A group of individuals wearing a mishmash of tactical gear stomped up the stairs. Jason watched them pass, noting idly that they had come from the waterfront. They were one of the many patrols sent by the ACPD to clear out incidental spawns and block off dark alleys. That, or they were the night watch coming in to report.
That was perhaps the most interesting part of the apocalypse in Jason’s eyes. Due to the nature of monster spawns, the most surefire way to prevent them was to have people looking. All around the plaza and beyond, dozens of people sat around, seemingly doing nothing. However, their eyes constantly scanned the environment, ensuring that no part of the environment wasn’t observed.
It was, at once, the most relaxing and most high-strung job to ever exist.
Farther out, Jason could see a steady stream of people prying out bits of buildings and carting them toward the walls. Their small safe zone was packed with the survivors of the Tutorial. Everyone in a two-mile radius had flocked in and was put to work repairing, rearming, and reconstructing the built environment to better suit the apocalypse. There were extreme efforts to gather fuel and park old cars to block wide intersections. Food was also an issue, though Jason had approximately zero idea how that was being handled.
Speaking of, it was actually remarkable how quickly the survivors had organized. Construction crews for the walls, militia to keep the streets clear, cooks to feed everyone. It sort of made sense, considering everyone here had survived the Tutorial and had a strong desire to stay that way. Still, Jason was tempted to call black magic.
That or someone in the ACPD had a Skill.
‘ding!’ ‘[Flesh Reconstruction] has reached level 24’
Jason smiled as the notification came and went. As soon as he had been able, Jason had evolved [Flesh Regeneration] with [Blood Resistance]. Doing so had reset the power of his healing, but the result was more than worth it.
He pulled up the old series of notifications.
‘ding!’ ‘[Flesh Regeneration] has evolved into [Flesh Reconstruction]!’
‘ding!’ ‘Congratulations! You have learned the skill [Flesh Reconstruction]: Grants permanent
First Saf: [Flesh Resistance]: You have chased after and survived the ceaseless rot of Starvation. For every minute of taking continuous damage, you increase the effect of all life recovery effects on you by 1%. This effect stacks up to 100%.
Second Saf: [Blood Resistance]: You have survived over 1,000 hours of extreme starvation. In preparation for abstaining from drink, you have chosen to augment your recovery with the healing vitality of blood. Your blood can no longer be prevented from traveling your veins, and grants an additional permanent
The effect was simple but massive. Even at level 24, his healing was faster than it had been at level 30. But the true benefit was that he could now level the skill beyond level 30.
The last of the militia vanished into the police department, and Jason turned his attention back to the shirt in his lap. He carefully poked the needle attached to a length of fishing line through the hem of the shirt and pulled it through a thick slab of Saphleer Broodmother leather lying on top. The hide resisted, thicker and tougher than any earthen leather Jason had ever felt. Jason tsked, pulling out a hammer and a cheap tactical knife and gently worked on widening the hole. After a few more minutes and a lot of elbow grease, he managed to stick the needle through.
Sewing wasn’t something Jason had ever done before, and it showed in the visible seams and uneven lines. Despite that, Jason couldn’t help but be proud of his creation. This was armor. Made from the looted corpse of an enemy he had taken part in slaying. Shitty, threadbare armor. But armor nonetheless.
Jason’s mind wandered as he worked, settling into the comfortable embrace of meditation. It wasn’t true meditation, as his eyes were still open, and he was still focused, but there was something peaceful about occupied hands doing a repetitive task. He let his mind’s eye wander, feeling all his disparate limbs for any residual aches or pains. He found none, of course. [Flesh Regeneration] was far too powerful to leave him with any injury for long.
Slowly, almost unconsciously, Jason focused deeper. At that deep part of his chest where he always felt a twinge whenever he gained gray health. There was a strange...something present. He poked at it, exploring its shape before losing it to the calm of meditation.
Maybe he was just imagining it.
Jason hummed cheerfully under his breath as he pulled the nylon filament all the way through and started on another stitch. Whatever it was, he’d figure it out in time.
