Chương 14: Raccy

CH 14 - Raccy Grey caught up to Jim; his buddy had the crazy bum cornered. The lunatic who broke into his home and stabbed Kenny had his back up against a wall, finally. Surprisingly, Jim and Grey didn't have to do anything. The bum took his own knife and drove it into his own stomach, screaming bloody murder. Ripping open his own bowels, only a demonic screech left a sign of him before he sizzled away into nothingness.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Jim yelled.

"Freaky... man." Grey said. Jim looked at him with a worried stare. Grey knew him from before the integration, and the guy was always pretty religious, so seeing whatever demonic sacrifice they had just witnessed must have been traumatizing. From a portal, a gnome appeared. It stepped through the multicolored window to another realm, looking at Grey before leaving behind a gift. Leaving as swiftly as it came, the mystery behind the strange creature left, leaving Grey with more questions than answers.

The carefully wrapped package included various candies with a magical shine, a seed, a letter, and what Grey assumed to be potions for cultivation. The letter read, "We have adopted the boy. He is safe. We will raise him to be strong." Grey and Jim both let out sighs of relief, happy to hear the kid was still alive. Grey took inventory of the rest of the gift, surprised the gnomes were so generous. The candies seemed to have mana in them, which should come in handy.

He then looked at the seed, when suddenly he got a prompt in his vision telling him what they were. [Celestial Lotus Seed (D)] THIS SEED IS D RANK? Grey and Jim shared a surprised expression and quickly stashed away their loot. A (D) rank item should prove to be essential to their future cultivation, as soon as they could figure out its use. The two friends found a spot to spend the night: an abandoned office building.

They helped themselves to the dry goods and snacks they could find in the pantries, and warmed themselves beside a barrel fire. Grey stayed up on first watch while Jim got some rest, watching the barricaded door while working on his Qi circulation. His level-ups and better understanding of his body through combat made the circulation work much smoother, but a foul odor filled the room as he meditated; impurities leaked from his pores.

"Nasty man, did you shit yourself?" Jim said groggily, opening his eyes.

"Just kidding. I see you're meditating. I can respect it. I'm guessing the system didn't buff your qi systems. When I wished to be a strong fighter, the system expunged almost all my impurities all at once. I smelled like shit before I could wash up." Grey apologized, forgetting that the impurities he released while meditating smelled so bad. Apparently, Jim got a head start in cultivation with his wish, as well as a natural affinity to channel Qi into punches.

Jim gave him a few pointers, and Grey let him look over his cultivation guides.

"I really like this Body Cultivation technique, mind if I hold on to it for a while?" Grey agreed to lend it to Jim since he had memorized it already. There were some major benefits to leveling INT. He could memorize a book just by reading through it once. Grey guessed that Jim focused his free points into END, STR, and DEX… So he probably needed the guide more than he did. Grey wiped himself off with a cloth they had found and got some sleep for himself.

It was already past midnight, so he didn't expect to get many hours sleep. When he woke up, it was about midday.

"I let you sleep in. Yesterday's battles must have taken a toll on you." Jim said. Grey was grateful; the rest was much needed. Grey felt clearer in the head now. The two shared a meal from their supplies before heading out into the wild again. The sun was high in the sky; the nighttime hunters were sound asleep, and a whole new slew of threats awaited them. The two friends had escaped the downtown part of the city.

Grey had a feeling that the strongest beasts were lingering downtown, so he hoped their travels would be safer now. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Grey wasn't opposed to fighting beasts to level up, but the thought of being trapped in the city worried him. Some beasts they had spotted so far were definitely much higher level than them. As they traveled out of the city, they saw more and more signs of human life.

Mostly boarded-up buildings, as well as a few makeshift barricades, indicated that people had holed up in defensible locations. It made sense to barricade where you were, If this whole apocalypse was temporary Grey didn't think it was. He had a feeling that the world would be this way forever. Grey wasn't looking forward to running into groups. He figured that this early into the integration; the world was essentially lawless; there were definitely bad people causing trouble around.

The two travelled southward, going through suburbs and streets littered with abandoned cars. They considered trying to take a car, but neither knew how to hot-wire, and they didn't have any keys. Finally, they came upon a park that was once only a hundred square feet. Now, the park was expanded, basically creating a small forest.

