Leo returned to the examination room. Alvaro and Chichi had gained conscious and Paola brought them up to speed about what happened after they blacked out. Knowing the demise of the rhino, both of them looked at Leo and Ken in awe, especially at Leo.

Chichi was quick on her feet and immediately went for a hug at Leo. The man who knew the ruse took a sidestep, dodging those arms of hers.

“I’m flattered, miss. But I don’t think a hug is necessary,” Leo said, thwarting her aggressive attempt in swooning him over.

Despite knowing she now had a brighter chance of escaping this green hell, Chichi still couldn’t pass a chance of having someone as strong as Leo by her side. She gave a brief glare at Paola for spilling the tea before returning back to her normal resting bitch face. Chichi buried her emotions down and kept an eye for another chance. To her, the night was still early.

“Here,” Leo opened his backpack and distributed a few of his energy bars to the Colombians. “It’s not enough, but it’s the best I can do.”

“Thank you,” Paola said. While the rest thanked him in their own way.

“Seriously, dude?” Ken asked.

“What?” Leo was confused.

“You’re giving out our provisions for the journey and not asking me about it?” Ken said. “Don’t you think that these people already had something to eat?"

“It’s a clinic, Ken. A very small clinic, and no matter where I look, there’s nothing to eat here,” Leo justified his action.

“There’s fresh meat sitting out there, waiting to be cut and cook,” Ken said. “And from the way I see it, it’s more than enough for three adults and a kid.”

“Did you mean the rhino?” Leo asked.

“Of course, the rhino. What else would I be talking about?”

Leo wrinkled his face in disgust. “Who would eat a rhino? That’s—”

“—the most logical thing to do in a world where normal can be thrown into a gutter,” Ken cut Leo off. “Think about it Leo, sooner or later, even our food supply will run out. And the next thing in the menu will be either us or the wild beasts.”

Ken slapped Leo on the face with pure facts. The short warrior had thought things through for a while now, and the problem of food supply would be an immediate concern for them and their colleagues back at the company.

“Wait, did you just say us? You mean eating human beings?” Leo asked with concern.

“Haven’t you watched Ravenous?” Ken questioned. “In desperate times, people would do anything . . . Even to the point of eating a fellow human.”

“That’s crazy, and what are you talking about is a movie,” Leo said. Despite what he said, his friend’s words made sense.

“Not as crazy as being sent into another dimension with a game-like system,” Ken replied. “If you ask me, anything is possible right now.”

Ken left the room and Paola came up to Leo. “Hey,” she said. “You wouldn’t mind accompanying me outside would you?”

Leo nodded and they left through the back door. They circled around the clinic as everything around them was dark and pitch black. Their hands stayed close to the wall, guiding them to the front of the clinic. With Leo’s help, Paola made a fire just a few feet away from the clinic. The blazing flame pushed the darkness away, giving warmth and sight to these two people.

Paola grabbed a burning piece of stick from the fire and used it as a torch. Leo trailed from behind, keeping his eyes peeled over his surrounding. The woman came closer to the headless rhino and took out a butterfly knife. “Hold this for me,” she said, handing the torch to Leo.

He grabbed it and watched as Paola cut through the thick hide of the dead rhino. Ken’s word rang straight in his mind. He knew what Paola was intending to do as this was his new reality.

Piece by piece, she cut the rhino meat into thin slices. Sweats rained down her back and forehead as she had been cutting the tough meat for about an hour. She then stood up and carried off the pile of rhino meat close to the fireplace.

Leo knew she was going to roast those meat slices but he wondered what she was doing with those long sticks tied on top of the fireplace. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m making a stand to smoke these meats,” Paola said. “We should do it as much as we can while still having the chance of using fresh meat.” The archer knew what to do as if she was trained to do it. Her skills in bushcraft amazed the American who could only stand and watch.

Leo helped her out, trying to absorb as much knowledge as he could. Skills like these were priceless in a situation like this. They hung the meats on the broken branches as the smoke bathed them thoroughly from bottom to the top.

The process repeated itself as Paola went back to the dead rhino and carved more of its meat. Leo stood from behind and genuinely wanted to ask. “You’re quite good at this,” he said. “Is bushcraft camping your hobby or something?”

“We live close to the jungle back at home,” she said. “And there was a time where money is hard to come by. So we turned to the jungle . . . and hunt like my people used to do.”

Silence reigned as Leo felt bad asking that question. And he didn’t know what else to say after that story she told.

“What about you?” Paola suddenly asked, breaking the silence between them. “What makes you this strong? From the way how you look, you don’t strike me like those Americans who are crazy for adventures.”

‘What kind of American did she meet,’ Leo thought.

“I’m just a normal guy, working a desk job at some rising start-up company,” Leo said. “So yeah, I’m just winging it right now. Trying to survive, you know.”

“Then how a does person like that be this strong then?” she asked. Not knowing how insulting that sounded.

