After a while... the three of them left Ishiki alone with his thoughts, which were actually a worse companion.
They even provided him with a new phone. A replacement for the one he had lost weeks ago—back then losing a phone felt like actual tragedy instead of the mundane inconvenience it was now.
Not that the device would be useful for contacting anyone. The networks were dead.
Ishiki lay down on the sofa and stared at the mobile screen. It was broken at one corner, but that was not bad at all.
His eyes grew heavier by the second, not from dizziness or sleep. But regret that weighed more than any of those things could ever hope to be.
"12th July, 2075"
He closed his eyes and switched the mobile off with a gesture that felt like surrender. Darkness claimed the room immediately, broken only by moonlight filtering through the window in silver sheets.
"The Great Fall happened on May 18th, 2075." His voice came out quiet, barely above a whisper, speaking to empty air because there was nobody else to hear. "Almost two months. And there's no clue about Mom."
Truth be told. By now he was starting to loose hope that he would ever find her. In this new world, even if she had become a player, someone kind and gentle like her wouldn't have made it through the trial. Or, even if she somehow did.
This world was not so forgiving to people like her. The thought of what other humans might do in these desperate times made his stomach twist.
The theft during the Xenon attack had proven that monsters weren't always the things with claws and teeth.
Tears formed in his eyes, but he immediately wiped them and stood up.
With a mental command he summoned the system window. The lustrous platinum window materialized in his vision.
His eyes stopped at the Synth Reactor part.
Synth Reactor Tier - Innate
Level - 7/50
Data Fragments - 3,280/3,500
Well... he didn't knew what a Synth Reactor was, and how it worked. All he cared about was the level. Each level increased his physical stats automatically. Made him stronger, faster and more durable.
'Just 220 more and I will be at Level 8. Wonder how many players have reached 5 or above.'
He had actually gotten very lucky when he got 10,000 fragments from killing the Shinobi, or reaching level 5 would have been a dream.
Then, Ishiki glided straight to the Skills and focused on [Ghost Blade]. Another window materialized in front of him.
=====================
Skill - [Ghost Blade]
Rank - [Epic]
Skill Description - [The wielder may shroud their presence, becoming difficult to detect by both mundane and supernatural senses, while they are in that form their perception is enhanced, their . Additionally, any weapon touched by the wielder gains unnatural sharpness]
Skill Level - 0
Progress - 3/5
[Use Ghost Blade to kill 5 enemies to level up]
======================
'Damn it, I need those 2 kills.'
He went to the window in time to witness eight people leaving the broken doors threshold and disappearing in the ruins beyond. This was probably the night time hunting party—Consisting of some of the strongest players from their camp.
'Should I join them...'
The thought was very rational considering that the night hunting party encounters Xenons more often because of course, there are infinitely more Xenons roaming around the ruins under the moons glow.
But that would also make him prone to much more danger, and that... was not desirable. But desperate times asks for desperate measures.
'Huh? But they don't ask for suicide obviously.'
He left the idea altogether. He might be stronger than he had been two months ago. Might have system enhancements and supernatural skills and weapons that shouldn't exist.
But he wasn't strong enough—or insane enough, to voluntarily serve himself to the Xenons populating the ruins like a buffet.
Ishiki leaned against the window looking at the moon with a quite expression, when he saw some movements on the roof of next building. The main school building.
There was a lone figure, slashing and thrashing in the air. They wielded a sword made up of transparent material, If not for the moonlight being reflected on its edges, no one could have told that the radiant figure held a weapon.
As Ishiki watched, the figure spun, and their hair bun came undone accidentally, spilling the pink strands of hair like red wine.
It was, of course the sole survivor and the princess of the Koyo clan.
She moved with the same grace, not paying any attention to her hair. Ishiki found the scene too mesmerizing to look away. For a moment he forgot about everything else, but then something jerked him awake.
'How... how can she use the sword with such precision?'
The Princess was royalty—or had been, before the Great Fall had rendered such distinctions meaningless. Being born into the Koyo clan might have granted her privilege, resources, best kind of education money could buy.
But swordplay?
Swords were something that had been abandoned for centuries now, there were hardly any people around the world who knew how to wield a sword.
But for some reason, her movements were smooth. As if she had been practicing it for years now.
Flagger basted, Ishiki summoned the system window. There might be some kind of information there. Something he may have missed, even after reading the thing multiple times.
The platinum window materialized in front of him. He read through it, focusing on different things and reading their descriptions, several times.
But then his eyes caught something he somehow overlooked despite checking this screen dozens of times.
At the very bottom of the System window, there were three different options.
{Vestiges}
{Shop}
{Relics}
Ishiki has always only focused on Vestiges and never once looked at the other two options. But now he would.
'Guess i am too much stressed. Why didn't i check the Shop option, its so dumb. I should have opened it first.'
As he focused on the {Shop} option, another Platinum hued and incarnate window materialized in front of him.