Ferdinand, 'Freddy' as his friends call him, was lucky. Very lucky.
That didn't mean though, that he had an easy life where he got everything for free. Luck, as far as he knew, was mostly about getting opportunities. And him being lucky merely meant that he had more than most people. Taking advantage of those opportunities, however, was left to himself.
And lately, he had come to the realization that his abilities weren't any longer up to the challenge. Ever since the earthquake, since the world suddenly changed, did he run into opportunities only to be unable to take advantage of them.
At first, he had thought that it was solely because of Victoria. As much as he enjoyed running into her, or jumping to be more precise, he couldn't help but blame her. He didn't think that she even realized it, but just her mere presence seemed to make him unable to take advantage of situations.
But still, on the same day, he came to realize the true problem. While it was true that Victoria had an especially large effect, she wasn't the only one. It was something he quickly started to notice all around him. People having opportunities, only for something to get in the way. Almost as if some powerful entity was guiding events in a certain direction. If he was being honest, it was quite a frustrating sight.
It was only when they fought the gigantic squirrel, something he might have laughed about if he hadn't been involved, did he realize the truth. In this world, if he wanted to be able to take advantage of opportunities, he had to be strong. And inhumanly so.
Actually, that was something he already was. As someone who had the luck to start with a Tier two Class, he already had 25 Stat points in every stat.
No, mere Stats wouldn't be enough, or he would get thrown around by fate, he knew no better way to call it, like everyone else.
He would also need to accumulate Skills and the determination to deal with and overcome whatever fate threw at him to try and deny him his opportunities.
But for that, he would need time. But time, he didn't have.
Nervously, he looked to the podium in front of the crowd. The same podium that Commander Klein used two days prior for her little speech.
And he wasn't the only one. After all, who wouldn't be nervous, knowing that they would have to fight hordes of monsters soon enough. Monsters that had cost them already a number of lives. Back then, many people hadn't returned, and even more had returned heavily injured. So many, in fact, that the crowd was noticeably smaller.
As he watched, his spear leaning on his shoulder, the Commander finally stepped up on the podium.
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As she stood in the crowd, Lucy's thoughts were in turmoil. She was scared, very scared in fact. Her overimaginative mind making things only worse. But she was also happy, excited at the fact that she didn't have to feel so alone anymore, trapped by her own mind, now that she had learned to share it.
Before the wave, she had to rely on drawing pictures and writing stories if she wanted to share with others what she was going through and take pills to suppress the thoughts if she couldn't bear them anymore.
But now, since she unlocked her Psy two days ago and trained together with Victoria, she had learned how to share her thoughts. Not indirectly through texts and pictures, but in completely pure form.
Where she had once thought of her mind as sick, a hindrance at best. Now, it had become her greatest strength.
Well, she was feeling a bit conflicted about the fact that she was paralyzing living beings by forcing her greatest fears onto them.
And all of that, she had to thank two people for.
It had been Grandma Meg who she had talked to after she had woken up. Sure, the old lady had done a terrible job at playing psychotherapist, even reprimanding her that she shouldn't think about 'stupid stuff' at such a young age, but she also had that ability unique to grandmothers that made you able to talk to them about everything. And sometimes, just that was already enough.
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The other person was Victoria. It had been her who had talked Lucy into training her Psy, something she had been scared of initially. And not only that, but she had also served as her practice target as they figured out together how Lucy send her thoughts at only a single target and even regulate the intensity.
Sure, they had used mostly happy thoughts for the training. But in the end, she had made the other girl experience two of her most memorable and worst panic attacks.
Actually, it was solely this ability that allowed her to stand here right now. If she had to fight the monsters physically, she could have ditched the fight. She would have been allowed to do that on account of being a danger to others should she have another panic attack.
But if she didn't have to get up close and personal with the creatures, she had the confidence to persevere. And now, she even had the ability to paralyze them for a good amount of time, giving others an opportunity to finish them off or save an injured person.
Well, truth be told, she was acting a lot more confident than she actually was. The main reason she could see things so positively was a good dose of self-hypnosis, a technique she had stumbled upon by accident.
