Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 274: The Group

"What are your powers?" the tall man asked Stanley.

Stanley stared at the man for a few moments before answering him. He told the man about his power to speed up growth and age for anything that he touched.

"What is that log for?" The girl asked, pointing to the wooden log that Stanley carried around.

"I’m aging this log right now," Stanley answered her. "To dry it up for fire at night."

"You make fire at night? Are you not afraid?" the short man asked him.

Stanley shrugged. "I’ve only been here for a day. I don’t know much about what is going on here anyway," he said. "I only know that people seem to not hesitate to kill each other here, which is why I’m surprised to see 4 people in the same place."

The short girl quickly shook her hands. "Don’t worry, we’re not going to kill anyone," she said. "We are weak in power, so we are sticking together to survive."

"You don’t seem to be doing that well on your own," the tall man said, pointing to Stanley’s left arm which dangled to his side. "Do you want to join us by any chance?"

Stanley looked at the three and then at the middle-aged woman who seemed to grow a lot calmer now that the attention wasn’t on her. "If you explain a bit more of what exactly is going on here and maybe answer a few of my questions."

"Absolutely," the tall man said. "What do you want to know?"

Stanley asked them about the game and got the same response as he had from the woman on the first day. The short man, however, seemed to have figured out that they were on an island somewhere in the west on United Voras.

They had been on the island for exactly 22 days now and had been fighting for their lives with everything they had. However, they were weak, so when the Tall man and the young girl met for the first time, instead of trying to kill each other, they had instead decided to join.

The short man had come on his own to ask to join them later.

They had also joined another man, but he had died during an ambush a week back. So they were out looking for more people to join.

Stanley also asked the group about their powers and reasons to be there. He didn’t want to be the only one to tell others his powers.

The tall man surprisingly didn’t have any powers and had joined for the money. He would not have any use for improving his powers since he didn’t have any.

The short man and woman had joined for both the money and the powers that would come along. They knew the danger, but it was a risk they had to take.

The short man had the simple power to scan an area around him to know if someone was there. He didn’t explain how it worked exactly.

The girl, on the other hand, had a very weird power that even after explanation, Stanley wasn’t sure he got it right.

"I can improve something of anyone at a rate depending on the result of performing a task based on chance," the girl said.

Stanley tried to wrap his head around the sentence, but it made no sense to him. "What?" he asked.

"It is better to see it in action," the tall man said. "She can show it to you later on."

"Okay," Stanley said. "Final question then, where did you find those weapons? When I woke up, there was nothing of such sort."

"They drop weapons and foods and other supplies from time to time in the grassland at the center," the man said. "You can see it from here."

Stanley walked up to them and went around them to look down from the cliff. Finally, he saw exactly where he was.

The place he was in was massive, spanning tens of kilometers in all directions, with more mountains in the distance. He could somewhat see the place these people were talking about, the grassland where the things dropped.

It was just a small patch of land in the distance, however.

"So, will you join us?" the girl asked once Stanley turned around.

Stanley thought for a moment and nodded. "Sure," he said. "I’m fine with that."

"Great!" the girl said excitedly. "Finally, another one to add to our group. Old lady, you’ll join us too, right?"

The old woman nodded. "Yes, I will. I doubt I can survive on my own," the woman said.

"Good," the tall man said. "But miss, why did you even join the game at your age?"

The woman sighed. "I didn’t," she said, before turning around to look at Stanley. "You said you’ve been here for just a day?"

Stanley nodded.

"Where were you before this?" she asked him.

"East Vanli," Stanley answered her.

The woman sighed. "Me too," she said. "I remember someone screaming something about a bomb and then everyone panicked and ran. Then... then I wake up here all of a sudden with a wounded man trying to kill me."

"The last thing I remember is crashing into a building and hearing the blast," Stanley said with a sigh.

The woman looked at Stanley and gestured for him to come closer.

Stanley hesitated for the slightest moment and went in closer while activating his future sight. To his surprise, he saw a future that was almost 5 seconds away from the present.

The woman dragged him to the ground with one arm and grabbed his left arm. "Do you feel anything?" she asked.

Stanley shook his head. "It’s dead, completely," he answered her.

"Take your clothes off and show it to me," the woman said, lifting her other arm. Stanley only now noticed that she had her arm in some sort of makeshift cast made from some black strings.

"I’m a nurse, so I may be able to help your arm if I can deal with it in time."