“Survival is a broad topic. For o mean running away from all of their problems. For a means living day to day, barely reag the light of a star. And then there are those that want to thrive. Fighting against anything that stands in their way… And so the question stands, who is in the right? The answer is quite simple. None of them are.”

  ~ Into the Abyss by Loraveler

  The survivor stilled, his mouth opening just a bit in a silent scream. Like a puppet with its strings cut, he slumped against the wall once again as Leo removed the dagger from his head. The corpse slid to the side slowly, head meeting the ground in a heap.

  As if alerted by the death of its host, the body spasmed, spitting out blood from every possible wound. From a few pces, bits of bed liquid flowed out, mixing with the crimson pools on the floor. It was simir to Voidling’s blood, but not even Leo, who possessed aire tainted arm, bled anything other than red.

  Definitely not natural. Leo grimaced as he watched the blood form crimson rivers that extended in every dire of the shed.

  So much blood. Just a few days ago, a sight like this was reserved for horrible acts or crime ses, but now? It was the new reality. Blood flowed everywhere, painting the world in shades of red. Monsters could e out from every er, ready to tear out the throats of anything that still breathed. And now the first survivor I met just died, by my hand no less…

  Leo’s deeply rooted morals tried to push the growing guilt to the forefront of his mind. But as his empty eyes fell on the bodies of Voidlings and the dead human, Leo had to ask.

  Why?

  Why did his emotions try to punish Leo for doing what was right? Why did it really matter? The world he knew was dead. Gone forever. So why was his mind trying to judge him by the rules and morals of the old world?

  Because I’m still a human.

  Only a bit over a day passed sihe world ged, and while it was not enough time to shift Leo’s entire mi, he didn't even try or want to ge it. He could repeat a thousand times that he had to find and protect his family no matter what. But did he really mean it?

  Despite the o get stronger, Leo’s pn of survival depended on avoiding most of the Voidlings. Killing only those that noticed him or stood in his way. Hell, if this little shed had any alive monsters inside, Leo knew he would have ried to kill them. Better to run and leave them behind than have more blood on his hands.

  A path like this might prolong his life for a bit longer, but in the end, it didn’t make him stronger. Didn’t make him more capable of finding his family. And even after the System warned him, Leo still instinctively followed this path. His morals and fears had stopped him from doing what was necessary to survive and thrive.

  “But now I see,” Leo murmured, his eyes glued to the fallen body.

  This man ily showed Leo that his old mi had no p this new world. It only held him back. To truly survive, Leo had to truly adapt, and find the best way to deal with every siuation.

  Easier said than done, but that's what it's all about, eh? Those who ge and adapt faster to the new way of the world will thrive. While the others will struggle to see the light of the day. Was this what the eant with its warning?

  Leo sighed, head in his hands as the dagger fell into his p. This apocalypse really didn’t want to give Leo a break. Although maybe this was for the best. Deal with all of the problems now so he could focus on his goals after.

  Either way, Leo had to ge his attitude toward survival. It might take hours, days, or even weeks, but he had to try. Too much was on the lio tiing like a scared boy that hid behind morals.

  With the deade, Leo let his gaze wao the notifications that still required his attention. Reading the first line, he grimaced.

  Awakened Human (Warrior LVL: 2) sin | Experience awarded | 2 Ether absorbed

  ging his mio bee better aced to this new reality was ohing. But killing humans, other survivors? This was a line Leo hoped to never cross again, even if it was just wishful thinking. After all, he could never know how some of the survivors dealt with the end of the world.

  Enough of that. Leo shook his head, trying to once more focus oher notifications.

  Level 3 reached. Css attributes distributed. Please assign your 2 free attributes.

  Leo’s advao the level robably the only positive thing that came out of this entire enter. Every bit of additional strength was wele, even if the way Leo received this power boost was sketchy, to say the least.

  As for where the two free points were going? Oo Might, just like Leo pnned yesterday, while the other went to Mind. The attribute responsible for the trol and regeion of Essence was just too important.

