Chapter 236 - Reunion

"Get abilities? What do you mean?" Marco was puzzled.

"You'll see it all now."

Wain jumped to the next building and left Marco on the roof. Then he jumped down, and the next moment the ground shook. A few seconds later, Wain came back with the corpse of a mutated zombie.

It was a First Chronicle creature. The zombie was blue, had sharp, long claws, and had bony growths on its arms. Wain broke the monster's arms and legs in a few blows and left it in its death throes.

The Ring of Damned glowed, and a platinum sword appeared in his hands. 

He made a thin cut on the monster's throat so that the tough skin would not prevent him from killing the monster. Then Wain pulled his meteor dagger from under his cloak and handed it to Marco.

"Kill it before it bleeds. Stick the dagger right in his neck and twist it. Don't worry. I'll hold his hands and make sure you're safe."

Marco was a normal teenager, and for him, such a brutal scene was not usual, but in the four months of the apocalypse, he had seen many deaths and carnage. This boosted his spirit, and even though he was frightened by the monster's aura, Marco picked up the dagger.

He hesitantly, in small steps, approached the mutated zombie and, screaming, plunged the dagger into its neck, then did as Wain said. 

The meteor dagger was a common weapon, and it couldn't hurt the First Chronicle monster, but not in this case.

The monster let out a furious shriek and tried to escape with all its might, but Wain's grip was as strong and heavy as Mt. The mutated Zombie could do nothing. His fate was sealed.

Marco struck a few more blows before the monster finally died. His hands trembled, but there was a slight smile on his face. 

After so many months, he was finally able to kill the monster, and now he, too, would have abilities like the others.

Whoooosh.

A white soul flew out of the zombie and headed toward him. Marco's eyes glowed brightly the next moment, and his Soul Altar was activated. A large amount of energy went through his body, and many messages appeared in front of him.

Wain gave him some time to settle in. Activating the Soul Altar and gaining abilities was the most important event for any person.

"This is incredible..." Marco muttered.

"Marco, you're a farmer, do your abilities somehow accelerate the growth of resources?"

"Yes, now I can easily feed even thousands of people. What's more, I even have a fighting skill. It's amazing..."

Wain nodded, "That's good, but don't be overconfident. You activated your Soul Altar pretty late. Honestly, almost any monster is deadly to you now."

"What? But, then, how do I get stronger, if even now I'm not stronger than monsters? How do I become as powerful as you?"

"You better not think about how to get to my level, I'm not sure you want to go through what I did, but there's a simple answer to your first question. You need to go to Dungeon or Nest, preferably with someone who can protect you."

There were gradually fewer Primary Chronicle monsters in the city's streets and throughout the world, but they remained in Dungeons and Nests. 

Of course, it wasn't safe there either, since the monsters in Dungeons and Nests were stronger than the regular ones, but it wasn't a bad option for beginners.

"I see. You said my sister is strong? She can probably help me!"

"Sure." Wain replied briefly and looked toward the base of Last Light.

"Marco, we have to go, I have things to do, and your rescue was unplanned."

"Okay, really, rescue isn't the right word. You're the one who kidnapped me."

"Huh, whatever." Wain grinned and headed towards the base of Last Light with Marco.

...

A few minutes later, they reached the place. Wain was recognized and immediately allowed inside. He headed for the main tower where Vineta or her people were supposed to be. 

Wain wanted to give Marco to Hana, but if she wasn't there, he wouldn't wait.

Wain and Marco were taken up the elevator to the tower's very top. Several guards were standing at the door leading to the main hall. They looked serious and focused.

When they saw Wain, they were wary, but then they realized who it was.

"Mr. Wain! We weren't told you were coming, but you're right on time!"

"Hmm? Is there some meeting going on in there?" Wain asked, pointing to the door.

"Yes, I don't know all the details. Please come in. Is this boy with you?"

Wain nodded and said quietly, "Okay."

Click.

He stepped forward and opened the doors wide. In the hall, he saw many people, many he knew, but there were newcomers as well.

In the center of the hall was a large, wooden round table where the leaders of the organization and those in charge of the territories sat. 

There was Vineta, who ran the western branch of Last Light, Elsa, who ran the eastern branch of the organization, and Gisle, the head of the organization. 

He was currently running the northern part of the city and the organization.

Next to Gisle were Teresa, Zero, Agnes, Grut, Rita, and others. Wain had met them for quite some time, especially Gisle, Grut, and Rita. At first, they were just students who got abilities and led people.

Gisle became the leader of practically the whole town. He became more confident and experienced every day. After the many incidents he had, he was now a true leader. 

Grut had incredible defense and excellent abilities, but he was a rather quiet and shy person.

Rita became more confident in a few months. Her strength had increased, as could be seen in her deep amber eyes.

Next to Elsa, there were Clovis, Lea, and Isabella. These three did not possess powerful attacking abilities, but they were important members of the organization. 

Clovis built many structures and bridges connecting parts of the city thanks to their skills.

