Chapter 31: A new sharp ability

“Come quick! Ester opened her eyes!” Lupa urgently shouted.

Vincent rushed to their side; he filled a cup with water and placed it against Ester’s shivering lips. Then he gently raised the cup while allowing her to drink slowly.

“Lupa, could you go and check our surroundings? We will rest here for the night, so if you find any sticks, bring them here since we better save the pile of chopped logs for emergencies.” Vincent gave orders to the best person for this scouting job. Lupa nodded and swiftly left.

“Can you hear me?” Vincent asked while holding the sick Ester wrapped in many layers of cloth.

Ester stared at Vincent with a pair of hazy crimson eyes. She couldn’t recognize his appearance nor his voice. However, Ester felt safe in the arms of this blurry person. Soon she closed her eyes and slept.

“You went to sleep, huh? When we heat the food, we will wake you up...” Vincent suddenly remembered a problem.

historical

“I didn’t find any flint or any fire starter! How will I start a fire!” A new problem arose as they had no way to start a fire.

.....

Vincent pondered if he should create a bow drill or something similar. But he didn’t have the materials to make one. Also, his mind filled with worry. Spending hours attempting to make one in the dark was hard for him.

“Heh... The smartphone is useless in a world of magic. I can blow one of my old phone’s batteries for fire.” Vincent sighed while thinking this exchange was worth the effort.

“I’m back. ” Lupa returned with a few small sticks.

Soon, they placed Ester in the cart with care while Lupa prepared the food to heat. On the other side, Vincent tried lighting a small campfire with a rock in his hand.

“This better work. Please explode like how many people reported in the news.” Vincent begged the battery on the sticks to explode from the first rock he was about to throw. His old model used multiple batteries that had a bad reputation. But unless dropped from a great height, nothing would happen.

*Tsss

Vincent threw the rock with all he had. The battery hissed for a few seconds before it caught on fire.

“Fire is lit. We can start cooking now.” Vincent proudly announced at the cost of his phone not turning on anymore. Later, they heated the food and prepared to eat. After eating their fill, Vincent gently woke Ester while Lupa carefully fed her.

“I will stay guard all night. I want you to rest all night since I rested all day.” Lupa offered. She had slept a few times during the day while being aware of their surroundings.

Vincent declined, but Lupa knew he forced himself all day and needed immediate rest. The two debated for a while until Vincent didn’t have any strength to deny a full night’s rest.

Vincent sighed but then remembered how he had to pull the cart the next day. Not wanting to sleep with a bad smell, he went to clean his upper body. Soon, he heard Lupa teasingly whistle while he cleaned his sore, aching muscles under the moonlight.

Vincent raised his gaze at the moon and happily said, “At least my deja vu dream sickness seems cured. In the five days here, I didn’t dream of anything strange. The inspection ability didn’t pick anything as well.”

This was his first time doing manual labor as he worked in a library; his body lacked in the physical department because of this.

Vincent was afraid to find a different job on Earth because of a particular sickness the mutation brought with it. All infected survivors had this problem.

It was called the deja vu dream sickness. Those mutated like Vincent and Kevin would experience a vivid dream of different realities every day. As if they saw their dream selves doing and seeing different things in a different life.

The small percentage like Vincent, who had no side effects because the mutation perfectly fused with them, could remember the dream forever while people like Kevin would forget after a few days.

Vincent, with his guilt and trust issues, found it harder to socialize. So he decided to keep living with people he could trust.

Trisha and Tessy understood how both Kevin and Vincent had this sickness. They would instantly understand when one of them would notice something different.

One day there would be a candy shop, and the next, it would turn into a different store. Neighbors could also change in one night while buildings would rise or fall.

The vivid dream would make them unable to tell what was real and what should have been there in the first place. As if they lived two lives at the same time.

All infected survivors saw the same change in their deja vu dreams.

If in the dream they saw themselves walking in street five with a candy shop and in reality it would be a tire shop. Then all mutants who saw themselves walking on street five would dream of the same candy shop.

Because of this, the infected survivors who didn’t go crazy would receive a special allowance from the government to help them live without working.

The others would receive special treatment sponsored by the government with the guise of testing the strange linking of dreams.

With the money, Vincent could relax while helping with the library from time to time. He saw this as a blessing and a curse.

He could sometimes remember novels that he read in his deja vu dreams. Unfortunately, most of them wouldn’t exist, but at least some mutated people would post a few chapters of these stories.

It took years to get a workaround, but now it seemed to be gone. No new dream of change happened around him. The idea that something was wrong with Earth rushed to his mind.

After Vincent finished, he went beside Ester. Worryingly wiped her forehead, then closed his eyes. It took some time to get used to the cold, but his exhausted body let him sleep like a baby.

Lupa spent the night guarding next to the campfire. Fortunately, that night nothing bad had happened.

*Day 6

The sun dawned as the bright rays on his skin woke Vincent. He took a peek at the watch and saw it was eight o’clock.

