Chapter 9: Event Completed

  The sleep he was given was a lucid dreamless one, he had the aches from hunger, dehydration and most importantly, the ache from physical pain. His entire body was falling apart, the black abyss he had been floating in while he slept made sure he felt every single splinter, every single tear of skin. He could hear a voice, many, but none made any sense to him. He felt alien to the world he currently inhabited. He had felt alien to the world his whole life, he thought, he was alien to the world he was born in.

  As he drifted in and out of consciousness, he couldn’t help but think of what this all was. This wasn't the “war” they were told it was, this was a preparation. The system, as the books had described, was actively reacting to the experience put in, it wasn’t benevolent like people would assume, or controlled by a higher entity, it was one's own, an exchange of action to profit, you put things in, like the souls you collected or the memories you gathered and it would exchange that in a way that seemed reasonable, power was never made out of thin air or bestowed, it was always created from something. A simple explanation would be if you punched something, some of that energy from the punch would be locked away and stored into a “punching skill”, if you had one, and that energy would fester and stay there in the system. If you were a crafter, those memories from crafting also had an energy to them that gets stored away into results, mental energy.

  Common, Uncommon and Rare were slightly different, as like all things, such as lightning, it can strike twice or even three times in the same spot if the stars aligned, that rarity was festered on luck, and luck yields energy too, which was why rarities could even exist even if it didn’t seem like physical or mental energy was put into it, sometimes energy just happened to strike twice in the same spot.

  Didn’t I get a luck stat? He hadn’t heard of such a thing before, and disregarded it as a hallucination for now.

  Fay pondered, Millie, Millie, Millie. She was accustomed to this place, of course, if she had repeated this “preparation” she would be a higher level than anyone here. Was there a way of redoing this? To go back to the island and repeat the sacrifice? Fay assumed so. This place wasn’t the creation of that prophet, that much was clear, this was something to garner experience for what was below. They were told, and Fay wasn’t sure if to believe this or not, that the gods needed fighters for demons that were taking over earth, he just wasn't told there was a point in between.

  He couldn’t wrap his head around why Millie had shown him a prophets skill, that buff she gave was a rare one, documented. She wasn’t careless, so what could be the point of that? If the entire point of this area is “preparation” then Fay assumed that the way Millie was helping was preparation as well. And since nobody had come out alive, ‘least not to his knowledge. He wondered if they were being groomed to be harvested as crops. He wasn’t sure how much experience a human would give, but maybe, just maybe, it would be efficient to let humans down here, as sacrifices, to grow strong, and then to be consumed in a way after they were fattened like pigs.

  It was smart, it was what he would do in power, if he hadn’t had a conscience. It also explained why those prophets kept control of the island, they had a family of powerhouses. The robes also hid the prophets' identities, so people wouldn’t notice people being sent down twice. They maybe even had a skill to change facial features and hair colour.

  He wasn’t sure, that was the worst part. Was Millie toying with him? Showing him that skill was stupid, but if she saw potential in his experience gain, then surely she would try to at least help.

  When am I gonna die?

  He was clearly hurt, surrounded by something. His last memories were with those snakes so maybe he was gestating in a stomach. He did feel hot afterall, feverish, that was why he had a constant train of thought, why he kept being paranoid. Even with his paranoia, he felt safe in the moment. His perception, even now, was working, he was not currently dying, in fact, he was healing.

  —

  “Shut up.” Millie kept telling Lily, in a genuinely annoyed way. Millie was mixing and mashing as much as she could to keep Fay alive, sweating yet again, all the while Jason was left to fend for himself.

  “B-B-B-B” Lily ran over to Jason to help Bark out, he had a basic understanding of alchemy now from watching Millie, though no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get his blood to work with the bowl like Millie could. He didn’t have enough mana, and couldn’t purify it correctly, because he was weak.

  Millie focused on Fay, she had popped some bones back in and with a rare whisker flower she could calcify the open wounds, leaving bright white scars on his arm that rode around like stripes of a zebra. It was expensive but worth it, unlike Jason, Fay was strong and needed both arms intact. She also, while tinkering with Fay’s limp body, rubbed the oil from purified midnight snake venom around his eyes, which should reduce bruising, as his face was puffing up.

  [Event Completed]

  [1.5x Rewards]

  [8 Rewards Available!]

  She didn’t bother to check, she would likely give away all her rewards to another group. She was surprised just how long it took for whatever squad took out the final king, probably the blonde haired kids group, she didn’t know how strong they were now, but considering how the guy was level 3 on day one, he would be about halfway to level 4. Either way it didn’t matter, day three was coming and they still weren't prepared, even if Fay had turned level three now, he was lagging behind and will likely be out of commission until lunch tomorrow.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Speaking of which, everyone needed food, desperately. She had given all of them water that she collected from a lake, but food was still sparse, “who wants to eat that rat?” Millie asked, “I can make sure it's safe to eat, I’m sure you all are tired, I’m sure, okay?” She watched as Lily gave her that same rude look.

  “I’m not eating a rat.” She said, though Bark beside her was already walking out of the door and into the night to cut it up for meat. “Goddamn it! Dont walk away Bark! We need a strong front Bark! Against this witch!” She shouted and then cowered when Millie raised her hand.

