The first monsters I found on my hunt were a group of three raptors. Spotting them before they saw me, I waited behind a car parked alongside the street. I took a deep breath and considered my plan to test my skills on an enemy. What I really wanted to test was my ability to dodge with my Burst skill, the problem with this is that if I fail to dodge ... well bad things happen. With some thought on the matter, I decide to dodge preemptively, but act like it was at the correct time, and try to judge if I would have made it.
Exiting my cover and surveillance location, I confidently stride towards the raptors. Two heartbeats later there's only one raptor standing. Man, that was smooth, my aim, reaction speed, and attack speed, have all increased. The third raptor whips its head to look at me, and immediately starts rushing me. I notice that the raptor seems slower than usual, easier to track. It must be because of my improved stats, not sure which one though, it could also be a combination of multiple. Before the raptor can close the distance, I activate Burst, and dodge about 5 feet to the side faster than the raptor can track. It loses me for only a brief moment before locking back on and continuing its charge. More confident now I wait for the raptor to close with me, as it stretches its neck to take a bite out of me, I Burst one and a half feet to the left and use my blade to cut through its extended neck that is now right next to me.
The raptor falls in two pieces, first the head then the body slowly collapses, gushing red blood out of its severed neck. Confident with how effective Burst is at dodging, I take a look at all three bodies, trying to determine if anything new has occurred now that I have a class. First up are the raptor pieces at my feet, nothing about the kill seems odd, though thinking about the void energy I received from the cut to its neck it seems higher than usual, but that is likely because I cut through its entire neck therefor allowing my Void tainted energy to devour more of the beast. On second thought, I got about the same amount from the other two raptors too. Curious I make my way over to the first two I downed in the "fight". What I notice pretty quickly is that the wounds to these raptors are deeper than usual, it actually almost pierced out the back of them. This would explain the extra void energy, but not why it happened in the first place. Not seeing anything else unusual, I make my way out of the middle of the road and give this new development some thought.
If I used the same amount of energy to a greater effect, it must mean that my energy is more potent. I don't know why that's the case, maybe stats again, or something to do with the void. It could be because it is a System recognized skill now, but I really don't think that's how it works. The System only gave me these skills because I already had them, meaning it just recognized what I had accomplished and gave it a name.
Unsure of why my energy was more potent but sure that was the answer I moved on. With my next fight against a pack of saber wolves, I toned down the amount of energy I used for my energy daggers, and they now worked like usual again.
Something I realized after a third group of monsters, was that I was receiving the same amount of energy for each beast, this was odd to me. It was odd because I expected to receive less energy now that I had gained my class. However, thinking on the matter I discovered that while yes, I was indeed receiving the same amount of class energy for the kill, this energy was not filling me up as fast as before. This made much more sense to me than even the way books and games did it. I received the exact amount of energy that the monster I killed was worth regardless of my level or skill, however I needed increasing amounts of energy to reach the next level. This means that while yes, I will always receive energy for these beasts, it will eventually become so negligible it will mean nothing to me and be a waste of time.
That said the day where these beasts were negligible was not today, thus I kept practicing for another hour before I felt comfortable with my gains and decided it was time to take my companions out to get their classes.
Before returning to them though I wanted to do a few things. The first thing I did was go back to the first store me and Andy gathered supplies at and took a third backpack for Lilly, I also filled the rest of my pack and Lilly's new pack with what canned goods and deionized and purified water was left. The next thing I wanted to do involved finding knives, which this store did not have. Walking the streets looking for a store that might have some kitchen knives, I killed all the beasts on my way. Finally finding what I wanted a solid half hour later, I walked into a big-box store. Taking a second to look around once I entered, I saw that most of the shelves were empty. Not surprised in the slightest, I moved towards the aisle labeled "kitchen appliances". I wasn't sure if knives were usually kept in this aisle, but I figured it was a good place to start.
I'd bet whatever money I had before the System came that people looking for weapons would be rifling through gun shops, sporting stores, and the outdoors sections of stores like the one I was in, long before they checked the kitchen aisles, if they ever did at all. My guess proved to be correct, at least for the people around here and this store specifically, as when I checked the aisle one over from the where I started, I found what I was looking for. Now I wasn't looking for steak knives, but the big, long chef knives used for chopping. Taking four of these knives I then found the janitor closet, and "picked" the lock using my energy blade to cut down the seem of the door. Unsurprisingly no one had bothered to come in here and steal anything. I'm not a chemist but I'm pretty sure there's tons of chemicals in here that can be used for bombs and whatnot, and if I knew how to use them I certainly would.
Chemicals were not the reason I raided the janitor closet though. Nope, I was after broom handles ... yes broom handles. Picking out four brooms with the thickest handles I sat down and cut off the actual broom part of all the brooms, leaving four sticks all five feet long. Next, I removed the handles from the knives I took, but kept the tang, the metal part of the blade that you wrap the handle around. Then, I used my energy blade and thinned it out before making a slit in the end of the handle. It took a few attempts of trying to insert the tang of the knife into the stick, then widening it before trying again to get the fit snug while actually being able to force it in.
Confident with my first success I got up and found some duct tape, and wrapped where the head of my newly made spear met the shaft with enough tape to hopefully keep it secured through fighting. I repeated the process three more times, creating a total of four crappy spears, two for each of my companions. Now, the spears might not be great examples of craftsmanship, but they were better than just handing my companions a knife and saying good luck. Anyone who thinks they can give someone a knife, who's never even used one before, and expects them to kill a monster trying to viciously eat them with every ounce of their being, is dreaming or high.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Most spears were 7 to 8 feet long back in the day, and even after adding the knives my newly made spears were only about 6 feet long, but they will be far more useful to my companions than anything else I had on hand, as unfortunately I was a year away from the age of being able to buy a handgun, and found no guns in any of the stores I have passed through in the last few days. With everything on my mental to do list before joining Lilly and Andy at the apartment done, I started back.
