Chapter 10: Soup Raised Trust
Chapter 10: Soup Raised Trust
I cooked.
It wasn’t impressive. Canned soup heated on the butane stove, instant noodles stirred in until they softened, two portions divided carefully and served in bowls the previous occupants had left behind in the cupboard.
I gave Liora her portion first. She stared at the bowl.
"You fought," I said. "You scouted. You found the water. Eat before it gets cold."
"You first."
"I already ate dog food today. This is my second course."
Her ears didn’t flick. She was still staring at the bowl as though it might vanish if she looked away.
"Where I come from," she said slowly, "food goes to the strongest first. Then the useful. Then the tolerated." Her tail curled tight around her ankle. "I’ve been all three. Never first."
The words were casual, matter-of-fact, the way you describe weather. I didn’t ask for details. I didn’t need to.
"I’m not the strongest," I said. "Right now, I’m not even the most useful. Eat."
She ate. Quietly, carefully, with no complaints about the bland soup or the soggy noodles. She ate like someone who had learned that food was temporary, that hunger was the default, that kindness always came with a price.
When she finished, she looked at me with an expression I couldn’t read.
"What do you want for it?"
"Nothing." I sat down across from her with my own bowl. "You helped find it."
Something shifted behind her amber eyes.
[Resonance updated.]
Trust: 8 → 14
Desire: 92 → 94
Resonance: 2% → 3%
Trust had nearly doubled. Resonance had increased. And all I’d done was give her soup before serving myself.
Liora set down her bowl. Her tail swayed once, a slow curve that looked almost peaceful.
"You’re going to be troublesome," she said.
"I made soup."
"Exactly."
"Weakest man you’ve ever met, making soup."
"Troublesome," she repeated. But her ears had relaxed, and her tail was still curled contentedly against the floor.
The Ash Rats came while we were finishing our meal.
Two of them, bigger than any rat had a right to be — dog-sized, covered in dark grey fur that seemed to smoulder at the edges. They squeezed through a ventilation grate in the pantry, their eyes glowing dull orange in the dim light.
Liora heard them before I saw them. Her ears snapped flat and her tail went rigid.
"Left side. Two. They spit something hot."
"Ash?"
"Probably."
The first rat lunged. Liora was faster than she’d been against the Crawler; at Manifested Level 2, her restricted body responded a little more closely to the instincts and techniques of her Level 21 self. Softstep let her pivot around the creature’s charge, one knife slashing across its flank, and grey blood sprayed.
But the second rat was already spitting, and a glob of burning ash flew toward my face.
I grabbed the metal pot lid from the counter and raised it. The ash splattered against the metal, hissing, leaving black scorch marks, and my arm shook from the impact. Strength 4 wasn’t enough to make blocking feel natural.
"Hot soup!" I shouted.
Liora understood immediately and kicked the rat toward me. I threw the remaining soup — still warm, not boiling, but hot enough — into its face. The creature screeched, blinded and thrashing.
Liora’s knife found its throat.
[Class-Assisted Kill Confirmed.]
[Host remained within combat range.]
[Combat contribution verified.]
[Experience transferred.]
The second rat tried to flee. I overturned a chair into its path and it stumbled, and Liora was already there, both knives driving down.
[Class-Assisted Kill Confirmed.]
[Host remained within combat range.]
[Combat contribution verified.]
[Experience transferred.]
[Level increased.]
[Adrian Vale has reached Level 3.]
The warmth spread through my chest again, stronger this time. My breathing eased. The ache in my ribs dulled another notch. I felt less like a stiff breeze could finish me.
Liora straightened, shaking grey blood from her knives.
[Manifestation synchronization completed.]
[Liora Venn: Level 2 → Level 3]
[Attribute and energy ceilings increased.]
[Existing injuries unchanged.]
[New energy capacity: Unfilled.]
[Duration added: 10% of unanchored D-grade Level 1 duration — 01:30.]
[Remaining timer capped by current unanchored maximum.]
She rolled her shoulders and flexed her fingers. The difference was subtle — a little more grace, a little more control — but her smile was sharp and satisfied.
"Better?"
"Better," she agreed. "You’re almost not pathetic."
"I’m Level 3 now."
"Three levels. Twenty-four hours ago, you were Level 1." She sheathed her knives. "At this rate, you might be useful by the end of the week."
"That’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me."
"Don’t get used to it."
The timer flickered. The added minute and a half softened the loss; it did not restore the time already spent.
[Manifestation Remaining: 18:47]
Eighteen minutes. Less than an hour ago she’d had almost a full one. Combat, escape, synchronisation — every second she spent helping me was a second she couldn’t get back.
And I still needed Resonance to preserve her signature.
I allocated my new attribute points while she inspected the dead rats. Vitality 3 to 4. Agility 4 to 5. The values changed immediately, but my flawed foundation smothered part of the improvement; a faint warmth moved through my limbs and left me steadier and marginally quicker. I was still weak by any normal measure — far weaker than a properly built Level 3 — but not quite as fragile as before.
Strength 4. Vitality 4. Agility 5. Still Charisma 100. Still a joke build.
But the joke is getting slightly funnier.
Liora crouched near the ventilation grate, ears swivelling forward, nose twitching.
"Maintenance passage," she said. "Leads down to the ground floor. The grocery store is through there."
"And the monsters?"
"Three or four Ash Rats. One bigger thing. Around Level 5, perhaps 6. Something with..." She paused and sniffed again. "Scales. And hunger."
"And the store itself?"
"Food. Water. Medicine." Her tail curled. "And human blood. Old. Someone died there."
Of course someone died there. This is the apocalypse. Everywhere, someone died.
"Can we clear it?"
"With less than twenty minutes?" She straightened. "Maybe."
I froze. "Eighteen minutes?"
"I don’t know the exact number." She tapped her chest. "The connection is getting thinner. Less than twenty minutes, I think."
She couldn’t see the timer, but she could feel the bond weakening — Catkin instinct, summoning awareness, or simply the judgment of someone who had spent years measuring survival in shrinking margins.
I didn’t confirm the exact number.
A registry window appeared.
[Dimensional Registry Updated.]
[Known signature approaching minimum retention threshold.]
Name: Liora Venn
Current Resonance: 3%
Minimum Signature-Retention Threshold: 5%
[Reaching the threshold will preserve dimensional coordinates after manifestation ends.]
[Signature preservation does not establish a permanent contract.]
[No Summon Slot required.]
Five percent. I needed two more points to keep the route to Liora’s world from disappearing when the manifestation ended. It would not bind her or consume my only slot. It would only preserve the coordinates and give me a chance to find her again.
I couldn’t assign those two points the way I assigned Strength or Vitality. Resonance had moved only when something real passed between us: a shared fight, an offered choice, a moment of trust.
Liora was still watching me, ears angled forward now, reading my expression. "Bad news?"
I looked at her. Eighteen minutes. One stronger monster. Two points of Resonance.
"How do you feel about one more fight?"
She drew one knife, slow and deliberate and almost sensual, her tail swaying behind her.
"How do you feel about paying properly afterward?"
"What counts as properly?"
Her eyes traced my clean jaw, my silver-white hair, the dark shirt that fit better than anything I’d worn in weeks.
"I haven’t decided," she murmured.
Eighteen minutes. One stronger monster. Two more points of Resonance. And a catgirl who had started looking at my cheek like she was negotiating future ownership.
At least this one believes in asking first.