Chapter 184 Celebrations

***

We all gathered together in a large ceremony in the centre of the elven city.

"These are the heroes who saved our races from the violent, bloodthirsty vampires!"

Speaking into a microphone, the king looked out into the neverending crowd of humans and elves alike. It seemed that, for this day at least, everyone was happy. I was getting somewhat bored since he was spending a lot of time discussing various topics related to our battles.

I was tired and just wanted to go home and rest.

"This is annoying; how long do you reckon it's going to go for?" asked Robbie.

"I'm not sure. Honestly, I'm waiting to go as well."

"We could just leave?"

"It'd be a bit rude, and I'm not sure I want to deal with the backlash."

"I guess so."

The event showed no signs of ending even after almost an entire hour. Eventually, the king brought out some medals and placed them on everyone. That took almost ten minutes due to the sheer number of soldiers, but eventually, he concluded the ceremony and dismissed everyone.

***

"Thank goodness that's over," sighed Robbie.

"Yeah, I really needed a refreshing drink after all of that."

I sipped on my ice-cold lemonade as our small group sat at a table in the bar. Chloe was sitting beside me, drinking an iced chocolate. We were all recovering from the battle with the vampires. But more importantly, we were recovering from that long, tedious, tiresome ceremony which lasted an hour and a half longer than it should've.

Chloe tapped me on the shoulder.

"So what are we going to do now?" she asked.

"I've been thinking about that as well."

I had a few choices. The easy option was to simply stay in the elven city and live out the rest of my life in relative peace. I definitely had its perks... although, I would never choose an option like that. To choose to live in the elven city is like choosing to live the life I used to have. It means choosing to live a life where I sit at the top, eventually succumbing to boredom.

I still had hundreds of Minions by my side. I still had many questions and not enough answers. I was still a distance from the top of the leaderboard. I still hadn't figured out who the voice whose been talking to me belonged to.

Thus, my other option was to leave the city, abandoning this relatively comfortable life. I had decided that I'd try to build up my army and eventually try to take number one on the leaderboard. With that, I'd then try to find the truth about everything in this world.

"I'll probably leave the city tonight."

"Ah, are you sure you don't want to stay here for longer? We're regarded as heroes, you know?"

"I have some ambitions I'd like to fulfil. I don't want to go back to how I was in the old world."

"How you were... in the old world?"

"It's a long story."

"I'm sure it is~ you're not going to elaborate, are you?"

I got up from my seat.

Chloe stared at me in shock.

"You want to know more about me?"

"Eh...? Y-yes... that's what I've been saying~"

"Tonight, I'll tell you some stuff about myself, my past."

Suddenly, a smile appeared on her face.

She was smirking, not in a malicious way... but in a teasing yet satisfied way. Quickly chugging down the rest of her drink, she also got up from her chair.

"I'll tell you my story as well."

____________________________

I prepared to leave the elven city. Before doing so, I decided to sort everything out in relation to my system. There were quite a lot of changes and alterations that I hadn't noticed.

[Your Shadow Hunter System has been deactivated]

[Well done in defeating the vampires]

A screen appeared in front of me.

-

<Rewards>

- [Sword Saint], [Blood Strength] and your Soul Mark become permanent.

- UNIQUE Tag! - [Knight of the Horizon] (Shows on the Global Rankings!)

- You will recieve an !!! [Authority] !!!

~

I guess I lose everything from my Shadow Hunter System aside from those abilities. Well, to be honest, most of the abilities would be pretty useless against zombies or other humans anyways, so it wasn't that bad. Apparently, I got a 'tag'? I guess I could have a look at that.

-

[GLOBAL RANKINGS]

New-Gen Humans

1. Mackenzie Franklin [Princess of the Gods] - 4981

2. Noah Gait [Breaker of the World] - 3712

3. Oliver Moran [Assassin of the Dark] - 3546

4. William Hunter [Knight of the Horizon] - 2416

5. Robbie Solly [Life of the Plants] - 2009

6. Ethan Hickey - 1982

7. Maia Keller [Joker's Princess] - 1966

8. Louis Talman - 1590

9. Jack Mckenna - 1509

10. Tom Afford - 1501

~

The rankings had changed quite a bit since I last checked. From the looks of things, the distance between the top ranks and the lower ranks had grown quite a bit. I wasn't sure what the condition for getting a 'tag' was but it seemed that only a few people got it.

Also it seemed that I was fourth now.

Whatever the case, I still wanted to look at what this 'Authority' thing I got was. There was a bit of text explaining that it was my 'legendary reward' for defeating the Progenitor. After waiting for a bit, some more text appeared.

[You have been given [Authority of Elohim] as chosen by ???]

[More information will be displayed regarding how to use it]

There was the sound of static before more text.

[Authorities are abilities which have priority above every other ability in the world. This means that no matter what your opponent's ability may be, this will always override it. You have the [Authority of Elohim]; this ability gives you the power to summon [The Devourer]. To do so, simply raise your arm and picture a fire.]

I wasn't given any information aside from that.

***

Aside from what I just looked at, it seemed that there wasn't much else.

Later that night, Chloe and I left the city, making our way into the wilderness.