Slowly I opened my eyes only to find myself in a room with Sophie over me, she was holding a small towel
"Where am I?" I asked
""You're finally awake sleepy head." Sophie said with a soft smile
"This is really not a time to joke around." I said
"I-i was only trying to lighten the mood." Sophie said offended by my words
Scanning the room, I saw John shirtless on the cold floor while Mia attended to his wounds
"Ouch!"
"Don't move, it'll only make it worse." Mia said
"But I have a broken ribs, it's painful." John said
"Be a man."
I shifted my gaze towards where Stacy was seated, she was... Crying, mark beside her, he was currently unconscious his body wrapped with bandages. Both Claire and Alice were seated in a corner with their heads facing downwards.
Chase wielded his shotgun tightly like it was the only thing that mattered to him despite all the cut and bruises on his body.
While Kyle sat there doing nothing.
"Where are we?" I asked
"We found this abandoned house, so we decided to rest for a while." Sophie said
I scanned the room again, the house was little, with a table in the middle and a mini fridge by the corner, it had two rooms and a kitchen which I was yet to explore.
Suddenly
"Ugh! Where am I?" Mark said allowing his fingers to run through his head
"Mark!" Stacy yelled as she went in for a hug
"Ugh! Could you at least try not to squeeze me so tightly." Mark said
Immediately Stacy released him
*Sniff!* *Sniff!*
"I thought you were dead." Stacy said wiping the tears off her eyes
"You of all people should know that something that weak can't kill me." Mark said with a faint smile
"I'm glad you're alive." Stacy said
"You're saying that like you want me dead." Mark said with a brown raised
"No! No! No! I would never wish that for you." Stacy said
Shifting his gaze towards the rest of the group, Mark said
"What are we gonna do now?."
"Calm down hotshot, let's pass the night here and then we'll talk about that later.... first let's talk about this strange orb." Kyle said tossing a brown coloured orb to our midst
"Does anyone knows what this is?" Kyle asked
"Yes."
"Yes."
Both Mia and I answered simultaneously
"Looks like the two of you are familiar with this, so do you guys mind telling us what it is."
"It's some kind of treasure, after defeating a zombie or monster higher than you, you'll get rewarded with these." Mia said
"Rewarded with an orb?" Chase asked
"It's not an ordinary orb, it contains treasures that can help you in the apocalypse." I said
"I got my skill from it." Mia said
"I also got some skills from it and also my sword came from that orb."
"So it's supposed to be magical, how is that even possible, there is no such thing as magic in the laws of physics." Kyle said
"Dude, you live in a world where zombies are real and animals evolve and you're still talking about laws of physics." John said
"But.... how?" Kyle said
"So how do we get this magic you speak of?" John asked
"It's easy, you just have to squeeze it till it pops." I said
"So you're saying we have to squeeze the life out it?" John asked again
"Yeah, I think that's how it works." I said
"So I just have to squeeze it." John said picking up the orb
"Wait, I landed the finishing blow, so the orb is practically mine." Kyle said stretching his hand to take the orb
"But i thought you didn't believe in this stuff and moreover I also fought the mole." John said retracting his hands
"I didn't believe in it but I'm willing to give it a chance." Kyle said
"Boys." Mia said as she watched the fight between the two boys
"You guys don't need to fight, I have more." I said bringing out 9 more orbs of different colours, four brown, four orange and one purple
"H-how did you do that?" Kyle asked
"The ring also came from the orb, it's a storage ring." I said
"Storage ring?"
"Yeah, it can store things for future use, it's space is also limited." I said
"Wow, so many orbs.... but why do they have different colours?" Kyle asked
"The colours indicate their grade." I said
"Grade?"
"Yeah, the orbs also have different grades meaning that you could get something better if you get an orb of higher grade."
"So how do we distribute it?" John asked
"There's a total of ten orbs, that means everyone gets to pick and what you get is your luck."
"So who's going first?" Kyle asked
"Kate why don't you pick first." John said
"You guys should go ahead."
"Ok then," Kyle said stroking his chin
"I'm sure the brown orbs are of higher grades cause that mole was strong as hell." Kyle said picking a brown orb, he then proceeded to squeeze the orb tightly until it eventually popped
*Pop!*
The orb burst and magically two daggers appeared, they were black in color
"Woah! Magic!" Kyle exclaimed picking up his dagger
"Dude, those daggers look cool and pretty sharp." John commented
"Yeah, they are cool." Kyle said
Following Kyle's lead, the rest of the group took an orb.
Mia took a brown orb, Sophie took an orange orb, John took an orange orb,Mark took an orange orb, Stacy took a brown orb, Chase took an orange orb and I took a purple orb leaving two more orbs.
*Pop!* *Pop!* *Pop!* *Pop!* *Pop!* *Pop!*
Almost immediately after popping the orbs, different materials appeared before us
Mia got a pair earrings, John got a scroll, Sophie got a scroll, Mark got a katana, Stacy got a scroll, chase got a meter long great sword and I got a purple pendant
"All this...."
"Hey, I didn't get a wand!" Sophie yelled
Everyone shifted their gaze towards me except Mia, she just casually picked her earrings to carefully examine them.
"What are these scrolls used for?" Sophie asked
"They're power scrolls, they give you an opportunity to gain a skill." I explained
"Like that skill you used to fight the cat?" Mark asked
"You have a skill?" Sophie asked
"Yeah, exactly three skills." I said with a grin
Everyone shifted their gaze back to the scrolls
"So how do I learn this?" Sophie said picking up her scroll and almost immediately she got a notification from her system
[Summoning skill: gives the user the ability to summon a level 1 shadow cat with a teleportation ability. User must simply say 'summon' to summon the cat and 'retrieve' to bring it back]
[Do you wish to learn this skill?]
[Yes] [No]
"Huh? I'm getting a notification from the system asking if I wish to learn the skill, what do I do now?" Sophie asked
"Accept it." I said
"Ok... uhm...yes system, I wish to learn the skill."
[Processing ]
[Level 2 summoning skill has successfully been learned.]
The scroll glowed brightly and immediately dissapeared.
"Where's my scroll!" Sophie screamed
"Don't worry, when something like that happens, it usually means that you've learned it.... I think"
"But how's that possible?"
"I don't know? Try doing what the scroll told you to do." I said
"Okay... Uhm, it said I should just say.... Summon, right?"
Suddenly a black cat the size of a small stool appeared.
"What's that?" John said
Immediately, Mark brought out his dagger ready to attack
"Wait Mark, I think that cat is under Sophie's control now." I said
"How?" Mark asked
"I don't know, quick Sophie tell it to do something." I said to Sophie who was now hiding behind me
"I-i... What do I tell it?" Sophie asked still behind me
"Anything."
"O-okay, uhm... Sit boy, wait it's a boy right?"
Immediately after saying those words, the black cat who was staring at us since it arrived, sat down like Sophie had commanded.
"Wait, if that thing is really Sophie's, I wonder what I'll get." John said