Tyler came out of the police department, scuffing his feet as he approached Jason’s spot on the stairs. He looked haggard, with bags under his eyes and the beginnings of an unshaven scruff. Without a word, Tyler sat down beside Jason. He stared listlessly into the distance before covering his face in his hands and letting out a full belly groan.
“What happened to you?” Jason shot his roommate a sidelong glance.
“I think I learned a new word today,” Tyler mumbled into his hands.
“Oh?”
“It means I’ve poured exactly the right amount of coffee into the cup, and I’m now starting to put too much.” Tyler let his hands fall as he met Jason’s gaze. “The word is Adadadada...”
Jason chuckled, turning back to his sewing project. “I take it Corinne woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?”
“I don’t think she slept in the first place. It’s like...how did she get saddled with organizing the apocalypse?”
“She’s good at it. I think a lot of the people who could do what she is doing aren’t here to do it. They are saying we lost half the population. I’m leaning closer to 30%, but that’s still pretty high.”
Tyler stiffened at the reminder, then sighed. “Man, I just want to play football. No one gets stabbed playing football.”
“Or burned, or poisoned, or killed,” Jason chuckled again. The needle in his hands poked him in the thumb and he flinched, throwing the offending needle a glare. It didn’t bleed, healing instantly, but it still pricked. Like why couldn’t there be a pain resistance skill? “Though, none of those are as common as you think.”
“Bro...How can you—Are...AREGH! I don’t get how you can be so...lackadaisical about all this. People are dying. Our lives are over.”
Jason nodded, setting aside his shirt. He chose his next words carefully. “I know they are dying. It’s horrible, but if we just wallow in grief, then we’ll get nothing done, and more people will die. Focusing on the silver lining is good for morale.”
“What silver lining?” Tyler’s face was back in his hands.
“Well...there’s no reason we can’t still play football. And just imagine how fun it will be if everyone has a hundred strength.”
“Corinne said the same thing,” Tyler said, looking up.
“I bet she learned that from someone both handsome and intelligent,” Jason said dryly, pulling another stitch through the shirt.
“Man,” Tyler shot him a reproachful look, then shook his head. “She also said that you’ve been avoiding her.”
“Wow, two for two. Corinne is on fire today.”
“So you have been avoiding her.”
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“Yup,” Jason nodded cheerfully. He pulled the fishing line through one last time, then contentedly held up the shirt. “Tada! It’s not Michelangelo, but it’ll protect the nips. Which is all that really counts when you think about it.”
“Do you have a reason, or are you just being difficult on purpose?” Tyler reproached, ignoring the shirt. “Her job is hard enough as it is without you making it harder.”
“I’m not being difficult,” Jason hugged the shirt to his chest in mock offense. “I’m avoiding her because she wants to talk. And talk and talk. Both of us have better things to do than to discuss our mental health or whatever.”
“It’s important—”
“And that’s!” Jason stood. “Where we disagree, bro. Some people prefer to cope by talking. I prefer to do it by killing monsters. Speaking of, I see Emily. Let’s go.”
Tyler groaned as both of them stood to greet the third member of their ‘squad’. Jason grinned at the thought. He was part of a squad. He never thought he’d see the day.
Emily stormed down the stairs. Her red-tipped black hair bounced furiously above her canted East Asian eyes as she strapped on a belt with curt, angry motions. She was wearing her quilted HEMA gear, with the all-black protective weave covering every part of her body—except her left shoulder, where the material was shredded and poorly patched with several layers of gray duct tape.
“You!” she glared at Jason. “Where have you been?”
“Here! Collecting some sweet, sweet sunlight.” Jason placed a dainty hand on his chest in affronted shock. “I will have you know that vitamin D deficiency is highly correlated with psychological conditions like — as a random example — uncontrollable rage towards teammates.”
“Can it, Jason. Not in the mood,” Emily growled, shouldering by. “Tyler, what’s the mission?”
Jason and Tyler shared a look, then hurried to catch up.
