"Okay... It's nice that you rely on me for once, but, right now, I would really like your input," Ava complained. "Even if I have read a lot of books, the only thing it tells me is what choice would be the most convenient for the plot. Brainstorming time! What do we need?"

"Food, water, clothes, shelter," Alice began counting the first thoughts that came to her mind.

"Better weapons, information, some kind of armor... Helmets!" Ava continued.

"Communication. People? Family! Your parents were on vacation, right? What about your brother?"

"Hawaii. My parents should be in Hawaii right now. No idea how we could get to them. My little bro is still at school. What about you?"

"No idea where my mom is at right now. Her agency sends her all over town all the time. The best chance would be to wait for her at home. My brother should be on a school trip in New York right now. It's close enough, but there is no way that we get there without preparation. And I also don't know where he is going to be exactly."

"Okay... What do we know? What do we need to know?" Ava continued asking questions.

"What can we do? I'm a Necromancer and Warrior, but for now, all I can do is sense souls and apparently collect them. That's also how I found you so quickly, by the way."

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Soul collection Lv 1

1 Mana per soul.

Collect souls within a 1m radius.

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"Necromancer? Interesting choice. What are you missing? Just the corpses or the Skill to make undead as well?"

"Both."

"Okay. I'm a Shadow Assassin and Ranger. For now, all I can do is teleport between shadows over a short distance and move faster for short periods. And I have a stealth stat."

Alice looked at her friend. Ava was many things, but sneaky was not one of them, in Alice experience at least.

Well, she has the right size at least, Alice thought with a grin.

"Oi, don't look at me like that. I know what you are thinking!"

"Anyways. Monsters, where are they? Or did that message just mess with us?"

"No idea. But if I had to guess, then they would have to come from somewhere. In most stories, they just appear all over the place from one moment to the next, but if they come from some kind of dungeon or something like that, it would make a lot more sense. At least in my opinion."

"That means, operate under the assumption they are real but do nothing criminal until their existence is confirmed," Alice concluded.

"Sounds sensible enough. Now, where do we get the stuff we need? Lawrence shopping center? But we can't rely on public transportation or cars, who knows how long roads and railways are going to survive. And it's over an hour on foot if we even find the way."

"Well, your stats should have increased as well, right? I can already feel that I'm stronger and have more stamina, so it shouldn't be too bad, right?"

"But shopping centers are most of the time monster hotspots."

"Stop complaining. We can't really get around it, and we won't know until we get there. But, I have an idea! There is a bike shop close to here, isn't there? Oh! We can also check in at Mikey's!"

"Mikey's?" Ava asked.

"He mostly sells old computer parts for cheap, but he also has some other stuff. My thoughts were power banks, solar and aqua chargers, and walkie-talkies. And I mean the real kind that work over kilometers, not the cheap plastic-shit you give children to play with."

"How the hell are you so good at this? I'm totally panicking here!"

"No, you are not. You are enjoying yourself, and I don't blame you for it. You know how good I am at putting stuff off? I'm going to count on you when I DO have a nervous breakdown."

It wasn't that her friend was some kind of survival enthusiast. Rather, Alice knew that the girl loved fantasy, generally weird stuff, and even tried to summon demons several times just in case it ended up working. Most of the time, Ava's rituals involved the smoking of weed, and Alice didn't have anything against fun time.

And the reason why Alice didn't blame Ava for having fun, despite the severity of the current situation was simple. She might be overly excitable and able to have fun in a situation where it could be pretty inappropriate, but the girl also knew when fun time was over and she had to be serious. And in such a situation, Alice couldn't name anyone more reliable than her friend.

"Let's go then. Lead the way!"

"Let's go fast," Alice said as she fell into a light jog, the smaller girl following right behind where she had split the crowd.

The plaza was getting more crowded, so Alice led them outside the campus as quickly as possible, where they then continued down the sidestreets. And only three minutes later, they found themselves at the entrance to the small back alley they had been aiming for.

However, as soon as Alice got a look down the street, she quickly scrambled back. Right there, not far from Mikey's, was something she had hoped she wouldn't get to see for quite some time yet. A monster. Or a monkey that had broken out of the zoo and made a several-hour journey. A monkey with too many knees and elbows and a very pointy stick.

"Monster. I think, at least. What do we do?" Alice asked the redhead.

"Kill it?" "Talk to it?" They answered at the same time.

"Okay, I mean, we could try talking with it. Yeah, jumping straight to murder just because it doesn't look human is probably more than just a little racist, no matter what the system message said," Ava conceded.

"Okay, I'm gonna try talking while you sneak up on it? Think you can do that?"

Ava took a careful look around the corner. "Yeah, it should be doable. No idea how good their senses are, but I should have enough Mana to move through the buildings by teleporting through the walls."

"How long do you think you need to get in position?"

"Don't know? A minute?"

"I give you two. Do you have your smartphone?"

"Obviously."

"Then let's use the stopwatch, so you know when I go out."

"Sure," Ava said as she took out her phone.

Alice counted down, and on zero, they both started their stopwatch.

