The tall woman sighed and holstered her weapon. “Yeah, I believe them too.” She leaned forward, offering the heavy man her hand. He looked up at her with surprise but reached up and allowed her to hoist him to his feet.

“Thanks,” he said. “You’re strong.”

Nori shrugged. “You’re stronger.”

“Well, I do have eight points in strength.” He grinned at her.

Lana’s jaw dropped. “How? You’re only level four.”

“Easy, I took the attribute boost trait and put the extra points from the first three levels into strength.”

“How did you manage to get that Hummer working again? And what is that thing on your arm?” Nori pointed at the thick gauntlet he wore.

“I was a mechanic before the Calamity. When I leveled up, I selected the Engineer Path. After that, I suddenly knew what to do to make cars run again—only getting the right components was a real bitch. This thing I wear is what I like to call The Puncher. It gives my punches additional strength, really handy in taking down Warped, let me tell you that.” He looked down at the huge snake. “Though this is the first time I’ve tried taking on a level five. It’s so much stronger than level four. Which reminds me …” Bulco closed his eyes and concentrated.

A line of text appeared in front of Nori’s eyes.

Party Tec Extracted: 0.4

She couldn’t believe her eyes. “You shared the Tec with us?”

“We killed that thing together, didn’t we?” He grunted. “We’re all in the same boat here.”

“What did you plan to do with the spaceship?”

He shrugged. “‘I’m not sure, actually. I figured that getting it flying again might be a tall order, so I hoped to find more components to fix a few more vehicles. Maybe get my hands on some alien tech that would make our lives easier. My brain is filled with knowledge since I became an Engineer. I thought maybe I could use it to our advantage.”

“Alright,” Nori said. “We’ll go back to the ship together. Tell your men to return to your base, my friends are taking their place.”

“You’re the one with the gun,” Bulco grunted, nodding to his followers as he walked toward the Hummer.

“What are you doing?” Nori asked.

“You wanted to drive back there, no? I’m the only one who can make this thing move—special engineer’s prerogative for testing their product. So, unless you’re level ten or higher, move your ass over to the passenger seat.”

Nori brushed past him and sat in the driver’s seat. She put her hand on the light console and the engine’s gentle humming changed to an angry roar.

“How the hell did you do that?” Bulco looked at her in astonishment.