Amazon apocalypse, p.23
Amazon Apocalypse, page 23
But those guards meant that such a plan had to be pitched out the window. I wasn't going to be able to sneak in there without raising alarms all over the place. I certainly hoped that Craig's goons had lost some people trying to finish the quest, but even if they hadn't I'd still run into Craig. I snorted softly to myself—probably a Craig with even more levels than he’d had when I'd lost to him before. I didn't want to try for a rematch, not quite yet, but soon enough I'd be ready to face him.
I crept away from the office, putting some distance between me and the man who'd already killed me once—even if he was holding Sakura and my friends captive.
The whole problem stemmed from the damn curse. If I didn't have that, I would be able to choose a class and level up out here in the shadows. Craig would most likely be sleeping in preparation for another long day tomorrow, meaning I could spend the whole night getting stronger and attack him just before dawn. That way I'd have hours of experience point farming on him and be well ahead of him in levels once again.
Only I couldn't do any of that, because killing monsters wouldn't give me any experience points. I'd hoped that it was just the zombies, so I shot the first Scavenger Cockroach I saw with a Mana Bolt, hoping that would push me over the edge to level ten. But just like the zombie, it was a dud. The giant rat and the Fire Squirrel I killed after that did nothing for me either.
Was I completely screwed? Utterly and hopelessly screwed?
My stomach growled, and I realized I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. Fortunately, I didn't have to wander around naked and starving while hunting monsters all night. There were plenty of empty buildings around Crownhill, and I soon found a fast-food restaurant that was mostly empty.
There were a few rats and cockroaches in the restaurant, but some Mana Bolts scared them off quick enough. I actually recognized the place, even after the integration and, after grabbing a bite to eat, I headed next door to an overpriced designer clothing store I'd never actually been inside—though I’d seen it from a distance when taking my lunch break.
I had decided as soon as I stepped out of that dumpster that, while I might be willing to loot some of the clothes off the ground from those people who never came back from the integration, I definitely wasn't putting on anyone's used underwear. Thankfully, I didn't have to.
I found a nice clean set in a bag in the clothing store, along with pants, a long black coat, a belt, and a backpack. I chose all dark colors that would blend into the shadows of the night and assembled a backpack of the best survival equipment I could find. Really, I should have done this hours ago. Now that I was finally out of those stuffy office clothes, I realized just how much they'd been limiting my movements. This was how one should dress in an apocalypse.
Dressed and properly equipped, I killed a few more monsters, once again noting my lack of a new level. How was I supposed to kill Craig without the ability to level? My thoughts turned to my new title, Soul Vampire—maybe I could figure out how that worked?
But how would I convince people to offer up their levels to me?
While muddling through such thoughts, I felt a tingle run up my spine. That was the feeling of someone using Examine on me. Realizing what it was, I became fully alert and twisted my head left and right, trying to find my attacker while simultaneously diving for cover.
And it was a good thing I did, too, because an instant later a bullet slammed into the asphalt where I'd been standing just moments ago. I rolled into a nearby bush, tossing my backpack in the opposite direction to provide a noise to cover my escape.
A half dozen bullets raked across my backpack. Crap! Half the supplies I'd just spent the past thirty minutes gathering were probably ruined now. That annoyed me greatly, and when I saw the muzzle flash again and had the location of the shooter, I pointed my finger in their direction without hesitation.
I heard a yelp of pain as my Mana Bolt struck home. They were standing on the edge of the roof of a third-story building, and my attack must have knocked them off balance enough to send them tumbling out the open window. They fell headfirst to the ground.
If my Mana Bolt hadn't killed them, the fall a moment later had. Their head exploded like a melon, spraying blood and brains everywhere. I waited in silence, listening for anyone else. Nothing. He must have been alone.
I was almost surprised when a notification appeared before my eyes. It was something I had been waiting for, but feared I would never see.
Congratulations! You have reached level 10!
Your race ranking will evolve from 'F' to 'E' rank, granting you additional base stat points for each level and enhancing your existing stats.
Please hold...
A sharp and sudden pain ran throughout my entire body. It was similar to what I'd experienced during the Integration, though not to the same degree. My muscles burned, my bones ached, and my brain felt like it was on fire.
But, moments later, the process was complete. I wasn't sure what had changed, but new Strength flowed through my body that hadn't been there before.
Congratulations! you have reached 'E' rank.
Future race evolutions will come with increasing difficulty.
You have gained +4 Stat points based on your race. Your race points have been allocated according to the stat distribution of the strongest examples of your race.
+1 Strength
+1 Agility
+1 Perception
+1 Vitality
You will receive three additional automatically assigned points upon selecting a class.
You have four points to manually distribute.
I'd reached level 10, after all. I should have guessed that humans wouldn't be considered monsters. Did that mean any levels I wanted to get would have to be gained by killing other people?
The thought didn't sit well with me. I thought I'd be far more comfortable cutting down ruthless monsters than killing other humans. But it seemed the System's curse might force me to do just that.
