"Looks like I've got a secondary objective now."

I had to find a way to charge my phone, and I'm pretty certain this medieval-esque world doesn't have phone chargers. Either way, though, I'll be sure to keep it as a side quest of sorts. I'd rather focus on not dying to these supposed waves of calamity first than try to get a charger.

I put the phone into my pocket since I couldn't store it in my weapon storage thing without risking the weapon absorbing it. I looked around quickly to see if the visitors from before left anything behind but found nothing of note. However, I did scoop up a handful of hourglass sand nearby, like I had done before so that Faith could unlock the level-locked weapon form.

I quickly jogged back to where Nickoli and Faith were, being careful not to drop much hourglass sand in the process.

"Took you long enough? What were you even getting?" Faith berated annoyingly.

"Don't worry about it, here," I said while holding the sand up to her. "Absorb this into your weapon gem thing."

She just stood there, crossing her arms and looking at me with eyes of contempt.

"Listen, I'm not going to obligate you to take the sand. Either way, this will just hurt you in the long run," I said condescendingly.

She stood there with her arms crossed for a moment longer until she finally heeded and absorbed the sand into her gem.

"Is that all you were getting, Alex?" Nickoli asked curiously.

"Yeah, that should be everything. I have some other stuff I want to talk about, so we should probably head back to the mound," I told both of them.

"Are we not going to get more EXP like we normally do every day?" Faith questioned.

I got up and began walking toward the direction of the mound. "All will be explained once we go back," I said while motioning for them to follow.

There was no response, but after a bit, I heard the somewhat quiet sound of the tracks on Nickoli's tankette following some distance behind.

I gave a small sigh. "My goodness, those two can be stubborn half the time," I said while rubbing my forehead.

...

I arrived back at the mound a while later. Some monsters did try to attack me, but they were few and far between compared to before. It was rather uneventful compared to some of our other days, but considering the atmosphere, it was acceptable.

I was the first to arrive, and being so, I took the opportunity to grab the few remaining Tac fruits that were still left from Nickoli's earlier rampage on them. While normally it would be chivalrous to leave extra fruit for Faith, I learned pretty early on how she seems to take everything from me as an insult.

Along with that, she eats the least out of all of us, with Nickoli being the biggest glutton. I'm not sure about her figure exactly due to the heavy cloak she always wears, but I'm still surprised she isn't sweating heavily 24/7. At this point, I've just accepted it.

I waited a while longer for Faith and Nickoli to arrive. I expected them to arrive sooner, but at this point, I couldn't care less about what they were doing.

"So what were you planning on telling us?" Faith asked me.

"I'm pretty sure you noticed it yourself, but we seem to be gaining less EXP overall from our level-gaining expeditions," I said to both of them.

"Yeah, I have noticed that as well. Why do you think this is happening?" Nickoli asked me.

"I think it's because monsters are attacking us less often than before since the gains per monster are still the same," I explained.

"I see," Faith said, rubbing her chin.

"So I have a proposition for both of you," I told them.

"Which is?" Faith asked.

"I think we should most likely move to a different location, preferably to a place with stronger monsters so that we can progressively gain levels again," I explained to them.

"Sure."

"I find no issue with that."

"Oh…" I was caught by surprise by their response, but I continued, "I expected you two to be completely against it."

"I mean, why would we? Having an opportunity to get stronger never hurts. If anything, staying here hurts us in the long run," she said, the last part a bit mocking, but she did have a point.

"Alright, so are we leaving now or?" Nickoli asked me.

"I think we should first get some extra food. After all, we don't know if where we are going will have food, to begin with. Having some food will prevent us from having to stop and search for some during the journey," I explained.

They both nodded in agreement as I explained my plan to search for Tacs for extra food. Nickoli would go by himself, considering how most things don't even seem to hurt him.

Faith went along with me since she still preferred to fight hand-to-hand rather than using the small turret on her small plane.

