Chapter 12 – Ragtag Team [1]

She raised her head as she heard her name being called. "What?"

"What do you think?" Vale repeated his question to her. "Tell me what you think."

"About the government's offer or what?" She frowned lightly at him. "If it's about that, I have the same opinion as you. For Survivors, points will prove to be more important than money in the future."

The Store provided almost everything they needed. Something that couldn't be bought with money alone. Items such as a book to learn a new skill or a ring to store items.

"In any case, there's something you should know. Offer something other than money or honor if you want to ask Survivors to join the government's organization. And I don't suggest resorting to threat or violence. You don't know what they can do."

"..."

Vale could see that Aleksy was contemplating his words. He seemed to have realized the meaning of Vale's words as he didn't speak out for a long time.

After a while, the agent nodded.

"Thank you for the advice." He stood up and grabbed his bag. "I shall discuss it with my superior. Have a nice day, Mr. Gilstar."

Vale didn't stop him as he watched him walked out of his apartment. Once the door was closed, he turned to Kiara.

"How did you find me?"

"That man visited me first. I am easier to find, it seems." She laughed lightly at Vale's question as she sat down on his couch and leaned back. "Anyway, are you going to accept the government's offer?"

"Of course not." Vale shook his head at her question as he poured some water into a cup and gave it to her. "As I said, the benefit is too little to even consider joining and receive order from old men I don't know about. That's not my style."

"It's not my style either." She agreed as she took a sip of the water. "So, what now?"

"Well, nothing?"

Boom!

An explosion rang right outside his apartment, causing him and Kiara to stand up in alarm. He frowned and went to the window to see what happened.

A man was standing on top of a burning car. He was laughing loudly like a madman as he threw fireballs from his hand and shot beams of light at people around him. His clothes were ragged and dirty, and his eyes were red. It was like he was possessed by a demon.

"H-Haha-hahaha! Die! Die! Die!" He roared out as he continued shooting magic at everyone in his range.

Vale watched as people ran away in fear and cried for help. They looked desperate and terrified. Not far from him, a police officer could be seen. He held his handgun and looked at the man in horror. His finger was on the trigger, but he didn't pull it.

"Stop what you're doing and surrender! Otherwise, I'll shoot you!" He shouted as he aimed his gun at the man. "Don't make me do this!"

However, his pleas didn't work as the man laughed at him and increased his firepower, burning anything in his range. It was like he enjoyed the chaos and death he caused.

Having no choice, the police shot the man in the leg, causing him to fall to his knees and scream in pain.

The magic stopped and his body was restrained quickly by the police.

Looking at what just happened, Vale knew that this wouldn't be the last. He looked at the New York City, a metropolis that never sleeps and has hundreds of millions of people in it. It was full of crimes, crimes, and crimes again.

And now, those criminals and gangs had gained power.

"I retract my statement, Kiara. For now, let's gather people and create a small group. Do you want to join me?" Vale asked as he turned around and looked at her.

He could tell that she was thinking about something, but soon enough, she nodded her head and stood up.

"Sure, why not?" She said, "Honestly, I thought you were going to say 'Let's wipe those criminals out of this Earth's surface' or something."

"Who do you think I am?" A tired sigh escaped Vale's mouth as he scratched his hair in frustration, "Although I do like the idea of wiping criminals off the map."

"An inhuman person who could defeat hundreds of monsters with just a single blade?"

"Why did you use a question tone?"

"Just because." Kiara laughed at his frown and stepped out of his apartment. "Let's go, leader. Creating our own little ragtag group sounds fun."

Vale followed her and closed the door behind him.

***

Walking on the street with Kiara, Vale couldn't help but notice the change in people's behavior. Most of them had already adapted to their new lifestyle and worked hard to live in this new world.

People talked endlessly about monsters and dungeons. Some people looked really confident as they walked on the street. Not few openly bragged about their fighting skills or Passion System they had.

It was a dangerous situation.

Because no matter how powerful they thought they were, they didn't know what was waiting for them in the dungeon or when a large monster appeared in the city. The most obvious and dangerous challenge was the second Scenario, who knows when it would arrive.

Rather than spending their time bragging, they should've trained themselves. Or find people they could trust to survive together.

Vale did the latter. While he was strong, he wasn't an idiot who would say he could survive alone. Unexpected things could happen.

"Do you have any idea who to find and invite to our ragtag team?" Kiara asked as they walked along the street, looking for survivors or people who were strong enough to join them.

"Of course." Vale nodded his head.

Yesterday, he found a few people who could adapt to the apocalypse pretty fast. What he sought wasn't someone as strong as him, but someone who could think fast and adapt to any situation like Kiara and the couple from yesterday.

And he wanted to recruit them to his group.

They met each other not far from his apartment, where he saved them from monsters and introduced himself to them.

And based on their introduction, he had an idea where to find them.

"They should be here."

"Are you sure?" She looked at the building in front of them with doubtful eyes. "This looks like a gym."

"Exactly." He nodded at her.

Taylor and Jenny.

The former being someone who awakened Muscle Passion while the later had a Telekinesis. They would prove to be useful to join their team.

'Taylor is strong and durable, he can be a good tank. And Jenny can support us from afar. Using her telekinesis, she can even create a foothold for us in the air so we can have more attack variety if we face a strong and giant monster.'

Vale knew that having reliable and trustworthy teammates was crucial. And they were perfect for that position.

"But how did you know they'll be here? A gym? Why here?"

"Well, let's just say I have an intuition."

He walked in confidently and opened the door.