I hit 20 in Vitality, giving me another skill selection option. I still wasn't fully healed from coming back from the dead, so this was a welcome treat.
Congratulations on reaching a Vitality milestone!
Blessed of the System awards you with a Vitality skill book or upgrade an existing skill.
Choose a Vitality skill book!
Book of Second Heart (Common) - Having your heart destroyed will no longer cause critical damage, and blood will continue to pump through your body using a secondary heart structure, positioned according to the user's needs.
Book of Lifesteal (Common) - When inflicting damage, take a tiny portion of that damage back for yourself as health.
Upgrade Mind Over Flesh (Uncommon) … to Mind Over Flesh (Rare) - Enhances regeneration rate and efficiency of mana to health point conversion.
Between the three abilities, Lifesteal sounded by far the coolest. However, I was a bit worried about how effective it would be. It was possible that the amount of life I'd gain through such an ability was so minuscule it'd be unnoticeable. Maybe upgrading Mind Over Flesh would be the safer bet?
Nah. I wanted the ability to steal life from my enemies. So that's what I picked. The skill sank into my head with a dull throb, and soon I had another ability. With Death Curse, I had been starting to fear I'd never feel this rush of power ever again. The only problem was that I had to kill my fellow humans to experience it. I put that dark thought out of mind and focused on the new information.
E rank started at level 10. If nothing else, the transition past level 10 brought a tremendous surge in the number of points I got per level. It seemed I'd overestimated my new Strength dramatically. All the stats I'd gotten from the others in Purgatory didn't amount to nearly as many levels’ worth of points as I thought. That was probably why Craig had put up such a fight against me.
I assigned my new points, pushing my Agility past ten so I could select a new skill.
+1 Agility
+3 Intelligence
Congratulations on reaching an Agility milestone!
Blessed of the System awards you with an Agility skill book!
Choose an Agility skill book!
Book of Lunge (Common) - Close the distance with your enemy in a sudden flash of movement.
Book of Bounce (Common) - Redirect the force of impacts against hard surfaces to maneuver and reposition.
Book of Sure Step (Uncommon) - Your every step is taken with care and deliberation, positioning you just where you need to be to suit your purpose.
While Lunge might be useful when using my sword, I didn't have my sword and was entirely reliant on Mana Bolt to defend myself with. I wasn't going to take a skill I couldn't use immediately. Likewise, Bounce seemed to be the kind of skill meant for a close-range combatant.
The only real choice was Sure Step. Hopefully, it would help me evade my opponents while keeping my distance from them. With my Agility skill selected, I turned to the rest of my level-up notifications.
New Title Earned!
Great Ancestor (Mythic) - You are one of the first ten humans on your shard to reach level 10. Your line is strong, and your progeny will be more likely to be born as healthy young humans.
Your actions will carve future paths for your species. Your descendants’ affinities will be molded by your affinities, and their talents will be molded by your talents.
Notice: You have Class choice selections available!
I needed to find someplace safe to go through the rank upgrade and my Class choices, so I headed into the building that had recently belonged to the shooter I'd just killed. He'd have kept the monsters away, which meant it should be a safer place to stay than anywhere else. Additionally, he probably chose it with defensibility in mind, meaning it was probably one of the best places to hide on the block.
I found his gun next to the dead man's body—a good rifle by the looks of it. Even better than what they'd been selling in the gun store. Scooping up the rifle, I headed inside the building to check it out. I cleared each room to ensure it would be a safe place to hole up for a bit.
Up on the top of the building, I found backpacks full of supplies and gear lining the wall of the stairwell that led onto the roof. Next to the wall, there was a camping stove, several tents, shovels, water purifying tablets, fishing gear, animal traps, and just about anything else you could need—usually in triplicate. In fact, each bag seemed to be a different survival kit, meant to be entirely independent of the others.
I realized what this guy was quickly enough. He'd been one of those predatory survivalist types whose idea of preparing for an apocalypse meant getting free gear by picking off other survivalists from long range with a rifle, then taking their stuff. The blood splattered across most of the bags bore credence to this. Looking at his view of the street, the shooter would have had a perfect angle on anyone leaving Crownhill with all their valuables neatly packed away and ripe for the taking.
With these kinds of supplies, I could coop up in here for a week and survive just fine. But I didn't intend to stay here that long. Still, it would be good to make note of the survival supplies. There was no sense in letting so much good stuff to waste.
I sat down near the far corner of the roof of the building. There had been a cup of coffee brewing on one of the gas-powered camp stoves. It looked like the previous owner of this building had planned a long night picking off fleeing survivors. Since I had a long night planned as well, I helped myself to his coffee, bringing it with me to my corner.
I focused on the thing I'd been waiting for the most. I was about to consider my class, but before I could do that I noticed something warm beneath my shirt. It was getting hotter, nearly to the point that it was starting to burn.
I tore my jacket off and dug through my clothes for the hot thing, already having a good idea of what it was. It was Myrina's token.
“Now what?” I muttered aloud.