Ava walked over to the wall of the building and found a spot in the shadows. Then, her form turned dark and fused into the shadow until it completely disappeared. At the same time, her soul seemed to stretch into and through the wall before it reformed on the other side.

Alice had to give it to her friend. It looked pretty cool and was more than just a little convenient.

Nervously, she looked at her phone. Not even ten seconds had passed, and yet she was already panicking a little, looking up and down the street, just waiting for another monster to jump out and try to attack her. She had no idea why the hell she had suggested something like this. It was stupid and risky, and dangerous, and...

No, she couldn't think like this. She wasn't alone. The monster was. Even if it attacked her, she would just be the diversion for Ava to take it down.

But what if the monster isn't alone? It's not a stretch to assume that.

The next two minutes passed by quickly, and yet, to Alice, they felt like an eternity.

Finally, Alice looked back down on her stopwatch. Two minutes, thirty seconds.

Shit! What if Ava is already coming back because I'm not coming out? Should I still come out? Should I wait for her to come back? Wait... Can Ava even come back the same way? What if she doesn't have enough Mana? How fast does Mana regenerate, if it even does?

She took a deep breath to calm herself down and stepped out from behind the corner, her weapon securely held in her right hand. There was no use fretting. She would trust her friend to stay in position even if she herself got delayed.

The monkey monster still hadn't noticed her, and Alice chose to not say anything until she got closer. For all she knew, that stick it was holding wasn't for poking but for flinging fireballs at her, in which case she would want to have to cover as little distance as possible.

The monster was roughly fifty meters down the street. By the time it turned around, she had covered twenty already.

"Hello! Can you understand me?" Alice asked it.

It cocked its head.

She covered another five meters.

"Can you talk?" she asked.

Five more meters.

"Kikiki! Kuahkiki!" it let out a strange giggle.

At this point, Alice could only assume it wasn't intelligent.

She crossed another five meters, the monster just standing there, looking at her.

"KIKEEEEEK!" the monster suddenly screamed.

That fucking little shit! Alice got furious.

"KAKAKAKA!"

That asshole is laughing at me!

Alice fell into a sprint, her ax ready to swing forward. The monster came bounding in her direction as well.

Just its torso had been about as large as a human child. But its legs and arms were almost three times longer, separated by two knees or elbows. And when it jumped, it flew almost three meters high into the air, coming right at her.

Alice swung. However, the only thing even close to an ax she had ever held was her brother's baseball bat. And trying to hit a moving object was not easy.

She misjudged the distance and swung too late.

The monster barreled right into her chest, almost throwing her over if she hadn't taken a step back to swing. Although the ax head went wide, at least the handle of her ax hit it in the head, throwing it off to the side.

Her chest felt cold.

She ignored it. She had to kill the bastard first.

The monster was lying on the ground about two meters away. Alice took a step closer and lifted her ax. With a splatter and crunch, her weapon sunk into the monster's skull, killing it instantly.

Suddenly, the boiling anger disappeared as quickly as it had come, and all that was left was cold.

Alice stumbled back. Her head felt light.

"Alice. Alice!" Ava sounded worried as she caught her.

Alice looked down. "Oh," was all she could say.

Right in the middle of her chest, there was a wooden stick, the shirt around it slowly turning red with blood.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! There were people in one of the buildings, and they wouldn't let me through! W-what should I do?!" the girl started to panic.

It doesn't matter what you do, Alice thought. She was pretty sure this kind of wound wasn't one she could survive.

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Level Up!

Choose one reward:

+5 Stat points +1 Skill point +1 random Skill +1 random secondary Stat Class-primary affinity +5% Class-secondary affinity +5%

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This is?

Half delirious, she went over her options. Higher stats wouldn't save her. Neither could her current skills. She had no idea what Class affinity even did, and she didn't think a new Stat could do much either.

That left only one choice.

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Reward: Skill

Undead constitution Lv 1

1 Soul energy per 5 minutes

Temporarily turn undead.

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With her last thought, Alice willed herself to collect the monkey monster's soul, followed by the activation of her new Skill.

Almost instantly, her mind cleared up. Her body felt cold and numb, the pain in her chest only a distant feeling that something wasn't quite right.

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Name: Alice Liddell

Level: 1

Class-primary: Necromancer 70,1%

Class-secondary: Warrior 78,2%

Resources:

Stamina: 11/15

Mana: 14/15

Soul energy: 0/10

Primary Stats:

Muscle-density: 15

Stamina: 15

Mana: 15

Magic power: 15

Secondary Stats:

Soul energy: 10

Skills:

Soul collection Lv 1

Soul sense Lv 1

Undead constitution Lv 1

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

She ignored most of it. The only important thing right now was that her Soul energy was at zero again. That monkey’s soul had given her only one energy, meaning that she only had five more minutes to find a way to save herself.

She was living on borrowed time. Or rather, un-living I assume. She smiled wryly at her terrible pun, deciding not to share it.

Alice ripped the wooden stake out of her chest. It may have not been the best idea, but the object annoyed her too much to leave it there. At least, it made her look badass.

