33 Perseverance

It was a little past midnight the moment we emerged from ruin. The sky was a spilling with starlight; the land lit brightly by the enormous cerulean moon hanging low. After being underground for so long, I could finally appreciate this alien sky above me.

Our exhausted party crossed the wooden bridge and hastily made camp in the meadow surrounding the lake. They pulled out their bedrolls from their magic bags as I gathered wood to make a fire. As the only one who wasn't physically fatigued, I set out to make the rest of the camp while the other's hazily made their bedding and fell fast asleep. For now, I'll take watch for the rest of the night while everyone else gets their much needed rest.

I passed the time fishing in the lake with a makeshift pole while I looked through what new skills and improvements I had received while we were below.

Despite the constant fighting, my weapon skills didn't improve. With all the experience I've collected, a couple of days training with the Guildmaster will correct that. Seems the higher I go, the more experience and training I need to increase it. What will I do when I don't have available access to a trainer, though? I might need to seek other people who could possibly fulfill that role when I'm travelling. Considering that even my skills with sword and spear are already higher compared the majority of soldiers or adventurers means that whoever I ask will definitely be in a position of power. Most likely I'll have to ask someone in the higher ranks to train me. And not for free I'm betting. Guildmaster Kurtz is definitely spoiling me.

My has leveled up as well. On top of that, I've gained two new skills to go along with it. A deployable similar to the one that enemy golem used and the . My right hand can now dissipate and transfigure into the same cannon I saw the elite golem had used from our fight. I didn't use my MP strangely. It would drain the energy from my core instead. Meaning, if I wasn't paying attention, I could technically kill myself using it if I was too low on energy. Oracle had safety protocols to make sure that doesn't happen, at least.

Speaking of my mana pool, it didn't really go up that much. Sure it's double than what it was, and that much alone for someone of my "level" is considered abnormally good, but that was it. I could cast Tier 3 magic safely but I'd be able to do just one cast. And I still can't grow it naturally like a regular person, which is my biggest hindrance. I'm still held back by the limitations of being a mechanical construct.

The next step is to the south west on a island. Another facility is located somewhere there that was researching cores. I couldn't help but be a bit hesitant about going there. I didn't want to mess around with golem cores, or specifically my core, if I could help it. My skills aren't something I'm enthusiastic about leveling. Who knows what other freaky shit will happen if I meet more of those things.

A sudden rapping against my metal shoulder blades caught my attention. I whirled around to find Erwyn behind me. He gave a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his head when he saw my sudden reaction.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you, Arlan." he stated.

I was too wrapped up in though to notice his presence come up behind me, "Oh, um. No worries." I replied, "Why are you up already? Shouldn't you rest more?"

He waved me off, "Nah, I'm fine for now. I only need a few hours of sleep to be good. Why don't I take over for the rest of the night? The sun's about to come up soon and you still need to rest too."

Huh, I didn't realize how much time had passed. There was already a bit of light coming over the horizon and the birds had already started to come out. Audible chirping could be heard echoing over the dark lakeside.

"Well, if you're offering it, I'll take it up." I answer.

Erwyn nods, "Hand me your fishing rod, will you? I'll keep going so we'll have more than enough for breakfast."

I handed off the pole to him and walked over to the center of the camp. Pulling out a pillow from my bag, I lie down and rest my head on it.

Erwyn looks back at me, "I'll wake you up when breakfast is ready. I doubt anyone's waking up at first light so feel free to sleep in."

I nod back and shut off my vision. Now that I have a chance to lie down, a few hours of rest is more than welcoming. I just hope I don't have anymore unexpected visitors in my dreams again...

***

[Detecting external force applied to Unit. Exiting sleep mode.]

My vision returned to the sight of a light blue sky. I stood up and saw everyone gathering around the fire. I could hear the sound of crackling oil coming from the fish cooking on top of a skillet.

Everyone looked over at my direction, "Good morning, Arlan." Tessa says, "Did you sleep well?"

I nodded at her, "Yeah." I replied as I stood up and walked over, "Is breakfast ready?"

"Mm. Have some!" she hands me one of the fish skewered onto a branch. I took it gingerly and broke it into pieces; placing every chunk methodically into my intake.

Aelinor sighed, "I don't think I can ever get used to seeing that. And also..." her face looked a bit serious, "Thank you for taking care of all of this last night. I know we left you to do everything and we just went directly to bed. You even caught breakfast for us too."

I slide in the last piece of fish before I toss out the old stick and grab another skewer. Eating this fish feels kinda small. I'm in the mood for something more, to tell you the truth, "Hmm? Oh, don't worry about it. You all needed the rest more than I did."

"Yesterday just shows how dangerous a situation can get if you're not prepared." Erwyn says as he gets up and begins to pack up the camp.

I finish up my last skewer and begin to get up as well before Johann stops me, "You stay there, Arlan. We'll clean up instead. We can't keep relying on you forever, you know." he says with a bit of hurt pride in his voice.

I rest my head on my fist, "You know, it was pretty cool to see you step forward and throw up that barrier during our fight against the Centaurion. They wouldn't have survived if you didn't, Johann."

His face turned red hearing my words of acknowledgement, "W-Well, after that Orc attack I needed to practice my barrier magic. It still isn't as good as Tessa's though..."

"You'll get there. I believe you will, at least." I told him honestly.

He nodded in embarrassment and walked off to help the others. I do admit I admire everyone's bravery yesterday. No one ran away even when faced with imminent death. Even when our attacks did nothing, they still persevered. And from people so young, too. I wonder if I'll meet more people like them. I can only hope so. A part of me wants to believe that this world is filled with people like them. That everyone is like them.

Please don't prove me wrong.