After finding the lake, the three went on to explore the forest. To their surprise, they also found some fruits and nuts to eat on the way.
Though it was obvious that compared to the ones they found in the pantry of the tower, these particular fruits and nuts weren’t all that savory. A little dry, even. Still, it was good to know that they can find something to eat on the way.
Hence they decided to drop eating the valuable Attribute fruits. It was only used as their last resort to eat anything, but now that they can scavenge for food, they can save these for any potential emergencies.
Throughout the way, they found some more beasts to slay. This time, it was several boars in a pack together, all aiming to maim them with their tusks. Mikella dealt with them one by one, making the fight a lot easier to manage.
Though Zeke kept up with her, conjuring a barrier right before a boar was readying to ram Mikella while she was busy stabbing its brethren. As soon as the boar was stopped, Mikella noticed the disturbance behind her and swiftly punctured the boar right after the barrier disappeared.
Unless Zeke was imagining it, it was like Mikella knew exactly when the barrier was conjured, and when to strike as soon as the barrier was down. He did hear her say that she can also sense Mana, but so far the only magic she could sense was his.
If that’s the case, then he could conjure a barrier whenever he could and Mikella can easily tell where it was even without watching it. To him, that’s an incredible ability as it made fighting together a lot easier.
> You have defeated Tusk Boar (x3), Level 10.
>
> You have gained experience points
When the boars were slain, they dropped some hides like the tiger did. Even better, some even dropped meat to eat. It was strange, but the meat was just laying there, already dressed and cleaned off of blood. They’re gonna have to see if it’s even edible, and Mikella herself wasn’t all that keen on trying the meat just yet.
So for now, nuts and fruits are the way to go.
As for the hides, they’ll be used as replacement clothing when they find somewhere to rest and relax. Once they were done sorting the loot, Mikella had a notification which she eagerly showed off.
> Sword Mastery Level Up! It is now Level 4.
>
> You have gained +1 DEX from your skill.
…..
> Hawk Eyes Level Up! It is now Level 2.
>
> You have gained +2 STR from your skill.
> You have gained +1 DEX from your skill.
…..
> Name: Mikella Ashton (Opportunist)
> Race: Human
> Novice: Level 8
> STR: 19
> DEX: 23
> INT: 6
> SPI: 5
> VIT: 11
> END: 16
> Free Points: 0
>
> General Skills:
> Sword Mastery (C), Level 4
> Pain Resistance (U), Level 2
> Meditation (C), Level 2
>
> Acquired Skills:
> Acrobatics (R), Level 2
> Hawk Eyes (R), Level 2
>
> Title Skill:
> Not-Lucky Shot (T), Level 1 (Maxed)
Zeke’s eyes widened at the physical increases shown before him. Mikella also knew exactly what she showed as a sly grin flashed on her face.
“I’m just getting stronger and stronger. I might even be able to carry you like you do with Clara.”
“Hah, hah,” Zeke laughed bitterly, ignoring the bitter envy coiling his insides. “Hey, if anything, this is a good thing.”
“Sure,” Mikella giggled, knowing full well she touched a nerve, but she brought them back to the main topic. “But I also noticed that our levels stayed the same… why is that?”
“I was wondering about that too…”
Despite the hours passing by and taking out as many knights and beasts as possible, they still haven’t leveled up after facing the wyvern. There was also the fact that their levels remained exactly the same as each other’s.
He can understand their levels being the same, since they were in a sort of unofficial party and all, but they haven’t leveled up once. Then he had a thought.
“Perhaps the tower was also giving us way more experience than it should be?” Zeke prompted, getting Mikella to nod in agreement.
“It’s strange if you think about it,” Mikella said, using her hands to gesture. “I mean, the knights weren’t exactly tough opponents. Sure, they were scary to face at just level 1, but later on they became easier to manage. After beating that wyvern, the only challenge were the knights that increased in numbers.”
“Do you think it also affected how we gained the skill books?”
Zeke asked, though he never felt any doubt that it was the tower that rewarded them the skills, not the system.
But now that they got out and faced one monster after another, it started to make sense.
“The drops were also pretty suspicious if you think about it. A powerful barrier, a skill that makes me superhuman, a healing skill for you, and eyes that can see weaknesses… I got a feeling these aren’t ordinary skills. I’m really starting to think that it was some sort of weird… tutorial for us,” Mikella offered, her face blanching just by the mention.
