Power Fantasy

by Scottie Futch

  Confused. He continued the hunt.

  Jade Mitsubishi

  Status: It’s complicated

  Affection Rating: Bitter and Angry – [-78]

  Level: 119

  Cost: 4158336

  Jade certainly did not want to bother with him, and her dislike for him was high enough that she would cost more than four million points! The fact that he could claim a waifu even if he had a bad relationship with her was interesting, however. How would such a thing even work. Did he spend the obscene amount of points and she would forgive him, or did it just mean that he paid for the privilege of getting into a bad relationship that he would have to drag across the cosmos?

  Momoko Megane

  Status: Crushing on Tosh

  Affection Rating: Annoyed – [-26]

  Level: 93

  Cost: 967200

  “I’m sure that at least a third of those levels are from intellect…” mumbled Scott.

  Saya, or Momoko as she was called in this parody, wasn’t as much of a lost cause, but she clearly did not care much for his presence. He still was uncertain about the nature of the numbers in the affection rating, but her rating did not seem to be as bad as Jade’s. Though the cost of waifuing her was still obscene. On a random note, his limited Japanese vocabulary told him that her name meant Pink Glasses Girl, or perhaps Pink Girl with Glasses. He had no real understanding of the language, after all. Though, on second thought her name might have something to do with peaches. He had seen a few anime with the name Momo thrown around that had some sort of peach involved. All things considered was a nicer parody name than some might have given her considering her personality.

  Summer Oppai

  Status: Single for too long.

  Affection Rating: Curious – [+37]

  Level: 103

  Cost: 12249

  For some reason, Summer was more interested in him than Saiko. Scott decided that it was probably due to the situation. He’d shown up, helped to save her life, and acted cool under pressure. Given current events, it would only be natural if she were curious about him.

  He tried to see what Fake-Kohta would do if he stared long enough, but no information was provided. He could only develop his relations with waifus. “Probably need a level detection skill for anything other than waifus and items,” he mumbled.

  Having learned more about his waifu points, he realized that there were things that he could do with his other points. His item points were for shopping in the system store, and for converting some items into system items, though he had no idea how he would do that. Equipment points were used to turn common items into system equipment, which was basically the same as item points but for equipped items. Those points were also use to upgrade equipment items.

  Scott immediately eyed his brush axe. The upgrade information listed was no longer shown as a bunch of question marks. He needed one thousand equipment points.

  “Needs a soul gem…” he whispered to himself upon noting the item requirements for the upgrade. He closed his eyes and sighed. He’d traded one in for points. Why the hell didn’t he have a manual?

  His reverie was interrupted by Saiko. “Hmm?” he asked, as though he had been lost in thought. That was not far from the truth. Honestly? He knew that it had to look weird to them when he sat in the corner and muttered to himself for a few minutes.

  “We’re going to try to get to the activity bus. Are you coming?” she asked him curiously.

  “Of course,” he said with a tired smile. “Let’s get going.”

  He would have gone regardless, but something that popped up sealed the deal for him. Instead of the voice telling him about a new objective, he received a menu screen announcement.

  World Mission

  Objective 1: Keep the people in this room alive as they attempt to reach the activity bus. You will receive a portion of your reward for each survivor.

  Objective 2: Rescue additional survivors for bonus rewards.

  Objective 3: Secure the bus and help the gathered survivors escape.

  Chapter Two

  The crew, as Scott thought of them, slipped out of the office area and headed through the building. There were not many zombies along the way, and all of them were easily dealt with in one way or another. While they made their way to the bus, they ended up helping other survivors who joined them.

  One of those people was a young man wielding a long pole. Scott cautioned him to be mindful of how he carried it, because it could hit things and cause noise. Unlike most of the guys he had dealt with that day, this terrified rabbit was happy to oblige. He just wanted to live.

  That young man, in the original story had struck a rail with the tines of his makeshift spear and set off a hectic running scenario where they had to fight their way through the zombie horde in the parking lot. Scott did not want to risk that happening again, though he sounded like a douche to the others for calling the guy out like that.

  They made good time, and were nearly at the parking lot, however a difficult scenario presented itself. The ground floor exit was crowded with a number of zombies.

  Momoko mentioned something about how it was pointless to hide from them since the zombies, rather They, couldn’t see them anyway. This led to a little back and forth where the group hit on the idea of slipping past them quietly. Though, someone would have to check out Momoko’s theory.

  Scott was content to allow Tosh to play hero, as there was possibly going to be a hectic battle coming up in the next few minutes. However, an objective procced that changed his mind.

  Optional Objective: Zombie Blindness Theory Test

  - Take the task of testing the zombie’s eyesight by walking past them.

