I don't own RWBY.

I slowly regained consciousness.

As I woke up, I became vaguely aware of the pressure applied to my body, as well as the taste of the blood in my mouth, and the various sound of chaos reaching my ears from far away.

Screams, roars, cries. Panic. Chaos.

I suddenly remembered the events. My breath accelerated, and my eyes watered.

The fight with the goblin. The blood on my shorts. The troll. The fucking troll. The teacher splashed on the wall, and all the blood.

She was dead. Just like that.

I took several long, deep breaths and calmed himself, until a newfound determination rose inside me.

Fucking hell. I wasn't going to die here. I was going to survive, get my little brother, save as many people as I can along the way, and get help from the Huntsmen.

Let's do this.

Maybe I was going about this too optimistically. Was this the result of his boost of Willpower?

Whatever. I could not waste anytime now, people could be dying at this very moment.

I tried to open my eyes.

I didn't see anything. Because of the grey windows that obscured my vision.

New Dungeon Discovered!
You are among the first to discover the new dungeon: [General Lagune High School].
Experience gained in this place will be doubled for a week.

I barely kept myself from growling. 'The hell is that!' I thought again.

You have entered the Dungeon: [General Lagune High School]

General Lagune Highschool
An old high-school with a long history, recently renovated.
Dungeon effects:
- +50% experience gained for stats and skills.
- +100% experience gained for stats and skills from killing players.
- Other players can't enter the dungeon if the initial players are still within the dungeon.
- Players can't leave the dungeon without killing the boss.

'Give me a break...' I lamented in my mind when I read the informations. Basically, no one would come to help us, we had to kill a boss that was probably insanely strong, and there was a good chance that the students would kill each other for experience.

"..." I took a moment to process the news, my willpower keeping me from falling into despair.

'I was so not ready for today.'I sighed internally and closed the windows to take a look at my current situation.

From what I could make out, I was currently under a pile of chairs. No, a combination of desks and chairs.

Through the various cracks formed by the chairs strewn on top of me, I could see a bit of the room, albeit with a lot of obstruction.

On the floor was my teacher, her body half eaten. I immediately looked away, not confident enough in my newfound Willpower to not vomit.

Sat on a table on the other side of the room, was a troll. Probably more than two meters in height, it was scratching its ass, its mass leaned on the wall.

Troll

'Thank god I didn't make any noise.' I thought grimly as I observed the creature. There was no level indication to judge the threat, but it didn't take a genius to recognize that I would probably die in a couple of hits.

In fact, I was surprised I hadn't been too injured by its kick.

Suddenly I remember. The 500% healing boost. It must have been working behind the scenes while I was unconscious. It could not explain the decent shape of my body h in any other way.

I keep watching the troll, wondering how was I going to defeat this, let alone the boss of the Dungeon.

I had barely survived the goblin, what could I do against that monster!

It seemed to be waiting for something...

Then something weird happened.

A black mist rose from the ground, gathering into a deep sphere, about three meters wide. It stayed there for a couple seconds, before something heavy landed on the floor and the dark mist slowly dissipated, revealing another troll.

Troll
Troll

'The hell is that!' I thought for the fifth time of the day. "There's two of them now?"

The other troll greeted his newfound companion. They began waiting again. I continued observing, anxious.

A few minutes later, a third one spawned with the same black mist sphere.

Troll
Troll
Troll

The other two rose from the table, roared to the new one who barked back at them, and together the three of them exited the room to the outside.

Why did they leave? Wait… Right now I was alone in the classroom. This was my chance to leave!

I started to struggle out of the chairs. After some effort, the loose structure slowly gave away, and I got out and stood up, brushing the dust off my pants. I avoided looking towards my former teacher, and cracked my arms.

Suddenly, the black mist appeared again.

"Shit!" I threw myself back behind the structure of chairs and desks.

Another troll came to life in the classroom. It sniffed the air a little, before going near the door and sitting down.

That had been a close one… If I had not immediately hid behind the chairs I would have gotten myself killed.

I decided to count seconds, until a second troll arrived. There was three minutes and twelve seconds of delay between the two apparitions. If I guessed the pattern right, in about the same amount of time, a third one would appear and they would exit the classroom again, in teams of three.

This room was a "spawn point", like in one of Carl's games. Thinking about it, there was probably another in the bathroom, one which spawned goblins. That was on the fourth floor. And this was the second floor.

An exact three minutes and twelve seconds later, an other troll blinked into life through the mist. They all roared at each other and ran outside, heading to the stairs next to the bathroom.