  Evewo points Leo gained after advang to the sed level increased his grasp on Essenough to activate stealth a bit faster. With awo points, Leo hoped to lower the time even more and maybe, just maybe improve the skill, as for now, it didn’t help a lot. Leo’s previous enter with the Voidlings proved that much.

  On top of that, he also wao finally figure out how to activate Reinfort properly. For now, Essence had always slipped iween his fingers whetempted to force the skill to form. In addition, Mind was supposed to speed up the regeion rate of Essence so it could never be a bad choiot when Leo wao have stealth active permaly.

  Nodding, Leo accepted his choice, a grunt instantly leaving his lips.

  Every muscle in his body tightened as burning Essence flowed through every inch of his frame. Leo almost colpsed to the ground when his muscles rexed, letting him breathe once again.

  I really hope it won’t always be like this. It would be inve if I ever had to assign my points during a fight and colpsed like a sack of potatoes…

  Standing up, Leo flexed his arms, his joints snapping bato their pce after sitting in su unfortable position. His lean body didn’t ge suddenly after another point in Might, but he could feel his muscles w overtime without any additional strain.

  This little fact made Leo wonder how the state of his body affected his physical attributes. Could he manually train his body to gain attributes or was he locked in his current state forever? Something definitely worth testing out ter on.

  Now let’s see if my Essence will finally listen.

  Like always, Leo closed his eyes and reached deep into himself. A phantom hand grabbed tightly onto the flowing crimson energy and forced it to e out. Uhe st time, his Essenly fought for a brief moment, like a child that didn’t get their favorite dy. Then it realized that there was nothing it could do and obeyed, surging out.

  The familiar barrier enpassed his body almost instantly, a silent gasp leaving Leo’s mouth as he finally uood a bit more about both his ability and Essence.

  Incredible…

  Stealth wasn’t magically making him less noticeable. No, from what Leo noticed with his very limited uanding of Essehe barrier was trying to imitate the natural energy of the enviro. Thus it created a weak effect of blending in. Or at least that was what Leo observed when the skill formed once again.

  It would also expin why the ability felt so unnatural in the beginning. Leo was only used to his own Essenot the almost unnoticeable energy in the air.

  Without even opening his eyes, Leo slowly touched every single inch of the barrier, hoping to uand even more about his most used ability. From head to toe, he left nothing unchecked.

  Even during his first search, Leo noticed some irregurities. Holes that left the barrier inplete. Pces where the yer of Essence was too thin or too thick. Or spots where Leo’s energy formed the barrier, but remained unged, refusing to do its job.

  That’s probably the reason why this skill is only a on one and doesn’t work too well. I wonder…

  Keeping a tight hold on his Essence, Leo poked one of the many holes in the barrier and forced his Esseo fill the gap. Sweat formed on his brow as Leo’s soul energy moved, slowly entering the hole. It fought against his and, but he pushed until no sign was left of the gap.

  With one of the many holes mended, Leo khat his job was far from done. His Essence might have fixed one mistake, but it still refused to act like the rest of the barrier, and with Leo’s current knowledge he had no clue how to correct that.

  It doesn't matter for now… With that sihought, Leo moved on to the hole, and then another and another. He probably stood in the same pce for a few mirying to improve his ability. Only when Leo was about halfway through his task, he gasped for breath, eyes opening as Essence escaped from his grasp.

  Leo leaned against the wall, hand on his knees. He tried too hard without enough trol. As such, when he reached the breaking point, the energy turned on him, the barrier disappearing and leaving him breathless.

  Defioo early. Leo coughed.

  His newfound uanding of Essend Stealth made Leo restless, and so he had pushed a bit too hard before he was ready. The hopes of a new and improved skill pulled him in, but it seemed that the current state of his Mind attribute was far from enough to achieve such a feat. And now, as he once again reached into himself, into the small pond of Essenside his soul, Leo realized that it was almost dry, with only droplets of energy remaining.

