Yawning, Claire lazily opened her eyes. As she stared at the ceiling, she thought, "I wonder if this is how my parents feel when they wake up?"

Laying on her back, the thought of her current living situation moved to the front of her thoughts.

"In order for me to stay in this place, I'll need to earn Guild Points. I'm able to stay here as a free service, but it's not a permanent thing." She mumbled to herself.

Raising an arm as though reaching for the ceiling, Claire slowly closed her hand into a fist. Slowly opening her hand, the sensation was slightly different and reminded her of when she ate the meat stick.

Claire's eyes stared at the back of her hand, as though it was something never seen before.

"It's likely due to my higher Absorption Rate that I can even feel a change. This just proves that I need to work hard to reach the upper floors where the energy is denser." Claire said to herself.

Placing her hand on her forehead, she enjoyed the peaceful moment.

"Compared to the Fort, this place feels a lot more peaceful." Claire closed her eyes. "It's probably because of the fact that I don't need to worry about those things getting inside of this shelter." A small smile formed on her face.

After spending several moments just enjoying the morning, her eyes looked at the window inside of the room. From where she was laying, she could see the luscious leaves on several branches swaying in the wind as sunlight spilled into the room.

Feeling the sunlight on her skin made the moment even more pleasurable.

"Even if its a simulation, I'm grateful for it," Claire giggled happily at the feelings bubbling out. Though the shelter was underground, the windows that Star and Moon had placed throughout the shelter didn't give the sensation of being isolated from the world. "With how real it all looks, it's easy to forget that outside the shelter is just dirt."

Slowly getting up from the bed, Claire rubbed her face and the sliver of sleepiness remaining.

As her feet touched the floor, the feeling of warmth was enjoyable.

Standing, Claire made her way towards the walk-in closet. Her eyes looked at the various clothing hung up. There were even conveniently placed areas for her to store her equipment. Currently, her rifle and gun were mounted on the rack. Both of them shined from her cleaning them before heading to sleep.

"I'm thankful that Darlina walked me through how to take apart both of them so I could clean and maintain them," She was grateful for how the shelter seemed to be designed to instill a sense of independence. The robot even walked her through how to take care of her armor in addition to her weapons.

Taking off her shirt, Claire casually threw it into a bin marked for dirty clothes. Moving onto her sleeping shorts, all that was on her was her panties, which soon joined the rest of the dirty clothes in the bin.

Going over to one of the drawers, it was opened to reveal several panties. Choosing a bright pink pair, she smoothly inserted her legs into them and put the item on. Pulling open another drawer revealed what appeared to be bras, though they were meant to be worn when being active.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I think Darlina called them sports bras?" Claire grabbed one of them that matched her panties.

Though it was a strange sensation, she enjoyed how it kept her breasts contained, which would be helpful when hunting down monsters.

"It's strange thinking about how if things didn't turn out the way they did, I'd be thinking about what college I'd be attending in the near future. When choosing my clothes, my choices would be related to how I thought he'd think of them. But now, I'm thinking about whether the clothes I wear will affect hunting down monsters." Claire shook her head at the silly thought.

Though she laughed, it still didn't wash away all the feelings of what she'd lost when civilization collapsed that night.

Using both hands to slap her cheeks, she voiced, "Claire, you need to cheer up and not dwell on the past. Focus on what you're able to do now and not things you had no control over!"

Putting on the sports bra, Claire casually moved over to begin the process of putting on her armor and the clothes that went with it.

"For armor, this is surprisingly easy to put on. I'd expect it to be more involved, but they really did a great job." Claire slowly put her arms into the armor she'd received during the training simulation. "I'll need to save up to upgrade this unless we're able to figure out how to create our own before."

Securing the armor, she casually moved about to make sure her movements weren't restrained.

"I'll need to make sure to keep movement in mind when designing our armor," Claire said to herself. "I wonder if we can design it to be superior to what's sold inside of the store. We'll need to make sure to swing by and see what they have to offer and the prices of the items." She reminded herself and looked forward to discussing it with Hannah.

Thinking about the business they'd be making with both of their families, it made her feel excited. It made her think of other entrepreneurs who had to start from nothing and develop into a successful company. Since they were going to be entering into something similar to clothing, Claire was reminded of the various name brand clothing stores at the mall.

"The difference is girls similar or older won't be shopping happily at a mall as they hung out with their friend, chatting about a crush they hoped would invite them to the next school dance." She laughed at the thought.

After all the armor had been put on, and her boots were strapped on, Claire put the two weapons into their proper holsters on her body.

Testing out how much energy her body absorbed, she quickly drew her pistol on her hip. Claire imagined that a deadly monster was in front of her. The time it took to pull out and aim at the imaginary monster was only slightly shorter compared to when she was fighting in the simulation the previous day with Hannah.

"The fact that I improved is all that matters," Claire holstered the pistol.

Ready, it didn't take her long to head out of the rented room. Walking out the door and listening as it slid shut behind her, she made her way towards the stairs.

"I wonder if I'll be showing up early in the lobby or if Hannah has woken up earlier than me," She thought to herself. "Maybe I should've called before leaving to check if she had left."

Waving the thought away, she reached the stairs and made her way down.

Even though it was relatively early, there were already the sounds of adventurers laughing and chatting with one another on the lower floors. With how the sound bounced off the metal walls, she could hear how several of them were planning on taking jobs inside of the simulation and their thoughts about the food in the dining area of the Guild.

"Maybe I should grab something to eat?" Claire thought to herself. "Even if I'm not super hungry, getting some energy wouldn't hurt. Hopefully, Hannah isn't waiting for me for too long."

Going past the first level of the residential area, she kept going, not stopping by the higher-level dining area. Claire looked out of curiosity and saw that no one was eating at the upper-level. It was the same on the next floor until she reached the first level.

With how early it was since people had access to the Guild, none of the adventurers had increased their levels high enough to enjoy the food with denser amounts of energy. Thinking about the painful ordeal, a part of her wouldn't mind the pain if it meant that she'd be able to get stronger.

As she gripped her hand, Clarie felt a decent amount of power.

"Though, I'm nowhere near the level to take on Abby, Tommy, or Chelsea," She reflected.

Thinking about her MP friend, Claire wondered what Chelsea was up to as she walked into the dining area where many of the adventurers were enjoying their breakfast.

"Claire?" A woman's voice called out, sounding surprised.