"...Then I looked him straight in the eye and said, 'Baseball.' "
Leon shrugged, and the narrator's friend laughed. "...and he just stared at me and went, 'Huh?'"
The group burst into laughter. Even Adrian's lips twitched upward before he quickly forced his usual serious expression back onto his face.
"I still don't get it," Ethan admitted between laughs.
"That's because you're the one who would've answered 'Huh?'" Maya replied immediately.
"I would've!"
"You absolutely would've."
Davis laughed loudly. "I would've paid money to see that conversation."
The mood had changed dramatically over the past few days. It wasn't because the world had become any safer—far from it. The monsters still existed, and death still lurked around every corner. They survived by sticking close together to preserve their body heat, but fear wasn't something the human mind could sustain forever. After surviving long enough, people slowly adapted. The impossible gradually became reality, and Leon had somehow become the center holding the little group together simply by existing.
...
Their journey had settled into a strange routine of walking, resting, and eating whatever Leon declared was "probably... maybe... 80 percent safe."
"Are you sure this berry isn't poisonous?" Miller asked for what had to be the twentieth time.
Leon inspected the handful of pale blue berries. "I'm pretty sure they're kinda safe."
"...Kinda?"
"I mean..." He popped one into his mouth. "If I die, don't eat them."
Everyone stared as a few seconds passed. Leon swallowed. "Hm. Tastes terrible. So they're edible."
Maya pinched the bridge of her nose. "Your testing methodology is terrifying."
"It works."
"It really shouldn't."
Yet somehow, it always did. Leon never claimed certainty, but his strange intuition consistently led them toward edible plants, clean water, and safe resting places until no one questioned it anymore.
As they continued moving farther away from the frozen wasteland, the environment gradually changed. The biting cold weakened, the crimson snow became sparse, and eventually, the strange blood-colored flakes disappeared altogether. By now, Leon had recovered enough to walk on his own. It wasn't comfortable, but he moved steadily. The wound through his stomach had already closed under the constant nourishment of his internal energy. He still looked pale, and his movements carried traces of exhaustion, yet every passing hour made him noticeably healthier.
The others occasionally caught him closing his eyes while walking. "What are you doing now?" Maya finally asked.
"Naming things."
"...Excuse me?"
Leon smiled faintly. "I've realized names matter." He raised a hand, flexing his fingers. "My attack—the white-coated black strike. 'Yin Yang Strike.' The name felt right. It wasn't because it sounded cool, but because the moment he spoke it aloud, the structure of the technique suddenly felt more stable inside his mind. Expression becomes clearer once it has a name."
He let soft green energy quietly circulate through his blood vessels. "My passive healing mode... I'll call it Self-Reliance Mode."
Unlike Yin Yang Strike, this technique never stopped. Linked Energy Manipulation continuously converted his vitality into restorative green internal energy before feeding it back into his body. The effect wasn't dramatic—cuts healed faster, fatigue disappeared sooner, and his body constantly repaired microscopic damage. More importantly, the stronger his body became, the stronger Self-Reliance Mode naturally became as well. It was self-improving: more strength meant better healing, and better healing meant more strength. It formed a perfect positive cycle, and there was never any reason to deactivate it. The vitality it regenerated easily paid for its upkeep once it was named, allowing him to maintain it constantly.
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"My second passive..." Blue and red internal energy flowed together beneath his skin. Instead of remaining separate, they fused. Purple energy quietly spread throughout his muscles, bones, organs, and nervous system as his breathing deepened and his posture straightened. Every movement suddenly became lighter. "Boost Mode."
It amplified everything physical: strength, speed, reaction time, and endurance. Even better, because Boost Mode strengthened his body, Self-Reliance Mode immediately became stronger as well. The two passives supported one another perfectly. Leon nodded in satisfaction; this was much cleaner than maintaining several different buffs independently.
