The five human survivors sat amidst the silence of what was once a bustling highway. Abandoned cars, some overturned, others wedged at impossible angles, stretched into the hazy distance.
The asphalt, cracked and overgrown in places with resilient weeds, offered a makeshift dining table. The party had noticed during their travels that the plant life was growing considerably faster than normal. The roadside vegetation was encroaching the highway after only three days of no human intervention.
Sylas took another bite of his rabbit meat as he was lost in thought about the changes the world was going through. The low consistent sound of Swain and Sam's conversation brought him out of his meditation.
"I wish we could bathe easily," Sam sighed before pretending to sniff Swain and immediately clamping her nose. "Some of us really need it!"
Swain feigned hurt as he clutched his heart. "You wound me so, madam!" He continued to act hurt as he sneakily took another bit of his rabbit meat, wiping grease off his mustache-less lip afterwards.
Diana and Jackie wore light smiles as they ate their own food and listened to the duo jab at each other. Diana's gaze remained on Swain most of the time, but Jackie was focusing on their silent watchmen.
Shammy, the Undead Goblin Shaman, was standing on top of a sedan with his eyes scanning the horizon. Gabriella, the newest addition, was on top of a box truck, bow in hand, watching the opposite side from Shammy.
Those two were the only ones with enough intellect that Sylas could command them to climb a vehicle and they could. With the Gobs he had to specify where to put their foot for each step up and Sylas got tired of that quickly, so they were at the edges of the highway instead.
Gabriella showed more intelligence than the Gobs and even Shammy, so Sylas had assumed it was because she was human. Humans were more intelligent than Goblins afterall. Perhaps a Tier 0 undead human wouldn't be as smart as a Tier 5 goblin, but for now, Gabriella was in the lead.
Sylas smiled as he finished his meat and stood up to stretch. "You guys almost done?" Sylas practically yawned at them while commanding his minions to gather their wagons again.
"I don't know.." Swain said as he rubbed his stomach. "I could probably eat another three or four portions of that meat." The rest of the party nodded as Swain spoke which sent Sylas into thought.
"I feel like I'm eating more than normal too. I thought it might've been because I wasn't very active before the Integration, but it could be because of our rising stats if everyone feels the same hunger."
Sylas looked at the party before speaking again. "I won't stop you from eating whatever meat we have in the cooker, just try to eat more of the lone meat rather than more of the stew. We should have a virtually unlimited amount of meat as we travel and are attacked, but we don't have many more cans of veggies."
"I don't want veggies anyway. Gimme the meat!" Swain said while pulling out another chunk of rabbit from the [Mana Slow Cooker].
The party started their journey again as they took stock of their efforts so far. Diana, less shy and louder as time went on, called out the mile marker as they approached it. "This means we've gone ten miles on this highway and around a mile from the university to the highway in the last four hours, including lunch. How far did you say the drive was?"
Everyone's attention turned to Sylas even though Swain and Sam were Sylas's neighbors and had made the same drive many times. Sylas sighed in exasperation as he answered yet again. "The trip should be about 40 miles from the university to our houses."
Swain brought up a point that no one else had so far. "Why are we taking the roads instead of walking straight there?"
"There are a couple of reasons that I can think of. One, Sylas knows the route back on the roads. Two, there are likely rivers or other treacherous landscapes if you were to walk straight between the two points. And three, do you even know how to walk straight to your house or would we end up who knows where?"
Diana stared Swain down as she replied to him. Swain started to whistle and look at the trees lining the sides of the highway. "Wow, so pretty."
The party laughed as Sylas followed-up after Diana. "She's right. This way may be longer and we'll likely have to move some vehicles out of the way on bridges or overpasses again, but at least we're positive that we're in the correct place." He nodded at Diana to show appreciation.
"While we don't have many supplies, we have enough to spend several days on the road so we don't have to make any drastic decisions like going off road." Sylas continued to explain his reasoning in order to placate his party.
"Water is our most scarce resource right now and the highway gives us the best chance at finding already drinkable water. We pass a gas station every few miles so we can grab their bottles of water."
"Anyway, back to mana theory." Sylas laughed as the party groaned. He had been going over his beliefs in how mana functioned with the party as they walked. Swain had resumed calling him professor as he tried to get out of listening to the lecture, but Sylas, and the party, knew mana would be important in their future.
Sylas wasn't only going over mana theory though, he went through all his theories regarding the new world and the System. The theory that made Swain weep bittersweet tears was his theory they could train their physical stats independently of the System.
At Sylas's insistence, Swain reluctantly shadow sparred with his sword and shield while jogging around the group in the hopes that one of his physical stats would increase, proving Sylas's theory.
In the midst of his training, Swain looked at Sam with jealousy and longing. Unlike him, Sam was focused on training her mana so Sylas had her sit in one of the wagons and meditate on her mana core and channels.
Swain fake cried as he passed by Sam once again. "I changed my mind, I want to be a Mage. Let me sit in the waaaaggggoooonnnn!" Sam's concentration was broken, but she just laughed at his antics. "At least you can feel some kind of result from your training. I've been trying to find my mana core for hours and haven't felt anything."
"Just keep going. We know Intelligence can be increased with training because I've done it and I know my beautiful wife is better than me so she can certainly do it. While I haven't paid enough attention to tell if physical stats have increased without fights, I believe they should be trainable as well."
Sam blushed at his words while Swain groaned loudly, but Sylas had already dove into his thoughts again.
'She's not making much progress, even less than I made on the first day. Could be because she doesn't actually have any active skills to feel where her core is unlike how I had [Rotting Bolt]. Wait!'
"Sam, and Diana and Jackie if you want, use [Analyze] on objects, but as you do, focus on the feeling of mana traversing your body. The mana starts in your core and will travel via channels to your eyes."
Sylas almost slapped his forehead in frustration. Everyone had an active skill to feel mana with. It was almost as if the System wanted everyone to have a chance to comprehend mana.
"Anyway, Swain," Sylas locked eyes with the sweaty black haired man as he made another lap around the group. "You'll be finding your mana core at some point too. Warriors use mana for their skills too. Also, I'm pretty sure you use mana to increase your base physical stats."
"If you think about it, we gain mana from the hunted and that mana can increase any of our stats." Sylas had a grin while he talked about his extrapolations about how mana influences their bodies. "So the Intelligence stat should be important for you as well."
Sylas paused for a moment before a curious look that Swain knew he would hate painted Sylas's face. "Swain, buddy, old pal, use [Challenger's Call] as you train your physical stats. See if you can focus a bit on the mana in your body when you use the skill, but that's not the main point of this."
His grin widened as Swain cowered, "I want you to dump your mana and train in a mana deprived state. If I'm correct, it should be similar to athletes training with those oxygen limiting masks on. Oh, use [Analyze] too. It has a very small mana usage, but it should be able to offset some of your mana regeneration from the minute long cooldown of [Challenger's Call]."
Hours passed as the party trained under Sylas's specifications while they moved towards their destination. They had been attacked a couple times, but the minions handled the enemies with ease allowing Swain and Diana to remain untainted from System provided increases from hunts.
Diana had joined Swain in his shadow sparring session. She dashed between vehicles as they traversed the highway, slashing at imaginary figures at the end of each of her movements.
An hour into Swain and Diana training, even Sylas was feeling remorseful and was about to call off their training, but as he opened his mouth, Swain started to hoot and holler.
[You have increased your Vitality by 1]
Swain shared the System message and continued to train, seeing that Sylas's theory was proved correct. Diana shared the notification of her Dexterity increasing shortly after Swain's announcement.
Sam had located her mana core and was in the process of drawing mana out on her own. Sylas was also practicing as he walked. The efficiency was much lower than when he was sitting still, but there wasn't much to do as they walked so he had decided to try training. He had mapped out the mana channels going up to his left shoulder over the last few hours and was proud of his results.
Sylas was proud of everyone's results so far. Well, mostly. His eyes landed on Jackie Medina. She was walking with the group, but was only walking. She hadn't joined Diana and Swain to train their physical stats, nor had she asked about being able to ride in a wagon as well.
Sylas shook his head to stop that train of thought. 'I don't know if she's training her mana and just doesn't want to ask for a ride.' He glanced at the wagons being pulled by his minions. 'I'm not sure we can make enough room for another person to ride anyway. Give her the benefit of doubt, you cynical man.'
"Listen up," Sylas addressed the party, "We'll be stopping at the next gas station we come across. We've made pretty good mileage so far and are a little over half way there, but there's no way we can make it today without running the rest of the way."
Swain groaned at the word running while the others nodded.
"So, we'll stop now and fortify our camp for the night." Swain cheered at this point, but was quickly disappointed again as Sylas continued with a grin. "When camp is set up, those of you who haven't gotten the chance can focus on finding your mana cores."
Swain sulked as they continued another mile until there was an exit with a gas station. The party walked up to the gas station before Sylas stopped them from entering. With practiced ease the undead minions spread out with some entering the front door of the gas station and others walking around the perimeter.
This was how the group cleared each gas station they had encountered so far. The more intelligent minions had the command to find and eliminate any threat in and around the building while the Gobs were just set to follow and help Shammy and Gabriella.
Sylas felt a tug at his mind after a minute and spoke to the party. "Gabby found something out back, but she doesn't know what to do. I'm gonna check it out. Inside is clear."
The party nodded and all but Sylas and Sam went into the building. The couple went around the building and found the three minions standing near the dumpster.
As he cautiously approached, Sylas began to hear a sound he couldn't place at first. It was very weak, but high pitched. He got within a couple of feet of the dumpster and minions and could finally understand what he was hearing.
'A cat?'
He could hear meows coming from near his minions, but they weren't aggressive.
'No, a kitten?'
The cries were very weak and sounded like they came from a very small animal. He knelt down and moved a flap of a cardboard box to reveal a small black kitten.
The kitten was emaciated, pure black except a small white diamond on its chest, and huddled in a corner in the box. It cried as Sylas exposed it to light, but barely had enough energy to lift its head to look at him.
'Its mom must have left it here when the Integration started. I wonder how it survived so long while making noise. And it's so small. Can't be more than a couple months old.'
Sylas reached out and gently picked up the kitten. Kitten in his hands, he could now feel just how emaciated it was. He showed Sam the kitten as they went to the wagons to grab some meat from the [Mana Slow Cooker].
The kitten started eating slowly when Sylas placed the cooked rabbit meat in his hand with the little black furball. The kitten started to regain some strength as it ate and began to eat faster. When the piece of meat was finished, the kitten laid down in Sylas's palm, falling asleep.
[Level 1 Cat has requested to bond with you. Will you accept the bond? Accepting will bond you with the level 1 Cat allowing you share hunting experience.]
Sylas smiled softly as he selected yes and pulled up the kitten's status.
[Please name your new bond.]
'Hmm, a girl?' Sylas thought for a moment.
[Please take care of your new bond, Aria]