In the end, it had taken Noah over five hours to make Steve whole again, or as whole as a skeleton can be, and the strain had left him utterly spent and exhausted. However, aside from the ancient armor that had remained torn and punctured, the fallen warrior was now undamaged.

"I wonder what grandma would think of you..." Noah muttered mostly to himself and chuckled, while looking at his guardian.

'Huh?'

To his surprise, Steve had fixed his gaze towards him, his empty eye sockets shimmering in a green light.

'What goes on in that skull of yours...'

Noah had also attempted to 'regenerate' himself in order to heal his own injuries, but to no avail. There were Touched known to have regenerative abilities over living cells, with limited healing properties but Noah had deduced that his ability is different, perhaps only usable on the undead minions he can raise. After all, he never heard of any Touched capable of re-growing limbs.

'I guess I would be a summoner class in my virtual games, with no offensive ability of my own.'

Worn out from exerting his ability, Noah drifted back into slumber. Despite the chill seeping into his bones and the throbbing ache of his wounds, he found a strange comfort in sleep this time. The daunting journey back to The Arc no longer seemed insurmountable, knowing he could mend the injuries Steve endured along the way.

Eventually the duo resumed their journey, ascending cautiously along the river's course. They again, skirted around large groups of monsters, as well as particularly menacing creatures, while targeting solitary, less formidable foes.

Stranded in the depths of the underground caverns, Noah had lost all sense of the day-night cycle. At some point, he had also ceased checking the time on his omni device.

Feeling drained from their perilous journey, Noah sought refuge in a secluded side cavern after a day spent advancing along the river. However, hunger gnawed at him, prompting Noah to decide it was time to hunt.

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Noah had spent his entire life in the urban jungle of The Arc. Meat was expensive and when he bought it, it would be cultured meat, grown in factories. He never had to question the origins of his food or imagine what it looked like before it became an expensive cut of meat on his plate.

The creatures from the other world were all carnivorous, their nightmarish appearances hardly whetting Noah's appetite. However, with two days having passed since his last meal—a meal with dubious results—starvation gnawed at him, urging Noah to set aside his reservations.

Hiding behind a boulder overgrown with luminous moss, Noah cautiously surveyed his surroundings. Amongst the landscape, he noticed large packs of monsters and particularly menacing individual creatures, all of which he aimed to steer clear of.

Perched against a cavern wall, was a lone reptilian creature. The same as the pack he saw by the river and hunted two if its stragglers.

'Looks like you're dinner...'

With his armor clanking loudly, Steve moved about as stealthily as an artillery bombardment. Knowing this, Noah employed a tactic he often used to deal with solitary monsters: he approached alone, attracting the creature's attention with a thrown rock. As expected, the monster pursued Noah, seeing an easy meal, only to be led straight into the ambush of the undead warrior. With a swift strike of his worn Greatsword, Steve sent the reptilian monster's head flying through the air.

Noah absorbed the monster's strength in the form of the green mist, but his focus was elsewhere this time. He instructed Steve to sever the creature's hind leg before leaving the rest of the carcass behind. Together, they headed back towards the small cavern Noah had chosen as their hideout for the night.

"How the heck do I cook this?" Noah was sitting at the small cavern, looking at the severed reptilian leg.

Even if Noah had a clue how to start a fire, which he didn't, they were underground with no access to trees, bushes, branches, or any wood-related materials.

"Hey, Steve, can you cook this for me?"

Given that the undead warrior hailed from a society akin to our world's Middle Ages in terms of technology, it seemed reasonable to assume that Steve would possess knowledge of survival in the wilderness. Despite his stoic skeletal demeanor, he retained his prowess in combat, so why not proficiency in outdoor skills as well?

Steve cast a brief glance at Noah before walking over, his armor clattering with each step, and then crouched down, placing his Greatsword on the ground. With his hands now free, the skeletal warrior extended his arms, palms open, toward the meat. Noah observed closely, eager to learn from Steve.

"What the duck!"

Flames somehow emerged from Steve's skeletal hands and began to engulf the severed reptilian leg.