"So, any reason why you seem to prefer fighting with your fists and not your weapon?" I asked her while we were searching for Tacs throughout the forest.

"Like this plane," she said, pointing at the small bi-plane attached to her back, "can't even be considered a weapon."

"I mean, technically it is since it has a small turret that shoots things," I responded.

"Yeah, but it seems to do nothing other than tickle most monsters or beast people or whatever we face," she spat back before continuing, "compared to you literally having a gun."

"I mean, it's not like I can control it," I said with a sigh. "I'm supposedly the Ranged Weapons Hero, but all I get is guns. At this point, I'm more of a gun hero, if anything."

"Well, lucky you," she said sarcastically.

"Well, it's not like there was a character select screen or anything!" I exclaimed, annoyed.

I saw her turn her head to give me a silent glare before continuing on like before. I had no idea why she was hostile half the time with me. Then again, today was pretty gloomy, with dark clouds filling the sky and blocking the sunlight.

...

We were able to gather a good amount of Tacs before nightfall, and we headed back to the mound to regroup with Nickoli. Surprisingly, he was also able to bring in a good amount and not eat half of it. We stored the rest before each of us began to do our own thing before going to sleep.

Nickoli was always the first one to go to sleep out of the three of us, not that it bothered me that much, at least for now. Faith mostly spent her time looking at her menu or what I assumed was her doing so, considering she would just touch the air.

I did basically the same, mostly recounting what I had gained throughout the day. I was able to reach level 23, only two levels away from unlocking the locked weapon form of the giant ore viper. I had saved up a good amount of weapon EXP as well in order to level it up whenever I did unlock it.

Available Weapon EXP: 342

I had also unlocked the abilities of all the weapon forms I had unlocked so far, except for one.

Tilium Metal Anti-Material Rifle LV 1

Abilities Locked Equip Bonus: +3 Defense

Equip Effect: Armor-Piercing Rounds (Weak)

[O]

I was still uncertain about what armor-piercing was and how it was different from defense piercing, but it's not like I used this rifle anyway. It was just a bigger and more cumbersome version of the Konus Anti-Armor Rifle, and compared to it, it looked very ugly. It was like someone wrapped mirrors with a blue tint around a large anti-tank rifle, which hurt my eyes whenever the sun reflected on it.

The submachine gun wasn't any better. It seemed to be just a slightly larger version of the submachine gun I already had. I would still classify it as a Machine Pistol if anything, but I still wasn't going to use it since it also hurt my eyes unless it was cloudy like today. However, this gave me an idea.

One of my power-up methods was weapon synthesis or something along those lines if I remembered correctly. It let me transfer or copy special equip effects to other weapons. I still wasn't exactly sure how it worked, but it never hurt to try.

I pulled up my favorite weapon form on my menu.

Ore Viper Body Sub Machine Gun LV 20

Abilities Unlocked Equip Bonus: +3 Agility

[O]

I assume that the little [O] at the bottom was something important so I clicked it, only for a small menu to pop up. The menu was filled with a list of all my weapon forms, most of them were greyed out but a few were normal. Looking at them closer, it listed the special equip effect along with them. I had a few options, Armor Piercing Rounds, Defense Piercing Rounds, and +2 Magic Defense.

I was still uncertain what the first two did exactly so I decided to be safe and choose the safe option of + 2 Magic Defense. Doing so I saw a little number tick down next to the weapon form that I got it from, not sure what that meant but I assumed that means it worked.

Looking back at my weapon form status it changed slightly.

Ore Viper Body Sub Machine Gun LV 20
Abilities Unlocked Equip Bonus: +3 Agility

[+2 Magic Defnese]

I assumed that meant that it worked as the status I selected now was applied to my submachine gun. The visual appearance did not change at all as I looked it over so It must be a purely stat thing.

My thoughts were then interrupted by Faith suddenly breaking the silence.

"So are you not going to sleep? After all, tomorrow we are just going to be traveling," She said while giving me a side-eye.

