"Are there any survivors here???" Sean's voice echoed throughout the library.
Raaaawr Suddenly, as if the library had been brought back to life, you could hear the sounds of zombies' footsteps and roars from all around.
"Don't look at me like that. At least now we know where they are; it's better than stumbling into one without knowing." Sean quickly said as he noticed Michael's deadly stare.
"We're here, save us, please!!" Before Michael could respond to Sean's stupidity, he heard a girl screaming for help in the distance.
Michael's expression changed, a look of joy appearing in his eyes, and he started running quickly toward the sound, followed by Sean.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine. I'm here with you; I won't let anything harm you." When Michael arrived, he saw a young man grappling with zombies with his bare hands, pushing them back.
"Get away!" Sean shouted at the young man while running, then thrust his spear into a zombie's head from behind.
"Are you okay?? Are you hurt anywhere??" Michael approached the young man and the girl to check on them.
"Yes, we're fine, thank you. Just some scratches, nothing to worry about." The young man replied to Michael after he saw the scratches caused by fighting the zombies.
"Oh, I'm Michael. What's your name?" Michael extended his hand to shake the young man's.
"My name is Lucas. Nice to meet you, Michael, and thank you again for saving us." Lucas smiled at Michael, shook his hand, and suddenly fainted, falling to the ground. Michael was shocked and couldn't react quickly enough to catch him.
"Lucas, Lucas, get up, please! Don't leave me alone!" The girl ran quickly to Lucas lying on the ground and exploded into tears when she saw his head bleeding from the fall.
"Hey Michael, is he dead?" Sean poked Michael to snap him out of his shock.
Meanwhile, Lucas' body trembled slightly, but no one noticed.
"Do you mind if I move you a little? I want to check his pulse." Michael squatted in front of the girl and smiled to calm her.
Before Michael could finish, he saw Lucas get up and lunge at the girl's neck, starting to tear into her flesh and bone, while Michael sat smiling in front of them, blood splattering on his body.
"Lucas, what are you doing!!?" The girl screamed and cried in pain for a few seconds before she could no longer scream, as Lucas continued tearing her neck, tears streaming from her eyes.
Michael swore he would never forget this scene for the rest of his life, seeing the poor girl being eaten before his eyes.
Sean rushed forward to help and plunged his spear into Lucas' skull to end the nightmare.
"This… this…"
"Sean!!! Did you see that?? Lucas, Lucas, he ate her."
"He ate his girlfriend!" The shock and disbelief on Michael's face was obvious, and his words were incoherent while his whole body trembled.
"Michael, that's not Lucas. He's a zombie." Sean seemed slightly more composed than Michael, strangely enough, as he received a notification that he killed a zombie and leveled up.
"But how?? Lucas was alive just moments ago??? Don't tell me a zombie scratch turns you into one???" Michael's face changed several times as he seemed to understand something, staring at Sean in shock.
"Yeah, I think so too. Anyway, what happens in games and shows—what's stopping it from being real?" Sean nodded to Michael as he thrust his spear into the girl's head too, in case she would transform.
"Hah, this is going to be a hundred times harder. Let's go upstairs; we have to clear the area before sunset." Michael took a deep breath to calm himself, then started walking toward the stairs to the second floor with Sean.
"Wait, I have a plan."
"From what we've seen so far, these zombies are strong but stupid, and noise attracts them."
"All we have to do is stay under the stairs and make noise, then they'll fall from above and we can kill them easily." Michael grabbed Sean's shoulder as he was going up the stairs and pulled him down.
"Are there any survivors on the upper floor!!?"
"We're under the stairs. The lower floor is cleared. Stay in your places; we'll lure the zombies downstairs." Sean shouted, trying to attract the zombies while informing any potential survivors of their plan.
Raaaawr The zombies started approaching the stairs, and soon they began falling one by one from above.
"Michael, how many students were on the second floor?" Sean asked while pulling his axe out of a fallen zombie's head.
"I don't know, but around 15–20." Michael nodded in reply.
"I hope we have twenty zombies to kill then." Sean thought, then said to Michael with a smile.
After killing the twelfth zombie, the zombie rain stopped; no more were falling.
"Hah, hah, let's take a break and see if we're lucky and got any drops." Michael seemed exhausted, sitting down on the ground.
"Hey Michael, look, it seems they didn't find the stairs." Sean pointed to some zombies stuck on the second floor railing, trying to climb down before one fell and its head exploded.
"Well, at least we know where the rest are." Michael nodded, then began inspecting the drops with Sean.
"Let's see what we got this time." Sean and Michael placed the loot together: one skill book and three boxes.
"Looks like the drop rate is 1:3." Michael looked at the treasure and picked up the book first:
{Skill Book: Mana Shield, Rank 0}
(Condenses mana into a shield that protects the user from one direction. Shield strength depends on the amount and type of mana used.)
[Quality: Rare]
[Cooldown: 2 hours]
[Do you wish to learn this skill?]
[Yes] [No]
Michael chose to learn the skill without hesitation, as he had the largest mana pool and the skill would be most useful for him.
He felt the same sensation he had when learning Fireball and immersed himself in the knowledge until he understood how to use it, then opened his character status.
"Add three points to Vitality." Michael thought before deciding to add them to match human average stats.
Character Status: Michael De von Santos
Level: 2 {50 / 20 XP}
Class: None
Mana: 26
Strength: 10 (Normal Male: 10)
Stamina: 9 (Normal Male: 10)
Vitality: 10 (Normal Male: 10)
Agility: 11 (Normal Male: 10)
Intelligence: 13 (Normal Male: 10)
Distributable Points: 0
Skills: Fireball (Lvl 1), Mana Shield (Lvl 1)
"Okay, Sean, since I got the skill, take the three boxes." Michael handed the boxes to Sean to open.
Sean opened the first box and found a very rare skill book:
{Skill Book: Ice Wall, Rank 1}
(Cools surrounding mana to form a wall of ice. Strength depends on mana used.)
[Quality: Very Rare]
[Cooldown: 1 hour]
[Do you wish to learn this skill?]
[Yes] [No]
[Note: User has no ice magic talent. Cannot learn this skill.]
Sean hesitated.
"I can't learn it… I'm not talented. You try."
Michael tried:
[User has no talent in Ice Magic. Cannot learn this skill.]
"Looks like I'm not talented either."
Sean opened the second box:
{Class Scroll: Summoner, Rank 1}A mage who summons creatures made of mana or from other worlds.Each level grants +3 Intelligence, +2 Vitality.Quality: SuperiorRequirement: Level 10
"Hahaha! Looks like Lady Luck finally smiled at me!"
Sean carefully stored it.
He opened the last box…
It was empty.
"Don't be greedy. What you got is enough. Distribute your points."
"Add 2 Intelligence and 1 Vitality."
Name: Sean MaximusLevel: 2 {40 / 50 XP}Class: NoneMana: 22Strength: 15Stamina: 12Vitality: 11Agility: 10Intelligence: 11Distributable Points: 0Skills: Strength Enhancement (Max)
"Hey Michael, wait for me! I'm coming!"
Sean ran toward Michael, and they climbed the stairs together after distributing points.