The silence that followed was concerning- he hadn't just failed to break the ice, he'd hardened it. Plan B.

"Mike, that little problem I saw is now handled-"

Mike raised his hand, cutting Leon off. When he spoke he was quiet, his voice carrying just far enough to reach Leon over the crackling of the fire.

"The 'problem' came rolling out of the woods after you left- Megan lost a leg to that monster- where were you?"

Leon's eyes narrowed as Mike spoke. He needed more information but he needed to be careful. Being ousted from the group at this point wasn't ideal, he still needed to see if they could help him with mana manipulation. He choose his next words carefully- aggressive but honest, grin still plastered to his face.

"I don't appreciate the accusation there Mikey- I was out butchering slimes. There's a dungeon not far from here which I cleared out for our group, so we wouldn't get jumped in the night- tell me how many attacked while I was gone?"

Mike's voice was cracking as he replied, his words unsure, lacking the confidence he'd displayed on the beach.

"One, one blue slime. Bill got it while it was... consuming Megan's leg."

"Mike- I killed at least five of those things by myself, not a scratch on me. There are eight of you and you're telling me someone lost a leg?"

Mike was silent as Leon breathed deeply- their incompetence had been confirmed. His bridges to the group were burning up fast, better to cut them loose than get burned trying to salvage this.

Sighing, Leon walked towards the group, stopping when he was close to their campfire, opposite Mike, before throwing his sword point down into the dry dirt. He followed soon after, sprawling out beside the roaring flames. He spoke to the group again ignoring Mike.

"I wanted to do the whole group thing but I'm getting the impression that route is closed off- so let's strike a deal. I have more information than you guys about this place but no food. Bring me food and I'll tell you some of what I know. The dungeon location I'll share for free as a show of good faith since it's pretty easy to find- head out the way I came and follow my footprints. Big cave, you can't miss it."

Silence followed. Mike looked distraught, defeated. What had he been looking for from Leon? Contrition? Regret? It wouldn't be forthcoming. Leon had no obligation to these strangers. Some girl got her leg eaten? It sucked but it wasn't his problem or his fault.

The suit clad spearman spoke, an American, Leon couldn't place the accent but then he wasn't really trying to.

"And if we don't want to hand over any food?"

He was gripping his spear, white knuckled and staring straight at Leon. Leon considered the question while retrieving the Shifting Tides Manual from his pocket and thumbing to the section detailing the mana circuit.

"Then I'll starve and you'll die trying to conquer the dungeon. Or I'll go find food and you'll still die in the dungeon. It's a fair deal man, I'm not going to threaten to hurt anyone just for some food if that's what you're wondering."

Leon then focused on the manual- superficially at least. From the corner of his eye he kept his eye on the group. Mike was still standing there, looking gormless, his head downturned, ignoring the group before a blonde woman pulled him into their huddle. The remaining seven had now grouped up. Leon frowned. Seven? There should have been eight of them.

The dots rapidly connected- Mike's attitude, the group's downcast mood, the missing member. They'd had to kill her after she'd lost her leg. A mercy he supposed, not being able to run would be a death sentence, even against the slowest blue slimes the crippled girl would have been nothing more than a free meal.

The body must have been disposed of as well. Leon cut off that train of thought before it could gain steam. Too grim. His stomach was in active rebellion by now, begging for food. The adrenaline from his fights had worn off. He was tired, hungry and his feet hurt, but he had to stay vigilant.

Minutes passed and Leon's focus wavered, his attention absorbed by the descriptions under the mana circuit.

"While it serves primarily as a sword manual I feel it is beneficial to include some baseline explanations for the magically disinclined who chance upon this manual and wish to utilise the techniques contained within. Mana Circuitry 101 is this- co-opt existing biological pathways. This manual uses a baseline human for its reference image so we'll refer to them. As a human you'll pump mana into your veins and circulate it through the appropriate sections. Any other species with comparable circulatory systems can use the same method. All the mana should be water aspected to boost the circuit's efficacy but unaspected mana will serve well enough. This circuit's function is to absorb the excess force from your strikes and channel that wasted energy into your muscles, boosting your power. You'll need to swap from High to Low for a few other reasons we'll cover in the [F] Grade section but for now the main reason is this- to prevent you from getting comfortable. As long as you keep changing up your attacks you'll never get truly used to a single move, leaving you more open to waste energy in your attacks and power the circuit."

