Nervously, Alice looked at her Stats again. She wasn't quite sure how often she had done so in the last few minutes.

"I will be honest with you. This mission is going to be a high risk to everyone involved. The first and last time our Scouts entered the city, it ended up in disaster. I doubt any of you have forgotten the funeral already," Alice stopped listening to Michael's speech. She knew already what it would be about anyway.

After getting the Soul-binding Skill, Alice had managed to squeeze out two more levels before they went back to base. Both of them had been used to upgrade that very Skill further. It had allowed her to pick up another Monkey soul, as well as the soul of a Raptor they had found all on its own.

Alice didn't have any intentions of confronting an entire pack on her own. In a group, those creatures could kill a Goliath. But on their own, they were even weaker than Monkeys. But it had definitely been worth it. It had given her a Skill called Pack mentality which didn't exactly improve her teamwork, but it did make her more aware of the rest of her 'pack'.

At that point, however, they did return to base despite still having a few hours in the day left. The reason was simple. While not as extreme for Ava, it was the first time that Alice had gone through such extreme growth in her physical capabilities, firmly putting them outside the range of even the greatest athletes and into superhuman territories. It took time getting used to it and figure out how she had to move to make the most out of it.

For example, at first, she had to make a conscious effort not to jump with every step. At least if she was trying to run as fast as possible.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Name: Alice Liddell

Level: 18 (18)

Class-primary: Necromancer 75,3%

Class-secondary: Warrior 80,3%

Resources:

Stamina: 20/21

Mana: 15/15

Soul energy: 20/20

Primary Stats:

Muscle-density: 30+1

Stamina: 20+1

Mana: 15

Magic power: 15+4

Secondary Stats:

Soul energy: 20

Bodyreformation (T) 4/100

Mana regeneration (T) 16/100

Leg strength (B) 10+10/100

Skills:

Soul collection Lv 1

Soul sense Lv 3

Undead constitution Lv 1

Flesh grafting Lv 1

Soul absorption Lv 3

Soul-binding Lv 3

Taunt (B) Lv 0+2

Pack mentality (B) Lv 0+1

Buffs:

Monkey soul: (2)

Magic power +4

Leg strength +10

Taunt +2

Raptor soul:

Muscle-density +1

Stamina +1

Pack mentality +1

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Looking at her Stats was both reassuring, and yet it still made her nervous. It was proof of how much she had grown, proof of her actually real superpowers. It was proof that at least a little bit, she was now adjusted to the new world and capable of carving out her own little place in it.

At the same time, it was a reminder. She was still nothing but a measly little human. No matter how much power she scrounged together, there would always be something stronger than her, and she doubted that would ever change.

Lost in her thoughts, she almost missed it when Ava put her hand on her shoulder and pulled her up.

"At level eighteen and sixteen, respectively, these two girls are our strongest fighters, and both of them have agreed to once again dive into the inner parts of the city despite the risks. However, they can't do so alone!

Of course, this counts as Scouting, and no one will force you to risk your lives. But when you think of whether to volunteer or not, please consider this: Next time, it might be you who needs something from out there.

We do not live in a time anymore where we can simply ignore problems. Because the problems won't ignore us.

If you want to volunteer or can help out in any way, please come to my office later," the Captain finished his speech.

----------------------------------------

"So, is this everyone?" Alice asked as she looked at the five people in the room. "It's good to have you, Daniel."

Daniel Ohio was a young guy who had just finished High school. He was also one of the first Looters, and the first person to switch over to Scouting. If it weren't for him, Alice and Ava might still be the only Scouts. Not just that, but he even managed to convince two more to join him, creating an entire second team. So it wasn't much of a surprise to see him here.

"Sure, there is no sense cowering behind our walls if we can be out there and fight back."

"What about the other two?" Ava asked him.

"They are staying behind. Those two are good at what they do, but that's not going out there on this kind of high-risk mission. Besides, this place will need someone to do our job when we aren't here."

Not for the first time, Alice realized how much of a realist the man was. He was aware that, just like the first time, some of them might not return. However, it was exactly why Alice had as much respect for him as she did, because, despite that, he was still going out there.

"And you decided to join too?"

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"Maybe. The way it looks right now, I'm leaning towards no," Max answered Alice's question.

"I want to go too. I HAVE to go!" Alice heard a familiar voice behind the door. She realized that she should have been paying more attention to the souls around her.

Now that Alice thought about it, she had been neglecting it, hadn't she? She should have talked with the boy about all the things she and Ava found a while ago, but between the Scouting and the reports to the Captain after, she had always come back exhausted to bother.

