Chapter 40 System Add the Points!

“This…

this is good news, right?” Glenn adjusted his baseball cap and gave a quiet laugh before glancing toward Maggie beside him.

She had still been staring at Magnus Vane after his apology to Lori, almost as if she were trying to reconcile the man she had just seen with the same person who could crush a walker’s skull with one swing.

“Yeah,” Maggie finally replied as she came back to herself.

“I’d say it’s about as good as we could ask for.” Maggie’s eyes briefly drifted toward the second floor of the farmhouse before she fell silent again.

Around her, people from both the old quarry camp and the Greene farm were having similar reactions, each replaying Magnus’s apology in their own way.

None of them had expected him to openly admit that he had handled part of Carl’s training badly, especially after how forcefully he had defended the decision itself.

Seeing it happen with their own eyes made the moment much harder to dismiss.

Lori remained propped up inside the tent, looking at Magnus with a complicated expression before turning toward Rick and Shane standing nearby.

Rick met her eyes and gave a small nod, confirming what Magnus had already told her: Carl was safe, and the apology was genuine.

Lori slowly relaxed against the bedding.

“At least…

so far, you’ve done right by him.” Several people nearby quietly released breaths they hadn’t realized they were holding.

Lori swallowed before continuing, her weak voice carrying more emotion than volume.

“But keep your promise.

Don’t ever disappear with him like that again.” Her fingers tightened slightly around the blanket.

“I can’t lose Carl.” Magnus gave her a firm nod, then turned toward everyone gathered around the tent without showing any embarrassment at being watched.

“Since everybody’s already here, I’ve got something else to announce.

Before midnight tonight, we’re having a short meeting, and I want everyone there.” He glanced toward Maggie.

“Can you make sure Hershel and the rest of your family know?” Maggie nodded.

“I’ll tell him.” “Good.” Magnus waved one hand at the crowd.

“That’s it.

Go back to whatever you were doing instead of staring at me.” That finally broke the strange stillness hanging over the camp.

People gradually scattered, conversations restarted, and the oppressive atmosphere that had dominated the farm for the last several days began to lift.

Laughter returned in small bursts, somebody opened one of the cakes Magnus had brought back, and even the constant drip of rain from the trees no longer sounded quite as miserable.

Carl was home, Magnus was alive, and for the first time in a week, the camp felt like it had a future again.

Magnus stretched both arms above his head before picking up the Stone Sledgehammer and resting it against his shoulder.

“Everything important is handled for now.

I’m going to get some sleep in the truck before tonight’s meeting.” He had barely made it halfway to the fire engine when another figure approached and stopped him beside the door.

“Magnus.” Dale adjusted the rifle hanging from his shoulder and gave him a warm, tired smile.

Beside Magnus’s much larger frame, the older man looked almost fragile, but his expression carried the same quiet concern he had shown since Atlanta.

“I just wanted to say that I think most of us appreciate what you’ve been doing here more than we probably tell you.” Magnus leaned against the fire engine and waited.

Dale continued, “You’ve had to make hard calls.

Sometimes they come across harsh, and sometimes I don’t agree with the way you do things, but I can see why you’re doing them.” His smile faded into something more serious.

“Just don’t convince yourself you have to carry all of it alone.

If it ever gets too heavy, talk to me.

Let somebody else carry part of it.” Magnus studied him for a moment before nodding.

“I hear you.” He didn’t say anything more.

Magnus opened the rear cab door and climbed inside, and with a heavy thud, the door closed behind him.

The sounds of camp immediately became muffled, leaving him alone with the quiet hum of the vehicle’s interior and his own thoughts.

Through the window, he watched Dale walk away until the older man disappeared among the tents.

Magnus slowly shook his head.

Dale was still too attached to the rules and moral expectations of the old world to thrive naturally in the apocalypse, and Magnus remembered how badly that had ended for him in the original timeline.

That didn’t make Dale useless; it simply meant Magnus didn’t want him making emergency decisions while the group was still fighting for basic survival.

There was a difference between someone being compassionate and someone being suited to command during a crisis.

Later, though, things could change.

If the prison grew into a real settlement, people like Dale might become essential.

