Ahmad went numb with shock, almost traumatized to the point that even though he saw the process of the food being cooked, seeing it in front of him still made him hesitate.
"Eat. We don't want to drag your starving body if we plan to go out."
Talia held out a spoonful of beans close to his mouth, waiting.
In the end, Ahmad was practically fed by Talia.
By the time Vincent woke up, their little prisoner's eyes looked exhausted. When he learned what had happened, he could only sigh and give Angel a pat on the head.
"How's level 4?"
"Very interesting. Besides everyone's mutations, the HUD features are going to be useful."
"It's amazing, boss! Look at the chat!" Theo could barely contain himself.
Curious, Vincent opened the glowing party chat.
-----------------------------------
[Palya]: I don't know how to look scary older sister…
[Angel]: You don't have to do anything. Just stare at him.
[Daniel]: What the hell are you teaching Palya?
[Theo]: HEY THIS IS AMAZING! I JUST HAVE TO THINK AND IT WORKS!
[Theo]: FUCK YOU JACK! WHY'D YOU HIT ME??
[Jackson]: Stop screaming! You can talk normally in your head!
[Henry]: I am hungry…
[Beatrice]: Endure it dear, Miss Angel is still interrogating.
[Dave]: !@#$@#%?
[Dave]: Sorry… I wanted to scold Theo but I couldn't form words.
-----------------------------------
Nostalgia hit Vincent hard.
The number of messages had reached the point where it would take him more than five minutes to read the entire thing, reminding him of the many times he had woken up to their once-active guild chat in WoW.
[Vincent]: Is this how it works? Oh-
The process was simple. Just like how he would lock a choice in his mind, he focused his intentions on sending a message. And like how speech-to-talk worked, his thoughts were conveyed.
His message quickly disappeared into the spam of welcomes from the homeless crew, with Theo dominating the feed. But Vincent managed to catch Angel's reminder to check his social tab in the chaos and quickly opened it.
Angel's name was there in the once-empty window, asking to be friends.
Vincent accepted it right away and spotted a bar next to her name that was already maxed out.
It was the friendship status.
Angel smiled happily. She only regretted not having the ability to take a screenshot.
Finally, she shared how to send friend requests, and everyone was in everyone's social tab within ten minutes.
Later, Vincent would find out that Henry and Beatrice were maxed out as well, but instead of "Friendship," the title was "Married."
Daniel was maxed out too in his friend list, which made sense considering they'd known each other since birth.
'Is this based on time? Or does the system actually know how to differentiate the closeness of a relationship?'
He wouldn't have the time to think about it, as there was still the problem of their prisoner and the effects of the flare last night.
Looking outside, there were no immediate threats walking nearby. Yet Vincent knew the number of monsters should have spiked, and hunting might prove difficult but bountiful.
"First things first, I need to know your new skills. Everyone should understand that we are pressed for time. We need to kill the Frost Troll in two weeks, and I think reaching level 10 should be ideal."
Everyone nodded at this, discussing and confirming how they all had the same main quest.
But Ahmad, who couldn't help but listen, almost popped his eyes out.
The University was busy fortifying their base, struggling to live just another day, but this team wanted to kill the boss themselves.
"Now that we have the party chat, we can split into groups of two for efficiency. Later, when you guys get used to working in smaller numbers, we'll split into three."
It was mostly Daniel and Vincent planning a safe but efficient way to level up, with Angel sometimes chiming in.
"Is there a limit to your title's range? We wouldn't want a loss if we can avoid it," Daniel asked.
"We're checking it later, along with the party chat's range—if there is one."
"Oh yeah dude, let's not use the drone for today. The startup noise is too loud—we risk being overrun."
"We are also still vulnerable to getting one-shotted by level 3s. Everyone should gather when we encounter one."
"I hate to switch the focus of your discussion, but it's time we do another supply run," Angel interrupted after checking everyone's food situation. "We have 3 to 5 days' worth of food, and with our inventory, we'll be able to store more. I also have a new skill to help with sustainability but it's only for emergency."
