The Calm.

[Third Person POV],

The dim light that began to appear several times above the settlement was actually created by an item from one of the rainbow orbs that Andrew Dawn had given to his men.

The subject in question was both fortunate and unlucky in the sense that he was fortunate to acquire an item that could serve a purpose for his king and unlucky in the sense that he was unfortunate to acquire something that he could actually use.

This did not only happen to him as one of the men who received a rainbow orb.

The item in question was a shape-shifting item that could transform into any image that was conveyed into it.

It was in the heart of the settlement and displayed a dignified image of Andrew Dawn with his right hand raised in the air.

It may have a relatively ordinary appearance except for the fact that it occasionally emits mana, but the information provided by the primordial chronicle revealed its true worth in detail.

...…

[Rank 2 High Rare Grade Defensive Structure],

Constructs a dome to protect an assigned location from physical and magical attacks.

Can defend against attacks up to the peak of Rank 2.

The defensive dome's duration is limited by the amount of energy supplied to the defensive structure.

*Drains magical energy fast to operate and large amounts.

....

This was the item's information, but the disadvantage that could be ignored and understood was that it drained the energy provided to it far too quickly.

The energy mentioned here is magical energy stored in crystal cores, and the way the mana inside the crystal core is given to the defensive structure is actually quite simple, as there is a hole in the structure for one to place the crystal cores in for the defensive item to absorb when in use.

However, unless it is a crystal core from a rank two creature, rank 1 crystal cores can only keep the defensive ability active for a short period of time.

It was even more wasteful because the number of rank 1 crystal cores needed to keep the item running was large.

This was the reason Maria Dawn could and could not relax at the same time.

She was not as powerful as her husband, who could devise elaborate plans centered on her power. She was weak in comparison to others, and her job played a role in this because it was designed to provide support.

Her job primarily provided benefits to her mana pool and other aspects of magic.

Her physical abilities were also enhanced, but they were limited in comparison to the type of enhancement that combat jobs would provide.

Because her job was purely for support, the physical enhancement she received was even weaker than most combat jobs.

She could only support a fight from the sidelines, and if she didn't have the proper protection with her, she might end up being a burden to those who are fighting.

That's why she quickly messaged her husband for assistance, but in the meantime, while she waited for him, she could try to organize some things before he arrived.

She was also unworried about the people outside the settlement gate stopping her husband because they would only be able to stop her husband from running away from them to avoid them to enter the settlement if they had the means to stop him from moving because they would still be stopped from getting closer to the settlement by the dome.

She had seen her husband's power, but not fully because he didn't like her fighting if she didn't have to, so she knew he could enter the settlement without being stopped if he didn't try to do something else.

When the dome is active, only those who are permitted can enter the settlement. However, those who were currently inside the dome could leave.

As a few thoughts flashed through Maria Dawn head, she suddenly came to a halt and changed her direction from heading towards the center of the settlement were the defensive structure was situated after asking one of the men beside her if the dome could still last for a while to which it could rather than her checking it herself and made her way to the settlement ways as she opened her mouth to ask a question.

"Are all of the warriors in the settlement already outside?" She inquired, and when she received a positive response from one of the men beside her, she nodded her head and inquired again.

"How many men do you think can come in from outside in a short time?" She inquired.

"It will be no more than 500, because when you consider the distance most of them would have to travel to get here, some of the men outside can't really leave what they're doing to come here,"

"And it would take them at least 30 minutes to get here," one of the men beside her said.

Maria Dawn turned to face the front after hearing what the men said, and when she realized she was getting close to the settlement walls, she spoke softly.

"The crystal cores we have now may not be enough to defend against outside attacks until then," She stated as the man beside her who had not spoken in a long time spoke up and responded to her.

"It wouldn't matter much, and things wouldn't be complicated if the king could arrive before then," the man said, and all four nodded.

Celeb, on the other hand, was still mostly ignored.

Andrew Dawn may not be able to do much in the potential fight, but his presence would undoubtedly help.

It was even questioned why this fight was taking place in the first place.

For one thing, Andrew Dawn was always and had always been concerned with his own interests and did not bother to cross anyone's path, but this action was not replicated by others, particularly the one outside.

But if one knew a little more about the backstory of these two kings, the conflict between them wouldn't be as surprising because, aside from the fact that the king outside happened to be rank 7 in the rankings, he was also the king of an Empire that happened to be at odds with the Dawn Empire.

This bad relationship only got worse when they both arrived in the true world to see each other again.

This was due to this reason, as well as the opposing king outside the settlement gate's desire to demonstrate who was superior, despite the fact that he wasn't.

It wasn't that he wasn't stronger due to his ranking, but most people on the leaderboard knew that while the ranking system was accurate, it wasn't at the same time because it counted the items on one's body and calculated that as their total strength rather than just using their base strength without items added.

Though this was mostly only true for those at the bottom of the ranking leaderboard because those at the top were all extremely powerful and any item that could allow them to have that rank in the first place only made them more dangerous.

This simply meant that ranking did not determine one's strength, but rather provided an estimate.

This was the reason Andrew Dawn was still able to compete with the king who was higher than him on ranking leaderboard.

When Maria Dawn, Celeb, and the two men beside her emerged from the tall walls through the gates, they were met by a crowd of people armed with weapons.

These were the warriors of the settlement, and beyond them were even more people, and in front of them was a man dressed in armour who appeared to be in his early forties or late fifties.

His armour was different from the men behind him, as most of them wore rather unappealing looking armour, which was understandable given that not everyone had the ability to equip thousands of warriors with normal grade weapons, even if it was with the lowest armour in this grade.

It was the same on her side, as the warriors here wore similar armour to the one in front of them.

It would be ideal if the warriors could be provided with better armour, but given the current state of most settlements in the true world, their armour is already superior to most.

The only thing they could do was give normal grade items to warriors who they thought needed them.

But, even with the current situation, they believed there was no need to rush into armour and weaponry for warriors or so they thought.

When Maria Dawn saw this, she was about to walk to the front when she felt a breeze beside her and a presence close by, and when she turned to look in the direction the breeze came from, she saw her husband standing beside her with tiny black arcs of lightning flashing around him before disappearing.

"Am here", Andrew Dawn said as he turned to wife with a slightly serious expression on his face.

"Took you long enough"