Chapter 95 - Preparation

Lea gazed happily at the gray ring in her hand. For the first time in a long time, she saw the labor of her work. At that moment, she was truly happy.

"I take it that I can congratulate you. Right?" Smiling Wain asked.

Lea nodded, "Yes, I finally succeeded in creating a masterpiece."

She handed the ring to Wain, and tears ran down her cheeks, but they were not tears of grief, but tears of happiness.

Wain put the ring on her right hand and looked at the item's description with anticipation.

[Last Tear (Primary Chronicle, Heroic Rating)

A veritable masterpiece, created by an inexperienced yet very promising smith. Forging this ring using simple materials, the smith who created it could turn a piece of ore and Ghost Crystal into a masterpiece.

While forging this ring, the smith felt incredible frustration and deep resentment toward himself. These emotional outbursts coming from the heart positively affected the end result.

In this case, it was not the skills of the inexperienced smith that were important, but his feelings and sincere desire to be better.

This ring can only be used once, after which it will be destroyed. But, when the ring is activated, the wearer will absorb any attack whose power is below Third Chronicle].

"AHAHAHAH, you did well Lea, I didn't expect that you could create such an amazing thing from this useless stone!" Wain was genuinely pleased.

He was usually cold and calm, but that didn't mean he was a robot. Wain, like other people, could experience a variety of emotions.

'Hmm, this is my first Heroic Rating item, and it is so unusual. I will only be able to use this ring once, but the effect is incredible.' Thought Wain.

He realized that there was nothing he could do to the Second Chronicle monster even after he had evolved. These creatures were in a completely different league, and Wain had yet to surpass them.

But for now, it was too early for Wain to worry about being attacked by a Second Chronicle monster. He was certain that such powerful monsters had not yet appeared. To reach Second Chronicle, the monster would have to survive several massive evolutions and survive hundreds of battles.

'That worm that broke Overion into four pieces. It must have been First Chronicle, hardly even it reached Second Chronicle.' Thought Wain.

"How tired I am..." Lea said with weakness in her voice and leaned her hand on the anvil. After using her skill twice in a row, she had no energy left at all. However, she was pleased with herself and her accomplishment.

"Now, you can rest with a sense of accomplishment. You did a really terrific job." Said Wain and headed for the exit of the forge.

Zero ran up to him and asked, "Wain, what do you intend to do now?"

"It's about nine hours until leaving, I need to restore my energy reserves and think about the current situation, so I'll probably stay at the base. If you're coming with us to fight against the Sea Punishers, I suggest you don't waste your energy hunting." Said Wain.

"Understood." Zero replied succinctly. She smiled and headed toward her fellow mutant girls.

...

For the next nine hours, Wain rested and thought about his plans for the future. At the moment, he had three main tasks.

First, he had to get stronger, kill monsters, and get large amounts of Soul Essence.

Second, he had to get Sorcerer's Soul to unlock the third form. Wain was curious to see what the next form would be. The previous two had made a strong impression on him.

In the third, he was interested in growing and strengthening Last Light. Wain felt that if, after a while, they were the only rulers in Overion, it would be a great step forward in becoming one of the leading forces in the new world.

'After we take over Overion, Gisle will target other cities, but that can be problematic. This world is vast and huge. It takes a long time to build a system to manage such large areas.' Wain thought.

He knew that Overion was a medium-sized city. There were poorer and smaller cities, but there were also true giants against which Overion was a mere village.

'Damn, the big cities must be way ahead of us by now in terms of their territories and their overall power. But, I have yet to find out if there are new continents in this world. Moreover, the most interesting things are surely in the lands beyond the dark barriers.' Wain thought.

He rested, gained strength, and trained a little. 

Gradually people were gathering on the campus. Gisle had gathered them, and these people would be the ones who would destroy the Sea Punishers and declare war on the North.

Among these people were those with whom Wain was familiar, but he also saw many new faces. Each of these people had activated their Soul Altar long ago and possessed powerful abilities.

