Chapter 261 - Neither wrong nor right (Patreon)

In the end, we rest for over two days, one of us sleeping while another takes watch. After those two days, I feel much better. I even sacrifice some shards to buy food and water, which I share with Myrra. When she starts asking too many questions about where it comes from, the system interferes, and from then on, she acts like it's normal.

Such a display of control by the system over natives is disturbing, but knowing there's nothing I can do, I try to ignore it.

I look towards the small crater where the First One died. I don't know what I expected, but I feel empty.

It's not to the point where I would say revenge isn't worth it. Not at all.

That bitch had to go down. It's just that the joy I felt for killing him slowly diminishes, and I know in a few days he will become just a memory. An enemy dealt with, a step on my way towards wherever this all leads me. Just a fake, the only proof of his existence being the empty place left behind by Hadwin.

While Myrra sleeps, I sell the skill upgrade token after examining all the options for upgrading my skills. I make sure to remember the most useful ones as it helps me understand my skills and what should be possible with them. Even then, I follow the plan I made long ago and decide not to upgrade any of my skills.

Do you really want to sell the following item for 5000 shards?

Skill upgrade token

Yes/No

I confirm, and my shards increase. Unlike the skill upgrade token I sold some time ago, I got 5000 shards instead of 2500, meaning there is most likely a rarity to skill upgrade tokens as well.

Trying for a while, I confirm that I can't receive rewards for clearing this Floor's main quest, most likely needing to enter the 5th floor to receive them.

Floor quest:

Destroy one of the 4 Calamities

Rewards:

Epic Passive skill

Skill upgrade token

2000 Shards

60 stat points

Access to other Communities

More shards, access to other communities, and mainly an epic passive skill. Then there are also 9000 shards I have, meaning I can buy another passive skill on my own if I want to, or wait for the 5th floor or maybe wait for the rest of group 4 to deal with another Calamity.

They received a confirmation for clearing this quest even though they weren't here, most likely meaning that the floor rewards are received by everyone even if only a single member of the group clears the quest. And knowing the system, all such rewards will be obtained only on the next floor.

So yeah, let's wait and buy some juicy epic passive. Thinking about it, I will get 2 epic passives on the 5th floor, so that's really something.

My increased level is now over 200, a new trait, my plans for improving the kinetic mana heart, another round of active tempering, and enchanting, tests with black mana. There is so much to do as always, but I like it. Things like this are good to take my mind off useless stuff.

“Thinking again?” Myrra stretches, her tail twitching while she does so.

Currently, both of us are in the massive crater the crash made, with a tarp put over us, creating a nice shade in this desert-like area.

I already ditched warmer clothes for more comfortable ones and at times I even absorb some heat from my skin and release it to make myself colder. At some point, I even split my mind with [Focus] and do it constantly with a part of it. There are no enemies, no monsters, nothing, so I can handle the mana expenditure quite easily.

The place we are on is the start of the desert where the fallen hero wanders, as Myrra says.

“You are doing it again,” the tall lynthari complains.

“And what will you do about it?” I shoot back.

Myrra blinks a few times. “You used to be so cute when I met you for the first time. So careful and shy,” she shakes her head.

“That was long ago. ” I get up on my feet. “Ready to examine the base?”

Her answer is positive and she quickly stands up. Her being a lynthari means that she can get bored quite easily, especially without anything interesting happening.

“Looking at the material it's made of, I suspect that the base on orbit, some parts of Virelia, some tunnels the colony took over were made by a lynthari Champion or an Absolute.” Her hand slides on the surface of the base as we find the broken part and enter.

The material is extremely durable and only after falling down from the orbit, which should be at around 100 miles, and crashing against the earth, it got damaged.

“Probably someone with a skill related to creating or manipulating stone? Looking at it, it's all made from the same material,” I suggest.

Myrra lights up the area around us, “Or someone that could turn normal materials into this one.”

The base is tilted, some tunnels destroyed as we delve deeper inside, looking for traps that could be left behind by the previous owner or the First One.

At least the inside of the base is colder than the outside air, so we take it slowly, examining the rooms and tunnels, looking for anything useful.

But it's similar to when we entered the orbital base: It's empty, the rooms cleared of nearly everything. There are no mana stones with messages, and no personal belongings. Just long tunnels and empty rooms.

The only worthwhile parts about it are the inscriptions that I examine, even marking some down onto cheaper mana stones while Myrra finds another pillar she activates thanks to her being lynthari and tries to search for anything useful.

What she finds are just tidbits of information, most of the useful data cleared by the previous owner or maybe even by the system, so we learn nearly nothing from it.

