Energy Eater

85 – Next Step

After leaving the village, Astrid and I didn't talk very much. We were both still frustrated with the entire situation. For one, even after everything we went through just to save that kid, no one thanked us. And as if that wasn't bad enough, they even tried to steal the System just because they thought it would be good for them. Not to mention the mayor was still pissing me off. He said that he didn't like the child-abusing asshole who we got left stuck in prison and yet there he was, following along with whatever that guy was saying. Maybe they had some sort of connection or that guy has some sort of leverage against the village, but still, his reaction really pissed me off.

And Frederick. That little shit.

We saved his life. Yeah, fine, I may have hurt him a bit in the process. But I didn't want to hurt him. I was just scared that the fire was going to engulf him right away, so I was a bit more forceful than I should have been. Still, that entire situation seemed to have left a bad taste in our mouths. 

Astrid was also quieter than usual as we continued traveling west. It wasn't awful to travel with someone that didn't want to speak, but there were a few moments when I got worried that she was angry at me and not just at the situation. Even so, for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to ask about that, and we just continued moving for the next couple of days.

We traveled following along the road that was supposed to head west. It was just a shame that we didn't have a map or something to confirm that we were actually going in the right direction. The only thing that could give us some sort of sort of confirmation was the map that it had saved with the System. But I understood that wasn't a perfect solution. The System only knew the things that I did. At least when the topic wasn't itself. 

Which meant that if the map that we saw was wrong, the System would believe it was right. It also meant that now that we were using roads that didn't show up on the map, or were more unfamiliar, the System had nothing to help us. Nothing to confirm if we were actually moving in the right direction or not.

I would love to find a proper map any time we passed by a larger city. But everything was in ruins. Few areas were oner or less the same, but some were much worse than anything that we had seen so far. It wasn't just some broken-down walls or old, cracked ceilings. Everything was pretty much rubble. We couldn't absolutely nothing that even began to resemble an actual house or large building in a couple of the cities we passed by. It even looked like there was a massive explosion that just wiped everything out in one of the 'cities'. And I wouldn't put it past the old world for that to really be the case.

As far as I knew, things got really hectic just before we lost the war against the Eaters. People started being even more reckless than they were already being and using weapons that could destroy even more. But then again, if nuclear weapons were used as I suspected, then why were we not being killed by the radiation? I remembered Pops saying that it was possible the Eaters had something to do with that, but could they have eaten the very radiation itself? It seemed to be the only plausible explanation, but that created more questions than answers.

Over the course of the next few days, we continued to travel. We slowly got back to talking more often, with the Frosted Lumberjack even asking a few questions about myself and my old home. I was doing the same, wanting to know more about my companion since we were clearly going to travel together for some time. But she wasn't as used to sharing as she was to questioning. It took almost two days just to learn that she had a pet rabbit when she was little called Snow. And that was the only bit of information I managed to get. Not because she refused to answer, but her replies were too short, forcing me to ask about every little detail if I wanted to hear a full story. 

We continued hunting monsters now and then and fighting even a couple of Eater while we traveled. Each on a different occasion of course. Fighting two at once was just stupid. I was able to level up once, but there were no skills that I wanted to take. Everything I had was good enough for now. Astrid also leveled up quite a bit during these three days. So much so that she caught up to me, likely thanks to our SP sharing making so that every time I was to acquire SP, she would get a larger percentage of what should be ours, which was a good thing. She ended up getting a few skills that she found useful, unlike the ones I got.

And once she got to the same level, eleven on this case, she shared her status screen with me. 

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Astrid Ek - Level 11 (saturated)

Titles: Frosted Metabolism

Tier: 1 - Frosted Lumberjack

Mind - 6 Body - 20

Memory - 8 Energy - 9 (3 reserved)

Skills 8/8

Passive

Energy Storage - 1 Energy

Memory Bank - 1 Energy

Cold Endurance - 0 Energy

Frozen Resolve - 1 Energy

Active

Permafrost Armor - 1 Energy/1 minute.

Body Regeneration - 1 Energy/10 minutes.

Frost Chop - 1 Energy/5 uses

Shattering Frost  - 1 Energy

Mind of Possibility - Unavailable

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She was focusing a lot more on body stats than I was, and I found that was a good thing, too. That way, we could compare what was the best. Since between the two of us, we had someone balancing everything else and someone focusing on one single attribute. 

But her skills you were quite a surprise. {Permafrost Armor} was a defensive ability that covered her body in a layer of ice that didn't stop her movements. {Frozen Resolve}, was a weird one. It would only be activated if she was severely injured. But we had no idea what that actually meant. According to what she told me, the skill would increase her physical prowess by a considerable amount and make her sturdier against damage for a few moments. She confirmed that by watching her Proxy show the skill. 

Lastly, was {Frost Chop}. And I was honestly a bit upset with that skill. It wasn't something she created on her own. But one that did very much like an evolution from her regular {Chop} skill. The effects were most of the same. Just a single strike, but at the same time, it added a layer of ice to her weapon when she used it. And it also increased the number of uses per Energy. It was an upgrade in all aspects. 

On the third day, we spent the night in a broken-down house. We were getting close to an area filled with various large lakes that was close to being a bog, but it wasn't quite there. There were old campfires and small places where hunters might have gathered to spend the night while they were

"If we're not going to get in the way, I think we could stay for a couple of days. I'm open to even help hunting if you need anything," I said.

"Can you fish?" she asked.

I had to give an awkward shrug. "I've never fished before, so I don't know if I can help."

"What about you, Astrid?" she asked.

Astrid paused, "Ice fishing?"

"No ice fishing. If it was winter, yes, but not right now," the woman replied.

"Then no." Astrid added.

The woman nodded. "That's fine. I'm sure we can find something else for you to do. Because you have to do something. It's not fair for you to just stay and don't help, you know."

I nodded," Of course. We were not expecting to be allowed to stay for free."

The woman gestured for us to follow deeper into the city that wasn't covered by any large walls like the other ones we passed by. All the while she continued to speak, "I'm we can find something for you to do. Maybe you will be lucky and be chosen as one of the people who are going to meet the guardian beast of the lake!"