Lea, possessed the strongest soul forge and could create amazing things. Of course, it depended on her mood, which was often a big problem.

Isabella possessed, though painful, extremely effective healing skills. They were all on the east side of town under Elsa's leadership. 

A few months ago, she betrayed the leader of her former organization and joined Last Light.

Betrayal is a terrible thing to do, but ironically, at that moment, it was the only option for Elsa to survive. She did not regret her decision, for she knew that Wain, Gisle, and the others, would have destroyed them in that battle.

She took the sin of betrayal upon herself, but she saved her life and the lives of her men. In this situation, betrayal was the surest and best solution, leading to prosperity rather than feeding worms underground.

Next to Vineta was Selena and the other members of her organization.

When Wain stepped inside, everyone turned their attention to him. They were surprised to see him, but one person wasn't looking at Wain, but at a guy with unusual eyes and hair.

"Marco!" Hana exclaimed and quickly ran up to her brother.

She hugged him tightly and couldn't hold back the tears. Honestly, she didn't count on Wain to save her brother. In her opinion, it was too unlikely. 

She knew her brother might have been dead for a long time, so his appearance today was a real miracle to her.

"I missed you so much!"

"Me too..." Varco muttered.

Watching his sister cry, Marco was close to crying himself, but he held back. Instead of tears of happiness, he smiled broadly and hugged his sister tightly.

"What a touching family reunion." Gisle said, smiling.

Hana looked at Wain and said, "Thank you so much...I don't know what I would do without my brother."

"You shouldn't." Wain replied dryly, "Gisle, this guy is a farmer."

"AHAHAHAHA, Wain, maybe it's time for you to become a philanthropist and help everyone in need? Isn't that a sign that luck is on your side then?"

"Huh, I'm done. I started the parade of good deeds. Now it's someone else's turn." Wain uttered and made his way to the couch not far from the table.

He pulled a white pack of cigarettes out of his cloak and, after a few seconds, blew out a white cloud-like puff of smoke.

"Hana, Marco, I realize this isn't the best time to disturb you, but the situation is unusual. Hana, if you don't mind, I'd like to talk to your brother." Gisle said.

"Yes, of course." Hana replied and put her hand on her brother's shoulder, "Marco, there's no way I'm letting you go now."

Marco nodded and headed to the table. Hana returned to her seat, she stood behind Vineta.

"Marco, my name is Gisle Enge, and I am in charge here. Your appearance was unexpected, as well as the fact that you are a farmer, so I am obliged to ask you something and ask you questions. After that, you and Hana are free to go. We won't bother you again."

Marco nodded. Gisle spoke calmly and measured, a pleasant aura emanating from him, but Marco felt that his every word was imbued with power and influence.

"Wain said you have the soul of a farmer, is that so?"

"Yes, just an hour ago, I still didn't have any powers, but Wain helped me kill a monster, and then my Soul Altar was activated."

"Oh, that's good, so our project is doomed to succeed, sorry, I got distracted." Gisle muttered and continued, "Marco, frankly, it's a great stroke of luck that Wain saved you and that you have a farmer's soul."

"Yeah, it's an unbelievable series of circumstances." Wain muttered, exhaling a puff of smoke, "The people in the slums are idiots. How could they have missed the farmer? It's their greatest mistake."

"Wain, you're only partially right. Finding someone with a craft soul is hard enough. There are few of them, and the vast majority of them haven't activated their Soul Altars yet. As far as I know, the situation in the slums is pretty bad. They have more important tasks than worrying about people with craft souls."

"Hmm? Isn't that silly? Gisle, they have no food. I've seen several groups of people dragging bloody zombies to the base with my own eyes. They eat corpses. The farmer would have been their solution, but they missed it."

"We are a strong organization and therefore can use people with craft souls with great efficiency. If the slums eat monster corpses, they probably have much trouble with defense. Marco, am I right?" Gisle said.

"Yes, our base is often attacked by monsters, and we have a hard time fighting back. Honestly, when I came on the west with Wain, I was surprised at how few monsters there were, especially near the base."

"I see, in which case you really don't have the time or opportunity to unleash the potential of people with craft souls. You have to worry about your safety. Only when that problem is solved can you concentrate on something else." Wain muttered.

"That people in the slums eat corpses is terrible, but we don't have a banquet every day either. We're trying to cultivate farmable land on our own, and so far, we're eating canned food. There is enough food to last us for three months at most. Myself, Elsa, and Vineta have already begun to work in that direction."

"What do you mean?"

"We're setting up special places where we'll bring people and captured monsters. Soon, we're going to start the process of mass activation of Soul Altars in all the people in Overion. However, we estimate it will be ready in a few weeks."

"That's good. It looks like we're moving into a quieter phase. As long as there are no monsters near the main bases, people can slowly develop in the Dungeons and Nests."

"Yes, this is the first step toward building a new civilization.. Where monsters in cities will be nothing more than part of life and business."