"Damn impressive," Aaron muttered, staring at his own soul orb once more with more than a hint of disdain, "Anyway... Zachary, do you want to join my crew?"

"Huh… I don’t know. Why do you ask?" Zachary replied.

Aaron shrugged, "You're strong and you know what you're doing. I'll make you my second-in-command."

"Thanks..." Zachary said, "Maybe, I'll think about it."

He wasn't going to think about it. He had no intention of being ordered around by others. But it was better to be diplomatic since they were all stuck here together.

After that, the conversation turned to more pressing matters. The wolves remained unrelenting in their attacks. By now, these were largely ineffective due to a difference in strength and strategy but the beasts still persisted. There were still hundreds and hundreds of black wolves within the pack and they all wanted the pinecitta tree. They threw themselves at the defensive array of horns, claws, and pincers without any regard for losses.

To resist the wolves, Aaron came up with a shift system. There were twelve people left counting Zachary and Katherine. The land bridge was wide enough to safely fit four people. Any more and just a slight push could cause a person to lose their balance and fall into the misty abyss. Therefore, four people would defend the narrow passage at any one time. The others would rest, eat, and help their summons recover.

Just as Katherine had pointed out initially, everything they needed to survive was at their fingertips. Meat from the wolves served as a never-ending supply of food. Their anima crystals could be used for soul cultivation and healing summons. There was water everywhere due to the thundering waterfalls all around them so they wouldn't go thirsty either.

It was a battle of attrition and a test of patience. With each wolf defeated and captured, the number of summons on their side grew. The result of this battle would depend on how long each side could keep fighting and how many reinforcements each could get.

Aside from this, the only matter that remained was the pinecitta tree and its precious fruits. It was the target of desire for all parties involved, humans and wolves alike. Although there were many soul orbs, it was still a finite number.

Only the ripe fruits that had dropped down were viable. There had been an initial scramble for the soul orbs on the ground. Since Katherine had come prepared with leaf carrying bag, she was able to pilfer away a far bigger share. Once other realized this, it caused a serious argument.

"You can't just keep half the orbs to yourself!"

"There's ten of us and only two of you!"

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"Everyone had a chance to snatch soul orbs, you were just too slow!" Katherine retorted.

"You bitch!"

“Hand the bag over or else!”

"Everyone, calm down!" Aaron said and rushed over to separate the two groups.

Zachary followed, going to Katherine and making sure she was alright. After they stopped shouting at each other, Aaron and Zachary met for a series of uneasy negotiations.

Aaron White was tall and imposing. He loomed over Zachary by at least half a head. His short hair and muscular build made him look like a professional gangster or a seasoned military man. Compared to him, Zachary had a slim but solid figure. With a sharp chin and long back hair, he would have been considered rakishly handsome in the Old World. Neither felt inferior standing in front of the other so nobody backed down.

Aaron contended that Katherine shouldn't have taken almost half of the soul orbs without telling anyone and that this was unfair to the rest. Zachary's counterpoint was that even among Aaron's group, the distribution of orbs was uneven. Those who got to the tree first were hoarding far more orbs, causing others to find trouble with Katherine.

“Let’s just be fair. We have twelve people. Split all the soul orbs twelve ways and you guys get two shares.” Aaron said.

“You have ten people,” Zachary countered, “What we have is two groups so fifty-fifty is fair.”

“No way, that’s too much. The others won’t accept it.”

Zachary knew that was the truth. The unsatisfied expressions on their faces told him as much. He looked back at Katherine who shrugged helplessly.

“Forty-sixty.” He countered.

Aaron shook his head, “Two shares out of twelve is one-sixth. How about one-fifth or twenty-eighty.”

“Thirty-seventy.”

“Twenty-five-seventy-five, one-fourth.”

“Fine,” Zachary said and stuck out his hand.

“Good man.” Aaron shook it.

The deal was done. Aaron seemed satisfied but another person was not.

“You’re not very good at bargaining,” Katherine said after she had given away half of her stash.

“Yeah… maybe.” Zachary admitted, “But Aaron isn’t much better off, he has to deal with way more people than us. It’s better to get past this than get stuck and start fighting or something. And it was all your fault, who told you to take all the orbs?”

"It wasn't my fault," She pouted, "They were too slow!"

"We have to be careful. We don't know these people. And we're stuck with them for the long term." He muttered.

He was quickly starting to regret ever jumping into this mess. But then again, when he stared at the pile of soul orbs that remained in their possession, he couldn’t think of much else. Between the leaf bag and her survivor bag, they had around eighty in all.

“Don’t worry, Zach,” Katherine whispered, “They’re all yours.”

He looked at her and discovered that she was serious, “Really?”

“Sure.”

He quickly looked around. Noticing that nobody was paying them any attention, he hugged her and gave her a rough kiss.

She melted into him. Her lips were soft like butter and he momentarily lost himself in them, but only for a moment before the reality of their situation came crashing back.

“If only this place wasn’t so crowded…” He muttered after they broke apart.

She laughed softly and rubbed his chest, “Me too.”

That only made him more frustrated. The small patch of ground surrounding the monolith provided almost no cover or privacy. Aaron had already designated the opposite side of the octagonal construct as the bathroom area so they couldn’t go there either.

“Actually, I do need your help with something. Later, after things have calmed down a little.” She said.

“What for?”

She gave him a mysterious smile, “Potentially a way to get out of this place without fighting those wolves to the death.”

“…”