Blood Horizon: A New Beginning

Before going to install the core in his camper, Jason went to a small supermarket near the outskirts of the city, buying as much food and water as he could fit in the back of his car he only left a small space for 2 people to be able to sit there. Navigating through the traffic until there were almost no cars coming and going around him Jason started looking for an appropriate place to perform the installation of the Vehicle Core.

Coming to a stop in the parking lot of an abandoned building zone, Jason calmed his excitement and asked the system to give him the vehicle core.

{[Inventory withdrawal initiated]} {[Withdrawal Complete]}.

Materializing in the air in front of Jason was a nondescript normal looking media card, usually used for music and such. With a puzzled look on his face Jason held the card and confirmed with the system that this really was the vehicle core and that all he needed to do was insert it into the media reader on his entertainment interface. Just before he inserted the card he thought should call his brother and Kyle and warn them to stay at the dorm for the next 2 days. He knew that Mark would most likely listen and stay but he wasn't sure what Kyle's response would be. He first dialed his brother, but the call didn't go through, thinking that he had more than enough time he then called Kyle. Kyle picked up and immediately asked where Jason had been the whole day, as the time was already approaching the evening, brushing off his questions Jason asked him to stay put for the next 2 days and told him that it was very urgent. Kyle sounded doubtful and shot off a rapid string of questions "Why do you want me to stay at the dorm and lock the door for 2 days? You do realize that you are talking about the whole weekend here right? Alright fine I'll do it, I didn't have any plans anyways.". As an afterthought Jason told him to ask Mark to do the same and tell him that it was a message from Jason. Ending the call and putting his worries on hold he inserted the card.

Suddenly the car started trembling lightly and making a small vibrating noise similar to a steady hum. When the car was still trembling after an hour Jason started to get a bit worried and asked the system "How long is this integration going to take?".

{[Theoretically it should take 10-14 hours]}

Frustrated by his previous lack of this important information Jason asked the system again "10-14 Hours why didn't you tell me? And what do you mean by theoretically??".

{[You didn't ask and this information does not pose a threat to your plan, on the other matter this Vehicle Core is the integrated System version, not the standard and has not been tested before as I am the latest version. As a side note you will not be able to call anyone now as the integration has blocked 90% of all signals.]}

Rubbing his forehead Jason tried to clear his head as he laid back on his seat and drifted to sleep.

---~~~---

When Jason woke up the next day he could feel that the Camper had stopped trembling. Jason immediately asked the system what the changes were. The system did not reply but instead pulled up a blue screen similar to Jason's status page.

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Vehicle Info

Vehicle Model : Armori Brand CAT 7

Vehicle Status : Brand new

Vehicle Max Speed : 80km/h

Vehicle HP : 100

Vehicle Armor : 6

Fuel 97%

Additional Info :

Weapons : None

Space Extension : None

Outer Modifications : None

Internal additions : None

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Filled with excitement Jason thought about how many zombies he could run over with this, but soon drowned his own excitement with his thoughts of the Rank 9's and above. Putting his focus back on the important things he asked the system how he could upgrade the car to Rank 9.

{[When you acquire your first Rank 9 Energy Stone you will see a small plus added to the bottom of the Vehicle Info screen, press that and you will see the options]}.

Jason immediately remembered his quest rewards, pulling up his quest screen to check his current quests once again.

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Current quests are :

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1. Rank up 2 of your attributes through any means

Rewards : 20 points, 1x Rank 9 Energy Stone and 1x Random Material Draw

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2. Rank up your Core Vehicle to Rank 9

Rewards : 50 points, 1 Low-Rank Talent, 1 Low-Rank Skill book.

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3. Convince at least 1 person to join you in preparations(Energy Stone and Firearm Draw are only awarded for the first person convinced, every person after that will only get you 10 points)

Rewards : 10 points per person, 1x Rank 9 Energy Stone, 1x Random Low-power Firearm Draw

Note : This quest will not be replaced until the start of the next phase

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Closing the screen Jason noted the differences and asked. "Why have I not received the rewards for the third quest? Kyle said he would stay put. Also why is the Quest page different?"

