Unlimited Power: The Arcane Path
Different from his first Lightning, the second one didn't scare Leon all that much. As expected, Leon had to concentrate for a while, but once the cloud formed after ten seconds, it hit the exact place Leon had designated to hit. It wasn't powerful like the ones he had seen in storms, but it was stupid powerful magic nonetheless… and it was at level one.
"…I bet with this; I can surprise a megalodon."
That being said, Leon wouldn't use it. It requires time to be used, and it used a lot of mana. Leon decided to train that skill now and then, but his goal still was to use the steel platform and the steel spears to go to the continent and then from there find a safer way to go home.
Days passed fast while Leon was training his skills, despite his constant vigilance, nothing really major happened. He thought that someday the smoke he used to attract pterodactyl would attract a dragon, but fortunately, it never happened. Even if it happens, Leon had already a plan to deal with that, he dug a hole and would use it to protect himself from the flames of a dragon.
"I guess they don't approach because the oceans belong to the megalodons… I don't know if I feel thankful knowing the fact that the dragons' power isn't absolute or if I feel depressed that I will have to face such creatures both in the ocean and in the skies to survive the trip."
Just knowing that both creatures could oppose each other was bone-chilling. Leon could easily imagine a movie of those two abyssal monsters facing each other and becoming a blockbuster.
One day Leon started to ponder if he could ride a tornado to escape from the island, he was confident that he could obtain and level Wind Resistance to decrease the damage he would receive, but soon gave up on the idea. Even if he could start one, there was no way to control it. He would be able to free himself from the dangers of the megalodons only to chain himself with the chains of the uncertainty. In the worst-case scenario, he would end up in the middle of the Pacific ocean with no island on sight.
Leon didn't want to admit it, but he already became used to his daily life on the island. The darkness of the night didn't scare him anymore, and the fact that he didn't hear any human voice in almost two years didn't bother him. Despite that, there were days where he couldn't help but worry. Nothing unusual happened in those days, but once in a while, there were days were Leon would forget his goal. He trained because it was already a habit, and he didn't recall his goals or his family. Those days were the worst because after noticing that, he would feel his heart grow cold, and he also felt like something was stuck in his throat.
The next days after those kinds of days, Leon would work hard two times more. He was determined to go back home, but considering the difficulty level of his goal, he couldn't help but force himself to be patient. Regardless, Leon started to question if someday he wouldn't just forget about his goal… since he barely could remember the voices of his parents and little sister.
Scared of that possibility, on the day of his second anniversary on that island, Leon decided to escape using the steel platform and his lances. He knew that he wasn't ready, but he had to try. He had enough power to control three objects at the same time without relying on blue angel leaves, and he could fly at forty meters per second, but still wasn't enough.
Leon started to fly at his top speed. He was flying one hundred meters above the ocean, but still, that wasn't enough. Suddenly a massive megalodon jumped from the sea at a fearsome speed. Leon didn't want to believe that thing could reach him, but it did. While sweating cold, he attacked the monster's eyes with his spears while he maneuvered to avoid the impact. Despite his fears, he succeeded in doing both. Leon pulled his spears back, and the shark fell on the ocean while its eyes were bleeding, causing a massive splash.
However, Leon didn't have time to celebrate. Two others jumped at the same time to attack him; once again, he succeeded in evading and attacking the monsters' eyes. Since he attacked with his full power, he started to eat the blue angel leaves, but he stopped when he saw the two megalodons falling in the ocean, but he didn't see the first one.
"What the..." Leon frowned.
Leon didn't like that, so, without thinking twice, he decided to return to the island. Suddenly the other two megalodons came to attack him, and one of those two had blood in its face. Leon recognized that it was the one in which he attacked him first. At that point in time, Leon was wasting mana, he decided to fly higher to avoid their range, and the bastards finally gave up when Leon was flying two hundred meters above the ocean. However, Leon didn't drop his guard. Instead of that, he hurried to go back to the island when he saw a massive flying monster approaching in the distance. It was a dragon.
Leon managed to escape, but that situation confirmed his suspicion once more, he wouldn't be able to escape without killing those monsters.
Health: 25
Mana: 821
Stamina: 70
Strength: 40
Dexterity: 10
Speed: 35
Intelligence: 152
Endurance: 33
Control: 73
Mentality: 42
Luck: 01
Recovery: 300
Willpower: 47
Coins: 15123
Status: 00
Skill List
Active Skills: Strong Arms Lv 11, Throw Lv 9, Analysis Lv 4, Bash Lv 1, Dash Lv 19, Mana Transfusion Lv 9, Earth Manipulation Lv 47, Water Manipulation Lv 26, Wind Manipulation Lv 22, Concentrated Shot Lv 1, Fire Manipulation Lv 21, Earth Transformation Lv 25, Water Transformation Lv 16, Wind Transformation Lv 18, Fire Transformation Lv 17, Earth Creation Lv 27, Water Creation Lv 31, Wind Creation Lv 15, Fire Creation Lv 16, Freeze Lance Lv 7, Water Bullet Lv 7, Ice Bullet Lv 7, Wind Bullet Lv 7, Fire Bullet Lv 7, Earth Bullet Lv 7, Mana Reinforcement Lv 31, Lightning Lv 10,
Passive Skills: Fear Resistence Lv 7, Mental Fortitude Lv 14, Perception Lv 10, Pain Resistance Lv 17, Rage Lv3, Fire Resistance Lv 19, Accuracy Lv 25, Craft Lv 45, Farming Lv 7, Archery Lv 6, Cook Lv 27, Poison Resistance Lv 25, Martial Arts Lv 1, Spearmanship Lv 45, Staffmanship Lv 4, Meditation Lv 43, Trap Creation Lv 7, Blacksmith Lv 40, Swim Lv 21, Underwater Resistance Lv 19, Alchemy Lv 37, Wind Resistance Lv 04
"Hello, Wilson's Grandson."
After saying hi to his new friend, which was the tree that Leon would use to mark the days of his third year in that island, he decided to think more seriously about the events of the previous day. First of all, the Megalodons were just stupidly big and strong. They were fast enough to jump over one hundred and fifty meters of height. Not only that, but they could also regenerate their wounds at an equally stupid rate.
Second, his actions would lure the megalodons, and the megalodons jumping out from the sea would attract dragons. It looked like they liked to eat fish, just like Leon, but the difference in their appetite was noticeable.
"I can't escape unless I obtain the power to kill all of them... It sounds stupid, but I can't escape unless I obtain the power to slay dragons."
Just saying something stupid as that was enough to make Leon have headaches, he was massaging his forehead while thinking of a more reasonable way to escape from the island. Suddenly, Leon started to think that his ideas of creating a steel ship or fly through the stratosphere aren't stupid at all. Leon could produce oxygen but making himself breathe pure oxygen was dangerous. Besides, if the Titanic sunk, who was he to think that his ship wouldn't sink if he gets attacked by four megalodons again?
Regardless, Leon managed to wound those monsters with his spears, and if they could be damaged, they could die. Although he attacked using all his power their eyes, it wasn't enough to reach their brains, but if Leon becomes stronger, he could deal with them. Instead of using eight spears to blind four Megalodons, he would be capable of killing four Megalodons with four spears.
"To do that, I have to increase Spearmanship level and Earth Manipulation. My aim is already good enough to hit them precisely despite their speed... but I guess I can improve my attack power."
Spearmanship and Earth Manipulation would increase Leon's raw power, but he needed something more. Leon thought of using his spears one behind the others to force their way toward the monsters' brains. But by doing so, he would have a hard time pulling back his spears. His Blacksmith level was increasing, but unfortunately, his weapons couldn't become more powerful or sharper. Not just using steel, at least.
"Maybe I must change my strategy of attack since blinding them is not enough... I didn't want to rely too much on offensive spells since the projectiles can't be reused, but... if I manage to learn one which can defeat a megalodon in a single shot, it certainly can be more powerful than my spears, and I can get rid of the extra weight that I would have to carry."
The process of learning and mastering a spell wasn't easy. So, Leon had first to visualize the type of spell that he had to learn to kill the monsters before trying anything. It had to be more powerful, so more mana would have to be used. However, that was fine, as long as he doesn't have to spend a huge amount of mana like when used lightning, any spell would do.
"I doubt that I can make anything sharper than my steel spears, and if the projectile is too light or small, it may lose power before it reaches the brain of the monsters… I guess I can't rely on earth alone anymore. That being said, megalodons are monsters from the sea, so they should have Water Resistance… the best way of attacking a water monster would be using electricity, but… it is hard to control."
Leon was sure that if he could add thunder to his steel spears, he would obtain the power to pierce through all the megalodons' body. He tried to do that, but the energy dispersed quite fast. The only way to use that combination was if he managed to create a steel spear as fast as he could create Earth Bulled and add the power of thunder… but that was impossible with his current abilities. To create a spear sharp enough to pierce a monster like that, he needed to concentrate for a long time.
"Oh, boy… now what?"
With enough training, Leon was certain that he could learn an earth spear with the same size as his steel spears, but he wouldn't be able to combine electricity in that spear. Water wouldn't mix well with earth, so the only option left was the fire.
"A spear made of earth and fire… a magma spear? I guess it could work; the magma will cauterize the wound and prevent regeneration and increase the piercing power of the spear."
Combining two elements to make something big, sturdy, and sharp at the same time in a short amount of time wouldn't be easy, but it wasn't like Leon had any better ideas. Besides, the hard part was to learn; once he does that, he would be able to use it constantly.
"Jesus Christ… why do I have to change my plans so much? Why I spent years in college? I'm so dumb that I can't even outsmart Jurassic animals…"
Without the extra weight of the steel spears, Leon would be able to fly a little faster. However, it still wasn't enough to outspeed the Megalodons, so he decided to keep practicing his control over element earth while he tries to learn the attack he was hoping to kill megalodons and dragons in a single strike. If he doesn't succeed in obtaining that power… he might as well give up.
"If I fail once again... I will have to make a choice, accept the fact that I will spend the rest of my life here, or I will die young in the stomach of a monster. Here goes nothing..."
Considering that Leon managed to create things made of rock that looked very similar to volcanic stones, he thought that he would learn how to create magma quite fast... he couldn't be more wrong. He could create fire and strengthen it, making it hotter, but he still wasn't at the level where he could melt rocks.
In the end, he had two options, increase his intelligence using free status points and thus increasing the power of his fire or practice and slowly making the fire under his control hotter. Leon chose the second option because that would make his power and control grow exponentially. Besides, he knew that his new spell would cost him a lot of mana, so he had to keep increasing his mana.
"Maybe I can create a spear made of something far sturdier than steel and melt it using fire… the attack power would definitely increase, but that would take too much time to master."
Learning how to create magma would be troublesome enough, and Leon decided to stop right there because even after he loses control over the magma, the magma would still burn the enemies. Perhaps the ocean could decrease the damage the megalodons would receive, and probably dragons have resistance to fire, but at the very least, the combination of fire and earth ought to buy him a few precious seconds.
Practicing how to create and strengthen fire like a madman, Leon still had to spend three months to reach the point where his fire could melt rocks. Then, Leon spent another three months to be able to create a spear combining earth and fire at the same time. That being said, the shape of the spear was a mess, and Leon spent a long time creating. After another nine months, Leon finally obtained the notification he waited for.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Magma Spear.
You obtained 01 status points.
Mana: 300
"Oh boy… one year and three months to learn a single spell. How did I manage to go to college with this level of intelligence?"
Leon couldn't help but frown; he spent too much time trying to learn that skill because, unfortunately, that skill was one of those skills he had to create and fire in 0.2 seconds to be recognized as a spell. As if that wasn't enough, Leon had to train it to increase its power, but considering that it consumed so much mana, even that would take a while.
Three months later, Magma Spear finally reached level twenty, considering that his other skills also leveled up while training that Leon decided to do a field test. However, there was no point in doing that unless he faces the real deal, he had to test his power against the megalodons.
"After almost four years of solitude… I guess I finally lost my mind. I can't believe I'm using a megalodon as a test subject."
In any case, it would be weird if Leon didn't suffer any mental damage after not having any interaction with human beings after so long. Acknowledging that fact, Leon sat in his steel armchair and let the island. After a while, Leon reached the point where the megalodons would usually attack him, but nothing happened. He was flying two hundred meters above sea level, even though he decided to take the test, subconsciously he was at least smart enough not to approach carelessly.
After lowering the altitude by fifty meters, Leon noticed the ocean becoming darker in two points. Half a second after that, two megalodons jumped from the sea with their mouths wide open to eat him. Leon felt thankful for that and fired two magma spears before increasing his altitude.
Leon escaped from the megalodons' reach and watched them eating his Magma Spears. Usually, they would hide in the ocean after the massive splash that the fall would cause, but instead of that, they started to float while squirming as if they were fish in land. However, eventually, they recovered themselves from the surprise, that being said, they dived while trembling… the magma spears were still damaging them.
"That is a start… I don't know if I aimed properly or if the attack isn't powerful enough, but I guess I need to practice a little more."
The fear was still engraved in Leon's mind, so he had to train to overcome that and increase his confidence. His attacks now could cause a lot of damage, but thanks to the fact that he could only use them a handful of times and the trip to Asia would be a long one, he had to kill them with a single strike. There was no room for mistakes.
Leon spent six months visualizing megalodons attacking him in different situations while counter-attacking and damaging their brains through their eyes. On the first day of his fifth year on the island, Leon said goodbye to Wilson and his lineage before creating a large box and filling it with blue angel leaves. Then he sat on the steel armchair, he still didn't know if his training was enough, but he decided to test while trying to escape indeed.
Leon was flying at one hundred fifty meters above the sea level when he saw two shadows below, without wasting time, he shot two magma spears and hit the shadows before they could leave the ocean. A few seconds later, two dead megalodons started to float in the sea. Leon sighed in relief and started to eat blue angel leaves… he finally escaped from the island.
Health: 25
Mana: 1592
Stamina: 70
Strength: 40
Dexterity: 10
Speed: 35
Intelligence: 246
Endurance: 33
Control: 113
Mentality: 77
Luck: 01
Recovery: 450
Willpower: 75
Coins: 195632
Status: 00
Skill List
Active Skills: Strong Arms Lv 11, Throw Lv 9, Analysis Lv 4, Bash Lv 1, Dash Lv 19, Mana Transfusion Lv 9, Earth Manipulation Lv 55, Water Manipulation Lv 31, Wind Manipulation Lv 29, Concentrated Shot Lv 1, Fire Manipulation Lv 28, Earth Transformation Lv 32, Water Transformation Lv 22, Wind Transformation Lv 25, Fire Transformation Lv 25, Earth Creation Lv 35, Water Creation Lv 31, Wind Creation Lv 23, Fire Creation Lv 31, Freeze Lance Lv 7, Water Bullet Lv 7, Ice Bullet Lv 7, Wind Bullet Lv 7, Fire Bullet Lv 7, Earth Bullet Lv 7, Mana Reinforcement Lv 31, Lightning Lv 20, Magma Spear Lv 33
Passive Skills: Fear Resistence Lv 9, Mental Fortitude Lv 18, Perception Lv 10, Pain Resistance Lv 17, Rage Lv3, Fire Resistance Lv 22, Accuracy Lv 32, Craft Lv 51, Farming Lv 7, Archery Lv 6, Cook Lv 38, Poison Resistance Lv 33, Martial Arts Lv 1, Spearmanship Lv 51, Staffmanship Lv 4, Meditation Lv 50, Trap Creation Lv 7, Blacksmith Lv 40, Swim Lv 21, Underwater Resistance Lv 19, Alchemy Lv 51, Wind Resistance Lv 04
Leon couldn't fly at his top speed carrying a massive box of steel, so he only managed to see any land around noon. Thanks to the continuous attacks of megalodons, he spent the entire morning eating blue angel leaves, which was something he hadn't done in a while. But thanks to that, just when he was about to reach the land, the stock ended, and the monsters stopped attacking him. Thankfully, he didn't see any dragons along the way. Maybe they were eating the corpses Leon left behind...
"I guess a trail with hundreds of corpses was enough to make them give up… Regardless, what the hell is that?"
Leon felt quite thrilled when he saw a few buildings in the distance; he even cried a little… he finally returned to the civilization, or so he thought. The buildings on that island looked quite archaic. It made him recall of feudal Japan.
"Is this Japan? I knew that I was going toward Asia, but… why this place looks so old?"
Leon knew a little about Japanese history, enough to recognize the fact that the port in front of him looked like the cities of Japan two hundred years ago. Despite that, he shook those thoughts out of his head; his image of Japan was of the huge megalopolis called Tokyo. Actually, it wasn't weird that some places looked forgotten by the time.
Leon's heart started to bit faster the more he approached the island; despite that, he couldn't act without thinking. It was better to operate normally in order not to get in trouble if he wanted to return home as fast as possible; the last thing he wanted was to make enemies. He also decided not to draw much attention, but it looked like that was beyond his power. A huge number of people started to reunite in the port, where he was heading.
"Ah… obviously, someone flying in a steel armchair would attract other people's attention."
Much to his surprise, those people in the port also draw their weapons… it looked like strangers weren't welcome in that place. Despite that, Leon kept moving forward; he needed information. When Leon was ten meters away from them, they started to get agitated. Leon heard something in Japanese being shout, but he couldn't understand what was being said.
"Hello… I come in peace."
Leon forced a smile and waved his hands, trying to look friendly, but those guys only got angrier. It looked like four years of isolation rusty Leon's social skills. That being said, he was quite confident that he would be able to find at least one person capable of speaking English in that crowd. But after a while, no one came. Instead of that, they were looking at Leon as if he was a piece of trash. Instead, they were looking at his clothes that were in tatters.
"Mmm… they look pretty tidy while I look like a beggar."
Just like the buildings, the clothes of those people looked quite traditional. Most people were wearing kimonos, and the feeling of feudal Japan increased since most of them were also armed with spears and katanas. Regardless, Leon was wasting time there. He had mana to fly in his chair forever, but that wasn't his goal. His butt was already hurting since the steel chair wasn't comfortable.
"I'm American, can any of you speak English?" Leon increased the volume of his voice.
When Leon said that, the surroundings got eerily silent. Then he noticed the glare in some people's eyes; some looked at him with absolute hate while others trembled in fear. Leon was aware that after world war two, something like that was inevitable, but the situation looked far more intense than any historical hate.
"Uh-oh… I guess some Americans caused problems to them in those last four years."
