After testing his ability, Asan realized that the spatial inventory was almost his best acquisition. He could load quite a large amount of items into it, but there was one significant drawback that prevented him from using it constantly. Mana. When the hammer was inside the bubble, it consumed 10 mana from the maximum value. But this also means that the more mana he had, the more space he had in the inventory. Quite an interesting mechanism that satisfied him.
After telling his allies about the chosen skill, each of them nodded, saying that it was indeed a good acquisition. Now trips to the city would become much more productive. Also, Asan noticed that Mana was now recovering faster, approximately twice as fast. About 0.6 units per minute. Drawing the analogy was fairly simple—it all came down to wisdom.
She might have been responsible for mana restoration, or at least that was one of her many functions. Of course, this could have been verified by using the level-up points on her, but he didn't do it so recklessly.
He had everything he needed, and these 5 points might save his life at some crucial moment, so he decided to keep them for later.
After testing their abilities, the camp finally resumed its movement towards the warehouses. It was about a kilometer less to get there. Many people in the camp began speculating about what they would see there. In fact, Asan wasn't left out. He was still curious to know what the warehouses were really like. Usually, in some apocalyptic games, they were quite valuable places.
In them, he could find both materials for building something and some interesting tools.
***
The warehouses were already visible on the horizon. The path to them led through forested terrain, which the group was traversing. This time, the forest looked somewhat more intact; one could even see dried petals. Although it was still dark around, the weather seemed to have slightly improved, as Asan's field of vision had slightly expanded. Asking Paul if his vision had gotten better, he confirmed it, so the issue wasn't with his skills. Though it wasn't accurate to say that Asan's sensations hadn't changed. Previously, he could partially hear people talking in a crowd, but now he could clearly repeat each person's words. This parameter could be attributed to perception.
Suddenly for Asan, Paul raised his hand. This could mean two things: either they were making a stop for rest, or enemies were ahead.
Since they had already stopped for a rest earlier, there was no need to guess the reason. Feeling stronger than before, Asan stepped forward and approached Paul.
"What's going on?" the boy asked calmly as the rest of the strike team trio caught up with them.
"Six... Hmm... No, seven. Seven creatures ahead, some of them wearing work clothes. I suspect these are the ones who split off from the previous group we encountered earlier" said Paul, already pulling out his baton from his backpack.
Without much thought, Asan also pulled out his hammer, preparing for battle. The strike team moved forward. This time there wasn't much fear, but even so, Asan's heart beat faster—it was something new. Excitement. He felt real excitement, wanting to test his new strength that he had gained from the system.
The others were not particularly afraid either; rather, they were looking forward to leveling up. After all, if Asan had received it, then the others should have as well.
Forming up, the battle began. Paul once again issued commands, this time taking Asan's enhancement into account. Thus, the boy found himself facing two opponents at once. The thrill got the better of him, and what he wanted to try first was his agility and strength. Ronnie seemed somewhat slower and more cumbersome to him, allowing him to easily dodge most of their attacks and counterattack each time. Even so, danger still emanated from the monsters. After getting a few cuts on his hands, thus ruining his shirt, Asan decided to take things more seriously. Gathering all his strength for an attack, he swung the hammer in a wide arc and struck the blunt side against the skull of Ronnie.
The creature was thrown back, brushing against another one, while Asan was surprised. His hand started to throb painfully, but he was surprised that he received a notification about killing at the same moment. Did he manage to defeat the monster so easily? Could a level-up really make him this much stronger?
Paul, seeing the boy's success, switched his attention to helping the others, while Asan, without hesitation, finished off the stunned second creature. The battle ended so quickly that no one could understand how it was possible. Asan felt strength flowing through his veins like fire. This feeling intoxicated him again, but he couldn't fully enjoy it due to the command for Paul to return. It turned out that nobody gained any more levels. How significant was it considered to kill one Ronnie at the stage Asan was at? What exactly does this level-up grant?
It's unclear. In the games, there were various experience scales that told you how quickly you would get to the next level, but there was nothing like that here. Perhaps it was due to the group battle that had reduced the experience? It was still unclear.
