I woke up to find my right arm had gone numb and my left shoulder was wet. The left shoulder was because Virginnia had her head resting on my shoulder and drool had leaked on to me while sleeping. That wasn't really an issue even though I warned her yesterday and wanted to keep some distance and personal space. No the main problem was why my arm had gone numb. I seem to have picked up a parasite after I went to sleep. Yuki had both arms wrapped around my biceps in a vice like grip. What the heck was she playing at?

After I extricated myself from Virginnia I looked around and checked my watch with read 3:41am. Fortunately most people were asleep so I tried to pry my arm loose from Yuki as quietly as possible but it wasn't proving an easy task. Finally I decided the best way to do it was to prod her in the ribs rather sharply until she woke up.

"Ow my ribs hurt" she groaned and removed her hand to hold her ribs.

"Would you mind explaining what you are playing at laying next to me and why you feel the need to grip my arm like an octopus that has just grasped its meal?" I growled at her while using my left arm to move my right about to get the blood flowing again.

"That- this" she begun in a loud voice to which I clamped my hand over her mouth and leaned forward to hiss into her ear.

"Quiet and keep your voice down most people are sleeping and the last thing we need you to do is wake them up and cause a scene. Got that?"

She nodded and I released my hand.

"Well I was laying next to you to conserve body heat and keep warm as we have no covers. I restrained your arm so you wouldn't do immoral things to either of us."

"Oh really? Is that the case? I think you have an immoral side to you as well you know?"

"No I don't. Absolutely not. But just out of curiosity what do you mean?"

"Well your body was tightly pressed against mine leaving little room for imagination and my arm was nestled in your cleavage while you snuggled giving me a good feel. Also where my hand is positioned after you clung to my is at precisely where your nether regions are. I would say you are rather immoral or maybe have other ideas and you aren't being honest wouldn't you?" I teased.

She went so red that even in the dark she seemed to glow.

"Nestled.. Snuggled.. You are imagining things and I can't be blamed for what my body does while unconscious. It is all merely a coincidence."

"Really? Did you not just say you did it on purpose to stop me and yet now I point it out it is all happenstance? Your reasoning and logic is full of holes and crumbled rather easily. What bothers me is you are meant to be setting an example as one of the leaders here to hold people together and LEAD. I don't care what others think of me as their opinions are worthless in my eyes but think about your own position. Now I am going to the toilet to freshen up and when I come back I want you to be relocated and sleeping elsewhere."

"What about her? I notice you aren't getting rid of her only me. I see how it is I'm an annoyance while you can do this and that to her and you lust over her like everyone else. I may not be as beautiful as her but I do take some pride in my looks you know."

"What? She laid next to me yesterday and wouldn't leave I didn't want to draw anymore attention to it and left her alone. When I wen to sleep she was further away from me and must have moved closer to keep warm like you did. Also I am not going back to sleep when I come back as I have a great deal to think about. What has any of this got to do with looks? Lastly I am not the kind of person you just goes for looks I or money or any superficial thing like that. Personality is the most important thing as looks fade with age while money comes and goes. I know what the two of you girls are doing I see it all you know and I don't like it one bit."

"What do you see or what do you think you see?"

"Simply you two want to manipulate my feeling and be close to me hoping that I will protect you when you whisper sweet nothings and half promises in my ear. It isn't only the monsters to be afraid of in this world." With that I got up and left.

After doing my business and washing my face to clear the last remaining vestiges of sleep from my eyes I thought as I was alone I would examining my spell book again and see what else I could do with it. I was shocked to discover that it wasn't the only one spell I had as I had one of every element which I assumed to be beginner spells as they have low mana cost and no amazing effect or high damage either. Hmm that will come in use later.

After I returned to the cafeteria I sat in silence for a while contemplating what needs to be done and in what order. Eventually after a few hours Virginnia woke up and looked around for me. When she saw me she came over obviously wanting to talk.

"Do you think we will have to stay here long? I get that the police and army have a lot of their plate with this crises but they should be coming soon right?" Virginnia asked.

"To be honest I don't think we can rely on them. The world has gone down the drain and if any sort of civilization remains out there then public order has probably broken down into anarchy by now. If we want to survive this then we will have to rely on ourselves and each other. To do that we need to grow stronger"

"Grow stronger? Together? You mean like team building exercises? Usually you are a bit taciturn and don't go in for these sort of things. Somehow I don't think team building exercises will help much in growing stronger as our minds are in different places right now."

I looked at her with complete contempt and spoke the following to her. "No that would be an exercise in futility and I wouldn't want to be around most of these people. I meant grow stronger as in the literal sense of the word. To raise our levels and be more powerful then anything else that comes at us.

"Raise our levels?"

"Yeah exactly like I said. This is a game like world now. If you focus on the word status in your mind then it should show you your status. Try it now."

Status Window[tr]

[tr]NameVirginnia Batefield

Age17RaceHuman

Level1GenderFemale

Titles-

Health100/100Health Regen.0.025 / SecMana

60/60Mana Regen.0.25 / SecStamina90/90Stamina Regen.0.25 / Sec-Strength12Agility12Vitality10Dexterity9Intelligence12Wisdom10Leadership0Luck0

-Skills-Unallocated Points0

"Oh it worked! So this is what you meant."

"Yeah and I aim to be the strongest in the world. Think of it this way now that civilization has probably collapsed it will be even more of a dog eat dog world. Humans will be killing and raping each other whenever they can just for a small amount of fun or resources. With no law and order holding people in check the worst of humanity is free to flow and do what it wants. Not too good for someone of outstanding beauty like you eh?"

Virginnia's face went pale at my implications but she new exactly what I meant.

"In that case what should I, no what should we do?"

"Kill things. Monsters give experience when killed and can be used to level up and I assume humans do as well though I haven't had cause to kill one yet to find out. I am going to go out later to get some things to secure this place better and if possible kill a few things for experience."

"Can I come with you? I wish to be stronger. I wish to be strong enough to protect myself and the people I care about and not let others bully or violate me or them."

"Can you fight? Have you ever been in a fight before? If not then it will be dangerous for both of us as you will be dead weight dragging me down. No offense."

"Can I fight? I don't see as I have much choice in the matter so yes I can. Have I fought before? Never as I have never had the need. I don't like the idea of killing humans but I do accept that reality is different and life throws many challenges at us. At the moment I don't think I could kill anyone but maybe if I get used to fighting monsters then over time I could resolve myself though I wouldn't want to do it if at all possible. It would have to be a last resort when all dialogue and options have tried and failed."

"Well I guess everyone has to start somewhere and you at least have some resolve albeit a flimsy resolve. We will see later as I am still planning a few things out but if I do decide to take you then if you want to bring some friends who can keep a secret and do as they are told then you can as well. We will need the extra hands to carry things."