Chapter 11 The Weapon

Elysia scanned the surrounding zombies as the fence crumbled in front of her. She glanced back at the circuit breaker box before shaking her head as she gathered the biggest strand from her core she could. Her chest burned as the thick strand traveled to her outstretched hands just as the north facing fence toppled.

A deafening crack accompanied by a blinding purple flash descended on the zombies in front of her, pulverizing several while blowing back the rest in front of her, leaving a gap. Even before the light dimmed, Elysia sprinted with her eyes closed.

Killed level 4 zombie.

Killed level 5 zombie.

New skill learned! Discharge. Would you like to slot the skill?

She opened her eyes as the light faded, willing away the messages as she jumped over the downed fence. With the fence blocking most of the zombies unaffected by the strike, she broke away, pumping her arms as hard as she could, breath coming out in a practiced cadence.

With perfect form from a decade of running track, she sprinted across the cracked pavement, leaving the stunned and blocked zombies in the dust. Her legs burned, but she pushed on as her mind worked to formulate a plan. I need to confront the zombies in smaller groups. I think I have a chance if I can pick them off then using the level up to recover. Still, I needed a more efficient way of killing them. Electricity is effective, but I’m drained after a couple of attacks. What if I channel electricity through a weapon? I think it’s worth a try, but where will I find a weapon? It has to be metal to conduct electricity, but not too heavy or too short. A steel pole would be perfect for length and conductivity, but way too heavy. Besides, everything steel rusted from whatever created this place. Copper is to too soft and would be hard to find in the shape of a usable weapon. What about aluminum? It would be light but brittle. There should be a hardware store a couple of blocks down. If I can sneak in there, I might be able to figure something out as long as the building survived. I passed it yesterday, and it was intact, so there’s a chance.

Her legs glided over the cracked pavement, passing another block before hearing the first sign of zombies. Afraid to give away her plan, she veered right through an alleyway before slowing to a near silent trot. She creeped through the alleyway, running behind several stores with her ears perked, listening for any sign of zombies but to her relief she found none.

Several minutes later, she reached her target, breathing a sigh of relief when she found the building intact, though dilapidated, with faded and peeling grayish paint. Elysia snuck up to the back door, only to find it locked. She slammed her left shoulder against the door, splintering the weathered wood frame.

After standing still for several seconds, listening for any activity, she snuck in, pulling the broken door closed as best she could. She fumbled around in the dark for a minute before an idea formed. Elysia grasped at her core, pulling on the smallest thread she could, dimly lighting her veins. The dim glow illuminated her surroundings just enough to work past the back warehouse into the main store. Here, while dark, the windows provided enough light to navigate, allowing her to release the thread. Cool, I have an internal flashlight, though I doubt it’s very efficient.

Elysia wandered down the dust caked shelves, scanning for anything that caught her eye. After several minutes of searching, she found a few pipes laying vertical against the back wall of the storefront in buckets. She skipped past the PVC pipes before reaching metal pipes. First she grabbed an aluminum pipe but shook her head as it felt fragile. Next came a steel pipe, but the weight forced her to set it aside. The last type she found was a copper pipe which, while heavier than the aluminum pipe, felt solid and a lot lighter than steel pipe.

The steel pipe could take a lot more punishment, but I like the idea of the electric conductivity of copper. It might bend though. As an experiment, Elysia stomped on the pipe but the pipe remained straight. Good enough. At least I hope so. Those zombies are pretty strong.

Elysia took a few test swings, finding it light enough to swing though not without strain. With the key component obtained, she wandered to the knife section she spotted earlier. She passed over the pocketknives before reaching the hunting knives, smiling at a serrated combat like knife. After leaning the two meter long copper pipe against the shelves, she grabbed the knife, ripping open the package. She poked her finger with the tip, finding it quite sharp.

Her gaze shifted between the pipe and the knife handle with a thoughtful expression. She tugged on the handle of the knife, but it wouldn’t budge, so she trotted to the next aisle, grabbing a saw. While resting the knife on a shelf, she sawed away the handle, revealing a steel tang. With the knife blade in hand, careful not to cut herself, she grabbed the pipe before sticking the tang in one end, finding it fit but a little loose.

