Time passed slowly in the dim light of their makeshift shelter. Eventually, Kaya woke up, her amber eyes fluttering open. She groggily sat up, her red hair tousled from sleep, and rubbed her eyes to clear the remnants of her slumber.

She glanced around, taking in the scene.

Gabby was still asleep, breathing softly, the exhaustion evident on her face. Jason, too, was fast asleep, a bit of drool escaping from the corner of his mouth.

Kaya's gaze finally settled on Sam. He appeared to be awake, but he wasn't doing much, he just kind of staring at his hands as if lost in thought.

Yawning, Kaya realized she couldn't fall back asleep. Feeling fully rested, she decided against waking the others and instead opted to stretch a bit. Her curiosity piqued by Sam's odd behavior, she quietly approached him.

Standing just a step away, she tilted her head and asked,

"What are you doing?" Expecting a response, she waited for a moment, but Sam didn't reply. She tried again,

"Hello? Sam?"

Still no answer. Kaya pondered if he might have fallen asleep in such an awkward position, but it seemed unlikely. His posture, sitting up and staring at his hands, didn't resemble that of someone sleeping.

Unable to resist her curiosity, she poked him a couple of times.

"Sam? Are you dead or what?" Suddenly, Sam's body jolted, as if he had been spooked by a jumpscare.

He looked around wildly, his eyes landing on Kaya's face, which was now very close to his.

"Ahh! What the—?!"

Kaya quickly shushed him by placing a finger to her lips. After a few seconds, Sam shook his head, regaining his composure.

"You scared the shit out of me," he muttered.

Kaya ignored his complaint and turned to check if Gabby or Jason had been disturbed by the noise. Fortunately, Gabby was still sleeping soundly, and Jason still continued to drool, oblivious to the commotion.

"What are you screaming for? You'll wake up the others!" she whispered sharply.

Sam, still bewildered, replied,

"Of course I screamed! You appeared right in front of my face out of nowhere!"

Kaya raised an eyebrow.

"Sam, I called your name a few times and you didn't respond, so I decided to poke you to check if you were dead or something. What were you even doing in that weird posture anyway?"

He sighed, "I'm training my mana to be more efficient."

Curious, Kaya asked, "What do you mean by 'more efficient'?"

Sam scratched his head.

"Let's just say I wanted to become more familiar with my mana and try to make the mana inside my body move more smoothly. Something like that."

Kaya tilted her head. "So, you're a mage?"

Sam chuckled. "If I were a mage, I'd be the worst mage in the world. No, I'm not a mage."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Even more curious, Kaya pressed on, "Then why are you training to control your mana?"

Sam pointed to his back. "Because I need mana to use this thing."

Kaya's eyes followed his gesture and landed on a firearm strapped to his back.

"Wait a minute, is that a real firearm?"

Sam, sounding slightly shocked, replied,

"What? You just now realized I carried a firearm? Yes, it's a real rifle. But man, you need to be more aware of your surroundings."

Kaya crossed her arms. "Technically, it's partly your fault."

Bewildered, Sam asked, "My fault? What are you talking about?"

She sighed. "Let me jog your memory. As soon as I woke up, you dumped a lot of information on me, practically giving me an existential crisis. Let alone noticing your rifle, my brain was overloaded trying to process all the information."

Sam raised his right arm in protest but then stopped, touching his chin thoughtfully.

"Well, if you put it like that, yeah, I guess it's partly my fault."

Kaya smiled a little. "I know I'm right. Anyway, how did you get that? From the secret facility you told us about, I presume?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. There were so many wooden crates filled with all kinds of weapons like—"

Kaya cut him off excitedly. "Wait, there's a lot of weapons? You mean like an armory?"

Sam replied, his voice puzzled, "Yeah? What about it?"

Her face beamed with happiness. "If what you said is true, we can arm everyone! And we also can—"

Sam interrupted, "Whoa, slow down! If I were you, I wouldn't do what you're thinking."

Still smiling, she asked, "What do you mean? If we gear everyone up, our survival chances will increase significantly!"

Sam replied, "Yeah, about that, you can't."

Kaya frowned. "We can't? What do you mean by that?"

Sam took the rifle off his back and showed it to Kaya. "At most, you can only take firearms like this rifle. This rifle has a level requirement; you need to be level 15 or above to use it."

He continued, "For weapons such as swords, daggers, bows, staves, and wands, it's practically impossible to use since the requirements need you to be level 50 or above."

Kaya's frown deepened. "We can just take the firearms then. It should be sufficient."

Sam shook his head. "We also can't do that because it will take us about three days to reach the secret facility. Currently, we don't have the luxury to use that amount of time. By the time we reach the secret facility, there won't be enough time to find the survivors."

Kaya rubbed her forehead, sighing. "What a waste of opportunity."

"So, what's your plan to meet the other survivors? Where are you going to find them?" Sam asked, trying to change the topic.

Kaya thought for a bit before replying, "I know of a few settlements like my Stormbringers group. What about you?"

Sam shook his head. "Don't ask me about that. I don't know anything about where they are, let alone know about any group."

Kaya smirked. "You really don't know anything outside of your interest, huh?"

Sam, feeling a bit defensive, retorted, "Well, I'm sorry. It's not like I did it intentionally. There's this thing called 'survival.' Ever heard of it?"

Kaya chuckled. "Alright, alright, don't be so serious. I'm just saying."

She continued, "Anyway, the closest settlement to us is in the northeast direction. I don't remember what the group name is, but we'll know once we get there."

Suddenly, a gut feeling told Sam that heading northeast might not be the best idea.

He pondered for a moment.

'Strange,' he thought.

"I wonder what's that about? But then again, I think it's fine since I have new allies now." Sam muttered to himself,

"Hmm, did I forget something? If so, what is it?"

Kaya's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry, what? I didn't hear you."

"No, no, it's nothing... probably," Sam replied, trying to brush it off. He then attempted to change the topic.

"Is going northeast the only choice we have?"

Kaya nodded. "As far as I know, the closest settlement or group is in the northeast, so yeah."

Sam let out a low sigh. "Alright, northeast it is then. By the way, since we're not departing yet, let's set some rules for the journey."

Kaya raised an eyebrow. "Rules? What kind of rules do you have in mind, and what for?"

Sam began to explain.

"First, we can't kill any monsters unless there's no other option. And second, we'll move carefully until we reach the destination to avoid unnecessary fights, whether it's with beasts or hostile human groups."

Kaya let Sam's words sink in, thinking it over.

"Why can't we just kill any monsters we encounter? We could travel northeast while leveling up, you know? I understand the second rule, but the first, I don't get it."

Sam tilted his head. "Did you forget already about the documents you read?"

Kaya frowned a bit.

"No, what do you mean I— oh, right, I forgot. G'rath will hunt the highest to lowest level humans."

Sam didn't say anything, just nodded.As they talked, time passed, and eventually, Gabby and Jason woke up. The four of them chatted for a bit, discussing the rules Sam had mentioned and other miscellaneous topics while they ate the beef jerky Sam had given them.

When they were ready, they gathered their belongings and prepared to depart.