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Valentine was visibly shocked by the slime, he couldn't believe what was going on. Did this slime have some form of transformation ability? No, how could it mimic human speech? He didn't know, maybe this was some kind of king slime, a boss monster, maybe a field boss? But this slime or person, the feeling was... Different. Not in the sense that the person was different but in the sense of thinking it was a monster. After all, the world had been rotting with them, and though he could feel their presence he couldn't directly tell what they were but monsters thus far, their presence came with an innate fear. Like prey coming face to face with the thing that was hunting it. Perhaps it was just intuition but this slime person gave no such feelings, it invoked no such fear outside of the confusion perceived by his own mind. The way the girl reeled back made his heart sink. Valentine hadn't seen many people's abilities, but he knew these classes and powers came in all different shapes and sizes but were their true ones that could make people transform like this?[break][break]

The more he thought about it, the more he could see how it was possible. Just as his mind was about to scatter off into thoughts about the matter it was snapped back into focus with the girl moving toward her backpack, he tensed but then she just hugged it, as if it was her own heart she was trying to keep from falling out her chest. He raised an eyebrow in curiosity which betrayed the true sinking feeling he felt in his chest. Was he the villain in this situation, hitting a young girl that used her powers to try and protect herself? He lowered the chair slowly as the young girl spoke. [break][break]

The slime girl said she was a person and found the place first. Then he saw the girl pull out a whip, no monsters he had seen could do that. Then what she said next surprised him. Valentine gently placed the chair on the ground, turning it to face her. He sat down with gentle care and then spoke, doing his best to bring a smile to his face and to express warmth in his tone. "My apologies for attacking you earlier I thought you were a monster, my name is Valentine," often it was customary to give your own name before asking someone else's but in this position, he could forgive her. After all, he had struck her and she was innocent. He knew his apologies probably didn't make it all alright, but there was nothing her could do besides own his actions.[break][break]

"As for who I am, I'm just a normal guy, searching for his lost little sister." He said his smile dimming slightly as sadness plagued his eyes. "I haven't been able to find her since all this craziness began, I figured she might be here in Seoul," Valentine said, before sighing. He relaxed in the chair a bit as he did, "As for a guild, no. I don't even know how to make one." His words were true, he had overheard people talking about such within the hub but actually doing it, no, that wasn't something he had been able to accomplish yet. "How about you?" He said, before quickly following up with a question, "Say what's your class?"
[break][break]

[attr="class","landtag2"]Pori[TAGGED]

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As Valentine's body floated through the sky, he found himself searching through the streets. On occasion, he'd see a monster here or there, slimes, wolf-like beast, the occasional goblin. In most things, he had read manga-wise, and things he had seen from animes these were usually the runts of the litter which told him this area was more of the lower level places. At least he hoped, he had yet to see what many of the mangas referred to as "field bosses," and he was hoping he wouldn't have to anytime soon. Though Valentine was astral projecting and often told himself that doing so was the result of him wanting to better his abilities and stay safe. The truth was that doing so made him safe, that astral projecting being invisible to those around him made him happy. It made him think he could do anything, sneak into anything. Keep the people he cared about safe, just by being vigilant. So he was happy to do so, happy to progress his ability while desperately trying to keep himself from losing control.[break][break]

The fact of the matter was, that astral projecting was good for his mental health, good for his mind because while doing so he constantly had to keep himself preoccupied, it allowed him to keep his mind of the darker thoughts that festered beneath the surface. Though trying to force those down and keep them had become increasingly more and more challenging. There was only so much he could push into one area before it spilled over, or broke a vital piece of his mental foundation. Though for now, Valentine would keep pushing such thoughts there, and he would try to continue to do so until he could do no more. Hopefully, when it came time to let it all out, it would be because his worry about his parents and little sister was no longer warranted. No longer needed, because they were safe and sound. He sincerely hoped so.[break][break]

Then his mind flashed over to his little brother as he flew, he remembered that he had been here for quite some time while St. Claire was still looking for leads in the hub. He would have to find him at some point and compare notes. Tell him all about the people he had run into, and his sweet high-rise apartment. Then Valentine felt a shudder down his ethereal spine. He heard a voice call out in his ears, but as he glanced around it wasn't near him, in fact, it sounded distant, almost ghostly. Then the feeling that someone was near increased, like a warning sign going off in his mind. Someone was near his physical body. [break][break]

Valentine willed his astral form back into his physical body with a mere thought and force of will. His astral body jerked back, flying toward his physical body like a fish that had been hooked and reeled in. His astral body flew through the air. Then through the brick, metal, wood, carpet and finally it landed within his body. His eyes fluttered open and he quickly got up a started turning to see that his door had been damaged. Luckily his extra locks had panned out but anger swelled as knew he'd now have to repair the door if he wanted it to keep its same durability. [break][break]

