Chapter 37

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nNicole eventually seemed to calm down for the most part, with a small frown resting on her face. While she still was sad, her eyes were clearer.

n“If I want to survive, I have to be stronger.”

nShe opened up the system panel, displaying her stats.

n“…What do I spend my points on?”

nKairos looked over at the panel.

nRank: F

nStats –

nStrength – 2.0

nEndurance – 1.3

nAgility – 1.9

nWillpower – 1.1

nKairos furrowed his brows.

n“You added points into willpower?”

nNicole blinked a few times.

n“Huh? I don’t remember ever doing that.”

nKairos raised an eyebrow.

n“I remember last time it was half of a point, but now it’s one and a tenth.”

nNicole let out a soft gasp.

n“Ah! It did rise by a lot.”

nKairos tilted his head to the side.

n“You really didn’t add any to willpower beforehand?”

nNicole shook her head.

n“No… I only added strength and agility.”

nKairos came to a realization after hearing that. Just because one method of increasing one’s stats was via points, that didn’t mean it was the only way. It seemed like actual experiences could also contribute to that.

nJust as he was nodding to himself after coming to this conclusion, Nicole spoke up.

n“Wait.”

nHer eyes widened ever so slightly.

n“I don’t remember putting any points into endurance, but it seems higher.”

nKairos snapped to attention.

n“What? Are you sure?”

nNicole nodded.

n“I… think it was either one point or just barely above one. But now, it’s one point three.”

nThis immediately made Kairos a little weirded out. Although the increase in willpower was drastic, he could still accept it as a massive shift in one’s mind. However, the increase in endurance was quite different.

nKairos was pretty confident that none of his stats had increased at all without the help of the system. And he considered that pretty reasonable.

nThough 0.1 seemed like a really small number, Kairos knew that it made a huge difference. An increase of 0.1 in strength equated to roughly a month of casual training in the gym for a person that didn’t exercise before.

nIf Kairos wished, he was pretty confident he could run at a speed of 100 kilometers an hour, given that he didn’t have to drag anything along.

nThese points were not anything small.

nAfter running through various possibilities in his mind, he began to think that Nicole had just forgotten she added the points.

n“You probably forgot. Those points aren’t anything small, after all.”

nNicole couldn’t help but close her eyes tightly, thinking hard.

n“…No, wait I’m sure. My strength and agility were increased by a tiny bit as well without my points.”

nThe corner of Kairos’ lip twitched. He looked at Nicole’s current points.

nPoints of Perfection: 3.3

nThat was quite a large amount. When he began thinking of all the things that Nicole had killed, it really did seem she had an excessive amount of points that didn’t come from her kills.

nKairos narrowed his eyes.

n“Did you ever remember feeling an increase in strength despite not adding any points?”

nNicole’s mouth was slightly agape as she continued thinking.

n“…The watch.”

nShe pulled out the watch from her pocket, looking at it intently.

n“When I put it on and killed something, it made me feel a little stronger.”

nKairos looked at the watch a little more closely.

n“…Don’t tell anyone about this.”

nNicole nodded.

n“Ok.”

nIt turns out that the watch had some other function, giving one the ability to naturally get a little bit stronger while killing things. Though the effects were small right now, he could imagine that over time it would make a pretty huge difference.

nKairos narrowed his eyes.

n“Just spend your points on your physical stats for now. Make sure to wear the red watch when you fight and try to save up for twenty points.”

nNicole nodded.

n“Ok!”

nShe then added her points among the three physical stat points. Once she finished, her eyelids were on the verge of closing, but she resisted, trying to stay awake.

nKairos rolled his eyes.

n“If you finally feel tired, then go to sleep. Stop trying to stay awake.”

nNicole took one last peek towards Kairos through slightly parted eyes.

n“Mm…”

nThen in the next moment, she began snoring softly.

nKairos watched as the sun set, and the sky became a starry night. After a good bit of time, he felt like he was on the verge of passing out entirely. Before falling asleep, he shook Chase’s shoulder, prompting his eyes to shoot open.

nHe blinked a few times, forcefully shaking off the grogginess.

n“Is there something?”

nKairos nodded while rubbing one eye.

n“It’s your shift to watch.”

nHe then nudged Sydney until she woke up. Once she did wake up, she very slowly opened her eyes.

nKairos blinked a few times.

n“Please keep watch with Chase.”

nThere was no response, but he was too tired to wait for one, so he got back down on the ground and fell asleep.

nKairos wanted to rest comfortably so he could wake up the next morning refreshed. Unfortunately, he would not be granted that wish.

nHe was gradually awoken by Chase screaming.

nKairos still felt very groggy, but snapped awake when he caught a whiff of blood in the air. But even though he was awake, everything was black. There was no light in the room as of now.

nHe forcefully rubbed his eyes and got up.

n“What is happening?”

nChase spoke up, a little exasperated.

n“There are a ** ton of feral bunnies outside. For some reason, they aren’t leaving.”

nAs though to agree with his statement, there were countless shuffling sounds coming from all around, along with muffled squeaking sounds. From the scurrying sounds on the roof, it showed these things did not even spare the roof. The most prevalent sound was coming from where Chase’s voice was.

nKairos thought for a moment before casting the fire spell, lighting up the room. He didn’t channel extra mana into it, just letting the fireball rest at the tip of his finger. But it was enough to light up the room.

nChase was currently pushing his back against the makeshift door. His hands were currently bloody, while a rabbit corpse laid below him not too far away.