  “Fine, we can eat snakes, they taste better.” She sighed and went outside with Bark, feeling the night air on her skin, it was beautiful, the moon, “come with me, you need to carry things.”

  Lily stayed with Jason as they wandered, Millie was quite tired from the day, especially after executing the king all by herself and for once felt open to attack. “Bark.”

  “Yeah?” He looked fine, his hands were calloused from all that crafting he did today, a lot of crafting. He never complained once and was very intuitive. He was definitely fidgety, but in a way that didn’t detract from the work in front of him, since he was desperate to prove useful.

  “If you don’t mind a longer walk, we can go to a cave and collect some stuff that may help Jason.” She turned, “and grab that boar, are you welcome to hold a lot?” She was already walking to the cave Fay cleared out, and he was already following.

  “Uhuh… yeah.” He almost tripped over a tree before catching up to her, “thank you.”

  “Hm?”

  “For teaching me today, thank you.” He smiled, “I’m pretty dumb, I know, but I like to learn.” He shivered as they entered a more shaded part of the forest, the night was soothing again, the stars had come out to give an ethereal quality to them all. Bark still looked the same, she remembered meeting him at the start, gathering things, promising she was safe because he was strong, and then a bear attacked and he froze. She had no doubt that if the bear ran forward that he would push her out of the way, that was the kind of person he was, a stupid one.

  “You don’t need to thank me, you are useful.” She shrugged, “you’re an extra pair of hands, it’s beneficial, it is, it is.” She sang out with a bit too much emotion, before returning to be solemn, “we will make use of scales, many of them, as they are very good, better than leather. They may reach you to profession level five, as well, which will help.”

  He nodded along to her words. “Okay teach!” He saluted and marched forward beside her, holding the mole knife carefully.

  —

  Lily was drooling at the thought of food, but kept managing Jason. She had stripped him of his armor and wrapped his wounds with bandages. They didn’t help much since a lot of the damage was internal or bruising, but it made her feel better about herself, like a nurse or a doctor. She was happy being alone for now, she had made it this far by hiding and was quite content with continuing that path, maybe even leaving this “group” of hers to find something better, as killing snakes was scary, and that Millie girl gave her the creeps.

  She saw right outside the window a small group of three walk out, people she had met before on the first day, and had saved her life. She sprouted up emotionally, a big smile across her face, “Thomas!” She ripped open the door and saw the blonde haired boy in his shiny white armor. Well, not so shiny anymore, bloody armor. He was missing a person beside him this time, left with just the tall fellow with the deep voice holding a club who kept staring at her up and down.

  “Hello Thommy!” She waved, “you kept your promise!” She giggled, he had promised to come back on day two, she thought he was lying but apparently not. She wondered what kind of jewels and bracelets he would give her this time.

  He didn't say a word as he drew his sword from the sheath, “may we have that accessory back?” He asked kindly, holding the sword to his side, his sword was still dripping fresh blood. “Are you level two yet?”

  “I-I am…” she said, feeling off, the feeling he gave off on the first day was one of a hero, now he was a creature of some sort of need, like an addict. “Why?”

  “How much experience do you have? Pretty lady?” He took a step forward, “are you almost at level three?”

  XP 121/500

  She was not. “N-Not really…”

  He looked visibly disappointed, “then get to work silly, didn’t that bracelet help at all? Kill more!” He yelled, “what the hell were you doing today!?”

  “I-” she didn’t want to mention the people in the cabin, he was already off centre mentally, she wasn't sure how he would react, she wasn’t sure who this person was anymore. “Okayyyy” she giggled and hopped down to be right in front of him, turning a 180 on her emotions, “I ran out of materials, I need a hammer, or something.”

  He relaxed his shoulders, “fine.” He reached into his backpack and took out a few green stones, weapon stones, “just take these, they’re useless. I’ll come tomorrow… if you’re level three I’ll give you a new shiny ring, or two.” He smiled and brushed her shoulder with his armor plated hand, “don’t let me down pretty lady.”

  Yuck. She nodded, and waved them goodbye, watching them leave in the direction of that scary deer forest, the ones with the super loud beams and whatnot. Were they that strong already? She wondered with a bit of anxiousness, they were going to kill her, she knew that much from her perception, he had a killing intent all over him and his eyes were almost bloodshot. She walked back inside of the cabin and saw Jason pulling himself up, like he was sleep walking, holding the axe in his right hand since the left was decimated still, even more so now.

  He was just standing there, “is… is… is… gone?”

  She nodded and looked into his glassy eyes, he was on alert, like he knew what was happening outside on some instinctual level, “yes… yes they’re gone, calm down.” She grabbed his shoulders and laid him back down, “I’m not in trouble.”

  “Goo- no trouble.” He shut his eyes, “I’on like trouble.” He took a gasp of air and then fell back asleep. He felt stronger than before, not only his body but the way he stood, the way she tried to lay him down, he felt like a wall of some sorts.

  He was probably going to go out if she got attacked, the stupid idiot, even when resting he felt the need to sacrifice himself. She didn’t know the group too much, as it had already been two days, but with Jason she at least felt safe. She hopped over to Millie's station and collected some of that purified oil stuff that reduced Fay’s bruising and used it on Jason, helping him out immensely. "Dumb..." she spoke softly, yawning and then stretching, sleep was coming for them all soon.