Men Vs Apocalypse - Chapter 7

The Strider interface had been drastically improved by the system. It was integrated with the Saviour System which Sen had been using all along. The minimap appeared on Strider’s screen interface and also included the types of armament which Sen can select with a flick of his thought.

“I need to strike quick before they have the chance to react.” There were a total of 4 large makeshift camps and they were strictly separated by seniority ranks as observed by Sen while he was waiting for the ambush. The highest concentration was no doubt the rank and file foot soldiers. The camp with the least people had the star symbol indicated in the minimap.

“Hmm, should I kill the leaders first so the snake that does not have head to lead. Or the should I leave the snake head alive?” Sen thought about it and felt it was better to reduce the numbers of Black Monarch troops. He can easily kill the leaders later with the aid of the system’s minimap function.

Without a sound, the improved Strider turned around faced the tent with the largest number of Black Monarch troops. In a standard mobile tank walker, the driver has to load the tank shell before firing but the Strider which the system modified, the system does the loading of the tank shell for Sen. All Sen had to do was to aim and fire. What an easy job for him indeed!

-BAM- -BAM-

When people look back, it’s these two shots fired that signified the humble start of their Saviour.

With the auto firing mechanism created by the system, the Strider fired two shots consecutively at the camp. Everyone who was in that particularly large tent woke up with fire on their body and most of them instantly went back to sleep for eternity.

The rest of the camp woke up and prepared to retaliate the unknown. The duty guards woke up from their unauthorised slumber and ran to where they heard the sound to check on the situation. However, another makeshift tent went into flames before the duty guards could get their bearings. The star symbol disappeared from the minimap once Sen shot at the second tent.

He had no hesitation in his movements and fired once more at a separate tent which now had their lights turned on. The silhouettes of soldiers panicking to gear up for the sudden attack were blown to smithereens by Sen. The duty guards out of fear fired their rifles at the Strider.

Their bullets were like tickles to the frame of the Strider but Sen no doubt greeted them back with a few shots of the Strider’s machine gun.

The prisoners saw the chaos and were cheering at the swift ambush while some of them started to drag others away from the scene to prevent them from being collateral damage.

Though Feng was in the cage and he was still able to see some of the action. A four legged menace killing indiscriminately at their own kind. It was somewhat satisfying to see revenge was taken for his buddy but he also feared whether it will be insane enough to kill the prisoners too.

Could it be a Black Monarch traitor or is it truly an ally?

Despite most of their command for this particular company was killed by Sen’s fierce bombardment, some of the Black Monarch troops were able to reorganise themselves to tried to fend off the attack.

One soldier was preparing to throw a grenade stick while the others were providing meaningless suppression fire hoping to distract the Strider. If they could damage one of its legs, it might prove to be a problem for Sen since this would impair the machine’s mobility.

However, they were wrong to assume that the strider was piloted by an average tank driver, severely underestimating Sen capabilities. As the soldier assumed the standard stance of throwing a grenade from a considerable distance, a bullet screamed out from the Striders’ machine gun and into the throat of that soldier.

The prepped grenade stick was still in his hand when he fell to the ground. None noticed and the backline of soldiers were caught in the delayed explosion. Sen sent out an additional tank shell as a compliment for their effort. The backline was a complete one sided massacre.

It was so terrible that the remaining soldiers left running away from the campsite despite of their injuries.

Sen smiled as the system gave a notification to him. “Mission complete.” He gave a sigh of relief and lied back on the seat. He did not know it will go that smoothly especially after that fight with the goblins.

“User, do you wish to receive your rewards?” Sen nodded and the list of mission objectives once again flashed on his screen, with each objective being highlighted as green. At the bottom of the screen, the rewards were shown. He was slightly delighted but annoyed at the results.