The gazes full of hate and fear were quite discomforting, but at least things got quiet. Despite that, things weren't progressing, so Leon started to consider retreating and entering the port using another method. However, with his clothes in that state, he doubted that anyone would listen to him… while Leon was thinking about that. A man wearing a traditional Japanese armor stepped forward with one hand near his sheathed katana.
"… Are you American?" The man asked while furrowing his eyebrows. "What do you want here?"
Although Leon pretty much was like them since had had the same dark-brown hair and eyes, he wasn't welcomed there. But at least it looked like someone who had some authority wanted to hear him.
"Hello, my name is Leon." Leon smiled again despite being looked like he was a wanted criminal. "I would shake your hand if I could, but I don't want to be stabbed."
Leon told the events of the last four years to that man, but his eyes only looked more severe. Just as Leon thought, it was too hard to believe. Surviving an airplane crash was stupid enough, not only that, enduring a tsunami and killing hundreds of megalodons, the more Leon told, the more it looked like it was bullshit.
"… So, do you want to find a means to go home." The man said. "You won't find any means to return to America in all Japan. You will have better chances of returning home crossing the ocean again."
Leon could feel the contempt in that man's voice, it was annoying, but it couldn't be helped. Until he understands why those people are so cautious of him, he had to keep calm.
"… You say that you spent four years alone on an island." The man said with a dubious expression. "But aside from your clothes, you look pretty clean."
"That is because I shaved and cut my hair before coming here," Leon explained.
"How? Come to think of it, how did you manage to forge steel like that alone on the island?" The man asked again.
Leon didn't want to show what he could do to people who clearly didn't like him, but that was a chance to prove that he was telling the truth. So, he made a steel plate. Despite that, things only got noisy again, and he started to massage his eyebrows.
Leon had to wait for several minutes to things to calm down before he could talk again. That man wearing the Japanese armor was the one who made everyone shut up, but he clearly was warier of Leon now, he was ready to unsheathe his sword in a moment's notice.
"So, you really can forge steel..." The man asked. "What more can you do?"
"... You know, you asked me a lot of questions, but you didn't explain anything to me." Leon frowned. "Don't you think that is a bit unfair?"
"I am the captain of the defensive force of this port." The captain explained. "My job is to protect this place from monsters and from suspicious individuals. Do you think I'm not in the position to make the questions here?"
"No, you really are in the position to do whatever you want... even acting unreasonably like you are doing right now," Leon said.
"What?" The captain raised his voice.
"You know... I don't know why you people are so cautious of me, but I can imagine." Leon said. "I also had a hard time in the last four years, so I can understand where you are coming from, but unfortunately... you are disappointing me. The image that I have of Japanese people is the image of reasonable people who respect their history. While I can see that you still are respecting your history, you guys become an unreasonable bunch. Are you fine with that? Not even four years alone made me become so unreasonable."
"You…" The captain clenched his teeth.
"You treat me like I'm a barbarian, but do you really think you are acting like someone civilized?" Leon asked.
Leon felt like he had said too much, even though he was looking forward to meeting other people after so long. He didn't survive four years alone, acting like a wimp, and it wouldn't be now that he would act like one. Despite his harsh words, it looked like they had some positive effects on the captain. After thinking for a few seconds, he breathed in and out to calm his nerves.
"Very well, I apology for our behavior." The captain said. "It is only obvious that you don't want to reveal information about your skills to those who don't trust you. In that case, I'm willing to give you the information you want. However, you will have to comply with some demands."
"… What kind of demands?" Leon furrowed his eyebrows when he saw the captain showing him handcuffs.
Magic Handcuffs
It seals the wearer's offensive, defensive, and supports spells.
That was the kind of thing one could obtain from monsters, and it was the exact kind of thing they would make a criminal use of. It looked like Leon wouldn't be trusted no matter what. However, he decided to accept that demand, because that item didn't seal his magic completely.
"Very well, I accept your demands," Leon said.
Leon jumped from his armchair and let it fall on the ocean. The people around the captain got caught by surprise when Leon jumped and approached the captain showing his hands. Leon accepted to be handcuffed, but he was ready to unleash hell in that place if someone tries to screw with him.
"Follow me." The captain said.
The crowd begun to disperse, despite that Leon heard a few footsteps behind him. It looked like some people wanted to see how the captain would deal with him now that he apparently couldn't use magic. Regardless, soon Leon would understand why they dislike strangers and Americans even more.
"It looked like people gave up on the firearms and decided to use other kinds of weapons."
Leon saw a green glow being emanated from the captain's katana, and it looked much stronger than the sahuagins' trident. However, soon Leon lost interest in it when he saw a clothing store. Although he wanted something more casual, anything was better than his current attire. Leon was even barefoot…
"Ah… what currency do people use now? Are the coins?"
It would be nice if that were the case, but Leon would be in deeper waters if they still use their currency from the past. Regardless, even though Leon caused a commotion with his appearance, he didn't see any soldier. But now that he was walking with the captain, he saw several of them patrolling. Although their armor was pretty much the same, their weapons were vastly different.
As expected, the captain took Leon to the police station. Despite that, the police station didn't look anything special, and it was kind of small, but once Leon entered, he didn't saw any stairs leading upward, only downward. The prisoners they kept there would stay underground until their judgment.
It looked like that captain was the most important man of the police station, many soldiers greeted him while frowning looking at Leon, but considering that Leon got used to the presence of megalodons, humans wouldn't faze him.
While they were walking, the captain gave the order to a female soldier follow them to his office. Leon didn't know what she would do, but his heart started to beat faster since she was quite the beauty. Aside from his family, the second thing Leon missed the most was the company of beautiful women such as herself. Despite that, he didn't show those feelings in his face.
When they arrived at the captain's office, the captain himself pulled a chair to Leon to sit. After that, the captain sat, and the female soldier sat near him.
"Are you hungry? If you wish, we can order something." The captain asked.
"I'm fine," Leon said.
"Very well, I will ask a few questions, and Ryoko here will confirm if you are telling the truth or not." The captain explained. "You can relax, I just want to confirm if you told the truth about your life in the last four years. After that, I will answer your questions."
Leon had no idea how a person would be able to read his thoughts, but if he could kill a megalodon, then certainly some people now could read people's minds or at least perceive lies.
"Let's begin… did you spent the last four years alone on an island?" The captain asked.
"Yes," Leon answered.
The captain looked at Ryoko, and she nodded with her eyes wide open for some reason. It looked like she had seen something, but Leon couldn't tell what it was. Leon just hoped that she hadn't seen him doing something embarrassing like flapping his arms to fly.
"… Did you survive an airplane crash after being attacked by a dragon?" The captain asked.
"Yes." Leon frowned.
It looked like the captain really just wanted to confirm what Leon had said. Leon started to feel bad because he was hoping to be asked about his abilities, but it was too soon to drop his guard.
"… Did you really kill hundreds of megalodons?" The captain asked.
"… Yes." Leon answered.
It took a while for Ryoko to nod, and thanks to that, Leon understood her skill. It looked like she could see what a person was thinking to some extent. Since by being asked about such things, Leon would immediately recall those same things. Regardless, Ryoko looked terrified after she nodded several seconds later. She probably had seen Leon's entire trip in that short amount of time.
"I see… you can go now, Ryoko." The captain said.
Ryoko got up and left the room while making sure that she followed the path more distant from Leon, he felt quite hurt by that. Receive a no from a pretty woman was fine, but receiving a no before even trying was painful. Although Leon wanted to compensate for the lost time, he wouldn't fool around until he returns home.
"It seems you don't really know anything…" The captain let out a long sigh. "Sorry for… the situation we caused. Here, let me take those handcuffs."
Leon did the right thing by being patient, even though he said some harsh words, it was clear that he didn't have bad intentions. In the end, everything went well. Although Leon would probably be looked with some stern eyes, he was okay with that. He was there to find a way to go back home, not to become friends of everyone.
"That is fine. Rather than apologies, I want to know what happened to the world while I was trapped on that island." Leon said.
"Right… where to start. Well, before anything, you can call me Ren." The captain massaged his forehead while he recalled the events of the previous four years.
Although Ren's focused on things that happened to Japan, he was very knowledgeable about what happened around the world. Just like Leon thought, suddenly, during the dawn of a particular day, monsters started to appear everywhere for unknown reasons. Small monsters killed humans in droves, while the big ones like dragons destroyed massive buildings and structures. As if their actions were planned, they destroyed telecommunication centers and everything related to the executive power of most countries. In just a few hours, presidents, kings, and many other figures that had a lot of political power died, and those who survived lost their means of communication.
"Just like you said, dragons attacked airplanes in midair, and they also attacked airports," Ren explained. "You managed to react in time to survive such things, but you are the first person that I heard that survived that. Anyway, Dragons dominated the skies and Megalodons the seas. Swarms of those monsters destroyed the fleet of the most powerful countries, and since the chain of command had been lost very soon, no one managed to react."
"… And that makes me wonder how you people can use a port." Leon said.
"As you can imagine, now and then, a megalodon attacks our port and destroys our ships," Ren explained. "But although we rarely kill them, we have the power to make them run and the skills to build ships quite fast due to the fact that monsters now can drops tomes."
Leon nodded; even though those skills had some severe limitations, it was much more efficient than learning alone. If one could learn how to control trees, building ships wouldn't be much of a problem.
Anyway, just on the first-day, humans lost the power to communicate over long distances and the power to move fast. Governments didn't manage to do anything, but some individuals managed to obtain the power to use nukes… when Leon heard that, he clearly imagined that many people who fought to survive died by the hands of those who used nukes.
"… How many of those were used in my country?" Leon asked while biting his nails. "Where were those used?"
"Since that kind of information could tell how weakened a country was, I can't say for sure…" Ren hesitated. "This is confidential information, but a few spies confirmed that at least twenty had been used… the locations… I can't give that information."
When Leon heard that, he felt his heart grow cold. Twenty nukes had been used, which meant they had destroyed twenty cities. The number of deaths caused by that could easily surpass dozen of millions of casualties.
Leon wanted to confirm if his hometown was fine, but he couldn't force Ren to tell more. He could only pray that Phoenix was right. After that, Ren explained that earthquakes and tsunamis became commonplace, and sometimes those earthquakes would form dungeons connecting earth to various worlds filled with monsters and chaos.
When Leon heard that, he recalled the earthquake and the tsunamis of three years ago. Most likely, that earthquake opened a path to another world, but since the dungeon was probably underwater, no human would ever explore. Not at least until the Megalodons, become extinct again.
Seeing their civilization being destroyed, humans fled to the country. The monsters were numerous, but they couldn't search everywhere. So, in the next few months, humanity fled while killing monsters and obtaining the power to recover their lands. Little by little groups of survivors started to appear, and they reclaimed their hometowns. Ren was part of one of those groups. However, he didn't reclaim his hometown; he reclaimed a city that was close to a particular dungeon. Because while exploring dungeons, survivors could obtain tomes and weapons easily.
Leon wanted to ask why their civilization looked like they had returned to the past, but he decided to give up. Perhaps that was something that only happened in that city, and that was also kind of a rude question.
Humans got powerful enough to recover some cities, but it wasn't enough. So, certain leaders of certain groups decided to form headquarters in the hearts of their countries where they would discuss and plan their future actions. The power was divided among the groups, that was the truth in most countries, but in Japan, things were different. Although several leaders talked to him about some things they could do, the last word belonged to the emperor because it seemed that he and his family saved many people, so his influence was back.
Ren also explained that borders mostly didn't exist anymore. Several countries decided to gather together to form a single nation. Japan was an independent zone, and the Japanese didn't ally with anyone, so they were an exception to the rule like Australia. However, everything changed around the world. America joined forces with Canada and Mexico, creating the Allied Forces of the North-America. Cuba allied itself with the countries of Central America and giving birth to Caribean Fighters. The same happened to South America; the survivors of all countries ran to Brazil and joined their survivors creating the Atlantic Free Nation. All the countries of Africa joined forces to create Neo-Africa, while Australia was still Australia.
However, things got complicated in Europe and the other parts of Asia. Most survivors in the world decided to abandon the concept of nation to focus on surviving; thanks to that, things were going well. However, survivors being lead by the political figures of the old world were fighting amongst themselves to obtain full control over that massive land.
"So… most political figures of the world died," Leon said. "But, some big shots of India, China, and Russia survived and are trying to become the new number one power of the world?"
"… Yes." Ren answered after a long sigh, showing a tired expression.
Leon couldn't help but feel like sighing too. It looked like some never learn, not even after surviving the end of the world. It looked like crossing Europe and Asia to reach home was a bad idea, he would save some time since the Atlantic Ocean was smaller, but he wasn't sure if he wouldn't see megalodons there or not. The trip would be long and dangerous, but he would have to cross the entire Pacific Ocean. He could reach America by using the extreme east side of Europe, but the path was long and cold. Leon would have to worry about megalodons, dragons, and the survivors in the land since everyone now hated unexpected visitors.
"I assume you guys have spies in other countries too," Leon said.
"Of course, we don't have allies, after all," Ren said. "We do trade with Australia, but I doubt they will buy our fight if something happens."
"I see… you guys are fine now while those three nations are fighting for hegemony, but eventually…" Leon hesitated.
"Yeah, most likely, they will invade us." Ren nodded. "We have a lot of dungeons even though our territory is relatively small."
"So, dungeons become something like a convenient natural resource?" Leon asked.
"Yeah… and that is why we don't like strangers very much." Ren explained. "Although that is more or less true to every nation now, we recently lost a powerful survivor when we got attacked by a group of spies who stole certain resources from our stock. That survivor was the eldest son of the Emperor…"
Leon felt a sharp headache when he heard that. The worst-case scenario had happened. A member of the emperor's family died protecting the resources of his country while fighting the spies and smugglers.
"Let me guess, American survivors did it," Leon said.
"Yes," Ren answered.
"… Why didn't they try to buy the things they stole?" Leon asked.
"They bought, but they didn't feel satisfied with the number of resources we wanted to sell," Ren said. "They did something unforgivable, but I can imagine that they were in a bad situation since they were forced to create discord between our nations."
The crime was a crime, and now they had an international problem in hands, but at least Leon felt a little less worried since only one person died. Although the person died would eventually become the next emperor of Japan…
"What did they steal?" Leon asked.
"Water Dragon's Scales… the obvious guess is that they are suffering from constant attacks of water monsters." Ren explained. "I heard that many dungeons in your country are near the coast but underwater."
Leon didn't like to hear that. Although his hometown wasn't that close to the ocean, it wasn't that distant either. They probably wouldn't be attacked by megalodons, but after hearing that small monsters decimated the population of the world, he couldn't help but worry.
Leon finally arrived in Asia only to find an even harder path ahead of him. He couldn't wait to receive help from Japan after the death of the Emperor's son, the best options would be to ask for help from Russia, India or China but those were fighting amongst themselves so that he couldn't do that either. In the end, Leon could only rely on himself.
"There you have it… I thought I would end up talking for several hours, but I was wrong." Ren said. "If I have to summarize the events of the past four years even further, I can do that in a single phrase: humanity got its ass kicked."
"I can see that…" Leon massaged his eyebrows. "I although I failed many times on that island, but I guess everyone had to face similar hardships."
"So, what are you going to do?" Ren asked.
"I have no idea… I only know that I don't want to spend four more years training." Leon said. "Do you have any idea how Ameri… how the spies of the Allied Forces of the North-America-America entered this country?"
"The higher-ups probably know, but I don't have that kind of information," Ren answered.
"Do you know what path the spies of this country use to spy us?" Leon asked.
"I have no idea… only the Emperor has that kind of knowledge." Ren answered.
It was a stupid question, but Leon decided to ask anyway, even though it was obvious he wouldn't learn that. Still, Leon thought that he would easily find a way back home after reaching the continent, but once again, he failed in his predictions. Regardless, he had no time to waste regretting or complaining. He now knew how the world was and had to make a plan of how to reach home as fast as possible.
"Why don't you rest for the day?" Ren asked. "You have to assimilate the information you just received, so I think it is not that a good idea to rush. Besides, I think you should change your clothes. I can help you if you want."
"Eh? Why would you do that?" Leon frowned.
"Because I think you would be chased out by all of our stores," Ren said. "Aren't you hungry? It is about time to have lunch."
"No… I'm asking why would you help me?" Leon asked. "I know you are already aware that I wasn't involved, but the people of my country did something bad to your country. Why would you help me?"
"I just want to prove that Japanese people still are reasonable people…" Ren looked away.
"Yeah, I already know that," Leon said. "It is reasonable that they hate me because I'm American; I'm not joking. So, what is your real reason? Spit it out."
"Ah, you are really impatient." Ren scratched the back of his head.
"I spent four years in a Godforsaken island… I don't have time to lose." Leon furrowed his eyebrows.
"Right… I wanted to get along with you and later ask for your cooperation." Ren looked away. "It is kind of shameless doing that after we all treated you and without helping you in any way, but that is my goal."
"You need my help?" Leon frowned. "You survived those four years and helped many people while recovering a place to live, why would you need my help?"
"You are right. I did all that… but only because I got lucky." Ren said. "Although I'm one of the counselors of the Emperor, I barely have any influence, and I'm only respected in this small port. I'm not strong enough to do the things I want to do."
Leon rubbed his chin and started to think. Although Ren was wearing a Japanese armor and had a katana, he was just a survivor like him. He didn't look much older than Leon, so perhaps he had a wrong image of him. Humans obtained power, but just like Leon himself, most couldn't do everything alone.
Regardless, maybe it would be a good idea to help Ren, the more the allies, the better. However, Leon couldn't afford wasting time helping others, he had already spent four years away from home, and it didn't look like by assisting Ren, he would get his hands in a means to return home faster.
"Sorry, but I have my hands full with my own problems," Leon said.
"I know, but if you help us, maybe you can find a way to return home," Ren said.
"Help your friends, not only you?… It seems you have something in mind." Leon frowned. " Unless you tell me exactly what you mean, I cannot take any chances."
"You are right… let's see..." Ren nodded. "If you help us and achieve something big, the emperor himself might reward you giving what you want."
"Really? If he discovers from where I am from, won't he cut my head?" Leon asked. "Besides, what do you mean by something big? Can a single person help him that much?"
"The emperor isn't that unreasonable…" Ren frowned. "Although he still angry due to that incident, he wouldn't execute someone who helps our country. You said you killed hundred of megalodons, right? You certainly have the power to impress him."
"… I can't imagine that." Leon said. "He must have dozens of soldiers who can do the same for him."
"Are you joking? I don't know how you obtained the power to kill such beasts, but only a few individuals can kill monsters like that." Ren explained. "It looks like you got the wrong idea of this place… to protect the port, we have to use the strength of thirty soldiers to damage a Megalodon and make it give up."
