The next day which was now the 10’th day after the world changed, Aiden decided they should scout a little further a field. They needed system credits badly to fully equip their people in even the most basic gear and to purchase supplies for the farm and daily living. They would be scouting westward up to five miles inland.

After they crossed the invisible protected boundary of the town, monsters became quite a bit more frequent. They encountered the regular Mana beasts as well as deer, elk, squirrels, wolves, spiders, giant centipedes, giant ants, snakes, badgers, boars, dogs, jackals, raccoon’s, weasels, even cats. The monsters were generally a variety of mutated forest animals with some things they didn’t recognize in between.

They even chanced upon a bear they noticed in the distance which turned out to be a pretty difficult to take down as it was larger then a damn pickup. Even with all of them taking shots at it from a distance with Aiden keeping it occupied in close range the fight lasted almost five minutes and was the only time anyone was seriously injured during the whole day.

Most mutated monsters were far larger and more dangerous then their animal predecessors it seemed, and had been changed by the Mana in various ways to reflect their monster status. The centipedes for example were now a meter long and had paralytic poison, they were also never alone.

Everything they ran into so far had been above lvl 10 with the bear being the highest being they encountered so far at lvl 28. It seemed the further they went away from the town the tougher the monsters were and they came upon more varieties as well.

Aiden theorized that any regular animal that reached lvl 10 instead of having a class to choose like humans, evolved and gained more monster like characteristics to help them survive. He also quickly noticed that any of these monsters they killed didn’t immediately turn into Mana upon death unlike the mana beasts, which was a welcome surprise as now they would be able to hunt them for food as well as essence. They now even dropped mana stones, where as the animals they hunted the day before did not.

The group stopped to rest and eat a bit after 11am. Aiden took the time to look at the system map. According to the map they were coming upon another slightly wider river soon and he knew that the town he used to live in was close by. It was probably close to another 4 miles west and slightly north from where they currently were.

Aiden asked everyone their opinion and they all decided to take a chance and head there and check things out. Almost everyone was now lvl 10 and had their classes, except for Lilly and Tess who just hit lvl 9 an hour or so ago. Everyone wanted to go check it out and see if there were any survivors there, they could maybe help so they quickly spent some of the credits they earned today to buy some basic leather armor for themselves, then headed out in a cautious sprint in that direction with Aiden in the lead and Victoria taking up the rear of the group.

When they got to the outskirts of the town, what they saw was basically a ruin. Almost no building were still standing with some places looking burned down with others having trees literally growing out of them. There were plenty of Mana beasts roaming the the streets with a few elites in the mix.

Aiden noticed that the center of the town where the shopping mall was located was still standing. It was the tallest building in the town other then the steeple of the church and he could see both from here. They carefully and silently swam across the river just outside the town and the group quickly got to work clearing out the place, being careful to stick together and watch each others backs.

After three hours of fighting and resting they had killed over 300 Mana beast spawn and 5 elites and there were still hundreds of them left further into town. It was already 5 pm and they were trying to decide what to do. They eventually settled on going back to Eden for the night so as not to worry the residents, especially Cassandras parents who still weren’t very happy that their 15 year old daughter was out here risking her life, not that they could actually stop her but still.

Before they left however Aiden went to the ruin that used to be his home and dug through the wreck for things he wanted to take with him. He eventually found what he was looking for in a still somewhat intact dresser was the family photo album. He quickly stored it and with one last look at the ruin of his old home he turned around and joined the others as they headed back to Eden.

Once back they distributed all the food they hunted in the morning. Which consisted of 4 deer, a boar, a fox, a few squirrels, a badger, and what bear meat they managed to carve out of the massive thing since it’s size prevented it from being stored in the inventory. They let everyone know about what they found and that they would be going back tomorrow to try and clear out the rest of the monsters there, and to see if anyone was still left alive.

All the guardians were up and ready to go at 6 in the morning and they sprinted the whole way there taking out any monsters they ran into on the way. The trip took them just under two hours and at 8 am they resumed the clearing of the town. By mid day they reached the mall and they could see it was boarded up and barricaded from the inside. They mopped up any of the Mana beasts wandering around the area and headed up towards one of the windows where they had noticed people watching them.

The person Aiden spoke to was an older gentlemen perhaps in his mid to late 40’s. Once introductions were out of the way Aiden inquired about their situation and learned that they had over 46 people inside which was what they thought was left of the towns previous population of 6,793 but they weren’t sure.

