Victoria slowly began to wake and stretched languidly. Noticing her body was wrapped around someone she opened her eyes with a start. When she saw and remembered where she was, she relaxed and looked across at the sleeping face of her boyfriend. ‘Wow boyfriend, that’s such a weird thought I haven’t dated anyone in four years. And this is moving a lot faster than with Andrew.’ She cringed at the momories that name brought back and sighed.

Trying not to dwell on the past Victoria lay there and watched Aiden as he slept. ‘He looks so peaceful when he’s sleeping. With the way he stepped up and started to lead everyone, its nice to see him so relaxed for once. God and that whole speech yesterday, I wont lie that was incredibly hot.’ She giggled internally.

‘Shit I think I might actually by falling for him. I always thought he was cute before when I saw him in class but we never really communicated. I’ve only really know him for a little over a week but it feels like we’ve know each other much longer. He just feels so familiar, safe, comfortable.' She wrapped her arms around him a little tighter and sighed contentedly as he subconsciously did the same.

Victoria thought about all that happened since that first day when he found her in that class room. She was there working on an assignment and then the world seemingly ended. She barely managed to kill that thing through sheer panic and adrenaline and was just standing there god knows how long staring at the monsters black blood that had spilled out across the classroom floor until the sounds of fighting snapped her out of it.

Victoria though she was going to die there that day. Then out of nowhere he came along with a cheery hello and a reassuring smile even though he was covered in blood and smelled horrible.‘God he never even said any thing about the fact that I had peed myself, he just took one quick look and acted as if nothing was wrong. I was so embarrassed then but after a few minutes of him there I forgot all about it.’

Since then she watched and got to know him and what she saw and learned was indescribable to her. How someone so seemingly normal could be so brave and with such a will to push ahead that it even affected others she didn’t know. The force of will of the man was something otherworldly. It was like walking next to a hurricane, it was only a matter of time before it sucked you in.

Victoria realized that If he wasn’t there, everyone here now would have most likely died, her included. He was a force of nature. If she didn’t know any better she would think there was a hidden Charisma stat and Aiden had his over 100. It wasn’t his looks ‘although he is easy on the eyes’ she admitted to herself while gently brushing a stray of his rather long dark hair that seemed to be tickling his nose.

It’s just his entire being, how he interacts with others and the world around him. He seems to have this power to draw others to him and get along with pretty much anyone. There was that one time with Cassandras dad but that wasn’t his fault. The father was acting like a complete asshole and Aiden was extremely tired and stressed.

‘I guess I’ll see where this will go. I hope he feel’s for me even half of what I’m starting to feel for him. He said he did, that one night but we haven’t had much time to really talk since. That’s another thing! This man out of nowhere asks me to teach him sign language! As if it was just a normal thing! And he's already learned quite a bit.'

'I wonder if our improved stats can help with learning things like this...probably, anyway the whole six months I was dating Andrew he never once cared enough to learn. Yet this man in the first few days after everything changed wanted to learn! Even with everything else that was happening around us.’

She lay there for another few minutes and thought of her family, wondering how they were, and where they may have ended up. She wondered if any of them were even still alive. It didn't really matter in the end, she might as well write them off as dead at this point. Finding them again even if they were alive would be pretty much impossible. She shook of the morbid thought’s and refocus on Aiden’s sleeping face.

Victoria smiled to herself. 'At least I have him' she leaned forward and gently pressed a kiss to Aidens lips. As gentle as it was it seemed to have still woken him up. He sleepily opened his eyes and yawned. “Morning” he mumbled pulling her closer with a smile on his face and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead making butterflies erupt in her stomach.

His eyes unfocused for a second and Victoria thought he was probably checking the time. His eyes focused back on her and he smiled wider. “Its still too early to get up. How about some quick signing lessons.” Victoria smiled and nodded her head.

She sat up and leaned against the headboard. Taking out a notebook from her Inventory, she taught him for an hour before they both got up and started getting ready for the day. When Aiden headed to take a shower she felt quite bold and followed him inside to shower together.