nAs for everyone else, they seemed to be half asleep, but in the process of waking up.

nThe situation seemed to be in control for now, as the bunnies were still outside. Though Chase was struggling, it wasn’t too big of a deal for him to hold the door.

nKairos sucked in a deep breath.

n“Has it been like this for a while?”

nChase let out an annoyed sigh.

n“They only showed up a little while ago, but they seem really persistent.”

nHe narrowed his eyes.

n“I first saw a few bunnies watching us from outside. Their fur was a little red while their eyes seemed to glow a little. Not wanting to take any chances, I began pushing the door closed.”

nChase clicked his tongue.

n“Then they all went crazy, trying to get into the place.”

nKairos nodded.

n“They don’t seem to be that strong, right?”

nChase shrugged his shoulders.

n“Not individually. I was able to kill one of them pretty easily with just my hands. They are only at the F rank.”

nKairos looked towards Nicole, who was paying close attention to the conversation.

n“You should put on the red watch and get ready to swing.”

nChase couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

n“You wanna let those things in?”

nKairos cracked his neck.

n“If we only keep a small gap open, then it should be fine.”

nChase frowned.

n“But once they push through the crack, they could use it to make the gap wider and let even more through.”

nKairos walked up to the door.

n“Then just let me do it. My strength should be high enough to hold them down. As for you all, get ready to kill the bunnies.”

nSydney was still crouched down sitting but slowly got up to her feet. As for Tori, she did a few stretches before walking over.

n“Never thought the points would deliver themselves right to me.”

nNicole silently put on the red watch and got close with the fire axe raised.

nKairos kept one hand on the door while the other held onto the fireball, swapping out with Chase. Then, he slid it ever so slightly to the side.

nThe moment the tiniest of cracks appeared, the sound of scurrying and squeaking filled the room. There was only a faint moonlight outside, but it was enough to make out the glowing eyes.

nThe bunnies violently pressed their faces against the crack, pressing their slightly reddened fur against themselves tightly just to get a little closer. However, Kairos was holding it down strong, making it too hard for them to fit through the gap.

nNicole was the first to act. She got up close to the door, raising her fire axe just above the tiny crack, lining it up.

nWith a grunt, she brought it down.

nVarious cracking sounds filled the air as blood splattered over Nicole.

nHer axe did not go down smoothly, frequently getting caught on the various skulls. However, she clenched tightly onto the axe, continuing to push it down further.

nIn the end, a pool of blood had formed at her feet. The bunnies from behind continued to struggle, but there were only corpses at the front.

nKairos decided to make the gap a little wider. Almost immediately after, the corpses were pushed out, tumbling into the room. And behind them were many more bunnies that were shoving their way in, squeaking aggressively.

nThe bunnies were stacked up on top of each other and quickly entered the room. In just a moment, ten were inside. Nicole swung, but was only able to take care of a few. However, Tori quickly followed up, quickly beheading the remaining ones.

nHowever, many more continued filing into the room, making both Tori and Nicole work damn hard to kill all of them.

nChase didn’t seem to want to give up on this opportunity, but also didn’t just want to charge in with his fists. After a bit of hesitation, he pulled back his bow, letting a mana arrow form on it.

nAfter waiting for a gap between Nicole and Tori’s swings, he let the arrow loose.

nIt zipped through the air before ripping into a few bunnies at the front. However, it didn’t lose its initial momentum, tearing violently through many more. The bunnies were even somewhat pushed back by the recoil the corpses faced.

nChase even raised both eyebrows in surprise.

n“…That was a lot of points. It seems that there are far more.”

nTori clicked her tongue as she continued slashing.

n“I suppose it will be a lot of work, but also very rewarding.”

nChase nodded as he drew back another mana arrow, waiting again.

nTori and Nicole continued to slice up the bunnies that entered, causing a mound of corpses to fill up the front. The stench of blood was already pretty strong from the dried blood on their clothes, but now it was not only prevalent, but fresh.

nThough countless of the bunnies have died, it seemed that the bloody smell was enough to motivate them to try even harder.

nChase let out another arrow and killed quite a few more bunnies, reducing the burden that Nicole and Tori had to face.

nBut it did not take long for him to run out of arrows.

nBy the fourth one, he was already heaving, unable to cast any more.

nKairos was still pushing hard, leaning his body into it slightly to get more leverage. There would be times where he felt like he was losing control, but a forceful push resolved that.

nNow that Chase wasn’t shooting arrows, the bunnies were gradually beginning to overwhelm Tori and Nicole. After roughly ten seconds, one of the bunnies went unaccounted for, charging towards Tori with its tiny teeth bared.

nHowever, Chase grabbed onto one before that, prompting the bunny to struggle fiercely. That is, until a clean snap rang out, making it fall limp.

nAs time went on, Nicole and Tori were both getting tired. After all, they were both exerting themselves fully as hard as they could continuously.

nThe bunnies that slipped out gradually got out of even Chase’s control. Just when Kairos thought that he would have to act, Sydney joined in.

nShe slammed down on a bunny that charged towards her fiercely, exploding it into a mass of flesh. The wooden baseball she was holding onto cracked slightly, while the bunny was very clearly dead.

nThe force behind her strike was obviously unnecessarily large.

nAnd her breathing was a little heavy.

nIt seemed that while she was silent, a lot of anger had built up.

nKairos was wondering if that was a normal reaction and whether or not he should say anything.

nIn the end, he let her be.

nAnd so, Sydney ran forward while screaming loudly.

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