It had been ten days since Nathan arrived in this world. For the most part, life had gotten significantly better.
Not perfect, obviously. The world was still infested with undead creatures that appeared every night like aggressively unwanted subscription notifications. But compared to waking up in the middle of a forest with nothing except hospital clothes and emotional burden?
It was a massive improvement.
Yesterday's Stone-Breaker Bovine alone had upgraded his quality of life tremendously.
First — he finally got to experience what actual meat tasted like again, while also broaden his diet menu.
At first, he'd been reluctant to try it. The thing had attempted to destroy his house less than twelve hours earlier, which made the whole experience feel morally questionable.
But after Natsu skewered the meat and grilled it over the fire, resistance became futile. And he regretted absolutely nothing — it was tender, juicy, and savory, even without seasoning. Nathan can't get enough of it.
Unfortunately, since it was a D-Rank monster, the chance for it to spawn was quite low with only the two of them around.
Second — the bovine's hide.
The thick pelt turned out to be surprisingly valuable for crafting, allowing Nathan to finally make use of a crafting recipe he had buy a few days earlier.
[Mana-Enchanted Leather Boots — 25 SC]
Nathan had stared at the price for a solid ten seconds. How is a single pair of boots more expensive than the entire clothing collection recipe?
The System, naturally, refused to elaborate. That thing's economy was clearly held together by duct tape and gambling addiction.
Still, he bought it anyway.
And thankfully, the result was worth it.
The boots fit perfectly to his feets.
Dark brown leather reinforced with mana-enhanced stitching, sturdy enough for rough terrain while maintaining a sleek, military-style design that reached just above his ankles.
The moment Nathan put them on, he almost got emotional. "…My feet can finally retire from suffering."
Because being barefoot in a forest for over a week had been genuinely miserable.
Sharp rocks.
Twigs.
Mystery textures he absolutely did not want to identify with bare skin.
Now, he could walk comfortably across rough terrain without feeling like nature itself had declared war on his soles.
Unfortunately, the boots offered no stat boosts like he had hoped for.
No 'Silent Step' passive either.
It was simply a pair of slightly more durable boots than normal.
Still, Nathan couldn't deny it gave him a powerful sense of progression. Like he had finally upgraded from 'random apocalypse survivor' to 'low-level RPG protagonist.'
A huge milestone in his book.
• × • × • × •
Thanks to the improved equipment — and the relative safety around the base — Nathan had started venturing farther into the forest during daytime.
Not recklessly, of course.
He only followed the river upstream, making sure he always had a reliable route back home.
Or rather—
Back to the base.
Because somewhere along the way, the wooden fortress had quietly stopped feeling temporary.
And today's objective wasn't difficult to find.
Rocks.
Lots of them.
Large boulders rested near the riverside, partially embedded into the soil after years of erosion.
"Perfect."
Nathan crouched beside one, pressing a hand against the rough stone surface.
"Store."
The boulder vanished instantly.
A grin tugged at his lips. "This never gets old."
The reason he needed rocks was simple.
Base upgrades.
Wood alone wouldn't be enough forever — especially after witnessing what a single angry bovine's horn could do to reinforced walls.
Stone would strengthen the structure significantly.
Though I'm still wondering whether reinforcing something with stone is a good idea against a creature literally called Stone-Breaker Bovine…
Still, he had another reason for collecting rocks.
Money.
A replacement income source.
Because wood?
Wood was dead — economically speaking.
At first, selling lumber had been absurdly profitable. Then the Shop gradually started lowering the price the more he sold.
Until eventually—
[Wood — Sell Price: 0 SC]
Apparently, even the System believed in supply and demand. Which meant Nathan needed a new business model. And since he had nothing better to do during daytime — rock collecting it was.
Natsu had stayed behind at the base, probably sleeping. After all, they had killed nearly a thousand zombies last night.
Yes — a thousand.
At this point, ammo economy had evolved from 'desperate survival concern' into straightforward resource management.
As long as they kept maintaining one-shot kills on Walkers, the ammo cycle remained sustainable indefinitely.
Nathan could even afford to sell portions of their E-Rank runestones while still maintaining enough resources to massacre another thousand undead the following night.
That realization was mildly terrifying.
"…We've become way too efficient at killing zombies," he muttered.
