"I don't even know why I bother trying to wake you up anymore."

It was already midday, and Nickoli still wasn't waking up. His sleepy demeanor seemed to get on my nerves more and more as the days passed. He was always the laziest when it came to going out and grinding some EXP. I mean, I guess I could say the same about Faith, but at least gets up when I tell her to.

We had decided to move further into the forest away from the village to avoid being caught by Jirem and his crew. Luckily, No sightings of them had happened for the last week or so. I mean, not that I'm as helpless against them. Spending most of my time getting EXP has begun to show with my LV gain recently. Speaking of it, I haven't checked it in a while, so it never hurts to take a quick glance.

Alex Rodgers: LV 33

Faith: LV 33

Nickoli: LV 32

Conrad: LV 68

Well, luckily EXP sharing or splitting, or whatever it does, makes it so that everyone gets EXP, even if they are asleep. We could have probably gained even more if Nickoli would actually help out, which I have told him multiple times, only for him to promise to get up earlier, which he doesn't do. Well, he hasn't had a crying bout in a while. I say "in a while" as he had one a couple of days ago, but luckily Faith is there to calm him now.

Speaking of Faith, she has been rather... different than normal. Not different in the sense that she doesn't antagonize me every chance she gets, but more like she spends more time attempting to properly take off using her new weapon forms. I was surprised at first, but she has gotten actual flyable planes for once. Well, of course, it wasn't an F-14 Tomcat, but it was a plane, a biplane at that.

Of course, they are rather slow, which is why Conrad was able to catch one and hurl it at a tree when they first encountered each other. I guess that explains why she doesn't go into a flyable form near him, but whatever. She usually leaves for hours and then comes back looking like she fought a tree, but then lost with how many twigs and leaves were on her body.

I mean I don't really mind it, since you never know when or if we might need to make a sudden escape, but then again I'm not exactly sure how everyone is supposed to fit on a small biplane straight out of the early 1900s. But we can figure that out later. Our main goal above all else is to improve as much as we can, which we all have done in our own ways.

Conrad has actually shown me how to sort of dissect animals for their meat, which for me was pretty disgusting. Like don't get me wrong, I have seen some videos on Metube on how animals in factories get turned into meat for consumption, but seeing it up close and by hand is even worse. Something I also discovered is that said parts could also give new weapon forms, which I learned after trying to store some of the meat in my gem storage.

Saber-Tooth Tiger Bone Pistol LV 1
Abilities Unlocked Equip Bonus: +6 Defense

[O]

Saber-Tooth Tiger Fang Pistol LV 1
Abilities Unlocked Equip Bonus: +5 Attack

[O]

Saber-Tooth Tiger Meat Pistol LV 1
Abilities Unlocked Equip Bonus: Attack to Feline enemies increased by 5%

[O]

Saber-Tooth Tiger Fur Pistol LV 1
Abilities Unlocked Equip Bonus: Cold Resistance (Small)

[O]

Dire Wolf Bone Pistol LV 1
Abilities Unlocked Equip Bonus: +5 Defense

[O]

Dire Wolf Meat Pistol LV 1
Abilities Unlocked Equip Bonus: Attack to Canine enemies increased by 5%

[O]

Dire Wolf Fur Pistol LV 1
Abilities Unlocked Equip Bonus: +5 Defense

[O]

I never really knew how many ways I could dissect and cut up an animal, but I'd rather eat meat of any sort than fruit since it was really starting to get on my nerves. Like don't get me wrong, I did like fruit—mangos, oranges, and apples were good, but Tac fruits after more than a week of eating just that makes your tongue go numb practically.

I was hesitant at first, but saber-tooth tiger meat was rather good. It was pretty chewy and elastic, which was rather weird but nonetheless, it tasted better than any fruit. Dire wolf meat was black as tar and was pretty disgusting looking. Conrad did tell me how it did taste as good as it looked, so probably pretty bad.

