The two days passed quickly and, somewhat to Barry's surprise, pleasantly. Sarah, Dave and John were good people - funny, hard working and generally nice to be around. He'd always been an introvert, but after all that time with only Pokka for social contact, simply hanging out with real people was refreshing.

Still, quite some time was spent training by himself out in the forest while they built their defenses, unwilling to reveal all his cards to them. Going through his forms while working on improving his skills with Direct Manipulation was great exercise, teaching him to perform both tasks with less conscious focus.

Not only was his skill with manipulating [Camouflage] rapidly improving, but he was also experimenting with [Project Image]. Both Abilities worked similarly in their manipulation of light, so progress with one led to more tricks with the other. For the time being, his free manipulation of [Project Image] was still too shaky to be of much use in combat, but if he got better it would become another great tool.

One useful trick that was already helping with his forms, were captured recordings of the angry gorillas which he could now slightly adjust. They hadn't been much of a threat as they couldn't see him and were too slow besides, but when he cycled some recordings of their attacks together and sped them up, it became a great help for training.

Barry danced between the moving images as he cut through them with his sleek white blades, learning to respond to attacks with the appropriate form. A straight charge had him pivoting out of its path, twisting around to deliver counter-strikes with elegant slashing motions. But for the next sequence of fast blows from a close distance, he needed to abandon the flowing style and adapt into forms with shorter steps and quick, jerking motions, often parrying instead of dodging with the dangerously sharp blades held closer to his body. For Barry, practicing his fighting forms like he would a dance, this felt like transitioning from ballet to something more like a hip hop style of dance.

As he wiped the glistening sweat from his brow, he realized with a curse that it was almost time. Barry moved back in a hurry, leaves and branches flying as he kicked up a cloud of dirt from his reckless speed.

"There you are! I was starting to think you chickened out at the last minute!" John called out from behind a wooden fence that was dug into the ground, blocking off the area around their wooden shacks.

Mumbling apologies, Barry hopped over the five foot tall barricade and helped with the final preparations. Instead of closing the barricade entirely, since they should be dealing only with rats, they'd decided to leave small gaps for the beasts to squeeze through to avoid them starting to dig or climb. Better to have a controlled flow of rats coming in for them to kill, than to have an unpredictable build-up somewhere that would end up backfiring.

Thanks to some aid from Barry, they now all had thick pants, sturdy boots and leg guards on. Armed with short spears that were excellent for quick stabs, they were ready to kill some rats. It had only set him back about ninety Value in total, roughly the equivalent of killing one gorilla. In the right zone, he would easily make that back in less than twenty minutes. The investment in time was more costly, but he'd made his decision and all that was left now was to see it through.

It was oddly amusing for Barry to watch them nervously awaiting the vermin's arrival, since with him there it was nearly impossible for it to end badly. After dealing with giant birds, rhinos and invisible mantises, a pack of rats was nothing to worry about.

He could hear their squeaking long before the others and wondered at what drove them here in such numbers. Did they all have chips implanted in their brains, sophisticated enough that it could send not only a beacon but also murderous rage into their little brains?

Just like the other beasts he'd come across, they behaved nothing like normal animals, practically foaming at the mouth as they did everything they could to kill the people without any regard for their own safety.

Barry stayed back as the other three first stood guard by their slits, then started frantically stabbing at the little creatures as they pushed through the gaps in the wooden fence. From there, he was left listening to the cacophony of rats squeaking, feet and teeth scratching against wood, spears thudding into the ground and people cursing as they went through the long process of stabbing over two hundred rats to death.

It took long enough that Barry got bored and began experimenting with high and low frequency sounds. These were inaudible for humans so shouldn't bother the others, but he was curious to see if the rats would react.

Initially, there wasn't more than some ears perking up and perhaps a few more angry squeaks, though he could have also just imagined that. Trying something else, he focused only on a single rat, working his [Direct Manipulation - Waves] to contain the sound right on top of it. Its squeaking seemed to increase, becoming louder than that of the others. An extremely low frequency seemed to make it uncomfortable somehow, making it squirm, while the higher one had it shaking its head and running faster.

Sticking with the higher frequency, he gradually pushed more energy into the sound. The feel of the soundwave changed, still remaining in the shape of a stretched-out comb with many fine tines, but the tines themselves were getting taller as he increased the energy. As he pushed in more and more of his PE, the rat began to squeak hysterically as it first pushed itself into the ground, then rolled onto its back, squirming, until finally blood began to pour from its ears.

