He began to panic a little bit, "Hey, Ada..."
Ada, who was asking for tips from the two, turned towards Everette with a raised brow.
"What's up, bro?"
"Can you check your stats?"
Ada was puzzled but decided to do as he asked and decided to ask why later.
Everette saw her eyes dart around before widening.
"Eh? Where is my health bar?"
His face paled before turning towards Jack and Amelia to ask about their health bar.
"Mine's still there."
"S-same."
Everette grasped his face in a perplexed manner.
"What's going on...?"
{"Ding!—
Sensing her host was puzzled, Eden explained the reason for such a change.
—The health bar, as you would call it, was merely an estimation of how much lifeforce you had. This was implemented to support those still in the civilian stage."}
"So would it be right to say that the civilian stage was a sort of tutorial?"
{"You would be right to think that."}
{"The Apocalypse, although it must sometimes be tackled in groups, is usually lonely. You can't always rely on the same things to help you get through everything."}
"... Is it me, or are you speaking much more than usual?"
{"..."}
{"It's just your imagination."}
He gave a deep sigh before leaning his face into his palm.
"So I can assume that my life force is definitely increasing the more points I put into vitality, right?"
{"Yes, even though it does not show, it is definitely increasing. This can be shown by the feeling you get every time it increases."}
Everette nodded in understanding before turning towards the others and explaining it to them.
After explaining this to them, they were discontented, except Amelia. She had a worried expression.
"What a pain," Ada complained, followed by a nod from Jack.
Everette shrugged, "Not much we can do; let's just go with the flow."
After having a few more conversations, they decided to rest today and plan their next step for tomorrow.
***
The Chapel was dark and eerie; bodies of those sleeping littered the floor.
Everette was lying on the ground on his side. The floor was cold but smooth. It was relatively clean, too.
His eyes were closed, but he was only half-asleep. He heard the sound of someone shuffling next to him.
The feeling of an arm wrapping around his abdomen appeared, followed by a pull.
He opened his eyes and turned back to see Ada's sleeping face. She seemed to be having a good dream because of the giddy smile she held on her face.
"..."
He sighed and let her be. She wasn't up to anything, after all. He couldn't help but feel a warm feeling in his chest.
***
{"Ding! Would you like to accept the title—"}
"Yeah, yeah... whatever." Everette groggily waved his hand as the panel woke him up.
Light passing through the stained glass of the Chapel fell onto his face. It was a warm sensation.
Everette tried to sit up but found that he couldn't. He glimpsed down to see two pairs of arms embracing his right arm.
The owner of these arms was sleeping soundly with a silly smile.
Everette gave a soft smile before staring at the ceiling of the Chapel.
"I guess it wasn't some bad dream after all..."
He wanted to believe it was a super realistic dream and that the world wasn't going through an actual apocalypse.
His whisper caused Ada's eyes to flutter awake. She first saw Everette's arm tightly nestled in her embrace.
Her silly smile widened a bit as she took advantage of their situation.
"Hehehehe..."
She couldn't help but let her giggle leak out of her mouth a bit unintentionally.
"If you're awake, can you get off of me?"
Ada stiffened and stayed completely still. She wanted Everette to believe she was still asleep so she could hug him even more.
Everette's hand grabbed her face and tried to push her off of him.
"Get off me, you damn bear!"
Everette doesn't know that Ada's current strength is way higher than his, so he is left baffled at the fact that he couldn't even get her to budge.
Ada's hands tightly gripped his arm. She scooted in closer. She turned her face up towards him before giving a playful smirk.
"There is nothing wrong with two friends cuddling with each other, Everette."
WHACK
***
"Alright, everyone! We will now start with operation 'Level Up'!"
Ada stood before everyone and explained the plan while calmly nursing the top of her head with her hand.
"Me, Everette, Jack and Amelia will be helping those who want to fight level up."
"Now, may I see a raise of hands?"
After Ada said that, precisely 200 people raised their arms.
Everette, who was standing to the side, was pondering.
'Just about half of the people here want to level up.'
Everette smiled with contentment.
"I hope this goes well."