Later that afternoon, they stopped so Ethan could stretch. The thin man had been quiet ever since joining the group. Now, Leon crouched beside him. "You've been hiding your back."
Ethan smiled sheepishly. "Herniated disc. Old injury. It flares up whenever I walk too much."
Leon nodded. "Makes sense." He placed a glowing green hand gently against Ethan's lower back. "Hold still."
Warmth spread through Ethan's spine. The dull ache he'd lived with for years simply vanished. He blinked, twisted his waist, bent forward, and then stood back up.
"..."
"What." He twisted again. There was nothing—no pain, no stiffness, and no familiar burning sensation. "What???!!!!"
Leon chuckled. "Looks like it worked."
Ethan looked ready to cry. "...Brother."
Leon laughed. "Too early for that."
"No," Ethan shook his head with absolute seriousness. "Brother."
The entire group burst into laughter. From that moment onward, Ethan never left Leon's side voluntarily. He was easygoing, quick to laugh, and possessed the rare ability to turn almost anything into a joke, allowing his chemistry with Leon to form almost immediately.
Adrian remained exactly the opposite—quiet, expressionless, and always observing. Yet, whenever Leon gave an instruction, Adrian followed without hesitation in absolute trust.
Miller finally noticed. "You seriously don't question him anymore?"
Adrian adjusted his glasses. "No."
"Why?"
"Because every time I thought he was wrong... he wasn't." That simple answer somehow ended the discussion.
A few days later, the environment changed once again. The air grew strangely empty, causing Leon to frown. "The Qi... it's almost gone."
Ahead of them stretched a broad strip of ordinary land with bare rock, and sparse grass. A land free of the crimson snow curse. The transition felt unnatural, as though two entirely different worlds had been stitched together. They crossed carefully.
Several hours later, Qi returned, only this time it felt different—gentle, warm, and comfortable. The landscape transformed into lush forests filled with towering emerald trees, and small streams reflected the moonlight. Above them, two moons hung in the night sky; one glowed soft blue, while the other radiated pale pink.
No one spoke for several seconds. "...Beautiful," Maya whispered.
"It is." Leon studied the horizon carefully. "This probably isn't another region."
"You think it's intentional?" Davis asked.
Leon nodded. "If I had to guess... this World seems divided into territories." He looked back toward the frozen wasteland behind them. "Winter." Then he looked toward the endless forest. "Spring."
"So spring is better?" Miller asked hopefully.
Leon immediately shook his head. "Not necessarily. Winter kills slowly. Spring wakes up hungry." The sentence instantly killed everyone's optimism. "So... we stay here." Leon pointed toward the invisible boundary where the climates met. "Close enough to gather resources, but far enough to avoid attracting whatever dominates either territory."
No one argued. Over the following days they encountered other scattered survivor groups. Leon insisted on not traveling with any other group and always quickly exchanged information on what was found in each direction then proceeded separately. There weren't many, but there were enough, and one common topic appeared again and again: "The Guiding Light of the Deceased."
"The what?" Maya asked.
A survivor lowered his voice respectfully. "The dead... they're guiding us." He pointed toward the floating arrow visible only to champions. "It always points us somewhere. When we follow it... people survive."
Word had spread astonishingly fast, and the belief had evolved. No one thought the arrows belonged to the System. Instead, they believed fallen champions had become guardian spirits watching over humanity from beyond death, guiding the living toward safety.
"The Guiding Light of the Deceased..." someone whispered almost reverently.
Leon remained silent. Eventually Ethan nudged him. "You've been awfully quiet. What do you think?" Leon looked at the floating arrow. Then toward the distant horizon. "I'll...keep my thoughts on that to myself." No one pressed further.
Late in the afternoon of the next day... Adrian suddenly stopped walking. "There." Everyone looked up. Far beyond the forest canopy...Stone walls rose into the sky. Massive. Ancient. Impossible to mistake. Civilization. After days of endless wandering...They had finally found it.