[CYA] Chapter 113: Wave 1, Results

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<Alex, Real - Endure, High School Cafeteria>

Alex stared at the notification before closing it yet again in anger. This is utter rotten ice cream.

No experience.

None.

None of them would get any experience from the wave because it had seemingly been a test for their base, not them personally.

This was ridiculous.

Kaylee had already let them know that the base got points to spend, and a lot of them at that, but none of the Initiates would be able to level despite their effective, if frantic, defense.

Ridiculous.

He pulled up the offending notification one last time, hoping that looking at it again would let him finally find some peace, now that the wave was finished and the danger had passed.

Congratulations!
Your base has successfully endured the first wave.

No individual experience has been nor will be granted for kills during the wave, which were executed as a part of base defense.

Requisite experience has been granted for use by your base admin for purposes of improving your survival chance going forward.

Sometimes, survival is its own reward.

Absolutely ridiculous. He’d even gone back through his kill notifications, and sure enough, he’d found that none promised him experience as a reward.

He’d put in a formal complaint, or at least he’d tried, but he was informed that the tutorial wasn’t designed to spoon feed him experience. It was designed to show him how the System worked, and there were times where experience wasn’t his no matter how much he helped.

That was irritating, but somehow worse yet was the addendum to the ‘Congratulations!’ notice.

Courtesy Addendum:
This was but the first of three waves. The second will be more difficult and will commence in ten days time, on the twenty-fifth day of this tutorial scenario.

Improvise, adapt, survive… Or find a way to die in a manner which seems best to you. The choice, as always, is yours.

Ten days. They had ten days until a stronger wave would crash onto their defenses, and that would only be the second of three.

If the pattern held, they’d have a final wave on the last day, five days after the second.

They could hope that it would be just a token thing, a final send off for those who’d survived so long, but he knew that was a fool’s hope.

They were in a bad way.

James had been the only Initiate to die, even if several others had gotten close.

They’d used their cure disease potions strategically around Alex and Brianne’s healing and kept any of them from turning as well, which was an absolute miracle.

Even so, they hadn’t been without casualties or deaths.

For non-fatal casualties, they honestly all qualified. Every single Initiate had been massively damaged and wounded at various parts of the fight, and many weren’t taking the pain and shock of that very well.

Alex wasn’t quite sure if he should be impressed that they’d avoided taking serious injury before now, or irritated at the fact they were still shaken after they were healed.

Natasha actually lost an arm while defending Laura from a surprise attack right when the undead commanders had taken the field, but Brianne fixed her up quite well. So easily in fact that Alex was momentarily grumpy until he realized that he was upset that his friend was healed quickly, which was ridiculous.

Natasha wasn’t the only person to lose a limb or be similarly injured, but Brianne excelled in such healing, and Alex was happy to see the woman both excited and proud of all she’d been able to do.

On the non-Initiates side of things, they had been quite literally decimated. More than a hundred had been either killed outright or turned and killed by the Initiates. Dozens had taken injuries in their attempts to escape and reach safety.

The number of those in need of healing would have been greater, but basically any undead-imparted wound carried infection, so those were sorted out one way or another rather quickly.

They still had more than nine hundred non-Initiates, but those who remained were understandably rattled.

Kaylee would have her hands full coming up with a better plan for their safety going forward. Thankfully, this next wave wasn’t ‘within’ a timespan, it was set to be on a specific day.

That would make safeguarding the non-Initiates easier. They could even pull them all back into less comfortable, safer quarters for just that shorter span of time.

But that was a concern for tomorrow… even if dawn was barely a few hours away.

Essentially everyone had collapsed from exhaustion as soon as the ‘all clear’ notification had come through, indicating the wave was over and the passive, impenetrable defenses had returned.

Thankfully, the non-Initiates had received some version of it as well, so they weren’t concerned that all their defenders wanted to sleep at the same time.

Instead, they seemed to need and want rest just as much as the Initiates.

Alex… had needed to do one thing first.

He’d gone up to the roof to find what remained of James. If he’d thought about it at the time, he could have taken the remains into his Inventory when he was up there the first time.

Regardless, he hadn’t, and no amount of wishing would change that fact.

He opened the door more calmly this time, though he did end up having to shoulder-bump it a bit as his previous exit had seemingly bent the door just slightly, and that was causing it to stick.

There they were, a pile of damp bones, scattered about.

The rain had ended shortly after the wave timer had run its course, showing just how much of a rotter the System was being about this.

Though… the fact that we haven’t had to deal with it at other times could be seen as a kindness. Honestly, he didn’t really know. He could see it either way.

But he was distracting himself.

He knelt down next to the remains and bowed his head, saying a prayer for the dead.

He’d not felt compelled to do this for any of the dead non-Initiates. Even the Initiates he’d known to have died, he hadn’t felt this need.

James was different.

James had been a friend, if a rather new one.

As he lifted his head, looking around himself, Alex’s mana sense showed what he’d missed in the frantic pass through a few hours previous. There were items scattered around the roof, centered on the remains, each with the faintest feel of power on them, barely noticeable save for all his practice with his own Inventory.

James’s stuff had exploded from him at the moment of his death. It might have even been what kept him from turning and made his body into a meal instead of a new ally of the undead.

Alex might never know.

In fact, as he considered it, he hoped he’d never find out.

Either way, Alex would investigate the stuff after. Anything that was going to be ruined by the rain already had been, and with the rain fully passed, there were only a few remaining puddles anyway.

“I’m sorry, James. I’m sorry I wasn’t faster.” He placed his hand on the skull, morbidly clean despite how recently the young man had been alive.

For a moment, he had a thought that the brain might still be in there, so he could heal the boy… but nothing came back from his Analyze skill. Nothing but ‘Human Skull’ with a designation of ‘No threat.’

“You will be missed, and not just because we can use all the help we can get. You were kind and a stalwart source of a ready smile no matter what was going on… It feels trivial to say only  that, but I really didn’t know you well, not yet… Now I never will, despite my hopes.”

Alex gave a sad smile, uncaring of the tears that came to his eyes. “Goodbye, James.”

He moved to stand, but found he couldn’t just leave the bones behind. With a thought, he pulled them into his Inventory, then did a quick sweep of the roof, pulling out his magical head-light to help him.

A few ruined books, a couple of personal items… and throwing knives. Specifically, there were five mundane blades and one magical one.

He dried off the weapons and pulled them into his Inventory. He’d give them to Kaylee for proper distribution… but tomorrow… once the sun was up, and after he’d slept.

He contemplated taking one of the shirts, but after moving them to the edge of the roof so that they could dry the next day, he left them.

James had been slighter than Alex, so none of the clothing would have fit. Still, he’d tell Kaylee, and she’d be sure someone made use of it.

There was nothing else of note.

James had made this his posting, up on the gym roof. He’d protected them all, thinning out the hordes right from the beginning.

They were going to be worse off without his overwatch.

But, yet again, that was tomorrow’s problem.

He made his way inside, pulling his greatcoat into his Inventory as he hunted for a place to sleep, this time choosing one of the more crowded rooms.

He didn’t want to be alone. As he thought that, he realized that he’d been immensely selfish. He should have asked if others wanted to come with him to pay James last respects… Then he wouldn’t have been alone.

There was nothing for it now. He was exhausted, and this would work as a place to sleep. He could deal with everything else in the morning.

His entrance was noticed, but no one commented or did more than roll over as he laid in one of the only remaining open spots.

More than an hour later, Alex grimaced, flipping yet again from one side to the other before laying onto his back.

As he moved, one of the non-Initiates who was sharing the room with him lifted her head, clearly having noticed his continued restlessness and likely having recognized him even in the dim light.

He closed his eyes again, groaning internally. He did not want to talk with anyone. He just wanted to sleep.

Unfortunately, his wishes didn’t dictate reality, but he supposed he already knew that.

As he lay there, eyes closed, he felt someone draw closer. Soon her breath was tickling at his ear as she whispered. “Are you having trouble sleeping? It was Alex, right?”

He almost rolled his eyes. If he weren’t having trouble, her coming to talk with him would ensure he was. Instead of snapping, he controlled his irritation and responded in a like tone. “A bit… and yes.”

“I could… help a bit?”

His eyes opened in surprise, and he turned to regard her in the dim light.

She wasn’t a student, nor was she one of the teachers… at least he didn’t think so. She was younger than himself, but still easily near thirty. The lack of full light made it hard to determine which side of that line she landed on, even if he could see that she was lovely.

Regardless, he was having a hard time understanding what she’d said. “What?”

“I could help you relax?” She glanced away, a mix of emotions racing across her features, mostly obscured in the dimness.

Alex felt his own tumult of emotions, but he suppressed them. On one side, he was insulted that she’d approach him like this, but that was a bit ridiculous. He was also confused because what he really missed, who he really wanted by his side was his wife, not just some random person. He knew she wouldn’t want him to remain single on her account, but she also likely wouldn’t want him to just let some random woman throw herself at him. All this roiling through his thoughts made him want to snap at the unfortunate non-Initiate. Instead, he gave a soft smile. “I appreciate the offer, but I think I’ll be able to fall asleep with just a bit more time.”

Her gaze returned to his, a bit of confusion evident in her eyes. “Are… you sure?”

He nodded. “Yes. Truly, thank you for the offer, though.”

He had no interest in whatever this was. In the best case, this was a non-Initiate who truly wished to help him—whether out of gratitude or something else—and she’d be gone in just more than two weeks time when the scenario ended.

In the worst case situation, she could try to kill him, entangle him in side plots and quests, or otherwise make his life more difficult than it already was.

That said, he was tempted on the face of it. He didn’t even know what she was offering for sure, but with how he felt? It would be nice to have someone help him in almost any way, to have someone near.

His eyes had been improved by stats enough, and the light was sufficient, that he could see her rather well.

In his tiredness, his gaze drifted. She was quite attractive…

His focus snapped back to her face.

No.

It would be foolish by definition.

He really hoped she’d leave soon. He wasn’t actually sure he could say ‘no’ too many more times…

She hesitated a moment longer, drawing closer, letting him see even more clearly just how appealing she was in the minimal light. “Are you.. sure?”

He pulled together his resolve and nodded, almost bumping her with the motion due to her closeness. “I’m sure. Thank you. Good night.”

“Good night… If you change your mind, you can see where I lay down.”

He internally groaned, not wanting that hanging over his head. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Without another word, she pulled back, returning to her sleeping area among those who had gathered close for a feeling of security after the horror of the midnight wave.

He let out a long, slow breath, feeling irritated. The woman had sent his mind spinning in all sorts of directions, all of which were normally quite counter to getting some sleep.

Even so, to his utter surprise, that cavalcade seemed to help override the other things tormenting his thoughts, the two storms of ridiculousness clashing enough to leave him a moment of peace in which he slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.

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