Chapter 6: Greed is Good

The group was cheerful that night as we ate our dinner. I pretended that I was okay but the fear of death lingered in me and it’s eating me from the inside. I felt cold even if it was humid that night.

“So how much attributes did you guys gain? I got 1 STR and 1 AGI today.” Eric said.

“Same…”

“Me too.” Claire said.

It’s probably because we fought in melee. In addition, I gained 5 HP because my HP almost got depleted. There it was again. I couldn’t stop thinking about death.

“2 DEX for me” Melissa said. “How about you, Dianne?”

“3 AGI…”

“…”

There was a long pause.

“Err… Is that a bad thing?” She asked.

We were surprised by the amount of AGI she gained in one day. I wondered how she got it. Perhaps, it has something to do with her skill?

“Not really.” I said. “What exactly did you do?”

“Uhmmm… Am I in… trouble?” Dianne was fidgeting when I asked her the question.

I saw how Dianne killed two goblins without a sweat. Her damage was too high that it was overkill. The damage multiplier of [Sneak] was too overpowered and she’s undoubtedly the highest damage dealer among us.

“By the way, how did you manage to activate [Sneak] without running out of SP? I mean, you’ve been scouting for hours but you never ran out of juice.” I said.

“W-well… I didn’t actually need to use [Sneak] all the time. I’m naturally good at hiding and I only use it whenever I’m in sight.”

Wow… She must be really good at not being noticed. But could it be that she’s keeping something from us? Or more importantly from me? I’ve known her since childhood so I don’t think that’s the case. But I could be wrong. People change and I still don’t trust her. Even so, she proved herself useful. I should be more careful whenever I’m around with her because her skill is frightening and you wouldn’t see her coming.

“I just want to say good job and thank you, Dianne. You really saved my life when you killed that goblin archer.”

“Y-you’re welcome.” Dianne blushed and looked away.

I don’t know why Dianne kept on blushing whenever I praise her. Perhaps she’s tired of Eric and she’s starting to develop feelings for me? Hah! Fat chance. Even if it’s true, I don’t really care plus she’s now on my top list of ‘People you shouldn’t fuck with – Both figuratively and literally’.

“Yeah, good job Dianne!” The rest of them congratulated Dianne. It was obvious that they were envious of Dianne’s attribute gain.

“I want to ask you something, Miguel. I hope you wouldn’t mind.” Eric said.

“What is it?”

“I noticed that you were levelling faster than the rest of us. Is there something you weren’t telling us?”

“…”

“Yeah, according to the Party Screen, we’re sharing EXP equally but now, you’re two levels above us. I also noticed that whenever you attack, your hands and your pipewere covered in yellow light. Isn’t that a skill? I thought we were all given one skill?” Claire said.

Shit. They’re smarter than I thought. And they have a good observation too. I underestimated them too much. That won’t happen again.Well, anyway, that secret won’t really be hidden from them in a long run. Sooner or later, they will notice that I have too many skills. I just hope that they wouldn’t complain about the EXP sharing too.

“You noticed huh?” I sighed.

“So what is it?” Melissa asked.

“I got a unique skill [Quick Learner]. I can learn any skills by action and I get twice EXP and skill EXP.” I told them.

They all looked shocked and jealous at the same time. I saw Claire drooling as she looked at me. These bastards are really greedy. Who’s to blame? I am.

“So how did you get it?” Claire asked.

I told them the whole story of how I got the unique skill. I explained to them that yesterday, God and I had a talk and I got my skill as a reward for getting His attention. I also told them the consequences of my action. My automatic watch stopped working because I got God’s attention.

“I know what you’re thinking. Don’t you ever invoke Him. You don’t want His attention. I guarantee it.”

“I agree with Miguel. It’s dangerous and it’s not worth it. I was there when I saw the SYSTEM update.” Eric said.

