Kael shifted slightly under Natalie's expectant gaze and Alice's curious stare.
If it were only Natalie, he wouldn't hesitate to lie to save face. But since Alice was someone he acknowledged, his pride just wouldn't allow him to lie. Doing so would make him feel inferior, so he did the next best thing and flashed the younger girl a shameless smile.
"Guess."
Natalie didn't seem to mind; instead she went on a speculative tirade.
"Level 5?"
"Or maybe level 6?"
Kael didn't reply once, a mysterious smile plastered on his face.
"That's enough."
Alice suddenly interjected as she rested a hand on her sister's shoulder.
"Oh, okay!" Natalie nodded in understanding and fell silent.
She fixed her eyes on Kael, who appeared so haggard, as if he had been running a marathon for weeks. His clothes were tattered, and his left arm was missing, with a sharp bone even jutting out from its healed stump. In fact, Alice felt a bit strange though she didn't show it. She didn't know if she should be worried out by her little sister not seeming affected by Kael's appearance, or the person in question who stood there with that confident aura around him, as if everything and everyone were in the palm of his hand.
Also, She couldn't help but think of how he could have appeared here out of nowhere.
'Did he jump directly up from outside?'
'No, that is impossible.' The apocalypse had just started. It was simply impossible for someone to already display such superhuman feats.
...right?
She wasn't so sure.
Still, she didn't bother asking him, as she knew Kael very well. She had studied him carefully this past year, after all. Asking him would only be a waste of time.
So after pondering for a moment, she questioned him instead:
"What do you plan to do?"
The only reason she had asked him to come was because she knew there was strength in numbers.
Still, she wanted to know if he already had a strategy in mind.
"I plan to go find my sister." Feeling the raw emotion in his eyes, Alice lingered for a moment, before nodding in understanding.
*****
Kael sat on a bunk bed in one corner of the room, the two sisters resting on the other side.
It had already been an hour since he met them, and during that time, much had transpired.
First, the sisters had shared all they knew with him. Well, Natalie was the one who did most of the talking. She had taken advantage of her class traits to share her senses with a house fly.
Though her sensory range was only about a fifty-meter radius around her, she had still gathered crucial intelligence.
Firstly, there were four zombies on their current floor, one more than the three Kael had already encountered.
Among the initial three, two were level 3 zombies(Rare) with the last being level five(Rare).
According to Natalie, he had been incredibly lucky.
None of the three zombies were types with strengthened senses. Otherwise, even if he had hidden himself well, he would have been found out either by his scent, or the thundering beat of his heart.
Kael wasn't so sure about the last point, but he knew there was a great chance she was right.
After all, the very first zombie he met had seemingly tracked him by scent.
'So that bastard is a level five, huh?' Kael closed his eyes, his thoughts racing.
The three zombies, however, were not the most dangerous opponents on the floor. There was another zombie within the last room on the left at the other end of the corridor. According to Alice, who only ever spoke a few words, that zombie was different from usual. Not to mention it was level 10(Rare).
Kael felt a bit disgruntled when he realized he had the lowest-level on the floor.
But it wasn't until he questioned Natalie that he understood the disparity.
The little girl had answered all his questions without any hesitation, making Kael feel a bit uncomfortable. Not to mention Alice showed no intention of stopping her sister.
Natalie's class was of the elite rank, as shown by the yellow text above her.
And at level one, she required 30 EXP to level up. 60 at level two, and 90 at level three, with the number increasing progressively.
He wasn't sure of Alice's class, but considering she was also already high leveled, the required exp at each level might not be much higher.
The duo had taken advantage of Natalie's ability to pick out the undead one by one, and have been grinding non-stop since the apocalypse started. It wasn't until the level 10 creature arrived that they had to keep their killing spree on hold.
'It seems each class has its own leveling criteria.' Kael thought silently though he wasn't really certain of his conjecture.
Yet, at level one, Kael required 100 EXP just to level up.
If he followed the standard of the requirement increasing by two times, that meant to reach level 3 he might need 200 EXP.
'Bloody hell!'
It didn't take Kael long to surmise that the reason for his high leveling requirement was because of his class potential.
After all, despite being at level one, he could boost any of his stats by fifty points if he used up all his Energi reserves, which was simply out of this world.
Natalie had received +1 points to all stats and +3 free attribute points to share as she willed.
If he was to use her situation as a metric, didn't that mean that before a player could even have fifty points in any stat, they might have to reach around level 20-25, especially considering there seemed to be Common and Rare level even below her own class level.
And while her class might not seem combat-oriented, its potential and resourcefulness could not be questioned.
'I actually don't know how strong I am.'
Ever since he learned about his class and his unique Energi usage, he hadn't really been in a real fight, so he wasn't sure of his current ceiling.