  - Succeed in reaching and opening the door without alerting the zombies.

  Reward: To Be Determined.

  He could choose to take on that objective, or he could ignore it. Of course, the worst that could happen would be that he returned all the way to the start of the day.

  Scott leaned in and softly said, “I’ll do it, but I think we won’t be able to walk through all of them to get to the bus. Besides, the moment we start fiddling with it, they’ll start coming for us.”

  “What do you suggest?” asked Saiko.

  He raised his finger then took a few seconds to consider before he answered. “I think, I’ll need to act as a distraction and drag off as many of them as possible. If they are chasing me, they’ll have to leave the bus area.”

  “That’s suicide,” hissed Momoko.

  “I’m the only one who could even attempt it,” replied Scott.

  “What makes you so special,” asked Tosh.

  “I’m the one that several of you like least of all,” said Scott with a grin. “So, it makes sense.”

  He couldn’t very well tell them that he wanted to maximize their survival chances on the off chance that he could earn a few more points and rewards. That would be super not cool.

  “You shouldn’t be doing that by yourself,” said Saiko.

  Scott shrugged at her. “No need to risk everyone. Besides, it’s easier to run for my life if it’s only me.”

  “Fine, but that only works if those things are actually blind,” said Jade. “What if they aren’t?”

  “They’d still be closer to me than you,” replied Scott. “Easier to run for it if that’s true. Right?”

  “How would you even do it, though?” asked Summer. All eyes turned to her and she looked away. She lightly fanned the air with her hands then quietly continued, “There’s a straight away right outside of this stairwell. Rails on both sides… and it’s over something of a drop off down a steep hill.”

  Scott frowned slightly then nodded. His knowledge of the layout of the school was based solely on anime scenes and manga panels. He had forgotten that little tidbit. “Shit…”

  “If I thought it would work, I’d still try it… but all that would do is draw them to those damned rails… they’d clog the lane,” grumbled Scott. “We’d n
ever get through.”

  “So, you still going to check on the zombies?” asked Momoko.

  Scott nodded to her then looked over to the zombies milling around below. It made no sense that they had not come after them. They weren’t exactly that quiet. However, that was something that happened in the show as well.

  He slowly stepped down the stairs and waited for the zombies to notice him. They walked close by but did not seem interested. He took that moment to stare at a female zombie. He had yet to use his abilities to scope out one for real.

  Female Student Zombie

  Status: Single, Aroused

  Affection Rating: Hungry – [0]

  Level: 79

  Cost: 19750

  He was both intrigued and disturbed by the fact that the zombie girl counted as a waifu. Briefly, he wondered if he could have his own undead waifu army with enough points. Unfortunately, he had no time to consider those disturbing possibilities. He located something to use to catch their attention, a dropped book, and threw it towards the wall.

  The zombies immediately took interest due to the strange noise. They began to shamble into the corner. Scott moved to the door and opened it, while the others made their way down the stairs. Thanks to Scott’s earlier caution, the student with the long pole did not strike the railing. They managed to slip out into the straightaway beyond the building.

  Slowly, the group worked their way through the milling mass of zombies. Scott tossed a few rocks now and then to get the attention of the nearby corpses that blocked the path. Everything was going smoothly, until the school gates burst open once more.

  “Wait for us!” cried several students. They were followed by what appeared to be a well-dressed teacher.

  The zombies immediately turned toward the shouting idiots. The original group also found that despite how quiet they had been, the zombies seemed to notice them now as well.

  “Fuck,” snapped Scott irritably.

  “Run!” shouted Tosh, helpfully.

  There was a brief bit of dialogue between him and Momoko about how him shouting made it worse, but it ultimately didn’t matter. Everything in the school had heard that yelling.

  “Just get to the bus!” shouted Scott. He kicked the legs out from under a zombie and then swung his blade in a decisive downward stroke. “We can’t afford to argue!”

  Nails whizzed past him as Fake-Kohta fired on the approaching dead. Despite the makeshift nature of his weapon, he hit more often than he missed. Of course, not every shot was a kill shot. Even so, he helped thin the herd considerably.

  The melee weapon wielders in the group led the charge. Scott, however, held back a bit. The moment he saw one of the students in the original group about go down, the guy with the pole, he was there to knock the zombies away.

  The guy’s girlfriend came running up to him as Scott helped him right himself. “Taco, are you OK?”

  “Nami!” cried the teen.

  They tried to hug and console each other, but Scott broke into the midst of their little lover’s reunion. Without bringing attention to the fact that the guy was named Taco for some reason, he spoke quickly. “Look. This is sweet and touching, but you need to move your asses. There’s a path cut through them, but it’ll close if you take too long.”

  “R-right!” called out Taco. He grabbed Nami by the hand and they made a run for it.

  Several of the students from the second group rushed past him, only one bothering to look in his direction. Scott cut down another zombie and waited for a moment. The teacher, whom he suspected would be a man who was the local counterpart to a hateful man named Shido, and another student were on the way.

  On the one hand, he wanted to never let that teacher on the bus. On the other, he did not want to abandon the points for either that pile of shit, or the terrified student chasing after him.

  Halfway to the bus, the frightened student tripped and fell. Scott rushed over to the desperate teen and started to protect him from the oncoming zombies. Those points! He needed those points!

  Fake-Shido called out, “I’ll leave it to you, as I will only get in your way.”

  He then strolled away as the zombies began to surround the fallen student. Scott hacked at them, and knocked them away, but they continued to pile up. The fallen student crawled miserably forward while complaining about his sprained ankle. He reached out desperately for his teacher and called out his name, “Mr. Sheeto! Please help me!” but he had already been abandoned.

  “Sheeto?” asked Scott curiously, as he spun around and lashed out at an approaching zombie. Internally he decided that it was certainly a fitting name for the man, based on the anime. Though, in his heart he preferred his old name for the character. Shit-do.

  The zombies pressed inward. Scott was forced to make a decision. In the end, he went into overdrive and cleared a path. Unable to do anything else in the face of gaining sweet, sweet, rewards, he dragged the struggling teen to his feet and told him, “Hold this, princess!”

  Praying that the skinny guy did not weigh much, Scott shoved his bush axe into the student’s hands then scooped him up into his arms. He began to trot forward as best he could under the burden of the injured kid’s weight.

  Scott was no muscular behemoth, but the distance to the bus was not too great. Not to mention, the others were keeping the area thinned out near the doors. As long as he could get the injured guy to the bus, they could help to get him on board.

  The student squeaked in fright as they trotted along. Scott had already begun to sweat profusely due to the exertion. He was not accustomed to carrying around more than half his body weight, much less doing so while jogging.

  Shit-do was almost to the bus when Scott heard Jade cry out, “Don’t let him on! Not that guy!”

  Tosh’s voice was muffled as there seemed to be a struggle inside the bus between him and Jade. Shit-do made in on board during the altercation.

  The matter settled, Tosh hopped back outside and started batting away at the oncoming zombies. It seemed that despite his misgivings about Scott, he was at least interested in keeping him alive. Though, he might have also felt bad if he left the injured student behind.

  “Come on!” called out Tosh just before he smashed his bat into the head of an oncoming zombie. Nails shot out from the open bus window tagging a zombie that was almost on top of the duo. Then, they were clear.

  The injured student was helped onto the bus, and Scott climbed up after them. Dozens of zombies converged on the area, but the bus was already in motion. Summer ran through a small knot of them and barreled forward while crying out about how they weren’t people anymore. It seemed that she needed motivation as well.

  The initial portion of the bus ride was fairly lack luster. There were mutterings form the back, and the occasional grumbling from the front. Otherwise, no one really spoke. The escape from the school had taken its toll on everyone. Even the most energetic students, a couple of girls mumbling in the back of the bus, were subdued.

  Scott considered trying to talk to everyone, but those thoughts were quickly derailed by the sudden arrival of several message windows. His rewards for the last mission had finally cleared.

  Mission and Objective Rewards

  You have completed a world mission and one additional objective.

  Successful Objective Clearance Rewards: 100 Free EXP. These points can be attributed to any point total, such as world or waifu points.

  Successful Mission Clearance Rewards: 750 World EXP

  You have cleared your first world mission. Your overall score for the world entry scenario is rated 81/100. Your multiple deaths have reduced your total score, even though you managed to complete every objective that you received. This time it will not matter, as this scenario was a tutorial prologue.

  Milestone Reward: Quick Save Slot (1) Unlocked.

  While the point acquisition was not as hefty as he had hoped, it was certainly better than anything that he had earned previously. That last bit, however, sounded
incredibly interesting. He leaned his forehead against the back of the seat in front of him and wrapped his arm around his head. He did not want people to see him acting weird. Once his secrecy was assured, he checked the information for the quick save slot.

  Quick Save Slot

  You have an auto-save system that updates at certain regular intervals. Most of the time that interval will be twenty-four hours from the last auto-save. If you die prior to the next save, you will return to the previous temporal locale.

  A quick save slot is a manually created save point. You may normally save your temporal locale at any time. However, you may only save once per save slot. If you save your temporal locale again, you will overwrite the previous quick save. If you die, you may choose to re-enter the world at your quick save locale, or the auto-save point.