The three players in the gym quietly checked the rewards they received from this daring mission.

John and Ian each got 3 disposable attribute points, which was a lot for players at their stage. Shaw didn't know what attributes they spent those points upgrading, and she didn't care. It was irrelevant to her.

As always, Shaw focused her attention on herself. She received the three points as well, and she added them all to her Reflex. In her experience, it was more important to be able to hit the enemies than to be able to hit harder. Of course, a decent strength was required to act on the superior reflexes, so if someone only upgraded their reflex...it would only mean they could see death coming a lot clearer.

The three points were good, but what truly impressed Shaw was the unknown reward the optional mission promised for the one who got the kill.

Congratulations, player! You have completed an Optional Mission!

Congratulations, player! You have received a new ability: Fortify.

Shaw tapped the ability name and opened its description. What she saw made her smile a little.

Ability Name: Fortify

Category: Passive

Effect: 20% reduction to all damage received by the player.

This was a passive damage reduction ability, and it really made all the fighting against the headless horseman worth it. Shaw had worked with these abilities before, but during her last life, it took her months before getting a similar ability, and that was an active ability with only 10% reduction. This...this was truly valuable. In fact, this was priceless. The headless horseman was absurdly powerful at this stage of the game, and this ability fully justified the difficulty.

At this point, her character interface became this.

Amy Shaw

Level 3 (770 / 800)

Strength: 25

Reflex: 29

Regeneration: 16

Psychic: 0

Disposable Attribute Point: 0

Developer Comment: Still Garbage. Better Garbage, but Garbage Nonetheless.

Career: Warrior

Sub-Class: None

Abilities: Charge. Fortify.

It was an impressive profile. Shaw was a single kill away from level 4, at which point she would be able to upgrade her attributes by 5 more points. Her reflex was three times that of an average human, and both of her abilities were extremely useful. Most impressively, this was barely an hour into the Launch. She could be the most powerful player on this planet right now.

“So...now what?” As the three finished checking their rewards, Ian turned to Shaw. “Do we just each go our separate ways? Or perhaps...”

Shaw knew exactly what Ian was hoping for. Shaw was clearly tougher and way more experienced than the two of them, and joining forces with her would be a lot safer and easier for them. To the disappointment of both boys, Shaw simply shook her head. She didn't need these two players, and staying with them could only hinder her progress.

“I wish you the best of luck in the future, Mr. Dyson.” She waved her hand as she headed for the door, ignoring the dismayed look on the face of the two players. “And…” On her way out, she suddenly paused. “And I hope you find your sister. Good luck.”

With that said, Shaw quickly left the gym.

Shaw quickly took a trip to the bathroom. She really looked like shit. Her hair was filled with bits and pieces of blood and gore, and more than a few strands were turned red by blood. The undead horseman landed a lot of hits on her, tearing through her clothes and flesh alike. She had to take off her t-shirt and change into another shirt she got from one of the dead students she came across.

It was times like this that made Shaw hope she would loot an armor soon. In her last life, the armor she wore for the last five years was capable of healing itself and offered her extra strength and speed in addition to protection...not that it was able to save her life.

Thankfully, the wounds didn't look like they were infected. Her Career and levels were so much more than just extra strength and speed. They also made fundamental changes to her body. In the future, high-level players would be able to last for a long time without food, water, or oxygen. They would be able to enjoy extended longevity and improved stamina alike. It was no wonder some players saw themselves as gods instead of humans.

Shaw spent a few minutes washing her hair and examining her wounds. She wasn’t germaphobic, and people who had trouble with messy situations wouldn’t last long in the future, but she preferred to be as clean as the situation permitted. She had a lot of fights coming up, and she wanted to face them with her best status.

By the time she was done, her hair had been tied into a neat ponytail. With the Silver Sword in her hand and a no-nonsense look on her face, she looked like a valkyrie about to ride into battle.

Even as she was cleaning herself up, Shaw had been going over her plan. She knew from memory that across the next few days, the survivors of this school would slowly come together and form a single group, led by a few players of the highest level. Step by step, they would do their best to fortify the school while venturing outside to look for food, medicine, and other much-needed resources. A lot of people, including players who have leveled up already, would be killed in the process. This would continue for a few months until the survivors were evacuated to a local camp by a military rescue operation. Even then, many would fall on the way. Last time, this was what happened to Shaw for the first few months.

Now, she could stay here and help safeguard the survivors. With her help, the casualty rate of these survivors would be kept at a minimal rate. A lot of lives would be saved. Perhaps she could even build up her own faction this way. But...but this wasn’t what Shaw wanted. She could save tens of thousands of lives, and none of that would matter when the Developers inevitably turn against them. No...at the highest level, numbers meant very little. Quantity no longer mattered as much as quality. For her to have something of a fighting chance, she needed to level up. A lot.

And she couldn’t do that while being a babysitter.

Instead, her plan was simple. She would leave this school and venture out into the wild alone, where she would go up against some of the deadliest NPCs in this game. If she won, she would become more powerful than she ever was. If she lost...at least her fight would be over, hopefully.

Make no mistake. Shaw was not a psychopath. She didn't enjoy seeing humans butchered, and she definitely didn't like leaving innocent people behind, knowing many of them would be dead soon. Yet in the end, she had no choice. In order for her, and humanity, to have a fighting chance, she had to make hard choices. Choices like this one.

After leaving the bathroom, Shaw made her way to the school’s dining hall. She encountered plenty of monsters on the way, and none of them could stop her. By the time she arrived at her destination, her Silver Sword and her clothes alike had already been soaked in blood.

The Launch occurred before noon, and only a few students were in the dining hall. They were unlucky enough to have a spawning spot right next to them, and by the time Shaw arrived and took care of the monsters, these poor souls were long gone.

The kitchen was no better. A dozen workers were there when the Launch went down. They were preparing meals for the students, and when the monsters showed up all around them, they themselves became the meal. The entire kitchen had been turned into a slaughterhouse by the time Shaw wandered in.

Once again, unfortunate, but not entirely surprising. Slaughters like this were unfolding around the world. None was safe.

The young woman proceeded to go through all the cabinets, refrigerators, and storage rooms, searching for all the food she could find. Her findings were...a little disappointing. The food supply in the kitchen was designed for a handful of meals for five thousand people. It sounded like a lot, but even if only one thousand people in the school survived the onslaught, it would barely be enough to last them two days, excluding the food that had been damaged or contaminated by the monsters. Within a few days at most, the survivors would be forced to move into the deadly wild to satiate their hunger.

After some thoughts, Shaw left most of the food in the kitchen. She only took some energy drinks and packaged food, enough to last her for two days. The players’ personal storage space could hold a lot of things without weighing the players down, and technically, she could take everything in here without repercussions. Still, Shaw was confident she would be able to find additional resources very soon. In that case, there was no reason to further sabotage the chances of these survivors.

As she was finishing up, Shaw sensed a message from her interface.

Congratulations, player! You have completed the Mandatory Mission!

Congratulations, player! You have received three Disposable Attribute Points.

She had already reached level 4 when she carved her way to the kitchen. This granted her another five points, resulting in the interface below.

Amy Shaw

Level 4 (180 / 1600)

Strength: 25

Reflex: 29

Regeneration: 16

Psychic: 0

Disposable Attribute Point: 8

Developer Comment: Still Garbage. Better Garbage, but Garbage Nonetheless.

Career: Warrior

Sub-Class: None

Abilities: Charge. Fortify.