Chapter 183. (Patreon)

As soon as he had exited the sphere of protection from Mount Everlasting Peace his core once again had started to absorb miasma. However, it wasn’t a problem for Zac anymore, as the lotus seed provided him with the life energy he needed. Besides, now that his core was balanced the amount of life energy needed to maintain the balance was minuscule compared to before.

It went to show that while the bead was balanced it was still able to absorb more energy. However, Zac wasn’t sure whether pushing more energy into the core was something he should be aiming for until he knew what he was dealing with.

After talking with the Abbot for almost a day he didn’t feel as bad about the bead anymore, rather the opposite. He was excited to dig into the mysteries it contained when he had some time. He was especially curious about the fractals that had somehow appeared by themselves on the small core. Perhaps they were a clue how to harness the massive energy the core contained.  

Zac was still stunned by the generosity of the Abbot. It was a bit of an uncomfortable feeling to be so far in debt to a stranger. No matter what Zac had tried while he absorbed energy from the bead the Abbot had refused to accept any gift in return, no matter if it was healing pills or crystals.

The only thing he could think of was to provide as much information as he could to the monks, from the various incursions to the threat of the Dominators and shapeshifters. He also set up an alliance with the monastery, which in a sense was a large gift, as it gave the monks a path of retreat in case the undead came again.

It was a new function he possessed now that he was a Lord, which essentially allowed him to put individuals and factions on what could be seen as a “friend list” in a game. It would allow them to teleport to his teleportation array, even when it was closed to strangers.

It meant Zac had three modes to his teleporter now; private, trusted, and public. His teleporter was already set on trusted at the moment, which allowed anyone from his faction, and now also the monks, to use the teleporter. Otherwise, his troops would be stuck on the island and unable to join Billy.

As he ran through the forests toward the east he kept trying various things. Between the stairs and the long talks with the Abbot he felt he’d gained a deeper understanding of the Dao, and he was trying to incorporate it into his fighting style.

Not only that but, he also needed to test his improved Dao Seed. During his fight with the ghost he realized that the seed had gotten a lot more flexible since it got upgraded. He needed to know the effect of adding it to various skills.

His experimentation had an unexpected result, as his movement skill [Loamwalker] skill gained a level and reached Middle mastery. It was almost instantaneous after he incorporated his Dao of Trees into his steps, clearly showing what the criterion for the upgrade was. 

Zac was elated as the movement skill was integral to his fighting style. After the upgrade, he kept trying it out in various ways until he properly understood the changes.

Zac realized that his energy consumption decreased by quite a bit when he infused his legs with the Dao of Trees. It wasn’t to the point that he would be able to use it non-stop for hours, but it helped with one of the largest downfalls of the skill; its high energy consumption.

As for the effect of the upgrade itself, it was a simple upgrade to the range of the skill. At low mastery each step could take him a few meters forward at the most, but after it improved to middle rank the range improved to around 15 meters.

This, in essence, improved his maximum speeds by a few folds as well as each step moved him forward around 4 times the distance compared to before. The downside was that the further he walked the higher the consumption was, and to use the skill to its maximum effect was quite costly, even with the empowerment of the Dao.

As Zac kept going he also found that good news sometimes came in pairs. The second day after he leveled up his movement skill another prompt suddenly appeared in front of him. This time it was the [Forester’s Constitution] skill that gained a boost.

The only reason for the upgrade he could come up with was that it required time spent in forests to level up since its boost was dependant on staying in forests. Other than that he had no idea, as the skill was passive, and not something he could train with.

The improvement wasn’t great, though it was convenient. At low rank it gave a 10% boost to Endurance and Vitality as long as he was in a forest, and otherwise a 5% boost.

But at middle proficiency, it gave an 11% boost as long as he’d been in a forest the last 24 hours. It was quite convenient as he wouldn’t suddenly lose attributes the moment he entered a town anymore.

He’d hoped that his other new skills would have improved as well, but most of them were still at Early Proficiency, apart from [Thousand Faces] that couldn’t be improved upon. Still, as he opened up his menu he felt his repertoire was starting to become quite diverse.

Normal Skills

Inquisitive Eye - Proficiency: Early. See through their secrets. Upgradeable.

Book of Babel - Proficiency: -. Enlightenment through understanding.

Mental Fortress - Proficiency: Middle. Enduring Stability. Upgradeable.

Thousand Faces - Proficiency: -. If you hate who you are, change it. Upgradeable.

Nature's Barrier - Proficiency: Early. Brave thousand storms with Gaia's protection. Upgradeable.

Class Skill

Axe Mastery - Proficiency: Late. The seed of Dao is planted. Upgradeable.

Chop - Proficiency: Late. There is greatness in simplicity.

Forester's Constitution - Proficiency: Middle. Man and Nature One Entity. Upgradeable.

Loamwalker - Proficiency: Middle. Trod the unbroken path. Upgradeable.

Nature's Punishment - Proficiency: Early. Awaken the wrath of the world. Upgradeable.

He possessed most types of skills now. The only thing he felt he was missing was another attack skill. [Chop] was still good for weaker targets, but his only good attack for stronger enemies was [Nature’s Punishment]. The problem with that skill was that it cost such a huge amount of energy, only allowing him to use it once in a fight.

Still, Zac didn’t worry overly much as he was only one level away from 60 and he was somewhat certain he’d gain another skill at that point. Therefore he didn’t avoid any towns or cities either as he pushed straight his destination, trying to find targets to kill along the way.

Unfortunately, he realized he wouldn’t gain his level before he arrived at Kingsbury, as there simply were almost no zombies around. He was closing in on the edge of the Dead Zone and the towns he passed through were completely raided.

