"Argh! Fucking shit!" As soon as I opened my eyes, I noticed a weight pressed half of my body. My vision is still quite blurry, but I know that I'm plunged by a large chunk of metal on the ground. Blood is also drenching around the floor.
I tried to lift my head and shouted as hard as I can, "Hey! Is anyone around?" I tried to shout as hard as I can but its all in vain. They may be dead, or they might have fleed already to save their sorry assess. I tried to look up and noticed that it is already noon, we've started to leave the camp in the morning, the attack has been around at ten in the afternoon. I think it's already at five in the noon, and I've been lying here for about seven hours. If this is real, I could've died.
"We're pretty lucky." A familiar voice emerged out of nowhere; the voice is pretty loud, the man speaking is somewhere near me.
Hearing a voice is like seeing a faint light when there's darkness surrounds me. "Who's that?"
I heard him laugh a little, "It's yo' man Adam."
"Adam?"
"Yes, you heard it right."
"Where you are right now?"
"I'm here, probably in the same situation as you."
"You're stuck?"
"Yeah, but don't worry, I can get us out of this place."
I heard a sound of a moving metal nearby; it must be Adam lifting those metals to free himself. "Where are the others?"
"I don't know, some might be dead, but those who are alive must have left already."
"Aren't they soldiers? Why did they leave their comrades."
"Well, it's an order, we don't have any choice." I heard a footstep coming near. "Where you at?"
"I'm here, I think there's a wheel nearby, if you see a wheel, try to come close and you'll find me."
The footsteps are slowly getting louder and louder as metals continuously clamoring here and there. "You see, a life should not be paid by another life, trying to save someone will put the life of the person saving at risk, we can't afford more losses."
"I see, that makes sense." I know it might sound inhuman, cruel, cowardly, and all, but sacrifices are necessary for survival. It reminds me of how I left my family to succeed. Sometimes you must leave people behind to continue moving forward. A moment later, a human shadow appeared from behind, "Oh, there you are." He smiled. Adam then, one by one, lifted those heavy metals that got me stuck with ease, considering he's inju- I guess not, he's not injured at all, he looks like a brand new person who just got out of a nice warm bath.
"Help me get up." He held my arms and pulled me upward, and grabbed my shoulders.
"Sure boss."
"How are you uninjured?"
"Well, I used some of my necros to heal myself."
"Is that possible?"
Adam helped me walk while his eyes wandered around, "Yep, if your soul power is strong, you can actually control your necros externally, it is called necro materialization." Adam glanced into me, "Where should we go?"
"I don't know."
"Where the hell are we?"
"We're somewhere near north."
I tried to look at the vicinity, and everything looked like there's a war that broke out. The ground is full of enormous fault lines, and everything's a total mess.
"Look there," Adam pointed to a pretty steady building somewhere at southwest, "We can stay there for the time being."
"Right." I tried to walk on my own, and it seems that I can handle myself until we get there. Adam and I started to walk, "I don't understand, how do kuishinbos appear? Are they everywhere?"
"No, there is a barrier set in each every city, these barriers are continuously supplied by slaves and prisoners' necro, however, there are times that barriers weakened due to lack of support and technology causing malfunctions. These malfunctions temporarily allow kuishinbos outside the barrier to enter the city. However, this time, the barrier was completely destroyed by a large kuishinbo and the entire city was swarmed by other smaller and common kuishinbos."
I see so that's what happened. Well, I guess this training taught me a lot of things I didn't know. "Put me down, I can handle myself, thanks!" Adam and I are finally inside this building. Of course, we're both unsafe since kuishinbos might attack us anytime. If this is real life, man, I will definitely die at any moment.
'If only I have a necro.'
Adam sat beside me and sneered, "Man, I don't know how you'll survive, I can pretty much last for months without eating since I have my necro, I can just heal myself."
"Then we don't have to wait here for months." I stood up and started to walk around, ignoring the pain around my abdomen.
"What are you doing?" Adam scoffed as he stood up and lifted a few rocks.
I turned my attention to Adam, "What are you looking for?"
"I'm trying to find a thing to use to light a fire, it's getting darker now."
Adam straightened and wandered his eyes around while tossing a thing in the air repeatedly, "There's a battery here, I wonder if we can use them to light a fire."