'But that doesn't mean my level must be low...'
High potential or not, being so far behind his mates in levels left a bad taste in his mouth.
So Kael decided he would have to step up his game. Rather than simply finding his sister, he would start actively grinding for levels on the way.
'I will start with this floor.'
[ENERGI : 13 / 25]
Kael had also thought of why the others couldn't see his level and class rank but could only attribute it to his class.
'What if I boost a stat by a point, and before the duration ends, I boost it again?'
'Will the effects stack, or will the countdown simply reset?' He was excited to test this loophole. If he could chain the buffs, his class would be even more broken than he imagined.
*****
Ms Claire was a young woman in her early twenties. After leaving college, she was lucky enough to get job at the prestigious Westbridge, as an elementary teacher.
Initially, Claire wasn't sure if she would be able to do well or manage the stress, but it didn't take long before she fell in love with her job. Her kids were just that adorable and fun to be with.
Of course, she wasn't someone already with kids, and was simply used to calling her grade 4 class pupils, her kids.
However, today wasn't like any normal day, as Claire felt like she woke up from a nightmare.
She was in class when she felt a strange energy enter her body, a choking and suffocating soon engulfing her.
The feeling persisted for only a few seconds, but what happened after that was a scene that seemed pulled out of a horror movie.
Inhuman screams suddenly resounded in the classroom. About five of the almost thirty pupils she was handling fell unconscious, while the rest began to warp.
Their faces twisted into feral masks, their eyes gaining an unnatural red tint, their teeth sharpened, and viscous drool pooled down their lips.
Claire had screamed in fear and fell on her rear from the unexpected situation. And the transformed kids had been drawn to her movements, momentarily ignoring the unconscious few.
They had lunged at her, jumping into the air like frogs, with some of their tongues drawing unnaturally long out of their mouths; others sprouted weird black tentacles or writhing tendrils from cracked skin.
She had huddled on the ground in horror, pulling her head under her arms as if that would offer some measure of protection. She had screamed her heart out, until her voice went hoarse and lungs, dry.
Yet she realized after some time that she was still unharmed and alive with no pain surfacing.
Summoning her courage, she raised her head stiffly. And that was when she saw it.
A blue barrier surrounded her, protecting her from all the creature's attacks.
No matter how they smashed into it, clawed at it, or even launched fantasy-like powers, the barrier stood strong.
As if sensing her turmoil, a status screen suddenly flashed across her vision.
Her name, race, level, and stats were written on the blue interface, and she made sure to study them carefully, the action grounding her at the moment.
But she was soon pulled out of her thoughts when a more masculine growl resounded within the room. A male zombie stumbled into their class, and it didn't take Claire even a moment to realize it was her co-worker.
She instinctively moved, as she didn't want to test whether the barrier skill given to her by her class would be able to hold up against such a foe. After all, the undead that had been attacking her were only her former pupils, and turned or not, they were still little kids.
At the same time, her maternal instinct activated and she moved to protect the few unconscious pupils who still appeared normal.
The situation had not been easy for her, and she failed to protect three of them.
She could only watch as the undead tore into their tender bodies as tears spilled down her face.
The two kids she held in her embrace were her favorites, as she had acted to save them first without even thinking about it.
Now, a feeling of guilt was clawing at her heart, but she pressed it down as their situation was still perilous.
They were at one corner of the classroom, their backs against the wall, a wall of blue barrier before them protecting them from the rain of attacks.
Claire knew she couldn't continue like this, as she watched the adult zombie drag it's way forward forcefully through the group.
Her elite class merely gave her two skills.
One allowed her to summon a barrier that would remain standing unless a certain limit of damage was reached. While the other allowed her to reflect all attacks the barrier had received at the moment it was about to crumble.
So with no attack skills of her own, she could only pray in her heart for someone to save them.
For something to change.
As fate would have it, her prayer was soon answered. But not in a way she had expected.
One of the two girls in her embrace suddenly wriggled out from within her arms.
"Rose?" Her hoarse voice shook from exhaustion and fear, her hair wet from sweat.
A little girl of around seven years old with glossy black hair that framed her face perfectly and large yet cute deep black eyes, smiled at her.
"Thank you teacher for saving me."
Claire didn't realize when the tears she had been holding back spilled out.
'Yes, at least I saved two of them. I did my best.'
The little girl suddenly turned from her and faced the attacking horde before her.
Her cute voice resounded soon after, with no fear within it, a finger pointed forward in command.
"You! Fight for me!"
'Huh?'
Before Claire could react, a marvelous scene played out in front of her.
The adult zombie who had just arrived before them suddenly roared loudly before diving back into the small horde of little undead and unleashing a massacre.
*****
AN: ENERGI received its first collection yesterday. Thanks so much, everyone. Let's keep up the good work!