"Uh... they..." Ana stammered, her eyes dropping to the mud as Henry grabbed one of the slain coyotes by the front legs.
He didn't stop to listen right away. He dragged the carcass back to the crackling fire, drawing his knife to quickly and efficiently begin prepping the meat. Ana trailed behind him like a ghost, sinking onto the dirt beside the warmth of the flames.
"So, what happened?" Henry asked, his voice steady but layered with a heavy, uncompromising authority.
This time, the question broke through her hesitation. "They... they left me," Ana admitted, her voice trembling. "I couldn't keep up with their pace. And... and I wasn't helpful on the hunts either. I was just holding them back."
Henry paused his knife midway through a cut, his jaw tightening. "What about 13? He wouldn't do that, would he?"
Seeing the dark look crossing Henry's face, Ana quickly rushed to defend him. "He tried! He tried to convince them not to leave me behind, but they wouldn't listen. They told him that if he wanted to pass the final exam, he had to go with them."
She grabbed Henry's sleeve, her eyes pleading. "It wasn't his fault, Henry. I told him to leave. I promised him I would call for help if I needed to."
"Still," Henry said, the anger burning hot right beneath the surface. "He should've stayed with you. Or he should've forced you to give up right then and there if you really couldn't go on."
"What kind of friend would leave..." Henry started to snap, over Recruit 13's actions flaring up in his chest. But he cut himself off, his jaw snapping shut.
'There's no point in getting angry at this point she's my responsibility now', Henry thought.
Sensing the barely restrained fury in his voice, Ana desperately tried to change the subject. She reached over, took a few strips of the prepped coyote meat, and arranged them over the fire pit.
"But... what about you?" she asked, her eyes darting to the massive sword at his hip. "How did you do that? You shouldn't have been able to scare off those coyotes like that."
Henry wasn't in the mood for small talk or bragging. His mind was still entirely hung up on her squad's betrayal Recruit 13 specifically who was always with her. "I'm F-Rank now," he replied dryly.
"Wow... congrats!" Ana breathed, genuine awe and happiness lighting up her dirt-streaked face.
The conversation instantly died, punctuated only by a quick, dry, "Thanks," from Henry.
For the next twenty minutes, the only sound was the sizzling of fat and frantic chewing. For someone so small and emaciated, Ana managed to devour what looked like half her own body weight in roasted tough coyote meat.
By the time she finally slowed down, the food and the quiet had helped Henry cool off. He looked over at her drooping eyelids.
"Go ahead and set your mat up here," Henry told her. "I'll protect you. I'm going to boil some more water for the hike back."
"Are you sure?" she mumbled, her eyes already half-closed.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Just don't fall asleep right away, I need to get you more water first."
But her body was completely spent. By the time Henry finished meticulously boiling the creek water in his carved wooden bowl and looked back over his shoulder, Ana was completely dead to the world, snoring softly on the creeks shore.
Shaking his head, Henry filled up her waterskin, topped off his own, and settled into a painfully boring watch.
His presence seemed to be a big deterrent because even with the scent of the slaughtered coyotes, the creek stayed completely devoid of any other life. The hours dragged on in absolute silence until the sun began to dip into the late afternoon sky. Knowing it was time to head back to the rendezvous point, he walked over to Ana.
"Ana, wake up," Henry said, nudging her shoulder.
She didn't budge.
He leaned closer, raising his voice. "Ana, we've got to go. Get up."
This time, she startled awake, her eyes wide and panicked before she recognized him. She blinked, looking wildly confused about her surroundings. "What... what time is it?"
"Judging by the sun, I think it's around three," Henry said, offering her a hand up. "We need to go meet back up with 7 and 1."
"Okay," she sighed, letting out a long, popping stretch. "I really needed that. Thank you."
As she stretched, Henry watched her movements closely. His sharp intuition immediately picked up on a subtle shift in her aura. The physical exhaustion, combined with the sudden influx of rich meat and a deep, stress-free sleep, had triggered a breakthrough. Her Foundation level had elevated.
'Sometimes getting pushed to the absolute brink is exactly what you need for exponential growth,' Henry thought.
"Follow me," Henry said, handing her the heavy leather skin. "I filled your water up, by the way."
The trek back was slow. Even with her newly elevated Foundation, Henry had to severely throttle his speed to allow Ana to keep pace.
By the time they finally broke through the dense tree line and entered the clearing, the sun had fully set, casting long, dark shadows across the camp. A fresh fire was already crackling in the center of the clearing.
Sitting on a log near the flames were Recruit 1 and Recruit 7.
Hearing their approach, Recruit 7 looked up. A wide smirk spread across his face as he took in the sight of Henry leading a battered Recruit 12 out of the woods.
"So, we all go hunting for mana cores," Recruit 7 scoffed, loudly clapping his hands together, "and 14 comes back with 12. Hah!"
"Did you at least get any mana cores while you were out there?" Recruit 7 asked.
Henry pulled the two cores from his pocket and tossed them across the fire. "Catch."
Recruit 7 snatched them out of the air and scoffed. "Just two? Well, I guess that's all that can be expected when you're stuck babysitting."
"That's enough," Henry warned, his voice low and dead-serious. "No more jokes."
Recruit 1 didn't intervene. She remained completely silent, seemingly sinking right back into her old, cold ways now that Recruit 12 was sitting with them. Henry took a slow, deep breath, trying to let the annoyance go.
'It's just one more night,' he thought to himself with a deep breath.