Legendary Shelter Survival Guide

"The last shelter upgrade took us about ten days to be honest because we didn't really put all our effort into it. We could have done everything in only three days if there is planning and everyone put in the effort." John said while looking at his own status screen, even he had skills just a few numbers less than Lucas.

"They better help, Uncle John. You all don't have a choice here." Lucas suddenly became cold and John could tell the difference.

"Now what do you mean by that?" John asked with calm showing the patience that an adult has.

"I mean..." Lucas said with a pause, staring seriously at John showing him that he was not joking around, "If the shelter does not get upgraded within time, then I will die. But that's not the end of it."

John now understood why Lucas was acting like this, he thought that in time of death talk, everyone especially a child like Lucas would panic.

"If I die which will not do anything to you all, but the shelter will break with me on its own."

Silence

John kept looking at Lucas with sadness in the eyes which Lucas did not understand the reason of.

"It makes me sad, Lucas. To think that you would try to scare me in order for you to level up. For god's sake, we are way past that. Do you think we are strangers?" John asked, his eyes showing the concern a father would show when he was hurt.

"N-No, not strangers," Lucas said with awkwardness, he found the sentence very cringe to say but that was what John was talking about. Lucas was very comfortable with him to the point that he did not mind saying something from the heart.

"Yes, we are no strangers. Just don't say what you said to me right now to the others. It would make them madder than me."

Lucas did not understand why John was getting hurt like this and lecturing him when he only wanted to make them alert that if he were to die then all the hard work they did would go away with him rendering the group without a base.

John got up and kept a hand on Lucas's shoulder, his face had formed a warm smile that Lucas did not ever get from his own father.

"You will not die, I will make sure of that. Even if I have to sacrifice myself for it, you won't die anytime soon, Lucas."

Lucas's eyes twitched at his sentence, he didn't know why but he was pissed with what John said.

Anyone would become pissed by such a conversation when they care about the one saying it.

It was this time out the all that Lucas realized that everyone's relationship in the groups had moved past what would call 'friends' or good acquaintances.

"Sounds good but don't go dying and leaving your family on me." Lucas said with a grin and shook the man's hand from his shoulder.

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John chuckled in response, he looked into Lucas's eyes like before yet this time he nodded with a smile.

From that point, Lucas went in and slept like a log without any fear that the others would not do their duties with responsibility.

When Lucas opened his eyes again, he saw light flashing from the empty window frame that was right in front of him.

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Lucas stretched his body with relief, for the first time in a while, he slept well and felt fresh in the morning. There were some stiffness in his back and neck due to sleeping on the hard surface of the shelter's floor but it wasn't much.

Some stretching and popping of the bones made the soreness relieve to an extent.

Lucas got up and saw that aside from him, only Ella was sleeping in the other corner. She had John's big jacket that he was wearing when he came here on her as a blanket.

Lucas got up and went outside the shelter, the light that fell on his face didn't make him tense his eyes as the room he had been sleeping in was already fully illuminated by the window.

"Oh good morning, had a good sleep?" Sarah asked and threw something toward him.

"Yeah, I feel fresh," Lucas said and caught it, it was the dense water from the rapacious plant with the stem still on it.

Lucas took a slurp and soon, even more freshness from the cold liquid invaded his mind and body.

Sarah laughed at the face that Lucas was making, his mouth was open with eyes closed while his face faces the sky as if he had just got a massage.

"Well come here already and eat, and then we will plan the day," John said. He was sitting near the camp which had changed overnight.

Sean and Barney were digging a hole with some unrefined rocks just like the time when they made the fire pit.

Lucas sat beside him and took a small portion of the smoked meat that was kept on a big leaf. Eating something like this in the morning was a bit too much but the choice was between the smoked meat and the rimmeroot.

"Hey, do you mind eating fast and helping out?" Sean said with a grumpy expression. His clothes were dirty and beads of sweat fell from his forehead.

"Sure," Lucas said and took about 10 minutes and went as slow as he could to annoy Sean even further. Lucas liked messing with Sean and Barney, his parents were not with him but Sean and Barney's were, and not like before, they were with them the whole 24 hours.

Lucas always took this opportunity and made him mad so that he would get scolded by Uncle John and Aunt Ella.

About an hour went by with these shenanigans and the time had come to have a proper serious conversation with the group.

They all sat together and listened to what John said with a calm, every person who was happy that the shelter upgraded now had a pale expression knowing that leveling had become a pain in the ass and they had to do it quickly.