Defiance of the Fall

Zac almost laughed out loud when he heard the story , and said a silent prayer for the old master . More importantly , it seemed it was possible for him to become a cultivator in the future . Of course , it seemed impossibly hard , but he had time and a huge amount of Luck . Not wanting to hold up the meeting any longer with this tangent , he changed the subject .

What about the defenses of the town? The monster hordes are coming soon . -

This was what mattered the most to Zac right now . The town needed to be standing at least until he could buy a teleporter or a cosmic ship so he could finally start his search for his family . And if possible he would want to defend Port Atwood from the incoming animals , in order to turn his island both into a sanctuary and bastion .

Chapter 75 - Gaming the System

The demons were aware of Zac’s quest and started discussing various means of defense . They soon came to an agreement that it wouldn’t be possible to complete an outer wall in the duration that remained until the first horde arrived , and would have to focus on the inner wall instead .

Zac was a bit skeptical , as he knew the whole wall around their own town was erected in just a few days’ time . Were they holding back on him? However , it was soon explained that the whole force came together and immediately fortified their position when they arrived at the island . Now they were left with only a tenth of their force , and almost all the earth mages that had been instrumental to the construction were either dead or back in their home world .

What is the point of the wall anyhow? I could easily scale your wall in seconds . I can just buy a defensive array instead - Zac probed , wondering if all the work of erecting walls were even worth it .

Defensive arrays need power to run . If no one , or just a few assailants are attacking the ambient energy is enough . But as soon as it comes under attack either cultivators or crystals are needed to provide energy to keep the shield active . Imagine ten thousand beasts simultaneously clawing and ramming their bodies into the shield . The energy consumption would be terrifying , and you’d become broke after a few weeks of maintaining it . - Ogras replied . - Walls are cheap and effective below E-rank . They are the first line of defense that is easily replaceable and provides a vantage where we can grind down the enemy forces before even wasting a single crystal on maintaining an array . Only if they break through the walls will we need to spend resources on maintaining the arrays . -

What about the merchant headquarters? According to the blueprint the compound will be placed outside the inner wall . - While Zac was no angel he didn’t want to summon the poor traders just to be eaten by monsters in a month , he wasn’t that cruel .

Many structures provided by The Ruthless Heavens have certain protections in place . It will automatically be protected like the Tree of Ascension was . - Ogras explained , which reminded Zac about the impenetrable shield that covered the tree while the fruits were ripening .

Can’t we just hide inside there then? - Zac asked . Having a safe spot where nothing could harm him would be extremely convenient while assaulted by a sea of monsters .

We can enter and leave , but only during business hours if we’re not members . And no , we can’t just become temporary members during the beast horde attacks . - Ogras ruthlessly crushed Zac’s hopes . - Also , that protection only applies to buildings connected to the Mercantile System , so nothing else you build will be safe . The horde’s main targets will be you and the Nexus Node , and everything impeding its path will be destroyed . Trying to exploit various loopholes such as surrounding your camp with protected merchant shops won’t work either . Everything has been tested over time , and the loopholes have been fixed by the Ruthless Heavens millions of years ago . -

In the end they decided to focus on erecting a wall around Zac’s camp . The radius of the wall was to be five hundred meters , giving Zac a huge personal area to build a proper home in the future . Medium Scale Arrays would also fit properly inside a fortification of that size .

Parts of the wall were only temporary , since the main plan was for the walls to go all the way down to the water in the future . For specific arrays they held off for the moment since they didn’t know the amount of Nexus coins they’d be able to scrounge together before the first wave appeared .

Content with the results , Ogras dismissed the others to speak to Zac privately . They decided that Ogras would travel between Demon Town and Port Atwood to keep both the mining efforts going and oversee the construction of the wall . Zac would head to the mines to try and restore his pathways and excavate as many crystals as possible .

Before they left Zac showed Ogras the screen for the Forester’s Constitution skill after some hesitation . It was still stuck on (8/30) , and Zac explained the situation .

Forester's Constitution (Class) : Fight in the forests , be one with nature . Reward : Forester's Constitution Skill . (8/30) .

Yesterday Ogras told him how he managed to speak to Zac on the mountain top . He also explained how Zac had finished the quest , even though Ogras as the general was still alive . Before the completion of the incursion quest Ogras wouldn’t be able to speak to Zac even if he had the translation skill . The System wouldn’t let communication happen between natives and invaders until one side was defeated , as it didn’t want to see any peaceful solution . Therefore the completion of the quest was necessary .

