Dilan had not spent a lot of time on the base during the last few days. He noticed that many things had changed in a positive way, such as the safety around their base, which had been reinforced.
There was almost nothing that had changed negatively and Dilan liked this a lot. A few Survivors kept complaining about the changes that occurred when Sven’s new currency system had been imported but the complaints died down quickly.
Everyone frowned at the complaining Survivors, and they were quickly outcasts just because nobody wanted to be around those, who were lazy and entitled. The Primordial Ascension had changed everything and the lazy and entitled were bound to die first. That was something most Survivors and Ascenders understood best.
The hardworking people would survive, become stronger and create a safety net around themselves by working together, while the weak would either die or barely receive something to stay alive.
Sven was merciless because he merely handed over a bowl of plain soup without any meat if they didn’t pay up for food. This forced the lazy and entitled to start working because they had already grown accustomed to eating meat and wild vegetables during lunch and dinner.
To prevent being outcasted and get enough food, one had to do the dishes, at the very least. This was not actually hard and even the complaining Survivors couldn’t help but feel that they might have overdone it. If they had to do some simple things such as picking up trash, cleaning, doing dishes or the laundry to get warm meals, patrolling the area, and befriending the others, it was not actually worth complaining about.
“Wow, this is amazing!” Dilan exclaimed when he arrived on the top of their base. A huge garden covered the entire flat rooftop and a while later, the young nurse, Mira, and a few other Ascenders entered his view.
Mira rushed toward him, her face smudged with dirt as she smiled proudly at their leader,
“Aren’t we great? In a month or so we’ll be able to start using and supplying our very own vegetables! We won’t need to scourge the Mountain Ring of the Elements for wild vegetables anymore,” Sarah exclaimed with a smirk on her face.
Dilan just smiled in return before he nodded his head. Mira’s [Botanica Lexica Magica] ability had been of exceptional use, and so was her [Green Finger] passive ability. The garden on the rooftop was being tended to by more than four women, who had picked occupations and abilities that were directly related to gardening, or farming.
This was exceptionally useful, and the only downside could be considered the lack of highly nutritious soil to plant something in. It had already been difficult to let Mira and the others use all the space on the rooftop for their garden, especially because the entire group required lots of space for various reasons, such as the Ascenders’ training.
“You guys are really great, I’m already curious to know how the vegetables with which you guys cooked the food will taste!” Dilan said excitedly before he spoke with Kira and the others for a while. He left them afterward to look over the rooftop to see where everyone was and what they were doing.
His group was bustling with energy as everyone was working hard. Many Ascenders were out to kill all the monsters they could find roaming in Shiron. This was a daily task that had to be done in order to reassure that newly emerged monsters wouldn’t stir any trouble.
By now Shiron was completely in Dilan’s control and their group had taken in a few more Survivors, who had struggled to survive all by themselves, or in small groups.
Their numbers were constantly increasing and Dilan was currently considering how to get to the other cities to search and locate other groups and to rescue those, who were too weak to rescue themselves.
Dilan didn’t do that solely for the sake of acting like their savior. He was not a hypocrite, who believed that he could play a hero. However, he still needed more humans because it was near-impossible for him and the others to overcome the struggle that awaited them if they were spread out and not working together.
Even if someone didn’t want to work hard, they would receive an ability crystal just by killing a single monster. Despite having the capability to get their hands on more abilities, they were still rare.
Most good abilities in the Dungeon Shops were extremely expensive. The abilities one could receive with an extremely small change by exchanging Essence crystals at certain Gates were unlikely to be combat abilities as well. Most of them were either related to certain Lifestyle occupations or were focused on specific occupations.
Roughly every 10th trade at the Gate would reward one ability crystal, and only one in 50 ability crystals possessed a combat-focused ability.
Meanwhile, every third ability crystal generated by a Survivor, who killed a monster for the first time, was awarded a combat-focused ability crystal.
“We need to find more people…if there is only one or two with an Origin ability, it will be possible to create more powerhouses…just a few more, who are willing to give their all to become stronger and I won’t have to feel so uneasy about the Vampire attack…” Dilan uttered quietly. Nobody heard him as he quietly traced his way back to the inside of the base.
“Why are you even that worried? It’s not like you will die while fighting against the Vampires. At most some of your subordinates will die!” Victoria’s voice floated towards him all of a sudden. He felt something soft and tender pressed on his upper arm and looked to his left.
Kathrine and Yvonne were running after Victoria, who had suddenly disappeared. They were wildly looking around for her and a deep frown appeared on their faces the moment they saw that Victoria was clinging to Dilan once again.
“Dilan, finally we found you!” Yvonne exclaimed, with a relieved expression on her face. He picked up the relief in her voice and turned in her direction.
“What’s wrong?” He asked in an alarmed tone and waited for Yvonne to answer. However, she remained silent for a few seconds as she stared daggers at his arm that was tightly squeezed in between Victoria’s ample breasts before she sighed deeply.
Taking a deep breath, she fanned herself with her hands in an effort to calm herself as she averted her focus to Dilan.
“You need to help me kill a few monsters. I want to level up my Origin ability,” She said calmly and Dilan nodded his head almost immediately.
“Right, your [Angel of Death] needs to witness the death of powerful living beings to generate enough energy to level up. Will the Pagoda of Time work then?” Dilan asked and provided a feasible solution at the same time.
If they were to enter the Duo mode of the Pagoda of Time, they could kill a total of 1500 monsters or more while less than an hour passed in the outside world.
“That won’t work. Monster kills inside the Pagoda of Time won’t be considered and only Gold Tier-1 monsters or stronger count, either way!” Yvonne stated dejectedly as she approached Dilan and Victoria. She manifested a ball out of death mana to throw it at Victoria, who backed off instinctively.
“Why are you attacking me, Yve? Are you jealous~?” Victoria asked with a cheeky smile on her face. However, Yvonne could only frown deeply.
“This woman…” She muttered in annoyance, while Dilan turned to Kathrine.
“Kath, you need to help me as well!”
“Huh?…okay”
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