********

Objective completed- Rescued at least 20 Prisoners

Hidden objective completed – Rescued all Prisoners

Additional objective completed – Rescue Feng

Rewards:

Five Fate Crystals

One Chance at Saviour Lottery

One Feng Character Sheet

Five Fate Crystals and One Chance at the Lottery of Fortuitous Encounter for completing hidden objective.

However, due to the major recalibration for the Saviour Strider, the magnanimous Saviour System will deduct only five Fate crystal from the Rewards as payment.

********

“Then why was re-calibration of the Zinger rifle not counted?” Sen rolled his eyes at this scamming system but he was satisfied with the newly found fire power given to him. “The recalibration of the Saviour Zinger rifle was a welcome gift for User.”

“Must you add Saviour as a prefix to everything you calibrate?”

“The Saviour System reserves the copyright and patent to all calibrations done. User does not have any say in this. You have two lotteries chance available, do you wish to partake in them?”

Sen nodded and this time two lottery machines appeared in front of him. He turned the handle for the Saviour Lottery and the Fortuitous Encounter machines. A white ball appeared for the former while a green ball appeared for the latter.

“Congratulations User, you receive an attribute upgrade from the Saviour Lottery.”

“Congratulations User, a researcher will recruit you to join his team!”

Sen was confused with the encounter event when the system replied. “Huh, a researcher? What does that even mean?”

“User, please be patient. The encounter is set to be at the Hongshan Village. Please reach there within two days for the encounter event or else your reward will be wasted.”

“Isn’t that my hometown? Alright, we probably need to escort back our comrades back to the village for medical help. I will be there by then for the encounter.”

He relooked at this status screen

********

Days to Apocalypse: 2049

Name: Haruyuki Sen

Age: 17

Strength: 2

Dexterity: 2.4

Constitution: 2.1

Willpower: 2

Magic: 1

Fate Crystals: 8

Abilities:

Heart of the Mongoose Level 1

Axolotl Regeneration Level 1

Weapons:

Saviour Zinger Rifle [Additional Upgrades Possible]

*Unlimited Ammo Clip

Machines:

Saviour Strider [Additional Upgrades Possible]

System Comments: Sissy, do not be complacent even though you can now use magic . Please work hard to be the Saviour of this world before the start of Apocalypse.

********

“Wow, I can use magic now? How do I activate it or ehh wield it?” Sen was astonished by by the attribute upgrade. Only 15% of Red Sun’s population was able to unlock their potential of magic. They were usually the Elites or nobles of the society.

The other group that can use magic was the Red Sun’s Military Mage Corps and the Military Mage Academy. The Military sought out potential candidates at the age of 10 in every village and town by exposing them to a fate crystal and a detector machine.

Those who pass are eligible for a good salary once they complete their training in the Academy. Obviously, Sen tried it and was unable to pass, hence he hoped to inherit his parents’ tailor shop instead.

“User have to learn spells to use it.”

“Fine, can I take a look at Feng Character sheet? What does it even do?” The usual stat screen which Sen always looked changed to Feng’s and his attributes appeared in it. To his surprise, there was even an ability which was grey out.

“By obtaining this character sheet, you are now in control of Feng’s life. You will eventually be the Saviour but it is impossible for you to work alone to tide through the Apocalypse. The Saviour System will choose suitable members for you to work with.

The system with its almighty powers can realign the web of fate of your team members allowing you to change their intended profession, increase attributes and even augment abilities. All the User have to do is to pay Fate Crystals according to the price charged by the benevolent system.”

“What a terrifying ability” Sen shivered in the mere thoughts of the system. He took a closer look at Feng’s stat window and found that there were dropbox options under the attributes, abilities and even weapons! However, the options were very limited. “Didn’t you say I can change whatever I want?”

“User does not have the clearance for such a feature, please work hard to be the Saviour of the world.”

Sen felt like stabbing the system thousand times over for scamming him repeatedly. “Alright, I will examined it later, it is best to free the prisoners first.” Sen pilot his Strider towards the prisoners.