The Grind
The knocking of a door sounds before quickly being opened. "Hey took you long enough did you get anything?"
Z quickly points to the 5 heads gaged and hanging around his waist. With a quick bout of shock Matthew regains his composure "Ok you got heads, Do you want me to finish them off?"
With a quick nod Z grabs the heads and proceeds to the bathroom where he places the heads in the bathtub and makes way for Matthew. Followed by a quick sound that is close to the sound of cantaloupes being broken. Matthew stands dazed
"Holy shit I leveled up"
'Yep, now what does it say and what did you gain'
"Oh uhhmm.... it says I have 3 stat points to distribute and I gained 1 vit and 1 int."
'WHY THE FUCK DO YOU GET TO ALLOCATE THEM WHILE I CAN'T' Quickly throwing a tantrum similar to a child who couldn't get his candy and eat it, Z regains his composure and quickly pulls Matthew's attention back to him.
'There is a beast around it's powerful, not too strong but that will change and soon. We need to increase the rate we level up or we need to try and find a safer location both entail it's own issues. What is your pick? I say we begin our grind.' The face of joy slowly melts away into one of worry, then terror, sinking deeper and deeper into thought. "I say we get stronger we may encounter something more terrifying than the beast you found."
With a quick nod between the two a plan begins to form. 'First we need to be careful we don't know the rules at which the zombies play by. Many different depictions of zombies through out the ages has clouded our mindset, so better to be safe than sorry. First you need a weapon then protection. mainly around the arms and chest a helmet would help substantially.'
"Oh I think I might still have my old college football gear let me see, for weapon wise I have the bat I threatened you with but I have a kitchen full of knives as a back up."
'Go look for the football gear if you can't find it than we can look for a biker helmet and use multiple layers of jackets and pants. I'm more worried about the chance that you can become a zombie.' With a look of understanding Matthew quickly leaves the bathroom to rummage through the house and all it's rooms looking for clothes and gear for protection. All the while Z Begins his search through the kitchen filling a tossed aside backpack with knives, canned goods, and whatever food is left over to keep his new friend alive. After close to 2 hours pass both our survivors reconvene at the foyer.
Matthew is equipped with a biking helmet, shoulder and knee pads from his old football days and thick gardening gloves too protect his hands with a baseball bat in his hands. Overall the entire look seems more dorky and pitiful but that is all he could find within the house that would help insure his protection. Meanwhile Z carries a backpack loaded with Bread, Canned fruits, and bottles of water with a separate pocket full of kitchen knives, such as a cleaver, carving knife and a standard steak knife. Z himself has the attire he awoke in, being a torn shirt ripped and molded cargo pants and the remains of a tattered undershirt no protection being present on his body. This doesn't go unnoticed by Matthew though thinking back to his previous experiences the zombies seem to treat Z as a nobody.
'Before we leave, have you spent those points yet?' With a shake of his head Matthew responds with a short no. 'The choice is on you for those I won't guide because in the end I may be wrong. The sword hangs over your head with those I won't be the one to cut it'
"I get what your saying but why the weird analogy? Anyway I'll use what I have putting 2 in Str and the last one in Vit bringing both to 7. Ok let's do this, please look after me" Taking one last look at his stats Z opens the door beginning his search for prey.
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Name: Z
Race: Zombie
Lvl: 2 (16/20)
Str: 6
Agl: 3
Vit: 6
Int: 1
Lck: □□
Titles:
Abilities:
Equipment:
[Basic Bone Blade]
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'Now begins the time for change, I guess at this point it would mark the turning point for the both of us.' Leading the two outdoors no sign of life in the immediate area show their self to Z nor Matthew. What follows could only be called boring, looking around the neighborhood trying to find isolated zombies only to repeatedly find either groups of the undead or none what so ever. The pair were slowly growing more and more incensed. "Why don't we create a noise or something to attract a few of them?"
'Then we would be swarmed I don't want my un-life to end. Look there is a group of 4 two per person.' quickly pointing out the wandering dead ahead of them. Making sure there isn't any hiding around the area, the two begin the attack on the group.
When Matthew enters within sight of the dead the group immediately roar at the food they found. Moving the speed allotted to the dead shamble their way towards the two of them. Z quickly notices that the Zombies are ignoring him quickly conforming their suspicions about his repeated interaction with the dead and their perception of him.
Going ahead of Matthew, Z reaches the leading zombie slashing at the head with no response from the zombie the blade quickly cuts through the zombie's skull. What follows was an uncomfortable stare between the two parties as the zombies let out growl after growl instead heading towards Z! Backpedaling Z allows Matthew to enter the fray with a swing of the bat smashing the skull of one of the zombies while the other two around, their now dead comrade, split one going to Z the other slashing towards Matthew using it's broken fingers as makeshift claws. Using the bat as a shield Matthew blocks the attack quickly realizing the bat splintering around the point of impact 'These bastards are strong!' with a swift quick Matthew breaks his enemies knee causing the zombie to fall. using this opening Matthew smashes the zombie's head in.
