I woke to a sharp pain in my face. Immediately, I jumped up and surveyed for threats in the room but only found Austin.

As my mind came more into focus, I found out that One, he had slapped me, and Two, my body was not in a condition to be making sudden movements.

"Ow, what the hell was that for!" I said while rubbing my face.

"You needed to wake up and shaking didn't work. It was either that or water, and I didn't feel like getting water." Austin said with a shrug of his shoulders. Like it was completely natural.

"Why am I being hit in the first place?" He could have let me sleep off the pain from the fight at least. It felt like some healing was done, but not a lot.

"You need to be awake to use [Meditation]." He replied.

Darn. He was right, keeping that skill active would help the most for my recovery. If it wasn't for a good reason I was going to hit him back. Being healed in my sleep sounded better because there wasn't any pain to be felt, but this was better. I couldn't afford to spend all day in bed.

Some things needed to be done and the sooner they were, the better.

I didn't even ask about Granddad, I saw the wound and there was no coming back from that. Without anything else to say, I started up [Meditation] to speed up my recovery.

It was about an hour after the fight that Austin woke me up based on the sun, and a few more of using [Meditation] and healing before I was up and walking around. I would use it more tonight to finish the job, but it was good enough for now.

I had scars from the lightning covering my body along with white lines from where the boss took artistic liberty with my body. At this point, my body was more scar than skin.

There had to be a way to get rid of them or else everyone in the multiverse would be covered in scars. Maybe evolution did the trick? Or maybe we just didn't have healers skilled enough?

I didn't dwell on that too much, there was nothing I could do about it now and there were other things to do.

Most of the cleanup was done during the time I was recovering. Fighting the boss away from where we had to fix the damage had its advantages.

That left time just before sundown for another task that needed doing. A box was made and we started our procession to the hill. I didn't have the sadness of the first time we did this, nor the anger of the second. I was just numb.

I made great lengths in my personal power and still, this happened. I could fight the boss solo and still, we were here.

It wasn't anger that filled me anymore. It was hopelessness. It felt like we were destined to fail and I would watch as my family slowly died. I could be as powerful as ever, but it still wouldn't be enough.

Anyone who fought on the battlefield had a chance of dying and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I could sequester all of them into the bunker and fight the wave alone, but that would end in my death.

There were things that needed to change.

Now wasn't the time to start, I would wait until the morning. Now was a time to say goodbye. I didn't stay on the hill long, it just made me sad. Grandma took it the hardest and took the longest before leaving.

Dinner was subdued and I spent the night in [Meditation]. It wasn't an alternative to sleep but I could go one night without.

Before breakfast, at the time Austin and I usually left to hunt, I found Abigail. She was doing her best to keep everything together and with Granddad dead, she was who everyone turned to for direction.

"I need everyone to gather before we start the day." I didn't say why and she didn't ask.

It was like she was running on autopilot and answering was outside of her coding right now. All I got back was a nod before she started fussing over breakfast.

She had a habit of forcing herself to stay busy to avoid the pain. I didn't have time for that right now but I made a note to speak with her later.

Austin found me soon after. He must be wondering why we weren't leaving. I stayed in the middle of camp while he walked toward me.

"Hey, what's the hold-up?" Austin asked.

"Things need to change," I answered. My tone made him understand that this was serious.

After a lot of thought over the night, I came up with a solution. People would hate me for it but that wasn't a concern right now. They could only hate me if they were alive and that, I was fine with.

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Austin gave me a questioning look.

"I hope you do not fight me on this." I didn't want to alienate him, but we needed to switch what we were doing because it wasn't working.

After Derek, I resolved myself to get strong enough to protect my family. After Mark and Kyle, I thought I did the best I could and the reason was because the wall failed. After Granddad, it was different.

I realized no matter how strong I got, it wouldn't matter. I came up with a plan to change that. Everyone would now go into the forest to fight. Everyone would need to get stronger and there would be no more slackers.

Harsh as it was, it was necessary.

Austin was receptive to the plan but wasn't thrilled. He questioned what we would do with people who refused.

"Refusal isn't an option." This would be the part they hated me for.

If taken out of context, it would seem I turned into this crazed dictator who ordered his family around, but that wasn't the way I saw it. I was doing the only thing I could think of to keep them safe.

This plan was the best I had to get as many people out of this thing alive. If they hated me for it, so be it.

Now, I wouldn't be sending them to their deaths, that would be pointless. I would split them into groups and have one of the stronger people in camp escort them.