There was still the other side of town to check but the mall was the place the system had protected and gave the bonus quest to clear of enemies. Aiden later learned from the Mana awakened there, that once his group started clearing the monsters outside the quest had disappeared from their logs.

There were 4 Mana awakened inside, all of them being kids between the ages of thirteen and seventeen and they all had yet to reach lvl 10. The protective adults wouldn’t let them fight until finally 2 days ago the kids managed to convinced them that it would be the only way for them to survive and maybe get out of there alive, so they started to pick off Mana beasts from the roof with hunting crossbows they took from the mall.

Aiden let the survivors know about Eden and extended them the offer to join everyone there. All of them quickly agreed and all the guardians along with the new Mana chosen kids went through the mall collecting any thing of value to bring with them. They mostly focused on seeds and gardening tools as well as various spices and daily use items such as toilet paper, tooth paste, bandages etc. All of these things were available in the shop but if they could save some credits they would.

While they were doing that Aiden got to know the kids and explained to them what the Guardians were and what they were all about, they all wanted to join and as none of them had any family left alive to object Aiden let them. They would be staying with the other Guardians in the apartment towers. The youngest was Tom at thirteen followed by the fifteen year old Julia and the two brothers among them Andrew and Chris at sixteen and seventeen respectively.

Once everyone filled up their inventories with backpacks full of loot from the mall, everyone gathered just outside the mall where they set the formation for the way back with all of the Guardians outside the circle of survivors to protect them from the monsters on the way.

The way back was long and arduous especially the river crossings, since some of the survivors were elderly and others didn’t know how to swim and had to have help to get across. The journey back took over 7 hours and they had already been trekking 3 hours in the dark forcing them to light torches and unfortunately attracting a lot more monsters because of it. No one had died but it was a close thing with the limited visibility and people panicking.

Once back in town the relieved residents all welcomed the Guardians back and welcomed the survivors to the town. Everyone was showed to a residence and soon they were all settled in for the night. Most of the Guardians hard earned money went to purchasing rings for the new residents as well as the kids that were promised them before. The supplies were taken into the mansion for now and would be distributed tomorrow once everyone got some sleep.

Aiden and Victoria headed upstairs and relaxed a bit in their sitting room and checked over their gains for the last two days. In the past two days of fighting Aiden gained 27,253 essence with Victoria slightly behind at 24,640. Aiden gained three levels getting him to lvl 9 and Victoria gained four putting her at lvl 8. Aiden put 3 points in Dex, 2 in Int, and 4 in Wis.

They also managed to get some new equipment for themselves from the loot the elites in the town dropped. Among a few healing potions Aiden got an uncommon quality belt that gave +3 to Skill and Victoria got an uncommon cloak that increased agility by 5 and had an inbuilt ability to use the Dark Vision skill three times per day which came in handy on their trek back today. The skill itself was slightly weaker then the Night vision potions they used before, with a range of 35 feet compared to the 40 of the potions but it could be turned off at will making the skill better in Aiden’s opinion.

While he was checking his gear Aiden noticed he had two less defense points then he should. After checking everything out he found the problem was with his Leather Vambraces. They had taken so much punishment since he got them that they went down a grade in quality from Good to Poor resulting in a loss of the defense points. Aiden didn’t know that was possible but in hindsight it was actually quite logical.

He figured it was time to upgrade them anyway so he bought an upgraded Dark Leather variant with a quality of Very Good for a cost of 500 credits more then the regular Good quality version which increased the defense rating over the original Leather ones by 4 and the Good quality Dark Leather ones by 2. He left his old Leather ones as well as the belt he no longer needed on one of the shelves meant for gear in the meeting room downstairs for anyone to grab if they wanted it. He figured it would probably be helpful to one of the new kids.

After some further thought he decided that such a system would be of benefit in the future so he would propose it to everyone tomorrow. Everyone that no longer needed any old gear could leave it in the meeting room for others to grab.

