Chapter 14: Promise
After Rahul finished off the three Abnormals, the abandoned building fell into silence once again.
I was a bit surprised when I saw the sudden change in situation but then I immediately understood his intentions.
After finishing off the 3 that were still alive, we'll be able to gain 6 Crystals easily.
And then there were the dead Mutant dogs as well. Rahul had earlier told me that we could get Cores from the bodies of Mutant beasts. And that those Cores can sell at the price ranging from 2-500 white coins depending on how powerful the beast was.
I looked at the 4 Mutant beasts in anticipation and wondered how much their Cores will sell for.
The answers was 12 white coins. In truth, those Blood red colored Cores were worth 15 white coins but as the Black Watch only bought things for 80% of their original price, we got 12 white coins from selling each Core.
After the distribution of the loot, I got 3 crystals and 2 Cores. I immediately sold the 2 cores for a total of 24 white coins since they were not of any other use to us.
Unlike Crystals which can be eaten to increase our stats, Cores and Nucleus were not compatible with human bodies and were actually like poison for us.
So they only thing I could do with them was to sell them.
After getting this loot, I was caught in a dilemma.
I had 24 white coins in my account. I could buy 2 crystals with that.
But I also wanted to buy a sword for myself. The Axe that I had been using till now was already losing it's sharp edge. In truth it was never meant to be used to chop people in the first place so it was not a very convenient weapon.
After taking the council from Rahul, I made up my mind and sold one of my crystal for 8 white coins.
Now, I had a total of 32 white coins.
A Basic 1st tier sword was worth 30 white coins.
I purchased it immediately and ate the remaining two crystals after exchanging them for the green ones.
I opened the hologram and checked the interface once again.
User name:- Ashok Singh Rana
Stats:-
Strength - 0.9
Agility - 2.0
Endurance - 1.2 (1.0)
Perception - 2.0
Mana - 0.0
Skills:-
None
Equipments:-
Basic Sword (1st tier)
Wealth:-
2 White Coins
'Hmm… I didn't knew that Basic Sword would show itself in the equipment slot.'
'Of course it would.' Lily said. 'What's so surprising about it?'
'Well, the Axe I use earlier didn't show itself in the list.'
'That's to be expected. Only equipments purchased from the Black Watch will show itself under the equipment.'
'Is that so. Well, I guess that make sense.' I said and threw the thing in the back of my head. There was something else that had been occupying my mind for some time now.
I looked at the Mana stat that still had 0 points alloted to it.
It was not like I had not received any Black crystals so far. Just that I exchanged them for other colored crystals.
I looked at Rahul and asked.
"Oi Rahul. When are we gonna increase our Mana stat."
Rahul looked at me and smile in response. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, it's usage might be important in our survival you know." I said and turned to look in the other direction.
When he heard my reply he burst out in laughter. "My dear little brother. Why don't you just tell me the truth. You're just very interested in using the Supernal powers aren't you."
"What are you even talking about?" I said in anger but I was really a bit embarrassed as my lie had been caught so easily. 'Damn it! Even if you knew that I was lying you could have pretended to not notice you know. You shitty brother.'
This time Rahul laughed even more at my answer. It took a lot of time to control his laughter.
"You know that you can't use Mana without a skill right?" he asked.
"Of course I know." I was a bit angry at him for making fun of me blatantly. Bastard.
"Then that's good." He said and explained. "After we've increased our stamina to 2.0, we'll increase our strength. After that, when all of our other stats had reached 2.0, we'll then work on the Mana stat."
"Why?" I asked. "Is it not very useful?"
"No." He said and shook his head. "Quite the opposite. It's the most useful one of the 5 stats."
"If it is so useful then why are we not increasing it before everything else?"
"It's very useful but have you forgotten the price of the Skill books." He said.
"A good skill book will cost you more than 100 white coins easily. Filling the Mana stat and buying a good skill book will alone cost you more than 300 white coins."
"Plus the skill will also be of the lowest tier and won't be very useful at this point." He said "Tell me, do you still want to invest in Mana stat?"
"I understand what you mean." I said and smiled bitterly "Seems like I won't be able to use any cool skills any time soon."
"So you really just wanted to use cool skills didn't you." Rahul teased and burst out laughing once again.
"Screw you!" I said and threw a punch at his stomach which sent him in a coughing fit and effectively put an end to his irritating laughs.
"Well jokes aside, now that we've collected everything we should leave this place." Rahul regained his composure and said.
"Why?" I asked.
Rahul pointed at the corpses of the Mutant dogs and Abnormals on the ground and said. "The smell of their corpses will attract more mutant beasts. Although we might be able to deal with a few cats and dogs, if a whole group of them comes here then that would spell trouble."
"Would those Mutant beasts really risk their lives for these corpses?" I asked in confusion. Unlike Abnormals, Mutant beasts still retained their basic instincts. If they realize that they'll die for sure then they would definitely choose to run away instead of fighting.
"They would." Rahul replied decisively. "They would not have done so if these corpses were only their food, but these corpses mean much more than just food."
"What do you mean?"
"It's about evolving of course. Abnormals, Mutant beast, Mutant trees they all evolve by eating meat. Even some humans evolve by eating meat."
"Humans do?" I asked in surprise. "Are you serious."
I looked at the corpses on the ground and realized that even if didn't find them very repulsive and disgusting, I would never eat them even if I would gain more power by doing so.
'That would be… disgusting.'
"Well, that's something that'll only happen later on in the apocalypse. You don't need to think too much about it now." He said and dodged the topic.