Gisle saw no point in taking those who could not fight on such an operation. The exceptions were Clovis and Lea. Clovis was the cornerstone of the entire operation, for if he did not build the bridge, they would not cross the canyon.

"Looks like it's time for action." Thought Wain and headed down.

A few minutes later, Gisle handed out instructions, and a group of more than two hundred men set out for the coast where the Sea Punishers were stationed. 

Gisle left about fifty men with Soul Altars activated at the base, as some monster could attack the university at any moment.

Wain walked beside Gisle in front. Behind them were Zero, Agnes, Teresa, Grut, Rita, Clovis, Lea, and others. Gisle didn't think anyone would attack them from behind, so he put the strongest people in front of the column.

"Are these all the people from all the bases?" Wain asked.

"Practically, I left a few dozen men at each base to guard them. With that kind of firepower, we'll have no problem taking out the Sea Punishers." Said Gisle.

Wain nodded, "What will you do if the Sea Punishers surrender? Will you kill them anyway, or will you let them join us?"

Gisle shrugged, "It depends on the situation. There's no way the head of the Sea Punishers will surrender. He'll fight to the last breath, I'm sure of that."

"I see." Proclaimed Wain and looked ahead and said, "Looks like we're in for a little warm up before we fight the Sea Punishers."

Gisle and the others grew wary as a horde of humanoid monsters headed their way. There were more than a hundred of them, and each one was an evolved zombie. 

Their bodies were covered in red, rough skin like tree bark, and they had no eyes. They had sharp claws and wide mouths capable of biting through anything.

"Stay together and don't move away from each other! These monsters are pretty weak, protect your allies, and don't take any chances!" Gisle said loudly.

Wain did not take part in this fight. He moved a pack of cigarettes from the Ring of Damned and smoked. Wain blew out a puff of smoke and looked up at the night sky and the rising moon.

When he left the Dungeon, the sun was at its zenith, so it was now night, and the blue moon was brightly illuminating the half-destroyed city.

Agnes and Teresa were killing monsters every second, and when Zero joined them, their pace multiplied. The three girls were like deadly whirlwinds destroying everything around them.

Wain shook off the ashes and looked at the blue moon. It shone brightly, but suddenly Wain frowned.

'Hmm? What is it? Is it just me, or is something flying in here? Thought Wain. Against the moon, he saw a blue flash heading toward them, and gradually it got bigger.

Bam.

A second later, like a comet, that flash struck a nearby building and destroyed it in one fell swoop. Everyone was surprised and even shocked.

Gisle gave the command to prepare for battle, for he thought it was some kind of powerful monster. But as the dust settled, everyone saw what it was.

To everyone's surprise, it was a man in light blue armor. He had brown hair slicked back and blue eyes. He had a pleasant aura about him, for he didn't look hostile.

He smiled, and he seemed like a kind man. Someone could see the confidence in his eyes and the desire to get better.

"Who are you?" Gisle asked cautiously. He did not like this situation. After all, this man could fall on them from a great height and remain completely unscathed.

"My name is Harald Skare, and I come from the west side of Overion. I see that I have disturbed you, my apologies." Harald said with respect in his voice.

Gisle nodded, "Why did you come here? What do you want?"

Although Harald didn't look like a villain, Gisle wasn't about to let his guard down. Regardless of what the man looked like, he could be a villain as well as a friend. Everything else was just prejudice.

"I came here for something significant. I was asked to get one thing, and from the looks of it, it's here." Said Harald.

"You mean there's something hidden beneath us in the ground? How do you know about that?" Asked Gisle.

Harald shook his head, "No, what I need is among you. You saw the pillar of light that recently appeared somewhere around here. I came here for a man with a powerful soul."

Harald's words sounded strange, but some people began to understand what he was talking about.. Then he looked at Lea, grinned, and turned back into a blue comet.