Leon stared at the scroll in his hand for a brief mont, visibly stunned, like he still couldn't quite believe what had just happened. Then he lifted his gaze to Calista and asked slowly, almost carefully, as if he was afraid he'd misunderstood her intent.
"You're… giving this to ?"
But he didn't wait for her answer. He glanced back at the system window still hovering in front of his eyes.
[Survival Tears (Phase One Skill) – Tier: Novice]
[Description: A passive skill. While the user is crying or experiencing intense emotional distress, all base attributes are temporarily increased by 100%. Sensory perception, reaction speed, and pain tolerance are significantly enhanced. The effect persists as long as the emotional state is maintained.]
He read the description to the end. Once. Then again, slowly. Without a word, he closed the window, rolled the parchnt between his fingers, and simply pressed it back into Calista's hands, shaking his head in a clear refusal.
"No," he said calmly. "It never even crossed my mind to take sothing that legally belongs to you."
He t her eyes, and this ti there was no mockery, no coldness, none of that harsh appraisal he'd given most people in the shelter, just plain, honest respect.
"I like grateful people," he added after a mont. "People who understand who helped them… but don't hand over their own strength because of it."
He hesitated, then let out a quiet sigh.
"And I want to apologize for what I called you earlier. You proved with your actions that you deserve respect… not vulgar nicknas."
Calista stared at him with wide eyes, like she was still trying to process the fact that he'd not only returned the scroll, but praised her. When his words finally sank in, tears welled in her gaze again, only these were different from before.
She gave a small nod, clutching the parchnt tighter.
"I… I know I'm a crybaby," she said softly, without sha, without trying to deny it. "I always have been. But… I still wanted to take a step forward. At least once."
Her voice trembled for a mont, then her eyes sharpened, focused, like sothing inside her had steadied.
"Thank you for today," she added, looking Leon straight in the eye. "Really. And I promise I'll never forget what you did for ."
She squeezed the scroll tighter, almost pressing it to her chest, her expression full of gratitude, and sothing newly born behind it. Determination.
Leon saw it clearly, and he understood far too well.
He hadn't just pushed her into a fight. He'd given her sothing far more valuable, recognition of her effort, her battle with herself, and the right to keep her own strength once she earned it. In a world where the strong devoured the weak without hesitation, a skill like that might look strange to others, maybe even useless. But for Calista, it was like an extra lifeline: a way to survive in the one way that ca naturally to her.
"You can go back to the others and learn the skill," Leon said. "Rest for a bit too. And a tip for next ti, put every free point into Agility. With your build, and what you just showed, that's your best path to surviving the next zombie encounter."
As he spoke, he gave her shoulder a gentle pat.
Calista nodded almost instantly, like she was afraid that if she hesitated, her courage would slip away again. When the system prompt appeared asking if she wanted to learn the skill, she didn't even pause.
"Yes," she whispered, more to herself than anyone else.
The scroll in her hands crumbled into specks of light that rose into the air and sank into her body. And in her eyes, for a heartbeat, a delicate symbol began to form, a tear, faintly shimring, like it had always been part of her.
Without another word, she handed Leon back his daggers, this ti with a steady motion, no hesitation, then turned and walked back toward the group with a small, shy smile. Moisture still gathered at the corners of her eyes, but it wasn't the sa kind of tears as before.
The ones who, fifteen minutes ago, had looked at her with contempt, whispering that "a crybaby like that doesn't know her place," that "it's only a matter of ti before she falls apart", now didn't even dare hold her in their gaze for more than a second. They looked away quickly, as if she'd suddenly beco soone better left unprovoked.
Leon watched from the side, understanding exactly how much her position had shifted in that short span of ti.
If Calista held onto this courage, if she didn't retreat at the first stumble, if she stayed close to the people who truly knew how to survive, her strength would grow faster than any of those whispering cowards could imagine. And in a world where hierarchy was built with blood and results, no sensible person went looking for trouble where they'd already been given a clear sign it could end badly.
Valeria watched Calista return to the crowd for a long mont, watched the sa people who'd had no problem looking down on her now suddenly fear even eting her eyes, like sothing about that small girl had disrupted their fragile sense of safety. Only then did Valeria speak in her sweet, almost lazy voice. She stood close to Leon and leaned in just a little.
"My lover…" she drawled with a faint smile. "You really do have a dark side."