Feeling like an evil scientist, Barry stopped his experimenting then, turning his attention back to their defense. Still, it was an area he should explore further, if his manipulation of sound could be used not just to distract and disorient the beasts, but even to damage them. Though it had taken a lot of energy, this rat seemed to have given up on its assault, so perhaps it could even be used to chase beasts away.

The defense went mostly as expected, with Barry barely needing to step in. It would be counterproductive to kill any more than necessary, as the others would need to gather the Value from this assault and finally invest in their Stats. A few times, one of them would get in trouble, having missed a stab or two and letting more rats in as they tried to get one off their leg. Barry would simply flash in and punt the excess rats up and out into the forest before backing off again.

When it was finally done, they burst out in relieved laughs and cheers, hugging and dancing around the disgusting piles of rat corpses that had collected inside of the barrier. Barry congratulated them as he laughed along, feeling a touch of regret that he would once again have to move along. But it was nothing against his towering desire to find his family, knowing that they might be in a similar situation.

"Take care, Barry. We'll pray for you and your family. Don't be a stranger if you're ever in the neighborhood."

"Yeah, don't forget about us here in the rat village," John said with a chuckle.

"Here's a little something to remember us by," Sarah said as she hugged him, handing over a small bracelet made up of black beads. Barry had never been much for jewelry, but it was a kind gesture that filled him with warmth, and he'd gladly wear it.

It was with a grand smile and feelings of pride and satisfaction that Barry set out again. What had felt like something of an existential crisis a few days ago, when Pokka had challenged him about what he really wanted to do, now felt almost insignificant. It was a noble thing to go around and help people. There would be no shortage of people in need in this miserable new world, and he was only now realizing how well positioned he was to help them.

So as he opened his map to plot out his route again, he resolved to meander through green zones while keeping an eye out for signs of settlements, in case there were others in need. He didn't want to lose more time, but even just dropping off some supplies with his MAFT would be a blessing for people that were unarmed and eating rat meat.

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If he drew a straight line between his current position and the closest of the three MAFTs, he'd pass through only two more green zones before hitting the next series of yellows, followed by two orange zones before it transitioned back down to greens again. With just some small detours to the east and west as he continued northwards, he could catch three more green zones before pushing through the orange ones. He also decided to take a bit of time to kill beasts along the way, to make sure he kept a healthy reserve of Value in his wallet.

He nodded to himself before he started his jog that quickly transitioned into a blistering sprint. This was the right decision. At this speed, a few small diversions to help people in need wouldn't cost him too much time.

It took only thirty minutes before he found the next campsite, where his idealistic thoughts were put to the test.

***

"This is your last warning! Leave and don't come back!" A middle aged man with a rough, black beard and wild eyes roared at him for the fifth time.

"I mean you no harm, damnit! Look, all I'm going to do is give you some supplies, and then I'll be on my way," Barry said, some heat entering his voice despite himself. This man was more stubborn than a damn Roid-Bull.

"We've seen enough wolves in sheepskin," he spat, "Get away from us!"

He would have just gone on his way, but he could see the group behind the man, huddled together in the bushes. Their clothes were torn and dirty and they looked malnourished. There were even two children among them. Clearly, they needed help.

Taking a few steps back while holding up his hands, Barry slowly set down his pack and activated the MAFT. He didn't need to expand it to retrieve items from his own storage, but he did if he wanted to buy more from the System Store.

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" The brute bellowed, hurling his spear straight at Barry, who easily slapped it away, like it was nothing more than a small branch tossed at him by a child.

"Stop that! Why won't you listen to a damn word I'm saying?"

It seemed like that simple feat had been enough to give the man pause and he kept his distance.

Barry hurried up and got out a few packs of clothes, camping gear, food and even some weapons. It set him back about a hundred-twenty Value, but he'd soon collect more when he blasted through the yellow zones.

With a shake of his head as he noticed the man creeping towards his spear, he then simply packed up his MAFT again and pretended to leave, deciding to hang around a bit longer while under the cover of [Camouflage] and [Halt Waves - Sphere].

The party came out of hiding, moving about as slowly and cautiously as a startled group of deer. But when they found the food, there were excited shouts. He grimaced as he noticed a man pushing two women out of the way to start devouring a bag of beef jerky, but there wasn't much he could do about that. At least he'd helped them out; now it was time to move forward again. There were others that needed help, including his loved ones.

Still, the realization that the rat village might be one of the better groups of people he'd come across left a sour taste in his mouth. There was only so much he could do, and the conviction that he was doing the right thing was still there, but already it shone a bit less brightly than it had before.