It was the first pill the demon swallowed right after killing Rydel that made it happen . The pill was actually called The Coward’s Escape] , and truly killed the user for a short duration . It was a tool for escaping various situations that would only end with either death or success , such as inheritance sites or being the target of a quest .

It would complete any quests that demanded his death and often even teleport him , the - corpse - , out of the inheritance site . The downside of the pill was that all active quests were considered forfeited upon death , so using it could be extremely detrimental if you had an important quest active . It was also the reason Zac didn’t get 100% contribution on finishing his quest , as the last target killed himself .

Obviously Ogras had some experience in exploiting the rigid system , and Zac needed some of that ingenuity . He was strapped for time but wanted to complete his constitution quest before the beast horde arrived . But he also needed to stay in the mines with its high concentration of energy in order to heal his body broken by the Cosmic Water .

He would have used the mountain valley for both purposes if it wasn’t turned into a poisoned hellhole after the forest fires and poison clouds made it uninhabitable . Ogras had explained with some embarrassment that it could take months before it was possible to get back up there .

From the description it is either a Seed-quest that gives you a vision for a Dao seed , or it requires a Dao Seed connected to nature . Perhaps Seed of Grass or Seed of Trees . -

Not Seed of Nature or Seed of Earth? - Zac asked skeptically . Seed of Trees did not seem very impressive .

The Dao of Nature and Earth are high tiered Daos , and not something you can touch . - Ogras sneered derisively . - I’ve never heard of this skill , what class did you say you had? -

Zac ignored him and waited for the demon to provide some solution instead .

Seeing that Zac wasn’t intending on answering , Ogras could only mutter something and continue . - Fight in the forest is very vague , and you can probably exploit it . What constitutes a forest , and what constitutes fight? If you want to complete it without wasting too much time we need to do two things . First , find the spot closest to the mines that The Ruthless Heavens considers forest . Second , find out how often you need to kill something to be considered in battle . - He said as he was tapping the table with his hand .

You said you were steadily gaining progression when you fought the Barghest even though you instantly killed the barghest , so there is an allowed downtime . Find how long it is , and if it is long enough you can easily exploit it . Simply have someone drag a Barghest to the forest-spot , and run out of the mine and kill it . Then run back in and continue mining . If you’re lucky you will only need something like 5-10 minutes on travel time per kill and can spend the rest on mining and focusing on recuperation . -

Zac was stunned . He would never have thought of that method , and was glad he confided in the demon . He was a shady character but could also be very useful . And Ogras didn’t know it , but his solution would also help him progress his other Class skill for Loamwalker] through all the running .

There was only one thing more to do before he headed toward the caves , and that was to buy the Thayer Consortia Headquarters] and have them start buying his crystals . It was obvious that they were desperate to be bought , as they cost a fraction compared to most others for buying the building in the Town Shop , and Zac didn’t want anyone else snatching the building up before he did .

Zac and Ogras moved toward where the large merchant compound was to be located . It was quite far from both his camp and the shipyard , with only trees and stones around . After a double-check , Zac opened up the Town Shop and bought the headquarters .

Soon changes to the area started appearing just as with the creation of the shipyard . Trees and rocks disappeared , and replacing them were gravel and cobblestones . Soon structures appeared as well , one by one sprouting up like mushrooms out of the ground . But that was where the similarities with the shipyard ended .

The Creator structures were crafted with meticulous care , looking pristine with mighty fractals covering every inch . But what appeared in front of the duo could almost be called a ghetto . The buildings were a mix of stone and wood structures that once might have been proper structures . But the houses looked like they had been abandoned and then put through decades of harsh weather .

There were broken windows , mold , tiles missing , and they could even spot a few buildings where a wall had simply collapsed . No fractals covered anything , and Zac was actually loath to enter most of the buildings from safety concerns . The only building that looked to be in decent order was also the largest one . It was a three-story building where each floor should have an area of roughly a thousand square meters , and if Zac had to guess it was the actual store for the Thayer Consortia . The other structures should be warehouses , support buildings , and homes for the employees .

What is this shanty town? - Ogras asked in shock . - You might just have enlisted the worst merchants in the multi-verse , I can’t believe how poor they look . -

Zac was very much inclined to agree . The goal of merchants was to amass wealth , just like the goal of a cultivator was to get stronger . Judging by the state of disrepair of the structures he could only assume the Thayer Consortia was really incompetent at their job .

