After what felt like an eternity in motion, Kaden finally slowed to a stop and gently set Niera down on a soft patch of moss near the clearing’s edge. For a few monts, nothing happened—until suddenly Niera doubled over, her body convulsing. Without warning, she started vomiting loudly, the sound echoing in the quiet forest.
"Are you okay?" Kaden asked, busily looking around for sothing.
Niera clutched her stomach and continued to heave, her breaths coming in short, ragged gasps. Gradually, the retching subsided, and she slumped back slightly, exhausted and pale. "I am sorry. I am fine now. I just need to rest a little."
Kaden nodded. "Don’t worry. We are already here. Now you can rest as much as you want."
Niera weakly nodded and looked around. There was a pond nearby, and she was very thirsty. She had no idea what Kaden ant, but she was ready for so rest.
She walked over to the edge of the pond, knelt down, and dipped her hands into the cool water, taking slow, careful sips. The chill of the water seed to help steady her trembling. She let out a breath of relief, but the next mont, she couldn’t help but search for Kaden.
Thankfully, he was still here. Niere sighed again. She watched him in a daze as he continued to comb through the forest as if he was searching for sothing. "What is he searching for?" She wondered as she turned to look at the pond.
Imdiately, her eyes widened. Staring back at her was her reflection in the pond. In just a few days, she had beco soone completely unrecognizable. There were dark circles under her eyes, her face was swollen on one side, her lips were cracked and bleeding, her hair was disheveled, and a part of her scalp was bald.
"Ah…" She almost scread, and when Kaden asked her if sothing was wrong, she wanted to bury herself in the ground. "No. No. I am sorry."
Thankfully, he was too busy to care about her. Not that she complained. The man rescued her when she looked like this. He was a gem among n. She needed to stop being so weak and sohow contribute. "Can I help you search?"
"Hmmm. I am looking for sothing round and green. Like a football." Kaden absent-mindedly answered.
"Huh? Round and green? Like this?" Niera pointed uncertainly at a small, moss-covered rock lying near the water’s edge. Its surface was smooth and glimred faintly in the dim light, the color a deep, almost luminescent green.
Kaden appeared right next to her the very next instant. "You found it. You are amazing!"
Niera blushed, and the hideous monstrosity she saw in the water also blushed. She imdiately turned away. "What is this?" she asked.
"Well." Kaden grinned. "Ti to make a settlent." He walked over to touch the green ball. He didn’t even flinch when sothing long and sinuous burst from the pond—a huge, writhing snake that sent Niera into a terrified scramble.
Without missing a beat, he simply reacted. In one fluid motion, he grabbed the creature and squeezed, ending its struggle almost instantly. He then casually tossed its limp carcass aside as if it were nothing more than an inconvenience.
Niera gasped and took a step back, her eyes wide with shock. But Kaden remained unfazed. He turned his attention back to the small, moss-covered rock that had caught her eye. Its deep green hue still glimred faintly in the dim light.
With a determined grin, Kaden reached out and pressed his hand against the rock. Almost imdiately, it pulsed with a warm, vibrant light, sending ripples of energy through the air. The glow spread slowly, bathing the surrounding area in a soft, erald radiance.
"This," Kaden said, his voice low and a hint excited, "is our settlent core catalyst. Once activated, it’ll help stabilize the area—a safe zone where survivors can regroup." He glanced over at Niera, who was still processing the rapid turn of events. "I need you to select ’Yes’ in the system prompt that will pop out now."
Niera was confused but she quickly understood when the blue screen flashed in front of her.
[Ding! Do you want to be a citizen of this settlent? Yes/ No]
Without hesitation, Niera selected "Yes" on the blue screen.
A soft chi echoed through the clearing as the system confird her new status. The blue prompt dissolved into the gentle erald glow of the activated settlent core, which pulsed steadily as if acknowledging her acceptance.
Kaden looked over with a satisfied smile. "Welco to the settlent," he said quietly, his tone warm despite the chaos they’d been through. "This safe zone will give us a place to rest, regroup, and plan our next moves."
Niera stared at the glowing core and then back at Kaden, her eyes wide with a mix of disbelief and relief. "I—I’m a citizen now?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"Yeah," Kaden replied. "It ans you’re protected here, and you can start to rebuild. We might be in a broken world, but this is a start."
The two of them remained silent for a while when Niera suddenly asked. "I am sorry but I need to ask you this. Is this why you brought here? You needed another person to activate the settlent core? Is that why you saved and carried here?"
"Yes." Kaden bluntly answered.
Niera looked startled for a mont and then she nodded silently.
"Do you resent for it?" Kaden asked. Perhaps he should have lied but he did not want her to have any delusions about this new world they were going to live in.
Surprisingly, she shook her head. "No. It’s the opposite. I am glad. Now I know you don’t have any other ulterior motive. I would rather be with soone like you than soone who promises everything only to turn on the next second and try to take advantage of ."
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