I woke up to the sound of rustling leaves. My body felt lighter, the exhaustion from before reduced but not entirely gone. The scent of damp earth and blood lingered in the air, a reminder that I needed a bath.
Blinking, I sat up, my back pressing against the rough bark of the tree. The sky above was bright, maybe around 11 in the morning.
I glanced to the side, Steve was sharpening his sword, his usual lazy expression back in place. North sat nearby, leaning against a tree with her arms crossed, eyes closed, but I could tell she wasn't fully asleep.
"How long was I out?" My voice came out rough from sleep.
Steve didn't look up.
"A few hours. You snore, by the way."
I scoffed.
"Lies."
North opened one eye, giving me a small smirk.
"No, he's right."
I blinked.
"Then I hope you guys enjoyed it."
I stood up and stretched, rolling my shoulders to shake off the stiffness.
As I glanced down at myself, I took in the mess—mud, dirt, dried blood, and bits of who-knew-what clinging to my skin. My shirt was long gone, not that I thought I needed one anyway, and my pants were practically shredded into makeshift shorts.
I shrugged. It was what it was.
Turning to North, I asked.
"How's your leg?"
She tested it slightly before nodding.
"Much better than yesterday. Still needs another day to fully heal, but I can move."
"Good," I said, then looked between her and Steve. "How about we find some water, clean up, and then eat? After that, we can start hunting for more checkpoints to clear."
Steve gave a simple nod, but North pushed herself up using the tree for support and met my gaze.
"Actually, I was waiting for you to wake up," she said. "I wanted to thank you for your help yesterday, but I think I'll go on my own from here."
I frowned.
"Why?"
She held my gaze steadily.
"Because I don't want to hold you two back. You're both stronger than me, and I need to pull my own weight. If I stick around, I won't grow the way I need to."
I tilted my head, letting her words settle before stepping closer.
"I think you're getting something wrong here, North. Just because I carried you in a princess carry once doesn't mean that's the kind of treatment you're going to get every day."
Her lips pressed into a thin line, but she didn't respond.
I continued, my tone more serious now.
"Yesterday, when you were fighting, I saw it, the hunger to grow stronger. And I can tell you right now, there's no one in Unit 02 hungrier or more hardworking than me."
I extended my hand toward her.
"You wanted to know how I'm leveling up so fast, right? Then stay with us and find out for yourself. See firsthand what it means to play with fire and come out the winner."
She stared at my hand, considering.
I pressed forward.
"Didn't you say yesterday that we need at least ten people who can go head-to-head with Unit 01's top ten?
If we join forces, the three of us can work toward that goal. And who better to team up than the top two guys of our batch?" I let that sink in before adding, "Don't you want your grandfather's wish to come true?"
My green eyes locked onto her brown ones as I waited patiently.
If she agreed, great, I'd get more chances to know her, maybe even impress her. If she refused, that was fine too. She wasn't going anywhere. She'd be in Unit 02 for the entire year, whether she liked it or not.
Finally, she sighed and reached out, shaking my hand.
"Fine. I'll stay. But you're a manipulative person." She scoffed.
I chuckled.
"Sure. So, friends?"
She smiled.
"Friends."
I turned toward Steve.
He glanced between North and me before muttering.
"Yeah, whatever."
I grinned and clapped my hands together.
"Great. Let's move."
I walked over, grabbed my bag, and strapped it onto my back.
North put her bow and quiver on her back.
She pointed at Steve.
"Why doesn't he look happy?"
I burst out laughing.
"Hey, Steve, she's asking something."
Steve stood up, gave his sword a few lazy swings, then sheathed it with a sigh.
"I am happy. I just don't want to waste my energy on smiling."
North blinked at him. Multiple times.
Seeing her expression, I smirked.
"Ignore him. He's always low on battery. But trust me, he's happy."
North sighed and muttered.
"Weirdos."
And with that, the three of us headed toward the river.
North moved slowly, careful not to put too much pressure on her ankle.
Steve walked beside us, casually slashing his sword through the air, like he was slicing invisible throats.
And me? I was lost in thought.
I needed to figure out my next steps regarding Essence.
There were three things I wanted to accomplish this week before the next command came. June had said Arkas was preparing something, and I was looking forward to that.
First, I had to level up my skill [Psynapse Boost].
It was one of my most crucial abilities, and I had only scratched the surface of its potential. The way I saw it, this skill worked like a supercharger for my nervous system.
Right now, it gave me bursts of enhanced reaction speed, sharper perception, and faster cognitive processing, but I knew there was more to unlock.
If I could push it further, I might be able to increase the duration or even enhance my ability to multitask in battle.
Activating it made me feel like time slowed down, a few seconds of hyper-awareness where I could read my opponent's moves like an open book.
But what if I could maintain that state longer?
Or, better yet, what if I could push my body beyond just reflexes and into something even more extreme, like accelerating thought processing to predict an enemy's next move before they even made it?
Second, while I was already using [Essence Manipulation] for Essence Infusion, channeling Essence into different body parts to strengthen them—I still had no direct Essence-based attack.
So far, my ability had only played a supportive role. That needed to change. I had to figure out a way to attack directly with Essence or create a new attack using it.
Third, I needed to push my attributes up without leveling. My goal was to hit 50 in each attribute before reaching level 25, which meant I had to rely on generating Essence and refining my body instead of rushing levels.
I had a lot to do.
Finally, I decided to rush till Level 20 and later slow down from 21 to 25 to meet the Attribute quota.
'Let's see how things go for the rest of the month.'
As we walked through the forest, we came across a couple of Abominations. Steve handled them without much effort, cutting them down before they could even get close.
North, meanwhile, kept glancing at the floating projector every few minutes.
I tolerated it for a while, but curiosity got the better of me.
"Why do you keep checking the rankings?" I asked. "Are you looking for someone special? Your boyfriend, maybe?"
She shot me a sharp look.
"I don't have a boyfriend." Then, as if to shut down any further teasing, she added, "And no, I'm not looking for anyone special. Do you know about Sarah Gibson?"
I shook my head, then turned to Steve.
"Steve?"
He barely spared me a glance before shaking his head as well.
I looked back at North.
"Who is she?"
North checked the ranking again before answering.
"We're from the same academy in the Capital. We had a bit of a rivalry going on. She's strong, and I don't want her to pull too far ahead of me."
I hummed in interest and glanced at the ranking. Sarah Gibson was doing well. She was Level 7 as well.
"Oh, interesting. What kind of fighter is she?"
"She uses a heavy greatsword, focuses on overwhelming strength, endurance, and sheer force in battle. She doesn't dodge much—she takes hits and keeps going."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Huh. Sounds like me, I can see why there's a rivalry." I smirked. "But you know what? I like your style more."
North chuckled.
"Thanks. I'm honored that I managed to impress your highness."