"Really? Can't you just make your soldiers learn lightning magic and toast the monsters while it is in the ocean?" Leon asked.
"… It seems you will have to learn many things." Ren sighed. "Although we can learn certain abilities by doing certain actions, things are completely different for magic. Some individuals managed to learn magic by themselves, but most people can't learn without using tomes."
"That was the same with me… I had a hard time learning, but the basics aren't that difficult." Leon said. "Controlling earth is pretty easy; you just have to transfer your mana."
"What?" Ren asked with his mouth wide open.
At that moment Leon noticed, it looked like survivors were relying too much on tomes to learn skills. That was probably why he didn't get attacked when he reached the port.
Since Ren gave a lot of information to Leon, he decided to teach him to manipulate earth. However, it was so simple that Ren learned in the first try.
"I can't believe I learned magic so easily…" Ren said with his mouth wide open.
"I guess you guys didn't have time to learn…" Leon said. "You guys didn't have time to experiment with the system. Once you get used to the tomes, no one would try to learn magic."
"No… some bastards are trying to keep such valuable information to themselves." Ren bit his lips. "I saw an individual using earth magic like this, but he said he just learned by chance and he couldn't explain how to use. With that kind of knowledge, we could have saved so many lives!"
"Well… that doesn't surprise me at all." Leon said.
The number of opportunists bastards in the world wasn't small, and with the event like the end of the world, such people would do everything in their power to stand on top over the others. Still, Leon doubted that many things would change if that knowledge had been spread over the course of four years. Perhaps more people like Ren would exist, but only a handful of people had the time like Leon had to practice.
"So, you used earth to kill megalodons? In the ocean?" Ren asked.
"No, I used a combination of earth and fire. Good luck learning that." Leon said.
Leon spent almost two years learning and perfecting Magma Spear, so he revealed that information without thinking twice. Ren looked to be a good guy, and that kind of knowledge would help him, but Leon knew that wasn't something that could be learned so easily.
"Now, I get it! You didn't use a spell to create that steel plate!" Ren said. "You created the steel plate using earth magic! Isn't that right?"
"Dude… you are asking too much." Leon said.
Leon killed thousands of pterodactyls, but he only managed to obtain a single tome. So he could understand why Ren was so excited. Survivors could use magic by using certain weapons, but they couldn't level up those spells, nor could they obtain status points.
"Yeah… you are right. Sorry." Ren scratched the back of his head. "Change of plans, Leon. I will definitely help you to find a way back home."
"… Okay." Leon frowned.
Leon had no idea how Ren would do that, but he decided to wait and see while he thinks of a solution to his predicament. Although Ren looked like a child who found a new toy and wanted to practice Earth Manipulation, he decided that it was time to repay the favor little by little. First, he took Leon to a clothing store, the only one in the town which sells other clothes aside from kimonos. It was weird receiving clothes from a guy, but Ren insisted on paying for several clothes that Leon choose.
As if that wasn't strange enough, Ren paid the shop owner by shaking his hand. When Leon asked about the money, Ren explained that they could exchange coins like that.
"Is that so… where can we use those coins?" Leon asked.
"The system created the coins to be used before we enter dungeons," Ren explained. "We can buy potions, armor, weapons, and even tomes. But the price is stupidly high. It is a little inefficient, but we usually buy weapons that grant us skills. Their price is around one thousand coins."
"That seems expensive. Didn't you guys get attacked by sahuagins?" Leon frowned. "I killed three of them and obtained three magic tridents that granted skills."
"Sahuagins? I heard they barely leave their underwater homes since the megalodons eat them." Ren answered.
Leon thought that the tsunamis destroyed their homes, and that was why he didn't meet any more of those monsters, but instead of that, it was thanks to the megalodons.
"Now I get it… the earthquake opened a dungeon underwater, and from that dungeon, the megalodons appeared."
It was weird the idea of megalodons coming from other worlds, but so was the idea of they suddenly returning to life. Regardless, they weren't a problem to Leon anymore, at least for the time being. With his recovery alone, he wouldn't be able to defeat them.
It had been a long time since Leon felt so alive. With his new clothes, he felt like he got ten years younger. Although he was twenty-six now, he still felt comfortable wearing jeans, sneakers, and long sleeve t-shirts. He looked pretty out of place since almost every single person in that port was wearing kimonos, but he couldn't care less.
After changing clothes, Leon had lunch with Ren. As expected, they ate sushi and rice, but even though Leon was already sick of fish, with the condiments of Japanese cuisine, he ate and asked for more. He ate until he couldn't and started to regret thanks to the stomach aches.
"Do you want to see the nearby dungeon, I bet you have enough coins to buy something nice," Ren asked.
Leon thought about the things he could buy, thinking about tomes, he wanted to learn how to teleport, but even if such a thing was available, he doubted he would have the coins to buy it.
"Aren't you going to practice your new skill?" Leon asked. "Rather, won't you share that information with your men?"
"I will share them at night," Ren answered.
"What about the other survivors?" Leon asked.
"We accept anyone who wants to join our force, but we don't have many soldiers," Ren explained. "Do you know why?"
"Because people want to be protected and don't want to fight?" Leon said.
"Yes, therefore, we don't share that kind of information." Ren nodded. "To avoid problems down the road and to prevent that, some cowards obtain power and cause even more problems."
"Such a naïve way of thinking… I guess not even the end of the world can change the minds of some pacifists." Leon looked away, bored.
Leon didn't want to look down on other people, but someone like him who had to train for years to obtain the power to cross the dangerous ocean, he couldn't help but feel disappointed. Many people died at the hands of monsters; many people died without even noticing it. And now, the survivors were happily living while trusting their lives in the hands of others. Leon recalled those armed survivors, and now he could understand why no one attacked him.
"Well, let's go to the dungeon," Leon said.
While Ren guided Leon to the dungeon, Leon felt many annoying stares, but he had no interest since those came from the people who had no will to fight. However, once Leon recalled his family, he started to think if that wasn't reasonable. If he could choose, he would rather protect his family instead of training them to obtain the power to defend themselves. His parents were almost sixty years old, and his sister was in her late teens... he didn't want to see them fighting for their lives against monsters.
"Why are you looking so much at people today? Ah...It seems you finally understand why people decided not to fight and trust in others," Ren said.
"... More or less." Leon sighed.
After leaving the port, Leon and Ren walked through a dense forest for fifteen minutes before they reached the dungeon. It looked like that forest had been specially made to slow down the monsters in case some of them leave the dungeon.
"How do dungeons work?" Leon asked.
"You must think of dungeons as if they are a bridge that connects two worlds," Ren explained. "If we clear the dungeon, we obtain the means to reach the monster's world, and the same applies to the monsters. A new group of monsters appears every ten minutes, so we sent a team to clean the dungeon at regular intervals. We also keep some outside in case something happens. My best twenty-four men keep watching and cleaning this dungeon, they worked in two teams, and each team works for twelve hours."
"Sounds harsh," Leon said.
"It is not that difficult actually," Ren said. "My men already can defeat the monsters without many problems; things only get difficult when a boss appears."
"A boss?" Leon frowned.
"Yeah, a monster that is many times stronger than the others." Ren massaged his eyebrows. "It is not as troublesome as a dragon or a megalodon, but it is annoying in its own way."
The dungeon was basically a regular cave, but unlike ordinary caves, that one had crystals in the walls that were used to illuminate the interior of that place. Several men were around the cave playing cards. Leon frowned when he heard and saw a vein throbbing in Ren's forehead. It looked like Ren's best soldiers were quite lazy. Hopefully, they would spend their free time practicing magic once he teaches them. After smacking their heads, Ren returned.
"... Approach the dungeon, a list of options should appear in front of you," Ren said after a long sigh.
Leon nodded and approached when he was five meters away from the entrance; several options appeared in front of him.
Weapons
Armor
Accessories
Items
Tomes
Specials
Leon wasn't interested in anything but the Teleportation Spell, so he chose Tomes, but he only saw crappy tomes that could teach him Water Ball, Fire Ball, and things like that. The best ones looked to be an area of effect attacks like Blizzard and Fire Storm. Occasionally, some of those tomes would appear and disappear constantly. Their prices were absurd; the cheapest was 100.000 coins.
"Why the options are always appearing and disappearing?" Leon asked.
"It is because someone bought, I don't know why, but some options only appear after a certain amount of monsters die," Ren explained. "When we found this dungeon, the number of options was small, but the more land the humans recovered, the more the options increased."
That was kind of confusing, if people around the world kill monsters, certain items would become available in that shop, but only until someone finds them. It was just weird. Regardless, Leon waited for something practical to appear, but he didn't find anything. The same could be applied to the other options; everything was of low-quality or useless. Certain weapons, armor, and accessories could increase the power of certain elements, but it wasn't anything amazing. In items sections, only potions were being sold, potions that restore health, mana, and stamina or potions that could increase his stats for a time. In the special sections, Leon only found that handcuff that sealed spells, stones used to illuminate certain places, and items that teleported survivors back to the entrance of the dungeon.
"This was a huge waste of time..." Leon sighed.
"Well, I bet you can buy something nice in the Imperial Capital," Ren said.
"You said the same thing earlier..." Leon frowned.
"Yeah... but in the Capital, you can actually see things that are being sold," Ren explained. "Even our group has a shop there."
"Is that so... what was the best thing you saw being sold there?" Leon asked.
"The best thing? I guess it was a sword that could suck the monsters' soul and turn it into the user's mana." Ren answered.
"Wow, very pleasant to know that. It is useless to me, and now this weapon will prevent me from sleeping at night." Leon said.
"Well, most of those things are sold to everyone, but if you gain the trust of some counselors, I think you can obtain the chance to negotiate with them to buy their treasures," Ren said.
"Dude... you are telling too many things that may happen if I stay here and help." Leon showed a fed-up expression. "Until now, you didn't say anything that will certainly help me if I stay and help."
"Sorry, but I can't really promise you anything since I don't have that much influence," Ren said. "If you help me here, I can give you a boat, but will a single wooden boat make you cross the ocean?"
"No," Leon answered.
"With my current power, that is all I can do for you," Ren explained. " But if I manage to increase my influence in the country, then the things I can do will increase... I cannot guarantee that you will find a safe way to go to home, but I promise you that I will do everything in my power to find it... perhaps we can obtain the routes the spies under the Emperor's command use."
Leon scratched the back of his head. Although Ren wasn't making any guarantees, he was being sincere enough to tell that he may fail in helping him. Leon was having a hard time deciding to help him or not because Ren would undoubtedly gain a lot by working together with Leon. Meanwhile, Leon could end up not obtaining anything. In fact, he could even lose his head if the Emperor discovers about him before he does anything to help his country. That negotiation was way too unfavorable.
That being said, Leon had no idea of how to go back home alone. To cross the ocean, he would have to train more; to travel through the land, he would have to deal with three nations fighting for hegemony, and the last option was to reach America by following the east side of Russia. If the monsters don't kill Leon, the cold would.
"... I will help you until I find a way to go back home by myself." Leon declared. "So, don't be surprised if one day I disappear without saying anything."
"It is all right; two can only work together as long as the work is beneficial to both." Ren smiled and offered a handshake.
Leon hesitated a bit, but end up accepting the handshake. It was difficult to trust a man who he met only a few hours ago, but Leon was pretty sure he could deal with him and his friends if they try something. If Ren was that desperate to ask for the help of a stranger, he shouldn't be that dangerous, after all.
"So, what should I do?" Leon asked.
"Let's rest for the day; we can start our partnership tomorrow morning," Ren answered.
"Well, that is fine by me," Leon said. "In that case, while you rest, I will explore this dungeon."
"... Actually, exploring the dungeon was what I wanted for us to do tomorrow." Ren hesitated.
"Didn't you already did that?" Leon asked.
"Yeah, but we didn't explore the other side of the dungeon," Ren explained. "While in our world, we have the advantage, as long as we kill the monsters periodically, that is. But on the other side, it is literally us against their whole world."
"... I see." Leon rubbed his chin. "So, is that dangerous... by the way, what kind of monster you can find in this dungeon?"
"Slimes," Ren answered.
"Slimes? Those Slimes?" Leon frowned.
"Precisely, the weakest type of monsters..." Ren said with his head down. "This one is the weakest dungeon in all Japan, that is why I'm the advisor with less influence."
"If the monsters are that weak, doesn't mean the monsters on the other side are weak as well?" Leon asked.
"No, because the monsters on the other side are all Slime Bosses," Ren explained. "The big ones can use the four basic types of magic, and they can even cure themselves with water magic since their own body is made of water. That is why they are hard to deal with... however..."
"Megalodons also can regenerate themselves, and I can kill them," Leon added. "So, you think I can kill those big slimes too. I understand your reasoning, but what will we gain by killing them?"
"Usually, when we kill monsters, we would skin their bodies and use those parts to create all sorts of weapons and armor," Ren explained. "But since they are slimes, we can't do that; their bodies are made of water after all. However, we can use their core as a secondary weapon that grants us the power to use the four basic spells. It can only last for one hour, and we have to wait five seconds to use another spell, but it still is incredibly valuable."
"Only four basic spells? I don't think they can be all that useful," Leon frowned. "Fire Ball must belong to that group, but what are the others?"
"Water Blade, Wind Lance, and Stone Arrow," Ren answered. "Like I said earlier, only a handful of people learn how to use magic, and considering that tomes are rarely dropped, we only have few a handful of mages. You are a mage, right?"
"I guess I am," Leon said.
Leon never thought like he was one; he was only learning magic to go back home. In the beginning, it was fun to use magic, but now it was just business as usual.
"There is an even bigger advantage in using the slimes' cores," Ren said excitedly. "We don't have to use our own mana. Of course, we can't learn the skills or level up them, but that is useful nonetheless."
"I see… I understand now why they only last for one hour." Leon nodded.
"Yes, they work like a battery," Ren said. "If we sell those, we can obtain a lot of coins and make our town prosper, that is the safe way to work and increase our influence."
"… So, there is another option, one which is not safe." Leon said.
"Yeah, we can use those cores and obtain control over other dungeons," Ren explained.
"Do you have the personnel to control more than one town?" Leon asked.
"No, but by showing our power, more people will decide to join us," Ren answered. "And with the Ryoko's power, we don't have to worry about troublemakers or spies joining our ranks."
"Mmm… isn't there a way to counter her skill?" Leon asked. "I think you are relying too much on her power."
"I can't say there isn't, but there hasn't been discovered yet," Ren said.
"Well… I agree with you that exploring the other side of the dungeon is worth the hassle," Leon said. "Shall we go then?"
When Leon proposed that six soldiers left the dungeon, it was the team which, from time to time, would periodically clear the dungeon. They didn't like Leon's presence, but they didn't show their displeasure in front of the captain all that much. Regardless, Ren was the strongest survivor in the port, so he decided to enter the dungeon alone with Leon. He wanted to see with his own eyes the power of the man who could kill megalodons.
Some of Ren's soldiers expressed that they wanted to go too. Although Ren was powerful enough to clear the dungeon alone, they didn't trust the newcomer, even though Ren himself told them to stop with their doubt. Regardless, after entering the dungeon, it took a while for Leon and Ren to find the first monsters. The slimes were almost like Leon had imagined, semi-translucent and with no clear shape. They had yellow eyes and a hole that mimicked a mouth.
"Be careful, their eyes are different from ours," Ren explained. "It worked as a radar to detect our mana, the range is thirty meters, but once they find the target, they never miss."
"I see… I guess their control level is high then." Leon nodded.
Without ceremony, Leon fired and Earth Bullet right in the middle of the slimes' eyes. It has been a while since he used that skill, but it killed the creatures immediately. Their bodies exploded as if they were a ballon of water.
"… Did you learn that skill by yourself?" Ren asked. "For how long did you have to train to learn how to create and fire such projectile so fast?"
"Yes, and trained for several months," Leon explained. "It was a very time-consuming process, but considering that practicing will increase your power over the same element, it is worth the hassle. The basics are the most difficult things to master, but once you learned the basics, everything else becomes very easy… to some extent."
"I see… how many offensive spells did you learn by yourself?" Ren asked.
"Only a few, since my goal was to return home, not to become a wizard or something," Leon explained. "Eventually, my goal became to defeat the megalodons, so I had to learn a few others. But only from today onward, I will learn more spells. Regardless... how much stronger is the boss compared to the slimes here?"
"I'd say it is around fifteen times stronger"," Ren rubbed his chin. "They're approximately twenty times bigger. The range of their attacks is much bigger as well."
"Do they fly? They jump?" Leon asked.
"… I don't think so," Ren frowned. "But they eat anything that has mana, once they touch something… they literally absorb until only bones are left if they touch a human."
Leon and Ren fought against a few more slimes before reaching the end of the dungeon. Although his katana was always ready, Ren didn't have the chance to use it. Regardless, the dungeon was quite small, and Leon only obtained three coins per slime, so now he could understand why Ren had little influence. He and his soldiers had no opportunities to grow, and since they have to protect the port, they barely had any free time to train their bodies and skills.
At the end of the dungeon, Leon found a purple crystal. That was the link that connected the two worlds, Leon imagined that the right thing to do would destroy it, but Ren and many others had probably tried.
"By the way, don't attack the crystal," Ren said. "If you do it, in the next twenty-four hours, one hundred boss slimes will cross the portal."
"How frequently the bosses usually appear?" Leon asked.
"Once a day, around noon," Ren answered with his arms crossed. "When I met you earlier, I was returning from the battle against the boss."
Leon started to imagine the bosses, the other side of the dungeon was a world of gigantic slimes; it was evident that his Earth Bullet wouldn't be enough to kill them in a single strike. However, Leon was aware that his Magma Spears would be an overkill. There was no way big slimes could be as tenacious as a megalodon; he had to think of an efficient way to kill them. Electricity would be the best option, but he still couldn't control electric attacks all that much.
"If Ice Bullet were stronger, I probably could freeze them… but it is not strong enough. I can evaporate them using and controlling a massive Fire Ball directly, but I will end up using too much mana…"
"It looks like you are thinking of a good way to kill them…" Ren said. "We usually attack them until they divide their bodies and become ordinary slimes, but that only works because we have many soldiers. But if we are going to the other side alone, I think you should kill them in one shot."
Leon nodded, it would be troublesome to kill if he gets attacked by all sides by ordinary slimes. Weak attacks would make one big slime become several small ones, but only Magma Spear and Lightning were strong enough to kill them in a single strike… In the end, Leon decided to smash them completely before they have the chance to divide themselves.
