We make haste through the woods, stopping only long enough to catch our breath and take the occasional drink of water. We don’t even take the time to eat lunch, so worried are we that something is watching us. And despite our making great time through the forest and grasslands south of Ft. Still, that nagging feeling in the back of my mind never relents, even once we’re an hour and some twenty miles away from the site of our last battle.

  Lindsey seems to agree. Her hand is always on her dagger, her eyes never still even as she looks at us and we try to figure out a path to wherever it is we need to go. So far, we’re staying just out of sight of the highway, not wanting to alert the Foreststalkers and whatever else is around here about an important economic and logistical pipeline just beyond the trees to the east.

  A part of her wants to explore beyond these wilds, something I only know because she’s mentioned it half a dozen times during the relatively less tense portions of our jaunt. And I understand why. The next major city is several hundred miles further west, and that’s counting distance based on the pre-System world. Considering the effect of the System and the way it has shifted and perturbed the previous landscape, it might be a thousand miles by now, if not more. And with that in consideration, there are probably more than a few dungeons and other aberrations lurking within the vast expanse.

  Danger is a given, and opportunity equally so. But the three of us simply aren’t equipped with the levels, the equipment, the resources, or the manpower to mount such an expedition. In time, we will be, if I have anything to say about it. Conquering the challenges lurking on Earth is the barest prerequisite to being prepared to launch out into the cosmos. But not yet.

  Two hours have passed since we broke away from our battle site, and the fatigue is starting to get to Chloe and I. Lindsey has a fair bit more [Speed] and [Strength] than either of us, but even she isn’t looking completely fresh. The nagging danger sense hasn’t completely gone away, but it has lessened at least a little bit. Enough that we decide that our dry throats and hungry stomachs are more immediate of a concern than continuing to run away from phantasms that might be pure figments of our vivid imaginations.

  The berries Lindsey had gathered earlier are mostly ruined, turned into pulpy berry juice that smells quite delectable, all things considered. I don’t know how sanitary it is, having spent two hours in the warm, musty confines of her backpack, but at the very least, I doubt it’s so rancid and moldy that it can’t be folded into a sweet and salty stew.

  I handle the cooking, while Lindsey and Chloe stand guard. Lindsey remains excused from cooking duties, not only because she handles the scouting and hunting duties, but also because, as Alana told me the last time I saw her, she is an absolutely atrocious cook. As in, so bad, there’s a better than even chance she has a Skill that allows her to burn water. That’s probably an exaggeration, but I’m in no rush to stress-test that conjecture.

  The meat and berries mix together in a bit of an odd manner. Not bad, almost like a fruity barbecue sauce. Really needs some more citrus or vinegar for some sour and tang to go from decent to great, but as far as meals in the wilderness go, it’s definitely one of the better ones. Better than an MRE for certain. And depending on the particular choice of MRE for the day, that might actually be saying something.

  Despite our best efforts, we fail to make it to the capital before nightfall. I set up the campfire for the evening while Lindsey scouts the area. We decide it’s too dangerous to hunt or otherwise separate from another, and so instead, the three of us sit down and eat what rations we have on hand. Tonight’s meal consists of a filling but bland meal of day-old bread coated in the last of Lindsey’s berry slurry, giving it the consistency and taste of a crude marmalade.

  Lindsey volunteers for the unpleasant middle watch shift, leaving me to take the first one. I spend it in relative silence, going over my arm and making sure that there aren’t any signs of oxidation or damage from the day’s events. A diagnostic scan of [Ether] running through the circuits confirms no damage to either the glyph array or the network of sluices that connects them all together. A visual scan of the arm reveals no divots, blemishes, or other signs of damage.

  More tellingly, that strike from the Foreststalker earlier doesn’t even register. Not even the barest hint of a scratch, [Ethersight] confirming that there’s no residue or signs of internal damage. Probably a good idea to have Chloe hit the thing with an [Antidote] just to make sure there’s no spores or poisons that might’ve caught onto it. I go ahead and rub the spot down with a towel coated in machine oil, on the off chance that there might be some sort of oil-soluble pheromones that the Foreststalkers are using to track us via scent.

  I take the opportunity to practice with the subtle manipulations of my fingers, moving individual joints, then doing so in tandem. With the glyph formations as they are, I should be able to move each finger and joint completely independently of one another, without the muscles interfering with one another and reducing digital mobility. In practice, my [Mind] stat and [Intermediate Ether Manipulation] rank are both too low to properly control the glyph formations, and my hand dexterity is limited to that of my original arm.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  More time passes than I’d thought, and by the time I finish my examination, Lindsey steps out of her tent and sits down next to me.

