Amazon Apocalypse: Chapter 19 (Patreon)

I rallied the spare Mana to cast Mana Bolt and take out one of the zombies awakening above me. Sure enough, the kill didn't push me to level 10. The curse was real, and it was standing between me and getting a class.

I was all the way up at half health by the time I made my way out of that dumpster. I had to shove a mana bolt through three separate corpses about to turn into zombies before I made it out, and if it wasn't for my new strength stats I didn't think I'd have made it out at all. I was somewhere around the middle of the pile of bodies, and a normal person would have been completely pinned in place.

I made an unfortunate amount of noise while escaping, and I worried that I'd attracted some attention. So I threw one of the mostly-moving corpses out of the dumpster first to draw any fire that might be headed my way. None came.

I'd been thinking the smart thing to do would be to have a guard ready to harvest levels from zombies as they emerged from the dumpster, but it was only the evening of the first day of the integration. People still hadn't gotten used to the idea of undead. And on top of that, Craig would probably need to have the idea pointed out before he saw the sense in using corpse piles to farm levels.

Still, nobody had ever died from being too cautious, and I waited a few minutes while I regenerated health points listening for people. There were voices, but they were distant and faint.

On unfortunate side effect of being riddled with bullets was the fact that my clothes had been cut to ribbons, and what little was left smelled like corpses. Someone had also stolen my shoes, probably along with my sword. I debated trying to piece an outfit together off what the corpses were wearing in the dumpster behind me. The thought would have been disturbing just the day prior, but now that I'd seen the souls that once owned those bodies alive and well in another dimension, death didn't seem as scary a thing as it used to be.

But ultimately, I decided to let the dead lie. Most of the clothes weren't in my size, and those that were tended to be so crusted with dried blood they were stiff as sheets. I realized I'd rather walk around naked than wear those things.

I felt a familiar weight settle around my neck. Myrina's token. I thought for certain that someone would have stolen the thing. After all, it was a shiny gold-colored coin. Even if it was too light to be real gold, it looked nicer than my shoes, and someone had stolen those.

And yet there the token was, stilling dangling around my neck just like it always had. Cold and alone, it felt warm pressed against my chest. I gave it a kiss for good luck, thankful it was there. It was mine, and I was still me, despite being dead for who knew how long.

The dumpster was across the street from the office building, and I could see it from where I sat. The lights were still on from the generator, so Craig had kept whoever had gotten that thing running.

I heard the distant sound of gunfire, accompanied by fighting with more primitive methods. The battle was still ongoing, and this time Craig's men alone held the line, supplemented only by what elements of Ben's old fighters he could trust. From the looks of them, that wasn't many.

Quest Time Remaining: 1 hour and 5 minutes.

I hadn't been gone that long after all. Just long enough to dispose of the bodies, it seemed. Perhaps time ran slower in the other dimension. I was surprised he and his crew had time for even that much, given the fighting. But after killing Ben and all the others, Craig and his men were probably much higher level than we'd been. Giant Rats and Fire Squirrels probably weren't all that scary for Craig's strongest fighters by this point.

There was one thing that changed though. I wasn't sure when it happened, but now a name hovered above the office in my vision.

Miyamoto Office Shelters

The office still bore Sakura's last name, even though she no longer had any connections to the office's leadership. It was Craig's operation now. But the name would serve as a beacon as people looked for the source of the magical floating letters in their vision.

Studying the office from afar, I realized I would have to give Craig at least a little credit. He was using the floodlights well to illuminate the area around the shelter, and he he had guards around every corner. Monsters were still streaming in two or three at a time. The waves were more aggressive than that had been even at their peak when I'd been fighting, but Craig's guards held the line without issue. It only took one man with a gun to protect an entire side of the building.

I used Examine on one of them from afar, a rough looking man I'd seen earlier. He was still sporting his prison attire, which he hadn't bothered to change out of even after escaping.

Blaster Bandit (Level 10)

His gun flashed from the muzzle far brighter than it should have. Though he held only a modest-sized hand gun, he carved chunks the size of his head out of Fire Squirrels with every shot.

He held his gun at the hip, not even bothering to aim properly and yet hitting his targets all the same. The move reminded me of Craig enough that I was pretty sure they shared at least that skill.

