Roar!

A mutated wild dog suddenly burst out of a nearby building, the scent of blood must have attracted it.

O’Brien lazily pointed and his corpse worm quickly attacked the dog, it was almost an instant kill as it smashed it to pieces with a swipe of its rear end.

While powerful, it was rare for mutant native creatures to compare with card summons or alien creatures.

‘It's fast!’ Roya inhaled a sharp breath.

She looked at O’Brien then at Rose and couldn't help but lament how the student-teacher pair was equally monstrous.

Rose could summon dozens of bucket wide thorns that could be used to attack and drain the blood of her victims, which she then could use to heal herself or use the thorns to curse the target stopping their blood from clotting or making their blood heavier.

In the beginning, Rose had trouble controlling her abilities and it slightly affected them as well as her targets, she still had a lingering fear of sensing her own blood riot against her.

To top it all off, Rose also had great strength and incredible agility.

Moreover, she could even fly when using her wings, although she said it was exhausting and consumed a lot of energy. She also didn't like the devilish appearance of her wings.

O’Brien was even more of a monster. His raw strength, and defensive capabilities when he grew his transparent grey scales were already pretty amazing, but the withering effect of his claws was like a flesh-eating poison knawing away at the bodies of his foes.

His endurance was also off the charts and she had once seen him fighting for five hours continuously, his injuries, even those that touched the bone also healed in an abnormally short period of time

To top it all off he could now raise the dead and they were no different from when they were alive.

‘I still have a long way to go before I can be compared to them.’ Roya had always been confident in her own abilities but surrounded by stars she felt her own light dim.

She couldn't help but think of her past teammates from her mercenary missions, they too were monsters but their strengths were either innate or acquired through drugs.

She hadn't been willing to pay the price for the latter but now…

There was a better way.

As O’Brien called it, the pathway to transcendence.

‘Still though, in such an interesting new world, it'll be a shame not to make the most of it. I'll definitely become even stronger. Before as a woman, no matter what I could've done physically I could never compare to a man, while I didn't like that, the thing that bothered me the most were my limits. There's only so much the human body can do or see, sniping, no, archery, I can go even further down the path now. Without my body in the way. And I intend to do so, whatever it takes.’

As Roya was in the midst of her self-reflection.

Jules continued praising her aunt sprinkling bits of envy of her being a God's Favoured.

These past few days have shown them just how amazing a so-called God’s Favoured truly was. Moreover, considering that O’Brien wasn’t one, was icing on her cake, so she liked bringing the matter up as often as she could.

O’Brien continued munching on some chocolate and snacks while ignoring her.

One thing he wouldn't hesitate to admit was that he was still a bit below Rose in terms of raw power and the intricate utilities of their natal card, the gap between the ‘God’s favoured’ and ordinary folk was not one easily surpassed.

Their abilities were like clingy tame kittens while ordinary folks’ were akin to an unknown creature in a hidden cave.

If he had to compare the two of them currently, then he would still be a little weaker than her, after all, Rose hadn't stayed stagnant all this time either, and she had gotten more used to her powers. In fact, he was a little curious about the true extent of her powers.

Still, in a life-and-death battle, he was confident in being the victor, his combat experience far surpassed hers after all.

‘After I fleece as many persons as I can in these early stages and further explore my power, I need to head towards Cael Mor to find the Appraisal Sage. Then I won't have to helplessly sit on my mountain of gold.’ O’Brien thought to himself.

His advantages born from his knowledge of the future had not yet faded and there was still a lot of room to maneuver and profit.

The world was also constantly changing, and his targeted destination might not even exist at this point so there was no rush to get there.

“How will we transport it? I imagine it's quite big.” Roya added her piece to the conversation, seeing Jules enthusiastically begin to draft up battle plans and approaches, upon hearing her words, Jules ground to a silent halt.

‘Yea, that's right…. I hadn't thought of that.’

Lea had described the device as manageable, so it must be quite large, something like that would be hard to transport unless you had a storage type card or sealing card.

Both of which only O’Brien possessed.

Lea looked at him begrudgingly thinking of their storage cards, ‘That bastard, he took advantage of our ignorance! What’s worse, it's clear that storage and sealing cards have no prior requirements unlike most other cards, so we severely lost out!’

If O'Brien could hear her thoughts he would laugh and say only storage cards have no requirements, or to be more accurate their requirements were invisible and readily available.

The power of space.

Sealing cards on the other hand required a detailed mental image of the object’s design and a sufficient understanding of the technologies involved for man-made items to successfully seal the targeted object.

“Wait, I can use the device to help people but I'll charge a percentage of wealth, ten, no, thirty percent! That thirty percent will be yours as the handling fee, for each patient!”

Lea’s mind was churning all this time until she finally settled on a solution. After spending sufficient time with O'Brien, she already had his number; she knew what moved him were benefits and interests.

If there was something in it for him, then he might say yes. The other women also looked over, also recognizing O’Brien's quirks. This was indeed something to his tastes.

Would he agree?

Seeing him pause, she realized her idea was working, she quickly struck the iron while it was hot, “That hospital also has several other rare medications in stock I'd imagine. The rarer, the more valuable, especially now right? Not everyone has healing abilities and if it's a permanent or long-lasting ailment they also cannot spare time every day to heal everyone right? Furthermore, the richer the person being healed, the more you stand to gain. There must be… a contract or something right, a card for that, that way they have to give you the right price! Even if it's a regular person, they could be a relative of a Card Master!”

Lea had always wrestled with the dilemma that came with her profession. She became a doctor to help people, not to burden them with exorbitant hospital bills, yet the harsh realities of the system left her with little choice. She longed to offer aid to those suffering during these terrible times but couldn’t bear to repeat the injustices she’d witnessed.

Too often, families were forced to abandon treatments they couldn’t afford or leave their loved ones untreated altogether and await death.

Even if it could help some people, she couldn’t bear to repeat the same mistakes she was forced to in the Old World, her proposed method will result in the poor having nothing to lose and everything to gain. They could still be saved.

In this New World, Lea was determined to do more for those who had been left behind.

O’Brien looked over at her, her eyes burning with enthusiasm and her delicate palms clenched in anxiety.

“Fifty percent. Also, they shouldn't be a chore, so one person a day, on rest days only when we're not fighting or moving. When you get stronger you'll be able to heal more. It's quite likely you won't be able to start this endeavor of yours for a while.” He looked at her with half-amusement. She was annoyingly persistent on wasting her time with insignificant passersby in her life. She made a good argument though, he would still benefit by sitting back and doing nothing.

Lea hesitated a bit before agreeing, “Smaller wounds or less serious conditions don't count. That I'll do at my own discretion and I won't charge.”

After days of experimentation, she found that she didn’t need to fully release her skills to promote healing, just the lingering aura or tendrils of her powers had soothing effects on the mind and minor healing effects; upon this discovery, she planned to capitalize on this feature.

For this matter, she wouldn't budge. She looked seriously at O’Brien.

“Of course, that goes without saying.” O’Brien smiled. As long as she didn’t drag down the group, he had no issues with how she used her abilities.

“You…” He looked carefully at Lea as if pondering something.

Lea quickly felt a prick in her heart, was he second-guessing his decision?

O’Brien stood up as if making an important choice, “Rose, she can eat my food too. Starting today, she doesn't have to eat the convenience store goods.”

Naturally, as a proper ball of sunshine despite his vast reserves of fresh food, meats, and vegetables that could be used to make proper home-cooked meals; O’Brien hadn't been sharing them with anyone except Rose despite having so much that a hundred people could survive a decade without finishing it all.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Rose had been pleading their case for a long time but he had always refused.

Now he had a change of heart, Lea had proved to have a good head on her shoulders and could be useful to him. She also was quite adept in judging people and never annoyed him as much as a certain strawberry blonde.

‘If I’m stuck with them until Rose leaves then they might as well be useful.’

O’Brien looked over at the taciturn-tanned beauty smoking a cigarette, inseparable from her giant bow, and hesitated a bit but eventually added.

“She can join us as well.” Honestly, he never had a problem with Roya, she didn't cause trouble like a certain someone, was quiet, did her job well as a sniper, was a good judge of situations and danger, overall she was lacking any attributes he'd consider distasteful. In fact, in his past life he would have loved her as a teammate. Seeing as he was easing up on Lea, he figured he'd include her as well.

Roya looked a bit surprised hearing his decision, she never thought he had anything called a conscience. So it was an unexpected development.

In fact, even she was a bit annoyed and jealous seeing Rose make him home-cooked meals that changed each time while they survived off plain supermarket and canned goods.

In several cases, it even looked like, no, she was sure he was deliberately teasing them.

Rose being the wonderful angel she was, had refused to eat with him at first despite his offer, feeling bad for them, but they all agreed in unison that she should treat herself well and eat well, for their sake or they'd be angry. She eventually relented.

Roya suddenly remembered that morning, ‘I want steak and mashed potatoes, the rum & raisin chocolate for dessert’, ‘Okay’.

She had blocked out the noise while in the RV that morning but now she couldn't help but look forward to dinner, it was a pity they missed breakfast and lunch. At least there was supper afterwards.

“Isn't that great! I have some wonderful fruits and nuts that I cut up and sorted as side dishes. It'll be great.” Rose sported a wide smile as she egged them on. She was truly happy from the depths of her heart. Before every meal had felt like torture but now they could finally eat together!

