Sorting the Spoils

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Settle in, take your time, and let's see what waits in the dark 🖤

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After the simple treatment was finished, most of the negative effects disappeared from the status bar.

Only Weakness remained, cutting Evan's stamina bar in half.

"Not a big problem. Once the fracture finishes healing, that one should fade on its own."

Seeing that he finally looked somewhat human again, Evan nodded in satisfaction.

He did not seem to notice that, from a distance, being covered in walker blood made him look terrifying.

Only then did he remember the level he had glimpsed earlier.

He opened the system again.

When the rows of data appeared, his eyes widened.

[Level Up: Lv. 15 -> Lv. 22]

[Skill Points Acquired: 7]

[You can spend points.]

The level-up sound had already played not long ago, but seeing the data still made that cheerful effect echo faintly in Evan's ears.

He had expected a big jump after that fight.

He had not expected a seven-level jump all at once.

This was easily the largest gain he had ever taken from a single battle.

"Wait. If I went up seven levels, why do I still have seven points left?"

Excitement gave way to confusion.

Evan opened the skill panel.

Fortitude had indeed been unlocked, and he had definitely spent two points on Pain Tolerance and Healing Factor.

That meant those seven levels had actually given him nine skill points total.

Why?

He did not understand at first.

Then his gaze swept over the Fortitude attribute, and a faint memory surfaced.

[Level has reached Lv. 20. Requirements met.]

[Attribute Sequence Unlocked: Fortitude]

That had been the automatic message he saw while half-conscious.

Level 20 could unlock a new attribute sequence.

Clearly, that number had special meaning to the system.

Nine points, minus the seven from level-ups, left two extra.

"So when I hit Lv. 20, I got three points like I did at Level 1?"

Evan thought back to his first level-up, when he had received three skill points.

The more he considered it, the more likely it seemed.

"If that guess is right..."

The idea of three bonus points every twenty levels made him feel as if his body were suddenly full of strength again.

Even the Weakness debuff seemed a little less annoying.

"The last two Strength ranks need six points. That means I can max the whole attribute in one shot?"

Evan flipped through the skill page again and again, almost unable to put it down.

He glanced at the splint on his right hand.

Then he opened the Strength attribute and stared at the final two ranks until his chest itched with temptation.

In the end, Evan let out a long breath.

"Forget it. Five hours won't kill me."

"Every time I spend points, my body changes. Doing two ranks at once while I'm injured is asking for trouble."

"I'll wait until the five hours are over."

He made the decision.

Then another question arrived.

Evan kept the system open for a while, but no new prompt appeared.

His brow furrowed.

"Isn't there supposed to be a reward after the Blood Moon?"

"Don't tell me I held off an entire horde by myself and got nothing."

He searched through the system for half an hour.

Still, no new sound came.

Just as Evan was about to close it in disappointment, he noticed three new kinds of items in his inventory.

Four magazines.

One piece of gear.

One mod.

"I knew the system wouldn't stiff a disaster victim."

Evan immediately smiled.

He checked the gear first.

[Athletic Outfit (Light Armor) Lv. 2]

[Improves movement performance and increases maximum health. Bonus increases with the number of pieces in the set.]

[Full Set Bonus: Reduces food and water consumption.]

"A chest piece. Not bad."

The wooden armor he had worn had been ruined completely by the Blood Moon.

With this piece, plus the gloves and hood he already had, Evan now had gloves, a hood, and light armor.

They were not all from the same set, but filling equipment slots still gave him more than a full Lv. 1 Wooden Armor Set would.

He tapped through his inventory.

A layer of armor settled over him.

He hid the Stalker Hood because it blocked too much of his vision.

Then he used leftover wood from the bed to make a pair of leggings and boots.

His current gear looked like this.

[Rogue Gloves Lv. 3]

[Stalker Hood Lv. 1]

[Athletic Outfit (Light Armor) Lv. 2]

[Wooden Armor Boots (Basic Set) Lv. 1]

"Hm."

Evan looked down at himself in surprise.

"This actually feels lighter."

It was not only the defense and fabric.

The moment the equipment went on, every effect acted across his whole body.

The stat boost was something he could feel directly.

Compared with the stealth-based Stalker Hood, the Athletic piece affected him more clearly right now.

Just putting on one light armor piece made him feel almost weightless.

Maybe it was because he had never had an Agility-related bonus before, but the feeling was strong.

He opened the system panel.

His maximum health had increased by five.

For one Lv. 2 set piece, that was not a small bonus.

His only health increase so far had come from leveling, and that was only twenty-two points.

This single piece added five.

In a critical moment like the Blood Moon, five points of health could decide whether he lived.

Evan was more than satisfied.

Then he looked at the mod in his inventory.

[Helmet Light Mod]

[You don't have to glow in the dark yourself. This helmet light illuminates a limited area and can be installed on any helmet.]

Helmet light.

Good stuff.

The moment Evan saw it, his mood lifted.

At the very least, moving at night absolutely required something like this.

He had just equipped the Stalker Hood, so Evan installed the Helmet Light Mod and the Cigar Mod into the hood's only two mod slots.

'Light on.'

A warm 60-degree cone of light spread from him and almost illuminated the entire second floor.

From Evan's point of view, the Helmet Light Mod worked a little like the vision he had during the Blood Moon.

It was not nearly as sensitive, but anything inside his line of sight was basically visible.

"Good stuff. Really good stuff."

Evan's mood improved.

Sure enough, a heavy price brought equal reward.

What was the saying?

Bigger risk, better loot.

He had nearly gotten himself killed this time. These rewards were not too much. Not even close.

"Ha."

Evan could not help grinning as he looked at the last four magazines.

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