Digging rank up! Construction rank up! Metal Working rank up! 20% XP to Scrounger level! Digging rank up! Construction rank up! Digging rank up! +2 END! Digging rank up! +1 END! Construction rank up! Metal Working rank up! 30% XP to Scrounger level!

Ted plopped down. It had taken half a day, but he was finally, totally, completely FINISHED.

The fence surrounding the entire school was now reinforced, patched up, and made much, much harder to breach. The gate, he had added a bar he could use to lock it.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, he looked at the sky. Still plenty of daylight. What to do, what to do....

After a moment, he shrugged. Might as well try to set up the solar panels and hook them (and the solar generator) into the schools electrical system. Compared to reinforcing the fence, it should be eas-

Ted slapped himself. EVERY TIME he had thought that, it had bit him in the keister. No, this would probably be a massive pain to do. But having a functional fridge (and lights) would be oh so worth it.

Gained skill Wiring! 40% XP to Scrounger level!

Wiring (Uncommon) Rank 1 - The skill governing the ability to utilize wires in electrical engineering.

Okay, so. Thankfully, the library had an instructional guide on how to do this, and the tools required to do the deed were found in the workshop. Thank god for schools still having shop class. Still, Ted was surprised about how...easy, this had been: he wasn't an electrician, or even particularly handy.

It was then that he recalled something: When he beat the server-head, he had gotten something, a new perk. Ted quickly called up his perk list, and spotted the perk in question.

Machine Empathy Rank 1 Through defeating the Server-Head, your connection to machines of all stripes has been strengthened. At this rank, +5 INT when working with Electronics and Machinery.

That...explained why he had found it so easy: Ted was well aware that a difference of 5 in a stat was VERY noticeable. Useful. Not something I'd raise normally, but handy to have in a pinch.

It also meant that, in certain conditions, beating up monsters could unlock more perks. Ted was of mixed feelings about that: on the one hand, it meant there was another method beyond leveling he could utilize to gain perks. On the other, it was another thing incentivizing combat.

Long term this probably bodes poorly for society: growing stronger by throwing yourself at deadly foes is a perverse incentive if ever I heard one.

Ted shuddered, already picturing it: a society ran not by the rule of law, but by whoever was fortunate enough to have the highest level and most perks. Not somewhere I'd care to live.

He shook his head. He could ponder the societal effects of the system later. Preferably never, as that sort of thought was PARTICULARLY depressing.

Anyways, Ted returned to his project, strolling his way to the breaker box and flipping it. Let there be light!

He giggled as the lights in the school returned. "Ha! I have power! I have ELECTRICITY!" Ted did a small dance of joy. Ted one, universe none!

He began walking along the brightly lit halls, grinning. Tommorow, he'd clear out the lunchrooms fridge and visit the grocery store. Start having things other than canned vegetables. Sure, realistically the frozen and friedged stuff is also bad at the grocery store, but I can at least start having spaggeti.

As he walked, he passed by the workshop and paused. Y'know, this would probably be a good idea to fix up my gear. Add a few bits and bobs and what not. Maybe pursue a few other projects.

He had a few more hours; plenty enough time to do some crafting. Ted pushed open the workshop doors, and set to work.

Junk-Crafting Rank Up! Junk-Crafting Rank Up! Metal-Working Rank up! Wiring Rank Up! Sewing Rank Up! Gained skill Electronics! 90% XP to Scrounger level!

Ted looked over his creations, and grinned. First up, he had his zappy-spear. Take a golf-club. Remove the head. Fashion a metal spearhead. Hook it up to a wire connecting to a battery, add a button to the handle to control current (so he didn't accidentally zap himself or run down the battery too fast), and BAM, crude cattle-prod!

Next, Ted took the time to improve his armor, by adding a few (thin) metal plates to it. Not many, not enough to impede his movement, just a few around the chest and arms.

After that, he gave his remaining cue spears all proper metal spear tips. It wasn't exactly flashy, but it'd come in handy eventually.

He'd grab a baseball bat from the gyms supply closet to replace his pan before he went scavenging tommorow. Sure, he had grown fairly attached to the thing, but at this point he needed something with a tad more reach than a rusty old cast-iron.

Plus, if the home improvement place has any barbed wire, I could wrap it around the bat to make it do some REAL damage.

Satisfied, Ted stepped away from the shop table.