But there was nothing to do , there was no refund button in the Town Shop , and they could only suppress their misgivings and enter the shop . The inside was slightly better than the outside , and at least everything was spotlessly clean . It was the store as Zac expected , but it reminded him of a struggling convenience store with mostly empty shelves .

There were a few pieces of equipment at various racks , but they looked worse compared to the ones the demons used . There also were a few information crystals behind glass displays , but the displays weren’t even a quarter full . In some corners various materials were sold , and there also were some herbs and plants , though they all looked a bit dried out .

Manning the disk were a few humanoids that somewhat reminded Zac of gnomes . They were less than a meter tall but didn’t have the stockiness , or beardiness , of dwarves . Their skin was also light blue and they had deep sapphire-colored eyes , with pointed ears like elves . Perhaps they were genies?

Before Zac and Ogras could approach the clerks another genie came running toward the two . He looked much like the others , with the blue skin and no hair . He wore what looked like an old-fashioned suit , and had an ascot tied around his neck .

Greetings honored customers , I am Calrin Thayer , Chairman of the Thayer Consortia . Excuse the slight disarray , we are currently setting everything up . Can I presume one of you is the distinguished Lord? -

Chapter 76 - Business Tactics

Calrin looked over the reports and agreements strewn on his table , his feelings not much better compared to when he was holed up waiting for the Tsarun Clan to hunt him down . He had cried in relief when someone finally purchased their headquarters , the window with the teleportation prompt looking like a writ of amnesty .

He had thought that the Thayer Consortia would be able to slowly regroup and recover on this new world . The newly integrated planets and continents were filled with valuables that needed a buyer , and the natives seldom knew the worth of what they held in their hands . A single trade could result in a profit that would cover expenses for months .

But who would’ve expected that they got placed on a deserted island instead of some burgeoning town . Apart from a shipyard there wasn’t a single building , and the Merchant’s Window showed that Port Atwood , as the presumptive town was called , only housed one solitary citizen ; its Lord .

Worse yet was the Lord’s companion , the System-blasted Demon . For a second Calrin was ecstatic when he heard that the Lord controlled an actual Nexus Crystal Mine . That meant there was a Nexus Vein on the island , and sooner or later things like farms with valuable plants would pop up . Even cultivators would relocate here for the high density of energy , which would only help business further .

Until then he would be able to turn a tidy profit buying the crystals and reselling them through the Mercantile System . A native had no idea of value of things , and if they added a larger margin , who would know?

But that Demon wasn’t actually a native , but a defected invader . He ruthlessly started to pressure down the profit margins to a razor’s edge , even threatening them with a trade embargo . He obviously had a general idea of the Thayer Corporation’s situation and knew that if they didn’t produce some profit and turnover , the System would rescind their business license .

Gone were the dreams of a mighty comeback , replaced with a nightmare of toiling under a demonic taskmaster for little to no profits .

Zac was quite happy with the result of the negotiations as he moved through the forest . Ogras kept proving his worth as a teammate . The little genie , whose race was actually called Sky Gnomes , made a big production of support and mutual cooperation after he heard about the Nexus Crystal Mine . After almost wiping away a tear of self-sacrifice he offered the most generous price of 35 Nexus Coins per Crystal .

The price seemed to have awoken a dragon in Ogras , and he started making a scene . It turned out that the value of a crystal was actually closer to 50 Nexus Coins , and after subtracting transaction costs for using the Mercantile System and some profit for the merchant , the crystals were generally bought for 44 to 46 crystals at most merchant shops . The price-gouging System-run stores only gave 35 crystals though , and it seemed that the gnome planned on offering the same price and pocketing the difference .

What followed was an almost surreal exchange between the gnome and the demon , where the demon initially wanted to get 54 coins per crystals , forcing the trading firm to eat a loss at each trade .

The gnome tried every trick in the book to keep the prices reasonable in order to make some profit . At one point he had even tearfully ordered one of the clerks to fetch a noose , as he said he would - rather hang himself than keep suffering this kind of injustice’ . Not long after the noose was long forgotten , and instead the chairman paraded two little Gnome Children in front of Zac and the Ogras .

They were some of the cutest things Zac had ever seen , but they were wearing frayed clothing and looked hungry with large puppy-dog eyes . Zac was tempted to stop the demon at this point , but Ogras waved him away and ruthlessly pushed forward . Zac did however spot the demon surreptitiously place candies in each of the kid’s hands , without pausing in his screaming contest with Calrin .

