The meat soon finished cooking. Lupa happily enjoyed the feast while Vincent ate his stick. Later he chopped the second one into pieces and made a Sage Apple puree for Ester. If she couldn't eat meat, then at least a healthy apple would fill her belly. Vincent approached Ester with two bowls in his hands, one with finely small chopped meat and another with a bowl of apple puree. Ester breathed heavily, and her pale face remained the same. At least she felt a bit better after every sage apple puree. Vincent called out her name while gently nudging her shoulder. It took some time until Ester slightly opened her eyes. She gazed at him, not recognizing who he was. "Can you eat meat? Here try this." Vincent asked while showing the boar meat. The delicious aroma of the finely chopped meat entered her nose, causing her stomach to growl. Ester slowly nodded. The effects of the sage apple helped her blurry eyesight see a bit clearer. She could recognize that Vincent was the one helping her sit and holding her back with care. Bite by bite, Ester ate half a bowl of boar meat. Vincent carefully fed her the sage apple puree while noticing her pale face regaining a little warm color of life. "Thank you... " Ester said before she closed her eyes and fell asleep. "Sleep comfortably." Vincent gently leaned Ester on the cart and covered her. Vincent turned around and flinched in surprise. Lupa stood in front of him with a pair of curious golden eyes as they stared at the bowl with half boar meat remaining. Her tail wagged while her nose twitched, brimming with curiosity. "Heh... you already know there is food in the bowl? Aren't you tired of eating?" Vincent sighed as he began worrying about the food. The huge boar might only last them a few days if her bottomless appetite keeps persisting. The food should last more, but Lupa ate the servings of two or more people. "Hmm... these taste different. " Lupa noticed how the small pieces of boar meat had a different taste. Her eyes shone with curiosity while her ears raise full attention to learn about this difference. "Its because I chopped the meat with filled love, haha." Vincent sarcastically replied with a corny joke. However, the gullible Lupa believed him. She was too innocent and easy to trick. "Then, next time, cook with more love. Ok?" Lupa asked with a naive smile. She thought he sprinkled love like a seasoning instead of a joke. She kept this smile until Vincent couldn't hold anymore and laughed his ass off. "Hey! You... you tricked me!" Lupa puffed her cheeks while stomping her foot on the ground, but Vincent kept laughing until his cheeks got tired. This was the only time he could feel at ease from everything happening around him. Suddenly, Vincent hugged Lupa and said in her ears, "Thank you for giving me a good laugh. This horrible situation is like a nightmare to me, and both of you are my angels." Lupa gently wagged her tail feeling happy by these words. After a few minutes, the hug broke. Both decided to rest as their bodies were exhausted. "We are going to have a five-hour shift guard. " Vincent ordered as he saw the sky become a bit cloudy in the afternoon. If it rained, then their situation would become worse. "No! You sleep, and I stay awake like last night. Look, you can barely stand." Lupa insisted, but Vincent shook his head in disagreement as a reply. "Tomorrow, I will stay here to continue preparing the pelt for use. I need you to explore our surroundings and try to find a place where we can stay. Look at the gathering clouds. It might rain in the next few days." Vincent wanted to leave the scouting to the professional tracker. "By shelter, you mean a cave?" Lupa understood most of the plan; she previously lived in a cave for quite some time, so she had an idea of what to search for. "Yes. Something like that, if possible. A large tree to stay under can be a good temporary solution as well." Vincent noticed Lupa nodding. He figured she understood his plan; then he went to sleep after setting the timer to five hours. *Day 8 Five hours later, Lupa woke Vincent to switch their shift. Vincent climbed down the cart while Lupa removed her clothes and shapeshifted into a white wolf. "Sleep, my little wolf. You will go exploring fresh from the bed after I wake you up." Vincent said while he covered her with a bedsheet. He caressed her smooth, soft fur on her wolf head a few times. Soon, her eyes closed and snored with a happy belly. Vincent took a look at the time. If his Soul Power reset arrived at midnight, then it was two in the morning. The bright full moon graced them with light while the campfire warmly lit their surroundings. There was a lot of meat left in the boar. At the same time, two barrels were already filled to the brim and stored in the cart. By utilizing the mysterious magical cold fever, Vincent hoped for the meat to last longer. [Name] Vincent Agius [Condition] Healthy, Tired, Soul Nurture 80% [Soul Power] 0sp [Name] Lupa [Condition] Injured, Tired [Soul Synch] 35% [Name] Ester [Condition] Injured, Sick(Fever), Cold, Mana Regen[1:17] [Soul Synch] 16% Vincent inspected the stats of everyone. He wanted to be sure of the current situation. Ester's condition stayed the same while Lupa didn't bleed anymore. She could also see without a problem. 