Zayden was pleasantly surprised when the green orb appeared. However, he already knew that this was because the particular null was at level three, while Dare was still at level one, but his luck still came into play as well.
"Smash the two orbs," Zayden said to Dare as he collected his blade back from him. Dare quickly did as he was told as both green and red lights shone in the hallway, attracting the attention of everyone, including the nulls.
As the light died down, the orbs had disappeared, revealing a tube of liquid that constantly swirled about and a cobalt blue hardcover book that glowed with a white sheen.
Dare looked at Zayden, who looked back at him. "Pick them up, they belong to you," he said
Dare was shocked. "But why?" he asked. "Are you stupid?" Tyrel suddenly laughed, "Because you killed the nulls," he added.
Now, Dare understood why the nulls were limbless and not killed in one go. These people he had just met wanted to help him.
Dare picked up the book, and on the cover was a circuit pattern that seemed to be shaped like an eye. Dare was intrigued, so he quickly opened up the book and read the words written in circuit-like runic letters.
"Nanoweaving"
The book broke down into particles that entered the head of Dare as a tab appeared in front of him.
[Skill 'Nanoweaving' Learnt]
[Name: Nanoweaving]
[Tier: ???]
[Level: 1]
[Description: In exchange for energy, you can control nanobots with your mark on them]
Dare was ecstatic. "I got an ability," He said as his gaze landed on the tube with the dark blue liquid still on the ground.
He quickly picked up the tube as another tab appeared in front of him.
[Name: Nanobots (V.20DS)]
[Tier: Rare]
[Durability: 1000/1000]
[Status: Unmarked]
[Description: They are nanobots, use your imagination]
Dare was very happy. 'I got nanobots and even an ability that goes well with the bot,' Dare thought. 'But how do I mark them?'
As the thought entered his head, information surfaced. It was like he already knew how to mark the nanobots before this.
Opening up the cap of the tube, he dipped his finger into it as his eyes glowed a cobalt blue color. A faint pulse went through the nanobots, and it was like Dare formed a connection with them.
[Nanoweaving Activated]
The liquid, which was millions of microscopic bots, started swirling around until they finally broke out of the tube, floating into the air, like the symbiote from Venom. Its shape started twisting until a gigantic palm-sized spider was formed, landing on the shoulder of Dare.
"That's so cool," Tyrel suddenly said, drawing Dare out of his world. "But out of everything you could form, you chose a spider." "Still cool anyway," Zayden added, and Darian nodded.
"Thank you so much for helping me out," Dare said as he bowed at a ninety-degree angle, even the spider on his shoulder bowed. "If not for you guys, I would have turned to ash."
"No problem, as long as you don't turn out to be a dead weight," Zayden said. "We need people who can help us survive the apocalypse, not people who will draw us down."
"I promise to do my best and help in any way possible," Dare said with a smile on his face. "Then you can come with us," Tyrel said, "and honestly, your skill should be very useful." "Sure"
"Excuse me," someone said behind them, "I also want to thank you for your help and hope I can join you."
The four of them turned back to see the young man who was running with Dare. Just like Tyrel, he had blonde undercut hair and blue eyes. He was handsome enough, not that it mattered anyway.
"Join us, why should we let you join us?" Tyrel said, his voice carrying a very weird indifference. "I'm sure you heard what we told Dare, we don't want any dead weight, and I'm pretty sure that you haven't reached level two, so you are just that, dead weight."
"But we are in an apocalypse, aren't we supposed to stick together?" the bulky man who pushed down Dare pitched in. "I'm sorry, but I don't remember being required to help anyone out," Tyrel spoke up. "It is not a college regulation, and even if it were, do you think that there are still any DC members to punish me in all this chaos? I could just kill you now, and nothing will happen."
Tyrel was already pointing his pistol at the bulky man.
The bulky man was stunned into silence. He had many things to say, but with a pistol pointed at his face, there was no way he would dare to say anything.
"That's enough, Tyrel." Zayden suddenly spoke up, then his gave landed on the bulky man. For some reason, the bulky man felt scared.
"Just like Tyrel, I also have the urge to kill you, don't think I didn't see what you did," Zayden said. "You want us to stick together so that we could be cannon fodder for you to escape when in trouble, or so you could steal our weapons."
"But thankfully, I'm a nice person," Zayden said, taking out the wooden shield from his spatial ring. He threw it toward the bulky man and continued talking. "You can follow us, but don't expect any help from anyone until you are no longer cannon fodder, that is, until you kill two nulls."
Zayden could feel the reluctance on the face of the bulky man as he smirked. Of course, he wasn't doing this just for fun. The bulky man was named Lucas, and in his memories, Lucas was the first person he met after escaping the room. Lucas almost killed him in the way he did to Dare, but thankfully, the vice president saved him in time.
Of course, he couldn't do anything at that time because Lucas was stronger than him. But now that he had the upper hand, he was going to milk it.
"Same goes for you," Tyrel said to the other man, who was already laughing, making his frown turn upside down.
"Let's get going, we need to get to the vending machine," Tyrel said. "After all, we need all the energy we can get if we want to clear the floors."
The two men frowned. "what do you mean by that, aren't you going to leave the dorm" Lucas said "Yes, but we need to clear the dorm of the nulls before heading out" Tyrel answered "If you have a problem with that, you are welcome to leave our group" he said with a visible smirk on his face.
"If there are no more problems, let's be on our way," Zayden said as he started walking away.
The nanobots in the form of a spider on the shoulder of Dare jumped down and started running in the direction they were going. It suddenly divided into five smaller spiders who kept scurrying. "Just wanted to send them ahead so we can be prepared for any attacks," Dare said in a low voice.
"That's smart," Tyrel said, "and helpful, unlike some people following us without contributing."
There was a blue tab floating in front of Dare. But unlike the other system tabs, it was visible to everyone like a projection from somewhere. On this tab, Dare could see anything that his bots could see.
"Four nulls up ahead" he suddenly shouted. "Seems like some people already have the means to prove themselves," Tyrel said as Lucas and the other man started feeling uneasy.