Survival Interval: 448

It took Michael several more minutes to calm himself down. It was like an inner fire burned inside him that was difficult to contain. Kyrie realized that he needed a moment, so she retreated to the other side of the room. She found a mirror and did what she could to adjust her nose back into place.

The effects of the soldier shot left Michael all at once. He felt weak. He did not know whether it was from exhaustion, after effects of taking the shot, or just the result of being weaker than he had just moments before. His right side and his temple throbbed. It only took him another couple minutes to recage himself. There was a blue drop calling out to him.

Kyrie shifted her attention back to him as he approached. “Did you use the soldier's shot?” she asked in a nasally voice as she held her nose close in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Michael matched her, holding a cloth of his own to stop the bleeding to the side of his forehead.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I could not help, but want to rampage afterwards. The average quality shot works real well. I think it's boosted my attributes by about 25%. Also kept me from blacking out. Best guess is that it lasts about five minutes, but it leaves you feeling pretty drained afterwards.”

Kyrie sighed. “You can have the blue drop since you had to use yours. I mean I did strike the killing blow, but I guess you were helpful.” She flashed him a bloody smile.

“Well I’m glad I could be helpful,” Michael said, narrowing his eyes. “Did you open the green drop yet?”

“Yeah, but its still in my inventory. I got a pair of fingerless gloves. I think I’m going to wash up before I try them on. The knuckles have metal studs, so you better not upset me,” Kyrie said flashing another bloody grin.

“Okay, sure. I think we passed a door to a bathroom near the end of the hallway,”” Michael said. He pulled one of the flashlights out of his inventory and offered it to her. She snatched it from his hand and walked away.

Michael did not pay her another thought. His attention shifted to the glowing blue orb hovering over the executive desk. He gave the chair a glance, but there was zombie grime on it, so he elected to sit on the corner of the desk as he opened the drop.

[Equipment upgrade (premium): Can be used on one piece of equipment. Will upgrade several various aspects of the item.]

Well it was not quite what he wanted, but Michael could not say that it had come at a bad time. Earlier in the hall one of his bolts had barely made it through the skull of the late stage tier 1 zombie, and that zombie had not been as tough as the executive zombie. The item had easily gotten him through most of the enemies he had faced during the first week, but it was definitely not strong enough to go much further.

Michael dwelt only for a moment on whether he wanted to increase the bracer before he used the upgrade. It was not like he was going to use it on the beat up machete or his bat, and it had been extremely helpful early on in the battle.

[Wasp Nettle Bracer has been upgraded. The following aspects have been adjusted. The weapon will now be able to respawn its 30 bolts within a 12 hour period. Stopping power has been increased. Item is now compatible with pulse. User now has the option to imbue bolts with 1 to 3 points of pulse prior to firing.]

Michael could not contain his smile. The upgrade had given him exactly what he needed. He could now respawn a bolt in half of the time, 24 minutes. More importantly the bolts would have increased stopping power, and that was even without adding pulse to his shots. He could only assume that bolts imbued with pulse would hit even harder, and the amount was adjustable and cheap considering his pool of 40 pulse energy.

It might be far more effective to use his pulse in conjunction with the bolts than to use the pulse darts separately. The pulse darts were effective, but apparently his entire pool was not enough to bring down a peak tier 1 enemy. Perhaps if his shaping ability increased, and he was able to make the dart more streamlined or move faster.

Michael gasped. He quickly brought up his interface. Thinking about his ability had made him think of something else. In his soldier shot enhanced state he had used a quick step far quicker than he should have been able to do so. Sure enough the skill had been affected.

Special Ability

Shaping (ability): LVL 2

Quickened step (skill): LVL 3 duration 1-3 Seconds; Potency: +35% agility, +14% Dexterity; Cost: 6-10 SP per use

His skill had increased to level 3. The level increase had actually brought changes to all 3 aspects of the skill. The duration was now 1 to 3 seconds instead of the 1 step it had been before. The 1 step duration had basically been about half a second before, so even the lower margin was improved. Agility had been given a 5% agility boost although dexterity had remained the same. Then the cost had gone up from 5 SP to 8 to 12 SP.

The dexterity bump was not much. It would increase his 20 agility by 7 instead of the 6 the skill had previously. Michael guessed that his drug fueled brain had still pushed the skill to be faster despite the main focus being on using the skill when it was still basically on cooldown. That didn't quite make sense to him, but after considering it for a moment, he determined that if he continued to focus on improving the skills duration, eventually he would probably get to a point where he never had to turn the skill off.

Despite his current state, Michael could not help but test out the limits of the skill. His forehead had quit bleeding, so really it was just a couple bruises on his side that he had to endure. It was painful, but he pushed through it. It was hardly comparable to his aching left foot. Every step still reminded him of the missing appendage. Even more so, since Michael had kept on the move, not allowing it to recover in peace.

Michael quickly determined the SP expenditure and his new cooldown, before he was left wheezing from SP drain. Using the skill for 1 second cost 8 SP. The second and third second each added an additional 2 SP. Pretty good, it would be more to his benefit to use it for the full three seconds in battle if it would be beneficial to use it for that long. The new cooldown was 3 seconds. Perhaps if he pushed duration again, it would result in him being able to use the skill without needing a cooldown, at least till he ran out of SP.

Overall Michael was good with his new skill level. Sure the initial cost had increased, but even the minimum 1 second time of skill use gave him more time than what he had before, so perhaps paying 3 more SP for a use was not really too much of a loss. The agility boost was not much, but as his stats got higher even 5% would go further. Being able to use the skill for a full 3 seconds and only having a 3 second cooldown in between would give him a lot more flexibility in its use. The limiting factor was of course his pool of stamina, which was currently at 180 when full. If this skill became a focus of his fighting style he would have to continue to put more points into endurance.

Kyrie came back into the room wrapped in only a blanket. Her hair had been dried, but still hung matted against her shoulder.

“Uh…” Michael said slack jawed.

“Why don’t you take a picture? It will last longer,” She said, narrowing her eyes. My clothes were disgusting, so I washed them as well. Mr. Executive over there has a full blown shower in his bathroom. I left another blanket I picked up for you, so that you could do the same thing. Trust me you need it.”

“And will you quit staring. Yes, I’m naked under here, get over it,” Kyrie said.

“Uh…it wasn’t that,” Michael said smiling.

“Then what is it,” Kyrie glared at him.

“Oh, I was just admiring your new eye liner,” Michael smirked.

“What,” Kyrie said moving back toward the mirror. The sun had been fully set for a while now, but you could still make out things if only barely.

“I mean personally, I don’t go for the raccoon eyes myself, but it goes well with your dark hair and red streaks. Really, doubles down on the bad girl vibe you have going,” Michael added smiling.

Kyrie did not reply for several moments. She was busy studying her face and the black eyes that were developing. It had only been an hour since she had taken the hit to the face, but the bruising was already noticeable.

“It’s not funny.” Kyrie said angrily, her voice a half octave higher. She turned into a side office that was a quarter of the size of the executive suit.

She paused at the door. “I’m going to sleep in the secretary's office. You can sleep out here with him.” She shut the door after her.

Michael stood smirking for a moment, someone was sensitive. After a few moments of staring at the closed door, he summoned his own flashlight. Taking a shower was a good idea. He had felt grungy for days. He had wiped off the grime and goo that he had often gotten on him throughout the days, but never had he taken a shower or washed his clothes. He would take the opportunity since it had presented itself.