Relaying the information to his friend, Steven thought for a bit and asked Loann to try and identify a random item from the kitchen to test the depth of the skill.
But not wanting to waste any more mana, Loann refused, saying:
"I forgot to tell you but the skill also takes mana, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need it in the near future. Better not waste it." He said, although he also wanted to try out his new skill extensively.
"Oh, I guess it makes sense. Well, now that we're mostly good to go, time to get that phone."
Going out of the kitchen, the two friends decided to be sneaky about it, and remained close to the walls while stealthily peeking corners and doors.
After a few minutes trip, they finally arrived back to their classroom.
The smell had gotten even worse, but they still went in after making sure the zombie-teacher was gone.
Loann knew his phone was in his bag, but everything was thrown about, and the bodies on the floors weren't helping either.
While searching for his phone, Steven raised an important question:
"Why are we still so calm about it? I mean, think about it; We are most likely in a zombie apocalypse, and we are literally walking around our dead classmates, but we aren't freaking out or anything. That's anything but normal." He said with a grave expression.
"To be honest, I think we shouldn't ask too many questions and just think of it as something system related since there's no other valid option, am I right?" Loann said, not too bothered about it since it just felt so normal, and was more of a boon than a curse.
"Yeah, I guess" Steven responded, still thinking about it.
After a little while, they finally found his bag underneath the dead body of one of their classmate, or rather what remained of it.
It was painted red, but Loann still held hope that his phone was fine since the bag was closed.
Quickly getting it opened, he grabbed his phone and to his joy discovered it was still working.
Instantly trying to call his mother, the only response he received was a robotic voice saying:
"Sorry, the line you are trying to reach is unavailable, please try again later."
Not wanting to give up, he called another 4 times before realizing the line was probably either overloaded or just broken due to external factors.
Finding out they both wasted their time, their mood turned from bad to worse and after a short while, they decided to do something quite stupid but very beneficial if done correctly: Kill the zombie-teacher.
While you may think this is stupid, both of the boys are what one may call avid gamers, and they knew of one important rule of gaming: Always have the initiative.
Figuring out they wouldn't be able to reach to their families soon, they decided to take a gamble and try to get strong as soon as possible so they could safely cross the few kilometers separating their school and their homes.
Using the opportunity given by what they guessed was the system, they could think rationally and calmly even when surrounded by their dead classmates, which was incredible.
It's not like they lost their emotions because they still felt anger when the phone didn't work and joy when they found out about magic, but it felt like their fear had been reduced drastically, Something that at first may feel like a good thing but isn't really since fear is the brain reaction to a dangerous situation.
Think about it: What if you didn't fear jumping off from a bridge.
How many people would do it just for the heck of it?
That is the exact situation our protagonists found themselves in.
While taking out the clearly higher-level zombie for xp was a good plan, how were they supposed to pull it off with their meager strength?
So, they came up with a plan.
First of all, Steven noticed a bottle of hydro-alcoholic gel on the ground next to the teacher's desk, and thought of something quite devious:
"Loann, I have an idea. Let's try and pour the gel on the zombie, and then set him on fire. It should help the fire spread, and perhaps we can take him out like this" Steven said, eager to try out his plan
"First of all, we should try and find a zombie to get you to level 2 and unlock your skills" Said Loann, thinking about the feasibility of the friend's plan
"Sure thing, I'm also excited to see what skill the water affinity will get me"
And soon enough, the were roaming the school's hallways, looking for a stray zombie.
While they were happy not to encounter any before, now it felt like there weren't enough zombies.
But, after a few minutes, they finally saw one of them slowly roaming close to a classroom, and this one felt a bit stronger than the first one. It had some blood in his mouth, and it wasn't hard to guess it was not the zombie's.
After looking at each other, they nodded and Loann used his new stats to the max to run to the zombie and kick him down, resulting in the zombie falling down quite brutally, allowing Steven to come and bash it in the head with a frying pan he had found in the kitchen.
Loann looked at the scene and somehow found it quite funny, even though laughing was the last thing he thought he would do while in a zombie apocalypse.
Soon enough, Steven had killed the zombie and leveled up.
Spending a bit of time considering his choice and skills, he said:
"I spent my free points on wisdom also, and got it up to 20.
My new skill is called "Beginner water creation".
The name is quite literal: I can create a little amount of water in exchange for mana. The cost is 100 mana per liter." The Blond young man said, excited about finally being able to use magic.
After this short skirmish, they decided to go back to where they 'fought' the zombie-teacher.