Apocalypse: Generic System by Macronomicon (shoe dog free ebook TXT) 📕

“That’s petty,” Jeb muttered, clomping along to catch up, his pain and missing foot slowing him down substantially. “What’d we get?”

“Two Body potions.” She said, frowning.

“Not bad.”

“I get the next boss. You’re caught up,” She said, holding both the potions and eyeing him critically.

“More than fair,” Jeb said, to which she tossed him the potion. He caught it in his left hand, letting the cane fall to the ground in the process, nearly losing his balance.

“I can’t believe you’re more dangerous than I am.” She said, shaking her head.

“That’s subjective,” Jeb said before downing the red liquid. It tasted…silty.

“Doesn’t seem like it to me.” Jess replied with a small smile.

Did she just make a joke? I mean, sure it was a terrible play on words, but still, it’s something.

+3 Body

“Aw man, you drank the potions!” A voice came from the far side of the village, and Jeb glanced over, spotting a group of some fifteen humans emerging from the woods.

Fifteen. That’s a lot.

They were, on average, better equipped than Jeb, but worse off than Jessica.

Their armor was a patchwork of different sources, their weapons running the gamut between heavy tree branches and glowing swords.

“Can we help you?” Jessica asked, eyes narrowing.

“No, no,” the man in the lead said, holding up his hands. “Just, those potions are worth a lot in trade.” He was wielding the glowing sword, of course, and his armor was more cohesive than the others.

That meant he was probably the toughest they had to offer. Jeb made a note of it. If he had to take someone out of the fight first, that would be the guy.

No one says you’ve got to fight anybody. Jeb corrected himself. Still…

The newcomer scanned the burning village. “You guys do all of this one your own?”

“That’s right,” Jessica said with a shrug.

The man whistled in appreciation. “Look, my name’s David,” he said, slowly reaching into his pocket and pulling out a scrap of paper. “We’re forming an army to take down the World Tortoise. This is where our base is.”

He showed them a scrawled image of the forest with an x on it. Jeb oriented on the lake and mountain, estimating their base to be about twenty miles northeast.

“We could use every able body,” He said to Jessica, his gaze flickering to Jeb’s slung arm and missing leg. “If you guys can beat a miniboss with just the two of you, you’d be more than welcome.”

Jessica glanced at Jeb before looking back at David. “We’ll think about it.”

“Well, don’t take too long, the safe zones expire in two days.” David said with a shrug. “We’re gonna make our attempt before then.”

“Who’s in charge?” Jeb asked.

“Pardon?”

“Who’s running the show?” Jeb asked. “Who’s the one pushing you to kill the tortoise in the next two days?”

“His name’s Freeman, a level forty-two Phantom Brawler.” David said, a huge smile breaking on his face. “Watching him fight makes me glad he’s on our side, you know what I mean?”

Jeb couldn’t really ask any more without seeming nosy, but the big smile on the guy’s face suggesting this Freeman dude wasn’t abusive, at least not to David.

Jessica glanced at Jeb.

“Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“I don’t know what good I’ll be like this,” Jeb said, wiggling his wounded arm. “But if you’ve got stuff to trade, I’d be willing to stop by your safe zone.

“Oh, sure, we’ve got stuff to trade. This husband and wife, Brett  and Amanda , took the Soldier and Healer classes, and together they can restore people or gear back to full in a matter of seconds. They’ve got a pretty decent stash of stuff as a result.”

“I’m familiar with the soldier class,” Jeb said, nodding.

Buy broken gear off people, fix it up and get healed by the wifey, then trade it for other stuff. Not a bad racket. I’m surprised the fellow didn’t get the Merchant class…Assuming it exists.

“That reminds me, David said, pulling out his sword and brandishing it in front of him. the sword flopped over like a limp dick. “I’m a Swiftblade, I can change the shape of my Weapon. What are your classes?”

“Jessica. I’m a Soldier,” Jessica lied with a straight face.

“Jeb. Beggar,” Jeb followed suit. “I scrounge more treasure than average.” With his numerous pouches and stuff hanging off the rope slung around him, he totally fit the picture, too.

“Jess keeps it in good condition with her Soldier Ability by saccing health.” Jeb offered that to remind Jessica of the Soldier class Ability if she didn’t already know.

“I never heard of the Beggar Class, but I can see how you might have gotten it with that,” David said, nodding at his leg.

“Yeah, a combat Class wasn’t in the cards after this baby,” Jeb said tapping his cane on the peg supporting him.

“Look forward to seeing both of you.” David said, nodding, then the squad turned and left.

“What are you thinking?” Jessica asked him.

“I’m thinking we check in on Ron, see if we can’t score another Boss or two, then do some recon on these people.”

“And then?”

“Well, if they’re not mustache twirling villains, we’ll probably barter with them a bit before leaving them to die.”

Chapter 9: Air Force

***1 Day 16 hours remaining***

“How is this safe!?” Jessica demanded as they floated over the vast forest.

“All falling or crashing injuries are dependent on inertia. Since you can bring yours to effectively zero, this is perfectly safe for you.”

“Are you saying we’re gonna crash!?”

Jeb shrugged as the forest rolled by beneath them.

He wasn’t flying so much as using telekinesis to pick himself and Jessica up like duffel bags and carrying them along.

But to the average person, it would look