Jordan continued to walk at a fairly casual pace as he felt happy about his decision. As for his five points, he had decided to just split them up as three to Wisdom, and two to Intelligence. Since the former seemed to the the primary stat for Summon Drone, that felt like the right play to make for now.

Once that was done, though, there was just one thing he wanted to double-check on.

Resources:

Tech Points: 13.77/17

Tech Points Regen: 4.18/Min

The screens about his resources had already confirmed the math on how these worked. And that his total TP pool was rounded to the nearest whole number. But it was good to at least confirm as much that the math still checked out, after investing his extra points.

Hmm. Wisdom is the primary one for the TP regen. Hey, System, at this point I already know that you’re always listening, even if you’re a bit picky about what actually gets a response out of you. But would you be so kind as to pull back up the screen showing the math for my TP regen? Jordan asked, hoping that this would actually work. And to his mild surprise, there actually was an immediate reaction to his request.

The user’s regeneration of TP per minute is calculated as a base of 0.50 + (Wisdom x 0.10) + (Intelligence x 0.05), rounded to the nearest hundredth.

Huh, thank you. But let’s see here, just for some fun mental math. Let’s assume I continue to get one point in Wisdom and Intelligence per Level from my Class bonus, and then just dump all my free points from here on out into Wisdom. By what Level would I reach at least 6.0 TP per minute to freely use my drone Skill?

Luckily for him, the math was actually pretty simple. Such was the benefit of working with something as easy as multiplying by 0.10. And by the time he found the result, his Tech Points had just about gotten back up to full.

Level five. If he reached that and then used just three points, it should put his regen at precisely 6.01. Granted, by then he’d just go ahead and also throw in the last couple of points, and bump that up to 6.22. That way he would at least regenerate the TP spent as part of Summon Air Drone’s base cost, albeit slowly.

But as far as goals went, Jordan had just found his first major one. He didn’t know if Summon Air Drone would continue to work even if he were unconscious, like due to the obvious reason of needing to sleep. But if it did and he reached this target, then he’d be able to have his drone flying around indefinitely. And having that constant source of security would go a long way toward him actually being able to rest easy in this new reality of theirs.

With his resources now fully restored, however, Jordan then went ahead and resummoned his drone. As soon as that was done, he reiterated his previous command to have it fly around to hunt Rabbits while looking for any potential threats. As he watched it fly away, Jordan crossed his arms and looked around.

With how obnoxiously tall the grass was, it was hard to tell how everyone else was doing. But if something happened, then all anyone had to do was yell to gather the whole group’s attention. From how it looked though, it seemed like this area was pretty safe. At least when it came to the fact that helpless Rabbits were the only things they had encountered so far, even while continuing to be spread out while moving through this grassland.

Experience Earned!

+11 EXP

Glancing over at the notification, he wondered how Hanako the Pyromancer was still doing. They were still in an unspoken competition for the highest number of kills until they all decided to stop, after all. Though now that Jordan was thinking about it, it had been a bit since he last saw one of her bright flashes of light. If he had to make a guess, it’d be that her Skills were just as resource-intensive, or that her regeneration speed was slower.

Well, either way. Just have to keep doing my own thing while checking that leaderboard every once In a while. Hopefully, someone he knew would eventually make the list. As long they just reached Level two, and the leaderboard itself doesn’t end up having a cap to how many can be on it, it should be inevitable. If nothing else, seeing even just one name from amongst his loved ones would be of at least some comfort to him.

Experience Earned!

+11 EXP

With that notification, Jordan’s thoughts were pulled away from his friends and family, and back to the present. Out of curiosity, he checked to see how his EXP again was doing when compared to how much he'd need in total to gain another Level.

EXP: 32/225

Just 18 more Rabbits to go, from the looks of it. Though as even his drone started to take more time between kills, it likely wouldn't take until he and everyone else hunting murdered the local population. So for more, they'd need to keep moving until they hit a fresh living ground for the small critters.

Honestly, at this rate, I should be able to hit Level three before the end of the day. The System decided to drop us here, wherever here actually is, in the afternoon after all. So if I can just start grinding first thing in the morning, I might even be able to hit Level five as soon as tomorrow, he thought to himself.

After that, who knows? Perhaps he would switch gears and focus on either Vitality or Endurance as his next Stat of choice. From his prior assumption of how Stats functioned based on the main Stats of the other Classes in their group, he would kind of prefer Endurance. If that one made it so that a knife being stabbed into him would be less likely to cut his skin or dig deep enough to draw blood, that’d be pretty good. At least that way he’d be able to tank a few hits before summoning or calling over his drone to fight for him.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Jordan continued to make his way through the grasslands. As minutes slowly went by, however, his drone failed to find another Rabbit to shoot at. It even reached a point where eventually he just ran out of Tech Points, and felt the drone automatically disappear. He knew that it would take close to exactly another four minutes before his TP got back up to full at its current regen speed.

As he just kept pushing his way through the tall grasses, his thoughts just wandered. It could be said that Jordan’s natural state was to simply be within his own head a lot. While this meant that he often didn’t fully process the first thing someone suddenly said to them and had to ask them to repeat themselves, it did have its upsides. While at his dull job, in a particularly boring lecture, or as a passenger on a long drive, he could just mentally check out and be far away from the world.