"If we break their cores, will they die?" Leon asked.
"As long as it has mana, the core is indestructible," Ren explained. "But like the skills the core grants, it can only be used once each five seconds. So, the core can only create small slimes every five seconds."
Leon nodded and started to make some steel plates, he had to kill the slimes in less than five seconds, and he knew how to do that by smashing them. It wasn't the most efficient method to attack, but now that Leon mastered Mana Reinforcement, he could save mana between battles. Besides, he now also had the power to make sturdy but thin steel plates.
After half an hour, Leon created two steel armchair and five massive steel plates. Leon had no idea if he could kill the smiles at the pace he wanted so that the armchairs would be used in the worst-case scenario.
"Be careful not to fall; I'm not a good driver," Leon warned.
"O-okay." Ren reluctantly sat in the armchair.
To avoid any surprises, Leon filled the steel plates and the armchairs with his mana before he touched the crystal. When he touched it, the space around him became totally white for a second, but then he and Ren appeared in the middle of a wasteland. It looked like a world without life, but considering that the slimes were the creatures that would eat anything that had energy, that was to be expected.
Since the next boss could only go to Earth the next day, there were no big slimes nearby, but a few of them noticed Leon and Ren's presence quite fast. Without wasting time, Leon made his steel plates surround the nearest slime and caged the creature. After that, Leon made the top steel plate fall with all his might to smash the creature. The creature resisted, but he managed to kill it quite fast. The water of the slimes evaporated, showing that he had succeeded.
Leon repeated that same process several times until there were no slimes trying to approach, even though he succeeded in killing the enemies, he spend a lot of mana.
"Call me if other monsters approach, I will recover my mana until the next battle," Leon said.
"… Got it." Ren said, his wide open.
While Ren was picking the slimes' cores, Leon started to meditate. Although he had to meditate for almost one hundred hours to obtain a single point of intelligence, by doing so, he could recover fifty points of mana every minute. The downside was that he had almost to turn off his brain and become oblivious to his surroundings.
Regardless, each of those slimes gave Leon fifty coins. It was quite nice, even though Leon was yet to find anything decent to buy. The market of the dungeons was somewhat unstable, and anyone with a brain would rather learn a powerful skill of a tome instead of selling it.
Leon and Ren stayed there for a few hours, but they only found a few dozen of slimes. Considering that was another whole new world, that was to be expected, but Leon felt quite bored the whole time, and they only obtained fifty of those cores.
The same purple crystal they found at the end of the dungeon, could be found in the middle of that wasteland right behind the point where Ren and Leon appeared, so they returned using the same method. While Ren was carrying a bag with the slimes' cores, Leon was playing with one of them, throwing upward and catching it.
"I can feel a lot of mana inside of this… it is a pity I can't absorb it… yet." Leon said.
The core was just a white stone that had a random shape, but it had enough mana to cast the four basic spells for one hour straight. So, Leon assumed that stone had the equivalent of seventeen thousand mana points. It was very convenient, but it was only used when monsters invaded cities, since no matter what, the stone would stop working one hour after someone started to use it.
"I heard that exists a spell that grants the user the ability to draw mana from objects, the land, water, and even the air," Ren said. "But if I remember correctly, it is not that efficient."
"As long as it doesn't force someone to stop moving and clear its mind, it is way better than meditation," Leon said. "We are partners right, so half of that is mine, and the other half is ours, but I don't have any use for those yet. For how much you sell them?"
"Usually, we sell them for five hundred coins, but are you sure?" Ren asked. "I don't think I did half of the work."
"You kept an eye on things while I was meditating. Besides, this dungeon belongs to you," Leon said. "If you don't think that is fair, then just work hard to find a way to help me go back home. Anyway, you owe me 12500 coins."
"Got it." Ren nodded.
It was already dark when Leon and Ren returned to the port. Surprisingly, the whole place had electricity, even the smallest houses had. Little by little, humanity was recovering itself. That being said, it would never become like it was before since the dungeons couldn't be destroyed. Regardless, Leon started to wonder where he would sleep. Although he wasn't tired and would meditate, he needed a house to protect him from the sea breeze. Unlike that island, the port was quite cold. He could make his own simple house, but it would look out of place, and he didn't want to spoil the beauty of such a traditional place.
"I guess I will sleep at the police station," Leon said.
"That is not necessary; you can sleep at my home," Ren said.
"Thanks, but no thanks." Leon frowned. "I want to stay alone in a place where I will meditate. Go teach your men how to manipulate the elements and don't bother me until morning."
"Okay… usually, the police station doesn't work at night, but you can have my keys." Ren said. "What about dinner?"
"I'm still full from lunch, so you don't have to worry," Leon said. "See you tomorrow."
Leon walked toward the police station, and even though that place was used to keep prisoners, there was no in the cells. The place was completely dark, but Leon didn't feel the necessity to turn on the lights. He was already used to the darkness and solitude. There were numerous couches in those buildings, but Leon had a hard time sitting in them. They were… too comfortable.
"I guess it will take a while before I can get used to the commodities of civilization."
Leon started to meditate while praying that his family was still alive somewhere.
The next morning, Ren, accompanied by several soldiers, arrived at the police station only to find Leon meditating. He tried to sleep on the floor, but even that was still too comfortable. Since he also couldn't hear the sound of the sea, he didn't manage to relax.
"You are rather diligent, aren't you?" Ren asked.
"... I don't see how humans can survive in this world without diligence." Leon got up and massaged his eyebrows. "What are the plans for today?"
"Like I said, we have two options, the safe and the dangerous option," Ren said. "If you want to, we can go to the Imperial Capital in one week to sell the cores. At yesterday's pace, in a month or two, we will have the resources to challenge a dungeon with relative safety."
"That is too long..." Leon said.
"I imagined you would say that... we can challenge a dungeon if we gather at least two hundred more cores," Ren explained. "If you help us, the difficulty level should decrease a lot. However... it won't be easy."
"... What kind of dungeon you want to challenge?" Leon asked. "If you find the purple crystal, the ownership of the dungeon will go to you?"
"That is how usually is..." Ren crossed his arms. "The dungeon is localized in Hokkaido, very close to Sapporo. We will have to travel for a few days, but I doubt anyone will clear that dungeon anytime soon. The monsters we will find there are a bit troublesome, they are known as the Frost Dire Wolves."
Against those types of monsters, the fire would be the best weapon. Magma Spear would probably be enough to kill them without letting anyone put themselves at risk. However, Leon didn't know their numbers, and it looked Ren didn't know either, so it was better for Leon to start practicing Fire Bullet as much as possible since it would take more than a few days to learn and master a new fire skill.
"Do we really need so many cores?" Leon asked. "How many days do you think it will take to clear such dungeon?"
" A few, unlike this dungeon here, that dungeon is more like a maze," Ren explained. "Things would be easier if we bring more soldiers, but I can't leave the dungeon alone, and the port unprotected."
"I see... how many will stay and how many will go with us?" Leon asked.
"Both places needed to be protected during day and night, so I will leave twenty-four soldiers keeping an eye on the dungeon and sixty protecting the port," Ren answered. "Twenty soldiers will go with us."
It looked like clearing this second dungeon wouldn't be a walk in the park, like it had been with the slimes dungeon. Regardless, Leon knew that Ren had only a few soldiers, but to think that their number could barely surpass one hundred... Considering that they would have to worry about supplies, skinning the monsters, and mapping the dungeon, perhaps only ten soldiers would help him. Leon couldn't help but worry.
"I need to train the Fire Bullet like there is no tomorrow..."
Since Ren's soldiers didn't know what they were talking about, one decided to ask, and things got noisy when they heard that Ren wanted to challenge a dungeon. Despite being soldiers, they were quite satisfied with their current life. They had no sense of urgency... Ren gave a sermon to them, but they still didn't look like they wanted to risk their lives challenging a dungeon that other powerful groups failed in conquering.
"I do need to train the Fire Bullet like there is no tomorrow..."
It looked like Ryoko was Ren's assistant, Leon sighed when he noticed that. Although Ren was trying to look like he was working hard for the sake of others, he was taking advantage of his position by selecting a beautiful assistant. Regardless, he gave her the order to make a few preparations. She had to prepare vehicles, supplies, the soldiers who would go with them, and many other things during that day because they would depart tomorrow morning.
During the rest of the day, Leon hunted the big slimes, and Ren collected the cores. This time they explored that world a little more since they needed at least two hundred more cores. However, they didn't go far because they couldn't see anything in the distance—only an endless wasteland in all directions. In order not to get lost, they only flew for a few kilometers in a straight line and then returned to the starting point. Thanks to that, at the end of the day, they obtained one hundred twelve more cores than they needed. This time Leon decided to keep one and try to learn how to absorb, but like always, Leon had a feeling that things wouldn't be that easy... it never was.
The next day, Leon was observing the vehicles they would use with his eyes wide open. Although he didn't see any, the port had a few vehicles aside from wood boats. They had a few cargo trucks, and everyone who would participate in the conquest of the dungeon would be transported in those. Fuel was something precious now, so personal cars were non-existent.
Ren was driving the vehicle, and Ryoko was his navigator, so Leon was being stared by Ren's men on the cargo compartment. Those guys were the types who wouldn't listen to words alone; they were a troublesome bunch. However, they stopped looking at him with their displeased eyes when he started to practice the Fire Bullets non-stop. The projectile was small, but it was enough to burn the ground that it hit completely. When the soldiers noticed the power behind Leon's spells and his seemingly unlimited amount of mana, they decided to behave themselves. That stranger wasn't someone they should mess with.
Although the port looked quite a civilized place, it didn't take long before Leon, and the soldiers had to fight. The whole world was destroyed, and only a few cities had already recovered from the damage, Leon noticed that when he saw destroyed vehicles and power poles on the ground. Earthquakes destroyed most roads and buildings, and as if that wasn't enough, the number of monsters outside places like Tokyo and the port was quite high. For the first time, Leon saw the pterodactyl's cousins, the Velociraptors.
"I guess I will need to travel a lot more before I can fully understand the situation the world is in..."
Like their name said, velociraptors were fast, but not fast enough to dodge Leon's Fire Bullets, they were also somewhat weak against fire magic and died with a single shot in the head. Thanks to him, Ren's soldiers didn't have to put themselves in danger, but also, thanks to Leon, they were pale.
"That is what happens when you slack off..."
It looked like Ren managed to teach every soldier how to manipulate elements, but just like himself, they only could use Earth Manipulation since it was the easiest. The skill had potential, but they would have to train for quite a while before they learn how to use it properly and reach a level where it could be used against monsters. That was why they looked at Leon as if he was a monster.
Anyway, despite the situation, Leon was smiling. The most things he was seeing were destroyed along the four last years, but everything looked new to him. He spent four years on an island so he couldn't help but feel good now that he could see things aside from trees, sand and the sea.
Leon had no knowledge of Japan's geography, but according to Ren, they were in the extreme south of Japan near Fukuoka, which was another city that had survivors. Regardless, the dungeon Ren wanted to conquer was in the extreme north of the country. So, they would have to travel for three days before reaching their destination... even though Leon could cross the entire Japan in a single morning.
At noon, they reached Fukuoka. Although most of the city was destroyed, the center had already been rebuild, and thousands of survivors were there. That place also looked a bit old, the buildings looked medieval-ish, and the soldiers also were using the same type of armor Ren, and his soldiers were using. The weapons were mostly spears and katanas, but some people had nunchakus, whips, and many other types of weapons.
Some people frowned when they looked at Leon, but only for a few seconds, he was surrounded by soldiers, so they concluded he was a prisoner or something. If they could see the pale faces of those same soldiers, they would understand that wasn't the case.
"I wonder if my hometown looks like one of the towns I saw in Red Dead Redemption..." Leon muttered.
"Hahaha, that would be interesting to see," Ren laughed. "I heard that some cities in Europe also looked quite medieval. Some castles had been built, and most cities are walled now."
Leon nodded, he could easily imagine that his country had returned to the Wild West times... it was improbable, but Leon was someone who had a lot of imagination. After stopping in Fukuoka to get fuel, they moved to Osaka and reached it when it was about to get dark. Once again, before him, Leon saw a traditional Japanese city.
"Unlike our town, big cities like this have Inns and Hotels," Ren said. "So, we don't have to worry."
"I see... then I will rent a room for myself," Leon said.
Ren could only nod; he already understood that Leon was already used to solitude, and it would take a while before he could recover from those four years. Since his soldiers knew each for quite a while, they had no problems sharing rooms in order to save coins.
The next day started early, like the first one, to save time, everyone had breakfast inside the cargo truck. Before reaching Tokyo at noon, Leon saw some big-ass lizards. They were called salamander, and like the real deal, they could spit fire. However, after Leon made them eat Ice Bullets, they died quite easily.
Obviously, Tokyo was by far the largest city in Japan. The place suffered quite a lot, but the number of survivors surpassed the hundreds of thousands. Everything looked even more magnificent there, and Leon felt like he had returned to the real feudal Japan. The interior of the city was so peaceful and clean that Leon started to think that the monsters didn't have reached that place.
"Do you want to visit the palace or check the market?" Ren asked.
"Do you have any reason to go to those places, right now?" Leon asked.
"No," Ren said.
"Me neither," Leon said.
Ren shrugged and resumed the trip after filling the tank. Later that day, they reached Sandai and slept there. At noon the next day, they traveled by boat. A boat big enough that could transport their cargo truck. Leon stayed cautious and waited for the megalodons to attack, the other soldiers did the same, but fortunately, nothing happened. The trip between the two ports was rather short, so perhaps such attacks rarely happened. When they reached the land, Leon received a surprise that part of Japan was covered in snow. Even though the other part hadn't a single sign of snow. Ren noticed Leon's confusion.
"It is because of several dungeons of this region," Ren explained. "The weather in the monsters' worlds is so intense that their weather ends up being transmitted here. It snows a lot in this part of Japan, but thanks to the dungeons, the snow doesn't melt fast enough."
Several worlds of ice and their weather were so powerful that their climate was being emulated on Earth, Leon could feel shiver just by imagining how cold those places were supposed to be.
Before entering the dungeon, Ren and the others set up a camp near the dungeon. After that, Leon, Ren, and Ryoko moved to a small building nearby. It was the place where they had to inform that they wanted to try to clear the dungeon. Surprisingly, several groups were nearby, and all of them had the same goal.
"Do we have to enter a queue?" Leon frowned.
"That is right," Ren explained. "Even if all groups fail in clearing the dungeon, the materials we can get here are precious. So, such a thing is necessary."
"Awesome... billions of people died, but bureaucracy is still hanging there." Leon scratched the back of his head.
Inside the improvised building, Leon saw ten figures armed with big-ass spears. They barely moved, and thanks to that, they looked like statues, but those were soldiers who used the same Japanese armor Ren and his subordinates used. Although Ren and his friends had red armor, those ten guys were wearing golden armor. It was too flashy.
"Those are the Emperor's soldiers, don't mess with them," Ren whispered.
It looked like the Emperor himself guarded the ownerless dungeons to avoid problems since no one was stupid enough to disobey the most powerful figure of the country. Despite the presence of his soldiers in that building, Leon saw two figures looking at him as if they wanted to pick a fight. They said something and even spit on the ground, Leon couldn't do anything but frown. It was clear what they were thinking of him, but Leon didn't feel anything.
Leon looked around the building as if he was bored, and that enraged those two guys, they stepped forward, but Leon stopped them, and at the same time he looked at the imperial soldiers. Those guys said other things again and left the building.
"Let me guess; they wanted to ask if I watched Dr*g*n B*ll or something," Leon said.
"Hahaha, I wish that was the case," Ren laughed. "Just ignore them, ok?"
"I don't understand their words; I can only ignore them." Leon shrugged.
It looked like those two were there to challenge the dungeon too, Leon saw them talking with a woman, who seemed to be responsible for organizing things related to the dungeon. That woman was pretty too, but she appeared to be around her forties, and she was really a beauty since she wasn't wearing makeup.
Ren said a few words to her; she did the same, but then her eyes stopped on Leon. Ren probably explained the situation, and then she lost interest, that being said, Leon noticed the brief moment that woman looked at the guards. After that, he felt as if he was being watched. Five minutes later, they left the building. Leon had no time to learn Japanese, but it was a pain to be in a country where only a single person could talk with you.
"Translate the contents of the conversation," Leon said.
"... As you may have guessed, those two didn't like you very much, by the way, they have the same position as me," Ren explained. "They are advisors of the Emperor. The manager also asked why an American was with me, I gave her a brief summary of your past years, but as you have noticed, she and the imperial guards will keep an eye on you."
"I never imagined I would be so popular..." Leon said.
"Anyway, those two will hunt inside the dungeon for the next twelve hours," Ren said. "We will only have a chance tomorrow morning. Normally, You could walk around as much as you want, but..."
"I know I have to stay somewhere where those guards can see me." Leon interrupted. "I will meditate until the time comes, so don't bother me."
Ren nodded, and Leon sat in front of the campfire the soldiers made. He had already noticed that most people didn't want to deal with him, so he would be fine until those two dumbasses leave the dungeon. Leon wanted to practice the Fire Bullet, but he refrained from doing so since he was in a place where Ren had little influence, and the last thing he wanted was to cause problems to those who worked directly to the Emperor.
Leon successfully managed to meditate until the next morning. Unfortunately, the first thing he saw after opening his eyes was the angry faces of those two guys again. Leon couldn't help but sigh, he already knew that, but he really was an unlucky guy. Regardless, it looked like they were looking for a reason to attack him, that was why there were taunting him, but their actions were so silly that the best they could was to make Leon yawn. Eventually, those guys gave up, and Leon began to eat his breakfast.
"So, those guys gave up on conquering the dungeon?" Leon asked.
"Yeah. Although they had more influence than I do, they are the type who doesn't take many risks and follow the safest path to obtain power." Ren explained. "It seems a random survivor and his team managed to obtain a magic item in this dungeon that increases water-related attacks by thirty percent, so they came here hoping to have the same luck."
"I see… by the way, do you intend to manage this dungeon yourself after we clear it?" Leon asked.
"No, Ryoko will do that," Ren explained. "I will leave her in Sapporo with ten trusted men, and she will occasionally send the things she obtains to our shop in Tokyo."
"So, once we clear this dungeon, you will be the owner, right?" Leon asked. "That means only the people you want will enter this dungeon?"
"I can give the preference to some survivors, but I can't deny the entry to anyone," Ren answered. "But, anyone who wants to enter will have to give us half of the things they obtain inside the dungeon. It is a decree from the Emperor, so unless someone wants to lose their heads, things will go very smoothly to us."
