Jack woke up. He looked at Aleena’s bed. She was there. He had not been dreaming. Jack lay back in his bed. His body hurt, and he didn’t want to get up. The rest of his team got up, with an exception of Aleena. She was also in a bad shape.

“So, what’s the plan?” Lillie asked. It was awkward sitting in the same room with Aleena.

“I talked yesterday with some people. Apparently, there were a lot of casualties among hunters because of the wolves. Most teams want to wait it out. I think we should do the same. We have two injured members, and we need to wait until you recover, anyway.” Stanley analyzed.

The team dispersed. Only Jack and Aleena were left in the room. Jack started the day with his usual mental training. His body was weak, he wasn’t able to train for long. He checked his status.

Name: Jack Age: 15 Class: Survivor Level:17 43% to next lv Stats: Base Essence reinforced Strength 15.23/25 38.98 (20% + (6+2)%/level) Endurance 8.16/15.04 18.66 (10% + (6+2)%/level) Intelligence 19.76/25 82.59 (40% + (6+8)%/level) Mental Endurance 11.61/15.95 36.8 (20% + (6+5)%/level) Agility 19.18/30 62.71 (40% + (7+4)%/level) Perception 12.33/20 31.56 (10% + (6+2)%/level) Affinities

Life

Fire

Earth

Light

9.89%

0.17%

5.68%

5.67%

Class skills

Economy of movement

Scavenging

43

7

+10% to agility

Professions: 5/5

Conman IV

Masochist IV

Spearman VII

Wizard III

Battle mage V

Fighting skills: Sword handling 8 Spear handling 37 +10% to agility Archery 17 Battle precognition 6 Footwork 43 + 10% to strength Wrestling 1 Magic skills: Rune Shaping 33 +10% to intelligence Spell slinging 25 +10% to intelligence Words of Power 15 Meditation 1 Parallel thinking 33 + 10% to mental endurance Crafting skills: Farming 19 Cooking 10 Crafting 11 Trapping 13 Utility skills: Analyze 21 Charisma 35 +5% to intelligence and perception Pain Tolerance 23 Mental intrusion resistance 22 Tracking 12 Sneaking 9 Vitality 332/510 Stamina 171/180 Clarity 125/360

His endurance and mental endurance had been lowered. Training was going to be harder for some time. Jack planned to train his muscles a bit, but he needed to be careful about his condition. Jack sat in the room with Aleena for some time. She was training in meditation, but the situation was very awkward. Jack didn’t know if she knew he had been the one who left her. Jack obviously knew she had left him before. The level of awkwardness reached its limits, in Jack’s opinion. He got up, and walked out of the house.

Jack walked towards Bob’s house. Jack was afraid something might have happened to his brother. He went into the house, and immediately got frightened. People there were crestfallen. He looked for his brother, and he sighed in relief when he found him with his eyes. Jack looked around his brother’s house, and counted only three members. It was obvious what happened.

“Hey.” Jack sat beside his brother with an effort.

“What happened to you?” Bob asked with worry, seeing Jack’s condition.

“I got wounded.”

“By wolves?” Bob asked, and clenched his fists.

“Yes.”

“Did someone die in your team?”

“No. We were lucky.” Jack replied carefully. He didn’t know what he should do or say. He just sat with his brother in silence.

“I suppose we were also lucky.” Bob started crying. Bob’s team members followed in his lead. Jack felt awkward once again. He didn’t belong here, but he stayed for his brother.

“What happened?” Jack asked.

Bob shrugged. “We encountered a pack of wolves. About twenty of them. We started the fight, and kept the formation. It was going fine. At first.” Bob stopped for a moment. “We killed a few of them, but in a moment, Jeff got distracted, and broke our formation. They got him.” Tears reappeared on Bob’s face. “We weren’t able to fight them one on one, there were too many of them. We started running away. They hunted us. Dorothy died in the run.” Bob stopped once again for a while. There was an intense hatred in his eyes. “We were lucky. We encountered another team.”

Jack could understand the situation. Bob was able to cast fire magic, but he wasn’t as good as Aleena. A wolf every few seconds was his limit. His teammates were mostly weaker than him. This was a problem. Jack didn't care about these guys, but his brother… he could not die. Jack was racking his brain for a solution, but he wasn’t able to find one.

A week passed. Jack was getting better. He was sure he would be completely fine after another week. Aleena was also getting better. Bob stopped grieving, but Jack still wasn’t able to find a solution to the problem. The high tier wolves had been hunted down by lieutenants and the colonel, while 3rd tier hunter teams had taken care of the rest. Soon, Bob would hunt again. He was waiting for replacements for the death team members.

