“Does anyone know how to find water in the wild?!”

Sebastian shouted towards the gathered crowd with a calm tone, his gaze scanning the few hundred people they had added to their already large group of five hundred. They managed to save a lot of people from their homes before they had to go scavenging, but if they waited much longer they’d have to leave with nothing but their group from the Supermarket. Their convoy would be much smaller to say the least.

“We’re heading out into the forest, much safer than the current city. We just need someone who knows how to find drinking water in the wild.”

Dallas spoke much more quietly than Sebastian did, knowing the group was already paying attention. He didn’t hide the way he rolled his eyes at the bladesman’s needless shouting either, but ultimately it didn’t matter. He just wanted to find the survivalist and leave.

A man gingerly raised his hand towards the middle of the crowd. He looked middle-aged but his hair had yet to turn the salt-and-pepper mix usually indicative of age, so he was clearly living a more relaxed life than usual; or just had incredible genes.

“Can’t we just.. melt the snow?”

Dallas nodded. “And then?”

“And then..?”

“And then we need to move again when spring comes around. Would it not be easier to just find water right off the bat?”

“Uh..” The man put his hand back down with a stutter, looking at the ground as most in the crowd nodded along with Dallas’ words. They much rather find a place to set up properly rather than move constantly.

When he finally managed to hide himself away in the crowd, another figure stood forth and raised their hand. A woman who looked only a few years younger in age than the previous man and dressed rather plainly. She spoke plainly, without any tone in her voice. That in of itself irked Sebastian a little bit, felt familiar.

“I know how to find water. The season will make it weird, but I still know the principles.”

“Great! You’ll lead the convoy at the front with Sebastian. Everyone else! You’re unloading the convoy and getting the supplies into the smaller vehicles and anything meant for off-roading. The forest isn’t suitable for everything else.”

Without giving room to talk back, Dallas quickly ordered the rest of the group and then made his way over to the convoy himself to begin unloading things. Sebastian nodded at the sight and decided to follow. The best way to lead was by example, right? Probably. With the leader and the de-facto general helping, no one but the wounded had an excuse not to.

Even with everyone helping though, night had fallen by the time they had finished. Half the cars were left behind and siphoned of their gas while the rest were topped off and stocked full. People had to walk now, but it was either that or give up supplies. Or give up people. They wanted to do neither.

Sitting around a campfire, Sebastian looked at the night sky calmly. Stars had returned to the night, and the moon shone so brightly he almost felt like it would blind him. It was.. Beautiful; and it would be much harder to see within the forest through the dense leaves of the ancient trees, unless they were at the top of course.

Dallas sat on the other side of him, calmly eating from a can of beans as he looked into the fire. He’d spent most of their resting time staring into it, and Sebastian found no reason to bother him. Hasan sat a few feet away, his eyes closed in meditation. His affinity too was awakened when the barrier came down, and many others came closer to grasping it than they were before.

The burly bald man across from him crushed the empty metal can and looked up from the flames, staring at Sebastian with the usual stoic expression. Some thought clearly flashed through his eyes, before he sighed and finally spoke up.

“What are we going to do?”

“Hmm?”

“How are we going to find a place?”

“We listen to water woman and then settle down.”

“Settle down how. We’d need tonnes of supplies to house this many people, let alone guarding such a settlement, or how we’d find food, or how we’d even defend against threats-”

“The trees.”

“What?”

“Live in the trees”

“You want nearly a thousand people.. to live in trees.”

“Why not? There are a few that are easily more than a few stories tall. It would take some time, but once we have an easy way for people to get up there, we can start making paths and-”

“Are you insane?”

“No, I just know it’s the easiest way to not deal with beasts. It’s either give them no way to reach us, or build a solid defense to block them. Which would you rather-”

“But the logistics!”

“Fuck the logistics! What about the world makes sense right now? The trees would let us live out of plain view and save on resources somewhat. Once we’ve got the strength, we can build some things on the ground. I just think it’s safer.”

“What about birds? Or bugs that live on trees? I doubt bugs were unaffected by all this.”

“Maybe, but being scared of everything won’t help.”

“.. Fine. But we compromise. We build on the ground while we figure out how to do the trees. Build both ways. We have to get set up before we start building a goddamn tree city anyways.”

“Works for me. I don’t lose anything either way, you just got argumentative when I threw out an idea.”

“You’re the one who started swearing!”

“You called me insane!”

The two glared at each other briefly, sparks flying as their gazes met midair- only for the two to abruptly laugh outrageously. The loud laughter spread through the air like a wildfire, with even Hasan cracking a slight smile amidst meditation, ignoring how loud the two were.

“We’ll do your tree thing.”

