Chapter 2: Relocating
Oakley grabbed whatever foodstuff and supplies he could, and it didn't take him too long.
He, as a poor college student, didn't have much after all. There were only some protein bars and a few water bottles, and he grabbed some clothes as well.
After he was done, he also picked up the pot holding the pea shooter, he needed to bring it with him. Ideally, to a place with soil, where he could make even more of these turret-like pea shooters.
He knew he couldn't use the front door, which was littered with corpses. And, he couldn't even be sure that the corpses on the wall were actually dead or alive, what if one was alive but stuck beneath the other bodies? The pea shooter wouldn't be able to help him much anyways if he were to get attacked in such a compromising position.
He was on up on the third floor, so unless he wanted to risk injury and possibly death, he wouldn't jump through the window.
'Wait!' Oakley had a sudden flash of inspiration, running to his labtop. He would Google how to make some rope out of his clothes, truly a brilliant idea.
He opened the labtop and turned it on, quickly going to his browser to search the information up, until he saw all of the lights in his room go off.
That didn't stop him though, because his labtop was charged.
'Heh, nice try, I still have access to the internet.' Oakley charged his labtop earlier, and he wasn't surprised that the power would go out, it was only expected. This sort of thing happened in every apocalypse movies and games he's ever watched and played, who said that those things were useless? Certainly not anyone related to himself, his parents passed away years ago. His grandparents had to raise him, and they passed away during his first year of college. He was on his own.
He shook his head and pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, and typed in his question, only to find that the screen kept loading.
And, as if taunted by Oakley's thoughts earlier, not only was there no WiFi now, there wasn't even any internet service.
He put down the labtop, it was useless now.
All the while, the pea shooter had it's eyes locked on to the doorway, waiting for more zombies.
'Okay, plan B.' Oakley had devised another plan, going straight to his bed. It wasn't too big or small, but it was just enough to fit one person.
He picked put the pot down, facing towards the hallway, and started pulling the bed.
'Why does it feel easier?' To his surprise, he could move the bed easier than before.
He tried lifting it up with both hands, and found that it didn't feel as heavy as before.
Oakley's eyes flashed with realization, it's not that the bed was lighter. No, he was getting stronger, 'No indicator of any stat doesn't necessarily mean that I am not getting stronger.'
He moved with even more vigor towards the balcony.
He used one hand to open the doors to the balcony, and scanned the area below. There were some zombies, but not too much.
Oakley attributed that to the sounds of guns he heard earlier, that must have attracted most of the zombies.
He flipped brought the bed towards the balcony, angling it in a way where it could fit through the door. The bed wasn't too big anyways, so there no problem fitting through.
He threw the bed down.
Bam!
After the bed hit the ground, he grabbed the pot with the pea shooter, and gritted his teeth before jumping.
Bam!
Aside from the pain, he didn't feel anything break or fracture in his body. That, he attributed to his Power once again, it was truly miraculous.
"Raauugh!" The zombies nearby rushed to the noise made by the bed and Oakley's jump.
He held the pot, aiming it towards the nearest zombie.
Thoom! Thoom!
The sound of the pea shooter firing could be heard, as Oakley aimed it in the direction of the nearest zombies.
One after another the zombies fell, and a moment later there were just Oakley and the pea shooter. For some reason, the pea shooter looked less spirited, and appeared to be a wilting a bit. Oakley thought relocating it to a better spot would make it better.
Oakley rubbed the pea shooter's green head, and went to where he usually locked his bicycle. Oakley didn't have a car simply because he couldn't afford it, and all the cars around have been picked apart or in difficult to move positions. He didn't know how to drive anyways, so he didn't care.
'It's gone.' he sighed, reaffirming his belief about human nature. After all, whomever took it most likely didn't even consider for a moment that that may have been the cause of another's demise. That was just how humans were: selfish and cowardly.
He didn't care though, already expecting such a situation.
The plan was to use his bicycle to head to a location with more soil, preferably out of the city, but that wasn't possible. To make matters worse, he was near the center of said city, so walking was not an option.
As Oakley's mind raced, he received yet another notification.
[Out of combat, experience gained.]
He thought of the interface from before.
=============
[Interface]
Name: Oakley
Class: Lifeweaver 5★
Power: 5 {Select Skill}
Abilities: Pea Shooter 1★
=============
He tried to interact with the {Select Skill} and then another prompt appeared.
[Select Skill.]
{Sunflower 1★}
{Cherry Bomb 3★}
{Large Water Lily 2★}
Oakley instantly chose Sunflower, hoping it had similar functions to the game he played before. Cherry Bomb seemed powerful, since it was probably an area of effect skill, but it would attract many zombies with the noise. The way pea shooter that appeared weakened now, would not be able to fend that many off.
And, the Giant Water Lily was useless in his situation, where there was no large body of water. Maybe the small body of water in the park would work make such an option viable, but he didn't need to go to said park now and it was all the way across the city.
After confirming the selection, he went to testing the plant immediately. There were trees nearby, so he just dug a small hole, and activated Sunflower. Again, there was that feel of being drained slightly, and this time he noticed it.
'It must be mana or something to that effect, when I activated {Pea Shooter} earlier, I remember the same feeling of being drained of something.' Oakley inferred from his first experience with the powers. In the game he played before, making the plants would have cost sunlight, generated by the Sunflowers or similar plants that absorbed it from the sun.
Oakley thought back to the increase in strength he saw earlier when he lifted the bed with more ease, 'There are no indicators for the stats. but the effects from said stat are present.' Only the Power gives a general marker for how strong one is, but that was besides the point.
Right before his eyes, a plant sprouted upwards rapidly, and grew into a sunflower with. The plant looked at Oakley with it's black, beady eyes that shown with intelligence. It even had the smiley face that Oakley remembered, 'I guess most of the plants I remembered will have similar traits.'
When the pea shooter in the pot saw the sunflower, it's eyes shined, and in the next moments Oakley could see the sunflower emitting faint radiance that appeared to invigorate the pea shooter. Oakley finally realized the problem that he ignored earlier.
Oakley smacked his forehead, earlier he thought that the pea shooter was just in need of a better spot or soil, but it was actually dying. Though the plants were indeed similar to the game he played, it appeared that it has been adapted or changed.
In the game, the plants just needed sun generated by sunflowers or similar plants to be planted, and that would be it. But here, it was more than that, there were some requirements that Oakley had realized so far:
1. The plants needed soil.
2. The plants needed the sunflower or a similar plant to survive, and that the latter plants needed sunlight.
3. He needed mana to activate the skills.
He assumed that whatever the sunflower emitted that kept the pea shooter alive had to do with the sunlight, hence the second part in requirement 2.
But then what about when it was night? Well, he thought of that as well. The pea shooter lasted him for several hours, and that should be enough until he unlocked a skill with a plant that absorbed the moonlight instead. He would have to cross his fingers for that one...
Oakley would bring the plant with him, he unzipped the largest pocket in his backpack, and put the sunflower in as well as the soil under it. He looked quite weird with a pot in hand, and a sunflower with a face sticking out of his backpack.
After that, he started walking towards the areas north of the city which houses the more luxurious and expensive houses, he knew those areas would have more greenery, while at the same time being able to act as a shelter.