“Uh, the ACPD wants us to confirm something beyond the southside wall today.”
Emily growled and spun on her heel, turning so that she was heading south. Jason settled into lockstep beside the shorter girl.
“Does this foul mood perchance pertain to your new fashionable shoulder accessory?” Jason asked innocently. “How’d that happen, by the way? Run out of stamina?”
“Clive happened,” Emily growled. “And no, I didn’t run out of stamina, you ass. That dork decided that instead of protecting his DPS, he’d prefer to play dead. Went real well that one. Stupid shoulder still hurts after days.”
“Still have gray health?” Jason tsked, not at all remorseful.
“Not all of us heal gray health overnight,” Emily grumbled, tossing on her helmet.
“Thank you, thank you,” Jason grinned smugly.
“I mean, honestly. It’s a shock that half of these idiots managed to survive the Tutorial. They either chose skills unsuited to their playstyle or spend all their time glued to their phones. The world went to shit, doesn’t mean you have to check it every five minutes.”
“You know, I’m still surprised the internet didn’t die,” Jason mused thoughtfully. “I swear I read somewhere that it depended on satellites to some extent.”
“...It’s not a playstyle,” Tyler muttered darkly from the back.
“What?” Emily snapped, pausing as she turned on the football player.
“This isn’t a game. It’s real life.” Tyler frowned down at her. “I bet Clive didn’t realize that he would be expected to get chewed on while other people killed the monsters. And, just so you know, lots of those people on their phones are worried about their families.”
“Exactly!” Emily stepped up and poked Tyler in the chest. “This isn’t a game. People can die, and still, half of them are whining like stuck-up toddlers instead of doing something about it!”
Tyler’s frown deepened, which Jason took as his cue to step in.
“Okedoke!” Jason gently pulled the two apart, turning to Emily first. “First of all, I think we’re doing pretty well, all things considered. Just look around! We still have showers! That’s A-grade apocalypse recovery, in my opinion. Second, Emily has every right to complain if her tank left her high and dry. We’re all new to this. There are bound to be some kinks to iron out. Let’s all just cut each other some slack. Hmm?”
“Yeah, whatever,” Tyler grimaced but reluctantly shrugged.
Her fencing mask shadowed Emily’s face, but Jason heard her mumble something about her ‘stupid shoulder’. Jason eyed the pair for a moment before their group continued onward. A dense silence fell over them. Many people, not just Emily and Tyler, were having trouble acclimating to the change. It was sometimes hard to remember that not everyone had lived in this new paradigm for months.
Despite that, what he’d said earlier was true.
They were doing remarkably well. Far better than Jason had assumed they would after such a catastrophe. From reading books and the various natural disasters he remembered, they were doing downright fantastic. People had come together seamlessly to recover from the event. Sure, many people hadn’t come out of the Tutorial, but the fact that no societal infrastructure had been destroyed meant that everything was running mostly smoothly.
Sure, there were plenty of concerns that electricity would suddenly stop if the Fordstone Coal Plant failed. And sure, they were rationing food since shipments weren’t expected. Water, though, wasn’t an issue because of Lake Michigan, and the treatment plants were still running strong. Wastewater and sewage were also undamaged. The monsters also didn't seem to understand the concept of power poles, which was an unexpected bonus.
And it all could be attributed to a change in the monster spawning formula.
By now, Jason was sure that it had changed. Monsters still followed the same spawning rules as in the Tutorial, but the spawn rates were dramatically reduced. He’d assumed there was some sort of proximity limiter back in the Tutorial, but now he wondered if there wasn’t also a global cap as well.
The fact of the matter was that there simply weren’t that many monsters. Not nearly enough to threaten a settlement of ten thousand people.
Jason flicked open his status and reviewed his recent notifications with dissatisfaction.
‘ding!’ ‘Congratulations! Your level has increased to 12. 5 stat points awarded’
‘ding!’ ‘[Venom Resistance] has reached level 6’
With so many people available to kill monsters, he’d barely had any action. He’d only been called to fight once to take out another Saphleer Broodmother, mostly because of his immunity to its attacks. Even more frustratingly, the one time he’d suggested training his resistance skills, Tyler’s eyes had nearly bugged out of his head.
