9 Chapter 9: Soul Vision and Possible Survivor?

A blob of transparent light was raising out of the ground in a strangely familiar spot. Lucas remembered that spot. It was the place Susan had died...

"What the Hell?" Lucas muttered as he approached the blob and looked at it closer.

It looked to be made out of some sort of membrane that was slightly see-through that showed thousands of screaming faces on the inside. It was a strange milky white color that seemed to reek of death.

It was then that Lucas realized something. There was a name tag floating above its head. It didn't say a name in particular but did exactly what Lucas expected of <Ancient Sense>.

<Age: 4 days old / LV: 4 / Rarity: Common>

'Four days...' Lucas thought in his head as he realized it happened on the day that Susan had died.

'This must be her spirit. It feels strange to see it. It's almost like a secret that wasn't ever meant to be seen. Kind of creepy too.'

Lucas approached the strange creature and attempted to touch it for only his hand to go through it harmlessly.

'I suppose the <Sight of Nyx> Only provided me with Soul Sight, not Soul Touch.' Lucas pondered as the soul slowly levitated through the floor towards the ceiling and shortly thereafter through it.

Lucas felt a well of emotions cross over him as he looked at the spirit leaving his room.

"Guess I won't ever have to pay rent again..." Lucas said out loud with a sigh before looking back to his skill panel to see what exactly his new skill did.

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<Fortify: Rarity: Tier: 2 / LV: 1 / Rarity: Very Rare>: Requirement: Evolve the <Improved Fortify> skill and have already used <Improved Fortify> On one item.

With strength and precision, you can improve objects to make them more durable. By spending a large amount of stamina(That regenerates slower than normal stamina drain) you can make an object that is no heavier than 200 pounds 40 times as durable and 5 times as stronger/sharper. Using this on a previously <Fortified> Item costs less stamina than if using it on a brand new item. In addition to the previous benefits, you also increase the rarity of the item by one rank no matter the current rarity, but depending on the current rarity is the cost changes exponentially per Rank improved.

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'Nice!' Lucas thought as he pondered at what item he could <Fortify> Next.

'I have a limit of 200 pounds now! That's just crazy. Maybe I <Fortify> something like a big rock or big sword or something' Lucas imagined as he thought of all the possibilities.

'I think I will stick with <Night Bat> for now though I suppose I could improve it though I would need some special material...' Lucas thought while deciding to do something that may be dangerous.

Lucas looked at the remainder of his gear and decided it was time to absorb the rest of the bodies in the building.

---

It took hours and hours to search through the wreckage to give the people in the building a proper 'Burial'. Even though it wasn't a real burial Lucas had seen with his own eyes that Susan's soul remained intact. This means that it would be better than being left to rot.

After finding approximately 24 people in the apartment complex he had gained some benefits.

He didn't know most of the people since he was relatively new to the area and the people he knew were not necessarily 'good' people. They were people who sold drugs and met ends meet by doing things that were looked at with shame. But Lucas still felt some guilt as he disintegrated their bodies.

Either way, Lucas had gained something more valuable than their bodies and their burial... He had gained more power. He saved all the notifications until the last body which was a young lady who happened to be a single mom who made ends meet by doing odd jobs around town. She was in a similar situation to Lucas and was perhaps one of the only good people in the building, but nonetheless, Lucas absorbed her but he did notice something in the process.

Her kids were not there. She had two young boys that were probably around the age of toddlers and they were quite noisy but they always brought a smile to Lucas's face as he saw them and their innocent nature.

'Hmm... I have a bad feeling about this. Perhaps they got eaten?' Lucas thought as his mind immediately went to the worst scenario.

Lucas looked away from the body he just absorbed in shame as he realized what the woman had likely gone through.

He turned away from the final room and opened his notifications ready to move forward with his life.

<User has absorbed 24 individuals. All individuals were LV: 0. The user has gained 240 XP and has gained some common skills. Two duplicate common skills were found. Automatically leveling up the following common skills: <Dodge> Leveled to LV:3 / <Tough Skin> leveled to LV:2>

<Common skills pending: 3>

'Open new common skills and descriptions' Lucas thought sadly.

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<Basic Hand to Hand Combat Proficiency: Tier 0 / LV: 1 / Rarity: Common> Requirement: ABSORBED

The way of the fist is the only way! 5% improved learning speed when using Hand to Hand techniques as well as a 5% improvement in speed and damage while using your body to fight.

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<Fear Resistance: Tier 0 / LV: 1 / Rarity: Common> Requirement: ABSORBED.

Run little baby run… or not. You are 5% less likely to be feared by effects that cause the condition <Fear>.

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<Sprint: Tier 0 / LV: 1 / Rarity: Common> Requirement: ABSORBED.

You can't run away from all of your problems! Actually, you are pretty fast so maybe you can run away from some of them. Increased run speed at the cost of a minor amount of stamina. Run speed bonus is 5%.

---

'Learn the last two. I don't see myself fighting hand to hand anytime soon.' Lucas thought as he imagined himself doing karate moves and looking stupid.

<<Fear Resistance> and <Sprint> skills have been learned>

'Okay. I think I'm done here for now.' Lucas thought as he packed his supplies up in the backpacks he had found and began to head outside.

The air was fresh and the sun was bright outside. There were fewer beasts out but with Lucas's new stealth capabilities he was fairly confident in his ability to stay away from them and as a matter of fact, he did stay away from most of them. And the few he did meet he managed to run away from fairly easily.

'I hope someone is out here.' Lucas thought as the sun started to set. He had made his way a decent distance through the city and had yet to meet any survivors.

Lucas was standing outside of what looked to be a grocery store, though it was nearly unrecognizable compared to what it used to be.

A sign had crashed down to the ground and had been overgrown with vines and debris but what it said was easily readable.

'Mister Goodfree's Goods' It read.

'I have never heard of this place before... must be a new place.' Lucas thought to himself as he carefully made his way through the shattered glass double doors that were presented at the front of the store.

The store was cleared out of any non-perishable goods which was strange.

'Survivors?' Lucas thought as he scanned the isles for anything salvageable but ended up with nothing.

'Man this is some serious bad luck...'

'At least I might be able to make one of the back rooms my makeshift bedroom while I rest through the night.'

Lucas headed through the store and headed towards the back of it and found some push doors that opened up into a massive backroom filled with rows and rows of merchandise that was sadly already picked clean.

'Did people know about this in advance? Who the hell managed to move an entire grocery store's worth of goods?' Lucas thought in disbelief as he continued searching through the boxes of supplies to only come up empty of any electronics and important goods.

'Man there isn't even toilet paper here!' Lucas thought as he realized he had finally run out of the pristine white sheets of paper that were a comfort most people took for granted.

'Now that I think of it even the cash registers were taken clean out of their terminals.'

Lucas ignored his search for supplies and headed towards what looked to be a small break room that had a restroom in it.

"Maybe there is some leftover toilet paper left in the bathroom!" Lucas said excitedly as he went to search for some.

The door was heavy though. It wasn't locked but something was barring it from moving. Lucas pondered for a moment before deciding to test his strength stat of 49 on the door.

Lucas prepped <Night Bat> and struck with a decisive strike before it deflected off the door harmlessly.

"What the hell?!" Lucas let out in surprise as he noticed a thin barrier covering the door that had flared up after he struck it with full strength.

'Does that mean there is a survivor in there?'

Lucas began shouting at the room as loud as possible and listened closely with his ear pressed against the door and sure enough, there was a sound of rustling on the other side of the door.

'What kind of class gives you the ability to create barriers?' Lucas questioned himself before coming to a conclusion.

'Perhaps a mage of some type? Maybe they can teach me a couple of magic tricks,' Lucas said with a smile on his face.

Just as he was about to continue running he heard a growl echo through the building however and he stood stock-still.

He hadn't noticed because of his night vision but it was dark outside.

'Fuck' Was the last thought to himself before the building began to shake.