End Of World Marriage

Rewards

[Wave 2 cleared! 10/10 goblins killed. +50 exp each.]

[Quest 1: Welcome Party I (Complete): the system has siphoned excess corruption and discharged it into the clearing for the heroes to extinguish. Wave 2: Slay 10 basic goblins]

[Rewards: +150 exp each! Pylon Status unlocked. One Basic Survival Bundle. Clearing increased from 15 meters in diameter to 20 meters in diameter.]

[Quest 2: Home-maker I: Level up the system pylon to level 1 and unlock basic structures. Cabin (0/1) Well (0/1) Garden (0/1) Latrine (0/1)]

[Quest 3: Welcome Party II: The system has siphoned excess corruption and will be discharging it into the clearing for the heroes to purify. Wave 0/3 completed. Number of enemies generated will be randomized.]

[Time until first wave spawns 2:29:30]

Two and a half hours to get ready. That was barely enough time at all, and the tension was still there. Worse, what were they supposed to do with the corpses the goblins left behind? Kenan was getting overwhelmed.

Kate had cried for a few minutes, and for that brief moment as she did, she'd allowed Kenan to do the one thing he'd been meant for his entire life—be there for her. She was scared, upset, frustrated, and hurt. He was feeling a few of those emotions too, but he had to hold himself together. Not for himself, but for her.

The system prompt had broken through her tears. It was almost agonizing the way she pulled herself away from him to stand in front of the pylon, her wedding dress soaked in blood.

They read the prompts together, and now things were tense. Awkward was the easier word for it, perhaps. Kenan was at a loss for words. They had about 200 exp between them—enough to raise a skill to the next level or unlock a few more stats to level one. Then there was this Pylon Status that had been unlocked. It seemed their continued survival, their only hope of making it through whatever this was, lay in strengthening the pylon.

"We should take a look at the pylon status. We can decide what to do with our stats after." Kate turned away, then turned back to face him. The gesture made Kenan's heart skip, a flicker of hope igniting as he imagined she might run into his arms.

Instead, she said, "The skills can be used by calling them out. It's like anime, you know? You say the name of the attack before you use it. It helps."

Kenan blinked. "T-thanks?"

She ignored him, turning back to the pylon as the screen rippled and changed to show the pylon's status page.

Pylon Level: 0 (0/1000)

Unallocated EXP: 0

EXP Generated / Day: 20

Territory:

• Clearing Size: 20 meters (round)

Structures:

• Tent

System Store:

• Daily Item Slots: N/A

• Item Rank: N/A

Corruption Index:

• Total Corruption: Not Available

• Enemy Generation: Active

"It says we have a tent. Where's the tent?" Kate asked suddenly.

Kenan blinked and pointed at a new bag resting against the pylon. It had appeared when they were going through the rewards for the first quest. Kate nodded, then looked over the pylon status one more time.

"It seems we can't really get anything from it until we level it to one. Between the both of us, we only have 400 exp, which isn't enough. I'm assuming we'll have to fight more waves and complete more quests to get the exp needed to level it up."

Kenan blinked. Kate was processing things quickly. He shrugged. It wasn't the conversation he wanted to have with her, but as long as she was still talking to him, there was hope.

"We should use the exp to grow stronger. I think we should get one of our unlocked stats to level two and one of our skills to level one, then use the remaining fifty exp to unlock the rest of the stats. It should give us an edge in the next fights. The survival bundle might have something to eat too, so we should do it this way and get as much rest as we can before the timer runs out."

Kenan couldn't find anything wrong with what she'd suggested. And while he'd have liked to think it through and make his own choices—considering both their lives were on the line—he had to be diplomatic. He might not understand what was really going on, even with all the explanations the rather unhelpful system had given them (it hadn't even told them how to use their skills). But it was important for Kate to feel she had some measure of control.

Kenan quickly moved to the survival bundle and opened it.

[1 Basic Survival Bundle: +1 medium-sized tent, 6 packs of field rations, 1 pack of 6 1-liter drinking water, 2 pairs of basic adventurer clothes.]

Kenan frowned. This wasn't a lot, if he was being honest. The tent was one thing, but the rations—which were practically just sandwiches split across three meals—were barely enough. The water wouldn't go far either. For one, they were both filthy and desperately needed to wash off the blood and grime.

He'd expected to get sweaty and dirty today on account of it being his wedding day, but not like this. And that expectation had definitely involved fewer clothes. Kenan sighed. Outside of being isekai'd, with the way their relationship was right now, it was going to take a while before he'd get any special time... assuming it would ever happen.

"I need to move the corpses away. It seems the system doesn't despawn them after we kill them. Soon enough, the clearing's going to be filled with goblin bodies, and there's not nearly enough space. I guess that's another reason to hurry and level the pylon—so we can expand it."