  That would expin the backsh. He reasoaking a series of steady breaths. ime I will do it slower. Much slower.

  Sighing, Leo promised himself to e back to this subject when his Essence regeed. For now, he still had a shed full of bodies to deal with.

  He approached the Voidling crushed underh the metal shelf. Leo grabbed the object with both hands and grunted as he dragged the bundle of metal off the body, the additional point in Might already proving its value.

  Leo crouched o the dead Voidling, and just like with every monster before, he pushed his cws deep into the creature’s stomach. The Essence flowed through his arm, but it felt like a small stream instead of the usual crashing wave of power when he drained a Voidling.

  Does Essence disappear over time? If so then for how long did this man y there, half-dead?

  Leo shuddered. Was this the reason why the other survivor wanted Leo to kill him? If he had to y there for hours, waiting for death, then Leo couldn’t even fault him. This fact also raised an important question. Just for how long could the System or Essence keep someone alive after suffering mortal wounds?

  Leo hoped to never find out and just moved to the other Voidling, wanting tet about this subject.

  Like with the first one, Leo gained only a bit of Essence from the corpse, pushing the sated status back to eight hours. Not the best oute, but it wasn’t Leo who killed them.

  Stopping by the st monster, Leo grabbed the hilt of the straight short sword and pulled. The on slid out without a fight, bck blood dripping from its rusty double-edged bde.

  A quick Identify let Leo know that just like his dagger, this on was a gift from the System for a warrior css. He took a few test swings and frowned when, unlike his chosen on, the sword just didn’t sit right in his hand.

  So without a respective on mastery, I ’t wield any other bded on or what? I didn’t have this problem with Dad’s rifle, though that might be because I already shot a firearm before… This system is really making this fusing.

  Sighing, Leo pced the sword on the floor and raised his cws over the monster's chest.

  'Ca-Caw! Caw!'

  Leo froze, his gaze darting towards the opened door. A crow? What the fuck?

  With his Essence reserves still almost empty, Leo so the entrand took a peek out. His gaze jumped from tree to tree, branch to branch as he searched for the damned bird that almost gave him a heart attack.

  Leo had to take a step out of the shed to take a look at the other side of the clearing, and when he did, he also found the creature that definitely wasn’t a crow.

  Shit.

  The bird hung high in a tree, hugging the bark with its cws that came attached to lohery wings. The bck, almost serpentine body cked ahers or even limbs, other thawo wings. If it wasn't for the color and the four, ruby eyes, the creature would blend perfectly with the tree thanks to its bark-like skin.

  The monster opes rge beak and cawed again, another series of simir sounds soon eg through the forest clearing.

  Leo’s heart pummeled, uanding well what this call meant.

  Seeker (Voidling) | Rank: F- | LVL: 2

  Could be worse. At least it is only as rge as a normal crow and seems weaker than me. But just how many of you are out there?

  Leo ran bato the shed, leaving the door open. In a matter of seds, he draihe st Cursed Human, and with a bit of torn clothing, he tied the sword to the other side of his bag. The warrior’s on might not suit him, but it still could be useful.

  Grabbing the trusty shovel with his cws, Leo’s normal hand nded on the sheath of his dagger, ready to pull it out at a moment's notice. He once again took a peek outside and cursed wheiced two more of those weird Voidlings.

  Okay, just three birds with very sharp cws and beaks. Definitely doable.

  With a deep intake of air, Leo stepped out of the shed only to stop in his tracks as twelve gring eyes nded on him, caws once again filling the woods. Just to test something out Leo took a step baside the shed and the birds immediately quieted.

  Weird. I really hope they aren’t calling for reinfort. That sihought made Leo move out again. Three flying monsters were enough, he didn’t need aire flock.

  And so Leo dashed towards his previous path, the g ing ba full force. A quick look over his shoulders let him know that the birds definitely weren't pnning oing him run away

  Leo jumped behind a thick trunk and flipped the shovel to his other hand as he brandished his cws.

  Alright you little fuckers, you want to py? Let’s py.