Raven's dark eyes lit up faintly. It wouldn't be a lie to say that, for once, he was happy.
A strange new power stirred within him, quiet but undeniable, and for the first time since the world fell apart, he felt as though a path had opened before him.
His first real step had been taken.
And now… there was no reason to stop.
Still, a question lingered in his mind.
'Why couldn't I increase my other stats? Do they not rise with stars? But then… why were there plus signs beside them? Maybe they need more…'
That was something he'd have to test later. For now, there were other priorities.
Even though he now understood the basic use of the stars, he couldn't help but feel there was more to them, a hidden function waiting to be uncovered. But this wasn't the time to rest or experiment. Even with his mana enhanced, his strength wasn't enough to face another undead giant. Not yet.
Still, there was something new, a flicker of hope.
Hope that survival in this twisted world might actually be possible.
'I need to collect more stars… and also...'
His mind drifted to the strange quest that had appeared before. Not the one mentioning Licht.
'That wasn't a hallucination. If it's truly a quest meant for me, I should at least check it out. Even if it's a trap… I have nothing to lose anyway.'
His gaze shifted to the father and daughter in the corner, still frozen in grief, broken by loss.
For just a moment, some uncertain emotions flickered in his eyes before fading away.
'Yeah… I have nothing to lose.'
"Let's go," he said, his tone flat as he turned toward the door.
"Where to?" Chris asked, but followed without hesitation.
Raven's fingers tightened around the chains draped over his shoulder. He focused, channeling the strange new energy, mana through them. The metal links trembled faintly, shrouded in a dim blue aura.
As they climbed toward the rooftop, the glow on his chains pulsed, humming with life.
"Excited to use that already?" Chris asked with a half-smile, his tone light but weary.
He didn't expect an answer. The rush of using mana for the first time was something words couldn't describe, it was not joy, not excitement but something else entirely.
Raven didn't respond either. His focus remained steady as he climbed, blue light reflecting off his cold eyes.
They reached the roof, overlooking the ruined streets below.
The giant undead still lay there, motionless but not yet gone, surrounded now by two more of its kind, smaller but no less terrifying.
Chris frowned. "You're not planning to fight those, are you?"
'If he does, we'll die,' he thought bitterly.
But Raven only glared down at the monsters, his expression unreadable.
After a moment of silence, Chris broke the tension. "You're awfully quiet. Gonna say something?"
Raven exhaled softly. "One minute."
"Huh?"
"Level 1 mana lasts exactly one minute. I tried using it nonstop, that's all I could manage. Sixty seconds. If used properly, we could stretch it out, but if it's a continuous fight, we'll burn through it fast."
Chris blinked, impressed. "You were actually counting the time? I didn't think of that."
"You've got your mana at Level 2, right?" Raven continued. "When you used it before, it lasted around two or three minutes?"
"Yeah, somewhere there. Wait, you're saying the time doubles every level?" Chris asked, realization dawning.
"Seems like it."
Chris chuckled quietly. "You know what? You've actually got a brain for this stuff. A born survivor."
Raven said nothing.
Born a survivor? Not really.
You aren't born with strength, you earn it.
You're born with nothing. Everything you have in your present is something you were given or earned.
"Controlling mana continuously is hard," Raven said instead, brushing aside the compliment. "But with practice, we might extend that time."
"Maybe…" Chris murmured, his voice distant.
He stared at the streets below, shattered concrete, burned cars, blood-stained glass, all too familiar, yet now utterly alien. Even the buildings he'd seen a thousand times before felt like ghosts of a world that no longer existed.
Reality hit him again, heavy and cold.
'I never asked for this… or did I?'
A dream once, maybe. Anyone who'd ever watched an apocalypse movie or read a survival novel had thought the same thing at least once.
What if it really happened?
What if monsters came? What if I had powers? I'd definitely be the strongest, right?
A fantasy shared by millions.
But now, standing in the ruins of that dream, Chris finally saw the truth.
This wasn't a game. It wasn't thrilling or heroic.
It was horror, slow, suffocating horror. A ruined world where every step could be your last… and unseen eyes were watching, always watching.
This wasn't the dream they had wished for.
This was a nightmare.
And yet, beneath that fear, another thought gnawed at him.
His parents.
Were they alive?
His voice broke the silence. "Hey… Raven."
Raven turned to him.
"Do you think we can really survive in this world?"
It wasn't that Chris saw no hope, it was that the hope he saw felt so small, so fragile, that it scared him more than despair.
Raven didn't answer right away. He watched the horizon, the smoke, the lifeless city, the distant movement of monsters, before finally speaking.
"It's not a matter of if," he said quietly. "The real question is... do you want to survive in this world? If you have the will… nothing can stop you."
He didn't say the rest, the truth lingering behind his words.
'But that depends on what your will is. If your will is to survive alone, you can. But if it's to survive with others… one mistake is all it takes to die.'
Raven kept those thoughts buried. For now, Chris didn't need to know.
He could help him a little, sure, but when the time came, Raven would always choose his own survival first.
Unaware of his thoughts, Chris smiled faintly. "Didn't expect that from you. I thought you'd just stay quiet, haha.."
Chris laughed and shrugged a little afterwards, turning toward the edge of the roof. "Well," he said, flexing his hand slightly, "it seems my mana's recovered. Should be enough to reach the hospital if I use it right."
"Then let's move before more of those things show up."
The two of them stood there a moment longer, wind brushing against their faces, the scent of smoke heavy in the air.
Somewhere far off, another explosion echoed through the city, a reminder that the nightmare was far from over.
Raven glanced once more at the faint blue aura flickering around his chains. The power felt raw and unstable, but it was his, earned, not given.
'One step at a time,' he thought, his eyes cold but determined.
'One fight at a time.'
***
Thanks for reading.