“You have got to be kidding me...” Matthew said in amazement as he looked at Neon's unwrapped right shoulder. “The bite marks are still there, but from what I see the entire wound is practically healed.”

“I don't feel any pain either, even though the blood didn't stop leaking yesterday...”

“That begs the question whether it was done by my needles or your gourd, but regardless of which one it is, we basically possess the ability to rapidly heal our wounds.”

In terms of fighting power, this was considered to be something major. If someone were to fight one on one, on equal level and equal gear for multiple days, the winner of the battle would eventually be the one burdened with less wounds. Even outside combat, any injury of a certain degree could delay progress of work.

“We should tell this to the others,” the man in black said, to which the doctor nodded in response.

---

Matthew visited Neon early in the morning to check on the wounds. The two then walked to the center and informed everyone of the recent occasion. Many seemed overjoyed and amazed by the news of Neon's recovery.

“So that leaves us with at least three to four abilities,” Hansel murmured. “For a ragtag group of random strangers, I say that this is quite the impressive feat already.”

“Speaking of strangers, has everyone introduced themselves to May?” Matthew asked.

“In fact, they have!” May cheerfully answered. “Thank you for asking everyone to tell me what happened after... yesterday,” the girl added. She still avoided Pierre, but it seemed that they came to terms with each other.

As the topic moved on to the goal of the new day, Haru raised his hand.

“How about we scout to the east today?” the boy suggested.

On the day the eight ‘heroes’ were summoned, the group consisting of Matthew, Gon, Pierre, and Haru had scouted west and south from the settlement. However, they never went east as they lacked the time to do so.

The day after that, which was the day before present time, they were attacked by Wolf Anomalies and researching their facilities. After the sudden attack, Matthew had to tend the wounded Neon, and as such both scouting and training were ill-advised with one man down. 

The main reason was that even if Gon can kill all Anomalies in one cut, he was only able to survive the raid because all wolves came from one direction. In the wilderness, he would have to be wary of all sides lest he be bitten and overrun by the wolves.

“I see that Pierre has somewhat recovered from his insomnia, so we can technically go outside again, but...” Matthew turned over to the man in black. “Neon, I want you to take in Pierre's spot.”

“What? Why? You just said that I am completely fine to go!” Pierre responded, spreading his arms.

“We have confirmed that the concrete walls are strong enough to defend us from the wolves. Even if a stronger Anomaly were to attack us, you should all be fine as long as we stay inside,” Matthew paused to catch a breath. “In addition, we have also confirmed that one or both my and Neon's items can boost the healing process of one's body. I believe that this is a crucial ability to have in case we are wounded by an Anomaly during our trip.”

“Okay, but can't I join as a fifth person then?”

“Unlike Gon's armory, both your communication center and Hansel's security room are facilities which require constant attention in case something shows up or tries to contact us. I mean, if you wish to leave your task over to either May or Angelie, then--”

“NO!” screamed the musician, surprising everyone with the sudden howl. He then continued with a lower volume: “No, you're right. It is as May said, I should be grateful with what I have. I won't let anyone but me watch over my special room.”

Pierre looked at May, and was returned with a lovely smile, warming his heart. Unable to refute any further, Pierre submitted to the herd and stayed. And with that, the group of four consisting of Matthew, Haru, Gon, and Neon had left the settlement.

---

“I said: GET OUT!”

A masculine roar came was heard from the settlement. Alerted by the loud scream, Angelie and May left their houses to see what the commotion was about. They quickly found the source before Pierre's house, with Hansel laying on the floor.

“If you set foot in my house once again, I will personally end your life!!”

Worried by the rising uproar, Angelie rushed in to mitigate the musician's anger.

“Hey! Hey! Pierre, what is going on here!?”

“This guy... he barged into my house and suddenly demanded access to the communication room,” the musician answered after cooling himself down. “I tried to be polite and asked him to exit my house, but he ignored me and mumbled something about taking over my task and... well, you saw what happened next.”

“...so you refuse my offer in the end. How disappointing,” the librarian whispered as he stood up from the ground.

“I already told you! I won't let anyone do my task!”

“It's no use, Mr. Rationalist. Not everyone is as impassive as you are,” May spoke. “Just let it go and stay in your own room.”

Hansel did not respond, and the girl continued: “In the first place, don't you have your own room to watch over? What happened with that?”

“...there has been no activity for hours. Unlike my computer, Pierre's terminal seems to operate on a different system. It's as if different people built these facilities. I figured that researching the communication center would be a better way to spend my time. I assumed that Pierre has yet to thoroughly search every inch of the room. Given his negative opinion of the room yesterday, I thought that he would let me do his task without any complications.”

“Hansel... what are you talking about?” Angelie asked concerned. “You were there when Matthew ordered Pierre to stay. How did you not understand that Pierre had a change of mind about the communication center?”

“Do you truly expect me to believe that one's opinion can change that easily because of one rant from a little girl? You would be truly naïve if you were to think that he suddenly doesn't hate waiting around for someone to give a message.”

“Aren't you doing the same though? Didn't you head to Pierre's special room because you were bored with yours?” May remarked at Hansel. Complacent, she moved her face close to his face: “What if I barged into your house right now and lock myself in the security room?”

Displeased by the subtle threat of privacy, Hansel took a step backwards. He glared at May's eyes for a moment, before looking at Pierre and Angelie, and finally decided to walk back to his house without any further protest.

“What a weirdo,” Pierre briefly said. It was uncommon for Pierre to insult other people before other people, but he felt as if he had to out his anger at Hansel in public.

“Pierre, please!” Angelie raised her voice. “Even if you're right, that's still not a nice thing to say behind his back.”

“Would you rather have me say it in front of him then?” the musician shrugged with smug.

“Alright you two, that's enough. I don't care what you will do, but I want to take a nap after a quick shower. Pierre, I think you infected me with your sleep deprivation,” May half-heartedly sighed. “Perhaps you should take a rest as well.”

“No,” the man in robes snapped back to a formal tone. “I will continue watch over the terminal in case someone in the vicinity broadcasts a public message.”

“Suit yourself. Just make sure to not forget to sleep at night,” the little girl chuckled. “What about you Angelie?”

“Well... before I heard Pierre's roar, I was preparing to go a bit to the west to plow some land. I plan to see if I can unlock my item's ability. If it fails and nothing happens, then I plan to at the very least try to grow some vegetables. We don't have unlimited food after all,” the farmer smiled.

“Sure.”

“As long as you don't go too far from us,” the other two said, and wished her good luck in her quest before they returned to their houses.

The reason Angelie didn't plow the land near the settlement was because she couldn't chop the thick logs of the dense forest trees. Fortunately, during the barbecue she heard from Haru that the region at the river to the west had a lower tree density compared to other places, which made it a suitable starting point for a field. In hindsight, May and Pierre should've asked how far she planned to enter the forest as they didn't think she would go to all the way to the river.

It was unknown whether it was possible to grow the seeds Angelie found in her basement. It was possible where the upper layer of the forest ground was covered with salt-rich minerals, which would basically act as poison to the plants whose roots are not located deep underground. If the soil was actually fertile, then it was highly likely that pests would ravage the crops. There were a lot of stuff to worry about, but Angelie brushed those anxieties away and just went to work hoping for the best.

---

‘Quite the fearless optimist, isn't she?’

I couldn't see Angelie from the center mini-map anymore. What was she going to do? What if she got lost? What was she even going to do if she encounters an Anomaly? ...whatever happens to her, I won't take any responsibility. Being the social butterfly that she is, I highly doubt she would leave without letting the other two know.

‘I suppose I may as well go back focusing on the other maps.’

On the top left screen I could see what appeared to be a treehouse, but nobody had been entering nor leaving the structure. Unlike the center screen where I could move the map freely from above, I couldn't do the same action for the treehouse screen.

Even though my point of view is fixed at the front of the treehouse, I am able to view the treehouse with thermal vision in exchange. The colors on the screen instantly changed, showing me a myriad of blue spectrum, indicating the lack of human presence.

‘However, watching these screens will get me nowhere closer to my objective. As I thought, only this thing is important,’ I thought as I moved my attention to the item in my hand.