2 Weeks Later

-2 Weeks Later-

Time had passed and Ellie came out with a large backpack, and another sheathe to her new sword at her hip. I carried hers back, but she wouldn't allow me to steal the sheathe.

"This will be mine; you practice for now by holding that sword." She told me.

We climbed back over the line from the chase with the deer and fox, and I dropped the sword. My hand began to cramp badly, but it suddenly gave out without any warning to the rest of my body.

"Pick it up with your other hand and don't drop it until you can't hold it anymore. Tomorrow and the days after, we'll practice swinging it and blocking attacks and whatever else you can think of. I'll spend your days off training everybody else in a huge group." At this point, Ellie was further ahead of me than I expected, I was really falling behind, but why was holding this sword so difficult for me?

[System Alert: Physical Authority raised to Level Four]

[(Maximum: Five)]

This had only gone up twice while I was holding this sword, but it still was almost at maximum. Since the idea itself was foreign to me, I was unsure about what to think of it, what would happen when I reached maximum? I guess there was only one way to find out.

"Welcome back!" Dani propped her body on top of one of the wooden logs acting as our walls and waved at me. I lifted my right hand and waved to her, holding the sword tightly in my left.

"This stone cutter will help us improve. I'll show one of you how to use it, and then Sky said it can be your job. You may recruit whoever you need." Ellie set down the backpack in the base and walked over to my house. We still had tons of daylight left, but she walked in and laid down on my leaves acting as my bed.

"I'm a little tired from that walk. You should get Carl or somebody to work on this house, it won't protect you from the weather going forward. I can teach you as long as you gather me the supplies, just wood and stone, and mud. Get a lot of it too." Ellie turned over, facing the wall, and went right to sleep.

I smiled, awaiting our future now that Ellie was here with us. The constant thought of being raided again and killed off ran wild in the back of my head, as everything was uncertain. The best way to prepare is to learn to use this sword and to get myself down to this better place.

Get everybody to that place. That is where I need to go. First, I need to get off this Isle, and here, I need to kill Orion and Lia.

---2 Weeks Later---

"Like that!" Ellie swiped upwards with her sword, and I countered, back-pedaling and repositioning my body to swipe right, but she was far too fast for my own good. Ellie slashed at my fingers, and I dropped my sword, but in retaliation, I dropped my body down to a crouching level and tackled her into the sand. Her sword dropped into the sand, and I rolled forward, laying in the sand while taking deep breaths.

"Great counter, but it was a sloppy ending. Try to get back on your feet, no matter how tired you are." Ellie sheathed the wooden sword and turned to Dani, talking about her tactics next. I grabbed my canteen of water and drank it, staring up into the sky.

Our base had expanded greatly in the past two weeks, the houses have structures with a wood base, covering the rest in stone and mud. Our roofs were secure, but we had to push snow off of them. Our inconsistent, extensive knowledge about tools like a snow shovel made several jobs easier. Many of us have already been testing out lights with electricity. Ellie is to thank for that.

Ellie ended up stealing Orion's technology a long time ago and we've been reverse-engineering it. We have a windmill set up in the middle of our base thanks to Drake's expertise. Also, thanks to Drake, we even have our own blacksmith. Ellie helped him construct his own 'shop' where he can do custom orders.

Our food supply is doing well, as Ullr agreed to work with us the day after Domin died. I apologized to him, and we've been on better terms ever since, he even stated that he respects me for taking action against him and will listen to me from here on out. Something in him changed that day… maybe I hit his head a little too hard.

I watch Dani train from time to time, she seems to have an affinity for learning new skills quickly. She's able to keep up with Ellie's speed, but her strength is fleeting. More often than not, Dani is dodging her attacks and parrying, desperately trying to avoid clashing blades with Ellie for long periods. Honestly speaking, if she had my strength, she'd be miles ahead of me.

Red works well with a blunt weapon, which is a lot easier for Drake to make than a sword like mine. We're all almost armed and ready for anything, but it's been quiet for a long time now, almost too quiet.

My System is rapidly improving as well, everything is going okay for the time being. I only take time to reminisce like this when I'm fatigued from training, but Carl hardly ever lets me sit down and think.

"Let's go, Ellie's finished with Dani again." I took his hand and jumped up, walking over to Ellie.

"Remember, your fighting style requires the most work, you can't kill, so you need to learn to defuse the situation." I nodded.

That was the drawback to this system's corruption. Ellie informed me that I can't directly kill Orion or Lia, but I can weaken them so somebody else can kill them. Orion's done that trick all his life, and I would be the one to use it on him.

"Ready for round six?" She asked me. I nodded, charging in at Ellie once more.