It was their first time seeing each other completely naked and they ogled each other quite a bit with goofy grins on their faces. ‘I cant believe I’m doing this’ she thought incredulously. ‘I’ve never been so daring before, but when it comes to him I just cant help myself. Wow I’ve really got it bad’ When they were done they got dressed and settled down at the table in their room and ate a few granola bars for breakfast.

Victoria decided to get out what was on her mind and wrote out her thought’s for him to read. She watched with trepidation as he read her mini letter. When he was finished he looked up at her and smiled. “Yes I feel the same way, I’m also falling in love with you, and no I don’t think there’s anything wrong or weird about how fast this is happening. Like I told you before, you are the reason I’m still sane and functioning. Just as you say I’m your rock you are mine. I love you Vicky.”

Victoria’s heart skipped a beat and she smiled widely mouthing 'I love you too’ back before leaning in to capture his lips in a passionate kiss. They broke their embrace a minute later and Aiden pulled her onto his lap and hugged her close as she burrowed herself into him. ‘Oh my god I’m so happy right now I feel like I’m floating’ Victoria thought and sighed contentedly as she burrowed herself further into him. They stayed like that for a while just enjoying the closeness.

Eventual Victoria leaned back and slowly signed. ‘I’m proud of you you know. For what you did and said yesterday’ Aiden took his time deciphering what she signed with a cute frown pulling at his face but eventually understood and blushed slightly and shrugged. “I just did what I thought was right, you know? These people need some hope in their lives”

She nodded and smiled at him standing up and pulling him up with her. ‘Its time to start the day I guess’ she signed and after a few seconds he nodded looking determined ‘and oh so hot’ she though with an internal smile. “Right then, lets head downstairs and see about that scouting expedition.” She nodded and they both got their gear on and headed downstairs.

It took a little while to get everyone together in the entrance hall but once everyone was there, party’s were formed and the group headed out toward the east gate. They would be scouting around about a mile in each direction from the city today.

Victoria knew that eventually Aiden wanted to go check out the three other protected areas that he said he saw on that first day, as well as what remained of the main town where he lived to the west, but for today they would just be scouting out the immediate area.

The security features in the manor were much better then the residences and the place could be locked down by anyone authorized to do so. Aiden quickly authorized everyone there and showed them how to lock the doors and gates to the manor grounds. Before they left Aiden had another of the Golem Knights start to patrol the town just in case something were to get in while they were gone.

They took off at a slight jog into the forest out of the west gate and Victoria marveled at the sheer beauty of it. This was the first time she really took a good look at their surrounding area. The vibrant and lush forest was beautiful with all kinds of colors everywhere and a fresh and invigorating smell. Most of the trees around here were all over 120 meters tall by her approximation, and the trunks were so thick that if their entire group tried to stand around one of them in a circle they would probably not reach all the way around.

From time to time she could see a fox run in the the bushes or a squirrel scamper up a tree. The animals themselves seemed to have levels as well and they were larger then normal. The squirrels were now the size of large cats for example.

They stopped a minute later when they reached the river. It was a breathtaking sight. The water was crystal clear and sparkled with the reflection of the morning sun. There were many fish swimming around, also much larger then they would have been before. The river was over 200 meters wide and maybe 2-3 meters at the deepest point.

Bret was so excited he started to look for a fishing pole on the system shop. Aiden let him have his fun fishing for a bit resulting in 4 nice large fish for them for lunch later. They continued on along the edge of the river with one of them occasionally spotting a new animal, with some successfully hunted down and stored for later.

Victoria was trying out her Herbology skill and picking up plants that her newly gained knowledge told her could be used in crafting potions of all sorts along the way. They could still barely make out the town in the distance through the tree's and they angled themselves to head around.

About half way around the town they stopped for lunch. They build a small fire and roasted the fish over it. Everyone shared a nice fulfilling lunch while talking about random things. While Aiden was conversing with Cassandra, something about her brother apparently, Victoria talked to Lily and handed over all the plants she found since Lily picked the Alchemist class and would be able to make use of them once they got back to town.

They finished their scouting at half past 2 and turn to head back towards the town. During the day they only ran into a few stray monsters, all being the regular variety of Mana beast spawn. This was both good and bad unfortunately, good because it seemed the deterrent that came with the Haven worked and the bad because they would need to range further out if they wanted to kill monsters. Thankfully the regular animals also gave essence but they didn’t want to hunt everything around here to extinction.

