"Mat!" Leila called, ignoring the risk of attracting the zombies.
Or rather, she was clearly eager to bring more of them to the fray so that the count of their cores would increase.
There was this visceral joy visible in the girl's eyes as if she truly enjoyed gathering the cores.
'It's as if she didn't see them as corpses of her schoolmates,' Mathew thought, lowkey troubled with such development.
It wasn't anything bad for the girl to find a coping mechanism for her situation. But seeing her beautiful face all in smiles while her hands have blood all over them?
This was the most disturbing image Mathew could find on the entire floor. Not the grotesque piles of corpses, not the blood splattered all over the place... The weird, satisfied smile of the girl who covered in fear from the zombies just a few moments earlier.
'Maybe leveling up has some weird effect on one's brain?' Mathew attempted to guess, only to shake his head and drop the topic.
This wasn't the time for such unnecessary debate.
"Yes?" Mathew called back to the girl, standing up from the pile he finished counting.
"I think we have well over two hundred now!" the girl announced, brimming with smiles.
"Guys, how about some help?!" Daria called out from the staircase, despite progressing down the stairs instead of just holding her high ground.
'Yeah,' Mathew thought, shaking his head as he straightened up and picked up his ax. 'There is definitely something in the air messing with our heads.'
Maybe it was adrenaline rushing through their veins. Maybe a visceral joy of their complicated lives simplified to the struggle for survival. Or maybe there actually was something in the system that messed with their brains.
'Did something like this happen before?' Mathew thought, reaching to his memories. And yet, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't pinpoint the answer.
"I'm on my way!" Mathew shouted, shaking his head to get rid of those useless thoughts.
Whether or not something was interfering with their brains wasn't a topic for now.
'Once we will secure the school, there will be some time to think about it,' he thought, swinging his ax even before reaching the staircase.
Daria would likely be able to hold the zombies off... But Mathew didn't want to risk it. And since she called for help, he was more than happy to provide it.
"We should have nearly two hundred by now!" Leila shouted over as she dropped yet another haul by the pile of the life cores. "Are you sure you don't want to summon that merchant first?"
Ever since Mathew first mentioned the possibility of summoning a merchant, Leila was its greatest supporter. It was likely also the reason why she was so eager to collect the cores from the fallen zombies.
Because with the merchant, their ability to survive in the apocalypse would skyrocket.
"Still, are you really sure it's better than going back to the one you already summoned?" Daria asked when Mathew reached her position and started to swing his trusty ax around. "It's not like it would take super long either," she added, only to shrug her shoulders before cutting off a zombie's head with Mathew's sword.
"We still need to summon two more merchants in the school to turn it into a true fortress," Mathew rebuked, sharing the one vital piece of information that he found out in his past life.
Normally, he would keep it hidden, staying true to his idea of keeping his cards by his chest. Yet in this world, where he was likely the only one to have a system within the boundary of the school...
What could anyone do with that information?
'Sure, I could find a better location to place the merchant, but at this very moment, there are far more benefits to just going with the flow,' Mathew thought, sending a few more hits into the horde before nudging Daria.
"Let's head back," Mathew ordered.
They reached the breaking point of the stairs, where their other part would descend towards the bottom floor rather than the wall ending the building. If they kept on going, they would soon attract the zombies from below.
And this wasn't the purpose yet.
"Yeah," Daria nodded her head, obediently pulling back.
Compared to her girlfriend, she turned out to be much more level-headed, capable of holding her newly awoken instincts at bay.
Now that Mathew had made his decision, he cleaned out the last few zombies from the stairs before lowering his torso to start picking up the cores.
'I think we could easily reach three hundred,' the young man thought, comparing the number of unlooted corpses to the number of those that Leila and he himself had already cleared out.
'I guess it's better to just go and do it,' Mathew thought, stepping forward and leaving the task of protecting the staircase to Daria.
He then approached the pile of the stones before putting them into a piece of cloth torn out of a random zombie's uniform. And then, just like he did on the top floor of the school before, Mathew repeated the summoning ritual.
"I, Mathew, son of Arthur, do hereby summon a tiered merchant!"
This was as far as Mathew's knowledge reached. What was the title of the third merchant required to form a fortress? He didn't know.
'I bet I can buy that information out of this guy,' Mathew thought, watching how the stones exploded in brightness only for a hooded shadow to appear where they were once the light vanished.
"Tiered merchant?" Leila asked, raising her eyes towards Mathew's face right as he reached for the merchant's shadow.
"That's right," Mathew nodded his head. "Contrary to the claim merchant above, this one, can evolve," he explained before pushing his hand forward and grasping at the dancing shadow underneath the merchant's hood.
How about some PS maybe? :D
The shadow within Mathew's grasp expanded the second Mat squeezed down on it.
It suddenly expanded, forming a blurry barrier that separated the young man from the rest of the world.
While stuck inside, Mathew's experience of time changed.
'It's always this weird feeling, isn't it?' the young man thought, immersing himself in the darkness.
He never got to truly check whether or not the time flowed differently within the merchant's shop. It was something that only required both parties to carry a clock.
But still, Mathew never really had the time and opportunity at the same time to pull such a basic test out.
And what seemed like a mere moment later, the darkness suddenly pulled away, revealing three tables both on Mathew's right and left, with a sacrificial chamber in the middle.
