“Yep, right that way. Just keep going northwest. You should find signs of settlements soon enough,” Aaron said, directing a line of people fleeing from the south. “Feel free to drop my name, but you shouldn’t have any problems. We’re on the lookout for people.”
“Thank you. But where are you going?” An old man stopped and asked.
“We’re heading south.”
“You mean, toward the corruption?”
“Yeah, mate. Straight for it.”
“Oh no,” the man shook his head. “I’d think twice about that if I were you. I know who you are, Aaron Dober. Everybody does. We’ve been watching you climb the ranks for some time. But you need more than just strength to survive what you’ll find going south.
“Don’t worry. I got plenty of stubbornness to go with it.”
“Hah. But seriously. I know what I’m talking about. We had a small settlement ourselves. Nothing special, but we made do. That was until the corruption came. First our crops died, and then our hunters grew weak. We were worried beasts might overrun us with how weak they had become. But we found the lands around us bare. The beasts had all fled, and we soon found out why. Hordes of them—undead. We fought for a bit; how foolish that was. Several of our best died for nothing. Please, you’ve done us a service, so warn you. No, I beg you, for your own sake, turn back. There’s nothing in that direction besides death.”
“Yeah, nah, that’s not happening. But don’t worry about me, mate. I’m not that easy to kill.”
“I hope you’re right about that.”
A couple of others looked at Aaron like he had gone insane and walked off muttering about how the world was going mad.
“Forgive them, but you’d understand if you’d seen what they have.”
“Mate, trust me, I have. I’ve seen way more than I ever cared to. But it’ll be alright. I got this.”
“Then bless be to you, Aaron Dober,” the man bowed. “I dearly hope to see you in that city of yours. And if you haven’t already married, I have a beautiful daughter. Look over there!”
The man pointed, and a young woman turned and waved back. She was quite pretty, but Aaron wasn’t about to get caught up with such distractions.
“Um, thanks. I’ll consider it, I guess.”
“You do that, my boy. She’ll be waiting. I’m sure there are others amongst our group who would be interested as well,” the man said with a wink.
“Huh? I mean, we’re on the move anyway. Good luck, and be wary of the beasts.”
“What was all that about?” Zero said as Aaron stepped away.
“Oh, nothing. Just more manpower for Dober,” Aaron said with a smile. “Hopefully we can run into more people on our way and direct them to Dober. That should help Julius man all the new outposts.”
“I get the feeling you’re not telling me something, master.”
The two of them continued south, breaking the sound barrier as they blasted through the air, and only stopping to direct more scattered bands of refugees toward Dober.
“Look, it’s Aaron Dober!” A bunch of kids giggled and pointed as he and Zero stopped to direct more refugees.
“Excuse them. You’re like a celebrity to them,” their mother said. “When they’re bored, they watch the rankings. They’ve been following you for some time. They’re always so excited when your rank goes up.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, yeah!” The kids bounced and cheered.
“Why don’t you little guys help your mother get to Dober? I’ll be back soon enough, and I’ll share some of my stories with you.”
“Really?”
“Come on, let’s do it! To Dober!”
“Why thank you. That should make the journey easier for us all,” the mother said with a beaming smile.
“Not a worry. Just keep going in that direction, and you should find us.”
“I can’t thank you enough.”
“No need for thanks,” Aaron said, waving them off.
A weathered man from their group stopped by him once the mother and her kids had moved on a bit. “She’s a fine woman. Husband fell not long after the Tutorial ended. It was a real shame. I’m sure she could do with a real man, if you know what I mean,” he nudged Aaron and kept walking.
“What the hell is going on?” Aaron muttered as they walked off.
“It seems you have quite the fan club, master.”
“Yeah. Getting a bit ridiculous actually. I might have to obscure my face in public if it gets any worse.”
“Can you blame them? You’re a top ranker in this world now. The only person comparable is a mad necromancer who wants to kill everybody. It’s no surprise that you’re popular.
“Yeah, I suppose when you put it that way, it does make a lot of sense. Ahh, the last thing I had on my mind was worrying about becoming a celebrity.”
“There are worse problems to have.”
“You’re right about that, Zero. I’m whining, aren’t I? Okay, enough of that then. There are probably starving kids in… I dunno, the badlands or something. Let’s move.”
Not everyone they came across was starry-eyed, though. A bunch couldn’t hold themselves together, frightened from what they had seen down to their bones.
Unlawfully taken from NovelPhoenix, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Even though they could tell how powerful Aaron was, they just couldn’t imagine anybody dealing with the undead. Many had watched their greatest warriors severely weakened by the corruption, and their settlements had quickly fallen.
“I kinda feel bad about the dungeon now. Just look at all the chaos Darius has caused while we were gone.”
“You couldn’t have known, master. Besides, we grew, and you still have a bunch of very valuable rewards waiting.”
“Yeah, but the destruction. It’s everywhere.”
Along the road, they stopped at a few obelisks, and Aaron cleansed them before moving on. They were still on the outskirts of Darius’ army, though. And most of the obelisks that had been claimed had been claimed by advanced scouting parties, and the forces were small and scattered.
Continuing south, they also came across several goblin tribes. At first, the goblins were defensive, but when Aaron told them of Treg and the other goblins who worked with him, they lowered their guards.
“Just tell them you’re with me,” Aaron said. “Our guards won’t attack first. And if you mention my name, they should take you to my encampment, and the other goblins can help you settle in.”
Even though it was obvious that they weren’t completely reassured, they agreed to do as he said. Ultimately, there were too many threats in every corner of the world, and if someone was offering safety, it was too good to pass up.
