Chương 38: Chapter 36: Rest and Recovery

The sun started rising around five-thirty in the morning. Like always, that quiet hour of early dawn drew me into a deep, heavy tiredness. I seriously hate this specific time of day after a long work night. As the early morning light began to fill the streets and my dark vision faded back to normal sight, a familiar prompt popped up to notify me that my nighttime grinding had paid off. [Skill Proficiency Increased!] [Dark Vision — Beginner Level 9]: Provides a 27% increase to the brightness of vision at night or in dark places. (Passive, Cost: N/A, Cast Time: N/A, Cooldown: N/A) [Sneak — Apprentice Level 1]: You now make 21% less noise when sneaking. Automatically blend in with your surroundings, making your location 21% harder to detect. [Spell Proficiency Increased!] [Spike Growth — Beginner Level 3]: Summon a patch of barbed spikes in a 24-foot radius from a center point designated by the caster anywhere within 150 feet.

Spikes deal 20 points of piercing damage and inflict the [Rooted] debuff. The spiked area features a blended effect that merges the spikes into the surrounding terrain. Blended effects may be nullified by [Detect Traps] or higher perception levels. (Duration: 10 min, Cost: 100 Mana, Cast Time: 10 seconds, Cooldown: 1 hour) Not too bad an increase for a single night's work, I thought, dismissing the screens.

If I kept this routine up every evening, alongside the well-rested bonuses, I should easily have these core skills pushed into the mid-apprentice ranks within the next week. If I could just get my family moved into a place that was a bit more defensible, I would definitely start training up the rest of my skills on a regular schedule. If this was the new way of living, I might as well take full advantage of the System. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere.

Support the author by seeking out the original. I finally called it a night around seven in the morning. I hadn't wanted to head inside too early and risk missing any late-shift looters who might still be working the neighborhood. Plus, I was completely exhausted from being awake since noon the previous day. If I had gone straight to bed the moment the sun cracked the horizon, I wouldn't have been able to sleep late into the afternoon.

I wanted to make sure whatever well-rested bonus I earned today would stay active until well after we initiated our push on the high school. I wasn't about to waste a single opportunity. After unbuckling my tactical vest and setting my weapons aside, I sat down at the kitchen table to a hot plate of fried ham and eggs that Denise had prepared for me. I passed on the coffee this time, since I didn't want the caffeine keeping me awake, and besides, I figured we were probably already out of creamer anyway.

I just stuck to a cold glass of water with the meal. Even so, I was already missing milk. I made a mental note right then that one of my long-term survival goals would be to round up a dairy heifer or ten so we could have fresh milk for breakfast again. Oh, and cheese—definitely cheese. After finishing breakfast, I took another quick, water-saving "Navy shower" and headed down the hall to lay down.

Denise had managed to sleep on and off throughout the night, but she still wanted to cuddle up with me under the blankets, which was just fine by me. The more quality time I got to spend with her and the kids these days, the better. I slid into bed, scooting up right behind her, and whispered into her ear, "Goodnight, baby. I love you." Then, I gently tapped my wedding ring against hers three times.

"Goodnight, baby. I love you too," she murmured, squeezing my hand. Wrapped in the quiet safety of the bedroom, I fell fast asleep within seconds.