Focusing and sending his astral body out once more, he sent it partway through the door, just a bit above, and found himself staring down at a person in a hospital gown with a crowbar, they seemed innocent in appearance, sans the crowbar but he didn't see any blood on it. Although he wondered what the hell were they doing here. Perhaps they were displaced it was certainly possible in this world nowadays, however, being the person he was he had a healthy dose of skepticism so he willed his astral form back into his physical body. Taking a moment to catch his barring he ran to the kitchen, grabbing a kitchen knife he wrapped it in a towel and then tucked it into his front jacket pocket. Just in case this guy wasn't just an innocent person. Perhaps it could be a monster or someone's power. He didn't know. [break][break]

Moving cautiously toward the door, he spoke up, "Just a moment," he said as he undid the locks to open the door. It was probably foolish but he knew that if his sister had found somebody and needed help that he would hope they were kind to her, that they would let her in and keep her safe. How could he want people to do something like that for his sister, but shun others away? [break][break]

"Hello..." he said, as he cracked the door open. [break][break]

[attr="class","landtag2"]Sami[tagged]

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Valentine found himself wondering just what to do for the day as he released his astral body from his physical. After meeting Pori in Seoul, and finding relatively no leads on his sister, it left him wandering the area. Occasionally looking for who and what he could. He came across a person here and there but they were less than helpful, often more concerned with themselves. There were a few close calls when a couple had even tried to attack him, some even tried to ambush him on occasion. Not only did one have to watch out for monsters but in this newly destroyed and reformed world, the humans were just as dangerous as the new creatures that roamed about. Thankfully, Valentine's class was one that excelled in scouting and escape. Thus ambushes and other people trying to attack him were rarely ever anything worth their salt. With quick activation of his ability, he was able to slip seamlessly through a dimension of his own, where he had yet to encounter anyone else or dangers.[break][break]

Thanks to this, as long as he picked an end goal, and no one was in said end goal he was pretty safe. He had found himself a nice place in Seoul, an abandoned high-rise apartment. It seems like some fancy people lived there beforehand, however, it had been a couple of days since he made the place his base of operations. Stealing a couple of locks and power tools from nearby hardware stores to install new locks on the doors. He put up thicker blinds, and some coverings of the windows, save for a few curtains where he could pull them back to scout a bit. He was sure it would be a good idea to make more outposts, but having the building up this high meant that when he astral projected he could get a birds-eye view without straying too far from his body.[break][break]

So far no one had come back to the high-rise, he figured its inhabitants were most likely dead or had moved to another part of the world thanks to waygates. One of which was within running distance if he decided to leave the building. It was only about a 30-minute walk, which could be tiresome for some, but he found he had an abundance of energy, and being a half hour away meant people were less likely to try and invade the place if they did come through the waygate.[break][break]

Valentine found it was harder to move downward along an X axis rather than to float upward and away from his body. Even though he could only go a couple of blocks away from his current position when astral projecting, it was easier the more and more he did it, nor did he find himself getting discombobulated as much when doing so. He would occasionally scope out the blocks in small increments on a daily basis, not just to train his abilities but to also keep track of his environment, and humans and monsters alike that roamed it. [break][break]

[attr="class","landtag2"][Sami]

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Listening to St. Claire's response about how his abilities worked had already started to turn the wheels of his mind. That power was useful, in fact, he was sure that if they were to fight a boss monster that was the kind of power that could end up saving their collective asses. Valentine smiled as he little brother, even though the world was going to hell in a handbasket these powers could tip the scale for them. They were a blessing in disguise and quite frankly he was thankful for them, even if he did hate the reality of the situation as a whole. He'd had much rather lived his mundane life than be in this situation. He could only wonder what was going on with his parents and sister. His parents whom every time he thought about he got a sinking feeling in his chest as if his intuition was telling him the worst had transpired, but this wasn't the time to dwell on such negatives. [break][break]

"Hm, so why do you use that skill you can't fire whatever it is that will come from that talisman, we'll have to keep that in mind going forward. It's extremely situational but I'm sure it'll come in handy," Valentine said with a smile. Then he smiled at St. Claire's words, "I think so, though my abilities are as situational as they come it seems. There are a few stipulations for the astral projection like only being able to be utilized when not in combat, but I'm sure I could figure try and gather intel like you say if I can figure out how to do it." Though Valentine was curious as to how St. Claire activated his ability, it seemed almost instinctual, and as Valentine thought about his own he felt his body start to feel lighter as if it could simply float away, his mind started to feel even more scatter-brained than usual, but he quickly suppressed such feelings, tuning back into the conversation as St. Claire stated that he thought Mio's powers could come in clutch. [break][break]

Then hearing what St. Claire's anchor has finally cemented Valentine's thoughts, "Clearly anchors have something to do with what class we have, I don't know how much more they factor into this whole thing situation but it could be something important, we'll have to keep that in mind going forward." Valentine said, before moving out and down the hallway later on. [break][break]

"Seems like it, maybe partying will get us more loot, or experience share or something? If we even get EXP," Valentine said, trying to mentally force himself to consider think of this reality more in the concept of a game. If anything it was helping as things moved on, especially considering the horrors they'd come to see later. [break][break]