Returning to the Geographer and reporting that the warehouses were safe, the camp finally entered them. Before Asan were five enormous hangars. They were indeed huge, and standing before them, he felt so small that he seemed like an ant. The hangar doors were closed, which was a good sign—meaning that nothing had likely been taken from inside.
The doors, naturally, had been broken down with Crane's axe. Laszlo entered the hangar first, serving as the sole source of light, accompanied by Geographer and Paul. Asan was burning with impatience to find out what was actually inside, and seeing the joyful face of Laszlo upon exiting only intensified his curiosity.
"Crane, choose yourself a couple of volunteers who will thoroughly study this hangar" said Geographer, whose voice was filled with pleasure. Maybe they had indeed found a jackpot there, but there were still a couple of other hangars left.
"Um... And what about the darkness inside?" Crane asked uncertainly, stroking his axe.
"Take some rags and a stick, make something like a torch. Inside you'll find a can of gasoline that will help you make a torch. For fire-related matters, contact Laszlo" explained Paul, whose voice lacked any emotion.
They proceeded to do so and then ventured deeper into the hangar.
Next were Alice, Paul, and then even Asan himself. Each went into a separate hangar. Asan was taken by one man, a woman, and also an old man who prepared food at the camp.
Entering with torches, Asan saw a truly remarkable sight before him. An enormous number of shelves, bags, and boxes, some of which had numbers next to them. At the entrance were also some strange scanners. Taking one in his hand, a man from his team explained what it was.
"Using these devices, the bags are scanned and placed on specific shelves. They are then sent to the store, at least that's how it used to be" he said.
It seemed he had previously worked on one of these warehouses, which greatly simplified the task. With his help, Asan was able to learn exactly what items were in this hangar.
As the man further explained, this was a mixed warehouse, most likely belonging to several stores or businesses at once. There was almost everything here – medications, food, tools, water, lumber, various household items. Even gaming systems, which Asan had only heard about on television before.
Rubbing his hands, the boy began to choose the goods that he would take personally. Each group was provided with two bags in which they needed to collect all the useful items, but no one canceled Asan's personal bag. In addition, he already had an almost empty backpack into which he could fit quite a bit of interesting stuff. He started with the medications, which the woman knew about.
"I'm Bridgite, I used to be a nurse, so these medications will be very helpful for us" she replied.
The man was named Kloss, and the old man, as Asan later found out, was Stefan.
With Bridgite's help, they took a lot of useful medications that Asan hardly understood, but according to the girl, these were mostly antibiotics, various vitamins, and disinfectants that would help us on our journey. Asan, however, got something else in his personal bag, something more expensive.
Morphine, Pervitin, painkillers, and finally, bandages.
The girl's gaze was fixed on the morphine and Pervitin.
"Excuse me... Are you sure this is what you really want to take?" the girl asked quietly, slightly wary.
"Well, yeah? I don't know what it is, but it looks like something people injected themselves with in games to boost strength and other stats" the boy looked at the girl in surprise.
"Pervitin is a drug that was developed during World War II. By its end, it was rejected and banned, but in 2030, most stimulant drugs were legalized, but this doesn't change the fact that they are still very harmful! This is a drug!" the girl said loudly, looking genuinely concerned.
Asan knew what drugs were. He didn't know that these were stimulants, but still… In our time, he might need something during a fight. Even if it's a drug, let it be so. If it saves his life, he won't mind using it a few times.
Giving up on trying to dissuade Asan, he continued to explore the warehouses further.
Soon, the bags were filled with all sorts of things.
Medicines, canned food, clothing, various tools such as saws, axes, hammers, nails — basically, everything that would be useful for the camp. Asan even found a box with many antique knives that were quite sharp and in sheaths. Taking a couple of them, he threw them into his bag, while one of the knives ended up in his backpack.
After a couple of hours, each group was ready to move on, and they did so.
The only downside—the amount of stuff. Now everyone had to carry a load except for the Geographer and the pregnant woman. The group was now moving much slower, and in just an hour they had moved away from the warehouses by a kilometer. On the way, they didn't encounter a single Ronnie, so soon they should have made a stop for lunch. But something no one expected happened. Something lightly hit Asan on the head. Looking up, he saw a flash of lightning in the sky.
"Seems like… Rain is coming?"