I was surprised when I heard he found a battery that I immediately stood up, "Hey, we can use the battery to light a fire, but first, you must find a steel wool, maybe you can find it in our truck that crashed."
"Oh, okay, got it, wait for me right there." He waved his hands and started to jog outwards.
..
..
..
A few minutes later, Adam came back with steel wool in his hands, "I wasn't able to find any steel wool." He said as he showed what he's holding in his hands. "However, I used my necro to create one," He scratched his head and smiled, "I don't even need to leave here, after all, I was worried a kuishinbo might attack you."
Vander smiled as he stood up and grabbed the steel wool from Adam, and to his surprise, it is indeed steel wool that Adam managed to create using his necro. Vander realized how efficient life would be because of necros. It is indeed a reason why the world, despite the catastrophe, advanced much further than what it once before. "I can handle myself, don't worry." Vander smiled and started to do his thing.
Vander prepared the steel wool by loosening up the strands by pulling them away from each other using his fingers. While Adam was away, Vander gathered some things such as extra tinder and other materials to maintain the fire. Vander then positions the steel wool near the tinder.
Adam was so surprised to see what Vander is doing, his eyes are widened, and he couldn't get off his eyes to Vander's hands in work. He was wondering where did Vander learn that, "How'd you know all this?" He asked.
Vander averted his attention towards Adam momentarily, "It's something I learned from my past life, it's basically how humans lived a few years ago."
"I see, what was it like before?"
Vander lifted his head as he tries to remember the memories he has in the past. It wasn't that good. It was hell for him but thinking about it made him realize that his life in the past, all his sufferings and demeanor are incomparable to what he's about to face in this new world. "It's peaceful, tranquil, prosperous, and all. People are living a good life, much better than your pathetic lives, or should I say, our pathetic lives, right now." Vander was bitterly sardonic as he flashed a half-smile.
"Guess you're missing your past life eh? Glad I don't have any."
Vander continued his work as he touched both positive and negative terminals of the battery to the loosened strands of steel wool, and it immediately started to burn. Vander created a short circuit as the electrical current flows along with the short pieces of steel wool connected to the terminals creating a temperature of more than 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. He was glad to know that scientific principles are absolute and indefinite. At least he could do some things to further improve his current situation. As soon as the fire ignited, Vander surrounded its location with stones and added a few more tinder to strengthen the fire. On the other hand, Adam started picking few planks of wood around to support the fire for a more extended period.
"Here," Vander hand a few canned foods to Adam. "I managed to find a few canned goods. It turns out that this place was a mall or it had a market inside.
"Wow, thanks!"
Vander and Adam both enjoyed the meal together, it doesn't taste good, but at least with fire, the food is edible; after all, the food was specially handpicked by Vander himself. The both of them enjoyed sharing each others' stories, and when the night finally came, Adam noticed that Vander is slowly running out of energy. Adam stood up and said, "Vander, go take a nap somewhere there. I'll guard you."
"You won't rest?"
"I've been resting for a while now, I can just use my necro to heal myself."
"Do you have enough?"
"Yeah, actually, it only needs ten necro to heal me depending on the severity of the injury, but if it's just because of fatigue and whatnot, just five necro would be enough."
"How long will you recover that five necro?"
"Since I have already cultivated my soul power at least silver rank, it would take an hour before I recover each."
Vander found a small expanse, at least flat enough to lie on. He swept the specks of dust and removed a few small stones, "Silver rank?"
"Yeah, there are five ranks in soul cultivating, the Copper, Silver, Malachite, Diamon, and Spectrolite. These ranks define one's soul power which in turn defines one's ability to control necro and its recovery time." Adam raised his head and heaved a deep sigh, "However, if you don't have any necro, I wonder how you can use your soul cultivation, aside from martial arts, it won't be much of use to you."
Vander's face went blank. He doesn't know what to say, but, "It's still worth a try." He then sat down on the floor while he rests his back on a wall. Vander wandered his eyes around, worrying that the place might collapse anytime. However, when his eyes met Adam playing the stones while looking outside, he felt relieved. He's not alone, but he knows he can't completely trust a person he just met.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine here." Adam turned his head to look at Vander, who was staring at him, only to find, he was already sleeping.