First Teaming

Whfi was outside peacefully sleeping while Leon was inside the cave, being eaten alive by zombies. Leon groaned in agony, but after a few moments, his body stopped responding, becoming motionless.

He slowly closed his eyes as the zombies continued their feast.

A zombie bit into his leg and noticed the leg's shape changing as a white aura began to cover Leon's body. All the zombies that were biting him stepped back, except for one that continued and instantly turned to dust as the aura consumed it.

Leon's body started glowing, a sun symbol forming on his chest. His form transformed, becoming more defined and monstrous. His jaw structure became more prominent, and two wings sprouted from his back. His single horn vanished, replaced by two glowing horns. His leg claws became stronger and healthier.

In the midst of his transformation, Leon opened his eyes and stood up. The monkey zombie lunged at him, but with incredible speed, Leon jumped, formed an energy ball, and hurled it at the monkey. The energy ball struck the monkey's head, causing it to explode.

Seeing this, the remaining zombies attacked Leon, but he easily killed them all and flew up. He created another energy ball, breaking through the cave's stone walls, and emerged outside.

Standing atop the cave, he looked like a king, his two horns and wings shining in the sunlight. He roared, the sound reaching a large area and making the animals bow to the ground under the pressure.

Hearing the roar, Whfi woke up and looked around, wondering what was happening.

----

The sound reached inside the cave where Nabil's system displayed:

< Yion has evolved to Xion >

"What's Yion?"

< Yion is the evolved version of Lion, and Leon was in Yion state. Now he has evolved to Xion. >

Nabil read it with a shocked expression.

"Hey, who are you talking to?" asked Athoi, who was walking nearby.

"Uh... no one, just my system," replied Nabil.

"A sound came from that direction. I feel like if we follow it, we can get out," Athoi said.

"Yeah, maybe," replied Nabil.

They started walking towards the sound and soon reached a large cave. Looking down, they saw a headless monkey-like figure and countless dead zombies. They looked up and saw a hole in the cave's ceiling, with light streaming in.

"The hole isn't natural. It looks like something broke through it," said Athoi.

"That means we're almost outside, but we need to get up there," said Nabil.

"Yeah, but how do we get up?" While Athoi was speaking, the cave shook slightly.

Suddenly, Whfi broke through the cave's upper part, where the light was coming from, with Leon following close behind.

"You guys came to save me!" Nabil said, his face lighting up with happiness.

Leon landed beside Nabil, while Whfi landed on the ground next to the huge monkey's body and started eating it.

"Are these your pets?" asked Athoi.

"Yeah," replied Nabil.

Seeing Leon's wings and improved structure, Nabil was amazed. "Wow, you have wings!"

Leon rubbed his face against Nabil's body.

"He looks friendly," said Athoi.

"Yeah, that's my power. Cool, right? I thought it was useless because I couldn't get fire power or any other abilities, but without this power, I wouldn't have survived," said Nabil.

Leon indicated for Nabil to ride on his back.

"You want me to sit on your back?" asked Nabil.

Leon nodded.

Nabil sat on Leon's back. "Is it okay if she sits too? She also needs to get out of the cave," Nabil asked.

Leon nodded again.

"Athoi, sit behind me," said Nabil.

Athoi sat behind Nabil, but she couldn't balance and started to fall.

"Whfi! Catch her!" Nabil screamed.

Whfi caught her, holding her clothes with his teeth, and got out of the cave, followed by Leon. The four of them landed beside the river.

"Thanks for saving me," Athoi said to Nabil.

"Nah, not a big deal. You've saved me twice," said Nabil.

Whfi jumped into the air.

"Whfi, where are you going?" Nabil shouted, but Whfi flew higher into the sky.

Whfi soon returned with a huge, human-sized bird from the sky, already fried.

"Whoa. How did he do that?" asked Athoi.

"Maybe he flew up and caught it, killing it with his fire ability," Nabil replied, analyzing the situation.

< Coin added = 30

Point added = 3 >

"Oh, by the way, the reason my coins and points are this high is because of them. Like now, he captured a bird, killed it, and 30 coins and 3 points got added to my system," said Nabil.

"Oh, I see. Good for you," said Athoi.

"By the way, I have to go," said Athoi.

