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Mathew grabbed at the shadow of the merchant for the third time.

Now that he had access to the greatest supply of everything in the universe, Mathew decided to use it to its limits.

The dark shadows of the merchant’s realm surrounded him, separating him from the rest of the world.

‘I wonder how does this really work,’ Mat thought, looking around the place. But it was exactly the lack of the answer for this that forced the young man to hurry it up.

“I wish to purchase a second expansion of the system information,” Mathew announced.

He had no way of knowing whether others could hear his words. But right now, he had no time to think about potentially revealing too much.

“Five cores.” The same voice from before filled the shadowy realm.

‘That’s cheap,’ Mat thought; the meager price of what he asked for stunning the young man.

“Fine,” Mathew threw five more cores up in the air.

‘I think I gathered a hundred and seventy-three cores,’ Mathew calculated, looking down at the remaining cores in his hand. ‘Between the cure, the information, food, and explosives, I used a hundred and fifty-nine,’ he calculated.

Then, he brought his eyes down and counted the cores still in his possession.

‘That leaves me with fourteen,’ Mat thought, raising his eyes at the floating robe of the merchant. “How much for the next level of information?”

For but a moment, Mathew could swear that he saw the merchant smirk.

But there was no merchant in this strange, shadowy realm. Nor was there any face on which lips could form a smile.

“Ten cores,” announced the cold, metallic voice of the system.

“Deal,” Mat threw ten more cores at the shadows, only to watch them disappear in the burst of their inner light.

His body didn’t twitch. Mathew didn’t feel any strange sensation of something changing whatsoever.

“What about…” Mat smiled a little, ready to ask for the next level.

“Twenty cores,” the metallic voice of the realm replied before Mathew could finish his sentence.

“I see,” Mat replied, releasing a small sigh as he shook his head. “Then, what kind of weapons can I get for the fourteen cores?”

Mathew’s question was given.

The horde was coming. It would be a wave that they wouldn’t be able to stop. But, if the push came to shove, Mat’s system would be the greatest weapon the survivors had.

That’s why he didn’t bother asking about weapons before spending all the cores he could on his system first. And now that Mat had reached the limit of the information about his system that he could buy, he simply moved on to the next best investment.

“Weapon of first grade cost five cores,” the metallic voice filled Mathew’s ears.

“What about the second grade?” Mat asked, despite not knowing what those grades of the weapons could be.

Sure, it appeared to be pretty self-evident… but using the old common sense in this new, changing world was something that Mat was pretty worried about doing.

“…” The merchant didn’t respond.

‘Huh?’ Mathew twitched when a strange sensation appeared in his mind.

It wasn’t something that he could experience with any of his senses. But he still somehow felt as if the smirk returned to the faceless merchant’s lips.

‘What was that?’ Mathew thought, stumped by the strange experience.

The young man then shook his head.

‘No.’ he clasped his hands against his cheeks. ‘I have no time for this.’

Mathew raised his at the floating, empty robes of the merchant.

“I want to buy two grade one weapons, two packs of supplies, and two packs of explosives,” Mathew listed out the items before throwing the rest of his cores into the air.

A light flashed brightly as the stones turned into small stars, only to subside a moment later.

“What the fuck…” Mathew muttered, only for the shadowy realm around him to disperse.

Yet, right when only a fleeting sense of the merchant’s presence remained, Mathew could feel its aura smirking.

‘It’s not like I can see the smirk, but more like…’ Mathew thought, trying to put what he just went through into words.

But before he could do so, the real vanished completely, banishing Mathew out into the real world.

Now that he had no more cores left, his presence was of no worth for the merchant.

And the second Mathew returned to reality; the entire school shook with another scream from a monster approaching from below.

“ROAR!” the cry filled every nook and cranny of the building, instilling a sense of a deep, primal fear into any and all that heard it.

“What the hell is this?!” the officer moaned, sounding as if he no longer had any energy to deal with Mathew’s bullshit.

The thing is… Mathew was just as stunned by how the merchant did him in.

‘I made a mistake,’ Mathew thought, allowing himself a short moment of respite for a small smile. ‘I didn’t specify what exactly I wanted,’ he thought, lowering his head in the admittance to his shameful display.

And right by the merchant’s figure, on top of two crates of military supplies and two bags filled with grenades… there was a simple, robust sword….

And a trebuchet-like pendulum mounted right on edge formerly occupied by the staircase.

It was made from a mix of wood and some glistering metal, holding a wheel roughly two meters in diameter right above the floor. The big wheel was then attached to a tiny one, on which a huge, swinging hammer was mounted.

The hammer consisted of two parts. The longer one bore a simple, sharpened tube on its end. And from how it hung down in its resting position, it was clear that its handle could bend pretty smoothly.

On the other end of the wheel was the counterweight. But right between those two-sized gears, there was a rope that connected the entire thing to a simple rotating wheel.

‘This feels both futuristic and ancient at the same time,’ Mathew thought, baffled by what he could see before his eyes.

The mechanism of the weapon was pretty simple and easy to understand.

By spinning the power wheel of the construction, one would put the main, big gear in motion. The big wheel would then turn the tiny one, which would then swing the hammer.

‘Is that an alternating mechanism?’ Mathew thought, falling down to his knees when he spotted the detail.

He couldn’t exactly tell its details from just a single, short look, but the use of this complicated box of gears and switches could only have a single purpose.

“Why aren’t the other stairs blown up yet?!” Mathew barked, ignoring the officer’s question.

There wasn’t any time for idle discussion now.

“What the hell is going on?!” the officer shouted in response, clearly aware of how the air continued to tense with each passing second.

“We are about to get swarmed,” Mathew informed before approaching the bag with the grenades and throwing its opening towards the ground, causing the explosives to trickle across it.

“I need three men. One more to throw with me, two more to keep passing up more of them,” Mathew informed as he approached the edge of the former staircase with an explosive in each of his hands. He then turned his head to the back.

“I also need enough guys to spin that wheel, but I trust you can organize that,” Mathew added, throwing another order towards the officer before moving his head back in the direction the noise was coming from.

For the next few moments, people rushed about the place. Some followed the orders; others were too frozen in fear to move.

By the time everyone finally took their positions, the noise made by the approaching horde was already pretty loud.

“Mat?” Mathew heard a tiny voice. It barely reached his ears, proving just how weak it was.

But the young man recognized it in an instant. Sadly, he could no longer afford Nadia any attention.

“They are here,” he informed calmly, pulling the pins of both of his nades and releasing the handles.

‘Five,’ Math thought, sensing how everyone on the floor froze.

“When I give a signal, you need to all rush towards the rooftop,” Mathew announced. ‘Four,’ he thought, holding the live grenades like hot potatoes in his hands.

“Mat?” This time, Nadia’s voice was clearer, stronger, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.

“Stay back!” Mathew shouted, not daring to turn his face away. ‘Three,’ the explosives in the young man’s hands seemingly got hotter.

But it was all an illusion. A projection of his mind that grew increasingly aware of the threat.

‘Two,’ Math thought, swinging his hands to the back.

The noises stopped. And then, the sidewall of the corridor exploded under the pressure of an entire horde of zombies smashing through it.

The undead calamity rushed around, all drawn towards Mathew’s position.

‘One,’ Mat thought, swinging his hands forward and dropping his grenades right in the path of the approaching horde.

Powered by seven athletic men and policemen alike, the pendulum started to swing.