I mean there was more variety; it turns out there were these bird-like animals called Jol that live perched on trees. They do fly but spend most of their day sitting very still. Conrad says they probably have a reason for doing that, but for me, it just looked like easy pickings for food. Which I took advantage of.

Jol Pistol LV 1
Abilities Unlocked Equip Bonus: +3 Agility

[O]

Nothing extraordinary, but any bonuses I could get my hands on were better, no matter how small. Which I guess had begun to stack up, considering I was able to defeat creatures like saber-toothed tigers and dire wolves rather easily now. Well, that also depends on whether they get the jump on us or not. Most of the time, however, they usually get eliminated before they get a chance to do anything crazy.

Speaking of crazy, Conrad's fighting skills seem to show, even in old age. He is rather agile and quick on his feet and can strike down the wolves in a hit or two with his axe. Though he does have issues seeing stuff from a fair distance away, or so he says; his years of experience show nonetheless.

I have also learned a couple of skills, mostly just basics like how to cut down trees properly, which my axe weapon form actually helped out a lot with. Conrad even remarked on how quickly I was able to do so while being inexperienced. For him, his first tree took him hours, while for me, it was done in a couple of minutes.

I was able to get a nice weapon form out of it as well, so that's nice, I guess since I already unlocked the wood weapon form, it only gave me this, but whatever.

Bark Pistol LV 1
Abilities Unlocked Equip Bonus: Woodworking skill 1

[O]

I keep getting these skill equip bonuses, and I'm still not certain what they do, but I guess they just make me more proficient in doing that said thing. I mean, I guess that would explain me being able to cut down the tree better, I suppose

"Are you just going to stand there all lazily? We still have work to do, Alex!" I heard Conrad call out from behind me.

"Oh, right, coming!" I said as I hurried behind him.

We were supposed to search for a new spot to set up camp. Conrad said it's safer and more efficient to get a spot set out beforehand than to just move everything and wander aimlessly since that leaves us exposed to getting attacked easily.

We usually come across a few small monsters, but recently, they have been showing up less and less. Not sure why; I mean, beforehand, we used to be attacked daily at night and during the day, with them scurrying around and attempting to attack us. Now we almost actively have to be looking for them to find any.

I can't tell if it's maybe just due to us driving their numbers down from hunting them, or maybe they fear us and just run away instead of facing us. Well, the latter holds some water, as instead of trying to attack us, they immediately begin to run away the second we engage in a fight. Makes them just easier pickings, I suppose.

"Alex, you have to be sure to stay alert at all times; you can get yourself exposed, and being exposed will just lead to you getting injured!" Conrad stated worryingly.

"Not the first time I heard that," I nonchalantly responded, thinking back to when Faith brought up the same thing a while ago.

"If anything, that should be a bigger indicator if anything you have to pay more attention to your surroundings," Conrad urged.

"True, but it's not like anything here is bound to cause any major harm; we have only been facing Dire Wolves and Saber-Tooth Tigers, which now have become pretty simple to handle," I explained.

Conrad gave a small sigh, "You are not wrong, but still, it's good to get out of the habit of doing that. What will you do in a situation where you are caught off guard by a stronger or unknown foe?" Conrad challenged.

He does bring a fair point; I guess getting comfortable in a possible life-and-death situation is never ideal. But still, it's not like the variety of monsters will ever increase; we have been facing the same roster over our entire time of being here. It's not like that number will magically increase even though we are in the somewhat sameish forested area.

"Well, we can cross that bridge when we get to it," I remarked.

"I still don't get what that means but sure," Conrad chimed as he continued walking forward.

I kind of lost track of time, but from the sun's position, I can assume it's a little past midday. This is the second day of us searching for a new spot; we usually move once every 2 or so days, but this time it has been delayed due to us not finding an optimal spot. An optimal spot is secluded but still pretty open for us to spot any possible attackers from a distance away.

