"In here," Linda announced, pulling aside the flap of what was probably the largest tent they had seen in the camp.

One by one, they spilled inside, with Isaac coming in last. The first thing he noticed was the mess all around him. Crates overflowing with metallic scraps, makeshift weapons, gardening tools, and so much more. There was no real order to this place, which was kind of surprising given how meticulously the Colonel seemed to run things.

In the end, he pulled his gaze away from the chaos and looked toward the far end of the tent, where a man and woman were hard at work. They stood near a large table piled with even more random items. Isaac wasn't sure why they needed a candlestick, but there it was.

"I know it looks a bit chaotic, but anything you find here is yours if you need it," Linda explained, stopping in the middle of the tent. "And if you need help, Martha and Nick here can help you out. Right?"

The man—Nick—fumbled the candlestick he was holding at the sound of his name. He scrambled to catch it but only managed to knock it to the ground. A string of curses followed as he straightened up, grinning sheepishly at the group.

"Right you are, Linda," he said, scratching his neck. "Whatever you need, we're here to help."

"Ignore him," the short woman—Martha—cut in. She took off her gloves and pushed a strand of long black hair out of her face. "What do you need? Sword? Spear? Maybe a hammer? If it's anything more specific, just let me know."

"Excuse me, ma'am," Tyler spoke up, raising a hand. "How exactly does this work? Linda told us you two are smiths, but well…" He gestured to the mess around them. "How do you get anything done? I see no tools here."

Martha chuckled and turned to her coworker. "Nick, show our guests the magic of this place."

The second smith saluted. "On it, love!"

With that said, he grabbed the same candlestick he had dropped earlier and raised it for everyone to see. A moment later, a silver aura enveloped both the object and his hands. At first, nothing happened, but then, the upper part of the candlestick began to change, melting and reshaping.

Inch by inch, the metal stretched and flattened, forming a single-edged short blade—a simple knife. It had no guard, and the handle left much to be desired, but that didn't really matter. After all, Nick somehow managed to turn a rusty candlestick into a weapon in less than a minute.

"That's how we work," Martha broke the silence. "Our Origin is all we need to make weapons for now. What you just witnessed? That's our Basic Shaping skill. The quality isn't perfect, but it allows us to provide weapons for everyone fighting out there."

"Huh," Tyler hummed, taking the makeshift knife from Nick. He flipped it in his hands and looked up. "And you can do that to anything you grab?"

Good question, Isaac thought, his gaze washing over every little item in the tent again. Considering their skill had 'basic' in its name, there had to be some limitations. It was kind of hard to imagine them grabbing Elaine's rapier and just melting it with one touch.

Nick shook his head. "For now, we can only reshape items of Inferior quality or objects that can't be analyzed because they're too worthless. I mean, we tried experimenting with a Normal-grade knife the Colonel got us from a Quarantine, but I only managed to sharpen it a bit."

"Then there are the materials we are limited to," Martha added. "Most metals work just fine, same with woods. But give us anything else, and our skill won't even activate."

"What about this?" Elaine asked, stepping forward with her rapier in hand. "Can you even feel it?"

As if dealing with a baby, Martha cradled the offered weapon. "Oh my," she muttered. "That's a beautiful blade. I can feel the blend of metals used in its crafting, and then there is the enhancement… It speaks to me…"

That's new. I thought only my blade here was half-sentient, Isaac mused. His tattoo shivered in response. No idea what you mean by that.

Root of Blood sent a wave of warmth through his hand, but before he could even try to respond to it, the conversation in the real world continued. He could 'talk' with his blade later.

"Speaks?" Elaine pressed. "You mean it's alive?"

"No, no, no. It's just an effect of our second skill," Nick chimed in. "Hard to explain, but basically, it helps us analyze items in more detail. Very useful when we use shaping."

"What he said," Martha confirmed, handing the rapier back to Elaine. "I couldn't even sharpen its edge. It felt like the blade was repulsed by my touch."

"Interesting," Tyler muttered. "Either way, I think I may have an idea of what I would like. It's nothing complicated, I swear."

Nick nodded. "Very well, sir. Come with me."

Tyler nodded and followed the other man back to the table at the back. There, they began to mutter between themselves. Judging by their wide grins, they would be walking out of here better armed than before.

"All right, feel free to browse in the meantime," Martha stated. "I'm going back to work."

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While James and Elaine accepted that and went out in search of something that caught their interest, Isaac wasn't done with this conversation yet. "A moment, please," he called out. "I have another question, if you don't mind."

The woman paused and crossed her arms. For someone so short, she looked surprisingly intimidating like that.

"What is it?"

"What level are you?" he asked.

"Five. Leveled up yesterday evening." She arched an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I'm trying to figure out different ways to gain levels," he explained. "Killing monsters is one, but I take it you haven't done much of that, right?"

"Not since gaining my Origin," Martha admitted. "For me, advancing skills and messing with different items is enough. It might not be as fast as killing Wretched, but Nick and I don't really have any combat skills."