Valentine was visibly elated though the axe still clutched in his hand betrayed his facial expressions. He glanced around watching as people still panicked. From what he could feel he knew there were around 4 dozen people in the earlier lobby milling about, most likely a lot more but that was more than half the amount he felt he saw run away from the elevator just now. These thoughts worried Valentine but he tabled them as St. Claire spoke.[break][break]

"You're right, staircase it is," it was foolish of him to think that they could even potentially survive such numbers with so many unknown variables. The zombies were beginning to stir as their transformation was almost complete when he moved toward the stairwell, only to bump into the biker they saw earlier. Valentine snickered at St. Claire's words before speaking, "my brother is right, you double cross us, and I'll make sure you'll regret it, however, if you truly are an ally, I hope we can count on you to make it through this ordeal." Valentine said reaching out a hand to shake the large bikers, the handshake of which was returned in earnest. As they walked Valentine looked back to see that the zombies weren't coming down their side of the hallway, no instead they were heading toward the east wing, where about 14 people had been trying to fend off zombies that had been coming down the stairwell. [break][break]

Making the west stairwell was an easy ordeal, besides the screaming of other dozens of people going up that way, and the few blood-chilling screams from the east wing. Valentine had learned a couple of things, but he'd table it until they got to a safe area. Making their way to the second floor, and moving down the hall, they'd find themselves just halfway down the west wing. Valentine would try door after door, and Mio would follow suit alongside the biker catching his plan. Eventually, he found a pair of double doors that opened, this place seemed to be a mess hall. Screaming could be heard all around, though it seemed to be dying out slowly, but surely. "Come on, let's move in here." Moving inside, Valentine quickly glanced around, upon seeing no danger, he grabbed a chair. "Help me with these chairs, grab a couple of tables and let's move them over to block the door." It took a few minutes, but eventually, he was sure they had successfully blockaded the door after they were all inside. [break][break]

[break]

"Okay let's fan out and see what we can find," Valentine said, "but be careful if you see any danger, yell for help immediately." Valentine moved about the mess hall only finding two vending machines one for liquids and one for snacks, most of the food on the tables and within the preparation area was abandoned, all that seemed to be toward the back was a meat locker and it didn't want to open no matter how much he tried to make it budge. Moving back toward the disgustingly eerie mess hall's main area, he stated his findings, "Found some vending machines," he said grabbing a chair and placing it on the ground, taking his axe, he swung it overhead chopping off one of the wooden legs. Grabbing one of the wooden legs that had broken off, he walked back toward the vending machine, smashing the glass in, and using the butt of the stick to clean the glass, he pulled out the contents. [break][break]

Curiously he grabbed the contents placing them into his inventory. "Let's clear this puppy out, we don't know how much time we'll have to grab food or water later. This can at least hold us over," he said realizing his hands were full, then he thought about his inventory from earlier. "Menu," he said the words coming to him almost instinctively, a thought of which he mulled over before speaking the words "inventory," after which his menu switched to just that, and he found himself dumping the contents within his folded arms into his inventory watching as it was sorted into individual categories, in their rows and columns. "Well, this is certainly handy," he said with a smile, as he took out one of the waters, twisting off the top and sniffing the content for good measure and skepticism. One could never be too sure.[break][break]

[break][break]

After everyone had rested, eaten, and had a few drinks Valentine thought it was finally time to speak, "Now that we're all a little more rested, let's talk. First introductions we 3 all know each other, I'm Valentine, that's Mio, and that's Saint Claire," Valentine said pointing to them all as he said each name. He looked at the biker with a stern expression his tone was soft as he spoke again but his words betrayed the kindness of his friendly voice, "and who the fuck are you?"[break][break]

He said tilting his head at the biker, the biker of whom responded, "Names... Botan," he said a blush coming to his face, "I'm warnin' ya now, ya make fun of my name and the deals off about being kind." Botan said his face turning from a blush of embarrassment to a bit of annoyance. Considering the guy was named after a flower, Valentine figured the guy had some kind of complex about being named a flower. [break][break]

Valentine smiled and responded back, "Relax, no one here gives a damn about your name enough to make fun of it, especially in a situation like this. Besides if that's what you ask in exchange for helping us it's an easy price, nice to meet you Botan. So what's your class?" Valentine asked with a tilt of his head trying to gauge their group dynamic. [break]

Then Botan spoke again, Then he continued, "Though I think it's a bit invasive, I figure I should tell ya anyway considerin' I overheard ya'lls conversation earlier about your classes. My class is called Street Brawler, I can knock enemies back with punches and I have a charge attack of sorts, haven't tested it yet tho," Botan said, flexing his fingers, and balling them into a tight fist, as he did, his knuckles glowed with a red light than as it dulled brass knuckles could be seen around the guy's knuckles. He smiled in delight, before giving more details about his abilities in earnest. [break][break]

