The night was silent except for the occasional crackle of the fire coming from the nice and bright bonfire Liz had set up. Not with any spells from her book, but born purely from her Talent, [C-rank Pyrokinesis].
With two of the party mbers’ Talents revealed; Liz and Jack—whose Talent was [C-rank Presence]—the rest of the party mbers had to reveal theirs to "strengthen the trust of the party." Felix had quoted this and took the lead to reveal his to be [S-rank Mountain God Sword Aura].
Arc had been surprised by this, and glancing at him now, he saw him sitting on a log cut down in one swift motion by his Talent, to show the team just how powerful an S-rank was.
Arc shifted his gaze to Liz, who sat uncomfortably close to Felix, saying sothing Arc couldn’t make out. But the man she was speaking to seed to be distracted by another woman and looked like he barely heard a word she said as he stared at Joan huddled together with her friend, Rose.
Liz seed to catch on and briefly lowered head, demoralized. When she looked up again only to lock eyes with Arc.
She was startled, before she frowned, looking down at her exposed thighs from the mini skirt she wore, and looking back up at Arc, who had followed her gaze down to her thighs. She quickly pulled at the ends of her skirt to cover them as she mouthed the word, "Pervert," to him before looking away.
Arc’s lips twitched before he moved his gaze to the two friends huddled together, with Rose fast asleep on Joan’s shoulder.
Rose was the next person to reveal her Talent, after Felix, to be [D-rank Minor Regeneration], and this intrigued him.
Arc wasn’t looking at the rank or current strength of the Talent. He was looking at its potential when upgraded to the peak and the role it could play in both survival and battle. And having the ability to regenerate sothing like a limb was definitely sothing Arc was willing to get.
But even more fascinating was her friend’s Talent—Joan’s. [A-rank Shadow Manipulation]. It was, simply without context, a Talent that would go a long way for whoever had it. And once again, sothing Arc would like to get his hands on.
Interesting.
Just like Liz had caught Arc staring, Joan’s senses seed to have told her there was another pair of eyes on her—asides Felix, and she turned to lock eyes with Arc. Before snapping her head faster than Arc had ever seen anyone do in his two lifetis to look away.
Then she seed to co to the realization that she wasn’t the one caught staring this ti and turned to look once more. But Arc wasn’t staring anymore and was lying on his back now, staring at the starry night sky.
As for himself, Arc had been touched by Felix’s words: "being honest to strengthen the party’s trust." Which was why he did just that and revealed his so-called true Talent to the party: [E-rank Transmute]. Though they didn’t look too happy to learn he was a classless trash through and through.
The party seed to be off to a good start, with Talents that could easily get them into the global rankings and make their nas known far and wide across the Golden Age if they utilized them well and played their cards right.
But it was sad none of that would happen now—at least not for all of them—no matter how hard they tried.
Because the party ran out of luck the mont Arc was dropped on their island.
***
Arc slowly opened his eyes to the deafening silence of the night. He couldn’t tell the exact ti but was certain in a few hours it’d be daybreak.
He slowly sat up, running his eyes through the camp. The fire wasn’t burning as bright, but it was enough to illuminate the sleeping area.
The ladies’ and the n’s sleeping areas were demarcated by the bonfire, and the best they could do for a comfortable sleep experience was to spread leaves on the dirt floor and lay on them.
Except for Arc, who had slept a bit further from the camp, completely isolated, and lay directly on the dirt floor. He was too used to it to bother gathering leaves when the others did.
After making sure everyone was mostly asleep, Arc slowly stood up and was about to slip into the shadows of the trees, when he stepped on a twig and froze.
"A—Arc? What are you doing?" A soft voice reached his ears.
Arc turned around to see Liz sitting up now from her sleeping post.
He had been patiently waiting for everyone to fall asleep before he left for the Silver Wolf den to retrieve not just the energy stones, but also to check for any dropped loot before skinning the Beast to trade them later. But one person had refused to fall asleep: Liz. So he’d decided to leave quietly, except nature had other plans for him.
"I want to use the bathroom," Arc replied calmly.
"Bold of a classless trash like you to leave the party without informing anyone to venture into the forest for a bathroom break," she spat.
"Arc, you’re the character stereotype that gets killed first if this were to be a movie. Which is why I volunteer to co with you," Liz said with a serious tone.
"Just say you want to make use of a bathroom too and need soone to co with you."
"I do not!"
Arc had seen right through her fake heroism, which is why he let her tag along with him as they moved away from the camp until they ca to a stop a few feet away from it.
"Alright. You can do it behind that tree," Liz said as she wrapped her arms beneath her bosom. "I’ll keep watch."
Arc didn’t budge. "I think you should go first. I’ll stay right here and keep watch."
"W—What do you an? I said I didn’t want to relieve myself. Go now," she insisted.
"Alright then, if you say so. Just so you know, I’ll be taking the number two as well, and from the looks—" Arc sucked in a cold breath, "it’s going to be a long night for you keeping watch."
"I really appreciate." Arc added in lancholy, watching her expression grow grim with every word he spoke, and without waiting for her reply, he turned around to leave.
When Liz hurriedly grabbed his arm. "Wait. I—I changed my mind. I’ll just relieve myself now, so... I won’t have to do that again in the morning," she said as she pulled him back and scurried toward the tree.
She paused to look back at Arc. "Turn around."
Arc quietly obeyed and turned his back to her.
"Take three steps—no, five steps forward."
He once again didn’t object to her orders and did as she said, rolling his eyes.
"Good. And don’t you dare look. Or—or I’ll kill you."
That was the last thing she said before she disappeared and reappeared a few minutes later.
"You should head back now to get enough sleep before daybreak," Arc cut in just as her lips parted to say sothing.
"What about you?" she asked.
"I’ll be fine. But I’d appreciate it if you still choose to keep watch for till daybreak—" Arc was still saying when she interrupted, already racing back to the camp.
"Byee."
"Just scream if you find yourself in trouble, okay?"
Arc couldn’t help but smile, before his expression turned cold.
With that being taken care of, he turned around and disappeared into the night.
He had a long night ahead of him.
***
Boom.
At the peak of daybreak, the island suddenly shook to its core, jolting everyone awake as it collided with sothing of equal size and strength—an island. And from above, an army of miniature creatures could be seen waving their weapons in the air as they invaded the island.
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