Jack wasn’t able to do anything in the end. Bob went into the exterior, but this time, his whole team was afraid of risks. They only hunted close to the frontier, and retreated at the smallest sign of troubles. Jack was happy about the outcome, even though it was because of their trauma. Jack just hoped his brother would be alright.

Jack knew Aleena contacted her family a few days after the encounter with the 4th tier wolf. Stanley said it was fine, and her family wouldn’t be able to do much to them, but Jack was anxious. Today, a travelling trader delivered a package to Aleena. She spoke when the whole team was in the home.

“Hey. I got a package from my family, and I have a present for each of you.” Aleena said with a smile. ‘Present?’ Jack was expecting trouble.

“I know our relations were a bit cold in the past, but I hope to change it. I was partially my fault, and I’m sorry for that.” She explained calmly and her face looked sincere. Jack was shocked. It was the opposite he expected.

“So, let’s be friends!” Aleena said with a smile. “I have a few magic tools as presents for you. It’s nothing much, but I hope it would strengthen our team.”

Aleena gave an enchanted flask to Patrick. It collected water from the air and stored inside, so the flash was refilling itself with magic. Lillie got an amulet. The magic tool had a switch, which completed the spell on the amulet. The tool produced fire mana when turned on. It was meant to be used as a mobile fireplace. Both tools were simple. Jack could create both effects with his magic, though he had to admit, the tools were more practical.

Jack thought Patrick would not be impressed with the flask as he had his heirloom, but he looked blissful. Patrick treated the flash as a great treasure. Lillie was less impressed, but she was also happy with her new toy. Stanley got a small bone shield.

“This shield have a shadow spell inscribed on it. The spell has an effect of weakening magic when triggered. The material itself is from a high tier monster’s bones.”

“What does the spell do concretely?” Jack asked. It was awkward to ask Aleena, but his curiosity was greater.

“You should know the shadow mana has an effect of concealing and diminishing . The spell effect diminishes everything before the shield. The effect is very weak against living beings, though. The spell was created mainly to weaken other spells’ effects.” Aleena answered without a fuss. Jack was impressed by the spell. There wasn’t much about the shadow magic in the library.

Aleena gave a lightning wand to Jack. ‘Wand?’ The tool created lightning mana, which allowed to cast spells with lightning mana, even if someone didn’t have the affinity.

“This wand’s core is a lightning crystal, so it’s quasi-artifact.” Aleena said with a smile. Jack didn’t know much about the crystals, only that it was something expensive. He was ashamed to ask, though.

“What is a quasi-artifact?” Lillie asked a different question.

“I suppose I should explain.” The statement could be interpreted as a Aleena’s arrogance, but it was a fact that most of the team members were country bumpkins. They didn’t mind. Aleena also wasn’t speaking with an arrogant tone.

“Generally, enchanted items are classified into three categories, that is, magic tools, quasi-artifacts and artifacts. The magic tools are the simplest. There are just items with spells inscribed on them. The worth of a magic tool is mostly bound to the enchanting spell. Some magic tools are simple trinkets, nearly useless, some are useful, but not overly so, and there are magic tools with high tier spells.” Aleena continued. “Artifacts have their own power source. Magic tools take essence from the air. For casters, most of magic tools are not very useful, as lower concentration of essence means weaker spells. Magic tools usage is mostly situational for casters. Artifacts are a way better in battle. Some artifacts are just essence batteries. It’s useful in a pitch. You can considerably boost your next spell.”

The ability to store essence indeed seemed useful.

“Artifacts don’t disrupt casting, so they are the best, though our ability to store essence is suboptimal. The storing runes are just layered essence moving spells, they use some essence on their own.”

“Then what about quasi-artifacts?” Lillie asked. Jack also wanted to know. The wand was a quasi-artifact after all.

“The wand has lightning crystal as a core. Crystals are expensive and rare materials, capable of storing elemental mana. You will still need essence to cast spells, but creating elemental mana is often the process that consumes the most of essence.”

Jack tried his wand. It was 15 centimeters long, created with two pieces. The handle was wooden, and the rest had been created from metal. Jack could try the earth detection spell, but he was afraid he would destroy the wand, as there was the conflict between earth and lightning mana.

The amount of lightning mana in the crystal wasn’t great. It was enough for a one attack, with a strength of a weak 3rd tier spell. Jack was still elated, this wand had just provided his strongest and fastest attack. The drill spell was strong, but the casting was taking 5 seconds with Jack’s current intelligence.

