Welcome to the team!

After their discussion, Captain Hunter escorted Alex out of his office. The Captain needed time to organize the team Alex would take part in, so Alex decided to laze about and drink coffee. Now that he had officially joined the ranks of the compound's slayers, he was entitled to a more significant share of the rations.

Due to the lack of electricity, the survivors were forced to use primitive methods to prepare their supplies. As such, the coffee was not exactly the highest quality. Still, it was drinkable, and it accomplished its objective, which was to provide much-needed energy to the weary slayers.

Alex decided to use this tranquil moment to engage with the system. The familiar screen appeared before him again, overlaying his vision like some form of augmented reality. He chose to raise constitution and dexterity this time. With this, he raised all three of his core attributes to 16.

Alex didn't know this, but such stats at level 4 were exceptional. This was due to his excellent physique from being a professional fighter. The years of physical conditioning he endured gave him high base stats. Much higher than the average man.

Due to being a university student with good grades, his intelligence was also above average. The base attributes of an average adult male would be around ten or below. If Alex were an average man, he would have had a much more difficult time surviving until this point.

Alex glossed over the skills available to him and took his time researching them. There were two types of skills, active and passive. He had a single inherent skill due to his background as a fighter, charge. On top of that, he added suffer agony and iron limbs as he leveled up previously.

Alex pondered about the direction he wanted to go in. Currently, he did not lack in offensive means; he had already made up his mind to follow the way of the fist. He felt it would take an unnecessary amount of time to acquaint himself with weapons; after all he was already a deadly combatant with his bare hands.

As such, Alex began to focus on defensive skills for the moment. He was covered in shallow cuts currently; they had already started to heal naturally; as such, he didn't bother treating them. He lacked primary defensive means at this moment; two skills caught his attention.

The skills appeared to be [Iron Hide] and [Iron Tendons]. The skills seemed to be part of a set with Iron Limbs. With the three skills combined, his whole body would become a set of armor, which he vastly preferred over normal defensive means. He glanced at the description of Iron Hide.

[Iron Hide]

Passive

The user's skin becomes as tough as iron

Prerequisite: 16 Strength, 16 Constitution

This one appeared very useful to him currently, but he also observed [Iron Tendons] information carefully. They both had a similar effect.

[Iron Tendons]

Passive

The user's muscles will become as tough as iron

Prerequisite: 16 Strength, 16 Constitution, Iron Limbs

After careful consideration, Alex decided to go with [Iron Hide] to protect him from slashing and piercing weapons. After activating the skill, he felt excruciating pain as the skin across his body began to reforge itself.

Alex endured the pain, and after it disappeared, he rubbed his arms. They appeared the same as usual, he was expecting some physical transformation, yet there was no discernable difference from before.

Alex decided to test his new skill and found a nearby knife and sliced his palm with it. To his surprise, there was not a single mark on his flesh; the steel knife failed to cut his skin. A large grin spread across his face.

With this, his defense would rise significantly, and he would have a much easier time surviving outside the compound. The next time he leveled up, he would be sure to get the skill [Iron Tendons] he would not be satisfied until his whole body was as rigid as iron.

After finishing his cup of coffee, Alex spent the next few hours familiarizing himself with the layout of the compound, getting to know the sentries, and inquiring about the jobs of slayers. The sentries mainly were level 1s, with a few level 2s mixed in. They entirely relied on rifles to defend the compound.

The slayers were mostly level 2s, with level 3s as squad leaders. Their position in the compound was essentially scavengers, scouts, and threat management. Slayers would venture beyond the compound's safety, gather supplies and survivors, and survey the nearby areas. Any group of monsters deemed a threat they would take out.

The slayers were a ragtag group of individuals from various backgrounds. Some had combat backgrounds; others were simple civilians. Nonetheless, they had all proven themselves capable since the fracture. None of them were to be underestimated.

Somehow Captain Hunter had managed to gather these people together in a small amount of time. Many of them were survivors who managed to find the compound in the first 24 hours of the fracture, much like Alex and Emily.

Currently, there were 3 slayer teams, with 3-4 people in each group. There were a few dozen people altogether in the compound. Most of which acted as sentries or logistics. Currently, the compound had enough supplies to last roughly a week; as such, the three slayer teams were busy scavenging supplies as Alex awaited their return.

After familiarizing himself with the compound, Alex became relieved. Most of these people had only been together for less than 48 hours, but Captain Hunter had such a high level of charisma that he had already created a functioning safe zone in this apocalyptic world. Though how long they could last, Alex was unsure.

As the silver sun began to fade and dusk appeared once more, the slayers all successfully returned with a hoard of supplies. The supplies ranged from food and water to medical and ammunition. It seemed they had been quite successful in their ventures.

Despite returning alive, several of the slayers were injured; though they were minor injuries, they needed to be treated. It appeared they had experienced quite the skirmish. Captain Hunter immediately greeted the slayers and tasked a survivor with organizing the supplies. The compound's medic immediately treated the injured players.

The medic was an EMT who lived nearby; after the fracture, he was quickly found by Captain Hunter's people and brought to the compound. He was by no means a surgeon, but these minor wounds were easy to treat.

Brandon approached Alex with a smile and handed him a beer which he had scavenged from a local grocery outlet.

"So I just heard from Captain Hunter that you're on my team; it seems we will be looking out for one another from here on out!"

Alex smiled and accepted the beer, though he didn't know Brandon for long; the two were already acquainted, so he felt a bit more comfortable being on his team rather than some unknown.

Brandon brought Alex over to his squad, who were cooking ramen over a makeshift stove. He introduced Alex to the team by pointing to a large burly man who wore a plaid shirt over a t-shirt. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and combat boots as well. The man had a shaved head and a clean-cut appearance. He had distinctive emerald eyes that gave off a stoic expression.

"This is Gunnar. He's a marine who was visiting Vegas on leave before all this shit went down."

Gunnar nodded at Alex silently, and Alex did the same. They exchanged a few glances, but aside from that, neither had spoken.

Brandon scratched the back of his head awkwardly and attempted to shift the discussion. He walked up to the woman standing next to Gunnar, who was roughly half his size. Before he could introduce her, she leaped over to Alex and happily shook his hand.

She was dressed in simple casual clothes with blonde hair and blue eyes. Her hair was cut short in a bob, and she had an athletic build. The woman appeared to be in her mid-20s. She was not much older than Alex.

With a smile beaming on her face, she spoke energetically, "I'm Cassie, nothing exciting about me, just a country girl trying to win big in Vegas". She appeared to be the most friendly of the group. At this moment, Alex noticed he hadn't inquired about Brandon's background.

"And you?" Alex asked

Brandon chuckled lightly and smiled as he spoke without shame. "Arms dealer, I was picked up by the police right before everything went dark. It took quite some convincing to get Captain Hunter to let me out of my cell."

Alex nodded, he couldn't understand why, but he felt the profession suited Brandon quite well. Then Brandon patted him on the shoulder and asked.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce yourself?"

Alex frowned before taking a sip from the beer in his hand

"I'm Alex; I was a professional fighter and collegiate wrestler."

His new teammates smiled and nodded in approval; at least this new guy wasn't some useless waste. Brandon gave him a thumbs up and replied,

"Welcome to the team!"