Status:

Aiden Winters: Age 22

Race Human: Rank(f)

War Ranger: lvl 9 - Mana essence: 5207/10000

Class 2: None (Unlock at Class 1 lvl 25)

Woodworking: lvl 4

Health: 430/430

Stamina: 330/330

Mana: 220/220

Defense: 33(82)

Mana Defense: 24

Vitality - 38(43)

Endurance - 33

Strength - 36(41)

Agility - 36(41)

Dexterity - 27

Skill - 28(31)

Intelligence - 24(28)

Wisdom - 24

System credits - 12,000

Skills:

Battle Aura Lvl 1 - (40%)

Victoria Leblanc: Age 21

Race Human: Rank(f)

Battle Healer: lvl 8 - Mana essence: 4460/8000

Class 2: None (Unlock at Class 1 lvl 25)

Herbology: lvl 12

Health: 270/270

Stamina: 220/220

Mana: 270/270

Defense: 22(68)

Mana Defense: 27

Vitality - 22(27)

Endurance - 22

Strength - 27

Agility - 29(34)

Dexterity - 21

Skill - 20

Intelligence - 35(40)

Wisdom - 22(27)

System credits - 15,000

Spells:

Healing Wind - lvl 1 (55%)

Equipment:

Aiden

Weapons:

Bastard Sword of Striking - (Uncommon) / Quality (Very Good) / Damage Physical: 38-43 +5 Str (when carried or equipped)

Hunters Bow - (Common) / Quality (Good) / Damage Physical: 26-32

Hunters Arrow x78 - (Common) / Quality (Good) / +3 damage

Hunters Knife - (Common) / Quality (Very Good) / Damage Physical: 20-25

Armor:

Warriors Dark leather Armor - (Uncommon) / Quality (Good) / +10 def + 5 Vit

Dark Leather Greaves - (Common) / Quality (Good) / +4 def

Dark Leather Vambraces - (Common) / Quality (Very Good) / +8 defense

Dark Leather gloves - (Common) / Quality (Good) / +3 defense

Studded Dark Leather Breeches - (Common) / Quality (Good) / +4 def

Dark Leather Helm - (Common) / Quality (Good) / +5 def

Dark Leather Boots - (Common) / Quality (Good) / +4 def

Studded Leather Targe - (Common) / Quality (Good) / def +5

Hunters Belt of Skill - (Uncommon) / Quality (Good) / Def +6 skill +3

Accessories:

Ring of Agility - (Uncommon) / Quality (Very Good) / +5 Agility

Active Skill: Rush Aura - Doubles the wearers movement speed for 10 seconds at the cost of 50 Mana, 10 minute cool down. (Channel Mana into the ring to activate effect).

Ring of Frost - (Uncommon) / Quality (Good) / + 4 Int

Active Spell: Frost Wave - Unleashes a wave of Frost in a 60 degree cone in the direction you point your hand. Range 10 feet. Cost 50 Mana. Cool down 10 minutes

Effect: Deal 45-50 Ice damage and slows targets for 3 seconds within the cone of effect. Channel Mana into the ring to activate effect.

Victoria

Weapons:

Hunters Spear - (Common) / Quality (Good) / Damage Physical: 25-30

Hunters Bow - (Common) / Quality (Good) / Damage Physical: 26-32

Hunters Arrow x72 - (Common) / Quality (Good) / +3 damage

Armor:

Leather Jerkin - (Common) / Quality (Good) / +5 def

Padded Dark Leather Corset - (Common) / Quality (Good) / + 3 def

Studded Dark Leather Leggings - (Common) / Quality (Very Good) / + 6 def

Dark Leather Helm - (Common) / Quality (Good) / +5 def

Dark Leather Boots - (Common) / Quality (Good) / +4 def

Dark Leather Grieves - (Common) / Quality (Good) / +5 def

Dark Leather Vambraces - (Common) / Quality (Good) / +5 def

Dark Leather Gloves - (Common) / Quality (Good) / +3 def

Studded Leather Targe - (Common) / Quality (Good) / def +5

Cloak Of The Explorer - (Uncommon) / Quality (Very Good) / def +5 Agi +5

Active skill: Dark Vision (Enhanced vision in the dark allowing you to see as if it was day. Effective distance 35ft). Cost 25 Mana. Maximum Duration 1 hour. (Channel Mana into the cloak to activate or deactivate the effect.)

Uses: (3 per day) 3/3

Accessories:

Elven Ring of Healing - (Rare) / Quality (Superior) / +5 Vit +5 Int +5 Wis

Active Skill: Healing touch (Restores 100 Health and cleanses poison and disease upon contact, at the cost of 50 Mana. 25 minute cool down. Channel Mana into the ring to activate effect)

Uses: (5 per day) 5/5