"Oh... You can take some meat from here if you want," said Nabil.

.

.

.

"By the way, I have to go," said Athoi.

"Oh... You can take meat from here if you want," said Nabil.

"I think so. To be honest, the foods I have aren't fully cooked. Campfire fires can't fry meat properly," said Athoi.

"Well, I would like it if we teamed up. I mean, now that you want to go, it means you don't want to team up, so I didn't ask you to stay. I assumed you're not comfortable around me or any male, so I didn't press the issue," said Nabil.

"You want to team up?" Athoi asked.

"I don't know. Like you said, you've faced bad things. If you think I might harm you, feel free to say so. I'm open to hearing people's opinions about me. And about teaming up… if you'd asked me, I would have accepted without hesitation," said Nabil.

After taking some meat, Athoi said, "Alright, I'll be going now. Take care."

"Oh... okay," said Nabil.

"Take care," said Athoi as she teleported to a mountain far away, visible from where they were.

"Great, now it's just the three of us again," said Nabil, sitting down and picking up pieces of meat.

-----

Night began to fall.

"Alright, it's time to move," said Nabil.

He woke up Whfi. Leon, with sleepy eyes, climbed up Whfi's body but then realized he could fly. He flew and then landed on Whfi's back. Nabil started putting some meat into his inventory.

"Wait... don't go already," a voice came from behind. Nabil turned and saw Athoi, now wearing diamond armor.

"Athoi?" asked Nabil.

"Yeah, it's me. I went back to my cave to get my tools, armor, and dress. Here, you forgot you were missing your upper body clothing," said Athoi, handing Nabil his dress.

"Oh, thanks," said Nabil.

"Let's team up, Nabil," said Athoi.

"Are you sure? You mentioned having problems with trust," Nabil asked.

"Well, I've already trusted three guys and got betrayed by them. But I feel you won't betray me. So I came back. Please accept me," said Athoi.

"Yeah, sure," said Nabil.

"Thanks," said Athoi, handing Nabil a set of Ruby armor.

"Red crystal armor? That's rare," said Nabil.

"But not as rare as diamond. I'm a good miner, so it's not hard for me to find," said Athoi.

"Oh, it's for me?" asked Nabil.

"Yeah, wait," said Athoi, dropping a Ruby sword, axe, and pickaxe. "These are all for you. I already have diamond tools."

"Wow, thanks," said Nabil.

"It's okay. My system mentioned that the monster who attacked me is an Obsidian Eater, which can easily consume obsidian. That's why it almost killed me. But thanks to you, I'm safe," said Athoi.

"Oh, I see," replied Nabil.

"Well, I took all the tools with me, so you don't have to worry about them for a few days," said Athoi.

"Wow, thanks. So, we're teaming up now?" asked Nabil.

"Yeah, and remember, if you try to do anything like those other guys, I'll kill you," said Athoi.

"For that, you'll need to first tell me what those guys did," said Nabil.

"Okay, I'll tell you in time," said Athoi.

"Alright, so now that we're teammates, we need to understand each other's plans and adjust based on what we both agree on," said Nabil.

"Yeah, sure," said Athoi. "By the way, what's the plan now?"

"Well, I'm supposed to sit on that box-type thing and spend the night there, while Whfi will fly in the sky. I told him to sleep during the day and fly at night," said Nabil.

"Good plan. I don't think this will affect my plans. We can focus on grinding during the day," said Athoi.

"Alright, it's almost night. Let's climb up," said Nabil, putting the tools into his inventory. They both began their climb.

-----

Nighttime.

Whfi was flying, and Nabil and Athoi were sitting on the roder, with Leon sleeping beside them.

"I can't believe I'm actually able to mount a dragon like this. I've fought two dragons since entering this world. None were as big as this, and mounting one has always been a dream," said Athoi.

"I also can't believe I've survived this long in this world. I was in pretty bad shape the first few days, but I somehow managed," said Nabil.

"Okay, now that we're teammates, we should get to know each other," said Athoi.

"Yeah, right. Who will start?" said Nabil.

"Um, well, I can't even remember your name," said Athoi.

"Oh, my name is Nabil. And wait… how should I introduce myself? I don't have a sad backstory like any anime protagonist," said Nabil.

Athoi laughed, listening to Nabil's words.