<Alex, Real - Endure, High School>

Alex and his group had arrived just before the afternoon meal, and he was sent to go shower and accept his experience while the pack-teachers moved to unload, and the others of their group went to gather up their co-initiates and accept their own bounty.

Kaylee had spaced out the eating schedule in the school-turned-base into six small meals throughout the day, each about two hours apart.

In that way, people were getting used to eating less at each meal, hopefully shrinking their stomachs, and ensuring their calories were more dispersed. So, this current meal-call was the second to last of the day.

The cafeteria was in full swing, being allowed to function by power generation provided by the new base. Apparently, Kaylee had used some of her upgrade potential to allow for proper operations in the kitchen to continue. They also had the massive, walk-in refrigeration units up and running, though the number of perishables within was beginning to dwindle, and they would be turning them off once those were fully used up.

Alex took a very quick shower, using a healthy amount of soap in his less than five minute rush. Even so, by the time he dried himself and pulled on a new set of clothes, the others were gathered and waiting for him.

As the initiates were touching-base, Alex occasionally heard cheers from outside where new resources were unloaded and in the process of being parsed out. The pack-teachers were emptying their rather overstuffed inventories in waves, showcasing what they'd acquired from the various stores, restaurants, and the grocery store.

Even holding back the stuff that needed to be put straight into the refrigeration units, there was a lot of food, and the various faculty, staff, and trusted parents and students quickly passed out the new supplies, taking it to the various storage places designated around the school.

Apparently, Kaylee had given several trusted groups control over individual stores of supplies, and they got increased privileges based on how well their storage area was protected and maintained.

Thus, the initiates didn't have to monitor all the scattered resources, nor really fear they would be whittled down. After all, no singular group had control over enough to hurt the base over all, and if they didn't manage what they had properly, they'd lose out on the wider supplies.

Regardless, even that level of information was more than Alex really cared to learn.

Those in the 'expedition' group conveyed how the Magic Shop run had gone. Grant sheepishly gave Kaylee the monocle, and she thanked him profusely, pleasure and gratitude radiating from her at the offering.

Alex, when he conveyed his side of things, emphasized that he thought the tutorial really wanted them to be using their skills and the other rewards that they'd been given. He suggested that they take a day 'off' to consolidate, learn all the skills they hadn't yet, and practice some.

However, before they could agree on that, he noticed that Natasha had suddenly gone white as a sheet. Alex turned to her, frowning. "Natasha? What's wrong?"

The Russian woman cleared her throat. "I… I never used the Detect Trove skill orb."

Alex regarded her for a long moment, his eye beginning to twitch.

He had been a bit confused that the skill had yet to yield results, but he hadn't even thought to check with her.

Well, that was a bit foolish of me. I know that I was forgetting to use my own Detect skills… Why should I assume that others would be above forgetting?

There was a round of both grumbling and consoling. Apparently each of them had done something a bit similar already in the tutorial.

Alex took the moment to clear his throat. "I think this is actually in line with my point. The tutorial is supposed to be here to teach us about the System. None of us are used to this, and so we're missing things. I believe that this is a bit expected, but on the other side, I think that we will miss out on good things if we simply perform 'as good as expected' assuming we survive at all."

Natasha nodded. "I apologize. I will absorb the skill as soon as this meeting is over."

Alex had already given Grant the skill book for Remove All Trace, and so he made eye contact with the man. "I think that you and I should learn our new skills too." That reminded him of something, and he turned to their base leader. "Kaylee, could I have a meeting with at least one of the blood donation nurses? The skill I got was Basic Blood Transfusion, and assuming that it doesn't combine or alter in some unexpected way, I think it would be worth it to connect with them and see if there is anything funky in the System with blood." He shook his head. "Heck, I don't even know if blood type will matter now. If it does, it might matter even more. I'd hate to kill someone due to blood rejection when I'm trying to heal them."

Kaylee nodded. "Sure. Most of the people who were here for the blood drive seem to be phlebotomists, but the nurses—as we'd think of them—have been tasked with organizing and running our first aid station."

He nodded. "Thank you."

That started others talking about how they could work on their own skills, and who they could work with.

James came over to Alex and they chatted about training Alex's Life's Active Defense along with James's throwing skills. Apparently, he had some skill that would make it harder for his throws to be blocked or dodged, and both men were curious how their skills would interact.

But that was for after. They agreed to meet up after the last meal and make a final decision about the next day.

Kaylee let them know that the afternoon meal would be called in about a quarter hour, so Alex and Grant pulled out their skill books and set to it.

Natasha somewhat sheepishly pulled out her skill orb and absorbed it.

Less than a minute later, she went to Kaylee and whispered something. Then, the two women went off to another part of the school.

Apparently, there was a 'trove' of some kind within our base, itself…

Alex somewhat regretted not getting such a skill for himself, but he could keep an eye out going forward. Natasha had been the one to think of the spell and the one to negotiate for its acquisition. He wouldn't begrudge her use of it.

So long as she actually uses it. He huffed a laugh at that.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Besides, it seemed that the System store would eventually allow them to purchase skills, so he could always just go that route to get such a skill.

He did suspect that there were some downsides to the whole 'buy any skill you want' process. There had to be some sort of restrictions too, but what the downsides or restrictions were, was yet to be seen.

His Speed Reading came into great affect yet again, and he blazed through the skill book, which crumbled to dust just before the call that food was served went out.

