Noah and I sat on the floor of the building I had previously used for training. We were currently enjoying the food I had left in here yesterday. As expected, no one had touched it.

“Why don't you get new clothes, mate? I know it isn’t for lack of points, unless you have a mountain of food stashed somewhere in this place.” I took a look at myself and I couldn’t be amazed how little attention I paid to the state of my clothes.

“It somehow slipped my mind…”

“Slipped your mind? How can you not realize you are walking around dressed like a fucking hobo that took a beating?”

“C’mon, it’s not that bad.”

“No?” He put his hand through a hole in my jacket and wiggled his fingers in front of my face.

“Alright, I got it. I am buying a new set right now.” I slapped his hand away and did so. A new set started materializing in front of us.

“Trippy shit. I had only seen food, but clothes are even more fucked up.”

I tried not to dwell too much on the bizarreness of the event, choosing to focus on my point economy instead. After buying the pants and jacket set for 20 points, I still had 250 left. Taking a brief moment to change my clothes in a nearby room, I was soon back and eager to get started. 

Despite the exertions of the day, I felt full of energy again. My wounds were mostly healed, and I felt unfazed by the early blood loss. I still had marks on my skin and some places I could feel bumps where flesh was missing, but they didn’t hurt, only itched slightly. The power of the deviation with ten points in vitality was really something else. I wondered how fast John would recover.

“How are we going to do this, mate? Are we going to hit each other and swing our weapons around?”

“No, nothing like that. I have a few ideas how we can go about this.”

First I shared with Noah my knowledge of the system, which was mostly things he had already heard from Chen, but I wanted the both of us on the same page. I suggested we started with strength training, then moved to agility and later on dexterity. I wasn’t sure on how we could train our weapons safely, considering that one mistake could lead us to seriously injure each other. 

Having broken the fifty point mark, Noah wanted a new weapon. He had luckily found his metal bat on the first of his scavenging trips, but seeing my weapon he started to feel that his was lacking. I agreed wholly. Noah shared his skills and stats with me, and he had a few surprising things on his sheet.

[Name: Noah

Level: 2

STATS

STR: 4 VIT: 7

DEX: 7 AGI: 7

WIL: 5  MAG: 0

SKILLS

Fighting Style Short Blades (Beginner); Hand-to-Hand Combat (Initiate); Running (Master); Climbing (Proficient); Navigation (Master); Tracking (Proficient); Swimming (Proficient); Survival (Master); Archery (Proficient); Throwing (Beginner); Woodworking (Beginner); Fighting Style Club (Initiate);

MAGIC

Language(Passive);]

I was surprised by the sheer amount of skills he had. I paled in comparison. Noah told me he spent most of his teenage years in the outback of Australia, exploring. He eventually met some people and ended up involved in all sorts of non-profit organizations connected to conservation. He also did side jobs as a guide for nature documentaries. He had led a completely different life from me, but I somehow felt this weird kinship with him. It might also be that I enjoyed his company.

What surprised me the most was his archery skill. I don’t think many, probably none of us, had a skill to allow us ranged combat. Sure, I had Throwing, and I am positive others had as well, but even the system didn’t consider that a Fighting Skill. 

I had seen a bow and arrow in the store, and he was familiar with both modern and ancient ones, although he was more familiar with modern bows. The issue was that it came with only two dozen arrows, anything beyond that would cost him five points per extra dozen. It was a high maintenance weapon, but assuming we could recover them after battle, it should be too high.

“You should totally go for the bow. With me in the front and you covering with your bow from the rear, it's perfect.”

“I am not sure, mate. I have barely made fifty points after three waves, I can’t afford to buy more arrows.”

“What If I help you? I have a bunch of points, and although I have set some high goals, I can spare some to increase your fighting capabilities. It will also help me out if you are more able.”

“You sure? Points might be easy for you, but the rest of us are really struggling. It’s not a small amount that you’re offering. You got those by literally risking your life, don’t be so quick to spend them. You might regret it later.”

“Relax! Like I said, it helps me directly to help you. You being equipped with a ranged weapon and covering me increases my chance of surviving by a lot.” I dismissed his worries nonchalantly. I really wanted to help him, but also because I wanted to be a better person, especially after the whole John mess I made.

“Alright, alright. That’s as much as I am willing to play the good guy. Gimme that sweet bow, mate. Don’t come asking for it later.” He threw his hands up and flashed me a greedy smile. I laughed and bought him the bow and arrows, dropping my points to 200.