Although Leon only wanted to sell his part of the things they obtain inside the dungeon, it looked like Ren wanted to share all the profits. That was good, and all, but Leon couldn't feel troubled about it. It looked like the new society worked around the coins they obtained by killing monsters, but he didn't even know how to use the coins he already had, things would get even more complicated with the income he will receive after clearing the dungeon. Leon was the type of person who was loose with money and didn't know how to spend it…
"Do we have time to clear the dungeon?" Leon asked.
"No, I said to the actual manager of the dungeon that we would clear it," Ren said. "And that sounded like a joke to those two."
"Seriously… humanity is supposed to work together in times like these, " Leon sighed. "Why those guys act like brats?"
"The idea of power blinded that," Ren answered. "Some people think power makes them better than the others, and because they have power, they can do anything they want."
"Although there is some logic to it, that is so childish…" Leon sighed. "I bet they think your country is completely free from dangers or wars."
"Let's forget about them and concentrate on our mission." Ren declared.
Leon nodded and finished his meal. After making a few more preparations, Leon, Ren, and Ryoko, accompanied by twelve soldiers, headed to the dungeon. Again, the dungeon was just a cave in a mountain. However, that mountain was covered in ice. Although Leon put some more thick clothes after the ship landed, the more they approached the dungeon, the colder he felt.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Ice Resistance.
You obtained 01 status points.
It had been a while since Leon learned a new skill, but he had no time to celebrate because even before they entered the dungeon, a Frost Dire Wolf appeared. The creature was huge; it was the size of a small truck. Its red-eyes could make anyone freeze on the spot, and its claw and fangs looked sharper than Ren's sword. Everyone got caught by surprise, even though they had their slime's cores in their hands, their aim wasn't ready. However, Leon shot three Fire Bullets in the monster's face, killing it.
"Only two shots is enough, I guess… at least if I hit their face," Leon said after watching the Frost Dire Wolf's face melting.
It was quite a gruesome sight, so Leon felt his stomach getting upset. He act without thinking, so he could feel the angry faces of the soldiers. That being said, they were pale, so perhaps they weren't angry.
"What are you waiting for? Skin the beast!" Ren ordered five soldiers who had some sharp knives.
"The head of that monster can be used to anything?" Leon asked.
"No, you hit the right spot," Ren answered. "Only their fur is useful. It decreases the effect of water and ice-related attacks by ten percent and increases the power of your water and ice-related attacks by the same amount."
"Is that so?" Leon asked.
Leon thought they would waste a lot of time waiting for those five men skin the wolf, but it only took them a single minute. It looked like those knives were magic weapons, but they were also skillful.
"For the time being, try to conserve your mana and let us make good use of the cores," Ren said. " but If things get dicey, you can help us."
"Got it." Leon nodded.
As much as Leon wanted to clear that dungeon as soon as possible, he had no infinite mana, and he couldn't rely on blue angel leaves anymore. He could buy a few potions, but he decided to rely on Ren and his soldiers.
The interior of the dungeon was covered in ice as well; everything was so white and blue that it looked like they were in a crystal cave. Since that was the case, they had to walk with care, or they would slip.
Before they could walk even for a minute, a new Frost Dire Wolf appeared. This time the monster got bombarded by Fire Balls before it could even approach. However, the damage caused was meager. Fourteen survivors had the opportunity to cast Fire Ball two times, and they still didn't kill the creature. Leon finished it with a Fire Bullet.
It couldn't be helped; not even Ren had magic skills, so his mana and intelligence were low. The free status points they obtained over the last four years they invested in strength, endurance, and speed, but even so, they didn't want to face the Frost Dire Wolf up close. Looking at the depressed faces of everyone, Leon decided to cheer them up, but since only Ren would understand him, he almost gave up.
"Don't feel too bad, if you meditate two hours a day, eventually you will obtain the magic power you want," Leon said.
It would take them four years to reach Leon's level, but he decided to omit that fact.
Health: 25
Mana: 1604
Stamina: 70
Strength: 40
Dexterity: 10
Speed: 35
Intelligence: 247
Endurance: 33
Control: 113
Mentality: 77
Luck: 01
Recovery: 450
Willpower: 75
Coins: 212142
Status: 01
Skill List
Active Skills: Strong Arms Lv 11, Throw Lv 9, Analysis Lv 4, Bash Lv 1, Dash Lv 19
Mana Transfusion Lv 9, Earth Manipulation Lv 55, Water Manipulation Lv 31, Wind Manipulation Lv 29, Concentrated Shot Lv 1, Fire Manipulation Lv 28, Earth Transformation Lv 32, Water Transformation Lv 22, Wind Transformation Lv 25, Fire Transformation Lv 25, Earth Creation Lv 35, Water Creation Lv 31, Wind Creation Lv 23, Fire Creation Lv 31
Freeze Lance Lv 7, Water Bullet Lv 7, Ice Bullet Lv 7, Wind Bullet Lv 7, Fire Bullet Lv 18, Earth Bullet Lv 7, Mana Reinforcement Lv 31, Lightning Lv 20, Magma Spear Lv 33,Passive Skills: Fear Resistance Lv 9, Mental Fortitude Lv 18, Perception Lv 10, Pain Resistance Lv 17, Rage Lv3, Fire Resistance Lv 22, Poison Resistance Lv 33,Ice Resistance Lv 1,
Accuracy Lv 32, Craft Lv 51, Farming Lv 7, Archery Lv 6, Cook Lv 38, Martial Arts Lv 1, Spearmanship Lv 51, Staffmanship Lv 4, Meditation Lv 50, Trap Creation Lv 7, Blacksmith Lv 40, Swim Lv 21, Underwater Resistance Lv 19, Alchemy Lv 51, Wind Resistance Lv 04
The more Leon and the others walked, the more they faced Frost Dire Wolves. Eventually, the cave became large and then begun to fight against two Frost Dire Wolves at the same time. However, nothing major happened. Leon had the power to kill them before they could get too close.
"Why don't you guys use bows or crossbows?" Leon asked.
"Bows that grants us elemental arrows exist, but they consume mana with every arrow used," Ren explained. "Since the monsters appeared, most humans focused on raising their health and endurance while neglecting mana."
Leon did the opposite; he neglected this health. Now that he was back in civilization, he started to wonder if inflicting self-harm would increase his health, but he still was hesitating in doing that. Regardless, after walking for one hour, they finally found the first intersection, and one of the soldiers who was drawing the map of the dungeon made sure to detail that.
"Other groups didn't draw the map of this dungeons?" Leon asked. "Until what point they managed to explore?"
"In dungeons like this, every group has their own exploration maps," Ren explained. "I know what you are thinking, and the emperor decreed that we must share that kind of thing, but for a price. The more filled the map is, the more expensive. We don't have the funds to buy such a map, and I thought it would be better to explore the dungeon as much as possible to gather materials. We will need to create a stock of those since we won't explore the dungeon forever."
"I see…" Leon nodded.
All in all, Ren was thinking ahead. Perhaps it would be very profitable to clear that dungeon time after time for a month, but considering the promise he made to Leon, they couldn't do that. The idea was to increase his influence and make the Emperor get interested in Leon, to do that, they had to accomplish many different things. Leon felt thankful for that, even though Ren and his men hadn't the skill to work like that, he was keeping his promise.
"Mmm… perhaps I should teach them how to use basic magic. That should help me in the long run."
Leon didn't want to lose sight of his goal, but like that saying says… all paths lead to Rome. He could do many things to reach his home, but the best option was to increase his allies. Leon wasn't that calculative, but he was aware that teaching the survivors without requesting for anything in exchange, it would make them feel grateful. Just that wouldn't be enough to help him, but sooner or later, they would feel compelled to help him.
"Achoo!" Leon sneezed.
Congratulations! The skill Ice Resistance has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
While Leon was thinking about that, the most troublesome enemy of that cave started to annoy him. He thought that the tropical climate was annoying, but it indeed was nothing in front of the wrath of the cold. Leon grabbed a few pieces of Frozen Dire Wolf's leather and put it around himself. His body became heavy thanks to it, but that much was fine. Even though usually, he would use that chance to train that skill, the cold was too annoying.
"Geez, the man who killed hundred of megalodons can't stand the cold, huh?" Ren chuckled.
"Humans can accomplish a lot of things with the right mindset," Leon explained. "That is even truer now that we can use magic, but in the end, we all are still just humans."
Ren nodded seriously after understanding the meaning of Leon's message; he could see the endless potential of magic and spells. Still, everything was over once their hearts stop beating, or their brains stop working unless Ren and his soldiers understand that early on, they would die an early death due to arrogance. Ren didn't seem the type of person who would be fazed by power, but you never know…
After finding several bifurcations and dead-ends, Leon felt like they were about to find the end of the dungeon. That mountain wasn't that big, and even though they were just walking, Leon couldn't imagine himself and the others taking days to clear the dungeon.
"By the way," Leon frowned. "How do we prove that we cleared a dungeon?"
"Usually, we find a boss protecting the crystal connecting the two worlds," Ren explained. "So, we just have to bring the boss's head to the manager."
"And when that is not the case?" Leon asked.
"We have to go to the other world, kill a boss, and bring its head…" Ren answered with a pale face.
That was kind of dangerous, until now, the monsters only charged forward recklessly. Although Leon could easily kill them, things would certainly be different with the boss. Frozen Dire Wolves were much stronger than slimes, and a monster boss of that species would certainly be much stronger than the big slimes. It was even possible that it could use magic, so Leon decided a plan of action in case he finds one. His plan of action was to attack mercilessly.
Although Ren imagined that they would have to explore that dungeon for several days, at noon, they found the purple crystal. The map of the dungeon wasn't complete, but they could do that later. Their stock of Frozen Dire Wolf hide was almost too heavy for them to carry, so perhaps they would to do that other day.
Unfortunately, the boss was nowhere to be seen. So Ren and the others began to show complicated expressions since they leveled up their accuracy a lot and put the free status points in intelligence, now they had the power to kill a single Frozen Dire Wolf. However, each person had to hit the monsters two times. So, they barely had the power to kill a single ordinary Frozen Dire Wolf. Against the evolved version of that creature, they had no chance.
Leon didn't want to solve all their problems, but they were partners, so they had to help each other. However, he couldn't take any chances and lose the few allies he had in that country. Ren and his soldiers were the only things between Leon and the Emperor's executioners, so he decided to go to the other world alone.
"Stay here; I will do this." Leon declared, and then he started to make a steel armchair and a spear.
"No, we can't let you do the dangerous part alone." Ren stepped forward.
"Dude… do you want to die without even learning a single spell?" Leon asked. "How did you manage to survive until now without realizing the difficulty of the situation?"
"… A lot of people died watching my back." Ren hesitated. " I can't stand back and watch my allies dying in front of me anymore. I have to protect what remains of my honor!"
"What are you? A samu… ah, you are samurai." Leon frowned. "Let's do this… if I don't return in ten seconds, you guys can touch the crystal and help me, all right?"
Ren didn't like that, but just like Leon did, he had to compromise. Even if it was Leon, it was hard to believe that he could go to another world, kill a single boss where dozens of them were probably around and return that fast. In the end, Ren nodded, and after forging the armchair and spear, Leon touched the crystal and disappeared.
Ren started to count, and before his count could reach six, he moved his hand toward the crystal, but then he retreated when he saw Leon reappearing on his right side. Leon was blue, covered in snow, and impaled on his spear there was a giant head. A head that was one meter tall, long and wide. Ren could easily imagine the size of such a beast, and it was at least six meters long.
"… Don't you know how to count?" Leon asked while trembling like a leaf.
"Are you all right?" Ren asked, surprised.
"No, I'm not all right… I just came from a frozen hell," Leon moved his hand upward. "Move away a little bit."
Ren and soldiers obeyed the command, and then Leon created a Fire Ball above his head to warm his body. The snow melted, and little by little Leon recovered his color, despite the power of his flames, not a single inch of the cave melted.
The other world was white, Leon' didn't see anything aside from snow and dark clouds. As soon as he appeared, a massive beast attacked him, but he dodged the attack and shot a Magma Spear. His attack melted the body of the creature, almost instantly leaving only the head behind. Leon impaled the monster's head with his spear and was about to return when he saw a blue amulet near the head. After picking up that, he returned.
Ancient Frozen Dire Wolf's Soul
It increases the power of ice-related attacks by fifty percent.
Congratulations! The skill Ice Resistance has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Ice Resistance has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Ice Resistance has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Ice Resistance has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
In just a few seconds, he leveled his Ice resistance several times. That wasn't a world where humans could live… unless they train that skill several times while enduring the frozen hell.
"Achoo!" Leon sneezed.
"Let's leave the dungeon before you get a cold." Ren smiled wryly. "Thanks to you, our job here is over. A bowl of miso soup should help you warm your body."
While feeling shivers, Leon nodded. Although his body still remembered the cold of that world, the cold he felt in the dungeon had decreased a little bit. It looked like it was a good idea to train his Ice Resistance in that world, but he had no plans to do that anytime soon. Leon never noticed that before, but he really was weak against the cold.
While walking toward the entrance of the dungeon, a few Frozen Dire Wolves tried to attack them from behind, but since Leon wasn't in the mood to play, he destroyed them all. Also, due to the fact that moving that head was difficult, they left those wolves behind. It was fine, the land would absorb those bodies, so it wasn't a problem. Besides, they could return to pick it up later.
It took them an hour to leave the dungeon, and they were received with eyes full of surprise, but Ren ignored them and started to make the miso soup. Usually, they would celebrate the conquest of such a dungeon, but they were worried about imagining how Leon finished such a massive beast so fast. Then Ren considered the following hypothesis… Leon couldn't only finish the megalodons; he could kill them in a single strike. When that thought crossed his mind, he couldn't help but feel shivers too… he had become the partner of a fearsome survivor.
Ren cooked miso soup to feed all his men, but he decided to cook even more when he saw Leon eating bowl after bowl. It looked like he was the type of person who would eat more or less according to his mood… Regardless, Ren stopped cooking when he heard the footsteps of the imperial soldiers approaching, he looked behind and saw the previous dungeon manager, now Ren was the new dungeon manager.
The manager grabbed a piece of paper and read its contents; after that, she waited for Ren's response, he bowed and nodded. After that, the manager and the imperial soldiers left as if they had no more business in that region.
"What was that about?" Leon asked while he was eating non-stop.
" … The emperor wishes to speak with me," Ren said with a pale face. "He also said that he wants you to come with me."
"That was fast," Leon said.
"Way too fast... I heard that some people could contact the Emperor directly without even cellphones." Ren massaged his eyebrows after sighing. "It isn't something that can be used frequently... but I should have expected this would happen. We just cleared a difficult dungeon in half a day, after all."
"Shall I escape?" Leon asked. "What are the chances of him going to execute me?
"Honestly, I don't know," Ren said. "Although it is not much, basically, you alone secured a source of a powerful and magic hide to our country. The Frozen Dire Wolves hide can absorb the impact of bullets aside from those bonuses I spoke of earlier. If you feel insecure, you should escape, but…"
"You and your men will be penalized for it," Leon said.
"… Yeah," Ren hesitated.
Leon couldn't help but sigh. Maybe he and Ren were just overreacting, but in the end, they could be walking toward their deaths if they choose the wrong option. Japan had no allies, so Ren couldn't escape to anywhere, and he also didn't have the power to cross the ocean.
"What to do?"
In practical terms, Ren owed more to Leon that the inverse. So, Leon could leave Japan with a clear conscience that he didn't owe him anything, but he would feel a bad taste in his mouth since his actions would end up causing Ren's execution. However, he could avoid that if he plays his hand correctly. It would be troublesome, but it was better than act rashly and end up causing meaningless deaths.
"Well, let's go to Tokyo then." Leon declared.
"Are you sure?" Ren asked.
"Yeah, in the end, I have to see with my own eyes if our countries can or can't become allies," Leon explained. "If things go south, I will make sure you won't suffer any repercussions."
"… You have my thanks." Ren bowed his head deeply.
Leon would make sure to just escape without causing deaths because there was a chance that once he returns home, the people in power there might send him back to Japan to be executed to save their faces. Being a fugitive was better than be a fugitive and a murderer.
"Anyway, we don't need to go today, right?" Leon asked. "Let's rest for the day and spend the night practicing your magic."
"You will teach us?" Ren asked, visibly surprised.
"Yeah, in one single night, you guys can't learn a lot," Leon explained. "But if you manage to learn fire manipulation, your fire attacks will become stronger. By the time the soldiers run out of cores to use, they should have enough power on their own to fight without relying on such tools."
When night came, Leon, Ren, Ryoko, and the soldiers entered the dungeon again. This time they would only train instead of hunt, that being said. Frozen Dire Wolves appeared frequently, so Leon took care of them. Learning how to control fire in a cold place was difficult, but since Leon could create fire, that wasn't a problem. In the end, only half of the soldiers managed to learn Fire Manipulation. However, they could teach each other, so Leon's job was already done there.
While Leon was having breakfast, Ren was giving the last instructions to the soldiers who would stay there. Ryoko would be in charge of things, so he made sure to have a serious talk with her. Ren planned to talk with Emperor, returned to the port to inform of their success, and eventually return to that dungeon to help until they have enough personnel to maintain the dungeon. Since the trip would take more than a few days, it was necessary to instruct his soldiers accordingly.
Usually, they would use the cargo truck, but with Leon, that wasn't necessary. They traveled to Sapporo using a single steel plate. Although their arrival made some people frown, Leon and the others ignored that. There Ren made a contract with a group of merchants who would bring the goods of the dungeon to the city every day, they would receive a discount for buying things from them, but it was a small price. After that, Leon and Ren flew to Tokyo.
"This is… a weird way to travel." Ren frowned. "Just make sure not to land in the middle of Tokyo, okay? We don't need to make a commotion before talking with the Emperor."
"Got it," Leon said.
Since they had to land outside the city, it was already night when Leon and Ren arrived. The soldiers who protected the boundaries of Tokyo were already aware of their arrival, but since Leon and Ren came on foot, they lost some time proving their identity. Despite that, the guards escorted both to the palace because they received the orders to do so as soon as they appear.
Ren was tense as the imperial guards were on guard and ready to act if Leon tried something. It looked like Ren had never been summoned by the Emperor himself, and he only met him alongside the other advisors. Leon didn't know much about the imperial family, but thanks to Ren, he knew that the palace had been reconstructed to also serve as a fortress if the need arises. It was the only building in the city that was walled, but it didn't look it could block a dragon's Fire Breath, it was only made of stone, after all.
