“Thank you for saving us.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“If you hadn’t shown up, we would’ve been toast.”
The group of humans continuously thanked Zane and showered him with praise. After Zane killed the wolves and spoke to them it took some time for them to react. They eventually started moving when Zane suggested they tend to their wounded. While they did that Zane collected the wolf corpses and checked the experience he received for the fight. There was only a slight decrease in experience gained because the wolves were injured before he fought them.
“There’s no need to thank me,” Zane said. “I was passing by and helping all of you didn’t require a lot of effort.”
“Nonsense, you saved our lives.” A woman with dark skin and curl dark hair spoke up.
Zane raised his hand to stop anyone else from speaking. “Before we continue talking, we should leave this area first. More mana creatures could be approaching as we speak.”
Everyone quickly agreed with what Zane said and followed him through the forest. They moved at a slow pace because everyone was injured and low on stamina. Everyone in the group had used all of their mana potions and stamina potions. They only had a few health potions left and they tried to use them as little as possible. After travelling for a few minutes, the group decided to stop and rest. Zane wanted to begin asking them about the weapon but he stopped when he saw them collapse.
“I’m guessing that none of you learned the meditation skill.” Zane spent a minute watching the group breathe heavily while lying on the ground.
“I know about meditation,” An old man with pale skin, grey hair and a grey beard spoke up. “But I haven’t unlocked the skill for it.”
The other members of the group agreed with the old man. Zane nodded and told the group what benefits the skill provided. He told the group that he would try to help them unlock and hopefully learn the skill. Before he did that, he told them his name and asked for theirs. The old man was called Herbert and the woman was called Tianna. The two teenagers and three adults in the group also gave their name.
“I’m not a great teacher so I can’t guarantee you will learn or unlock the skill,” Zane said. “Everyone should get into a comfortable position and close your eyes.” Zane paused and waited for everyone to adjust themselves. “There are three methods that I can suggest to all of you. The first method is to let your mind focus on a single thought or an imaginary point. Allow that connection to slowly strengthen as your mind sinks into your body. The second method his to let your mind expand outward. Listen to the sounds of the forest, feel the wind on your skin and allow your mind to explore the mana around you. The final option is to do nothing. Relax and let your mind drift as you as you slowly discard unwanted thoughts.
Zane watched the group as they did their best to meditate. A few of them continued to fidget and a few opened their eyes from time to time but after five minutes all of them entered a calm sate. Zane shook his head as he looked over the group. All of them looked peaceful and a few of them had smiles on their face.
This group is either very trusting or severely lacking in experience, Zane thought to himself. I guess I shouldn’t blame them. I saved their lives and shown my desire to help them. They probably think I can deal with whatever threat comes and won’t abandon them.
Zane calmly waited while the group were meditating and trying to learn the meditation skill. After more than thirty minutes passed Zane decided to wake them up. He didn’t mind helping them but he wasn’t going to spend all his time looking after this group. After the group woke up Zane told them to check their system messages to see if they unlock the skills.
Everyone in the group started to celebrate after a few minutes. All of them had unlocked the skill and Herbert was the only person that was able to learn the skill. They all thanked Zane for his help and Zane reminded them not to practice the skill unless they were absolutely sure they were in a safe environment. After making sure they understood the dangers of meditation Zane reached into hi space bag and brought out one of the weapons from his attackers.
“I was wondering if you could explain to me how this weapon works. I guessed that all of you should be from the same world as the people that attacked me.”
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“So, from the very beginning you knew we weren’t humans from this world,” Tianna said. “I guess we gave ourselves away when I used my gun.”
“That and your lack of knowledge about the meditation skill. It’s a simple skill to learn and its available to all classes. All children are taught this and the only exceptions are those that don’t grow up in an established territory.”