Then she remembered something and turned to an outsider.

Jules: “...”

O’Brien looked over at her with an expression of distaste, as if he swallowed a fly.

Rose quickly latched on to him, before she could begin another edition of the nagging wars, he quickly voiced, “...Fine. It can come as well.”

It?

“You corpse-skinned bastard, who are you calling—” Jules was about to flare up when a powerful hand grabbed her mouth.

“Now, now. Calm down. Think happy thoughts, think of dinner tonight, it's steak. Fruits, any juice of your selection since he probably has everything. Why bother blowing your top? Steak, Steak~” Roya held her tightly and sang beside her ears like a lullaby.

They had been eating like shut-ins since forever, some good food would be a welcome addition to their monotonous stressful days.

Jules begrudgingly glared at O’Brien before acquiescing. Lea and Rose couldn't help but chuckle seeing her pouty puffed-up face. The pair of Jules and O’Brien had butted heads on numerous occasions since they met so they had gotten used to it.

“Let's go, we're burning daylight.” O’Brien ordered as he lay to rest his zombie worm, unable to sustain it for longer. He looked at it reluctantly before dusting himself off.

“The conditions of the hospital are unknown so keep that in mind.”

“I know. Even if we can't get that specific device there must be a lot of useful alternatives in that hospital.” Lea confidently stated.

Oscar Benedict Hospital was owned by a billionaire conglomerate so it was quite wealthy, it also had several wealthy investments in the area of equipment in the past two years.

“Can we each get one of the beds too? There are four apart from his but we all sleep outside or on the floor or sofas.” Jules quickly added, figuring it wouldn't hurt to try.

“No.” O’Brien curtly responded.

“Don’t worry, I'll convince him.” Rose whispered to her with a wink.

“You know I can hear you right?” O’Brien clicked his tongue.

**

O’Brien and his group made it to the relatively intact Oscar Benedict Hospital. The East and West wings had collapsed to varying degrees, their skeletal remains jutting into the sky like jagged claws. Rubble surrounded the building, alongside overturned vehicles and scorch marks that hinted at battles fought long ago.

Inside, the air was suffocating, thick with decay and the metallic tang of dried blood. The lights had failed long ago, leaving the corridors draped in an oppressive darkness broken only by their flashlights. Shadows danced on walls smeared with handprints and claw marks, some fresh, others faded with time.

As they moved cautiously under Lea’s direction toward the pharmacy, they passed ominous reminders of the dangers that lingered in the shadows: a dried pool of blood near an overturned stretcher, gouges in the walls too deep to have been made by human hands, and the skeletal remains of those who hadn’t escaped in time.

They met with a few monsters but at this point, with O’Brien at the rear and Rose at the front not pulling any punches they were hardly in any danger.

The pharmacy itself was located on the basement floor. As expected, much of the medicine had been looted, glass cases were smashed open and metal cabinets vandalized to get to their contents.

“Antibiotics, allergy medicines, blood pressure medicines, kidney… there’s quite a lot of expensive medicines still here on the ground.” Lea crouched, steadily analyzing the remnants of looted medicines. She began sorting through the mess, picking out what she could from the scattered remains of bashed-in cabinets and shattered containers.

“Likely, those who raided this place only chose the common types of medicines and antibiotics.” She examined the remnants with a practiced eye, unearthing surgical aids, blood circulation medicines, and treatments for lymph nodes—supplies too specialized for the average looter to recognize as valuable.

All of it was very expensive and rare, a treasure trove amidst the chaos.

“Just these alone are worth the trip.”

Rose reappeared from a narrow side room, carrying a few dusty hospital first aid kits she had found stockpiled. “Found these,” she said, setting them down.

Lea inspected them quickly. “Yes, these should be backups. The rest would be in different places throughout the hospital.”

Roya shifted uneasily, her gaze lingering on the dried blood attached to pieces of shattered glass. “We should be careful, the traces here are relatively fresh, we don’t want to be boxed in if there’s an attack.”

Lea stood, clutching a small box of medicine. “Yes. We can organize them later, let’s just collect them.”

She paused a bit, wondering if she should ask to leave some behind for the others but knowing O’Brien’s personality that would prove difficult, fortunately, they were not the first here.

“There should be only one group repeatedly coming in, they came for a specific medicine, the ones kept in that cabinet at first, then whenever they came back they started from that side to here.” Roya quickly analyzed the broken cabinets and containers and their various locations, “They've been here, four or five times.”

“Yes, most of the common prescription medicines are gone, those for insomnia, pain, colds, fevers, depression, and a few.” Lea added also noticing this.

“They didn't take it all at once? Surely after so many times, there shouldn't be this much left.” Jules asked in confusion. While the pharmacy was largely vandalized about 70% of the contents were still there.