Regardless, the building was massive, and due to the number of soldiers, it felt like it was more of a headquarters than a palace. Despite that, everything was very clean and traditional. While Leon and Ren were being escorted across the palace/fortress. Leon saw a queue, and at the beginning of that queue, Leon saw a gorgeous young woman wearing traditional clothes that a priest would usually wear in some events. She looked so frail that one could think for a moment she was made of glass, her long black hair, red lips, and delicate appearance made Leon feel mesmerized, but Leon looked away when he saw that she had noticed him and she seemed pretty angry after noticing that he was American.
Although being looked with cold eyes by such beauty was painful, Leon soon recovered when Ren hit his elbows in his stomach. Leon looked at him as if he was about to send Ren to the moon, but he stopped when he saw Ren's earnest eyes.
"Unless you want to lose your eyes, don't look at her ever again like that," Ren whispered.
"What do you mean by that? I didn't think of anything," Leon frowned. "By the way, who is she? Why is there a priestess in the palace?"
"Her name is Yuki, princess Yuki," Ren added. "She is the daughter of the emperor... I don't know the details, but it looks like she received the power from the gods to heal sickness, poisons, and even curses. She is doing that right now."
"What? That is so unfair..." Leon frowned.
"Don't raise your tone..." Ren broke into a cold sweat. "I'm serious, Leon. Don't even try anything to her. If something happens to her, and the cause is another American... the Emperor won't need to raise a finger, the entire population of Japan will wage war against your country."
"Dude... I'm here to find a way home, not to find a girlfriend." Leon shrugged. "Maybe in the next life, I will have a chance with her, but I understand that we live in different worlds."
Leon made a mental note not to look at her ever again, she was indeed the most beautiful woman he had seen in the last years, but he wouldn't cause a war because of a single woman... that being said, he didn't see many women in the last few years. Still, it looked her family was also working hard. The people in the queue seemed pretty ordinary, and even past dinnertime, she was helping them.
"Curses… so the monster can curse people, too."
Making a mental of that wasn't necessary because Leon would kill all monsters before they could try anything against him. Eventually, Leon and Ren arrived at a big hall, where several men were sitting on the floor, and on the other side of the hall, Leon and Ren saw the emperor.
The emperor's name was Makoto, despite being fifty years old, he looked far younger. There was no sign of grey hair in his black hair. Although he had fierce eyes and a trained physique, his facial features were pretty delicate. It didn't look like monsters had damaged him even a single time. At his side, Leon saw a two and a half meters long katana. It was hard to imagine someone wielding that, but it looked very imposing. Leon didn't know Makoto's clothing styles, but his current clothes were rather simple. It was just regular clothes soldiers would wear in those Japanese period dramas.
After Leon checked the emperor with his own eyes, he felt some cold stares. When he looked at Ren kneeling on the ground, he understood why. Although Leon didn't want to put himself in such a defenseless position, he decided to mimic Ren. He was in the emperor's house, so he had to follow his rules.
After a few seconds, the emperor said something and Ren got up, Leon did the same and saw his pale face, and he was also sweating bullets. The emperor said other things, and Ren answered with few words.
"… What are you doing here?" The emperor asked, looking at Leon in the eye.
Leon almost said, 'I was wondering the same thing,' but he stopped because that could cause some problems. It looked like he would have to give the Emperor a brief summary of his last four years, too. It was a pain, but he hid those thoughts.
"Well, I was traveling back home in an airplane when…" Leon said.
Leon was aware that the emperor had better things to do, so he gave him a brief summary of his life. He didn't want to talk about it too much, so he was okay with that, after hearing Leon's answer. Makoto looked at one of the men sitting in the sides of the hall, the man just nodded. It looked like that guy could also read peoples' minds, and those men were the advisors who lived in Tokyo.
After that, Makoto and Ren talked for a few moments; it looked like Ren was trying to convince him of something… Anyway, it was a pain to Leon not to understand what was saying when he clearly was the core of the conversation.
"So, you think I will help you if you help my country a little?" Makoto asked.
"Is that how it sounds?" Leon frowned.
"Yes, it sounds like you want to be helped directly by me," Makoto said.
"I don't want to be helped by anyone," Leon declared. "But, if I can lend a hand to someone who can also lend me a hand, I don't mind helping. I didn't ask Ren anything, but he promised that he would give me a hand. We are just washing each other's hands. If he finds a secure route to me go home, it would be more than enough; I can take care of myself."
"You are rather confident," Makoto said.
"I think that I'm logical and honest, does Your imperial majesty dislike logic and honest people?" Leon asked.
"Not at all," Makoto chuckled. "However, honesty can also be recognized as imprudence."
"I can't deny that." Leon nodded.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the palace got heavier. Leon could even hear Ren's sweat falling on the ground, the guards didn't move an inch, but the advisors were looking at Leon as if he had a death wish. Despite that, Leon was feeling quite normal. None of those men, not even the Emperor, were as scary was a megalodon, so he had no reason to feel threatened.
"… Tell me, Leon," Makoto's expression darkened. "What do you think I should do considering what happened to my son?"
"I think the ones responsible for it must be punished," Leon answered.
"So, you think I should start a war?" Makoto asked.
"Excuse me? I said the ones responsible for it must be punished," Leon frowned. "Only a few handfuls of individuals caused such an incident. The citizens of my… the citizens of the Allied Forces of the North-America can't be punished by the crimes of a few. Does any nation have the manpower and resources to wage war against another nation? I think wage war would be foolish."
Suddenly, Leon felt an impact coming from the right side of the hall, one of the advisors, a juggernaut of a man, got up and punched the floor cracking it. That guy was bald, but he was two meters tall and had one hell of a hammer in his back.
"Careful, boy. You are in the presence of the Emperor." The bald man glared.
"Tell me something that I don't know," Leon said.
"What?!" The bald man equipped his hammer.
"Be quiet, Honzo," Makoto said. "Or you will not leave this place until yourself fix the damage you caused to the palace."
Honzo, the big guy backed down, but Leon still could see the veins in his forehead throbbing. It looked like he was failing in socializing with the people who held power in Japan, but that couldn't be helped. It was the result of not having any proper conversations for years. He became a person who says what he thinks without any hesitation.
"… You say that I should punish the criminals, but that is not nearly enough," Makoto said after a long sigh to calm down his nerves. "Hiro was the future of this country; he was my firstborn. Can you understand my pain? My anger? The people from the Allied Forces of the North-America may have stolen the future of our nation. Do you think the lives of a few criminals will calm my anger?"
"I cannot understand, I'm not a father," Leon closed his eyes. " The lives of a few criminals won't solve anything; in that case, make them taste your pain without causing a war. Demand that the Allied Forces of the North-America deport those criminals, you can keep them as your prisoners to torment them as long as you want."
Ren looked at Leon startled, even though he was proposing something to keep the peace between the two nations, he was saying to the Emperor himself become a torturer. Some advisors looked at each other, confused because they didn't expect that.
"… I don't have such… hobbies." Makoto frowned.
"You don't have to like it, just torment them until you notice that whatever you do, your son won't come back," Leon said.
Leon didn't want to think about it; he wanted to believe that his parents and little sister were alive. However, he considered the possibility on numerous occasions that they may be dead. If it was by the hands of a monster, then there was nothing for him do to, but if it were by the hands of human beings, Leon would chase the responsible to the pits of hell if he had to and kill them as painfully as possible. He didn't want to do any of that, Leon won't find even a bit in relief in that, but he would do it because he missed his family all that much.
"… I think I will do that. I also don't want to cause more deaths," Makoto sighed and closed his eyes. "However, who can guarantee that they won't send random criminals. I cannot trust in their words or actions until they prove that they can be trusted."
"Then, send someone to find and bring them by force," Leon said.
"Someone… are you offering yourself to do that job?" Makoto asked.
"No, I can't do it," Leon answered. "I don't know a safe path to go back home. Thus I cannot do that."
"But if I give you the means to do it, would you?" Makoto asked.
"I would try my best to give a hand to someone who gave me a hand." Leon showed a small smile. "Of course, I would only look for the criminals after confirming the situation of my family, but do you trust me?"
"No. At least not yet, do you want to prove that you can be trusted?" Makoto asked.
"Yes," Leon said.
"Very well," Makoto nodded and got up. "If you manage to clear all the dungeons in Japan, which haven't been cleared yet, you will have my trust, and I will give you the means to go home. Until then, you can use the free guest rooms in the palace at your convenience. The same applies to you, Ren. You will help him."
Leon nodded and hoped to have to give a handshake to the Emperor, but things got so noisy that he understood that wouldn't happen. A few advisors who knew English protested immediately, and soon, the others understood what Makoto had proposed.
Ren was staring at Leon with his eyes and mouth wide open. It looked like he didn't expect that kind of development. It looked like it was a big deal to have the chance to sleep in the imperial palace/fortress since Makoto himself had to authorize that. The advisors protested for a few minutes, but soon they gave up. They weren't fools enough to disobey the Emperor. Before leaving, Makoto looked at Leon.
"Don't disappoint me, Leon."
Although his words seemed harsh, his voice and eyes didn't look so intimidating. Regardless, now that Leon had a clear goal, he just had to work hard. The problem was, he had no idea how many dungeons he would have to clear.
After leaving the hall where the meetings were held, Leon and Ren were guided by a maid to their rooms; the guards returned to their posts, so Leon relaxed a little. There was a chance that he could be killed while sleeping or while eating, but he was pretty sure the Emperor wouldn't do that in his own home since it was a symbolical place to the whole country.
"I can't believe His Imperial Majesty invited us to sleep in the palace." Ren's eyes were sparkling.
"Are you kid going on a field trip?" Leon frowned. "Anyway, do you know, how many dungeons exist that I need to clear?"
"…Yes, five in total." Ren calmed down. "They are no joke; His imperial majesty is seriously testing you. The Frost Dire Wolves look like little kittens in front of the monsters we will find in the other dungeons."
"Which are?" Leon asked.
"Trolls, Golems, Harpies, Ghosts, and…" Ren hesitated.
"Dragons," Leon added.
"Yes… but the dragons of that dungeon can't fly." Ren showed a complicated expression.
"It is not like dragons can fly in any dungeon." Leon frowned.
"Yeah, but those don't have wings," Ren explained. "They are Earth Dragons. Although they can use earth magic and probably have the same level of mastery that you have, they don't use the earth to fly."
"Well, the heavier the object, the more mana will have to be used," Leon said. "Are you dreaming? How am I supposed to have the same level of mastery as them?"
"I participated in the battle to kill the earth dragons that left the dungeon," Ren explained. "They couldn't create steel like you, the best thing they could do was small earthquakes and fire earth projectiles."
"And you think that is something pathetic, or do you think I can cause an earthquake?" Leon asked.
"Anyway, do you think you can clear those dungeons?" Ren asked, showing a severe expression. "We don't have a mage like you, but even our best warriors don't think they can pull this off."
"With some help I can, the earth dragons will be troublesome, but I will find a way." Leon declared. "I must find otherwise I will lose the ticket to my home. By the way, why dungeons needed to be cleared, It won't be easy if the bosses don't appear every day?"
"Yeah… but if we don't kill the bosses, the dungeon will break once a month and liberate thousands of monsters." Ren explained. "When that happens, we don't have a choice but to abandon the dungeon for a few days and protect the nearby cities."
"I see…" Leon said.
After that conversation, Leon and Ren had dinner; the maids bought them. Despite the world's situation, the Japanese people were eating quite well. So, Leon hoped that things were similar back home.
Ren looked like a shy child in the palace, so the next morning, he decided to have breakfast with Leon. Although his behavior was creeping Leon out, he didn't refuse him, Leon would need his help, after all.
"So, what is the plan?" Ren asked.
"Where is the nearest dungeon that I can clear?" Leon asked.
"… Why won't you start with the easiest one?" Ren asked. "The nearest is Earth Dragon's dungeon. It is near, but it is without a doubt the hardest, while the others are pretty much in the same league."
"Trolls can heal fast, right?" Leon asked. "So, why ghosts are in the same difficulty level as trolls?"
"Because only magical attacks damage them and because they can make you sick and curse you," Ren explained. "Once you get cursed, you don't have any choice but to retreat."
"Is it that bad?" Leon asked.
"Yeah, their curses can numb your senses for a few days," Ren answered. "First, they blind you; after that, they make you lose your hearing."
"That is quite scary…" Leon frowned.
"Indeed, if you are unlucky, you may lose control over your entire body," Ren added. "And stay like that for days while the ghosts slowly eat your soul."
"Thanks for the necessary info to keep me awake at night…" Leon frowned. "Regardless, do you know anyone who would like to lend a hand? I don't think you have the personnel to do it, right?"
"Yeah, and since you pissed those advisors, nobody powerful will join us," Ren explained. "And considering that you are American…"
"Yeah, I know. Most people won't help me." Leon said. "I don't want helpers; I want workers. I will fight alone, but I need a few people to skin the monsters' bodies and do things like that. Can you find those people?"
"Yeah, if you prove yourself to be generous enough, I can find a few dozen workers before lunch," Ren answered.
"As long as they work fast, I don't mind paying more," Leon said. "Where is the nearest dungeon aside of the Earth Dragon's dungeon?"
"Let's go to the market; we can get a map from my store there," Ren said.
Leon and Ren left the palace, and this time the guards didn't escort them; it looked like Makoto really trusted Leon. Regardless, since the imperial palace/fortress was important and beautiful, the market was close by. Although it was called the market, it was just a street with a few buildings where special items were sold. As expected, Ren's shop was the smallest, and only slimes' cores were being sold. After being welcomed by a random female soldier, Ren picked a map and showed to Leon the points where the dungeons where.
"In extreme North of the country, you will find the trolls' dungeon," Ren tapped on a point near Sapporo. "Tn the extreme south, the golems' dungeon. In the west of Tokyo, there is the Earth Dragons' dungeon. A little above, there is the harpies' dungeon and few kilometers to the south, there is the ghosts' dungeon. You should find them quite easy since in all of them you can find a building where the manager works and several camps."
"I guess I will start with the harpies, then," Leon grabbed the map. "By the way… we can't skin ghosts, right? Can't we get resources from them?"
"Yes, we can," Ren answered. "In fact, it is a little simpler than skinning; when they die, their corpses become ectoplasm."
"Ectoplasm?" Leon frowned. "What is it used for?"
"It is used to do the same thing the ghosts can do," Ren explained. "To numb the senses of the target.
While some people didn't learn much after the end of the world, others learned a bit too much. While Leon agreed that to survive, one must do everything in its power, he could only see ectoplasm as a dreadful thing. After hearing from Ren that many alliances were interested in obtaining that for war purposes, Leon confirmed that. Even the Emperor was stocking the ectoplasm in case his country gets invaded. Ectoplasm was even more useful than poison…
"I'm going to the dungeon… I hope you bring those workers before dark." Leon said.
"Got it." Ren nodded.
Although Leon wanted to trust Makoto, he decided to keep hidden the things he could do as much as possible. In the worst-case scenario, he would need a lot of hidden cards. So, he left Tokyo on foot, and only after making sure he was alone, he flew using an earth platform.
The harpies' dungeon wasn't that far, so he didn't fly for long. Although he was an unknown person, the manager of the dungeon had already received word about who he was and what Makoto said to him. Some people complained since they registered themselves to use the dungeon at noon, but not for long. It was an order coming from the Emperor, after all.
Leon entered the dungeon and recalled the information he got from Ren earlier; harpies were a troublesome enemy because their dungeon was pretty wide, and they could fly at unbelievable speeds inside of it. Not only that, they always moved into groups, and they could use magic to attack too. Their wind magic could easily split rocks in two. However, since they moved in groups and focused on high-speed movements while attacking from a distance, Leon noticed their weakness. The harpies weren't that sturdy. It was the same for Leon, even though no one aside from him knew it.
Considering their high speed, Leon decided to create steel spears and a steel plate to block the enemies' attacks. Considering his recovery rate, he could control four objects without running out of mana, but that was more than enough to defeat those monsters. The harpies were fast, but they couldn't escape from Leon's spears, which he trained for years.
"Mmm… I don't know what parts of their bodies can be used, so I should focus my attacks in their hearts."
After killing the first harpies, Leon approached and noticed they are quite ugly. All harpies were female, but they had rat-like faces, and they were also bald. They barely had the height of an adult, and their bodies were rather slim, to the point one could think they were about to die of starvation. Regardless, each harpy gave Leon ten coins, which was enough to buy a single potion that would let him restore twelve points of mana. That being said, he would only use that later.
When Ren arrived at the dungeon, it was already 04:00 PM. It took him a lot more time to find the workers that Leon wanted, but at least he found fifty. Leon entered the dungeon and immediately saw thousands of dead harpies aligned near the walls. He gave the order to the workers to gather the harpies' wings, and he went to look for Leon, only to find him at the end of the path of corpses… playing with a small piece of ice.
"Did you have enough hands to pick what is useful from the harpies' bodies?" Leon asked after he looked behind for a second.
"… I thought about using half of the workers to transport the materials and the other half to gather the wings…" Ren scratched the back of his head. "But now the workers that I bought can only be used to gather the wings."
"What are the wings used for?" Leon asked.
"If you make a weapon touch it, it can absorb the wing and make that weapon have the properties of the wind for one hour," Ren explained. "It is useful to increase the power of melee weapons."
"And it is useless to me…" Leon made a disappointed expression. "What do you think is better, find more workers and transport the wings to Tokyo or sell them to the survivors outside?"
"I doubt the survivors outside have that many coins…" Ren frowned. "But if I talk with their leaders, I should be able to sell them quite fast."
"The coins you will obtain… is one-third of them enough to pay the workers?" Leon asked.
"It certainly is," Ren answered.
"Then use one-thirds of the coins to pay the workers, you can keep other one third, and with the remaining coins, you will buy mana potions and bring them to me," Leon said. "You alone bring the potions, don't let anyone approach me."
"… Is there a reason for that?" Ren asked.
"Yes, I will learn a few more skills, and I want to keep them as a secret," Leon answered. "You can understand the reason for that, right?"
"Yes, but do you intend to practice here?" Ren frowned. "What about the harpies? Isn't it better to clear the dungeon first?"
"I already did; did you really think all these monsters were inside the dungeon?" Leon asked. "I attacked the crystal, and hundreds of them came. By the way, the corpses of the big harpies should be among the pile, but don't take that outside yet. I want everyone outside, thinking that I'm still clearing the dungeon."
"… Okay." Ren said after recovering from the surprise.
