The stronger Kobolds living close to the settlement were combat-experienced and owned some valuable pieces of equipment. Most of them had weapons made of Onyx Steel and leather armor made of monster hide. Both were valuable and had high energy conductivity.
Only a handful of monsters, mostly Kobold Shamans, had special equipment with attribute boosts. The earrings Xavier were such a pair. The Craftsmen of Haven analyzed the armaments and did many experiments, but they had yet to find a way to reproduce such weapons. Therefore, Xavier proposed to return to Logwood to collect more armaments and to search for more survivors.
But the moment he suggested that Silvia vehemently opposed her son.
“Are you out of your mind? You barely returned, and you want to go there again?”
Xavier raised an eyebrow, “Weren’t you proud of how I am such a nice son to save so many survivors just five minutes ago?”
Silvia huffed her hands on her hips. “That does not mean I would allow you to go out and risk your life more.”
Xavier whispered in a low voice, grumbling to himself. “Who was asking for your permission?”
But she heard it and smacked him on the back of his head.
“Don’t start thinking too highly of yourself. Luck will not always favor you.” She then turned to her husband and glared at him.
“Will you say something or just stand there and let me become the villain in your beloved son’s eyes?”
Mark looked like a deer caught in headlights. He knew his son was not being overconfident, but he also did not want to face his wife's wrath.
Scratching his head nervously, Mark came forward and tried to appease his wife.
“What if I go with him as well? That way, you would not be so-”
But his words died down on his tongue as Silvia stomped her foot on Mark’s foot.
“Mom,” Xavier groaned, “Come on, now. Stop treating me like a kid. And don’t jinx it, please.”
Silvia had opened her mouth to throw an angry retort, but she stopped when she heard the last line. The last thing she would want is to invite misfortune to their already cursed life.
His mother was still worried about him but reluctantly agreed that he was old enough to make his own choices. Xavier was much stronger than he used to be.
Silvia had seen him kill an Infected for the first time, but over the past few months, she had heard much about her son’s strength from other survivors. Pauline and Linsey praised his actions and decisions a lot. They could not stop vividly explaining how her son fought, leaving no monster alive. However, all Silvia could hear from their storytelling was that Xavier jumped into an army of more than 200 Kobolds… alone.
Xavier understood his mother’s worries, but he didn’t change his decisions to appease her. He stayed firm and distributed the remaining Soul Essences to strengthen the Foundation Orb. He knew his mother would come around sooner or later.
Integrate 20 Soul Essences into the Star of Strength.
40/100 → 60/100
Integrate 6 Soul Essences into the Star of Dexterity.
54/100 → 60/100
Integrate 39 Soul Essences into the Star of Perception.
30/100 → 69/100
The integration of so many Soul Essences tingled his brain at this point. He smiled through the discomfort and calculated the total of his Foundation for the first time in a while.
My Foundation is about to reach 500. I’m catching up to the others. I’ll surpass them in a few weeks if I continue like this. Nice!
Xavier’s biggest advantages were the Soul World, World Energy, and a large Deck. He had yet to fill the empty slots in his Card Deck. Even after his Card Deck was filled to the brim, Xavier could replace a bunch of Common Cards with more useful Cards.
Pet Boost was one of the Cards he procured from killing a bunch of Kobolds. It was the first Card that fit into the Class Card Slots.
Pet Boost
Uncommon – 1(0%)
Class Card
Augment
Active
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Requires Energy to be used.
Effect – The Card Holder - Tamer - can strengthen the strongest Foundation of one Companion.
–
Augmentation depends on Card Level and taming bond.
The effect duration increased with the Card Level.
–
Xavier linked Pet Boost to his Card Deck without hesitation. He was curious to learn how effective the Card was, but Glut was still busy in the evolution cocoon. He would have to wait until Glut returned – or until he tamed another monster.
His eyes landed on the Unknown Egg.
“When are you going to hatch?” He grumbled quietly before using Nourish.
Xavier chose to use Nourish on the Unknown Egg whenever he had time and enough World Energy. He was not sure how much Nourish affected the hatching period, but he hoped for the best.
After he had used Nourish a few times, he heard footsteps approaching from outside.
His father had managed to gather a small group of people interested in returning to Logwood and claiming more loot for themselves. They included Leyla, Frankie, and a few more, who were now motivated to find more weapons. They were all impatiently waiting for Xavier outside the home.