I seized my chance and ran towards the exit, and turned to the opposite direction they took. There were corpses scattered in the corridor, some decapitated, some simply crushed or missing limbs. Some were even still moving. Through the windows, I could see many people screaming and running around, but I mainly focused on my immediate surroundings: the corridor.

I quickly reached the stairs. Up or down? Do I go outside into the chaos? That seemed like a bad idea, but it was better than being trapped in this buildings with trolls and goblins.

"G-ggh..." A corpse next to me breathed.

"I'm sorry," I hissed, and just as I was going to go down the stairs, I suddenly noticed a head peeking from up there.

A girl, blonde, her blue eyes wide with fear.

"Hey!" I whispered loudly, climbing a step towards her, but she ran back upstairs. The goblin bathroom was on the fourth floor. "Fucking hell...!" I cursed as I decided to follow her.

I chased her up to the fifth floor, until she reached a small unused classroom. When I got in, she was holding a screwdriver and pointing it shakily towards me.

"…What are you going to do with that?" I asked, unimpressed. "You're shaking."

The girl narrowed her eyes at me. They were hidden behind a curtain of blonde hair, and already she was panting, while I wasn't very tired, even though I was asthmatic. Her vitality must be low.

"I'm no threat." I said, raising my hands in the air. "This place is dangerous."

She held her position, but doubt appeared in her eyes.

I knelt on the ground. "I'm not going to hurt you. I have a proposition… I need help, and so do you. Let's team up and survive."

She hesitated for a moment, before she sighed and lowered her 'weapon'. "A-all right. I trust you for now."

"For now, huh." I repeated with a wry smile. "Well, thanks." I nodded and stood up again. "Shean Mauve."

"Ebony Arc." She replied, and I noticed she was looking worried at something behind the teacher's desk that I couldn't see.

I decided to slowly approach while Ebony knelt down behind the desk. She glanced at me.

"S-she needs help." She finally said.

"She?" I asked before noticing the body laid down behind the desk. Another girl, injured.

As I knelt next to her to inspect her, I didn't recognized the face.

"How?" I asked quietly.

"She was attacked," Her voice cracked, "She's one of my sisters' friends… her name is Sylvia."

I looked back at the girl laying on the ground. She had brown hair and was rather small, which made me think she was my age, fifteen.

Her clothes had been torn apart, and there was an improvised bandage filled with blood on her belly. She was pale, too pale, and she was breathing slowly.

"She's... going to die." I declared eventually, looking at the puddle of blood beneath her.

"I..." She hesitated. "Maybe not..."

I looked back to the bandages made of clothes. They were completely filled with blood, unable to stop the bleeding completely.

I took off my shirt and tore it apart, under the stare of the blonde girl. "We need to change her bandages." I explained, a little embarrassed at exposing my big body but still going through with it. "And mine too, by the way." I added, pointing at my leg. She nodded quickly, unwrapping the clothes around the girl's wound.

She put them to the side, revealing the girl's injury. It was as if something with a claw had slashed her belly. Neither the trolls nor the goblins had claws... Another type of monster? It didn't seem too deep. Shaking my head, I wrapped the newly crafted improvised bandages as tightly as I could around her wounds.

"T-thanks…" Ebony said, lowering her head.

I nodded back to her quietly.

We said nothing as we fell in a silence, so I took the opportunity to inspect my wound in my status window.

Minor Wound (Badly Bandaged) (Dirty)

Dirty. This was bad. I could get an infection.

Carefully, I unwrapped my belt, the strips and the toilet paper from my wound.

Minor Wound (Bleeding)

I grabbed the remaining strips that I just torn from my t-shirt and delicately wrapped them around my leg's injury, before tightening my belt around it once more.

Minor Wound (Badly Bandaged)

It doesn't say it's 'clean'… But I guess that's the best I can do.

I looked at the girl who hadn't lifted a finger to help me. At least she seemed slightly embarrassed by it.

Maybe she was intimidated by my corpulence. I often got that kind of reaction.

"How old are you?" I asked eventually.

"S-sorry." She gritted her teeth. "I'm seventeen..."

A third year… Two years older than me.

"…I'm fifteen, you know." I said. "What are you acting all shy for."

"Ah, I wasn't…" She blinked, a little surprised. "Wait. You're... fifteen?"

"Yeah."

"...Oh wow. Okay!" She chuckled awkwardly, shaking her head. "I thought you were older than me to be honest."