Ren already knew that Leon was full of surprises, but to think that he could clear a dungeon alone in half a day was close to absurd, much less attacking the crystals to obtain loot was close to madness. Regardless, Leon was eager to return home, and he probably wouldn't try to bit more than he can chew. Not when he was so close to going back home… rather than that, Ren thought if he shouldn't do the same and spend his coins and potions to train his magic, he also wanted to obtain the power to clear a high-leveled dungeon by himself.
Leon decided that he would train for one week in order to learn two ice spells. Although that was a bit greedy considering his learning speed on the island, he already knew the basics of manipulating, strengthening, and creating all the four basic elements. So, he was quite sure that he would learn in time.
"Projectiles in the form of bullets is enough to kill small fries… but now I'm going to face troublesome monsters like trolls and earth dragons, so I have to increase the weapons I can use."
While Leon was deciding the shape of his new skills, he recalled the things he learned earlier. He didn't know if Ren and other survivors knew, but it looked like by attacking, the crystal would summon monsters all over the other world of a certain level of power. Perhaps only the crystal of the slimes' dungeon could summon several bosses, or perhaps there were some unknown rules… Regardless, before attacking the crystal, he went to the harpies' world and confirmed that only big harpies were around. It was hard to verify since it was a world of mountains, but he was pretty sure there were no ordinary harpies nearby.
There was also the possibility that the crystal was just making weak versions of the harpies; at that point in time, everything was possible. But why the crystal would do something like that? That was an important question. Regardless it worked well for him since he could obtain tons of materials and coins. Although the smell of death was making him sick…
"Against the ghosts, I guess every type of magic attack will work. So, I don't have to worry too much about them. However, Ren said they are pretty much like the trolls of fantasy books we know. Big, sturdy and have a stupid regeneration speed… in that case, I have to attack their hearts and brain at the same time with a sharp object. Freeze Lance is too big, so I have to learn how to create a small but sharp projectile."
Trolls were ice monsters since their dungeon was also frozen, and it was in extreme North of Japan. So, Leon had to create a new fire spell. By strengthening a small projectile, he managed to create a 'sharp' fire arrow. Due to the fact that he only had to give shape and strengthen it, he learned it after half a day.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Fire Arrow.
You obtained 01 status points.
Mana: 20
The cost of mana was higher than Leon imagined, but considering that he focused on learning a concentrated attack, that didn't surprise all that much.
Every hour, Ren would bring a cart filled with mana potions, to save time, he threw away the bottles and put the liquid inside the cart since Leon said he would absorb the mana with his body not drink it. Every time he saw Leon's progress, he couldn't help but feel astonished, even from far away, he could feel the heat of Leon's new spell. As if that wasn't enough, he started to practice a new one… Ren thought that mages were people who had extremely convenient skills, but only after that, he recognized that a lot of diligence was necessary to become that powerful.
Although Leon succeeded in obtaining the weapon to kill the trolls, he still had to train it. The free status points would help, and the increase of damage of the level up would also help, but before that, he decided to learn the weapon he would use against the golems and earth dragons.
"This will be difficult… since my best spell is a variation of earth magic."
According to Ren, golems were monsters made of earth. They didn't look like living beings, and that itself was a problem since they wouldn't die with a fire arrow on the heart or in the brain since they didn't have those. Not only that, since they were like machines, but their actions and attacks were also extremely precise. A long battle against such an opponent would cause a lot of problems, so, Leon had to learn a spell that could kill golems and earth dragons.
A massive version of Fire Arrow would be the best option, but Leon didn't have the time to learn a huge and concentrated spell like that. He, without a doubt, could learn a lot faster than he learned the Magma Spear, but not fast enough. Leon wanted to train for one week and clear the other dungeons in one week too.
"Fire doesn't have a mass per se… and since I won't have time to learn a fire spell that can kill golems and earth dragons in a single strike, I guess I have to learn an ice spell."
Fortunately, Leon obtained an item that could help him, the Ancient Frozen Dire Wolf's Soul would increase the power of his ice spells, but he still had to learn the spell. The more detailed the shape of a spell, the more time Leon would have to practice. Then Leon had an idea; he would create a spell that would let him freeze the monster to some extent while dealing blunt damage.
"Yeah… if I make it harder, I bet I can smash a golem to pieces. However, a single spell like that won't be enough to kill an earth dragon… I just hope just a few will be enough to smash the head of one."
In the end, Leon had to practice for five days before he could learn the spell. It was five meters tall and was one meter wide and long. It looked like a simple pillar, but thanks to that, Leon managed to learn it in time. The name was quite fitting, and Leon could only hope that with those skills, he would be able to clear the dungeons.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Ice Pillar.
You obtained 01 status points.
Mana: 120
On the seventh day, Leon practiced Fire Arrow and Ice Pillar until the workers managed to cut off the wings of the last harpy. Although it wasn't much, he managed to level them up. Regardless, he didn't feel that bothered because the real practice would be against real enemies.
When Leon left the dungeon, he was exhausted. He only slept a few hours in the course of the week, so Leon decided that he would sleep until he reaches the next dungeon. Naturally, Leon wouldn't fly, Ren would drive. Although he asked Ren to find a vehicle to do that, he saw two brand new cargo truck waiting for him outside the dungeon. It looked like Ren was loose with money too.
"Hey, you came just in time," Ren said while sitting in the driver's seat of one of the trucks. "Those just arrived, where do you want to go?"
"Let's start with the trolls' dungeons..." Leon frowned. "But first, why did you buy those?"
"To transport the workers... they will sleep along the way," Ren explained. "You should do the same; I selected a few individuals to help Ryoko so that they will keep an eye on things along the way. Rest assured."
"That was my plan, anyway," Leon said. "I just hope you selected trustworthy people…"
"You can relax, I'm basically directly working under orders of the Emperor," Ren said. "Only a fool would try to cause problems for us."
"Let's hope that you are right…" Leon sad on the passenger's seat, and even before Ren turned the engine, he was already snoring.
Since Ren and his subordinates weren't the ones who cleared the dungeon and Leon wasn't one of Makoto's advisors, the ownership of the dungeon didn't change. The same would happen to the next dungeons, but since Ren was following the Emperor's orders and also being paid by Leon, he was quite satisfied with that. Although he wasn't having a lot of time to practice the magic he just learned, the number of subordinates in his command was increasing, and in the future, he could use them to delegate his work.
Regardless, after traveling by a day and a half, they reached their destination. But before that, Ren confirmed that Ryoko was doing well, and she already had obtained several new soldiers.
There was no city nearby the trolls' dungeon, so Ren and the others would have to travel for quite a while to sell the things they obtain in the dungeon. Not only that, but that region also wasn't safe; monsters constantly appeared from nowhere and attacked the camps nearby. The situation there was so complicated that the imperial guards had to help now and then.
Congratulations! The skill Ice Resistance has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Rather than the situation of that region, Leon was worried about the cold weather. It was even worse than the surroundings of the Frozen Dire Wolves' dungeon, and according to his experience, the interior of the dungeon and the monsters' world was supposed to be even worse.
"You guys can set up the camp; I will enter the dungeon," Leon said. "What part of the trolls can be used?"
"Their blood can be used like health potions…" Ren looked around and noticed something was off. "Wait a minute; let me check the situation here with the manager of the dungeon."
Leon nodded; he had forgotten that he had to do that. While the workers and Ren's new soldiers started to set up the camp, Leon waited to hear Ren's report. Ten minutes later, Ren returned, showing a complicated expression.
"… There is some bad news." Ren said.
"What happened?" Leon asked.
"It looks like a group of soldiers managed to find the crystal…" Ren explained. "Although they didn't find the boss and not tried to go to the monsters' world, they suffered several losses. The lover, a certain soldier, died in the last battle, and that person went mad when he found the crystal. He attacked the crystal, and then several bosses appeared… only one survived that battle and escaped… this happened this morning."
"Why the monsters didn't leave the dungeon yet?" Leon asked.
"That is the problem…" Ren massaged his eyebrows. "The survivors here concluded that the trolls are increasing their numbers to launch a massive attack eventually."
Leon sighed when he heard that, it looked like in the end, he would have to rely on the Magma Spear.
Health: 25
Mana: 1604
Stamina: 70
Strength: 40
Dexterity: 10
Speed: 35
Intelligence: 247
Endurance: 33
Control: 113
Mentality: 77
Luck: 01
Recovery: 475
Willpower: 75
Coins: 265682
Status: 00
Skill List
Active Skills: Strong Arms Lv 11, Throw Lv 9, Analysis Lv 4, Bash Lv 1, Dash Lv 19, Mana Transfusion Lv 9, Mana Reinforcement Lv 31,
Earth Manipulation Lv 55, Water Manipulation Lv 31, Wind Manipulation Lv 29, Concentrated Shot Lv 1, Fire Manipulation Lv 28, Earth Transformation Lv 32, Water Transformation Lv 22, Wind Transformation Lv 25, Fire Transformation Lv 25, Earth Creation Lv 35, Water Creation Lv 31, Wind Creation Lv 23, Fire Creation Lv 31,
Freeze Lance Lv 7, Water Bullet Lv 7, Ice Bullet Lv 7, Wind Bullet Lv 7, Fire Bullet Lv 18, Earth Bullet Lv 7, Lightning Lv 20, Magma Spear Lv 33, Fire Arrow Lv 14, Ice Pillar Lv 6Passive Skills: Fear Resistence Lv 9, Pain Resistance Lv 17, Fire Resistance Lv 22, Poison Resistance Lv 33, Underwater Resistance Lv 19, Alchemy Lv 51, Wind Resistance Lv 04, Ice Resistance Lv 7
Rage Lv3, Mental Fortitude Lv 18, Perception Lv 10, Accuracy Lv 32, Craft Lv 51, Farming Lv 7, Archery Lv 6, Cook Lv 38, Meditation Lv 50,
Martial Arts Lv 1, Spearmanship Lv 51, Staffmanship Lv 4, Trap Creation Lv 7, Blacksmith Lv 40, Swim Lv 21,
Before he could enter the dungeon, Leon decided to ask some questions. He had no other choice but to solve the situation, but first, he had to know a few things.
"What do you know about the big trolls?" Leon asked.
"They are tough to kill..." Ren showed a pale face. "Although they aren't as dangerous as a megalodon, they have the same regeneration speed. Since their bodies are smaller than megalodons, it looks like they are almost immortal with their regeneration speed."
"If that is the case, how usually the people around here kill it?" Leon asked.
"They used weapons enchanted with fire," Ren explained. "The flames slow down their regeneration, but only to the point where a group of ten powerful survivors must fight for one hour before they obtain the chance to destroy their heads and hearts."
"They don't get smaller when they regenerate?" Leon asked.
"No, their blood is like a highly concentrated health potion," Ren answered. "That is why they don't lose weight. It is said that their blood can even regenerate lost limbs."
That was quite impressive, even though Leon's body can recover from terrible wounds thanks to the recovery, he always wondered if he could regenerate a lost limb with that alone... now he knows that he can't.
"Isn't if fine? If the survivors here managed to kill the big trolls, they could do it again." Leon looked quite relieved, knowing that he hadn't to enter a cave where monsters could regenerate so fast alone.
"... Only one team could defeat the bosses," Ren sighed. "And that team got wiped out this morning."
Leon sighed too, even though he expected to face some hardships, he didn't expect that he would have to enter a nest of such creatures. Although he was fine killing megalodons, he was only fine doing that from a safe distance. He would never get close to their habitat because, in a battle on equal grounds, he would be utterly defeated.
"Tch... if only I could absorb the mana of this damn thing," Leon said while looking at the slime core he was using to try to learn how to absorb mana.
It was a pain, but Leon would have to work hard with the cards in his hands. He still had no idea how to absorb mana from objects, so he had no other choice but to enter the dungeon and try to solve that problem alone.
It looked like the blood of the bosses of that dungeon would sell for a lot of coins or could save Leon's life at some point. However, to obtain that, he also had to put himself at risk… in the end, he decided to burn them all to a crisp. It was unpleasant to even think about using it, but he would have to content himself the blood of the smallest trolls.
"Come to think of it… why their blood can heal us? We aren't vampires."
As if the dungeon wasn't cold enough, the wind was blowing from the inside to the outside. Leon wanted to create a Fire Ball to warm his body but decided to conserve his mana. Soon the first troll appeared, since Leon was trembling due to the cold, Leon lost the chance to attack first. The monster kicked the ground, making a pillar of ice appear; after that, the monster hit the pillar of ice with an ice club. Several fragments of ice flew toward Leon; he blocked them all by creating an earth wall.
"Shit… I'm already spending mana like a fool."
Before the monster could try again or approach, Leon shot two Fire Arrows, one at the head and the other in the monster's heart. The creature received a shock and tried to resist, but died in the end.
"As expected, it is not strong enough to kill it instantly."
It probably wouldn't even scratch the bosses, but it was enough against the small ones. When Leon approached the creature, he finally noticed how troublesome that creature could be. It was two and a half meters tall and its weapon, the ice club was the size of Leon. If something like that hits someone who doesn't have a lot of health or endurance like Leon, it would be an instant-kill. Regardless, the creature was also three times larger than himself, and its skin was blue.
Leon touched the blood that it was falling from the wounds, but he felt nothing weird. It was just normal red blood, but when he concentrated his eyes, he saw some crystalized particles flowing through the blood. It was probably mana…
"I wonder if I can use my mana to make my blood like that… it would be great if I hadn't to lose weight to recover my wounds."
It would be great if Leon could learn how to heal wounds, but it looked like that skill was extremely rare, that was why troll's blood was so valuable. He could increase his health, stamina, and several other statuses by using Mana Reinforcement, but it wasn't the same thing. Troll's blood was naturally like that… Regardless, Leon kept moving.
Although Leon wanted to solve that situation as fast as possible because he had other dungeons to clear, he decided to be careful since he wouldn't be able to use his mobility there. To make matters worse, the number of encounters was stupid; his mana regeneration barely was enough to keep Leon moving without running out of mana.
Twelve hours later, Leon finally found the crystal and discovered why he had to fight so much. The big trolls that were summoned when the survivor went mad were around the crystal and pouting their blood in the crystal. Usually, the crystal would summon five to six monsters every ten minutes, but thanks to the trolls' blood, the double of that were being summoned.
"That is quite the shady ritual they are doing there…"
Leon counted twenty big trolls around the crystal, and they really just looked like big trolls. They were four meters tall. Thus the proportion was bigger. However, everything else was pretty the same, but… they had no ice clubs.
"They don't have because they don't need it? Or is there any other reason?"
Leon looked around but didn't find the reason; it looked like the guy who survived didn't give all the information. Regardless, it was already too late to complain. Convenient enough, it looked like they didn't notice the death of the minions, but soon would notice Leon's presence if he kills a monster so close.
Leon retreaded a little and started to think about what he should do if he had such an attack; he would attack all of them at the same time since they were so close to each other. He could create a Fire Ball big enough to engulf all of them. As long as they don't notice, Leon would have time not only to increase the size and the power. However, the dungeon wasn't that big. The end of the dungeon was, but on other parts, only one of those trolls could pass at a time.
"I can kill them one by one in those small corridors, but if they all come at the same time… I eventually will run out of mana. Returning to the entrance of the dungeon to get mana potions is also a pain…"
In the end, that was Leon's only option. He couldn't risk damaging the crystal. Otherwise, his attack could summon even more bosses. At least it looked like the trolls couldn't do the same to call more of their companions.
Regardless, Leon started to analyze the terrain in order to use it in his favor. As long as he uses earth to block and fly low, he was sure that he could move faster than the trolls. The problem was the fact that they were hiding something and that in his arsenal, only Magma Spear seemed capable of killing them. He had to destroy their hearts and head, so he would have to use two of those… he didn't have enough mana to kill them, not by a long shot.
"I guess I will make some traps to slow them down… After that, I should make a more powerful version of my steel spears."
The first idea was to create hundreds of gigantic bear traps. Unless the trolls break the traps, they won't be able to regenerate, and even if they do, they lose some seconds doing so, and Leon would have time to attack them. It took several hours, but Leon created them.
After the bear traps, Leon also made some holes under the bear traps and put metal spikes in them. Using Water Manipulation and control, he could easily do that, and since the ceiling of the cave wasn't tall, the trolls wouldn't be able to jump to avoid the traps. As if that wasn't enough, Leon also made some fake-holes in the ceiling. There he put vast amounts of steel shurikens; the holes would break with the movement of their bodies, and then their heads would be cut little by little by those shurikens. It wouldn't cause that damage, but it should keep them busy for a few more seconds.
"Traps below and traps upwards… I never knew I could be so nasty. Well, this is their punishment for making me lose so much time here."
In the end, Leon spent thirty-six hours creating those traps, but he still had to prepare the grand finale, his new steel spears. He created four of them, and they looked a lot like the sahuagins' tridents. They had three points because Leon would spin them like a sharp mixer; he made four of them and spent twelve hours because he wanted them as sharp as possible.
"Here goes nothing."
Since it wasn't hitting anything, when Leon made his spears spin, he didn't hear anything either. Only the air pressure that was amazing since the spear was even heavier than the old ones. Those could be used as a silent weapon, and Leon used them like that, he made those hit two trolls by behind. Although the spears had to pierce their meat for a few seconds, it eventually destroyed their brains and hearts.
Leon didn't have time to celebrate; he didn't even felt like celebrating because his attack made blood rain over the end of the cave. The trolls finally noticed his presence and began to run toward him, but just like Leon had expected, they slowed them when they reached the corridor. Leon moved away with his earth platform and spears, and soon the first troll stepped on a trap and also fell on others, both legs got pierced by metal spikes, and Leon didn't waste time. He killed it.
Two dumb trolls tried to jump over the hole, only to hit their heads on the ceiling and make several shurikens fell on them. The sharpness of those wasn't something to laugh at, so it cut their skin like butter. It was probably due to the level of Leon Blacksmith's skills… Regardless, they soon fell on the floor and get impaled by metal spikes. Once again, Leon attacked their heart and heads while making blood rain over the area.
Things were going well, too well. Enranged, the monsters pointed their hands toward Leon, and he finally noticed why they didn't have ice clubs; it was because they could create them whenever they wanted. Several magic projectiles made of ice flew toward Leon, but he reached the end of the corridor before he could be hit. But the walls that got hit by those projectiles trembled, and their attacks pierced very deeply…
"Regeneration and such high level of ranged attacks… so troublesome."
It didn't look like the trolls learned the lesson. Although they managed to escape a few holes, when he returned, Leon saw them stuck in metal spikes. Those started thin but eventually got thick, and thanks to the massive weight of the trolls, they got empaled in many places very deeply… it wasn't a pleasant sight for the eyes. Leon killed those who got stuck, and then the while, the blueish cave was becoming red.