Today, tools. Tommorow, food.

Ted held his nose shut as he cleaned out the school fridges. Shouldn't have put this off. REALLY shouldn't have put this off. He supressed his gag reflex as he emptied the rotting foodstuffs into a bag and scrubbed down the place. This is, without a doubt, the grossest thing I've done since this whole mess started.

His heart sunk as he realized the grocery store would probably smell just as bad, if not worse. Well, a good a reason as any to develop a resistance to stink.

....Actually, on that note, he probably needed a shower himself: a week without a bath couldn't bode well for his body odor. Well, electricity's back, so I could probably run some hot water.

Once he emptied the fridges out, he dragged the trashbags to one of the entrances, and opened the door...

Only to get a face full of giant, dog sized rat. Ted stumbled back as the thing slammed into him, its claws bouncing off the metal plates in his armor. Quickly, Ted drew his zappy-spear, and shoved it into the rat while pressing the spears button.

The rat began to spasm, smoke rising from it as a horrible, acrid scent filled the air, like a cross between ozone, burnt meat, and sewage.

Ted let go of the button, and the rat fell to the floor, limp.

Slayed Rat-Hound! 40 XP! Level up! +3 INT, +2 WIS, +2 Free Stat Points. Trapping rank up. Shotguns rank up. Lone Survivor rank up. +1 Perk Point.

Ted breathed in and out. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Good news! The zappity-spear worked! It reduced that rat to a twitching, slowly dying mess! He had leveled, and gotten more points to spend!

Bad news! Somehow the rats had bypassed the fence! Which was juuuuuust wonderful. Further, while the zappy spear was useful, it took too long to fry that rat: if he tried using it in a fight with multiple critters, he'd get swarmed. Holstering the spear, Ted sighed. Right. Save it for big, singular enemies. He grabbed his bat, and stepped out of the building. Right. Lets see what the damage was.

Ted sighed. A single hole. A single (albeit decent sized) hole in the fence. Wonderful.

I can probably fix it pretty fast, but I still have a problem: they chewed through the fence with ease. Luckily it was just one rat, but if I'm gonna stay safe, I need to figure out another way to deter these things from attacking.

Ted recalled one of survivalists chief skills, trapping. Yeah, yeah, that could work. Dig some holes, put something sharp at the bottom, cover em up, let the rats fall in. They'd either all die, or eventually learn that going beyond the fence was dangerous.

He could also hook up the gas generator to the fence, have it run at night. Rats try and chew their way through? They'd get electrocuted.

Ted nodded. Right. He'd get right on it...

As soon as he visited the grocery store. After all, it didn't do to work hungry. But first...

Ted brought up his stats.

Ted J

Primary Class

Level

Primary XP

Scrounger Progress

Secondary Level

An ordinary officeworker attempting to survive the end of the world.

Survivalist

12

65/190

90%

5

STR

INT

AGI

WIS

PER

SPRT

CHA

END

LUK

23

13

26

9

30

4

6

18

6

Affinities

Black

White

Green

Red

Blue

11

2

5

1

3

Right. Choice was obvious here. Ted split the points into SPRT and into INT.

My attributes are now five across the board. Satisfied with that, Ted moved onto perks. First, lets see how Lone Survivor had morphed.

Lone Survivor Rank 2 Going through disaster has improven your instincts and made you slightly hardier! At this rank, you enjoy a mild dangersense and 10% resistance to the effects of disease and poison!

Good good good. That left a perk point he had to distribute.

...

Ted shrugged and put it into Bag of Holding. Might as well prepare to start moving LOTS of material.

Bag of Holding Rank 5 Any proper looter needs a way to carry his stolen treasures, and you were the type to have a LOT of loot, taking everything that wasn't nailed down (and then stealing the nails). At this rank, this perk causes one bag or container on the holders person to be able to hold eight times as much, without altering its outside size, provides +3 Blue Mana Affinity, and items stored this way weighing a third as much. Further, at this rank, you can store small living creatures in this container, and when reaching into your bag, you always pull out the desired item.

Teds eyes widened. Okay. So. His carrying capacity had effectively just doubled. Well. At least I won't have to make two trips.

Plus, the new effect was handy: it meant that if he was in an emergency, he didn't need to root around in his bag to find something. That'll be handy in a pinch.

Right. With that settled, Ted began walking. Time to go grocery shopping.