Claire, Dianne and Melissa were quiet. It looked like they weren’t convinced. Claire, in particular, was obviously praying to God. After a few seconds of silence, there was a loud thunder that boomed outside. It was so loud that all of us flinched at the sound.

“What the fuck!? I told you not to get His attention!”

Fuck this. They’re really looking forward to be smited by the Almighty Smiter. I wonder what Claire said to Him.

*DING*

Tell that sadist bitch of yours that I’m God and not a genie. I’ll smite her for real if she does that again.

I turned my head to Claire. Her face was pale and she was shaking in fear.

“He wanted me to tell you that He’s not a genie and He will smite you for real if you do that again.”

She gulped. She didn’t say anything and just nodded. I stared at the rest of them and they looked more afraid than Claire. I was giving off the ‘I told you so’ vibe.

“How about we inspect our loot and forget everything that happened, eh?” I said.

They nodded and I sighed in relief that they didn’t open the topic of changing the EXP sharing.

We opened our inventory and pulled all the items we looted from the monsters we killed. We got 2,463 Copper Coins from all of our kills including the goblins we killed in the restaurant. We split the money using the Convert Coin option that we found in the inventory system.

We agreed to equally distribute all the money so that in case one of us dies and couldn’t recover the body, our losses wouldn’t be that great. It’s harsh but that’s because it was my suggestion. I wanted to suggest that I will hold it for them but I already figured that it wouldn’t work. Not with this greedy bunch.

It’s basic finance. You shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. Well, except if that basket was me.

Eric and I were probably the greediest of this bunch since we used to scam other players or take the entire boss’ loot for ourselves. Sometimes, we fight each other for a good item but a minute later, we would agree to sell it then split the score. If only these girls knew about how dickish Eric was in the game, they’d probably be turned off.

This was one of the reasons why we were one of the most hated gamers among the community. Our victims tried hard to report us for scamming but it was futile since it was a ‘scam’ and they can only blame their selves for their stupidity. Most GMs didn’t care about scammers and the scammed.

Many players tried to hunt us down and PK us for vengeance or for their sense of righteous justice but most of the time, we won. We lie, we cheat, we steal and that’s because we’re strong and we’re anonymous. There’s a saying that a sucker is born every second so why not take advantage of them?

“It’s better to be scammed by us than others.” That’s our motto.

Before we open the sack [1] of loot full of equipment, we agreed that the equipment will be distributed according to our roles and who among us will have the greatest benefit. If there is a conflict, let’s say, two of us has equal benefit for the item, we will have a vote. This was Eric’s idea and it’s a good proposition.

But I think it would be better if I decide who gets what because I’m the leader. I suggested this and obviously, they quickly disagreed since most items would most likely be beneficial to me and all of it will be mine. It’s worth a try but damn it. They knew.

Dianne and I put all the equipment on the ground and there were ooohhh’s and aaahhh’s as we used [Observe].

*DING*

Goblin's Short Bow

Attack Damage [Physical] 6-9

Durability: 13/15

Requirements: 10 DEX

A poor quality short bow made by goblins

Goblin's Short Bow

Attack Damage [Physical] 6-9

Durability: 12/15

Requirements: 10 DEX

A poor quality short bow made by goblins

Goblin's Iron Short Sword

Attack Damage [Physical] 7-8

Durability: 17/20

Requirements: 10 STR

A poor quality iron sword made by goblins

Goblin's Iron Short Sword

Attack Damage [Physical] 7-8

Durability: 16/20

Requirements: 10 STR

A poor quality iron sword made by goblins

Goblin's Iron-tipped Spear

Attack Damage [Physical] 8-9

Durability: 18/20

Requirements: 10 STR

A poor quality spear made by goblins

We didn’t loot the rest of the weapons since they were broken and none of us knew how to repair them. We gave the spear to Eric and the sword for Claire and me. I checked my weapon to compare the damage.