And while she knew that she could very well end up abusing it, she also knew that it was necessary. The world had changed, and not in a good way. She would have to fight to survive, and she had decided to do whatever she had to, even if that involved messing with her own head.
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Daniel was nervous. It was still early in the morning, but every person capable of fighting had gathered in front of the fort. It was less than he had hoped for.
Barely one 150 fighters were left of the almost 250 people that stood in this very place two days ago. Many had died. Many more were injured. And some had run away, trying to find their way to a different city. It was pointless however, the wave would follow them. If that were a viable method, they would have taken the entire city and evacuated.
It was for that very reason that Daniel had worked hard over the last week, doing whatever he could to prepare for the wave without making Mother Earth unhappy.
What had been 120 meters of palisade previously, had become surrounded by an earthen mound, three meters high and twenty meters away from the wall, just in case that nothing would be able to use it to jump the palisade. Well, aside from the boss maybe, but if that one reached that far, it was already game over.
But that wasn't all. Daniel had done everything he could think of to prepare for the Wave so that he could concentrate all his strength on the boss when the time came.
So, the mound was also surrounded by a three meters deep and six meters wide trench that he had sadly been unable to flood.
In addition, the entire fortification was covered in wooden stakes and barricades, rammed into the ground at an angle facing anything approaching them from the outside.
Even just yesterday, he had done a last sweep of the area, hopefully taking out any and all monsters that weren't freshly spawned. When he increased the radius of his search area, he even found some ghosts and magical beasts that had wandered into this area after he weakened the monsters so much.
It was a good thing he found them. Had those demons gotten dragged into the Wave, they would have caused countless casualties before someone appeared who could deal with them. Most people would have been completely helpless before a ghost's Psy-based attacks or magical beast's strange abilities.
They truly were lucky that the enemies in the area were monsters who had only their physical abilities going for them. Out of the six types of demons, they were definitely the easiest to understand for new arrivals, even if they weren't the weakest.
Well, weak or strong always depended on the circumstances in regards to demons.
But despite all of his preparation, Daniel couldn't help but be nervous as he stood in front of the crowd. Hell, he was nervous despite having talked himself out of holding a motivational speech.
He couldn't help it. No matter how long he had trained inside the dungeon, he had only learned how to kill demons, but not how to protect people. He felt like he was taking a test, just that he was missing half the study materials. And every point would be the equivalent of a human life.
Most of all, one of those points was Victoria's life, but he wouldn't know which one.
In the end, he hadn't managed to talk to her before today. On the one hand, he had wanted to do nothing more, on the other, he knew that every minute he wasted would increase the chance that she, and everyone else, died today.
Finally, Commander Sophia stepped onto the stage to hold her speech. He had to stop thinking about stupid stuff. As a hero, he had responsibilities.
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"SILENCE!", the commander's voice cut through the crowd, instantly silencing the low murmur.
"By now, it has been half a year. Just about six months since I stood where you all stand right now. And not even a week before that, I was an ordinary office worker who went to the gym twice a week. My point is, I am not much different than any of you.
But today, I'm a commander! Not because I want to, or because I'm specially qualified for it, but because everyone else is even less qualified. So, forgive me if my motivational speech isn't very motivating. Instead, I will tell you what I would have wanted to hear half a year ago.
People died. People got injured. Because of that, people ran away. Some of you tried to run away but got caught by me or one of the other guards. I won't call out any names, and I don't want to accuse you. After all, it's understandable that you are scared.
Rather, it's those who aren't that are weird. But! Believe me, if I tell you this! We aren't doing this for fun. We are doing things we way we are because we know that it has the greatest chance for the largest number of people to survive!
Believe me! If running away from the wave was an option, that would have been what we would have done.
But, this isn't the peaceful world that you are used to anymore. There is no police or even military here to protect you. In this place, you have one of two options if you want to survive. Make yourself useful enough that someone would want to protect you, or become strong enough to protect yourself.
Anyways. I'm not very good with words, so let me get to the point. Don't be egotistical fucks and run away. Instead, stay here and fight together with the rest of us.
That way, there is at least a chance that half of us make it through today.
That's it. Get on your positions. We have a long day ahead."