The trio spent some time recovering their HP and energy before they started their plan. Their plan was really easy; all they needed to do was to single out a group of null and kill them, increasing their levels and EXP. After about two hours of doing this, they had cleared out about forty percent of the nulls on the second floor.
At the moment, the trio was inside one of the rooms on the second floor, seated on a sofa as Zayden started bringing out orbs from his spatial ring. The orbs were mostly red with a few oranges and very rarely yellows.
After about two minutes of constant removal of orbs, Zayden finally stopped. He took some time to arrange the orbs before giving Tyrel and Darian the news.
"We got a total of ten reds, seven oranges, and two yellows, making it a total of nineteen orbs in our possession," Zayden said to them. "We can share the items after opening up the orbs," he added.
With the consent of everyone, Zayden proceeded to smash open all the orbs. The different colored glow lit up the whole room for a few seconds before quickly dying down. In place of the orbs were nineteen items.
There were about four weapons, all from the orange orbs, weird leather clothing that amounted to about six, and the remaining red orb gave them what looked like flasks and water bottles, while the two yellow orbs gave them two skills, and the final item was a tent that was folded up.
[Name: Water Bottle]
[Tier: Trash]
[Durability: 50/50]
[Description: A one-use water bottle that has fifty liters of water]
[Name: Food Flask]
[Tier: Trash]
[Durability: 50/50]
[Description: A food flask that can store five hundred grams of any kind of perishable food without spoiling for up to six hours]
"It's giving us what we need to survive," Tyrel said. "At least, these can be useful". With that, Zayden kept all the water bottles and flasks in his spatial ring. They changed into leather clothes that gave them an increase in defense, leaving only the four weapons and two skills on the ground.
On the ground were a pair of battle axes that seemed to go together, with the edge of their blades glowing a slight green color, a short sword that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie, sheathed in leather sheathe and a submachine gun with what looked like glowing veins on the body and an abnormally large nuzzle.
"You guys take the skills, I'll just take the short sword," Zayden said. He could see a look of reluctance on both of their faces, but he didn't give them any chance to refuse and picked up the blade to look at its stats.
[Name: Plasma Blade]
[Tier: Uncommon]
[Durability: 500/500]
[Description: A sword with a blade of concentrated plasma, capable of cutting through nearly any material with ease]
"Nice," Zayden said as he strapped the plasma blade on his back, the blade pulsating slightly. Even though he already had a sword, you never had enough weapons.
As if by previous agreement, Tyrel took the submachine gun and one of the skill books while Darian took the two battle axes and the other skill book. The two of them quickly learned their skills and continued on their way.
"We are strong enough now, so we should be able to clear out the second floor by the end of the day and head up to the third floor," Zayden said. "We should also stop by the vending machine, we can't keep fighting on an empty stomach."
With that in mind, they started slowly making their way to the vending machine that was at the beginning of the floor, that is, near the stairs that led to the second floor.
"Ahhh!!"
They all heard a manly scream, and it was very close. They stopped in their tracks and listened. The sound of footsteps was echoing in the hallway.
"There should be about three people coming, with maybe five nulls pursuing," Zayden said. "We can take them on," Tyrel said as Darian nodded. "And besides, these are the first survivors we have seen in a while, so let's save them."
"You're right, but we can't pick up any dead weight, even though we save them, they have to pull their weight and be willing to help out," Zayden said. "You're right," Tyrel concurred.
As they decided, the sound of the footsteps got louder and louder until the trio could see faint silhouettes of three people, and to their surprise, they could faintly see the seven sluggishly walking nulls running behind them.
"Guess I was wrong," Zayden said, "But it still won't be too hard," he added, but as the three boys came into his sight, he couldn't help but frown
There was a young man with them, and from his petite frame, he didn't seem to be over nineteen years of age. He had black hair jelled backward and a pair of rectangular glasses over his brown eyes.
The thing was that he was struggling to run, and trying to stop himself from running, whereas a tall, bulky man was blocking his way. The third person just ignored them. After all, how could he notice what was happening when he was running for his life?
"Get the f*ck off me dweeb" the bulky man suddenly yelled and pushed the young man unto the floor. "Let's go," Zayden said as the three of them charged at the trio.
At first, seeing three more humans that hadn't turned into these ugly monsters made a smile break out on the faces of the two men. The smile changed into confusion when he saw the weapons in their hands and the fact that they were running toward them, not away from them.
"Help me, lord," the young man on the floor whimpered as he saw four of the seven nulls reaching their hands towards him.
His boring life was already flashing before his eyes. His name was Dare Solis. He came from a poor family and only managed to get into college by passing a scholarship examination. He had not even finished his freshman year when this happened, and now he was about to die without fulfilling his one dream.
All of this was going through his mind as he waited to turn to dust when suddenly, a loud bang was heard like a gun being shot, to the point that his ears started ringing, red blood and brain matter splattered over the body of Dare as he slowly opened his eyes.
In front of him was a headless null. Saying that he was surprised was an understatement. Who would even bring a gun to college?
He suddenly saw three people jump over his body. One of them had a weird glowing short sword in his hand, the other a pair of axes with glowing blue blades, and the last person had a weird futuristic pistol with a glowing vein in the middle.
Before Dare could blink twice, all the nulls were defeated. Two even had all their limbs cut off as if to be used for something.
One of the young men with the blade looked at him. "Come over here," he said, his voice deep and filled with authority. Dare was confused, but he still did as he was told, and before long, he was looking at the two nulls without limbs.
The young man handed the blade over to him with a stern expression on his face. "Why are you giving me this?" he asked, but he still collected it, examining the blade. He could see the intricate circuits that covered the blade.
"Kill it," The young man said. Dare was confused. "You want me to kill the monster?
Dare asked, "Do it, or I'll leave you here, and I can promise that you won't be able to survive for long."
Dare was surprised and scared at the same time. But he didn't want to be left alone after finding a means to survive.
So he pushed up his glasses as his grip on the blade tightened. Closing his eyes tightly, he plunged the blade into the head of the null. Then a tab that looked like something out of a game appeared in front of him.
[+50 EXP]
[+1 IQ]
He opened his eyes to see that the null had disappeared, replaced by a red orb.
"Pick it up, then kill this one," Zayden said, not minding the shock on the face of Dare. Dare picked up the red orb and slowly walked toward the second limbless null. With conviction on his face, he also plunged the sword into the head of the null, killing it.
This time, his eyes were open, and he could see the null turn into golden particles floating into his body while leaving behind a green orb.
[+50 EXP]
[Level Up]
[+4 Ability Points]