"I know." I sighed.

"Seriously, that's insane," She insisted, "I mean." She looked me up and down, "You're, like, as tall as my dad."

"..." One of my eyes twitched, and I looked away, annoyed. Why did people always need to comment on that? "Are you done or what?"

"Right, uh." She pulled her long hair in front of her. "What are we going to do now?" She asked, playing anxiously with her hair.

"Don't know. Probably stay here for a bit." I replied thoughtfully. "Plan things out, figure things out."

"Okay, sounds good to me." Ebony nodded, easily accepting my answer. It seemed like she got a bit more confident after learning my age. That always surprised people.

"What are your stats?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"Your stats." I repeated, "And skills, what are they?"

"What… are you talking about?" She blinked at me, confused.

"You don't know? Check your status. Say 'status'."

"Uh… Status."

Her eyes widened, focusing on a window invisible to my eyes.

"What is this? This is insane! It's really like they said ; it's a game."

"Yeah. Those are your stats." I nodded. "So, what are your stats."

"Hmm…" She hesitated, looking up at me.

"Just read them to me. I'll read mine to you after, it's no big deal."

"...Okay… My Strength is at 13, Vitality at 6, Agility at 6, Dexterity at 16, Intelligence at 26, Wisdom at 24, Accuracy at 25, and..." She paused, "Well, that's it."

"Accuracy?" I repeated, my interest peaked, "What's that? I don't have that one."

"You don't?"

"No… Do you have a habit of doing something that require accuracy?" I asked.

"Hmm..." She hummed, before she snapped her fingers. "Ah, of course! I like to practice archery! And I've shot a gun before."

"I guess that will do it." I nodded. "I'm guessing you have an archery skill as well?"

"Uh..."

"Say 'skills'."

"Skills." She called, and blinked at the new window that probably popped up in front of her eyes. "Oh wow… Yeah. I do have an archery skill. And some others, too. Like, a bowyer skill."

"A bowhat? What's that?"

"Bowyer. For making bows and arrows." She answered. "I liked to make my own when I was little. My mother helped me with it."

"Cool. That's… That's good. That's going to come in handy."

"Nah, I don't think it will…" She laughed half-heartedly. "What about you? What's your stats." She asked and leaned forward with a curious glint in her eyes.

'Status.'

"Let's see. 33 Strength, 15 Vitality, 16 Agility, 17 Dexterity, 20 Intelligence, 21 Wisdom, and… 49 Willpower." I listed, adding the bonus of my title to my stats.

"Willpower?" She frowned. "What's that?"

"It's a stat."

"I don't have it." She said.

"Because you haven't unlocked it. Just like I didn't unlock your Accuracy stat." I explained, "Earlier today, I had a message pop up that said I gained the Willpower stat."

"..And you have 49 of that?" She gaped at me, "I-isn't that a lot?"

"It probably is, I guess." I shrugged.

"Mmh…" She flushed and leaned back, looking around the room, embarrassed for some reason.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to compare stats. It could turn into a dick-measuring contest way too easily.

It was good that I decided to leave out some stats.

All of them I had reasons to keep hidden. For example, if I ended up in a contest of luck playing rock paper scissors, it would be better if people didn't know I had 10 Luck. Though, I didn't know the full extent of the power of Luck yet; but still.

As for Leadership, if we ever met a group of survivors and they knew about it, I could be considered a threat to their leader's legitimacy.

And finally Physical Resistance, I kept it hidden since it may lead to people relying on me to take hits for them, just because I could take them better. I didn't like the sound of that at all. I wasn't ready to tank a troll's swing with a mass yet!

Hmm… Yes, in the future, it would be a good idea to simply not reveal stats between ourselves. That should avoid a headache for everyone. And it was pretty private, all things considered.

Who even knows if this girl has been completely truthful? For all I know, she could have lied to appear weaker - or stronger - than she really is.

"I need to find my little brother and my twin sisters," Ebony spoke up again. "My little bro Jaune, he's one year younger than me, but he wanted to apply to Beacon, I bet he has a bunch of stats and skills trained, ready to go. He'll be a good asset."

I paused. "...A good asset?" I groaned, staring at her. "A good, asset?" I repeated again, raising my voice, making her wince. "Who the fuck fo you take me for? You think I'm gonna let people die just because they have bad stats or something?"

"I-I don't know!" She panicked, fear coming back to her eyes, "Y-you asked me my stats! So I kinda... I'm sorry I assumed...!"