Interesting as it was the manual had no information on how to utilise mana or aspect it. Perhaps a second run of the dungeon would give him something he could use? Leon's thoughts were interrupted by a woman approaching him.

A brunette, dressed in a black leather jacket and faded blue jeans. Her hair was cut short for a woman and hung just above her shoulder. Leon was confident that if he let his hair down his would actually be longer. She wasn't what Leon would call conventionally attractive but there was something about her that drew the eye, the way she walked, the smirk on her face- she spoke up once she was short distance from him, Leon having done his best to keep his eyes glued to the manual.

"Yo, psycho! I come bearing tribute!"

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

There was no malice in her tone, a joking cadence to her speech which reassured Leon. Glancing up he noticed she had indeed brought him over a large skewered fish- unroasted but that was fine, he could cook his own food. He stowed the Shifting Tides manual in his pocket before speaking- letting anyone else look at the book would cost at least five fish.

"First the fish- then the info. That's the deal."

She handed him the fish and Leon moved into a squat closer to the fire. The others stayed on the opposite side of the fire, though the woman stayed.

"Not going back to the group? I'll come over after I finish this."

She instead sat next to him, close but far enough to keep their respective personal spaces intact.

"Nah, all those guys are wound up like springs, just waiting to pop off at something. I'll stick with the nutcase who ran off alone and came back with loot."

Leon grinned, his fish was beginning to cook.

"So those are my choices for a name then- psycho or nutcase?"

"Yes! Unless you tell me your real name, I'll tell the others and then the big scary warrior starts looking more human."

"Leon- and you?"

"Selena, I'd say it's a pleasure Leon, but we both know I'd be lying."

"Ah, what a farce- today I've slain monsters and suffered nary a scratch and yet a woman is the one to finally wound me! How pitiful..."

She laughed at Leon as he made a show of clutching at his heart with his free hand, continuing to speak in as close to a medieval knight's voice as he could manage.

"This noble warrior feels such shame, there is but one course of action- to divulge the secrets of the world to you!"

His grin was more genuine as he swapped to his normal voice.

"This fish is taking a while to cook, any questions you have go ahead and I'll answer while I wait."

Selena got a serious look on her face, which grew more serious as she spoke.

"The dungeon- what do we need do to be able to clear it?"

Leon considered for a moment before speaking.

"I'll preface my answer with this- don't take my word as gospel. I don't perfectly understand this new world yet. You'll need to go in groups two or three at a time. The slimes scale in level as you proceed though there only a couple of packs. The red ones use arcing fireballs but as long as you know they're coming you can dodge them, they have two cores you need to crush to kill them. There's one dark blue slime- it's faster than the normal slimes and I killed it by knocking it into a fireball which melted it, so that's a weakness you can exploit. The boss is a slime king, super fast and capable of manipulating its mass into copies of people. You'll need to kill it quick though as it was capable of shifting its cores- ooh fish is done!"

Selena watched on concernedly, as Leon wolfed the fish down, chewing through flesh and crunching bone. He ate like a beast, hardly chewing before he swallowed. The skewer was handed back to her as he finished, returning to his reclined position.

"Eugh- the bones don't taste great but I'll need the nutrients. One more question then you'll need to bring me more fish."

"Okay, we're ignoring the fact you ate the bones like a goddamn caveman?"

"Yes"

"Really?"

"Bzzt- that's all your questions gone- bring me more fish next time."

"Oh come on, that last one hardly counts! Please, one more?"

She was giving him puppy dog eyes and he felt it was a little too dickish to count the bone question.

"Alright one more- use it carefully this time."

