Chapter 1: A New Type of Class: Neither Offensive or Defensive

The month after our arrival at the walled community we planned to use as our base passed quickly and almost without incident. The residents of Warm Spring did a wonderful job at keeping wandering packs of ghouls and zombies from entering and disturbing our group. This allowed us to stay in the housing complex and relax, with no one wanting to go out to seek levels or loot.

I used the month to recover to my peak condition and to discuss with the others the next step our party would take. This was the first interval since the apocalypse that there had been any moment of reprieve from the constant struggle of day-to-day existence. The True Believers had made no re-appearance, and there were no daunting announcements made by the ‘Game’ masters.

The current peace would not last for long, though. Everyone knew it, but no one wanted to be the one to speak that aloud. Every day was a day closer to another announcement, or some Earth-shattering event that would have us on our last legs.

Richard constantly urged Mark to reach level 10 so he could receive a class, and with that new abilities and a better strength to protect himself. That was pushed off for nearly three weeks until Mark couldn’t take the nagging anymore. It helped that Glenn agreed to level up along with him.

The monsters in the area of the complex were not very strong, only levels eleven to thirteen. With the assistance of Jessica and my undead squad, quick work was made of the older men’s EXP requirements and the two of them were pushed to level 10 in a single day.

Gathering the Class Changing Stones they needed could have been a different story, but fortunately there were plenty in our inventories from previous encounters.

Neither Mark and Glenn had even learned a skill, and because of that, myself and Jessica were curious to see what options the game world would provide them. There was a level of intelligence to the system: you would not receive melee class options if your only ability used a bow or was a spell, for example.

Glenn was the less hesitant of the two, and immediately after reaching level ten used the Class Changing Stone. His face showed confusion for a brief moment before his eyes fixed in concentration. “There aren’t any battle-class options.”

Slightly confused, I asked, “Do you mean your options are supports?”

“Not in that way.” He started to clarify, “These sound like… ‘life’ support classes.” He emphasized the word life, and yet I still didn’t quite understand what he meant. “I know what I’ll pick because this is the only one that suits me.” He spoke resolutely.

Once you used the Class Change Stone, there was no further access to your character sheet until your class was selected. This was to ensure you couldn’t tailor your class options specifically by going back and forth between the menu, trying to find out what miscellaneous event or stat might influence the outcome. From Glenn’s face, I could see that he was spending some moments contemplating his new abilities. There were four of us present—myself, Jessica, Mark and Glenn—and Mark was just as keen as I was to find out what Glenn meant.

“What are you then?” Mark asked in a tone that was almost angry. Because it was his turn next to select a class, Mark was probably frustrated not to get more information from Glenn.

“I’m an Apocalypse Architect,” Glenn said at last, presumably having finished contemplating his abilities. “It’s a class that has nothing to do with fighting in either attack or defense or support. I can create special structures that have various special effects and uses.” Before anyone could ask for explanation, he moved to a wall and pushed his hand against it. There was a deep blue glow that resonated from his hand and outward before flashing several times.

The originally bleak wall suddenly had a rather inconspicuous blue sheen to it. “What did you just do to it?” Jessica asked.

“I’ve given it a special kind of reinforcement,” Glenn said, “it should be able to withstand attacks better now.”

With a skeptical expression on her face, Jessica couldn’t help but draw her bow and nock an arrow. It shot out with incredible force before impacting the wall with a thunderous bang. The blue sheen flashed like a barrier and some of its luster disappeared, but the wall had not exploded into a mess.

The meaning behind Glenn’s ‘life’ emphasis became clear to me.

“It takes quite a bit of MP though,” Glenn added.

Jessica nocked another arrow and shot it at an unenforced building just fifteen feet away. The wall suddenly had a crater in it two feet wide and several inches deep. It was easy enough to see the strength of the reinforced wall was several, or even dozens of times, more resilient than ordinary bricks and mortar.

“It’s not just that, though,” Glenn said, “I can reinforce objects, but I can also fully construct structures out of this energy—it just requires my strength be enough and for me to have the proper materials. I can also imbue certain effects into the things I create, the stronger I get, the more resistance they will have.”

This must have been one of the classes the announcement mentioned. It wasn’t useful in battle, but clearly displayed incredible prowess in creating a safe structure or fort to live in. Who knew how dangerous the world would become in the coming years and months? Classes like these might be a requirement to survive. This system was cruel—but it was not without hope.

The concrete structures of the human world would not hold up to the ever-increasing power of players and monsters. I felt pleased with Glenn’s choice, “We can continue to level you up so that you’ll be able to show the maximum capabilities possible,” I said.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

It wasn’t an issue to keep leveling like this, even if it considerably slowed down. With an EXP potion and some hard grinding, getting Glenn to level twenty could be accomplished. Not only that, when venturing through Dungeons he could construct temporary structures to protect us from enemies and the elements. He would earn his spot in the party and the EXP that came along with it in time.

“Do you still have the Spawn Protection Stone?” Glenn suddenly asked me. He must have heard us mention it on multiple occasions.

“I do,” I said wondering why he asked.

“It’s one of the special items used to augment my abilities. Using it will give the special properties of the stone to the structure, but also enhance its effects several times.”

I didn’t hesitate to remove the magic stone from my inventory and offer it to Glenn. “Take it,” I said. If he could construct a home using it as a medium, we wouldn’t have to worry about anything spawning upon us.

