Chapter 43: Limited Time Power
That started a huge discussion among the other students. Most of them still needed gear, even if it was common grade. But more importantly, most of them were still level one.
They had to make it to at least level two in a week, and if they didn’t do something, they risked losing their powers.
So, they had to do quests, and possibly do the dungeon every day as well.
Anything to save themselves.
Those who were out doing quests, and didn’t know that the dungeon had been cleared to trigger the notification, were in just as much of a panic. But at least they were already doing what they could.
They just felt more motivated to find someone and convince them to come back to the Academy.
That was more difficult than most of them had anticipated, as the students had often been taken in as local guardians, heroes of a housing complex, who already had everything that they needed, and had people to protect.
However, the quest didn’t say that they needed to stay, did it?
If they could just convince them to come back and complete the quest, they could return to their own territories after and continue protecting the people. Hopefully, the deadline would help with that.
At the very least, they would find out that there were people in the Academy that could help them in an emergency.
That was valuable to people trying to protect others, and it fed on the hero complex that most of the warriors had developed. The healer classes that they came across were mostly overworked and exhausted from trying to keep regular people alive while they used household tools to fight off the rat demons and monsters.
But those students also knew that the moment they left, the people were doomed if they didn’t move.
However, they couldn’t keep on like this forever, and they were going to have to find someone who could actually fight, as well as a source of supplies. There was no other option.
That was how Bert and Kruger found themselves in their current predicament.
They had found not just one but three of their classmates. But one was a healer and the other two were given the Tinker class, which specialized in repairing items. Cool for a life skill video game build, not great for surviving the apocalypse.
They had nearly a hundred other residents of the building with them, and the tinkers had managed to use their skills to upgrade dozens of large kitchen knives, shovels, and other tools to deal as much damage as a Common Grade item drop.
Or, they would, in the hands of an awakened hero.
The locals still didn’t have the strength of a Warrior, but they could at least cut through the hide of the rat demons.
Both warriors knew that the Tinkers were vital to the Academy, as gear got damaged so often doing missions. They simply couldn’t let them die of exhaustion out here. But they weren’t idiots, the others wouldn’t take a hundred regular humans into the Academy.
"What if everyone moved? There are apartment buildings right across from the Academy, and they’re all empty. The first day, the monsters rampaged through them during the fifteen-minute attack.
We’ve thoroughly checked them, and nobody dared to come back, if they survived the first attack and into the following days.
That’s within our patrol range, where the guards on the walls can see them to defend the outside of the building. You’ve given them weapons and a chance, I’m sure that there is something everyone can do to get supplies.
Hell, some of the students will likely hire them.
It’s just that asking the others to let people without the ability to defend themselves move into the Academy, when we’re already strained on resources..."
He trailed off, and an older man standing beside him patted him on the shoulder.
"He’s not wrong. You’re heroes, that notice said so. You need to reach level two, or you’re going to lose your powers and end up just as bad off as us. I think that we can convince most of the group to move near the Academy.
I don’t know what we can do to earn food and supplies, but we will find something. Just being close to a hundred warriors like those two is enough to convince most of the others to relocate.
Just having the protection of them not wanting monsters too close to their walls is enough for me."
Then the old woman beside him smiled kindly. "You know, I used to think that those rich folk who went to live on the orbital station were crazy. But I thought that maybe they were onto something. Now, they’re stuck in space, with nobody to go up and fetch them or bring supplies. But we’re down here with the monsters."
Kruger laughed. "I think that they knew. It seemed much too fast, the way that they rushed to build an orbital hotel, as they called it. Although, there are only twenty people up there, that we know of. Everyone else got stuck down here to make their own plans."
"Well, now we’ve got heroes, and they’ve got freeze-dried protein bars. Jokes on them."
Bert snapped his fingers. "That’s it! We have a hero with a class that can purchase things from the System. We have to do quests and stuff to earn the points, but we can buy cases of nutrition bars. They’re awful, but they’re food.
A thousand to a case, it would only take a case or two a week to keep this group from starving. There has to be something that they can help us with that will be worth a point a week, even if they can’t earn them directly.
They don’t count as heroes, but we can definitely find a way.
Please convince the others to come with us. You can stay near the Academy, and we will watch over your building. It’s also on our way out for daily missions, so the monsters won’t build up too close to you.
You’ve proven you can fight them off, and now you’ll have both healers and backup nearby."
The old man nodded. "Agreed. Give us thirty minutes to pack. I will take care of it."
That was perfect. Now they had repair people for their gear.
