I awoke sometime later, feeling surprisingly refreshed. I didn’t feel like I was asleep for too long, but I had no way to check the time. Or maybe I did.
Noe, do you know the time?
“Negative,” Noe answered in its usual androgynous voice, “Earth time does not function in this location. Unit Noe can, however, display the duration of the time you have stayed in this place.”
Do so.
“Acknowledged,” Noe answered, “Displaying duration now.”
Then, below the Luck Charge – which was amazingly still at full charges – was a new number displaying the time.
Luck Charge: 191/191
Time Elapsed: 12 hours 34 minutes.
Wait, Noe, how long was I asleep for then?
“Host Walter has been asleep for 4 hours and 12 minutes.”
Given how exhausted I was, I was certain that I would be down for a lot longer than that. Then again, my endurance stat did increase like crazy because of Q’s potion thing. I'm starting to realize just how important all these stats are, now that I've experienced them first hand. I was the kind of person who needed close to 12 hours of sleep to get rested before, but I guess I have my pitiful physique to thank for that.
I stretched my body, still feeling some of the aches from before, and decided to take some time to see what gear I had with me. I found a slightly brighter area in the little room I was occupying and made a small clearing so that I could finally take inventory of my situation. I took out everything that was in the backpack.
As I expected, given how light the thing felt, there wasn’t a lot in there. Inside was a small gas lantern, a circular flask of water – the kind I saw in those old World War II films – a few packets of dried rations, and a ruffled-up coat. After checking all of the pockets in the pack to make sure that I didn’t miss anything, I sighed and took a sip of water.
It had been over 12 hours since I last had anything to drink, and I initially thought to save some of the water in the canteen, but I could always gather some rainwater later. So instead, I just tipped the whole thing to the side and drank… and drank and drank.
How the hell am I still drinking water?
I held the small flask and felt that it was still as full as it was earlier. I squinted my eyes and activated the Rookie Arbiter Eyes.
Flask of Naiads’ Grace (C+ rank)
Description: A small flask blessed by the Spirits of Water. This flask will never run out of liquid and can change its contents to fit the user’s needs.
Ok, I’m pretty sure that this wasn’t what was standard in the other Aspirant’s bags. I couldn’t help but smile, this was the first time that all my bullshitting had paid off. I quickly put the flask down and examined the other things as well.
Condensed Ambrosia (B Rank)
Description: Ambrosia processed into a portable form. It’s lost much of its taste and potency but can still sustain a mortal’s hunger and energy for a week with a single bite.
Lantern of Promethean Light (A- Rank)
Description: A lantern powered by a spark of Prometheus’ stolen Fire. It will never extinguish and will ease the souls of all those who bask in its glow.
Unassuming Nemean Cloak: (C rank)
Descriptions: Made from the pelt of the Nemean Lion, this cloak will always keep the wearer warm and comfortable.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Even the bag was out of the ordinary.
Herme’s Travelling Bag: (C rank)
Description: One of Herme’s many traveling bags. The objects placed in the bag will feel weightless.
I almost laughed out loud after reading through the descriptions of all the items. This was exactly what I needed, although I wasn’t sure why everything was Greek-themed. With the ambrosia and flask, I didn’t have to worry about food and water, and the cloak would keep me warm in the rain.
In other words, I could focus my entire attention on gaining levels and ignore the survival part of this trial. These were the small perks that I was hoping to get with all my bullshitting. It seems my hard work has finally paid off!
I took a bite from the processed ambrosia and found that it did exactly as advertised. It didn’t really taste of anything, but it did feel like I had a full meal after one bite. I wrapped the rest up and stashed it in the bag. I put on the cloak next, and immediately felt warmth seep through my body. Everything else, except the flask, went back into the bag.
There was one last thing I wanted to test before I headed out again, and that was the second part of the Naiad’s flask description. Could it really change into anything that I wanted?
I held it up and imagined that the flask contained a nicely chilled glass of Coke.
I took a sip and was pleasantly surprised that it tasted exactly like it. Next, I imagined a nice cup of hot chocolate and took another sip. I nodded in satisfaction. This thing was perfect! While other people had to make do with dirty rainwater, I could sit back and drink some coffee, or Cola, or whatever I wanted.
