After Zeke finished eating he found a nice spot in the corner of the outpost and used a table as a bed so he did not have to lie on the floor.
As he laid down on his makeshift bed Zeke pulled up his system interface.
[Zeke Anderson]
Level: 23
Rank: Novice
Talent: Bronze Body Refinement (upgradeable)
Class: Halfling
Strength: 81 (+20)
Agility: 62
Stamina: 50
Health: 52
Magic: 31
Unused attribute points: 10
Skills: [Inspect] [Create] (Locked) [Life steal] (Locked) [Bat View] [Blood Drain] (Locked)
Still frustrated when he saw that his class was indeed downgraded to Halfling, Zeke quickly skipped over it.
The next thing he noticed was his Bronze Body Refinement talent and realized that it must be the first stage of the talent and quickly checked on how to upgrade it further.
[Bronze Body Refinement]
+5 strength
+5 health
[Requirements to upgrade to Iron Body Refinement]
Level 30
81/100 Strength
0/10 common upgrade fragments
'Huh,' Zeke thought to himself, confused. 'Common upgrade fragments? what are those? I didn't get any of these in the rewards from the mini-game. And none dropped so far from killing zombies. All I have left to open are the two rare orbs and the two common orbs.'
Putting the 10 common upgrade fragments aside Zeke realized that the +20 he received from his weapon and the +5 strength he gets from the talent did not count toward the requirement of 100, but seeing that level 30 was required Zeke knew he would be able to hit 100 strength.
Next Zeke looked at the three new skills he unlocked.
'D*mn it, three of these are locked,' Zeke thought frustrated. 'This must be due to the class regressing back to Halfling.'
[Create] (locked)
Use dead bodies to create loyal followers. Quality and quantity will determine the follower's stats, skills, and rank.
[Life steal] (Locked)
Drain the life force of your opponent depending on their level and rank.
[Blood Drain] (Locked)
Control and drain the blood of your enemy and use it to heal yourself.
[Bat View]
Eye color will change pitch black and will be able to see the view from above. Able to control for a limited range.
Once Zeke read each skill he used the only one that was not locked. After he used his skill he saw everything from a sky view. Zeke saw everyone in the gym as they laid down. Some slept and some were too scared to sleep and constantly looking around. Along with the few tasked to keep watch.
As Zeke came out of Bat View he focused again and looked at his last four rewards.
2x Rare Orb
2x Common Orb
[Opened 2 common orbs]
Received four common upgrade fragments. 'YES,' Zeke almost screamed but at the last second held it back as he remembered most people were asleep. 'Now I only need six more to upgrade it to the next level.'
[Common Upgrade Fragments]
Rare drops from killing monsters.
Obtained through treasure orbs.
100 common upgrade fragments can be fused into 1 uncommon upgrade fragment.
Next Zeke started to open the rare treasure orbs.
[Opened 1 rare orb]
Received small storage ring.
[Small Storage Ring] - 3 x 3 cubic meters where you can store any lifeless object.
He immediately tried the ring to store a nearby chair in the ring.
[Error, must be bound using your blood.]
Using his sharp teeth, Zeke drew blood from his thumb and let it slowly drip on the ring.
[Small Storage Ring bound to Zeke Anderson]
For another person to access this ring they must be granted permission from the bound user or the bound user must be died.
Zeke now tried to store the chair again and the chair instantly disappeared. When Zeke thought about removing the chair from the ring it came back out.
Zeke then opened the second rare orb.
[Opened 1 rare orb]
Received egg.
[Egg] - Egg with an unknown pet inside. To hatch the egg now please sacrifice five levels.
'Five levels? Is that worth it?' Zeke thought it was a lot since he was only seven levels away from the level 30 requirement of the next body refinement upgrade.
As he continued to think about it, Zeke realized he was still missing the common upgrade fragments and they seemed pretty rare so he decided it was worth it to sacrifice the five levels.
Use five levels to hatch the Egg? 'Yes.' Zeke confirmed.
Starting Egg Hatching process. The egg will hatch in twelve hours.
[Countdown started]
11:59:59 remaining
'Status'
[Zeke Anderson]
Level: 18
Rank: Novice
Talent: Bronze Body Refinement (upgradeable)
Class: Halfling
Strength: 81 (+25)
Agility: 62
Stamina: 50
Health: 52
Magic: 31
Unused attribute points: 10
Skills: [Inspect] [Create] (Locked) [Life steal] (Locked) [Bat View] [Blood Drain] (Locked)
Pets: [Egg]
After Zeke opened the remaining of his rewards he began to think about what he needed to do tomorrow and made a to-do list.
The list included food, basic materials, medical supplies, and if he could get lucky and find a car to make the journey south easier.
The group already discussed and a lot of the group wanted to stay at the campus and wait for the government to come to rescue them. A couple of students were going north with Sarah to look for their families.
None of the students were going with Zeke so he would be setting off alone tomorrow. It was not a good start for his faction as he wanted to recruit some of the students and teachers, but as soon as he gets his base set up and expanded naturally more people should be recruited.
Slowly thinking about his new Faction and the goals he had for the future Zeke was excited. 'I don't know why this happened and maybe it is just a dream I will wake up from, but if I want to survive I will need to move forward.'
As he thought of the future and what goals he had and the struggles he knew he would face Zeke kept remembering the first message when he woke up from the earthquake.
[Earth will now go through the first evolution phase.]
Thinking about this message and what it could mean Zeke slowly fell asleep.