The next two days at the clearing were surprisingly calm. Dave still wasn’t able to get out of his rehabilitation tent, as Sam called it, but he was getting better. Multiple fractures, gashes and more broken bones than Max could count. And still Max knew that what pained his friend the most, was that he was holding himself responsible for what had happened. He could see so on Dave’s face, his relief was almost palpable after hearing nobody was hurt, still it had been a real wake up call.

Max had spent the whole first day anxiously pacing around, waiting for Dave to wake up. At least as soon as his wounds had healed enough for him to be pacing around. Because as it turns out, even holding back, Ryland was able to crack a few ribs with a single punch. Luckily Sam had done a nice job with the healing and Max was up and about a few hours later.

Since Dave had woken up, Max anxiety shifted from worrying about his friend, to worrying about the next Nodefox attack. If the Nodefoxes came more prepared this time, there would be no stopping them again. They would’ve run over them in less than a few minutes.

So shortly before the Grace Period countdown was reaching zero, everyone searched the parameter for signs. But there were no traces or Nodefox groups to be seen outside. Still, that only meant that they were more careful this time. More dangerous.

But everyone knew running would be fruitless, so their only chance was to fight. Even if it was hopeless.

As the shield went down, the whole group stood with determined faces close by. Even Dave, who was leaning heavily on his spear, managed to get out of the tent. The flicker of silver died and Max gripped his weapon tighter. Resolve sat in everyone's eyes. Nervousness in everyone’s stomach. Still they were ready. Ready to die if needed.

The images of the monster of a Nodefox was still fresh in their minds, how he casually destroyed their weaponry, and the way he almost killed Dave without breaking a sweat. It was terrifying. That’s why Max was deeply impressed, not just by the sheer grit of his friends, but also by his own resolve that he felt. Sure he was scared, but there was no ounce of give in him. All he found was a tight iron will.

As the minutes trickled by, their determination slowly turned into confusion. Nervousness rose even higher. They split up to check the other sides of their clearing, but no signs of Nodefoxes were found. Still nobody was relaxing, if anything they were even more one edge. The only thing worse than fighting, was waiting for the fight to happen. Knowing it could be over for you any minute, but not knowing when exactly.

As Max watched the cooldown counter slowly reach the single digits he started to sweat. Where were the Nodefoxes? They couldn’t have given up?

As the countdown reached less than five minutes, Max’s hands were shaking, and he had to take a few steps away from the group. He puked his guts out behind a nearby tree. Leaves rustled a few trees over, and Max instinctively rolled to the ground, aimed his rifle and was ready to blast the treetops, before he realized it was just a bird.

Shaking his head in embarrassment, Max got up again. He felt ashamed at his overreaction, but more so he was relieved. One the way back to the group, he was still so on edge, that he jumped at every shadow. His friends weren’t better off, and they decided to head back towards the trench.

“If I say so, hit me immediately, Ryland.” Max ordered. He was surprised at the commanding tone of his voice, but even more so that it didn’t shake.

Ryland nodded mutely.

The last two minutes seemed to drag for an eternity. Max's ears were straining so hard to pick up any sort of sound, that he felt a migraine set in. Sarah was pacing around the trench restlessly, and Max could see Dave trying to lose himself in meditation, but jumping at every gust of wind, and every leaf hitting the ground. Ryland stood next to Max, fidgeting around nervously, but staying within arms reach at all times.

Then the timer finally reached zero.

“Now.”

Barely had Max spoken, a fist connected to his abdomen. It was less viscous than the one last time, but still Max toppled over and spat blood.

However it didn’t seem to be enough, looking up, Max saw Ryland was still there. He in return looked at Max uncertainly.

Spitting out another mouthful of blood, Max stood up again and nodded. “Another.”

This time his vision went black around the edges. He suddenly was on the ground, looking up. After his world stopped spinning, there was no Ryland in sight. So Max forced himself to open the Node Menu. His vision was blurry, he had to fight to keep concentrating.

But after only one click, Sam was already by his side, healing. His saw clearer again, and the hercules task of adding Ryland to the list of allies, suddenly became the simple task it ought to be again.

After it was done, Max allowed himself to finally relax a little. His abdomen was sending out waves of pain, so much so, that every breath hurt, but it was still preferable to the nervousness from before. With Grace Period up, Max finally felt safe again.

“Why didn’t they attack?” Sarah asked uncertain.

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Dave’s eyes still darted nervously around the clearing. “Maybe they didn’t know the shield was only up for a limited amount of time, and they just missed the window.”

That was of course a plausible explanation, but it felt wrong to Max.

“No.” Bixby cut in. “They would’ve tried and tested the shield. There are people in the clan that are more versed than me in such things, they would’ve recognized the barrier. We still would’ve had an army in front of our doors.”

“So why didn’t we?” Dave asked. “Do they just not care about the Node anymore?”

Sam was so concentrated, he was unable to participate in the conversation, as was Max, although for different reasons.

“I don’t know why they haven’t attacked us just now nor why there were no Nodefoxes around.” Bixby admitted. “But something tells me we’ll find out soon enough.”

