Once again, Victoria woke up inside a forest, her back leaning against a tree. But, as much as her head didn't hurt this time, her stomach did instead.

Within moments, the memories came back to her.

After the first group had been sent to the back of the fort, another had been commanded to follow soon after. Victoria had been part of that second group.

It didn't take long after that for things to turn chaotic, monsters not appearing from the front, but from below the ground and the sky. Those who hadn't been able to adapt quickly died. Victoria had been one of the few who could manage themselves thanks to her mana sense that was limited in range but had no blind spots.

At the same time, the moles seemed to be ambush predators and thus had weak defenses while the bats could be easily brought to the ground by going after their wings. Thanks to that, she had been able to take down several of them and get halfway to level three.

It was during that, that she noticed that Daniel had joined the fray, going after an especially big, and probably powerful, bat. And even though she kept an eye on him at all times, mostly to make sure she didn't get dragged into his fight, she didn't let herself get distracted.

It was only when he suddenly waved at her that her attention slipped for a moment. And then, there was the pain. The burning pain of a hand full of claws piercing her guts.

By all rights, Victoria should have died from that.

Victoria looked down at her stomach. She was still wearing the same dirty linen shirt. Just that it now also sported copious amounts of blood and a big hole in the front, and probably back.

She quickly lifted it up, only to see a bandage-like ring of very familiar near-black magical stone covering her stomach. At least she now knew how she survived.

Victoria furrowed her brows. Victoria wasn't sure what she should think of this.

She quickly concentrated and inspected first the inside of her body through her Aura, and then the magical bandage with her mana-sense. It took her a while to completely figure it out, but in the end, she realized that this wasn't just a magical bandage, but more like a magical prosthesis that would slowly dissolve as it got replaced by the regrown flesh. Truly, something that would only be possible with magic.

Now that she knew that she wouldn't die within the next few seconds, Victoria took her time to look around. Not that there was a lot to see besides trees. Well, at least she could tell that it was either early in the morning and the sun just coming out behind the horizon, or late in the afternoon and the sun was sinking again.

Either way, it meant that she had been out for quite a while.

"Daniel?", Victoria asked when she heard steps behind her.

"Ah, you are up. How is your wound?", Daniel's voice came from behind her.

"Hurts like a bitch.", Victoria pulled a face: "What were you doing?"

"Getting firewood for tonight. And some food.", he answered as he stepped out from behind her and held up to big slabs of meat.

"That's all?", Victoria didn't have anything against a good steak, but a steak without anything else was still a bit much.

"You try finding something else in this place."

"Hmm... You should have listened to my dad more. You know he is a survival specialist, right? might have been useful right about now."

"Your dad throws birthday party's for children and you know it."

As Daniel built a small campfire, their conversation grew silent. It got only interrupted by the occasional noise of forest animals somewhere in the distance.

Only when Daniel was about to put the steaks on the small grill he had made with his magic, did Victoria finally ask the question.

"What about the wave?"

For a while, silence reigned once again as Daniel thought about what he should say.

"There was nothing more I could do. It was bad luck. I just had the worst compatibility with the boss.", Daniel explained with a sad voice.

"What about that incarnation ability? You didn't use it, right?"

It was only a guess, but it didn't seem like the subtle kind of ability, and Victoria had seen no sign of Daniel using it.

"You are right. But it wouldn't have helped a lot. It only makes me even better at the stuff I can already do. Being able to hit harder and get hit harder doesn't change anything if your opponent can't damage you and dies already in one hit. Winning would have been just a matter of time, but by that time it would have been too late."

Again, awkward silence.

"Do you blame me?", Daniel asked, worry clear in his voice.

"For saving my life at the cost of others? I'm not enough of an altruist for that."

"Well, you only got hurt 'cause I distracted you in the first place.", Daniel said guiltily.

"As if. One of them would have gotten me sooner or later anyway and I was already running on fumes. It just happened that you were the first thing that distracted me."

"I see...", Daniel answered, not sounding very convinced.

"Well... What next? Where are we going right now?"

"New London. A city from the Second Wave. You should be safe there.", after a moment of silence, he added: "I love you, and I don't want to see you like this ever again. So, please, let me protect you."

"Thanks, I guess.", Victoria replied awkwardly. Some things were just impossible to prepare for, and this was one of them. "But, I have to decline."

"Hah. Thought so.", Daniel smiled self-depreciatingly. "Someone like me shouldn't get their hopes up after all."

"What do you mean? Someone like you?"

"A fat, ugly, nerd whose only talent lies in games."

"Hey, how superficial do you think I am?! Besides, you should take a look in the mirror the next time you get a chance. Anyways, I'm not big into this whole relationship thing, but if at all I would be willing to try with you."

"Then, why not?"

"Because of the way you are right now.", Victoria explained.

"So, you do blame me after all."

"God! No matter how much you change you are always going to be the same idiot, aren't you? No, I don't blame you. But, while don't know a lot about love, I do know one thing. The basis of any healthy relationship is respect, currently, I have lost mine for you."

"So, you do blame me after all."

"Urgh! Are you doing this on purpose? No, I don't blame you!

Before, you had talent but still worked hard to improve yourself. But now? You gave up. You gave up your talent and hard work for a bit of borrowed strength."

"Talent? The only thing I was good at was playing games. What good would that have done me?", Daniel asked with an angry tone.

"Have you ever taken a look around? Monsters, levels, stat-points, magic, Skills."

"Victoria. This isn't a game, this is reality. You don't just get to respawn and try again if you die."

"You are right. This is reality. But you are wrong as well. This is a game. A very dangerous and deadly game. But that doesn't even matter. It's not like playing games was your talent, to begin with. It was making decisions. Making quick and good decisions.

You would have realized that yourself a long time ago if you had just gotten off your bum and moved your body a bit."

"Even if what you say is right, this strength is something I need. Something I needed to protect you. And even if I have to borrow strength from the gods, there is no other way to become this strong. So what if I gave up my talent for that?"

"The only way to get that strong? Who ever said that? Those gods of yours? For all we know they are green dwarfs with oversized heads flying around in invisible spaceships. Sure, they are powerful, they can do stuff we can't, and they call themselves gods. But that doesn't make them gods.", Victoria now got a little angry. Seriously, Daniel could be stubborn sometimes.

"So what if they aren't gods? Even if they are little pink worms that eat my brain, they can give me the strength I need to keep you safe!"

"And that is where you are mistaken. I am not a little princess waiting in her castless for a Hero to save her. I can protect myself!"

"You almost died today, Victoria!"

Slowly but surely, they started to get louder.

"Yes, and I will be happy to fight together with you at any time. TOGETHER, that is!"

"Even together, if I weren't a Hero, we would just have both died! That's why I need this strength!"

"You know what? Once we reach New London we should split up. I don't think we will be able to get to an agreement on this.

Then, I will get stronger. Then, I will kick your ass. And then, we will find a way to get rid of your Hero Class. Then, we can talk about this relationship thing again. Because I very much doubt that it would work out otherwise, and I would be sad if it didn't. Because, despite what your dense little brain might think, I do lie you, Daniel. A lot."

Victoria took a deep breath, and slowly breathed back out. Slowly, she calmed herself down. It wouldn't do if they screamed at each other in a forest full of monsters.

"And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?", Daniel asks sulkily.

"Dunno. Go 'round be a hero or somethin'? By the way, the meat is getting burned."

"Shit!"