So we're back to that.

The entire cabin went quiet at the mage's words. At the moment, only the bunny made any sort of movement—the innocent-looking killer hopping about, totally uninterested in the discussion that was currently ongoing.

Luckily, the bunny wasn't the target audience, so no one really paid attention to its antics. Everybody was waiting for the next words of whoever would speak between Nathan and Ciara. Eventually, it was none other than the rogue who broke the brief spell of silence.

"Are you sure?" Pirlo asked Ciara.

The question caused him to look at the squad leader, and suddenly she wasn't the stoic, emotionless robot she'd been acting like. He could clearly see her biting her lower lip as she probably thought her words through. Nathan, on the other hand, was patient—he wasn't desperate for anyone to join his faction, and whether they wanted to or not, he wouldn't do anything to influence their decision.

"Yes," Ciara said. "He checks out. Plus, if we're going to go against a camp of Miners, then we're definitely going to need all the boosts we can get."

So I'm just being used as a boost... nice.

While Nathan could've walked away from the conversation after hearing those words, he stayed put mainly because of the rangers and the priestess. They wouldn't survive without him. Maybe Pirlo, Ruben, and Ciara would be able to hold off the potential attack on their own for a while; perhaps they'd even escape and survive for a couple of days before they'd be hunted down and killed.

Even he didn't think he'd be able to handle the entire mine camp on his own without help, and so he begrudgingly accepted that the best course of action for all parties involved was to remain together. Ciara was certainly onto something with making their alliance official by involving the system.

"Okay, so what's the procedure?" Nathan said after a moment had passed.

"Wait a minute, Ciara, you might want to rethink this," Tasha said, the ranger clearly panicking.

"There's nothing left to think about—he's passed the test," Ciara said. "Besides, we're out of options, and none of you have to join me as I swear fealty to him and join his faction."

Fealty... I know that word.

Nathan racked his brain for the definition of the word. He wasn't really that proficient in English, but he'd heard the word once or twice—he'd just need a moment to parse through his memories. The grim tone of the mage made him realize that she was about to make a life-altering decision.

It can't be.

The puzzle suddenly started to fall into place for Nathan: why the squad had been reluctant to let him in on the way to set up a faction and why they were alarmed by Ciara's words. The mage was thinking about swearing fealty to him.

"But that'll bind you to him! You'll be his faction member and will suffer severe debuffs from the system if you try to leave without his permission," Diane said quietly. "Would you rather live like that?"

Nathan turned to look at the mage. The words by the priestess had a heavy weight to them, one that he himself didn't want to impose on the mage. So he kept quiet and just watched, eager to find out her response to the question thrown at her.

"Nate is a good guy. I trust that he won't abuse his power as Lord. Besides, he passed the cold shoulder test with flying colors, so yes, I'm sure," Ciara answered. "Now I am going to ask the rest of you: would you rather die because you don't want to take a chance joining his faction?"

"You don't have to ask me anything. Nate's a bro, so where do I sign?" Ruben said with a grin.

"I can't believe I am saying this, but I'm with Ruben on this one," Pirlo said hesitantly.

"Screw this, I'm staying independent," Daniel said.

Ciara simply nodded at the ranger's decision before turning to look at the others who still hadn't picked a side: Diane, Tasha, and Yola. The quiet ranger seemed to be staring at the bunny intently as the rest of them conversed, but Nathan knew that she'd heard every word they'd spoken.

"I'll join too if it means I'll survive," Yola said quietly.

"I really, really hate you guys. I'm in," Tasha said begrudgingly.

And then there was one.

Nathan looked at the remaining member who'd yet to pick a side: Diane. The priestess was the lowest in level when compared to the rest of the squad, and Nathan pretty much thought it was nailed on that she'd join his faction.

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"I'll stay independent," Diane said guiltily.

A part of him could understand why the priestess would feel guilty for choosing to be independent. After all, she'd had to rely on the others for protection in every dungeon run and even outside of dungeons too, but Nathan wouldn't judge. If his assumptions of the matter were accurate, then it really was a personal decision, and the priestess wasn't to be pressured on what to do with her life—literally.

"Aye, no biggie, Diane," Ruben said. "It's totally your call, and we respect it."

The berserker was the last person that he'd expected to speak up at the moment, and apparently so had everyone else, as they all looked at the blabbermouth of a teen with varying degrees of surprise. Diane's was expected, as Ruben had been the one protecting her from the get-go of the apocalypse, and his quick approval had surprised her but at the same time had relieved her too.

"Okay, Nathan, are you ready to become a real lord?" Pirlo asked.

The look in the rogue's eyes was something that was pretty surprising, and to be honest, Nathan wouldn't ever have thought he'd see it in the teen's eyes: uncertainty. It seemed more like he was asking for his own sake than Nathan's, as though he was somehow hoping that Nathan would call off the whole thing and they'd no longer have to go on with this entire charade they had going on.