“We’ll do your ground thing.”

“And we’ll all look for water, yes?”

The woman who had raised her hand prior approached the campfire quietly, her hair ruffled and her eyes sunken in as if she had just woken up. Something gave Sebastian the idea that they had woken her up; maybe it was the angry frown on her face. Deciding to speak up before the big guy made it worse, he turned towards her with a slight smile.

“Assuming you’ll still help with that, yes.”

“I’d die without water too, why wouldn’t I?”

“Fair point. What’s your name?”

“Maeve.”

“Isn’t that the Fairy Queen?”

“Aye.”

“How do we find water then, Miss Maeve?”

Dallas finally spoke up, an act that both seemed to upset Maeve and also excite her. Excitement when asked about the water, upset when called Miss. The hulking man himself didn’t seem to notice or care, so Sebastian decided not to either.

“Well, it depends. Really, you’re going to want to listen for the sounds of rushing water. If the water is clear and devoid of life, don’t drink it. If nothing lives nearby the water, don’t drink it. If the water is incredibly far from the source, don’t drink it.”

“.. Why not? Those all seem like good things.”

“If the water is far from the source, it’s more likely for things to contaminate the part you’re drinking. If nothing lives nearby the water, it means the water isn’t suitable for the wildlife to drink. If the water is clear with no fish, then even if it’s completely transparent, no fish survive within it. Would that seem good to drink?”

“So we’re really just looking for.. rushing water?”

"Yes. Preferably closer to the source, and preferably spring-fed. If the water isn’t from a spring, it’s most likely unsafe to drink no matter what and will need to be boiled otherwise you’ll get sick.”

“.. Lot of conditions there.”

“Not really. It’s either safe or it isn’t.”

Rolling his eyes, Sebastian stood up and moved to walk away, an action that caused Hasan to also stand and follow. Apparently his presence helped increase the quality of the Seed of Vitality within Hasan, so he didn’t mind. Wasn’t like he had anything to hide anyways. Finding a relatively safe spot where he could overlook the group, he sat himself on top of a car and decided to look up at the stars.

The bladesman wasn’t one much for talking about the logistics of water, and he was exhausted out of his mind. First they moved the convoy, then he fought the Burning Sun Cat, levelled up, selected a rather evil class, a weird profession, gave Hasan a Seed of Vitality, shattered the Myriad Colours Seal, fought God(?) in a mental battle, and then unloaded and loaded supplies for the convoy.

What the fuck.

Watching quietly as Hasan battled the [Lv. 9 Iron-husk Boar], Sebastian’s expression was rather off. He watched as the one-armed man swung the modified saber back and forth, slashing and leaving inch deep cuts along the animals iron-like skin The man had transitioned far too easily from a heavy two-handed blade to a one-handed saber like the one he was using, and the progress quite frankly made Sebastian sigh.

“You’ve practiced enough, go for its eyes or it’s stomach”

Hasan jumped back from the boar briefly, keeping his gaze trained on the beast in front of him as he nodded expressionlessly to Sebastian’s words. He bent his knees, leaned his body forwards and dashed forth once more. There was no flashy transition, he simply sped forward and pierced towards the animal’s eye. It took a few attempts as no animal would simply wait to be slaughtered, but the fight ended quickly after Sebastian gave the word.

Nodding and taking a look at the corpses of the rest of the Iron-husk Boar pack, Sebastian waved his hand and gestured towards the bodies. “Load ‘em up! Their hide is good stuff.”

Maeve frowned at the side as he watched this, looking Sebastian over a few times as the man went about his own thing. It was only when he had walked back over to her did she begin acting distant and stoic like usual.

“Think we’re close to finding water?”

“We might be. We won’t know until we hear rushing water. We don’t want stagnant water, because that means it’s lifeless.”

“.. Sure, whatever that means. I’ll tell you when I hear something.”

Sebastian shrugged and started moving forwards once more. He hated to admit it, but he had the obligation as the strongest to go in front and lead the pack. Well, he didn’t, really; but something nagged at the back of his mind saying he did. Who else could, anyways?

After hours of moving through the weaker packs, Sebastian had even levelled up once by clearing out the few packs of Tier One beasts that attacked the convoy. If they attacked from the side or the back, he had to rush back and hold them off. He didn’t mind much, though. A level up was worth the effort.

[Congratulations on reaching Lv. 11]

[Awarded 2 Strength, 1 Constitution, 2 Intelligence and 5 Unattributed Points]

Using the free points to cap off Agility and Wisdom at 15, Sebastian relaxed himself slightly as he felt the warmth once again course through his body. Of course, this relaxation didn’t last him that long after he turned past a certain tree.

He heard rushing water.