Exchanging stories about how each person became a player occurred over Angel's custom stew.
After dinner, three KitKats were broken into thirteen pieces in celebration of her campfire skill mutating. She was so happy she jumped into Vincent's arms, though she very quickly left to read all her options.
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[Hearthlight Bloom*] | 80 mana | 5 minutes cooldown
-> Fire/Plant Attribute
-> Requires Wood + Actively Cooking
-> Heals nearby allies over time
-> Food cooked over fire is always edible (unless overcooked)
-> Weak to Water/Ice
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[Ember Walker*] | 80 mana | 5 minutes cooldown
-> Fire/Psychic Attribute
-> Requires Wood + Name
-> Transforms campfire into a small construct that follows the user
-> Food cooked over fire is always edible (unless overcooked)
-> Weak to Water/Dark
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[Toxic Kindling*] | 80 mana | 5 minutes cooldown
-> Fire/Poison Attribute
-> Requires Wood + Poison
-> Creates poisonous fumes that deals damage over time
-> Food cooked over fire is inedible
-> Weak to Water/Light
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Angel shared them after a good ten minutes of thinking on her own.
Toxic Kindling was crossed out right away, even when her heart bled with remorse.
The food being inedible was utterly unacceptable for the main cook.
Debates rang for the rest of the night, but in the end, they left the decision for tomorrow.
During that time, Vincent let Palya try healing Finnley and was pleasantly surprised by its success.
The professor couldn't stop thanking Palya, and Finnley became friendly with the group, its tail no longer appearing wary.
Vincent had decided to stay for the night as their discussions ended around 10 p.m.
But just as they were all about to have a peaceful, restful sleep, an entourage of about twenty people entered the library.
They came right as the professor was about to lock the doors.
William was one of them.
Leading the group was a 23-year-old man with a decently built, tall figure, wearing a bulletproof vest and heavy working pants. He had two Glock 19s in his shoulder holster and a walkie-talkie clipped to his belt.
Joseph's black, sleepless eyes scanned the new arrivals, internally surprised to find that William's report was all true.
[Joseph* lvl 7]
[46 / 46 Hp]
'One level 4 and eleven level 3s? They would be a good addition to the main force. But…' His eyes landed on Vincent, who stepped forward with the professor.
'This kid needs to go.'
"Good evening, Professor."
"Good evening, Joseph. What an intimidating group you've gathered for me. Have you decided that this useless old man needs to go?"
"You jest, Professor. Who's calling you useless? When society gets back on track, we'll be needing minds like yours to bring us back to speed."
"How flattering. But what exactly brings you here?"
Joseph took one step and held out his hand to Vincent, waiting for a handshake.
"I heard there were new arrivals. I'm Joseph. Have you been briefed on the rules?"
Vincent took a few seconds to look over everyone's levels. The majority were at level 4, while there were a sprinkle of 5s and 6s.
Then, he returned the gesture. "I'm Vincent. It's not necessary. We'll be leaving tomorrow."
"Leaving? It's a dangerous world out there. Why not stay and help us build a more secure base? You'll be helping dozens of people live for another day."
Vincent's brows arched before a neutral smile graced his face. "Thank you for the offer, but we have our own agenda."
Joseph kept his amicable smile. "Are you sure? Aren't your teammates exhausted? The University will make you feel as if the outbreak never happened. How about staying for a week? At least let them rest."
'Guilt-tripping me wasn't working, so you're choosing one of the stages of grief as temptation? Denial is exactly what will get you killed in any apocalypse.'
Vincent turned around, hands in his pockets, voice betraying no emotion, though his neutral smile lingered. "Are any of you tired? I don't mind if you choose to stay, though I'll still be leaving with Angel and Dan tomorrow."
Heads shook in an instant, horror painting their faces. And as his question sank in, some of the homeless crew members thought they were actually getting abandoned.
"Boss! I thought we were a family! Why are you kicking us out??" Theo cried.
"What did we do? I knew it! This is your fault, Jackson! I told you, you shouldn't have broken Dan's 5th prototype!" Dave slapped Jackson's shoulders, who was confused and exasperated at being dragged into the spotlight by his friend.
