The target we set for ourselves was level 50.
We wanted everyone in the group to be at least level 50 by the time we set off for France. Since there was no way of knowing what manner of monsters would be waiting for us in Europe, we wanted to at least e strong enough to not have to worry about getting killed by a rat.
If what I had seen in the Ocean was anything to go by, even level 50 wasn't anything much really. I doubt that even a level 100 could survive if they fell into the sea and were attacked by hundreds of monsters at once.
Besides, sharks could already kill a person with ease, never mind a shark the size of an aircraft carrier.
...
Today, we had decided to split up into groups and search for supplies and a place to stay. Sleeping outside for another night wasn't viable with Kashyap being injured and the sheer amount of monsters that could kill us, even by accident.
Since I was at the highest level, I took Kashyap to go find a base of some sort. Meanwhile August and Kyle went off to kill rabbits. I had told them where the rabbit warrens were and they sounded excited, heading off hunting right after they finished breakfast.
At least this time, I remembered to warn them not to fight the Ants. I didn't want a repeat of what happened when August nearly died at the beach, just because I forgot to warn him about the dangers of the ocean.
Kashyap and I walked slowly through the prehistoric fields, carefully picking our way through the tall grass, making sure not to stumble across any ants, landmines or monsters.
"Does the sun look weird to you?" Kashyap asked me as we walked.
"Eh... Hold on a second," I said abruptly. Right as I was about to reply, a giant field mouse had scampered by.
The mouse was about as big as a large dog and had disproportionately large front teeth like a rabbit. Those teeth looked big enough to snap steel.
Before the creature could react, I burst forward, lashing out a vicious kick that snapped one of its back legs.
The mouse jolted up into the air from the impact of the kick and squealed painfully as it thumped back to the ground. It shook its head as it stood up from where it landed and tried to run away.
My hand shot out and latched onto the Mouse's short brown tail like a vice. When it tried to run, I yanked the tail in my hand and the mouse was dragged along the ground to my feet.
I placed one boot on its back, holding it in place. It writhed and wriggled beneath my feet but no matter how hard it struggled, couldn't break free.
Even while the mouse was still struggling beneath my foot, I gestured towards Kashyap, "Kill it," I said while pointing towards the helpless mouse.
Kashyap flinched slightly and looked at the pitiful creature, "Do I have to?"
"No," I told him truthfully.
As Kashyap sighed in relief, I continued speaking.
"You don't have to kill it. But I won't be carrying any dead weight around with me when we head to France," I said. There was no point in sugar-coating it.
He looked down at the helpless creature with tight lips. "This is different to killing rats and the cat. They could fight back. This... it's helpless..."
"Yes," I said plainly.
"But... I still have to do it?" He asked me, his voice almost cracking.
"Yes,"
Kashyap took a shaky breath and walked up in front of the mouse. "Do you have a weapon?" He asked me hopefully.
"I'm afraid not," I apologised.
Again, he looked down at the trapped mouse and frowned, for a long moment, he stood silently, frozen in place. Finally, I saw resolve flash across his face, "How do I kill it as painlessly as possible?" He asked grimly.
"Hit it here," I said while pointing to the spot at the back of the mouse's head where its spine met its skull.
Kashyap nodded and took a shaky breath. When he stepped forward, his legs wobbled a bit but he didn't stop. He raised his foot up above the mouse's head and paused for a long moment. I could almost hear his heart racing wildly.
He brought his foot down and it thumped into the ground beside the mouse's head, raising a cloud of dust. "Sorry," He apologised and raised his foot again, it hovered shaking above the mouses' head.
"Take as long as you need," I said softly.
Perhaps the mouse sensed it was about to die because it began squealing desperately.
It only stopped squealing whenever Kashyap's foot crunched into the back of its neck, killing it instantly.
[LVL 3 Field Mouse killed - 300 Experience gained]
He shuddered and took his foot back so quickly you would have thought he had stepped into an open flame.
