Choose Your Apocalypse (A LitRPG Apocalypse, Progression, System Fantasy) [CYA]

<Alex, Real - Endure, High School Lower Hallway>

Alex groaned and stood.

By his quests, he needed to gather more folks into the school and keep them alive.

I really hope that Kaylee can do something about the defenses, or it's going to be really hard to keep very many people safe in here.

From down the hall, he saw Natasha kneeling beside Grant. She glanced his way, and when their eyes met, she motioned for him to come.

With a groan, Alex moved her direction, Lenka coming along with him.

"Yeah, no. I'm fine. Just leave me here." Pilar's voice drifted to them, clearly a bit sassy with frustration.

Alex turned around to look at her, frowning. "Pilar? Aren't you at least level 5?"

Pilar hesitated, clearly taken off guard by that question. "Of course. Why?"

He nodded. "At level five, even if your class gives you no physical power, you should be able to lift John with ease."

She opened her mouth to object, but then she paused.

Alex smiled at her. "If you want help, I'm happy to, but I really think Grant needs me at the moment. Do you want Lenka to come help you?"

Pilar colored slightly, sliding her arms under her husband and standing with relative ease. "No… I think I'm good."

Alex turned and hurried on toward Grant. When he was halfway there, he felt a massive fluctuation of magic in the school around him, and he heard loud gasps from down the hallway, which was impressive, because most of those doors were still intact.

That almost tripped him up, especially when a few students stumbled out into the hallway, clearly having been pressed up against the defensive barriers to see out.

"Oh, chicken lips." He quickly began kicking the few remaining corpses and sending Basic Life Transfusion into them, turning the last zombie bodies to ash.

The last thing they needed was for survivors to somehow get infected from the remains of the undead they'd been freed from.

Thankfully, it didn't take Alex long, and he still got to where Natasha was kneeling beside Grant before any of the students did.

Natasha spoke under her breath. "I'll talk with them. See to him."

Without another word, she stood and moved toward the confused looking students—and now a few teachers—who were hesitantly coming their way.

Alex was grateful for her help with the kids, and that she'd managed to gently get Grant out onto the floor, rather than still partly embedded in the lockers where Alex had been forced to leave him.

Lenka leaned in. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Help me make sure all the bones are set? At least the best we can. I can't say I would actually know what I was doing." After a moment's hesitation, he added. "I would appreciate it if you talked me through what you're doing, too. It seems like valuable information in our new reality."

With very little hesitation, Lenka agreed. "But remember, I'm working mostly off of book knowledge here."

"I think both Grant and I will be grateful for anything you can do."

And so, they set to work. They started on the bigger bones, and an odd thing began happening.

As they worked, Alex felt a kinship, or connection, to something within Grant that seemed to move to wherever he was focused, and they found that the bones seemed to heal faster once they were set.

That wasn't that strange, they knew how wounds worked in the System, but something about it still struck Alex as unusual.

Lenka finally put it into words. "This is a bit like helping you. I know I don't heal that fast."

And that's when it clicked for Alex. "I put some of my Life into him, to keep him alive."

She nodded, keeping her eyes on what she was doing. "Yeah, I think he's only alive because you healed him."

Alex shook his head. "No, not my HP, my Life."

She frowned, then glanced up. "I don't understand."

"I honestly don't either? My ability has always said that I can transfer my Life between myself and a target. I had assumed that just meant health, but I think I actually transferred Life this time. My max HP dropped, and it seems like a bit of my healing factor is working to heal him, too."

She frowned. "Well… are you fully healed?"

"Up to my lowered maximum? Yeah."

"If you can transfer it between you, can you take it back?"

"I don't know, let me see."

She held up a hand. "Wait."

He hesitated. "Yeah?"

"If it works, be ready to put it back right quick. He is still in really bad shape. I'd not expect him to survive if this were three days ago."

Alex gave a slow nod, trying to ignore the growing hubbub further down the hallway.

Pilar arrived then, laying John down a bit away, placing what looked like a folded up jacket under his head.

That reminded Alex of his own clothing, and he looked down and grimaced.

He looked like a tropey ship-wreck survivor, his clothing all torn to ribbons with only the naughty bits covered. I need to deal with that.

Lenka cleared her throat, drawing Alex's attention back. "Are you ready?"

He nodded. "Let's try this."

He placed his hand lightly on Grant's chest, then activated his Basic Life Transfusion, trying to pull his Life back out.

It worked perfectly. His maximum HP was restored, and he was fully healed.

Grant also began bleeding from his mouth.

"Back in!" Lenka hissed urgently.

Alex did so, dumping a massive amount of his Life into Grant.

In the end, his HP cap and MP were perilously low, at least for him

HP: 850/850 [1650]
SP: 430/850
MP: 225/700

He felt awful, swaying where he sat, but as they watched, Grant seemed to visibly recover at least a bit, and Lenka immediately went back to setting the bones that she could, all the while talking through what she was doing.

She was working quicker than she normally would for one simple reason: they had healing potions.