'The Soul Synch stat keeps increasing for Lupa. Its probability the love or acceptance meter, but this isn't a game. What would happen if it grew higher?' This was the question echoing in his mind. Vincent tried to develop a theory about this stat. Synch might mean the compatibility or the amount both accepted one another. Soul was probably something related around their inner self. However, it could mean only one thing. The more interactions they had with each other, the more both souls would connect. A stat that keeps rising nonstop. Vincent felt happy with this stat. If his theory was correct, then having someone unconditionally trusting him and never betraying him could be possible. 'That might be why the Retainer Bond test checked their personalities. Maybe to test if they would betray me, but I hope it's not brainwashing like the many stories I stopped halfway. I don't want to sink that low.' Vincent pondered alone in front of the campfire. In his hands was his shirt that he lent to Lupa until her's would dry. As Vincent sat on a rock and lowered his gaze, he noticed something strange while the fire illuminated his arms. The skinny arms increased in size. Not by fat. But by muscle. The days filled with muscle pain made him ignore checking his body because he didn't want to get discouraged if something was wrong. "What the... My arm has become a bit muscular, and my legs as well. But I only pulled the cart for a few days, so why do I have this result? It's impossible..." Vincent became amazed and afraid at the same time. In his body was a mysterious Soul Egg, a mutation that became active when arriving in this world and also something barely brushing against his shoulders when he raised his head. "What! My short hair has grown! How is this possible?" Vincent raised his hands and felt his new long hair. He had previously ignored this sensation from the daily muscle pain. However, in a matter of days, his body changed with unimaginable speed. His hair mysteriously grew longer as well. A sudden strange growth spurt with no explanation made him think about something. "Is this perhaps... a level up? But... Lupa didn't change like me. " Vincent pondered while flexing his new guns. He took a peek at his belly, and with an excited laugh, he continued, "Haha, ABS! I'm growing abs. I'm getting shredded, haha." Vincent became momentarily happy yet a bit weird while touching his body. Soon after, he cursed the Book Of Heroes, "Why does it feel like the Book of Heroes only had six summaries of heroic tales. Why wasn't there a page to help the transported people?" "No wonder Kevin tried to live differently. Unlike the other five heroes who probably were made up, Kevin knew the difficulty of this world. The world he created or made a mysterious teleportation link with." Vincent kept talking with himself. The more time passed, the more questions arose. Now he understood why Lupa was hugging him more. She might have noticed the change but said nothing. After wearing his shirt, Vincent checked up on the girls. Then he continued preparing the pelt. Time flew by while the pelt was almost cleaned and ready to be used. The sun dawned, and the beginning on the eighth day arrived. They needed only one more day until Vincent would finish the Soul Nurture condition and heal Ester on the tenth day. Later, Vincent woke Lupa to start the day with a plan in mind. As he gazed at the sky, gray clouds slowly approached. The probability of rain seemed high. Lupa prepared herself for a day running, but Vincent had the gut feeling she might get lost from her usual impatient behavior. So he planed a few survival rules for her to follow, "Don't forget these important rules." "Every fifth tree you pass make a mark by scratching the tree. That way, you will not get lost and easier to return. Also, return when the night approaches. If you walk all day, then it will take you all night to return." Vincent sternly said these rules. Lupa still in wolf form lept on him, pushing him on the ground. Soon an attack of a wet tongue covered his face with wolf salvia. [I understand. I felt like you will miss me, so I left my mark to remember me by, hehe.] Then Lupa left to find shelter while every fifth tree had a scratch as a marker to return. This plan was something he learned from a book about the ideas of labyrinths. "*Cough... She left. Well, I will definitely miss her enthusiastic personality *cough. That's for sure." Vincent coughed while wiping his face. Then he turned his gaze back at the boar. "I hope I will not puke... I need to take the brain out and preserve it for later brain tanning... Ugh, I feel disgusted thinking about the process." Vincent said while gulping for courage. Vincent picked a sharp knife. With great difficulty, he removed its brain. Then he placed it in a bowl as quickly as possible before his stomach threw his last meal. Vincent needed to preserve the brain. He sealed the bowl with another bowl on top while wrapping a small piece of rag to bind them together. Soon, a makeshift bowl container was created. Vincent went to cover Ester with the cleaned pelt. Even if it had a bit of a smell, it would greatly help in this time of need. The brain tanning took days to complete, and he needed the pelt now.