Not that anything has attacked us in our sleep, of course, though we have spotted monsters mostly orbiting around where we were not attacking, not sure if they were trying to stalk us and pounce when they saw an opportunity. Either way, we did not give them the chance to do anything as I dispatched them rather quickly, with the few that remained scurrying away into the dark.

I still don't understand how the small Ilumi and Konus operate; I know they go in groups for strength in numbers but they never seem to consolidate with the larger ones like the yellow Ilumi or that one time with the giant Konus that literally launched Nickoli away. Maybe they prey on the smaller ones, or maybe they just are not compatible in some kind of way.

Whatever the case, it just seems counterintuitive for them not to join together, as then they would have a higher chance of actually posing a threat. Well probably not to use as a spray with my Submachine pistol is more than enough to eliminate them but still. Then again I might just be overestimating them, since after all they don't seem to do much other than wander aimlessly, jump, or try to run away from any threat.

"Again Alex, eyes up, focus on your surroundings and look for possible new locations to rest. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go back and I can show you more of what I know," Conrad said as he pushed my chin up to face forward.

"Right, let's just get this done," I said with a quiet sigh.

I have been trying to convince Conrad to show me how to cast magic, which he seems to avoid wanting to show me how but isn't bothered to show it off in front of me to light fires. I tried to mimic him in casting magic to no avail, though one thing I do have over him is my ability to cast skills. I will admit I'm still not the master of it, but I'm way better than before when I missed everything by a long shot.

Like with Crystal Shot, it turns out that once I unlock the weapon form I can use the skill on any weapon form. It sort of varies on what form it takes depending on what I'm using but it still does the same thing. Instead of materializing a crystal held back on the bowstring on a bow, it manifests in front of my gun barrel instead.

I still have to pull the trigger to fire it, not sure how that works but this is a fantasy video game-esque world so I'm not one to say anything. I haven't mentioned to Conrad how the world is basically a giant game in my eyes, I don't exactly know how he will react so it's better to keep it to myself.

Either way, it's not going to help just pondering on things while working on something else, It's better for us to get this over with so we could rest later. Again the heat makes it much worse with it beating down on us, but luckily the trees give enough shade to cover us most of the time anyway. If anything the humidity is what is really sucking, I guess even in another world humidity will suck, either if fighting or running for your life, or even just conditioning.

We arrived back at our resting spot a couple of hours later, the sun was still brightly shining down so I guess we still had an hour or two of sunlight left. We found a spot an hour or so away from here, It was pretty decent, nothing extraordinary but we kind of have to make do with what we have. Nickoli was surprisingly not to be found nearby, though he has been following around Faith more often than not.

Well better than him just laying around and not doing anything, since if not for the EXP sharing then I would have definitely dragged him along to gain levels with us. Still though, its on him for not wanting to learn more practical skills, after all, who knows whenever we might need to utilize them.

"Looks like your friend… Nicholas isn't around, he probably went with that Faith girl," Conrad remarked.

"It's Nickoli, and yeah it looks like it, better than him just moseying around," I corrected.

"Ah, Nickoli, sorry I just tend to remember names by face," Conrad sheepishly said.

"Well whatever, I'm hungry, can you create a fire real quick? I can chop up some of the meat we got on the way back," I asked Conrad as I opened up my menu.

"Sure, I'm pretty famished myself, I'll go get some sticks and other flammable materials, and I'll be back," Conrad stated as he began to walk into the forest.

We were currently camped at a small clearing in the forest. The sun was rather bright even if not high up in the sky but the trees seemed to block most of the sunlight which luckily shielded my eyes. I started scrolling my menu until I opened up the inventory or storage section. The items sort of get dispensed out of the gem so I have to be sure to do it near where I want it to go.

Luckily Conrad has a wooden cutting board, while it is clearly very used and old, it still gets the job done. Something that I was hesitant to do before was trying to use any sort of weapon, like a knife that Conrad brought along to cut stuff with. However, it turns out that I don't get zapped as long as I stick to just trying to cook stuff.