"You can't. It's far too dangerous! Not if you don't have a single ability that lets you fight!"

"Yo, Al, what's up?" Ava opened the door to the arguing pair.

One of them, of course, was their local prophet. The other was an old man Alice had only seen in passing before, and only now did she realize who he was. Harry Galdera, Alberts grandfather, was one of the elderly who had lived in Golden Glades. But looking at him, Alice had a hard time accepting that fact.

Sure, one could tell that he was old, if from nothing else than from his completely grey hair. But aside from that, he looked like the kind of old man who could still find a girlfriend in her early twenties. And not because he had a lot of money. If anything, just from his body, the man looked like he was still an active soldier.

"I checked how the mission would go," Albert explained, "The result was that someone who represents the leadership and 'knowledge' has to come along. And that means me! But this damn old goat won't let me go!"

"Oi, have a little more respect for your elders!"

Alice fell into thought. The old man was right, saying that Albert shouldn't join. It was simply too dangerous for someone who hadn't been outside even once. Not to mention that the boy got sick just at the sight of blood, making it so that his level was on the very low side. If anything, he would be a liability.

Alice got an idea, "You said someone who represents the leadership and 'knowledge' has to go?"

"Yes, that's the information I got."

"Well, you are in charge of intelligence, so you represent 'knowledge', but you don't represent the leadership, don't you? You are leadership. The one representing you, ergo representing leadership, is your grandfather, isn't he?" Alice explained in the hope of taking away his argument for coming along.

"Hmmm..." he fell into thought, "You are right! I'm gonna go then. I leave it to you!" the boy suddenly ran off, saying the last part to his grandfather.

"That was... easier than I thought it would be?" the old man scratched his head confusedly.

"Maybe he really just wanted to come along because of some prophecy?" Alice was just as confused as him. She had thought the boy suddenly developed some kind of hero-complex and thus expected him to throw a tantrum, but apparently, she hadn't given him enough credit.

"Well, thanks for that anyway. I didn't plan to, but apparently, I'm now joining you guys if that's what it takes. Please, call me Harry."

"I am going, and you can't stop me! Someone has to do it, and I'm sick of staying inside doing nothing!" a loud voice suddenly sounded through the hallway.

"But..." Alice could barely hear it.

"No, but. If you don't want me to die, then you are welcome to come along and use those muscles of yours for something other than showing off you damned oaf!"

Alice was sure she recognized those voices and souls, but no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't figure out who they were. However, not much later, she got her answer when a small woman entered the room like a hurricane, followed by a large, muscular man in a tank top. It was the guy who tried to make a scene when Michael introduced their new leadership.

"Names Debby Carter, but you can call me Deb. That cowardly husband of mine is Carl. We want to help out."

"Huh! I'm only coming along to protect my girl. I won't care if the rest of... Ouch!"

He got interrupted as Debby pulled on his ear like teachers did in old times.

"Please excuse him. He is a sweet idiot. But he is still an idiot," the woman said with a dangerous smile on her face.

Alice shuddered. No matter how much stronger she got, she had a feeling that she should never get in between those two.

"Alice, can you tell if anyone else is coming in our direction?" Michael finally intervened.

Alice quickly checked her soul sense. "I think this is everyone." She could feel a few more people coming in their direction, but none of them gave her the feeling that they were going to join them.

"Okay, this is good. Any more, and it might be too much either way. First of all, thank you all for coming. In that case, let's start with introductions. You all know me already, so how about you start?" the Captain pointed at Alice.

"Sure. I'm Alice. A level eighteen warrior focused on tanking, so I'm probably going to be the frontline. I am also capable of feeling souls within thirty meters, so I can double as a scout too," Alice finished.

"Ava Fernandes, shadow assassin extraordinaire!" the girl introduced herself with a bow, "I've got stealth, speed, and teleportation, so I'm gonna be lurking around the edges and pick off any stragglers."

"Daniel Ohio, you can call me Daniel or Dan if you want. I'm a Lightning mage with a lot of power. If I hit it, it will die, but in turn, my Mana reserves aren't too big. I will keep to the backline until we run into anything too big or too fast."

"Max. I can do some light buffing and healing. As long as you don't die, I will try my best to make sure it stays that way," Max said, having decided to come along.

"Harry Galdera. Gun mage," the old soldier's introduction was short. But of all of them, he probably knew best what he had to do.