Goblin's Iron Short Sword

Attack Damage [Physical] 7-8

Durability: 16/20

Requirements: 10 STR

A poor quality iron sword made by goblins

Galvanized Iron Pipe

Attack Damage [Physical] 5-6

Durability: 31/40

Iron pipe coated with zinc to prevent rusting

The sword had the higher damage but the pipe had the higher durability. I kept the sword in my inventory as a reserve. I’m sure I’ll find a better weapon here in a hardware store. I think I saw a bolo around here.

Also, we gave a bow to Melissa. The rest of them agreed that Dianne should use a bow instead of dagger because of the 4x damage multiplier of [Sneak]. Since it will be Dianne’s watch tonight, she will have time to practice plus she has 35 undistributed points and she can put DEX to improve her accuracy.

I think giving a bow to Dianne was a bad idea. I can see their reasoning and yes, bow was a perfect match for [Sneak] but that only made her more terrifying. I should really try to become friendlier with Dianne from now on.

It was also noteworthy that we looted two pieces of leather armor and they have magic on them.

Leather Boots of Stinky Feet

Armor Rating: 1

Durability: 5/8

Bonus: Makes your feet stinky while wearing it.

A pair of leather boots worn by a hermit who had a chronic case of Athlete's foot.

Leather Cap of Mental Retardation

Armor Rating: 1

Durability: 5/7

Bonus: INT will decrease to 5

Drill the door. Drill the door. Drill door. Dildo.

The armor ratings were the same as normal clothes. Normal clothes were 110% better.

“Are these for real?” Melissa asked.

“They’re junk!” Eric said.

“Miguel should wear the boots. It matches with his bad breath.” Claire jested.

“You didn’t need the cap. You’re already retarded.” I retorted.

“Stop it. You two fight like husband and wife.” Melissa complained.

There was a short pause between Claire and me, thinking of the next insult.

“Hah! FAT chance… If he were my husband, I’d poison his coffee!”

“If you were my wife, I’d drink it!”

She emphasized the word ‘fat’ as if that would offend me. Sleeping with her would be the literal meaning of ‘Sleeping with the enemy’. I wouldn’t mind at all. She’s been fucking with me ever since we met. Figuratively.

Claire showed an awkwardly fake smile and raised her middle finger. Seriously, I used to win but now I’m losing touch with my game with Claire.

“I’ll take the armor if you didn’t like it.”

We turned our heads to Dianne.

“Uhhmmm… Maybe… We can find a use for it… In the future?” Said the weirdo of the group.

I wouldn’t even touch the stuff but she would. We gladly handed over the stuff and she accepted it. We moved on to the best loot:

Skill Book: Charge Attack [Active]

Effect: Charge at the single enemy that's away from you at range immediately and gets knock backed.

Damage Bonus [Physical]: 150% + 1% every level

Cost: 40 SP

This was the first skill book we got and it was dropped by the Ogre Youngling.

“Ermmm… All of us should have a vote.” Eric said as he held the book. His greed was too obvious.

“You should take the skill book.” I said to him.

“Really?” His voice came out in a higher pitch and his eyes were like of a puppy that you’d want to drown badly.

The rest of us agreed that Eric should use the skill book since it would benefit him the most. I couldn’t care less since I can learn the damn thing by doing the same... I hope. But I was also curious on how to learn skills normally.

Eric held the book and said: “Learn Skill”

The book became pixelated and there was a yellow light coming from the book and it went straight to Eric. His body absorbed the yellow light as the book disappeared.

“How do you feel?” I asked.

“Nothing really… Open Skill Screen” He replied. “Oh there it is…”

The rest of us including me looked grim as Eric celebrated his new skill.

♪ ♪ ♪ Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, Wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Heiligthum! Deine Zauber binden wieder was die Mode streng geteilt; Alle Menschen warden Brüder, Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt. ♪ ♪ ♪

Eric began to sing Ode to Joy and danced like an idiot while holding the goblin spear. He always does this whenever we got a good score. I looked at the girls. Their eyes were burning with envy and their teeth were gritting in hatred.

