That question made me freeze on the spot, but after a few seconds, I felt someone touching my left shoulder, and that made me wake up from my trance.

“Hey,” Claire asked while frowning.” Are you alright?”

“Huh? Oh, yes, I’m fine.”

I didn’t have any reason to do that, but I even forced a smile to her. But my forced smile made me look like weird; I noticed that thanks to Claire reaction, she looked at me like I was the strangest person in the world.

“For a moment, “Claire added. “I thought that you had turned into a statue. Are you family, ok?”

“Yes. They are fine. They are… fine. Don’t worry; I was just thinking about something.”

Claire frowned again, but she stepped back. I began to think again about what had happened, but this time, I thought more objectively. First of all, my father was right in bringing to his side Elly and Ryan; they were both minors, so that was only obvious. After that, he brought mom to his side, again that was only obvious; she was his wife after all. Since I’m already an adult, even though I’m just eighteen, it was clear that I would be the last one. Instead of those feelings, I should feel proud; after all, he probably thought that I would survive by myself for a little longer.

“Yeah, there’s no need to feel like that. I just need to wait a few days, and they will also transport me. It’s a pity that I can’t transport myself to my dad's area. I can’t, right?”

You can’t transport yourself to other areas.

“As I thought, I just have to be patient… but what should I do with my evolution coins?”

I put those annoying feelings aside and began to think. I looked at my side, and I saw Harry still deciding who he would transport.

'I guess I should give my evolution coins to him, after all, once I leave this area, I won’t be able to repay my debt anymore and with that, we will be even.'

I selected the option transfer, and I gave precisely ten thousand evolution coins to Harry, and before he could notice it, I left the hotel. I was feeling weird, and involuntarily, I was showing those feelings on my face. I couldn’t let other people see me like that; it would be too embarrassing.

It was already evening when I left the hotel and crossed the nearby streets. Usually, thanks to my recent experiences, I would avoid doing that even more alone, but I needed something to keep my mind busy. So I decided to hunt some monsters, there was no downside in doing that, besides, to do everything from now on, I would need evolution coins.

On that night, I broke my sensorial limit for the fourteenth time, and I also obtained a decent amount of evolution coins. Now that my priority had disappeared I had to decide what would be my next step; unfortunately, since I would leave this area soon, I wouldn’t be able to form a survivor’s camp. But I still could at least kill as many monsters as possible and then create some useful equipment.

‘What should I create now? Another weapon or something to protect me?’

Against weak opponents, the vampire hunter’s crossbow was enough. But for how long would be enough? The monsters also were becoming stronger, and eventually, I had to change weapons or upgrade my crossbow. Besides, more powerful weapons would probably consume more MP, and I lacked in that aspect. But to my surprise, in the middle of the night, I received an unexpected message.

“The tenth day is over; in a few moments, all survivor will receive rewards based on their actions.”

You killed 212 Mutant Rats – Reward: 05 low-quality HP potions

You killed 12 Mutant Bats – Reward: 05 low-quality STA potions

You killed 103 Mutant Cats – Reward: 10 low-quality STA potions

You killed 69 Mutant Frogs – Reward: 10 low-quality HP potions

You killed 97 Mutant fish – Reward: 10 low-quality MP potions

You killed 02 Evolved Mutant Rats – Reward: 02 low-quality Earth Stones

You killed 03 Evolved Mutant Hawks – Reward: 03 low-quality Wind Stones.

You killed 01 Evolved Mutant Cat – Reward: 01 low-quality Wind Stone

You killed 01 Evolved Mutant Snake – Reward: 01 low-quality Poison Stone

You consumed 00 kilograms of monster meat – Reward: HP increased by 0/ STA increased by 0

You consumed 23 liters of restorative potions – Reward: MP increased by 2

“What the hell…”

Now that was surprising, by fighting we already could get stronger and create many things, but all those rewards were even more unbelievable. It was like someone really want to see us fighting as much as possible. Not only that, but we were also capable of becoming stronger by eating monster meat and restorative potions? I don’t remember drinking anything like that.

“Maybe lemonade is considered a restorative potion since it can recover MP. One more reason to keep drinking; and thanks to it, I can keep breaking my sensorial limit.”

At first, I thought everything that was happening was just a cosmic natural disaster. But after that, I began to think that was the work of someone, but who? God? Aliens? Satan? Odin?

“Someday I’ll discover the reason why all this happened… but only if I survive.”

A lot of small bottles and stones appeared in front of me, and since they seemed to be useful, I decided to see their info.

Low-quality HP potion: it can recover 50 points of your HP

Low-quality STA potion: it can recover 50 points of your STA

Low-quality MP potion: it can recover 50 points of your MP

Low-quality Earth Stone: it can make your weapon sturdier and heavy for one hour

Low-quality Wind Stone: It can make your weapon lighter and faster for one hour

Low-quality Poison Stone: It can make your weapon poison enemies for one hour

As I thought, all of those items are very useful. Probably I can make them using the statue. But I would never think about creating those kinds of stones. The poison stone would be particularly very useful against those evolved mutant monsters. Probably by using those stones on my crossbow that effect would be applied to my bolts too.