Ogras’ trade tactic was simpler , as it was just a long stream of threats , insults , and angry gestures . He tried everything from threatening to fill the area with competing businesses to enacting trade embargoes on the Sky Gnomes .

Finally , the price they agreed upon was 47 Nexus Coin per refined crystal , a rate that obviously was one of the best one could get without selling them directly to a customer who needed them . Both Ogras and Calrin was heaving and sweating at this point , looking like they had just finished an arduous battle . Zac quickly handed over 11 000 crystals , and immediately received 517 000 Nexus Coins in return .

Next , Zac asked about a pill that could help with his situation with his pathways , but as expected the little gnome had nothing of that quality in the store . He did however promise to acquire one through his channels , but it didn’t look like he even believed himself .

Content , Zac and Ogras left as there wasn’t much else of value to buy in the shop . Besides , both of them were suffering from a lack of funds at the moment . Ogras told him that the System had confiscated all the demons’ nexus coins when they stayed on Earth , but Zac wasn’t convinced . After watching the previous display he was more inclined to believe that he simply refused to expose any hidden wealth .

Not long after they were done at the consortium they parted ways , with Ogras heading to the camp to start converting more raw crystals he had - found’ in the town . Meanwhile , Zac headed toward the mines to start mining himself while staying in the energy-rich atmosphere of the tunnels . Ogras estimated the daily turnover from the mine to be roughly 5 000 crystals now that most of the demons were gone and they were short on man-power .

That meant that together with whatever Zac managed to excavate the daily Nexus Coin gain would be roughly 250 000 . It didn’t seem like too much compared to the prices of some of the structures in the Town Shop , but it was a steady source of wealth that could be increased as soon as more citizens arrived . And judging from the tunnels he had walked through before , the crystals would last for years .

That meant that before the horde arrived he would be able to afford the E-Grade Medium Scale Town Defense Array] array he had spotted earlier for 5 000 000 Nexus Coins , and even add in some more fortifications .

After walking for half a day and killing a barghest every now and then , Zac finally reached the mines once again . Less than two days had actually passed since he last was here , but it felt like much longer for some reason .

After walking some distance into the tunnels he felt the air had filled up to the density of cosmic energy that suffused the depths and going any further wouldn’t make the environment any better . Unless he went to that cave he woke up in , but it was too far into the mountain for convenience .

Thus began Zac’s monotone days down in the mines . On the first day he only focused on recuperation and seeing whether staying here actually helped with his situation . He expended some cosmic energy by using the guidance system , and was ecstatic to notice that he actually recovered quicker here compared to at his camp . It looked like the demon had told the truth . The difference was small though , but it gave Zac some hope .

The following day he retrieved Alyn , enlisting her as a private teacher to go through various subjects about the System , Cultivation and the Multi-Verse . Every time he paused after having furiously whacked at the mines for a few hours they would go over some subject . Alyn also helped him recruit a few ranger demons that would lead a barghest to a patch of grass next to the mine entrance . It was the closest spot that System considered a forest , and killing a beast there did advance his quest .

After two days of trials he learned that he only needed to kill a monster every hour , and then that whole hour would be considered as - fighting in the forest - . After that his daily life took on a very structured schedule .

He’d mine for roughly 45 minutes , then run out of the caves to kill a barghest . After running back to his mine-shaft he’d have a mini-lecture of 5 minutes with Alyn while he had a small break , before starting mining again . He felt a bit bad for the demoness having to just fiddle around for 55 minutes an hour , but she seemed perfectly content taking out a book and read in a comfortable couch . And Zac guessed it beat toiling to erect a wall .

On the fourth day Zac got ten identical axes to the two he had from a scared-looking demon . It looked like it would take some time until they warmed up to him . He didn’t want to use other weapons even while mining , and instead used his weapon of choice . His mining wasn’t only for gaining wealth , but also to improve his proficiency with his axes .

Every time he hit into the wall , no matter if it was with the edge , the spike , or the butt , he tried to remember the trajectories and methods that he learned from the guidance system . He had realized that while blindly following the paths had made him stronger , there was a limit . If he wanted to truly improve he needed to internalize the teachings and understand why he swung like he did .

He realized that just some small differences in how he applied force , or a slight change in angle on impact , could have a huge difference in how much rock he managed to cut . As Zac progressed through the days more and more rock started to gather at his feet . His furious assault on the mountain walls kept damaging the axes , and he was forced to keep circulating them and let the old ones rest .