***

The next group he came across was somehow at the same time both better and worse.

"Please, sir, I'm begging you! Name your price! Anything I possess, it's yours!"

"Stop this, please!" Barry protested as the short, elderly man prostrated himself on the rocky ground, hands and face at Barry's feet.

"Shall I kiss your feet, kind sir? I will, if I must."

"Christ, no, please don't!" Barry moved away with a horrified expression on his face, turning to the rest of the group. They were mostly teenagers, with two guys looking like they were close to eighteen and in good shape.

"Look, you've got plenty of fit people, there's really not so much to worry about. It doesn't get much worse than rats and squirrels in these zones, maybe some bats and large frogs-"

"Save us, I beg you! Once more and still a thousand times more I will beg you!" A single tuft of grey hair danced in the breeze on the old man's head as pleading eyes gazed at Barry from behind crooked glasses. He began to crawl over on hands and feet.

Barry groaned, squeezing the bridge of his nose as he took a deep breath. This group had been running away from two large turtles that had been giving chase at impressive speed. He'd made the mistake of dashing in and killing the two beasts with a single strike, to which the group had responded with gasps and now outright begging.

"But we're not fighters!" One of the younger men cried out.

"Neither am I" Barry replied in protest. The guys just looked over at the two cleanly decapitated turtles and then back at him.

"Well, I wasn't," he corrected, "and never wanted to be. I was just like you, until I got some training and increased my Stats."

"Then teach us! We'll do a training arc!"

"Oh fuck yeah! That would be awesome! Can you teach us some Jutsu?" One of the other guys chimed in.

"Yes! Teach me the blade, sensei! I will devote myself!" A larger boy stepped forward and dropped to his knees, palms together as he looked eagerly up at Barry.

"No!" The old man objected, having crawled close enough to once again put his forehead to Barry's feet. "This frail body can't keep up anymore! The mighty warrior must stay and protect us!"

He just stared, mouth agape, as they continued their antics, shouting and gesturing as each person begged for something different.

"...How the hell did you people manage to survive this long?"

***

Barry reflected that some people might be beyond help as he ran through the final green zone. After some more failed attempts to talk sense into the group, he had decided to lean into their delusions instead.

He'd bought the group some weapons and armor, instructing them to train daily and use the Value gained from killing beasts to increase their Stats. Then, he'd given them clear directions to the closest stationary MAFT, excusing himself to 'go fight a dangerous battle'. In case he didn't return, well, then they should just go ahead and make their way to the MAFT. The old man had wailed and screamed in protest, in response to which Barry had promptly disappeared.

He leapt over a thorny bush, proceeding through a bushy savannah at only half speed so that he wouldn't miss any signs of people. So far, all he could see as he scanned his surroundings were the few angry oversized porcupines that were giving chase but failed to catch up with him.

Ever since the second camp, he'd had this nagging feeling that he should be doing more, only he wasn't sure what exactly. It was true that if he stuck with any group, he'd be able to protect them. But then they wouldn't be growing stronger themselves, meaning to guarantee their safety he'd have to stick with them indefinitely, which was not a realistic option.

There was an argument that increasing the odds of survival for larger numbers of people would be the most ethical choice. After all, if he gathered a few of these groups together, there might already be as many as fifty people for him to protect. But instead, he would go off to find and protect the three individuals that were most dear to him.

There was something selfish about that, he had to admit, but nevertheless he couldn't find the motivation within himself to stay and protect a bunch of strangers while his family might be in need. It would feel like a deep betrayal, not just of his family but also of his core values. What kind of person could just leave their family behind like that? That felt like the kind of calculated decision that an AI might make, but never a real human being.

For the time being, he would just do what he could, while on his way to find his family. Goods, weapons, advice and directions would have to suffice.

He finally spotted something that looked like a camp then, but there wasn't any movement.

"Hello?" He called out as he approached slowly, scanning for any signs of people. As he neared the site, he could make out what he'd spotted before, a torn length of cloth hanging from a stick. It might have been serving as a tent before.

Then, as he walked up a small hill and got a clear view of the campsite, his heart sank. Between scattered pieces of cloth and broken spears, lay four corpses. They'd clearly been dead for some time, and he noted with a wave of disgust that the wildlife had been feeding on them.

His expression was as grim as his thoughts as he set to gathering rocks, wanting at least to give them some basic form of grave.

For these poor souls, his help had come too late.

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