“Er..ehem…” I coughed. I signalled Eric his dickish habit. Luckily, he got the signal and stopped.

“We should talk about our stats.” I suggested.

“Interesting… I love talking about builds.” Apparently, Eric couldn’t get over of his joy.

“Builds?” Claire asked.

“It’s basically the combination of stat points…” I replied.

In MMORPGs, any character can play any role. One can distribute points equally but they will find themselves at the disadvantage against characters with a proper build. A build depends on their preferred play style. Say, if you want to play as mage, you should add more INT and mages do not need STR.

I suggested the following builds:

Eric: 1 STR, AGI 1 and 3 VIT for every 5 points since he’s the tanker and melee combatant. I suggested lower distribution of AGI since he can gain it in combat and we still didn’t know how to gain VIT thus it should be the top priority.

Claire: 1 STR, 2 VIT, 1 INT and 1 CHA since her role would be support damage dealer and CC. Her skill [Charm] depends on INT and CHA and her fighting abilities would depend on STR and VIT. She will be our jack-of-all-trades. Or in her case Jill-of-all-trades, Mistress of none. Mistress has a nice ring to it.

Melissa: 2 DEX, 1 AGI and 2 VIT. As the long range damage dealer, DEX is probably the most important stat because [Aimed Shot]’s damage depends on it.

Dianne: 2 AGI, 1 DEX and 2 VIT. Since she will be using bow from now on, DEX would be more useful than STR. AGI is for her [Sneak] skill.

My build would be 1 WIS, 2 INT and 2 VIT. I put more INT than WIS because it is more beneficial to have more MP. I don’t know much about WIS yet but I think INT is more important.

“But why put more VIT than our primary stat? STR, AGI, DEX and INT?” Eric asked.

“From what we experienced earlier, I think VIT is more important than anything else. I considered AGI at first for running but I think VIT is more important in case we have no choice but to fight. We can gain primary stats by doing things and we don’t know how to gain VIT yet.” I replied.

“We may lose efficiency but the one who lives the longest is always the winner.”

They cringed and the smiles in their faces shattered and turned into frown. It’s only been a few hours since sunset but they seemed to forget about it. They agreed with the build and they distributed the stat points according to my suggestion.

*DING*

For bringing the cowardly wisdom into the fold, the SYSTEM rewarded you with the following:

Reward(s):

+1 Wisdom

Well, I don’t mind being a coward. Those who are brave always get killed first. There may be honor in death but there is profit in life. Shit. Ever since I made the ‘loot and exp’ speech earlier, my mind always thinks of profit.

Anyway, I distributed my points like the rest of the group. I got 44 points from levelling up because I used 1 point in WIS when I tested its effect on [Heal]. Some of you may think that it is wise to save those points for later but what’s the point of saving those stats if you die?

After I distributed the points, I checked my Character Screen and my Skill Screen.

“Open Character Screen”

“Open Skill Screen”

Name:Miguel ArevaloRace:HumanLevel:10HP:405/405MP:615/615SP:100/100EXP:11.14%STR:16WIS:34AGI:10INT:43VIT:32LUK:11DEX:10CHA:9Satiety:FineStatusTired -10 EXPUndistributed Attribute Points:0Title(s):Masochist: +10% Pain Tolerance and HPPerk(s):N/A

Unique Skill(s):Quick Learner Lvl. 1 Max (100%)Active Skill(s):Observe Lvl. 8 Beginner (21.67%)Heal Lvl. 3 Intermediate (2.12%)Bash Lvl. 8 Beginner (77.81%)Passive Skill(s):Blunt Weapon Mastery Lvl. 9 Beginner (37.84%)Masochism Lvl. 1 Intermediate (82.97%)Muffled Steps Lvl 7 Beginner (53.23%)

Hohoho… I felt more powerful than ever before. Well, it’s not like I was super strong before but I felt more intelligent and wiser. I wonder if my HP is enough to survive. We’ll find out soon enough.