“Well, I’m not that strong, but if you know your way around a game, it wouldn’t be—”

“—shh,” she cut him off, shushing him. Her eyes narrowed as Detect Danger sensed something.

A few seconds later, he detected something too. The rustling bushes caught his eye, and a big shadow came out from the cover of the dark jungle. Even toes ungulates brushed against the grasses, denting the dirt ground as a figure moved forward. The beast grunted through its snout. Its long tusks arched upwards like swords readied to pierce its enemy.

“A boar?” he uttered. The creature known to love mud baths smelled the scent of meat being smoked. Its boundless hunger drew it close to the flame that would usually stave off wild beasts. The boar sauntered with its four legs towards the meat, ignoring the presence of Leo and Paola that was at the distance.

“It’s going for the meat,” Paola said as she stood up. Her body leaned forward, readied to protect what was hers. Yet a hand held her back. She glanced at Leo.

“I’ll take care of this,” he said, grinning.

Leo stood in its path, staring the boar dead in the eye. He was unarmed as he left his bat back at the clinic. Now he only had his fists and his spells. Itching in trying out his new spells.

The wild boar snorted. Its tusk ground against the dirt as if sharpening a sword. The left front hoof pawed the dirt, and then it charged. It tossed its head left and right, grunting louder as it paved a straight path at the lone human.

Leo spread his arms wide apart. His lips mumbled foreign words not belonging to the realm of earth, then his eyes glowed in bluish light. Electric crackled around his arms as it gradually converged at his two open palms. Growing wilder by the second like serpents coiling against one another. Then he uttered the last two words, “Lightning Bind.”

He clapped his hands together and blue bolts of lightning fanned out. The lightning rushed forward like living serpents, searching for an enemy. It struck the boar, and immediately these blue bolts of lightning snapped at the wild beast, strangling it with its jolting body. The constant zapping made the wild boar squeal as it was left there on the ground, rendered motionless.

Leo stood in front of the boar and saw his Lightning Bind work perfectly. He extended his hand at the boar and slowly his lips mouthed more foreign words. “Wind Cutter,” he said. An invisible blade of wind flew off from his hand and sliced the restrained boar right at the head. Blood spurted as he retreated a few steps away.

The boar was still squealing, alive and injured. Leo frowned as that didn’t go so well. His Wind Cutter, his only offensive spell cut the boar way too shallow. By the time four seconds were up, the boar released itself from the vanishing lightning and stood up on its four legs.

“That’s really disappointing,” Leo said.

“Heads up,” a voice from the clinic drew Leo’s attention.

The mage looked to the side and saw something flying in the air, coming towards him. He saw what it was and grabbed it perfectly at the handle. It was his aluminum bat and it felt just right in his hand. “Oh, well,” he said. “The usual way it is then.”

The boar was fuming. He snorted a couple of times as blood trickled from the wound on top of its head, then once again it went for a charge.

Leo took a few slow steps forward with his bat swung back. At the last second, he dodged the straight tackle and sent down an overhead blow right at the open wound. Bones cracked and he heard it crisply in his ears. The boar staggered on its feet, and Leo who came from the back gave another blow right at the same spot. Twice wasn’t enough, then came the third. Then the fourth. By the sixth blow, he stopped. He knew it was dead, judging by the text window in his view.

[Statistic Inheritor activated; +1 Vitality]

“You sure you’re not one of those crazy Americans?” Paola asked, looking over the smashed head of a boar. She glanced at Leo and saw the man was as wild as he could be with blood patterns staining his shirt. It was one of the disadvantages of using a blunt weapon as things get messy easily.

“That was pretty awesome,” Ken said, sauntering from the clinic. “I saw your new skill and it looks pretty useful . . . As a support that is. Are you really not going to take an offensive spell?”

“I did, but it’s kind of hard to see,” Leo said.

“Oh,” the surprise made Ken smile. “So what is it?”

“Wind Cutter, a wind element spell,” Leo said. “I thought it would do the trick, but I guess I overestimated the power behind it.”

Leo glanced back at the dented head of the dead boar. The fight would have ended early if Wind Cutter cut straight through its skull. He even regretted a bit, considering he had been in a dilemma over Wind Cutter and another spell. ‘As I thought, I should have taken Iron Needle,’ Leo thought.

But the milk had already been spilled, so he might as well be grateful of what he had and made do with it. ‘One thing for sure, I need to up the skill level of my spells. Since that’s one way of upping the damage count.’

The trio continued to smoke the meat and, with the extra boar, their food supply just got a lot heftier. Ken joined Paola as he cut the meat easily with his gladius while Leo stood guard, readied for any new enemy.

The night went on and after finishing their work for the night, Paola and Ken retreated to the clinic. Leo volunteered of standing guard around the smoked meat. It was both for security and for the food.

He sat on the ground with the aluminum bat nestled between his arms. His eyes stared at the flickering flame in a daze as slowly his mind tuned off to whatever around him.

Unknowingly, a silhouette stalked from behind.