Sebastian had never much been one for violence, even if the higher than average physical stats said otherwise. Working odd jobs can do wonders for your physique sometimes, and strength is often better for lifting something than punching a hole in someone’s face.

He couldn’t deny, however, that a weapon would definitely make things easier for him in the long and short term. Maybe a pugilist would be okay going barehanded, but Sebastian definitely wouldn’t mind putting some distance between himself and a monster.

As much as he wished he could have a gun to further that distance even more, he knew that was all it would be, a wish. As Texan as the name Dallas sounded, the store didn’t sell any guns. Just food. Food being a great thing to have at the moment either way.

Anything remotely close to a weapon was piled up in front of him, and a few people were watching the pile at all times. There was Mark, a rather quiet man that Sebastian had worked a few shifts with. It let them get along quite well, to be honest. No one asking questions.

Beside Mark was Blake. A lot louder than Mark, but he was intuitive and knew when to stop talking, a trait Sebastian greatly appreciated. With a quick Identify, he knew both their levels. He almost wanted to be surprised.

[Mark Welles, no title]

[Human, Lv. 3]

[Blake Daniels, no title]

[Human, Lv. 3]

It seemed the guards were shifted out quite often, or there was no way these two would be Lv. 3 each by guarding the weapons. He gave them both a nod of appreciation, and then finally crouched down to examine the weapons.

You can’t expect much from a supermarket. Most of these weapons were kitchen knives, or randomly welded pieces of metal that people made by overestimating themselves.

There were ‘spears’ made by taking a wooden pole and taping a knife blade to the end. Fire axes, halberds made with a mix of the two. Whoever did this was either fucking around or was weirdly confident. Sebastian laughed a little bit. He had no way of differentiating what was better, and he had no preference himself.

Actually..

[Skills]

[Identify]

Sebastian laughed a little bit. Surely if Identify could figure out people levels, it might be able to evaluate items. With newfound vigor, he stared at a ‘spear’ in the pile. Identify!

Nothing.

He froze, before putting his hand out in the direction of the spear. Identify!

Nope.

Identify! He put both hands out towards the spear.

Non.

He ignored the weird looks given to him by the guard duo. He didn’t think anything was wrong with what he was doing. Not at all! Maybe he just had to touch it? Still crouched down, he placed his palm on the ‘spear’ within the pile. Identify!

[Inferior Patchwork Spear]

[A wooden stick matched together with a knife and tape. I’d be more worried about the one holding it than the one it’s pointed at.]

A fair evaluation. Sebastian laughed a little. Just when he was about to dismiss the description by removing his hand, his eyes narrowed. I’d? He read over the text again.

[Inferior Patchwork Spear]

[A wooden stick matched together with a knife and tape. You should be more worried about the one holding it than the one it’s pointed at.]

He stared at the text again as his brow furrowed. He could have sworn it said ‘I’d’. Now that he thought about it, the system called itself Scorn at the beginning. Said that was its name..

Sebastian sighed. Either he was seeing things, or this system was even more complicated than he thought. Ultimately, he didn’t want to care about the implications of either option, so he kept going through the different weapons in the pile and identifying them.

[Metal Pipe]

[Inferior Knife]

[Inferior Patchwork Sword]

[Inferior Patchwork Spear]

[Inferior Saber]

[A patchwork weapon made with just enough quality to be barely considered an actual Saber, Made using welded metal, the blade is heavy, somewhat durable, and meant for slashing.]

Oh? Sebastian picked up the one weapon not considered patchwork amongst the pile. It was as ‘Scorn’ said, the blade was heavy. It could be sharper, but the heft gave it enough force to cut anyways. The blade itself was around 30 inches long, give or take. Definitely forged together with a few different knives.

“Who made this one?” He lifted the Saber up high, before bringing it back down. No sheath or belt to hold it, so he’d have to make due by carrying it around, maybe resting it on his shoulder. Bandaged Bladesman sounds badass.

“That one was made by Rich. It was the last one he made.” Blake chirped up, happy to finally talk.

“He made all of these?”

“Just most of them, not sure who else made the rest. We ran out of stuff to weld and a lot of people were okay just using pipes and boards as weapons.”

Sebastian nodded. Rich was an unfamiliar name, but it seems he got to know the others at some point tonight. Was probably shopping or nearby when the light struck. He rested the Inferior Saber against his shoulder and walked out front where Dallas was waiting for him once again.

“You chose that hefty thing?” The bulky man rose a brow, some curiosity in his gaze.

“Just had a good feeling about it.”

“You had a good feeling? You still the Sebastian who worked for me?”

“A few new bits and pieces.” He laughed slightly. The weapon gave him a little more confidence as he moved to walk towards the crowd, following his old employer.

“Must be some good bits and pieces if they’ve got you feeling good.”

“Just a nifty little skill called Identify.”

Dallas froze in his steps for a moment, as if realization had dawned on him. Clearly no one in the group had the idea to identify the items too. To be fair, most normal people probably wouldn’t. It’s still a stretch to be identifying people and Corrupted Squirrels.

