In the end, a total of 71 Ascenders had died that day.
Many more were severely injured, but they had survived.
When Dilan returned to their new base, he didn’t say a word.
He stayed silent and ignored the gazes that lingered on him.
Most Survivors had heard of the tragedy that had befallen their comrades, and almost all of them couldn’t believe that their strong protectors were no more to save them.
It may not be difficult to become an Ascender, but the 71 Ascenders, who had died, had been special. They were Tier-1 Ascenders, most with Rare occupations at that.
Their strength had been a force to reckon with, yet, they had died… just like that…
Instead of a great opportunity, the Pagoda of Time had now turned into an emblem of danger and death to the Survivors. They swore to stay away from it as far as possible and to never approach it if it was not necessary.
There were also a few Survivors, who blamed Dilan because he hadn’t held back the Ascenders from entering the Pagoda of Time..
But they felt tongue-tied the moment they saw his ice-cold stare and all their grumbling thoughts never reached anybody’s ears. Just one look at him was more than enough for them to gulp nervously and not dare to speak up against him openly.
Dilan was not someone who would hold back against anyone, even if it were his own people or normal Survivors.
He believed in freedom of speech and that everyone had the right to express their opinions but if they wanted to say something they had to be ready to participate in a discussion; one where he wouldn’t hold back from unleashing his anger on those who dared to speak rubbish.
“I have never forced anyone to enter the Pagoda, nor did I ask someone to keep advancing even though others told them that they could not keep up and that they had reached their limit.
Talk to the garbage bin if you have more trash to talk about.”
That was the only thing Dilan said in the span of three days.
While the Survivors and the other Ascenders had to sort out their confusing thoughts and cope with the incidents that had happened, Dilan had to do the same and a lot more.
He was not traumatized by the death of the 71 Ascenders but he knew that he had to change his attitude toward the others.
Everyone was still under the impression that he would save them whenever something would happen.
However, that wouldn’t happen. First of all, he was not obliged to do anything to help them. He was doing so of his own accord because he didn’t want to see all humans getting ripped apart like some piece of paper.
At the same time, Dilan knew that it was impossible to always be there for others. He could not cut himself into a million pieces and run around saving everyone, every single time, whenever, and wherever they were.
This was what the others had realized with the incident revolving around the Pagoda of Time. The death of 71 Ascenders was tragic.
It was a great loss and many were sad about it. But at the same time, it was also an event that allowed many Ascenders and Survivors to grow, to understand more about the ways of the world and to realize that though Dilan would always be there to protect them, they had to work hard by themselves in order to actually survive. He would not waste his time and energy to save lazy folks after all.
In the three days when Dilan had been mostly silent, he had focused on collecting treasures. He conquered the Pagoda of Time a total of three times, exchanged the Essence crystals he collected with treasures to increase the number of treasures he possessed, and also entered a few Gates.
At first, he decided to enter the weakest gate.
After stepping inside, Dilan ignored the fact that most monsters were running away from him due to the destructive and bloodthirsty aura he released without realizing it.
His focus was on gathering intel about the environment of the Gates, what kind of monsters resided within it and which monsters were the strongest.
It was also important to figure out whether there were other Gates inside the dimension their Gate had led them to.
If another Gate existed, it was possible that it would be similar to the Krendel’s Underground Valley, where the large Gate provided better treasures in exchange for Essence crystals than the small Gate in the Rian mountainside hospital.
Dilan had spent a total of three days with less than six hours of sleep in total. It was not necessary for him to sleep much anymore.
After advancing to Tier-1 and after increasing their Health stat, most Ascenders’ need for sleep decreased drastically.
Sven predicted that they would require to only sleep once a week after reaching the Peak of Tier-2.
This was just a prediction but it sounded quite intriguing. After all, it would mean that they might not even need to sleep after becoming Tier-4 or Tier-5 Ascenders.
But for now, advancing his Tier was the last thing Dilan could be bothered about.
By now, he had amassed 15500 Dungeon Points, and it was possible for him to purchase lots of treasures, powerful abilities, pieces of equipment, and so on.
However, Dilan was not sure what to purchase yet. There were too many things he actually needed, with one of the most important ones being to find a way how to properly manage the group of survivors under him.
On the fourth day, he chose to attend the daily meetings and join the others once again. Dilan had calmed down and he knew in these few days, he had learned to control his anger about the stupidity of his own people much better than before.
He finally found relief in the fact that he could just leave his group whenever he felt that he wanted to do nothing with them anymore.
This thought was oddly calming. It was weird but simultaneously quite funny.
But Dilan wouldn’t just abandon those he had painstakingly nurtured, and neither would anyone be allowed to behave however they pleased.
Changing his decision about something was close to impossible because he was way too stubborn.
And that was something the others had long since realized. After all, he did whatever he wanted to, whenever he wanted to, and he treated his people the way he felt to be just and fair.
He listened to others but his decisions were not necessarily influenced by their opinions. And once he made a choice, the comments of the people around him turned insignificant.
Thus, he was able to listen calmly to the report Sven shared with a deep sigh.
“During the last three days, we encountered four groups of unknown Ascenders outside Shiron. They didn’t attack us, and neither did we attack them. It might be possible to communicate with them if we encounter them once again, even if it would prove to be quite difficult.”
This part of the report was something Dilan was already aware of. He had also seen a few groups of unknown Ascenders during the last few days.
They had been hunting in the Shikan planes and fighting a few Bronze Tier-1 monsters.
To him, they were not actually dangerous, and his people were also stronger than them. That was under the condition that his people didn’t overestimate their strength needlessly as they had done while trying to conquer the Pagoda of Time.
However, what Sven said next was not something Dilan was aware of, but something he had expected to happen sooner or later.
“Also, during the last three days, close to 300 Ascenders and Survivors chose to leave our group. Their reasons vary a lot but they can be summarized quite easily.
Many want to search for their missing family, others are traumatized and they cannot live with the others knowing that they’re guilty of having pushed their own people to death. Apparently, they feel that the gazes of the other Survivors and Ascenders are unbearable to endure.
As for others, they don’t think that this group provides them with enough protection, so they want to fight for themselves, without anyone suppressing them…”
Sven said a few more things before he continued with his report. It took him only ten minutes before he was done. In response, Dilan’s lips twitched before he grumbled.
“More protection? I won’t carry them around in my hands. Well…either way, I hope the best for them. Let them try to survive on their own.”
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