There were similar men along every corner, with each flank having at least one level 10 guarding it. I didn't see Craig, but he was probably holding himself in reserve in case anyone started getting overwhelmed.

There went my backup plan. Since I hadn't been able to reach level 10 and get a class, my other idea had been to sneak in and grab Sakura and my other companions and then run. We could leave Craig behind and get as far away from Crownhill as we could.

Sure, that would be breaking my promise to Ben and the others, but I never said when I'd kill Craig or when I'd make Crownhill safe. Just that I'd do it eventually. The idea didn't sit well with me though, even if I still intended to follow through on my promise someday.

But those guards meant that such a plan had to be thrown out the window. I wasn't going to be sneaking in there without raising alarms all over the place. I certainly hoped that Craig's goons had lost some people trying to finish that quest, but even if they hadn't I'd still run into Craig. Probably a Craig with even more levels than when I'd lost to him before. Despite my new Agility ability and all the new stats, I didn't want to try for a rematch quite yet.

So I crept away from the office, putting some distance between me and the man who'd already killed me once. Even if he was holding Sakura and my friends captive.

The whole problem stemmed from the damn curse. If I didn't have that, I would be able to choose a class and level out here in the shadows. Craig would be sleeping for another long day tomorrow, meanwhile I could spend the whole night getting stronger and attack him just before dawn. That way I'd have hours of experience point farming on him and be well ahead of him in level once again.

...Only I couldn't do any of that because monsters wouldn't give me any experience points. I'd hoped that it was just the zombies, so I shot the first Scavenger Cockroach I saw with a Mana Bolt, hoping that would push me over the edge to level ten.

But just like the zombie, it was a dud. The giant rat and the fire squirrel I killed after that did nothing for me either.

Was I completely screwed? Utterly and hopelessly screwed?

My stomach growled, and I realized I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.

Fortunately, I didn't have to wander around naked and starving while hunting monsters all night. There were plenty of empty buildings around Crownhill, and I soon found a fast food restaurant that was mostly empty. There were a few rats and cockroaches, but some Mana Bolts scared them off quick enough. I actually recognized the place, even after the integration, and after grabbing a bite to eat I headed next door to an overpriced designer clothing store I'd never actually been inside, but had seen from a distance when taking my lunch break.

I had decided as soon as I stepped out of that dumpster that, while I might be willing to loot some of the clothes off the ground, I definitely wasn't putting on anyone's used underwear. Thankfully, I didn't have to. I found a nice clean set in a bag in the clothing store, along with pants, a long black coat, a belt, and a backpack.

I chose all dark colors that would blend into the shadows of the night and assembled a backpack of the best survival equipment I could. Really, I should have done this hours ago. Now that I was finally out of those stuffy office clothes, I realized just how much they'd been limiting my movements. This was how one should dress in an apocalypse.

Dressed and properly equipped, I killed a few more monsters, once again noting my lack of a new level. How was I supposed to kill Craig without the ability to level?

My thoughts turned to my new title. The Attribute Redistribution Protocol. Maybe I could figure out how that worked? But how would I trick people into offering up their levels to me?

While muddling through my own thoughts, I felt a tingle run up my spine. That was the feeling of someone using Examine on me. Realizing what it was, I became fully alert and whirled my head left and right to find my attacker while simultaneously diving for cover.

And it was a good thing I did, because an instant later a bullet slammed into the asphalt where I'd been standing moments ago.

I rolled into the nearby bush, tossing my backpack in the opposite direction to provide the noise that would cover my escape.

A half dozen bullets raked across my backpack. Half the supplies I'd just spent the past half hour gathering were probably ruined now. That annoyed me greatly, and when I saw the muzzle flash again and had the location of the shooter, I pointed my finger in their direction without hesitation.

I heard a yelp of pain as my Mana Bolt struck home. They were standing on the roof of a third story building, and my attack must have knocked them off balance enough to send them toppling over. They fell headfirst to the ground. If my Mana Bolt hadn't killed them, the fall a moment later had. Their head exploded like a melon, spraying blood and brains everywhere.

I waited in silence, listening for anyone else. Nothing. He must have been alone.

