There were corpses.

It took Blair some time to process that people were dead. She stood in the distance as the Guards dug holes in the little area that had soil. Between the concrete and asphalt of the sidewalk and the road, there was the occasional soil that housed trees. That was where the holes were being dug.

From a logical standpoint, the corpses would turn into fertilizer but the emotional side of her couldn’t help but feel sad. It was one thing to attend a funeral of a distant relative while the bodies were in coffins, but watching corpses be dragged into a hole gave off a different image —it made her realize how fragile human lives were.

She was lucky yesterday but if she hadn’t been, she could’ve been one of the corpses being buried.

“So you’re alive,” said Paula and tapped Blair’s shoulder.

Blair didn’t react to that, her eyes glazed, staring at the graves being dug. Over forty people had died and here she was, relieved that it was only 4% of the population. Her lack of remorse disgusted her. Everything Blair knew said that she had to be shocked, that she had to be scared but there was nothing of the sort.

There was just a kind of relief.

“Yeah,” said Blair and exhaled slowly. Her sweater was covered in both her own and the eagle’s blood, not to mention one of its torn arms. In the end, she’d decided to take it off.

“That’s a nasty scar there. My brother’s near if you need any treatment, but I guess you don’t. Vigor of Ancients, right?” said Paula and grabbed her wrist before Blair could say anything.

“Were you there when they died?” asked Blair, to which Paula responded with a nod. Exasperated, she whispered, “Aren’t you shaken? At all?”

“I got Mind of Steel so I think that’s keeping me calm. I think it dulls our reactions to stuff like deaths as well,” said Paula and shrugged her shoulder nonchalantly. She wore the same blue blouse from before but this time, she wore it with the sleeves pulled up. There were a few drops of blood on them.

She needed that.

“Anyways, the Mayor and three of the Council Members died. You’d almost think they’re going after the elderly first,” said Paula and crossed her arms, now standing next to Blair.

“The old people?” she asked.

“The eagles broke into the highest floor of the Town Hall yesterday. That’s where the elderly were because everyone assumed only Dire Wolves would be coming. The highest floor was logically the safest,” said Paula and covered her mouth with a hand, and with her eyes on the ground, she added, “It was a bloodbath up there. No one survived until the Guards came in.”

The Town Hall was a skyscraper with fifteen floors and was large enough to house most of the population, that being around eight hundred. The rest were in a nearby office building that had few entrances and was easy to defend.

Then there were the loners like Blair who’d decided to sleep elsewhere. If they’d died somewhere, no one would notice. It was a humbling experience and her introverted nature was no longer enough to keep her away from the others.

There was strength in numbers.

The [Rights] and [Duties] of your [Citizen Card] have been updated. Please refer to it to avoid offenses.

She summoned her Inventory and let the semi-circle of cards form before her. She tried tapping on the Citizen Card to check if it did anything and conveniently, it flipped around mid-flight. That let her see the back of the card.

Rights:

Right to bear arms. Right to challenge anyone but the Mayor to a Duel at any time.

Duties:

To fight against the Monster Waves if not injured, elderly, young, or disabled. To be an active member of the community. To obey the directions of the Mayor and Council Members to the best of your abilities. Failure to abide by any of these duties will result in [Forced Expulsion].

Everyone that wasn’t injured or disabled had to fight. It meant that for now, her participation wasn’t mandatory but she’d be forced to fight at some point. The last duty read as bullshit. Being forced to obey them unless she wanted to be thrown out if that’s what Forced Expulsion meant. It was corruption in its greatest form.

“That’s just bullshit,” said Paula.

“Did they even choose a new Mayor?” asked Blair as she turned her eyes back to the graves being dug. The workers had stopped their digging to stare at their Citizen Cards.

“The cards drop when you die. One of the Guards probably got it,” said Paula and grumpily stared off to her right.

“And?” she asked.

“Well, that means this new psycho Mayor’s somewhere around here,” she grumbled and gave a man the evil eye to a blond in a tank-top. He was large and had broad shoulders, almost handsome but not quite. His body, on the other hand, was what you’d define as hot.

“Well, that psycho Mayor happens to be me so you’d better treat me well from now on,” said the man and gave her a big grin.

Behind him, there were three others.

One of them was a petite, mousy girl that looked like a child. She wore a waitress’s uniform which had been soiled by no small amount of blood. Another one was a middle-aged man with constantly furrowed brows and long straight hair that reached his shoulders. The last one was a face that Blair recognized far too well —it was Anna.

