I walked over to each of the Mana stones, and I consumed 30 of them. They were just slightly smaller than the ones that we had seen by the bridge on the way to Dallas. I was curious to see how much Mana, they had given me as the system window opened in front of me again.
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You have consumed 30 Mana Stones and have gained 600 Mana.
Travis Scott: Level 19. Transformation tier Awakener.
SYSTEM → [Input Command/Open Store]
Vitality → 180 // Strength → 180 // Agility → 180 // Stamina → 180 // Mana → 1000
___________________________
Interestingly enough, I could feel the Anger Mana in my body being transformed to my own Focus attribute Mana and I didn't even need to put conscious effort into it.
'Maybe the other Mana stone was harder to consume because it had so many concentrated Anger emotions. Zanoth linked with that Lion after all.'
I turned over to the others who were walking towards me. "Hey Will, take four of these and you will have your first transformative tier upwards. It shouldn't be that hard for you."
I turned to Jett and Zane as well. "You take three Mana stones and remember that you are going to be going into your tier up thing too."
I sat back as they all started to fall over like flies as they touched their respective Mana stones. Tessa and Jason sat on either side of me. Tessa looked in my eyes and shifted her hip to brush up against my own. "It's evening right now and dusk is fast approaching. Should we all stop somewhere and get some sleep?"
"Do you feel tired Tessa?"
She shook her head. "Not really."
"While this event is going on, why don't we gather as much Mana as possible to make sure that as many of us as possible end up at the top of the leaderboard. It will definitely be worth it in the long run. Do you agree Jason?"
I turned to Jason, and he calmly nodded. "Yeah. That's what I was thinking too actually."
Tessa pushed her warm thigh against my leg again. "Hey Travis, you know I thought at first that you were a little bit of a tyrannical asshole, but you honestly aren't that bad."
I turned to her with a smile. "Thank you."
To my other side, I heard Jason sigh. "I agree, but you are a little rash. That might get us all killed someday. Three of the people that came with me to your bunker originally are dead."
I turned to Jason. "And I wouldn't have changed anything that I did if it was ever possible."
He sniffed though he didn't clear any mucus from his nose. "I will be patient. I will be calm. Our future can be bright. We just have to plan it right."
I nodded and smiled. "You've never spoken truer words. I'll make sure to keep you in the loop. I know that having people you know die is never easy. But don't put the blame on me for Francis and Steve's death."
I saw a tear slide down his cheek and then fall to the ground. "I just wish that you had picked Steve up instead of me. I knew him for so long, and now he's just lying cold on the stones with his muscles stiffening and decaying as we speak."
I put my hand on his shoulder. "Listen Jason don't blame yourself either. Blame the gods who made this Apocalypse a reality. Blame Zanoth. Climb the ladder of this new world order. Become a god with me. Help me fight against this injustice. As you said, our future can be bright."
He turned to me with a frown. Suddenly his frown turned to a scowl. It turned to pure hatred as he looked up at the sky. I saw the color of his eyes flicker for a second. From Violet to Green, but they did not stop there. His eyes suddenly slipped to a glowing red color and then the color disappeared entirely.
He glanced over at me with his normal blue eyes that were not glowing. "What happened?"
"Your eyes just changed color?!"
I had been shifting my hand over to my sheathed sword next to me.
"Oh, I just got a system notification that my Mana and Soul tendency evolved from Patience to Hatred."
I blinked. "Interesting."
'I don't know enough about all of this Mana and Soul tendency thing, but intuitively, that sounds bad. Maybe I'm thinking about it too much, but I'm going to be careful around Jason.'
As I was thinking, Zane, Jett, and Will all walked over. They had gone to the next tier. I looked at them all and nodded. "Nice job everyone, what Emotions and Mana color did you get?"
Zane sniffed. "Blue and Focus like you."
Tessa laughed behind me. "Brother like brother!"
Jett yawned. "I got the same thing. Focus."
Will bit his lower lip. "Pride."
I laughed. "Will and Tessa got the same thing! Two prideful people, look at that!"
Will chuckled nervously while Tessa yelled at me. "Shut up!"
"Anyways guys let's get serious. There was something in the building that the Zombies were trying to get to. There is almost definitely a person in there. There still might be some zombies in that building, let's head over there and see."
We walked over to the building and I was at the lead point of our group. As we approached the door, I kicked it in casually. I took a few slow steps into the building with my Sword drawn and hanging in front of me, ready for action.
I stood in a hallway and there were room doors that were numbered. Some of them were open, and I heard a Zombie screaming and smashing something in a room. I heard Zombies all over the building. I decided to risk the noise and I screamed to see if there was anyone else in the building.
"HEY, IS ANYONE IN THIS BUILDING, IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, DON'T MOVE UNTIL I HAVE KILLED ALL THE ZOMBIES!"
Just as I stopped screaming, the zombies began to come through the doors in streams. They screamed at me unintelligibly and sprinted with all of their fury. They wanted to eat me. They wanted to tear my limbs off my body.
'These ugly rotten tomatoes are about to get diced.'