Looking up with frightened face Matthew faces Z already finished with the Zombie behind him breaking apart the zombie in what can only be described as a gruesome show. Z on the other hand is showing the awareness to his surroundings taking apart the zombie and looking at his status.
[+2 Exp]
[+2 Exp]
[Congratulations! Leveled up to Lvl 3]
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Name: Z
Race: Zombie
Lvl: 3 (0/50)
Str: 6 (+2)
Agl: 3 (+1)
Vit: 6 (+1)
Int: 1
Lck: □□
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'Although a surprise the increase in agility is appreciated.' Thinking upon his experiences and contemplating the increase in Agl, Z is taken out of his thoughts by an inquiry behind him. "What are you doing?" grabbing his bag and writing out 'Taking the bones to create some form of weaponry, these things are strong so using their bones is better than using wood and doesn't force us to use the better weapons that we are limited on like metal knifes or if at any point we get one a gun.'
"Are those weapons effective?" Matthew asked while staring at the zombie disassembling the other zombie, doubt prominent on his face. Without responding Z holds the basic blade with not a crack on it. With his doubts somewhat resolved he asks "Do you need help? Like do you use the whole body just the legs or what?"
'If anything, from conjuncture, the ribs, spine, skull, femur, and some of the finger bones would be the most useful. I'm thinking that the ribs and fingers could be used as puncturing weapons or to add spikes to something while the leg bones could be used as the shaft of weapons. The skull and spine could be used as very basic flail or a whip if I heavily modify the spine.'
"That sounds like a lot, can you do that much?"
'I can try. No harm no foul, we should get back before dark. The real monster show up then I bet' Making their way back to their make shift safe house the sun slowly lowers soon setting before the both of them hide away into the house locking the doors and blocking all entrances.
'You have a basement?' surprised by the question Matthew responds "I have a cellar out back it's not attached to the house." A wave of disappointment washes over Z 'Whatever I'll be in the bathroom then trying to make you something better than a wooden bat. Last thing we need is it breaking mid fight. You can rest or make yourself busy I say rest things are going to get worse.'
Watching Z walk towards the bathroom Matthew steels himself creating conviction within his heart to grow stronger and self-reliant hoping to find his lost family members. After the quick and cliché resolution Matthew begins his own training doing the basics of exercise.
Sitting on the floor of the bathroom Z contemplates how he is going to create the new equipment, he could do what he did for the basic bone blade and chip the edge of the bone itself into a rudimentary blade but an idea quickly lodged itself into his head. A skull maul using the skull jaw bone, spine, and femur to create a long reaching heavy hitting weapon. The process would be complicated but with tools available in the house it would be possible just slightly. Quickly starting his plans Z first cleans the remains he has acquired using a marker to highlight areas needing to be processed as well as connecting points between the bones the idea slowly becomes more and more solid within his mind. Hours upon hours of work followed with Z toiling through the night and potentially the following day Matthew never bothered him, or his he did Z didn't noticed, engrossed entirely in his work with only 4 skulls to work with he finally created a finished product. Ruining all the skulls but one the final skull being chipped and malformed in places of repeated stress testing, What was created was basically a skull on a stick with a ribcage formed around the skull creating a mace/maul of a weapon. While unimpressive compared to professionals the connection between each individual piece was done quite well for his lack of resources. After exiting his revere Z's head pounded with notification after notification from the system.
[+1 Exp]
[+1 Exp]
[+1 Agl]
[Proficiency with crafting increased!]
[Crafting aquired]
[Bone Welding aqquired]
[Proficiency increased!]
.....
'What the hell happened? Status'
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Name: Z
Race: Zombie
Lvl: 3 (7/50)
Str: 8
Agl: 8 (+2)
Vit: 7
Int: 1
Lck: □□
Titles:
Abilities: [Crafting Lvl 2]: Creation of items becomes easier, The system assist with creation of blueprints and allows more ideas to be created from available items. Allows Exp gain from crafting.
+12% success rate, +5% Creativity, Blueprint assistance
[Bone Welding Lvl 1]: Proficiency with the bones of the fallen has risen to a level were the use of outside materials becomes less and less required. Bones can be altered and melded to the users liking with limited change. Can be activated to change a bones shape and density.
While active: 2 Mana/sec per mana density within bone, Increases with higher quality bones.
+15% success rate when crafting with bones, +5% effectiveness while using Bone tools
Equipment:
[Basic Bone Blade]
[Rotting Skull Mace]: A weapon made by an amateur blacksmith during a bout of luck. The weapon is composed of the undead's bones the weapon deals a mixture of piecing and bludgeoning damage along with the chance to inflict minor rot on the opponent. Capabilities of the weapons are not fully unlocked due to the absence of mana used during creation.
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'Holy shit! This ..... This is amazing! I think I know my path going forward'