Companions?

[You have slain Lvl.11 Mana-cracked Human (Uncommon)]

[You have received 42.7% exp]

[The following skills have levelled up: Dodge, Throw, Spear Mastery, Sprint, Half-Android Physique and Inspect]

[You have unlocked the following skills: Mana Infusion (C), Sneak (U), Warrior's Vigour( R)]

[You have unlocked the achievement 'Underdog Triumph']

[The System remembers this accomplishment and will factor it in when user reaches the Tier 1 trial.]

Before Delvin gathered his thoughts loud screams for help took his attention away. He turned around and saw the two remaining survivors who were trying to help the one who was hit by the mutant's flying rock and was now spasming on the floor.

"Apply the gauze here, we need to stabilise his pulse. Adrian, look at me! Hey, you're gonna be fine." The rugged looking man yelled at his female colleague.

"Lieutenant… the stone messed up his inner organs too much, we need to move him t-" The woman was cut off by the lieutenant's sharp voice.

"Where the fuck do you think we can move him to Hannah? It's all gone to shit. NO! We can save Adrian by treating his wounds right now! He's lost so much blood already." The lieutenant didn't continue as Delvin cued himself into the matter at hand.

"The girl is right lieutenant. I am scanning several fatal injuries in both his head and torso." The Inspect skill did its magic but gave no answers for the situation.

[Adrian Brooks]

Level 2

HP: 4/66 (Major bleeding, Critical organ failure, spinal fracture, multiple skull fractures)

"And just who are you? You don't look familiar and I sure as hell would remember a person of such martial prowess." The lieutenant, named Joshiah, was wary of this mysterious fighter who was able to match the mutant's strength and quickly scanned him up and down. His demeanour and temperament seemed friendly enough so the lieutenant decided to do everything in his power to save the life of one of his subordinates.

Joshiah turned to the stranger and lowered his head in a gesture of pleading. "Adrian needs all the help he can get, so please if you have any remedy I would be eternally grateful."

"Don't worry about it, I would've tried saving him anyways." Del said, he needed more people to form a base anyways, so leaving Adrian to die was out of the question.

Delvin plucked Nature's Grace from his finger and tried placing it on Adrian's shaking finger; his entire body was still violently shaking and spasming. "Hey, keep him steady you." He instructed the shell shocked woman which elicited a response from her.

"It's not you, asshole. It's Hannah. And I'm trying, lieutenant put some force behind it would ya'." Del spared a quick glance at Hannah and noticed her charming facial features despite the muck and blood hiding them.

Her long, wavy auburn hair swayed on the gentle breeze while her blue eyes glowed a mesmerizing cyan colour. Her craggy, military clothes gave no hints as to what might be underneath them and the only features of note were a grey scarf and some kind of eyepiece on the side of her head.

"He's steady! Do it now!" Joshiah urged.

Delvin put the ring on Adrian's finger and held it in his hands while trying to activate Nature's Grace. 'As I thought, since it's not in my Equipment tab, Nature's Grace can't be activated by me.'

"Oy. Adrian. If you can hear me, focus on the ring I just gave you, it has healing powers that can bring you back. Focus Adrian. FOCUS!" The military pair also chimed in word of support for their colleague but Adrian continued spasming and within minutes bled out and his HP hit 0.

---

'Another one… dead. Next time. Next time I'll make it in time, I swear it.' Delvin was frustrated with himself as he looked over the freshly filled graves.

Joshiah's platoon consisted of more than 50 soldiers who were slaughtered by that Tier 1 mutant before they retreated to this park for one last stand.

The mutant was impervious to gunfire and was only slightly damaged by grenades, explosions and the occasional shrapnel. The soldiers had spent days fighting weaker mutants which were killable by gunfire, albeit at the cost of several magazines of ammunition and were thus unprepared for an encounter with a Tier 1 force.

Del wanted to point out their mistake of relying on conventional weaponry but the look on Joshiah's face was depressing already while Hannah just sobbed and didn't help in the grave digging; Del had no intentions of deteriorating their mental state further with his comments about the optimal ways of utilizing the system.

The system wanted earthlings to grow on their own merit. To survive, evolve and gain power through trials and tribulations cleared through strength, perseverance, ingenuity and cunning. Pre-mana weapons would be rendered obsolete in the near future by Del's estimates which would greatly worsen humanity's odds of survival.

Delvin vowed to explain to these earthlings what he had learned about the system so far and how the pursuit of power and drive for dominance was the leading postulate upon which the System operated.

"We didn't have many heavy weaponries at our outpost so when the second wave hit and everything went to shit we just carried what we could and rushed to the city… On the road we encountered those mutants and lost a couple guys." The lieutenant said weakly before turning to the many graves he and Delvin dug out. "Who could have known I was leading us into a death trap…"

Joshiah walked towards Adrian's gravesite where a weeping Hannah stood watch for the past hour. "Staff sergeant Smith, pull yourself together! We must keep moving towards our original objective, the notable locations in the city centre. If we start now we could reach the shopping mall within the hour." He gently placed his hands on her shoulders and helped her to her feet.

"I'll avenge them all! I promise you, Adrian, Filip, Georges and Greg and everyone else. I will avenge you." The tears never stopped flowing and her voice was full of fear and regret but Hannah managed to string together this bold statement before walking to Del with a look of determination and fury.

"You, Delvin. I apologize for seeing me like this, it won't happen again." She moved in closer and Del saw there were no more tears in her eyes. "Show me. Show me how you became like this and I too will be eternally grateful. If you had been with us since the start my brothers and sisters would still be alive and we could have all saved the city together. Now, all that's left is me and lieutenant Carter and there's no telling what awaits us. Show us how to become like you so we can help ourselves and others… and maybe save the world before there's no one left to save."

Delvin wanted to tell her it was normal to be paralyzed with grief and anger at her own lack of power, their world was just that fucked up now.

But a few words Hannas just said stuck with him 'No one left to save' These words resonated in Delvin's thoughts before he could answer her; he felt as though they carried some deeper connotation but the exact meaning was lost to him. A quick scribble in the Journal meant putting this question on the back burner alongside a million others.

Del's scrunched face was interpretated by Hannah as a look of indecisiveness over giving away valued secrets about the road to strength. She started to lose hope that this enigmatic scion would abandon the lieutenant and herself, deeming them to be trash on the wayside, people that lacked the mental fortitude to survive and thrive in this chaotic reality.

"I agree." Del said blankly, he would've said yes immediately but those words were too impactful and needed to be pondered upon. He had no idea about Hannah's worries and inaccurate assessments so her baffling expression was quite strange.

"But even if you suddenly gain ten Legendary skills or the creators of the system showered you in their divine guidance, it would all be for naught if you don't do the work yourself. Temper your fighting instincts and start looking at things from a much different perspective than before, get in touch with mana and equip fitting gear; your entire worldview should shift if you decide to embark on this path." Del faced the scruffy Jonah and his trimmed goatee. "This goes for you too."

"Of course. Your speed and raw might has shown me what the future holds, and it is most definitely not pistols and guns. Delvin, your skills would benefit mankind as a whole, if we manage to create even a small slice of haven amidst the ruins, I'd consider it a job well done, at least better than what I've been doing so." Joshiah's brown eyes burnt with the same passion as Hannah's and Delvin gave them his first instructions on how to survive in the apocalypse.

"Discard your firearms, as you must have noticed they can't be placed in the Inventory and only serve as an anchor, tying you and your actions down to the machinations of the past. Discard them and take any one of these." A plethora of weapons was in summoned then and there. "You'll find them extremely useful."

Joshiah picked a cracked wodden shield and the same sword which Delvin used, he tightened the grip on the sword and gave Del a perplexed stare. "Will a wodden shield really be of more help when fighting the mutants?"

"Trust me, their utility is far greater because they are part of the Sytem. I think it has something do with either mana flowing through them or the fact that they came into being after the Wave struck." If Del was a betting man he would place in his money on the former because mana seemed to be in the heart of the system.

"While your guns have abysmally low damage numbers, in system terms, resulting in the 60+ rounds of ammo needed to kill just one mutant; the sword and daggers you two chose have actual damage values which will spike your lethality and the levels will come on their own accord by then." Del saw Hannah skilfully wield the daggers, reminiscent of a knife juggler on some street corner trying to impress a passerby with his circus-level antics.

"You sure know your way around a dagger." His supportive comment elicited a gentle smile from Hannah.

"I know my way around many things, but knives, dirk and daggers have always been a favourite pastime of mine. A couple years ago I even joined one the Navy's melee combat exhibitions, I ended up winning because everyone skilled was competing in another exhibitions hosted by the stupid army." Hannah's soft-spoken voice is not one would expect from a master knife wielder.

"Good to know, if you unlock any skills related to knifeplay let me know. Also, that grenade you threw secured the kill on the mutant, good work." He expected a smile or words of gratitude, not a wrath-filled glare staring deep into his soul. "If I wasn't so weak and stupid I wouldn't have resorted to using grenades to save my comrades, I would've used my own strength."

Before Del could reprimand her for this harsh self criticism, Hannah walked away while mumbling. "I'm sorry, I'll avenge you. I'll avenge you. I will stop being weak." Delvin didn't know if she was reassuring herself or her dead comrades.

He let her cool off for a short period and was approached by Joshiah before he could read up on his

"Delvin, I never got the chance to thank you for saving our lives. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you." Joshiah said, his tone a mix of sorrow and appreciation.

"I'd be flattered but, just like Hannah, I'm angry at my own weakness and... if I hadn't been so slow perhaps a few more of your people would still breathe." Del paused and looked at Joshiah who took an unconscious step backwards when faced with the blazing fury in Del's eyes. "We'll be killing a lot more than we'll be be saving Joshiah, get ready."