This is a relief, as I don't think I would be able to live in this world without being able to use utensils and other simple tools for everyday life stuff. Though I guess some of the weapon forms have bladed bits to allow some stuff like chopping trees but still.

The one annoying part was how I had to do it all on the grass, so I was always awkwardly sitting down in order to do so. Well, I haven't been attacked by any ants, or other world equivalents for that matter so I guess there goes one of my worries.

I plopped down on the grass alongside the cutting board and a small cooking knife Conrad brought along with him. I don't exactly have much experience cutting meat, I mean other than helping my mom cook from time to time, but really it was just sorting stuff. I mean it's not that hard anyway, I just cut the meat into smaller eatable bits, it's only time-consuming if anything.

Something that we also discovered is how for some reason whenever I prepare the meat it for some reason tastes better. I couldn't really note it myself but Conrad said it tasted better compared to when he made it himself one time. So from not on he insists that I cut up the food and such, which I guess if it tastes better then it doesn't hurt.

That might be the cooking skill 1 I got from a weapon form at one point. I don't exactly remember when but I do know I unlocked it, I have unlocked a lot of weapon forms to the point of me forgetting what most of them give. I just equip them until they unlock and swap to the next form.

It's not like I use them I have been sticking to using my revolver, double barrel and submachine gun, as they seem to be the best I have for now. Speaking of which I did level them up a bit so they also increased in power.

Ore Viper Core Revolver LV 22
Abilities Unlocked Equip Bonus: +7 Attack

Equip Effect: Paralyzing Poison Bullet (Weak)

[Armor Piercing Rounds (Weak), Defense Piercing Rounds (Weak)]

Saber-Tooth Tiger Double Barrel Shotgun LV 18
Abilities Unlocked Equip Bonus: +5 Attack
Equip Effect: Hearing Improvement (Small), Sight improvement (Small)

[Paralyzing Poison Bullet, Rope]

Dire Wolf Sub Machine Gun LV 17
Abilities Unlocked Equip Bonus: +5 Agility
Equip Effect: Night Vision (Weak)

[Paralyzing Poison Bullet (Weak), Armor Piercing Rounds (Weak)]

"I have decently leveled up the three most used weapon forms that I prefer for actual combat. While yes, I could have probably saved up the exp for all of them and put them onto 1 form, it never hurts to have variety, since in a combat situation I might have to swap.

I especially think that the combo I have with the double-barrel shotgun is pretty effective. The long spread of the bullets leads to a shot or two landing as long as I shoot in the foe's general direction. Then I can also use the rope to drag them closer into range or to slow them down.

Plus if the enemy does get close, the fanged under-barrel that comes along with the weapon forms means I can dish out decent damage if needed. I haven't really had any chance to test it out in that sequence on an enemy, but in theory, it should work. Well, I hope it does at least because if not then I'm pretty screwed.

"Hey, Alex how's that meat coming along?" I heard Conrad call out a distance behind me.

I turned around to see him working on a small kindling fire, "Working on it," I responded sheepishly.

"Well, have it done soon, the fire is almost ready," Conrad stated.

There wasn't much meat to cut up as I was only making for the two of us, though it was rather annoying to cut into it was nothing major. It only took a minute or so to cut the meat into smaller chewable and consumable pieces. I then had to set them on a metal tray of sorts with wooden handles.

"Alright, I'm done, what about you, Conrad," I asked him as I began to walk over holding the tray.

"I'm done as well," Conrad said as he was putting some cut-up logs into the fire.

The way we cook the meat is rather weird, well not really but it's weird for me since I just needed to put something in a microwave. Conrad built this metal tray holder of sorts that can make it so that the tray can be heated up by hanging it up above a fire. I handed him the tray which he then set above the fire to heat up.

