After bidding farewell to Una and the others and flattening Gale like a sandwich, Helena began thinking about how she would reach the capital city, Grant. According to Una, it was quite far from here. Una had said it would take about fifteen days by carriage.

  Helena was a little troubled. She muttered, “Fifteen days… hmm.”

  But fifteen days did not really matter to her. She had plenty of methods of travel. She could simply use her ability; if she wanted, she could stand perfectly still and let the world move her toward the capital. But that would kill all the fun of traveling, and Helena definitely did not want that.

  She looked down at her ring and muttered, “Then a transport vehicle from Earth will do.”

  Helena had vast resources from Earth, gathered from all over the world. Before her Philosopher Stone was created, she had to work with the environment around her. But since her ability range at the time was limited, she asked her Craftsman Awakened friend to make her a storage ring. That was her first artifact. It was not nearly as good as the ones she wore now. Its storage space was only the size of a double door refrigerator.

  But as Helena grew stronger, she obtained more resources and commissioned better rings. Her current eight rings, if she had to compare them to something, could easily hold at least two large scale cities from Earth. Even her craftsman friend never knew exactly how many Spatial Mutant Cores they used to create these eight artifacts.

  These rings were Helena’s prime weapons, storing massive amounts of metal and minerals. They were also her primary source of attack until her core transformed into the True Philosopher Stone. After that, all her resource problems vanished instantly.

  But the rings did not hold only metal and minerals. Two of them stored various artifacts, food, supplies, mutant cores, guns, vehicles, and everything else she liked from Earth.

  Helena was still thinking about which vehicle to use.

  “A fighter jet?” she muttered.

  Then she instantly disagreed with herself. “No, no, no. That thing is too loud. And flying a jet over a city would cause way too much commotion.”

  She wanted something grounded, cool, flexible, and fast.

  Then she remembered.

  “Yes. A two wheeler will do the job.”

  She had dozens stored in her rings. Standard bikes, off road bikes, choppers, sports bikes, cruisers, everything. Helena pointed her hand forward and a two wheeler appeared in front of her.

  A black and silver chopper.

  It had no brand name, only an unknown symbol, a golden apple, the emblem of Helena’s Awakened Survivors Group. It was not built by any company. It was a custom chopper made by her craftsman friend. Even though he did not originally know how to build vehicles, Helena had forced him to learn with the help of other friends knowledgeable about such things.

  Her friend cursed her countless times for demanding unreasonable things, but he was a good friend who supported her ridiculous requests. By the end of his life, he had enough knowledge to build anything into an artifact, all because of Helena.

  Helena smiled, remembering those days.

  During the apocalypse, there was a time when Helena had been obsessed with riding bikes. She rode all day while hunting mutants. Movies from Earth had influenced her. But ordinary two wheelers were not strong enough for her. They used too much petrol, and because of Helena’s rough riding style, they would not last long.

  So she had her friends build her one.

  A bike made of high quality materials like titanium and other steel alloys, all refined by Helena herself. It became one of the toughest and highest grade vehicles in the world. And fuel was not a problem either. She could store it in her ring, but refilling tanks was not her style, so all her artifacts ran on mutant cores.

  And she had “enough” of them in her rings.

  The chopper gleamed under the setting sun as Helena grabbed the handles and twisted them experimentally.

  “I have not ridden one in a decade,” she said.

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  In her last year on Earth, she had mostly lazed around the Coordinated Place with her letters. With a hopeful heart, she climbed onto the seat of the bike. Her chest swelled with warm happiness, like she was remembering precious moments with her family.

  “Let us go,” she said.

  Then she suddenly remembered something.

  “Oh, I almost forgot.”

  Denor was still on the ground, unconscious. Helena snapped her fingers, turning Denor’s outer skin into iron. Every body of the adventurers and every stone spike over the field crumbled into dust.

  Helena did not spare Denor another glance.

  She kick started the bike. It roared with joy, as if happy to run again after a decade. Helena turned the handle and sped off in the opposite direction of the setting sun.

  ---

  Night had fallen by the time Helena’s chopper cut through the quiet plains.

  Its copper headlight glowed like a wandering star, and the deep mechanical roar echoed across the empty land. Cold wind brushed through Helena’s short hair as she rode. Her expression softened with a hint of pride as memories of her family and friends flickered through her mind.

  The chopper continued forward with a steady rumble.

  A bizarre sight in this world where wagons and horses were still the only common transport.

  But Helena was growing sleepy. The calm night, the gentle wind, and the steady vibration beneath her were slowly making her drowsy. She needed rest.

  Then she noticed something ahead.

  Smoke.

  A thin column drifting upward in the moonlight. She narrowed her eyes.

  Bonfire smoke.

  A small smile formed on her lips.

  She remembered the campfires she used to have with her friends and family, even during the apocalypse. The laughter, the warmth, the rare peaceful moments.

  “I want to join,” Helena muttered and turned her throttle toward the smoke.

  The chopper’s roar grew louder as she approached. Soon she saw it clearly. A large caravan. Around twenty carriages arranged in a rough circle, people moving around them, and more than a dozen bonfires lighting the area.

