It took a bit but we finally worked out a sort of buddy system and headed out. Everyone was responsible for keeping track of one other person, who was in turn responsible for someone else, creating a ‘ring’ of responsibility to keep us from getting separated. I'm responsible for Toby, and Robert is responsible for me. While Karen is responsible for George, who watches Greg, who watches Sara, then Seymore, and back to Robert. No idea why we did it like this, something about two people getting lost at the same time. I wasn't really paying attention, just making sure the zombies didn't get the drop on us. Eventually they got close enough to be dangerous, but by that point they were making so much noise Robert just turned them into red confetti without needing to see them. Makes me evermore happy that the shotgun wasn't used on me.
The walk to this nearby Walmart has been eerie as shit. The visibility has improved only slightly, being able to see two feet in front of us instead of one. But we've been majorly slowed down because we need to find and read the street signage at every intersection to make sure we're going the right way. Of course, the low moaning, gurgling, and occasional shrieking of the zombies echoing through the quiet streets isn't helping.
That made it all the more anxiety-inducing when I had to ‘volunteer’ to climb up some of the bigger poles at intersections to read the street names. Something about me being the strongest and most flexible because of my stats. I'd say it's because they actually wanted to look at my ass, but visibility is still shit. Either way I get to play monkey.
“Madison and Carter streets.” I say as I come down off the pole.
“We're on Carter Right now, if we head down Madison and take the second right we should end up Berkley.” Karen says.
“Let's go then” Robert replies before stoically leading the group forward into the dust.
And then we are back to silently moving through the dust addled hellscape that was once our little city. The dust is actually starting to settle so much it's forming a layer on the ground. Every step I take my foot lands in what feels like a weird mix of sand and pillow fluff. The occasional crunch of someone stepping on something doesn't exactly help my fears of slicing my own foot open. Slowly but surely we make progress though, passing one intersection, then making a right at the next.
A random thought occurs to me, one I should probably ignore in favor of keeping my attention on our surroundings. But I give in anyway, wanting to ignore the absolute madness of the world for even just a moment. What the hell am I gonna do once we get out of this? Ignoring the first problem of if we get out of here. My thoughts are immediately thrown back to my conversation with Marcy the recruiter. College isn't off the table, but I certainly have a lot more options. I could probably join a guild after this, Renders seemed nice. Assuming any guild would accept a ptsd ridden seventeen year old teenager. Wait, can I get ptsd? Do demons even get ptsd? More shit I'll have to look into later. I'm sure Charles will be more than willing to help, assuming he isn't dead. He lives in the northern part of town so the bunker he would have run to if he was at home would have been the central….. shit. I really, really, really hope he was running the southern part of town for some stupid reason or another. Anna and my family would have ended up in the southern bunker, assuming they made it in time.
Fuck, I’m getting side tracked with depressive shit again. Where was I? Oh yea, shit I can do after this…. Should probably finish highschool first, if that's even an option. I'll probably have to transfer and do summer school or something. I highly doubt school will be back in session after this. College is probably on the table, my grades are good and I applied to a bunch, both local and far off. Funny, I think acceptance letters were supposed to start coming in this week. I wanted to go for somewhere that does magic research, but I also applied to a bunch of tech and even a medical college. Huh, I wonder if I can get into Unitypoint because I survived this. Universities like picking up students like that for the clout or something right? Actually, just being a defender would probably get me into their magic program, or at least help a lot. What better person to study magic than someone who can use it?
As for non college opportunities, I definitely got the whole healer thing ahead of me. I could easily make this a full time thing and make lots of money once I get powerful enough. Flying solo is definitely a no go there unfortunately because Healers Inc exist and are assholes. So I definitely need to find a guild. Renders was kinda nice, as was… what was that other one that sent me that email and weren't spamming assholes? I'll have to look them up again when I get home, assuming the house still exists. I really should explore my options, maybe I might…… oooof.
My runaway freight train of thought ground to a screeching halt as I smacked I to the back of Robert, almost knocking him over.
“Sorry!” I say, finally zoning back in on reality and realizing what made him stop. “Well shit, we ain't going this way.” Toby says. He couldn't keep going forward because there isn't really a road to follow anymore. Instead the road appears to be blocked by the massive remains of some building, and as far as I can tell, it's pretty solid and high. probably no safe way to go over it, at least not for the others.