{[You need to convince the person to JOIN you, therefore the best way would be to tell them of the coming apocalypse and either have them in your car or somehow following behind you. As for the Quest screen, the system is constantly adjusting and refining the Information Screens, this will happen many times throughout your journey.]}

Accepting the answers Jason started the car and while driving back towards the college he dialed Mark's number again. This time Mark answered the phone "Hey J what's up?" with an urgent tone Jason told his brother to go to the college parking lot and meet him there. Without questioning his brother Mark just said "Yeah, I'll be there in 20 minutes". Trying his best to keep from speeding, he drove as fast as law allowed towards campus. Hurriedly stating his name and information to the gate, he had to repeat himself twice before the gate understood his frantic speech. As for why he suddenly got so hurried, it was because the system had notified him that it had detected that the meteorite would be landing almost 10 hours earlier than in Jason's last incarnation. It said it was most likely due to the timeline disturbance created by moving Jason's consciousness back in time.

Parking in the campus parking lot, Jason hurriedly looked around for his brother. Not seeing him anywhere around the lot, he dialed his number again, suddenly a phone rang just behind him.

Swiftly spinning around he was not by his brother trying to sneak up on him, but rather he needed absolute steel will to suppress his emotions of seeing his brother again after 4 years of separation.

He could not show how much he had missed his brother because to Mark, they had seen each other less than 2 days ago. Calming his raging emotions he told Mark about his urgency, keeping a few things secret, he told him that when he was at the bank he had seen a notice on the Bank officials phone on the table. He told Mark that it was an official government notice about some sort of spreading virus that was very likely to lead to a massive chaos, leaving out the fact that the virus had not even arrived on earth and would not arrive for the next 2 or 3 hours. He also told his brother that he had stolen a piece of experimental technology from the government, intending to use it to explain the unnatural changes to things around him. Suddenly the system made a *Beep* noise and told Jason {[The system has scanned your brother and determined he is 100% loyal to you, he has been added to the allies tab on your main status page. However the system has also determined that his immunity to the virus is low and he would be highly likely to be zombified upon initial contact with the virus.]} Stunned Jason looked at his brother without displaying his surprise he noted that Mark did not seem to have heard the system, he instantly put aside his surprise for that and directed his thoughts to the system asking"Is there anything you can do to make sure that he will not be zombified? Please!"

{[ The system can extend an energy filter to lessen the amount of the virus he will have contact with at the start, however the filter will gradually weaken until it fades away completely. All you can do is hope that his immunity will develop fast enough to face the complete virus, additionally the creation of the filter will require energy. It is recommended that you use one of your armor draws to power the filter. ]}

"Armor draws? Can you use the Glove Choice?"

{[Do you wish to create an energy filter around Mark Steele? This will consume 1x Gloves of Choice : Yes/No]} Jason immediately directed his mind to the Yes. Suddenly a blue glow floated from Jason's body and surrounded Mark, creating a blue field around him. When the field was complete it faded into Mark's body leaving no trace. Mark's eyelids closed and he fainted, having been warned of his faint Jason grabbed him and put him in the passenger seat of his car. Fortunately nobody seemed to have seen the blue phenomena and furthermore nobody noticed him placing a sleeping person in his car. Pulling up his Status page he hurriedly spent 30 points to upgrade his Strength attribute by 1 and his Speed by 1 for a total of 15 points to upgrade each by 1.

*Ding* {[Quest 1. Complete, Rewards have been added to inventory]}

Feeling very relieved Jason sat back in the driver's seat and dialed Kyle. Kyle did not pick up but sent Jason a message reading "Sorry I'm at the gaming center bro, I'll call you back". Once more Jason felt the frustration rushing over him, when the system made a

*Ding* {[1 Person convinced, Rewards are in your inventory.]}.

Jason instinctively knew that these were the rewards for convincing his brother and not Kyle. Jason hurriedly asked the system "Can the car be driven while Ranking up?"

To which the system replied.

{[ Yes. One energy stone detected would you like to start the rankup? This will consume 1x Rank 9 Energy Stone ]}.

Jason motioned for Yes and just as he was about to start the car he noticed people fainting and falling to the ground everywhere, and his last thought before he fainted was "SHIT".