Jyera World Apocalypse

After seeing that he could create his many recipes using the Creation skill, Lucien became very excited and wanted to make some of them right away.

But not only was it not the right place, but he still had a lot of things to do...

Knowing that in the afternoon all the apartments would be searched by the building's survivors, he began moving the more than 20 bird cages to one of the bedrooms in his apartment. This took some time, as he could only carry two at a time, and he had to watch the stairs to avoid being seen constantly.

After making more than 10 trips, he finally transported all the birds that hadn't yet evolved to level 1. After that, he returned to Mrs. Helena's apartment and cleaned out her pantry, leaving only a few items to give the impression that her resources were nearing their end.

He then emptied a liquor cabinet that belonged to her late husband and collected any other valuables he could find. Lucien didn't urgently need any of this, but it would be a good extra supply to feed the two building employees and keep them quiet.

Afterward, he closed everything and returned to the apartment to take Mr. Mustache for another walk in the underground parking lot.

But instead of waiting for the feline to return from his hunt, Lucien took advantage of the time he had and went to check on the building's new residents while "buying" a few items at the convenience store.

The building's small convenience store was quite simple, selling items like frozen prepared foods from various regions of Jyera, as well as junk food like snacks, chips, alcoholic beverages, peanuts, candy, and sweets. This store's focus was specifically on selling cigarettes and alcoholic beverages, which led many residents who used the building's leisure area to make more use of the store.

The building's leisure area was something the Riveros rarely used, as they had their own on the roof. Lucien's mother didn't like her son frequenting the place, due to the bad example set by the residents, who were always seen drinking and smoking there.

Lucien walked slowly toward the store before realizing that it was dimly lit, with at most a few candles providing some light. He saw a group of six people sitting at two tables. There were four men and two women, and Lucien recognized one of them as the person who had come to his apartment.

The store clerk, upon seeing Lucien, greeted him and led him to the burned-out freezers where the frozen foods were stored. He told him he could take whatever he wanted, but he would still have to pay for the other items in the store.

Lucien waved and began to look at the frozen items that didn't seem to have spoiled yet. He pondered the fact that the clerk was still charging for the store's items. Perhaps he still didn't understand what was going on here, or was simply afraid of losing his job if things returned to normal.

It seemed some people hadn't yet realized how serious things were, or were simply having trouble accepting the worst.

Taking advantage of the dim light, Lucien put some items that were still cold directly into his inventory, ignoring those that didn't seem as fresh as the sushi and some spicy soups.

After that, he grabbed two partially frozen packages of sausages, some potato chips, a bottle of juice, a few cans of soda, and some chocolate bars before going to the cashier and paying with the money he'd taken from his father's wallet...

While doing all this, Lucien was attentive, trying to hear what the newcomers were talking about...

"The infected are gathering in the street. I think the longer we stay here, the worse it will be when we try to leave..." said a woman, somewhat frightened.

"But if we leave now, where will we go? Home?" asked another woman.

"We can try to get to a place with more supplies until rescue arrives... Or try to get to one of the military bases. If anyone's still alive and fighting, it's them!" This time, Lucien heard an old man's voice.

"No, I say we go to the port and take a ship. We'll be safer going to an island."

"You idiot! No cars or electronics are working! Who said the ships are? I say we stay here."

"I agree. When people realize how chaotic things are outside, they should let us stay in one of the empty apartments in this place…"

The last sentence was said in a much lower tone when the person realized Lucien had approached the cashier and was very close to them. Of course, it was still enough for him to hear everything loud and clear.

After leaving everyone's sight, Lucien put the items he purchased back in his inventory and returned to the basement to retrieve Mr. Mustache, who this time had killed three more rats, one of them a level 1.

Back in his apartment, Lucien finally prepared to use Skill Creation. And the first item he chose was the recipe he needed most at the moment: the stove.

After selecting the skill, a system screen appeared showing all the available recipes. But when he clicked on the furnace, he realized it would use up almost 60% of the biological material he had. So, changing his mind, he chose to make the simplest item on the list as a first test: the small lamp.

