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

<Alex, Real - Endure, High School Classroom>

Alex finally had a few less-than-frantic moments during standard hours, and so he was able to go looking for the blood drive nurses again.

The larger woman wasn't around at the moment, but he found the petite asian-looking man in one of the classrooms seemingly in charge of a makeshift first aid station, just as Kaylee had said.

"Oh, it was Alex, right?" The man smiled when Alex walked in.

"That's right. I think I heard your name was Dylan?"

Dylan shifted his body to stick out his chest before pointing at the now obvious nametag with evident humor. "That's what it says."

Alex groaned. "Yeah… I completely missed that. I apologize, Dylan."

"It's fine, man. What can I do for you?"

"Well, what do you know about magical blood transfusion? I know that it generally has the limitation of not carrying over non-biological energies, but I want to know what else you can tell me, if anything."

Dylan frowned. "Limitation? What? That's like… that's the primary benefit."

It was Alex's turn to frown. "What?"

"Yeah. Blood transfusions aren't really that complicated. If you know blood types, it's a rather simple thing, all things considered. The issue comes in when someone has magical attributes, or other magical effects that are within their blood. Magical transfusion usually strips that out in the process. Higher level spells can even alter it to typeless blood." He gave Alex a look. "Well, the correct label is O-, but not everyone understands that."

Alex grunted. "Gotcha. So, generally, blood transfusion spells are used as a sort of blood purification method?"

"Yup."

"And the higher the rarity of the spell the more it cleanses?"

"Rarity? No. Rarity is how well it can be controlled, specifically how rare your level of control is. Like 'what that man can do with a Basic Heal is mythical'. Things like that. Rarity doesn't give new functions. Though, sometimes it can seem like it does. Essentially, rarity is a mark of how well you can utilize a given skill or spell." He frowned again. "How do you not know this?"

Alex sighed. "Sometimes I have trouble listening."

Dylan lifted an eyebrow, but finally shook his head, seemingly deciding to move past it. "Regardless, higher capacity spells—such as those without the 'Basic' label—have better ability to remove such unwanted things."

"I see… Thank you, Dylan. That was quite helpful."

"Sure thing. In case it matters, Blood Transfusion spells are in the classification of medical spells for use in situations with unknown—often quickly progressing—illnesses. Anyone who has them is required to be ready to use them at any time, regardless of their actual role or duty shift." He chuckled. "It's often said that we use them 'on the house' because even if we're off shift, we're required to be available to use them." He shrugged. "Most people who work in healthcare know them as 'House spells,' if you've heard that term."

"I haven't, but thank you for the factoid."

"Sure, sure."

Alex turned to leave, then paused. "In case you get someone who needs it, I can provide magical healing."

Dylan smiled. "Yeah, Kaylee told me."

"I also got the blood transfusion spell."

"Oh! That's good to know. It also makes your questions a bit more explainable. That's a solid addition, then. Magical healing sometimes struggles with blood loss, depending on the type of healing provided. It's good to know you have that. Do you have the variant to transfuse your own blood only? Or can you facilitate it between two others?"

Alex blinked a few times. He hadn't even considered transfusing between two others, but it made sense to be possible. He glanced at his skill description. "Just my blood, and only outward. I can't transfuse into myself."

"Huh... Good to know." Dylan seemed to consider something before giving a slight shrug. "Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"I normally wouldn't suggest this, but if you get in a bad situation, you might want to try transfusing from someone else into yourself, even though the spell doesn't explicitly allow for it. You'll have to get their permission—otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it—but it might save your life one day. Don't forget that spells can almost always do more than their description reveals, and Blood Transfusion should allow it back into you as well." He gave a small smile.

"I appreciate the suggestion. I'll be sure to keep it in mind." With a nod of acknowledgement, Alex left the makeshift first-aid station, seeing Dylan move back toward organizing the various supplies that had been brought.

