I wake up finding myself on my cool smooth wooden floor kneeling in front of Dave’s bed. ‘I guess it’s not his bed anymore, huh.’ I start blinking and feel grief rush through me. ‘NO!’ I clench my fists, my knuckles turn white. ‘No more crying.’ My nails bite into the palm of my hand. ‘The time of mourning has passed.’ Skin breaks and blood flows. ‘He gave his life fighting for me and I will not tarnish his memory by wallowing in self pity.’ Drip drop the blood flows. ‘I will fight, not for myself but for Dave and for Bill.’ Slowly I unclench my fist. ‘I’ll grow strong for them and for Charlie.’ I place my hands on my legs and push up to a standing position. ‘I’ll do it for them.’ I look down at the blood flowing from my palm. I stare at the crimson liquid entranced by it. I shake my head. ‘I need to go bandage this up.’

I look around my room. ‘Where is it?’ I search the floor and my bed but I can’t find it. ‘Come to think of it where are my helmet and rifle?’ Then it comes to me. ‘I must have dropped it during the fight and since I was knocked unconscious afterwards I didn’t have the chance to grab it and Charlie probably didn’t have the chance either. Fuck.’ I sit on my bed and close my eyes. ‘Well whatever I have enough points and 2 D ranked rewards so it won’t be a problem to replace my backpack and weapon.’ I look down at the destroyed section of my armor and my scarred elbow, the skin was a dull red and had bubbled up. Although I felt no pain and could move it perfectly fine. ‘The system does truly wonderful work, but I’ll probably need new armor.’

I lay on my bed with my eyes closed for a couple minutes before I slowly rise up and walk towards my door. I open it up and the bright white of the floor, walls, and door comes into view along with Charlie who is sitting on the steps up to the ball of light. Charlie waves at me once he sees my door open. I wave back and walk towards him. It doesn't take me more than a couple seconds to reach him. He stands up as I arrive at the steps.

“Morning Josh.” He says with a friendly smile on his face.

“Morning Charlie.” I greet with a small smile.

“How are you feel?” He asks with still smiling.

“I’m feeling pretty good besides for a sore back.” I place my hand on my back and lean back. “But I guess sleeping on the floor does that to you.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

He looks at me with concern. “Are you really ok Josh?” He places a hand on my shoulder.

I look back at him and stop smiling. “Thanks for the concern Charlie but I’m really ok.”

He looks me in the eyes. “It wasn’t your fault, what happened to Dave. He just got unlucky. That xenomorph could’ve gone for any of us so don’t blame yourself.”

My eyes start to tear up again. “I know Charlie, I know.” I drop my head and look at the floor. After a couple minutes I raise my head and smile. “Thanks Charlie. Even though I had told myself to stay strong I just couldn’t hold it in.”

He smiles back. “No problem Josh. Afterall we are teammates, aren’t we.” Then he lets go of my shoulder and turns towards the the light. “Let’s go, we have a lot of options now that we have so many points so we to start looking.” He starts to walk towards the light but I stop him.

“Charlie, I want you to have this.” I send a mental command to the system. ‘System transfer 1 D ranked reward to Charlie.’ ‘Confirmed, transfering 1 D rank reward to Subject .Charlie’. Warning one can only transfer once per resting period would you like to proceed with the transfer?’ ‘Yes I would like to proceed.’ ‘Confirmed.’

A look of shock appears on Charlie’s face. He looks at me and opens his mouth to say something but I quickly shake my head. He raises an eyebrow. “Why are you giving me this?”

“Because I don’t want you to die and I need someone to watch my back.” I answer.

Charlie looks at me then looks at his watch, after a few minutes he sighs. “I guess I have no choice but to take it.” He turns back around and walks towards the light, this time uninterrupted. When he reaches the platform he looks over his shoulder and beckons me. I walk up to the top of the stairs and stand on the platform next to him.

“So what do you need?” I ask him.

“Well.” He rubs the back of his neck. “I was wondering if you had any suggestions for me.”

“Hmm.” I cup my chin and look down at the floor. After awhile I look back up. “Currently you are a very tech focused mid ranged fighter, you have a decent set of armor and a decent weapon so maybe an enhancement to give you better reflexes or an enhancement to increase your survivability. You could also get something a support item of some sort to help you. Like an upgrade for your helmet or something to help with targeting or something.”

“Maybe.” He responds. After a couple more minutes I connect to the system and browse. After a bit of searching inspiration hits me.

“I got it.” I say interrupting the silence that had inadvertently fallen over us. “You can get chakra and at a later date a dojutsu but in the short term genin level chakra will have to do and for a support item a Tau Markerlight drone along with the drone controller and a universal tech converter to interface the Tau tech and your ODST armor.”

“I didn’t understand most of what you said but ok.” Charlie says with a grin. I laugh.

“Ok Charlie.” I say.