With my arms around Rebecca’s waist while resting my head on her shoulder, I looked at the case and two boxes that had appeared before us while she told me about her advancement.

“So my Strength and Durability were tripled and Reflexes were doubled, which is fitting for my role as a front liner and I’ve unlocked mana as well. I have the same message about there being potential opportunities to further myself in the world.” I had just been on the receiving end of her increased Strength moments ago and as those thoughts came to mind again I giggled and buried my face into her shoulder for a minute before looking up again.

“Shall we see what’s in the boxes?”

“Mm, that would require me to pull away from you.” Though she said that, she does lean forward and grabs the case before her. Opening it as I watch from over her shoulder I see a very stylish looking shotgun. Rebecca doesn’t try to lift it out but only looks at it while calling out to the System. “A Remington 870, 12 gauge bullets, looks like it’s loaded too.” Closing the case, Rebecca pushes it gently away from us, aiming where the nozzle would be towards a wall that led outside. Pulling over one of the boxes that had appeared first she opened it, revealing half a box of 12 gauge shotgun rounds, three flash grenades and two shrapnel grenades and a tablet similar to the one I had.

Picking up the tablet first, she inspects it before whispering “I see, it does fit a shotgun user. By using my mana I can create a shield in front of my weapon that covers the top half of my body. Thirty mana to activate and it depletes depending on how hard it is hit.” Using the spell tablet, she closes her eyes and breathes in. “It allows anything from my side to go through, but stops anything coming towards me. Very useful, it’ll let me get up close and personal.”

“I won’t let anything get in reach of you.” Kissing her shoulder as I heard her chuckle, I once again rested my head on her shoulder as she took one of my hands.

“Mm, I leave my back to you.” Pushing the box away, she pulls the last one to herself. “Like you, I’m the first Lvl 2 Gunner and within the Top 50 so I received this.” Opening it, I raised an eyebrow before giggling. “H-hey, stop that. I think it looks amazing!”

Inside is a chestplate made of what looked to be steel with an oval stone on top of it. Taking the oval stone, we saw that this time it’s orange instead of blue. Using the oval stone, I saw her frown slightly as she read what came up on her System. “Wild, to think we gain these talents so early and easily.”

“Seems like it’s to encourage others to gain more strength. What choices do you have?”

“One garbage one, another that is okay but the last is something you’d expect a dev to have in a video game. By using two mana per shot, the spread of a shotgun is reduced by eighty percent and the damage is increased by one hundred percent.”

“What the fuck.” Staring at the case while I thought of the damage that could cause, I shuddered to think of what could live such shots, the cost itself is outrageous. “Depending on the shells you might be able to bring down a building.”

“Mm, they’re standard 12 gauge. Now if I had exploding rounds it would be fun.” Pushing the box away, Rebecca turned and pushed me to the ground. “I’m full of energy, ready for round two?”

Just as I’m about to reply a knock resounded from the door. Freezing up with Winter, I heard the doorknob before yelling. “Wait, don’t come in.” The sound stops before hearing footsteps purposefully louder than usual walk away. Looking at Rebecca whose face had turned completely red I pulled her in for a kiss and upon releasing her I sigh. “We best get dressed it seems.”

Rebecca sighs and looks unwilling while slowly getting up. “Shame, we haven’t been alone like this for a good while.”

“Mm, only a bit more of a wait and we’ll have a room to ourselves. We should ask Aerith to add soundproofing.”

“Can she do that?” As we both laugh and get dressed, Rebecca approaches the case and opens it, unloading the shotgun before inspecting it closely. “It’s in excellent condition like your sniper, is it because we are the first with our Classes to get to Lvl 2?”

“No idea. Sheep is next, as a Tactician, I wonder what sort of weapon he’d get.”

“He got a crossbow the first time right? Perhaps it’ll be a sniper like you?” As we chatted and left the room, we came across Sheep who we found leaning against a wall in the kitchen. Upon seeing us, he sighed and shook his head.

“You two are getting yourselves a sign for when you’re having ‘fun’.” With another sigh, Sheep looked at Winter. “How did the advancement go?”

Winter fills Sheep in as he nodded and grinned. “Alright, well I’m looking forward to my advancement a bit more. The others are ready to head out, has Mid filled you in?”

“Mm, she did. What have we got planned for today?”

Explaining the semi that Jupiter’s team had, Winter thought for a moment and looked at Sheep. “How are we positioning? A semi will be hard to navigate.”

“Right, I’ve thought about this. Winter, you’ll be placed on top of the truck itself. Since we won’t be driving at crazy speeds you’ll be able to keep a foothold easily. You’re responsible for gunning down anything that comes out of Mid’s blindspots, who will be sniping from a few blocks away where she’ll have a visual. As for me, I’ll act as Mid’s bodyguard in case anything comes close.”

“What about those four?”

“Without weapons they’re essentially non-factors. They’ll be responsible for getting fuel and filling the semi before driving it. Once you’re on the move we’ll head to the warehouse that Jupiter’s team found and clear it. Between the two of you I doubt the current Husks can do anything but we need to be careful, you both are our strongest pieces right now. If anything happens out of our expectations then the rest of us can’t handle it. If we can’t clear the place within a day or if it’s too overloaded with Husks then we’ll leave it and do what we originally planned.”

After more discussion, mainly about what to do in certain situations, we headed outside where Jupiter and the others were waiting. Introducing Winter, who had stopped any form of affection towards me since she didn’t know them, I outlined what we planned to do with Jupiter.

“What are your thoughts?”

“We’re useless without weaponry so the plan sounds good.”

“We’d offer to make weapons for you, but we don’t want to stay in the town for too long. It seems the level of danger only increases.”

“Especially if Screamers start to become common out this far.”

“Screamers?” Winter tilted her head and looked at Sheep, who filled her in.

“At most I don’t want to spend any longer than a week here. I’d like to do less and get out tomorrow but we do really need to stock up on a lot of things. Are you four ready?” Seeing them nod, I stepped back and let Sheep take the lead. During battles he would be making the calls and Jupiter agreed to letting Sheep be the main leader on the field. With me jumping between house roofs, I watched over the group as we made our way further into the town.

With me on overwatch, nothing came close to the group. I became very aware of how strong the sniper and talent is right now. Even at a distance of two hundred metres nothing would survive a shot from me. My kill count did nothing but shoot through the roof, picking off packs of Husks from afar, the only downside is that I’m gaining no Class Points from killing these Husks, but it did increase my quest count.

A Sharpshooter’s Speciality

Deliver a fatal blow to your enemies with a headshot using a long ranged weapon.

Kill Count: 157/200

Wondering what this quest would reward, I kept firing at any threats that might come towards the main group while also checking my flank. Heads of Husks popped easily while I thought about our reliance on the System for our strength. I had to consider how it all worked, from the knowledge we get for our Jobs to the Spells and Talents for our Class. Is it possible for us to obtain that knowledge ourselves? Past inventing spells or machinery and weapons without the System, I couldn’t think of how to get those increases.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Perhaps physically training ourselves would give us benefits? At this point I’d need to bench press a car and I shuddered to think of what Winter needed to lift to push herself. I wasn’t a fool either, it’s obvious our bodies are slowly changing, this much is obvious from the fact I hadn’t had to sleep yet. I didn’t feel tired in the slightest, in fact I still could go for another day or two.

I didn’t want to rely on the System forever, after all if the lore is to be believed from when we first arrived others had relied on the System too and have failed at a point, enough to start another iteration at least. If we could learn how to slowly develop our own spells it would be a huge boon too, though we needed to find out what the limits of magic is first.

