by Naosu N R
8:04 PM
Spousal intimacy with Melanie in the bathroom, right after doing it also with Simone.
Chapter 29
4:31 AM
"How long do you think the apples will last?" Melanie asked me in the morning.
"A few days? Maybe a week? So we bought some time. But there won't be an apple tree in every yard. And we got lucky that it was a dungeon spawn artifact that always spits out ripe apples or something," I told her during our morning pillow talk.
Apples aren't the only food we have, but they are one of the better tasting ones.
After that we made love in bed.
But we had to do a perimeter security check after that, because Melanie was worried she was too loud in marital intimacy.
We won't be able to stay at this house long I think. But its a nice place, except for the fact that we're in a zombie dungeon town map.
Zombie towns are surprisingly quiet at night, too quiet even. Unless of course you 'wake them up'.
...
Mandy insisted on the first night guard duty, which ended at 2 AM.
From there, Miguel stood guard insisting to take the rest of the night, since we had to protect him most of the day.
I guess he's pretty reliable. But everyone takes a turn at guard duty, especially in zombie towns. And zombie towns are good training for making people 'very motivated' about night guard duty alertness and performance of duty!
6 AM
I woke up to hearing Mandy talking to someone on the phone.
She thought I was still asleep. But I didn't stir after hearing it to not give away my position.
What the hell?
Is she deceiving me?
The cell phone isn't supposed to work from inside the dungeon, except for quite powerful mages. Mages like my parents.
And while Mandy is supposed to guard me, I thought we had an understanding that she was supposed to not hide anything from me. But the low tones of her conversation insist that she was.
Unfortunately I could only hear Mandy's side of the conversation. Stuff like, "Uh huh." And also, "yes," and "I understand."
After that I went back to sleep.
Breakfast around 7:17 AM, consisting of mostly apples, and cold canned chili divided among 5 people.
I enhanced the umbrella. Not only can I enchant it, but I can also enhance it. Its also giving me some damage absorption solely from each +1 enhanced! Yes! But when my level rises, I think that amount will increase for each +1 also.
Doesn't that mean its absorbing 42 damage instead of just 40 damage, but not increasing what it charges me to enchant it? Or maybe its more than that?
I might need to test this idea today.
...
7:44 AM.
We got lucky.
Miguel found six arrows he can use for his compound bow in the garage. He also found some material to make a few more. But we have to make everything count.
(So the people who were in this city before us had a well structured, organized manufacturing system. This city could also fit and match with virtually any developed country city in the US or Europe.)
(Will we be able to keep up finding more weapons or use able gear?)
This means he will no longer be a crutch to our group.
But it means we can use our archer now, though he's going to have a lot of limits to what he can do. Still, maybe him not having tons of ammunition will let him be more loyal, since he feels vulnerable? But its at the same time true that its painful for him to even hold a weapon with the bandaging on his hand like it is.
Shelly's skill did heal the wound some time ago, but he claims he's having some pain still. Maybe its actually PTSD?
Shit, why didn't I realize it!
Of course its mental trauma! And Shelly might not have a skill to heal mental trauma.
Miguel is still trying pretty hard despite it.
7:51 AM
We found a few edible herbs, and edible weeds in the zombie yards. Stuff like edible clover, dandelion leaves, purslane, lamb's quarters, and so on.
But Mandy vetoed eating and collecting them because we can't tell if zombies have dripped on the leaves from above. And this would be game over, she tells us.
Shit...
Melanie and I had to throw out the salad leaves we'd collected.
I took a try at doing an enchant this morning. And then a second time.
The first failed. The second was used on my backpack. (This was found in this house.)
Success!
I was excited when the enchant worked and I now have a pack frame with the following stats;
Pack frame (mountain climbing back pack)
Armor; 2
Magic item slots; None
Capacity; 80 Liters
(May incur movement penalties, depending on STR, CON stats.)
It then gave me an option of 1 out of 3 choices to choose from in terms of applied enchants.
Choice A; Weight Reduction enchant, -25 pounds to total weight
Choice B; Light weight, -20 lbs to felt carrying weight, and +5% bonus to inside capacity of pack frame
Choice C; Capacity increase enchant, +20 pounds to weight carry able
Choice D; Unavailable, insufficient level and skills
Choice E; Unavailable, insufficient level
"You should choose C," Simone advised.
"No. It will be too heavy. We won't be able to lift it," Melanie said.