As Zane spoke, he realized that his way of identifying humans from different world had some flaws. His main way of identifying humans was based on their clothing. The humans that he saw from another world all wore clothing that he wasn’t use too. The humans in front of him wore familiar leather armor but he could make out the unique clothing that he connected to humans of another world. What he realized was that different clothing could be an indicator of the humans coming from different parts of the world. The different clothing could also be stolen and worn by someone who was born on this world. Zane mentally reminded himself not to make any quick assumptions.
“Since I’m the only person here who is familiar with fire arms, I’ll be the one to explain them to you.”
Following that statement Tianna began to give a general explanation about guns using her own weapon which she called a revolver. She explained how they were used, created and how they evolved over the years. She also included a brief speech about gun safety. After going over the basic she started to describe the gun Zane had. She gave a long speech about how advanced it was and ended it by telling him he couldn’t use it without fingerprints.
“So, it’s useless,” Zane said.
Tianna shrugged her shoulders. “If you can locate the bodies of the people that attacked you it would be possible to cut off their fingers and use their fingerprints.”
Zane shook his head and declined. The weapons were a bit interesting but they had a very finite usage due to the reliance on ammunition. Also, when Zane used weapons, he tried to form a connection between his weapons and himself. Guns relied on their innate mechanisms instead of a person stamina and mana. The gun would always deal a certain amount of damage and there was no way a person could increase that using their own power.
“If you’re not interested in using it, could you let me borrow it?” Tianna asked with a nervous expression.
“Why? Isn’t it useless?”
“I was in the military and my fingerprints are still active. If the people that attacked you were from the military, then I should be able to use their weapons.”
Zane could see why she was nervous. If he wanted too, he could take her fingers to use the weapon. Zane only paused for a few seconds before passing the weapon to her. Zane’s main concern with giving Tianna the weapon was that she would no longer be a harmless human. She would have power and she could use that power to bring him harm. Zane realized that the harm she could bring wasn’t great enough to threaten his life and after he left, they would probably struggle to protect themselves.
Tianna and the rest of the group were excited to get the powerful version of the weapon they were currently using. Tianna told the group that the weapon would definitely help them survive and Zane described his own experiences being up against the weapon. The group tried to offer a health potion as a form of thanks but Zane declined. Instead, Zane asked for the gun that Tianna had. She happily offered it and gave him all of her ammunition. Zane offered the space bags of the people who attacked them to Tianna and she took out a few strange boxes.
“We can’t thank you enough for your help,” Herbert said.
“No need to thank me,” Zane replied. “I am curious about something. Aren’t you bothered that I killed humans from your world?”
“You appeared out of nowhere and saved our asses. After that you spent time watching over us and teaching us a skill. I don’t know why you killed them but I’m sure you have a good reason.”
Zane smiled when he heard the other members of the group strongly agree with the people. He was happy to see that humans were the same no matter which world they came from. Sometimes all it took was one act of kindness to form a bond between two people.
“With this bad boy we’ll be able to will be able to kill a bunch of monsters.” Timmy, a teenager with fair skin and brown hair spoke. “If we find a way to take turns using it we can all level up.”
“Mana creature is the proper name to call the monsters you wish to fight,” Zane explained. Also, why would you have to take turns fighting? In a party experience is shared amongst everyone.”
“A party?”
“Yes, an adventure party. This isn’t something I learned about while growing up on this world. I assumed it was created by a group from another world. Since you don’t know about it might not have been created by people from your world.”
“Actually, we do know about it,” Tianna said. “Although we don’t have a system on our world, we have stories describing possible ways a system would work. People have written many stories about different magical abilities and powers. We may not have any mana on our world or the ability to interact with supernatural anilities but we do have the ability to imagine and theorize many different possibilities.”
“Wow, that sounds really impressive.” Zane thought it was amazing that ideas from people that had never interacted with an actual system could be applied to his world. “Wait. If your group knows abut forming parties then why haven’t you created one.”
“We met each other during the day while exploring the forest. At that time, we were only focused on learning how to fight and use our skills. When night came, we focused on avoiding monsters and not dying. I guess you can say we forgot.”