He stood, helping Grant to his feet, before looking at his own notifications. He was only mildly surprised that he had two.

Notice: Skill Learned through the use of a Skill book.

Skill Learned: Basic Blood Transfusion (Common)

Basic Blood Transfusion (Common) Transfer some of your blood into a willing or incapacitated target.

Mana will be spent based upon the volume transfused, the rate of transfusion, and the magical resistance of the target.

Mana cost increased based on your Physical Fortitude.

Notice: Skill synergy with Attributes discovered.

Skill evolving.

Basic Blood Transfusion (Common) → Life Blood Transfusion (Common)

Life Blood Transfusion (Common) Transfer some of your blood into a target. Your own Life energy and health can be carried along with the blood to either harm or heal, based on your choice at the time of transfusion.

Mana will be spent based upon the volume transfused, the rate of transfusion, and the magical resistance of the target.

Mana cost increased based on your Physical Fortitude.

Mana cost increased based upon the amount of health and/or Life energy contained within the transfused blood, if any.

Mana cost greatly increased if the target is unwilling and not incapacitated.

Transfusion can fail if the target resists and their magical resistance is not overcome.

Apology Tutorial Addendum: Hey! Good things come to those who wait, right? …or, I suppose, to those who go out and steal them?

Hmmm… Maybe this isn't the moral lesson we ought to be teaching…

Grant closed his skill book, keeping a finger in it to hold his place. "Gah, I've never been that fast of a reader."

Alex was a bit displeased at the treatment of the book, but he instantly realized just how silly that sentiment was. The book would turn to dust when Grant finished it, so what did it matter if the man crinkled a few pages in the interim?

It's the principle of the thing… Still, he decided not to comment on that. "I wonder if anyone has ever done Skill Audiobooks?"

"Yes!" Grant practically shouted, pointing at Alex. "That would be amazing."

Alex chuckled at the reaction, and it helped him get past Grant's treatment of the book. Thus, as they walked toward the cafeteria, they chatted a bit.

Still, Alex's mind was mostly dominated by thoughts of his new skill. The fact that it had immediately upgraded was fantastic as it seemed that the base skill wouldn't have actually been all that useful.

Well, it would have been useful in removing the need for the red cow… He grimaced at the mental image, as well as the little tune that started to play in his head. Yeah, I won't be sorry to never have to do that again.

Still, by the wording of the new skill, he wasn't sure that the base version would have allowed him to heal or even fight off the plague of undeath in others.

Now though? It was explicitly possible. I just need to figure out how to overcome magical resistance. I wonder if there is a Basic Resistance - Magical Resistance?

He huffed a laugh at that, causing Grant to give him a side-eyed look.

Alex waved it off, and they continued to chat as Alex considered.

Overcoming magical resistance was likely something in the vein of his own Magical Power when compared to their Magical Fortitude… at least that is what would make sense to him.

While the System seemed to generally follow some lines of logic, there were also things that seemed completely ridiculous to him on occasion. So, time would tell.

Maybe there's a multiplicative factor with the amount of mana I spend? Otherwise it would be easy to be immune to hostile magics, just get your Magical Fortitude high enough. The existence of a magic resistance attribute seemed to indicate that such wasn't the case.

Yeah, the more he considered it, the more he was sure that there had to be some sort of compounding or mitigating factors, else magic could easily become useless in too many situations.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he came into the packed cafeteria, the sounds of more than a thousand people washing over him.

He noticed that most of the place had been cleared out in order to make room for a large queue, and he almost just turned around and pulled some food from his own Inventory.

Thankfully, he could see that the line was actually moving at a steady walking pace. It seemed that Kaylee wasn't allowing people to be choosy in what they got. So, it really was just a 'walk past and grab the food' situation.

He'd been so 'out of the base' that he essentially just ate from his own Inventory, only stocking up a bit when he passed through, between outings. This was the first time he'd participated in a meal with the masses.

As such, he and Grant got in line with the horde, and to his surprise, in less than five minutes, he was handed a tray with an apple and a steaming hand-pie of some kind.

It was some sort of dough completely containing the substance of the meal.

That was it.

Still, Alex didn't complain. It was food, and it was hot.

Interestingly enough, people seemed rather happy with the size of the steaming bun, and the fact that they'd gotten that and a piece of fruit seemed to be a boon worth many, many comments.

This was Kaylee's aim. Lower their expectations, then when a bit more was added to the meals, they would be in a place of gratitude.

He shook his head, smiling. "She really knows what she's about."

Grant was grinning too, even as he took a bite of his apple, while they exited the cafeteria to find a place to sit and eat. "That she does. I'm glad we have Kaylee on our side."

"Indeed. I'm glad that she's willing to do this administrative stuff."

Grant grunted, speaking around the apple in his mouth. "Isn't that the truth."

Soon enough, they found a place out in the school yard where they could rest and enjoy the meal.

It had been an absolutely insane few days, and Alex could still hardly believe that all of this was real and really happening, but they seemed to be finally getting their feet underneath them.

Only time would tell, but Alex hoped that even if things weren't 'easier' going forward, they would be easier to handle with this solid base of operations established for them.

As he took a bit of the startlingly tasty meal-bun, he let out a sigh of contentment.

Life had taken an unexpected turn, but he thought that he might just be able to get used to this.

Now, if only everyone within their base felt the same.

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