Jason dismissed his status as their small group approached the south wall. It was made of three SUVs parked lengthwise across the street, with various bits of detritus jammed under and around the vehicles to seal off the road completely. Three people stood shivering atop the wall, their hands jammed into jackets to protect against the morning chill.
“Hey!” Tyler called. “We were sent to confirm a report on a rift opening up somewhere here?”
Jason’s ears perked up at that. The guards quickly gave them directions. Instead of scaling the walls, Tyler raised his hands and cast his only skill: [Sand Creation]. Mounds of loose beach sand materialized out of nowhere in a large pile. It formed a slope up the side of the wall. One that they quickly used to scale the wall.
In moments, they had dropped down to the other side of the wall and were walking again. Theoretically, the area outside the walls was more dangerous, but that was mostly at night.
They heard the occasional growling from within a building, but Tyler kept them on track despite Jason's protests. Jason grumbled good-naturedly and followed along, not too miffed at the situation, especially if there was a rift involved.
In due time, the group stopped at the edge of a neighborhood. A sizeable ornate sign read Morningside. A ring of mulch peeked through a thin layer of snow around the sign, presumably space for flowers come springtime. The party stopped at the sign, then headed along the road until they reached a snowy ditch surrounding the rear of the neighborhood.
In the center of the ditch, a vivid green portal swirled peacefully.
‘ding!’ ‘Minor Corrosion Rift lvl 20’
“Well, isn’t that something,” Jason said. He’d been wondering when he’d see another rift.
“They found two other rifts surrounding the city,” Tyler spoke up. “One is to the east, the other is on the waterfront. The ACPD wanted us to confirm this one, which I guess we did. Corrosion and level 20. Seems...high? I guess. Though the minor is probably a good sign.”
“Do you think this rift is manipulating the mob spawning rate?” Jason asked.
“I don’t know? Maybe, though I guess it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense since the other two rifts are Iron and Wind aspected and we are getting Venom monsters.”
“Huh, nifty,” Jason said, starting to descend down the slope.
“Hold up,” Tyler pulled Jason back, nearly pulling him off his feet. That was one thing that was annoying about Starvation. He weighed next to nothing. “You’re not poking that thing until the ACPD give the go-ahead.”
“Aww, lame,” Jason said. “Can’t we just get close enough to look through? Come on. Emily, what do you say?”
“If the ACPD wants us to leave it alone, then we should leave it alone,” Emily said through her mask.
“Fine, but we are going to fight something, yeah? I want to test out my new shirt.”
“If we find something, yeah.” Tyler nodded, already heading back. Emily glanced at him, though her expression was unreadable behind her mask.
Jason turned back to the portal, staring at it longingly. It reminded him of all those hours staring at the portal in the Tutorial. Ahh, good times.
For the tiniest second, he felt a twinge behind his heart. Then it was gone, and he was left wondering if he’d imagined the sensation.
‘ding!’ ‘[Flesh Reconstruction] has reached level 25’
Jason blinked and grinned before rushing to catch up with his party. They trudged back the same way they came. No monsters bothered them, but they did stumble upon a pair of middle-aged men in a Jeep desperate to join their little community. Tyler took charge, welcoming the pair warmly before ushering them back to the walls. By the time they returned, his sand bridge had dematerialized, so he summoned another one.
Jason let him handle the survivors, aware that he wasn’t the most personable man for this particular job.
The apocalypse was pretty boring overall. In a good way, maybe. Though...Now that he thought about it, there was definitely more than one kind of fun to be had. Tyler’s sand bridge, for one. What determined how long it lasted? How far could he summon the sand? And were there ways to artificially increase the strength or duration of the skill?
Their party split, and Jason glanced back up at the winter sun. It painted his face in a warmth that he relished. Boring could be good. It just meant that he had to manufacture a different sort of fun for himself.