"Same can be said for you," I rebuked, "You sleep the least amount out of us, not sure how you do it and seem fine."

"Well it's not my fault you two are like bears in hibernation," She mockingly responded.

"Whatever you say insomniac," I whispered under my breath.

"What was that?"

"Don't worry about it," I said sarcastically before beginning to lay down on my makeshift bed, "Get some sleep, we have a long day tomorrow."

She seemed to ignore me as she just returned to messing around with her menu, well not my issue. I changed my weapon form to the Tilium Anti-Material Rifle so I can unlock it in my sleep.

I closed my eyes and let myself drift into sleep.

…

The next morning we packed up all the belongings that we wanted to take along with us, that being almost nothing. The only thing we really needed was the makeshift crate box thing that we store our Tacs in, which we just put inside Nickoli's tankette.

We already warned him beforehand about waiting to eat until we rest and not on the way, since knowing him he would most likely eat all of it before me and Faith get a chance to. We decided to head in the opposite direction of where the hourglass and subsequently the hostile village were.

That does make me wonder where the supposed camp of those Lizard men was, but I assume it would be somewhat in that direction as well. It's not like we came across any anyways, and even if we did, we knew the section of the forest near the mound like the back of our hands.

I did change my weapon form back to my Ore Viper Body Submachine Gun, as that is what I felt most comfortable with, along with the Tiliium Anti-Material Rifle that unlocked in my sleep. However, I should probably get some practice using the longer-barreled weapons as they have their own set of advantages.

The travel was rather uneventful, excluding some instances where we were attacked by small groups of monsters that we easily dispatched. Nickoli, of course, rode inside his tankette, while Faith and I walked alongside or ahead of it.

The environment didn't really change much; the grass and trees were still the plain old green color they normally are. The forest, however, began to become more sparse and open, with less shrubbery than before, though that didn't bother me much.

Then again, that could be a sign of the beast people's activity, but unless they found some way to remove stumps as well, this could just be the natural environment. There's no point in not being on alert, however.

The travel was relatively silent, with everyone mostly keeping to themselves. The only times we really talked were when a monster showed up and we told somebody to handle it. I would normally try to start a conversation to make it seem less like a slog, especially with the weather still being cloudy with no rain surprisingly.

But considering how Faith seems to hate conversing, I'd rather listen to the sound of the tracks of Nickoli's tankette moving across the forest floor than her giving her sassy remarks. We did take some breaks throughout the day, mostly just stopping to eat some Tacs for a bit before resuming.

However, as night approached, we had to find some sort of shelter from any potential threats. The best we could find was sleeping under a large tree. We would be forced to take shifts throughout the night so that we wouldn't get attacked by any wandering monsters.

Faith surprisingly volunteered to keep the first shift, but then again, she does normally stay up, so I guess this fits her. I decided to take the second shift, and Nickoli the last. However, we did have another issue: we were cold.

It was probably due to how the mound kept the heat trapped inside alongside our covering, which kept us somewhat warm even when it was chilly. However, due to us having no cover, there was nothing protecting us from the cold, chilly night winds.

"Do you two know how to make a fire?" I asked both of them.

"Nope."

"Me neither."

Well, isn't that great? I guess I could make a fire, but I haven't exactly tested if those survival Mytube videos actually worked. But at this point, I'd rather take my chances. I know for a fact that I need wood and also some small twigs and such.

"I think I know how to make a fire, so as long as we can quickly get a few things, then we should be solid," I said to both of them.

"You think? That's not exactly reassuring," Faith remarked.

"Well, it's either that or no fire. You can choose," I spat back.

She squinted at me before conceding and getting up to get some sticks. I told Nickoli to stay behind so we wouldn't get lost. There were a multitude of different sizes, some small, some large, and getting a good combination of both was essential.

It didn't take that long, as most were on the ground and didn't need to be literally chopped off tree branches, which was great and time-saving. I headed back to where Nickoli was waiting near the big tree to dump off the sticks I collected.