Leon killed ten trolls, faster than he thought, but the remaining ten stayed at the end of the dungeon near the crystal. Seven resumed their task of dropping blood in the crystal again, and the other three stayed behind to attack Leon if he approaches.
"Half of them died in a single minute, and they still underestimated me… how foolish."
Leon retreated and started to meditate, he just needed to recover his mana and use the Magma Spear to kill them little by little, but he stopped when he heard loud footsteps approaching from the direction the trolls were supposed to be. When Leon went there, he saw that the damn monster was creating another layer of ice over the holes. Not only that, but they also imagined that Leon had made more holes, and they created another layer of ice on the path ahead of them.
"Shit!"
Leon hurried and filled his spears with mana again, without traps, he had no chance against them. He didn't have enough spears to kill those three, so he attacked their heads to blind them; after that, he made them fall on the holes by shooting the Fire Arrows under them. The monsters fell, and Leon obtained enough time to finish them off.
"Phew… don't scare me like that."
Things could have gone very wrong if those monsters were a little smarter if they all had gone together. Leon wouldn't have any choice but to run away. Even though they could manipulate, control, and create water, they were quite stupid….
"Only seven to go… better not drop my guard."
Leon decided to meditate in front of the corridor, he couldn't see the trolls completely, but they were still in that foolish task of theirs. Every minute a new troll appeared, but Leon could kill them easily with his new spears. When his mana was full again, he decided to go all out.
Leon shot three magma spears and destroyed the heads of three trolls; after that, he pierced their hearts with his steel spears. The trolls finally noticed that they didn't stand a chance in a ranged confrontation, and they also understood that Leon was weak at close quarters since he always kept his distance. So, they used their magic to block the corridor.
"Damn…"
Leon tried to attack the new wall, but since the four trolls combined their powers, it wasn't something Leon could break that easily. He only had mana to use two Magma Spears and to control his steel spears for less than a minute, to make matters worse, Leon was forced to make a decision when two trolls pointed their hands toward him.
Spinning two spears vertically in front of him, Leon managed to protect himself, but when he went to counter-attack, he saw the other two trolls with massive ice clubs protecting themselves and their companions.
"Tch… I don't have time for this."
Leon shot several Fire Arrows toward the ice clubs, and that made some steam appear. Leon used that opportunity to move to the monster's side, where they were unprotected. Without wasting time, Leon made his spears pierce the heads and hearts of two trolls. The other two finally noticed that Leon had moved, but he blinded then with Fire Arrows. A few seconds later, Leon killed them.
"Phew… this is too much for my heart."
Leon felt on his butt, but since the floor was too cold, he got up immediately. Although he could use stupidly powerful magic, the battlefield wasn't the place for him. He always tried not to get caught off guard, but monsters time and time again surprised him.
"Whatever, my job here is done…"
Leon thought of using fire to melt the ice wall, but he recalled that fire burns oxygen, and since he was in a confined space, he would eventually run out of it. Instead of that, he used his spears to break the ice. While he was doing that, he saw three items on the floor.
Troll King's Ice Sword
It grants the user the skill Hail Lv 20, Strength 20, Mana 30.
Cost: 150 mana
Cooldown time: 120 seconds.
Troll King's Ice Armor
It grants the user Health 50, Endurance 25, Recovery 25.Troll King's Ice Club
It grants the user the skill Snow Storm
Cost: 150 mana
Cooldown time: 120 seconds.
"I won't use the club, but I will definitely use the sword and the armor. I need to increase my health and endurance, after all. With those, I will be able to look a little fiercer."
Although the skills were useless since Leon couldn't level up them, it was a good idea to have a melee weapon, even though the sword had his size… Strangely enough, despite the name of the armor, it fit Leon's size, so keep it was a given. Now he just needed a cape, gloves, boots, perhaps a helmet, and everyone would see him like a survivor. However, what he truly wanted was not to stand out.
While making a mental note to learn swordsmanship and practice whenever possible, Leon headed toward the entrance of the dungeon using an earth platform since his new luggage was too heavy.
Sixty hours have passed since the time Leon entered the dungeon, so Ren was about to freak out. There were no signs of trolls, which was good, but it was too weird for Leon to stay all that long inside the dungeon. As crazily as it sounds, Ren hoped that Leon would defeat the bosses of that dungeon in a single day… he felt relieved when he heard the sound of footsteps coming from the dungeon, but Ren frowned when he saw Leon. He entered the dungeon without anything but returned carry a lot of things.
"You look fine… despite taking so long." Ren kept showing his confused expression.
"Is that the first thing you say? Here sell this, I expect at least fifty thousand coins for this club." Leon said. "I will sleep for a day, so you and the workers have one day to obtain the trolls' blood."
Although Leon was a mage, he was carrying a lot of heavy looking stuff; Ren could only be surprised watching that. What he didn't know was that Leon was controlling the earth under his sneakers to move… he was just pretending that he was walking. The spears and sword were also covered in ice, created by Leon, and controlled by Leon to decrease the pressure on his back.
Despite the time limit, Ren and the others worked fast since they had more than two days to prepare, everything was ready to store the trolls' blood. When Leon woke up, he saw one of the cargo trucks filled with bottles of blood. Hell really had broken loose in the last four years since several people were walking by the truck seeing that amount of blood and didn't react in any manner.
Looking at that, Leon frowned. He noticed that things worked differently inside and outside the dungeons. Usually, the land would absorb the dead bodies of monsters at an astonishing speed, but that only happens if the person that killed the beast had no more interest in it. Leon had no idea how the land could absorb monsters that fast or how it could judge that he didn't want anything from those bodies, but it was like that.
"Is everything ready?" Leon asked.
"Yeah, if we had more time, we could fill another cargo truck and sell it at Tokyo," Ren explained. "But I sold the rights of the remaining blood to the groups that usually hunt in this dungeon for a low price. We collected the big trolls' blood, so it is fine. Well, what was left… we couldn't collect the blood that froze after falling on the ground. Anyway, here is your part of the things I sold."
Ren offered the handshake to transfer the coins, and Leon accepted, suddenly he received one hundred and fifty thousand coins. It looked like Ren also managed to sell the ice club… Regardless, Leon was yet to find something useful on the magic shop at the entrance of the dungeons and the markets of the cities,
"I'm going to clean the ghosts' dungeon," Leon said. "I will wait for you there."
Ren nodded and started to work again. At that point in time, maybe it was a waste of time, but Leon only began to fly toward the dungeon after making sure that no one was nearby. At least he had to pretend that creating platforms was his only way to fly. Using the dirt under his feet was much more mysterious since no one except him could understand the trick, but it was hard to control since he had to create a thin layer of earth.
Anyway, a few hours later, Leon arrived at the dungeon. Although he had a hard time understanding the words of the manager, eventually, he noticed that someone was inside, and he had to wait. While praying that he wouldn't have to face problems as he faced in the trolls' dungeon, Leon began to meditate.
Six hours later, the group which was inside the dungeon finally left. Although they frowned when they saw Leon entering alone, soon they lost interest. The monsters were called ghosts, but they could very well be called shadows. Those creatures looked like shadows that could fly and suddenly pass through walls. Since they were also small, Leon had to aim carefully.
"I wanted to practice swordsmanship before I find the boss, but I can't do this here…"
The monsters had to touch the targets to numb their senses, and the way they liked to do that the most were to attack the survivors by appearing under their feet. Leon didn't know how the survivors solved that problem, but he just flew sitting over an earth platform. Fortunately, Fire Bullet was enough to kill them, and since they only became touchable upon death, Leon didn't have to worry about burning them too much and losing the chance to sell the ectoplasm.
"So many bifurcations…"
Leon didn't have a map of the dungeon, nor was he drawing one. So, he just chose a direction and started to walk following the same direction every single time. After two days, he finally found the crystal and also the boss of the dungeon. It was weird, but the boss of the dungeon was a ghost that had the form of a grim reaper.
"Mmm… it has even the scythe and everything."
Despite its appearance, the creature didn't cause all that trouble to Leon. It was powerful since it could control gravity and make Leon fall on his knees, but the monster's other attacks weren't powerful enough to pierce Leon's defense. While spinning his spears, Leon deflected all the magic projectiles the monster shot at him. Even though it could use gravity, which was supposed to be a very high-level technique, it only used single target spells, and those weren't enough to destroy Leon's spears. After being hit by a single Magma Spear, the monster died and left a gift behind.
Dark Spirit Cape
It grants the user the skill Curse Resistance Lv20. Intelligence 20, Mentality 20.
Leon accepted the gift readily.
Ren was already outside and ready to work when Leon appeared. Although his appearance was slowly changing thanks to his new equipment, Leon's tired face after clearing a dungeon never changed. That itself made Ren feel kind of relieved; it looked like not even the holy sword Excalibur wouldn't make Leon change.
"I always chose the left side whenever a bifurcation appeared," Leon said. "That should help you guys find the ectoplasm more easily."
"Got it, leave the rest to us." Ren nodded.
It looked like Ren's subordinates had increased, but Leon wasn't sure, he never counted them, and he was too tired to do that now. In the end, he slept in the cabin of one of the trucks. Leon only woke up when the cargo truck started to move; Ren was driving the truck and humming.
"I take that you guys finished the work pretty fast this time," Leon said.
"Ah, yeah, sorry for waking up," Ren said. "We just had to pick the ectoplasm; it was much easier than collecting blood or cutting wings. Anyway, two to go, huh? Your work pretty fast."
"I could be faster if I had a map of those dungeons," Leon said. "Or if the others don't cause trouble."
"Shall I ask for a map?" Ren asked. "I bet the groups near the dungeons must have pretty decent maps."
"I don't want to owe any favors to anyone," Leon frowned. "Much less to people like those guys we saw in the palace."
Usually, Leon would leave the truck and fly using an earth platform to save time. However, he decided not to do it. Once they left the Tokyo region, Leon began to practice his ice pillar. He had a feeling that it wasn't powerful enough to kill the golems in a single strike since that was the only weapon he could use against the golems and earth dragons he had no other choice but to do it.
"What parts of the golems can we use?" Leon asked while he was smashing the monsters which approached with his ice pillar.
"… Like slimes, golems also have cores," Ren frowned. "They work like the harpies wings, they make objects sturdier and heavier, and it also grants protection against earth attacks."
It looked like Leon was bullying the velociraptors, Ren couldn't help but think that while seeing those massive pillars making the monsters turn into a pool of blood and destroyed bones. Leon didn't seem like a person who would do something like that to relieve his stress, but… Ren decided not to comment about it.
"Did you receive any message from Makoto?" Leon asked.
"Only when you were in the harpies' dungeon," Ren answered. "Since you stayed so long there, he asked if you needed some help, but I said you were just preparing yourself to clear the other dungeons. I didn't want to refuse his help… but I imagined you would. By the way… don't call him by his name when there are people nearby, okay?"
"Okay… well, you did the right thing," Leon frowned. "Although his help can be useful, I'm worried about who he might send…"
After a brief stop in the port to check how things were with his soldiers, Leon and Red arrived at the golems' dungeon the next day. It was a pain, but Leon had to wait for Ren fill several carts with mana potions, the workers would transport them while Leon opens the path. Although Leon didn't like to fight in front of the audience, he had no other choice.
"Do you know if I can buy a magic bag somewhere?" Leon asked. "Doing this kind of thing is too troublesome."
"In all Japan, I only know one person who has an item that can store a lot of things like that," Ren answered with a serious expression. "It is in possession of the Imperial family."
"If I ask His majesty, do you think he can lend me that?" Leon asked. "Just for a few days?"
"…The magic bag belongs to princess Yuki," Ren sighed. "And she received as a gift from her brother, the late prince Takeshi."
"… I guess I will have to do things in a hard way." Leon sighed.
The golems' dungeon wasn't being used, so after filling several carts with potions, Leon, Ren, and the workers entered the dungeon. The workers didn't stop trembling a single time because that was a high-leveled dungeon. They had an easy time in the other dungeons because Leon opened the path killing all monsters, but things would be different this time.
Regardless, even though Leon was paying them a lot, he wouldn't let anyone get hurt. They weren't soldiers, so he had to provide the necessary conditions for them to work.
Health: 75
Mana: 1625
Stamina: 70
Strength: 64
Dexterity: 10
Speed: 35
Intelligence: 267
Endurance: 62
Control: 113
Mentality: 97
Luck: 01
Recovery: 527
Willpower: 75
Coins: 415682
Status: 00
Skill ListActive Skills: Strong Arms Lv 11, Throw Lv 9, Analysis Lv 4, Bash Lv 1, Dash Lv 19, Mana Transfusion Lv 9, Mana Reinforcement Lv 31
Earth Manipulation Lv 56, Water Manipulation Lv 32, Wind Manipulation Lv 29, Concentrated Shot Lv 1, Fire Manipulation Lv 29, Earth Transformation Lv 33, Water Transformation Lv 23, Wind Transformation Lv 26, Fire Transformation Lv 26, Earth Creation Lv 35, Water Creation Lv 31, Wind Creation Lv 24, Fire Creation Lv 31,
Freeze Lance Lv 7, Water Bullet Lv 7, Ice Bullet Lv 7, Wind Bullet Lv 7, Fire Bullet Lv 22, Earth Bullet Lv 7, Lightning Lv 20, Magma Spear Lv 33, Fire Arrow Lv 17, Ice Pillar Lv9, Hail Lv 20,Passive Skills: Fear Resistence Lv 9, Mental Fortitude Lv 18, Pain Resistance Lv 17, Fire Resistance Lv 22, Poison Resistance Lv 33, Wind Resistance Lv 04, Ice Resistance Lv 11, Curse Resistance Lv 20, Underwater Resistance Lv 19
Accuracy Lv 32, Perception Lv 10, Rage Lv3, Craft Lv 53, Farming Lv 7, Cook Lv 38
Archery Lv 6, Martial Arts Lv 1, Spearmanship Lv 51, Staffmanship Lv 4, Meditation Lv 51, Trap Creation Lv 7, Blacksmith Lv 42, Swim Lv 21, Alchemy Lv 51,
As Leon had suspected, the Ice Pillar wasn't enough to kill the golems… even though he was using the amulet, he obtained after killing the Ancient Frozen Dire Wolf. He could smash the majority of their bodies, but unless he destroys all its body, the monster could regenerate. The earth Leon spattered everywhere with his attacks returned to the beast… Leon had no choice but to use the Ice Pillar again.
"Oh, well… if I level up Ice Pillar a few times, it should be enough."
Leon would have to spend a lot of coins to buy more mana potions, but he was more worried about the time instead of the coins… Regardless, the golems' cores were quite big. So whenever a cart became empty after using all its bottles, Leon would send the worker and the cores he obtained back to the entrance. Since Ren was the one responsible for selling that, he also had to return.
According to Ren, golems could cause earthquakes, shot earth projectiles, and make spikes of earth fall from the ceiling. All of those were too dangerous, so Leon concentrated on killing them before they could do any of that.
Much like slimes, golem were weird creatures. Their bodies were thick and round, they didn't have heads, but their cores that could be found in the top of their trunk worked as eyes. Since they were made of the earth, their bodies were slow, but fortunately, since their bodies were made of earth instead of rock, they weren't that sturdy.
While Leon was using the mana potions, he noticed something; the workers were avoiding his eyes. It didn't look like they were plotting something… they were just scared of the guy who could kill those monsters at a fearsome speed.
"The fate of those who have power…"
Leon obtained the power to return to his home, but other humans beings were fearing that same power… even though Leon never did anything to be feared by other humans. Thanks to that, Leon started to wonder how his parents and little sister would look at him now. Fours years of isolation changed him, his mindset changed, but in essence, he was still the same person, his goals never changed…
While Leon was thinking about that kind of thing, time passed. Eventually, Ren started to send the workers back to the dungeon with more bottles of mana. Things could have gone smoothly if Leon had let Ren find a map for him… to avoid troublesome developments, he had to lose time.
"I guess I really changed… back then, I wouldn't worry so much about every single thing."
Although it was only obvious that he would change since the world changed, Leon wanted to live his carefree days where he only had to worry about college and part-time jobs. Those days would never return, but it wasn't a crime to miss those days.
In the end, Leon spent three days to find the crystal. He had to make a few pauses since the workers had a hard time finding him in the middle of the dungeon and because they also needed to rest.
The golem, which was the boss of the dungeon, didn't look much different than the regular golems. However, unlike the ordinary ones, which were yellow-brown since it was the natural color of the gound of that region, the boss looked like a slime… which was semi-translucent.
"I don't like this…"
Leon gave the order to the workers return to the entrance of the dungeon, while he was not looking it seemed that they marked the path, Ren probably gave that order. Regardless, Leon started to think while checking the mana potions the workers left.
"A golem made of water… no, it is a golem that can have the body of any element. If it is an evolved version of a regular golem, it must have that kind of skill."
Without a body made of rigid earth, the creature probably could move freely. Things would become dangerous if the creature gets a little too close, so Leon had to find a way to kill it while avoiding a direct confrontation.
After thinking for a while, Leon decided to do the same thing that happened in the trolls' dungeon. Using Earth Manipulation, he decreased the size of the corridor that leads to the end of the dungeon until the corridor became the size of a finger.
"If I make this on the other dungeons, won't it solve the problem of the monsters?"
Although that much was true, hunting monsters became a part of the human's life in those four years. They had to hunt to obtain resources and occasionally obtain items and tomes. However, Megalodons came from underwater dungeons, so Leon would never be able to seal all dungeons. Unless the survivors don't use dungeons, they would never obtain the power and resources to survive attacks of monsters like dragons.
While Leon was thinking about that, the monster finally noticed what he had done. The creature tried to open a path by attacking the walls, but the monster had a hard time trying to make a path through dozen of meters of the sturdy earth, which made the dungeon walls. Eventually, the creature tried to move using the hole Leon left behind, but eventually gave up because Leon started to fill the hole with cold water.
The monster became a fire golem, but while keeping the size to fit in that small hole, the flames didn't have the power to evaporate the cold water. Eventually, the monster lost the battle and was forced to retreat to the end of the dungeon. Little by little, the weather inside that section of the dungeon became colder until it started to freeze. The creature tried to resist, by increasing the heat of its body, but soon lost the battle because Leon had more magic power and a lot of options to use.
There was a chance that the crystal would recognize that action as an attack, but Leon didn't worry about it. Even if several of those golems appear, they would appear in the middle of the ice and freeze to death.
