<Pierce, Real - Bug-Out, Police Station>

Well, the System had screwed them over… or someone with authority within the System had.

Pierce didn't really care.

He had chosen to go it alone, but things had gone sideways really quickly, forcing him to talk his way into a police station.

The officers were actually rather impressive, every one of them having access to the System as well as levels, all holding classes and skills that made them useful in this current scenario… probably in other scenarios too, but that wasn't really important at the moment.

More Initiates had joined the police station, and they'd worked with the officers to repel several waves of undead, learning as much as they could from their non-Initiate hosts.

They'd all thought that they were doing rather well. They were safe; they were learning; and they had solid allies surrounding them.

Then, the police chief had gotten a call, and the Initiates had gotten a System notice.

The police officers were going to try to retrieve a high-value individual from near the source of the outbreak, from where many of the subsequent, ever increasing waves of undead had originated.

The Initiates had been told to flee from the 'no longer safe' base.

None of the police were interested in hearing that their mission would likely fail. They had a job to do, and System-enforced behavior was seemingly a thing for non-Initiates… Pierce hoped that it was only a thing for them…

"Now we have to get to some silly school." He tsked. He hated being forced into things.

Paula, a lovely young woman who was just as irritated as he was, rolled her eyes. "Enough, Pierce. None of us like this."

"Yeah… I know. It's just… awful." He also didn't like the parallels with the police officers' own mission. We are practically as much at the whims of the System as they are.

She shook her head slowly, checking her weapons. "Yeah, but that's life… or after life? I'm still a bit unclear on that. Either way, it's just how things are. We'll leave when they do. It's smart to use their movements as a distraction and cover."

He nodded, well aware of what they'd decided. "That's the plan."

Then, they'd head south, thirty of them. Five Initiates weren't going to 'take the quest.' They didn't want to say where they were going, though.

Best of luck to them.

As to his own group of thirty? He just hoped that at least some of them would make it. More than that, he hoped that this high school would be worth the trip, quest rewards or not.

<Watcher, Apology Tutorial #486 Control and Observation Room>

She leaned back and stretched before cracking her neck.

The System had demanded that she create side-quests for each of the groups, in order to give them forewarning about the oncoming surges of more advanced undead, and she'd done just that.

Could she have incentivized them to simply reinforce their positions, or cluster up in various other locations?

Sure, but with the level of difficulty imposed upon this scenario, few would have had even a chance to survive following that set of quest instructions. Such an outcome wasn't forbidden per se, but it would be a demerit on her record.

She didn't like demerits on her record.

Thus, she had no desire to go down that road.

Therefore, she gave the Initiates harder quests, with greater rewards, to get to the one place that was already shaping up to be able to have a true, fighting chance.

Unfortunately, most would still likely die as they worked their way across the city, but more should be able to seize their own destiny, and after all, isn't that what the Apology Tutorial was all about?

The System seemed to approve of her work, whether or not her supervisor would.

The fact that Alex might benefit—thus ruffling her supervisor's feathers further—didn't factor into it.

Not one bit.

I hope you survive, Alex. I'm seriously starting to root for you, and I'd hate to be disappointed.

<Alex, Real - Endure, Outside the Magic Shop>

After Alex used Create Water to cleanse his face and mouth of the remnants of undead spawn-queen ash, he pulled a pair of workout shorts from his Inventory out that he didn't care much about.

Such was his exhausted state that he almost fell over several times as he tried to quickly tug them on in an attempt to maintain a modicum of modesty.

He was filthy.

The teachers came out of the magic shop and his companions all headed his way even as he hobbled toward them in turn, judiciously applying Create Water to remove the worst of the gunk that stuck to him.

Sweat mixed with ashed undead is not fun to deal with… good to know. And he'd fallen face first, naked, into the stuff… after a very physically intensive fight.

So… he was coated.

When they met up, roughly in the middle of where they'd all been fighting, Alex gave Grant a nod. "Good to see you on your feet and alive."

Grant grinned. "Good to see you outside of any monstrous creature."

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Alex grimaced. "Yeah… I really don't want that to become a habit…"

John almost clapped him on the shoulder, but hesitated, pulling his hand back. "I'm glad we're heading back. You look like you really need a shower."

"I absolutely do." He hesitated just a moment, then groaned. "But, we still need more food. There's a grocery store on our secondary route back. We should swing through there on the way."

That got a round of acknowledgement, and they headed out.

Alex slowly created a bit of water while thoroughly scrubbing his hands. I am unendingly glad I got that spell

Then, he summoned his dadao from Inventory, and took up his position at the front of the group, making sure everyone was ready.

After a few moments, Natasha, who was just behind him to his right, cleared her throat. "Are you going to put anything else on?"

He shook his head. "It's not cold, and nothing I'm willing to risk would be effective armor at the moment. There is no way I'm getting this tar-stuff on my new coat, and I just know there will be a day when I wish I had just one more shirt. I want to put off that day as long as possible. I'm already frustrated that I got these shorts smooged."

Natasha glanced toward the Magic Store, then back to Alex with a raised eyebrow.

