Sam put a finger on his chin.
“As for what happened, while there weren’t any monsters in the place, there were quite a few people residing here. We asked if we could have some of the food, but…”
Chase swallowed a piece of ham.
“They wouldn’t let us in.”
Nicole seemed to be a little out of it, but was still eating normally like the others.
“Then we… killed them.”
Sam shrugged his shoulders.
“I did consider negotiating with them further, but I decided to check what they had done before in the past.”
His eyes widened ever so slightly while the smile on his face disappeared.
“And… they don’t deserve to live.”
Kairos blinked a few times before sighing, deciding to not question it.
“Anyways, we should eat and stock up on some food here. I assume most of you have already added points and eaten to make up for the energy, right?”
Nicole gave a small nod, while Tori gave a thumbs up while stuffing her face with almost expired bread. As for Chase, he simply smiled, which was enough to tell Kairos that he did.
Sydney looked over to a nearby milk carton. She picked it up and furrowed her brows.
“This cost seven dollars? What kind of scam is this?”
Sam laughed.
“That’s just how things are in the city. Why do you think we would always join you in shopping over on your side, rather than here?”
Sydney put the milk carton back with a bit of disgust.
“Ugh… it looks like the city was already in the state of an apocalypse before.”
Sam laughed, and the others either chuckled or smiled a little.
As for Kairos, his lip turned up, but it suddenly dipped back down. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Sydney.
“Hey… aren’t you hungry?”
In response, Sydney flinched. She scratched the side of her head.
“Oh. I thought that I was? But it doesn’t feel too bad right now.”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“…Well since we are already here, why don’t you eat something anyway?”
Sydney nodded a little absentmindedly and leisurely picked out a few things. While that was happening Tori grumbled.
“I have all the points I need to evolve, but can’t do it. What do I need to even do?”
Kairos sighed as he got something for himself to eat.
“It should only be a matter of time. I’m pretty sure you will be able to evolve soon enough even if you just wait around.”
Tori clicked her tongue.
“Hopefully…”
Kairos had the instinctive urge to only open up his status panel in secret, but soon remembered he had already opened it up next to everyone except his father, so just opened it anyway.
[Private Announcement]
[First Ten Daring Kills (Ninth – by ID: 064245313420) – 10 points awarded]
He blinked a few times, just staring at the screen in front of him. For whatever reason, he forgot about the existence of the panel like this. Kairos began to wonder what he should say if the people around him questioned him, but…
“Are you ok, Kairos? You’re just staring at the air.”
Sam spoke up with a bit of concern, attracting the gazes of the others.
Kairos simply coughed.
“Sorry, just thinking about something.”
He then repeated both this id along with refreshing his memory of the last one using the usual technique to memorize numbers. From there, he went to look at his status panel.
[Status]
[ID: 345315364923]
[Rank: E-]
[Objective: Survive]
[Proof Of Perfection Points: 8.2]
[Stats –
Strength – 4.9
Endurance – 4.9
Agility – 4.9
Willpower – 4.9
Mana Capacity – 5.0
Magic Affinity – 3.0]
[Special Abilities: Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F)]
[Hide]
There were 8.2 points to distribute. Kairos was either planning on putting it into his direct physical stats, such as strength, endurance, and agility, or into his magic related stats, such as mana capacity and magic affinity.
Sam looked over and nodded.
“Those stat points are pretty high! Especially if you were the one that earned all of the points yourself.”
Kairos rubbed his chin gently.
“Yeah. Do you guys think I should put my points into raising my physical abilities or raising my magic capacity?”
Tori tilted her head to the side.
“Magic seems really strong, right? Your magic power is only three, but the spells are still so deadly.”
Kairos nodded.
“It is very powerful, that’s for sure. However, depending on how powerful I want to spell to be, it will take more mana, and not a small amount either. Though I can increase my mana capacity, the mana regeneration seems to stay the same.”
Nicole stopped eating in order to listen in more closely. Then, she proposed a question.
“So what about increasing the physical stats?”
Kairos cracked his neck.
“That would be far more reliable given that our stamina isn’t going to run out in just a few attacks. However, the actual effectiveness doesn’t even come close to the power of the spells.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“I suppose the best way to handle this is to have some of us focused more on the physical aspects to be reliable killers, while we have others be the trump card in case something far beyond our league shows up.”
Kairos raised a finger.
“We need at least one that can kill a giant horde, in case the numbers become too massive.”
He then raised a second finger.
“And another one that can kill an extremely tough monster, in case one so happens to show up.”
Sam nodded.
“That makes sense. I didn’t exactly specialize my points into magic, but with my spells I should be able to deal with a sizable crowd.”
Kairos looked at him.
“How so, exactly?”
Sam raised his hand and held it out straight. A faint white light appeared around his hand, then extended out to become a meter long.