“It was probably the worst tutorial I’ve ever had to go through,” Zeke muttered, rubbing his former broken arm despite it being already healed. “Even famous hardcore games had signs left by other players on how to play.”
“Oh, I remember playing them for a bit. Those were pretty fun,” Mikella grinned.
“Of course you did,” Zeke snorted. “That doesn’t surprise me at all, actually.”
“How’d you figure?”
Mikella said as she flicked her sword aside, the blood from the boar being splattering away without a second thought. All the while a curious look was plastered on her innocent face.
“Just a guess,” He smirked. He then shifted to a serious face as he continued. “If all that’s true, then that means someone is trying to prepare us for something. I just don’t know what.”
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Mikella stared at him, a set of complicated emotions wrestling control as her face remained neutral. Zeke grimaced as he continued.
“But that doesn’t matter. It won’t change the fact that we’re here now, and we have a duty to do. Right now, our main goal is to survive–easy, we’ve done that plenty of times before.”
Mikella nodded, having no reason to disagree with that notion.
“We’ll find a place, a town or something, and get some information.”
“We also need to find a safe place to put Clara in while we go out and find a way out of here,” Mikella suggested, prompting Zeke to nod.
He honestly can’t imagine anyone in this world, especially themselves, to be okay with grabbing a ten year old child around in dangerous adventures. Just being in that tower against her will was enough to possibly traumatize her for life. She seemed ecstatic now, but who knew what she could be thinking?
The idea alone made Zeke guilty. If he was better at protecting her, then perhaps filling her mind with scars would have been avoided. But he put that aside for now.
“Sissy, Bobo, I’m hungry.”
Clara declared, whining as she tugged on Mikella’s new short pants. She had to use whatever cloth was left over to ensure her shame.
“Oh, then let’s eat something. Wait for a bit, okay?” Mikella asked, and being an understanding girl, Clara nodded.
Taking the time to take a break, they sat down and ate some fruits that they found. They even went ahead to try to start a fire, which was easy thanks to Mikella’s incredible abilities to literally make fire by rubbing the two rocks they found hard enough to start the campfire.
It wasn’t time to sleep yet, and there was still plenty of daylight, but a small break once or twice is the least they deserve.
During that time of peace and quiet, Zeke realized something.
He still had no clue what the hell was a ‘Bobo’.
Ever so slowly, while Clara was distracted eating the hard meat with her teeth, Zeke whispered to Mikella who was just about to eat her own meat, a still look of a grimace marking her worry over the meal.
“Hey, uhh, Mikella?” Zeke asked, catching her attention. “What does she mean when she calls me ‘Bobo’? Any idea?”
Mikella widened her eyes at that. Zeke wondered whether it was some form of family secret or something, but Mikella only sheepishly smiled as she replied in the same volume as him.
“Umm…She always had difficulty saying the word ‘sister’ when she was little, so in the end she called me Sissy. So when she’s calling you ‘Bobo’, I assume that’s her trying to call you ‘brother’.”
His mind froze. The words ‘brother’ echoed in his head more often than it should, and it brought forth a whole slew of emotions.
He didn’t know what it was at first. He looked down at the ground, letting the words sink into his brain, then to his being.
Unlike a sibling relationship he knew since childhood, a brother is someone you trusted, someone who grew up with you, who knows you better than anyone else.
And now Clara considered him as a brother. Someone who was a total stranger to her just a few days ago now trusted him enough to be considered part of her family.
Someone like him. Someone who after knowing himself all his life to be inadequate is trusted enough to be called a brother. Not even with his own real siblings did he ever feel like this.
This realization sinked in, not even realizing that his eyes were starting to blur.
“A-Are you crying?” Mikella asked in surprise and concern, looking over at his face with widened brows.
“No… I’m just really tired,” Zeke lied. He couldn’t hold it back. He didn’t know the reason, yet his emotions were going haywire and rebelling against his common sense.
Why would a grown man cry about a child calling him a brother? It wasn’t even the proper word being used. Still, his heart wrenched in emotions that were seeped in memories he wished to forget.
He lowered his head, avoiding everyone’s eye contact as he tried to wrestle control back into himself. He was thankful that he didn’t start sobbing, because otherwise that would be extremely difficult to play off.
Not that it didn’t help much with his embarrassment as Mikella grabbed hold of his right shoulder, hugging him tightly to herself.
“Hey, everything’s okay,” Mikella said gently, her voice the same tone she would use for Clara. “Take it easy. Let it pass.”
Easy for her to say. He was the only man of the group. While he won’t put down the importance of settling his emotions, he needed to be strong for them.
Yet the tears still flowed. Eventually the one person who shouldn’t be seeing him like this started asking.
“Bobo? Are you hurt? You’re crying…” Clara asked, worry in her tone of voice. Zeke couldn't even answer before Mikella took over.
“It’s fine, sweetie. Zeke is just very happy right now.”
“Really?” Clara asked, sounding more puzzled and doubtful, but Zeke didn’t notice as he tried desperately to hide his face.
“Some people express emotions differently from others. Some can be so happy that they start crying. Now show some decency and look away.”
“Okay…”
Just like that, Clara did so, leaving Zeke alone. He didn’t know how to take this. The fact that he started crying, about how Mikella saved his image, and how Clara just seemed so genuinely confused and worried for him.
It was all too much for him. He never felt any of these emotions before. It was too much.
…..
Night had arrived when they found another small indent on the ground, covered around with trees and bigger hills which made it a perfect place for some rest. While it didn’t have a lake like before, they currently didn’t need a wash so it was fine.
Mikella had already started making the camp which was proven to be very easy when you have enough physical points out the wazoo.
Meanwhile, Zeke used a lot of his mana to put up a barrier around them. He assured the girls that as long as nothing super powerful comes knocking at their doorstep, this barrier won’t break even while everyone–including him–slept through the night.
Strangely, his mana hasn’t been used up all that much after making the dome. He swore he could easily recover back the mana after getting the rest and the barrier would still be up.
Eventually, the stars above showed as something surprising revealed in the night sky. Much like what they expected, that very same studded sun became a studded moon, this time giving off a gentle light that was easy to look at, and more importantly, provide some ample lighting across.
It was a strange sight to behold, and Zeke would’ve guessed that it might have been easier to digest if there were multiple moons or even multiple suns in this fantasy-like world. But it was like seeing an abstract-shaped lamp turning into different lights throughout the day.
As the hours passed, everyone went to sleep. Clara was the first to go to sleep in Mikella’s arms, the two resting underneath the tiger pelt that they took as the loot.
It was expected that the hide would be an excellent use for a blanket as the night air quickly became chilly. Not even the burning flames in front of them could stave off the cold, but it was as though the hide was enchanted as being dressed up underneath was almost like having a heater within.
And somehow Zeke found himself resting right near the girls underneath the same blanket. Hell, even Clara was sleeping next to him with her sister on the other side.
He wanted to avoid as much physical contact as possible, being an older man and all. But it seemed impossible at this point.
Eventually, he couldn’t hold himself back and ended up brushing Clara’s hair. When he thought Mikella might crush his fingers for it at some point, she ended up smiling as she nestled closer with Clara with a satisfied look.
She ended up sleeping as well, leaving Zeke alone with his thoughts.
He recalled the time he figured out what ‘Bobo’ means, and what it represented. At first, it was so daunting that he ended up crying.
But now, once the whole slew of emotions rampaging inside of him dispersed, only a single emotion laid bare.
Resolution.
He never felt so secure in himself, and so confident before. Fear and anxiety still took priority, but now there was a strange foundation deep within everything.
He realized this the moment he found the courage to face death as he let the others live. He didn’t think he was big enough of a man to actually pull it off, but it just felt so natural to him.
Who on earth would let a little girl and her big sister die when he could be the one to do it instead? And more importantly, figure a way out of there himself eventually?
That alone brought him the realization after thinking about the word ‘brother’. He had what it takes to take care of the girls beside him.
He stood still, staring at the girls who were resting beside him. Despite everything they went through, the fact that they can rest easily like this was proof that his barrier was doing the trick.
Or rather, that they can trust him well enough to rest like this.
I still don’t think I’m good enough.
Despite those thoughts being at the forefront, he made his resolve.
He will protect these two. He will find a way out for them to go home and help them find happiness.
That’s what he believed a big brother should do for his family.