Man. I really shouldn't have asked for her stats.

"Ok, new rule," I decided, "We don't ask people's stats."

"...We have rules now?" She frowned.

"Yeah." I replied, crossing my arms and anrrowing my eyes at her, "What. You're gonna assume I'm a tyrant now?"

"N-no!" She shook her head frantically, eyes wide, "Th-that's not what I meant at all!"

"..."

Shit. I'm doing it again. Calm down, Shean.

This is why I don't have friends. I don't know how Daryl puts up with me.

"..."

I sighed heavily, taking a deep breath. "Sorry. We... Well, we don't have to make rules if you don't want to."

"No, no, you're right," Ebony shook her head apologetically, "It was my fault for assuming. What you said makes sense. Comparing stats is only going to make people self-conscious. Instead, let's just say what we're good at and what we're bad at; keep it vague."

"Good idea," I smiled at her.

"See? We can figure this out!" She grinned and winked at me, slapping my shoulder.

Boomboom.

...Did my heart just skip a beat? For what, a little wink?

"So, your bro." I said, composing myself, "He's in the school right now?" I asked.

"Yes. At the time it… happened… He was probably in building C. My sisters, too."

I grimaced. "Building C is on the other side of the school…"

"But at least it's still in the school." She replied, "So it should still be considered as part of this 'Dungeon' thing."

"True…" I nodded, thinking about my own brother. "My bro is outside the dungeon... He's only ten." I mused absentedmindly.

I hoped he was OK back at his own school… The dungeon kept us from leaving this school, so I wouldn't be able to check on him or my parents without clearing this dungeon's boss first.

What if his own school had turned into a dungeon too?

Fucking hell. Giant trolls? He would never make it...

"I'm sure he'll make it." Ebony patted my shoulder, making me look up at her. She was grinning confidently, proudly. "The outside world can't be worse than this dungeon. There are Huntsmen and the police to help, and they will know to check schools for children! Humanity will come together."

"...Stop," I scoffed, smacking her hand away. "...But... Maybe." I admitted, feeling a little better.

"I'm serious..." She continued. "Anyway. I have a boyfriend somewhere in the school, too. And two sisters. I hope they'll be okay."

"..."

They are alive, I suddenly decided when I saw her expression shift from confident to worried sick, for all but an instant. All of them are alive.

It was much better to assume so. Carl, Mom, Daryl, Caitlyn. Even step-douche. They were all alive.

The alternative was too cruel.

"Well, we can't get to them right now anyway." I said. "But if we come across people, let's take them in. Then we'll save your people, we'll kick the boss' ass, and go save mine!"

"Yes! All right!" She exclaimed, raising her fist in the air. "Thank you!" She smiled gratefully at me. "Thank you so much!"

I paused for a second as I looked at her.

I thought it was the heat at first. But man, she was hot. Blonde, long, lustrous hair, with deep, dark blue eyes. She wore some tight shorts that revealed a lot of legs, and a light blue t-shirt that revealed her belly and showed cleavage as well, and to top it all of she was quite sweaty, just like me, because of the heat.

"…Right." I coughed, reluctantly taking my eyes away from her, and stood up. "Time for action. If we're going to stay here a while, let's barricade the door. There are some nasty things out there."

"…Yeah… Good idea," She nodded awkwardly.

She might have caught me staring. I didn't really care.

Like that, we took a moment to carry all the tables and desks of this unused classroom against the door. All in all, we were able to stack fifteen table against the only door.

"Let's close the curtains, too." Ebony suggested.

"Yeah." I nodded.

Before closing them, I took a look outside.

People were running around screaming everywhere.

Wait.

"Are those… people?" I frowned. They were running a bit weird and were acting strangely, covered in blood.

Ebony stared at me weirdly. "...You don't know...? They got infected. They're like… zombies now."

"..." I froze, gaping at the horde running outside. Looking ahead of them, I saw that they were running after a couple of students.

They caught up to them, tackling their legs.

"…"

Oh fuck.

Suddenly, images of the corridor that I had ran through just two minutes ago flashed in my head.

The corpses. Some of them still moving. The groaning body near the stairs.

Right then and there, they could have...

"Let's close the curtains," Ebony muttered softly.

"…Yeah." I gulped, "Let's do that."

Minutes later.

We had fallen into silence in the dark classroom, and minutes passed.

