The stench of rain-soaked concrete dragged Arthur back to consciousness.
Pain pulsed behind his eyes like a hammer striking metal. He groaned softly and lifted a hand to his forehead.
My stamina really needs an upgrade, he thought bitterly. Until then, I'm stuck with these headaches.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
A gray concrete ceiling stared back at him, cracked and stained from years of neglect. For a moment he lay still, letting his senses return one by one.
The air smelled damp. Smoke drifted lazily through the room.
Arthur pushed himself upright.
"Where… am I?"
His vision sharpened.
It was a classroom.
Desks had been shoved violently to one side, stacked into a crude barricade against the door and windows. Curtains had been ripped down and nailed across the glass, blocking most of the evening light.
That explained the darkness.
A bonfire burned a few paces away, its flames licking upward from a pile of broken furniture. The firelight painted the walls in flickering orange and black, stretching shadows across the room like twisted fingers.
Around the flames sat ten figures.
Arthur narrowed his eyes.
They were silhouettes at first, seated in a loose circle, their shapes distorted by the shifting light. Metal glinted on several of them. Others wore strange pieces of armor that looked cobbled together from different materials.
What the hell…
Their outfits looked like something between medieval knights and futuristic soldiers.
Arthur studied them quietly.
Is this another trial?
He had barely finished the thought when someone noticed he was awake.
"Arthur, you're awake!"
Tamsin rushed toward him, practically crawling across the floor in relief. Her usually calm face was bright with exhaustion and happiness.
Arthur nodded slowly, though his attention had already shifted.
A familiar voice spoke from the firelight.
"Long time no see, Art. I'm really glad you're alive."
David stood and walked toward him.
Before Arthur could react, David pulled him into a tight embrace.
Cold metal pressed against Arthur's chest.
David was wearing armor.
Not makeshift armor either. It looked real. Plates of dull steel layered over thick leather, reinforced with strange glowing lines that pulsed faintly beneath the surface.
Arthur blinked.
Now I'm officially the center of attention.
David stepped back with a grin.
Behind him, the rest of the group rose one by one.
Arthur recognized some of them immediately.
Eli. Simon. Mark. Jonah.
Then the others.
Mary.
Blessed.
Four boys and two girls who had apparently survived with David while Arthur's group had fought their way through the school.
After greeting his own squad, Arthur crossed his arms and glanced around the room.
Then he spoke the question everyone was clearly waiting for.
"Why are you all dressed like medieval knight cosplays mixed with cyberpunk mechs?"
The group exchanged glances.
Caleb chuckled weakly.
"These aren't costumes."
He tapped the armored plate on his shoulder.
"They're kill drops."
Arthur stared at him.
"…What?"
Noah shifted uncomfortably beside the fire, clutching his bandaged ribs.
"It turns out we've been leaving ridiculously powerful survival tools behind every time we kill monsters."
Arthur frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
For a moment, silence filled the room.
David smiled faintly, clearly amused by Arthur's confusion.
"It seems you don't know much about how the system works yet."
He turned toward the fire.
"Mary. Explain what we've learned."
Mary raised an eyebrow.
"Everything?"
David nodded.
"If he's going to lead people, he should know."
Mary sighed softly and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.
"Alright. It started after we killed a level twelve zombie."
Arthur's attention sharpened immediately.
"A level twelve?"
Jonah nodded.
"Yeah. Nearly killed us."
Mary continued.
"When the zombie died, Jonah noticed something glowing beside the body."
Jonah reached into the air beside him.
A small flash of light appeared.
A silver dagger materialized in his hand.
Arthur's eyes widened slightly.
"Crushing the orb gave him that," Mary said. "That's when we realized monsters drop items when they die."
Arthur stared at the weapon.
"So… loot?"
"Pretty much."
Blessed spoke next, her voice calm and analytical.
"The system officially identifies the item once you claim it. Weapons, armor, potions, skills, techniques, technology. The type depends on luck and the strength of the creature you killed."
Arthur rubbed his temple.
The headache wasn't helping.
"And this happens every time?"
"Not every time," Eli said with a sneer. "But often enough that it matters."
Mary nodded.
"That discovery also led to something else."
Arthur already had a guess.
"The inventory."
Mary pointed at him.
"Exactly."
Several students demonstrated instantly.
Weapons flickered into existence.
Armor pieces appeared and disappeared.