“With the earth stone, the bolts will probably become slower, but it’ll make my attacks more powerful at close distance, it’ll be very useful against slow but sturdy monsters. I guess the wind stone it’s the opposite, by using it, even fast monsters like the mutant cat wouldn’t be able to dodge my bolts.”

Creativity would be a powerful weapon from now on. If a person has some wild imagination and the necessary amount of evolution coins, anything very crazy useful could be created. That was probably why my father managed to bring all my family to his side so fast.

“Well, almost. I’m still here.”

Even though it was just a matter of time until I could see them, something was bugging me. But I shook my head to forget those annoying thoughts.

“Damn it, when did I become such a pathetic person?”

I managed to survive in a city full of monster for ten days, but now I was whining because I was the last person my father decided to transport to his side.

“I have to focus on killing as many monsters as possible. Eventually, I’ll decide what next item I should create and to do that; I’ll need evolution coins. Besides, all of them probably already broke their limit many times more than me. I have to get stronger; I don't want to be a dead weight for them.”

Since Harry managed to bring his mother and sister to this zone, and soon, Rose and Sarah would help them. I didn’t have to wait for them anymore; besides, we were even now. So I decided to follow the river and kill as many fish as possible after all the reward for killing them was excellent. Those MP potions weren’t even 100 ml, but they could recover more than twice one liter of lemonade could. The taste wasn’t good like lemonade, but I didn’t care about that. That drink was more efficient, and as long as I kill more fish, I’ll receive them for free.

“From now on, I also have to consume their meat. I can’t eat raw meat, but as long as I use the earth stone, I’ll be fine even if the fire attracts another anaconda. Probably.”

Since I discovered a lot more useful information, I decided to write all of those on my notebook. After all, my mind wasn’t sharp enough to keep track of everything while I was focusing on my surroundings.

I had a lot of trouble while fighting against the fish at night because I could see them in the river and I couldn’t see them jumping from the river. I could only attack them after they attacked me, but since their attack pattern was simple, I could evade the water balls with some ease, so it was worth the trouble.

Because I ran almost the entire night when the morning came, I saw myself near the kids’ school. That area didn’t change much in the past few days, but since from that point onward was unknown territory to me, I decided to return to the hotel. There was no point in taking risks at that moment, after all, soon I would meet my family.

Before sunset, I was back to the hotel, even though I stopped more than a few times to eat the mutant fish meat. I must say, I didn’t taste anything like that before. It was even better than mom’s homemade food. Eating that meat while drinking some lemonade, I felt like I was in the heavens, my dark thoughts almost disappeared from my mind. Almost.

The hotel was even lively than before; Harry’s mother and sister presence changed everything for the better. Even Rose and Sarah were already smiling as before. Harry’s mother and sister also had the same dark hair and brown eyes, but his mother looked very tired and skinny. She was in the middle of her forties, but she looked a little older, probably because she had to raise her children alone for some years, or perhaps because fighting for her life made her age.

Harry’s sister seemed to be a happy-go-lucky girl; the entire time I saw her, she never left Sarah’s side. She also looked very skinny… I guess both of them didn’t eat a lot in the past few days. After all, even I just recently discovered the fact that the monster’s meat could be consumed without problems.

I had a lot of things in mind, and I was tired, so I just ignored them and went to the room I had previously used it. But two annoying guys who weren’t able to read my mood followed me. Harry and Frank.

“Hey, Ethan!” Harry said. “Are you in a hurry or something? I need to thank you; I never thought that I would be able to see both of them so soon.”

“No need to thank me, now we are even. And you, What do you want to talk about? If it’s about fighting with me, then forget it.”

“How did you know?” Frank asked, surprised.

“Claire told me, don’t disobey your teacher, she almost died protecting you. You guys owe her at least that much. If you want to help, then wait until she decides the best way for you to do it. If that’s all, then I’m going to sleep, tomorrow is an early day.”

“Ethan, wait a minute,” Harry said frowning. “My mom and my sister want to talk to you; it’s just for a second.”

“I already know what they want to say, and like I said, they also don’t need to thank me. Look, I’m tired, maybe some other time we can talk, alright?”

After a deep sigh, I said that to him. It was too much of pain to waste time with that kind of conversations. I had to make good use of every single minute, besides, what was the point of me talking to them? Soon I wouldn’t be here anyway.

After paying three evolution coins to make use of the damn shower, I threw myself in the bed, and I fell asleep. Since I wasn’t all that much tired and I would be bothered early in the day, I decided to leave the hotel at midnight. And after I restocked my supplies, I left the building. But before that, I could see someone observing me thanks to the radar, and when I left I heard a sigh, it was Claire. But I ignored her since she didn’t have anything useful to say. I didn’t have time to waste; I had to prepare myself because soon I would meet my family.

So I repeated my actions for the next days, and I waited for me to be transported.

I waited.

I waited.

I waited… and after an entire week, I was still alone.