"Let's go through the woods. I feel more comfortable with the tree cover than being on the open streets. If we don't make too much noise, we should be fine," Jim suggested. After the two wandered a few hundred feet in, they heard rustling in a nearby bush. The two crouched, and Grey drew his sword from its sheath. A 5-foot-tall humanoid raccoon emerged. His face was almost the same as his pre-integration form, but his body had been modified to be bipedal.

They got ready to take it down before it said something to them.

"Hey guys, I don't want any trouble. But I don't recommend you keep heading this way." Did a raccoon just say something to me? Jim looked at Grey as if he had just asked himself the same question. After a brief hesitation, the two of them walked into the open and greeted the little furry guy. The raccoon quickly explained what its deal was.

"I always see big guys like you throwing away yummy snacks. I always wanted more of those snacks, so I wished to be like you!" the raccoon explained.

"But now, all of you people are hiding, and there are no more snacks…"

"So, what's your name?" Grey asked.

"Name?" The raccoon tilted its head and spread open its paws.

"What's that?"

"A name is what people call you, how you are referred to." The raccoon frowned.

"Other raccoons usually just make fun of me; they think I'm weird. Also, they can't talk like I do; they chatter." Aww, the poor thing is getting bullied, Grey joked to himself.

"Alright, I'll call you Raccy. For raccoon!" Not very creative, but it flows off the tongue… Raccy opened his mouth and smiled, showing a bunch of razor-sharp teeth. I guess he likes it.

"Alright! I'm Raccy! But, like I was saying, I'd be careful going through here. Thought I'd warn you. There's a really powerful meanie living in the middle of the woods." Raccy asked a few questions about basic stuff that most humans already knew before heading towards the center of the woods.

"Well, that was weird, but he seemed pretty cool actually," Jim said.

"Yeah, he was - wait… Where's your inventory pouch?" Jim looked at his waistline to see that the clip that attached his pouch to his shorts had been sheared off.

"The little beast robbed me!" Should have known better. What would a raccoon with increased intelligence do with it besides steal?

"We've gotta go get it back. That's all my supplies." Grey hesitated, remembering what Raccy said about a powerful beast in the woods, but ultimately followed Jim deeper towards the core of the park. They continued deeper. Here, most of the wildlife avoided them. Any beast that could take down evolved humans was likely hunting in the city. Grey saw a few mutated squirrels and birds, but they seemed adolescent or weaker than the monsters they had fought since returning to Earth.

The two snuck through the woods and finally found a bramble of sticks and vines that resembled a tiny house. Jim kicked open the hut to reveal Raccy crouched around the pouch, gnawing on some jerky he had looted from it.

"AAAAH I'M SORRY! DON'T KILL ME!!!" Raccy jumped straight up into the air. He tried running away, but Grey grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. Jim took back his pouch and glared at the creature.

"Why'd you do that? I thought we were cool."

"I'm starving, man!" Raccy's face slumped into a pout.

"The big boss hoards all the good food, and you humans aren't throwing anything into the dumpsters anymore. I thought you'd have some snacks, and I could give the rest to the big boss as rent." Grey held the little guy off the floor. He kind of felt bad for him and remembered that he's just an animal.

"Look, we don't steal from our friends. If you had asked for some food, I would have given you some," Grey said. Some tears grew in Raccy's eyes as he said, "Really? Nobody was ever nice to me before." Grey set Raccy down, and they talked a bit more about the big boss.

"So, Big Boss is mean to everyone in the woods, and nobody here is strong enough to stand up to them?" Raccy nodded before Grey went on, "You say they have a lot of good stuff, like what?"

"Well, she's got a lot of those pouches like you've got, as well as some weapons and stuff. She killed a lot of you humans when they started appearing here in these woods." Grey frowned. He didn't like this "Big Boss". Not only was she hunting humans, but she was bullying Raccy.

"I'll tell you what. We'll beat up Big Boss and rob her, but you've gotta promise you won't steal from good guys anymore. Jim and I are good guys; we're nice to you. You don't steal from good guys, only bad guys like Big Boss." Grey realized that while Raccy was smarter now, he still didn't really have a moral compass. He was like a baby and needed to learn how to interact with other sapient species.

"Deal! I hate her. She's really big, and she's mean, too. But you guys might be able to beat her up." Jim and Grey followed Raccy deeper into the woods until they found the opening of a cave.

"She's in there," Raccy whispered before scampering into a bush and hiding, only his beady eyes and bushy tail poking through the leaves. Jim nodded to Grey and removed a glowing stone from his pouch.

"Let's do this."