“Found the diamond in the rough then, eh?” The bulky man gave a dejected sigh as he walked. He himself just had a pair of knuckle dusters, something he clearly owned and treasured before The Light.

“I’m putting you with a group of Lv. 1s and 2s. You’re the only one there who’s fought alone, even if it was by running away, so you’ve probably still got more sense than any one of them.”

Sebastian nodded. Assuming every animal in the city was corrupted, you’d be damned if you went anywhere alone. In all honesty, everyone at the supermarket got lucky. If it was anywhere else, they’d have a limited amount of food and water before having to go right into the corrupted city alone.

Everyone at Dallas’ Deals though had dozens if not hundreds of people as back up, and enough food to last for a while. Not only that, they have the people to defend it.

It didn’t take long for him to meet his group of five, his presence being the sixth. Without much care, he quickly identified them all.

[Mariah Watson, no title]

[Human, Lv 1.]

[Jacob Maxwell]

[Human, Lv. 2]

[Human, Lv. 1]

[Human, Lv. 1]

[Human, Lv. 2]

The group itself wasn’t that weak or strong. Easily enough to wipe out the group of squirrels that chased after him previously. He memorized only two of their names before deciding he’d just filter them, something Scorn seemed to help with as it stopped showing the name and just the level.

He did his best to converse with the group during the walk to their area, albeit poorly. He shook hands with Mariah, the apparent leader of the group despite not being the higher level. Her Perception was apparently really high, which lead to her knowing where things were before they got ambushed. Mostly just squirrels, but still helped avoid unnecessary danger.

Jacob especially seemed defensive of her, standing a few steps behind her no matter what. It seemed like Jacob had been at the front when they almost got ambushed by squirrels and, disbelieving in Mariah’s warning, got himself rather fucked up when he got attacked by five of the damn things at once.

The supermarket itself had a few different places to patrol. The highest level and strongest group patrolled the area near the Park, whilst the lowest patrolled near the industrial area.

As such, it didn’t take long for Sebastian to see an empty street, devoid of life as they reached their patrol zone.

“Dallas told us to barricade this road so we can move the manpower over to more important areas.” Mariah spoke up quickly, her voice carrying the small amount of authority she’s cultivated since The Light. “Two people stay here-”

Jacob quickly tugged on her sleeve, an action that got him a small glare in response. “Jacob and I will stay here. Saber and Spear go into the buildings on the left, Sword and Knife go to the right.” She looked around for any objections.

Apparently the area was cleared pretty thoroughly, so the group was just meant to drag anything heavy we could find from the buildings, what seemed like offices to some companies in the area.

‘Spear’ as she was called by Mariah, was a woman with no particular features to speak of. Average height, blonde, a face some could consider cute. Her eyes, however, had a very distinct anger to them that reminded him of an old acquaintance, in ways both good and bad.

“I take the front, you watch my back?” Sebastian spoke quickly before making his way into the building, clearly not actually wanting an answer,

He had a feeling power had gone out in the city, with not a single thing working so far that’s been built for electricity. Even since the crash, all of the lamps were broken, though he wasn’t sure it was for the same reason.

He learned during the earlier conversation during their way here that perception was a good attribute to have, but Sebastian also felt it could be made up for in other ways. Whilst it might be more tiring, he could achieve the same effect by paying more attention wherever he went, even if it meant sometimes overanalyzing things.

Desks, cabinets, and shelving units filled his vision almost immediately upon entering. Assuming the other building was the same, they easily had enough to block off the whole road. Would it stop things from climbing over, or from simply powering through? Maybe not

It was still a good idea to barricade it and hope it would deter any corrupted creatures though.

The two were much more relaxed once they figured out the building was safe. Spear had a strap for her, well, spear; he had no such thing. It led to Sebastian having to push or pick everything up with only one hand whilst Spear definitely put more work in.

On the other hand, it meant one of them still had their weapon ready.

Back and forth they went, carrying desks, cabinets and shelves out into the street. Sebastian had to admit he felt a little dissatisfied at the two just resting in the middle of the road, but at least they made sure they didn’t get snuck up on.

Dissatisfied, but safe. That’s how he thought about it.

With all four ‘workers’ having a few extra attributes, the job progressed rather easily. Sebastian himself benefited from his improved Constitution, he hadn’t felt tired the entire time.

Everyone else’s physique and strength was improved somewhat as well, as no one had figured out a purpose for wisdom and intelligence yet, so physical stats were prioritized. With this boost in efficiency, it only took them a few hours to completely barricade the road.

The barricade has some small openings or gaps here and there, but nothing big enough for anything like one of those damned squirrels. Spear, Sword and Knife, as Mariah called them, all cheered. Even Sebastian felt like cheering with them a little bit as they were hit by daybreak and they were covered by the golden light of dawn.

It was only when Sebastian saw Mariah’s worried look that he forced himself to calm down, before a frown covered his face. After a few seconds, Mariah looked at them all with a look of concern and worry.

“None of you hear the footsteps?”