บท 107: TWD - Chapter 106

- Xenon -

'Observe.'

< Status >

Name : Daryl Dixon

STR : 24

DEX : 16

CON : 7

END : 18

CHA : 8

WIL : 12

Reputation : 70/100

Obedience : 60/100

Did I mention that I can cast [Observe] now? I got it right after the System's update.

[Observe. (Active)] LVL 1

Shows information about the target. The higher the level, the more information available to you.

You cannot use Observe on someone higher level than you are.

Caution: Some individuals will notice your use of the skill.

Daryl has just come back with his brother, Merle, whom I noticed had some interesting cargo at the back of his pickup.

«Hey, boss man! I think we found something you're gonna like.» Merle smirked as he got out of his pickup, in contrast to his silent brother who doesn't like to make a show out of everything.

< Status >

Name : Merle Dixon

STR : 22

DEX : 12

CON : 5

END : 23

CHA : 6

WIL : 12

Reputation : 50/100

Obedience : 40/100

Reputation tells me how much a person respects me. Obedience how likely they are to follow orders. Various variables affect it. There are orders people are more likely to follow. For example, asking him to kill himself would be out of the question. But someone who has a hundred Obedience score probably would.

«What is it?» I ask with a raised eyebrow. I haven't checked it yet, but I'd rather they just spare me the trouble and tell me.

«We found a smithy.» Daryl said, earning a tsk from his brother who wanted to drag it a little longer. «It's got everything we need to make our own steel from now. We brought the essentials with us, to set 'em up. We can go back for the rest.»

My eyes brightened at the mention of blacksmithing, it was no secret that I've been wanting to establish a forge here, to make our tools should we need them.

«Well done.» I nodded in satisfaction. «Anything else?»

«Yeah.» Daryl nodded. «We found several stores to raid, a few stores that are stocked, with food, hardware, and other stuff. We've also spent time looting a few houses for everything they are worth, we didn't have much space left, so we settled for putting everything in one place to make it easier to pick up.»

«Good.» I praised. There is no need to use a lot of words with Daryl, something I have found out about him after observing the small number of interactions he's had before, even when complimenting him. «Take a few days off. You deserved it.» I walked away to look for Milton. When it comes to academic subjects, he is the best person to turn to. While I am sure many people have a basic understanding of blacksmithing, I want to have access to the exact science. Years have gone into researching metallurgy and perfecting smithing processes, and it would be the epitome of stupidity to waste them out of laziness.

Milton is not the most physical bloke around, though I have found out that he enjoys any intellectual exercise he is put through. He proved himself instrumental in the planning of our new housing project, for instance, giving insights we wouldn't have thought of otherwise. While I do push him for exercises every now and then to curb his weaknesses, his strength lies in scientific fields, even if it isn't what he specialized in.

I intend to have him research metallurgy, through the extensive books I have found on the subject. And then, I want him to teach me the practical side of things. Don't get me wrong, I am very much interested in the theory, and I will never shy away from STEM fields because I know they hold the secrets of the universe, but I have other priorities right now. I am about to be thrown into a medieval world where strength matters the most, and I cannot convert my knowledge to strength from the get-go.

After having a long chat with him over what his task is and what is expected of him, I left him to his devices, before going back outside. I can't exactly afford to work out the regular way in front of everyone, because of the bad message it sends. I don't need people to see me having 'time for myself'.

I need to keep them motivated by actively being involved in every aspect of the labor involved. That's why I was currently swinging a heavy ax at the innocent tree in front of me, subtly using [Empower] to put greater strain on my muscles. My body still reacts terribly to the skill once it gets past a threshold, and I can't figure out how to solve that problem. So I grind and grind and grind, hoping that someday I would find the solution.

- Xenon -

«What exactly do you mean by 'Tank'?» Shane looked at Glenn with wide eyes, hoping he misunderstood the meaning of those words somehow.

«He means they have a FUNCTIONAL TANK they can move around and shoot big projectiles out of?» Maggie raised an eyebrow at him. She knew Glenn tended to get intimidated, but she would be having none of it.

«Shane, there is no need to make a big deal out of it.» I said. «We have no reason to be afraid of a tank, no matter how intimidating it might sound. Don't we have enough weapons to reduce it to ash?» I asked rhetorically. And we did. The fact is, as long as we were prepared for it, a tank wouldn't get the opportunity to shoot more than one shell at us.

«He's got a point.» Daryl concurs.

«And frankly, I see no reason they would be hostile at all.» I added. «A group of twenty people is hardly qualified to survive in the current state of the world. As long as we use the correct words, there shouldn't be a problem.» At this point, I already knew which group Glenn and Maggie found. The same the Governor used in the fourth season (or was it the sixth?) to attack the prison unsuccessfully again. It was iconic exactly because of the tank they used.

«Rick?» The man in question turned to me, already understanding what I was getting at. He was more experienced than both of them when it came to dealing with people, and I know I can trust him with such a dangerous task. «How about you go with them, have a talk with those people?»

«Alright.» He nodded. Having a tank operator with us seems like an enticing idea, but frankly if they would cause bring more problems with them than benefits, I'd rather they stay where they are, and Rick understands this point very much.

And so, two months passed in the blink of an eye. We've all been extremely busy, each focusing on a particular field and giving it their everything. We didn't have many slackers, and we were very good at spotting them, as such behavior was discouraged. What helped the most was the fact that we were a self-serving enterprise. None of our people were working for pay. They were working for themselves. There wasn't a single person above them that hoards the fruits of their labor, and that did wonders to empower them.