He blinked a few times, then hung his head. "One moment."

He ran inside and grabbed something clearly the wrong size for himself and ran it over his body with more created water, taking about thirty seconds to get at least a bit cleaner. Then, he pulled a shirt and pants from the rack and put them on.

He grabbed a few pairs of socks, pulling one on before donning his new shoes.

They fit perfectly. Alex took a moment to sigh and revel in the feeling of well-fitting shoes. Oh, yes. That's where it's at.

All told, in less than five minutes, he came back out comfortably clothed and in a better position to fight.

The others had taken the time to raid the boutique that was across the street, the place having already been shown to be clear by Alex's Detect skills.

They didn't find a lot, but they did find some odds and ends that might prove useful in the long run.

That done, they took off at a good trot, circling around on their secondary route home.

They passed through several restaurants, pulling out their light-ropes to search for non-perishables and check for any preserved goods, whether in freezers, fridges, or otherwise magically kept in good shape.

There were even a few plates of ready-to-serve meals in one of the fancier restaurants on the pick-up counter.

Grant shook his head. "How fancy of a place does it need to be to have preservation magics on the pick-up counter?"

Natasha shrugged. "Seems reasonable to me. It makes sure the food is perfectly ready when it's taken out, no matter how busy the servers are. It would also let the servers take their time with customers without having to be concerned about food degrading while it waited for them."

That got a grunt of agreement from Grant.

Alex took the plates into his Inventory. Good food is good food.

That restaurant was a veritable goldmine of food to take back with them, all well preserved, likely to help with the establishment's bottom-line.

Better yet, the pack-teachers were absolutely on board with taking it all, given that they assumed that the food would go bad before the building was reclaimed.

No one would be hurt, and they would be helped.

It was a win across the board.

Even with so many good spoils, they were all kept on edge by the fact that nowhere they went was seemingly a System recognized 'safe zone.' So, they couldn't get their earned experience as of yet.

If Alex had to guess, the requirements for that were going up, or there was some other building danger they weren't aware of. Like something that can drop an undead spawn-queen on top of us at a moment's notice?

Yeah… his low level anxiety from his Danger Sense didn't help either.

It was almost a relief when they found that the grocery store was inhabited by a mini-horde of undead.

They were just ravagers, ceiling crawlers, and fodder, but it was still a nice means of letting off steam.

John got a bit aggressive in clearing the aisle and an undead that he swore that he double-tapped bit him in the leg.

The man was forced to drink from the red cow again. Oh, for the love of everything. Why does that metaphor keep coming to mind?

Thankfully, he was easily cured without needing to use one of their limited potions.

After that? The pack-teachers cleared the place out.

It had been a little ransacked before, some people apparently having gotten in and out before the undead settled in, but there was still plenty to collect even out on the floor. The back room had quite the selection as well.

Apparently, in a world of magical preservation, grocery stores were able to have a bit more back-stock than the Initiates had anticipated.

Alex even took the opportunity to get a stack of toothpaste and a few dozen bottles of mouth-wash.

Useful in any situation… especially when I have so many bags of candy to go through. Though, he wasn't sure if tooth decay would still be a thing. I wonder if bacteria could level up?

It would be rather horrible if some batch of black death was brought into the System from a research lab somewhere…

Happy thoughts, Alex. Leave it be.

The store raided, they made their way back to the school.

On the way, they found a particularly active group of undead that seemed to be just finishing swarming an apartment.

After those were dealt with—and the lack of survivors was confirmed with eyes instead of just skills—Alex took his best guess on what had happened.

Someone had made more noise than they should have, or they'd opened the door to see if things were finally clear. That wasn't an unreasonable assumption, given the empty streets outside.

Unfortunately, the undead's vague life sensing ability let them know food was in the general area, and so they had gathered and clustered in the hopes of finding access to that food. Thus, they'd been nearby when the living had made their mistake.

The undead don't seem to generally go door to door, looking for the living… It was an odd combination of behaviors, but there it was.

If they heard or otherwise 'noticed' the living, they'd kill themselves trying to get access, but until then? They were seemingly just vaguely drawn toward where the living were hiding.

As to the empty streets, they were starting to freak Alex out a bit as he'd understood that there should be almost constant spawning of undead. Instead, just like around the high school, it seemed like something was draining the undeath energy away.

He felt like he could almost see it flowing north? But that seemed like a guess more than anything.

Regardless, it was no longer being allowed to pool and gather sufficiently to create more creatures, at least not on random streets or in no-longer-occupied buildings.

If the energy wasn't making enemies, that seemed like it would be a good thing… He knew that the energy their base syphoned off wasn't being used for that at the very least. But something told him that it was still being put to a use that he wouldn't like.

Only time would tell if he was right.

He really hoped that he wasn't.

Regardless, they got back to the school with very little difficulty, and as the pack-teachers began unloading their acquisitions, Alex and the other Initiates met up to talk. Because if one thing was made incredibly clear by the Magic Shop and subsequent fight it was this: The System wanted them using their rewards, and improving their skills.

It was time to buckle down and progress even if just a bit.

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