She fixed him with a look her green eyes boring into his blue, then leaned in close whispering her words for only him to hear.

"The rest of us are quaking in our boots, Mike's the only one who was staying calm but now Megan's dead- Bill killed her when he realised she was going to keep screaming no matter how much we all tried to help her. He said we couldn't risk the noise drawing any more of those slimes in. Mike's shutting down, blaming himself, Bill's stepping up but the guy looks like a short jog would give him a heart attack, never mind an actual fight. Timmy and Liz keep to themselves, they didn't approve of the decision to mercy kill Megan, Gillian is latching onto Mike and Francis is fighting off panic attacks- you know the kid's only sixteen? It's only been a couple hours since we got here, two people are fucking dead and our happy little group is already trending towards the dysfunctional."

She took a breath, the sudden shift of the air tickling Leon's skin. Her perfume was still faintly detectable underneath her sweat- vanilla and tobacco blending together with the smoke of the fire.

"Then there's you- we watch a guy get eaten and you're fine- you go charging after a monster and come back clad in armour with an extra sword at your waist. There's this feeling you're giving off now as well- you feel like an animal, a predator. The others are all too scared of you to come over here and honestly? I'm scared too, being this close to you it feels like I'm sticking my head inside the mouth of a crocodile or lion and begging it to bite down. You're so casual about all this and you're brushing off the deaths like they're no big deal and maybe that's just how you're coping but people are scared."

Leon leaned in as Selena paused, whispering directly into her ear.

"Your question- what is it."

Her voice was shaky now, her flippant façade gone.

"Who are you?"

Leon pulled back and considered. The time for joking had passed clearly. They didn't have classes and he did- was that why they felt so pressured by him, their instincts were screaming that he was a danger to them? He needed to re-assure her, tip his hand, at least a little. He stayed back a little from Selena, though he continued to whisper.

"I'm someone who was waiting for something like this, a swordsman who had no way to practice his skills until the System arrived. This may seem like some sort of nightmare or apocalypse for most people, but for me? This is all I've ever wanted."

She considered his answer before moving back and turning away, facing the fire. When she spoke all emotion had deserted her- Selena looked tired and afraid.

"This is how the human race dies then? All the disaffected social outcasts embrace a videogame overwriting our reality and the average Joe gets eaten by living slime. Great, awesome."

She was fidgeting now- a short wooden rod in her hands, rough and un-varnished, the wood grain still distinctly visible even from a distance. She was insecure, all her bravado false- but she'd at least come over and treated him like a fellow human rather than some dangerous outsider. There was an opportunity here. Leon was struck by an idea, speaking loud enough now to be heard by the others.

"So what's that you're messing with?"

She visibly perked up as he spoke, seeming to shake off her listlessness.

"This? A wand according to the blue boxes, I've tried every magic word from abracadabra to hocus pocus and nothing. You find any clues in the dungeon about how to use one?"

"I have a few ideas, nothing concrete. The most plausible theory I can think of is that you'll need a magically aligned class to get any use out of that- probably needs some sort of mana manipulation skill as well."

Leon raised his voice as he continued, making sure the others had turned to look at them.

"Coincidentally I need the skill to use mana as well. So let's strike a more personal deal. I'll protect you and help you level up and you'll teach me everything you learn about mana. Unless you have any objections, we'll shake on it."

Her emotions were clear on her face, shifting from contemplation to fear, then upon noticing the group's stares a false smile. He saw it in her eyes. She was calculating the benefits, the costs, eyes locked on his outstretched and armoured hand. When she spoke the joking cadence had returned.

"Sure! So long as there's no funny business mister!"

Leon was a little surprised by her swift agreement, though this worked out better for his long term goals. The sooner he mastered mana the better and if it meant he had to rock the boat a little he'd accept that as the cost. She was looking for a reassurance of some kind before she agreed, one he would freely give.

"Don't worry- you're not my type. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal"

They shook as the others watched on, the afternoon light giving way to an encroaching evening. Leon could practically hear their thoughts.

He wondered- what would they give him to secure their own safety?