“They couldn't, the city streets are dangerous… you forget, there are few with abilities to handle monsters. The streets and various corners are filled with different monsters and aliens, making your way through is bound to be a chore even with guns, hell even if there is a ‘God's favoured' like Rose, just one hardly makes a difference don't you think?”

Roya analyzed. As O’Brien stated, she was a quick judge of situations.

Noise could travel far based on the layout of this building, although they had easily taken care of the monsters that came, the same couldn’t be said for most people.

She was sure that if O’Brien of all people was just the same level as Rose, that meant they were outliers even among Blessed Ones.

Regular Blessed Ones should be just a little better than their trio, not a lot. Their capabilities would not be sufficient to travel heavy and unimpeded. Even O’Brien when he went out by himself often came back covered in injuries, the dangers of the New World were nothing to be scoffed at.

“They're likely based far away, they needed to travel light each time. Still, it should be a decent-sized group, around ten, at most fourteen whenever they come to gather supplies…” Roya trailed off.

There were traces of the hospital being attacked by monsters several times, plus the ones that made nests here. It was no longer a good place to use as an emergency shelter. The original residents must have long departed due to the threats of the monsters.

“It's not that surprising nearby bases have begun to look for supplies, other than food and water which is typically the top priority, medicine is the close second. The ones that made it here should be quite competent, also they either have a doctor in their group, or its someone who worked at the hospital.” O’Brien added not at all surprised that they were late, a hospital was a prime target for both food and water.

“Their group must have a lot of women as well, I recognize those boxes. They're contraceptives, pregnancy medicine, and abortion medications.” Jules picked up a few pink boxes and purple containers that formed a large pile before a glass display.

“...” Rose looked over at her.

“Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm not interested in those shallow or…”, Jules deliberately looked over to O’Brien, “Egotistical kinds, so I don't date or party. I'm still, well was, aiming for the Olympics. But I have a lot of female friends.” Jules quickly defended herself feeling the weird gazes zero in on her. She was innocent!

Her knowledge merely came from her teammates who were quite active and didn’t seem to put all their effort into sports as she did.

Lea was amused by her display and couldn't help but tease her along with Rose.

To the side, O’Brien flashed his space ring and the piles of medicines vanished from the floor.

He had allocated all his supplies to his other storage items and primarily utilized his storage ring, the space within was the size of several large rooms so even with it at half capacity he was able to fit all the remaining prescriptions in without issue.

“Seventy-thirty.” He said leisurely.

As usual, Jules was quick to argue although even she had come to expect nothing less from him. Naturally, O’Brien was discussing the allocation of the medicines. He never attempted to paint himself as their equal or teammate.

Suddenly, he looked towards the door, sensing the same thing, so did Rose and Roya.

Immediately they all took combative stances with the exception of O’Brien.

They exited the room not wanting to meet the newcomers in such a closed space. As they entered the corridor, a well-equipped team armed with pistols, rifles, and shotguns approached, upon seeing strangers they also looked on guard and held up their guns.

“Who are you?” The leading man held nothing but a tiny pistol which sent alarm bells off in the women's hearts.

“Same as you.” Roya curtly responded, opting to use her gun instead of her bow being in such a closed space. O’Brien looked at her with a weird gaze.

???

“I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to empty those bags you're carrying.” After a short standoff, the leader of the group voiced an order, his team still pointing guns at them

“Hah? Aren't you something?” Jules couldn't help but raise her head and exhale a sharp breath.

“You're outnumbered almost three to one.” He said quite confidently.

“You're not bulletproof either I imagine. We'll have to ask you not to come back to this spot as well, it belongs to our base.”

“Oh, I didn’t see your name on it. Did your daddy open the hospital?” Jules spat as golden boots appeared on her feet.

“My mistake, so we’re kindred spirits.” The leader quickly spoke seeing her summon winged boots. “... Still, though I must insist, if you’re interested you can follow us back to our base and we can get to know each other, for now though, please empty the bags and allow us to search you.”

“We’ll have to say no.” Roya coldly glanced at them.

A few have experience but the rest are amateurs, that leader, he should be a Card Master considering he’s so confident to only carry a small pistol.

“If you do not cooperate, we will be forced to take action.” The leader’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he held up a hand signaling his companions.

“Please, we’re all brothers and sisters in these trying times with the threat of monsters, we shouldn’t fight amongst ourselves.” Lea was quick to try and deescalate the situation but the opposing group seemed to take it as a sign of weakness.

“Should I take care of it?” O'Brien leisurely asked while looking at an air vent, not particularly jazzed.

“No. We'll handle them.” Jules scoffed clearly irritated.

The tension in the air was already palpable, the conflict could ignite at any moment, and so it did. The opposing group was the first to open fire.