“Ok, that’s the last one.” Adam said as he stood and then stretched his back.
Drew had ferried bricks, metal, and firewood to his son for hours. While the fireplace downstairs heated the living room, no one wanted to sleep on the bloodstained carpet if they could help it. The allure of having your own place within the lodge was strong, and no one wanted to share a room.
Unfortunately, this meant that Drew, Matt, and Adam needed to work late into the night to create fireplaces which would heat each of the rooms. Now, however, they were finally done.
Drew rested his hand on his son’s shoulder and said, “Thanks Adam, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Adam nodded in absent response, already preoccupied by his next project.
Ok, time to see if I can upgrade my core again.
Drew paced down the hall to the last room on the right, as far from the others as possible. There was no fireplace in this room, but he did not need one. He would not be sleeping overnight, and if he wanted warmth, he would create it himself.
After all, the cost to heat the air within a couple of feet of his body was only a tenth of what it normally would be. He could heat the area around himself non-stop for weeks and never run out of chi.
Drew reached into his pocket, and withdrew a marble sized beast core. He pinched the core between his fingers and admired the dim glow. The core was what Matt called Tier 1, as it came from an unevolved beast.
Without any further delay, he focused on dissolving the crystal into chi. The beast core disappeared and was replaced by a cloud of energy. Drew immediately latched onto that energy and began to funnel it toward his tier 3 core.
It was promptly rejected.
Drew sighed.
Figures.
After his next few attempts were unsuccessful, he tried to utilize the energy to permanently enhance his body. Unfortunately, the lower quality chi was soundly repelled from his body as well. The cloud of dispersed energy continued to slowly evaporate. With a sigh, Drew stared off into the distance as he tried to decipher the mechanics of increasing his power.
The low level beast cores might not be pure enough to use anymore. Maybe I need a tier 2 again. Although… this might be as far as I can go, my core never shrank and it can’t grow any larger.
“Hi…” Stated a shy voice to his right.
Drew was surprised by the sudden interruption of his thoughts and flinched in sudden fright. When he turned his head, he saw Megan inside his room looking nervous.
He chuckled at his reaction. “You startled me.”
After she remained silent for another moment, he asked, “Is there something you need?”
“I… wanted to thank you for saving me again.” She swallowed and then added, “If there’s any way I can repay you for all you’ve done…”
I supposed Jess is right, I need to shut this down.
Drew held his hand up to forestall any further embarrassment. “Look Megan, I’m flattered by the attention, but I’m not interested in a relationship.”
Her eyes grew wide in shock.
“Also, you’re less than half my age. Hell, my son is older than you are.” he added.
As he continued to speak, Megan’s shock slowly turned into anger. “Oh… My… God…” she spat. “I wasn’t flirting with you, I was thanking you. I can’t believe you thought I wanted… that… Eww!!!” she exclaimed in disgust. With a whirl, she strode out of the room.
Did I interpret that wrong? Was Jess wrong as well? Whatever, mission accomplished.
Drew realized he did not actually care if he misunderstood her intentions or not. He had far more important things to focus on.
Well, if I can’t grow my core, maybe I can upgrade my body again?
Before they left the old apartment complex, Drew spent an entire night increasing his strength and fortitude. By the end of the night, he began to see diminishing returns, and had abandoned the activity. Now, however, he was curious if he had further room to grow.
Before he began, he checked his chi levels. For hours, he had maintained a gravity spell on himself to lower his weight and he wanted to see how much had been used by the continued spell.
Wow, still over ninety percent! This domain thing is awesome!
Now satisfied that his core was not empty, he began to send chi to his muscular system. The process seemed to take forever to get started, but there was barely any drain on his core.
Drew smiled as he could feel mass slowly being added to his body.
----------------------------------------
When he opened his eyes, light flooded into the room through the window to his left. He had been stationary throughout the night as he enhanced his body, and had only stopped because he would soon run out of chi.
Time for some breakfast and a recharge.
Drew stretched his arms above him and then headed downstairs. He checked his core and estimated that he had just enough chi left to keep up his gravity spell for another hour.
