'The inside feels more comfortable and cozy, they did a really good job.' Nova smiled and placed his backpack in a corner.
"It's time to become a proper Stage 1 explorer."
Unable to contain the excitement, Nova opened the sealed test tube. The same addictive fragrance spread through his tent.
Nova calmed down a little and drank the potion in a single gulp. He closed his eyes and concentrated on feeling the changes.
A warm current spread through his entire body. Nova felt like he was in a hot spring, not in a freezing cold land.
The warm current first spread through his head, ears, eyes, nose etc. He began spreading from top to bottom of his body and again from bottom to top.
After everything, the entire energy gathered near his forehead and disappeared.
As soon as the energy disappeared, something broke inside Nova —a cracking sound can also be heard.
After that, Nova slowly opened his eyes with a smile.
He can already feel the changes inside his body. His physical strength, thinking power, and reflexes increased dramatically.
There are also other hidden benefits that Nova cannot feel right now.
"Maybe I can sense them during the battle."
But that was not the most important, he acquired an ability and not one at that, Nova acquired a total of two abilities.
"So this is the benefit of high compatibility." Nova grinned with satisfaction.
Other than ability, Nova also acquired another surprise. Initially, even he himself didn't believe it, but was very satisfied with it.
"Maybe, I can survive the battle, even if something goes wrong."
Nova's confidence rose a lot after learning about his new powers. He didn't need to learn from scratch, he learned everything intuitively, more like breathing.
'If I combine them correctly, I can almost escape any dangers.'
The first ability was the skill used by Toxsona to paralyze Nova. It attacks the person's spirit and physical body simultaneously.
The second was more like a passive skill, increasing the awareness of his surroundings, which includes almost everything like danger, sounds, air flows etc.
'The first should be called Sonic Boom and Sense for the second one.' Nova thought and gave a satisfactory name by himself.
"I can test more of my ideas tomorrow. For now, I need to rest."
Nova used his backpack as a pillow and slept on the floor. He was tense the entire day, worrying about others and dangers, now he wanted nothing more than a good sleep.
For tonight's guard duty, Shane and Head will take turns, while tomorrow, Nova, Amelia and Rock will be on duty.
Although Nova doesn't need a night guard anymore since his Sense ability will activate in case of danger, he doesn't want to disclose this ability to anyone.
….
"Sleeping twelve hours feels weird, I haven't slept more than seven hours since I grew up," Nova said to Rock while yawning.
"Ha ha ha! You'll get used to it. I think we need that sleep, our work in the morning requires a lot of energy."
"Captain, I have to say something," Nova said seriously, intending to bring up his conversation with Dave.
He wanted Rock's opinion on this matter. Their lives were on the line and Nova didn't want to gamble on it.
Seeing his serious face, Rock nodded and called, "Amelia, Head and Shane, come to the campfire right now, a secret meeting."
After everyone gathered, Nova began to slowly explain everything said by Dave. He even added his own thoughts about the situation.
Everyone fell silent, unable to digest the truth. Unlike them, Amelia stood up and kicked Rock away.
"You asshole, if you listened to me from the start, do you think this would've happened?" Unable to hold back, Amelia cursed out loud, while clenching her fist hard.
She began to kick and punch Rock hard on his stomach. She didn't care whether Rock was her husband or captain of a team.
Unlike Amelia's anger, Rock felt guilty. He was the sole decision maker in choosing this mission, so the entire responsibility fell on his shoulders. He didn't even dare to resist Amelia's punches, even blood splurted out of his mouth.
Unable to watch the scene anymore, Nova went behind Amelia, grabbing both of her arms and tried dragging her away.
"Amelia, calm down. Calm down. Nothing will change by beating him."
"Leave me, Nova, I need to teach this bastard a lesson." Amelia didn't listen and resisted Nova's grasp. She shook her hand and even dragged him near Rock.
Realising he couldn't overpower Amelia, Nova shouted in her ears. "Calm down, Amelia, you are making the situation worse. Just Calm down."
Amelia didn't listen to Nova's advice and pushed him away in anger.
'You leave me with no choice, I can't let this happen.'
"CALM DOWN, AMELIA!"