acquire abilities and passives that strengthen and empower your bond.

“Alright, talk to Monty it is,” choked CJ as he finished getting dressed.

After checking over his face in the mirror, CJ noticed he didn’t have a five o’clock shadow. It’s been weeks since the apocalypse began, and it didn’t seem like his facial hair would grow in anymore. That was fine with him. Shaving was always more of an annoyance than anything else. He remembered a brief stretch earlier in his career when he grew in a goatee. At best it looked like thin lines around his mouth. Most of the people he worked with got a good chuckle at his attempt at facial hair. That was more than enough impetus for him to go back to a clean shaven look. Considering he started going bald in his early twenties, it just added another five minutes to his morning routine.

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“Are you done in there?” ask Jenn from outside of the bathroom.

“Be right out,” answered CJ.

Upon exiting the bathroom, he noticed everyone had gathered in the small apartment. There was a bedroom off to CJ’s right and the kitchen was straight ahead of him. There was a small table against the far wall under the window. It had two chairs on opposite ends. A refrigerator that wasn’t running next to stove beneath some cabinetry. The floors were linoleum and recently swept. There was a counter that separated the kitchen from the living room space where there was a sofa seated in front of a flat screen television. To the left of the sofa was sliding door that opened out onto a balcony looking down on the road below. Jennifer and Elena were seated at the table. Monty was up on the dividing counter. Rubio was sprawled out on the sofa cleaning his rifle and periodically peering through his scope out into the town. It smelled of cleaning supplies leading CJ to believe something needed to be cleaned up after they took residence here.

“So, what’s the plan?” asked Elena.

“Well. I’m almost back up to full health now. Splitting our regen evenly leaves me healing slower than before. That’s okay. I was thinking about a trip to the pharmacy Psycho mentioned. I also want to go back to the reservoir and get some of my friends. Something in the back of my head is telling me to go grab Redmond and his family. Are you getting that too, Monty?” asked CJ.

“Don’t know why you think I would feel that. Do I think it’s a good idea? Yeah, I do. I don’t have some cockamamie sixth sense about it though. We need to go through your class point expenditure before we do anything else,” answered Monty.

“What is that?” asked Jennifer still pouting over her nick name.

“Something weird is going down in the direction of the CVS. I can’t really tell from here, but I know I saw something moving when I was looking that way. Figured I should mention it. The scope only blipped level one something. It went by so fast that’s all I caught,” said a distracted Rubio.

“You’ll get a class point every five levels or so. Sometimes as rewards for completing a quest. They help grow your skills and abilities. You only get to spend the point once, so I urge you all to carefully consider your choices cause you’ll be stuck with them,” Monty answered Jenn.

“There’s also the matter of the other quests from the pillar. That cicada queen one seems kind of important,” added Elena.

“I wanted to talk about that too. That’s kind of why I want to get the Redmond’s and Tommy. We can’t tackle all of these things and keep this place safe. Who knows when we’ll get another roaming band of lunatics? Humanity is dwindling with every monster attack. Fighting each other is a zero sum game. It’s going to be hard to get other people to understand that. My dad used to say the same thing when we would watch his favorite zombie show together. He’d say you only get three things in a zombie apocalypse. Zombies, survivors, and deranged lunatics,” said CJ.

“What about a non-zombie apocalypse?” asked Jenn.

“It’s probably the same. Maybe swap out the word zombies with monsters. Still fits,” replied Elena shrugging.

“Anyway, weren’t we supposed to get some gear from the defense quest? All I saw was that skill book,” asked CJ.

“It meant all the guns, ammo, and bikes we have been gifted by our opposition. They were traveling around with boxes and boxes of ammo. Three of the bikes were just storing extra bullets. Speaking of which. No one is going anywhere until we have our first firearm safety lesson. Stamina and mana are limited resources. I think we should learn to use some weaponry. That way the monsters are dead before they have a chance to harm us or we pass out from overexerting ourselves,” said Rubio, pointed looking at Elena for that last part.

“That’s a good idea. I vote for firearms training,” said CJ.

“I said firearm safety lesson. This is going to be a long day,” sighed Rubio.

The next two hours were filled with instructions on how to clean a handgun. How to properly load a handgun. How to hold a handgun. Rubio yelled at them every time they put their fingers on the triggers. He tried to beat into them that they only needed to do that when they were ready to shoot. Never before then. After lining up some bottles on a park bench, Rubio had them fire over the hood of a car at various ranges. Not a single bottle was harmed.

“Alright. Can you tell me what you did wrong?” asked Rubio.

“I wasn’t controlling my breathing,” answered CJ.

“I kept closing my eyes,” said Jenn.

“Holding the gun sideways is not cool,” said Elena.