Chapter 59: Contributions For Supplies
Kalli laughed at the concern in the Chef’s tone. "Don’t worry too much, I approved of hiring them to come clean and help in the kitchen. They need to contribute something so I can justify giving them supplies. I gave them enough for a few days, but they’ll need more again soon.
If you can get me some boar thin sliced and dried for jerky, that will store in a building with no power. Then I will give them rice and oatmeal in the bulk bags. Enough to keep them going while we work out how much we can actually afford to share.
How are the supplies here?"
Gerry shook his head. "Not great. Appetites are growing. That’s why I wanted some of the improved foods, so I could see if it helped."
Kalli nodded, and made the painful choice to purchase another Uncommon Grade tab.
{Uncommon Grade Food Supply Unlocked} Uncommon Grade foods contain mana and 5 times the calories of nonmagical foods. Suitable for all awakened and higher rank heroes.
{System Points Remaining} 208
[Rare Grade Upgrade Box: Food] available. Unlocks food options up to Rare Grade, including magical reagents. 5000 System Points. {Level Requirement Not Met}
Kalli spent 4 points and purchased a bag of rice, which was still the same 25 kilos as before. But from this one, she could actually sense stored energy.
Gerry examined the bag, and then smiled. "Yes, this will work perfectly. It’s similar to the boars, in that it has stored energy. We won’t go through nearly as much of it as before. I will trouble you for more later, but I will let you gain points before I start pushing for more supplies.
We’ve still got enough for a while."
"Don’t worry too much. I get some points as everyone completes quests. It’s part of my job as a Coordinator Class to make sure that they get the job done, so I get rewards. I can use it to keep you supplied for a while.
Then we will make them start paying at least a weekly fee in edible beasts or points for food.
It’s only right that they chip in. There is no such thing as a free lunch."
She had also been cutting things close with the weapons she gave out last night and now an upgraded tab. But with today’s missions, her points should be in better shape again.
After eating, she grabbed some of the pork sandwiches and stored them in her [Storage Realm] for later. Then, she hit the gym, and found that most of the new kids were already there.
They had taken the warnings to heart, and they wanted to get stronger before going out today.
But they had not been ready for the changes after just one session.
When you only had four Strength to start with, two from a hard gym session was an enormous change to your physique. They were lifting far more than they had been able to during the night before, and they could feel their muscles growing again as they worked their way through the session.
Even Kalli, who split her gains between stamina and strength, was already far past her old physical standards.
She grabbed a set of ten kilo dumbbells, loaded fifty kilos of weight into her backpack, and slowly increased the stair climber’s settings until she was at what she was certain the System would call an extreme exertion workload.
"She’s crazy. Did you see how much she put in her backpack? She’s jogging up the stairs with as much as I weigh in her backpack," she heard one of the boys whisper.
"Plus, she’s carrying weight in her hands and doing curls. That woman can’t be human."
Kalli laughed as she jogged up the stairs. "The first day, I could barely walk up at the lowest setting. Keep at it, and you’ll build up the body you need to be called heroes.
Now, no slacking or the timer will reset."
That got them moving. They didn’t want to be here any longer than necessary.
Ninety minutes later, the gym was packed, with students egging each other on to get the maximum gains before breakfast and missions.
"Hey, new kids, are you feeling more brave today? We’ve got a plan to get you all to level two.
You see, the pig men are a hard mode quest, and they’re still active. You only need two kills for the group, and it counts the last hit for the kill if you’re not in the same group. If we clear out a bunch of rat demons, we can let you get the last hit on some pig men for the quest.
We’re going for vengeance anyhow, so you might as well tag along.
The teams will be moving in a larger pack so that we don’t get isolated and surrounded. It should be much safer than yesterday’s emergency outing, and there aren’t as many of the bastards today."
"You’re really going to hunt those things?"
Joanna, the Council President’s little sister, nodded eagerly. "They owe us, and we’re going to collect in blood. Trust the System, and we will make proper heroes out of you yet."
The younger boys glanced awkwardly between each other. Niall’s little sister was generally considered the high school division’s mascot until she graduated last year. That sort of cute and sweet personality that everyone loved.
If she was going out hunting for monsters, they couldn’t afford to say no.
That wasn’t the sort of embarrassment that you would ever live down, and they had seen last night that there were people huddled in the building across the street, just praying that the students would keep them safe if anything attacked.
Nobody wanted to be in that group, filthy and terrified. They had already been there, and it was not fun.
{Maximum Gains achieved} Gained 1 Strength, 1 Stamina
She still couldn’t see what her actual stats were, but everyone had gotten pretty good at guessing their own number based on what was normal before.
By her estimation, she should be sitting just over 10 Strength now, with the small bonus she got for reaching level 2. But her Stamina was a couple of points higher, enough that she could definitely win any marathon that had happened before the awakening.