“You know, I can make better weapons than what we looted…” Eric said.

“Really?”

“These weapons looked shitty especially the bow. If it’s okay with the rest of you, I was hoping if we can stay here for a day so I can make stuff to help us survive out there. The restaurant didn’t give me a lot of options but with a lot of stuff hanging around here, I think I can manage even without power tools.”

You’ve got to hand it to Eric. I knew he can MacGyver the shit out everything. That’s why I chose this place to hole up for the night.

“But how about our families? The longer we delay, the least likely we find them alive.” Claire said.

“If we rush things then we’ll most likely end up dead. We can’t rescue them if we’re dead now, can we?” I said to them.

There was a high possibility that our families were already dead. I just hope my sister was still alive. We decided to stay in the hardware store for a day and we will continue our journey on the next day.

After the group meeting, Melissa and Dianne practiced shooting bows. They used sand bags as their targets. I watched them fired their arrows at the sand bags but they kept on missing at first. A few arrows later, they became more and more accurate, most of the time. It’s probably the effect of DEX.

Eric, Claire and I searched the hardware store for anything we could use. We found ropes, propane torches, garbage bags, hard hats for our headgear, and more tools for our tool box. I also stored a folding chair in my inventory so I’ll have something to sit on when it’s my turn to watch.

“Why do you need shovels?” Eric asked as I stored the shovel into my inventory.

“Just in case, we needed to bury someone.” I replied.

When they heard me said that, they were silent and their faces paled. Yeah, I’m a kill joy but I felt the need to constantly remind them of their mortality especially when I was the one who almost died.

Anyway, I continued the search and I found bolo knives on the shelf and used observe.

Steel Bolo Knife

Attack Damage [Physical] 13-14

Durability: 45/45

An agricultural tool commonly known as Itak.

I whistled as I looked at the stats of the bolo knife. It was definitely superior to all the weapons we looted and it was in perfect condition. It also had no requirements to wield. I tried to swing two bolo knives like I used to swing two rattan sticks in Arnis but I found it too heavy and impractical. I liked to keep one hand free. I stored the other bolo knife as a reserve.

I called the others to see what I found and Claire quickly dropped her goblin’s sword and decided to use bolo knife as her weapon. Eric strapped it to his belt as his secondary weapon as he plans to make another improvised spear.

Eric grabbed a couple of PVC pipes, a roll of paracord, a pile, measuring tape, a little hack saw, duct tape and a bunch of long orange sticks. Claire and I were curious to see what he planned to make.

“What are these?” I asked as I held a long orange stick.

“Fiberglass driveway markers…” Eric replied as he measured the PVC pipe with measuring tape.

As Eric continued to do his MacGyver stuff, I was tired and I really wanted to get some sleep. Besides, I won’t be much of a help to him.

I went to Dianne and asked her for some pillows and bedding. I realized the importance of little comfort since survival was too stressful.

I found a nice and quiet spot near the cashier’s counter and set my bed on the ground. I closed my eyes and tried not to think about what happened earlier. After a few minutes, I finally fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning and found Claire and Dianne sleeping. I got up and I learned that Eric had an all-nighter making all kinds of things. Melissa, on the other hand, was still practicing with her bow.

She was using a new bow that Eric made with PVC pipe. Dianne also practiced with her new bow but decided to sleep a few hours ago. I used [Observe] on the PVC bow.

Improvised Recurve PVC Bow

Attack Damage [Physical] 17-20

Durability: 44/44

Crafter Perk Bonus: 10% Damage and Durability

An improvised bow made by Eric Reyes

Crafter Perk? How did he get a Perk? I went to Eric to see what he's currently doing. There were a lot of wood trimmings and all kinds of materials and tools beside him.

“So… What are you doing now?”

Eric turned his head and handed me a shield. “That one’s yours… I’m making another for me and Claire.”