Alex hoped that the nurses remained mostly useless. The other option was far worse than a couple of people 'lazing' around.

He had a bit more than another hour before the next micro-meal, after which he and the other Initiates were going to meet up and make a solid decision about the following day.

As such, he had some time.

In order to get the most out of his time, he went to the meeting location—a side room in the gymnasium—and sat in a chair that was already there before pulling out his 'Basics of Permanent Magical Symbology' book.

The basic concept was quite simple. He needed to make the desired symbol on or in the object, empowered by magic, and ensure he knew the result he was aiming for. The issue was that the book wasn't very clear on the specifics of how. Nor was it very forthcoming on how to create specific non-basic effects.

It really is just the basics…

He didn't really understand how the anti-magic symbols in the flesh-golem bones had worked, given they seemingly hadn't had magic in them as that would be rather counter to their purpose, but what did he know? Maybe it took magic to be anti-magic?

He frowned. Wait… didn't I get an attribute from the flesh golem conglomeration?

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

He checked and, yes. He had Basic Resistance - Magic.

What if those symbols somehow take in that attribute and amplify it?

He looked at his resistances. He had acid, curse, magic, and venom.

I need to find a way of leveling those… That gave him a thought, and he flipped through the reference portion of the book.

There it was, the symbol for venom. Out of curiosity, he looked for the one for poison. It was almost identical. Finally, he glanced through the pages between the two in the alphabetical list and found one labeled 'toxin'.

It seemed to have both venom and poison as part of it, while containing other parts not in either and still remaining relatively simple.

I wonder if the System is so pedantic that I would have no resistance to poison if it was stabbed into me…

No, his Life Finds a Way blood attribute allowed for the combatting of both mundane and magical poisons.

Wait… He checked it. The attribute specified magical necrotic poisons… Great.

Regardless, he was getting distracted. The symbol for venom was actually rather simple, even simpler than the one he'd been practicing with.

Could I make a piece of paper venomous and get paper cuts to gain resistance?

His eye twitched. Yeah, he'd rather be stabbed than get dozens—or hundreds—of papercuts.

Maybe he could find a knife somewhere and put the symbol on that? Maybe he could use a marker to draw on the blade…

'Permanent' magical symbols turned out to mean that the effect lasted as long as the object, symbol, and power source remained. It also meant that generally, the effects were meant to be persistent, rather than something like a flash of light.

Though, I imagine I could make a permanent, flashing light? He was getting distracted.

He had spent his last section of self-training carving symbols. It was time to empower them.

He pulled one of the wooden shingle-like things from his Inventory, inspecting his precise carving. "Not bad, Alex."

He placed his fingers at the proper points and began trying to precisely move his mana into the symbol.

There were symbols labeled as 'conduits' in the Symbology book. There were even ones that looked to be for regulation and even distribution of power, but he didn't understand how to connect and utilize them properly.

Thus, he was left with this method.

His power wanted to rush out, but he kept it back. It wanted to flow at different speeds from each finger, but he wouldn't allow it.

More than anything, though, it wanted to simply flow all throughout the wood, but he kept it too the symbol… mostly.

Blessedly, even without being perfect, the symbol still seemed to activate, allowing him to store that one and pull out the next.

As time passed, he got better and better at what he was doing, making fewer mistakes and keeping to the carved symbol more and more cleanly.

Finally, he received a pleasant surprise.

After creating a seemingly well constructed symbol with his mana, fully contained within the well carved symbol on the board, he got a System notice.

About time.

Notice:
By dint of trial and error, you've learned a new skill.

Skill Learned:
Crude Magical Symbol Facilitation (Simple)

Crude Magical Symbol Facilitation (Simple)
You have the ability to craft the crudest of magical symbols, creating a persistent effect.

Apology Tutorial Addendum:
This is like watching someone use an anvil as a hammer because it's hard and heavy… I'd say read more books, but confirmation bias is quite the heartless taskmaster.