“I’ll check in with you when I return,” Aaron said, waving off a sizable tribe of goblins.
The land started to change, and Aaron could see their objective ahead on his mini map.
Leaving behind scattered forests and snaking rivers, they approached a seemingly endless city. It was like something out of an old war documentary, but so much bigger. A landscape of ruined and destroyed buildings that rolled on, and on as far as he could see, even when looking out from high in the sky.
“Fucking hell. It just keeps going. She’s a bloody big one.”
“Indeed, master. It’s incredible.”
They kept flying, but it just kept going. Aaron spotted several famous landmarks from different cities. It was like several huge cities were all stitched together, and rather roughly at that.
Moving into the city, they stopped at a couple of obelisks, and Aaron cleansed them as Zero went hunting undead.
Dusting his hands off, Aaron exited a building that housed one of the obelisks, and a ball of lightning blasted out from an opposing rooftop, taking out a skeleton as it ran at him.
A moment later, several people dropped down from it and walked over.
“Take a look at this guy. It’s the real Aaron Dober.”
“G’day.”
“Hello,” one said, walking up and shaking his hand. “It’s a pleasure. I heard that you were in the dungeon.”
“Huh? You know about the dungeon.”
“Oh yeah. We’re just a small group holding up on that rooftop over there. But we trade with a settlement further south. They have the top ranker Emmy living with them. Rumor has it you guys know each other?”
“Oh, yeah. I know her. How are they doing?”
“Dunno really. Undead have increased in number recently. We lost contact days ago when they took that obelisk that just cleared.”
“Good to know. We’d better go then.”
“You’ve come to clear out the undead?”
“Precisely,” Aaron said as they left.
On their way toward Emmy’s settlement, Aaron stopped at another obelisk and cleansed it, gaining a delightful notification.
You have gained insight into a possible upgrade path for Mana Anchors. Current discovered upgrade paths:
Streamlined Mana Anchors (10%)
Partitioned Mana Anchors (30%)
Reverse Mana Anchors (5%)
Elemental Shift (Void) (10%)
“Nice. These obelisks really are helping with my mana anchors. And there doesn’t appear to be any shortage of them. At this rate, it shouldn't take too long.”
Spotting Zero, aether burst out of his wings, and they kept going, Emmy’s settlement coming into view.
Ryan’s Bar
Ryan had heard the news. Aaron and Talia had returned from the dungeon, and of course, he wanted to catch up with them. He had a special brew to share with them, after all.
But he was following a case of particular importance to him.
It had all started not too long ago, when a mysterious magazine had appeared in his bar.
At first, it had raised a brow, but nothing more. And in fact, it had given him a good idea. Wanting to return a little normalcy to the world, the magazine inspired him to set up a book exchange within his bar.
Of course, there wasn’t a lot of written material in their new world, but more was being created by the day. Especially self-written biographies. Apparently, everyone wanted to tell their story from the apocalypse; unfortunately, fewer wanted to read them, having experienced more or less the same thing for themselves.
But that didn’t bother Ryan. More books were good, regardless of what they were. They provided company to the other books, and made his little bookstand look less depressing.
However, there were limits to his tolerance. Limits that were being tested by a barrage of deranged smut that kept turning up. Sure, his establishment was a bar, one that could get rather rowdy at times. But that didn’t mean he wanted his book exchange filled with explicit material, especially because it was starting to attract a certain clientele.
“Heya, Ryan,” Sooty waved as he wandered through the door and made his way to the book exchange. “Oi! Watchya do with all the good ones?”
“What do you mean, good ones?" Ryan said, crossing his arms.
“Err, I ah. Nothing. This is what I meant! A Housewife’s Journey Through the Apocalypse."
Ryan’s gaze followed Sooty as he left, but he could only sigh when the perverted little soot goblin left.
He needed to do something about this, and grabbed his trenchcoat and fedora.
“Hey, hold down the fort while I’m gone, will you,” he called out to his staffer, and made it across the road.
A small cafe had popped up. Unfortunately, everything was gluten-free, but he hadn’t come for stodgy bread. He had come to solve a mystery.
Pulling his fedora low to obscure his face, he leaned into his chair, sipped on a responsibly sourced latte, and waited.
He knew they would act, and he wasn’t wrong. Less than an hour into his stakeout, a figure came walking past.
They looked away from him, head low, and he couldn’t make them out. They briefly entered his bar and exited, turning down an adjoining street.
Ryan had to be fast. He noted where they were going, and quickly ducked back into the bar to confirm that yet another obscene magazine had been placed in the book exchange, and took chase.
Zigzagging down the narrow alleys that had hastily been built for Dober’s growing population, he chased after the figure, doing his best not to be seen.
I’ve got you now. I won’t let you escape.
He followed them to an unsuspecting house, and then waited for a moment as they let themselves in.
Now!
Not a second could be wasted, and Ryan stormed straight up to the little home and swung the door open.
But he didn’t find the figure he had been following. Just a note on a stand by the door.
Curious, he took the note.
“You missed me,” he read aloud, and tilted his head as he felt a shiny surface on the other side.
“What’s this?”
Carefully, he turned the note over and gasped. It was a lewd drawing of Aaron and Mo’han, and it was uncomfortably detailed.
As his face went red, Ryan crushed the drawing into his fists.
“I will find you,” he shouted into the little, empty home. “And when I do, I will expose you, whoever you are. Don’t think you’re getting away with this depravity!”
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter