Global Awakening: Apocalypse Ender's Chronicle

Shane smiled as he realized that this curse might actually help him more. After all, the Necromancers could drop the Orb of Undead Summoning. They could be useful once they encountered another Zombie Wave or similar situations.

Then, Shane finally left the bunker and returned to the shelter.

As he arrived at the Black Gold Outpost’s gates, Shane was inspected for any Zombie bites or diseases that he might’ve brought back with him before being allowed to enter.

Travis immediately heard news that Shane had returned, so he swiftly came to greet him.

”You look like hell…” he remarked. ”Is that Necromancer strong?”

”The bunker is just that dirty…” Shane replied, tossing a small pouch of Spirit Stones toward him.

”Payment for the raid intel. No loot split—consider this a cleaner transaction.”

Travis caught the pouch, hefting it with a satisfied nod. ”Generous. More than I expected.”

Shane smirked. ”Don’t get used to it.”

Without another word, he turned and headed for the Portal Hall, where a swirling gateway connected to Eclipse Domain was located...

***

The moment Shane stepped through the portal, the stench of gunpowder was the first thing that he had noticed. Well, this place was quite near to the training grounds so it wasn’t too surprising.

”Commander!”

Captain Flint called out after recognizing Shane, who had just come out of the Portal.

His uniform was crisp, but the weariness in his stance suggested he hadn’t slept in days.

”Although you consumed that serum, you should still be getting some sleep, Flint… Anyway, report…” Shane ordered as he walked outside.

Flint fell into step beside him and started making his reports.

”Defenses are optimal. A total of twenty turrets were operational, ballista bolts were also upgraded, and special materials were used as you requested… The flamethrowers are fueled and ready. If the Vampires were ever to come again, they’ll burn before they breach the first wall.”

Shane nodded. ”Good. And Edwin?”

”He’s still managing New Genesis Shelter until it stabilizes as you’ve ordered. Population’s grown to 800… About a hundred of them arrived, mostly refugees, but skilled ones. Blacksmiths, chemists, even a few ex-military.”

Shane nodded as he realized that Flint was doing well acting as a manager.

Flint then continued to make his report. ”There’s a gold deposit was discovered by the Elven Scouts yesterday. They were High-grade ore. We’ve already set up extraction.”

”Oh?”

This was the first time Shane had heard about this gold deposit. It was quite incredible that they had already arranged to extract them as well. He couldn’t help but smile at this as he allowed himself a moment of satisfaction. Resources meant sustainability. Sustainability meant survival.

”Anything else?”

”A new merchant caravan arrived this morning. They’re selling Power Cores—might be useful for the turrets.”

”Buy them. All of them.”

Flint saluted out of habit before he turned to relay the orders.

”Huu~” Shane exhaled. Two days until the curse lifted. It wasn’t that long but if the Necromancer were fearless, this shelter would become a battleground. He had to ensure that they were prepared for any possible attacks.

Because of that, he decided to visit an important member of his shelter.

In one of the residential wings, a small room glowed with the soft golden light as the person inside seemed to be doing some sort of ritual or magic.

At this time, Aya, the young shaman, sat cross-legged on the floor, as her brush moved to write on the talismans. At just twelve years old, her mastery of shamanism was already terrifying.

Shane knocked lightly on the open door.

”You’re back,” she said without looking up.

”Miss me?” Shane leaned against the doorway, watching as Aya brushed some dark purple ink onto another slip of paper.

”No. But the spirits did. They said you smell like death.”

Shane chuckled after hearing this... Shamans were indeed capable of communicating to unseen spirits and it seemed it was true.

”That sounds about right… I met a Necromancer a while ago.”

Aya finally glanced up as she carefully looked at Shane... ”You’re cursed.”

”Mhmm....”

She set down her brush and stood, walking over to him. Without hesitation, she pressed a Healing Talisman against his chest.

”This won’t break the curse,” she muttered. ”But it’ll stop the pain.”

A warm pulse radiated through Shane’s body and it did… nothing... After all, the curse wasn’t painful in the first place.

’Ahh? Maybe it’s supposed to be painful, but with my stats, I just didn’t feel it.’ Shane thought as he thanked Aya nonetheless...

”What kind of curse is it?” She asked.

Shane then explained what curse it was and Aya listened.

Hearing this, Aya returned to her work, this time painting or writing a Lightning Talisman with practiced strokes. ”You’re going to fight here… That’s a good choice.”

”They’re coming either way. Might as well let them walk into a slaughter.”

Aya then held the stack of Talismans that she had made over the past few days.

Healing Talismans x105

Lightning Talismans x150

Insight Talismans x50

”This is a lot…” Shane said after confirming the number of Talismans he obtained.

”Take them,” she said. ”The Lightning ones work best when stuck to weapons with its current version. The Insight Talismans… you can use them now if something feels wrong. It no longer just helps with Skill Mastery.”

Shane accepted them and stored them in his inventory. ”This is a lot… You’ve been busy.”

Aya smiled upon hearing this. ”This is the only thing I could do. If you want to pay me, give me more of those High-Purity Mana Stones that you have.”

”I’ll bring you more in a few more days,” Shane said as he decided to return to his pocket dimension or Fairy Realm once the curse had been removed.

”That’s good to hear… I’ll take note of it.” Aya replied as she returned to her work.

***

In the meantime, as Shane was preparing the defenses of the shelter for possible Necromancer attacks, Sandra soared high above Eclipse Domain.

She was Shane and Diana’s teammate during the Zombie Boss Raid and she has one of the rarest talents, Flight.

During this time, Sandra would always practice on her flight as she tried to carry more weight each time.

After all, one of her problems with this talent was the fact that she could not carry heavy things. Thanks to that, the number of weapons she could wield while in the air was so limited.

If she tried to hold on to her javelins for a long time, she would actually drop to the ground. Thus, she kept on training to ensure that she could stay in the air for a long duration.

As a matter of fact, after training for several months, Sandra could now carry about 15 kilos of baggage with each flight.

”Woohooo~”

Sandra banked sharply and circled in the sky as she felt free using this ability to fly...

She felt untouchable during these times…

After flying freely for a few minutes, she started her second phase of training.

It was simply Precision Shooting while moving in the sky in the target shooting range.

She trained in a field that had dummy zombies on rotating platforms.

Her best record this time was 47 headshots in 60 seconds.

She was hoping that she could break this record today…

”I can do this…”

Sandra then drew her custom-modified pistol and started…

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Three dummies exploded in rapid succession.

’Too slow.’

She inverted midair, firing upside-down at the next cluster.

BANG. BANG.

Two more down.

But a sudden gust came and threatened her aim. But she adjusted instantly, compensating with a slight tilt of her body…

BANG.

The final dummy. Bullseye.

”It’s still average…” Sandra muttered as she rested for a few minutes.

Well, aside from this type of training, she had actually asked Shane for advice on what kind of training she should do aside from this.

Because of that, Shane had arranged for an Automated Turret to be placed on the practice grounds. This was for everyone’s sake in order to practice their Evasive Maneuvers.

Indeed, Shane had arranged an Automated Turret that was set to stun mode.

The object of the practice was simple: to dodge everything for 5 minutes straight or get stunned by the Turret.

As Sandra began to practice, the alarms of the turret were triggered, warning that it would fire soon.

TAT-TAT-TAT!

Just like that, energy bolts streaked toward her.

Sandra rolled, dove, then barrel-rolled again, laughing as the turrets struggled to track her in the air!

”C’mon, is that all you’ve got?”

A near-miss singed her sleeve.

”Okay, that was close.”

She then continued doing this for about three minutes before the test was over… She was only hit five times, but because of her defensive Talisman, she was able to continue the test until the turret had stopped running.

By the time she landed, her muscles were aching, but her grin was unshakable.

’Still got it.’