Quickly identifying the new sub-class and skills, what he saw shocked him.
"Sub class: Ice arch-mage": As you are a supreme-tier affinity holder, you receive the honor of carrying the title of Arch mage.
+3 Intelligence and Wisdom each level.
"Ice shard: Creates a 1 kg condensed ice shard you can send flying in any direction. With high enough intelligence and mana control, you can freely control the shard's direction.
Cost: 100 mana per shard."
"Cold aura (passive): While the skill is activated, you radiate a cold aura round you that intimidate any intelligent being close to you that is below your level.
You can choose whether to have the skill active or inactive, and activating it cost 50 mana."
Not even considering the 24 stats he just gained with his newfound sub-class, the possibilities his new spells offered were endless; The two boys both knew that they had to be strong to survive in this new reality and theses skills would help tremendously.
Trying not to get too excited, Loann told his friend they should go to sleep and get up early to try and go back to their houses as soon as possible.
"We don't know how our families are doing; I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have had a chance to kill the evolved zombie if it was actually done evolving, and there could be dozens out here for all we know" Said Steven, Clearly more concerned about their families than themselves.
"There's no use thinking of it now. If I learned anything playing video-games, it's not to go out at night unprepared. We'd be better off sleeping through the night."
And so they did.
After setting up an alarm for 8 AM, they both had a surprisingly calm sleep in the relative safety of the school kitchen.
Waking up, Loann and Steven decided to check their status while eating before going out.
Name: Loann Clemens MERCIER
Race: Human
Class: Mage
Sub-class: Ice arch-mage
Level: 4
Health: 220/220
Mana: 530/530
Stamina: 230/230
Stats:
Strength: 21
Agility: 21
Vitality: 22
Endurance: 23
Wisdom: 53
Intelligence: 39
Free points: 0[+]
Lottery draws: 0 [+]
Skills:
-Beginner Identify
-Beginner Flamethrower
-Ice shard
-Cold aura (passive)
(Bloodline): /
(Titles): Pioneer of Mankind
(Affinities): Fire (Mid-Tier), Ice (supreme-tier).
Name: Steven Isaac PLATT
Race: Human
Class: Mage
Sub-class: /
Level: 2
Health: 90/90
Mana: 200/200
Stamina: 90/90
Stats:
Strength: 8
Agility: 10
Vitality: 9
Endurance: 9
Wisdom: 20
Intelligence: 15
Free points:
Skills:
-Beginner water creation: The name is quite literal, you can create a little amount of water in exchange for mana. The range is 5 meters
Cost: 100 mana per liter.
(Bloodline): /
(Titles): /
(Affinities): water (Mid-Tier).
While Steven had decent stats, especially mental ones, Loann's were much higher thanks to both his higher level and title.
"Damn, considering 10 points as the average of an adult, you really are quite strong already." Said Steven, happy for his friend's growth
"Now that you say it, we really hit the jackpot killing that evolved zombie. Anyway, let's not waste more time and set off" Loann said, nervous but also a bit excited for their journey back home.
The two boys still hoped that their families were okay, but also knew deep down that if whatever struck their school also hit the whole world, the odds weren't in their favor.
As they were preparing for the trip, Loann tried to estimate their houses distance from the school. Their school was located in the center of the city, while the neighborhood they both lived in was in the west. Luckily, they both knew the city quite well and wouldn't get lost easily while going back.
Considering it took half an hour for their bus to drive them to school with all the stops, they could guess it was at least 5 to 6 km away.
While it may not seem like a huge distance, remember that the boys are in a big city, therefore meaning there could be tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of mana-infected beings standing between them and their objective.
Prepping themselves, the two got out of the school and started their journey home.
The first thing they noticed upon exiting the school perimeter was the lack of noise one would expect in a city. They could see empty cars stuck on the road, and some even crashed in buildings and houses.
The duo decided to try and grab some supplies since they only had one backpack and the only thing inside were 2 bottles of water and
some tupperwares of not-so fresh food found in the school's kitchen.
Going west, they soon encountered their first zombie, and it wasn't alone.
A dozen meter in front of them was a group of 4 zombies that were aimlessly walking around, looking for a prey.
Next to them, they could see a puddle of blood with some human's remains, eaten by the creatures.
Deciding to take advantage of the opportunity, Loann told Steven:
"We should get you some levels on the road, and I don't think we can go past them anyway."
So, not wanting to waste too much mana, they both decided on a simple plan: They would bait one zombie towards them, pierce his legs with ice shards and Steven would finish it off with the dagger.
While trying to bait the closest zombie, Loann realized something crucial; they are attracted to movement.
The closest zombie seemed to have seen him and started limply walking towards them, softly groaning.
Remembering one of his old science class, he guessed that zombies had bad view but good senses, and he quickly tested that.
Picking up a pebble on the side of the road, he threw it softly on their right, hoping the noise wouldn't attract the others.
And while the 3 zombies didn't seem to hear anything, the one walking towards them sure did and headed with what seemed like renewed vigor towards its 'prey'.