As time passed he felt that his pathways were truly slowly healing , as every day he could sense his recovery speed had increased a bit . Still , the improvement was very limited , and he wasn’t sure if he’d make it in time for the beast horde .

If he had to point out one negative about his current lifestyle was the complete and utter lack of progression in levels . He unequipped his amulet long ago , and the few barghest he killed per day could barely move his level forward .

Zac had simply run out of targets on the island . The demons and their beast hordes were some sorts of allies by now , leaving only the small critters in the forest . There also were the salamanders , but those huge lumbering beasts were too few and far in between to actually be an effective target for improving further .

He knew that he would likely get more targets than he could wish for as soon as the beast hordes arrived , but it clearly showed the long term problem that he had outgrown the island . If he wanted to improve further he needed to venture out into the world .

Chapter 77 - What is the System?

Zac was wiping off some sweat as he sat down on a small stool . He had been mining and running back and forth between the tunnels and the plot of forest for over six hours , and needed a break . This was the ninth day in the mines , and his speed of accruing crystals had progressed greatly as his mastery with his axes improved . He brought out a canteen of water and some food as he looked over to his companion in the tunnel .

Alyn was sitting in a comfortable chair reading a book at the moment , seemingly unaware of the clangor in the tunnels . She had been extremely uncomfortable being left alone with him in the beginning but was starting to warm up to him a bit it seemed . Zac unceasingly peppered her with questions about various aspects of the System during every break he took , and instead of being annoyed like Ogras she seemed to be very much in favor of his thirst for knowledge .

So , you’ve explained so many things about the System to me . But you haven’t explained what the System itself is . Does anyone know? - Zac probed .

The demoness put down her book and looked over to Zac .

I was wondering when you were going to ask . In fact , almost everyone knows what the System , as you call it , is and how it came to be . It is no secret . But to explain that you first need to know about The Ancient Empire , - she said , quickly going into lecturing mode .

Millions upon millions of years ago the System did not exist . Instead , cultivators strove for immortality by cultivating the Dao without any guidance , windows , attributes , or prompts . They used their cultivation techniques to gather the Spiritual Energy in the cosmos , and improved by reaching higher and higher cultivation stages . -

In this ancient era there existed an endlessly powerful empire , which stood on top of the cultivation world for millions of years . It spread over myriad worlds in the universe and unceasingly kept expanding . Leading this great nation was a man called Emperor Limitless . He was said to have reached the peak of cultivation , and many still consider him the strongest being to have ever existed . Of course , many also belive that the System has allowed the powerhouses of the multi-verse to reach further heights compared to the ancient cultivators . -

Emperor Limitless had already reached the peak of cultivation long ago , and instead set his boundless ambition upon his empire . His goal was to turn all creation into his empire , to control all life in existence . -

Therefore he waged wars , fighting for thousands and thousands of years , the empire ever expanding . The battlefields grew more numerous , and the empire actually started to run out of soldiers . Trillions of lives were lost in the battle over millions of worlds , and the empire had problems producing new powerful warriors . Almost all cultivators were forced into the battle , leaving few competent teachers behind to train the next generation . -

Emperor limitless , and a few of his closest generals and magistrates , came up with a daring solution . They wished to create a synthetic being that would connect with every single cultivator in the Empire , and train them into strong warriors . A cosmic teacher that would lead the empire to further heights , as no potential genius would go unnoticed , and no cultivator would train inefficiently due to bad teachings . -

The creation of this entity took an astounding time , and everyone that worked on the project died generation after generation from old age , except Emperor Limitless with his almost infinite longevity . The resources that were poured into the project can’t even be calculated , and just a small fraction of it would cause a bloody storm to erupt even on an A-ranked continent . -

But finally they were done . The last step was to activate it and attach it to the Heavenly Dao itself , allowing it to spread to all space . Billions and billions of the strongest of the Ancient Empire gathered at their main continent , and together infused this construct larger than a sun with energy . -

The activation was a success , and the cosmic being spoke its first words to the world . -

What words did it say? - Zac interjected , entranced by the story .

