Picking up the leftovers from the mystery man’s actions was quite a painful task. Since the home base was vulnerable to attack, they had to take turns gathering food for them to eat whilst the other stayed on guard. Tanatswa insisted that he wanted to be the one to go out and pick fruits and vegetables whilst Shami did some cleaning up. Once he was back from gathering food, he helped her with organising and throwing away the wreckage. The two of them became engrossed in a discussion in between their chores.

“So since this asshole did this, he seems to be out for blood. How do you now feel about, well, reaching out to others out there?” she asked, as she moved her custom made furniture.

“Well, we can’t assume that everyone else would be like this guy, but I won’t lie, I seem to be less excited about looking for others now that the possibility of finding someone hostile is a reality.” he said, nailing some of the wooden planks.

“Well, I guess we not only have to deal with the nature here but also crazy killers. We might as well get rid of our naivete and treat any stranger as a threat until proven otherwise,” she said, removing dust from her carpets and interior, “I think we might need to also improve the security of this place, but fuck it, if there are people out there who have the same stats as us then my fortress is barely a hindrance to anyone who wants to trespass and leave a mess.”

“We will figure out a way to solve that issue, after we are done. I think I will continue to test my ability and keep watch tonight. He might have an insane power, but I have come up with a plan to counter him.” he said, nailing the last plank in.

“You have already come up with something?” she asked, almost astounded.

“Yeah, it’s pretty simple. Depending on this guy’s level of intelligence, his mana use might be well preserved or easily depleted. The stipulation was that mana use would last longer if you have higher intelligence. But regardless of that, I think he was at the Oakwood forest because he wanted the mana plants to replenish his mana.” he said, now eating the fruits he got.from the jungle.

“So your plan is to make him use up his mana so that you can then face him one on one? Wait, what if he has a higher strength percentage?” she asked, worried about having to face him alone.

“Well, there is no way of telling to be quite honest, but my guess is that everyone in Goshem starts at the same level and works their way to the top. I don’t know how hard he has been working to get stronger and where his affinities lie in terms of stat allocation, but I am willing to gamble on my skills.” he said, confidently as he finished his meal.

“I think I can collaborate in a really helpful way. SInce I can now turn into a bird temporarily, I could scout for him and give you the heads up. As for the plan to grow these mana plants ourselves, it would be better if we were to first get this guy before we even think of doing anything else. Hopefully things won’t turn out badly.” she said, with a sharp tone.

“Yeah, get this guy, but, hmm, so we are just going to beat him up and then tie him down right?” he asked, showing certain signs of doubt.

“Yeah, tie him down, wait, I hope you are not planning on killing him? I mean, I fucken hate the guy and he wants to hurt us, but I don’t think murder is the ideal solution.” she said, looking at Tanatswa with much concern.

“What if it ends with me having to kill him? I mean, he probably sees us as just experience points to make gains, to level up. Since the global objective of this place is to level up, then he probably won’t have any reservations, and who knows what will happen when we die here. I died once and ended up here and for me to die twice, well, is there a life after Goshem?”

“Those are really complicated existential questions that we don’t have answers to, but if there is an option where we can fuck up that asshole and not have to kill him, I am down for that more than anything else. Just because we are in Goshem, it doesn’t mean we have to lose our humanity and play to the rules of some purple god who created a world that resembles a video game. We are not that simple and we won’t live that way. I would rather not have murder in my conscience.” she said, looking at him with determined eyes.

“Okay, so we kick his ass and scare him away. Alright, that’s going to be tough, well I think I should go outside now and look out. If anything happens I will call you.”

“Be careful out there.” she said poignantly.

Tanatswa made his way out, carrying a bag of fruits along for his watch duty. He initially wanted to stand on top of one of the walls for him to get a decent vantage point of any person showing up. If the newcomer was smart, he would ideally attack them at night. With little visibility it would be difficult to spot him with all the vegetation and trees creating cover, but since his attack emitted light, it would be way easier to spot him upon deploying his attack.

This was just speculation on his part, but if the perpetrator was going to attack them at night, he was going to figure out a way to counter him. Another thing he had to consider was that he probably had access to the custom goal and could use it to track them. Shami hadn’t known a lot of the other useful mechanics that he ended up telling her, but there was no way he was going to make the mistake of underestimating others. Tanatswa stood on the wall, adjacent to the cottage that Shami made them build and watched.