All those elements were made from some sort of chiseled stone, giving off a tough and cold feeling. There were some runes inscribed on the sides of each of the tables, while the sacrificial chamber turned out to be...
A big, black, metal pot. A kettle, to be more precise.
"So much for grandeur," Mathew muttered, his lips twitching in a quick, small smirk.
It appeared that the basic, unupgraded merchant would display its status in the shop. And once its level would rise higher...
"Well, let's not waste time," Mathew muttered, scanning the content of each of the tables.
Sadly, most of it was already greyed out. Out of six items that this merchant would normally sell, only two remained intact.
'A weapon and a scroll, huh?' Mathew thought, analyzing the items.
Scroll indicated some sort of knowledge; every RPG addict knew that. On the other hand, a single sword on the other table didn't really need any further explanations.
"I will get both of them," Mathew said out loud, raising his hands and pointing at the items he wanted.
'Over two hundred stones, huh?' Mathew thought. 'A hundred to summon the merchant, and...'
A total of ten stones suddenly rose up from Mathew's makeshift pouch, only to turn into a ball of light and then reveal their content.
And just like this, a sword and a note appeared below Mathew's feet. Notably, though, while the scroll now turned into a blurry illusion, the sword on the table remained as it was.
'So I can buy multiple weapons, huh?' Mathew took notice before turning his eyes towards the sacrificial pot.
"I wish to upgrade the shop," Mathew called out.
"Ten cores," the familiar, robotic voice responded to Mathew's call without fail.
Mathew only nodded his head before throwing ten cores into the kettle.
The shadow that earlier revealed the area suddenly pulled towards the young man. Covering everything away from his eyes, it then shook like a single, living organism before receding again.
The stone slabs making up tables turned into proper, wooden stools. And more importantly now, not only each of the tables housed now three items, there were even plaquettes with the names of the item attached!
"That's surely convenient," I thought, my eyes moving towards the new grade of items I could buy. Yet, I quickly stopped my head and leaned down, picking up both of the items I had already bought.
"You may now know the names of the wares," I spelled the words on the note out loud. I then raised my other hand and rubbed the side of my head, not caring for the sword I already held in it.
"I guess those plaquettes are not the benefit of the upgrade, then," I muttered before raising my eyes towards the new items again.
Contrary to my worries, the items from the first shop didn't disappear. Yet, with their form blurred, I somehow couldn't tell at all what they represented. As such, I didn't know whether I couldn't buy them yet or if they were already out of stock.
"New grade of weapons, huh?" I commented as I turned my eyes towards the table that still housed the simple sword.
Now, there were two more options. A machete and an ax. Yet, there was a small caveat.
Mathew reached down and picked up the name tag of the ax.
'Outside of a single exception, this is the only nametag written in golden letters,' he thought before looking at the weapon in his hand.
It was almost exactly the same.
"What's the price of those weapons?" Mathew called out to the merchant.
"Five cores for the sword, twenty-five for the machete, one hundred and twenty-five for the fireman's ax," the robotic voice, like always, responded in an instant.
Mathew's lips twitched a little. He then raised his eyes towards what seemed like the densest part of the shadow.
"How much would the weapon I'm holding go for, then?" he asked.
'In this way, I will see not only whether or not I can sell my stuff, but also what's the markup on the items,' Mathew thought, trying to cheat out as much information out of his system as he could.
"Unable to purchase unidentified weapons," the voice instantly shut down Mathew's hopes.
'As if I would give up so quickly,' he thought, a smirk appearing on his lips.
"How much would it cost to identify my weapon?" Mathew continued his sneaky interrogation.
"Unable to appraise items of the rank higher than the shop," the voice reluctantly gave Mathew another hint. While it still kept its robotic mannerism and tone... It somehow appeared annoyed?
'It's actually way easier than I thought,' Mathew noticed, his eyes flashing with excitement.
There was something damn satisfying in finding ways around stuff to do what he wanted.
"How much for another upgrade, then?" Mathew asked, crossing his arms on his chest.
"Fifty cores," the shop's voice replied in a cold tone.
"Tsk," Mathew clicked his tongue. "Cheapskate," he spat on the ground before throwing a fistful of stones into a slightly bigger kettle than before. "Go and get yourself a nicer sacrificial chamber," he added, slightly perturbed by the changes in the merchant.
This time, no comment came from the merchant. The shadows exploded in volume, once again filling Mathew's immediate surroundings. Yet, when the shadows retreated a moment later, the shop changed completely.
There was no sign of the former tables, all the items that Mathew had yet to buy were now gone, replaced by the new stock of even higher grade.
"Fuck..." Mathew cursed, realizing his mistake. 'I guess that's karma for me, for being rude to the merchant,' he thought, tightening his fists. "May I ask where all the old wares went?" Mat asked, raising his eyes at the shadows with the hopes of mending his faux pas.
"User now reached a new evolution stage of the shop." This time, the robotic voice was full of satisfaction. "Please, do enjoy new wares!"
Wait, so the MC makes mistakes and can be careless at times? What do you mean, who he is, a normal human or what?
I hope you liked this second (HIC!) chapter for today. Also...
Boobs.
And now that I got your attention, how about you go and donate some power stones to the story? :D
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