Z rushed outside of the hospital before coming to a stop to calm himself down. He had no clue what had him so flustered, facing a horde of spiders. Yea that's fine, no biggie. Slaughtering your way through waves of enemies with death surrounding you on all sides, all dandy. Feels like home! Having a woman you don't know stare at you when you were absorbed in petting her hair, NOPE! Total panic, he could almost feel his heart start pounding again from the shock. He muttered a bit as he walked away from the hospital. Lost in thought, he heard the clanking of steel as his guard, The Everliving, followed in his wake. He thought the name would work well enough, he turned around and let them know about his decision then proceeded to ask them to get ingredients usable for food.
It did not take long for the Everliving to return with some hunted animals, herbs and one of them had even found tomatoes. Where he found tomatoes was a mystery, he took the ingredients and reëntered the hospital. He headed to the small kitchen on the first floor, grabbed an apron and went to work. He wasn't sure if he actually knew how to cook so he just went with whatever felt right.He taste tested once he was close to finished before realising that he couldn't taste anything because his tastebuds had long since perished. With a sigh he put his finished dish onto a plate and walked towards the woman's room. He stood outside for a few seconds, he was nervous still. Strange that such a weak specimen had more effect on him than any opponent he had faced. He rolled his shoulders, knocked... waited for a few seconds then entered the room.
The woman was still in the same bed and was staring at him, her face wasn't quite as pale as it had been at first so he would take that as a sign of improvement. He walked over to her and placed the tray with the plate and eating utensils on her lap and helped her sit up. “I don't know how it tastes, I tried to taste-test but turns out I can't taste anything at all so... I hope it doesn't taste terrible!” Z tried to force a smile but felt the attempt crumble halfway through. He sighed dipped his head towards her and then left the room. He entered the room next door to check on the other patients, Brainz had finished treating the other female and was working on the male. Z gave a few brief instructions to the Black Guard, that was what he decided to name the General's personal guard, and they were tasked with cleaning the wounded and finding them a room.
He then knocked on the woman's room again and entered, she paused for a moment when he walked into the room before continuing to eat. He walked over to her and sat down on the sturdy chair, he put his arms on his knees and leaned forward. “How's the taste?”
The woman stared at him for a few seconds before giving him a small nod. Z smiled, “I'm glad that I managed to cook something halfway decent then.” His face turned serious, “We found you with two others in a.... beaten up state. We killed the ones who dumped you and you do not have to tell me what has happened to you unless you feel like it. Just know that you are safe here for however long you wish to stay.”
The woman took another fork full thus emptying the plate, she then carefully it on a tray then put the tray on the bedside table. She then stared at him for a few moments before attempting a seated bow, she grimaced as the gesture put a strain on her still not completely fixed body. Z put his hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back down. “No need for that, you have probably noticed but I am not human, nor are any of the others here. I have marked you as guests for now so you need not fear they attack you unless provoked. If you have need of me feel free to ask, I am called Z and this here is my domain. I have a few things to take care of, take your time and rest. Your friends are in the next room.”
With that he got up smiled at her and headed back outside, he still had points to spend and forces to rebuild. He considered having a troop of units stationed at the goblin village to aid in defense, then realized the goblin village was probably better protected than his own dirt wall home.
Z tapped his own box, he had completely forgotten that he had the option, things had been chaotic since his return.
[Z (Zombie?) Tier 2 Unique, Evolution available]
[The Hunt (Available)]
[Undying Rage (Available)]
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[Dense (Available)]
[Charge (Available)]
[Shockwave Stomp (Available)]
As usual, he tapped the unknown options and worked his way down the list.
[Dense has been unlocked due to the individual having the Heavy Zombie evolution. It increases the density of the individual without changing size. Making the individual both tougher and heavier.]
[Charge has been unlocked due to the individual having the Heavy Zombie evolution. When running the individual can activate charge to gain speed, speed will continue to grow the further the individual runs. Movement bonuses will be canceled after a collision.]
[Shockwave Stomp has been unlocked due to the individual having stomped many an opponent into their graves. Upon choosing this ability a stomp will spread out in a shockwave, radius and strength of the shockwave depend on the user's physical strength.]