“We should check if the other side of the street is blocked.” Sara says. Only for Toby to shoot her plan down immediately. “No point, if that's the building I think it is, it's gonna cover at least the next five blocks up. We might….” Only he was interrupted by a loud rumbling in the distance. We couldn't see it, but we could hear it happen somewhere across the city. Another building started coming down, bringing with it a thunderus roar that drowned out everything even at this distance while only slightly stirring the air around us.
“Great, more fucking dust.” Greg comments after the noise finally dies down. “You know, I heard dust baths were a popular beauty treatment in China for a while.” Sara replies light heartedly, clearly trying to lighten the mood. It doesn't work, because I hate dust so much at this point I'd rather be set on fire. I might be a little biased though because I'm missing a shoe and have walked through this shit for the last…. Damn how long have we been out here?
“I think our best bet would be to back track and cut back to Bretton Way. That should be far enough that we can go around the collapse.” Robert says. “Or we could keep going on Madison and pass the building on the other side.” George replies.
“Except that would take us like another
hour at our current pace.” Toby says.
“Better an hour then swinging closer to the cultist camp. That would put us like what, two blocks from their outer wall?” Greg chimes in.
“Alright, Greg has a good point. I take it no one else is comfortable getting close to the cultist base?” Robert asks, just to be met by a chorus of negatives.
“Lucy, could you possibly fly us over?” Karen suddenly asks me. I don't even need to think before giving a reply. “Nope, I'll go mana broke before getting anyone across.” Because that shit is too damn expensive. I might be able to get over myself and have some left. But because that shit goes up in cost with more weight I just can't carry another person that long.
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“Alright, let's keep moving then.” Robert says, cutting back through the group and back the way we came.
I follow suit, making a bit of a game to try and step back through my own footprints for shits and giggles. When we hit the previous intersection we turned left instead of right, continuing up the street somewhat parallel to the fallen building. Quietly shuffling through the devastated streets while the occasional screeching or weird sound flowed through the ruins of the city around us.
I think it's finally starting to set in, the fact that Shimerview is gone. Even if a significant number of people are alive in the southern bunker no one is going to want to live here again. The city is half wasted, the rest of the buildings are probably not fit for habitation anymore. And that's not accounting for the fact that this place is the site of a tragedy not seen since the breach of 2034 in New York. I'm wondering if the factory will remain open, even though it's outside the breach zone altogether. Fuck me, I need to think about something less depressing. What's my mana at?
Mana: 16,437/22,418
Wait, my max mana went up a bit, but I didn't put any points into attunement. Which means…..
image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcaJ0nrl8WxIuwT2k6jNJgOKuOJsCCM8eZcuiEggNVFAHwxMg8NoS6wdMPBPdmV-bdTxH9-iPKC-HkaS1poYmX0kdCBoNYLagIBjWT-6uwhI7lwByyXr5hH3D20uRuNqfEqSY4Z7paYrVE2myUVlorNpIAA?key=XoX2likVXo43uikuO6QiTA]
Oh fuck yea! Guess blasting those zombies was worth the effort. Well I know where those points are going. Aaaaaand done!
image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeQ1CE2rzsrZ158MOCVpOnfUQfFnAJVQLzHohXbFT9XdFZiVYvdKV47kmNd5k2_R51oZb4l5VKJlLimLUMMnpyJAKuSpDaXuu2PA0Et90qJnWiK9mqHF9V7aZNkASan-DpVKg5wCG3DUNDCCaW4g_IsvFrR?key=XoX2likVXo43uikuO6QiTA]
Now for the real focus of leveling up… Shopping time! Now what do I get?