After wandering down several aisles grabbing supplies, she stopped at a workbench near the back of the store. First she wrapped the tang with copper wire while applying superglue. Next she coated inside of the pipe in liberal amounts of superglue before jamming the tang halfway in. Finally, she wrapped the rest of the tang with electrical tape along with the outside end of the pipe. While letting the superglue set, she wrapped gripe tape around several places along the pipe for extra grip, leaving most of the pipe exposed to improve continuity with her hands.

Achievement! Weapon crafting.

“While primitive and not built to last, it is a weapon.”

Reward: One attribute point.

After willing away the message while ignoring the jab, she left her spear on the bench as she continued to gather supplies for her war against the zombies. In the clothing section, she found a thick leather jacket which was several sizes too big, but after trimming the sleeves and bottom, she made it fit well enough with a belt to keep it secure. Unfortunately, she failed to find a matching pair of pants for added protection.

Elysia returned to the knife section, grabbing another hunting knife with a holster, strapping it to her right thigh. Unwilling to weigh herself down further, she forwent any additional armor and weapons. As she returned to her spear, she used a rubber band to pull her hair into a ponytail.

She picked up her spear, giving it a few test swings and thrusts. Her thin arms strained against the weight of the makeshift spear, prompting her to sit on the floor as she distributed three strength points, raising her strength attribute to ten. She tried to swing the spear once more, this time her arms handled the strain.

Should I increase the rest of my attributes? I have enough now to round everything to 10. I’ll probably need all the endurance I can if my previous encounters are any indication. Though I don’t want to run for kilometers with my spear. While functional, it is pretty clunky. If it works like I hope it will, maybe I’ll make a better one once I escape. Maybe a wood shaft with a copper core and steel tip would work better. I’ll have to do some experimenting when I don’t have zombies around every corner.

Elysia sat down on a patio chair on display as she pulled up her status.

Status:

Name: Elysia Arashi

Race: Level 7 Lightning touched Human

Class: Channeler

Charge: 44/133

Attributes:

Available Points: 8

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 5

Endurance: 10

Intelligence: 10

Perception: 7

Affinities:

Lightning level 3.

Skill slots:

Slot 1: Electric Current +20% efficiency +10% power.

Slot 2: Static Shock +10% efficiency +20% power.

Slot 3:

Slot 4:

Slot 5:

It would be stupid not to boost my other attributes. I really hope a zombie doesn’t attack me when I upgrade perception. I’m not sure what’s worse, strength paralyzing me or perception cutting off my senses. Neither is pleasant.

Elysia took a deep breath before spending three points on perception. Unlike last time, when her senses shut down, she sat still while breathing through her nose with a slight tremble in her hands.

After a few seconds, her senses restarted. Her nose crinkled as her sweat caked body made itself known. While trying to put the stench out of her mind, she trained her ears on her surroundings, but to her relief, everything was deathly silent.

Finally, she spent five attribute points to bring up her dexterity. Unsure what would happen, she laid on the dust covered concrete floor awaiting the side effects. A second later, her vision swam as vertigo descended. She closed her eyes, laying limp on the floor to wait it out.

Almost a minute later, she opened her eyes to find her vision back to normal. Elysia hopped to her feet just as a notification displayed in her vision.

Achievement! All Tens.

“Congratulations, you are equally mediocre across-the-board.”

Reward: One attribute point. “voided if user goes for all 11.”

Stupid mean system. Why does it feel the need to insult me at every opportunity? Also, why is ten mediocre? If I had eight endurance starting out and won state in the eight hundred meters, wouldn’t that mean ten is amazing? Or is it not a flat increase? I feel stronger and my senses are sharper, but not to a crazy level. If ten was the top of humanity, I would have no problem lifting one hundred kilograms, but my spear still feels heavy. It’s so confusing. If I ever run into someone else, I’ll have to compare attributes. For now, I’ll focus on improving myself.