She can somewhat control the base, but to make it run as before would require skills neither of us have to repair it.

The most useful thing we get from all of this is the map of arrays. The old ones from during the war, which are mostly destroyed, and newer ones the base's scan found when Myrra was looking for remains of the Colony.

We give it a few more days in hopes of finding anything useful, but in the end, we just give up and head towards the closest array. I have a strong suspicion that Myrra found something out, but she is trying to hide it from the way she behaves slightly differently.

For now, I decide to let it be and observe her for a bit longer.

And so we travel through the dunes, either running or flying when we get bored of it. What surrounds us are never-ending golden dunes that at first looked exotic and nice, but after a few days, the never-ending view becomes stale. As well as the weather that is too hot for my liking, but Myrra seems to be enjoying it. Her ears flipping and tail swaying as she seems to absorb the heat with an expression of enjoyment.

“I won’t return to Virelia,” she says to me as we stop for a short break.

The sun shines on her while she keeps her eyes closed. Her white hair shines especially brightly.

“Please don’t ask, I have a reason and I will tell you sooner or later. Is it fine with you?” The determination in her voice is clear.

Seeing no problem in agreeing, I answer, “Sure.”

She opens her eyes and observes me the same way I'm observing her while a small smile climbs on her lips.

The two of us really are similar in some ways, aren't we? It’s partially nice as it gets rid of annoying things, but it’s also annoying because she seems to guess really well what I'm thinking, something I'm not used to.

***

We reach the array and spend some time getting it uncovered from under tonnes of sand and then more time I spend fixing it. All while the white-haired lynthari sunbathes nearby with her eyes constantly on me.

“Freeloader,” I throw at her.

“I've heard worse,” she answers, unbothered, and turns her face towards the sun.

While pushing my mana into the array and checking it for any leaks, I open the community. Beyond Community is still working, even after the system turned off the other ones.

Gareth - I'm sorry to hear that, Sset! I hope it will get better for you guys. As for your question, Maximilian and Jakub can still access the Hell community, as well as other groups, so it's most likely only you.

Savant - You guys probably killed the Calamity, right? That's why your Community got blocked. And us being able to talk means that you decided to stay and didn't enter the 5th floor yet.

Gareth - Oh, you are smart as always, Savant!

Sset - Yes, we did. I see no reason to keep it a secret.

Gareth - Our group hasn't even started yet! We are still in Virelia, and everyone seems to have fun with the guild and enjoying some rest. Meanwhile we do some information collection and get to know some lynthari and guild masters.

Sset - Gareth, do more of you plan to enter Beyond?

Gareth - A few wanted to, but I convinced them to change their mind. Most of us have already used upgrade tokens too.

Savant - So nice of you. It's easier to control your group if you are the strongest one, right?

Gareth - Yes.

Savant - That's unexpected for you to admit it so easily.

Gareth - I'm their leader, so it's my responsibility to choose the way. Risking their life in Beyond is not something they have to do. Just me going through it is fine, my friend.

Sset - What if they want to?

Gareth - If they decide to do so, I will help and will work hard to prepare them. That much is expected of me, of course. But they trust my decision.

Savant - Disgusting.

Sset - They might end up being too reliant on you.

Gareth - Sset, from the way you talk I can tell that you are still very young, so allow me to explain. It's not bad that they rely on me, it's not wrong to look for someone to lean against in such situations. It's even to be expected.

With interest, I watch the conversation, forgetting about my mana flowing through the array.

Gareth - I have decided to take on this responsibility and be such a person to them. I will protect them as much as I can, and we will cooperate so all of us will improve, together. So that we not only survive but get through this while having people we can rely on.

Noname - What if they die? What will you do then?

Gareth - First, I'm sorry for your loss, Noname, I heard a lot of good about Hadwin from Jakub. I'm sure he will be missed by a lot of people. And to answer your question, we would grieve and make sure it won't happen again. Death is something to be expected in these kinds of conditions, but not something we take lightly.

Noname - What if you die?

Gareth - I won't. I am really strong. I won't die, and I won't let any of them die while under my watch, and I will make sure they will be prepared for the case I'm not there.

Noname - You are wrong.

Gareth - I'm neither wrong nor right, my friend. The same goes for you.

I look away from the window, thinking about what Gareth said. There are some things I like and some I really don't.

But in the end, he still feels suspicious to me, and I'm more inclined to Savant's opinion that Gareth just wants to be strong enough to control his group, and this is just a mask.

About to close the window when I notice one more message.

Sset - Grumpy entered Beyond's first trial.

***

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