Alice pulled her blue-lustered sword out of the lifeless body of the Mutated Wolverine she had killed before casting her indifferent gaze, now filled with malice, onto the other one hiding behind a tree some steps away.

It had seemingly been waiting for its dead pal to do all the hunting, after which it would pounce out and compete with its weakened state over the carcasses of its hunt.

That plan, though, had failed, and all because of a single lady.

In return, fear was the only emotion visible on the hiding Mutated Wolverine’s face, and, probably with visions of its death flashing before its eyes, the beast scurried back into the bushes, leaving the grassy path of the spiteful humans who didn’t want to be eaten once again peaceful.

Well, even Rain had grown to be somewhat frightened of Alice after watching her in action—Sean was not exaggerating when he’d called her an Angel of Death—so it would have been shocking if the Mutated Wolverine wasn’t too.

Although…

Is it really alright to let it go? He posed a question to himself as he watched Alice, who did not seem keen on chasing down the Wolverine.

Of course, deep within himself, he had a couple of guesses as to why she was not going after it. For one, it was dangerous; no one knew what sort of monstrosity they would meet in the bushes while hunting down one measly animal. It was not a fair trade. And secondly… He looked up at the sky… It was drawing closer.

Their planned journey from Edinburgh to Manchester was being cut short ten hours in. The sun was already setting, leaving in its wake only glimpses of what remained of its beautiful orange hue on the horizon as a sign of the coming night.

Usually this would be a refreshing and pretty sight to behold, but because of the terrifying fog and its Wraiths, it was anything but that. It was a sight of warning, similar to that of smoke or horn signals used in medieval battles to announce the arrival of enemies.

It was time to camp for the night, Rain deduced. They had tried their best for today, considering what the world had turned to.

Due to Alice’s great survival skills, avoiding most of the land beasts, as well as the sky ones, had proven rather easy. Rain had learned a lot in that regard; he felt that if his current self was the one who’d left the hospital he would have never come across the Coyotes, and, in return, wouldn’t have been both blessed and cursed with the mysterious Mark he now possessed.

…He recalled the scene of him eating the Chimera Anaconda’s heart and shook his head in repulsion…

Apparently, one could read the signs of the scenery to decipher if a beast was nearby or homing in on a location. The ground ones always left traces about, such as snapped twigs, drools, blood, strips of flesh, broken claws, even urine and feces; the mentally mutated ones enjoyed marking territories.

As for the sky-based ones… That was why the Perception Attribute existed. Give it high enough Experience Points and one would be able to pinpoint the exact position of the beasts coming close to his location; even the ground-based beasts were not spared from the brilliance of the Perception Attribute. Tack that on with the skill to read the scenery, he would never come across danger ever again.

Although, the way he was currently, that was a far fetched dream. But at least he now knew which Attributes to prioritize and in what order.

His Durability was still first, next came his Speed, then his Perception, followed by his Agility and Stamina. The last was Strength, despite his whole notion on unpredictability.

He could not recall where he had heard the saying, but he was sure it went like this: “I do not fear the man who has practiced ten thousand kicks once, but the man who has practiced one kick ten thousand times.”

In other words, sticking to one’s strengths was the best choice. And watching Alice navigate and fight made Rain realize that that was what he needed the most in this world based on his goal. After all, she had a similar fighting style to him, so he’d come to believe that she was a Lightweight as well.

To confirm that, though, he would need to ask her, but he was yet to find the right time; and there was also the possibility of her still being secretive towards him.

All in all, she was the best and only mentor for him at the moment.

Sure, with her visible experience, the values of her Attributes were definitely four or five times his, but that did not mean he couldn’t grab a lot of survival tactics just by standing behind her with Sean on his back like he was doing now. In due time he would be just as good, maybe even better, if he wanted to feel himself up some more. But, for certain, he knew his growth was only upward from here on.

“Let’s get a move on. A house we can pass the night in should be nearby.” Alice’s authoritative voice snapped Rain back from his reverie of astonishment, inciting a nod from him. She then nudged the dead Mutated Wolverine with her foot as she said, “This will be tonight’s meal.”

They had packed a lot of snacks and canned drinks from the M&S mall, but their nutrient values would be doomed if they kept relying on expired chips and drinks. Rain was sure that was the reason Alice had said what she’d said.

“J. Go pick up the carcass, would you?” J heeded her Companion and took up the dead Mutated Wolverine with her fangs.

“I wonder if it’ll taste good,” Sean spoke from behind Rain. They had covered the distance between Gogar, Newbridge, Broxburn, Uphall, and had arrived at Dechmont, it was then that his legs gave out, causing Rain to have to piggyback him.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

For a child, he did well. He’s not even as frightened as he was yesterday, Rain thought to himself. He’s adapted very quickly.

“With stories of my adventure, it’ll taste like a heavenly meal. Meat is always good around a fire.” Of course, he didn’t recall how he knew that, but it seemed like something he had experienced firsthand.