It took me a little longer than I thought it would as I had to set everything down quietly before engaging in combat every time and pick it right back up to keep moving. Arriving in the lobby of my building without issue, I ascended the stairs and gathered my companions to give them the good news.
"I've finally gotten my class! It's time for you two to come out hunting with me." I announced with a wide smile.
"We'll eat lunch and then go out. Oh, and before we head out, I want both of you to gather enough supplies in your backpacks for five or six meals." Lilly looks confused so I turn to her and hold the new backpack I took out for her.
"Here I picked this up for you, it has more food and water in it than you'll need, so go ahead and drop off the extras in your apartment while Andy gets ready." I turn and wave for Andy's attention.
"We will meet back here in a few minutes to eat lunch and then I'll take you guys out." Both Lilly and Andy agree, and I follow Lilly out the door heading back to my apartment to drop off the extra supplies in my backpack.
It doesn't take me long to get my supplies sorted out to the usual supplies I carry. I make it back to Andy's before Lilly. Andy is finishing up his packing when I enter and comes over to the table when he's done. As he sits down, he points to the makeshift spears.
"So, what are these supposed to be, spears?" Andy looks at me, confused.
"Thats exactly what they are, I'll explain more when Lilly gets here." I didn't want to explain twice when I could wait a minute and explain once.
It was only another two minutes before Lilly shows up with her backpack in hand. She joins us at the table with an extra can of food for Lunch. As Lilly looks towards the spears, I start my explanation.
"These are spears I made for you guys, while I know they don't look like much, I figured they'd be easier for you to kill monsters with than trying to wrangle one with a knife. This will give you a decent reach to keep them off of you." They both look towards the four spears laying across the middle of the table with surprise, and what I think is gratitude.
"Why are there four of them?" Lilly asks.
"Ah, I made two for each of you, in case one breaks during combat." They both make O's with their mouths and nod. Then Andy Looks towards me.
"How come you only made weapons for us? What will you be using to fight?" Andy asks.
"You will find out shortly, don't worry. It's far easier for me to show you than to try and explain it." I smile at him.
It doesn't take us long to finish eating, and by the end of it I can tell Andy is excited and Lilly is nervous but also excited. My companions pick up their spears and follow my down the stairs to the lobby. Before we walk outside, I turn to them and tell them the plan.
"Alright listen up, you guys will stay behind me until I tell you otherwise, I will kill all barbed panthers, raptors, and saber wolves. When we find a group of beetles, I will kill off a decent amount of them and then back off for you guys to kill them. Remember to strike for their heads if you can, and if not go for their thorax's. I'll give you another reminder when its time. Any Questions?" With nothing but head nods from my companions we move out.
The first monsters we encounter are a group of raptors. I swiftly kill them all with three precise energy daggers into their hearts. Both of my companions go slack jawed at the sight.
"WHAT WAS THAT!" Andy asks after he gathers himself enough to speak.
Not interested in giving away too much I reply with a true yet incomplete response.
"It's one of the skills of my class." I smile at Andy.
"That was sooo cool dude." Andy says with wide eyes.
"It was pretty cool huh." Is all I say before I turn and keep moving.
It doesn't take long for us to find a group of beetles. I go over what's going to happen with my companions before we engage.
"Alright, first thing that's going to happen is I'm going to engage the group and take out half of them, I'll try to spread them out so that they come at you guys in pairs, and not all at once." I start in a low voice.
"Then I'm going to lead them back to you, and you two are going to engage with your spears. Remember what I said and strike for their faces, and if you can't hit that then go for their thorax's." They nod, following along so far.
"I will keep an eye on you two, so I won't let them overwhelm you guys. That doesn't mean that you can't be hurt during the fight, so be careful. If you feel like you're going to be overwhelmed, I want you guys to communicate, and slowly back up together. Don't lose track of your enemies while you're doing it though or you will be bug food faster than I can save you." I look them both in the eyes as I say the last piece of advice trying to drive it home.
"I'm going to set you guys up in the middle of the road, so you'll have plenty of flat ground to retreat to. Are there any questions?" They both shake their heads and I watch as they steel themselves for their first fight.
I walk out of cover with my companions and set them up in the middle of the road, far enough away from each other not to get in the others way, but close enough to provide support. After they are prepared, I move off and get the attention of the beetles, killing off 8 bugs easily, before leading the rest to Andy and Lilly. As the beetles approach, both of my companions drop into a more balanced stance and prepare for the onslaught. The first two bugs come as a pair and are met with good thrusts to their faces. Lilly's thrust punctures the beetle's eye high and to the right of where she was aiming, but good enough for her first kill. Andy hits squarely between the two compound eyes of the beetle and drops it instantly. Lilly has to give a second tug before her spear will come out of the corpse of her first kill, but she manages on the second and is prepared for the next two beetles coming at them.
With better aim from Lilly, and slightly worse aim from Andy, they have killed four out of eight beetles. As a group of three beetles approaches them, they decide together to strike quickly and then back off before the third beetle can reach either of them, I silently approve of this choice and watch to see if they can pull it off. Andy counts down from three and they both step forward and strike the two outside beetles. Their aim is worse for the movement but sufficient for a kill. They back off before the third can rush down Andy. This is the main reason I limited them to beetles, they are the slowest monster I've come across so far.
After backpedaling a few steps Andy recovers and strikes down the third beetle with decent ease, meanwhile Lilly is squaring off to engage the last beetle. She handles it well with good aim striking it right between the eyes. Both of my companions take a few steps back and breath with relief, then Lilly bends over to the side and throws up.