Chapter 55 An Unexpected Encounter!

Magnus Vane turned his attention to the four system magazines waiting in his inventory. The first was immediately familiar: Hunter’s Bow, the same series he had obtained after surviving the first Blood Moon. Its description still carried the system’s sarcastic tone, promising that nobody needed to stand in line at a sporting-goods store during the apocalypse when they could learn to make their own bows and crossbows instead. More importantly, every issue increased his crafting level and improved the quality of ranged weapons he could produce.

[Hunter’s Bow]

[Effect: Unlocks and improves bow and crossbow crafting recipes]

[Maximum Level: Lv75]

[Lv1–10: Primitive Bow]

[Lv11–20: Wooden Bow]

[Lv21–35: Iron Crossbow]

[Lv36–55: Compound Bow]

[Lv56–75: Compound Crossbow]

[Crafting level determines weapon Quality 1–6]

The second magazine belonged to a completely different crafting line. Its cover identified it as Scrap & Salvage, a practical series centered around mechanical tools and breaking useful materials out of ruined machinery. Magnus skimmed the recipe progression and immediately understood its value; a good wrench or powered salvage tool could turn abandoned cars, machinery, and buildings into a steady supply of useful components. In a world filled with dead vehicles and empty structures, that kind of skill was practically another form of scavenging.

[Scrap & Salvage]

[Effect: Unlocks and improves salvage-tool crafting recipes]

[Lv4–25: Wrench]

[Lv26–50: Ratchet]

[Lv51–75: Impact Driver]

[Crafting level determines tool Quality 1–6]

The last two magazines were identical copies of Hammering the World, a crafting series dedicated entirely to sledgehammers. Magnus remembered seeing a note inside Skull Crusher explaining that investing in the perk increased the chance of finding sledgehammer magazines and related weapon parts. Apparently, Skull Crusher Lv4 had finally paid off in exactly that way, because two of his four Blood Moon rewards belonged to the same series. Considering the Stone Sledgehammer had been his primary weapon almost since Atlanta, Magnus had absolutely no complaints.

[Hammering the World]

[Effect: Unlocks sledgehammer recipes and improves crafted sledgehammer quality]

[Lv1–10: Stone Sledgehammer]

[Lv11–35: Iron Sledgehammer]

[Lv36–75: Steel Sledgehammer]

[Crafting level determines weapon Quality 1–6]

Magnus used all four magazines without hesitation. The items dissolved into points of light inside the backpack, and a flood of crafting information settled into his mind almost instantly. Hunter’s Bow rose from Lv5 to Lv10, unlocking the highest possible quality within the Primitive Bow tier; Scrap & Salvage reached Lv5, enough to craft an entry-level wrench; and the two sledgehammer magazines pushed Hammering the World directly to Lv10. Magnus stared at the updated crafting levels and grinned.

“Now we’re talking.”

His current Stone Sledgehammer was only Quality 2, even after everything it had survived and the Barbed Wire Mod wrapped around its head. With Hammering the World Lv10, Magnus could theoretically craft a Quality 6 Stone Sledgehammer, which would be a massive improvement without even moving up to iron. He immediately started mentally counting the materials he would need—wood, plant fiber, stone, and whatever additional components the recipe demanded. The fractured right arm still had hours left on its healing timer, but apparently patience only applied to spending skill points, because Magnus had no intention of waiting before gathering materials for a new hammer.

He picked up his current Stone Sledgehammer with his left hand and headed downstairs. The second floor had been buried in bodies, but the first floor was even worse because many of the walkers Magnus had struck during the battle had fallen or been knocked down the stairwell. Corpses were piled across the sanctuary in uneven heaps, and several ordinary walkers remained trapped alive on the remnants of his Wooden Spike Traps. Their bodies had been pierced so thoroughly that they could barely move, yet they still snapped their teeth at him when he approached.

Magnus wasn’t about to waste free experience.

A few swings later, the remaining walkers stopped moving permanently.

At Level 22, ordinary walkers no longer filled his experience bar the way they had when the system first awakened, so every kill mattered. Magnus stepped around the bodies and moved toward the church entrance in a surprisingly good mood, the morning sunlight pouring through the open doorway ahead of him. He was already thinking about where he could find enough materials for the new Quality 6 hammer when his right boot crossed the threshold.

Every hair on his body stood up.

Danger.

Something moved from his left.

Magnus reacted before conscious thought could catch up.