image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXclURR_PrwW6w1VWvGNUxk00RJ2JnG6X03wYiDDI8vcjuNuY1dZyVEws5c9cly8A-HPikrE5inGj-edi2gkuHbn9T6aMxJuNiTABs8FTD_Jpq6yJAUjlhdjWh-kjrNREJIjU6NTLfHVU6JYfkFrO4DT58Wn?key=XoX2likVXo43uikuO6QiTA]
image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXce_I-L93Bf_bhcpAcsFo_h3pByj0XBs2apNvb3IR_8-sp9A4daJFK00IDj5-dNVAvQWg9SmycBk2LAppGcuzGIilJ9aeu1I-O86XMW27L8pS5kFB3G_-ROIvi1K07hpcvpUW2hf9hlEJaKelnBPWxUfazj?key=XoX2likVXo43uikuO6QiTA]image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcgYDvfOGtZtmoLnet6s1N5MD-7G1tQbuE-1n9qeQCH-TlkrJMjYdrWrT3_G9hmluj9LFXi_dYL299GgaQtKxhTiQBrlozb4HHy1Erj2d1qeaEq8ebE0BevlGMB7jxsc5Ksvzt_TFsSnxdqteNUES9-gmyO?key=XoX2likVXo43uikuO6QiTA]
Looks like I have some new options. So I'm going to pick everything I want then buy it all at once, that way I don't accidently miss something good. A shield crystal spell…. Constantly generates a shield on whoever I stick it on. Well that could be very useful in an area where we have a higher likelihood than not of being actively murdered. Still, eight points is very pricey, that's more than the mana regen skill. Still that's only one point more than the actual damage shield spell, and it stays up as long as the crystal doesn't get destroyed. However, that also means it's limited to one person. Still, a fair trade for some level of permanence I guess.
The other three new additions are also interesting. A cleansing spell, pretty self explanatory, though it says it's weak. Which isn't a surprise given my level. A magical flare, because I totally need a hey I'm over here please come kill me spell. It might be useful later if we need to be rescued though. And finally, an aoe power boost that I can toggle on and off. It says it affects allies, so I'm assuming it ignores enemies. Might be useful depending on its range and boost amount.
Now the question is what I want to choose. Definitely getting enchanted mana regeneration, and I'm also thinking of the shield crystal. While expensive, I think keeping people from getting munched is gonna be a hell of alot better than putting them back together afterward. Of course, those two together cost a whopping fourteen points, leaving me with only six left. I honestly can't decide between cleanse, or maybe something like the empowering aura.
Eh, I can always bank the points and buy whatever I need later. It's not like I'm penalized for holding onto shop points. So for now, just the two.
image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXe1M9eneb0LzQw2IMKm76BAEdzo3pwlmBeQxouBH3CqYBipUl0cqwl5Wkcg9fWg0PsZvaxXPo3-oSbdUVS0yoSTgPIcUdL1SsXW1A9tgf6rkyDzhRLs1dK1jd-WCvFTV6sPxpmOEhfure9cRe4EzN2ZAXnl?key=XoX2likVXo43uikuO6QiTA]image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdSvJRnsaCK4_DTqInZjNt9PwaTnEj9EpDsnQLlt8k-8Ydub9LANajwivkYy8SlvrWb_u8bHUImxhIvXJp1QAuXThHFFZsIRnZzbzaKRGf8uGNZtvrN2Z0PF8Dx0ODO6V_3cj0hv7KpSB1WaCvfoOHKLOxQ?key=XoX2likVXo43uikuO6QiTA]
Yes, and Yes!
image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfbihk8gbem9IGCUcktPQHSn0deH16Yw2_la6p9wFSoZ2YX8COEtn5guroomX_yjoJpC6vy4KoWQCcZioAREvE1yXR4a3dqvaUmJSDDkfqcAlComx7wUX316OcHmrlZ7vk1whrhp60NTBuLVV6se0w1vWk?key=XoX2likVXo43uikuO6QiTA]image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXe73PSXd_Tn9xNmNb21OYNsO6qxwPri1H_exriiK5Nv7oBk2skekt5bd8kdxJuwosof-fsX3JEUvD6DiUWQu-1JPUPuYcNE92ieCybKzIEmWoMDceI7pfm6HEJv0fPtBc6KwJN_U81i_wQhg6P3NL3bzR-x?key=XoX2likVXo43uikuO6QiTA]image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcrSt0coWlY8T7x6u80Uio_Wfj6ediShNFgajXJk_8Iu-Ce2wEwQdo8cXfk6UpPv6h-rvQiBkXsjEgeG6iBo_QqoGbzAfTvnInlIqwEGGnbkGSqqqDW4VbFLQnnGGVpWZkVpNT3LFWKYyKE_0rV0wBrkBx1?key=XoX2likVXo43uikuO6QiTA]
Now, what is my mana drain at?