It was a round shield made of thick plywood with aluminum sheet covering the front. It has a wooden handle in the middle and a strap. I used [Observe] on the shield.

Improvised Round Shield

Armor Rating: 11

Durability: 33/33

Crafter Perk Bonus: 10% Armor Rating and Durability

An improvised shield made by Eric Reyes

“Cool!” I said. “By the way, what’s that Crafter Perk Bonus?”

“After I finished a bow last night, I got a Perk as a reward from the SYSTEM. Whatever I make will have 10% bonus in... everything.”

“I see... Can I help you with anything?”

“No...” Eric didn’t even look at me.

“Are you sure?”

“Look...” Eric stopped whatever he was doing and looked annoyed. “Please don’t disturb me while I’m working. Just do something else or whatever. Now, Shooo...”

Did he just shoo me? If not for the good shield he gave me, I’ll... *Sigh* whatever... He probably needed to concentrate in his task.

I left Grumpy Eric alone with his tinkering. I told Melissa to rest and I took over her watch. I took the folding chair in my inventory and sat on it. Since I got nothing to do but sit all day and drink coffee, I decided to try doing random things to gain a skill.

My idea was to do the meditation skill cliché. It’s almost in every reincarnation or rpg type web novels where the main character meditates to ‘feel’ the mana and discover awesome stuff with magic. I wonder if it would work.

I closed my eyes and started with a breathing exercise. Slow inhale and exhale. I tried my best to clear my mind like any OP main character would do when they meditate. I think I also need a harem like Rudeus. Oppai Sennin, please help me... [2]

I gave myself a mental slap. I’ve only meditated for a several seconds and my weeaboo tendency re-surfaced. Again, I concentrated and cleared my mind.

I felt the same feeling when I used [Heal] but this time, it was different. I could feel weird energies surrounding me. The first one was like an energy flowing inside me like blood and the other was outside like a warm breeze being absorbed by my body. Inside my mind, I saw a tiny marble in a midst of darkness. The marble was covered by a whirling mist like a slow storm.

*DING*

You have gained a new skill.

Meditate [Active] Lvl 1

Effect: It increases your understanding of the natural energy. When activated, it gathers the natural energy around you and convert it your energy. Increase 50% HP, SP and MP Regeneration. Each level increases regeneration by 1%.

Requirement(s): One must have a clear mind before activation.

Current Bonus: +50% HP, SP and MP Regeneration

I grinned as I saw the blue screen that appeared before me. I had another idea which came from a light novel I read. I stood up from my seat and stretched my right arm. I took a pose like a wizard casting a spell.

“Bestow the protection of water to the place where thou demands, let the crystal clear stream appear here, 『Water ball.』” [3]

Nothing happened.

I concentrated and imagined creating a ball made out of water. Again, I chanted the words.

“Bestow the protection of water to the place where thou demands, let the crystal clear stream appear here, 『Water ball.』”

*DING!*

“Yeaaah….. oh.” My celebration was interrupted as I read the blue screen.

You have gained a new skill.

Fool’s Act [Active] Lvl 1

Effect: Act like a fool to make the enemy doubt the mental state of the user. Has a chance of confusing target. Will not work on enemies with below 6 INT.

Requirement(s): Must act stupidly while activating the skill.

SP Cost: 10

I gave myself a facepalm as I read the details of the skill. It was the same skill when Han Jee-Han tried to make an escape skill. [4] I sighed at the fact that even God didn’t have originality. But as a real gamer, this skill has a potential. It is a crowd control skill like [Charm]. I’m sure Claire would be laughing at me and throw insults if I use it. Never mind, I don’t care what they think. I’m going to use this skill to its full potential.

With nothing else to do for the rest of the day, I gave up on doing random things and used [Meditate] to level up the skill. The skill requirement didn’t say that I need to close my eyes or not to move. As long as my mind is clear, [Meditate] will stay active. It’s my first true OP skill. Theoretically, I will never run out of HP, SP and MP as long as it is active and I can use [Heal] on myself to mitigate damage.