He waited a moment before speaking again, "now that we've got that out of the way so far, I've compiled my thoughts, by my estimate, there's anywhere from 4 dozen to over 6 dozen people in this tutorial, from what we've seen so far about close to 20 have died. When they died they became zombies. We don't know if that's the only type of monster in here," Valentine said pausing for a moment as his mind flashed back to the skeletons they thought they saw earlier. [break][break]

With a shutter, he continued, "more people dying means more potential enemies so we should avoid big groups if we can help it. The elevator is out which leaves the stairs. Most of the place from what we've seen so far seems to be abandoned sans the monsters and participants. Though something doesn't seem right this all seems too easy for the time being but they did say that the tutorial gets harder the further we go up. Anyone else got anything?" Lustian said, leaving the floor open to the others. [break][break]

After they all said their peace "I'm going to try and use my skill and hopefully I can gather more info," Lustian said before taking a deep breath, he sat down and crossed his legs and thought about using his skill to astral project, he tried to let the world float away from him as he closed his eyes, and then instead of the world floating away from him, he felt as if he was floating away from it. He looked around but it seemed nothing changed, so he stood, finding that he felt lighter than usual that was until he turned to look around. He stepped back with shock, instinctively raising his hands as he did. Then he noticed that his body had an ethereal look to it, it flowed and ebbed with a myriad of colors, reminding him of the aurora borealis he had seen when he was a child.[break][break]

He figured this was the astral projection at work, it seemed the power was based on his willpower, so he willed himself to move around, it was tricky at first, he found himself floating up and around 360 degrees before coming to a stop, nearly making himself sick, he was sure if he could hurl as he astral projected he would've. Luckily he didn't, floating toward the door, he went to move the tables out of the way just for his hand to go through it. Noticing he figured he was like a ghost, after all, the astral projection was projecting one's spirit or consciousness really, so it was understandable why he couldn't touch things and why things couldn't touch him... He hoped. [break][break]

He floated through the stacked chairs and tables near the door out into the hallways, noticing that most of the hallways seemed to be empty, sans for the few straggling zombies here and there. Thus he figured everyone had either moved upstairs or well... Died. Then he felt a rumble, and saw a piece of the hallway floor crumble away, it was... Crazy. Zombies fell through and instinctively trying to jump out of the way as fast as he can, momentarily forgetting he was a mere projection of himself, he leaped further and higher than he figured possible. Next, all he saw was the drywall, cement, wood, and flooring and then he was on the third floor. [break][break]

Looking around he could see was an eerie hallway, people were running, using their powers to fight against zombies, and some were still dying but what shook him the most was what people said "we have to move before more of the floor starts crumbling away, that bitch already went to the fourth floor. The monsters will just start increasing here soon!" One guy yelled. Then Valentine could feel rumbling again, but he realized it wasn't coming from his astral body. No, that couldn't feel rumbling, then he realized what was happening. [break][break]

[break][break]

Meanwhile, as he was astral projecting at the far end of the mess hall where the tables were stacked, a small divet began to open within the ground beneath the furniture barricade. It expanded slowly, wider and wider until one would notice the rumbling. It increased and soon as St. Claire, Mio, and Botan would look over most likely startled by the sudden movement of their barricade furniture they'd notice a bang on the mess hall door, once, twice then never-ending. The double doors glass shattered inward. Zombie's hands grasped inward reaching for the air around them. The rumbling intensified, and the floor began to sink in toward the door, it visibly warped, and then nearly all at once, it collapsed, door, parts of the wall the furniture it all broke apart leaving nothing more than a sinkhole in the ground near the entrance. Zombie bodies fell in, their moans could be heard and their bodies made the sounds of wet thumps as they fell through the hole. [break][break]

However, the sinkhole didn't take up the entirety of the entrance, small openings on either side were made as a result of the foundation cracking and being destroyed, and 6 zombies would soon pour in. They moved at a slow speed thankfully, and this slow movement was what gave Valentine enough time to levitate himself back to his body just in time to see what had unfolded, he willed his astral body back into his physical shell. He jolted back awake it took him a moment to get his barring but once he did, he grabbed his axe, stood, and spoke. "We have to get upstairs! This whole floor is falling apart," Valentine said, gripping his axe preparing for a fight as the zombies slinked forward. Mio placed the fire extinguisher, then reached across to the table and grasped the wooden chair leg that Valentine had used to break open vending machines, preparing to use it as a makeshift stake. Botan put up his fist in a boxer stance preparing to fight. [break][break]

Then the zombies began to get closer, Valentine hefted his axe as the first one came near, driving it into its skull, Botan struck one zombie so hard it was sent flying back 11 meters, crashing into a wall outside the mess hall. "Woah, guess my class wasn't lying about being able to knock things back with my punches." He said, with a gleeful smile, before moving over toward another zombie, upper-cutting it causing it to fly upward, smash into the ceiling, and its skull to crumble to pulp from the impact. Mio used her stake to stab one of the zombies in the face, it was brutal and blood splattered her shirt, she looked sick to her stomach, but she grit her teeth and kicked the zombie in its stomach to free her wedged stake free. The zombie's limp body stumbled back falling into the ever-expanding hole in the ground that had moved closer.[break][break]