But Xavier was busy finding food for Glut. He hopped outside through the window and went on all fours, looking through the wild plants and soil for worms. He only dug a little to see a few earthworms, but that was not what he was after. He thrust his hand deeper into the mud and pulled out his fist, opening it slowly as he brought his palm at eye level.
A handful of small wriggly worms were tiny but extremely high in energy and nutrition. Xavier figured Glut would be hungry when he completed the evolution and would need nutritious food. Feeling happy about his discovery, Xavier opened a small plastic box and stored the worms in it with the aim of giving it to Glut as soon as he broke free of the cocoon.
“He will love my surprise.”
After Xavier found enough treats for Glut, he and the rest of the small group head towards Logwood. After completing one or two trips safely transporting goods and people back to Haven, they gained a pretty good idea of the locality. Hence, even if a few Kobolds sprang out of nowhere and tried to ambush them, the small group could tackle them easily. Leyla was pleased that she got to claim loot for herself after killing a few Kobolds. Though she loved her bow and arrow, she needed a few knives or other weapons for close combat.
Even Xavier’s father was happy to have found the Onyx Blades, and Xavier saw him admiring the blades and the craftsmanship. In addition to that, they also gained Uncommon Card Shards and, in some cases, even Rare Card Shards from Kobolds, which had undergone two evolutions. That was an added perk of killing the Kobolds. However, they did not just focus on collecting treasures. Xavier kept an eye on the surroundings, and he found a few more survivors, two of whom had passed out from fatigue, and their shallow breathing was the only indicator that they were alive.
He was lucky to have found a good grinding spot for his people to level up and gain combat experience.
This time, when he returned, Xavier proudly showed his mom the loot he collected along with the survivors they managed to find. Silvia pursed her lips but did not comment on the fact that her son had returned covered in blood again. After that, he often ventured out to find survivors and kill Kobolds, but his mother knew better than to stop him.
Another week passed as Xavier focused on other tasks while mentally counting down the days until Glut would finish his evolution. Xavier was getting increasingly restless and could not wait to meet Glut again. But since Glut still needed some time, Xavier made it a point to nourish the Unknown Egg, as he knew that the monster inside needed all the nutrition he could offer.
The absence of Glut also made him look forward to meeting his third companion soon, as he did not like fighting alone. It was surprising how much he had gotten used to the little Ember Sparrow always being around him.
He was lost in thoughts about Xavier when he bumped into someone walking ahead.
“Oh, sorry. I wasn’t paying attention…” Xavier began as he looked up at the lean and sickly-looking boy.
“Xavier? Is that really you?” The boy looked at him in astonishment, and Xavier furrowed his eyebrows. He had not paid much attention to the survivors, but now, as he stared at the young man, he felt that he had seen him before.
But for his life, he could not recall the young man’s name.
“Eh…” Xavier began as the young man walked forward and pulled him into a hug, startling him. Xavier was not fond of hugs, but it would be rude to push the young man away, so he stood awkwardly there for a few seconds while the young man pulled back.
“Brat, did you forget me already? It’s me Luka…”
When Xavier still could not recall who he was, Lukas Michael or Luka punched him on the shoulder playfully.
“How can you forget your humiliating defeat when I won the inter-school tennis game?”
Xavier rolled his eyes. “You call that a humiliating defeat? I was sick with fever and still reached finals, you doofus.”
“Only to be defeated by me,” Luka grinned, and Xavier punched him back on the shoulder.
“I saved your ass today, Mr. Tennis champion. So now you better beat the shit out of some Kobolds with that tennis racket of yours.”
They both laughed and chatted some more as the group began walking home.
They had not been the best of buddies, but given the increasing death toll all around them, Xavier would be happy to find anyone familiar alive, even his history teacher.
He did find some survivors, but the number was much lower than he had been hoping for. With new survivors in the camp, space was slowly running out, and they had to expand more. They had more mouths to feed and more needs to fulfill.
Despite their struggles to feed everyone and create housing for all survivors, some semblance of normality returned to the settlement. The number of casualties plummeted to zero with the addition of more fighters, and there were hardly any severe injuries. Even if some fighters sustained heavy injuries, Linsey and the other healers tended their wounds with their Healing Cards.
After a long time, everyone grew happier and felt proud of themselves for having achieved so much. They felt like they could overcome the ordeals of the new world as long as the survivors stayed together.
United, they could achieve everything.