  “I don’t know if I ever got the chance to properly thank you,” she says. “For saving me and everyone else.”

  I nod. “There was one other part of the story that I think I should mention in greater detail. When I was integrated into the System, I had no level, but my [Health] was 120,000. My [Ether] likewise maxed out at 25,000.”

  Lindsey’s eyes grow wide. I continue.

  “My [Mind] was a bit over a hundred, and my other three stats were all in the low to mid two hundreds. I suspect that the researchers did something to inject errant data into the System, such that I was integrated with far, far higher parameters than the low double digits I started with here on Earth. And I have to assume that some aspect of that anomalous data still exists within me. Hence my Experience-boosting trait.”

  “You think the System is some sort of… computer? Ethertech, you call it? And these researchers hacked into it the same way someone might hack into a computer here on Earth?”

  “It’s the most logical conclusion. Though, I’m sure if Alexey or Nicholas were here, they’d smoke both of our asses for speculating based on limited information.”

  This gets a chuckle out of Lindsey. “You are not wrong. In either case, I don’t want to keep you awake any longer, Sera. We’ll all need you to get as much sleep as you can before we head out in the morning.”

  I nod and head inside Chloe’s and my tent. I don’t think thirty seconds pass before I’m out like a light.”

  I wake up early, not quite fully refreshed, but well enough to be about without a splitting headache wearing me down. Chloe’s sitting by the campfire, watching the embers as they smolder and crackle. I join her on the small log, though it’s a bit of a tight squeeze.

  She turns to me and cracks a smile. The two of us don’t say a word. Neither of us need to. For a few minutes, we’re not being chased by monsters, braving the apocalypse, trying to adapt to a world integrated with an all-powerful System whose purpose is far from clear. We’re just two best friends, sitting around a campfire in the early morning, drinking a cup of water and enjoying the cool morning here in a perfectly ordinary forest just off the highway. Her hand slips around the small of my back, and I can do nothing but smile.

  Lindsey gives the two of us a side eye but says nothing. I appreciate the display of discretion.

  Breakfast is more bread, this time without the jelly that made yesterday evening’s meal better than merely ‘tolerable’. Still, all three of us eat heartily, not wanting to be hit by some sort of [Hunger] debuff sapping our strength in the midst of battle. I eat the most, though Chloe and Lindsey don’t eat much less.

  Chloe and I finish packing the last of our belongings while Lindsey scouts back toward the main road. She’s trying to get a sense for where exactly we are, and by extension, how much further we have to go to reach the capital. After using an inverted [Heat] glyph to extinguish the final flickering embers of our campfire, we join her, ready to hear whatever bad news she has in store for us.

  Bad news that, apparently, isn’t coming?

  “Looks like we covered about two thirds of the distance to the capital yesterday, if this mile marker is accurate. Which means we might get to eat something more than hardtack for lunch today!”

  I grin at the thought, and Chloe doesn’t look any less excited. We move at what feels like a light jog. In truth, we’re probably going a solid fifteen miles an hour, maybe closer to twenty. Faster than elite marathon runner pace, and yet, we all three could go even faster for a few minutes at a time. Even though I know some great evil lurks behind it, I can’t help but marvel at the strength and extraordinary abilities the System has granted.

  Soon after we’re on our way, that pounding danger sense that had never really gone away all day yesterday finally starts to subside. The Foreststalkers were probably territorial, and decided we had been chased sufficiently far away to not be worth further pursuit. Something we should be aware of if we decide to head back home along this same path. I doubt our hosts will be nearly so gracious during our second visit.

  Even so, Lindsey remains vigilant. Her eyes constantly scout ahead, to the sides, and behind, looking for tracks through a combination of her previous ranger training and whatever Skills the System has given her access to. Her hand is never far from her dagger, especially when we take a brief pause for water about an hour after our departure.

  Another hour passes, another eighteen miles closer to the capital. That sense of danger from before hasn’t returned, but I get a sense of wrongness. Chloe is jittery and looking around with a nervous expression on her face. Once Lindsey is a bit away, scouting the area over the next hill, I pull Chloe into a hug and whisper into her ear.

  “You sense it too, don’t you?”

  She nods without saying a word, not bothering to remove her head between my breasts.

  “Remember that I have you and you have me, all the way to the end. And I trust that Lindsey will have our back as well. She’s been there for us through so many trials and hardships so far.”

  She nods again, squeezing me a bit tighter. “Thanks, Sera. I really appreciate it.”

  Our conversation is interrupted by Lindsey, who beckons the two of us toward her. She’s already strung her bow, which can’t be a good sign. Chloe pulls out her wand as we crest the hill and stare down upon the valley below.

  “Oh… Oh, shit,” I mutter.