Meanwhile, the group had gotten to the new location for camp. The earth mages hastily made defensive walls all around, and in no time they had the same dorm type building they left from.
The group gathered when they'd settled in, and Riven's unconscious body was put aside, carefully taken care of by Daniel.
"Even now he's just unconscious, he adds no value to the entire group, he should just be thrown out," a person voiced out.
"Yeah, and the fact still remains that all this is because of him. He should just be kicked out. Since he thinks he can survive by himself, we should let him do so."
Daniel sighed and looked at the faces of all those present, most of them agreeing to kick Riven out and leave him alone to fend for himself, to survive against the beasts outside.
"I see you all have made up your minds, and no amount of persuasion could change that. But could we at least let him wake up? It would be murder to throw his unconscious body out like this."
"Fine then," Thane said.
"But the moment he regains consciousness, he'll be out from here."
"Okay, so onto the next topic now, who are those to go on the next expedition to pick out a new safe location?" Daniel asked.
"..." no one answered.
He noticed they were all looking behind him, then he looked back too and saw what they were all looking at.
They were staring at the now conscious Riven standing behind him.
"You're awake," Daniel muttered.
"Yes, and now that he is, he can leave as soon as possible," Thane stated.
Riven looked around at all of them staring at him and said;
"So you all have decided to drive me out of your group then. Of course, lesser humans like you all and your stupid mentality would decide to do so, claiming I'm responsible for Greg's death."
"Oh, but you are," Thane replied. "Because if it wasn't for you, he wouldn't have had to go back, and the beasts wouldn't have been close to catching up to us."
Thane and Riven started at each other, none saying a word, and Daniel sensed the tension between them.
'This is new, I don't think Riven was the kind to stand up to someone like this, and it even seems he's ready for a fight,' Daniel thought.
Stepping in, Daniel tried to calm the tension.
"Okay, so now he's awake, we could at least give him some time to get himself together. He's been unconscious for quite some time so a few more hours to rest wouldn't hurt right?"
"Oh, that won't be needed, I'll be leaving you all now," Riven said.
The whole group was stunned, as they didn't see why one would be eager to leave a safe place for the wild where he could be killed off easily.
"Riven, are you sure about this?" Daniel drew closer to him and asked. "I can still convince them tinker you stay if I have enough time."
"No, that won't be necessary," Riven backed away from him and looked towards his others, his eyes stopping on Thane.
"You all might think you've been able to get rid of me, or my 'bad luck' by driving me out, not that I would have stayed anyways, but put in mind that I'll be sure to meet with you all again."
With those words, Riven turned to leave, and when he got to the edge of the dome, it opened up and closed back when he had passed through.
He had left the others thinking, 'since when did have that oppressing aura?'
•••
Now away from the group, stood wondering where next he was supposed to go, as he didn't want to exactly enter the forest and end up in front of a dungeon, but he didn't have a choice.
'Well then, let's just hope I end up somewhere helpful. In the mean time, I can check out this system,' Riven thought.
He had had the info on how the system works and how to use it directly uploaded into his brain, so it hadn't taken much time.
'It said I just had to think of the word menu with the intention of opening the interface so...'
'It worked!'
Riven's eyes widened as he accessed the system's menu for the first time. In front of him was a gray panel with words written in blue.He was amazed at the different options and information table available to him.
[System Menu]
[Info]
[Elements]
[Skills]
[Void space]
[Quests]
[Store]
'I also just have to focus on the tab I want to open and.. voila.'
[Info]
Host name-Riven Gray
Age-16
Level-1 (0/100 exp)
Strength-7
Agility-6
Endurance-4
Intelligence-11
HP-100/105
MP-110/110
Stat points-0
'Okay.. now Elements.'
[Elements]
Fire-???
Affinity-15/100
???-???
Affinity-???/???
???-???
Affinity-???/???
???-???
Affinity-???/???
???
Affinity-???/???
'What, what are the question marks for?'
'This fire element is one the original body has. So that can only mean the others must be the remaining three natural elements.'
'But then what's the last one for?'
Thinking about the info in his head, Riven wondered if this method of gaining abilities was made just for him.
As I turned out, the only way to gain other elements was to steal them from other people, thereby rendering them powerless without their magic.
'A perfect way for them to be used just as they were made for, tools for my growth. Who cares if the monsters kill them all, as long as my affinities are up to 100, nothing will be able to stand in my way.'
There were three ways to increase his affinity with elements, and increased affinity meant he was able to controls the elements more easily.
One way was to do something akin to cultivation, just meditating and focusing on the powers within, the elements around.
Another way was through killing beasts and absorbing their cores, as every monster found has a core in their body that is harvested when they've been killed.
That was a way for others to get stronger in the past, and it was people usually entered dungeons, even with the danger involved.
The third method, which Riven came to know he was the only one that could increase his affinity using it, was to absorb it from other people too.
'This means even after I absorb one's element, I can also absorb the same elements from others to increase my affinity too. This is just perfect for me.' Riven smiled.
'Now, my skills..'