The sun was getting close to the horizon, but that didn’t matter much. I was finally by the river. According to Pops, it was called Madison river because of… soone from the old world? And I don’t an just the ti before the Eaters, I an the old, old world.
History was never my best subject. I rembered so things, there were two world wars. Lincoln was a president once, and so was Roosevelt, but that was about it. Learning history never sounded all that important when we had to worry about how to not make food spoil, or how to identify poisonous berries. Besides, history brought very little to the table. At least when talking about survival. What was the point of learning from the mistakes of the past if we had no future?
But now, maybe that would have to change. I should look at so history books or sothing. My outlook in life changed once I got the System, and after killing an Eater, any doubts I had that we could survive this had turned into a certainty. Sure, it will take a lot of ti for enough people to have the System to consider wiping the Eaters out, but it is a start.
The rain had stopped a couple of hours ago, but my clothes were still soaking wet, not to ntioned ripped to shreds. The fact that they still covered part of my torso was a miracle. And pants were mostly fine, but still full of holes. Reaching the river, I started going upstream. I was in an area that was too wide, too deep, and with a current way too strong to let just swim through. At least there was a bridge north, even if that would force to make a detour. Then again, it did give ti to think about sothing.
I was going off on the assumption that I could share the System with others in so way. Considering so of the things Sys talked with about, that seed to be the case, but I never actually confird it.
“Hey Sys. Can I share you with others?”
[User can share System with other humans. If user wishes to share System with a mber of a different species, a skill is required.]
“And can I just share it with whover?”
[User must spend a total of 10% of progression to the next level in order to share System with another person. The 10% ntioned is not 10% of the current progression. As an example, if user is at 50% progression to the next level and pass System to another person, user’s progression would be reduced to 40%. In addition, user cannot share the System with another person for a 20 hours. That is the ti required to repair and replenish the System infrastructure given to the person in question.]
“Would I be any weaker during that ti?”
[User SP generation will be cut in half during that period.]
“So it makes harder for to level up after I share the System? The fact I’m tier 1 makes any difference on that?”
[It does. Being Tier 1 allows user to require only 10% of progression to next level. If user was tier 0, giving System to soone else would require 100% of progression to the next level and 200 hours before user is able to share it again. Being at Tier 2 would require only 1% of progression and 2 hours before user is able to share it again.]
“Ok, got it. Like most things, it gets easier the higher tier I am,” I finally go closer to the bridge, and on the other side was there was a wagon being pulled by a horse. The driver noticed and stopped the vehicle. He made so gestures as if asking where I was going. Once I pointed back towards Madison village, he waved his hand, asking to co along. The cart was pointing in the sa direction, so they would likely at least pass by that settlent.
Part of felt suspicious. In the old world, people were taught not to follow strangers. But that wasn’t really an issue for . After all, if an Eater couldn’t stop , what could humans do?
Soone else poked their head out of the wagon and started talking with the driver, but they just pointed at again, which made them stop the argunt. I hurried along the bridge, not wanting to leave them waiting. As soon as I arrived, they helped up to the cart and quickly started moving. They hurry wasn’t all that strange since we should only have a couple more hours of sunlight.
“Thanks for the help. Are you all going to Madison?” I asked once inside the wagon. There were three n there, one muscular one with short hair, one more lean, but still with so muscle, and the last one smaller and thin with greasy hair. While getting here, I really tried not to think badly of them, after all, they were helping and being paranoid wasn’t going to bring any benefits. But it was hard, especially when I could feel their eyes all over my body. Then again, I did look like a crazed mountain lady, hopefully that was it.
“Yes, we are. Where are you coming from?” the burly man asked.
“I’m from the Hidden Horn Village. We got attacked a while ago.”
“It’s been more than a week since that attack, doesn’t it? A few of your people ca to Madison,” the lean man frowned.
A wide smile covered my face, “Really? Are so of my people are there? Do you know how many?”
“There are five, maybe six. One old guy and a fat chick. Can’t rember about the rest,” the greasy man replied.
“But that doesn’t explain why it took you so long to get here,” the burly man pressed.
“I got hurt during the attack, sprained my ankle. I couldn’t run all that well, so I hid in a cave up the mountain. But an Eater kept stalking the area. Every ti I thought I had a chance to get out, it would show up again. Only when I stopped seeing it for two days that I felt safe enough to run.”