A community couldn’t remain under emergency rules forever without eventually tearing itself apart, and the methods that worked while twenty people were fighting walkers wouldn’t necessarily work when hundreds were raising children, farming, trading, and rebuilding.

Magnus could make brutal decisions when necessary, while someone like Dale could remind people what they were trying to preserve in the first place.

“Different tools for different stages,” Magnus muttered.

That thought immediately reminded him of another kind of tool.

“System.” A translucent interface unfolded across his vision.

[Magnus Vane] [Level: Lv13 — 61%] [Available Skill Points: 4] [Health: 113 / 113] [Base Health: 100 | Level Bonus: +13] [Stamina: 107 / 113 — Recovering] [Food: 113 / 113] [Water: 113 / 113] [Feels Like: 70°F] [Walkers Killed: 136] [Bow Crafting: Lv5] [Equipment: Stone Sledgehammer — Quality 2] [Stalker Gloves — Quality 3] [Wooden Armor Set — Quality 1] [Status Effects: None] Magnus smiled slightly at the Level 13 displayed in front of him.

The week spent training Carl had been useful for far more than the boy’s development.

When Carl collapsed near the end of his first trip across town, Magnus had finally stopped holding back and cleared the walkers that had followed him, pushing his level from Lv10 deep into Lv12.

The remaining walkers around town and along the highway had eventually carried him the rest of the way into Lv13.

His eyes settled on the four available skill points.

“Now that’s what I like to see.” Magnus opened the skill menu.

His primary investment was still Strength, currently at Lv6, while Skull Crusher—the perk directly enhancing his sledgehammer fighting style—sat at Lv3.

Four points gave him more than one tempting option.

He could pour everything into raw Strength and push the attribute from Lv6 all the way to Lv8, giving himself another enormous physical increase.

Or he could take a more balanced route.

Raise Strength once.

Unlock the next Skull Crusher rank.

Keep one point in reserve.

Magnus stared at the menu for several seconds, weighing the choices.

Level 14 wasn’t particularly far away, so burning every point immediately would leave him with no flexibility if something unexpected appeared.

He had survived this long partly because he didn’t spend resources just because they were available.

“Better to keep something in reserve.” He selected Strength.

[Strength Lv7/10 — Protein Powered] [Physical strength and headshot damage significantly increased.] [Heavy weapons become substantially more effective.] The change struck instantly.

Magnus lurched forward in the seat.

Muscles across his shoulders, arms, back, and legs tightened in rapid waves as though every fiber in his body had suddenly been forced awake at once.

Heat spread through his limbs, and for several seconds his breathing became noticeably heavier.

He instinctively grabbed the Stone Sledgehammer beside him with one hand.

It felt lighter.

Not actually lighter.

But close enough that Magnus immediately noticed the difference.

His eyes widened.

“So that’s Level Seven.” The earlier Strength upgrades had been obvious, but this one felt like crossing an entirely different threshold.

The raw power running through his body had increased dramatically, enough that the massive Stone Sledgehammer no longer carried the same intimidating weight in his grip.

Magnus couldn’t help wondering what Strength Lv8 would feel like.

And Lv10?

He grinned.

“Later.” There was still another upgrade to make.

Magnus selected Skull Crusher.

[Skull Crusher Lv4/5 — Bone Breaker] [Heavy blunt weapons deal greatly increased damage to enemies and structures.] [Improved effectiveness against armored targets and hard materials.] [Your heavy strikes can smash through obstacles with significantly greater force.] Magnus stared at the new description for several seconds.

Only one rank remained before Skull Crusher reached its maximum level.

[Remaining Skill Points: 1] He dismissed the menu and leaned back against the seat, flexing one hand slowly.

Strength was easy to feel immediately, but Skull Crusher worked differently; the full difference wouldn’t become obvious until he swung the Stone Sledgehammer into something that resisted him.

A walker skull, a locked door, a concrete barrier, or another enemy would tell him exactly what the upgrade had done.

Magnus wrapped his fingers around the hammer handle again.

A faint thrill ran through him.

He suddenly had an intense urge to find something solid and hit it.

“Yeah.” Magnus closed his eyes with a satisfied smile.

“The next walker I meet is having a really bad day.” [Milestone: [Milestone: 10 Reviews = +1 Chapter] Enjoyed this chapter?