Chapter 14-New Kid

“Hey there, thanks for the help there, I wasn’t sure if we could have killed those boars before the zombies got to us otherwise. I didn’t even know that those zombies were there until you did that weird tentacle shit. And really? Leather Lady?” The swashbuckler is the first to talk.

‘She seems to be nice and outgoing, and she asked the last question in a playful manner telling me she doesn’t mind the name and isn’t mad, which is nice. She is also very relaxed and not on guard against me.'

“We would have defeated those boars without issue. We didn’t need help.” The woman in the armor immediately reacts in a defensive manner, and is tense, giving the impression that she would attack if Eric did something wrong.

‘Note to self, be careful around her, but seriously, did she not see how their caster would have probably died without my intervention? She didn’t mention the zombies at all, maybe she agrees that they couldn’t have dealt with those in this circumstance.’

“I am sure you wouldn’t have had any issue with the situation, all I did was try to ease the burden, there is no need to risk your lives if it isn’t necessary.” Eric tries to say this in a neutral non-condescending manner as to not anger this woman. She looks very dangerous with that bloody mace in her hand.

“I admit that leather lady isn’t the best way to call you, but I didn’t know your name, and that was the first thing that came to mind. My name is Eric, what are all of your names?”

“My name is Anna, and I don’t mind Leather Lady, but others might get the wrong idea if you call me that in front of others.” She says with a wink.

Eric doesn’t know what to do with that, but luckily the big man starts to speak. His voice is one of the deepest that he has ever heard, fitting for the giant.

“My name Bruce, thank you for your help, it was more dangerous than we expected, and those zombies would have forced us to retreat. Don’t mind Claire here, she is very prideful and doesn’t like to lose.” He is relaxed and not on guard against me, he talks more as if we have all been friends for years.

‘I don’t think you could have retreated, at least not safely but I don’t know what you can do so I won’t argue with him. He also looks to have quite a bit of pride himself, so I won’t anger the giant of a man.’

“I’m not prideful, I know we could have handled that, with difficulty but we would have managed. As you just heard my name is Claire, Claire White.”

‘She is clearly hostile towards me, which is unfair as I didn’t harm her and only helped. Better try to mollify her when I can.’

“Thanks for saving me, I didn’t know what I could have done as that boar charged me, I didn’t have any mana left to use. My name is Alastor.” The spell caster is a small kid, about a head smaller than Eric and doesn’t seem to have any confidence, especially after failing as he did.

‘His name practically screams magician at me.’

“No need to thank me, maybe at some point you will return the favor and help me.” Eric uses the opportunity to analyze all of them.

Name Anna Johnson Level 4 Race Human HP 43/158 Description: The human is considered the average humanoid in every aspect. There is nothing of particular note about them, no noticeable strengths or weakness. The only interesting thing about them is how average they are. Name Bruce Raynor Level 4 Race Human HP 101/248 Description: The human is considered the average humanoid in every aspect. There is nothing of particular note about them, no noticeable strengths or weakness. The only interesting thing about them is how average they are. Name Claire White Level 5 Race Human HP 274/274 Description: The human is considered the average humanoid in every aspect. There is nothing of particular note about them, no noticeable strengths or weakness. The only interesting thing about them is how average they are. Name Alastor Faubrey Level 3 Race Human HP 85/96 Description: The human is considered the average humanoid in every aspect. There is nothing of particular note about them, no noticeable strengths or weakness. The only interesting thing about them is how average they are.

‘So they are all about my level, but three of them are melees and at this distance, I would have no chance if it came to a fight, even with mana, but really, will I always have to see the insulting description about humans when I analyze humans?’

“Soooo, what are you doing out here?” Anna pulls Eric out of my thoughts with that question.

“I am trying to find other people since this started I haven’t seen anyone and only encountered monsters.”

