Chapter 3: Active Security Measures
While everyone was busy, Kalli searched the room until she found something useful.
There was a cabinet in the corner labelled "Emergency Equipment", and when she opened it, she found that there was a large U-shaped metal bar designed to drop into holes in the floor to block the door shut in case of intruders.
There was also a first aid kit, a fire extinguisher, and a curtain that she wasn’t certain could be called emergency supplies.
If it was a blanket, sure. But it looked like a shower curtain, and there was definitely no shower in this room. But one of the boys grabbed it, along with the door bar, and quickly barricaded the entry, hanging the curtain over the door frame to block anyone outside from seeing them in here.
"Alright. Whatever is going on out there, we’ve only got twelve minutes left before this timer runs out.
Then, either it will go away, or we will at least have some idea what’s going on," Kalli announced.
A few of the students turned to her with hopeful looks, like she might actually have answers, and not just confusion layered over a splitting headache.
The boy who had barricaded the door joined Kalli at the front of the room. "What class did you get? I mean, if this is real, we should all have some sort of special skills, right? It did call us the heroes of Marimgar.
Maybe we’re supposed to fight off whatever attacks?"
"I got a class called Coordinator. It said that I waited too long and just assigned me something," she explained.
"What does it even get as a skill? I picked warrior, and I get [Cleave] and [Shield Slam], which should both be useful later if we really are being attacked.
This just makes no sense, you know?
This is Marimgar Academy. We’re here to matriculate, not conversate or obfuscate."
Kalli frowned. "I’m fairly sure that you used at least one of those words wrong. But I get your point. Why would the Academy be under attack, and even if it was, why would we get these messages about the end of the world."
The boy lowered his voice. "I don’t know. But I can smell smoke and what, I think, is blood. I am not convinced that this is a joke anymore."
Kalli nodded. "Kallista, nice to meet you."
"Reggie. Good to meet you too, transfer student. How many classes other than warrior do you think we have in here? I know my classmates, we’ve been on the Elevator Program together since preschool.
We’ve been together for every class of every year, moving straight up through the Academy’s divisions.
Now, we’re finally freshmen in the University wing, and the world is ending."
His voice was getting a bit hysterical, but he was keeping the volume down as the majority of the class stared silently out the windows at whatever was happening outside.
They were interrupted by something slamming into the door. The whole wall seemed to shake, and the door flexed a little, but held.
"Quick, someone push the teacher’s desk up against the door, and get away from the windows!" Kalli instructed.
That, and another strike against the door, were enough to spur the students into motion. They pushed the desk across the floor, jamming it under the door handle, in case it somehow came unlocked.
That didn’t stop the attacks against the door, but it was enough that the door was holding.
Again and again, something slammed against the door, while the sounds of screaming became more distinct. Another classroom must have been breached, Kalli thought.
{Five Minutes Remaining. Prepare yourselves.} The notices on the walls warned.
The banging at the door ended with howling from the corridor, and then a series of messages on the wall.
{Classroom 2C has been breached} 4 survivors
{Classroom 1G has been breached} 0 survivors
{Classroom 4A has defended a breach} 14 survivors
The sound of shattering stone outside, followed by an explosion, brought the students back to the windows, despite Kalli’s warning.
"It’s a plane crash. I think that it clipped the building next to the Academy on the way down, and it’s landed by the shore," one of the boys explained in a solemn tone.
{Quest Completion status} Multiple Classrooms breached
{Intact Classrooms remaining: 15}
{Bonus Quest Completed} Points awarded 100
{Perfect completion Bonus} Points awarded 100
Kalli smiled as the messages appeared. Now, she could finally access her rewards.
Rewards that were not what they appeared to be at first glance. The icons that she could see, the tent, the knife, the motorcycle, the buffet table and the unidentified box were not items for sale, but categories.
The knife symbol led to a selection of weapons, each with a specific sort of requirement.
Requirements that she didn’t meet.
The first item on the list was a simple machete. The sort of blade that you could buy in outdoors equipment shops back home.
It cost one System Point, which seemed reasonable. But it had a notation attached.
{When equipped by Heroes, deals 20 base damage}
That section was highlighted in red, informing her that, apparently, she was not considered a hero.
That made her wonder how much damage it would do in her hands. Could it be that everyone else in the room got some sort of bonus to their combat damage? Kalli had originally thought that the class was just a bonus ability, like her storage realm and store. But apparently, the other classes got some sort of extra bonus.
{Quest Available} Find Shelter: Exit the classroom and find your way to a secure area before the building is locked down.
{Accept} Y/N
Kalli considered the options. They were relatively safe here in the classroom. But it was already obvious that the hallways were not safe, and there was something trying to break in only moments ago.
So, the obvious answer was to try to get somewhere safer, but she had no idea where that could be.
{Quest Accepted}
Again, the quest that she picked appeared on the walls of the classroom, and her classmates began to talk excitedly about what came next.
"If we move to the dorms, they should be safer, right? They’re in a new building with security doors, and concrete walls. It’s got to be better than here." Reggie suggested.
"The quest says it’s not safe here, so we should move." Kalli agreed. "Everyone, grab whatever looks like a weapon and let’s move!"