We had decided to let the chaos outside pass before trying to head out. While it was true that the classic plan of "barricading and waiting for help" that we often saw in zombie apocalypse movies wouldn't work here, since no one else could enter this dungeon without us finishing it first – or dying, it would still be more cautious to wait a little while for things to calm down.

Still, though.. Zombies. Fucking zombies. And not the walking type. No. The sprinter type. The fucking sprinter type.

We are so fucked.

"…"

Thinking about it. There were only so many students in the school, and the infected couldn't invade the dungeon from the outside.

And with monsters like trolls walking around? That would certainly thin the mass. If they were hostile to each other, that was. I wondered how the goblins would fare against the infected. Probably poorly. But the goblins re-spawned. The infected did not… Or maybe they did? Who was patient-zero? Was there even a patient-zero? Or were we all infected and going to turn after dying?

My eyes widened at the possibility, and I looked at Sylvia's frail frame, my body tensing up.

"...How's she doing?" I asked Ebony, who was sat besides her.

"She's holding, I guess…" She smiled weakly.

"Hm. She's not... She was not bitten, right?"

Ebony paused, and started at me for a second. "No... She wasn't."

Getting a little defensive, huh. She doesn't trust me.

Would Sylvia turn if she died?

Fuck, I don't know. But I'm not gonna kill anyone who's still alive.

"You be ready in case she turns." I warned.

"She wasn't bitten, "She insisted, frowning.

"She could still turn. We don't know."

"I've got the screwdriver." She replied.

"Good." I simply nodded.

It would have to do. Setting that matter aside for now, I took the opportunity to analyze my skills in greater detail.

'Skills.'

[Skill: Cooking (Passive)]
Rank: Common
Level: Beginner 3
Description: You regularly cook for your brother. Just enough to make decent meals.
Effects: +15% quality of cooked goods.

Not much to say here. Often, I cooked for my brother when Step-Douche and mom weren't home. It seemed like it was enough to turn into a skill, which honestly surprised me a little bit.

[Skill: Drums Playing (Passive)]
Rank: Common
Level: Intermediate 5
Effects: Better handling and more harmonious use of drums.

Useless. Absolutely useless. Though it did feel gratifying to know that it started at Intermediate level 5. I hadn't thought I was that good. But in the apocalypse, it was absolutely useless.

[Street Fighting(Passive)]
Rank: Common
Level: Beginner Level 2
Description: You are used to fighting, but you have no form.
Effect: Increased Strength and Dexterity by 4% when fighting without weapon.

4%, that was it? And I needed to fight without a weapon for it to take effect? That was next to useless. Not worth not using a weapon that provided more range.

[Skill: Drawing (Passive)]
Rank: Common
Level: Beginner Level 8
Description: You like to draw to pass the time, but you have yet to develop your style.
Effect: Increased quality and accuracy of hand-drawn art by 80%.

Hmm… I thought this one would be useless, but maybe I could try drawing a map of the school? But there should be individual maps of the buildings on some walls, with instructions for emergency escape. We needed to get our hands on one of these.

[Skill: Biking (Passive)]
Rank: Common
Level: Intermediate Lv6
Description: You are used to biking, both in the city and off-road.
Effects: + 70% maneuverability on road and off-road. +22% speed with bikes. -22% stamina cost with bikes.

My skill with the highest level currently. While it might not be that useful in the dungeon, it will be handy once we get out. Especially the reduced cost of stamina.

Actually, my bicycle should still be out there on the parking. If I got my hands on it, I could probably out-speed monsters and Infected.

The one problem was how long would I be able to last, since I was asthmatic. If I had my medicine I would be OK, but it was in my bag, which I had left in class, on the second floor near the trolls' spawn point.

Fuck my life.

[Skill: Withstanding (Passive)]
Rank: Uncommon
Level: Beginner Level 4.
Description: You are used to taking punches, kicks and other attacks. You have developed a natural skill to take the blows better and cushion some of the damage.
Effects: +8% chance to reduce an attack's damage by up to 8%.
Note: Grants 5 points in Physical Resistance upon learning this skill.

That… seemed very useful. If I grind this one a little, I'll be able to resist attacks a lot better. And also this skill was where the Physical Resistance stat had come from. Between this skill and the free +10 from the title, I was probably a lot tougher than the average person.

[Skill: The Gamer (Passive)]
Rank: Unique
Level: Beginner Level 1
Effects: +20 % effectiveness of [Luck]on item drops. +20% XP to stats and skills. -20% stat requirements to gain stats, learn skills, or use items. Negates other requirements to gain stats, learn skills or use items. Grants immunity to stats and skills decay. Grants additional benefits for many items.
Available Sub-skills: [Identify]
Note: Grants 20 points in Willpower upon learning this skill.