He'd killed so many Walkers that his Hunter's Gallery quota finally reached its maximum threshold, and the last one had increases him 1.0 Vitality as the reward — ten times the usual.
[Walker (F-Rank): 50/50 — Completion Reward: Vitality +1.0, SP +1, Badge: Bane Of The Undead]
—————————————
Hunter's Badge — Bane Of The Undead
When equipped, increases firearm damage against undead-type monsters by an additional 20%.
—————————————
In total, the Walker quota had granted him 5.9 Vitality, one SP, and an equippable badge.
Naturally, his level had also increased significantly from the nonstop EXP gain.
—————————————
Name: Nathan Nightshade
Class: Hunter
Level: 5 (EXP: 1660/1800)
Hunter's Badge: Bane Of The Undead
Condition: Fine
HP: 92/92 | Stamina: 80/92 | Mana: 60/77
———
Vitality: 9.2
Strength: 1.9
Agility: 6.0
Magic: 7.7
Dexterity: 5.0
———
SP: 11
———
Skills:
Hunter's Mark (Lv.2) | Hunter's High (Lv.2) | Hunter's Parallax
Divine Blessing:
Divine Blessing of Lunarinas — Lunar Veil Protocol
—————————————
System Features:
Shop | Storage | Hunter's Gallery | Crafting | Weapon Tuning | Repair | Hunter's Pact
—————————————
After storing several more boulders, Nathan straightened with a quiet sigh.
"I think that's everything around here."
At some point, he had discovered the Storage system possessed a surprisingly reasonable limitation.
Not capacity-wise, but object-size-wise. Because despite how absurd the System was, it still had restrictions.
For example, he couldn't store an entire cliffside. It's simply too large.
Same with water.
Or dirt.
Unless separated from the environment first, they wouldn't register as independent objects.
Trees followed similar rules.
Nathan had tested it a few days earlier on a particularly massive tree — one he had triple-checked was not Ironwood.
The System rejected it completely.
After some experimentation, he estimated the Storage limit for storing a single object was somewhere around nine to ten cubic meters per attempt.
Anything larger resulted in 'Error' message.
It's probably for the best. Otherwise, he might eventually attempt something incredibly stupid.
Like… storing an entire mountain for example.
"…Alright," he exhaled. "Time to head back before Natsu starts worrying."
He turned downstream, beginning the walk home. He hadn't told Natsu where he was going.
Not because he was hiding anything. But because her sleeping face had looked so absurdly innocent and peaceful, he nearly ended up sitting there and staring until she woke up.
Which, honestly, creeped even him out a little.
Over the past several days, the two of them had grown significantly closer.
Not romantically. At least… probably not.
Nathan was still trying very hard not to think too deeply about how captivating she looked in actual girls' clothes.
But as comrades?
Definitely.
They talked more openly now. Shared meals together. Spent nights massacring zombies side by side like it was a perfectly normal bonding activity.
And eventually, their conversations became more personal.
Nathan had told her about Earth.
About hospital stays.
About spending the last five years of his life trapped in a bed, fighting an incurable illness while the rest of the world moved on without him.
Natsu listened quietly the entire time.
She's not trying to pity him, neither attempting awkward sympathy. She simply listened and nodded in understanding.
And in return — Nathan learned why her name sounded Japanese.
Her mother had been a summoned Hero from another world, her name was Chiharu Natsukawa. And yes — she had been human. Natsu's fox-kin traits came from her father, who had died while she was still a baby.
And her mother…
Nathan's expression darkened slightly remembering their conversation.
…She had been murdered by humans who kidnapped her — right in front of her eyes.
"…No wonder she hates humans so much," he muttered quietly while walking beside the river.
Though strangely — she had never treated him that way. If anything, she trusted him surprisingly quickly.
Or… relatively quickly. Considering their first interaction involved her threatening to break his legs.
Nathan glanced upward through the forest canopy. "…As long as she doesn't hate me, I'm not complaining."
The river flowed quietly beside him.
Sunlight filtered gently through the leaves overhead, scattering shifting patches of gold across the forest floor.
The atmosphere felt… oddly calm.
Unbeknownst to him—
On this particular day, he should have stayed with Natsu.
Because he was about to learn that the greatest threat in this world wasn't its monsters.
But its people.