Just as the fourth minute was about to tick by, Jordan checked back in to get ready to use Summon Air Drone again. It was as he was about to so that he felt that something was off, enough to give him pause. At some point while he hadn’t been paying attention, things had gotten quiet. Far too quiet.

He hadn’t even really given it much thought until now. But just before, it’d been relatively noisy. Even while they were spread apart, he’d been able to hear the noises of his fellow survivors as they also moved around and hunted. The light clinks from a heavy suit of armor, the twang of a bow as an arrow was fired, and the various sounds of the occasional Skill being used. And of course, the sound of someone speaking loudly every once in a while as people communicated even while spread out.

It was such a given, that it’d quickly just become background noise to forget about. But now it was just too damn quiet for his liking. The hairs on the back of Jordan’s neck stood up as the sense of wrongness only deepened with each passing second. He opened his mouth to call out to the others, but then froze. His voice was caught in his throat, and by now, goosebumps covered his arms. Yet just as he was about to force out his words as something to say, a sudden flash caught the corner of his eye.

A continuous streak of fire cut through the air. Jordan just watched as he only saw the light it cast when it started, before the flamethrower was turned upward toward the air for him to directly see.

“SOMEBODY HE-” a feminine voice yelled out from the flame’s direction before being suddenly cut off.

Grabbing his pistol, Jordan’s knuckles turned white as he tightened his hold around the grip. Taking a shallow breath in a poor attempt to keep calm, he quickly cast Summon Air Drone. Jordan quickly had it assume his prior instructions. But rather than just fly around, this time, he had it go straight toward the yelling and flames that he believed should have come from Hanako.

Staring upward, he saw it as abruptly stopped, before quickly turning around to head back toward him. Jordan swallowed, his worries now confirmed. It meant that something neither human nor Rabbit had been spotted.

Go back and fire at whatever it was, now! Jordan mentally commanded. Maybe it was already too late, but if Hanako was still alive, the chance had to be taken. As his drone dutifully switched directions yet again, his eyes cautiously darted around. It was now that he was thankful for not yelling out to the others. Because as the only sound once more was just the sound of a breeze moving through the tall grasses, the otherwise silent area was extremely telling.

Despite the screaming just now, nobody else had reacted so far.

Why isn’t anyone responding? Are they already… oh fuck. Oh fuck! A surge of panic welled up in his chest as his mind instantly dived into the worst possible scenario. At the same time, the familiar sound of a low-pitched hum caught his attention. One that sounded similar to his pistol when he had fired it, but just one degree louder.

Jordan shoved away the bit of grass next to his face and held it down. He could then spot the drone as it hung above a particular spot, and was currently firing downward. Its firing rate wasn’t particularly fast, as the drone only shot out a single energy bolt every couple of seconds.

The drone fired off its third shot in a row. However, a kill notification had yet to come of it. Was it just missing? Or was the target just extremely tough? Neither option meant anything good for him. If whatever was on the ground could dodge the bolts or just tank through them, then his other means of attacking would be unlikely to prove more effective.

Then, from behind him, there was a rustling in the grasses. A lump formed in Jordan’s throat as he took a sharp breath. He spun around, pistol raised and ready to fire at whatever came out.

Come on. Come on. Come on! Jordan internally chanted. He took rapid, shallow breaths as he felt weak at the knees. The hand holding his gun shook as it pointed into the almost suffocatingly thick grass. A figure then broke through the wall of grass, yet just as he was a hair away from immediately pulling the trigger, Jordan froze.

“Ghhk… hgk.” Both hands clutched around her throat, Audrey the Healer half-stumbled, half-collapsed before him. The front of her chest was already soaked red as blood dripped between her fingers.

Oh fuck! Jordan quickly dropped onto his knees as she completely fell onto her side. Audrey stared up at him wide, panicked eyes. She worked her mouth as if to say something, but gargles were the only thing that came out.

“Don’t try to talk!” Jordan said in a hushed voice. “Let me… let me… shit!” His pulse raced as he tried to think of something, anything that he could do. She was a Healer, yet she wasn’t currently healing herself. Had she already burned through all her resources? That must have been it, right?

It was then that Jordan felt his mental connection to the drone disappear. Internally cursing, he looked over in the direction. Though still down on his knees, the grass was too tall for him to see anything. But he hadn’t run out of TP yet; that much was a fact. Which must mean… something had just managed to destroy his drone.

Looking back down, Jordan clenched his fists. Audrey was visibly getting weaker by the second as blood continued to gush out of her throat. He had no means to help her, nothing that he could realistically do for her. The young woman’s eyes were already starting to glaze over as she no longer seemed to be looking directly at him.

Breathing even more quickly now, a part of him knew that there was only one thing that he could do for her now. Just one small mercy before she either bled out on her own, or whatever had done this came over and found both of them. But in his heart of hearts, he could already tell that it was simply too late for her.

Jordan placed the end of the Energy Pistol against Audrey’s forehead. Yet she was already so far gone, that she didn’t even visibly react to the action. If she had, Jordan likely wouldn’t have been able to do what was about to come next. Yet her not even noticing the gun pointed at her skull made it slightly easier. But only ever so slightly. He went ahead and cast Overcharge as well, just to make it more powerful and hopefully painless.

Then, with a deep and ragged breath, Jordan fired.