The group of six approached our first destination, the petrol station that was close to the semi truck. Glancing around, I saw the semi from here, a few blocks away. Impressed with the size, I did another check around the petrol station while all but Winter started to work on filling up canisters or jerry cans of fuel. Satisfied at the lack of enemies around the group I turned my attention to the semi and started looking around the route we planned to take.

A few cars would block passage and mentally noting them down I turned my attention back to the group and after about an hour they started to move again, this time each of them carrying two jerry cans each while Winter didn’t carry anything. Escorting them from afar, they soon arrived at the truck and started filling it up. We had been worried about who could drive the truck but thankfully it turns out Silver had been a bus driver in our world, and while it’s not a bus he said the length is about the same and had been confident in driving it.

Jumping down and joining the group, I told them about what I saw and where. Winter would handle dragging cars off the road while Sheep would join me as planned. Watching as Silver turned over the semi, it soon kicked alive, giving us a reason to feel excited.

“Alright, we’ll go as planned. When you stop, do not exit the vehicle, leave the cars to Winter. Mid will ensure your safety from afar as well. If you see anything then yell out to Winter. You all will be in the cabin and it might be a tight squeeze but the more eyes we have the better. Any questions?” Seeing everyone stay silent, Sheep nods before we part.

Climbing up to the roof of a house with Sheep with me, I grinned and looked at him. “Confidence in jumping between houses?”

“Fuck no, you’re mental for asking me that.” Laughing, he looked at me with what seemed to be determination. “Can you handle carrying me while jumping?”

“I have no idea but we’ll try. Want me to carry you like a princess.” Bantering with Sheep, I watched the semi as it started to drive while he watched my surroundings. This is our usual set up, though he would spot for me while also guarding me and relaying any orders through to our teammates. One out of three will do us for now.

As the semi moved with Winter every now and then jumping down to handle cars in the way, I continued to watch while killing anything that came close. It turned out I could indeed carry Sheep on my back while jumping between buildings rather easily and as the truck approached the warehouse and hardware store, Sheep chuckled.

“Seriously, with you on overwatch is there even a threat? Your talent alone means nothing can come close and even if they did Winter would annihilate them.”

“Mm, it’s been on my mind as well. If the previous iterations failed though, then it must mean there is a turning point for difficulty.”

“They failed to protect the Prime World, right? In that case then perhaps we need to do more than just survive.”

“Right now that’s all we can do. Ah, the warehouse doesn’t have many Husks.” Using Hawkeye instead of my scope, I zoomed in while looking at the building. From the hammer next to a sign, this is obviously a hardware store and while there were some Husks, a few shots from me and they started dying.

“Living to survive, huh? Sounds like hell.”

“Mm.” I couldn’t say what I thought. As long as Winter is safe, I would continue to just ‘survive’. If it meant saving this world from whatever threat then I will damn well do it, with Winter by my side. “We just need to keep going, Sheep. With each bit of strength we get the better our chances.”

A Sharpshooter’s Speciality

Deliver a fatal blow to your enemies with a headshot using a long ranged weapon.

Kill Count: 157/200

Collect rewards?

Y/N

“I suppose.” Lowering my weapon, I turn and pull Sheep into a hug.

“Come on bro, don’t get down on me now.” Patting his back as he laughed, he returned the pat on the back.

“Sorry sorry. You’re right, my thoughts turn strange at times. Thanks, Ruby.”

“Mm, your hug counter is at zero now. To recharge it please feed the Ruby a cheeseburger.” Pulling away from Sheep and sticking my tongue out at him, we both chuckled.

“Say, if we ever do get a wish from the System, do you think I should ask for Diana to be sent here?”

Rescoping on the warehouse, I thought over his question. “Mm, if you want my honest thoughts Deven, no. At least not until she’s aware of what she is being dragged into.” Turning to him after a few more shots to see his eyes swimming I poke his shoulder, getting his attention. “If we do get a wish and can’t use it to go home, I’ll use mine to at least pass her a message and receive one from her.”

