ALL NOVEL Episode 76 – Buying Up
I wake up the next morning feeling the soreness of yesterday faded away. The sun shines brightly through the barred windows of the warden’s office. Everyone, well, almost everyone, decided that Clem and I should get the warden’s office. A certain someone decided to be contrarian. She’s chilled out a little, thanks to Rick and Carl liking me, but Lori’s still the bitch of the year. I took the truck out one day and unloaded the mattresses from my inventory, telling everyone I went to a mattress store. It’s much nicer than sleeping on those thin pieces of junk they call beds.
We took a trip to an actual mattress shop to get better mattresses for the rest of the prison soon after.
I look across the room and see Clem still conked out, her mouth slightly open with a line of drool dripping down her face, her curly hair a mess of wire atop her head. I can’t help but giggle at the sight of the little dork.
I stand up and do my morning stretches, feeling the tightness in my body giving way to the relaxation. I noticed yesterday that I’ve got quite the stockpile of points, so I wanna do a little shopping and see what I can get. First, though, I’ll check out my status.
—----------------------------
[Status:]
[Name: Penny Miller]
[Age: 20]
[Health: Healthy]
[Stamina: Good]
[Points: 8300p]
—
[Stats:]
[STR: 22 -> 25]
[AGI: 17 -> 20]
[DEX: 16 -> 17]
[INT: 16]
—
[Skills:]
[Knife Fighting 5 -> CQC 1, Pistol Shooting 5 -> Gunslinging 1, Calm Mind 1 ->3, Walker Killing 5-> Walker Slayer 1, Shotgun Shooting 1 -> 2, Rifle Shooting 2 -> 3, Walker Sense 2 -> 4, Shadow Fighting, Sword Fighting 5 -> Sword Master 1, First Aid 2 ->3, Assault Rifle Shooting 5 -> Assault Rifle Expert 2, Dead Eye, Trap Detection 1, Archery 1, Warlord]
—
[Cleaned up Skills:]
[CQC 1, Gunslinging 1, Calm Mind 3, Walker Slayer 1, Shotgun Shooting 2, Rifle Shooting 3, Walker Sense 4, Shadow Fighting, Sword Master 1, First Aid 3, Assault Rifle Expert 2, Dead Eye, Trap Detection 1, Archery 1, Warlord]
—----------------------------
Over the past three months, I discovered that when certain skills reach level five, they end up evolving into something more powerful. For example, the awfully named [Knife Fighting 5] changed into [CQC 1]. The big difference is that it covers more than just knives. It covers all kinds of hand to hand combat. It even helped me with my sword skills, as well. It does mainly focus on grappling and knives, however. If I were to go back in time with this skill, the situation with that redhead I killed in V’s place woulda ended much quicker.
[Gunslinging 1] isn’t like [CQC 1], as it only affects my pistol caliber weaponry. That does mean it affects SMG’s, so I’ve been keeping a P90 in my inventory as a backup. [Walker Slayer 1] does exactly what it says and just makes me much more efficient at killing walkers. I noticed after its upgrade that the skulls seemed to get a little softer almost. Kinda like my knife or sword would just find the best place to crack them open on their own.
[Sword Mastery 1] is literally just an upgraded form of [Sword Fighting], making me no longer swing the sword around like an amateur and actually teaching me edge alignment, maintenance, and stances. Lastly, [Assault Rifle Expert] just gives me better aim and control of assault rifles. Which is actually a very broad term in the eyes of the system. I mean, it affected my DMR, which literally has the words marksman rifle in the name. I won’t lie and say that I’m a gun expert, and I’m not gonna complain about the freebee, but damn.
Alright, now onto the store page.
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[Store:] | [8300p]
—
[Items:]
[Weapon Crate (Gold) - 10000p]
[Armor Crate (Gold) - 10000p]
[Basic Construction Pack - 1000p]
[Medical Crate - 1000p]
—
[Skills:]
[Blacksmith 1 - 1000p]
[Carpentry 1 - 1000p]
[Administration 1 - 1000p]
[Husbandry 1 - 1000p]
[Mechanics 1 - 1500p]
[Guncraft 1 - 1500p]
[Natural Leader - 2000p]
[Electrician 1 - 2500p]
[Hostility Sense - 3000p]
[Bloodlust - 5000p]
—
[Faction Upgrades:]
[Crafting knowledge 1 - 1000p]
[Carpentry knowledge 1 - 1500p]
[Combat knowledge 1 - 2000p]
[Electrician knowledge 1 - 3000p]
[Medical knowledge 1 - 5000p]
[Crafting knowledge 2 - 5000p]
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Alright. That’s a lot to unpack. I head over to the desk in the office and take a seat in the old, but comfortable chair. I examine the board in front of me and wonder what half these things even do. I think the system got an update or something. Like, I know that [Husbandry] has to do with animals, but what exactly does the skill do?