This skill seemed like it would help me a lot to grow and learn skills that I otherwise wouldn't be able to. The part that said it negated all other requirements to gain stats, learn skill or use items seemed particularly overpowered. The immunity to stats and skills decay, if that was really what I thought it was. Not having to maintain your physical shape and mental sharpness with a training routine sounded like heaven to me, and was one hell of an edge over everyone else.

[Skill: Identify (Active)]
Rank: Rare
Level: Beginner Level 1
Effects: View relevant information on a non-living target.
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Range: 5 meters

Only items? Not living creatures?

That was a bit of a disappointment. Though maybe it would be unlocked at a higher level? For now, it would be useful to learn about stuff I didn't know about at least.

There were no cost, but there was a cooldown, so I wouldn't be able to spam it to power-level it. Hopefully the cooldown would be decreased at higher levels.

Hmmm… I should start leveling it now then. It's going to be a pain to do it every minute.

I closed the skills window, looking up at Ebony.

In her hands, she was still holding her screwdriver, playing around with it.

Identify. I used the skill, looking at the tool.

Screwdriver
A basic screwdriver with a flat-headed blade. It is commonly used for screws with straight linear intrusion across the head, but can also serve other purposes.
In great condition. It has decent stabbing power.
[The Gamer]: +1 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence.

No information that I didn't know already… But what's with this bonus? Did I miss something with the Gamer skill?

I pulled up my skills window, reading the effects of [The Gamer] again.

Effect: Additional benefits for many items.

I see.

So even something like a simple screwdriver could give me additional bonuses? That would be useful in the future. If a screwdriver was enough to give me bonuses, who knew what a Huntsman's weapon, or a simple gun, would give me.

For now, though, she probably needed it more than me, even if she didn't get the stat bonus. With my high strength and my height, I could manage easily without a weapon; the same could not be said for her.

After all, I hadn't needed anything to defeat that goblin scout.

That goblin... That fucker had a dagger. If I could get to it, it should make for good weapon, and with any luck it would give me some stats as a bonus, too.

What else? I mused as I turned my eyes to my sneakers.

Identify.

Grey Sneakers
Soft shoes worn for sports or casual occasions.
In good condition. Your feet are used to them.
[100% Familiarity]: +3% move speed.
[The Gamer]: -5% footsteps noise.

I raised an eyebrow at the window. Decreased footsteps noise? That's a bit random. I'll take it though. Stealth stats are probably a thing in this game too, huh.

But the familiarity bonus was interesting. This meant that players would be rewarded for using the same piece of equipment for an extended period of time.

If I'm at 100% familiarity, the bonus most likely won't increase anymore. But does that mean at 50% familiarity I would have gotten +1,5% move speed?

Probably? There was no way to know for sure.

Looking around the room, my eyes fell on a broom.

Identify.

Ding!

[Identify] is on cooldown! Available in 32 seconds.

Yeah. That was going to get annoying real fast.

I waited for the cooldown to finish.

Identify.

Broom
A brush with a long shaft as a handle, used for sweeping the floor.
In good condition, but rather fragile. It has good range.
[The Gamer]: +1 Strength.

I stood up, walked to the tool and grabbed it. It was pretty light. Stepping back from the wall, I gave it a few tentative swings like a bat. Seeing as it was pretty awkward, I tried a stabbing move next, like a spear. It seemed much more efficient to use it like that; it packed more punch.

"…Shean?"

I turned my eyes to Ebony, who had stood up, looking anxious.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

I shrugged. "We can't stay in this classroom forever. Sooner or later we'll need to get out, if only to find food and water. I'll take this with me." I said, raising the broom.

"You can't…" She shook her head, reaching a hand towards me. I stepped back. "You're going to die out there."

"If I stay here we're going to die too." I replied.

"Th-that's… What about Sylvia?" She asked, nodding to the injured girl. "We can't leave her here without supervision."

"You stay here then." I shrugged again. "I'll go find something outside. Maybe I can find something in the infirmary for her."

"No way. The infirmary is not even in this building. You wouldn't make it."

"But it's in the building right next to this one."

"There's a horde outside. Probably inside, too. You'll die."

"…" I paused at the certainty in her voice. "… Okay… I won't go outside the building yet. But I'll still explore the corridors. I'm getting hungry."

