Chapter 8: The First Level Up!
It was not hard to find sticks in the forest, so they just walked in a random direction and gathered all the sticks they could see.
Elo was about to pick up another one when the new woman suddenly spoke to him again.
"I haven't known him for long, but I still liked him. And now he is dead because of me."
First, Elo was confused because he didn't know what she meant, but then, he remembered what had happened to her former companion.
"I'm very sorry for you. What was his name?"
"You shouldn't be sorry for me; I'm the reason he is dead."
Elo thought it was kind of rude to talk to him like that, but he was ok with it. He could still remember how it felt when his parents were murdered while he could do nothing but hide.
"I wanted to try my skill "One hit wonder" on the gnome. It said it would do 10 times my typical damage in one hit, but I would not be able to do anything for the rest of the fight.
I thought that I would not be able to hit the gnome anymore, or something like that. But when it said nothing, it meant it. I couldn't even move anymore.
That's why Alon had to die for me. Because I had to use this dumb skill."
When she started crying again, Elo hugged her. He wasn't taking advantage of her suffering or anything like that. It was just the thing he had wished somebody would have done for him when he lost his parents.
She let it happen and remained in his embrace until she stopped crying. When she started moving again, Elo let go of her.
He could see that she wanted to be alone for a while.
"I'll go and gather sticks over there."
He pointed in a random direction.
The woman seemed to be relieved.
"Do you know how to get back to the clearing?"
"Yes, I know how to get there."
When Elo was about to turn around, she spoke to him once more.
"I'm sorry I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Ella. And Elo?... thank you."
Then she hastily turned around and ran into the forest.
At that moment, Elo was quite happy. It seemed like he had gotten the situation right, even though he did not have any contact with women for the last 20 years.
There had been almost no woman in the army, and he'd only been in two meaningless relationships before he had joined.
When he started gathering sticks again, it seemed to be easier than before.
**
After a few hours, they met up at the clearing again. Because they had no way to know how many sticks the others gathered, they had collected far too many of them.
When they started constructing, a holographic 3D model of a small hut appeared.
They just had to touch a part of the holographic hut, to start the construction. Because three people worked on the shelter, it only took about 30 minutes.
When the construction was done, it was a 2 X 2 X 2 cube with a flat roof, made fully out of sticks.
It looked like a professional would have helped to construct one of those stick tents, you could see everywhere in the forests back on earth.
There was nothing inside of the hut, and it did not even have a floor, but at least it should be able to keep everybody warm.
Gorden and Elo carefully carried Lara into the hut and gently laid her down on the ground.
"It will be very cramped in the hut if we would all try to sleep in here. If we don't want to sleep outside tonight, we should probably build another hut."
Gorden whispered to not disturb Lara's sleep. Before they spoke any further, they left the hut.
"How many sticks do we still have?"
"We still have 87 sticks, but we also hadn't had breakfast today. Someone has to cook the meat we still have."
They had gone into the forest immediately after waking up, so they hadn't eaten anything yet.
"And we still need to have something for lunch, so we'll have to hunt too.
I think we should split the tasks. First, I will light a fire again, and then I will go back into the forest to collect sticks.
After we have eaten, you two should go hunting. I would go hunting too, but I'm not really of any help to you. I do not possess a fighting skill, and I think you will get the stat boosts even if I am not with you.
By the way, Ella, do you want to join our team?"
"Yes, thank you, I was afraid you wouldn't ask because I don't have anywhere else to go."
She looked kind of relieved.
"Ding"
"Ella is now following you.
[Team] 4/10"
**
Once the fire was burning, Elo stated testing his skill with Gorden's help.
It was exactly as he thought. Elo didn't need to be anywhere near his teammates for his skill to work. Even when they were more than 500m apart from one another, Gorden's stats where still boosted by his skill.
Once the meat was cooked, Gorden, Elo, and Ella sat on a fallen tree, which was lying on the clearing.
"Shouldn't we also give Lara something to eat?"
Gorden was looking at the hut in worry.
"I think we shouldn't wake her up. The system said that she needs 24 hours of sleep, and so far, the system was never wrong."
"Sorry, I know. I am just worried. She would most likely be dead if you hadn't healed her, and we would all be dead if you and your unlucky friend hadn't helped us."
Gorden looked at Ella.
-"We would not all be dead, but I think I shouldn't say that out loud."-
**
Once they finished their meal, Gorden and Ella left to go hunting. They ha agreed that the hunting team would gather sticks too, once they had caught their first prey.
When Elo went in the woods alone, he could already feel something hard in his poked again. He took out another small pile of Power Stones.
"Ding"
"You received:
-5 Power Stones, gifted by Melady800 and others"
-"Great, with that many Power stones, I can level up for sure."-
"You have 10/10 level points. Do you want to level up?"
-"Yes, of course!"-
"You have one available stat point, how do you want to spend it?"
-"I want more charisma. It was very beneficial so far."-
"Ding"
That was when Elo's vision went black again.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
TheNewRuler
TheNewRuler Thanks for reading this chapter. Because of a lack of new power stone donators, I had to use melady´s name for a second time. You are the only one who can help me with this problem. Please donate power stones to help Elo and me. Thank you!
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