He looked at Aleena, and sighed in his mind. These days, talking with Aleena was the most awkward thing in the world.

“Thank you for the present.” It was proper to give thanks.

Jack spoke with Stanley.

“I don’t know how she was able to behave like that.” Jack complained. The results were obvious to Jack. They had won. Aleena had had to make peace with the team. The gifts were a simple way to do so. Jack agreed to reconcile, as it was part of Stanley’s plan.

“Why not?” Stanley asked.

“She has lost, but she isn’t mad about it, or sad, she just smiled and happily talked with us.”

“I don’t think you should think in terms of loss or win here. This is a kind of compromise. She has a good team, though not as good as she wanted initially.”

Jack frowned. “Maybe. But it feels to me like she won, like she played us all along.” Jack didn’t like it. He wanted to see her despairing face.

Stanley shrugged.

“And she can still try to kill us.” Jack continued.

“I doubt it. She gave us magic tools, you even got quasi-artifact.”

“She can recover the tools from our corpses.” Jack countered.

“Only if she will kill us personally. Let me give you advice. Don’t pick a fight with Aleena. It’s not worth it.”

Jack looked at Stanley, betrayed. His emotions were telling him to do opposite.

“Look. A smart person knows when to fight, and when to retreat. These are just politics. I don’t have much experience myself, but I have been able to see some of it in the past. My father is a baron after all. Don’t let your emotions tell you what to do. Choose the path of the most benefits for you. Fighting still with Aleena gives you nothing.”

Jack felt hurt.

“Take a look at Aleena’s actions. She wanted to kill us, but when she understood it wasn’t worth it, she immediately changed sides, and she is going to be our best friend now.”

Jack groaned. He didn’t like it, and needed to think this over.

Stanley was right. Jack didn’t want to be a hypocrite. He decided to make amends with Aleena, even though he was emotionally against it.

“What are you thinking about?” Lillie asked.

“About Aleena.” He said. “I’m thinking how should I treat her from now on.” He added with haste, to make sure Lillie wouldn’t misunderstand.

Lillie shrugged. “You have a bigger grudge than me. She didn’t attempt to kill me. I can’t advise you, and I got this amulet, so I’m bought, though it’s not as good as I thought. ”

“Were you scammed?” Jack asked.

“No, it’s just…” She paused for a moment, searching for words. “The amulet could be better, I suppose.”

“How?”

“I can’t turn it off with my hands. It’s super hot when turned on. I need to use something. After that, I can’t place it on my neck, unless I want to be burned. It’s a handy trinket for a fire affinity caster, but no so for me.”

That was another point to not trust Aleena, Jack thought. He sighed. “What would you do if you were me?”

“I don’t know.” She said, after a moment of pondering.

In the end, it was a matter of choosing between his feeling and being wise,.

“No matter what you will choose, I’m going to support you.” Lillie said.

“Really?” Jack was a bit surprised.

“Obviously. You are my boyfriend. Even if you will choose wrong, I’m going to support your decision.”

Jack was very happy about Lillie’s declaration, but…

“It can bite you too, you know. It’s true that fighting Aleena is not the best option.”

“My best option is you.” She said with a smile and hugged him.

Jack decided to give up. He couldn’t really do anything to Aleena, as his team members would probably stop him. Lillie may be an exception, but it was still three against two. He also didn’t want to kill her. If she wanted to be a normal, responsible team member, Jack wasn’t against it.

‘Stanley said Aleena presence is beneficial to us, but this is only in fights…’ Jack wanted to make a use of her, especially if she was going to cooperate. He went to see her. It was awkward, but Jack managed to convince himself, that it was too beneficial to give up.

“Aleena, can I ask you for an advice?” Jack thought the answer would determinate if Aleena was going to change her behavior for real.

“Sure.” She answered a bit surprised, but quickly smiled amiably.

“I have a problem with meditation skill. I got the first level, but it kind of not working for me.” Jack wanted to get as much information as possible from her, using the opportunity.

“The meditation skill is all about the depth. System measured your meditation skill as one, so you can’t go deep in the meditation. There is no trick, you just need to train slowly, and patiently.” She gave him a few advices. They talked for an hour. Jack was not trusting her and was vigilant, but it was hard to keep such attitude, when Aleena was smiling and was anything but friendly.

Jack managed to level up his mediation skill a bit, though the skill still wasn’t useful. After another week, Jack returned to perfect health. His caps were once again as high as they should be. Aleena also had got better some time ago, but the team waited for Jack. They went into the forest to hunt.