"Hey, hey, you can't kick me out anymore! I already sold my soul!"
The party froze.
They slowly looked over at Rusty, who was holding his hands up in surrender.
Only they knew that his words had a literal meaning.
Vincent looked up at the ceiling, his pursing lips curling as he struggled to hold back his laughter. When he turned around to Joseph, he noticed the faint crack in his composure.
"Sorry. Like I said, no thank you."
Joseph's smile gradually disappeared. He was briefly expressionless before sighing as if he had tried his best.
"That's certainly unfortunate. Because you see, you're already planning to stay the night, which means the rules already apply to all of you." He shook his head, making a difficult face.
"I am obliged to ask you to hand over a portion of your supplies. Since this is happening anyway, you might as well stay for the week, as that's our policy."
"Oh?" Vincent turned to the professor.
Seeing his brows almost meeting from frowning tightly, he figured this shouldn't be the case. He laughed despite himself, a reaction Joseph and the professor hadn't expected.
"What a bummer indeed."
Vincent walked back to the party under their wide gazes, gathering Ben, Theo, and Henry. Daniel and Angel naturally joined without his input.
"How are we with mana? I know we didn't hunt today, but I didn't check if you guys grinded skill XP."
"Nobody practiced today. We were afraid a fight was going to happen, so we saved it," Theo answered.
"Good. What about physically and mentally? Do you guys think we can hunt while we head back to the care home?"
Everyone looked at Vincent blankly, the words filtering out of their ears, as it was very unlike Vincent to risk even stepping out in the middle of the night for a few minutes.
"Cents? We're going night hunting?" Angel couldn't believe it.
Vincent nodded, smiling in amusement. "Yes. Go pick Ember Walker. Rather than giving them our supplies, we might as well use it. I'm pretty sure some of you have been eager to level too."
That was a fact nobody could retort. Ever since they found out that the game begins at level 4, they couldn't sit still and accept being at level 3.
"Got it, I'll pick Ember Walker right away."
"I'll go tell the homies."
"Shit, give me a few minutes. The professor gave me enough parts to complete a proper crossbow."
Everyone quickly scattered, fearing that Vincent's cautiousness might trigger again, leaving him as they prepared for the night hunt.
Vincent's head throbbed at their response, but he had already decided that this was the best time to train for a nighttime scenario.
'Sometimes they forget that I have night vision. Of course I would have the confidence to take them out for a night hunt. And if the hidden effect of Angel's campfire persists, we won't have to worry about the cold.'
Shaking his head with a smile, he walked back to the professor and Joseph.
"No problem. We'll leave in ten minutes."
"What?!"
The professor was starting to think that Vincent had changed with the outbreak. Knowing he had no way of stopping these youngsters, he grabbed his jacket.
"Fine. Then I will be going with you."
Joseph's shock was doubled. Internally, he started panicking. They had plans to use the professor's skill for a chance at getting mounts, but now that chance was going to slip away because of his hasty decision.
"Brother, the dark isn't friendly. A blizzard might happen anytime soon. And professor, hasn't your back been a problem? Running from a monster through the snow at night is just asking for death."
Joseph's words were indeed the concerns of the professor, but Vincent's words completely caught them off guard.
"We won't be running. We'll be hunting. Do you still want to join, Professor?"
At this point, the people behind Joseph were looking at Vincent's party as if they had gone mad, and the eyes looking at Vincent almost popped out.
"H-Hunting? At night? With the Frost Troll on the loose and a chance of having a blizzard that blocks vision?" The professor had an incredulous expression.
"Yes. Maybe Finnley is hungry? I don't think we gave him enough meat."
Vincent mischievously added. 'Sorry, professor, but since he's suddenly trying so hard to keep you from leaving, it's probably not a good idea to stay here any longer.'
Finnley's ears quirked up. His enthusiasm showed as he pawed the ground while looking up at the professor.
All the professor's rationality flew out the window in that instant. The knowledge that his friend might be starving himself because he was sticking close to him, protecting him in every waking hour, tugged at his consciousness.
'The least I can do is let him join the hunt.'
"Alright. Let me join."
Vincent smiled, sending him a party invite. "Great. You'll be our 13th member."