Eli picked up the soul attuned M4, checking the action. The bolt moved smoothly. The weapon felt right in his hands, almost like it recognized him.
When he gripped it, faint blue light pulsed from his hands into the rifle, and the etchings along the barrel glowed brighter.
[SOUL ATTUNED WEAPON BONDED]
[OWNER: ELIJAH STERLING]
[WEAPON CANNOT BE USED BY OTHERS]
[SPECIAL ABILITY UNLOCKED: SOUL PIERCE]
[SOUL PIERCE: SHOTS CAN DAMAGE SOULS DIRECTLY, BYPASSING PHYSICAL CORRUPTION ARMOR]
"Bonded?" Eli read alound. "It's linked to me now. No one else can use it."
"That's both cool and slightly creepy," Marcus said.
Eli looked at the pile of supplies spread across the floor. Ammunition, medical supplies, water, food, blueprints, a generator, potions that could save his humanity, armor, and a weapon specifically designed to kill corrupted souls.
This was more than they had scavenged in three days of dangerous supply runs.
"How much more have I missed?" Eli wondered aloud to the system.
[CHECKING SYSTEM FEATURES…]
[MULTIPLE UNEXPLORED FUNCTIONS DETECTED]
[WOULD YOU LIKE A TUTORIAL?]
"Yes," Eli said immediately.
[SYSTEM TUTORIAL INITIATED]
[FEATURE 1: SAFE ZONE MANAGEMENT]
A new interface opened in his vision. It looked like a strategy game menu.
[SAFE ZONE STATUS]
[LEVEL: 2 (FORTIFIED)]
[POPULATION: 7]
[MORALE: 64% (MODERATE)]
[LOYALTY: 72% (HIGH)]
[RESOURCE: 3.2 DAYS REMAINING]
[DEFENSES: BASIC CORRUPTION BARRIER]
[UPGRADES AVAILABLE: 3]
'There's a whole management system,' Eli thought. 'I can see morale and loyalty stats.'
[UPGRADE OPTIONS:]
[1. IMPROVED CORRUPTION BARRIER: 500 EXP]
[EFFECT: BLOCKS UP TO 50% CORRUPTION (CURRENT: 40%)]
[DURATION: 48 HOURS (CURRENT: 24 HOURS)]
[2. WATCHTOWER: 300 EXP]
[EFFECT: +100M DETECTION RADIUS]
[ALLOWS 1 SURVIVOR TO KEEP WATCH WITHOUT AUDITOR PRESENCE]
[3. WORKSHOP: 400 EXP]
[EFFECT: ENABLES CRAFTING AND REPAIRS]
[UNLOCKS: AMMUNITION CRAFTING, WEAPON MAINTENANCE, BASIC FORTIFICATIONS]
"I can upgrade the safe zone," Eli said, turning to Marcus and Linda. "Spend experience points to improve defenses, add facilities…"
"How much EXP do you have?" Marcus asked.
Eli checked. "180 after levelling up. Not enough for any of these yet."
[FEATURE 2. SKILL TREE]
Another interface appeared, showing a branching tree of abilities.
[RANK D ABILITIES: 4 UNLOCKED]
[SOUL PURIFICATION: ACTIVE]
[SOUL CHAIN: ACTIVE]
[SOUL SENSE: PASSIVE]
[SOUL BARRIER: REINFORCED]
[ADDITIONAL SKILLS AVAILABLE FOR UNLOCK:]
[- SOUL WEAPON MANIFESTATION: 1000 EXP]
[- MASS CONSUMPTION: 800 EXP]
[- ENHANCED REGENERATION: 500 EXP]
'There are abilities I can unlock early, if I save up experience points,' Eli thought, his brows furrowed.
[FEATURE 3: SURVIVOR MANAGEMENT]
A list of profiles appeared.