Now fully rejuvenated, I placed the flask into the cloak’s pocket and decided on my next course of action. I needed goals in mind, otherwise I could become complacent, and complacency generally means some dire outcomes in my old field of work. Now, however, complacency would probably result in my death.
My first priority would still be to improve my Attributes. I might be level 7 now, but that was literally equivalent to the weakest individual in the initial group of 200. I still had to hunt down the zombies and gain as many levels as possible, but I felt like I should do more than that given the seven-day limit. I had to be proactive to ensure that I would survive in the long term, and the first thing that I could do was to find that Regressor.
If I could find him, I could gauge what type of person he was, and thus make the necessary adjustments to my plan, but my ultimate goal was still to make a memorable first impression so that he would perhaps consider rescuing me from whatever horrible future was ahead of us.
My secondary goal would be to check out the other people who stood out and see if I could use them somehow. With a clear plan in mind, I took my bag and went back out into the rain. There was nothing that could keep me from my goals!
Feeling more confident than ever, I sprinted across the road smashing every zombie that I could see. Whenever I got even a little tired, I would take a sip of Energy Drink or a small bite of the Condensed Ambrosia. Surprisingly, my fatigue would disappear completely after just a nibble of that thing. I must have gone crazy seeing the numbers go up, because I didn’t stop until I accidentally saw the time displayed.
Luck Charges: 228/231
Time: 25 hours and 45 minutes
Had I been fighting nonstop for over 12 hours? I felt like I had forgotten why I came out of my little shelter in the first place.
I frowned, and casually swatted a zombie that was running towards me.
Wait a second, I felt something was wrong there. How had that zombie run? I knew for a fact that they could only slowly shamble at me before, but thinking back, some of them had started running at me in the latter half of my rampage. Did they get stronger after a day had passed?
Either way, the now slightly stronger zombies did not really pose a threat to me, especially now that I had gained a few more levels.
Host Walter Thefuck:
Free Stat points: 12
Attributes:
HP: 190/194
MP: 0/0
Strength: 39 (+10)
Dexterity: 45 (+10)
Endurance: 42 (+10)
Intelligence: 36 (+10)
Charisma: 60 (+10)
I might have gotten a little carried away with smashing zombie heads, but at least I made significant progress in leveling up. I mean, that was part of my original plans. I was about to put all my points back into Charisma but stopped. If the zombies did get stronger each day, then it would probably be wiser to invest my free points into something else. I didn’t really need endurance, given the Ambrosia, so perhaps I should increase Strength or Dex?
Forget it, I’ll save up the free points for now, and see how much stronger the zombies get in the future. It’s better to make up my mind than when I have more information to work with.
Right, and I had to find the Regressor as well… completely forgot about that. But how would I do so? Should I just wander around using the Absolute Luck Skill?
“Notification,” Noe chimed in, “The Absolute Luck Skill would not function as what Host Walter intends for such a situation, as finding the Host’s Target would not constitute as the most optimal outcome. The Absolute Luck Skill will only seek opportunities based on Unit Noe’s Algorithms and cannot deviate from that.”
Well, there goes that idea out the window. How else would I find one individual inside an entire city? I thought for a while and realized that I did have one piece of information that I could use. When Raffiel interrupted me earlier, he showed me a scene of the Regressor and the others fighting, and I could vaguely recall the locations of where those fights took place. The Regressor himself was in… damn it, I can’t remember at all.
Noe, you said earlier that Intelligence helps with the recall of information, right?
“Affirmative.”
Well, I guess I wasn’t going to save up my points after all. Without hesitation, I put all 12 free points into Intelligence, raising it from 36 to 48.
I felt the change immediately. What was once fuzzy images in my head became instantly clear when I tried to recall the scene from earlier. The Regressor was killing zombies in what looked to be a parking lot, but most importantly, there weren’t any high-rise towers in view. A distinct water tower was seen in the background, and a two-story building was a bit closer. He wasn’t in the city where I was, so was he in the outskirts or in an entirely different place altogether?