They could have given Grant one already, and they would have if Alex hadn't already stabilized the man, but the shop description of the potions had been very clear in that the wound-healing took as much of the health potion's energy as if it were healed any other way.

Therefore, it was vastly better to prepare a person's body as much as possible before having them drink the potion.

It makes the potions less useful. The main benefit that had been described by the System shop was that they would bypass wounds to raise a person's HP to five percent. Once that was done—or if that wasn't necessary—then focus of the potion's effect automatically started work on any conditions or wounds that could lower the person's health once more. Those could include things like open, bleeding wounds, debris embedded within the body, toxins, and things of that nature.

Alex did his best to help while Natasha and Pilar began engaging with students, teachers, and… nurses?

That got Alex's attention, but they apparently weren't trauma nurses. There had been a blood drive at the school that day, and they were present for that. Most weren't even full nurses, simply being licensed phlebotomists.

The two who were offered to do what they could for Grant, but it was obvious that they were hesitant, their skills in such scenarios out of practice.

Lenka accepted their help to some extent, but she mainly used them as more skilled hands, because Alex was not very good at helping, despite his best efforts.

Soon enough, Lenka determined that she couldn't do anything more for him, before pulling a health potion from her Inventory.

One of the nurses—a petite asian looking man—massaged Grant's throat as Lenka poured in the liquid, helping the patient swallow.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Well, he can't be asian… right? This world doesn't even have an Asia… That would get confusing, so he decided to just put Earth labels on things, accuracy be inconsequential. He ignored the false memories trying to give him a silly, made up name for the same thing.

Grant swallowed with the assistance and then groaned, color coming back to his cheeks even as little deviations across his body realigned.

Alex was curious. "What was the healing power of one of those?"

Lenka answered immediately. "Five thousand HP."

That initially sounded like incredible overkill—after all, Alex's own normally elevated Max HP was sixteen hundred and fifty—but then he remembered that a badly set bone-break took five hundred to heal, and an open, deep gash took a hundred.

If someone was to drink one of those potions without taking care of their injuries first with at least a bit of understanding, they wouldn't get very much from it at all. But as a finisher after a reasonably knowledgeable and skilled trauma responder had taken care of the patient? It was excellent.

With Grant likely fully recovered—if still unconscious—Alex was able to turn his attention to the people who were now swarming through the halls.

He placed his hand lightly on Grant's chest, then activated his Basic Life Transfusion, doing as he did before to pull his Life back out.

Most of it came back in a rush, even as sounds from the ceiling indicated that people were moving upstairs as well. Even so, he slammed his head into a metaphorical wall as his MP bottomed out before he quite got back all of his Life.

HP: 1471/1471 [1650]
SP: 430/850
MP: 2/700

He groaned, realizing that it would be more than thirty minutes before he could recover enough MP to Transfuse the remainder of his Life back into himself. He sighed. It wasn't worth thinking about, especially not with the headache. "Well, let's go see what we can do."

As he guided everyone toward the gymnasium—Natasha calling Kaylee to forewarn her of their arrival—Alex noticed that the System considered him in a safe location.

He accepted his experience and grinned widely.

He'd killed enough—and assisted in killing even more—that, along with the quest completions, both his Race and Class were ready to level, and it appeared that he even had quite a bit more experience than that besides.

Is that enough for another level? Maybe, but he didn't want to get his hopes up.

He was carrying Grant, and beside him Lenka suddenly grinned.

"What is it?"

She looked his way. "I just got to level eight. Successfully springing that series of traps on the flesh golem was apparently a 'deed accomplished' worthy of a bundle of XP."

His eye twitched. He was about to level to five, and he was on the front line, getting far more actual kills rather than assists. He took a calming breath and smiled. "Congratulations."

"Thanks!" Regardless of her gratitude and own exuberance, she must have noticed something about Alex's reactions because she didn't ask him about his own level.

Under his breath, he said, "Accept Level Up."

Level Up:
Life-Aspected Warrior (Rare), F
Level 4 → Level 5

Life-Aspected Human (Rare), F
Level 4 → Level 5

Stats assigned.

Five Unused Points Available

Notice:
Class Detected at level 5, specializations available.
Please review and select from the available options at your earliest convenience.
Racial Advancement Required before specialization can be selected.

Notice:
Race Detected at level 5, Racial Advancement available.
Please accept your Racial Advancement at your earliest convenience.

Apology Tutorial Notice:
No Class experience can be earned before a class selection has been made
No Racial experience can be earned before racial advancement is accepted.

Alex smiled. I'm not leveling until we're to the gym. So, I suppose I should get a look at the options for specialization after I advance my race.

Class Specialization Requirements Met:
You are in a safe location.
You have achieved level 5 in a class.
You have met the requirements of one or more Specializations.

Available Class Specialization for:
Life-Aspected Warrior (Rare)
[Displayed selection reduced for convenience. Request a full list if you so desire.]