He shook his head, “It wouldn’t be smart to use it just yet. Let me familiarize myself a bit more with the abilities and also grow in strength. The stronger I am when I use it, the better enhanced effects it will have. Just don’t use it or it will be a waste.”

I nodded and put the stone back into my inventory.

Throughout this exchange, Mark had been looking more and more thoughtful. “I’m torn between using a Class Stone now, without a skill, or learning a skill to tailor the stone specifically to a class type that I want to become.”

That was one of the ways to game the system. If you had the help of someone powerful enough to bring you to level 10 like Mark did, you could learn a skill at that point and pick an ability that would push you towards a certain fighting archetype—ranged, melee, or support essentially.

“I think… I’ll wait a bit to choose my class,” Mark said suddenly. “I’m not sure if I would prefer to fight or have a logistical class like Glenn.” No one urged him to make a choice now. After all, class selection determined your future in this post-apocalyptic world.

We took our time walking back to the three-story building we now called home. There were enough rooms for all of us and some extra. Monsters didn’t spawn inside, but they did spawn immediately outside the structure regularly. It wasn’t a problem for us, but for lower level members like Mark or Glenn, it meant they could never leave their rooms without some form of escort.

Glenn talked the entire way back, mostly listing the names of special consumable items he could use to improve materials. It was fascinating to hear what their effects brought when used to augment structures. Items with curious names like Void Stone, Shadow Dust, and Boxed Starlight. There was no information available for what these were, or where to get them.

The most surprising and mind-boggling one mentioned was that he could change the material so as to allow it to teleport us to another location. Glenn referred to it as a warp gate. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any of the items he mentioned that were needed for the creation of this augmentation, not a single one. They were most likely rare consumables only found from rare mobs or perhaps in dungeons.

I slowly grew accustomed to my new lifestyle. Breakfast lunch and dinner were structured around intervals of slaying monsters outside, mobs which were pitifully weak. The EXP wasn’t great for us higher levels, but Glenn and Mark slowly grew strong enough to dispatch them on their own.

At least I had a safe bed to sleep in and a roof over my head. The bare necessities had been met, and I started to question if a life like this would be so bad. My hunger levels had gone down a lot, so I only needed to kill just one enemy every two days to satiate my pangs.

Unfortunately, good things never lasted. Merely six weeks after first arriving, the world experienced catastrophic changes. There was no announcement and no warning. The ground began to rumble incessantly.

The sky roared and shook as if gods fought over the horizon. Hollow booms came every few minutes as if bombs had been dropped. It was thunder in my eardrums, and the quaking came shortly after.

It wasn’t just quaking though; the trembling was so intense even crawling off the floor proved difficult. The stable ground I once knew provided as much foothold as a ship in rough seas. Our home was no longer a home.

We fled from our little reprieve as though from hell when it became clear the buildings could no longer stay standing. Even the sound of concrete smashing and rebar whining as the weight of the structures could not hold themselves up anymore was drowned out by the constant bellows of a furious earth.

“Is the world ripping in half?” Maria yelled. Her hands were above her head, doing her best to block the falling pine branches and debris. “for Christ’s sake!” She swatted another foot-long branch away before it knocked her on the head.

We raced through a grove that cut directly through a park. Pine trees towered above us, their leaves swaying and rocking as if two-hundred mile per hour winds ravaged them. “A little more!” Jessica shouted, “there is a small clearing barely a mile away, right next to the lake, there would be nothing looming over our heads there.”

We were fortunate such a situation was happening mid-day for us. A lack of light would have made this deadly, even to us. A wall of concrete or even towering tree falling upon you would be enough to end your life in an instant.

I was certain no current scale could measure quakes on this level. It felt as if I ran along a trampoline that constantly shifted up and down beneath my feet. Every step could have been fatal; at least none of the monsters and enemies we knew to be in the area were roaming and adding to our difficulties.

Whether the monsters were around or not didn’t matter—we ran for the clearing regardless of if that might pull a train. I was struggling to keep the small debris from landing in my hair, or worse of all my eyes.

A sprint that should have taken just fifteen seconds took minutes. Someone hit the ground with every other step, and someone raced to help them up each time. No one voiced a complaint; just constant encouragement. “Just a bit more!” Alan grabbed Richard around the ribs and hoisted him off the ground.

My ability to walk must have looked like that of a toddler taking their first steps. Everyone took a tumble into the grass when we finally made it out of the trees. Some of our urgency disappeared, as no one who fell bothered to get back up. We crawled along the ground until we were close enough to the lake.

“If the world opens up and swallows me, so be it!” Anna said defiantly. She was face down on the grass, and even then it shook so hard I thought she might prove prophetic. No one laughed, and even Maria began eyeing the ground suspiciously.

I stabilized myself and stared at the lake in front of me. The water shook too, as if it was ready to begin boiling at any moment. The incessant shaking broke the surface tension, water droplets sprayed a light mist over the bank, and occasionally onto us.

“What is happening?” Glenn yelled through the roaring. Only now could we catch our breath and talk about it.

“Your guess is as good as any,” Lucas shouted back, “seems like an earthquake, though.”

“Thank you captain obvious.” Maria couldn’t help herself.

“Earthquakes are a result of tectonic plates shifting.” Mark started to talk as if we were in science class.

“English please,” Alan cut him off before Mark could continue his lecture.

I could see that Thomas was almost laughing but he caught himself, “It means the land is moving, and likely smashing into other vast areas.” The light heartedness of his tone let me know we would be okay through this too.

“Some world restructuring then?” I thought aloud. Restructuring was putting it lightly… because the shaking didn’t stop.