After clicking on the recipe and confirming the use of the resources, a small light shone, illuminating the dark apartment, and a palm-sized lampshade made of white bones appeared in his hand. Inside, the small crystal used as one of the materials had become his lamp. Lucien turned the item for a while until he noticed a small space to insert another crystal.

As soon as it was inserted, a red light came on in the small lamp, illuminating the entire room in a soft crimson hue. Lucien was fascinated and touched the crystal in the center, expecting to feel some warmth, but felt nothing. Instead, when he touched the "lamp," the color changed from red to a pale blue.

"Ohh!"

Lucien then touched it again, and the color changed again, this time to a fluorescent green. The fourth time, it changed to yellow, and finally, the fifth time, it changed to a more natural white light, more commonly used in homes.

Lucien continued changing it until he confirmed that this small, simple item had dozens of colors for its illumination. He also realized that it could be mounted to a wall using a small suction cup he had in the back.

Since this light would be in the dining room, he left it on white, as it was the most natural of all, and kept it on even during the day. He wanted to see how long a level 1 crystal could keep this lamp lit. But the system soon gave him this answer.

[About 1 month, 32 days to be exact.]

"That long?"

[Yes, crystals are energy sources many times more efficient than any battery ever created in Jyera.]

"Which item do you recommend I create next? Since materials are still scarce."

[In your neighbor's apartment, I noticed that the number of red-eyed birds (level 1 mutants) was very unusual. There shouldn't have been so many in less than 2 days since everything started…]

"You mean?"

[Something is different in the apocalypse. The creatures might be evolving much faster than before. I'll be able to confirm after we wait a few more days… But there's something worse coming too…]

"Something worse? What would it be?"

[There was a 0.3 degree drop in temperature from yesterday to today, which is several times faster than it should have happened according to the data from the first apocalypse… If this continues, the severe winter we're expecting will arrive in less than 45 days. About 6 weeks, to be exact.]

Lucien remained silent, trying to understand what the system meant, and it clarified:

[Create a heater first!]

"Will it get that cold? It still seems bearable even if the temperature keeps dropping..."

[0.3 in less than 24 hours means that in the coming days we'll see a larger drop of about 1.3 degrees per day, possibly reaching 1.5 or 1.8. For now, these are my predictions.]*1

Lucien did the math and realized that they would be at temperatures close to freezing in less than two weeks… And he also didn't know how well the building's insulation was, since before the existence of energy, this had never been a problem…

Without hesitation, Lucien went ahead and used Creation again and created the "heater"…

When a circular item resembling a plant bulb with a strange red texture appeared in front of him, Lucien was startled because he noticed that the circular heater seemed to have something shaped like a "mouth."

Looking for a place to insert the crystal, he found it at the top of the ball's head. And after inserting it, the thing reacted by making a sound as if it were alive and breathing, and began to swell like a pufferfish. It finally stopped after increasing in size and opening its "mouth," releasing very hot air over Lucien's body, which quickly made him feel like his skin was almost burning.

After the first "puff," the circular ball closed its "mouth" and swelled again. In less than 20 seconds, it spat out a second puff, this time heating Lucien even more to the point where he, a mutant, sweats. At the same time, all the windows in the room also fogged up from the increasing heat.

"Oh, damn! How do I stop it? Just remove the crystal?"

[Run your hand along the back...]

As the ball swelled a third time, Lucien reached behind it and found several protrusions that could be squeezed or pointed in certain directions. After fiddling with a few of them, he finally reduced the heat and understood how the "item" worked.

Fascinated, he continued checking the various temperatures for several hours, confirming with the system how much energy the heater consumed at each level...

When he finished testing the heater, he finally created the last item his current capabilities still allowed, and he was very curious to see how effective it was: the Crystal Bomb...

AN: This chapter has an author's commentary in some paragraphs and at the end...

Remembering that we are in Kaelor, a coastal city 1,800 kilometers from the initial Satellite Cities, where Rick is. The cold here will arrive faster than there. The measurements in Fahrenheit for those who do not use Celsius are:

0.3°C 0.54°F

1.3°C 2.34°F

1.5°C 2.7°F

1.8°C 3.24°F