Thalion entered the great hall. Everything was full of survivors, and most were even higher level than him because most had spent their days only hunting and leveling, while he was consuming plants or going for a new form. There were already easily over a thousand people in the hall. He was slowly making his way forward to the podium, where Kael would speak.

They had decided that only Kael, Kai, and Sylas would stand on the podium for the speech. Immediately in front of the stage stood a group of forty people with Michael in the middle. They were surrounded by guards with drawn weapons, which was kind of useless since, after the integration, everyone was dangerous, and there were no real police. There were just fighters Kael was ordering around.

Beside Michael’s group stood Garrick with his men, a bit over fifty fighters, and they looked pretty relaxed, like most in the hall. After all, most had joined Kael for safety, and until the orcs arrived, they got what they came for. Thalion was pushing through the crowd to a position on the side near the stage so he could overlook the crowd. It was on the right side of Garrick’s group. Then Kael, Sylas, and Kai entered the stage and began the gathering.

“Thank you all for attending,” Kael greeted everyone, his voice empowered by a crystal in his hand. “This meeting will be about the future of this base and to thank Garrick and his warriors for helping us out in such difficult times.”

“To the first point”, Kael continued, “We have roughly twenty orcs stuck in one tower who have already surrendered and asked to join us. Their leader escaped to the next stage, and some help would come in handy after we lost so many good people. Everyone, raise your hands if you agree with the orcs joining us, or keep them down if you are against it. Know that I have means that would make it almost impossible for them to attack us.”

Thalion put his hand up and watched how the large majority was voting for the orcs to join, but he noticed that not a single one of Garrick’s or Michael’s men raised their hands, like the good opposition they were.

“Great, so with that dealt with, to the second point,I have added the walls and the towers the orcs built to the civilization crystal, and I can upgrade the buildings in the system shop, which will upgrade our defense power by a large margin. In the future, this impregnable fortress will ensure our safety against the undead. In the fourth stage, I plan to teleport to the next stage in up to four to five weeks, depending on how fast your progress is. If you don’t want to fall behind and you can’t gather enough points, you might skip one system shop. I can’t wait for every single one, but I want to keep us all together.”

Most of the survivors in the hall started clapping their hands and nodded in agreement. Only Michael’s and Garrick’s men stayed silent.

“Until then, we will gather as many materials and upgrade this base as well as we can. Every one of you needs to push yourselves. We expect harsh resistance from the undead on the fourth stage,” Kael continued.

“Next, we have a traitor in our base,” Kael announced with a voice like steel. “Michael and his men didn’t attack the orcs, but instead stayed behind, and we found corpses near our wall without any wounds an orc weapon would inflict. If you don’t bring up a good defense, you will be thrown out, and when we encounter you again, you will be killed. Before we founded this base, we were already betrayed once by Thorwald, who killed the survivors in our camp for credits before the system shop. This will not happen again.”

“This accusation is outrageous,” Michael protested. “I would never kill anyone. I only cared for the survival of my men. How many died by your reckless attack on the orcs? No, I just wanted everyone to survive and not die in an attack we didn’t need when we bought stronger magic circles to attack the orcs after the system shop had arrived.”

“Because of your actions, many people died. Everyone who wanted to give that man a chance to stay here, raised their hand. They will be brought to the outer district and will have to fulfill a quota of materials every day to be allowed to stay, or they will be thrown out,” Kael announced with cold eyes.

Most people raised their hands, probably because of the additional materials the forty men would gather every day for them. The many dead, however, didn’t affect them as much since most families were split by the system already, and only a few had found their loved ones.

“You can’t do that,” Michael interjected. “This is not fair.”

“Not fair is how you let the people on your side die. Your possessions will be taken, and you and your supporters will be brought to a house in the outer district. You did nothing since you were here; this is your chance to redeem yourself,” Kael said. “I want to hear nothing. You came here for safety, and since arriving here, you have done nothing. Bring them to their new home.”

The fighters surrounding Michael’s group escorted them out of the hall. Michael hadn’t gathered as much support as they first thought, and maybe this was one threat eliminated, Thalion wondered while watching silently.

“To the last point, I want to thank our helpers,” Kael said. “Garrick and his fighters had helped us in a time of need. Is there something we can do to return the favor?”

“Thank you for the hospitality,” Garrick said. “You all have fought very well today. I don’t have a concrete need at the moment, but my humble base won’t be enough to defend against the undead in the next stage, so I hoped to join you and the brave people in this fortress.”

This was a surprisingly humble suggestion, Thalion thought, and it would even boost their strength even further.

“This is the entire purpose of this fortress: to unite us and be a place of safety in this new world. Do you want to join right now? I heard you left some people back in your base,” Kael nodded in agreement.