A slender black bow made of carbon fiber with a taut line started materializing in front of us. Noah whistled and soon a dark leather quiver with a belt joined in the process. The arrows came last, steel tipped and made of the same light carbon fiber of the bow. 

Archery was a mystery to me, but Noah explained that most modern bows are high maintenance, which was one of his fears when choosing the weapon. Something he omitted from me before I bought it, but I didn’t comment. This one it seemed was made as an ancient bow, but with modern materials. It would be easier to maintain and although it wouldn’t hit the amount of force that modern bows could, it would probably be enough to pierce a human skull with ease.

Noah decided to buy three dozen extra arrows, which took his total amount of ammunition to five dozen. It was a good number, If he could kill each creature with one arrow he would make as many points in one wave as he made in the last three waves combined. He said it was unlikely he would be so accurate, but I encouraged him.

That decided, I still had almost two hours before I had to meet Ani and Sarah. We both agreed in doing some strength training. We spent the next hour and a half doing a varying assortment of exercises. None of us increased our stats, but if we made it a routine it was only a matter of time. Noah was sweating and his breath was labored, but he seemed otherwise fine, give him a few minutes and he would be ready to go again. 

I felt tired, I had really pushed myself. Using Noah’s body weight and some biomechanical resistance concepts I had achieved a good measure of challenge. That combined with my earlier exertion, it was starting to catch up to my stamina. But somehow I knew if I gave myself a couple hours of rest, I would be new as in the morning. This newfound powers of the system were really inebriating.

“I have to be somewhere in a few minutes.” I told Noah as we finished the rest of the water I had stashed here.

“Somewhere? Not in the base?”

“Yeah, remember those two who were out with me after the wave?”

“You mean Sarah and the blondie?”

“You know them?” I was a little shocked, Noah was really full of surprises.

“Not really, I tried to make conversation with Sarah on the first day but she didn’t give me any attention. Later I saw her and the blondie moving around the city and the old building.”

“Did you try to pick her up on the first day? Before or after the emissary?”

“Look, mate. It’s not everyday you meet the girl that is just your type, alright? And what does it matter if it was before or after?”

“How could you think of hooking up in that situation? And of course it matters! Didn’t that shit fuck up your head?” I stared at Noah wide eyed. I must have looked fine, because I could see the smirk on the edge of his lips.

“I don't know what to tell you, mate. I’ve seen fucked up shit before, but love always comes first.”

“Love? What are you on about? You had just-” I stopped. There was no point in arguing with such a lost cause. “Nevermind. Do you want to join me then? I am not really going to meet her, I am going to meet Ani.”

“Nah, I pass.”

“What do you mean you ‘pass’? You were attracted enough to make a move on her on that crazy first day, but you don’t want to go now?”

“You really don’t get it, dude. She is not the kind of chick who wants someone imposing on her, you gotta make yourself into bait and wait for her to snatch. She is like a predator, a shark.”

“How the hell do you know what kind of girl she is if you barely spoke with her?”

“I just know. Don’t worry about me, mate. I know what I am doing. You, on the other hand, have no fucking clue what you want with blondie, do you?”

“Why do I need to want anything with her? We just met, and I have other things to worry about at the moment. Like surviving, for instance.”

“Exactly my point, dude. What sort of miserable existence is this where we have to fight for our lives everyday but can’t even get a fuck out of it? If I am going to die, I don’t wanna be dry as a dead dingus donger.”

“Is that some sort of Australian slang?” I was baffled by the complexity of the Aussie street talk, but his point did resonate with me. I wasn’t a horny teenager anymore, but Noah just made it harder not to think about later when I would meet Ani. She was a gorgeous little thing.

“Got plenty more from where that came from. I think Sarah bangs like a dunny door in the wild.” Noah grinned. “Wanna hear more?”

“I think I had enough Aussie slangs for a day, mate.” 

Somehow our conversation made me aware of my body smell. Although my clothes were fresh, I was not exactly fresh. After three days of fighting and sweating, I didn’t want to imagine what sort of odors I was spreading. At least the gore of the creatures disappeared without a trace, not even a lingering smell.

We both left our training grounds. Noah wanted to find some furniture he could train his archery skills against. With his high dexterity I could only imagine what sort of power he would unleash with that weapon. I made my way to where Ani told me to meet her. I would be a little early, but that was hardly a problem. On the way I tried to distract myself out of my newfound worry about how I smelled.

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