Austin, Rachel, Hal, Carrie, and Jonathan were strong enough to keep a group of 4 or 5 safe in the forest and I could do it easily.

The plan was simple really, forced advancement. With a member to keep them safe, the fights wouldn't be dangerous and they would level up from the experience. Higher levels meant more survivability and less chance of having to dig another grave.

We would rotate who went so there would always be someone in camp to protect it and also watch the kids. Half would do their training in the morning and half would go in the afternoon. While they were in camp they had the option of working on their profession or training in other ways.

After telling Austin the extent of my plan, he took a minute to think.

"I don't think this is going to go over very well." He said.

"I know it won't. But it's the best I can do." I replied, "Can I count on your support?"

If he wanted to fight me on this there wasn't much I could do. We needed a new faction head and I wasn't going to challenge him over it. If he wanted the job I would give it to him. Fighting each other now would be worse than doing nothing.

Austin nodded, "I got your back."

After our talk, people started to gather for breakfast. I waited until everyone was seated and eating before I started. I stood and managed to get everyone's attention.

"I know this feels fast, but we need to talk about it. A new faction head needs to be chosen." I announced.

It was a notification that everyone had received. A new leader needed to be chosen after ours had fallen. It felt wrong to move on so fast after we put him in the ground yesterday, but this needed to be done.

There were grumblings about that very fact, but I pushed on.

"Austin and I already talked it out and we think it should be me," I added.

I could have gone into the reasons why, but it seemed unnecessary. It was between me and Austin and he didn't want it.

As there always was, people disagreed. They wanted Abigail or Grandma to be the next head. Luckily, they had the good sense to decline. After their would-be nominees declined the opportunity, it left only me.

Becoming the faction leader was only the first part of my plan and with that accomplished, I moved onto the second part.

"Now with that out of the way, there are going to be some changes. I know you have realized the waves are only going to get harder and, on average, we are not keeping pace. There are a few of us who are, but we are the minority."

"If we are to survive, changes need to be made. With that said, I have thought up a plan that I think will work the best. I have written down groups of people who I think would form a decent party together and who would be their escort. Everyone needs to level up so we can all make it out of this alive."

I wasn't the best at speeches and telling a room full of people that they needed to go fight monsters went over as well as expected. Yelling and name-calling were the loudest while most just nodded. They must've come to the same conclusion. Previously, some people attempted to hunt like Austin and I did, and now it was mandatory.

People called me callous of taking over so soon after Granddad died. I let all of it wash over me. I knew they would be angry and some would lash out.

There were questions and I did my best to answer them. Team composition was questioned and I did my best to convey my opinion.

We had 10 Warriors, 3 Rogues, 2 Rangers, 4 Healers, and 7 Mages all totaled up. Taking out who would be escorts left 7 Warriors, 3 Rogues, 4 Healers, and 6 Mages.

Splitting into 4 groups of 5 made the most tactical sense so every group had a healer. Video game party compositions came into play and people were separated by class. I tried to keep immediate family together when applicable.

Alice and Jack were easy to keep together since one was ranged and another melee. Sam and Ashley had to be separated because of them both being healers.

Some people were unhappy about it but there was little I could do. It didn't make sense to have a party of 3 warriors, a rogue, and a healer.

There were 6 escorts to only 4 groups so that gave all of us time to work on ourselves. I knew Austin wanted to try for a law now that I had one and this gave him time to do that.

We would rotate who would escort. Two groups would go out in the morning and two groups in the afternoon. Only four people needed to be an escort on any given day leaving 2 people free.

It would cut into the time I spent training and we would have to lose some sleep if we wanted to keep our hunting schedule going, but it wouldn't be that bad. A month and a half. That was what we were aiming for. All we had to do was survive 45 more days.

I could rest when this was over.

With the immediate problem out of the way, I focused on something else. My battle notifications.

You have slain [Thunder Tiger – Level 22] 484 points earned.

You have slain [Thunder Tiger – Level 23] 529 points earned.

You have slain...

...

You have slain [Greater Thunder Tiger – Level 26] 676 points earned.

You have successfully defended your claim! Extra experience awarded. 4,840 Points to all who participated.

Congratulations! You have leveled up.

Congratulations! You have leveled up.

*Skills Available*

I smiled at the 2 level-ups. Fighting the boss solo had its perks and I was ready to evolve.

I was hoping for a rare class.