His left hand snapped upward, and despite the weapon’s size, the Stone Sledgehammer spun through his grip with almost the speed of a short club. Metal flashed toward the side of his head at the exact same instant. Magnus intercepted it.

CLANG!

The impact rang across the churchyard.

Magnus’s smile disappeared.

He turned his head slowly toward his attacker, coldness replacing every trace of amusement in his expression. A long, curved blade pressed against the barbed head of his hammer, its polished edge trembling slightly from the collision. Magnus stared past it at the person holding the weapon.

“What, I step out with the wrong foot and you decide to take my head off?”

Before the stranger could disengage, Magnus twisted the Stone Sledgehammer and forced the blade downward. Strength Lv8 made the contest absurdly one-sided; despite attacking from ambush and having momentum behind the strike, the other person simply couldn’t compete with his raw power. The katana was driven toward the ground until its point bit into the wet earth, vibrating rapidly after the impact. Magnus immediately recognized something else from the resistance against his weapon.

“Not much strength behind that.”

His eyes narrowed.

“A woman?”

The realization came a second too late to stop his next reaction. Magnus had spent the last several days fighting Berserkers and ordinary walkers on instinct, and his body responded to surprise attacks before he had time to identify who was responsible. He pulled the Stone Sledgehammer back and launched an upward counterstrike with his left hand, the weapon cutting through the air with enough force to make the stranger immediately abandon the blade lock and throw herself aside.

Whoosh!

The hammer missed her.

It did not miss what stood behind her.

A sickening impact sounded as the barbed head smashed into one of two emaciated walkers chained several feet behind the woman. The corpse folded beneath the hit and dropped, while the second chained walker jerked against its restraint. Only then did Magnus get a proper look at the stranger.

She was Black, athletic, and dressed for movement rather than appearance, with practical dark clothing, boots, and a weather-beaten cloak hanging over her shoulders. A katana scabbard rested across her back, and everything about her stance said she was prepared to attack again if Magnus gave her a reason. Behind her were two restrained walker pets, both mutilated in the same deliberate fashion—their arms removed and their lower jaws cut away so they could no longer bite or grab.

Magnus’s gaze returned to the woman’s eyes.

They were harder than almost anyone’s he had encountered since the outbreak.

There was caution there, but not panic; aggression, but not recklessness. Beneath both sat a deep isolation that looked less like fear and more like somebody who had spent far too long surviving without trusting anyone. She stood perfectly still with one hand ready near her katana, silently communicating the same warning her posture did.

Come closer at your own risk.

Magnus knew her instantly.

Michonne.

Not “Michonne Grimes,” not yet, and certainly not some ridiculous nickname from the source material. This was Michonne as she existed before eventually becoming one of the most formidable members of Rick’s group: alone on the road, carrying a katana, with her chained walker pets Mike and Terry following behind her. Magnus had known she existed somewhere in Georgia, but running into her outside a random church was about the last thing he had expected today.

Michonne slowly raised both hands away from her weapon.

“I thought you were a walker.”

Magnus glanced down at himself.

Dried blood covered his clothing, face, armor, and exposed skin. After waking among a mountain of corpses and doing almost nothing to clean himself properly, he had to admit that from a distance he probably looked considerably closer to dead than alive. He lowered the Stone Sledgehammer and exhaled.

“Fair enough.”

Magnus hooked the fallen katana carefully with the hammerhead, lifted it from the ground, and held it horizontally toward her. “You took a swing at me and missed. I swung back and didn’t kill you.” His eyes briefly shifted toward the walker pet he had accidentally destroyed. “Call it even.”

Michonne studied him for another moment before taking the katana.

“Thanks.”

She slid the blade smoothly back into its scabbard, but Magnus caught the brief surprise crossing her face when she looked at the Stone Sledgehammer in his left hand. His right arm was splinted and clearly unusable, yet he had still stopped her attack, overpowered the katana, and swung a weapon that looked far too heavy for one-handed use. Michonne didn’t comment, but the calculation in her expression was obvious.

Magnus rested the hammer against his shoulder. “What brought you here?”

“I heard a church bell.”

Michonne looked past him through the open doorway.

Her expression changed.

From where she stood, the interior of the church was clearly visible—the broken pews, ruined staircase, blood-smeared stone, and the mountain of walker corpses stacked across the sanctuary. Even someone as composed as Michonne couldn’t completely hide her reaction to the sheer number of bodies. She stared for several seconds before slowly looking back at Magnus.

“I didn’t expect anyone inside to still be alive.”

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