Chương 80: Ruined Settlement (3)

Rowan let out a breath and lay back, staring up at the night sky. It was beautiful. But what was more beautiful was the boar meat in his pot. It didn't even need to be seasoned; it was just that delicious. It had been a bit difficult with his now-bandaged wounds, but he'd managed to get his shirt back on. It had a few holes in it now, but it was still in decent condition overall. Around him, the rest of the party sat with varying expressions of pleasure and surprise.

Even the twins and Cynthia had eaten their share, and Lucas was there as well, having come back from using the bathroom. Sitting back up, Rowan looked down at his final chunk of meat. He just wished he'd taken more meat from the boar, but it was too late now. The others were enjoying themselves as well, but not nearly as much as he was. Rowan supposed it was because he was still getting used to eating something besides the System rations, so just a bit of flavor went a long way.

Waiting for the meat to cook had been tantalizing with the smells it had given off, especially given how long it took to cook. The flesh was just so tough that it had taken Henry several times longer than it should've to cook it long enough for it to be tender. As Rowan stabbed his fork into the last piece of boar, he thought. If this were from a level 17 creature, what would meat from a level 50 beast taste like? Level 100? And how would they be cooked?

Assuming the flesh would be more durable than most metals, Rowan thought there had to be some special technique or materials needed to cook it, but he simply had no idea what they were. Shaking his head, he refocused on the food before him. But, just as he was about to take a bite, he felt something poking his leg. Looking down, he saw Cynthia standing next to him, staring at the chunk of boar on his fork. Then, she turned her gaze up to him, opening her eyes wide.

"…Can I have some?" For a few seconds, Rowan met her gaze. Internally, though, he fought a silent battle. The girl definitely knew what she was doing, but at the same time, how could he not give her what she wanted? Rowan sighed and gave the meat one last sad look before taking the fork and moving it to Cynthia's mouth. She laughed and, before Rowan could change his mind, bit into the meat and pulled it from the fork.

"Thangk yew!" She said, her voice muffled by the boar. After giving his leg a quick hug, she ran back to where she'd been sitting before plopping down to continue chewing. Eren, who was sitting on the other side of the campfire, giggled as she looked between Cynthia and Rowan.

"You two are so cute!" Turning to Henry, she asked, "Is there any more?" The man shook his head mournfully.

"No, that's all of it."

"Aww. I'm going to bed, then. Wake me up when it's my turn to be lookout." She waved at them before standing up and leaving.

"I'm gonna sleep, too," Lucas muttered before turning and following Eren. A few minutes later, the twins and Cynthia followed suit, leaving only Henry and Rowan by the fire. They sat in silence, just staring up at the stars for a while before Henry asked, "Are you sure you're alright? So many injuries have got to hurt, no?" Rowan sighed.

"They hurt. But I've been through worse, so it's not that bad anymore." For a bit, Henry just stared into the distance, a slight frown on his face. Then, he said, "You look tired. Go get some sleep, alright? I'll take first watch. Then it's Jeremy and Emma, then you. Eren will go after you and then Lucas last." You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Rowan nodded, but inside, he felt himself relax a bit.

Henry and the twins would be keeping watch before him, so he had some time to get rested. His body didn't need much sleep, so perhaps it would be all he needed.

"How long will my shift be?"

"Eren will come and take over after a bit, and if she still hasn't after two hours or so, go wake her up." As the man spoke, he kicked ashes and dirt over the fire, smothering it.

"Sounds good, thanks." Rowan smiled as he stood up and walked over to where everyone else had gone. Halfway there, though, he froze as Henry called out to him.

"One last thing!" Rowan turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for bringing me the boar. It means a lot to me, y'know? So…thank you." Rowan smiled.

"No problem." … Rowan yawned as he sat against the wall of a half-destroyed house. He'd been up for half an hour now, so he estimated that he had about an hour left before he could go back to sleep. Despite what he'd hoped, he was still tired even after several hours of sleep. He was much better than before, sure, but he wanted nothing more than to go back and curl up under the blanket that he'd been sleeping under. Speaking of his sleeping situation, there had already been a blanket and a pillow laid out for him.

He would have to thank whoever had done that for him. Looking up at the sky far above, Rowan sighed. It was so beautiful, far prettier than anything he'd ever seen back on Earth. A stark contrast from the Tutorial itself. Or, perhaps, it wasn't. The 'safe zone' they were in really wasn't that bad compared to the caves, and the greatest threat Rowan had faced was other people. It almost seemed too easy to survive. You could just camp out here, slowly gaining strength, and be fine.

At least, that was what he'd thought before getting here. Now, though, as he looked over the town's ruins, he realized that wasn't the case. The people who lived here had spent weeks and weeks building up defenses, gathering people, creating a society. And all it had taken to crush it all had been a single lone beast to wander out of the more dangerous zones. The defenders had barely been able to do anything about it, either.

The boar had broken through one wall, destroyed half the town, and then broken through the other. Even if it hadn't killed that many people, it had destroyed their shelter and protection from the outside world. It looked like most of the people had fled the town, but even if they'd stayed and rebuilt, Rowan knew from experience that if another powerful beast stumbled upon the place, it would take just a few seconds for them to destroy it all again.

He'd thought that having safe zones wasn't really befitting of an Apocalypse Difficulty Tutorial, but perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps, rather than making it easier for the participants to survive, it actually did the opposite? If there had been no safer areas, people would be forced to fight constantly for survival, just like Rowan had. Many of them would die, sure, but those that came out alive would be far stronger because of it.

With the safe zones, however, the majority of humanity hid away in their little bubbles of protection, not risking as much and slowly gaining their strength. But Rowan had seen firsthand how people weren't the only people who could grow in power; the creatures could, too. And as time went on, it would become even harder for the average human to leave the safe areas. And eventually, there was the possibility that the safe zone itself would become too dangerous for the people there to handle.

Admittedly, there would still be some people who chose to fight in the more difficult areas, rapidly growing in strength, but there would be far fewer. Perhaps the System did this to weed out the weak-willed and those who were unwilling to fight for power? Why the System would do this, Rowan had no idea. After all, he didn't know what the purpose of the Tutorial was. Was it just preparing its participants for life with the System? Or was there something else? Rowan sighed. There was no way for him to know.

But it did make him a bit grateful that he'd ended up in the caves; while it had been hard, it'd not only allowed him to gain power, but it had also shown him how deadly the Tutorial could be. And that let him realize that he not only wanted more power, but he needed it if he wanted to survive in this world. Right now, Rowan was intending on leaving the safe zone to train and level up. But if he hadn't ended up in the caves, he didn't know if he'd be doing the same.

Without getting a taste of the possibilities and dangers of the System, he might've just ended up like everyone else, cowering in fear in the safe zones until it was no longer possible for him to leave them and survive. There were definitely still some people who'd chosen to go straight into the hard areas to fight for their lives, but far fewer than there could've been without the safe zones. Rowan was drawn out of his thoughts as he heard a yawn from behind him.

Twisting around, he found Eren slowly making her way toward him. As he watched her, he frowned slightly; he had no exact way of telling time, but he doubted his time on watch was up yet. He shrugged. It didn't really matter. It would still be nice to have some company.