Interesting abilities one and all, he had already made up his mind to get undying rage. He selected the ability and to his slight disappointment did not have the option for a second ability. Shrugging he headed towards the Tombstone to check his earned KP and options.
After checking the points earned which were just a little over three-hundred he tapped the upgrade list.
[Territory Governing Options]
[Summon a growing Zombie 6 KP]
[Summon a puppet Zombie 1KP]
[Create second tier walls around your territory center, (Wood) 60 KP]
[Create first tier road to another of your territories, (Currently unavailable amount of territory owned too small)]
[Create second tier road to your Allies. (Currently available Ally locations: Red Grass Tribe Village.) 50 KP]
[Create Defensive Stronghold tier two. 65 KP]
[Create Garrison Barracks tier two. 65 KP]
[Create Weapon Shop Tier one 40 KP]
[Create Armour Shop Tier one 40 KP]
[Create Guest House Tier one 30 KP]
Z blinked, weapons and armour shops were great, but where had the guest house come from. It was the same with the hospital it made no sense for zombies to have a hospital yet when he felt in need of one the option to purchase it had appeared. Perhaps these upgrades appeared out of necessity or will of the domain leader? It was a curious thought. He tapped the guest house, he had a gut feeling the humans would be staying a while. He could use some more people to converse with.
He also purchased both the armour and weapon shop. The familiar rumble spread through the ground as some buildings shuffled around to make space for the new ones, a road appeared running through the middle of the clearing, the hospital, Mausoleum and mass-grave all moved to one side of the road while both shops and the guest house appeared on the other side. His system was extremely different compared to the one that governed the goblins. Yara had told him that for them to create better weapons he could purchase the knowledge how to make said weapons and the goblins would then construct the weapons themselves. Z's domain did not work the same way it seemed, he had shops instead. It made sense in the fact that zombies are not known for their craftsmanship, if they could even do so at all.
He still had quite a few points to spend but before deciding on what to spend them on he walked over to the shops and took a look at them. Shop might have been the wrong word, as they were merely a pile of weapons and a pile of armour at this point. He attempted to move a weapon from the pile but to his surprise, the weapons wouldn't budge, the same went for the armour. He shrugged and tapped the 'shop', he wasn't surprised that it brought up yet another menu.
[Tier one Weapons Shop]
[Self Equip, Weapon tier One Bad quality 3 KP]
[Self Equip, Weapon tier One Decent quality 7 KP]
[Self Equip, Weapon Tier One Good Quality 14 KP]
[Equip All, Weapon Tier one Bad Quality 75 KP]
[Equip All, Weapon Tier one Decent Quality 175 KP]
[Equip All, Weapon Tier one Good quality 400 KP]
Z let out a soft whistle, those were quite the prices. He tapped the box and it told him that self equip would give only him a weapon of choice, equip all would give all current and future units a weapon of that quality. The prices made a lot more sense when he looked at it that way. It could even be considered cheap if he had a huge amount of soldiers. He shook his head, the prices were currently not worth it. He needed more units before he could afford to spend points on this. He checked the armour shop as well, it had the same options except the prices were fifty percent higher. It made sense, armour covered more and would cost more to create than just a weapon. It was curious that he could not select the type of weapon or armour his units would get, after some more digging around through the menu's he found out that each unit would be equipped with what the system thought was most fitting to the individuals abilities.
What he needed now was simple, the previous battle had shown him the weak points of the puppet zombies, their senses were abysmal and they could nor react well to unexpected circumstances. They would be usefull for defensive purposes but lacking if he wanted to assault another's domain. He thought about it for a moment and then decided to buy twenty growing zombies, quite the amount but he would make sure they were worth the money. More of the undead popped out of the mass-grave, Z's eyes widened slightly. For the first time since he had started summoning units there were female undead. Four of them to be precise, he hadn't even noticed the lack of gender diversity in his troops untill the opposite gender made an appearance.
He shook his head, he was going to need to name them. He frowned, he would name those that made it to tier Two. It might be harsh but the undead had little to no personality at the first tier, their evolution gave them a spark of personality. He wondered if higher tiers would alter the personality or if they would stay unchanged. Food for thought. He spent another twenty points on summoning puppet zombies from the garrison, increasing the size of the General's forces. He nodded to himself in satisfaction, that would have to do for now.