"Success is born from willpower and hardwork. If you try your best, you'll definitely win in the end."
It was the biggest lie his parents had ever told him.
Willpower had nothing to do with his current situation. It was all luck.
Luck was what allowed those people to awaken powerful combat abilities—powers that let them stand against the monsters while others could only run and pray.
As Lucas sat in Stacy's living room, listening to her hum softly while she prepared dinner in the kitchen, he kept calculating his options.
Again and again, his thoughts circled back to the same conclusion.
Do whatever it takes to get stronger.
"System, how much time is left on that quest?" he asked.
[1 hour 30 minutes]
He hadn't planned on doing anything about it before. He had only accepted it for the sake of accepting it, with no real intention of following through.
But now, he wanted to make a conscious choice.
He wanted to fight.
Because strength was the only thing that could guarantee his freedom.
Another thing that disturbed him was the amount of information she had. She spoke about cities getting leveled by monsters and also about the current population of the world.
Except these were all just speculation to further strike fear in his heart, there was a way she was getting this information.
"System, is there a way to communicate with others at far places?"
[Yes, you can access the crosslink feature if you pay 2 Karma Points every week. It is very similar to the Internet you people used before]
"I knew it, there had to be something,"
Now the only question was whether it was worth it, out of 10 Karma points.
Those guys could easily afford it after walking from house to house these past few days. They had probably even leveled up their stats quite a bit.
In his case, having only 10 Karma Points meant that he probably won't be able to properly invest in us stats. He hadn't used them since he didn't know their importance, but now…
"Let's do,"
It's not like there was any other thing than information at a time like this.
His Karma Points reduced and then the system shifted to a different page that resembled an online forum.
He had just started scrolling when Stacy returned with the food.
"Boiled rice with steak curry," she called out proudly.
After having only instant noodles for the last few days, the aroma of the food almost brought tears to his eyes.
'This can hold on until later'
He closed the system and leaned back in his chair, settling in comfortably, ready to devour the meal in front of him.
Just as he was about to dig in, he looked up and found Stacy watching him eagerly.
"Go ahead, don't let me stop you," she said with a soft smile, her eyes still fixed on him.
'It's a bit difficult with you staring at me like that,' he thought with a small sigh.
"Okay…"
He took a spoonful and shoved it into his mouth.
The moment the taste hit his tongue, he felt like he was being reborn.
"This is perfect," he mumbled.
Her cheeks turned slightly pink.
"It's nothing much. I didn't even use the proper spices."
"I'm serious," he said, already stuffing his mouth with another spoonful. "I'm not sure I've ever had something this good."
He spoke too quickly and nearly choked, forcing himself to grab a glass of water and drink.
After calming down, he let out an awkward cough.
"Sorry…"
"It's okay," she said, finally beginning to eat as well.
After a brief silence, he glanced at the amount of food on the table.
"Are you sure it's okay to cook this much?"
"Yeah, it's no problem. The heroes handed out enough supplies to last us for a few weeks."
"But it'll be less now that you're sharing it with me."
"You shared your food with me too." She paused, then looked at him curiously. "But I'm curious… was there any particular reason you didn't accept the items from them?"
"Not really. I just didn't want to be indebted to them any more than necessary."
"Oh, I understand. I probably would've preferred that too, but…"
"It's fine," he cut in. "You did the right thing. I'm the stupid one—my food supply is just about to run out."
"You can always have some of mine," she said without hesitation. "Anything you need, just ask."
'Okay then… can I touch your breast?'
Lucas nearly choked on air alone.
Of course, he couldn't possibly say that out loud.
"Thank you," he said instead, with forced calm.
Across from him, Stacy smiled faintly, seemingly unaware of the ridiculous battle happening in his head.
For a moment, the small apartment felt strangely peaceful.
Outside, the world had gone to hell—monsters, fear, people dying every second—but here, sitting at a table with warm food and someone speaking to him like life was still normal, Lucas almost forgot all of it.
Almost.
"You know," Stacy said after a while, stirring her food absentmindedly, "when all of this started, I thought I was definitely going to die."
Lucas glanced up.
"You too?"
She gave a small laugh. "Of course. I locked myself inside for almost two days. I didn't even open the curtains. Every sound outside made me think something was coming for me."
Lucas nodded slowly. That sounded painfully familiar.
"I guess I was lucky," she continued. "The heroes found this building before things got too bad. They brought supplies. If they hadn't…"
She trailed off.
Lucas understood the rest without her saying it.
"If they hadn't," he said quietly, "a lot more people would be dead."
She looked at him for a second before nodding.
"But still," she added, forcing a brighter tone, "I'm glad you came here."
That caught him off guard.
He blinked. "Me?"
"Yeah," she said simply. "It gets lonely. And… I don't know. You make me feel a little safer."
Lucas stared at her, unsure what to say.
No one had ever really said something like that to him before.
His ears felt hot.
"Well," he muttered, looking back at his food, "that makes two of us."
She tilted her head. "Hm?"
"Nothing."