“Not right now. I first need to gather everyone, and I don’t want to leave anything of value behind, so I will join you in roughly two weeks, if that is fine with you,” Garrick said with a light bow.

“Great! With that, the gathering is concluded,” Kael announced. “I wish you all the best. Good luck to those who are hunting tonight.”

Thalion didn’t like the smile on Garrick’s face when he turned around. It had something predatory in it, but it was only there for a second before it disappeared.

Thalion made his way back to his room and started training. They had spoken about the outcome already, and he wanted to progress further in his skill creation and body tempering.

So he started to burn the wall of his room with his new personal flamethrower, trying to intensify the flame, making the skill more powerful. Every time his mana pool was at 50 percent, he switched to blood purifying. He was now at a point where there were almost no impurities in his blood that slowed it down, so he could start with the second phase, charging his blood with mana and making it more powerful than before.

That was very similar to what the sanguine thorn was already doing. Through the scroll of sanguine mastery, he learned that the sanguine thorn was storing all the blood he absorbed, which he used for his blood skills. That was why they were so powerful but almost cost no mana. He still had no contact with that blood reservoir as long as the sanguine thorn was not fully awakened, which would take a while. But it was fine for him; his blood skills were already very strong anyway, so whatever the thorn was doing, it worked.

Since he was now pouring his mana into his blood, he had to stop with his skill practice. It would be better to test the skill in his next fight since he didn’t want to destroy his room anymore. The one black wall didn’t look good in the otherwise completely white room. To infuse the blood with mana was very difficult since he needed to hold the mana in the blood until the mana was absorbed permanently. It all was a long and exhausting process.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Close to midnight, his door opened, and a drunk Sylas came in and mumbled, “Hey, are you still awake? I need someone to talk to.”

“Sure, but first, how much did you drink?” Thalion asked after being thrown out of his meditation. Getting drunk after the system was very hard. That guy must have really downed some liters to be this drunk.

“Oh great! I drank the extra strong vodka Kargul and Evelyn always drink,” Sylas answered, while slowly swaying in his direction, swinging from side to side like a ship on high seas.

“So you know Lisa? We really had a great time and were doing everything together. We even kissed, but then this new guy, Garrick popped up and now she doesn’t even talk to me,” Sylas exclaimed, waving his hands in the air.

Thalion had had this experience multiple times with women: the moment someone more interesting came around the corner, they were off. Thankfully he never had to make such an experience. At least not like Sylas; right now he must have found a true whore.

Thalion never got too attached to women in his former life on earth. He had his principles, and when they didn’t care that much for him, the sooner it came out, the better. So he repeated the stuff he had said to so many guys on the beach: “Sylas, don’t be this glum. This would have never worked out; you were way too good for her anyway.”

“Why are you so sure? It felt so good,” Sylas said while looking at the ground.

“Yeah, one hundred percent. She was so weak, and you were so strong. She was just with you because of your power, and now that someone appeared who has more, she left. You are lucky it happened so early; it would have been more painful if it had happened later,” Thalion said, trying to make it simple so Sylas would understand it in his drunken state. Okay, most of it was made up to build the drunk guy up for a bit. He probably wouldn’t remember it anyway. He only barely remembered the mage woman from the forest, but it should be close enough. That she was with Garrick was a very bad sign. Was she perhaps a spy from the start? But then it would be pretty bad to let go of Sylas like that.

“I am way stronger than that, Garrick,” Sylas said with annoyance.

“Maybe she doesn’t know that. You were going pretty easy on her in the sparring sessions,” Thalion countered. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter; she left, so be glad that she is gone and focus on yourself. This whole tutorial is just beginning, and when you are not strong enough, you might die soon with Michael and Garrick plotting something.”

“But I can’t; I am too weak!” Sylas whined, burying his head in his hands.

“Oh God, this is more difficult than I first thought,” Thalion thought while saying, “Life is like a coin; it doesn’t matter what happens to you; you can always flip it. This is an opportunity for you to become the strongest there is and show that bitch how wrong she was.”

“Yes, yes, you are right! I will not waste any time and will work on myself right now. You don’t mind if I stay? I can’t waste any time walking back,” Sylas said with determination and sat down on the floor, starting to meditate. As good as it was possible for a drunk guy, he almost slumped over after a second.

“Sure, no problem,” Thalion murmured. “By the way, what are you training right now?”

“Aura control,” Sylas said so fast Thalion almost didn’t hear it.

“Wait, what is aura?” Thalion asked, perplexed. He vaguely remembered hearing the term before, but he didn’t know what it was.

“Everyone is emitting an aura that others can feel,” Sylas said without looking up. “You can discern the strength of your opponent through their aura, and it can also give a hint to what class they have.”

“And how are you doing that?” Thalion asked, interested.