The day after the surprising absence of a Nodefox attack, Dave was able to walk normally again. The next day he was able to start training lightly again.

During his prescripted bedrest days, Dave had mostly worked on his Mana cycling. He started getting the hang of it, and by now could feel his Mana flowing through his body for a few minutes at a time when really concentrating.

But he was rarely able to relax enough to purely concentrate on his cycling for multiple minutes. He was itchy to get back to training. After seeing the massive gains he had made when fighting all of the Nodefoxes, Dave was content at first. Then the thoughts of inadequacy and the feeling of being toyed with by a stronger foe again came back to the surface. Especially because he now came in contact with supremacy twice and only survived both times out of mercy. He needed to get stronger.

His fear of missing out by not training, was worsened by Sam’s skyrocketing in levels.

Dave waited until Sam had cleared him for walking again, before he found the courage to ask Sam. Otherwise he was afraid the urge to train, after hearing he still hadn’t surpassed Sam, wouldn’t allow him to stick to his bedrest.

“What level is your healing Skill by now?” Dave asked while getting treated, not sure he really wanted to know the answer.

“High.” Sam teased while giving Dave the final healing touches.

In return Dave looked at him blankly until a smile broke out in Sam’s face.

“Fine. It's level 14.” He laughed gently. “My X-Ray Skill only reached level 6 though, so don’t worry.”

After hearing that, Dave was twice as eager to get back into training. He wanted to trump Sam’s level. Although it was different then when he heard about Sam’s high levels the first time. He wasn’t jealous of it anymore, nor did he want to compete with him for stupid rivalry. No it was simply that Sam showed him that it could be done.

When he finally was able to move freely again, he trained almost immediately. Since going through the movements hurt, even when done slowly, Dave decided to focus on his Spark a bit more. He was so carried away by his developments in the Melee Domain, that he had neglected it quite a bit. As was evident by the Skills lower levels.

So he spent the day sending electrical charge after electrical charge into innocent nearby trees.

By the time evening came around, over a dozen trees were scorched from the outside, and the air crackled with electricity. Still Dave hadn’t managed to gain even a single level in Spark. His mood was sour. Sighing, he decided to stop his training for now. It was almost time again.

When Dave turned around, he was surprised to find Max standing there, an unusually grim look on his face.

“Two hours.” Max said.

Dave shook his head, he had trained way longer than planned. “Alright, I wanted to come back to camp anyways.”

Max nodded.

Lately Dave was worried about Max. It wasn’t like him to talk so little. Not only was his friend an usually cheerful person, he always had a quip on his lip. Silence this thick wasn’t a good sign from Max. He was just so tense and stressed out. At the same time, Dave knew he probably wasn’t much different.

As if reading Dave’s mind, a small smile played on Max’s lips. It looked forced, but Dave took what he got. “I watched you for a few minutes. Your Skill has gotten stronger, it looks way more dangerous now.” Max smiled, genuine this time. “Maybe now your Darth Sidious costume would’ve looked better.”

Dave stared at him uncomprehending for a second before he broke out into laughter. Max soon joined him wholeheartedly.

“Fuck you for always bringing that up.” Dave held his stomach from laughing.

Max referred to the one time Dave wore a Star Wars costume for a halloween party. He wanted to go as Darth Sidious, because to Dave, he was always the most badass character in the whole show.

Dave had spent multiple hours and a good amount of money on the costume. He had a smooth dark silk cape, wore a big amount of makeup, and even practiced his voice. As a gag he had one of those things that shocked you when you shook someone's hand. It was great.

Unfortunately it fell on somewhat flat ears at the party. Because what would’ve been a hit in Dave’s friend groups in elementary and middle school, was less popular at a college frat party.

So between sexy catwomen, topless lifeguards and more than one buffed toga wearing football player, Dave walked around looking like an old grandpa making Star Wars references left and right. His face was full of wrinkles, he was mummed in a black cape, only spoke in a weird voice, and tried using his shock gadget every chance he got.

Needless to say, there weren’t a lot of women he talked to that day.

“Remember when you screamed at that girl?” Max asked, after their laughter had calmed somewhat.

Dave chuckled, and wiped a tear from his eye.“She had it coming, she called me ‘The Darth Vader guy from Star Trek’.“

“Normally I would be mad that you ruined my shot, but after hearing that, I was about to scream as well.” Max raised a fist and clasped the other hand on Dave’s shoulder.

They went back to camp in comfortable silence, walking alongside each other like they had done for years.

“You know… I wouldn’t be able to stand through all of this without you.” Dave spoke up after a few steps, his eyes to the ground but his voice serious.

Max looked at his friend. “Same here.”

In what was a highly sentimental moment, that both of them would ever deny happened, they hugged each other. Not the kind of bro hug that friends give each other as a greeting. A real hug. An emotional one. And even though both would deny it, even harder than the hug itself, there were more than a few tears.

They stood there for a few moments, giving each other comfort, before they went back to the camp again. But both felt better than before. Not just through sharing laughter, but also through sharing love.