[SURVIVOR ROSTER]
[MARCUS (16) - LOYALTY: 85% - ROLE: FIGHTER]
[SKILLS: FIREARMS (PROFICIENT), MELEE COMBAT (BASIC), LEADERSHIP (DEVELOPING)]
[SOPHIE (8) - LOYALTY: 95% - ROLE: MORALE SUPPORT]
[SKILLS: CRAFTING (BASIC), FIRST AID (LEARNING)]
[LINDA 934) - LOYALTY: 78% - ROLE: SUPPORT]
[SKILLS: FIREARMS (PROFICIENT), MEDICAL (BASIC), LOGISTICS (GOOD)]
[MR. CHEN (71) - LOYALTY: 68% - ROLE: ADVISOR]
[SKILLS: FIREARMS (EXPERT), SURVIVAL (EXPERT), TEACHING (EXCELLENT)]
[TED (10) - LOYALTY: 72% - ROLE: CHILD)]
[SKILLS: NONE DEVELOPED]
[HEATHER (6) - LOYALTY: 70% - ROLE: CHILD)]
[SKILLS: NONE DEVELOPED]
"It gave details of everyone," Eli said, scrolling through the list. "All of your skills… Wait, Mr. Chen has expert level firearms and survival skills?"
"He said he was in the army," Marcus reminded him.
"Yeah, but I didn't realize the system was cataloging all of this."
[FEATURE 4: QUEST LOG]
A new screen appeared showing completed and available quests.
[DAILY QUESTS: RESET IN 3 HOURS 47 MINUTES]
[SPECIAL QUESTS AVAILABLE: 2]
[SPECIAL QUEST 1: RESCUE MISSION]
[LOCATE AND RESCUE SURVIVORS WITHIN 1 MILE RADIUS]
[DETECTED SURVIVORS: 4 GROUPS]
[REWARD: + 500 EXP, NEW SURVIVORS, LOYALTY BOOST]
[SPECIAL QUEST 2: AUDITOR CONTACT]
[LOCATE AND ESTABLISH COMMUNICATION WITH NEARBY AUDITOR]
[LAST KNOWN LOCATION: 0.4 MILES NORTHEAST]
[REWARD: +300 EXP, INFORMATION EXCHANGE, POSSIBLE ALLIANCE]
"There are special quests as well," Eli informed them. "Beyond the daily ones. One is to find that other Auditor we saw."
"The one on the rooftop?" Marcus asked.
"Yeah. And another is to rescue more survivors. The system detected four groups within a mile."
[FEATURE 5: CORRUPTION TRACKING]
A map appeared, showing the surrounding area with colored dots.
[CORRUPTION MAP: 500M RADIUS]
[GREEN: 0-35% CORRUPTION (DOCILE)]
[YELLOW: 31-50% CORRUPTION (AGRESSIVE IF PROVOKED)]
[ORANGE: 51-70% CORRUPTION (HOSTILE)]
[RED: 71-100% CORRUPTION (EXTREMELY DANGEROUS)]
The map showed dozens of dots scattered around the parking structure.
Mostly green and yellow. A few orange. And two red dots, about 400 meters away.
"I can see where all the corrupted souls are. In real time. Within 500 meters," Eli said.
"That's the Soul Sense ability you unlocked," Linda said.
"Yeah, you're right. But I didn't realize it came with a visual map."
[TUTORIAL COMPLETE]
[SYSTEM FEATURES NOW ACCESSIBLE VIA MENTAL COMMAND]
[RECOMMENDATION: REVIEW FEATURES REGULARLY]
[ADDITIONAL FEATURES UNLOCK AT HIGHER RANKS]
The interfaces faded, but Eli knew he could call them back anytime.
"Okay," Marcus said slowly. "So basically, you've been playing this like a survival game without reading any of the menus."
"Pretty much," Eli admitted.
"And I guess now you have a HUD, skill trees, a base management system, and magic loot. Am I correct? I played those survival games for months."
"Yep."
"And we've been eating rationed food while you had supply caches sitting unclaimed."
"In my defense—"
"No defense. You're an idiot."
Eli couldn't argue with that. He should have asked Marcus.
If this system was similar to the survival games on the internet, he probably played much more hours than him, as a bored teenager.
However, he was busy with all his internships and medical studies. He didn't have much time to play games
Linda laughed, the sound surprising all of them. "This is insane. But at least now we know what we're working with."
"Alright," Eli said, looking at the pile of supplies. "We need to get all this back to the safe zone. Marcus, you take the ammunition and blueprints. Linda, grab the medical supplies and water tablets. I'll carry the weapons, vest, potions, and generator."
They loaded up without any more words, distributing the weight. The generator was heavy but manageable for Eli.
As they prepared to leave, Eli pulled up the corruption map one more time.
The path back to the safe zone was mostly clear. A few green dots, but nothing dangerous.
"We're good to move," he said. "Let's go home."