Elysia grabbed her spear giving it a few test swings immediately noticing a huge difference. Though the heavy leather jacket and hiking boots limited her agility, she thrusted and slashed effortlessly. The system agreed, though not without sass, as a notification appeared after several minutes of practicing.

Proficiency learned: Novice spear level 1.

Achievement! The spear.

“Congratulations! You managed to not stab yourself.”

Reward: “Nothing, this is hardly an achievement.”

She gritted her teeth as she slammed the butt end of her spear into the floor, leaving a chip in the concrete. After taking a deep breath, she muttering obscenities at the system before turning toward the front door of the store.

I think the first order of business is to try to take down a zombie while minimizing the charge usage. I’m at 40 charge so I can’t risk something flashy. Besides, flashy attracts more zombies. I need to be stealthy instead.

Elysia hesitantly approached the filthy glass front door. She cringed at the metal on metal grinding of the lock opening crossing her fingers zombies don’t swarm her. The rusted hinges of the front door screeched as she forced it open. She dashed to the left across the parking lot and into the alley between the hardware store and a shoe store.

She hid around the corner, ears trained on her surroundings. Several seconds later, a single pair of shuffling feet approached the door. Elysia peeked around the corner to find a gaunt zombie with a faded but intact blue suit staring at the door with dead eyes, mouth agape.

With her back leaned up against the wall around the corner, she waited for almost a minute, listening for any more zombies. When she heard the single zombie begin to shamble away, she creeped around the corner, spear at the ready.

As she neared the oblivious zombie, she grasped at her core, feeding a thread through her hands into the spear. The spear tip crackled, alerting the zombie. Before the zombie could turn its stiff body, Elysia thrusted her spear through its torso. The zombie shrieked as the stab wound smoked, filling the air with the putrid stench of burning flesh.

Her spear creaked as the zombie tried to turn, but it held strong. The zombie stilled a few seconds later.

-10 charge.

Killed level 4 zombie.

Spear proficiency novice level 2.

New skill learned! Electrify.

Would you like to slot the new skill?

The sound of several pairs of shambling feet forced Elysia to yank her spear out of the corpse before taking off in a sprint back into the alleyway.

Elysia hid in the alley as three zombies approached the corpse. They walked over the corpse as they shambled in random directions, searching for the source of the sound. One zombie in a tattered yellowish dress approached her alley, forcing Elysia to thrust her spear forward while electrifying it. The spear plunged through the zombie’s torso as if it was paper. Like the previous zombie, it struggled for a few seconds as the electricity fried its insides before stilling without making a sound.

Killed level 7 zombie.

She pulled her spear out of the corpse before glancing around the corner to find the other two zombies across the street shambling into a dead park. Emboldened by her success, she ventured forth, spear raised. She reached the first zombie, thrusting her spear through its chest only for screeching to attract the other zombie. A swift front kick dislodged the skewered zombie, allowing her to slash horizontal at the approaching zombie cutting deeply into the side of its torso. Before she could free her spear, the previously skewered zombie grabbed her from behind. On instinct, she activated static shock, eliciting a bloodcurdling screech from the clinging zombie.

Killed level 8 zombie.

Level up! Level 8 Channeler.

Elysia re-electrified the spear, frying the other zombie but just as it stilled, the sound of groans and shuffling forced her to kick the corpse away, raising her spear just in time to meet another zombie.

Still electrified from the previous zombie, she thrusted the spear through its chest but had to pull it out as five zombies surrounded her. Refusing to get trapped, she dashed through the gap to her right, northward.

Slowed by the spear and heavy leather jacket, the zombies kept pace as she crossed the park, only to skid to a stop as a familiar iron fence presented itself. She glanced behind her to find over a dozen zombies shambling toward her, then back at the gate of Evergreen cemetery.

Left with no choice, she sprinted through the gate. Metal on metal screeching filled the air as she dug her feet into the ground, pushing the rusted gates closed. She slammed the bar down, locking the gate just as the first zombies reached the other side.

Elysia dashed down the road deeper into the cemetery where it all started.