I spent most of the following day in the forge. The wave came on day 28 and we spent most of Day 29 either mourning or cleaning up. Or in my case recovering. I wanted to get to work and start fixing anything that was broken and reforge the weapons that needed it the day I woke up, but I was denied. The moment I went anywhere near the forge I got yelled at.

Abigail was being obstinate about it, but I saw where she was coming from. I passed out half-dead right in front of her, she was just trying to make sure that I was alright.

I was 95% certain she sent Anna and Josh to keep an eye on me because they were particularly clingy yesterday.

Anna kept asking why I couldn't play with them like I used to and kept trying to get me to chase her around and pick her up. I didn't have the heart to tell her I nearly died and my body hurt to move. Some things you just had to suck up and do anyway.

I was getting better with my mana manipulation and I could make certain parts of my body glow and they seemed to enjoy that still.

The day passed uneventfully.

I refrained from doing my usual hunting trips the next day and stuck to the forge for most of it. I didn't want to risk reopening my wounds before the wave tomorrow. It was still weird to think we were having another one so soon. It felt like the last wave was just yesterday and we were already preparing for another tomorrow.

The foreboding feelings that I had last wave were absent this time and I was less paranoid about what was to come tomorrow. The newly upgraded wall shouldn't have any problems.

Some weapons and armor pieces that had been dented or deformed needed to be reforged, but the majority of my time was spent on remaking my own armor.

I had to start from scratch, it was in such bad condition. With experience, the process went considerably quicker, but it still took a while to make a whole new suit.

I was saving my axe for tomorrow before the wave arrived. It would be a time crunch and would eliminate any chance of making mistakes, but I could do it. My armor was more important right now. I could swing around a club if I had to.

Thinking of my axe made me wince. I had put so much care into making it and I was extremely proud of it, and now it was ruined. I remembered coating the handle in oil to make it waterproof, and polishing the axe head to a shine when I finished creating it.

Turning to look at it off in the corner of the forge where it leaned against the wall made me a little sad. The handle had bite marks and scratches from where I used it to block. The head was a mangled mess of metal unidentifiable as an axe. It would be easier to identify it as a mace instead it was so deformed. But it had done its job and that was all I could ask of it.

It had a crack running the length of it from the final strike of the alpha when it flew out of my hand. My strength was too high for simple iron it seemed. I would have to learn how to make steel soon.

The one I was making for tomorrow was going to be iron again. It wasn't going to be permanent and wouldn't have much care involved in the process. It was going to be a rush job so I would have something to use.

I thought about using Mark's axe instead, now that he wasn't using it, but that didn't sit right with me.

I got another level for my trouble but those seemed to be coming slower as well. I'd have to figure out why soon or I was going to go crazy.

Dismissing those thoughts, and contemplated something else. My new skill. I was still debating about which one I wanted to get and it was between two.

Barbarian's Rage(Common) – Channel your anger into your body to break your limits. Temporarily increase the effect of all stats by 10% at the cost of increased stamina consumption. Once the effect wears off, your body enters a state of weakness based on the duration of the rage.

Frostbite(Uncommon) – Augment your blows with ice mana, injecting whatever hit with a chilling cold. Adds to the penetrating power of your strikes while leaving a lasting damage over time effect from the cold.

After evolving, Austin and I compared skills with each other to see if we had any in common. His class was geared more toward quick spear strikes augmented by his solar affinity, while mine was more toward strength skills using ice, so I didn't expect much overlap.

We had a few in common even though our classes were so different. One of which was a boosting skill. I had [Barbarian's Rage] while he had a skill called [Sunburn]. Both skills were similar in nature, both being boosting skills.

Mine used anger to fuel the body, his used the power of the sun. I remember him reading the description and couldn't help but chuckle at one of the lines, 'Burn with the power of the sun'. It went on to use more flowery words but the gist was simple, channel extra solar power into your body for a boost in stats. Both skills were only at the common tier and gave a similar boost of 10%, both also came with a weakening effect after it was over. It seemed like boosting skills were common across different classes.

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The fight with the boss kept coming back to my head and being ever so stronger would have made that fight go differently. If all my stats were boosted by 10% could I have killed it?

On the other hand, would a stronger full-powered attack work better? Two uncommon attacking skills layered together had to have a good increase in stopping power. [Heavy Blow] combined with [Frostbite] would have been a good increase in damage.

I didn't know which skill would have been better during the fight. Rage was a better choice all around, but frostbite could have its uses as well.

I picked Rage after flip-flopping for too long and convinced myself to train hard enough to get the other, maybe I could upgrade the skill naturally. The new skill said it would leave me in a state of weakness so I refrained from testing it now. There was the perfect opportunity to do that tomorrow.

A nudge on my shoulder took my attention away from what I was forging. I turned to see my Dad standing behind me.

"You got a minute?" He asked.

"Yeah, hold on, let me finish this," I said.

I had just taken the piece out of the heat and was in the middle of shaping it. It wouldn't be the end of the world to leave it and walk away, but I was nearly done with this part. It was only a few swings away.