[Meditate] skill was very hard to level even on level 1 Beginner. I activated the skill while seating and it took an hour to level up. Well, it felt like an hour. I didn’t know what time it was since we have no clock.

It was hard keeping [Meditate] active especially when I moved. Any distractions on my mind would deactivate the skill. But after a few hours of deactivating and activating the skill, I could move a few steps before it deactivates.

The girls kept on bugging and asking me what I was doing and why I was quiet. I kept on telling them again and again that I was meditating and didn’t want to be disturbed. Dianne and Melissa gave up on bugging me but unfortunately, Claire stayed beside me and the skill became harder to level up.

She kept on babbling all kinds of bullshit like ‘Yo Momma’ jokes and all other kinds of insults for hours just to distract me. My patience was getting thinner and thinner that I wanted to choke her to death but whenever I feel angry, my skill would deactivate. I tried my best to control my anger and continued meditating.

Soon afterwards, my [Meditate] was at a level where I wasn’t easily distracted. My mind was in a trance and even though I was aware of my surrounding and could clearly hear Claire’s chatter, it didn’t deactivate the skill. Claire eventually gave up after what it seemed forever.

With each level of [Meditate], I could feel the energy with more clarity.

I tried to walk again with my eyes open and with [Meditate] activated and I could walk indefinitely without the skill deactivating but I could only walk slowly. Any sudden movements that my body made would deactivate the skill.

It was already night when I checked the skill to see how much it improved.

Meditate [Active] Lvl 8 Beginner

Effect: It increases your understanding of the natural energy. When activated, it gathers the natural energy around you and convert it your energy. Increase 50% HP, SP and MP Regeneration. Each level increases regeneration by 1%.

Requirement(s): One must have a clear mind before activation.

Current Bonus: +57% HP, SP and MP Regeneration

My skill only went up to level 8 even though I was meditating from morning to evening. I also noticed that I didn’t feel any tiredness from my body nor I felt the need to sleep. I actually felt refreshed and energized.

I stopped meditating and noticed that Eric was already done. He made two more round shields and he also made four throwing spears. I volunteered to take watch for the night and let Eric get some sleep. The girls also slept and I was left alone to take watch. Actually, I was happy to be alone because there would be no more distractions and more time for me to meditate.

Meditate [Active] Lvl 1 Intermediate

Effect: It increases your understanding of the natural energy. When activated, it gathers the natural energy around you and convert it your energy. Increase 50% HP, SP and MP Regeneration. Each level increases regeneration by 1%.

Requirement(s): One must have a clear mind before activation.

Current Bonus: +60% HP, SP and MP Regeneration

The sun has risen and I still felt refreshed from meditating. I checked my Character Screen to confirm that I wasn’t tired and I was right. My status was Well-Rested which could mean that I wouldn't need to sleep by just activating [Meditate]. I didn’t know for how long though but if this was the case then this skill is totally broken and the gamer community would surely be jelly when they learned that I didn’t need to sleep.

The others woke up and Melissa cooked some breakfast. After we ate breakfast, we did a final sweep in the place for anything we could use. We all wore hard hats used in construction to protect our heads. It was better than nothing. Dianne and Melissa equipped their PVC bows while Eric, Claire and I equipped our shields.

To tell you the truth, we looked like a bunch of retards who liked to play pretend sword fighting.

We left the hardware store and this time were much more ready to face yet another perilous but ridiculous journey.

[1] They stored the loot in a rice sack and stored it in inventory.

[2] Reference to Mushoku Tensei

[3] Also a reference to Mushoku Tensei

[4] Reference to The Gamer manga

Author's Note: A boring chapter I know but the next chapter would be full of action and encounters. Stay tuned and please comment your suggestions for skill name and its effect. I got a few ideas but I need skills for the rest of the party.