"Yep, what do I have to do?" Nathan asked for the second time.

"Nothing but accept our fealty."

"Alright."

Well, that sounded off, but he wasn't going to comment on it. The entire group seemed to steal glances with each other, everyone hoping that someone else would come up with a good reason why they all shouldn't continue on with this madness. The mage was the first to look at him, eyes shining with determination.

Her eyes seemed to gloss over, which probably meant that the mage was interacting with the system—an intuition that was proven true when he received a notification.

[Ciara Rone wishes to swear fealty to you as the Faction Leader of the Blood Army. Accepting her pledge would mean that she will join your faction. Do you accept?]

Nathan gazed at the screen, going through the information twice before actually thinking about the words on the screen. Apparently, Ciara was going to join the ranks of his faction if he chose to accept her fealty. The whole thing had been done wordlessly too, which was something that he'd have to think about later.

Yes, I accept her fealty.

[Ciara Rone successfully added to Blood Army.]

And so the rest continued—notification upon notification of the squad members who wished to join his faction, Blood Army. It took about three minutes to finish the whole process, and when Nathan was done, he felt like his brain had run a marathon, like he hadn't slept in ages, and like he'd been solving calculus for an hour straight.

Both the priestess and the tall ranger—Daniel—had chosen to stick to their earlier decision of being independent even though everyone else had chosen to join Blood Army. He wasn't bothered by the decision at all, and to be honest, he was glad that it wasn't a case of everyone simply following the crowd. Everyone who'd joined his faction had done so of their own volition. Sure, there'd been a little bit of cajoling by Ciara, but the mage hadn't twisted their arms until they'd agreed to join. No, each and every person in the Blood Army had made that decision by themselves.

For the most part, Ruben looked to be thrilled with his decision, purely judging by the way the teen had been trying to blab everybody's ears off with the fact that he was part of Nathan's faction. Which was honestly kind of nice from the berserker, if Nathan was being honest with himself.

Ciara looked relieved, and a part of Nathan thought it was because she'd finally had the weight of leadership removed from her shoulders—that weight now rested on Nathan's shoulders. Their lives were now his responsibility, officially. He'd be the one to lead and guide them to the new era of Blood Rock, and when he said them, he also included Daniel and Diane. He'd protect them too until they decided to really be independent and leave Blood Rock for good. Till then, the pair were still his responsibility.

Pirlo was quiet as ever, the rogue's demeanor spoke of a single-minded focus, and Nathan could in many ways relate to that. Despite the weird relationship he shared with the rogue, he was pretty glad that he'd have someone as ruthless and savage as Pirlo on his side. Besides, his loyalty to Ciara also made Nathan think more highly of the rogue now that they were officially on the same team.

Tasha and Yola had both returned to playing with the bunny. The Neran Rabbit didn't seem to mind—in fact, from what Nathan had understood from what he'd been seeing the rabbit do all these days, he could tell that the damned thing liked all the attention, and more than that, it seemed to have bonded with the quiet ranger—Yola.

"And boom, the newest members of... wait, what's the name of your faction again?" Ruben asked sheepishly.

"Blood Army."

"This calls for some champagne, or fruits in your case, Nate," Ruben said with a wink.

Nathan chuckled at the words of the berserker, no doubt the teen was trying to lighten up the mood and make the best of the serious decision that they'd all made. With a grin on his face, he pulled out a couple of fruits from his bag of holding, tossing them out to everyone in the cabin, including the bunny. He was just about to bite into his fruit when a system notification popped up on his screen.

[Congratulations Blood Army Faction Leader Nathan Orion, you have received one new skill for successfully getting followers for your faction.

Stronger Together (passive): All members of your faction shall receive a 10% boost to all stats provided that they are within 100m of you.

To upgrade your faction skills or buy new ones, visit a merchant.]

Holy mollly.

"Are you guys seeing this?" Nathan asked.

"Seeing what?" Ruben replied.

"This 10% boost to all members. Heck, I wish I was a member," Nathan said in disbelief.

His words caused chuckles to ripple across the crowd. Nathan didn't know why they were laughing at his words—a 10% boost was at least like a temporary three-level boost for all members of the faction, considering it was two points per new level.

"We already knew that from the tutorial," Ciara said. "All new lords are given that skill by the system when they get their first member of their faction. It's simply the norm."

Of course, missing the freaking tutorial still left its mark, but Nathan shook his head to the side. They'd attended the tutorial, and that was all fine and good, but at the end of the day, he was the one with a stronghold, a faction, and the cherry on top was that he was stronger than every single one of them.

"What next?" Pirlo asked, the rogue eager to move the conversation along.

"Now, we discuss tactics for tomorrow," Ciara said, looking up to Nathan.