And I needed to go back to bathroom, to get the goblin dagger. Hopefully it was still there.

I also needed to go back to my classroom, and get the asthma medicine in my backpack.

And I needed to find some food and water…

So much to do. We couldn't stay idle for ever.

"Let's fully search this room first," She suggested, "See if we can use anything before you head out."

"…" I stared at her for a second. I suspected she wanted to delay my expedition as much as possible to convince me to stay. "…Right. Sure." I still nodded, and we started looting the classroom.

After fifteen minutes of searching, we regrouped our findings, and I had identified each of them.

Screwdriver
[The Gamer]: +1 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence

Broom
[The Gamer]: +1 Strength

Mop
[The Gamer]: +1 Strength

School Bag
[The Gamer]: +2 Vitality

Satchel (x2)
[The Gamer]: +1 Wisdom

Duct Tape
Notebook
Box of paperclips
Pen (x5)
Bucket
Scissors
Scotch Tape
Bleach

Ding!

[Identify]'s level has increased to Beginner Level 2!

All of that, and I also noticed that I had lost my Scroll somewhere, probably on the second floor.

"All in all, nothing very useful." I mused. grabbing the school bag and putting it on my back. If only I had an inventory skill, I wouldn't need it; though I did get +2 Vitality from it at least. "I guess we can drink bleach if we get too thirsty."

"Hah!" Ebony laughed, "Wait. I have an idea." she exclaimed, eyes wide. "Turn around!"

"Huh?" I blinked at her, but still turned around. "Why?"

"You'll see… I'll grab this, and this…" I hear the excited girl grab objects, and the sound of… duct tape?

"Tada!"

I turned again, and found her holding the broom, with its brush unscrewed, and the screwdriver taped at its end.

I grinned. "You genius!"

"Hey, I even got a point in Intelligence for that!" She beamed, handing me the new improvised spear.

'Identify'

Improvised Spear
A screwdriver solidly taped to the end of a broom's shaft.
It has decent stabbing power and great range, but the binding is rather fragile.
Effect: +1 Agility, +1 Dexterity
[The Gamer]: +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence

"That is actually pretty good," I grinned. "It has gained a stat bonus!"

"Huh?"

"Yeah, see, I've got this skill that lets me identify items." I explained, "And it says this thing grants +1 Agility and Dexterity."

"Really?" She raised her eyebrows, "Oh, I can see that too actually."

"Ah? Huh…" I blinked. Why could she see that without the Identify skill? "You can see it? Is it because you made it?" I asked.

"That may be why, yeah." She nodded, scratching the back of her head. "It also says I've got 50% Familiarity with it. Whatever that means."

"That's... Again, that probably because you made it." I mused. So the weapon makers started off with 50% Familiarity, huh. Good to know.

Ding!

The [Intelligence] stat has increased by one.

"...And I just got a point in intelligence, too." I said.

"I guess figuring stuff out gives us experience in intelligence?" Ebony mused.

"That's great. Now I can finally stop being a dumbass," I sighed, making the blonde girl giggle.

"Cough cough!"

Our antics are interrupted as we hear the raspy coughing of the third person in the room.

"Sylvia!" Ebony exclaimed, and ran to the girl's side. "Sylvia! Can you hear me?"

"Mghr…" The brown-haired girl struggled for a moment, shifting her body slightly, eyes still closed.

Then she stopped moving.

My eyes widened. "… Is she…?"

"No. She went unconscious again." Ebony said. "I need to stay by her side… She needs me."

"…No offense, but what can you do for her by staying in this room exactly?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Emotional support is a thing that can help patients escape death, you know." She frowned at me, "And besides, I found out earlier that I actually have a Nursing skill."

"Oh. That's good…"

"Yeah. If I'm doing it right, right now I'm giving her..." Her eyes went down, probably reading the description, "A vitality boost and a healing rate boost."

"Well, keep at it then." I nodded, "She's gonna need that."

"Yep."

After saying that, I walked to the window and lifted the curtain to take a peek outside. We were on the fifth floor, so it was safe.

In the school yard were many infected stumbling around. One group of Infected was trying to reach some students that had ended up trapped on top of a porch somehow.

But the porch was part of a building, and so they had access to a classroom's windows if they wanted. Yet the zombies didn't seem smart enough to go around, they were just raising their arms dumbly at them, trying to reach them from the ground.

I decided to look for something else, and spotted a big shape behind a car.

