“What are the odds that this is a natural hole?” Kevin asked, his voice filled with amusement. The rest of the small group that had decided to leave the farm together could only nod in agreement, knowing just as well that the highly symmetrical hole that just happened to be nicely sized for the smaller members of their group wasn’t natural. For one, it was dug into simple earth, the dirt compressed to form sturdy walls, meaning there was no way for such a hole to form naturally, it simply wouldn’t happen. Similarly, there were no indications of modern technology, no concrete reinforcements or anything that hinted the hole had been dug before the change, not that anyone would have an actual reason to dig a small shelter into their fields.

“You believe it was Jade and her group?” Wu Chunhua asked in return, looking around the area for a bit. There was a massive lake nearby, one that had only formed after the change thanks to a small river flooding and overflowing its original bed. If her former student had dug this hole, there had to be a reason for it. Maybe just because her group sought shelter for the day, she had picked up on their nocturnal habits, but there was more likely another reason. A reason that might warrant investigation, if it really was them.

“Yeah, probably,” Kevin nodded, after gently prodding the strange construction. There was something in the air that made him think of his teacher, a noise that wasn’t physical, a vibration that he couldn’t really hear in his ears or feel on his skin but he could sense it nonetheless. Thinking back, there had always been a certain melody in the air when she had been working her magic, a subtle song played by different instruments, though none he could recognise. Here, the same song was echoing noiselessly, but the instruments were once again different. The song, too, had subtly changed but it was still the same, at least fundamentally.

Shaking his thoughts off, he decided to meditate on this particular song and sensation later, trying to get a better interpretation of his magical senses. The Pale Lady, his Teacher, had told him about sensing magic and how different people would interpret the information in different ways, some visually, as if they were seeing something only they could see, identify different elements as colours and hues, while others might hear, smell or taste it. There might even be some that could identify magic by touch, though there would be some difficulties with that sort of perception, especially when it came to hostile offensive magic. It would be quite useless to only be able to identify the deadly magic launched at you by touching it and having your finger or hand blown up.

“I doubt Samantha would mind if we use this place. Most likely, there’s something they found interesting in the area, we might want to look around and investigate,” Wu Chunhua suggested, getting nods in turn. Exploring, finding interesting things and gaining EXP and levels according to the system, that had been their plan when setting out as a group. Not a really good long-term plan, but given the trouble brewing in their old home, it was good for the short- term.

Hopefully, it would allow them to find a place where they weren’t pressured by a rapidly growing group of people led by fools thinking they, and only they, could make decisions for the community. That everyone should follow their council because they used to be managers and business leaders before the world came apart. As if that experience gave them meaningful skills when it came to the establishment of a community in a broken world, a world now filled with strange monsters, magic and a system that summarised people in numbers, traits and skills while giving direct and fairly meaningful feedback of their personal development.

And yet, despite that system giving people all the information and that incredibly encouraging feedback, to say nothing of the greatly increased speed of advancement if one was willing to take risks, there were some who just weren’t interested. They just wanted the world to go back to the way it used to be, ignoring just how impossible that idea was. The world had changed, fundamentally so, and they clung to anything and everyone that might revert that change. Regardless of how empty the promises were, if the promises controlled the mob, they controlled society, that remained as true as it always had been. And controlling the mob, the promises did, though each member of their small group wondered just how the mob would fare, now that they, and quite a few in similar situations as theirs, had left.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Those who had embraced the change and the system that came with it, those people had planned to leave or had already left before their group. Just as those who wanted the world to go back to the way it used to be wanted them to, though even now, she wondered how the community would survive. Sometimes, you had to accept that the world had changed change with it. Or circumstances might force you and change you in ways you didn’t appreciate.

Later, after they had made themself at home in the small but surprisingly comfortable hole in the ground, they started to explore the area. Taking the lead, Wu Chunhua had to hide a grin at her recently discovered exuberance. Before the world had changed, she had been an old woman. Fit, incredibly so for a woman her age, but even with every trick, every exercise and careful diet, the slow decline of age had brought with it a variety of twinges, aches and weaknesses. Now, after the world had changed, so had her body though it had taken quite a while for her to really push what she could do now.

Before leaving the people she had formed into a coherent community, she had been focused on just that, leading people and keeping them together. Even the training she had given them had been a natural extension of the work she had done at the gym she used to own with her husband. Nothing really new, nothing that she hadn’t done before the world changed, the training had simply had a lot more practical applications than it had before. Or maybe it was better to call the applications societally accepted, even before the world had changed, the application of physical violence was practical. One just had to get away with it.

Now, out here in the wild, carefully scouting the way for her small group, she felt like in the bad, old times, when she served her home country in a variety of ways nobody would ever talk about. Even now, with the world in shambles, there was a deep sense of unease when it came to sharing tales of her old work, but that might have to do with that one trait called ‘Secretive’ she had. Not that it was a wrong assessment, it merely felt strange to have parts of her innate characteristics spelt out like that. Self-recognition was supposed to come with meditation and wisdom, not with the act of opening your status.

Now, feeling young again and no longer acting as just one of the countless cogs in a machine far larger than her own existence, Wu Chunhua felt nothing but joy in using her skills, joy and a lot of amusement whenever the system deigned to inform her that one of her skills had improved. They really didn’t improve, maybe they became more natural or she got used to employing them with her improved physical condition but her skills only regained their original lustre. Maybe it was something about the system’s way of categorising, that it needed her to display her skills in some quantifiable way, she wasn’t sure but it sounded like something little Samantha would suggest about it.

Hopefully, her young student was alright, her departure, the departure of that first group, had been a sign of trouble. Looking back, it might have been better to get Samantha, or Jade as she was now called, to stay and push out the contrarian influences. But then, if they had, she’d still be behind a desk and occasionally work with fresh recruits, not quietly move across an open field, looking for unseen dangers. Unseen dangers that made her wish she had picked up more of the Darkness Magic her student had shown her. She could use Darkness Magic to hide decently well in the dark but compared to what she had seen Samantha do, it was nothing. Outright vanishing, getting into closed rooms unseen, moving about silently and without a trace, she really, really wanted to learn how to do that. Alas, her student wasn’t here to answer her questions so she’d have to figure it out herself. It was possible, she had seen that much, she only needed to figure out how.

And figure out what was going on with that lake ahead, somewhere deep in her gut was a twinge she had felt in the past, right before one of her missions went… bad. Maybe there was a reason why one of her traits was called ‘Danger Sense’...