[Husbandry 1 - Gives the user basic knowledge and practical abilities related to the responsible breeding, feeding, and overall well-being of various domesticated animals.]
Ah. Makes sense. Herschel must have this ability. I’m gonna assume [Guncraft] has to do with, well, crafting guns. What about [Natural Leader]?
[Natural Leader - Gives the user a magnetic presence that draws people toward them, fostering a sense of trust and confidence.]
That sounds like a must have to me. How about [Hostility Sense]?
[Hostility Sense - Makes the user more attuned to subtle cues, body language, and environmental indicators that may signify hostility.]
Another must have. This would be great for sussing out potential spies, or just bad eggs in general. I’d love to have a skill that lets me know when people are fully infected, too, but we can deal with that with strip searches.
Now, the biggest change. What exactly do the [Faction Upgrades] do?
[Faction Upgrades are upgrades that affect your entire base. For example, Crafting knowledge 1 will give every individual within your faction a chance to awaken an ability related to crafting. This can be anything from Blacksmith 1 to Electrician 1. People who play major parts in your faction will be more likely to awaken higher level abilities.]
That… sounds powerful. I mean, I assume that their skills will all pretty much stay at the same level for a long time since they don’t have systems. But if every single person in my faction has one of these skills, we could very quickly overtake The Governor.
Alright, I think I’ve made my decision.
[Hostility Sense - 3000p]
[5300p]
[Natural Leader - 2000p]
[3300p]
[Administration 1 - 1000p]
[2300p]
[Crafting knowledge 1 - 1000p]
[1300p]
As soon as I finish my purchases, I can feel something new about myself. I instinctively sit with a straighter back, and can feel myself carrying a bit of an aura about me. I have better knowledge on how to administrate the faction as well. Instantly, I get the idea to use Hershel’s knowledge of animals to keep pens of chickens for both meat and eggs, something that hadn’t crossed my mind before.
“Hm?”
I hear the sleepy voice of Clem waking up behind me and turn back to see her wiping her face with the sleeve of her fleece Dora the explorer nightgown. She struggles out of bed before looking over at me and walking over, climbing into my lap, and laying her head down on my shoulder. I smile and start rubbing her back saying,
“Is the baby awake, or just pretending to be?”
She just nods her head on my shoulder before looking up at me and saying,
“I’m not a baby.”
Before plopping her head right back down. I smile and put my hand on the back of her head, running my fingers through her hair. As we sit there, I hear a knock at the door.
“Come in.”
The door opens slowly, revealing Amy with a slight amount of bed hair, looking slightly groggy. I can see that she’s just as tired as Clem, but slightly more operational. I give her a chuckle and jokingly say,
“Good morning, sunshine.”
She waddles forwards after closing my door and gets right next to my bed before collapsing over and grunting,
“Ugh.”
I just let her get a bit more sleep as I turn around to start writing down what's popped into my head.
“Haaaaaaaaaaah.”
But, a yawn stopped me dead in my tracks. I look out of the barred windows of the office, seeing the sun just barely peeking above the treeline.
Screw it. A bit more sleep couldn’t hurt.
I turn the chair around and put my hand under Clem to keep her up before walking back over to my bed. I look down at the blob of blonde currently collapsed down on the side of my bed and nudge her with my foot. She opens her eyes and sees me holding Clem.
“Scoot over.”
Amy lifts herself up with effort and climbs over to the opposite side of my bed, pulling down the sheets. I lay Clem down in the middle of the bed and lay down on the other side. As I lay down, Clem reaches her arm around me and nuzzles against my chest, letting out a small yawn. I wrap my arms around her and kiss the top of her head.
I look up at Amy, seeing her giving me a tired smile. I reach over and move her hair up behind her ear before cupping her cheek with my palm. She slowly starts to lean in, giving me a peck on the lips before saying,
“Goodnight.”
