Courage

Alex woke up with a new mindset. When someone's in a game, they're willing to play risky because they know at the end of the day, it's just a game, but when your life's on the line, the factor of permanent death plays a major part in their decisions.

"Alex, what's wrong?" Ivy just woke up, but from the nervous look on Alex's face, she could tell he was worried about something.

"Let's go get stronger," Alex remembered something from his missions. There was one quest that made him more worried than anything.

[MAIN MISSIONS

1. Survive the zombie wave (0/1)]

Finding only a brick, Alex advanced down the building with Ivy. He planned to hunt the injured zombies in the alleyway. Those zombies could not walk normally anymore, much less chase him.

They carefully trod through the dark abandoned building. To his surprise, the entire building was boarded just like the apartment complex he was in before. Not only was there no zombies to be found, it felt like a person was just here.

���Ivy do you know why your mother left?" He hoped to get any information he could. With two buildings completely boarded up, it seemed almost like a safe haven against the zombies. Why would a group of survivors just leave?

"Mommy's friend said there's a big wave coming, but waves are only in the ocean, so I was confused." Ivy wondered why he asked her such a question suddenly.

'Wave!' While Alex didn't know how many zombies would be in a wave, he knew there would be thousands if not more zombies rushing through their location. If the zombie wave passed by while he was still here, he would have to wish his life goodbye.

[Alex Jian

(LEVEL: 4 (15/100)) (CLASS: NONE)

STATISTICS:

(STRENGTH: 8) (ENDURANCE: 5) (AGILITY: 6)

(INTELLIGENCE: 8) (WILLPOWER: 3) (PERCEPTION: 5)

(POTENTIAL POINTS: 0) (SPECIAL POINTS: 0) (ABILITY POINTS: 0)

SKILLS: Inspect

RANK: NONE]

'Am I strong enough to survive a wave?' Alex wondered, checking his status. To level up again, he would need to kill 17 more zombies, but he wasn't willing to risk dying to do so.

He exited the building with a plank left behind by the last group. It was just a long piece of wood with a few nails stuck in it. Compared to an ordinary plank, it would be more dangerous towards humans, but against zombies, the nails did not increase the lethality.

As Alex sneaked closer to the alley, he could hear the zombies grunting softly like they were weak and lethargic almost as if they were sleeping. He peeked around the corner and counted 8 zombies who were still alive. All of them were incapable of moving their legs, so they had to resort to crawling, making them easy pickings for Alex.

"Take this." He handed the plank to Ivy. Since there wasn't enough zombie for Alex to level up, he might as well just let Ivy level up a few times, so that even if they were unable to fight the zombies, they could still run away to safety.

To teach someone, Alex knew he needed to take it slowly, so he dragged a zombie by its legs towards Ivy. "Ivy you need to kill zombies to become stronger."

"Why don't you become stronger so that you can protect me?" The closer the Alex pulled the zombie, the more Ivy trembled in fear.

"You need to become stronger to protect yourself." Alex knew that he couldn't save Ivy from every situation.

He brought the zombie just close enough for her plank to reach while keeping Ivy out of the zombie's ranch. With one leg pressed on the zombie's back, it was stuck to the ground.

Ivy raised the plank above her head, closed her eyes shut, and dropped the weapon down. She missed, striking the ground beside the zombie.

"Alex… I… I can't do it." Her arms were shaking from the impact.

"Try again. Keep your eyes open." His tone was stern, but he knew Ivy had to become multiple times as cruel as him to survive.

Ivy lifted the plank above her head again, this time with her eyes open, smashed down onto the zombie's head. The blood splattered across her clothes, leaving a crimson mark. As the zombie struggled to escape Alex's grasp, Ivy took a deep breath and struck down again, ending the zombie's life.

[Killed 1 Tier-one zombie

Gained 5 experience (20/100)]

He checked Ivy's status to see if she gained experience as well. To his surprise, she did. Since Alex helped Ivy kill the zombie, he gained the same amount of experience. This meant he could have Ivy just throw a rock at the zombie while he could kill it for both of them to gain experience.

"Ivy, I can kill the rest of the zombies. You can help me." While he wanted Ivy to become stronger, he didn't want her to become a mindless killer.

"No, I will do it." She understood that she couldn't rely on someone else for her entire life.

"Ok." Alex thought Ivy seemed like a completely different person from 10 minutes ago.

With a change of mood, they slept through the rest of the zombies. Alex restrained them while Ivy killed them. Ivy got better over time, killing the last few zombies with only one swing.

[Killed 7 Tier-one zombies

Gained 35 experience (55/100)]

'Inspect.'

[Ivy Cici (Chapter 6)

(LEVEL: 4 (10/50)) (CLASS: NONE)

STATISTICS:

(STRENGTH: 2) (ENDURANCE: 2) (AGILITY: 3)

(INTELLIGENCE: 3) (WILLPOWER: 2) (PERCEPTION: 2)

SKILLS: Traceless, Courage

RANK: Civilian

Courage(Passive) - Increase WILLPOWER by 1]

'If only I had courage after my parents died.' Alex wanted to get over it, but he didn't know how to.

"Ivy, do you know how to get to Saint Gold High School?" He noticed a flyer on the ground advertising safety there. Alex knew he couldn't fight a wave of zombies along.

"Yes, it's across my school."

If the shelter was secure, he could stay there until the end of the wave, but there were some risks from going there. More people meant an increased chance of zombie infections and an increased amount of criminals.

In anarchy where law enforcement and laws were non-existent, people with ulterior motives strived. In a world where one's survival is in danger constantly, some people are willing to go beyond morals to survive.

Even if it was dangerous, Alex believed he needed to make the journey for Ivy.