He wasn’t going to let anything slip and was mostly darting back and forth at the cottage. Shami focused on putting things back in order and would sometimes go out to check on him. He would notice her and give her the thumbs up to signal that nothing had happened. This tension would go on for a while as the sky began to experience its twilight phase and the sound of the insects and wildlife became noticeable. Any movement or sound was liable to get him worried and the paranoia began to consume him. Was the new comer going to show up or was he not coming at? The scenarios played out a lot in his mind until something happened. A tree trunk came from nowhere heading towards his direction.

Tanatswa didn’t have time to dodge it and simply threw a punch to demolish the block of wood. As he formed his fist in anticipation of the log’s impact he noticed his mana bar activate and then suddenly he felt a tingly sensation. His punch which was timed to land as soon as the wood got close instantly stopped the momentum of the tree trunk and it fell before him as if struck by gravity in a discriminant manner.

Tanatswa was shocked by what occurred and figured that maybe he had the power of telekinesis or something, but before he could celebrate, he began to see several large rocks, tree trunks and even animals being flung towards him. Unicorns and gazelle looking things were being hurled at him. Tanatswa decided to dodge and the obstacles he evaded smashed into the wall. With the way the wall was built, there was extra padding of rocks behind the fortress which made it a rather immovable structure. The trees and even the animals either went over or smashed into the wall, and it became a horrifying spectacle of seeing flesh being grinded against a wall. Some of the animals dented and broke down some parts of the top, but it was never enough to completely knock it down. The rocks on the other hand had more impact in demolishing parts of the wall.

After a while, the onslaught stopped and Tanatswa began to wonder where the next attack would come from. Shami had come out of the cottage to join him and seemed rather hysterical. She leaped over the wall and asked him, “Do you have an idea where he is?” Tanatswa then glanced at her and said, “Nope, I don’t, but he seems strong enough to throw animals like he were firing a cannonball.” Shami took a peak at the blood drenched side of the wall and instantly got disgusted. She then told him, “I think I can help you spot him from above.”

Shami transformed into a humanoid bird and began to elevate herself into the sky. She rose just high enough to have an aerial view of the landscapes. She also began to test her eagle vision and could see miniscule details of dirt, leaves and so forth. The uncanny experience mostly had her in awe, but she got a hold of herself and focused on the task. As she scanned the area, another obstacle was thrown towards Tanatswa. Shami noticed where the toss came from and immediately warned him. Tanatswa then made a quick dodge ahead of time, but quickly realised that it was a wolf that had been hurled over.

The beast went over the wall and landed splat, on the ground. It broke its legs and began to sulk like most dogs would do when in pain, but Tanatswa was worried that this wounded beast would later on become a threat. Shami then immediately warned him that the new comer guy had jumped up really high and some miasma of light was now forming around his body. This was probably him preparing to unleash his attack and both Shami and Tanatswa braced themselves. A flash of light appeared and then a dish shaped silhouette moved with much velocity and struck the ground near Tanatswa. It was as if someone had let dynamite explode and gusts of dust went into the sky. Tanatswa’s vision had been impaired and there was a huge layer of dust before him similar to a fog. Shami flew upwards to avoid being caught in it and reached a higher altitude. As she began to scan, she could now see debris being left behind at a distance and heavy thuds began to echo.

The thuds became more audible and she realised that the newcomer was sprinting towards Tanatswa. She wanted to warn him, but she realised that she was way too high for him to even hear her and decided to glide downwards. Tanatswa was struggling to see what was going, but could hear the heavy thuds getting louder and louder. When it became clear that the newcomer was close he then began to wonder how he would be able to get rid of the smoke that was blocking his vision and then recalled an old episode of superman the animated series which had the hero clap away smoke from a fire. He then tensed his hands and then did a violent clap. The shock wave dispersed the smoke and he immediately saw the newcomer guy before him. Just when he was about to strike the guy, the man with the husky hair leaped over him and crashed landed close to the cottage.

The newcomer immediately went through the cottage, demolishing the bricks in his way and searched for any bag that had the mana plants. Tanatswa followed behind and was seriously furious that he hadn’t anticipated this action. The satchel that contained the mana plants was ganked and the newcomer began to dash off. Tanatswa gained on him and shouted out, “Stop you fucken thief!” The newcomer guy then suddenly directed his hand at him whilst running and a force field that seemed to be glowing, quickly struck him and tossed him backwards.

The impact was akin to being hit by a revolving door, but Tanatswa felt relieved that the attack didn’t have the same power as what killed the Hydra. Shami whose flying seemed way faster than her running ability got close enough to the man and tackled him before he could do any special attacks. The tackle was hard and they both tumbled on the ground. The satchel containing the mana plants had fallen farther away from their position and it seemed as if it was now a standoff between the shape shifting woman and the man with the destructive light.