My Dad stood behind me and watched as I finished up the part before I set down the hammer and took off my thick apron. He motioned toward the door and we left the forge and stepped out into the night.

I hadn't realized it was so late. I thought the sun was still up.

"How are you doing, Chris?" He said while we were walking

"Fine." Abigail had asked me the same thing almost a million times already. I was fine, I didn't need everyone to keep asking me. I would be better if they stopped.

"You nearly died the other day." Was his answer. Like I didn't know that.

"Some did die." Some of that anger I felt at the funeral was coming back but I pushed it down, it wasn't right to take it out on my father.

"I'm not talking about them, I'm talking about you." He said and poked me in the chest, "You went through something traumatic and I want to make sure you're alright."

He had his serious tone on. I knew he was just worried about me but I wasn't a kid anymore, he didn't have to treat me like one. I wasn't the only one who went through something traumatic, others experienced the same thing.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

"I'm fine Dad, really. We just have to make it through tomorrow." What was left unsaid was 'and the next wave, and the next...'

We both knew tomorrow wouldn't be the last wave but it wasn't helpful to focus on that. He gave me a long look before letting out a breath of his own. He knew I was lying.

He let it go though, and changed topics, "What do you think of the letter we received?"

Oh, I had nearly forgotten about that. While I was unconscious, we received a letter from another faction. The Rothburn's or whatever their name was. It was another faction that was a family somewhere south of here.

They sent letters out to all nearby factions to ask for aid. They had been hit hard by the wave and were asking for assistance from anyone who could spare it. They asked it like we all weren't struggling.

I was of a mind to rip it up. We just lost Mark and Kyle and they wanted to discuss helping others? Were they so blind to what was to come? It wasn't enough to be surviving, we needed to be ahead. The waves were going to continue to get stronger and we were already behind as it is.

"We can't afford to help anyone else right now, we can barely help ourselves." I kept my more unpleasant answers to myself.

"I know, and I feel the same way, but still. If we have the ability we should help when we can." He said.

"That's very noble and all, except we can't. We don't have the ability. Austin and I are the strongest here and we can't afford to help anyone else." I wasn't entirely sure what the people were asking for. Did they want to merge camps with someone? Did they want material aid, or for donated points?

Either way, it was a no. I had no points after the wall and was against harboring anyone in our camp. Even the slight chance of a harder wave from the increase of people was enough to veto that idea. I could only protect so many and anyone not my family was shit out of luck.

After my firm refusal, the conversation shifted. We continued talking about random things and tidbits and settled on the top of the new wall, staring at the stars.

Our new wall was a lot thicker than the previous one. It was still made of wood but it was sturdy and multiple logs thick. It had a few feet of walkway behind the wall to stand on, and that is what we were sitting on. It was apparently called a wall walk. How my Dad knew that, I had no idea.

It gave a good view over most of the camp and surrounding area. It would be a great spot to watch the sunrise.

After making sure I was alright, my Dad started asking about what class to pick for his evolution. He had reached level 10 earlier in the day and was faced with options to choose from.

His options were similar to mine but lacked any uncommon choices. I wasn't much help in his decision-making. I didn't know any more than he did regarding most of this stuff.

I think he asked mostly just to talk to me. It made me feel bad, I was so busy all the time that I hadn't really had the time to talk. Anna was saying the same thing yesterday.

He made his choice and I got to watch as he evolved. He said he picked [Axe Warrior]. There wasn't any visual cue and I couldn't sense anything going on, but I could see his breathing change and his back straighten.

It made me a little proud. I knew it was usually the father proud of the son for his accomplishments, but I still felt it. He reached G rank and that was worth something.

He and Jonathan both were among the newly evolved. Of our group of 30 27, about half had evolved. The wave got a lot of people over the threshold and if not over it, close enough that a day or two of killing monsters did the trick.

They weren't hunting like I did, they were mostly killing anything that wandered too close to camp or for practice. Most did it to test out new skills when they got them.

I saw people venturing out into the forest more after they saw Austin and me level up so quickly. Most still had families to take care of so it wasn't that often, but it was better than nothing.

It felt good to sit and talk like this with my Dad. I had spent the days leading up to the wave so stressed and worked up that it felt good to relax a bit. I had been doing the same thing all day, working through dinner to get as much done as I could. Vinny and I got a lot done in the forge and he worked most of yesterday while I rested.

My mind drifted while we talked about different things. I couldn't help but wonder how my Mom and Gabriel were doing. They were both at home when this thing started and should hopefully be together.

The conversation drifted toward them and my Dad just laughed.

"Your mother's a strong woman. She'll make it through this. It's Gabriel I worry about."

I was the opposite. Gabriel was a huge gamer and I could see him taking to this new world like a fish to water. I wouldn't be surprised if he was already inventing new spells, he certainly had the mind for it.

Even though I wasn't religious I couldn't help but send off a silent prayer for them.

I hope y'all are well.