  The moment they heard the strange roaring sound, the entire camp tensed.

  Merchants stumbled back.

  Armored escorts stepped forward.

  Mages lifted their staves.

  Archers raised their bows.

  Helena lifted her hand and shouted,

  “Do not worry friends. I mean no harm. No harm.”

  A huge rough looking man who appeared to be the escort leader shouted back,

  “I do not know who you are. Stay back. If you come any closer we will attack you and your tamed monster in self defense.”

  Helena stopped her chopper at a safe distance and stepped off with her hands raised. A polite smile rested on her face.

  “As I said, I mean no harm.”

  The escort leader approached her cautiously. No one lowered their guard. Archers kept their arrows aimed at Helena’s chest and mages stood ready to bombard her with spells.

  The leader asked again, his tone rough but natural.

  “Who are you? And what do you want?”

  Helena answered calmly.

  “I am Helena, a traveler. I am heading to the capital and was hoping you would let me stay with your group for the night.”

  The leader asked, “And why does Miss Helena want to join us?”

  Helena smiled gently.

  “Well, you know how dangerous it is for a woman to travel alone at night. There are a lot of bad people in this world.”

  The man stared at her, unimpressed.

  “I agree. But I think a woman who can ride that roaring black monster is not helpless. Tell me the real reason or walk away. This is the last time I will ask.”

  Helena’s smile shifted to something awkward.

  Her lie had failed completely.

  “Will you believe me if I tell the truth?” she asked.

  “I will decide after I hear it,” he replied.

  Helena touched her cheek shyly.

  “The truth is that it has been a long time since I have had a campfire with friends.”

  The leader frowned.

  “But we are not your friends.”

  “I know,” Helena said cheerfully. “But that does not matter. I only want to sit by a campfire with people around me. That is all.”

  The camp fell silent.

  The leader stared at her for a long moment, unsure whether she was harmless, lonely, or simply strange.

  After a minute Helena tilted her head and asked, “So will you let me join?”

  The leader sighed.

  “Wait here.”

  He turned and headed back to the merchants. Before leaving fully, he whispered to his escorts,

  “Keep an eye on her and do not lower your guard.”

  He reached the merchants. Even though they whispered, Helena’s perfect senses picked up every word.

  “Sir Rob, we have a situation,” the leader said. “That girl wants to join us.”

  Rob asked, “Her reason.”

  “She says she wants to sit by a campfire with people.”

  One merchant scoffed.

  “Is she joking with us?”

  Rob ignored him and asked, “What do you think, Jinn? Does she seem dangerous?”

  So the leader’s name was Jinn.

  Jinn answered after thinking briefly.

  “She does not seem to be lying. I do not think she wants to rob us.”

  Rob paused, then nodded.

  “Let her in.”

  He looked at the others.

  “Anyone disagree?”

  No one spoke. They only shook their heads.

  “Tell her she must take responsibility for her tamed monster,” Rob added. “I do not know what that thing is, but if it goes wild we will be in trouble.”

  Jinn nodded and returned to Helena.

  “We decided to let you join us,” he said.

  A bright smile appeared on Helena’s face.

  “But there is a condition,” Jinn added.

  “Tell me,” Helena said.

  “You must take full responsibility for your tamed monster. If it causes any damage, you must pay double. If anyone is hurt, you must pay for healing potions.”

  Helena replied, “But that thing is not a monster.”

  Jinn blinked.

  “If it is not a monster, then what is it?”

  Helena answered simply.

  “It is something like a man made mount.”

  “A mount?” Jinn repeated slowly. “Like a horse?”

  “Yes. It is not alive. It was made by human hands.”

  Jinn stared at the chopper again, still confused.

  A priest standing behind Jinn spoke up quietly.

  “I do not feel any life energy from that thing either.”

  Helena nodded.

  “It is made by my friend.”

  Jinn still looked uncertain, but he nodded and decided to believe her for now. He lifted his hand.

  “You can lower your weapons.”

  And that was when the mistake happened.

  One archer, who had been holding his bowstring drawn for too long, accidentally released the arrow. His fingers slipped under the pressure and the arrow shot forward with a sharp whistle.

  It flew directly toward Helena’s shoulder.

  Jinn reacted instantly and shouted, “Miss Helena, dodge.”

  But Helena did not move.

  As the arrow reached her, she simply raised her hand and caught it between two fingers. The movement was smooth and natural, not fast or flashy, as if catching arrows was a normal part of her day.

  Jinn and the others stared with open mouths.

  Helena looked at the arrow, then shrugged.

  “I am fine,” she said casually.

  She walked over to the archer, whose face was pale with shock. She held out the arrow.

  “Here. You dropped this.”

  The archer snapped back to reality and took the arrow with shaky hands.

  Then he felt a chill behind him.

  He turned slowly.

  Jinn was standing there, looking like a demon of wrath. The archer’s voice trembled.

  “B-bb-boss...”

  Before he could say anything more, a loud thud echoed. The archer lay on the ground with a huge bump on his head while a healer rushed over to cast healing magic.

  Jinn turned back to Helena and bowed slightly.

  “I apologize for my party member’s mistake.”