The moon was high in the sky illuminating the forest, the shadows of the trees stretching into the darkness until it was lost in the distance. Expectant and suspicious looks all rested on Venge, his story about being lost in the woods had been questionable at best and his late statement had me wondering if he could be trusted. 

"What numbers are you talking about, the Maturity level? Venge says, more confused than before. The look on his face hid secrets, secrets we needed for survival, and I will do whatever it takes to pry them from him. "What's it called maturity, what is that Venge, Is it related to the wipe?" Beth asks in a neutral voice. 

"Wait, what exactly do you guys know about the wipe aside from Cosmos being the new ruler of the earth?" Shin knew he was a little slow when it came to discovering the use of his abilities but it seemed like these people had no clue about the system or the messages, and he was beginning to see why they carried on in such a carefree manner after the world had ended. 

"That's all we know," Eugene answering in a low voice, his usual cheer seemed to have drained from his body. "We don't have a clue what's been happening in the world, we've been too busy trying to survive, hunting alone is a hassle, let alone exploring the woods looking for answers." 

Looking at the group Shin was taken aback, the only one not listening to the conversation being Takashi as he continued to adjust his bow. "So none of you have accessed your User yet? Haven't you heard the rings in your head?" Looking at each other with a confused look he could tell they all knew what I was referring too. 

"I thought I was going crazy, I hear the rings every so often what are they?" Coming from Eugene he had a worried look plastered on his face. "It's a message from the system, informing you something changed with your User which is like, a breakdown of all your abilities." 

His foot had been tapping in irritation for awhile now, standing up Lars retorts in frustration, "And how exactly did you figure all of this out after waking up and wandering through the forest lost? You's clothes are ripped to shreds, those aren't burn marks their slices." 

Looking around the fire he looked at each of their faces before his eyes rested on Beth, she stared at him unblinking waiting for his answer, he could see her mind already calculating his words in her mind before he even responded. "I was being chased by a Rattler when Eugene found me," the words seeping out my mouth. 

"The system adjusts your user based on your interactions, like updates, the more you discover helps broaden your understanding of the world. Just say it in your minds and you'll see what I'm talking about." 

They seemed skeptical, it was hard to believe unless you were a fantasy nut, and from the look around, the idea of everything I'm saying being entirely made up had to have passed through some of their minds. 

"He's right!" Francis being the first to respond surprisingly, his face seemed to light up as a smirk appeared. "It's as if AI has been implanted in our brains, allowing, well whoever it is running this system to communicate with us." It seemed to excite him, talking about the User stats, and the relation it had to the system. 

His wife looked at him strangely as he continued to engross himself in the system, only blinking occasionally to keep his eyes from drying. I didn't understand much about the system, so explaining to them why I could see things they couldn't wasn't exactly easy, in fact, the more I explained the more confused looks I got. The only person seeming to understand me being Francis who I assumed had some experience with tech before the wipe happened. 

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

After about 10 minutes everyone seemed to be looking at their own screens, with the exception of Takashi who just ignored us as he began making arrowheads from the bones of the Rattler we just ate, and Lance, who had begun shouting "My User" over and over as his brother started to smack him over the head. 

"Stop shouting in my ear! You want me to go deaf?"  

The tension eased as they began to gossip about their individual stats, apparently, Eugene's Maturity was at 3 from killing so many Rattlers, he had also discovered the passive skill Barebow I which increased his accuracy by 2% and the skill Fishtailing I which allowed him to manipulate an arrow in flight. He was ecstatic about it until he read the requirements. 

"It says here that the consumption rate for me to use my skill is 10 LF, Venge what does LF mean?" He says, looking at me eager to try his new abilities on the next hunt. 

"I've never seen LF in any of my messages, sorry but I have no idea." A little disappointed, he turns back to his screen attempting to figure out the meaning of LF. Bryce had stayed silent the entire time, murmuring to himself as he examined his stats. 

The only person who didn't seem interested was Takashi, he had finished crafting the arrows and had headed off to sleep, not saying a word to anyone. "Don't worry about him he's always like that." Looking at me, Beth wore a bright smile, the same smile she wore when she first saw him and the same smile she showed when listening to Eugene's stories. 

"My name's Bethany, but you can call me Beth, So Venge you said you woke up near a pond right? Do you mind taking us there tomorrow? We're running out of water and it hasn't rained for a few days now, It's the least you can do right, we did feed you after all?" 

Her tone sounded sweet, but there was an edge in her voice and Shin could see how she had continuously watched him throughout the night, slowly examining every word that fell out of his mouth.  

"Yeah sure, It's a few hours from here If Eugene can take us back to where he found me I'll lead the way from there." Eugene's ears twitched at the sound of his name before turning toward us. "Yeah I remember where I picked you up in the middle of the zipp- I mean Rattlers territory, but it's a bit dangerous for the whole group to go, 3 of us should be enough."  

Turning to Lance, Beth beams a smile at him, "Lance, Eugene needs you to carry the water tomorrow, you don't mind right? You just sit around all day anyway, why not help the group?" Turning back towards Eugene, before Lance could say anything "So it's decided Lance and Venge will help you." 

She hadn't given him a chance to reject her, not that Lance had actually felt duped being too slow to even process what had just happened. Trace laughed to himself as he watched the interaction unfold before rising from the campfire, "Don't worry about it Lance I'll be going tomorrow, I'm interested to see what's out there at the lake, besides with those skinny arms you couldn't carry a cup of water." 

Bursting out laughing Eugene falls to the ground, shaking the earth around him. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he patted Lance on the shoulder before laughing again. Lance still sitting there, he may have been slow but he knew an insult when he heard one. "Alright guys cut it out stop picking on Lance," rubbing his little brothers head Lar's intervened putting the laughter to a stop.  

Leaving the fire Lance returns to the hut smiling to himself. One by one they started to leave the campfire going inside of the tiny hut to sleep until Shin sat alone. The campfire still crackling in the silent night, he looked up at the moon and wondered if Azel was even still alive and if he was how he would beat him.

Standing up, he heads for the hut yawning to himself before his pocket begins to glow. The blue light burned in his pocket, pulling out the gem a form began to appear the familiar soft blue flames and shape had Shin gaping as he stared at the figure.

"Hey Shin, you didn't miss me did you?"