After St. Claire would take care of his zombies a banging would then be heard, loud and stronger than anything they had heard before, the sound of wood being crushed could be heard from the left, the area that seemed to be a meat locker passed the vending machines. When they looked they'd see the door shatter outward, the reason? A bloodied metal cleaver had shattered it with its hit. [break][break]

From the door emerged a zombie twice as large as the others wearing a white bloodied cooking apron, wielding a bloody cleaver knife in its right hand emerged. Though the way it walked was unlike the slow zombies they had just taken out. No, this zombie moved with purpose, it tilted its head at the four of them, before... Chuckling... It let loose a sinister smile and a scream that was inaudible. Dashing forward it cleaved through the wooden chair in front of it, it kicked the debris at them. Causing Valentine, Mio, and Botan to block the forcefully thrown wood.[break][break]

Then it sprinted toward St. Claire with an agile speed akin to that of a daily jogger. Though the zombie was clearly a guy that liked to eat most of the meat he cut up, it was clear from the way it moved that his weight didn't hinder him. It approached St. Claire, swinging its cleaver at a horizontal angle straight for his neck. [break][break]

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Information Guide:
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[attr="class","landtag2"]St. Claire [TAGGED]

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"W-Woah, holy shit that's pretty damn cool Clairey, sounds like a damage-dealing class. Like those monk classes from MMOs," Valentine said with a gleaming smile in regards to St. Claire telling him his class. He was still worried about a lot of things, primarily his family, but he still had one member of his family alongside him, and Clairey had come through. Even if he did just randomly choose his class, the option he got was a relief. Especially, as Val had thought about it, the memory of those skeletons they saw for a brief moment when entering flashed within his mind if they were to come back then perhaps the Exorcist class that Clairey wielded would give them an advantage.[break][break]

"Those projectiles might come in handy, you'll have to use them smart though. How does the debuff work though?" Val said, curiosity plastered across his face. His expression had morphed to such a pleasant change from the former scowl of stress that plagued him earlier. With the mention of everyone's classes, he felt a little calmer, a little bit easier. As if his mind was mentally starting to cool itself off its ever-boiling anxiety. He found his breathing beginning to steady, especially knowing that with Mio's class if worse came to worse it seemed like it was made for hiding. A stealth-based class of sorts.[break][break]


Then Valentine's eyes widened as his brother summoned his talisman with ease. "Yeah, I remember him, the guy with all the martial arts movies and creepy voodoo shit," Val said, the memory of their childhood flooding into and unintentionally easing his mind. Though he still found himself speaking slow, his mind in shock at what he was seeing. There was no denying that he could feel the people around him and that he was constantly aware of his immediate surroundings. It was strange, overwhelming, and gave him a load of anxiety if he didn't focus his mind. He figured it would take some getting used to. [break][break]

Clearly, he had activated his abilities, but it only cemented the fact that all of this was real in Valentine's mind. There was not much more he could do to stray from the fact, no matter how much he would try to disillusion himself into thinking this was some weird mass-range VR game. No, this was just too realistic. But he still tried to maintain hope that this was some cruel joke, because from what he could see of that monolith that floating obelisk in the sky. Its position was near his parent's place...[break][break]

He shook his head a little before speaking as he tried to clear the clutter of ever-growing worry from his mind. "I'd try an astral project now, but my ability says that my body will be unconscious and defenseless. We don't know what kind of mess we're in, nor do I think this is the wisest area to try it out right now."[break][break]

Then what Saint Claire had said about the pawn shop struck him, his mind flashed back to his time star gazing as a kid in Maine on the family trip. His mind went to the status menu that floated in front of him and the word "Anchor" mentioning that it was "star," perhaps that meant that those experiences were what influenced their classes. "Clariey, what does it say your anchor is, and what about you Mio? Did you guys have any thoughts pertaining to your anchor earlier, perhaps a memory even?"[break][break]

Mio would simply state that her anchor said "My anchor says Shy, and I just felt a strong connection to the cyber cafe, always trying to be in the background, and stuff" which Valentine tabled in his mind before speaking his own, "My anchor says "star," and I remembered star gazing in Maine on that trip we took, Clairey. Maybe that's, maybe the anchor is what influences our classes? But what could that mean though, does that mean it'll be what makes us stronger?" Valentine asked allowed, he was curious as to what was going on and began to swipe through his menu, his flighty mind continuing onward. Then he saw an option for partying. "Oh, wow, there's a lot more to this menu thing" he said pressing it, a list of prompts came up, and as he clicked them, he found he was able to invite people to his party. He designated Saint Claire and then Mio.[break][break]

[break][break]