She looked at him as if she were seeing him in a new light, her eyes glittering with amusent.
"First you pull her out in front of everyone. Then you humiliate them with that little speech… how even a 'crybaby' is braver than them. And in the end, that sa crybaby kills a zombie on her own, gains Essence, and suddenly earns power and respect no one dares take from her." She paused, then let out a soft laugh. "Kya~ my lover… that side of you is making fall even harder."
Leon only answered with a faint smile, denying none of it.
Because Valeria was right.
It was manipulation. Maybe not planned from the very start, maybe more instinct than calculation, but still conscious.
When he saw Calista step out of the crowd, shaking, tearful, and yet willing to move forward, he understood he'd been handed the perfect example. In a world where fear paralyzed people more effectively than zombies, nothing worked better than showing them, live and up close, that even soone they'd all labeled as the weakest could step into a fight and walk away victorious.
Wasn't that supposed to motivate them?
Maybe not all of them. But enough that the first wall of fear would begin to crack.
Watching a girl who had been crying in soone else's arms only monts ago beco soone no one dared dismiss anymore was far more powerful than any speech.
And returning the scroll completed the picture.
He'd made it clear: they could grow stronger, and he wasn't going to steal what they earned with their own hands. That Essence, skills, and rewards belonged to the ones brave enough to take them, not to leaders sitting safely on the sidelines.
Leon knew one simple truth: even if he was far stronger than most of the group right now, even he couldn't face a thousand zombies alone. No matter how high his endurance, mana, or agility climbed, he would eventually be worn down.
So he needed people.
Not a crowd of passive spectators, but those who could pick up a weapon, move forward, and more importantly, those who would choose to follow him when the world beca even more brutal.
Sylphia, who had been wound tight like a bowstring the whole ti, finally snapped. She practically threw herself at Calista, wrapping her in both arms with possessive force, like she was terrified that if she let go for even a second Calista would vanish from her sight, or sothing would happen that she wouldn't be able to survive.
"You… you've completely lost it?!" she blurted in a trembling voice, pressing Calista's head against her chest so hard Calista disappeared into the soft hold for a mont. "I thought you… I thought you really… that I was going to lose you…"
Calista, still a little shaky from the fight and all the built-up tension, gave a weak but genuine smile. She lifted a hand and gently patted Sylphia's back, trying to calm her down.
"It's okay," she said softly. "Really… nothing happened to . See? I'm alive."
Sylphia pulled back just enough to look her in the face, and then nearly exploded.
"How can you say that?!" she snapped, wiping at her eyes. "You were standing in front of a zombie, Calista! With knives! Alone! Do you think that's normal?!"
Calista lowered her gaze slightly, then looked up at her again with that sa small, shy smile.
"I know," she said. "But… I was even more scared of doing nothing."
At that, Sylphia pressed her lips together and hugged her again, this ti quieter, without the shouting. And Calista felt it clearly: that outburst hadn't been anger. It had been pure fear and care.
And that was what made her smile turn just a little warr.
A few steps away, Roland watched the scene from the side, leaning lazily on his cane with a faint, almost nostalgic smile.
"Ah… youth," he murmured under his breath. Then he looked toward Leon, more carefully this ti, like he was trying to see past the surface. After a mont he yawned wide and shook his head. "I'm new here. Not my business. I won't stick my nose in."
Leon threw a brief glance at Natalia.
"We can keep moving," he said simply.
Natalia nodded, but before she started forward she swept her gaze across the group one more ti, catching the subtle but aningful changes, so people's eyes weren't the sa as before. Like sothing inside them had shifted.
The corner of her mouth lifted by the slightest amount. Then she glanced at Leon and gave him a small nod of clear approval. She could see it: his thod, brutal in form, had started to work.
The group moved on, picking up speed, then shifting into a cautious jog, occasionally cutting down small clusters of zombies that wandered into their path, until, at last, the sight of several collapsed, crushed buildings erged ahead, as if sothing like a localized catastrophe had swept through this area and the ground and concrete had simply failed under an overwhelming force.
Shock and fear filled the survivors' faces at the sa ti, because nearly all of them thought the sa thing:
What kind of creature could do that?
A few of them stopped instinctively, as if their legs had refused to obey, and a heavy, unsettling question hung in the air, what else might be waiting farther ahead if they chose to take another step forward.
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