“You may have felt it when beasts unleash their strongest skills or heavy warriors buff themselves with some berserker skill. It feels like weight on your shoulders,” Sylas exclaimed, still talking very fast. “So you gotta feel it in the air and then just push it very fast.”

“Good Lord, Sylas and his explanation! He was better off buying the information in the next system shop,” Thalion thought. Out loud, he said, “Can you maybe explain it a bit better?”

“It is like a field surrounding you, and when you are able to build a connection with it, you can control it. Think of it like your body is a machine, and when it’s working hard, there is a lot of heat, and when it exits your body, others can feel it,” Sylas explained slowly while trying to sit upright.

“Damn, that was a very good explanation for Sylas,” Thalion thought, now also thinking in meditation so as not to disturb Sylas anymore, who was now very concentrated on his task again.

He also tried to feel his aura. He had experienced it multiple times. After hearing Sylas’s explanation, the last time was with that red orc who had basically radiated power. With enhanced aura, it was probably possible to trick someone into being weaker or stronger than he actually was. He actually made good progress in that department and was able to suppress his aura a bit so that he seemed a bit weaker than he actually was.

He also could feel Sylas’s aura, which felt pretty strong but not close to his. The blood enhancement and the sanguine thorn did provide too much power. Good thing he now knew how to hide it. Assassins were most likely able to completely hide their aura so no one could feel it. That would be a goal for him in his form of the umbral predator. He wondered if he was already doing it naturally when he activated predator instincts, which made him blend in with the darkness surrounding him—another thing to test. It was already morning, and he switched to infusing his blood with mana. He also needed to read the scrolls he bought. They sadly didn’t speak with him like the first ones he got.

Thalion had so many things on his list: blood purification, sword training, more body tempering as umbral predator, and smithing. He was waiting to upgrade eagly after the system shop when he had more information. Close to midday, Sylas rushed out of the room, only briefly mentioning that he would go slaughter all the beasts in the fucking jungle. So Thalion concentrated on blood purification for now. He asked Kael if it was possible to let Michael and his men gather some moonflowers or, in general, plants that buffed one’s affinity to darkness. And that was exactly what they would do for the next few days since Kael had given them a hell of a list.

They really didn’t have time for leveling. Thalion also used the crystal Kael had given him for telepathic communication. It was basically like a handy where you could call someone, just that you needed to think your thoughts very hard. He found that very distracting, so he always spoke them out loud to make the process smoother. So the whole day was blood purification until Kael informed him that the orc corpses were in the spatial ring in one of the storage halls locked away just for him.

Already in the evening, after he exhausted most of his mana, he did go for a short walk. He wanted to visit the smith he had watched and then get the ring with the orc corpses. He also wanted to check how many flowers Michael and his followers had managed to gather. While he walked the streets, he concentrated on hiding his aura to make a weak impression. It was truly marvelous; with both his aura and blood training, he could very accurately assess the strength of the people around him.

First, the aura, and then he could also feel their blood and the power in it. Well, if you can talk of power, most were not really strong, especially not for their level. Most were higher levels than him, but they probably got worse classes and didn’t cultivate for the last day nonstop without sleeping. He arrived at the smithy, and after a short greeting, he watched the smith doing his work, with the smith explaining what he did and why he did it. For Thalion, this was very helpful, and they talked for hours.

It seemed that he had a very good smithing skill compared to most other smiths, who probably had bought a low rarity skill for fewer credits. He already thought of ways to build armor for himself, and he wanted to craft a sword like the knights of the church had a few hundred years ago back on earth. He hoped that he could combine it with his mana blade skill, but those were things for another day. For now, he kept his plans to himself.

After he left the place of the smith, he transferred all the plants and corpses into his spatial ring, which were a lot, and made his way back to his room. Back in front of his warm fireplace, he still thought about what to do with the orc corpses. After he drained their blood, they wouldn’t be any good for the umbral predator, and he had to gain some permanent strength when he devoured them.

Thalion locked the door so no one could enter, transformed into the umbral predator, and started devouring the orc corpses, which were forming five big corpse hills. It had to be hundreds and still fresh, probably due to the time distortion in the spatial ring. Black tendrils shot out of his body and started to turn the corpses into darkness before absorbing it completely. This way he would probably not gain much permanent strength, but he also wanted to progress with the body tempering, so it should be a nice solution. After twenty corpses, he paused and started to work on the second layer of the Shadowforge doctrine, forcing the darkness into his flesh until it was fully absorbed and hummed with power.

This was not easy, as often the darkness did not fuse with his flesh. Instead, it left shortly after, making the whole process very draining. The next days until the system shop’s arrival, Thalion absorbed the corpses and plants Michael and his men were gathering, which were a lot. Sometimes he made a pause and switched to blood purification since devouring most things also refreshed his mana. He hoped that the cultivation was fast enough to keep his lead in the coming struggles.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep