Chapter 8

'I hate naming things.'

After a couple of minutes thinking about the team name, Nina realizes I'm having a hard time coming up with something. She decided for me, the name of the team is "Charlie's Angels" which she thought was funny, and a reference to a TV show or movie I never watched.

'Or maybe I did and don't remember anything about it.'

She introduces the team's name into the computer, without even waiting for me to agree, while Molly and Kat just go along with her, not worrying too much about the name.

'I don't really care about the team's name either but having it named after me seems kind of embarrassing.'

I can't think of a good reason for teams to have names or why it would matter, so I end up letting Nina do as she pleases.

'Maybe her smile is a good enough reason.'

Meanwhile, I've been wondering how is it that most people here are adapting to this situation with such ease, it seems strange to me, like I would expect a different reaction to be the 'normal'. I know there is no way to find out the reason we are here, or even figure out the place we currently are, but I wouldn't expect for people to adapt this fast, probably something to do with the system.

'Is it messing with our minds? With who we are? I shouldn't think too deeply about this, it can only drive me insane.'

Once we have registered our team and its members, Marcus comes by the cabin asking if any of us is going to join the current hunting teams. I explain to him that we are going to act on our own but don't mind helping with the monster situation when necessary.

He looks tired, he tells us the four hunting teams are barely managing to hold against the packs of dogs, they are patrolling the borders of the village going around it in circles, trying to kill as many monsters as possible while helping the people arriving. It seems the creatures flee and hide themselves from the teams, when the packs are attacking people on their way here is the only time the teams have managed to kill a good number of enemies.

There are around four hundred people inside the village, most of them refuse to go out and fight the creatures, a fifth team is being created to go out and join the patrol, there are only six other people besides Marcus.

Molly brings food while we are speaking, for some reason, people here have not even thought about the food situation, the ones who have, are just exchanging their points for bread or some system food of their preference.

'That's a waste of points.'

At first, I was a bit skeptical of trying the cooked dog meat, but it smells nice and I'm really hungry so I dig in, followed by Nina who was waiting for me to check if it was good, while Kat takes a little longer, a bit reluctant to the idea of dog meat. Seeing the rest of us eating in front of her, she ends up testing it out. Surprisingly, Molly was the first to try the food, I suppose it has to do with her pride as being the cook.

"You know how to cook the monster meat?"

Marcus seems surprised by the food around us, looking at Molly excitedly.

"Is it that strange?"

"Some people have tried to cook it, there is even a kitchen in each house, but the meat just gets burned instantly."

"Maybe it has something to do with the cooking skill, once I started cooking the process, it felt sort of automated, like I was watching someone else do the cooking, it was weird."

Marcus seems shocked when hearing Molly's answer.

"Why did you get the cooking skill? You won't be able to fight with that, it's useless."

'So that's the reason.'

It seems they have been too focused on the short-term battles, the groups coordinating things have yet to consider the situation long term.

"Wait a minute, it isn't useless, you get to save a lot of points on food with the cooking skill."

I decide it's best to explain the benefits of having people learning support skills to create a healthy environment for all of us.

"Besides, there are people like Molly who just don't want to fight, so we can give her food as long as she cooks for us, it seems like a fair exchange to me."

"And it seems monster meat can't be cooked by normal means."

Kat says while Marcus is frowning.

"I didn't think about it that way, looks like we have to get some people to learn the cooking skill."

He proceeds to explain how when he arrived, the people here were thinking of skills as something to fight and protect themselves with, that is how it has been explained to new arrivals, so most people have been ignoring non-combat skills. Which at first sounds reasonable, but a lot of people have refused to go out and fight, so they have yet to learn a skill.

After that, he goes out for a moment while we are finishing with our food, it seems he went to tell his team members to go look for a couple of people willing to learn the cooking skill, they will provide the raw materials and pay with food or points to those willing.

Meanwhile, we finished our meal, it was surprisingly satisfying, the meat from the monsters seems to be more delicious and revitalizing than system provided meals.

When Marcus came back, his expression wasn't looking good.

"If you decide to go outside the village and battle the creatures, come to coordinate with is."

Marcus seems nervous, somewhat agitated while leaving the room in a rush. I stop him.

"Did something happen?"

"The monsters gathered in a huge number and attacked one of the hunting teams, two members remained behind so that the rest of the team could escape back to the village, most of them are hurt and won't be able to fight for a while."

'So safety in numbers for now.'

Looks like we will have to join their hunting effort, we can't go on our own with the creatures moving in great numbers. We may need to level up a lot to be able to survive by ourselves.

"Give us fifteen minutes and we will join with the other hunting teams, I'd would recommend getting a couple of people from those who don't want to fight to learn healing skills."

"Good idea, we will be waiting for you."

He leaves in a hurry; I can hear him shouting orders to his team from the distance. I turn to look at the girls, Molly seems rather scared and is trembling a little while Kat has a serious look on her face, Nina is the only one who seems relaxed.

"I'm going to fight the monsters together with the hunting teams, you can accompany me if you want I won't force you, but it will be easier to get stronger now that there are massive numbers of them and we can rely in the numbers of the hunting teams."

"Nina is going with you."

She says while raising her hand.

"I'm going too, I won't be of much use fighting but healing should help a little."

Kat seems determined, I think she will be useful to the team. Molly still seems shaken, the idea of going out and fight doesn't sit well with her, I understand that.

"What about you Molly?"

She nervously turns towards me and shakes her head, looking terrified, maybe she thinks I'm going to force her to go.

'Is there really something that scary about me? I'm seriously considering wasting points on a mirror.'

"It's okay Molly, you don't have to go."

I try to smile at her while trying to seem friendly, instead she seems to step back, looking at Kat for help. I can feel my brow furrowing, which doesn't help.

Nina grabs my hand and stands up, pulling me outside while leaving Kat and Molly alone.

"Don't worry, Molly is going to be okay."

She is smiling at me, seems happy to walk together while holding hands.

"We should go check out your archery skill, I'm not sure how accurate you will be out there, maybe you need some practice before going to fight."

She starts giggling.

"Nina is okay, the skill helps when loading the arrows and targeting enemies, at least I'm sure I can hit them within a certain range if they are not moving."

Now that I think about it, Molly and Nina have said skills seems to work automatically, guiding the user. I haven't tried mine yet, so I don't know for certain and I have no way to confirm without going into battle.

I figure it's possible to test 'Charged Strike'. My eyes close, I try to feel the energy inside my body and move it towards my fist, it feels natural to move the unused energy towards a single point, like it's being mysteriously guided by something other than me. I can feel it gathering in my fist, but something feels off about the whole process, as if I'm not in complete control of the skill.

Gathering the energy took no longer than two seconds, that may not be efficient in battle, but it should work as a finishing move.

When I open my eyes, Nina is looking at my fist while frowning, then I notice veins bulging unnaturally across my arm.

"That doesn't look good."

Panic sets in, I can't stop the skill midway, what to do? I look at the wall of the cabin and decide to hit it with my fist. Once it touches the wall I feel some sort of barrier reflecting the damage from my strike.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH"

'That wasn't a good idea, it hurts like hell. What are these thin walls made from?'

Nina quickly goes inside and brings Kat, who takes my hand and closes her eyes. A tiny white light surrounds her hands while a warm sensation slowly takes away the pain from my fist. Kat opens her eyes and the light disappears, my fist still hurts but now the pain is manageable.

With my left hand I check the notifications on my log.

[You used 'Charged Strike' against 'Village Cabin #9128']

[14 Damage to 'Village Cabin #9128' (nullified)]

['Village Cabin #9128' has protection enchantment]

[You received 14 Damage]

['Kat Wallace' used 'Healing Touch' on you]

[5 Health points recovered]

'Well, that was a stupid thing to do.'

I wait a minute for Kat's cooldown time and then get healed again. Most of the pain is gone after that. Then I notice people in the surroundings staring at me with weird looks, as if I was some crazy dude hitting walls for no reason.