Once back in the town Aiden called the townsfolk together and had everyone bring out most of their kills. A few deer, a couple of foxes and even one wild pig they ran across. It was enough food for everyone for today and tomorrow as well. People helped out with skinning the animals and preparing the meat.

Bret and Tess took all the skins to be used in crafting since they had both chosen Leatherworking. Dean had chosen the blacksmith class with Margaret also choosing alchemy. That left Alicia with woodworking and Benjamin with Armorsmithing.

Unfortunately all the metal that could be used for crafting around here was recycled by the system when Aiden set up the town. So those who chose classes that relied on working metals could only sit on their thumbs for now. They needed to find some or wait for Cassandra to mine some ores if they located any. And isn’t that a funny thing, the tiniest one of them all choosing the mining class.

Once the meat was cut and prepared everyone took some of it back to their own residences to cook some and place the rest in the Mana powered ice boxes for later. The Guardians all did the same and headed to the mansions large kitchen to prepare the food there.

Victoria marveled that just a day ago they were still sleeping on the floor of a cold and drafty school eating granola bars and crackers. Now they were comfortably eating dinner at dining table fit for royalty in a beautiful manor. It was a major change.

After dinner which was a huge rowdy affair with everyone happily wolfing down the meat. Aiden and Victoria both decided to head out again. However this time out of the east gate. They sped up their pace a little and soon were jumping forward with Aiden trying out his acrobatics. He could now jump a respectable 6 feet in the air and could kick off of tree’s with ease. Flips were now very easy to him as well.

Victoria tried herself a few times and although she could do it, it didn’t feel as natural to her as Aiden said it felt for him. He speculated that it was a facet of his class and that if she worked on it eventually she would get used to it and that the added mobility would be helpful in a fight.

She agreed and they both practiced as they made their way. It did indeed start to feel more natural after a few minutes of trying and she was slowly getting better. Fifteen minutes after they left they broke the tree line to a stunning view of white sand and the sight and smell of the Ocean.

They went for a quick dip in the water, not spotting any monsters about. Victoria had never seen the ocean so clear before, it was quite amazing. They splashed around in the water for a bit the spent a bit of time just walking around in the sand talking.

Aiden wanted to check how far on foot it would take to get here and even with them practicing acrobatics on the way it only took them the fifteen minutes. Granted they were a lot faster now then they were before and the forest in this direction was a bit thinner with less obstacles in their way, but it was still impressive. After all the distance was nearly a mile.

Aiden figured if they ran at full speed the whole way they could get here in under five minutes, she figured he was probably right. It felt surreal to her, she was never all that athletic before, but now she could probably win any race by the old world's standards.

In future Aiden said he wanted to cut down the trees in this direction to make a road and reduce the travel time even further. She thought it would be quite nice having access to their own beach.

They headed back soon after, with Aiden picking up thick downed branches on their way that he said he would use to work on his Woodworking. Victoria had already been working on her class the whole day and her Herbologist class had already reached lvl 5 which gave her a + 5 to Int. The supplementary classes seemed alot easier to level then combat ones for whatever reason but she wasn't complaining.

They ran into a Mana beast on the way back and Victoria without even think about it jumped to the right kicked off against a tree cartwheeled above the charging beast and tossed her spear at it once she landed. The spear penetrated all the way through taking the beast off its feet and impaling it onto a nearby tree, killing it instantly.

Once she retrieved her spear she marveled at how easy that was to her now. A week ago she would have been a terrified mess, now she didn’t even blink, just swatted the thing away like an annoying fly with the grace and skill of a lifelong warrior. She shook her head at the absurdidty of how fast things could change, and how adaptable people can be. Even if it was mostly because of the system.

When they got back Aiden went to the crafting hall to work on his class while Victoria went to the pile of things that was saved from the remains of the school and started carting all the books she could find into their manor library. Taking a few of the more interesting ones to the study in their room. Once done she relaxed on one of the comfortable chairs and read until Aiden came back and they went to sleep.