"Actually, whatever he chooses should be as quiet as possible. We're in monster dungeons," Mandy told me. "Plus, also eventually you want the weight light enough that any of your team members can take turns with the pack. And I have an inventory slot enchant, but its only got 1 slot."
"Mine only has 1 slot also, and very small. So the more tools we have available the better," Melanie frowned telling me while we're discussing it in the living room together.
"So we want a blend of features then?" I asked.
"That's the smart thing to do," Mandy nodded to me.
"Lame. You should just get a real inventory slot enchant," Shelly said, disinterested. (Of course she'd have a bad attitude. Her gear is way above our item quality. She's literally wearing a treasure trove.)
I went with Choice B.
Enchant; Light weight -20 lbs to felt carry weight!
Capacity bonus; +5% to capacity
This is so cool. After hefting it, we're impressed. The light weight part of the enchant aids in that anyone can wear and lift it, even the women. Well that's as long as its not filled so heavy not even Atlas could lift it. Injured Miguel can do it now also even.
He's also impressed that we have an enchanter in team! He volunteers to heft the pack for us, but Mandy vetoed it since we don't know or trust him well enough. And she told him to his face also, which I thought would make him argue. But he didn't and instead shrugged.
Simone took the pack frame first.
But she's impressed even more. With the -20 pounds to the frame, whatever the total weight is at, it still reduces it. If the pack frame has 22 pounds in it, it will still look bulky but feel like 2 pounds. We found also that if we had 37 pounds of stuff in it, it would feel like 17 pounds.
OK, this is a bit of an increase. Nice. It will help a lot.
"This is good. Because we need someone to be a baggage person anyway. Plus, our food problem can only be solved if we have a way of transporting it safely," Mandy told me.
"But we can put the food in the car trunk," Miguel reasoned.
"No. We can't. Because we can't risk using the gas. Its technically up to Jay to decide. But until we know we can replace the gas or get more of it, we can't use it. If we run out of gas we're in check mate," Mandy said.
She kind of has a strong personality.
But the others acknowledge her 'advisement' skills, because she's right.
"So let's go hunt again?" Melanie asked with her arms folded.
"Yes."
Before we left, I asked Mandy if she'd go
tten any messages from my parents.
"Messages? Why would you think that? No."
So she lied to me.
...
Before leaving the house I checked our status screens. At least, I mean I checked those willing. We also had to collect Shelly, who was upstairs alone moping in a room. She doesn't hang out with the rest of us except for when she has to. (I wonder why. But it feels different than Mandy's reasons for spying.)
Mandy seems really curious why Simone and Melanie would risk everything for me.
But she can't ask about it while Miguel is around. So I've been using Miguel to shield us from questioning.
Still, I'm sure she can read the mood.
Technically I could charm Mandy, to get the truth out of her. It bothers me that she's acting as a spy for my mom.
But Shelly also doesn't want to share her stats, skills, or gear on her status screen.
Name; Simone Mansfield
Race; Human
Magic job; NA
Level; 6
Health; 49/52 → 61/64
Mana; NA → 2
Mana Regen; 0 → 1
Health regen; 2 (per day)
Element affinities; mind, enchantment
Str; 22 → 23Agi; 38 → 40Con; 44 → 46
Int; 54 Wis; 43 → 44App; 94
Skills; athletics, jogging, defend, block, parry, evade, Search(new!)
Gear list;
Bikini top
Levis pants
Sneakers
Baseball bat
Buckler
Hm...interesting.
Does this mean someone could grow a mana core from nothing? It seems like when you level up, you can be guaranteed at least +1 mana, even without having a core initially.
I looked at Melanie's stats also.
Name; Melanie Williams
Race; Type 349F human hybrid
Magic job; Amplifier
Level; 11 → 12
Health; 123/123 → 124/124
Mana; 144/144 → 146/146
Mana Regen; 5 (per hour)
Health regen; 3 (per day)
Element affinities; mind, enchantment
Str; 17Agi; 26Con; 43
Int; 63 Wis; 61App; 95
Skills; athletics, mana affinity (enabled), defend-6 → defend -4, evade, block, parry
Magic skills; Amplify, Mana Sensing
Gear list;
Baseball bat
Sleeveless tank top
Shorts
Sneakers
Belt
Combat boots, armor; 5
While going over their gear Mandy got after the two of them for wearing such skimpy clothes. (I kind of don't mind, but worry about zombie bites.)