That isn't to say that life on Motherbase was all about working. We did organize a few events, parties, and anything to help us destress regularly. Not to mention that we rarely worked the weekends.

We were now a group of a hundred and two: 42 men, 29 women, 13 teenagers, 7 children, and myself. A considerable workforce when put to good use, and we were constantly improving to give everyone a position he would give his all in. A few new jobs have appeared recently, including professor, researcher, and blacksmith.

We had a total of twenty people needing education, so it made sense to assign a professor for them. And as much as they protested against my decision to force them to study, I didn't relent, especially since their arguments revolved around it being 'useless' for them in the current state of the world, things you'd expect from children looking for excuses to escape school. The thing is, they weren't that useful either way, and that was a major factor in my decision.

Being the children they were, they had a very limited attention span and usually lost interest quickly. The driving factor behind that was that the others gave them a lot of leeway for being children when they started slacking off on the job. Most of them wanted to handle guns, become 'scouts', fight walkers... Things I don't need from them yet. And I can't exactly force them to do anything, as they were still under the influence of their guardians. So I better wait until they are eighteen before I start treating them like everyone else. I fully intend to change that in the future. The problem with thinking that boys stay boys until they become eighteen is extremely stupid in my opinion. Boys will be boys for the rest of their lives until they are FORCED to become men. Dump responsibility at their feet, and we'll see how long they can afford to be immature. This mentality of catering to their every need is crippling for our current setting. But I didn't feel the need to tackle the issue just yet, with everything else on my mind.

Most of my time was spent doing physical activities, hoping to improve my stats... A terrible mistake on my part. It seems I misunderstood the latest system notifications. When it told me that I needed to go to another world to unlock [Aura Manipulation], it was essentially telling me to get the hell out of this world and into the next. And I can see why the system would place such restrictions. If I was showing significant improvements, I would've stayed here for a few more months until I was certain nothing could hold a candle to me. I barely advanced a single stat in STR and DEX.

However, I didn't forget that I still had 15 unused stat points, and it was time to use them. The most interesting stats for me are CON and END. LUK would've been the most important if it wasn't impossible to invest my points in it. But I was met with another issue: I could not take CON further than 10, and I could not take END further than 20. So I decided to invest the points first and think about it later, but I found out the issue immediately.

STR : 22

DEX : 21

CON : 8 -> 10

END : 18 -> 20

CHA: 33

WIL : 9

INT : 25

WIS : 15

LUK : 12

* DING *

< You have reached a milestone in CON! >

< You have reached a milestone in END! >

< Rebalancing... >

< Done! >

Name : Xenon

Age : 16

Class : Warrior (Level : 20 | Progress : -/-)

Profession : Alchemist (Level : 1 | Progress : 0/10)

Stamina (SP) : 450/450

STR : 22

DEX : 21

CON : 40

END : 50

CHA: 33

WIL : 9

INT : 25

WIS : 15

LUK : 12

Unused Stat Points: 11

I didn't understand the reason behind the rebalancing at first, but it eventually came to me. Had I invested all of my stats into END, I could've DOUBLED my END. That's not a small increase. It's borderline OP. The same goes for CON, STR, DEX... Imagine being able to throw a hundred-kilogram punch, then next thing you know, you can now throw two hundred.

It is safe to assume the same mechanism goes for almost all other stats. Therefore, I believe the best course of action is to reach the threshold now before transmigrating. My priorities were WIL (because it only needed a single point), STR and DEX, both of which needed three and four points respectively. The remaining three points were invested in WIS.

Name : Xenon

Age : 16

Class : Warrior (Level : 20 | Progress : -/-)

Profession : Alchemist (Level : 1 | Progress : 0/10)

Stamina (SP) : 450/450

STR : 75

DEX : 75

CON : 40

END : 50

CHA: 33

WIL : 40

INT : 25

WIS : 18

LUK : 12

Unused Stat Points: 0

In other words, three points of STR are now worth a single one on the older scale.

I have spent a lot of time with Milton, mainly to help me with my studies, and to explain to me everything he's found out so far. We ran different experiments for blacksmithing, as we didn't have any specialists on the subject. A nice surprise came out of it.

< Profession unlocked: Blacksmith. >

No skills or effects came with it, unfortunately. But that's probably because it was level 1.

I had made almost all the preparations I could think of. And it was finally time for me to move on. I have to admit, I was reluctant to do so, but it needed to be done. I felt a bit guilty I would have to leave Amy for a long time, but I found solace in the knowledge she wouldn't even realize it. We shared a last night of passion, though she probably didn't see it the same way as I did.

I woke up early the next day, as I usually do. I had another problem on my hands, and that was clothing... I didn't know where I would start in Westeros, and I certainly didn't have anything that could perfectly blend in no matter the place, so I settled for a thick wool sweater, some sweatpants, and the most inconspicuous sneakers I could get. Worst case scenario, I'll put any item that doesn't fit in my inventory and be done with it.

< All your current items of clothing will be locked before proceeding. >

< Confirm > < Cancel >

Then it seems I was worried for nothing. The system would most likely take care of my clothing. I pressed confirm, before my vision slowly faded to black...

- End Chapter -

Another Info Dump chapter, sorry about that.

This is the end of The Walking Dead Chapter. Keep in mind that he can switch worlds every four months, so we'll probably be seeing more of it in the future.