It was almost dawn by the time Salem figured they had escaped the fallout. They had flown for around ten hours, just to be safe. He let Alina know they could land. According to his estimation, the fallout should cover an area with a radius of approximately 100 kilometers in the next three days.
"Why do you fear the so-called radiation so much?" Alina asked curiously.
"It doesn't kill you immediately. It kills you slowly and weakens you greatly." He then went on to describe symptoms of radiation poisoning to her.
"So you mean to say that we just essentially escaped death?" She asked disbelievingly.
"Yep." Salem replied, mostly just relieved they had escaped the equivalent fallout of a dozen nuclear bombs.
"Do you think Oregon will be okay?" Alina said worriedly.
"The wind was blowing towards us. It's unlikely the fallout will reach them." Salem said reassuringly. "We are far more than 100 kilomiters from Oregon and the fallout should only reach around 100-110 kilomiters with the wind blowing towards us."
"What's fallout?" Alina asked, ever curious.
"It's the radioactive material that gets blown into the upper atmosphere and falls down over time. The area around the explosion will have the greatest concentration of radiation, which lessens the further out you go.
"Right next to the blast zone, there is enough radiation to kill you in about five minutes. Some would call that a blessing, given the side effects of radiation exposure. The further away you get, the less concentrated and the longer you can safely be exposed."
"How do I know what is a safe amount?" Alina inquired.
"For everyone it's different, and you can never truly know what a safe amount is because even the smallest amount of radiation can cause problems later in life." Salem began feeling like a tired schoolteacher.
When Alina had no more questions, they both laid out their bags. Alina fell asleep almost instantly. Before going to sleep, Salem put out some bugs and tripwires and checked his comprehension.
---
Nanomancer
Innate Comprehension: 7%
Learned Comprehension: 83%
Total Comprehension: 90%
Necromancer
Innate Comprehension: 75%
Learned Comprehension: 15%
Total Comprehension: 90%
---
'My comprehension jumped, but didn't surpass 100%. Does that mean that I need to successfully create a singularity to class up?' Salem began thinking of his future. It wasn't long before fatigue began to take over and dragged him into unconsciousness.