Chapter 46: TreeBug resort, New groups of people
[ Congratulations! You have successfully created your magic core and ascended to Supra-Order. +10 Magic, +50 Mana capacity. ]
Right after that, all three of them leveled up once, reaching level 51 and gaining 2 unassigned stat points.
"Phew, finally…' Rin wiped her face off sweat and stood up.
Meanwhile, Isabella used her Frost Shield skill before them to get cold air from the rectangle ice block.
"This went longer than I expected," Erix said upon seeing the dark sky.
"I have an idea," Rin's eyes suddenly shone as she thought of something.
"How about we fly to TreeBug Resort? There are swimming pools and other facilities, so we can cook something delicious in one of their kitchens and eat. We can also relax, which we urgently need."
"I am hungry!" Aaron shouted with a pout, his eyes teary.
*Grrrr….*
"Alright, let's have some fun before returning to the military base," Erix nodded with a chuckle. "The food in the base is simple and not that tasty anyway."
"Let's hope there are no monsters there," Isabella sighed. "It will be hard to fight any tough battle with our current weary minds. We won't be able to focus."
Rin stood up and stretched her limbs. "Right. All I want to do now is to bathe, eat, and sleep."
"Let's go."
While the trio flew towards TreeBug resort, several powerful people arrived at the military base.
It was a group of nine people consisting of four females and five males, all of whom were around level 40 with their ages ranging from late teens to late twenties, with one being a middle-aged man with a fit body.
Although it was only 8 PM, most of the people in the military base were sleeping because they were mentally and physically tired after fighting so much all day and getting stronger.
However, Senator Ben and General Tark happily welcomed the new group and took them to the meeting room.
They saw the chance to get back the authority of the base with these new people who they thought were as powerful as Erix's group but more in number!
…
As the trio neared the TreeBug resort, they saw a few sections lighted up with torches and bonfires.
There were people inside!
"So, people who were already there survived, or a group went there after surviving in the city," Rin speculated.
"Will it be safe there?" Isabella hesitantly asked.
"We should at least take a look," Erix squinted his eyes to observe and count the number of people.
It was impossible to see people with naked eyes in the dark, but Erix could see and count because he had the passive skill, <Aura Vision>, which allowed him to see the presence aura of living beings.
"There are many people inside, I think over forty," Erix informed them and commanded the Bloodwood Eagle to fly at a lower altitude.
The resort seemed to be under a proper guide since four people sat at the top on a terrace around the bonfire, indicating that people were taking turns to be on the lookout.
When the Bloodwood Eagle neared the resort while flying at a lower altitude, they all stood up to observe the new guests.
"Damn, they are enjoying," Rin clicked her tongue upon seeing women and girls in bikinis and swimsuits while men in shorts at two different swimming pools. They were eating, drinking, and swimming!
Soon, the rest of the people also saw the Eagle and became cautious as they turned toward them.
"Just fly around here while I'll go alone first to check things out," Erix said.
"No, I am coming with you," Rin said, her expression unwavering.
Erix knew there was no other choice after seeing her expression.
"Tell the Bloodwood Eagle to fly around thirty meters near you, so I can use my skills if something happens," Isabella said with a serious expression. "And be careful."
"Got it."
Erix commanded the Eagle before he grabbed Rin's waist and flew towards the resort.
Seeing them flying, all people in the resort were startled and amazed as they started discussing how they could fly on top of getting a flying beast as their mount!
They soon descended at the first swimming pool and saw a lean middle-aged man wearing a maroon suit and rimmed glasses approaching them with a smile, "Welcome to the TreeBug Resort. I am Jin Tyler, the leader of this place."
"Leader, my ass."
Rin and Erix heard the taunting rough voice as a muscular man landed with his back facing Jin. He was a dark-skinned bald man in his thirties wearing only a vest and pants.
"This four-eyes is not the leader of this place," the man grinned at Erix and Rin and crossed his arms. "Of course, I am also not. The name's Khalil; nice to meet you."
"That said, you two seem powerful, eh?" Khalil narrowed his eyes while smiling.
None of them had the means to check each other's level, but perceptive people could feel one's aura and roughly gauge one's strength based on their guts.
He could feel that Erix and Rin had lots of blood on their hands, which was expected since they managed to arrive here after surviving in the city.
"You have settled quite well here," Rin glanced around.
"It was thanks to the joint effort of our two groups here, and later, we saved more people while some arrived here," Jin walked forward and stood beside Khalil as he adjusted his rimmed glasses and looked at Erix and Rin with a sharp smile.
"We welcome people here, but you must join one of the two groups."
He obviously meant to join him or Khalil since both occupied half of the resort and used different swimming pools.
"No thanks," Erix shook his head. "We'll leave after eating some hot food and taking a bath. I'm sure there are many rooms empty here."
"Haha, th-"
"And we already have a large group of over two hundred people at the military headquarters," Rin interrupted Khalil. "If you want, you can head there since it's just several kilometers from here."
"After all, this area is close to the forest, so who knows what kind of mutated monster might suddenly pounce on you?" Rin's words rang with a kind smile on her face. "You have to be careful."
Naturally, she was faking her kind words and expression, which was obvious to Khalil and Jin.
"Your concern is appreciated, but we have settled here quite well, as you've said, and do not plan to leave until we get more powerful and have the means to travel quickly," Jin flatly replied with an indifferent expression.
"Not even for the Labyrinth Tower that's opening in ten days?" Erix raised his eyebrows.
Khalil wryly smiled.
"We want to, but we need working transportation to reach there. Jin's group has a mini-bus that dropped as an item, but that's not enough to carry everyone."
Jin nodded in agreement with Khalil, "For now, our groups are focusing on two things, one is exploring the city, and the other is exploring the forest, so we hope to get one big or two small transportation items as soon as possible by killing monsters from both areas."
"As for the food and bath, you can have that as long as you give us something in return or simply join one of our groups and help us."
Saying that, Jin turned to Khalil, "What do you say?"
'As expected…' Erix didn't believe they would get free lunch here after seeing people in the resort.
Since they survived until now and even managed to come here, it was obvious to the other party that they had items in their inventory.
Although people should help each other in these challenging times since so many had already died, that was not logical anymore because people could get power and continue to get stronger.
They were experiencing things that they believed only gods could do.
Magic! Powerful skills! Evolution!
As such, people have different mindsets and ways of doing things based on what they have experienced so far and what they anticipate for their future.
That's why Khalil grinned when Jin turned to him and replied with, "No."
Turning to Rin and Erix, Khalil continued, "You can come to my area and get food. The chef in my group is better anyway."
"What I want from you is not your item or your help if you don't want to give but an effortless thing on your part."
"What?" Erix narrowed his eyes behind his mask.
"Information."
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