Mana: 16,472/24,418
.
.
.
.
Mana: 16,473/24,418
I stare in disbelief for a few more seconds, then watch as the counter ticks UP again.
Mana: 16,474/24,418
Fucking finally. I let out a little chuckle. So long having to fucking dance around my mana pool so I don't reveal myself! With the drain gone on full transformation, I now have a lot more freedom. Among other things, I can freely cast spells without worrying about how much closer each one puts me to zero. A massive boon in this shithole of what remains of the city.
“Great, she's finally going insane on us.” George says from somewhere near the back.
“Shutup George, keep bitching and I'll slap some insanity into you instead.” Karen turns around and snaps at him, catching all of us off guard. Well, almost all of us. Seymore interjects before George can come to his senses and escalate back.
“Now, now. This isn't the place to be fighting each other, everyone. You wouldn't happen to be willing to tell us what’s so funny would you?” He asks in a calming but firm voice only an old man could have. I of course Stutter for a moment like an idiot, not having been expected to be thrown on the spot like that. Before finally regaining my composure and replying.
“It's uh, a more personal thing. I managed to fix my pain in the ass mana issues. Well part of them anyway.”
“So wait, does that mean you can cast more spells?” Greg asks, catching on to the main point instantly.
“Yep, though I'll still have to recharge if I use a lot of mana. And a new spell to help out.” I reply.
“That's good, so what is the spell?” Robert asks, finally joining the conversation.
“A new floating rock. Works like the one on Seymore but instead of healing it generates a shield.”
“Cool, so where is it?” Toby asks, completely serious judging by his facial expression. At Least he's not trying to be a smart ass.
“Well I haven't made it yet.” I say with a humph.
“Can you make it now?” Robert asks.
“Yea, but I’ll need five minutes and won't be able to walk while i'm doing it.. And it might be bright.”
“Do it, we’ll take a short break here. Toby, George, help me keep watch.”
We make our way to the edge of the sidewalk, the majority of the group,myself included, sitting down on the edge of a brick decorative planter running along the front of a building. Even covered in a thick layer of dust, the pink flower bushes seem to be trying their best to brighten up the box they reside in.
As we sit down, I find myself sandwiched in the middle of the group, and promptly stared at. Well, only by Sara and Karen, as Seymore has the decency to only occasionally glance at me as he continually scans the area, despite the fact he isn't on lookout duty. Sara and Karen however make no attempts to hide the fact they are waiting for the magic to start. And even Toby is occasionally looking over his shoulder to glance at me.
“It's not anything fancy guys. Just a rock trying to do a bad LED impression.” I joke, as I start the process.
The light picks up as my mana starts to flow, colessing above my hand and starting to weave into a visible form. But this time the pattern is different, but just as intricate as the health and mana crystals. I keep my focus on the process, continually feeding the mana draw while observing the forming crystal. Though it's not like I could correct it if anything were to go wrong, it makes me feel better knowing I have some control over it. Eventually the light fades, and I'm left with a crystal the same size and shape as the health and mana ones, but a completely different color. This one has a gray body, with a seemingly constant wave pattern of a light blue embedded across the surface. It shines with a very dim light, and I feel it connect to me as it leaves my hand to float opposite the mana crystal around me. Similar to how the healing one did before I sent it to Seymore.
A moment later I see, and feel, the shield come into being. A barely noticeable film shimmers into existence on me. A quick check reveals it covers my entire body from head to toe, even running along the bottoms of my foot and shoe, projected over clothing and exposed skin alike. I have no trouble breathing despite the full covering, and a quick stand up and stretch reveals no hampering of my movement. Already looking like a good investment, now I just need to figure out how strong this thing can get and how long it takes to reach max strength. Preferably before I need to depend on it in a fight.
“Shhhhhh!” Robert hushes in a harsh whisper before anyone can say anything while they’re still gawking at my new fancy rock. “We have company.”