Arthur exhaled slowly.
"Of course there's an inventory."
Because if the apocalypse was going to happen, it apparently had to behave like a damn RPG.
Mary continued.
"We also figured out the monster classification system."
She gestured toward Eli.
"With help from his ability."
Eli shrugged.
"My skill lets me scan enemies."
Arthur leaned forward slightly.
"So what did you learn?"
"Monsters and zombies are divided into twelve tiers," Mary said.
"Tier one to tier twelve."
Arthur nodded slowly.
"And humans?"
Mary hesitated.
"We don't have tiers."
"Then what do we have?"
"An ascension system."
Arthur frowned.
"And that means…?"
Another pause.
Mary shook her head.
"We don't know yet."
The room fell quiet.
"We only know the first rank," she said finally.
"Awakened."
Arthur absorbed that information carefully.
Caleb spoke next.
"There's something else."
Everyone looked at him.
"I think monsters might not have separate ranks."
"What do you mean?" Arthur asked.
"Their tiers might be their ranks," Caleb explained.
"The stronger they get, the higher their tier becomes."
Noah nodded slowly.
"That's what it looks like."
David leaned back, watching the fire crackle.
"Whether that theory is completely correct or not, it's close enough for now."
He looked around the room.
"We're still beginners."
"We'll learn more as we survive."
Then his expression hardened.
"But that's not the main reason we needed to talk."
Arthur met his gaze.
"What is it?"
David's eyes sharpened.
"What was happening in the hall before you were thrown out?"
Before Arthur could answer—
Noah snorted.
"Thrown out?"
He leaned back with a grin.
"We run that place now."
The room went silent.
David blinked once.
Then he asked the question that had clearly been bothering him.
"What happened to the principal?"
Noah answered instantly.
"She's dead."
The words landed like a stone in still water.
Arthur felt the tension shift in the room.
He glanced around.
Everyone was watching him.
"You mean the same principal who locked you outside while you were awakening?" Arthur asked.
No one responded.
Finally, Blessed nodded slowly.
"We woke up from our awakenings surrounded by zombies."
Her voice was quiet.
"That woman used us as bait."
Eli clenched his jaw.
"Out of more than a hundred students who awakened that day…"
He looked at the floor.
"Only seven of us survived."
Arthur lowered his head slightly.
"I suspected something like that."
He looked back up.
"She was already awakened when I reached the hall."
Mary frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Arthur took a breath.
"Before the apocalypse chaos settled down, people started collapsing."
He gestured slowly.
"Some were convulsing. Some were unconscious."
"The principal collapsed first."
"Everyone thought she was just exhausted."
Arthur's eyes darkened.
"But when she woke up… something had changed."
The fire crackled loudly.
"She ordered everyone who couldn't wake up to be dragged outside."
The room went still.
"At first people refused," Arthur continued.
"Then she did something."
"What?" Jonah asked quietly.
Arthur's voice hardened.
"She took control of the strongest seniors."
Gasps rippled through the room.
"She turned them into puppets."
Silence fell again.
"So my question," Blessed said slowly, "is how she died."
Arthur didn't answer.
Tamsin did.
"Arthur shot her."
Every head snapped toward her.
"And the teachers too," Caleb added.
"Their bodies were already turning."
"We dumped them outside before scouting this building."
The group turned back toward Arthur.
David studied him carefully.
"I don't know why you killed her," he said.
"But…"
His voice softened.
"Thank you."
"For the classmates who never got the chance to survive."
Mark spoke for the first time.
"So you're leading everyone in the hall now?"
Arthur shook his head.
"I only lead a small group."
"Peter and two other leaders from different schools handle the rest."
David tilted his head.
"So the hall merged with two other schools?"
Arthur nodded.
"And it's already divided into four factions."
"Exactly."
Arthur stood slowly.
"To avoid unnecessary conflict, I stepped back."
"I let people follow whoever they trusted most."
He shrugged.
"Right now, survival matters more than authority."
The room fell quiet again.
Firelight danced across the walls.
Then David asked the inevitable question.
"When do we go back?"
Arthur looked toward the boarded windows.
Outside, the darkening sky rumbled with distant thunder.
His expression hardened.
"Soon."
"Very soon."
Because the world outside was only getting worse.
And the next time they walked into that hall…
It wouldn't be as survivors.
It would be as rulers.