CHAPTER 17: CH 17: SHELTER - PART 2

Berry worked with a speed that surprised even Lucian. His tool struck with consistent force, each swing clean and efficient.

Thick trunks that should have taken hours to cut through fell one after another in neat succession. Sawdust clung to his arms, sweat ran down his temples, but his pace never faltered.

By the time half the grove was down, Berry leaned against a stump, panting but still steady. His chest rose and fell with exertion, yet his eyes burned with determination.

Lucian finally spoke.

"Not bad."

Berry glanced up, startled.

Lucian continued, voice calm but tinged with faint curiosity.

"You’re not in the best shape, yet you’re cutting these trees faster than most trained men would. You’re stronger than you look."

Berry let out a short, bitter laugh and shook his head.

"No. It’s not that I’m strong. It’s my ability. It gives me bursts of strength and stamina. Without it, I wouldn’t be half as useful."

He flexed his arm absently, as though testing it.

Lucian’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"So your ability enhances your body."

"Exactly."

Berry exhaled, lowering himself onto the stump. For a while he sat in silence, staring at the ground. The shadows of the freshly felled trees stretched across his boots.

Then, with hesitation, he spoke again. Lucian said nothing, letting the man continue.

I... don’t know where you come from, Lucian."

Berry’s voice grew quiet.

"I’ve never seen an ability like yours before. Making trees grow like that, healing wounds, even that strange curse that turned you young again. Down here, most people are lucky to develop a single ability. Sometimes two, if fortune favors them. But nothing like what you showed me."

Lucian folded his arms, his expression unreadable.

Berry went on, his tone more bitter now.

"Down here, people with abilities don’t live free. We offer them to those in charge of food and supplies. In exchange, we get a place to stay, something to eat, maybe protection. The stronger your ability—especially for hunting or controlling others—the more you’re given. The weaker it is, the less you matter."

He laughed dryly, though his eyes held no humor.

"My ability wasn’t special enough. It was useful, yes, but not irreplaceable. So the higher-ups where I lived stopped caring once they found better tools. When I was no longer worth feeding, they dismissed me like I was nothing."

The silence that followed was heavy. Lucian studied him quietly, though his gaze was sharp, analytical.

At that moment, a familiar chime echoed in Lucian’s mind.

[System Update: Additional Information Acquired.]

[Subject: Berry Marksman

– Current ability: Physical Augmentation (Basic).

– Hidden potential: Remarkable. Full awakening occurs only due to the influence of this world’s ’Hero.’]

Lucian’s brows furrowed imperceptibly. So Berry’s true power had yet to awaken.

The system’s words carried an almost cruel weight: in the original flow of events, Berry was destined for nothing but an unremarkable end, his worth discarded until someone else—the so-called hero—arrived to unlock his potential.

Lucian tapped his fingers against his arm thoughtfully.

’If I hadn’t pulled him out, what would have happened? He would have rotted where he was thrown away. Another pawn, another forgotten piece on the board.’

He dismissed the thought with a flick of his mind.

’No. There’s no point wasting time on what didn’t happen. The only thing that matters is now.’

Since Berry was going to survive anyway, Lucian would only be wasting his brain power thinking about it.

"Break time’s over."

Lucian said abruptly. His voice cut through Berry’s drifting silence like a blade.

"We still have more work to do."

Berry straightened, startled out of his thoughts.

"Already?"

"Already. We’ll need more wood if we’re to build properly. So move."

Lucian’s gaze flicked toward the remaining trees.

Berry groaned softly but rose to his feet without argument. He grabbed his tool and followed Lucian as they moved to the next patch of grown trees.

The steady rhythm of cutting began again, filling the clearing with the sound of cracking wood and falling trunks.

After working long, the day finally felt like it was over and Berry slowed

His arms trembled faintly with fatigue as he wiped his forehead, looking toward Lucian.

Lucian stood with his hands behind his back, observing the fallen trees lined neatly in rows.

His expression betrayed nothing, but inwardly he was cataloging, already calculating the structure they could build with the wood.

Berry opened his mouth, hesitated, then finally spoke, his tone uncharacteristically hesitant.

"Lucian."

Lucian’s eyes shifted toward him.

Berry’s lips pressed into a thin line. For a moment, he looked as though he might swallow his words. But then he said it anyway.

"Your ability... it’s special. Too special. You need to be careful."

Lucian raised a brow slightly.

Berry’s gaze was steady despite the weariness in his body.

"Down here, people aren’t kind. They don’t care about who you are, or whether you live or die. All they see is what you can do for them. And if you can do something they want, they’ll use you. They’ll drain you dry and throw you away the second you’re no longer useful."

His voice was grim, the bitterness of experience coating every word.

"Don’t trust people so easily, Lucian. Not with something like your ability. Because the truth is..."

He paused, his eyes shadowed.

"...most people would rather see you chained than free, if it meant they could control what you can do."

For a while, Lucian said nothing. The breeze stirred the leaves of the fallen trees, carrying with it the faint scent of sap.

Finally, Lucian spoke, his tone calm, detached.

"I’ll keep it in mind."

Berry exhaled slowly, as though relieved he’d said his piece. He turned back to his work, striking the next trunk with a little more force than before.

Lucian, however, continued to watch him. His expression was unreadable, but his mind turned over the system’s words once more.

Berry Marksman. A man discarded by his world, yet with the potential to awaken something remarkable. If left alone, he would have been nothing. But now...

Lucian’s lips curved ever so slightly, though whether it was in amusement or calculation was impossible to tell.

For now, I will keep him around and use him. Then, once the real mission starts, I will see how to send him to the hero’s side.