He has a metal rod that he used to prod and flip the meat to the side, sort of like a spatula I guess but not quite. It seems to work so I guess I'm not one to say anything. The meat leaves behind some liquidy residue and while normally cleaning it needs water, The nearest river is a while away so we just leave the knife and board out in the sun for it to evaporate.

The meat takes a bit to heat up so I decided to take the time to practice my aiming with my weapon forms. While I had the most experience and practice with the revolver, it still isn't exactly great. I mean there was also the previous issue of my gunfire drawing in monsters, but they just stopped attempting to do so a while ago.

Now I can just practice without the threat of being suddenly attacked by anything. Well hopefully at least some monsters might get the smart idea of trying something, but I should be able to dispatch them easily.

First, it was with my skill, crystal shot, it was rather unique already due to it being usable on all forms. It works pretty straightforwardly, shoots a crystal at where I am aiming, nothing too complicated.

However, something interesting that I learned is how depending on how I say the skill name it increases in its power. Like if I were to whisper it, it would create a rather small and slow-moving crystal. However, if I were to yell it out it would create and shoot out a larger crystal that moves pretty fast and gets lodged deep inside its target.

It's something I kept in mind whenever I was planning on using the skill. I'm not sure if this applies to all skills as I only have 1 to test it on, so it might be different with others but I'll figure that out whenever I do get another skill.

The crystal is fairly accurate surprisingly; it fires in a straight shot and as long as my aim isn't abysmal then it always hits its mark. Well, my aim still kind of is as I can only really hit stationary targets or targets moving straight at me but I'll get better.

Something I definitely have to work on is recoil control. While I have gotten used to it in the sense of being able to readjust my aim quicker after firing, I still haven't gotten to the point of being able to accurately aim while rapidly firing. If I try to then it just leads to me shooting right at the sky with the way the recoil goes, but luckily the only weapon form that does this is the Ore Viper Body Submachine gun, well better identified as a machine pistol but still.

I did some practice by shooting some rocks I laid on a fallen down log and attempting to shoot them off. It took... Longer than expected for me to get all down, with most of the bullets missing and hitting the log or just flying over. I was most accurate with the revolver, but that was probably because I could handle it better compared to the rest.

I set up the rocks and did it a couple more times with varying amounts of success. Conrad eventually called out that the food was ready so I of course stopped what I was doing to grab a bite. Something that I disliked about the meat that we were eating was that the cooked variant looked black as tar, though it tasted normal. While normally I wouldn't care, it also makes it harder to see which part is burnt or not, which usually ends up being a couple of pieces.

"You ready to eat?" Conrad asked as he cooled down the fire to not overcook the meat.

"Yeah, I just hope I don't get all burnt pieces like last time," I annoyingly recalled as I sat down.

"Well, that's your fault for wanting to take care of the food while it heated, unlike me who knows when it is cooked to perfection," Conrad boasted jokingly.

"Well, maybe if you weren't busy trying to get that large tree cut down then maybe you could have tended it instead," I rebuked.

"Well, how else would we have kept the fire going?" Conrad questioned.

"Maybe with logs from a smaller tree. It's not like we can take all the logs along with us anyway," I sarcastically said as I grabbed a piece of meat from the tray and put it into my mouth.

Conrad gave a small scoff and decided not to continue the argument, opting to eat as well.

We sat in relative silence as we both ate. Unlike Faith and Nickoli, Conrad had the decency to eat with his mouth closed, which I appreciated. The small breeze was the main thing keeping me from overheating from the heavy humidity. Well, I guess there is a small perk in having an opening in your clothing when it comes to that, I suppose.

"Hey Alex, if you were given the choice, would you have chosen to be a hero?" Conrad asked out of the blue.

Would I have chosen to be a hero? I mean, I guess I did technically choose to be a hero in the game menu right before I got summoned, but that was with me not expecting the consequences of being transported to another world. If I was given the option with everything laid out… then probably not.

