A faint smile appeared on his face as he read it. His Mark of Origin had finally accumulated another point of Origin Energy after continuously absorbing it from the surrounding environment and the monsters they had defeated. The ’dense’ Origin Energy inside the supermart had clearly sped up the process.
The increase wasn’t large, but it was still progress. He now needed only one more point before he could enter the Land of Origin again. That made the trip through the supermart more worthwhile than he had expected.
Alex led the group through the shopping area while checking the store numbers Ben had mentioned earlier. After a few minutes, they stopped in front of a shop with its shutter pulled down. Alex knocked firmly against the metal before raising his voice.
"It’s Alex. We’re here," he said.
Silence answered him for several seconds. Then Alex felt movement through his Mana Sense as someone cautiously approached the shutter and peeked outside. A moment later, the lock was undone and the shutter slowly rolled upward.
Several exhausted survivors stood inside the shop. Many of them had tears in their eyes, while others simply looked relieved that someone had finally reached them. The tension they had been carrying seemed to disappear the moment they recognized Alex.
"Thank you for coming. Thank you. I honestly didn’t know whether anyone would make it here," Ben said as he stepped forward.
He shook Alex’s hand vigorously before pulling him into a brief hug. Alex simply patted the older man’s back, understanding why he had lost control of his emotions.
People could panic or even hyperventilate after being trapped in an elevator for an hour. Compared to that, surviving through an apocalypse while believing rescue might never come was enough to break even the strongest person’s composure.
Once everyone had calmed down, Alex briefly greeted the remaining survivors before leading the enlarged group out of the supermart. The return journey passed without incident, and before long they arrived at the temporary base where several members of Stefan’s faction had remained behind.
The people waiting immediately stood up as the rescued survivors entered the buidling. Alex looked toward them before speaking in a calm voice.
"Please get them something to eat," Alex said.
"Of course," Maya replied with a nod before walking toward the rescued survivors. She was an Easy Difficulty Ascendant from Stefan’s faction who had stayed behind with another Ascendant to protect the civilians. Since everyone only needed to remain quiet and hidden, two people had been enough to guard the temporary base.
Maya had already prepared a large meal while the search teams were away. Ben, Edward, and the other rescued survivors quickly sat down to eat, and the exhaustion on their faces eased a little after the first few bites. Many of them looked as though they hadn’t had a proper meal since days, due to the stress.
Not long afterward, the remaining two search teams also returned with the survivors they had rescued. The temporary base, which had been relatively quiet earlier, soon became crowded with people talking, eating, and resting. Although everyone looked tired, the successful rescue had noticeably lifted the atmosphere.
Alex looked toward Tina, Kevin, Robert, and Sophia as they entered. They were clearly exhausted after the ordeal, but he could also tell they had improved. Their increased stats were obvious, yet what stood out more was the confidence with which they carried themselves.
"Charlotta!"
Ophelia hurried across the room and immediately embraced her daughter. Charlotta happily returned the hug while the two quietly spoke to each other, and Alex chose not to interrupt them. Instead, he walked over to Stefan, Holland, Elizabeth, Tina, Kevin, and the others for a short meeting.
The ascendants gathered in a separate room.
Each group gave their report one after another. As expected, every team had encountered monster corpses bearing deep claw marks, even if the exact locations differed. Once everyone finished speaking, Alex shared what his group had found inside the warehouse.
He explained that the warehouse was most likely the center of a dungeon and that every Scorch Salamander inside, including what appeared to be the boss, had already been killed. He also mentioned that every Gene Potential had disappeared before they arrived. That piece of information drew thoughtful expressions from everyone present.
"It sounds like a giant feline monster cleared the dungeon," Holland, the giant guy in Stefan’s faction, said after hearing the reports.
"Or a Beast. Whatever it was, those wounds definitely weren’t made by a human," Elizabeth added.
Alex nodded. "I reached the same conclusion. It somehow located the boss directly, which probably means its senses are far better than ours. The strange thing is that it ignored every survivor hiding inside the Supermart, even though it should’ve been able to sense them."
Kevin thought about it for a moment before speaking. "If that’s true, maybe it isn’t interested in hunting humans."
"Maybe. Even so, we shouldn’t make assumptions. We still know too little about Beasts to decide whether they’re harmless," Alex replied.
Everyone agreed with that assessment. Once there was nothing else to discuss, the meeting ended, and people gradually returned to their own tasks. Alex was also preparing to leave because he still needed to travel toward his sister’s location after recruiting two more members to complete his Tutorial Quest.
"Alex, could you stay behind for a moment?" Stefan suddenly asked.
Alex nodded before looking toward Tina and the others, who were watching him concern. He simply waved a hand, letting them know everything was fine. Once everyone else left the room, only Stefan and Alex remained.
Stefan stayed quiet for several seconds before finally speaking.
"It’s your cat, isn’t it?"
Alex immediately understood what he meant, but calmly shook his head. "No. The clues point toward a giant feline, and Mia clearly isn’t that large."
Stefan watched him carefully for a moment before asking another question.
"Do you really not know, or are you trying to hide it?"
Alex had Battle Instinct Spell active. The spell kept him calm, keeping his emotions completely steady. A normal college student’s expression might’ve given information away, but Alex’s expression remained unchanged as he looked back at Stefan.
Stefan let out a quiet sigh.
"I received another message from the CIA Special Service agent. You probably received the same direct message asking for help with a dungeon," Stefan said.
"I did. What about it?" Alex asked.
"I’m not planning to go. The dungeon is too far away, and I think our priority should be establishing a base here. I want to gather survivors and build a community of Ascendants before the situation becomes even worse," Stefan said.
Alex silently raised an eyebrow. While Stefan genuinely wanted to protect people, it was also obvious that he intended to become the leader of that community. Alex didn’t particularly care either way since he had no plans to stay here for long.
Seeing Alex remain silent, Stefan gave a faint smile, and spoke, "The CIA agent also mentioned that some beasts can increase their size. That’s why I suspected the Beast might actually be your cat. Don’t worry, though. I haven’t told anyone else because I understand why you would want to keep something like that secret. People would get aggressive towards the cat if they think it’s an uncontrollable monster."
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