Chapter 315

"....."

"Oh boy. This is a nightmare." Kai heaved a tired sigh as he rubbed his temples with a deep frown on his face while looking at the map drawn on the ground.

"Well, it doesn’t matter. We are leaving this world no matter what," Trisha chimed in coldly.

"And who said anything about not leaving?" Ray asked with a smirk on his face.

"Bu-But the guardian guys," Chloe stuttered into the conversation.

"It will be handled," Kai turned towards her with a confident smirk.

"So we are all onboard?" Ray asked as he looked at the others.

Kai and Trisha shrugged.

"Mehn.... I’m not sure about this," Van hummed as he looked at the map.

Sighing, Ray raised his hand above the ground.

[Inventory]

Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.

Raining down from his palm toward the dirt, not one, not two, not even six, but ten Advanced-rank cores fell to the ground, clattering against each other as Van’s gaze drifted toward them with a widened look on his face.

"Ho-How did you get this many cores?"

Finally, Ray stopped and sat back down.

"We hunted them back on Hill Valley. There you go. Use them for your contraptions."

Van reached out for the gleaming spheres and began counting them again as if he were dreaming.

After making sure that there were really ten, he lifted his gaze toward his friend.

"But-But don’t you need them for your own growth?"

Ray shook his head.

"I have hit my meta-force limit. I can’t increase it anymore, so those cores are basically useless to me for now."

Looking toward Kai, Van was about to speak when the blonde youth butted in.

"No need to give me any. I have also hit my limit, so they are useless to me."

Seeing as he had no other option, Van reached out and began gathering the cores one by one.

With a bit of effort, he began absorbing them until he was left with just five, which he pocketed safely.

"How far are you from hitting your limit too?" Ray inquired with a raised brow.

Van sighed dejectedly. "Still quite far."

"Don’t beat yourself up over that. Anyway, how about now? Are you in?" Kai asked.

Van shrugged with a sigh. "What can I say now?"

"Tsk. Bribed by beast cores," Chloe scoffed while turning her head to the side.

"So when do we begin moving?" Trisha asked.

Ray thought for several seconds before giving a reply.

"The moment the beasts begin disassembling tomorrow morning, we move. No time to waste anymore."

"So we can all rest up today," Kai uttered and then pointed to the side.

"We still have a few strips of beast meat left, so we can eat that later tonight."

They all nodded after finalizing the plan, and with that, everybody went off to tend to their own tasks.

The cave was quite cramped, so most of them headed out for a breath of fresh air and also to observe the landscape some more.

Since it was still sunny, there was no danger, and they could walk around freely.

.....

Several hours passed, and it was now nighttime.

With the help of Ray and his lightning, a fire was lit inside the cave where Chloe and Trisha began roasting the meat.

"Honestly, I wish you were here on time. Our fire would have been easier to light," said Kai with a regretful look.

"Huh?"

"Yes. I had to grate two stones together like a caveman just to produce fire each time, and it was so agonizing and annoying at the same time. Tsk."

Ray chuckled as the scent of roasting meat wafted into the air, making his stomach growl. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The sound of grinding bones resounded all around them from the outside, but as expected, none of the skeletons thought to wander into any of the caves, ensuring they were completely safe.

This further cemented Ray’s belief that they were just a bunch of mindless constructs.

After all, if they possessed a mind of their own, they would have investigated the caves by now.

Oh well!

What did he care?

The meat was finally ready, and everyone was served.

They all sat around the dying bonfire, silently chewing on the meager portions of food they were allocated.

"Man... this is hell," Van mused aloud, biting down on his ration and tearing off a piece before silently chewing.

As everyone sat deep in thought, eating in silence, the quiet atmosphere began biting at Chloe.

Unable to take it anymore, she decided to pose a question.

"So... after the Aspirant Corps, what next for you all?"

"..."

There was a brief pause as everyone continued eating.

"I’m joining the Vanguard Order," Ray replied.

"Same here," Trisha added.

Kai hesitated for a moment. "I’m not sure yet."

Van shrugged.

"Initially, I wanted to join the Iron Corps. But then, on second thought, if I do that, who will stop this dumbass here from doing anything reckless? So, I’m going for the Vanguard Order too."

Chloe looked around at everyone, then down at the tiny strip of meat in her hand, which she popped into her mouth before licking her fingers clean.

"I see...."

"What about you?" Kai asked, likewise cleaning his fingers.

"I also want to join the Vanguard Order."

"Guess everybody hates the Aberrants, huh?" Kai chuckled deeply.

"Who doesn’t?" Van asked as dark memories of the past threatened to spill into his mind, though he quickly brushed them aside.

"Hpmh."

’But I’m joining the Vanguard Order for a totally different reason,’ Chloe mused inwardly, her jaw tightly clenched.

With everyone now done eating, Ray rose to his feet and began walking toward the mouth of the cave.

"Ohoy~! Where are you headed?" Van questioned worriedly.

"You all get some rest without any worry. I will keep watch all night."

"Eh? What about you? Don’t you need to sleep?" Chloe asked.

Turning his head around for a brief moment, Ray’s eyes crackled with raw lightning.

"I don’t."

’Oh, yeah. He isn’t human. Why do I keep forgetting that?’ Chloe sighed inwardly.

And with that, they all settled into their respective cramped spaces to get some well-deserved rest, while Ray leaned against a bone wall close to the entrance and stared out ahead.

His perception remained active, allowing him to feel all the skeletal creatures wandering around outside like a bunch of zombies.

He folded his arms across his chest and took a slow, deep breath.

’Tomorrow. The search for the others begins.’