- A Timely Boon

*Enemies Eliminated: [3]*

*Rewards: [300] EXP*

*Level Up!*

*Reward: [100] System Points.*

*Reward: Level Up Crate.*

'Huh, I was close to a level up. That's good timing, in all honesty. The box might have something to help me out in this situation.'

"Connor, Joel, with me. We're going to sweep this house, to make sure it's safe for us to hide in for now," Gus said. "Everyone else, stay down here."

The building they were in was two stories tall. On the bottom floor were three rooms, a large living room, a large kitchen, and a moderately sized bathroom. Above was a large open space, with multiple rooms branching off from it.

Methodically, Gus and the others went from room to room, looking for threats that were hidden behind the doors. In the first two, they found nothing, but in the third, they found a group of three people huddled in a corner.

As they opened the door, the people jolted up in terror. A fairly young woman held two children, and looked at the three Reapers with an expression fuelled by nothing but fear.

Gus lowered his weapon and raised his hand in a physical expression of non-hostility.

"You've probably heard the sounds in the area around here, from the rally. Stay down, and we'll try and get the situation sorted soon." As he finished, he turned and left the room, leading Joel and Connor away from the family.

"This building is safe for now, at least," Gus said.

"So, what now? We just hunker down and hope that someone comes for us?" Joel asked.

"No, that won't work. We need to keep on moving, and use the maze of the area to our advantage. Joel, go down and get Mykolos to use his squad's intel abilities. We need to scout ahead before we can move. Connor, keep an eye out for me."

"Keep an eye out? For what?" Connor asked as Joel headed downstairs.

"System things."

"Gotcha," Connor replied.

Gus went into one of the empty rooms and closed the door tightly behind himself, before summoning the system menu.

"First up, lets get the inventory," he muttered.

*Level Up Box [4]*

Summoning it from the inventory, Gus popped off the lid and reached inside.

Pulling his hand out, he found a small voucher in his grip. Turning it to look at it, he saw that there was text on one side of the voucher that faced him.

*Unboxed: [50] Point Voucher.*

*This voucher grants the user [50] points towards a skill.*

'Okay, that's not too bad,' Gus thought. 'Let's see where I could use the points.'

"Stats," he muttered, trying to keep his voice as low as possible.

*Level [4] {15 / 2500 EXP}*

*Strength [3 (2)]*

*Speed [3 (2)]*

*Stamina [2 (1)]*

*Leadership [3 (2)]*

*Combat [3 (2)]*

*Durability [2 (1)]*

*Ranged [2 (1)]*

*Proficiency [2 (1)]*

'Well, the system did say that having low stamina and high speed can be pretty bad, so I guess I'll take that. Although, I do still have the points for the level up.'

"Alright," Gus said aloud, shaking his head to focus his thoughts. 'Get a stamina point using the system points, and then… I'm not sure. It shouldn't be this difficult to figure out.'

*Would you like to spend [100] system points on [1] Stamina point?*

"Yeah, let's do that," he whispered.

'Then, I think I've got a plan for the voucher. I have made some progress along the skill tree of strength and leadership, so sticking to them is likely to help me somewhat. But, they each have their own problems. I don't know how much a point of strength is likely to help me, and that's something I want to test. But, is it worth it over just getting stronger overall? I doubt it.

As for the leadership skill, it's just too… unknown, I guess. I still don't really know what leadership means. I know it'll help my strategy making decisions, yet that seems pretty insignificant. I might be able to learn that stuff naturally. And I don't even know what's further along the tree, nor do I know how I can amplify my allies.

But, on the other hand… not knowing leadership might be pretty good. Strength is useful to have, but it is basic. You know what you're going to get with it. As for leadership, I know nothing of it, so the possibilities for it are so much better. Advancing up the skill tree for that is riskier, but the possible benefits are so much better.'

For whatever reason, he found himself thinking of the Evolution project, and of his father. No one knew if the project would work, nor what the consequences of it would be. Yet they pressed on either way, knowing that what was on the other side could be something amazing.

'It's not a bad mentality to have for some things, and I guess this is one of those things. Alright then, I think I should get leadership points for the voucher.

*Confirm?*

"Confirm," Gus said firmly.

*Voucher has been redeemed.*

*[50] Leadership Points have been added.*

Gus was disturbed by a knock on the door. Throwing the empty box from the system to the side, he turned and opened the door.

"Everything good in here?" Connor asked.

"Good enough," Gus replied.

"Good, because we sent out some recon stuff. And, well, we've got something."

"Got something?"

"You should probably take a look at this," Connor said, gesturing for him to come downstairs.