62 Chapter 62

**- Xenon -**

I woke up the next day feeling refreshed. I made sure to wash myself the previous night, since I've had a rather bloody day, and went to sleep as early as I could, reading until I did.

It was around ten thirty in the morning, so I went out for breakfast. I joined the others who already prepared everything.

"Good morning, Amy." I took a seat next to her, with my plate full of scrambled eggs and bacon we got courtesy of Hershel.

"Good morning! How are you doing?" She beamed at me, as I sat next to her.

"I'm fine, thank you. Listen, I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I had a really bad day and was in foul mood..." I said sincerely.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that." She hit me playfully on the shoulder. "It happens to the best of us. Don't sweat it. Are you feeling better now?"

"I am, thank you." I nodded with a genuine smile on my face.

"What are your plans for today?" Amy said more eager than she should.

"I was planning on working out a bit... Why?" I looked at her suspiciously.

"Nothing, I just thought it would be nice if we got to know Beth and Jimmy." Amy suggested. "Do you mind joining us?" I wasn't a big fan of both of them, but in all fairness, I was in a bad mood when they tried to chat me up, and I found it extremely annoying at the time. Perhaps I should give them another chance.

"Sure. I don't see why not." I shrugged. It won't hurt to spend some time with them, get to know them a bit. I'm not sure if it would matter in the end, but I'm not letting it take too much time from my training.

"Speak of the devils!" Amy gestured to a direction, where I saw Beth and Jimmy coming out of the house. Amy waved at them, and dragged me along to greet them. We ended up chatting for a bit, and eventually sat down by the table under the tree. Beth and Jimmy told us all about their high school 'journey', while Amy did the same. I didn't speak much, and was more than glad to keep listening instead. Or at least, pretend to listen as my mind wandered somewhere else. What can I say, it's hard to be interested in something uninteresting.

"That's a cool weapon you got with you." Jimmy said with bright eyes, as he looked at the rifle on my back. I never take my equipment off unless I have to, which is the reason why I have it with me. Beth and Amy were now engaged in a private conversation, so I was left with Jimmy.

"Thanks."

"Where'd you get it?" He asked, doing his best to sound nonchalant, a task he was terribly failing at.

"From the corpse of a dead soldier." I answered dryly.

"Oh... Could I try it out sometime?" He asked hopefully. I just deadpanned at him.

"No can do." I shook my head. "We can't afford to waste bullets."

"I saw almost everyone in your group had a gun..." He commented 'offhandedly'. "How many guns do you have?"

"Enough guns for every member of our group." I answered, but I doubt he picked on the fact that he wasn't a member of our group. And I was growing tired of this conversation. "Well, it's been fun making your acquaintance, Beth, Jimmy. I have to go now." I nodded at them, while they were throwing me weird looks, as I took my leave.

I went back to my van and took some food with me, a book I would read, and my axe, before heading for the woods again. I began the cycle again, using [Empowered Strike] as I took a swing. But this time, I had another exercise in mind.

I wanted to directly manipulate that energy, but I had no idea how to do that. So, instead of trying to make it appear from scratch, I tried to reduce the output into my arm first, or increase it if I could, to get a better feeling of it. Something that wasn't as easy as you'd expect it to.

I eventually came back to me, that I didn't need to use my axe for that, that I could just punch the air instead, and it would increase the amount of time I could train the skill. The axe was rather heavy, and as much as I wanted to get used to it, I'd rather do so while busting some walker brain. Apparently, the 'Skill EXP' gain is higher when it's actually being used in combat, though that is only a theory made from my previous observations.

I did it again, and again, and again, yet I had no success whatsoever. I had no idea what my "progress" was, if I was making any at all. But you know what? Unless I spend a whole week doing the same thing, without a single result, I shouldn't rule out that I was potentially making some progress. That is how I advanced so much in my knife throwing skills, though the improvement was visible early on in that case.

I went back for lunch when it was time, also to have some rest. I will be taking a nap after I eat, so that I could be in shape for my next session later. Something I've noticed is that sleeping always increases the rate I regenerate at. I remember hitting the gym in my past life, and getting a sore body for a few days, especially when I ever overexerted myself. And while the same thing happened here on numerous occasions, the rate at which I recovered was ridiculous. I'm not entirely sure if it's a passive ability linked to me sleeping, or if it's simply a static recovery rate. Either way, it's a welcome surprise.

Amy greeted me as soon when I came back, as they were about to serve lunch.

"Did something happen back there?" She asked with concern. "Did you not like them?" Oh, she was talking about Jimmy and Beth.

"Beth is alright with me." I shrugged. "Jimmy kept asking me about getting a gun. I got sick of it."

"Oh yeah." Amy said in realization. "He asked me some questions about them too. I had a feeling he wanted something..."

"Too bad for him, it's not gonna happen." I shook my head. "We can't afford the bullets."

"About that..." She said vaguely. "You think you could teach me how to shoot a gun?" She asked hopefully.

"Oh... I did promise you that." I nodded. "For you, we can afford them." I grinned, while she just laughed.

"Nepotism, huh... What a convenient concept." Amy chuckled.

"Well, it's not exactly nepotism. He wants to shoot bullets because it would be fun. You want to do so because it would a good tool to get out of a tough spot. There is a huge difference." I explained. "Though we won't use anything more than a single Magazine. You should only use your gun when you're sure it would hit, and only when left with no other choice. Bullets are an expensive commodity in these extraordinary times." She nodded in agreement. We agreed on a time I would teach her, before I went to take my nap.