"W-what?!" Ava exclaimed.

"I'm fine for now. I just got a Skill that allows me to temporarily turn undead, but I only have five more minutes. I need to either collect more souls to keep the Skill active longer or level up again and get a Skill that can heal me."

"Really? Oh my god! I thought you died! And it was my fault!"

"Technically, I am dead right now, I am a goddamn zombie. And no, it's not your fault. Calm down! I have five minutes. Did the people that blocked you say anything about where the monster came from?"

"Y-yes. Yes, they did, actually! They said the monster came from down the street."

"Okay," Alice jumped up, "Let's go. Also, be careful. Those little fuckers have some kind of taunt ability. I suddenly got angry at it and then ran in like an idiot."

Alice started to run down the street as fast as she could, instantly realizing that she could run faster than ever before. And despite that, she couldn't feel her breathing get quicker.

No, she realized, I don't need to breathe anymore at all! Of course, a zombie doesn't need to breathe.

Still, she tried her best to keep shallow breathing going, fearing what might happen if she didn't, and then stopped being undead. For all she knew, she would come back to life only to suffocate because there wasn't a single shred of oxygen in her blood. She didn’t understand enough about biology to even remotely guess at the long-term consequences of becoming a zombie. Even if it stayed at five minutes.

Quickly, she came to the T-junction at the end of the street and looked left. There was nothing. At least as far as she could see. She looked right. And there they were.

Alice ran right at the two monkeys, Ava right behind her. As soon as they came within fifteen-meter distance, the monkeys screamed.

However, this time Alice was prepared. When she knew it was coming, the sudden anger wasn't as much of a problem anymore, not to mention that she already was furious at the little shits, so it didn't change much.

Suddenly, a black shadow with a streak of fiery red shot by on Alice's left in the same instant that a kitchen knife appeared in the throat of the left monkey.

The other didn't notice it, and just like the first, jumped straight at Alice. This time, she didn't miss. The heavy ax head dug deep into the monster's side, while Alice caught her opponent's weapon with her left hand.

The monster screamed, and Alice kicked it in the chest, pulling her weapon out only to swing it at the monkey's head in the next motion.

The monster's body slumped to the ground while its soul kept floating in the air. It was dead. Quickly, Alice collected the two souls, each one giving her another point of Soul energy. She had ten more minutes.

"Nice Skill, Ava," Alice commented. Her friend had quite the impressive speed indeed.

"Also, I think the taunt has a range of about fifteen meters. These two used it at about the same range as the first one did."

"Good to know," her friend appeared a moment later from behind the bushes. Ava was trying to play it cool, but Alice could still see some vomit on the girl's chin. Alice scratched her own to make her friend subtly aware of it.

Ava's physical reaction was completely understandable to Alice. The only reason she assumed she hadn't reacted in the same way was that she currently didn't have any physical reactions in general.

"Do you need more?" the redhead asked, now not quite as energetic.

"Yeah. But no idea how many. And you?"

"Improved the Skill I just used. As awesome as the teleportation Skill is, the whole shadow-to-shadow restriction is problematic, and the process is a little slow."

"Okay, let's find the next group. And this time, please only interfere if it's necessary. Every soul I collect costs me Mana, and I don't know how much Mana I'm going to need to heal myself if I can even get a Skill like that."

"Yeah, I will take care of that.. I think I can hear more of them down this way."

The two girls started running in the direction Ava had indicated, and soon Alice could hear it too. But the screaming of the monkeys wasn't all. There were also screams that were distinctly human interrupted by the rhythmical honking of a car.

"Sounds like three of them?" Alice asked for confirmation.

"I think so."

"You go too. No need to take risks when lives are at stake."

Before Alice could say anything more, they turned around the corner and were greeted by what they had more or less expected. A family of three was sitting in their car, which in turn was besieged by three of the monkeys.

"You go first. I only have one more in me," Ava said as she fell back.

Alice understood and went into a full-on sprint. There was one monkey on the left of the car, while the other two were on top and in front of it, respectively.

It was at that moment that the car suddenly began to set back, the man behind the wheel apparently not having looked back, else he would have known that he was about to hit Alice.

However, it didn't matter. Rather, it caused the monkey on top to stumble. In the last moment, Alice jumped, stepped on the trunk, on the roof, and swung her ax low where it got buried in the monkey's neck.

She jumped again, this time at the last monkey. However, her weapon was wedged in deep, ripping out of her hand and causing her to stumble.

Something black and red streaked by, eliciting a fountain of red from both remaining monkeys at almost the same time before coming to a stop right behind Alice, catching her.

"You fine there?" Ava asked with a nonchalant grin on her face.

Before Alice could comment, the car honked again, rushing in their direction. In the last moment, the smaller girl managed to jump out of the way, dragging Alice with her.

"You motherfucking asshole! We save your fucking lives, and this is how you thank us!?" the girl screamed after the car that was already turning around the next corner.

"Motherfucker ruined my entrance! You okay?"

"Yeah. I am. Now let's see how lucky I am."

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Level Up!

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