15.) Reality Check

Dawn found herself tormented by the scene of her embarrassing defeat. The image of Trevor's arrogant smirk as he looked down at her stabbed at the little confidence she had built for herself.

Upon waking up yet again, Dawn's muscles felt sore, and she saw herself inside a classroom void of desks and chairs. It seemed the classroom had been cleared to make room for the refugees who covered the floor with sleeping bags.

"Take it easy, Mistress! You must not aggravate your injuries," Rin voiced his concern, sitting beside Dawn. Once her back was raised, she peeked underneath her shirt and saw her entire torso covered in bandages.

"Looks like you're up! Here's some porridge from the kitchen!" Lily walked toward the two and placed a warm brown bowl in Dawn's lap.

"How long was I out?" asked Dawn and winced from the pain that came from trying to pick up the bowl. Seeing his mistress in distress, Rin took it upon himself to personally feed her. Holding the bowl, he steadily fed her spoonfuls of porridge.

"Not only is he a hunk but a gentleman~!" swooned Lily with heart eyes before regaining her composure.

"And to answer your question, you were only out for a couple of hours. It took some convincing on our end to talk Trevor into allowing you guys to stay here."

"Hmm, is that so..." Dawn's hands gripped her sleeping bag. Hearing Trevor's name made Dawn flare with anger and shame, wondering how she lost so easily when her rank was much higher than his.

"You're up, again!" Walking into the room, holding a depressed Neko-chan in his arms, was Kris. Neko-chan, upon seeing her master awake, jumped out of Kris's arms and into Dawn's.

"I've missed you too." Dawn ran a hand over the kitten's back, noticing Lily's eyes fixed on the kitten.

"Say, does the kittens normally have twin tails?"

Such words made Kris and Dawn freeze. Neko-chan, who was in the middle of basking in her master's care, wondered why Dawn had stopped petting her. The two young adults broke out into a sweat as they realized their mistake of not hiding Neko-chan's identity.

"S-She has a rare condition which is why she has two tails! But other than that, Neko-chan is totally a normal kitten!" Dawn nervously scratched at her cheek, hoping Lily wouldn't summon her system and execute Neko-chan on the spot.

"Really? That's cool!" Both Kris and Dawn were happy that Lily was naive enough to accept such a lame lie.

"Mistress, what shall we do about that man who dared harm you? Should we tie him up and slowly sever each one of his limbs?" Out of the frying pan and into the fire! Dawn wondered why fate loved playing such cruel tricks on her.

"Hahaha, you're a funny guy, Rin! I see you're very protective of Dawn!" Lily carelessly laughed, thinking Rin was only joking, not knowing the man was dead serious when he voiced his opinion.

"There will be no torturing and killing! But I must ask, where is Trevor, Lily? I want to ask him some questions," said Dawn.

"He's probably training at the gym. I could show you the way if you want!" Lily volunteered. Dawn, once finished with her porridge and with Rin's assistance, got to her feet.

Kris and Rin had decided to tag along even though Dawn told them they could stay, but neither listened to her. Neko, as usual, occupied her usual space on top of Dawn's head.

While walking down the hall, Dawn noticed that just like the room they resided in, each room was occupied with refugees. The air at the base felt peaceful and friendly. Dawn spotted a few boys who were sitting in a circle playing card games. Another scene is of a mother happily feeding her daughter.

'There's a deep contrast between this place and the warehouse,' mused Dawn, not wanting to relive any memories she had of that place. Even though nothing significant ever happened to her, the place was depressing, and thinking about it brought down her mood.

Lily opened the door that led to the gym, and Dawn was surprised at what she saw taking place inside.

'They set up a training facility?'

Dawn saw numerous people inside, all sweating as they performed exercises like running laps, doing push-ups, and lifting weights.

Others were practicing their archery skills, while some trained with melee weapons.

"Lily, why did you bring that weakling trash here again?" Strolling up to them with his shirt swung over his broad shoulders was Trevor, who was drenched in sweat.

Dawn flinched when she felt Trevor's gaze penetrate her body, making her suddenly feel small and insignificant.

'No! I can't think like that anymore! I've come too far to break away from my old self!'

Before the apocalypse, Dawn was a timid introvert. She wasn't confident. If anything, she was a coward—the type to run away when things got too tough.

But when Dawn got a taste of true power for the first time, she thought she could outgrow her old fears. For the first time in her life, confidence within her overflowed. She felt like she had finally accomplished something for herself and that the crybaby girl inside of her had finally grown up and become independent.

Yet this shallow dream was quickly shattered by a single blow from Trevor. Dawn's hands gripped her jeans in frustration.

"I want to know... How did you defeat me?" Dawn wanted to know how an Lvl9 could beat an Lvl10. 

Going by rank, she should win or at least be able to withstand Trevor's punch. Watching with steady eyes when Trevor threw his head back and laughed at her foolish question.

"Who do you think you are? Some kind of badass or something? If you want to know so bad, then fine, I'll tell you!" Trevor stepped forward, his hulking form casting a shadow over Dawn. He bent his head down, invading her personal space.

"It's because you're weak!" Trevor spat in her face, voice deadpan as if it was obvious.

Riled up with fury, Dawn exploded. "But my rank is Lvl10! It doesn't make any sense! I should've defeated you!"

"Ha! You're a level 10? How did you get it? By defeating some high-level creature that took a minimal amount of skill to kill? That little bout we had told me you've never been in a real fight! Which is why you lost! So stop whining, grow up, and do some real training!"

Lily, who stood on the sidelines listening, found the criticism too harsh and wanted to step in and tell Trevor off. But the man, after saying what he needed to say, strolled right past Dawn, whose hands were clenched in tight fists, body trembling with indignation.