But a notification appeared before my vision. It was something I had been waiting for but feared I would never see.

Congratulations! You have reached level 10!

Your race ranking will evolve from 'F' to 'E' rank, granting you additional stat points each level and enhancing your existing stats. Please hold...

A sharp and sudden pain ran throughout my entire body. It was similar to what I'd experienced during the Integration, though not to the same degree. My muscles burned, my bones ached, and even my brain felt like it was on fire.

But moments later, the process completed. I wasn't sure what had changed, but new strength flowed through my body that hadn't been there before.

Congratulations, you have reached 'E' rank. Future race evolutions will come with increasing difficulty.

You have gained +4 Stat points based on your race. Your race points have been allocated according to the stat distribution of the strongest examples of your race.

+1 Strength. +1 Agility. +1 Perception. +1 Vitality.

You will receive four additional automatically assigned points upon selecting a class.

You have four points to manually distribute.

I'd reached level 10 after all. I should have guessed that humans wouldn't be considered monsters. Did that mean any levels I wanted to get would have to be gained by killing other people? The thought didn't sit well with me. I thought I'd be far more comfortable cutting down ruthless monsters than killing other humans. But the System's curse might force me to do just that.

At least I hit 20 in Vitality, giving me another skill selection option. I still wasn't fully healed from coming back from the dead, so this was a welcome treat.

Choose a Vitality ability!

Second Heart (Common)

• Having your heart destroyed will no longer cause      critical damage, and blood will continue to pump through your body using a      secondary heart structure, positioned according to the user's needs.

Lifesteal (Common)

• When inflicting damage, take a tiny portion of that      damage back for yourself as health.

Upgrade Mind Over Flesh (Uncommon) to Mind Over Flesh (Rare)

• Enhances regeneration rate and efficiency of mana to      health point conversion.

Between the three abilities, Lifesteal sounded by far the coolest. I was a bit worried about how effective it would be. It was possible that the amount of life I'd gain through such an ability was so minuscule it'd be unnoticeable. Maybe upgrading Mind Over Flesh would be the safer bet?

Nah. I wanted the ability to steal life from my enemies. So that's what I picked. The skill sunk into my head with a dull throb, and soon I had another ability. With Death Curse, I had been starting to fear I'd never feel this rush of power again. The only problem was I had to kill fellow humans to experience it.

I put that dark thought out of mind and focused on the new information. So E rank started at level 10. If nothing else, the transition past level 10 brought a tremendous surge in the number of points I got per level. It seemed I'd overestimated my new strength dramatically. All the stats I'd gotten from the others in Purgatory didn't amount to nearly as many levels worth of points as I thought. That was probably why Craig had put up such a fight against me.

I assigned my new points, pushing Agility past ten so I could select my new skill.

+1 Agility. +3 Intelligence.

Choose an Agility Skill!

Lunge (Common)

Close the distance with your enemy in a sudden flash of movement.

Bounce (Common)

Redirect the force of impacts against hard surfaces to maneuver and reposition.

Sure Step (Common)

Your every step is taken with care deliberation, positioning you just where you need to be to suit your purpse.

While Lunge might be useful when using my sword, I didn't have my sword and was entirely reliant on Mana Bolt to defend me right now. I wasn't going to take a skill I couldn't use immediately. Likewise, Bounce seemed to be the kind of skill meant for a close range combatant.

The only real choice was Sure Step. Hopefully, it would help me evade opponents while keeping my distance.

With my Agility skill selected, I turned to the rest of my level up notifications.

New Title Earned!

Great Ancestor

You are one of the first ten humans on your shard to reach level 10. Your line is strong, and your progeny will be more likely to be born as healthy young humans.

Your actions will carve future paths for your species. Your descendants affinities will be molded by your affinities, their their talents will be molded by your talents.

Notice: You have Class choice selections available!

I needed to find someplace safe to go through the rank upgrade and my Class choices, so I headed into the building that had recently belonged to the shooter I'd just killed. He'd have kept the monsters away, which meant it would be a safer place to stay than anywhere else. Additionally, he probably chose it with defensibility in mind, so it was probably one of the best places to hide on the block.