’Insufficient energy’ . Those were the first two words of the System , and every cultivator in existence heard it . What followed were the dark ages . -

Something had gone horribly wrong with the being , and it forcefully started absorbing energy . First the cultivators part of the activation were absorbed until they died , even the emperor was almost killed . He escaped after paying a terrible price , but the System wasn’t done and started absorbing the ambient energy from the universe . -

The absorption continued , and soon once glorious cultivation havens were turned into wastelands due to lack of Spiritual Energy . Even worse , the Dao of the Heavens had somehow become clouded , and progression on the path of cultivation became impossibly hard . All the powerhouses in the multi-verse were furious , as Emperor Limitless’ experiment essentially cut off their path of progression . -

With the empire being weakened and all forces banding together , the Ancient Empire crumbled . Emperor Limitless was slain as well , as the System had stolen most of his power already . The chaotic times continued for a million years , and the sparse energy and obscured Dao became the new norm . Emperor Limitless was remembered as the sinner of the world of cultivation . -

But one day it all changed . Energy came flooding back into the universe , and all cultivators once more heard the voice . This time it said - Initiation complete . ’ After a million years the System had completed all the preparations , and then it started to actually diligently fulfill its purpose . It opened the path of progression again , and started to train warriors and powerhouses . All cultivators that resided on planets that once were part of the Ancient Empire got integrated with the System , just like you and me . -

It soon became clear that many things had changed , as the System had constrained and categorized the Myriad Dao itself . Gone were the cultivation levels and cultivation through meridians , and instead empowering through levels was introduced . -

The fact that the Dao was usurped is why a few factions in the multi-verse , such as the Technocrats , call the System - The Cosmic Warden’ . They believe that by constraining the Dao it has cut of the avenue for new Dao’s , such as Dao of Technology or Dao of Guns , to emerge . Their goal is to destroy the System , and in their words - free the Dao’ . Other factions consider the System the liberator of the multi-verse though , and are stuck in a perpetual war with the Technocrats , - Alyn animatedly explained .

The fact that the System was an ancient training system gone haywire seemed like a huge cosmic joke to Zac . An almost endless amount of beings had been affected because this Ancient Empire wanted to streamline their war efforts . But at least it explained why it wanted people to struggle and take risks . Its very purpose was to create strong warriors and even powerhouses , and those could only be born through battle and hardship .

So why did the System integrate Earth? If the System is only supposed to be a training system for this Ancient Empire , why bring us into the mix? Was Earth part of the Ancient Empire? - Zac asked .

No . Earth isn’t even in the same universe as the Ancient Empire was located . The System not only fulfilled its purpose by training warriors , it also somehow inherited the goal of Emperor Limitless . Since the System’s birth all that time ago it has kept expanding . After a while it spread to the whole universe it resided in , and soon after it started finding new ones to spread its influence into . Since then it has kept ceaselessly expanding . -

Of course , this is just the most generally accepted theory of the System’s origin . The reason that it’s taken as the truth is that it is the history that is taught by The System’s pixies in the tutorial of all newly integrated worlds . There are some that believe that the System hides its true origins for some sinister purpose , but such things are far beyond us small F-rank individuals .

The exact details can’t be confirmed for certain , as it happened in another universe an impossibly long time ago . We do however know that the Ancient Empire was real , and that it was ruled by an Emperor Limitless . There are multiple historic remains from the empire , and there are many collectors of relics from that long lost time . -

Zac was truly in awe of the power of this synthetic being , spreading through whole universes with nothing being able to stop it . At least if what Alyn said was true , Zac didn’t feel that the System was either good or evil . It was just an impossibly powerful AI let loose , eternally fulfilling its purpose . Unfortunately for Earth that meant that it would throw the planet into Struggle , heedless of the cost in lives . As long as strong warriors were created out of the turmoil , the System was happy .

He briefly thought about the Technocrats . They had to be truly brave or true lunatics to want to fight against the System . It was like going to war against the basic rules of the universe by this point , like trying to fight Death or Time .

It seemed that there was some parts missing from Alyn’s explanation though . From her description it seemed that the System was designed to train and strengthen cultivators for the Ancient Empire . But the system did much more than that . It also helped mortals become stronger , and it also seemed to work with Beasts somehow .

It even had side-features such as the Town Shop and the Mercantile System , which enabled trade over the vast distances of the Multi-Verse . And that was just what Zac had discovered so far in the scant two months since being introduced to it . Perhaps there were even more functions that waited to be discovered .

How come the System affects all beings then , like mortals and even beasts? Didn’t you say it was designed to train cultivators? - Zac probed .