I managed two enhancements (+2 total) onto Simone's buckler.
...
Before leaving Simone stopped.
"What? We have to go!" Shelly said impatiently turning to her.
Mandy just shrugged. "Its inevitable. We have to be around each other the whole day. You might as well see what she wants," she sighed.
"I want to talk to Jay alone for a sec," she said.
"Is this about sex? I already let you have a turn with him," Melanie growled.
Miguel is astonished. "You mean you guys are sharing the same man?"
The others ignored him.
"Wow! Bro. You are my hero now. I want to be in this gang please!" he pleaded towards me. Unexpectedly, as a true Latino macho warrior, instead of getting offended he now thinks I'm a top alpha to follow.
(For the rest of the day when out of earshot of the others, he kept whispering to me to share my secrets with him.)
When Simone pulled me aside I was a bit surprised to hear what she said.
"Hey, this...th-this idea of me getting magic and being a ranger is true right? I mean...I saw things yesterday and the day before. Well for a long time really. I guess I"m OK with it. But... is it really true? It sounds too good to be true," she seems to be wandering in her topic, and almost like she wants me to say something.
"Its true," I told her. "But it takes work and risking your life. So, yeah its not free."
"Good. Thanks. Its just it felt so hard to believe that someone like me could have a life. I almost felt it was too good to be true," she started to tear up.
"Hey, its going to be OK. We're on the same team," I told her.
"OK. That means a lot to me. I-I'm so sorry I didn't trust you at first. I'm glad we met," she bawled.
"Its OK," I held her a bit while she cried.
"Is that all you needed?" I asked.
"Um...actually there was some real business," she said.
"Which is?"
"I know you uh...mind controlled me. I don't care. Hell, I love you. I love being together. It feels so right. But I wondered...if its this hard to survive, maybe you could um...mind zap some other girls to join us? I mean...wow, I hope I don't sound shallow. But this is risking death right?" she asked.
"It technically is," I said.
"Well if that's the case, why not just go into a night club and recruit us some help to level up?" she said.
I'm a bit shocked she's saying this.
"You don't mind that?" I asked.
"Well I should. But this feeling is amazing! Suddenly I feel like my life is good and that I have purpose! Being in a family really is the best, as long as its you. I feel like I could do whatever I want with you for pursuing goals. Its so hard to explain," she said.
"So you feel life is better then?" I asked.
"Yes of course! And why wouldn't I give that to someone else to have a deep fulfilling life? I mean...we already have true love. And you also have Melanie and Mandy. So what's one more? Better yet, what if you could recruit someone with a house and who is wealthy? Why not take care of us? If we don't like her we can dump her," she said hopefully. "And if I can get help leveling up and become some super bad ass, why not?"
Hearing this, I'd forgotten how far people will go to leveling up and becoming a super elite.
People did literally kill to get some job classes. And for dungeon treasure even more so!
But I'm surprised she's willing to go this far, by even sharing me. And not worrying about some other girl.
...
Carefully we explored for some time later in the day. Lots of undead skirmishes have occurred though we're still trying to avoid anything with large numbers of undead.
There's 5 houses on this cul de sac. And its an expensive cul de sac.
Cul de sacs are good for us to target for exploration and looting, because they are less open, so anything chasing us would have been lost prior to this. And it controls the flow of undead around us better in a cut off area, as long as we don't get tripped in one of these areas.
But if that happens we can hop a fence, but undead wouldn't normally hop fences, unless they are advanced or intelligent undead.
Advice from Melanie; "Does this mean bigger houses will have better chance for survival loot?"
"I'll consider it."
Advice from Mandy; "We only need survival loot and food. Oh, and maybe tools."
"We can do that," Simone gave me a thumbs up.
Advice from Simone; "Uh...let's just try hard to live!" (raises fist.)
"That's actually pretty good advise," per Shelly.
Advice from Shelly; "Can we go now? This is a waste of time." (Poor attitude.)
I activated the map detector.
The two houses closest to us have the most zombies. The second one of those has like over fifty of them!
"That's suicide. Keep us away from there," Shelly snorted.
I soon learned Shelly has a terrible attitude. Her dungeon teams even say so. But after telling me that she was telling Melanie to shut up for ratting her out.
Miguel laughed.
She flipped him off while we're walking.