I found his gun next to the dead man's body, a good rifle by the looks of it. Even better than what they'd been selling in the gun store. There were also backpacks full of supplies and gear lining the wall of the building. There was a camping stove, several tents, shovels, water purifying tablets, fishing gear, animal traps, and just about anything else you could need, usually in triplicate. In fact, each bag seemed to be a different survival kit, meant to be entirely independent of the others.

I realized what this guy was quickly enough. He'd been one of those predatory survivalist types whose idea of preparing for an apocalypse meant getting free gear by picking off other survivalists from long range with a rifle, then taking all their stuff. The blood splattered across most of the bags bore credence to this. Looking at his view of the street, the shooter would have had a perfect angle on anyone leaving Crownhill with all their valuables neatly packed away and ripe for the taking.

With these kinds of supplies, I could coop up in here for a week and survive just fine. But I didn't intend to stay here that long. Still, it would be good to make note of the survival suplies. There was no sense in letting so much good stuff to to waste.

So I sat down in the far corner near the supplies after taking a quick walk through the building and making sure there was nobody else hiding nearby. There was a cup of coffee brewing on one of the gas-powered camp stoves. It looked like the previous owner of this building had planned a long night picking off fleeing survivors. Since I had a long night planned as well, I helped myself to his coffee and focused on the thing I'd been waiting for most since.

I was about to consider if now was the time to choose my class, but before I could I noticed something warm beneath my coat. It was getting harder, nearly to the point that it was starting to burn.

I tore my shirt off and dug through my clothes for the hot thing, already having a good idea of what it was. It was Myrina's token.

"Now what's this?" I muttered aloud

You have met the minimum requirements for preliminary activation of your patronage token!

Your patron is requesting contact. Accept?

Was this Myrina calling me? Or her aunt? In either case, this was a call I'd been waiting for. I just hadn't expected it to come so soon after the integration.

I wasn't about to hang up on Myrina, or anyone from the mysterious Amazonian Empire, for that matter. Not when there were so many questions I had to ask.

So I accepted. A dull tone rang out from the token around my neck. I held it in my hand somewhere between my mouth and ear, not really sure how to use the thing.

Brilliant golden light shot out of the coin, and the token exploded into a cluster of energy. That energy swirled around me and the rest of the room before coalescing into a blob of light sitting across from me.

That blob soon began to resolve itself into a person, and moments later as the figure grew clearer, I realized it was a person I recognized. It was Myrina.

"Myrina!" I shouted, smile wide on my face. I'd thought about what it'd be like to see her for so long, it was hard to contain my excitement. Would she still think of me the same way she did before? Would she look at me the same way? Would I look at her the same way, now that I knew she was an alien from another planet?

All those questions were racing through my mind as Myrina's image took shape, forged entirely of flickering golden light.

"Myrina, I--" I began, struggling to figure out what to say. But I needn't have bothered. Myrina had her greeting all figured out.

She flung herself at me and wrapped her glowing arms around my chest. I didn't expect there to be any force behind her projection, but there was, and Myrina wasn't holding anything back.

She wrapped her arms around me, tackling me to the ground. I might have broken some bones if I'd just been a normal human, but with my extra stat points it just felt like a really aggressive hug.

"Mhmm..." Myrina rubbed her cheek against my chest as she lay on top of me. "Got you again, Carter!"

Myrina was exactly the same. I was starting to wonder why I ever worried at all.

<Note>

Myrina's back! But is she love interest #1, or is Sakura love interest #1? Who will be the harem's founding member? Place your bets!

In other news, I had to spend all yesterday rewriting stuff because I miscounted stat points (probably introduced errors while editing) again, after I just redid them this weekend. So that was a bit sad and frustrating. I think level 20 is going to be the last time Carter gets skills for crossing a stat threshold. It's just too tedious for this style of system and it prevents me from being able to edit the story freely.

This may be the kiss of death for any dreams of a classless system, but I weighed the class and job abilities I have planned against the skill-themed abilities I had brainstormed, and the class and job abilities were more awesome. So... if I have to choose one of them, I'm voting with Sanderson's Rule of Cool and picking the more awesome ability set. I may remove any references to having a classless System in the early chapters accordingly. I think it was mostly just chapter 3 when Carter was talking to the System directly.