I mean I got put basically in hostile territory with two teammates that had varying reliability. We basically had to be on the run from the get-go, with barely any introduction or any sort of walkthrough. Alongside that, there's the fact of us having to live in the forest practically, living a nomadic lifestyle with the threat of being attacked by monsters daily.

"Probably not. I mean, the circumstances kind of explain as to why I wouldn't want to be a hero," I answered.

"True, I mean compared to the Mythics, you definitely have it much worse. The Mythics have the support of multiple nations and are important figures in the world. They get basically handed everything, and you… You just got kicked into the dirt practically," Conrad sighed.

"Yeah, if I was given a reception like that, then I probably would rather choose to be a Mythic Hero over a Legendary Hero any day," I angrily grumbled.

"Well nonetheless, you are here and we have a job to do: stop these… waves of calamity from coming and destroying the world," Conrad adamantly said.

"Fair, I wonder if the Mythic Heroes are going to help us with that or not," I wondered.

"Probably not. I mean, just the reaction from the locals was enough for you to be chased out. It would probably mean instant death if you guys encountered a Mythic Hero," Conrad stated.

"Wow, thanks for the morale boost," I sarcastically mumbled to myself.

"Hey, it's not like being angry about stuff will make it any better. Doing something about it is what makes the difference," Conrad remarked as he put another piece of meat in his mouth.

"Well, I guess you are right. Not much we can do other than to keep training and leveling up since even I'm not sure myself how disastrous these waves are going to be," I said as I also put another piece of meat in my mouth.

"How long do we have until the wave again?" Conrad asked.

"Uh, let me check…"

[Willowing Fields 10:2:16:51]

"Around 10 more days, so a decent bit, I suppose," I stated.

"Well, we better not waste those 10 days. If these waves of calamity are as bad as you say they are, then it's always better to be prepared, especially in this case," Conrad said as he continued eating.

"I suppose you are right, Conrad, but we still need to probably plan after the wave as well, since all of us are being hunted down by the authorities," I said.

"We can cross that bridge when we get there," Conrad chuckled as he took another piece of meat.

"Didn't you say that you don't even understand what that means?" I questioned him suspiciously.

"Yeah, did I use it correctly?" Conrad cheekily asked.

"Surprisingly yes," I chuckled lightly as I grabbed another piece of meat, but there was none left.

"Looks like our eating time is over," Conrad said as he got up and did a small stretch.

"Already? This time it flew by like nothing," I whined.

"Reminds me of what one of my army friends used to say. I wonder where he is now," Conrad mumbled to himself.

"Probably not on the run, that's for sure," I said sarcastically as I got up as well.

"Well, we may be on the run, but that doesn't mean we can just lay around. For this lesson, I'll show you how to handle a foe that closes in on you," Conrad said as he motioned for me to follow him.

Conrad has been giving me fighting lessons basically every single day. I'm not complaining of course. While it still is rather basic, it should still help me in cases where I might need to use the practice. Faith joined us for one of the practices but stopped coming as she said it was "too easy."

Well, she isn't wrong, as it really is mostly just posture and weapon handling. While it may not be expertise, Conrad has said that guns do exist in this world, though not like the ones I use. He himself doesn't use them, but one of his old friends has, so he knows the basics at least.

"Alex you coming?" I heard Conrad call out from a distance away.

"Right, it's time to get to work."

End of Chapter 14

[Other World Index]
[Rope]
Rope is a equip effect unlocked by absorbing rope. It allows the user to shoot out rope attached to the weapon form at their desired target and wrap around it. It can pull, hold in place, or extend from the target depending on what the user wishes to do. The rope is however snappable and can break if enough pressure is put on it or if it's just cut.

Authors Notes:
Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed this slower-paced chapter with Alex and Conrad. This does take place 8 or so days later than the last chapter, with lots of stuff happening in between the time. The time until the wave is closing in fast, will Alex and Co be strong enough to stop it? Be sure to keep reading with the next chapter coming out next week!