I arrived to find Faith already sitting down with a pile of sticks lying nearby. I guess that nimbleness also translates to her speed in just collecting things.

"Took you long enough," she remarked mockingly as I placed the sticks I collected onto the pile she made.

"Well, my fault. I'm honestly surprised you didn't stab yourself with one of those sticks," I responded mockingly.

Before she was able to respond, she was cut off by Nickoli, probably sensing an argument brewing.

"This isn't the time for this. Let us just get the fire started so we can go to sleep. The sun is about to fully go down."

Faith decided to settle down as she began to mess with her menu again, I presumed.

"Alright, let's just hope this works," I whispered to myself as I began to grab the sticks and pile them together.

I knew that I was supposed to pile them on top of each other, organizing from the bottom and containing the larger ones, which I did. It resembled a house almost but not quite. Next, I was supposed to get a piece of wood and then rub it or something to create friction and make a fire.

Luckily, I grabbed a piece of wood along the way as well, which I began to drill the stick into by rotating it rapidly. The issue came when nothing really happened. I wasn't sure if I was doing it wrong or anything, but nothing was happening—no smoke, no nothing.

I stayed there rubbing and turning for a good couple of minutes until Faith spoke up.

"Do you even know what you are doing?" she snarkily asked me.

"Of course I do..." I said, pretty uncertain.

She gave me a condescending look before she got up and walked over.

"Well, firstly, you should really get some rocks or something to make sure the fire doesn't spread and create a forest fire," she pointed out.

"Oh yeah, forgot," I said sheepishly while rubbing the back of my head.

She looked at me expectantly before saying, "Well, that's your cue to go get some."

"Oh, right, my bad," I said haphazardly before getting up and looking for some rocks to use.

I'll keep my mouth quiet. I don't want to piss her off any further, even though she is clearly starting it. The rocks were pretty easy to find—most were just lying on the ground like sticks in varying sizes. I was able to get a good amount before returning.

"Place them around the little house thing you made," she said while motioning a circular shape around the stick house I made.

I complied and placed them around it, just enough to completely encircle it.

"Alright, good," she said as she put her hand inside her coat and brought out an item.

"What's that?"

"A lighter," she said as she proceeded to light the bottom of the house on fire.

"You had this all along and never decided to mention it?" I said with a tone of annoyance.

"Well, it's not like I want to use this lighter all that much anyway," she said as she put it back into her robe.

"Why not?" I asked curiously.

"That is none of your business. Just be grateful," she spat back as she backed up and sat down again.

"Well, at least we have it. Maybe we can get a lighter variant of a weapon form-"

I stopped talking as I felt a heavy glare from her. I decided not to argue and just head to sleep. Normally, I would eat before sleeping, but considering I'll wake up for my shift to keep watch later, I'll just eat then.

I was awakened a while later by Faith, who then told me that it was my turn. The night was rather uneventful as well. Not many monsters decided to try to attack us during my shift. The few monsters that did attack, I was able to dispatch by just pistol-whipping them, since shooting would probably attract more monsters and awaken the others.

The moon was blocked by the still-cloudy sky, so it was especially dark other than the fire that I had to keep alive by putting more sticks in every once in a while. I could hear the sounds of animals or monsters far away, almost like wolves howling at the moon but not exactly.

The night was still dead silent other than that and the sound of the crackling fire next to me. Maybe the shriek of a monster in the distance was being killed by something, but that didn't really bother me as time felt like it was flying by as I waited. Speaking of time...

[Willowing Fields: 19:15:21:16]

Two and a half weeks until the waves of calamity. I'm not exactly sure if we will be strong enough to face it anyways. Checking our levels in the top left.

Alex Rodgers: LV 23

Faith: LV 22

Nickol: LV 21

I guess they are already catching up, probably because earlier it took only 50 exp to reach a new level, while now it definitely takes more. So it would make sense that early on before we figured out the party mechanic, I would take the lead with a few extra kills.