Valentine clicked yes, and then he could see the blue menu prompt opened up toward St. Claire and Mio, smaller than the usual menu prompt as it sent the invite to them. Asking them. "I think we should join this party together, using this function could possibly give us some benefits, though I'm not sure what in full to be honest."[break][break]

[break][break]

Eventually making their way to an elevator Valentine watched as Saint Claire took a picture on his phone of the hospital map. He responded with glee seeing his brother do something so smart, even though he himself had only taken a mental map of the simple outline. "Good job, that might come in handy later." He said with a smile, after all, one never knew if they'd get separated or if he'd get knocked out, he couldn't be relied on all the time to be a scout, which was what his class seemed suited for at least in MMO terms. Though he would do his damnedest to be as dependable as possible. After all, at this point, their lives could very well depend on it...[break][break]

Then after everything was unfolding Valentine noticed St. Claire's talisman start to glow with a sickly white. What the heck was going on? Then the smell hit him, like Clairey he covered his nose, pulling up his jacket to try and block out the disgusting scent. Then shit got real, a fucking zombie had just been well, born, made? He didn't know what term to use, just there was a zombie in front of him. Of course, people started to run and panic. Valentine was momentarily stunned, all the movement of those around him flooding his mind with awareness. [break][break]

Then once again St. Claire's words snapped him out of it, he nodded, and grabbed Mio's hands, before moving her toward the edge of the crowd of panicking people that were moving back. Val watched wide-eyed as his brother sprung into action. He was worried for him, immensely so, but decided to join in his brother's pursuits. The crowd of tutorial participants was still running around in a frenzy, and Valentine could sense that St. Claire was jumping into battle, but St. Claire had his class that could fire ranged attacks. Valentine had nothing of the sort. He knew he'd need a weapon, some type of offense. "Mio, get back," Valentine said, as his eyes noticed the "Break Glass in Case of Emergency" box across the room next to a fire extinguisher. He grabbed her hand and even though people were running amok, panicking, and the like he managed to expertly weave his way through the crowd, pulling Mio along as he did. [break][break]

He found he did so with ease, slipping through them like slithering snakes in tall grass. He ran over grabbed the fire extinguisher, smashing the glass into the emergency box, using the butt of the extinguisher to move as much glass out of the way as possible he grabbed the ax. He could feel Saint Claire moving around he was aware of everyone within his immediate vicinity still. He tossed the fire extinguisher to Mio, perhaps she could use it as a smoke screen, distraction, or even blunt weapon. He grabbed the axe, hoisting it over his head, as he ran back toward St. Claire weaving through the now thinning crowd as everyone ran their separate ways.[break][break]

"Hold on bro I'm coming!" Valentine yelled loud though as he approached he didn't expect to see St. Claire kicking the zombie's entire ass. The zombie seemed scared of him almost like it didn't want to be near him. Though then Saint Claire aimed a strong kick to the zombie's chest, it went flying, and its head smacked against the wall with a sickening crack before its body slumped to the ground with a thud.[break][break]

"Holy fuck," he said, watching in amazement at what his brother had just done. Then laughed as his brother had stated he liked being an exorcist. To which Valentine replied with "lucky, though I guess that luck applies to us too, huh?" He said with a sly smile before his attention was caught by the sounds coming from the elevator. The bodies inside were shaking, jerking, and spasming as if they were having seizures. Blood pooled from their mouths, and their teeth began to fall out. More zombies were in the process of being made.[break][break]

Valentine took a couple of steps back, alongside Mio, only to feel a large mass approaching from behind, he turned around axe at the ready, and raised high only to see the thuggish-looking biker from earlier. "Woah, Woah, watch the axe, I'm just here to help. I saw that guy kick that things ass, if that's the case I think I'm better served with you guys than on my own." He said raising his hands in the air in a show of innocence. The sounds from the elevator were intensifying and so was the smell. Val nodded to the guy turning back toward the elevator, choosing to believe him for now. Though what the guy said next took him by surprise. "Besides, I already tried running down the east hallway and well, there's just more zombies coming from the stairwell."[break][break]

Valentine turned to him a bit of anger on his face, "okay I don't mind you joining us and all but next time you might want to lead with information like that!" He said, taking a deep breath before turning to his brother. "Alright, Clairey we need to decide, do you want to stay here and try to fight these zombies and take the elevator, or do you want to try the west stairwell? I think going west will be longer, but probably safer seeing as what happened to them," he said nodding his head toward the now rising zombies. Whatever St. Claire decided Valentine would go along with, after all his little brother was the main damage of their party at the moment, and he had no idea what the new guy's abilities were, and what awaited them on the other floors. Just that right now they were outnumbered and even so much as stepping off the elevator on the fifth floor could possibly cause them to end up as zombies if they weren't careful.[break][break]

As far as Valentine could see there were two options, fight through the middle and try and make haste, or go the long way to the west while gathering information.[break][break]

(11:18:00)[break][break]

[attr="class","landtag2"]St. Claire [TAGGED]