“You should use it for yourself, don’t worry about me.”

“Mm, I at least want to pass a message onto mum, or see her one more time. But don’t worry, just repay me if we ever get a wish again.” Seeing Winter glance in my direction, I watched as she turned to Melody and Dawn, giving them a nod as they pushed the roller door to the warehouse open. Nothing came out and with Winter firing a shot to test the waters, we felt satisfied as I lowered my sniper and turned to Sheep. “It’s time to loot.” Seeing him smile and nod, we climbed off the house and made our way over to the others.

I worried for Deven. Including his own worries he also helped Ghost and Lemon with their emotions since arriving in this world. I wasn’t good at dealing with the emotions of others except for Winter’s, so as much as I wanted to support Deven I knew I wouldn’t be of much help. Both of us were aware of this and while he did vent to me I knew that his true emotional support was Diana. If I could help him see her again, I would do as much as I could.

Arriving at the front of the warehouse, I switched to my handgun and followed Winter in with Sheep following behind us. Silver and Jupiter moved the semi while we cleared the warehouse, finding no threats in sight but seeing all of the equipment here made me feel excited.

“Power cords, boards, charging ports, power tools, hand tools. By god we’ve struck it rich.” Sheep whistled as we moved through the warehouse. I couldn’t help but feel excited at the sight of everything in here, but a bubble of worry had started to build within me as well. Everything in the last few days has started going extremely well for us, I couldn’t help but feel a bit worried that we would face a wall at some point.

“Let’s get everything useful loaded up. We still have half a day left and we do need to head back to the house.” With my words, all seven of us moved through the warehouse and grabbed whatever looked to be in good condition.

“Mid?” Walking over the Sheep who had called out, I saw that he stood in front of an aisle that had various machines down it. Both of us walked down and saw machinery like jackhammers, large drills, lawnmowers and more.

“Fucking gold mine here.” Looking up and down the aisle, I think about it for a moment. “We’ll take whatever has value to us right now.

“Don’t want to jam everything in?” Sheep moves a few boxes around, revealing more boxes of machinery.

Thinking over what else we wanted to get, I shake my head. “We need to find more plumbing equipment as well as building materials.”

“Oh, they found cement mix a few aisles over.” Raising an eyebrow and looking at Sheep, he shrugged. “I guess one of them knew it’s cement mix. This is a hardware store after all.”

“What about sand and aggregates?”

“Found them along with the mix.” Sighing with a bit of relief, I headed over there and checked out how much there is. Finding there to be half a dozen bags of each I felt satisfied before looking further into the warehouse for anything else that might be useful. My feet stop in front of an item that I had longed for.

A massive bath that could fit two people laid there, my eyes refusing to move from it, trying to convince myself that we absolutely needed to buy this. I knew it wasn’t possible, it would take far too much water to fill then we could afford. Ripping my eyes off the bathtub, I kept looking around and finding a section dedicated to gardening I came across bags of soil. While the bags had writing in the native language here, the smell and texture of gardening soil and fertiliser remained very much the same.

“Reminds me of home…still smells bad.” Scrunching up my nose, I picked up several bags and hauled them to the truck. With the addition of these bags we only really needed to find pipes and water tanks. None of which were here, leaving me slightly disappointed we couldn’t knock out the entire trip in one go.

Soon, the semi had been filed till only a bit of room remained. Deciding that room would be used for water tanks and piping, we closed the semi and the doors to the warehouse and with everyone else getting back into the truck I took Sheep and we once again stood guard on the roofs.

“Deven, here.” Handing him my sniper, he tilted his head for a moment before realising why I handed it to him.

“You sure? If I start my advancement tonight you guys can’t go out tomorrow.”

“It’s fine. I want to sneak out tomorrow.”

“Why?”

Looking at him seriously, I told him. “I’m going to scout the centre of the town. Alone.”