He whipped his hand off to the side, and with a bang, a large incision appeared on the wall next to him.
“If I put in more mana, I can make it longer, and if I use it with one of these bones, it will increase my reach slightly. The only cost being that the bone would crack apart after one swing.”
Kairos nodded.
“How long can you make it, and how many attacks can you make?”
Sam thought for a moment.
“It should reach about eight meters, nine in total with the bone. As for how long it will last, it should give me about one second of swinging. So… about three to four full swings.”
Chase raised his hand leisurely.
“Though I haven’t evolved yet, my mana arrows are pretty effective against a single monster. Once I do get the chance to evolve, I should be able to take care of them.”
Kairos took a deep breath.
“But that will still be a little while. My spells can play both parts fairly well, so I should probably focus on magic for now. The physical specification can wait.”
Nobody disagreed, and so, he added the points.
[Mana Capacity 5.0 – 9.0 | Points 8.2 – 4.2]
[Magic Affinity 3.0 – 7.2 | Points 4.2 – 0.0]
Kairos let out a refreshing sigh after adding the points. The sensation of adding more into the magic related stats felt like he was breathing in the freshest air that purified his body.
Then, the hunger began settling in, prompting him to eat some more.
As they were eating, Sam eventually sighed.
“If only we had a lighter. Then we could actually have something hot to eat.”
Kairos turned to him.
“Did you not see my status panel? I have a special ability called the fire spell. We just need something to burn, then we can cook something up.”
Sam let out a small gasp.
“That’s perfect then! There’s a clothing store just across from here, let me get some of that stuff to burn.”
Kairos stood up.
“I’ll go with you.”
Sam chuckled.
“Alright.”
Nicole raised her hand high and waved.
“Stay safe!”
Sam rolled his eyes.
“You guys are acting like we are leaving the country, it’s just across the street.”
Nicole blushed slightly and turned away.
With that, Kairos and his dad left the place and went into the clothing store opposite to them.
Sam went to check out the tags on the clothes and picked out a few that were cotton. Kairos looked at the variety of clothes around.
“Since we are already here, why don’t we get a change of clothes for everyone.”
Sam smirked.
“Since when did you become so considerate of others, Kairos?”
In response, Kairos rolled his eyes.
“Fresh clothes improve our hygiene and will get rid of some of the blood that will attract monsters. It’s just being logical.”
Sam laughed.
“Alright, alright. That makes sense.”
Kairos picked out a change of clothes for himself. He gave his father a glance as he picked out a few.
“Do you think Mother is still… herself?”
Sam looked a little despondent, but continued to pick out a few clothes.
“I… I’m not sure. But there is one thing I can count on, is that even if she has changed, she still cares. Despite having many opportunities and excuses to gravely injure me, she never did. Even when I ran away or refused to kill people, your mother never hurt me too badly.”
Kairos narrowed his eyes.
“Why… why do you think this happened to Mother, but not to any of the other people that transformed into monsters? Was it really just a one in a million chance that she was special?”
Sam laughed loudly, without restraint.
“To me, finding your mother really was a one in a million chance.”
His smile relaxed slightly.
“But I don’t think that this was because of something special. When your mother threw herself right in front of the glaring rays of the red sun, I didn’t feel afraid. Not even when I knew everyone else had transformed.”
Kairos furrowed his brows.
“What? You weren’t even slightly concerned?”
A smirk formed on Sam’s face.
“You probably don’t know this, but there are times when your mother has this strange look in her eye. It is one filled with complete confidence, a will that will never break.”
He took a deep breath.
“I saw that look in her eyes before she lunged forth, and even when she screamed in agony, that look never left her.”
Sam shut his eyes while a small smile formed on his face.
“She did that because she was determined to save my life. Even if she… became something scary afterwards, your mother would always stay true to her resolve.”
He slowly opened his eyes and looked down.
“Your mother was always strong like that.”
Kairos slung a set of sweatpants over his shoulders.
“Then why did you try to run?”
Sam smiled bitterly.
“While I knew she wouldn’t hurt me, it truly was too scary. I didn’t want to continue killing innocent people.”
He paused.
“But most of all, I was scared. Scared that your mother… forgot.”
Kairos raised an eyebrow.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Sam chuckled.
“Um… I’m not too sure myself.”
Kairos was about to ask another question, but then his head suddenly snapped to the side.
He saw… a red minigun through the glass walls.
It was very slowly sliding across the street, moving slower than even a snail. It seemed like it was struggling to even move that much. There was a shield at the front, which was normally for protecting the person using the minigun, but in this case, there was nobody for that.
Upon coming across a corpse, the barrel of the minigun expanded into a giant mouth, before swallowing it whole.
Grotesque chewing sounds ensued as it slowly turned towards them.
Kairos frowned and raised his finger.
“…Good thing I put my points into magic.”
A tiny fireball formed at the tip of his finger.