Maybe my family and I went camping a lot?

Probably, but since thinking about it would only raise his anxiety instead of providing answers, Rain put his thoughts at the back of his mind.

“Then I can’t wait!” Sean tightened his arms around Rain’s neck. And with that they were off to seek a house good enough for them to wait out the foggy night.

That did not take too long. Half an hour later they’d found one. A small bungalow situated a bit near the Dechmont hill.

Maybe it was because of its seclusion that it seemed to be a lot more intact than the ones within the main area of the town. Since it was so far away from the main road no one found out about it, so it was not vandalized by savage looters.

Anyways, it was a good spot.

Alice sliced off the vines that had snaked around the bungalow’s door while Rain watched in awe. The vines seemed pretty thick, so her being able to cut them off was nothing short of awesome.

Was it her Attributes or her sword? Rain was curious.

She sheathed her sword in the scabbard strapped around her hip, and was about to open the door of the house when she abruptly paused and turned around as though something had caught her attention.

Rain’s eyebrows squished together at that, and he too turned around to maybe see what Alice had seen. But there was nothing besides a green expanse and a view of the clustered houses in town. He turned back to her to find her eyes still darting about as if searching for something or someone.

What did her Perception pick up?

“Is there a problem?” Rain asked, his question bringing Alice back to him. He was beginning to feel stumped due to how his Perception was basically unusable. It was probably because it was extremely low, but still it had five points allocated to it. How come it couldn’t pick up anything? Even J, who had been so close to him at the hospital, had been unnoticeable.

“Mmm…” That was Alice’s answer to Rain’s question. “I’ll scout the vicinity; you check out the house.”

She really did pick up something.

“Alright.” Rain didn't query further and Alice moved, vanishing into the trees that loomed about the area with her hand on her sword’s hilt. Sean just watched in silence, seemingly of the mind not to trouble the adults more than necessary. Rain turned back to J then. “Do you smell anything within the house? Snakes or the like?” J chuffed, using her nose to respond since her mouth was occupied, and he nodded. “Then let’s go in.”

###

The bungalow had a parlor, two bedrooms each with their own toilets, and a kitchen. Rain’s surveys brought him to choose the parlor as a suitable location for their rest. It had curtains for its windows, was more spacious, and, most of all, had a furnace. They could cook the meat there and warm themselves at the same time.

It was perfect.

Sean was seated on a couch opposite the table where the Mutated Wolverine’s carcass was kept, while nibbling on a bag of chips Rain had offered him when his stomach grumbled.

Rain, on the other hand, was rummaging through the drawers in the kitchen trying to fish out any spice or ingredient that was not yet destroyed by fungi—he was not sure if he knew anything about cooking, but he believed that spiced meat was better than the opposite.

It was at that moment the front door opened and closed swiftly—almost too quickly, in fact.

Rain believed it to be Alice who had returned so he did not bother putting a stop to what he was doing. Although, his actions were grounded to a halt as soon as a ferocious growl reverberated through the weed infested bungalow.

Worry took over Rain’s face. J? What happened?

His Perception was currently useless, but his instinct wasn’t.

Bolting out of the kitchen, Rain emerged into the corridor of the bungalow, and there, not one step further away from the entrance door, stood a complete stranger.

It was a man of average height with a lot of skin width, or rather, meat, in a ripped black round neck and baggy pants. He was sweating profusely, and in his hand was a wooden stick sharpened erratically at its tip. There was malice in his eyes, and it was so profound that Rain instinctively found himself glancing at the parlor situated beside the entrance door.

Sean was in there. Whoever this was he was definitely not a friend. He could not let the man notice the boy.

At least he’s not made a sound yet. He must have caught on and hidden himself. Good. Smart boy.

With that as his thought, Rain decided to make sure Sean remained protected by drawing all the attention of the obese man to himself, and as such he opened his mouth, “Who are—”

[Side Plot]

A Player you have no knowledge of has appeared, and he holds animosity towards you. Survive.

“I’ll kill you!” the man cut him off with some rather crazy words that Rain could not seem to understand.

Kill me? What the hell did I do? No. Not even that. When the fuck did I have the chance to do anything that could warrant someone to come after me? Rain had a dazed expression; J, on the other hand, increased her growling at those words. If the man moved a spot from where he stood, she would definitely attack him, Rain could see that.

“I’ll kill you!” the man continued on regardless, his fiery eyes solidly fixed on Rain.

That was good but at the same time bad. It was like the man couldn’t even see J, and that made Rain shiver.

Was he really so strong that a Jaguar was rather insignificant before him? Or…

Has he gone completely mad?

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! I’ll have my revenge!”

“Revenge?” Rain blurted out subconsciously, unable to remain silent any longer at the man’s nonsense. “What in the world are you talking about, man? I’ve only been awake for two days, how could I possibly be an object of your revenge? Also…” His face squeezed in something akin to aversion. “I’ve never seen you before in my fucking life.”

Well, as for that, he wasn’t quite sure.