Trash in the Apocalypse

Ever since the National Police left, Black Haven started occupying all the emptied buildings. All the official works were now done on the municipal building. The customer service section, the public mission board, the territory clinic, all services were moved to the municipal building.

These services were essential to everyone's daily lives. The municipal building was the appropriate place for such services since the building was built to house a large number of people at the same time, unlike the parking lot that feels confined and poor. The service there was literally garage-level.

Once the parking lot was emptied, the compound finally achieved peace for a long time. There were no rowdy crowd, or people laughing and yelling indiscriminately. The people inside were able to relax their minds, knowing that intruders would never come again.

Tatang Robin had nothing to do when the place became empty. He just socialized and drunk until he can't move anymore. 

In the Northern Plains...

Evo gathered all Research & Development members outside the newly built building. The building would be the new place where they would conduct research. The place has two floors; the first floor was a huge working space and at the same time a warehouse. The above floor was an office area converted to a residential area for the researcher's accommodations. 

The R&D Department was made of hardcore loyalists of Black Haven and the first few people who became citizens. Still, to make sure things don't go haywire, all employees were given the choice to sign a contract. All of the selected individuals signed willingly and if someone didn't want to sign the contract, Evo was planning on kicking them out of the team.

In a matter of hours, Black Haven R&D Department also came up with the same results the Frontier had. The only difference was they were able to go deeper into the matter since they were doing research full time.

Their findings were simple and logical. 

Elemental magic cannot be used out by just anyone. A survivor must have an initial understanding of the particular element before they could even try wielding it. Fire element mostly comes from survivors that had fire-related skills. A good example was people that can increase the heat of an object, control external fire, and even tamper with a room or body temperature. It just won't be available for everyone.

After continued research, they were able to unlock the water element using some fishermen as test volunteers.

Gilbert who already had basic control over water easily performed various tricks and offensive maneuvers on the test dummy. He was able to easily use skills like water prison and tidal wave since he was already practicing these basic skills even before the magic wands appeared. He also learned two new skills after using the magic wand, the water bomb, and the water spray.

The water bomb was the cheapest skill that one can use. It's like the energy ball non-elementals could use and fireball for fire-elementals. The skill doesn't have high attack damage and offers no other debuff except for soaking the target with water.

The water spray was the second spell he was able to learn. The spell was similar to a firefighter using a hose to bombard fire. It was a continuous spray of water with powerful pushing force. The target would have a hard time walking after getting targeted by the water spray.

Unfortunately, like any other skill, the stronger the skill's effect becomes, the higher the energy usage will be. 

After Gilbert's tests came out excellent, the researchers and test volunteers eagerly continued the tests. However, the following fishermen showed subpar results, and some couldn't even use the water element and only gathered non-elemental energy. 

After the experiment, the researchers thanked the fishermen, and the fishermen left disappointed with themselves.

Everyone gathered at the meeting table, a dozen meters away from the experiment space. The meeting room was a simple area and only had chairs and tables situated on the other end of the warehouse. Due to the inventory system, there was really no need to place cabinets to store important papers and research materials. All results were directly written on the virtual library unreachable by other survivors.

Evo sighed and sat down. "What do you all think? Let's hear it out."

"Based on the data we collected, I'm afraid to say that we can't rely on the Project: Magician. Survivors don't have enough energy to continuously cast spells when fighting on the battlefield. If they make a simple calculation error such as using too much energy, they could easily pass out in the middle of a battle." said one of the researchers.

"I agree with that. Also, I noticed that individuals that have practiced corresponding elemental energy have an easier time using the same energy. It matches our earlier conjecture. The higher the affinity you have with a certain element, the higher the chance of you being able to wield its powers."

The researchers fell into an excited outburst as they clamored about the things they noticed earlier.

Overall, Evo was able to round up everything they learned into two important factors, higher control, and repeated practice.

Survivors who have higher energy control can wield more outstanding skills and people who repeat and practice certain actions would gain higher control. The two were essential and both can only be obtained if one had perseverance. From the available information, the first survivor who was able to wield great power using the magic wands was a battle chef.

Upon further consideration, battle chefs were people that require heightened control over the fire. It's already proven that each ingredient must be cooked to perfection in order to obtain the best results. Due to this, battle chefs train hard in controlling and maintaining the temperature of their fires. A simple training that they do daily without having to force themselves into. It was an effective and efficient way to improve oneself. 

With this discovery, Evo was forced to accept that not everyone will have the chance to become 'mages'. Still, he can't just give up after knowing that there's a boulder blocking the way forward. He stared at the treant branch on the table and slowly widened his eyes as his gaze landed on the tip of the stick.

If a magic wand can't do the trick, then upgrade to something better!

He became excited as he sent John a message. "Hey, do you have some free time? You might want to have some free time because I have something that you'll be interested in."

"I want you to make me a magical staff."

—

—

Back at the top floor of the marketplace, the workshop where dozens of craftsmen lives suddenly become boisterous. All craftsmen watched in awe as a fire orb stuck to a wrinkled stick like it was magnetized to it.

Head Craftsman John explained. "This skill is called Embed. You can learn the skill after you reach the junior craftsman rank or adequate energy control with the same level. If you try to do it below that threshold, there's a high chance that the equipment or material will get destroyed."

"Even if I want to let some of you try this procedure, I can't spare any orbs right now because elemental monsters are very rare. In the future though, if you managed to join a good faction, or whether you stay here, I'll request some resources when the inventory becomes a bit better."

Old John didn't teach his students how to learn the skill and only showed them how the skills work. In this way, his students could try to figure out and learn for themselves instead of getting spoonfed all the time. 

After his niece's death, Old John thought to spend his time in seclusion and help the group as far as he could. He was already an old man, what things could he still do except give his last breath to the future inhabitants of this world.

Old John was already used to embedding orbs into equipment and made easy work of the five treant branches sent to him, turning them into magical staffs as requested. In less than a quarter of an hour, he was able to make two fire staff, one water staff, and two earth staff. If it weren't for the embedding process having a high energy consumption, he could have finished the work in less than five minutes.

Some of the smart students tried their best to assimilate all the information they received and remained rooted on the spot. They are using their creative thinking to process each and every step available and recreate every moment inside their head.

When people lack something, they start to become resourceful and creative. 

Jonard, a young teen who was considered a genius by all the students under Head Craftsman John, suddenly walked towards a workbench.

He placed a low-grade iron sword on the table and reproduced what he saw earlier. On his hand was a Low-tier Powerstone, and he slowly inched closer towards the hilt of the sword.

He could feel his energy draining like he feeding a hungry black hole. A red ripple traveled the sword as his energy got consumers and everything stopped when the ripple completely traveled the entirety of the sword. He felt a sudden suction and the hilt and Powerstone connected. 

The embedding was successful and the essence power stone became the pummel of the iron sword. The red stone perfectly matched the hilt and gave life to the bland white sword.

Everyone stared in awe at the sudden display. 

Old John smiled proudly and said, "Of course, you can all just do that too."