Isaac hummed. That lined up with what he already knew. Although…

"Wait, you mean you gained a level just by working on a new weapon? No skill advancements, nothing else?"

Martha nodded. "Yep. Was just playing around with a shovel, trying to shape it into a spear. Then boom! I wasn't even finished when I suddenly hit level four. Nick experienced the same with his last level-up. You can ask him."

He waved her off. "No need for that. Your word is enough. Thanks."

"No problem. If you need anything else, just ask."

With that, she walked away, joining Tyler and Nick. Isaac meanwhile turned and wandered back to the exit. There, he leaned against the supporting beam as his thoughts raced.

Could it be that simply using skills was enough to level up? Based on what Martha had told him, it certainly seemed possible. However, that might be because her Origin was more crafting-focused. For him and others who specialized in combat, it could be different.

I need a bigger sample size. Damn… No way was he just going to walk around asking random strangers about it. He would rather die.

He bit his lip, looking around the tent. Then his gaze settled on James.

Huh. This just might work…

"So guys, you think the old man is just late, or is this some weird power play by making us wait?" James asked some time after Linda left them in their new tent.

The place wasn't anything special. A few mattresses, two chairs, a desk, and some crates for storage. Pretty much all they needed to survive for now. That said, one important element was missing from this tent.

The Colonel.

Despite Linda's promise that the old man would be waiting for them here, more than ten minutes had passed since she left. It was no surprise that James finally broke the silence. It was impressive he kept his mouth shut this long.

"If it's a power play, there's not much we can do about it," Tyler stated, a brand-new metal Battle Axe resting on his lap. "We will just see what excuse he will come up with. That said, I don't care if he's ten or fifteen minutes late, but if he makes us wait for half an hour or longer, we're leaving. We can't waste too much time now."

They all nodded at that. This was the final day, the final push to complete the task.

Let's see. With a mental command, Isaac summoned the progress status.

Current progress: 56% | Your contribution ranking: 1st | Time left: 16h:2m:35s

Fourteen percent left. Should be easy enough, he thought. So far, the survivors never had a problem making at least one percent of progress during every hour. With sixteen hours, they just had to match that pace, and the work should be finished well before the timer ran out.

"I see the old man," James whisper-shouted, jumping back from the tent's entrance.

True to his word, a moment later, the flap was pulled aside, and the Colonel stepped inside. Isaac caught a glimpse of Linda behind him, but for some reason, she remained outside.

"Forgive me for being late," Williams said, offering them all a nod. "One of the other group leaders contacted me, and I had to deal with it. I hope you weren't waiting for long."

Tyler waved him off. "All good, mate. Just tell us which part of the city we can take so we can finally move out. Time is of the essence, right?"

"That it is," Williams agreed, taking a seat on one of the free chairs. "But actually, instead of going off on your own, I would love it if most of you could join my main party in the assault on Mid and Downtown. With the fog gone, the mutants are exposed. They have to be eliminated."

"I'm in," James said right away.

Tyler nodded. "You heard him. That was our original plan anyway. Though 'most?'"

A light grimace crossed the Colonel's face. "It's related to the conversation I had before coming here. The local zoo is a Quarantine, a dangerous one. It's the only place in the city with transformed animals. And I do not mean just the ones that were there originally. Dogs, cats, and rats, among other things, are also affected by the Broken Strain... Until now, all the monsters stayed within the confines of the site, but that changed this morning."

"You want me to go there," Isaac stated, reading between the lines.

"Correct." Williams turned to him. "Thanks to your other form, you can get there quickly. And I'm hoping your high level will be able to withstand the corruption there."

"It can't be that bad," Elaine cut into the conversation, a frown on her face. "Your people have already ventured into a Double-Layered Quarantine. What's the zoo compared to that?"

"Another high-threat zone that was better left alone until now," Williams stated firmly. "Don't get me wrong, child, if we sent our strongest fighters in, fully armed, they could probably clear it in a few hours. But that's a waste of resources that can be used better elsewhere. I think you can understand that much."

Isaac narrowed his eyes at the Colonel's condescending tone. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Elaine clenching her teeth. Knowing her, she was about to tear into the old man unless someone stepped in.

He sighed. "What else can you tell me about the zoo?"

That got the Colonel to pull his attention away from Elaine. "Standard extermination but requires only eighty percent to be successful. Other than that, you need to be careful there, son. You might be strong, but the beasts there are fast—very fast. That's another reason why we left that place alone. Targets are hard to hit, and they never go down from a single hit."

"Got it," Isaac muttered. "And fine, I will do it. I wanted to see what happened to the animals anyway."

"You have my gratitude, Mr. Walker," Williams said, standing up. "Linda will show you where to fly to reach the zoo. Also, once you're there, I advise you to avoid contact with survivors there. After UC Davis, they might not appreciate your presence as we do."

Isaac groaned.

Of course it's them…

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