Chapter 7: Grinding

Kennen felt a hand shaking him as he groggily woke up and saw a green head smiling at him. His heart dropped cold for a moment.

"Is there a problem?" Kennen asked.

"Kek!" Apparently, it was morning now.

He may as well get up and get his day started but the moment he moved, he felt soreness and pain from every single muscle. He couldn't move without cringing and he nearly decided to just stay in bed.

Kennen sent his goblins to wake up his friends if that wasn't already the case while he went to clean himself up at the bathroom.

==

"God… I'm wasted… Can't we take today off?" Rafael groaned while walking sluggishly.

"I'm beat too… I can barely move…" Enzo was also tired.

"Guys, I feel the same but we don't have the luxury to rest in time like this." Kennan said.

They needed to be constantly grinding in the apocalypse if they didn't want to be left behind and survive for better days.

However, Kennen needed also to be careful to not overdo it, lest he pull a muscle and end up worse. This was also true for his other friend except Frank who was in good form. Probably thanks to his powers since even the fit Evan was having muscle soreness.

They went to the buffet hall for breakfast and saw that the barricade was intact, no monsters came to bother it last night, which was a good thing.

Kennen and his friends discussed their plans for the day over breakfast.

"What's the plan today?" Evan asked without his usual excitement.

"The most important thing in the apocalypse is to secure a base, food and water." Rafael said.

"And we already got them… so next." Enzo pointed out.

"We can always forage for more food and water even if we have plenty here. We have a lot of people here and we can finish it quite quickly if we're not careful." Frank said.

"We have to go out and hunt monsters for crystals." Kennen said, "We need to get stronger and the only way to do that is to hunt them."

"I hate grinding…" Evan muttered.

Evan never liked grinding in video games as he preferred instant satisfaction or just played games that didn't involve grinding.

"Alright, the plan is to grind crystals today." Frank declared, "But I feel we should have a grander goal to strive forward to."

"Well, the short term plan is to get stronger by farming crystals and the long term plan is find a way to leave the island, unless you guys want to be the island kings," Kennen said.

Ideally, Kennen wanted to join a settlement so they didn't have to worry about food production or lodging and just focus on hunting.

They were business majors and honestly, it was useless in an apocalyptic world.

"Sounds good." Frank and his other friends were fully on board to take this as the objective to strive for.

With that said, they started to pack a light backpack to transport some bottles of water and other things they may need outside.

They also made a more detailed game plan other than 'grinding' and 'hunting some monsters'.

They would prioritize hunting wolves since they were the easier targets and avoid the pig orcs unless it was an isolated one since the orcs were too tough of an opponent for them right now.

As they were about to set out, the trio of Amelia, James and Brandi came down from the stairs.

"We're going outside to forage for some necessities and see if we can get some crystals too." Frank answered them.

"Can we tag along?" Amelia asked.

She did say she would help yesterday and her power was not bad but the other two would be complete deadweight.

Kennen and his friends gave each other glances, some shrugged shoulders, pursed mouth and slight head movements were exchanged.

"Sorry, we don't have the ability to protect passengers in case we fight." Evan spoke first.

"What he's trying to say is that non-combatant should stay back but Amelia has power so she can help out." Frank smoothened things out.

"I want to help too! I'm not letting Amelia go out alone!" James said quite passionately.

"We appreciate the intention but you would be of no help. Instead, it's your girlfriend who's going to protect you if you also come. Just stay back this time, you'll be able to come when you get your first crystal." Frank tried to persuade him.

Kennen thought that the guy got the spirit but lost out on critical thinking for it.

"It's okay James, I can take care of myself. Don't worry, I'll come back with crystals for you two and you'll be able to come with us next time." Amelia tried to persuade her boyfriend.

James clearly wanted to refuse but it was either that or they stayed back.

"Alright… be careful out there." James finally relented.

Kennen and his friends gave some time for her to eat and prepare a bag too.

Meanwhile, they scouted outside and wondered where they should go before deciding on a hotel just right in front of them.

they could easily get overwhelmed in the open on the street. It was easier to fight in a building with walls protecting them and there must be plenty of food and water in a hotel.

After Amelia was done, Frank briefed her on what to do and look for during a fight against those monsters before they scouted the road up ahead and made sure to check there was no monsters nearby before they left the hotel via a window and crossed the roads to enter the other hotel.

Kennen saw three wolves and one mini cyclops roaming in the reception when they got in and those three also noticed their groups.

Mini cyclop was the biggest menace there and should be the one they put their focus on.

"Focus on the cyclop!" Kennen yelled out.

"Amelia, target the midget!" Enzo also yelled out as he shot his arrow toward the cyclop.

The cyclop stood in place, confident on the shield he conjured to protect him while conjuring so light spears but a sudden headache broke his focus as the shield and spears he conjured faded. Without the shield there, the arrow traveled unimpeded and pierced through the cyclop.

Both Evan and Frank killed a wolf by stabbing their kitchen knives into their brains while the third wolf got skewered by the goblin while being restrained by Rafael's binding.

"Well, this was easy…" Amelia stated.

This was the easiest and fastest fight Kennen had since doomsday.

"Time to split the loots." Rafael said while rubbing his hands.

"Shouldn't we take them back? It's just across the road." Amelia said.

Kennen and his friends all looked at her. What she said made too much sense. They were just across the road and giving them the stone for their first power would be a huge boost to their combat force but selfish thoughts surfaced in his mind.

Wouldn't he have to share with even more people in that case?

As they were hesitating whether they should go back, a group of pig orcs were passing by on the road. The perfect excuse.

"We can't go back now with those orcs outside. Let's strengthen ourselves first. I'm sure there's more monsters in the hotel we can hunt for crystals and we can put aside four crystals where that group of orcs leave." Kennen said and every single of his friends nodded in agreement.

Amelia also agreed after seeing the pig orcs.

Kennen took a crystal along with Enzo, Rafael and Amelia also got one while Frank and Evan decided to sit out this time.

He also didn't feel any increase in power this time. How many crystals must he take before he feels anything?

With the loot dealt with, they headed toward the dining hall to see the kitchen and check on the food in the storage but then saw three pig orcs dawdling in the dining hall.

"Back it up. Back it up…" Evan immediately said.

They immediately backtracked their steps after seeing the orcs. None of them wanted to mess with that. One or two orcs, they may still be able to do it but three? No thanks.

The only other option now was to go up via the stairs and search it like they did for their own hotel.

This time, they met the mobs right on the first floor along with a couple mangled corpses on the ground.

One pig orc and two demonic wolves.

"Rafael and Amelia restrict the orc while we deal with the wolves first."

Kennen laid out the strategy.

The corridor wasn't very spacious so it didn't provide the wolf with space to dodge as they ran toward their group.

An arrow and the first salve of javelins were enough to heavily injure them. With the wolves stopping their charge, the uncaring pig orc just knocked them away as it charged.

The orc received a bind and psychic attack with an arrow and three javelins that followed right after it stepped within 15 meters of them.

It wasn't enough to kill the orc since the wounds weren't deep enough but Evan just charged in and pierced his kitchen knife right through the eye into the brain while the orc was still staggering in pain due to the initial attack.

The two wolves were still alive but were in a pretty bad state so they were quickly finished.

The three crystals went to Evan, Frank and Rafael respectively.

Kennen and the others continued to make their way up via the stairs. This hotel only 8 floors but they already encountered more monsters there than they did back in their own hotel.

They end up hunting 7 demonic wolves, 4 mini cyclops and 3 pig orcs more.

They put four crystals aside for the people back at their hotel while Kennen and his four friends split the remaining ten crystals with each of them getting two.

Amelia didn't receive any since two of the crystals they put away was counted as her share.

So now, Frank and Evan had absorbed 7 crystals while Kennan, Enzo and Rafael 5.

Well, their team certainly got stronger but it was just minimal.

Kennen still didn't feel any increase in power but the goblins informed him of their increase in strength albeit it wasn't a lot.

They did not find any survivors in the floors as it seemed that the few ones that came to hide in the room were found out and killed by the monsters.

The people in this hotel weren't as lucky as they didn't find any crystals lying around either.

The few fights they had were quite easy thanks to the crowd control provided from their newest member Amelia who made their life easier.

Fighting in narrow corridors and front to back as if it was an RPG also helped them tremendously in navigating through the fights.

"Just the roofop left." Evan stated as the group made their way toward the roof.

"Let's go back after this…" Frank suggested.

The fights today weren't as intensive but yesterday's fatigue was still there for some of them and Kennen thought that pacing themselves to not overexerce so they don't get a muscle injury was the right decision.

Evan opened the door to the roof and then saw two pig orcs and two mini cyclops.

They also noticed him when the door swung open.

The two orcs roared and started their charge toward Evan.

Evan took a couple steps back and asked, "Do we fight them or not."

Kennen didn't have long to think so took a split second decision, "The door is small, we can take them down one by one."

With that said, everyone backed down the stairs and readied themselves for the fight.

A pig orc wiggled himself through the door and was immediately assaulted by the javelins and an arrow. The attacks did some damage to the orc but not impeding or life threatening so Rafael and Amelia would immobilize him right after so the second wave of attack would come.

However, what they didn't foresaw was that the second pig orc behind would push down the binded orc so he could get in and it stepped on the first orc before jumping down the stairs where Kennen and his friends were.

They quickly ran away down stairs to put some distance but Frank wasn't so lucky since he was the closest to the pig orc so took a swing from it on his side.

The strike lifted Frank off the ground as he collided against the wall.

"Frank!"

Kennen and the other called out in worry but the pig was intent on finishing Frank off as he lifted his club for another smash.

"Stop!" Rafael yelled as he used his ability to bind the orc and Amelia followed with a psych attack.

Then, with three javelins and an arrow penetrating into his back, the pig orc shifted his attention from the groaning Frank on the ground onto Kennen's group as he roared at them after breaking the bind.

But the orc took an arrow to the mouth as he roared. The arrow was strong enough that the tip of the arrow slightly came out at the orc's back.

The pig orc showed his toughness once again as he was still alive after that but was starting to choke on his blood and he even stupidly pulled the arrow out, which led to him dropping to the ground dead.

Evan was hiding behind the door and waited for an ambush but then he saw how the pig was pushed down and the other orc jumping onto his friends and injuring Frank. He was to rush into that orc to prevent it from attacking his downed friend but the orc on the ground slowly got up and was on his way.

So Evan used the kitchen knife and stabbed at the back of the neck of the orc who was on his knees but then saw at the corners of his eyes some yellow lights. He immediately crouched at the level of the orc and quickly went down the stairs.

"You alright, Frank?" Kennen asked while the others guarded the roof.

"I think I'm alright, it was on the stomach…" Frank said as he slowly got up but was clearly still quite weak.

"Thank god…" Evan let out a sigh of relief.

Kennen then focused his attention on the remaining monsters but saw that the other orc was bleeding to death from the wound on his neck and slowly lost strength.

Only two mini cyclops remained but with a well timed psych attack and an arrow was enough to already down one while the other one was too busy blocking the javelins and the bind to conjure any spears. It was then finished off when psych attack was ready again.

"How are you feeling?" Kennen asked Frank again.

"Don't think I have any internal injury, just need some rest…" Frank said weakly.

"Let's go back then." Kennen said as he supported Frank up.

The others were all of the same mind.

They were really fortunate that nobody was heavily injured in this battle, they never expected the orc to push away its brethren like that and jump on them. The difficulty to hunt orcs was really a whole nother level compared to the other two monsters they encountered so far.

With the four crystals, two were given to Frank so he could recuperate faster while the other two were given to Enzo and Rafael.

They slowly made their ways downstairs but at the reception of the hotel, Evan saw three orcs loitering in the reception.

Thankfully, they didn't get noticed so Evan retracted his steps.

"The three pigs from the restaurant came into the reception." Evan told his friends.

"What are we going to do? Do we wait until they leave or do we fight them out?" Enzo asked.

"I don't know, can we even win?" Rafael asked doubtingly.

Kenne let Frank sit and started to ponder whether they could take them on.

"Let's take a 30 minute break first." Kennen suggested.