Specialization Qualifications Met:
Life-Aspected Force Mage (Rare)
Life-Aspected Healer (Rare)
Life-Aspected Great-Bladesman (Epic)
Force Mage, Undead Bane (Epic)
Great-Bladesman, Undead Bane (Epic)
Life-Aspected Undead Bane (Legendary)

Alex's eyes widened at the options before him. If he understood correctly, they were arranged in order of rarity, so Epic was the step beyond Rare and Legendary was the step beyond that.

He paused for a moment on the Undead Bane Specializations.

He could actually use those, especially now that he knew that he'd be fighting undead for the next thirty days or so.

But then it would be useless afterwards.

He could get another class and upgrade that. The hyper specialization might not come into play very often, but when it did…

How do the penalties affect across classes? He tried to recall, and he was surprised with how quickly that part of the class-book came to mind.

'The danger of over-specialization becomes starkly obvious when dealing with penalties given by hyper-specialized classes, such as the 'Bane' category of classes, which generally penalize you for fighting anything else. Regardless of your other classes, those penalties will remain in effect.'

Well… that is incredibly unideal.

So, none of the undead bane classes, then. That left him with a much shortened list.

Specialization Qualifications Met:
Life-Aspected Force Mage (Rare)
Life-Aspected Healer (Rare)
Life-Aspected Great-Bladesman (Epic)

The Epic class stood out immediately, but he mentally requested the details on all of them.

Class Benefits:
Life-Aspected Healer (Rare), E

Stat Gains per Level
Physical Power +2
Physical Agility +6

Physical Fortitude +4
Mental Power +4
Mental Agility +6
Mental Fortitude +2
Magical Power +10
Magical Agility +6
Magical Fortitude +8
Free Points +2
Total Points: 50

All Life-Aspected Spells and Skills cost 25% less to use.
Your Life-Aspected Spells' and Skills' effects occur 25% faster.
Your HP is calculated at Racial Base + 10 x Physical Fortitude.
All Healing Spells and Skills cost 25% less to use.
Your Healing effects occur 25% faster.
Your MP is calculated at 20 x Magical Power.
Your effective Physical Power is 25% greater for physical attack and defense.
You take 25% less damage from Physical attacks when you are armed and unrestrained.

Class Benefits:
Life-Aspected Force Mage (Rare), E

Stat Gains per Level
Physical Power +2
Physical Agility +6
Physical Fortitude +4
Mental Power +4
Mental Agility +6
Mental Fortitude +2
Magical Power +8
Magical Agility +6
Magical Fortitude +10
Free Points +2
Total Points: 50

All Life-Aspected Spells and Skills cost 25% less to use.
Your Life-Aspected Spells' and Skills' effects occur 25% faster.
Your HP is calculated at Racial Base + 10 x Physical Fortitude.
All Force Spells and Skills cost 25% less to use.
Your Force effects occur 25% faster.
Your MP is calculated at 20 x Magical Power.
Your effective Physical Power is 25% greater for physical attack and defense.
You take 25% less damage from Physical attacks when you are armed and unrestrained.

The two Rare classes were improvements on his Life-Aspected Warrior class, but they gave double the number of stat points across the board—if slightly differently distributed.

Is that the change from F to E?

It must be.

Additionally, the two Rare classes seemed to have gained features to enhance either his Force magic or his healing by a rather nice amount.

Paying a quarter less, and having the magics be enacted in a quarter less time was a pretty big deal, all things considered.

He could imagine cutting a swath through his enemies with Force Burst and his new Basic Small Force Blade, if he could turn that into a useful weapon.

He could do the same with his Basic Life Transfusion, if a little less directly. And I could heal people more effectively…

It was tempting… for about ten seconds. But then, his eyes landed on the expansion for Life-Aspected Great-Bladesman (Epic), and he almost stumbled in shock.

Class Benefits:
Life-Aspected Great-Bladesman (Epic), E

Stat Gains per Level
Physical Power +8
Physical Agility +16
Physical Fortitude +16
Mental Power +4
Mental Agility +16
Mental Fortitude +4
Magical Power +12
Magical Agility +8
Magical Fortitude +12
Free Points +3
Total Points: 99

All Life related Spells and Skills cost 50% less to use.
Your Life related Spells' and Skills' effects occur 50% faster.
Your HP is calculated at Racial Base + 15 x Physical Fortitude.
Your MP is calculated at 20 x Magical Power.
Your effective Physical Power is 40% greater for physical attack and defense when you are armed with a great-blade and unrestrained.
You take 25% less damage from Physical attacks when you are armed and unrestrained.

Apology Tutorial Notice:
Stats gained from a single level up can't count as 'training.'

But hey!
You got an Epic class. Good job.

Alex grunted.

With nearly double the stats given, the Epic class was exactly that: epic. He knew that it would take four times more experience to level than a Rare class, but just like before, the more powerful class would be worth it, if he could survive the leveling process.

Well, then. Let's get down to business. A song from an old movie started playing in his head, and he grimaced. There are no Huns here, brain. Hush now. There's advancement to enact.

He glanced down at Grant in his arms as he maneuvered through the locker room.

But let's find a place for him to rest first.