Good question . It as you said , the system initially only trained cultivators , and only those able to cultivate were connected to the System . But the system has changed a few times throughout history , each change disrupting the way of life in the multi-verse . To understand these changes we must talk about the Apostates . Those scant few who managed to throw the laws of the universe out the window , and bend reality to their wills . -

The number of Apostates that has emerged since the system was created can be counted on two hands . Each was a being of unlimited power who actually managed to change the way the system operates . Very little is known about the first Apostate , not even his name . He is simply known as - The First Defier’ . -

Chapter 78 - The Apostates

The subject of the origin of the System was very interesting to Zac . He had a hard time imagining an empire strong enough that it dared to wage war against a whole universe , and an individual powerful enough to change the basic rules of the universe by creating the System . Just a glance of someone like Emperor Limitless was probably enough to blast him into molecules .

The subject of Apostates also piqued his interest to the point that he actually put down his axe and decided to keep listening instead of resuming his mining operations .

So you mean that these so-called Apostates managed to actually change how the System worked? - he asked intrigued .

The actual reasons are quite unclear . Some believe that the System rewards the Apostates for reaching the peak of their path by letting them design or change aspects of how it operates . Other say that they reached such a height that their ideals and convictions shape reality itself , and the System was forced to comply . None of the Apostate has actually broached the subject to tell us what the truth is . - Alyn answered .

Are they still alive? - Zac probed .

It’s not clear , at least not to us in lowly D-ranked worlds . From what has been passed down through the multi-verse the last Apostate and change happened roughly 280 million years ago . Even with the enormous longevity of such supreme beings , they shouldn’t be alive unless immortality is real . Besides , the Apostates reportedly disappeared roughly at the same time the change they brought to the system appeared . That’s why a third theory for the change is that the Apostates actually merged with the System . -

Zac felt it was reasonable that even the school-mistress didn’t have all the answers . These were the top characters in the multi-verse , and there should be many hidden things behind the curtains that the general population wasn’t qualified to know .

So , what changes did they bring? -

Well , we can begin with the latest Apostate . He is called the Apostate of Greed , but his real name was Orlan Stillsun . His contribution was the Mercantile System that Calrin and all other merchant organizations use . He was a progenitor of a planet just like you and rose to the peak in only a few dozens of millennia .

But his class wasn’t combat-oriented , and there are very few mentions of him ever battling . The peak he rose to was through business , and his company is still around today , even though he is not . Being able to get a Stillsun Family shop in your Lordship is one of the greatest signs of your status in the multi-verse . Of course , they would never open a branch on a D-Ranked world , as they still are one of the most powerful entities in the multi-verse .

His accomplishments were only possible because of the Apostate of Mercy . I have no real knowledge of her , and I don’t even know if there is a family line that can trace to her like the Apostate of Greed . She reportedly felt sorry for the myriad people in the multi-verse being forced into conflict . In her era , all classes were combat-oriented , and the only method to get stronger was to fight and kill .

She enabled the non-combat class system , also known as the craftsman class system . Thanks to her it is possible to gain levels and improve classes without having to risk your life in constant battle . Of course , the craftsmen need to still arduously improve and practice their craft to gain cosmic energy and levels . -

What about you? - Zac asked .

It is generally a bit rude to ask someone about their class , but it doesn’t matter in this case . My class is simply Teacher , an F-Ranked Common class . My skills pertain to knowledge retention and dissemination . I also get ocular skills that can help me see cosmic energy circulation in others so I can guide students’ cultivation practice . I even get some defensive spells to protect myself and my students , but no offensive ones . And I am actually gaining Cosmic Energy as I am explaining these things to you , as I am fulfilling the purpose of my class . -

Are there upgrade paths for the Teacher class as well? -

Any class has the potential to reach the peak of power , non-combat classes included . There are some restrictions in general when it comes to class upgrades . We explained some of it when we discussed Heritages earlier , but this is a good point to go over class upgrades . - Alyn said , swiftly jumping in between subjects .

The first class upgrade is at level 75 . There are generally three things that are needed to upgrade to E-Grade . Race , Dao , and Achievements . Your race needs to be E-class , you need to have grasped at least one Dao-seed and your actions must enable the class . Some classes have even more restrictions , such as status restrictions or Title-requirements , but those are exceptions rather than the rule . Classes with higher Rarity almost always have more stringent requirements in Dao and Achievments .

If you don’t fulfill all three requirements you will not be able to upgrade your class and progress from level 75 . It is therefore known as the first bottleneck . Furthermore , many are able to upgrade their class but still chose to stay down there , even until the day they die . -

Why would they not upgrade if they are able to? - Zac asked confused . There seemed to be only upsides to upgrading and becoming stronger .

There are a few reasons people stay on at F-class , at least for a bit . First , there are certain trials and titles that are only accessible before advancing . The Tower of Eternity is one such example . The second , and more important reason is that people desperately try to gain access to a better class - Alyn said .