“Good morning, sleepyhead. Don’t worry. I cared for Ester during the night.” Lupa was cleaning Ester’s face when Vincent woke up.

.

[Name] Vincent Agius

[Condition] Healthy, Tired, Soul Egg Nutrure 40%

[Soul Power] 0sp

.

“Morning... Heh.” Vincent sighed while jumping down from the cart. The Soul Egg took the daily Soul Power and became forty percent.

Vincent stretched his body while he suffered from muscle pain. However, the inspection didn’t think it was painful enough since it showed he was healthy.

It seemed to have its own categories when describing the conditions. An example is how it shows fear as a negative condition but doesn’t show happiness as a condition.

“You’re acting funny. Are you also sick.” Lupa asked with worry.

“Haha... Its nothing.” Vincent tried to hide his sore, aching muscles.

Vincent caught a whiff of fire. He turned his head and noticed how Lupa kept feeding the campfire and was still burning. Thankfully he didn’t need to waste another battery.

Lupa felt hungry and asked to eat. Since the fire was still burning, Vincent let her heat the last of their soup.

In the meantime, Vincent chose a few sticks and began making a bow drill. It was hard to make a small bow with a small piece of cloth, but after a while, he managed to create one.

Lupa soon called to eat. They ate their fill and fed Ester after they finished.

“We should leave soon. Also, we need to find food since this breakfast was our last meal, only water remains in our reserves.” Vincent announced the bad news. They had to fast since food seemed scarce in Aero Forest.

Lupa nodded with her ears and tail down, looking quite sad. She had to live a life of barely eating once again.

Vincent drowned the fire with water while Lupa took her clothes off and became a white wolf. After putting things to take with them, Vincent pulled the cart with Ester and Lupa resting inside.

Hours passed, and many breaks taken. Vincent found it harder to pull the cart while quickly getting exhausted.

Lupa asked to take his place multiple times, but he always hardheadedly refused. Her job to keep Ester warm seemed more important to him than making progress with their travels.

Vincent didn’t want to think if the soldiers were following them while he hoped their injured acting might make the Guard Lord think Aero Forest would be their deathbed. Also, they had enough on their table with no food and Ester becoming sick.

Many hours and breaks later, the sun was about to set. Vincent stopped and decided to call it a day. His body could barely take another step. He felt a bit dizzy, but two hands held his shoulders from falling with a reassuring hold.

“Rest and take it easy. Leave everything to me.” Lupa warmly said while helping Vincent climb the cart.

“But the fire...” Vincent didn’t teach Lupa how to use the bow drill, but she quickly interrupted by placing her finger on his lips.

“Shhh... We don’t have food, so we don’t need fire, and with my keen senses, I can track even in the dark.” Lupa proudly said while covering his body to sleep.

‘She is a bit forceful, but at least her intentions are sincere.’

Vincent thought with a smile. Then he closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

Lupa cared for Ester while she stood guard under the moonlight. However, a sweet smell caught her attention. She searched for quite a while until she decided to raise her gaze. As her eyes focused, she saw a red fruit illuminated by the moonlight.

“Food!” Lupa excitedly jumped with joy. She drooled at the sight of food and the idea of receiving praise.

Lupa tried her best to climb the tree, but this was her first time doing so. No matter how many times she tried until reaching halfway, she fell on her bottom. However, her goal was in front of her golden eyes.

With the hope to succeed and use the food to make Ester and Vincent feel better, she kept climbing and falling. Her tenacity seemed to have no end. Fall after fall, she got covered in bruises and cuts.

“Come on, Lupa, you can do it.” Lupa smacked her face with both hands for encouragement. She couldn’t leave her small red immobile prey alone.

Lupa crouched down on all fours with her hands on the ground. Then she took a deep breath and slowly exhaled while her eyes focused on the apple.

Lupa resembled a predator preparing to leap at its prey. Suddenly a headache rushed to her. She saw a vision of herself, yet it was from afar. It felt like she was watching another Lupa.

This Lupa had slightly larger hands. From her fingers to her elbow covered with white fur. Instead of human nails, she had sharp three-inch claws on each finger.

The vision ended, and the headache subsided. It felt more like a deja vu as if Lupa remembered something she could always do.

This seemed the way people learned abilities and spells in this world. As for Vincent, his Hero power made his learning different since he would only learn if he had enough knowledge.

Lupa stood up and raised her hands, but they were like before, human hands. She tried to remember what she saw in the vision.

In the blink of an eye, her arms grew luscious white fur while her hands became slightly larger and stronger. Then one by one, claws extended out from her fur covered fingers.

In a matter of seconds, her arms and hands became the same as her vision.

“What happened? I feel like I could always do this.” Lupa raised her gaze back at the apple with a grin. This time she had a way to get what she wanted. The red apple didn’t have much time left to enjoy the gentle breeze.

.....