A while later, I woke up Nickoli and told him it was his turn before I went back to sleep, only to wake up what felt like an instant later, with Faith telling me it was my turn. I had the last shift, and I could begin to see the sun rising a while later.

There was little point in trying to sleep again, so I decided to just let Nickoli sleep, considering his shift would have been only 30 minutes. However, I heard a little movement as Faith woke up a little after the sun came up.

"Do you always wake up this early?" I asked her as she was digging into the few remaining tac fruits we have.

"Maybe," she said a little groggily as she was eating.

"I thought we went over not eating and talking," I said with a sigh.

"Well, I don't care," she remarked as she continued.

"Whatever," I said, deciding not to press the issue.

However, considering it was only the two of us, I decided to take the opportunity to ask her something.

"Hey Faith, what do you say about having a friendly spar?" I asked her.

"Where is this coming from?" she asked suspiciously.

"I mean, I want to get better in close-quarters combat in general, since as you saw, I was struggling with the Lizardman with my back against the wall," I explained.

She gave me a weird look, but she seemed to not mind, so I continued.

"So, considering how you seem to be the best at fighting with your fists, I think it would be best for me to ask you. While I will probably train on my own for aiming practice, at least this will help me not be helpless if an enemy closes the distance on me," I continued.

She gave a small sigh before saying, "Fine, but I want to set some rules."

"Sure, what are they?"

"No shooting at each other, and no doing anything that would get either of us severely injured," she stated.

"Fine, it's not like I was planning on hurting you badly anyway. That would just be a detriment in the long run," I said.

She squinted at me before saying, "You sure?"

"Yes? Why would I want to hurt you that badly?" I asked her.

"I can think of many reasons, but whatever, let's just do this," she said as she got up and began to walk to the open area in front of the tree.

I got up, but before I followed her, I took my phone from my pocket and placed it on some grass to avoid it being broken during the spar. Then I followed her until she eventually stopped and turned around a small distance away from the tree.

"Alright, so are we doing just hand-to-hand or what?" she asked me questioningly.

"I would like to be able to use my weapon in a rifle form if that's okay with you," I said as I transformed my weapon into the Konus Anti-Armor Rifle.

"Fine, I assume you are going to be using it as a club?"

"I think 'baseball' would be a better term for it, but sure," I said as I changed my grip to one resembling holding a bat.

"Never heard about it," she said as she began to walk away from me to get some distance before the fight started.

"Alright, the first one to give up loses," She said as she got into a supposed fighting stance.

"On your count," I said as I held the rifle by its stock looking straight at Faith.

"Three… Two… One…"

I could see her slowly tense up as she began to count down, I'm not an expert so I should take notes on this.

"Go!"

As she finished counting down she began to take large strides toward me in a zig-zag-like pattern.

I responded by raising my bat and readying it preparing it to swing once she got close. I decided to predict her next movement of her approaching as I stepped forward and began to swing.
However, she somehow knew I was going to do this as she stopped dead in her tracks and backstepped in the middle of my swing, missing her entirely.

Once my bat returned to my side as I began to recuperate and prepare for a second swing, she already closed the distance as she got low and then punched me in the stomach. While I have been punched many times in the stomach before, either from fights or from someone accidentally elbowing me in Soccer.

For some reason, this one hurt worse than before, but this was not enough to make me falter. As I steadied myself and shoved my body forward, pushing her back and forcing her to get some distance.

The punch did knock the wind out of me temporarily but I pushed through and recovered then prepared for a second attack. Faith seeing me get my bearings began her attack again as she like before moved to close the distance between us.

This time instead of trying to go for the attack, I would play defensive and counterattack whenever the opportunity stuck. I changed my handling on my rifle to more of a staff as she finally got within striking range.

She tried to go for another stomach punch but this time I slammed down the rifle body on her arm extending for the punch and stopping it in its track.