"I told you my name already," Debby said. "I'm a telepath. I can establish a network as long as you are all within fifty meters of me, and I can locate and communicate with everything with sufficient intelligence within two-hundred-and-fifty meters. I can also put a mark on up to three people, which allows me to locate them within ten kilometers and establish communication within the same range.

I can also temporarily knock someone, or something, out, but that costs a lot of Mana. My other Skills luckily only use very little and only once when I establish the connection," the woman finished the rundown on her abilities.

"Ten kilometers? That's a longer range than our radios have. Can you put one of your marks on me?" Michael asked her.

"Of course, that's one of the reasons I want to come along in the first place."

"Hmmm... But you could stay here, right? Or if you stayed with a second team and acted as a relay, it would be even better, actually."

"No can do. I want to go all the way. With my range of detection, I might be able to find some people who survived. Even if we don't bring them back, I want to tell them at least where they can find a safe place. If that's okay, of course?"

"You are right. That would be ideal. Thanks."

"Also, my husband is fast and good at punching things, so he can do hit and run if it comes to a fight."

"What? No, I'm going to stay by your side and..." Carl exclaimed.

"Shush! I have a professional soldier, a healer, and a wizard to protect me. You can go and make yourself useful," the woman interjected.

"Pah! You mean an old man, a little kid, and a weak... Ouch!"

One of these days, she would rip his ear off, Alice was sure. It made Alice wonder how the two came to be married. Maybe Carl was a masochist? Alice wouldn't be surprised.

"Now, the last question before we talk about your objectives. Harry, can you take the position as leader?" Michael asked. The way he asked, it seemed like he knew the answer already.

"I have to decline. I have experience killing people, not monsters. Let the girls do it," the soldier declined. The regret lacing his voice was telling entire stories.

"In that case, Alice, Ava?"

"You do it," the redhead was quicker to react.

"Sure," Alice accepted her new position. She had never thought herself the kind of person to be a leader, but she knew well enough that Ava was even less suited.

"Okay. First of all, one thing you all need to be aware of is that you will be out there for several days, at least. So, now is the last chance to quit."

Michael looked them in the eyes one by one. No one said anything. Only Carl took half a step closer to his wife.

"Okay. You will be searching for a total of seven people in five primary locations. Namely, their homes. If you find anyone, tell them where to go, if they can make it on their own. If not, escort them here. If they are capable and willing, you can also take them with you. Alice, I trust you to make the right call depending on the situation."

"May I?" Debby interrupted the Captain before getting the go-ahead, "Could we include our own home? We know where our son is, and he isn't in Trenton. But we would still like to leave him a message just in case he comes looking for us."

"Of course. Yes, if you don't find anyone in any given location, check if they are just out of the house for the moment and likely to return later, in which case you will wait for them. Otherwise, leave behind a message with directions towards our location.

You will basically do the same in the secondary locations, which are their workplaces, and other places those people might have been when the apocalypse came.

Finally, there are these," Michael put a duffle bag with spray cans and papers on the table.

"Use them to lead as many people back here as possible."

The meeting went on for almost another two hours, everyone discussing what would be the best order to do things.

Was it really the best to start with the primary locations? Or maybe they shouldn't search ordered by location at all but go through all possible locations for a single individual? Or maybe they shouldn't search in any specific pattern but look for the shortest path through all locations?

What should they do about injuries? When should they retreat? What if they found someone dead? Should they collect personal effects as a memory?

Where could they spend the night, and how should they organize watches? Who should carry how much of their provisions? The physical fighters had the strength to carry more, but with them, the provisions would be at greater risk of getting damaged.

It was clear that, once they began asking questions, there was simply too much they didn't know. Too much experience they didn't have.

And even after that, it took still another two hours before they finally got ready. Repacking backpacks, organizing equipment, having the Metal mages armor everyone up as much as possible.

And even that wasn't everything. They had to memorize paths, locations, and meeting spots. Learn as much as they could about monsters, discussing their Skills and abilities to come up with viable tactics.

It was already afternoon when they got finally ready to go.

"Check, check, can everyone hear me?" Alice tested the telepathic network.

Six determined nods were answer enough.

"Then let's go!"

They were better prepared than ever before, but they were going to be in more danger than ever before too. And somehow, Alice was the one who had to make sure it didn't end in a disaster.

But somehow, she didn't mind. If it meant that the person at her side would be safe, she was ready to do anything. And as long as the girl was with her, she had the confidence to succeed.

I have a girlfriend, Alice thought amusedly, of everything that happened, it still feels like the strangest thing of all.

She shook her head. It was time to concentrate.

"Let's go!" she repeated out loud.