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“Thanks, Clairey.” Valentine said, as St. Claire began working on the door, swiping away at his screen in order to hurry and get them inside. His brother made quick work of the door to which Valentine exclaimed with a compliment. “Nice work, there’s nothing you can’t get into!” However after they made it inside, Valentine found himself visibly taken aback. In front of him in eerie lighting they saw six skeletons eerily walking down the hallway. [break][break]

Valentine felt his heartbeat quicken in his chest, his heart beat so hard he could hear it thumping in his ears. Valentine took a cue from St. Claire rubbing his own eyes at sight as did Mio as none could believe what they were seeing was ridiculous. Asinine really. [break][break]

Then the lights flickered, once, twice and a third time, and the skeleton’s were gone! In their place was a sea of roaming chattering people. “Maybe- Maybe it was just stress or another hologram, or something,” Valentine said, trying to make sense of the whole ordeal.[break][break]

After further making his way inside Valentine, took a sigh of relief. Though he found himself drawn to the status window that had appeared for him, his mind used it as a distraction to desperately try and make sense of what was going on. On it, it showed him his stats, level, class, and... abilities! He quickly read over them. Stepping back with a look of shock, that passive was odd. Perhaps why he could feel not just St. Claire and Mio around him, but everyone else around him within the short radius.[break][break]

There were more than just the three of them in this hospital floor. It was a large group of people now, some panicking, some screaming and some like him silently reading over their status windows. He knew it was strange, this whole ordeal was just fucking crazy, but it was life for now so he had no choice but to deal with it.[break][break]

His parents and sister's face flashed in his mind, he pulled out his phone hoping to try and contact them, but there was no single, nothing at all. He couldn't even send an email out to him, he didn't know what the hell was going on. He tried calling St. Claire's phone just to see if anything would go through, but it was a wasted effort. So he decided to focus on the environment at hand.[break][break]

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Looking around one could see the multitude of people milling about, but what surprised him the most was what occupied his senses, this hospital... It looked more like a prison. The walls were a dull white that looked like they had been here for some years, the furniture was old, and the windows had bars on them. A large white door stood at the end of the lengthy hall in front of them, just past an empty administration desk. When the hell did they go through a remodel like this?[break][break]

Valentine urged for his sibling and Mio to follow him as he made a quick B-line for the administration's desk. He tried to boot up the computer behind it to no avail and after slamming his fist down in frustration, he heard a voice behind him. "Don't waste time with that anymore, it won't work, trust me I've tried. There's no nurses or doctors in here either Far as I can tell and go, there are only us people who've come through that front door there, and we can't leave out." The large guy behind them said, Valentine turned to face him. Looking at him he noticed the guy looked more akin to the run-of-the-meal biker thug, with broad shoulders, stern chin, moppy brown hair, brown eyes, and a scar that occupied the right side of his chin all the way up toward his eye.[break][break]

Valentine's mind was whirling, then that's when the guy's words registered in his ears, "front door," he noticed that the area they were in looked like the front of the hospital, but they were... They were in the back of the hospital and came through the back entrance. How the hell was that possible!? He forced himself to steady himself, to gather his thoughts and keep an ear out for information. Then that's when the biker guy tapped him, asking them where did they come from to which Valentine responded "Shinjuku," the guy smiled, before speaking going "well spose' that proves it, we all came from different areas. I was n' Roppongi, went through the local clinic's door, ended up here."[break][break]

Valentine was taken back by that, shaken to his core, his mind was at its breaking point. What the fuck was this guy on about? Did they mean they teleported? No, it meant they had to teleport. Then his mind was brought back to his class, Planeswalker, and its ability, which just couldn't be real. Could it? He didn't know anymore, he was at a loss for words, and found himself just mopping back toward the entrance, falling to the ground, balling into a mess that he felt he was on the inside as he tried to let his anxiety ease up. He pulled out his phone again, desperately trying to find some way to make a call, though it didn't work, it was to no avail and he found himself feeling defeated once more.[break][break]

As Mio placed a hand on his shoulder trying to cheer him up another holographic screen popped up, not just for him but for everybody. A voice rang out.[break][break]

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"Tutorial? Is this some kind of joke? Wha-What? You know what fuck this shit," Valentine said trying to open the door to the hospital and leave out, just for the door not to budge at all. In fact, all that happened was another blue holographic screen popping up around the window of the door.
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"Mon-Monsters in the building?" Valentine said, rising to his feet. Leaving was impossible, at least from what he could see as more people tried to make their way through the exit, banging on the doors and barred windows that did nothing but bring up status screens stating they couldn't leave. Valentine paced back and forth running his hands through his braided locks, "okay, okay... If this a game that just means we have to win it..." He said trying to apply some form of logic, some form of reasoning to the insanity that was taking place. "Alright, then first things first, we need to analyze our skills, and our abilities and use them the most effectively. The system said there are monsters here, and honestly after all we've seen today I'm inclined to believe it."[break][break]

