Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 103: Gains

[Earth Crystal]

[Description] A brownish-grey circular crystal that has absorbed some essence of the earth. Increases physical defense and adds earth elemental damage or earth elemental resistance depending on use.

"Where did you get these?" Old John asked Jun unable to believe what he was holding onto. This is the second most unique crystal that he has seen and both of them happened in the same week.

"I looted it from a mutated carrier. The carrier can use its surroundings to create earthen spikes that could impale anyone. Though it proved useless on a D1's skin and they both died together, the crystal should have some skill too, right?" said Jun as a matter of factly.

"Why do you think so? Have you ever used that bone hammer of yours too breathe fire or shoot fireballs?" Old John rebutted.

Jun shook his head. "I haven't tried... maybe, some other time."

"I thought so... Go on, don't disturb me. I'm quite busy myself. I don't know what to do with this, but considering you already have a new weapon, how about I embed this to an armor?" Old John suggested to Jun.

"You know how to make armors?!" Jun was surprised unable to believe what he heard. He seemed to have forgotten that he was talking to the son of a blacksmithing family.

"Are you dumb? Of course, I know how to! Do you think I have this on my garage as decorations?" Old John angrily said as he spread his arms pointing at every tool and equipment inside the room.

"Oh, right. But I don't want to wear bone armors. That would make me look like a savage barbarian and I'm sure it would stink." Jun said.

"What stink?! Does your hammer stink? Does any of your swords stink?! You don't know how many processes your weapons undergo before you could even touch them! Humph! And why would I use bones? I can smelt metals and use that for your armor, mix some ground bones and that should increase durability." Old John said, then muttered. "That's a good idea, I should experiment on that."

Old John returned to shaping and sharpening the bones and ignored Jun.

Seeing that he was being ignored after handing over a precious crystal, Jun left displeased. But deep within, he was thankful for the old man providing him help whenever he needed it. He was also reminded that he needs to look for other resources instead of relying on bone arsenals. The mine he saw on the map should do the trick, but that would be for another day.

He got out of the back office and lounged around the sofa in the kitchen. He opened the system menu since he was finally alone and had some time to went through all his gains for today.

The first thing he needed to settle was the matter of the guild members. He planned to remove those who were not active on the front lines and invite those who were always fighting to maximize the guild bonuses. Every member would receive a 10% passive increase in experience gain wherever they are. Then, another 10% increase in overall stats when they were fighting alongside Jun. Currently, there are two members who aren't actively fighting on the front lines, Gina and Bernard. The remaining members would be Sheila, Adrian, and Edward. That leaves seven spots for new guild members. He couldn't think of anyone he knows of that always fought on the front lines except for his death slaves. With no other choice, he planned to invite them to the guild if they were worthy enough. He then started planning on how to test their loyalty and strength.

The next thing he had to examine was the new feature, Guild Storage. He opened the menu screen and immediately noticed the changes. There were now four categories instead of three. Character, Faction, Dimensional Storage, and Territory. He opened the Territory category and a sub-interface popped up. It showed the 1km radius, which should be the area Jun managed to clear, from a top-down point of view. There are five lines on the left side that described the territory.

Lord: Jun Reyes

Population: 368 Registered: 0

Territory: Binangonan

Territory type: Neutral - Bad

Affiliation: Nature - Receive 10% increase crop growth rate

On the territory map, there were highlighted places where buildings could be built. He tapped one of them and it showed a list of possible buildings to work on; Altar, Faction Hall, and Faction Portal.

The most intriguing part on the territory menu was the note that said, "Carriers that have lower power level than the territory's lord cannot spawn on the territory." Does this mean that those carriers can respawn? They could already reanimate but now they can respawn?! And how do they even do that!

Jun felt frustrated as he closed the territory interface. He then opened the Guild Storage to store some of his outdated weapons but noticed that it was already half full. Most of the items were modified stones, rubber balls, and balloons. There's also equipment, daggers, swords, essence shards, various crystals, and different kinds of foods. Even clothing was placed here! The most impractical thing he saw was the stack of paper taking a single slot. There were only 100 slots for the Guild Storage and it was already half-full.

Jun wore his wireless earphone and mentioned every guild member's name. After everyone replied, he asked why the heck was the Guild Storage filled with trash. He almost forgot that he himself was about to stash his useless stuff onto the Guild Storage. The most common reason he received was that their dimensional storage was almost full, so they unloaded some to the guild storage. He could accept that since three out five were probably fighting outside during the day, but why are there different kinds of plushies stored here. And what's with the paper? Evo explained that those were his research and thought that the Guild Storage was a better place to hide things since he wasn't sure if he would be robbed one day.

Jun ended the call frustrated, again.

He browsed his dimensional storage and found something that brightened his mood. The Skill Upgrade Token and the Lvl.10 Weapon Crate. He grasped the two of them with much care since he knew that items that came from quests are ultra-rare and super important. He lost his first item but he was thankful since it was actually cursed. He just hopes that when the time that he reached the right level, he would be lucky enough to get something good.

On the other hand, the skill upgrade token is something that he can use now to improve himself. Browsing over his skills, he noticed that most of his skills where mostly auxiliary types that make him stronger. He wonders when he would learn some explosive active skills besides the Empowered Strike he created, a skill that wasn't even recognized by the system.

After caressing the token and weapon crate, he finally checked their descriptions.

[Skill Upgrade Token]

[Description] A wooden token with mystic runes inscribed on its surface. Randomly upgrade a skill by one-tier. The skill upgraded using the token cannot be ranked up by using another skill upgrade token. The token is consumed after the skill upgrade.

[Lvl.10 Weapon Crate]

[Description] Level 10 Gift box that contains mid to high tier weapon.

Jun sighed after reading everything. He planned on upgrading his Time Perse skill to test whether the MAX level was actually the final rank. If he managed to increase its rank, wouldn't that give him a god-tier skill or something of the likes?

Grasping the skill upgrade token on his palm, he then poured energy into it. The runes on the token's surface lit up filled with energy. Afterward, a notification appeared in front of Jun.

[Congratulations! Your Blueprint Creation skill has been upgraded to Blueprint.]

[Blueprint - Lvl. MAX]

[Description] Scan an object and create a blueprint out of it. Drain 10 energy for every scan.

[Requirements] Ballpen or pencil, paper.

"What's the difference?" Jun thought after reading the description.

There was literally nothing he could think of besides the shorter description and the additional requirements! Jun felt he was cheated! He has lots of skills to choose from and the one he doesn't use regularly was the one that got chosen!

Jun cursed a lot inside his head as he activated the newly upgraded Blueprint skill. He scanned the table in front of him and a piece of paper appeared on his hand. He already has a pen and paper on his dimensional storage which he took from the Guild Storage.

[Table Blueprint]

[Description] A common household table made from common wood. Durability: 100]

Activate Blueprint?

Yes / No

For the sake of learning and to increase the familiarization with the skill Jun accepted the prompt.

The table blueprint on his hand flew in the air and dropped towards the ground. A 3D model of the table grew from the blueprint and expanded into life-sized furniture. Jun tried touching the blue lines only to see his hands pass through them. Just then, another notification popped out which indicated the number of materials needed for crafting the table.

Wood: 0/100

Nails: 0/20