Kate looked at Kenan as he spoke, held his gaze for a few seconds to let him know she'd heard, then gave a grunt and turned away to work on her stats.

He rolled his eyes. What had he been expecting anyway? Kenan moved the corpses, making sure to pile the older ones together with the new ones, pushing them as far to the edge of the clearing as he could without getting close to the trees. He'd wanted to maybe use them as barriers against the next wave, but one look at the entrails spilling from one of the goblin's guts and he changed his mind.

By the time he was done, Katherine had already finished with her stats and was in one corner of the clearing, taking off her ruined wedding dress.

Four bottles of their six waters sat beside her.

Kenan raised an eyebrow at the sheer pettiness of it all. He was just as dirty as she was, if not more so. And they needed that water to survive. Instead, she'd taken four and was using three of them to clean herself. Kenan found it annoying—even more so as his eyes couldn't help roaming across her body.

It wasn't the first time he'd seen her naked. The contour of her hips, her perky rear, the way her breasts stood at attention—all of it brought back memories. Memories of when his hands had been full of them, of the sound of her heavy breathing in his ears. Her voice, a breathless whisper, calling out to him, urging him to go faster, harder. It was something primal whenever they were together, and his body agreed with that assessment.

Kenan turned to the side, trying and failing to hide the bulge in his pants from his errant thoughts.

Still, Kate ignored him. He shook his head and went up to the pylon, where the screen with her updated status page was still on display.

Name: Katherine Kate Davis

Level: 1 (0/100)

Unallocated EXP: 15

Stats:

Physique: Basic Lv 1 (0/100)

Spirit: Basic Lv 1 (0/100)

Mental: Basic Lv 1 (0/100)

Soul: Basic Lv 1 (0/100)

Perception: Basic Lv 1 (0/100)

Magic: Basic Lv 2 (0/1000)

Skills:

Active Skill:

• Basic Fire Bullet — Lv 1 (5/50)

Passive Skill:

• Basic Magic Mastery — Lv 1 (0/250)

Kenan frowned. There was nothing wrong with her status—it was just that he'd noticed her skill had gained a few points after using it during the fight. It made him wonder if they couldn't just train it on their own without having to be in combat. That way they could save up on exp. He didn't think she'd needed to level up Basic Magic Mastery, but he hadn't noticed it before she'd leveled it, so he wasn't sure if it had grown during the fight or not.

Then there was the cost to level skills. From level zero to level one was 50 exp. From level one to two was a whopping 250 exp—a five-point increase. Different from stats and levels, which grew by a factor of ten, but then again, skills had a higher starting cost. Only time would tell. Perhaps this rest period was a good time to see what the system had to say about his skills and do something about them.

He turned to his own stats and made the necessary changes.

Name: Kenan Keys Davis

Level: 1 (0/100)

Unallocated EXP: 65

Stats:

Physique: Basic Lv 2 (0/1000)

Spirit: Basic Lv 1 (0/100)

Mental: Basic Lv 1 (0/100)

Soul: Basic Lv 1 (0/100)

Perception: Basic Lv 1 (0/100)

Magic: Basic Lv 1 (0/100)

Skills:

Active Skill:

• Basic Wind Bullet — Lv 0 (0/50)

Passive Skill:

• Basic Weapons Handling — Lv 0 (19/50)

Kenan gasped at the feeling of all his stats leveling up to one. He'd been preoccupied with the goblins, so he hadn't noticed it with Kate. But the sensation was intoxicating—the influx of power and energy unlike anything he'd ever experienced. It only lasted a moment, but the feeling was unforgettable.

There were slight differences in his own status page. For one, he'd refused to use the extra 50 exp to raise his Basic Wind Bullet skill. This was because his Basic Weapons Handling skill was leveling up rather quickly—probably because he had more knowledge and experience with using weapons. But that was from a life he'd rather not remember.

Keeping an extra reserve of exp was smart. It might come in handy later. There was no need to level skills when using them leveled them up naturally. And it seemed Kate had noticed.

"You didn't level up your skill?"

Kenan nodded. "Yeah. Skills level themselves from use, it seems. Even the passives. So I figured it was better to let them grow organically and keep the exp for something else."

She didn't say anything else. She just picked up a portion of the rations and walked to the opposite side of the clearing from Kenan to sit down and eat. He noticed she'd changed into the adventurer clothes—which were, funnily enough, jeans, a T-shirt, and sneakers. They looked comfortable, though. And clean.

He sighed as he looked down at his own clothes. Guess it was time for him to try and get as clean as he could. They had limited time to rest, and the next waves would be starting soon. Hopefully, there'd be enough exp to raise the pylon's level. The only problem was the enemies they'd have to face.

It bothered Kenan because he could tell—or rather, he felt—things wouldn't get easier. They just had to get stronger.