At first, there were some scattered zombies left, but after another half day of traveling there wasn’t a single one in sight. Zac didn’t really care though as there would always be opportunities to get the level at a later point.

Another day passed as Zac kept moving, finally exiting the Dead Zone proper. Kingsbury wasn’t a real frontier town, but rather some distance further away. It only took an hour for him to reach the town though with the help of his Automatic Map.

The town was of decent size, at least comparable to what was left of Greenworth. However, he didn’t recognize any of the structures, so Zac suspected that only the cultivators got dropped off here. The other parts of Greenworth likely ended up somewhere else.

The order in the town seemed quite a bit better than most places as the guards didn’t exhort him for a bribe when he tried to enter. He’d already changed his face with [Thousand Faces] again, not wanting to let anyone know about his presence before he found out about the fate and whereabouts of his sister. 

This time he didn’t accept when the prompt that showed up as he entered, not wanting to make his presence known. He had asked the Abbot about the prompt, and the old man hadn’t heard about that function either, telling Zac it likely was unique to Lords.

He still didn't understand how it worked, as he didn't get the prompt in the beginning after becoming a lord. Zac guessed that only the monastery was run by someone powerful enough, and the system gave him an option to give due respect and announce himself. 

As for Kingsbury, he soon realized it probably was due to the fact it was under the control of the government, another powerful entity. Perhaps they had managed to produce their Lord by now, meaning this town would be under the control of another Lord. 

After having entered the town proper Zac did what he used to do for information and simply entered the first restaurant he saw. He was surprised to find that the inside smelled of stale alcohol apart from just food. 

He looked around and saw that people were drinking something, though they didn’t really seem to be enjoying the taste.

He sat down at a counter and simply ordered the drink the others forced down the throat.

“Don’t recognize you, new in town?” the man asked with some disinterest as he poured a glass.

“Yeah. I heard a bunch of cultivators from Greenworth are here? Is that true?” Zac answered, trying to sound casual as he took a swig. “Blergh, is this gasoline?”

“It’s Kingsbury moonshine, kicks a punch doesn’t it?” the bartender said with a laugh. “Yeah they’re here, though maybe only 3000 of them are left alive. Dangerous on the frontier,” the bartender said with a shrug.

“How would I go about finding an old friend?” Zac asked with a wheeze, his throat feeling like it was on fire.

“Government taking a census now that they’re in control, could ask them? But it’s a bit chaotic with the trials coming up,” the bartender answered.

“Trials?” Zac asked with a sinking feeling.

“Yeah, some government hotshots are holding it.”

“What did the people do?” Zac asked

“Well, all kinds of things it seems,” the bartender hesitantly answered.

“It’s bullshit!” a drunken man from some distance away suddenly shouted. “They are just rounding up people they don’t like and slap bullshit charges on them.”

“Jeez calm down, you’ll get yourself into trouble,” another man said as he dragged the drunkard out of the tavern.

“No point in staying here if the government is going to get involved, there are tons of frontier towns welcoming able fighters,” another man muttered.

From there the discussion devolved into a debate into whether it was better to live in a government or an unaffiliated town, not giving Zac much more pertinent information.

“I know a few people who might live here, how do I know if they got arrested?” Zac asked, trying to steer the conversation into a better direction.

“Well, there’s a list at the town square. They’re making a production of the whole thing,” a man answered with a shrug.

Zac forced himself to stay a bit longer before he stood up and rushed to the town square. In front of a statue in the middle of the square a huge signpost was erected, and there was a group of people standing in front of it.

Zac pushed himself to the front and saw it was a printed list of names and the crimes they had committed. His heart started to pound faster and faster as he scoured the list name by name.

A chaotic jumble of emotions exploded in his mind when he suddenly saw his sister’s name on the list. Her name being present meant that she was still alive. The largest worry in Zac’s heart since Greenworth was that she’d already perished in the Dead Zone.

But she had survived after all. That she was apprehended as a criminal by the New World Government wasn’t great, but it was far preferable to being dead. This situation was something he could deal with, either through diplomacy or violence.

The fact that she was on trial for attempted murder didn’t matter to Zac. As he saw it she either was innocent or she wasn’t. If she was innocent he'd save her. If not, he was sure Kenzie had a good reason. These times were brutal, especially to a young girl. Depending on what happened he might help her finish the job.

Since he knew what was going on he simply needed to find the prisoners and take it from there. However, an hour later he sat down on a park bench with a frown, unsure what to do next. The government had hidden away those who would stand trial, and no one knew where they were being kept.

Most believed they weren’t even in Kingsbury, but teleported in through the newly added teleporter in order to avoid a prison break. That meant that Zac couldn’t simply free her out even if he wanted to. 

Furthermore, he didn’t dare to walk up to the government’s office to demand to see her. It might backfire, resulting in her disappearing out of reach forever.

According to the sign in the square there were two days until the time of Kenzies trial, and Zac decided to simply wait until that time. He found a place to stay during the wait, and simply sat down in his room, trying to figure out his next move.

As he sat there the relief of finding out his sister was alive was slowly being replaced by a feeling of helplessness and worry. Who knew what was happening to his sister while he sat and waited. 

Until now he’d blocked out any and all speculations about the fact that something might have happened to her, but it wasn’t possible any longer as he was so close now.

Various thoughts or worst-case scenarios kept whirling in his head, and the worry started to change into something more primal.

It was slowly turning into anger, a wave of burning anger that threatened to set the whole town ablaze.

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Author Note: So that's it for October, hope you have enjoyed the ride. We'll keep going with some nasty tribulations and sweet powerups for Zac in November. I hope to see you here tomorrow! :)