The burly man nodded, “That was a good call. You’ve been through a lot.”
Ok, maybe they were good people.
“And so did we. I an, having more mouths to feed is not easy. It feels like we should be getting repaid for our kindness,” the greasy man said while not looking at my face.
Maybe they were not good people.
“I don’t have anything of value to trade on , but I’m a good hunter. I’ll take care of my people when we get to the village,” I replied.
“That’s a nice sentint, but it doesn’t do much for everything we’ve already done for them, and for the ride we are giving you,” the lean man added.
“There are a few ways you could pay us back,” the burly man smiled and placed his hand on my tight.
“And if I say no?”
“Then I’m going to have to ask you to step off the wagon, miss,” the driver spoke up, “You are free to head to the city, and with luck they will let you in. It’s not like you are a dangerous individual that should be kept away. And no one would say otherwise.”
And there was the treat. I let them do what they want with or they stop from getting to Madison. That really sucked, why couldn’t people just help each other. It’s not like I’m eating their food or making them late. All they had to do was wait for less than a minute.
“C’mon. That fat chick refused to help us. The least you can do is pick up the slack,” the greasy man approached, putting his hand on my knees.
“You asked Cindy to do this?”
“We did, she ran away from us when we talked with her. That really hurt my feelings,” the greasy man got even closer, his hands unsuccessfully putting so pressure to open my legs.
I gave him a smile, “You know what. I think I’m going to enjoy this.”
—————————————————————————
Marco was having a great day. The people from the Hidden Horn Village were settling in nicely, and thanks to his help on the matter, the mayor finally gave him a promotion. He was now a mounted guard, having his own horse and the job of patrolling the surrounding area of the village. That was a dangerous job, but one he did with pride. If anything were to happen outside, he had the authority to deal with it.
Today was the day Derrick and the transport crew would co back, too. They were an annoying bunch, always teasing him about not being brave enough to stay outside the walls. Who wasn’t brave now? His position was even higher than those guys.
Distracted by those thoughts, he almost didn’t notice a horse coming running towards him. Luckily, Chip, his horse, noticed the animal and moved away from its path. Once he realized what was going on, Marco also noticed that the horse had long reins and a saddle. The transport crew used to keep their horse like that. In case, they had to run leaving the supplied behind.
Worried, he turned Chip in the direction the horse ca from and told him to run. Marco had a crossbow on his back, a relic of the old world that was not only accurate but powerful. If the transport crew was in trouble, maybe he could do sothing to help.
20 minutes later, Chip had yet to lose steam, but Macro pulled him back. There was soone walking down the road. It looked like a woman, black skin, wild untad hair wearing what could only be described as rags with a cloak over it. She was eating an apple and there was a large bag over her shoulder. A bag with an embroidery Marco recognized. Beth would make that when she crafted sothing she was particularly proud of.
Quickly pulling his crossbow, he pointed at the woman, “Halt! Who are you!”
The woman raised both hands, and started chewing faster, pointing at herself and asking Marco to wait. One hand holding the bag and the other the half eaten apple.
Eventually, she spoke up, “Sorry. I’m Cassandra. I’m from the Hidden Horn Village. We got attacked a week, 10 days ago. I’m not sure. It’s all a blur. There was an Eater around and once it was gone, I ca here.”
“And how do you have that bag?”
“This?” she waved the hand with the bag, “I found a wagon back there. It was broken, people were dead and so of the boxes were all over the place. I was hungry, so I scavenged a little. I didn’t take any of the fabric or other materials, but I figured that if I didn’t take the food, so animal would.”
Marco frowned, “Show .”
“Really? You are going to make walk all the way back there? The sun is setting! I just want to get to Madison and see if anyone heard about my family.”
“If what you’re saying is true, I’ll give you a ride myself. Now move. Until proven otherwise, I’m going to consider that you are the one responsible for what happened with the transport crew!” Marco continued with his bow trailed on Cassandra.
“Fine, are you going to complain if I keep eating this apple? I’m hungry.”
“You can eat that one, but don’t take another. That’s property of the Madison Village.”
“Fine, fine,” Cassandra huffed and started walking back towards the wagon. She wasn’t worried. Those people deserved what she had done to them, and this guard that was accusing her? Well, once he saw the state of the bodies, how they were broken, shattered and how the blood sprayed for several ters [feet] it would be very hard to believe a person was responsible for that. Unless they knew about the System.
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