I patted Kashyap on the back and tried to usher him away from the corpse. "I'm fine," He said quietly. Shaking off my hand.
He didn't move away from the mouse and stayed staring at the corpse for a long time. Finally, he lifted his head and nodded to me, "Let's go," He said quietly.
We followed the direction of the road while being careful not to go too near the road itself. We were all too aware of the dangers that lay there.
...
It took us almost 3 hours of walking before we arrived at anything remotely interesting.
This was partly due to Kashyap's injuries that forced us to walk slower. I had offered to carry him but he told me he would kill himself if I picked him up so that was a no-go.
The other reason we took so long to find anything was that every time we encountered a monster, I would cripple it and then allow Kashyap to kill it. This would be impossible if the monster had strong armour or was too large, as Kashyap wasn't strong enough to kill anything of substantial strength.
Thus, the victims of our hunting were field mice, rabbits and even a sparrow the size of a pterodactyl that had attracted us. For the most part, it wasn't hard for me to restrain them, the only thing that gave me problems was the sparrow.
I now sported a deep cut on my hand where it had pecked me with its beak.
Another surprise was that I got to use my exterminator achievement a lot sooner than I thought. Even though I was still avoiding ants like the plague, there were plenty of other insects that tried attacking us. The fields were full of giant crickets and fleas that were straight out of my nightmares.
We were even attacked by a worm that had grown to be the size of a boa constrictor.
The result of all of these encounters was that, by the time we reached the first thing that resembled what we were looking for, Kashyap had reached level 17 and I had even managed to reach level 30.
As we came to a stop in front of a ruined farmhouse, the sun was directly above our heads in the sky, beaming down on us with its red glow ferociously.
"It does look weird," I said thoughtlessly, looking up at the sun.
"That's what I was saying earlier. Its colour seems to have changed. Didn't it used to be more orangey?" Kashyap asked while looking up at the sun and squinting.
"Your right, what do you think it means?" I asked.
"Fuck if I know," Kashyap said with a shrug.
"By the way, you're looking a lot better than you did this morning," I told him. And he did, thanks to all of the increased levels, he was looking rejuvenated.
"Thanks, I feel a lot better," He said, before adding something else softly, "Thanks for this... helping me I mean."
"Don't worry about it," I said with a shrug. "What class did you pick anyway?" I asked him.
"Oh right, I was just about to ask you which one I should pick," Kashyap laughed, bringing up his status and showing me his options.
[Mechanic]
[Parasite]
Just like August, he only had two options, one of which sounded quite strange.
"Is the system insulting me for being carried?" Kashyap asked curiously.
"It looks like it doesn't approve of the way you got to level 10... Looks like we will be officially getting a mechanic," I said with a laugh.
Kashyap smiled and picked the (Mechanic) class.
For a long while, he closed his eye and frowned slightly. When he finally opened it again, it seemed to sparkle like gemstones and he was sporting a big smile.
"Not bad," He said approvingly.
I elbowed him eagerly, "Come on then, show me your skills,"
"But my mum always told me never to show my skills to anyone except my wife," Kashyap said with a laugh.
The look of disgust I gave him was enough for him to figure out what I thought of his joke. He promptly opened up the system and when I saw his skills I was a little bit jealous. His skills were much flashier than mine.
[(Mechanic)
Passive Skills (25% increase) - (Dexterity) (Problem Solving) (Strength)
Active Skills:
(Gold touch - Spend 1 mana per minute to enhance the abilities of any machinery you are holding.)
(Self destruct - Overload machinery with mana to create massive explosions. The strength of explosion and mana required varies depending on the size of the desired target.)]
Kashyap flexed his fingers and exclaimed in shock, "They actually feel faster! this must be my increased dexterity. I could get used to this." He said giddily.
I laughed at his childlike reactions and together, we headed over to the farmhouse that looked abandoned.