Still, congratulations… I guess.

Alex didn't know how to interpret the System's snark, even the skill name was a bit… insulting. Still, that aside, he was quite pleased.

He'd gotten far enough to actually earn the skill. He still wasn't quite clear on what constituted a skill, and what fell outside that realm.

He didn't have a 'walking' skill, nor one for talking or any other basic thing.

Alex chuckled at a fleeting thought. Yes, my defecation skill has reached Mythical rarity. It's beyond belief, what I can do in the bathroom.

He decided not to say the joke out loud, because the System seemed to have an odd sense of humor, and it might just give him that skill and cause havoc with his future offerings.

The dinner bell sounded, and he suddenly realized the folly of his plan.

He'd come to the side room, where they were going to meet… after dinner.

He sighed, placing his latest symbol-bearing wooden shingle into the stack of similarly marked and magiced items within his inventory.

With the help given by the pack-teachers, he had enough room in there now to be willing to be a bit less fastidious in what he stored in there. Besides, it wasn't like it made sense to toss the items away. He might find a use for them eventually.

He had no idea what that could be, but he might.

With another sigh and a slight groan, he stood up and headed back to the cafeteria for dinner.

He was near the back of the line this time, but that was fine. Under Kaylee's management—with the help of the administrative staff and cafeteria workers who seemed rather gleeful at the prospect—there was precisely enough food for everyone for each meal.

That actually impressed Alex quite a bit, but he supposed that if portions weren't dependent on people's desires or appetite, just a strict headcount and uniform allocation, that would be easier than trying to plan for so many people otherwise.

Oddly enough, in his more noticeable place at the back of the line, he found himself getting some odd, even hostile, looks from some of the students.

He was a rather known figure as he'd essentially been involved in gathering every one of these people here, so it wasn't like they thought he was someone else, or something like that.

Still, the looks bugged him a bit, and after some thought, he had a realization.

Every student that he saw with a similar look on their face was without an adult nearby—well, some were near other adults, but never near one that seemed likely to be a parent. Not every lone student was glaring of course, but it did seem like many were.

When he once again put 'video game' logic to it, searching for what the System or tutorial might be trying to tell him, he came to a reasonable conclusion.

These are students whose family we haven't saved, or didn't save. Him being there in the cafeteria meant that he wasn't 'out there.' He could understand that such might be seen as him 'giving up' on their family.

A few people did notice him and thank him for saving them or their family. Others had done so before, so he was starting to get used to the somewhat awkward interaction.

Still, in the 'too blatant' logic of the tutorial, each time he was thanked, the hostile looks got darker.

Well… they aren't wrong about us giving up on those still out there. In all likelihood, there isn't anyone left to save. If they were alive, they were safe enough, whether they buckled down or found other shelter. The 'rush' was over, at least for the moment.

Dinner was another stuffed roll. It was well seasoned as seasonings were in abundance in the various restaurants and stores. Alex had even been able to grab quite a quantity as the cafeteria just didn't have use for the literal sacks of herbs and spices that they'd found. That at least meant that their meager rations would taste great for their entire time here.

I can't even tell that the meat in this one is a mix of 'fresh' and jerky.

There was plenty of water, too, and it seemed that most students had reusable water bottles. With the apartments now included in the base, they had plenty of dishes, even if the cafeteria might have struggled with just the flatware it had in stock.

Their base was in a very good place, from a food and nutritional perspective.

Alex enjoyed his pork bun even as he walked back to the meeting room, arriving as the last Initiate through the door.

He closed his eyes briefly in self-irritation and sighed. Of course.

Still, no one else seemed to care, even if he did.

Kaylee smiled, standing up upon his arrival. "Good, we're all here. Shall we begin?"

Alex found himself smiling. Bless that woman. I cannot imagine still having to run meetings after the apocalypse.

All things considered, the end of the world wasn't half bad.