“Well you are in luck then, we are out here looking for both supplies and other people. This is not a time to be alone, we need to band together to survive this new world.” Bruce says this with a kind smile on his face Eric has the impression that Bruce thinks that Eric desperately needs his protection and is looking at him as if he is weak. That might simply be Eric’s impression because of the size difference, Bruce is literally looking down at Eric, so he won’t judge him poorly for a possible misconception.

“It is already getting late, we should head back if you want to come with us then follow.” Even though Claire invites Eric to join them her facial expression and tone indicate she would want nothing more than for him to decline.

Eric notices how the others are looking at her oddly as if her attitude is not normal towards strangers.

‘It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t like me, I need a group for protection, otherwise, I will die.’

“Thank you, I would gladly come with you, where are we heading?”

“We are going to the church, it is where we have set up a base and there are others there who we have found.”

Excited about a possibly large group that all help and support each other Eric eagerly walks with them.

Clair moves to the front of the group with Anna behind her, then comes Eric, behind Eric is Alastor, and behind him bringing up the rear is Bruce. From a strategy perspective, it makes sense to have the fighters surround the casters.

'But why travel in a line and not as a group?'

“Here, so that we can share the experience.”

Accept party invite from Anna?

Yes No

Eric facial expression must have told Anna all she needed to know as she smirks at him, asking “Didn’t know you could form parties? We don’t know what kind of benefits there are but as far as we can tell experience is shared amongst all of us, not just the one who killed something. To form and add someone to a party you simply need to think ‘Add blank to party’ and the other person gets the prompt.”

Eric selects yes and then suddenly he sees the name, level, and health of other members of the party on the top left of his vision. As if he had a kind of hud the list moves with his view, not like a screen which is fixed in space.

“Neat”

“I know right. Some find it bothersome at the start, but it is very useful when in a fight to estimate how the fight is going without looking around. Level 4, not bad, and you were all alone this entire time.”

“Probably only ever had to fight lone enemies,” Claire remarks condescendingly. Eric is truly starting to get pissed at her, he didn’t do anything to her.

“Oh, shut it, Claire.” Anna comes to Eric’s defense. “Even if he only fought single enemies, that is dangerous enough, especially for a spellcaster, without mana they don’t have an attack and at close range, they can’t do much either.”

“Not to mention, in our fight earlier he did manage to kill 2 boars while preventing 3 zombies from approaching, and then proceeded to kill one zombie, and all that in the time we killed three boars,” Alastor told Claire, not below admitting that Eric’s achievement is impressive.

“Thank you, but all you had weakened the boars quite a bit so that they went down in one hit, normally I need about two hits to kill an enemy, so the only reason I managed that was because of the work all of you did. If anything, I took your kills and experience.”

Hoping to prevent an argument Eric tries to place the credit on the others, while he doesn’t like Claire he doesn’t need her to be angrier at him. Claire simply turns her face forward so Eric cannot judge if he said the right thing or not.

“It was still impressive, I can’t use my magic to cause harm, so I need a party to deal the damage, so far I am a support, but I hope I learn damaging spells soon, my class description says that I have powerful support capabilities and ways to deal massive damage.”

“So what is your class, it is obviously a spellcaster, one with a darker tone, maybe a dark or shadow mage?” Anna asks without any concern about the near argument the happened earlier.

Eric is not thrilled about telling his class to people when one of them clearly dislikes him.

“There hasn’t been enough time to formulate new rules of politeness, but if you are asking someone’s class, shouldn’t you tell yours first?” Eric asks with a confident smile on his face.

‘I’m surprised how casual I can talk to Anna, she is absolutely beautiful, but I did just save her, so my confidence must be through the roof.’

Base Stat increase

Charisma +1

Eric can only stare at the screen dumbfounded. ‘Where did that come from? ’

Eric's Status Screen

Status Screen

Name Eric King Level 4 Age 19 Strength 13(0) Gender Male Constitution 12(0) Race Human Dexterity 14(0) Class Warlock Agility 14(0) Profession - Intelligence 29(2) HP 114/114 Wisdom 22(2) Mana 296/296 Charisma 12(0)