You have met the minimum requirements for preliminary activation of your patronage token!
Your patron is requesting contact. Accept?
Was this Myrina calling me? Or her aunt? In either case, this was a call I'd been waiting for. I just hadn't expected it to come so soon after the integration. I wasn't about to hang up on Myrina, or anyone from the mysterious Amazonian Empire, for that matter—not when there were so many questions I wanted to ask.
I accepted.
A dull tone rang out from the token around my neck. I held it in my hand somewhere between my mouth and ear, not really sure how to use it. Brilliant golden light shot out of the coin, and the token exploded into a cluster of energy. That energy swirled around me and the rest of the room before coalescing into a blob of light sitting across from me.
That blob soon resolved itself into a person. Moments later, as the figure grew clearer, I realized it was a person I recognized. It was Myrina.
“Myrina!” I shouted, smile wide on my face. It was hard to contain my excitement.
I'd often thought about what it'd be like to see her after so long. Would she still think of me the same way she did before? Would she look at me the same way? Would I look at her the same way, now that I knew she was an alien from another planet?
All those questions raced through my mind as Myrina's image took shape, forged entirely of flickering golden light.
“Myrina, I--” I began, struggling to figure out what to say. But I needn't have bothered. Myrina had her greeting all figured out.
She flung herself at me, wrapping her glowing arms around my chest. I didn't expect there to be any force behind her projection, but there was—and Myrina wasn't holding anything back.
She wrapped her arms around me, tackling me to the ground. I might have broken some bones if I'd just been a normal human, but with my extra stat points it just felt like a really aggressive hug.
“Mhmm...” Myrina rubbed her cheek against my chest as she lay on top of me. “Got you again, Carter!”
Myrina was exactly the same. I was starting to wonder why I’d ever worried at all.
Chapter
Twenty
Myrina was wearing a white cloth dress, sort of like a toga. It looked somewhere between what the ancient Greeks wore and gym wear. Her hair was also done up behind her head in an unusual style. I wasn’t sure what to call that kind of bun, but it had a certain elegance to it. The only thing unusual about her appearance was the fact that she was wearing eye shadow, which was something I’d never seen on her. In fact, I was pretty sure she didn’t usually wear any makeup at all, just her naturally flawless face.
Did she dress up just to see me?
If feeling her presence next to me didn’t warm my cold dead heart before, it did now. I almost forgot about my death. And the fact that Craig was still out there… and that all my living friends thought I was dead.
“Aw, not even struggling? I wanted to see how strong you’ve become after the integration. Integration survivors are supposed to be really tough!” Myrina said as she wriggled on top of where she straddled me, ass pressed to my stomach in such a way that trying to get out from under her was the last thing on my mind.
But this was just a hologram, or something like it. As nice as she felt, now that I focused on the feeling, I could tell she wasn’t really there. I felt the weight of her on me, but not the warmth. Whatever strange alien magic Myrina was using to create this projection of herself, it only had a bit of tactile sensation to it. I realized I could just push through it and it would part around me like normal light. So that’s just what I did. I slid around her projection right through her right arm and hovered over her back with her chest pushed against the ground.
“Ha, now I’ve finally got you.” I grinned.
Could I actually pin the real Myrina with my current stats? She’d been strong back then. Supernaturally strong. But now that the System had arrived, I knew why. She’d had the System back then, and I didn’t. Now that we were on even footing...
Myrina twisted, and the strength in her projection doubled again. She twisted her hips and did something. I wasn’t sure what it was, but she executed the move so flawlessly that I knew she must have practiced escaping that exact pin for years.
“Nice try. But you’re going to need a lot more levels before you can pin me,” Myrina purred. Even though she was just a projection made of light, I could feel her warm breath against my neck. I felt my heart beat faster, and not because of the exercise. Myrina wrapped her arms around me.
I chuckled, returning Myrina’s embrace. There was just a tiny bit of tactile sensation to Myrina’s form. She was still definitely made of light, but she was more than just a hologram. It was enough to give the impression of her physical presence, especially when she was hugging me like this.
Still, as she hugged me tighter, her arms phased right through me, and she sighed. “I’m sorry I don’t have better farwalking tablets. These patronage tokens are just for meet and greets, really. I’m supposed to introduce you to the Amazonian Empire and explain why you should let us support you. That kind of thing. I suppose I should get on with it, though. You didn’t activate this token just to see little old me.”
It was my time to silence her. “Myrina, you know I hung on to your token all these years, but not because of the apocalypse you warned me about. I hung on to it because I hoped I’d get to see you again. And now I can.”
Myrina blushed. “I don’t remember you having such a way with words. Have you been dumping all your stats into Charisma?”
I chuckled. “Nope, but a few have wound up there all the same. I can share my System screen with you if you like. I actually have a lot of questions and quite a story to tell. Then you can give me your Amazon Empire sales pitch.”
Myrina smiled. “Tell me as much as you can, though I have to warn you, we’re on a bit of a time limit. The System only allows these initial meet and greets to last for so long.”