Plenty of time to eat.
When he turned into the kitchen, he saw Malcolm browsing through the cabinets. The older man counted under his breath and then appeared to write down the inventory of their supplies on a spiral notebook.
“Good morning.” Drew greeted the veteran.
“Mornin’.”
“So, what’s there to eat? I’m famished.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Malcolm grimaced. “There’s not much here. It’s mostly raw ingredients, which require things we don’t have like milk and eggs. I think we can cobble some breakfast together for everyone, but we’re going to need to get our supplies out of the truck soon.”
“That’s the plan.” Drew agreed. “Just need to wait until the snow melts first.”
“What’s the plan for if it doesn’t melt today, or even this week?” Malcolm responded seriously. “I know you are the type to fly by the seat of their pants, but we can’t just rely on luck or chance for our survival. If we don’t get serious, we’ll all end up with pine overcoats.” When he saw the confusion on Drew’s face, he translated, “In coffins.”
“You’re right. We need to have a meeting with everyone and discuss our goals and responsibilities.”
“It’s a good start.” Malcolm nodded. “I’ll go round everyone up.”
“Thanks.”
Drew reached into the pantry Maclolm just inventoried and retrieved a container full of oatmeal. When he turned around, he saw the older man was still in the room. Malcolm hesitated as if unsure of something, however, the moment he looked into Drew's curious eyes, his indecision was gone.
“A word of advice?”
Drew nodded when Malcolm paused for a response.
“I’ve only known you for a few days now. However, in that time, I’ve noticed that while you are decisive when there’s danger, you tend to let people walk all over you otherwise.”
He immediately became defensive. “No one voted for me to be in charge. Besides, if I tried to order my son around, he’d laugh in my face. Years of resentment haven't been the best for our relationship.”
“If you’re reluctant to take charge because it isn’t official, perhaps that should be the first order of business.” Malcolm informed him and then left the room.
Should I be in charge? Sure, I’m the strongest here, but might doesn’t make right. Or at least, it shouldn’t.
Drew continued his introspection as he began to make himself breakfast. He located a bowl and then poured oats and water into it. After he sat down at the large table, he heated his breakfast with chi and stirred it. By the time his breakfast was ready to eat, he came to a decision.
“That smells good.” Gloria said as she entered the room, interrupting his thoughts.
“Yeah, I used to have oatmeal every morning before work. Too bad we don’t have any milk or fruit.”
Matt entered the room with a wrinkled nose and a grimace on his face. “What is that?” he asked as he peered into the bowl.
“You’ve never had oatmeal before?” Drew asked in disbelief.
“No way fam, I’m not a cow.” Matt said as he dug through his jacket pockets and produced an already opened bag of Reese’s Pieces.
Drew shook his head.
After another ten minutes of smalltalk, Daisy quietly joined everyone at the table.
“How’s Jimmy?” Drew asked.
She replied in a monotone voice, devoid of emotion. “He still hasn’t woken up.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Hopefully Jess can find a way to heal him like she did Lucas.”
Daisy nodded.
Ok, time to get this over with.
“I want to thank everyone for meeting down here. We have quite a few decisions to be made and things to discuss. I think the first thing we need to vote on is who will be in charge.”
Adam snorted. “Let me guess, it should be you, right?”
Drew opened his mouth to respond when Malcolm raised his hand. “I motion that Drew is the best choice to lead this group. He is willing to listen to council even though he is powerful enough to do what he wants. He is also decisive, almost to a fault. I don’t think you realize how uncommon that is in a leader. Most will waffle back and forth until an underling solves a problem. Afterwards, they swoop in to take credit or shift the blame.”
When Malcolm finished his pitch, Matt spoke up, “You all know he has my vote.”
“I’m fine with Drew in charge as well.” Carol added. After she gave him her support, the room became silent.
Finally, after no one else was willing to speak up, Adam said, “Why do we need anyone to be in charge? Why can’t we just vote on everything? America is a Democracy, I think it should stay that way.”
