After activating the skill, an additional layer of protection formed on top of Sam's skin, even his eyes were protected, outwardly this armor almost did not appear in any way, only after Sam tried to hit himself, he saw a barely noticeable ripple.
By default, the skill could stay active for about 30 minutes, but after the hits, the shield's energy was quickly depleted. Sam hoped that this shield would be enough to hold out for some time if hit by firearm, he especially enjoyed the fact that the skill also absorbed kinetic energy.
Sam began testing the armor against various zombies, a zombie shooting fireballs dealt him a direct hit, a premonition screamed at him to dodge, but he still decided to take a chance and check.
To his surprise, the armor held up without any problems, besides, Sam stood in place, and this skill lost only a tenth of its energy.
After various tests, Sam felt spiritually exhausted and could no longer activate the skill, he returned home, and lying in bed, patiently waited for the spiritual energy to recover.
The bad news was that it took a full five hours, so Sam added so much dexterity for a reason, as soon as he feels that the skill is approaching the limits, he will run away to hell.
Sam also began to actively train the combination of a sense of danger and spiritual armor in order to develop instinct and so that even in a dream, after activating the first skill, the second instinctively activated.
If he achieves this, Sam will finally be able to approach human society without worrying about being stabbed in the back or killed in his sleep.
Sam got rid of his heavy shield and trash clothes and started thinking about getting another sword in the future.
If earlier Sam hid and avoided people, now he can finally go to the camp without fear, and perhaps even to another city. If earlier he hunted quite carefully and gradually, now he can arrange a real massacre and feel a little freedom.
Sam knew that he was an antisocial personality and paranoid, he had obvious psychological problems even before the cataclysm, but after that it was clearly no better. He did not want to become the strongest or rule the world, such nonsense never occurred to him.
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He just wanted to become impenetrable enough so that there was no need to be afraid of others. If he becomes strong enough, he will no longer need to be afraid of people, which means there will be no need to hate and repel them, well, at least in theory.
Perhaps he will even find the strength to start a family someday, perhaps he will even be able to help others, because it will not be difficult for him and he will not care whether he will be repaid with good or evil, somehow Sam understood the freedom he was striving for.
After 3 days, Sam moved towards the camp, he decided to walk on foot, cleaning the surroundings. This time he felt free, so he decided to help someone for a change, he cleared the way to the residents and offered to lead them towards the camp.
He could not remember if he really "saved", or even just helped someone earlier in his life, of course his memory was full of holes, but nevertheless he remembered something perfectly. For example, once in his childhood, he quickly jumped on the bus and took a seat by the window, but soon after him, other people ran into the bus, and in particular the old women, one of them, seeing Sam, immediately jumped up to him, took him by the scruff and threw him aside, taking its place. This old woman looked no better than today's zombies, but she turned out to be very lively and hyperactive. From then on, he had little respect for elders.
Anyway, helping someone was a new interesting experience for Sam, plus he could check on camp without standing out from the crowd.
By lunchtime, Sam and 18 other people were approaching the camp, Sam saw a fenced-in area, the walls were fortified, although somehow. Near the gate, on makeshift towers, stood two guards with firearms of some kind.
They did not aim weapons at people, when Sam and the others approached the gate, a man and two more guards came out of there, although they had a sword and a shield in their hands. Oddly enough, they did not look like homemade.
The man who came out of the gate looked 40, his appearance was not particularly remarkable, but his build was solid, it was he who spoke first.
- Greetings to the camp of city X. I am one of the representatives of the camp and my name is George. You can all enter the camp and I can promise you safety and food.
- However, I must immediately warn you that you will be assigned different tasks, depending on your abilities and knowledge, but most in any case will have to kill zombies. - Seeing a little discontent among the people, he continued:
- Do not worry, firstly, at first no one will definitely assign you such a task, first you will be instructed and trained. Also, as you can see - he pointed to one of his guards - we have weapons, and usually the stripping teams are accompanied by people with firearms for security.
- As a last resort, if you still flatly refuse to take risks, you can refuse and you will be assigned other work, like strengthening walls and the like, but the standard of living will be appropriate.
People began to confer and talk, although most were already ready to do anything to get to the camp, so they just waited for them to be admitted. Sam took the opportunity to ask a question: