Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

then put the bamboo as a lever between the two. He had to reorient the other zombie so it could fulcrum off the hip-bone, but the flip was finally accomplished. “Now the fun part…” Gus groaned as he slunk his hand into the ragged wound. “Ow, pointy… eeew, slimy… Aaah, moving!” Gus shouted as he probed inside, face turned away to avoid the powerful stench.

His fingertip finally brushed against the flat corner of Razorback’s blade. Pinching his fingers on each side of the blade so as not to cut himself, he slowly extracted the weapon, all the while wondering why he was not just abandoning it and making another blade. Finally, it was free!

He wiped Razorback as clean as he could upon the fat Shambler’s clothing. Ripping off a section of its shirt, he wrapped the blade gingerly, trying not to touch it too much, then headed to the stream and finished cleaning. The Dark Nth should be totally inert, but their black sticky blood still stunk and he didn’t want it encrusting his trusted weapon.

Gus felt sweaty and gross with the gore. He was sure if he could see himself, there would be stench waves radiating off him, offending anyone nearby.

Why did I even shower this morning!? None of the zombies had laid a hand on him, but just the thought of Dark Nth’s ichor on him was making his skin crawl and itch. The Nth may be deactivated, but this black slime would probably give anyone a raging infection if it got in a cut. He did a cursory check for any loot, but there seemed little to gather from the creatures, which kind of bummed him out. Loot made battles much more enjoyable.

Making his way up the manor path, Gus decided to head down to the beach on this side of the island when he got to the lawn. There were showers in the manor, but the thought of tracking in the black mess disgusted him. A quick ocean pre-wash followed by a long hot shower sounded really good to him.

Crouching at the water’s edge, he washed the gore off of Razorback, scouring it clean with sand and water. Then it was his turn. He rubbed his skin raw, using the sand as an abrasive to scrub where the black gore had been, continuing to do another couple passes, even after the black disappeared.

When he was finally done, Gus picked up Razorback Prime and trudged back to the manor, seeing the beachcombers doing their jobs. Watching the balls zoom about was oddly comforting, as they left little trails in the sand like a Zen garden. That along with the slap of the waves on his back felt like it was carrying the remains of the battle off of him, diluted into the vast ocean where it could do no harm.

Feeling refreshed, Gus headed back to the manor to see if he could take a real bath and to check if he had leveled enough to wear some basic clothing again. He opened up his display as he walked back.

Chapter Seventeen

Room at the Top

Day 5 9:58 AM

10:03:50 remaining

Arriving at the manor, Gus dropped everything and slowly walked inside. He walked to the master suite, hitting the appropriate button in the elevator. He checked the display and read the notices that had accumulated from the battle.

Gus was scanned and the elevator began moving; he became lost in his logs.

You have killed a level 3 Shambler, 75 XP awarded

Skill gained: Two-handed weapons (Level 1)

+10% damage when using two-handed weapons.

100 XP awarded

LEVEL UP! You are now level 4.

1965 XP to next level

You have leveled up during battle! To avoid distraction, changes due to leveling will be postponed until logs can be reviewed and cleared. Skills will level and improve functionality but stats will not be increased until allocated. This feature can be toggled in the interface if you desire.

You have (5) additional stat points to assign.

500 Facility Points (FP) awarded

Skill gained: Polearms (Level 1) +1 to initiative when fighting enemies without polearms.

100 XP awarded

You have killed a level 4 Shambler, 100 XP awarded

You have killed a level 5 Shambler, 250 XP awarded

You have killed a level 4 Shambler, 100 XP awarded

You have killed a level 4 Shambler, 100 XP awarded

You have killed a level 5 Shambler, 250 XP awarded

You have killed a level 4 Shambler, 100 XP awarded

You have killed a level 4 Shambler, 100 XP awarded

Skill gained: Backstab (Level 1)

Unnoticed attacks from behind deal double damage!

100 XP awarded

Skill upgraded: Wreck-tums! (Level 2)

Current level: +10% chance to trigger during a successful attack.

50 XP awarded

You have killed a level 6 Shambler, 400 XP awarded

You have killed a level 5 Shambler, 250 XP awarded

You have killed a level 5 Shambler, 250 XP awarded

…

As the list continued, he scrolled down to the end of it, noting how XP gain for lower-level mobs dropped rapidly. He reached another level notification:

LEVEL UP! You are now level 5.

2675 XP to next level

500 FP awarded, 1200 FP total

You have (5) additional stat points to assign. (10 points total)

Special skill unlocked!

Skill unlocked for reaching level 5! Wreck-luse (Level 1)

Upon touching an enemy, with weapon or physical touch, a toxin is released which causes them to flee away from friend and foe for one minute per level. Necrotizing damage at site of touch continues to spread outward, dealing damage until healed. Gives poisoned debuff, -20% movement speed, -20% attack damage.

100 XP awarded

2575 XP to level 6

After the slight pressure of upward movement stopped, the doors opened with their telltale *skiss.* Gus made his way to the shower, still reading the log, trying to absorb the changes, and plan his point allocations. He stepped inside, noting that the shower stall was larger than some of his berths in his previous jobs.

Gus fist pumped at unlocking an active attack ability. Then the euphoria of leveling twice hit him. He stumbled back and slid down the tiled wall of the shower, falling hard on his butt, but not caring.

“Whoa, double rainbow,