Malcolm cleared his voice. “Actually, America was a Republic, not a democracy. We also didn’t decide who our president was, the electoral college did.”
“Oohh the burn…” Matt said gleefully.
The old man ignored Matt’s interruption and continued. “In a time of extreme danger such as this, we need a single leader to make quick decisions. We don’t have the luxury of long debates. All those in favor of Drew as our leader, raise their hands.”
One by one, hands rose around the table. First was Matt, Malcolm, and Carol. Next, Gloria raised her hand. When Jess saw her mother throw her support toward Drew, she also lifted her hand.
To Drew’s surprise, Dave and Daisy also gave him their support. At the end, only Adam and Megan withheld their support.
I guess I really pissed her off.
“The final vote is eight to two. Congratulations Drew, it’s now official.”
“Thanks everyone. I’m not a politician, so I won’t give a speech. Before we move on to goals and projects, I’d like everyone to briefly explain what powers they’ve gained and how they believe they can best contribute.”
“I’ll go first.” Drew began. “I now have what Matt calls a tier 3 core and know quite a few spells. The biggest is probably my body enhancement. No one seems to have been able to replicate that so far.” Drew looked over to Carol. “Unless, you were successful?”
She shook her head.
“Most of you have seen me fight, so I won’t go into further detail. I think it’s pretty obvious that I can best contribute by going out and making the city safe by killing monsters and finding other survivors.”
After he finished, he turned to Gloria, seated next to him.
She cleared her throat. To those that don’t know me, I’m Jess’ mother Gloria. I’ve got a tier 1 core I suppose?” She looked to Drew for confirmation. When he nodded, she continued. “I’ve been trying to cast some of the spells that Matt and Jess suggested, but they don’t seem to work for me. From my own experimentation however, I’ve been able to figure out how to electrocute things.”
“Woah!” Matt exclaimed. “You throw lightning bolts?”
She shook her head. “I don’t really throw them. I build up a charge with the magic stuff in my core, and then connect to whatever I want to shock. After that, the electricity discharges into my target. I don’t know how well it works on the monsters yet as I’ve yet to test it out. If it works, I think I might be able to help defend us.”
“That’s pretty dank.” Matt praised her. He then turned to glance around the table. “I’ve got a tier 2 core, and I’m a mage. I throw spells around and kill stuff. My job is DPS.”
Next came Adam. “I guess I’m still tier 1, and I build things with magic. I can best contribute by building things.”
Jess spoke up. “I’m tier 1 as well and I can heal other people. I haven’t been able to fight with magic, so I believe my place is to stay here and take care of the injured.”
Carol said, “Tier 1, and I focus mostly on stealth. I can form a blade like Drew does, but right now, I can’t maintain it and stay invisible at the same time. I also run out of mojo fast if I keep everything going.”
“Chi.” Matt corrected her.
Carol continued without acknowledging his correction, “Luckily, Adam made me a couple of swords that work pretty well. I can best contribute by scouting places out and scavenging for supplies.”
Malcolm cleared his throat. “I have a tier 1 core and have some ideas of how I can be useful in a fight. However, I want to keep them close to my chest until they are fully tested. Eventually, I would like to go out and save others. Until that happens, I believe supply officer is the best fit.”
“I’m Megan and have a tier 1 core thingy. I found out I can scream pretty loud if I add that magic stuff to it.”
“Chi!” Matt insisted again.
“Whatever.” she rolled her eyes.
“How do you think you can best contribute?” Drew asked her.
She shrugged.
“We’ll, think on it or I’ll have to pick for you.”
Daisy had been mostly despondent all meeting, so her husband decided to speak up for both of them. “I’m Dave, and this is my wife Daisy. We both have tier 1 cores, but so far we haven’t been able to do anything with them. I don’t think magic is for us. As far as contribution, I believe we can help Adam out around here and also help take care of the place.”
“You know, if you can’t seem to learn magic, you can instead use the beast cores to upgrade your body. They can make you stronger and younger.” Drew pointed out.
Dave nodded. “That’s probably for the best.”
“Ok, now that that’s over, I want to move on to our projects and goals.”