"Go south?"
"What does she mean? Are we really supposed to leave her?"
Adam's entire world began swirling as this sudden responsibility was thrust upon him, followed immediately by the system's incessant pestering. He didn't know anything about this world or this team. That was the entire reason he had followed Evan in the first place—to find out more about the Inheritors.
Even the system was still pretty much nothing more than a mystery. Not to mention that his only feat of leadership was telling Cynthia how long to cook a frozen dinner.
Yet still, he knew he was their best option for survival. Varek was still completely out of commission, and Aria was walking forward, taking on the brunt of the pain for them.
So he couldn't sit here and debate whether or not he could lead. Aria specifically chose him for a reason. The system specifically chose him for a reason.
If he couldn't do this simple task, how the fuck was he going to stop an entire apocalypse?
"Ahem," Adam called, trying to overpower the rising anxious shouts with a soft, hesitant whisper.
"We can't leave her! Who would protect us!"
"I don't want to end up like Thea!"
[Accept your rewards for killing the Kaiju before proceeding to the temple]
'Fuck me...' Adam lamented, knowing that now wasn't the time to be shy. For the time being at least, he was now the leader. Meaning...
"HEY, YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!!" Adam screamed at the top of his lungs. There were still a few scattered whispers for a few seconds, but very soon, five sets of scared eyes were looking at Adam.
'Most of them are even older than me...' Adam thought before disregarding that lie. He had actually spent ten years in an apocalypse.
Looking at the group of expectant students who weren't ready to be thrust into his life, Adam found courage by that fact. Out of everyone here, he was the only able-bodied person who had survived conflict.
Therefore, he could do this.
Adam turned and pointed to Aria, who was still walking toward the Kaiju and attracting its gaze. Then, in a loud and projected voice, he declared, "Right now, she is making an insane sacrifice in order to give us a chance to escape. If we waste it in fear, then the pain she is enduring would be for nothing."
The other students turned to their teacher and nodded. He was right—Adam was right. Her order was awful and scary, but... well, disregarding orders meant they died. If she endured all this pain just for them to die anyway...
Evan was the first to approach Adam. Where the rest still had some doubts, his mind was clearly resolved.
Adam couldn't help but crack a small smile as Shadow asked, "What would you have me do, sir?"
A soft thump came from the ground as Adam stomped his own foot to keep himself from bursting out, "Cradle Red Hair like he's a little baby!!"
Taking on the proper maturity of a leader, Adam said, "Go and get Varek. If you need help, get somebody to help you carry him. Hopefully, he'll be fine soon enough."
Evan nodded and then immediately went to perform his task.
Meanwhile, his system was pestering him more and more about the damn Kaiju reward.
[Reward will expire in 5 minutes]
'5 minutes?!' Adam thought as his eyes grew wide. Why the fuck would a system meant to give him strength delete a reward?
Unable to give it much thought, Adam immediately pulled up his system interface using the neural link, so that only he would see the screen.
[All stats doubled]
[Gained Modification: [Focus Fire]]
[Choose between two rewards: 5 Quantum Cores or +50 to all Qi-Related stats]
'Choose between Quantum Cores or Qi?' Adam thought, trying to quickly calculate the best result in his head. He felt like Cores were the best bet, but at the same time, Qi would allow him to fight the Exalted much easier. Also, because his stats seemed to have plenty of multiplicative enhancements, this seemingly small boost to Qi could actually end up netting big returns in the long run.
Glancing at his bionic arm for just a second, Adam shook his head. This 'mantle' thing was new in this life, not Qi. It had to be special.
'Quantum Cores.' Adam confirmed. The system lit up once as it gave him the 5 cores and then detailed all of his stats for him.
[Inheritor 1]
–[ General ]–
- Name: Adam Haeschutt
- Age: 18
- Rank: First Spawn
- Type: Enhancer
–[ Stats ]–
- Qi: 10,950
– Focus: 2,480
– Conservation: 2,430
– Application: 2,380
– Defense: 2,530
– Creation: 2,430
–[ Artifact ]–
- Name: The Mantle
- Level: 2
– Quantum Cores until next level-up: 50
– Quantum Cores owned: 15
- Modifications: 1/5
– [Focus Fire, 1/10 {0/10,000 XP}]
— (By focusing all of your Quantum Energy or Qi into an attack, you can increase its effect by 10x. This increase is in addition to any other boosts acquired by focusing Quantum Energy or Qi via Kinetics or Application.)
- Gadgets: 1/3
– [Lower Weapons, 1/5 {1,350/10,000 XP}]
–[ Stats ]–
- Quantum Energy: 10,950
– Imaging: 2,580
– Efficiency: 2,380
– Kinetics: 2,530
– Shielding: 2,380
– Mech: 2,430
[Stats update completed]
Adam couldn't help but marvel at his progress, even if just for a moment. However, almost instantly after, he thought about Red Hair.
He had just killed like, 15 Kaiju. Sure, the 2x increase could be attributed to this being Adam's first kill.
However, still. The possibility that Adam's rival could catch up before a gap even formed was very real.
Luckily, he was still unconscious.
"I don't think he's waking up anytime soon, sir. But, I'll take watch over him," Evan said with a light chuckle. Then he huffed as he lifted the limp psycho onto his back.
Adam nodded, unsure how he felt about being called sir. Then, he looked at everyone else and said, "Even though we are leaving Aria for now, that does not mean I will forget her. Once we clear this temple and find the artifact, I will come back and free her."
Looking around, Adam knew he didn't even need to say the next part. Everyone's resolute desire to join this effort was very evident on their faces. Still, he figured it was something a leader would say.
"I hope to see each and every one of you with me. If it wasn't for Aria, we probably wouldn't have passed that Kaiju. Remember that."
A wave of nods swept through the three students. Evan, who was beside Adam, pounded his right fist into his chest before nodding himself.
Then, Adam turned and led them in the direction his system said to go.
The first Temple of Ereshida, which was just beyond the Endless White.