-----------------------------------
[Emergency Berry] | 100 mana | 30 minutes cooldown
-> Earth Attribute
-> Requires a small amount of sugar
-> Creates an edible sweet berry
-> 1 hr Shelflife
-> Weak to Poison
-----------------------------------
Ben was the "winner" of another rock-paper-scissors tournament, becoming the guinea pig to test out the berries.
They were indeed sweet, reminiscent of strawberries, and he felt instantly full, as if he had eaten a big meal. But the fullness didn't affect his energy—it was boosted instead.
At Angel's reminder, Vincent turned to the frozen Ahmad.
"Did the University completely loot the Superstore nearby?"
Ahmad reeled from his shock. "T-The grocery store? N-No, we left a good chunk last run, and we had planned on going back, but the Troll was spotted there this week."
Ahmad wasn't actually sure why he suddenly became honest. But there was an itch he couldn't quite put into words that grew stronger the longer he watched this group.
"Hey, since the University isn't our goal anymore, we might as well go back to the mansion! We can pass Walmart on our way, and we would be hunting at the same time."
Daniel thought this was the best idea, and Vincent thought the same, but he was also considering other options—he hadn't forgotten that they were to farm geese.
"It sounds good, but we shouldn't be too far from people. Besides our individual strength and physical survivability, information will be our main source of protection."
"A-Are you guys really planning on fighting the troll?" Ahmad couldn't restrain himself anymore.
"We aren't fighting it," Angel responded. "We're going to kill it."
The party seemed to pause at her words, and as everyone locked gazes, where fear usually sat, there was a faint burning of excitement instead.
Ahmad was affected.
"T-That… Can I join?"
Everyone simultaneously turned to him, and Ahmad prepared to be criticized. After all, he was a stranger who had spied on them last night. Even if he hadn't done anything to harm them, it only made sense that they wouldn't trust him.
But nobody spoke. They simply turned to Vincent.
"Why?"
Vincent crossed his arms, turning toward Ahmad.
"Well… You guys look like you've adapted to the new world already. It hasn't even been a month, and you aren't afraid of killing that thing? Moreover, I want to live, and quite frankly, I don't think Joseph would want me back. He's a man with trust issues."
"I heard you lied to Angel."
"T-That was my attempt to survive… I'm sorry."
Vincent was silent. He glanced at Ahmad's name tag and was quite tempted to bring in a Scout.
[Ahmad lvl 3]
[18 / 18 Hp]
But something was strange.
At the start of the outbreak, Vincent would have let him join without a second thought. He knew who he truly needed to protect, and keeping enemies close was something he had learned while growing up.
Ahmad being part of the University's group didn't even amount to anything. His hesitance was simply because of the people behind him.
The number of people he cared for had grown, even when he stubbornly showed favoritism to Daniel and Angel.
'I'm probably just being overly cautious again.'
-----------------------------------
[Vincent]: I want to let him join. What do you all think?
[Theo]: Hehehe, as expected of the boss! Don't worry, boss, we'll make sure to turn him into family as soon as he joins!
[Henry]: Hahaha! It's not even finalized yet, Theo! I'm alright with it, boss!
[Angel]: Should be fine. Daniel can teach him how not to be stupid.
[Daniel]: What?! You want me to babysit? I have no problem with letting him in, but I'm against babysitting!
[Dave]: I think it would be nice for the professor to have a training buddy, since they're going to need to get used to our pace.
[Beatrice]: Boss, just don't forget about the mandatory morning training. True equality is a must! Yes... that includes the professor.
[Henry]: Honey...
-----------------------------------
All in all, the party accepted Ahmad.
"Do you have a weapon?"
Ahmad blinked, blanking. "Uh, I have a switchblade?"
Vincent arched his brows, his lips curling into a smirk despite himself. "Look at that, you get three stages rather than two. We get to find out if gradual is better, or if we nailed the training already."
"W-What?"
Vincent sent him a party invite before turning to Daniel to continue the discussion. He let the homeless crew explain what he meant and couldn't resist chuckling when he heard him scream in shock.
"You want me to punch the monsters?!"