A troll's corpse, surrounded by many bodies of students. Did it get overrun by the infected? How the hell could that happen?

Or maybe someone else took it down…

Suddenly, something blinded me.

"Ugh. What's this?" I squinted my eyes.

A light was coming from one of the adjacent building's windows. The third floor.

The light blinked.

A mirror?

Did someone spot me?

Whoever it was, they kept doing it.

"Bah." I shrugged and stepped away from the window. I couldn't really communicate with them anyway.

Instead, I grabbed the notebook and a pen.

Let's see. I mused as I started to draw a plan.

This building had five floors, plus the roof.

The troll spawn point was north, on the second floor. That was also where my school bag with my asthma medicine was. But I would need to avoid that area for now.

The goblin spawn point was south, on the fourth floor.

That's where I'll be heading.

There were five classrooms per floor… But where was the teacher's break room again? Wasn't it on the second floor too?

There was probably food there. But it was too risky.

I was pretty sure there was a janitor closet somewhere, too. Maybe I could find some tools there.

But if I needed weapons, the safest bet was to go back to the goblin bathroom to grab the dagger.

What else. The student lockers? They were on the ground floor.

Anything else?

I'm a forgetful person. I'm pretty sure I missed something…

I frowned as I looked around the room to distract myself.

My eyes fell on Sylvia. And her injury.

'Claws'. I wrote down, ' A third type of monster? Another spawn point?'

BOOM!

Suddenly, an explosion shook the entire school, making me screw my drawing with a big line across the page that amost ripped the page in half.

"Shit!" I cursed angrily, "My PLAN!"

"That's what you're angry about?!" Ebony asked me with eyes wide as she hurried to the windows. "It's coming from the building over there!"

"…Where?" I asked, after standing up.

"Right there!"

Out of the adjacent building, a fire was burning, rejecting thick black smoke into the sky.

Wait a second. That was the third floor.

"That's where the signal came from," I frowned.

"The signal? What signal?"

"Yeah, someone was making signals with a mirror, like, five minutes ago."

"And you say that now?!" She exclaimed, smacking my arm.

"Chill. That's not building C. I didn't think it was that important," I shrugged, and looked down in the school yard.

"Holy shit..." Ebony breathed.

Out of all corners of the school, dozens of dozens of Infected came out running towards the noise.

Crack!

Below us, we heard some window crack. Zombies jumping down the window, only to break their legs on impact.

"They're not the brightest, clearly." I observed, interested in the behavior.

"Ho-how are you so chill about this?" Ebony asked with a scared voice.

"I'm not chill. I'm just doing my best to remain calm." I rolled my eyes at her. "And besides, this is the opportunity we've been waiting for. Most of the zombies will have run out of this building, now is the ideal time to go out!"

"Wha… You're really going out?" Ebony asked, eyes wide. "Now of all times?"

"Come on. I have to, you know I'm right. It's better than staying here waiting for our deaths." I insisted, and walked to the bottle of Bleach. "I'm taking this, by the way," I added, and opened the window to empty it outside. "If I make it to the bathroom, I can fill it, and we'll have some water at least."

"…You'll come back, right?" She asked with a small voice.

"Of-, uh…of course I will." I nodded, hesitating only a little bit.

"You're not gonna leave us behind?" She questioned fearfully. "W-we can pull ou own weight. We won't slow you down. Please come back..."

My eye twitched, anger rising once again. I thought we went through this already? Was she really that paranoid?

Or... Or maybe she just really, really didn't want to be left alone again. She didn't have a shit ton of willpower like me.

I need to be more patient, if I want to work with other people.

The [Wisdom] stat has increased by one.

Huh? Weird timing.

I let out a heavy sigh. "…Like I said. What do you take me for?" I frowned at her, still clearly showing my displeasure. "I'm not gonna leave, in fact, maybe I'll come back with an extra, so you'll have company when I go out again. Who knows!"

"O-okay." She nodded, taking a deep breath, as if she was the one who was stepping out of the room into the chaos. "Okay… I'm gonna keep on nursing Sylvia, then. You be careful out there… I'll be waiting for you, I won't go anywhere. Don't go fighting anything."

"No promises on that." I scoffed, pushing the barricades just enough to make a tiny path to the door. "I've never been good when it comes to… not getting into fights."

On these words, I looked back at her and rolled my eyes when I saw her terrified expression. She was nearly hyperventilating. I was definitely not staying around to deal with that.

"See you around." I stepped out into the corridor, and closed the door behind me.