He said looking at his little brother and Mio with determination slowly returning to his eyes. If monsters were real, then perhaps these powers were real, and if these powers were real, then maybe if they could work together they stood a chance. The problem was, that his class offered very little in the area of damage dealing. In fact, his class looked like it was suited to be nothing more than a scout. [break][break]

Nonetheless, he had to make do with what he had so he turned to St. Claire and Mio, bringing them closer to him and wrapping them in a huddle. The fact, of the matter, was as they didn't know who or what the monsters looked like, which meant one of these people could even be it. Not to mention he and Clairey had watched enough horror movies to know that often what you had to worry about was the other humans, rather than the monsters. So he kept his voice low as he spoke, "My class is called Planeswalker, apparently, I can astral project, since things in my vicinity and teleport but there's a long cooldown it's saying. I don't know how it all works just that the system says I have it. What are your classes?" He said turning to his sibling and Mio. Looking them both over with curiosity, after St. Claire spoke, Mio would state "my class is called Shadow, and one of my abilities allows me to hide and blend my body into the shadows or within dark enough shaded areas. Apparently, if I try to sneak my footsteps don't make sounds, I guess?" She said walking normally in a circle and if one listened they could hear her footsteps, but sure enough when she stood on her toes, one couldn't hear her, not even a creak from the rusty floorboards beneath.[break][break]

"Next up is this shit about the inventory," and as Valentine said it he saw the button for it on his status screen that lit up to life in front of him. Pressing the status screen's button for inventory he saw a red translucent IV bag inside, except it wasn't filled with the usual translucent fluid he often thought they had. No, this fluid was a neon green, it looked almost radioactive. He pressed the flat surface of his inventor. Placing his finger directly onto the IV and within a moment he found his hand slipping inside, grasping around it slightly as the status window seemed to warp a little, like water rippling through a clear lake. Then moments later he held the glowing green IV bag in his hand. He gulped slightly before placing it back inside, not wanting to hold on to the thing any longer.[break][break]

Then he heard a shout drawing him out of his planning and into the distance, where one could see the hallway. Apparently, someone had gotten the door down there open, or rather from what they said "it just opened easily," but as the guy and others began making their way through the door. Valentine felt a sense of unease, ultimately though they needed to get out of there and that meant completing the game. Thus he stated, "let's get a move on, stay together and be on your guard." Mio was visibly nervous as was Valentine but he trudged forward nonetheless. Walking along the long hallways of the hospital's first floor, Valentine came across a map that read "Earth's Psychiatric Hospital" at the top and showed that there were two stairwells to the east and one to the west. Up ahead toward the north there was an elevator, but what stunned him the most was that this hospital had 10 whole floors.[break][break]

After taking a mental snapshot of the map, Valentine continued onward, toward the elevator which was already crowded with people. Making their way over they'd see that the elevator door opened with a 'ding' over a dozen people rushed in, and the rusty doors soon came to a screeching close. Then all one could do is wait and watch as the elevator's number indicator changed from 1 to 2, and so on and so forth until it stopped at 5. Then what came next shook Valentine to his core, screaming, horrible screaming. Only for the elevator to then start its decent minutes after. Everyone awaited the doors opening with bated breath, and then it did, and the sight that greeted them made Valentine sick to his stomach.[break][break]

Bodies, over 10 were covered in blood, bitten and mauled, marked by what looked like sharp rows of teeth. Only two people were alive within the evaluator, one quickly jumped out, and a large chunk of his bicep had been taken out by what seemed to be a bite. Another was pushing piles of bodies from atop them but looked relatively unscathed, at least physically. Mentally the woman looked as if she had seen unspeakable horrors. She crawled out of the elevator thanks to the help of some people standing around it.[break][break]

Others were trying to help the bitten bleeding man, he seemed to be having a panic attack, but then he screamed. It was guttural and in humans, he vomited blood. It was continuous steam like someone had turned on a facet and dyed its contents with dark red water. So much came out, it didn't seem to stop as the guy's head reeled back coating the people near him in it. His teeth began to fall out and his fingernails extended into claws, the missing tooth was soon replaced by rows of spikes. The guys eyes rolled into the back of his head and then he slumped over, before falling to the ground with a light thud. He lay still in a pool of his own blood, his body pale and exsanguinated. [break][break]

Everyone stood still, shocked in awe and horror. Then his body began to twitch. The woman who was formally under the body screamed, "we have to leave, we have to go! I think he's one of them now, one of those monsters!" She said making a run for it down the hall before anyone could stop her. It seemed like she had the right idea, as moments after the bodies in the elevator also began to jerk and spasm sporadically, spewing blood from their mouths and undergoing a change. The formally dead how now become undead.[break][break]

"Oh, shit." Valentine said, his face full of shock while, while Mio's showed that of a person who was horrified, as all present had most likely seen enough horror movies to guess what was going on: Zombies. Shit was about to go down...[break][break]

(11:30:00)

[attr="class","landtag2"]St. Claire [TAGGED]