“Oh, please. Fuck off. I’m not some sort of gold digger,” hissed Paula and slapped away the man’s hand away before it touched her.

“Still feisty. I like it,” he said and gave a nod. Then he walked up to the Guards that were digging the hole, effectively placing him in the spotlight. With a far louder voice, he spoke, “Alright, everyone! I’m the new Mayor, apparently. Just call me Jeremy. If we’re gonna survive this shit, then we’ll have to prepare for it. After the funerals have concluded, come to the four-leg intersection if you aren’t injured, please. We’ll need to prepare for the next wave.”

“Hate that guy,” whispered Paula.

Blair knew better than to ask people about their history. It wasn’t something acquaintances were comfortable with, and the relationship she had with Paula was nothing more than that. Then there was Anna, who’d most likely volunteered to become a Guard. She’d heard that it gave Credits if they killed Monsters in passing.

Having credits meant that the Communication Card could be used, so it was essential for anyone that was worried about their families —that was a sentiment Blair did not share. She was taught to take care of herself regardless of the situation, and her parents were the ones who’d taught her that. They didn’t need rescuing.

They couldn’t possibly need rescuing.

That reminded Blair that people dropped their cards when they died and her logical side thought of taking advantage of it. If she was near them when they died, she could get their cards, and more importantly, she could get their Mind of Steel. That’d help her. She just knew it.

The more emotional side of her snapped her out of that thought. They were people. She couldn’t just use their deaths to her advantage. That was immoral and unladylike conduct. Her mother would give her an earful had she been near.

Inevitably, the holes were finished being dug and that’s when they dragged the bodies in. All of them had separate graves. If they had tombstones, it’d be a proper burial in every sense but chiseling names on stone seemed counter-productive.

The moment Blair caught sight of the first corpse, she covered her mouth with her hand. It took everything she had to keep herself from gagging. She’d seen a dying animal but seeing a dead person was different, especially one torn up by a Monster.

“Well, you should probably get going to the intersection. It’ll get ugly here,” Paula said with a wry grin and gave her a pat on the back, then sent her off.

Meanwhile, Paula herself stayed looking at the graves. It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that someone she knew died. As far as Blair knew, some buildings were outright empty while some were full when the Zones were divided. That meant that most of her coworkers were in this Zone.

Blair got to the intersection and looked around for a proper view. The restaurant from before seemed to be the best option, especially since she was injured. That meant her involvement in whatever training they would be doing was irrelevant.

“Newbie,” called out Anna from her left just as she turned to the door of the restaurant. He had a visible frown on his face compared to his cheerful demeanor from before. She turned her head, waiting for a response but Anna didn’t say anything until he jogged up to her. After a quiet huff, he turned to her and spoke, “You got that Ice Shield, right? We’ll need that for the drill.”

“Drill?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s a hypothetical scenario that’ll prepare us for the real deal. I motioned for it. Did you figure out your Mana Regeneration rate, by the way?” asked Anna and raised an eyebrow, waiting for a response. Blair responded by shaking her head with a scowl —having any other emotion on her face felt wrong, “Well, it’s basically your Mana Effectiveness divided by 10. It’s per minute. I did some calculations yesterday. While I haven’t calculated the other two, I’m guessing they’re the same. I’ll probably end up testing it out soon since I have a Stamina-draining Skill now.”

Her Mana Effectiveness was around 10, so she regenerated 1 Mana per minute. It was good enough, which meant she could use 6 Spells per fight and would recover every half hour.

“I’m kind of injured, so-” started Blair, trying to weasel out of the so-called drill. She didn’t want to fight but she would if push came to shove. Fighting with an injury wasn’t a smart choice and she’d much rather hide behind the Guards than actually fight.

“No, no, no. It’s fine. You’ll only use your Magic. We’ll just go over some practical strategies today,” said Anna and gave her a wink, a pat on the shoulder, and jogged off to someone else.

Was she supposed to become as social as that by the time she became a Senior Dev?

That was bullshit.

It took almost half an hour for everyone to get ready, which was after Blair finished her lunch. She chose a beef stew this time. The flavor of the soup wasn’t bad and she liked it. Eating it too many times could perhaps get old, and she didn’t know if she’d be getting the nutrients necessary to build muscle with this kind of food.

She needed muscles thanks to not having any ranged option. The Ice Shield was more useful than a basic projectile attack but also having one of them would be great. It made her wonder if she could trade one of her Skills for Wind Blade or Fire Ball before she realized all the Skills she had were essential.

Maybe if she was challenged into a Duel…