"Big mistake," She remarked smugly.

I failed to react fast enough as her second hand went for an overhead punch. And as I was not able to raise the weapon fast enough she was able to land a clean blow on my face.

In a panic, I used my rifle body to shove her back however she continued her onslaught as moved in and was able to swing her foot and land a direct hit on my side. The pain was beginning to be felt throughout my body from the blows as I tried to regain my composure again.

She wasn't finished as she backed up, presumably preparing for another attack. In a panic, I tried to preemptively shove her away with my rifle again, this time hoping to stop her attack. However, she caught my rifle mid-shove.

The shove was halted completely, and Faith followed up by delivering a hard hit to my shins, making me wince in pain. Then, in an ironic twist, she began to push me backward while gripping my rifle. However, this presented an opportunity, just like before.

I decided to use the same tactic I employed against the lizardman to catch her off guard. I continued to backpedal in the struggle, mostly because I was allowing her to do so.

"My, my, you seem to be backed into a corner, again," Faith sneered.

"That's what you think," I spat back before executing my plan.

I quickly slid my grip from the lower part of the rifle into the trigger and fired, creating a loud, near-deafening boom as the shot went off into the sky. Faith was taken aback, clearly surprised, and I saw her eyes widen in panic. I seized the opportunity, just as I did before.

I rushed forward, hoping to knock Faith off balance using the same technique I used against the lizardman. However, I was surprised as she was able to stop my rush dead in its tracks, followed by another swift kick to the shins, which instinctively forced my leg to take a knee.

Now on my knee and off balance, Faith exploited my vulnerability by shoving me backward onto my back onto the grass.

"Shit...," I groaned in pain as I tried to get up, only to have a foot pressed into my chest.

"Looks like you lose," Faith remarked mockingly while her boot pressed into me.

In a strained voice, I yelped, "Okay, okay, you win. Can you stop crushing my lungs?"

"Fine," she said as she backed away and removed her boot from my chest.

It took a moment, but I was able to catch my breath again as the pressure on my lungs was relieved.

"I honestly expected you to fall flat from my first hit," Faith said bluntly.

"Well, I guess you expected wrong," I said with an uneasy chuckle.

"Right... Anyways, you still have a lot to work on, like your reaction speed and recovery speed," she pointed out.

"Yeah, that's a given," I said as I got up and began to dust the dirt off my clothes.

"Other than that, you did okay at best. I applaud you for that, at least," she stated.

"Thanks?" I questioned as I changed my weapon form back to the Ore Viper body submachine gun and attached it to my side.

Our conversation was then interrupted by a groggy Nickoli waking up.

"What's going on? I heard a gunshot and thought there were monsters or something attacking," he said while rubbing his eyes.

"Oh yeah, and that reminds me, you cheated by shooting to try to catch me off guard," Faith said in a huff, crossing her arms.

"Well, technically, you said no shooting at each other. I shot at the air," I said sheepishly.

She glared at me, but she probably understood that there was no point in dragging it on.

"Anyway, what's next?" Faith asked.

"We still haven't found anything new, so that means we keep going," I said as I walked over to pick up my phone.

"What's that?" Faith asked curiously.

"Don't worry about it," I said as I put my phone back into my pocket.

She let out an exasperated sigh but kept her silence.

"Anyway, we still have a long journey ahead of us, so let's get a move on!"

End of Chapter 7

[Other World Index]

[Vassal Plane Stats]
The Vassal Plane has nearly the exact opposite stat specialization compared to the Vassal Tank. The Vassal Plane specializing in agility and attack means that they will be the most agile out of the trio of heroes. However, they do this at the cost of their defense and health staying rather low.

Authors Note:
Hello everyone I hope you enjoyed this week's chapter! Alex and Co go camping on their journey to find a better EXP grinding spot. More was initially planned for this chapter but I decided to just end it off on the spar between Faith and Alex. Be sure to come back next week for chapter 8!