I sensed that he was not too keen about this topic and didn't ask him about it anymore. Instead I asked Lily about it and got a swift reply.
'This question is classified under 'Secret' information. The user currently doesn't have necessary authorization to get access to the information.'
'Damn you both!' I cursed at the two people who knew the answer but were unwilling to tell me.
'Oh well, even if I'm interested about this topic, I won't waste too many brain cells on it. It's not related to my survival after all.'
"In that case let's leave this place." I said and walked out of the building.
Half an hour later, we came across an old hut.
After searching for a while we found no traces of any Abnormal nearby.
I wondered where the inhabitants of this hut went to. But then I realized that thinking too much about such a thing was meaningless.
'Well, let's not bother ourselves too much with it.' I thought and entered the hut.
After setting our luggage, Rahul started cooking our lunch on the old stove lying at a corner in the house. There were a utensils there as well but they were filled with dust.
It seemed like whoever lived here before didn't care too much about hygiene. I thought and took out my smartphone.
Less then 10% charge was left in the battery.
'It seemed like I need to find a place to recharge the battery otherwise I won't be able to contact Neha after this.'
Thinking like that, I quickly dialed Neha's number.
She was alone back in the home. Although she had already gathered supplies that would last her for a week, a lively girl living inside a room for so long would get mentally tired and might make some mistakes which might attract the attention of Abnormals in return.
So it was best to keep in touch with her.
Ring-Ring Ring-Ring…
'At least her phone had not died down.' I thought in relief.
"Brother." Neha's excited voice came from the other side soon enough.
"Keep your voice down." I said.
"Don't worry brother. Those guys have gone away. They're not outside anymore." She said excitedly.
"What do you mean? And how do you know that they're gone?"
"Well, there was some shooting outside the town this morning." She said. "After hearing the sounds of gun fire, those guys when in that direction and soon enough the shooting intensified."
"After a while though, the shooting ended abruptly and I've not heard any other sound after that."
'Well of course. How can you hear any more sound. Those guys have most likely ended up as breakfast for the abnormals.
'The guys with the guns were probably the remnants of the regiment that was sent to Delhi for controlling the situation.'
'It seems like they had survived the severe pain and the initial assault of the Abnormals.'
'Pity that they're probably dead by now. No matter how many bullets they might have, it still won't be enough to wipe out the Abnormals from the whole town.'
'My home town had around 6000 people or so. Even if only 10% of them had turned in abnormals, that would still be more than enough to squash a small group of people with guns.'
"Neha, how do you know that those people have left?" I asked with concern. If she had gone outside to check then my heart would really not react well with this news.
"I opened the window a bit and peeped out from it." She said.
'Thankfully the worst had not happened.' I thought in my heart.
"Brother is it safe to go outside now?"
"NO!" I shouted in a horrified manner. 'Damn! What is this girl thinking. Doesn't she know how dangerous it is outside. Oh wait! We didn't tell her the whole situation so it's a bit understandable. But still…'
"Neha. You cannot go out no matter what happens. It's very dangerous outside. If something happened to you then…"
"But it's so boring in here." She pouted. "And it's so quiet outside. I don't think there any danger."
"No!" I shouted in anger. 'Damn it! What wrong with this. Does she really want to worry me to death so badly.'
I could already feel my Blood Pressure rising.
"Neha you cannot…" 'Dammit. How do I explain the danger to her. At this point, she's so weak that even a mutant cat could kill her.'
I threw the phone at Rahul and said. "Brother. You explain the situation to her."
Rahul looked at me with a wry smile and picked up the phone in a calm manner before saying.
"Neha."
"No. I'm cooking right now. Have you eaten you food."
"Yeah. You must listen to brother. The situation is dangerous so you cannot go outside."
"Yes it's very dangerous. But don't worry we're coming back right now. But the whole highway had been blocked so it'll take us some time to get back home and so stay inside your room till then alright."
"Well, it'll take us about 2-3 more days."
"Just these few days. After I get back home I'll take you wherever you want to go. Alright."
"Then promise me. Promise that you won't get out of your room no matter what."
"Very good. That's my little sister. I'm proud of you."
"Alright. Then. Here talk with Ashok now." He said and passed me the phone.
"Neha" I said as I put it to my ears.
"Yes brother."
"Yeah well…" I paused and said. "You see, there's no electricity in this area and my phone is running out of battery so I might not be able to contact you for some time."
"By the time I recharge my battery and talk to you again, you have to remain inside your room alright."
"Yes brother. I already promised to big brother."
"Well… Promise me as well."
"What?"
"Promise me that you'll not get out of your room till we get back home."
"Alright. I promise that I won't get out of my room till you both get back home. Happy now?"
"Yeah. I'm happy. Now don't break your promise okay."
"Ugh! Of course. Not everyone is like you, you know."
"What? What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing. Alright talk to you later."
"What, wait."
"Bye…" she said and put the phone down. 'Damn this girl.'
After the call, I wondered about when I broke my promise to her. Soon enough I recalled a few instances.
When I promised her that I won't skip my classes. When I promised that I would get back home in time. When I promised that I would buy her favourite doll. When I promis…
'Wait! Now that I think about it, aren't I quite bad to keeping promises.' I shook my head with a bitter smile and sighed.
'Next time. I won't break my promise to her.' I thought.
"Lunch is ready." At that time, Rahul's voice rang in my ear.
"Coming." I said and went to eat my lunch. At the same time, I prayed that Neha would remain safe until we get back home.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone