The World Cataclysm

Chapter 42: Steel Sword

Glaring at the Blue Chest, Dave couldn't hide his excitement as he thought 'What should I get? Item? Nah, it might be not much of a use. Skill Book? It would be sad if I got a skill not compatible with me. Stat-increasing potion? Not a bad option!'

As he opened it, a Blue Chest, shining with soft and gentle azure light, disappeared as it never existed before, disintegrating into a thin air. Instead of it, a sword had appeared on its place, glimmering in metallic lustre.

[Steel Sword

Attack: 18-25

Durability: 20

Description: Sword of fine quality. It was mass-produced from steel by following simple design, making it a common steel sword in every way.]

'Well, at least, it's good enough.' Dave thought as he gazed at the sword with shining eyes.

Finally, he had acquired a sword after breaking his Rusty Sword. He was much comfortable by fighting with it since he was initially a swordsman, so he felt much better with a sword in his hands.

Moreover, he would be able to rise his Swordsmanship skill level if he uses a sword as his main weapon. Moreover, he had his own plans on it as he thought "Can I use it on this sword?..."

Holding it in his hand, he felt a familiar grip on it as the sword perfectly lay in his hand. It wasn't fancy in any way and was made by following the crude design, resembling more a medieval sword than a modern one.

Even then, he was satisfied to acquire a weapon fitting his level since it was quite hard to obtain one. Furthermore, he could finally try that skill on it and find out if he could use it.

'But first of all, we need to find a safe place to settle down.' Dave thought as he remembered two girls waiting for him outside. It would be better to secure a safe place first and only then, try everything he wanted.

Holding a Steel Sword in one hand and Dull Axe in another, he opened the door, by which he entered, and called over Rachel and Rebecca "Hey, let's go. It's safe now!"

Rebecca and Rachel were standing outside and feeling insecure without Dave. Before he called them over, they were glancing apprehensively at their surroundings, trying to find any signs of danger.

When they had hurriedly followed after Dave, they gasped in surprise by what they saw. Since he was more interested in the Giant, Dave didn't pay it any heed, yet Rebecca and Rachel were stunned by what they saw.

There were lots of neatly stacked shelves and wooden boxes before them, as well as bags with various contents in it. They quickly understood that the big metallic doors led to the storeroom of the supermarket.

"Stop glaring blankly at everything. We can't transport everything from here, so let's find a safe place before everything." Noticing their stunned eyes, Dave reminded them.

Scanning the surroundings, Dave avoided all zombies and led two girls behind him to one of the rooms, seemingly of a staff member.

They silently entered it, releasing a sigh of relief as they were able to relax their tense bodies. Rachel quickly rushed to the office chair and sat on it, leaning her body on the desk, while Rebecca and Dave sat on the floor.

Wasting no time, he sat cross-legged on the floor and entered the meditative state to adjust his state of mind. He couldn't allow himself to make a mistake in what he wanted to do with his sword.

Meditating half an hour, he first took a Dull Axe and tried to surround it with mana. Gathering mana around it, Dave thought 'Everything is going smoothly so far.'

Then, he tried to infuse his mana inside of it, concentrating on the flow of his mana. Bit by bit, he was able to infuse a small amount of mana into it, so he tried to apply more mana.

Crack!

When he tried to provide his axe with more mana, it started cracking as it was going to explode from the pressure inside. Dave quickly retrieved his mana from it and cut off its flow.

Checking durability of the Dull Axe, he noticed that it had been lowered by two points, so he didn't dare on continuing it as he thought 'Perhaps, I need more time to do it.'

"What are you trying to do?" Noticing that his axe had shined with blue light for a moment, Rebecca asked puzzledly.

Lost in thought, Dave didn't hear at first, but when she had asked him for a second time, he had awoken from his thoughts as he replied, "I tried to infuse it with my mana."

Noticing confusion on her face, he explained it to her. "I want to infuse my weapon with mana to increase its attack power and durability. To do it, I tried to gather my mana in it and form circulation pathways for my mana, but failed after infusing more mana than a weapon could bear."

"Whoa! It seems cool! Can you teach me?" Noticing that he finished doing whatever he did, Rebecca asked him with expectant eyes. Her clear blue eyes glared at him as she leaned closer to him, yet noticing that she was too close to him, she blushed slightly and hurriedly pulled her face back.

At her words, he only chuckled inwardly since cool wasn't a word to describe that skill. Mana Infusement was one of the advanced skills from his past life and he himself had been barely able to comprehend it in his past life. He was regarded as a madman to try to learn it by himself since he spent months on learning it and also broke lots of weapons in past.

Mana Infusement was a skill where you infuse your weapon with mana and establish mana pathway between your mana veins and a weapon. Even a slight lack of control on your mana may result in disintegration and explosion of your weapon.

"First of all, try to sense mana around you and absorb it! If you can't learn Meditation immediately, then, take your time to feel mana surrounding you. Since your mana affinity is high, you might even not need to learn Meditation to absorb mana, though it would still be useful for you." Dave said.

Since Meditation was a skill of concentration and deep focus rather than mana absorption, it was useful to learn it in any way. It helped to clear your mind, allowing you to reach a maximum of your limits and boosting your insight, and also it helped to increase your spirit.

"Then, what should I do?" Rebecca asked as she didn't know how to start.

"Perhaps, there is a shortcut for you. Try to summon Star and ask it to help you with it. It's made of mana, so you might get a hold of how to sense mana with its help." Dave wasn't completely sure about it since he had thought of it only now.

With an expression as she was enlightened, she followed his advice and summoned her elemental spirit. Closing her eyes, she asked for help from her companion and a short time later, she exclaimed in surprise "Whoa! It's like there are fireflies are flying around me!"

"Don't get distracted! Try to familiarize yourself with that feeling." Dave smiled lightly as he instructed her. At the same time, he thought 'Now, I should focus on finding survivors.'

Spreading his senses as far as he could, he scanned the first floor for any signs of people, yet doing it for more than 15 minutes, he found no one. It was as if there was nobody in the supermarket except for them and zombies.

Zombies were wandering everywhere inside a supermarket and there were so much of them, that even he felt slightly intimidated by their numbers. However, he noticed that there was a spot where there were slightly fewer zombies than in other places.