What do you mean? - Zac already felt pretty happy getting a Rare class , but if it could increase the rarity even further when upgrading to the next tier , that would obviously be better . The tower thing sounded interesting as well , but one thing at a time .

Achievements is the third requirement , and the most diffuse . Only with a full heritage can you know exactly what you need to do to be able to gain a class . But examples are to fight in wars , to have killed enough enemies , to have seen and explored certain areas . Generally to have grown as a being and have accomplished things above the norm .

Warriors do not only wait to get a better class in order to gain better skills and attribute points , they do it since they do not want to cut off their path of cultivation . There is another minimum requirement for class advancement that is related to class rarity . An F-ranked class can be any rarity and still gain an upgrade . But an E-ranked class need to be at least Uncommon ranked to be able to advance further . So if you pick an E-ranked common class , then your path of cultivation will end at E-rank , no matter how deep your insight of the Dao is or how grand your achievements are .

And with every stage , the requirement increase one step . A D-Ranker needs to have at least a Rare class , a C-Ranker at least an Epic one and so on . There is an endless amount of individuals with greater ambition than talent that throw themselves into perilous situations to gain achievements in hope of gaining a better option for a class . Most die , but some succeed . Of course , the Fruit of Ascension you ate is a shortcut in a sense . - Alyn stated with some obvious desire in her eyes as she mentioned the fruit .

What do the Fruits I ate have to do with class options? - Zac asked confused . He thought they were only good for upgrading his Race , and that was why they were named after Ascension .

Ogras didn’t tell you? - Alyn asked surprised . She hesitated a long while before she seemed to have come to a decision . - Well , this part you didn’t hear from me then . The main goal of a Fruit of Ascension isn’t improving your Race , although it is a good time-saving effect for most people , cultivators included . It is the effect it has on your class upgrades . It’s only a D-ranked treasure , so it’s effect is limited , but essentially it improves your choices when you upgrade your class .

Even if a warrior normally only qualified for common classes when upgrading to E-Rank , after eating a Fruit of Ascension they would be guaranteed to only have uncommon classes to choose from . If you could already get uncommon ones , it is likely you will get Rare options . It can even help push you toward getting an Epic class if you were close to qualifying but falling a bit short . The fruit is a cheat , or a shortcut , that immensely improves a warrior's future prospects . That is why it’s considered one of the greatest D-Ranked natural treasures - she finished with a longing sigh .

Zac’s heart started to beat rapidly , finally understanding the gravity of what he had eaten . No wonder everyone had scrambled to get those fruits on the mountains . He had already heard that most warriors in the multi-verse , even on established D-Rank planets , started out as a Common class . This fruit would enable them to reach at least D-Rank in the future .

In his case the use was still great , as it might be what pushed him into getting an Epic class when upgrading . From what he understood an epic class was extremely rare and it would be a huge event if an Epic class emerged on a D-ranked world . He didn’t wish to stay on this topic though , as he still had another fruit sitting in his pouch like a hot potato .

So what did the other Apostates change? - he asked , changing the subject .

The one before Lady Mercy was called the Apostate of Order . He was a great scholar who strove to understand all Dao under the heavens . The change he brought was the codifying of the Dao . You should know it as the patterns , or fractals you see from everything from our weapons , to skills , even to your pathways . - Alyn answered , jumping back to the original topic without any hiccup .

It is thanks to him we can gain Dao Seeds and further our understanding of the Dao through study of the fractals - she continued .

What do you mean? - Zac asked , once again getting derailed by an interesting topic . He still hadn’t found a way to upgrade his Dao Seed , and had tried various tricks .

The fractals contain a hint of the Dao . It is most clear in the fractals awarded from the So-called Seed-quests , as they emanate the Dao itself . But it is possible to gain insight from almost anything , from the inscriptions on a piece of gear to continuous usage of a skill . It is generally more effective to study fractals than to sit in silent meditation , though many consider a combination of the two the best .

In any case . The two first Apostates do not actually have any Apostate designations but are rather called The Beast Progenitor and The First Defier , and they are strong contenders for the title of the most powerful beings since the inception of cultivation . -

Chapter 79 - The Lifebringer

Zac was walking back through the forest toward the Camp . He had spent the last 16 days in the mines and felt the need to check up on the battle preparations . He wanted to be done with everything something like 10 days before the first horde arrived in case something went wrong , and he was now halfway to his deadline . While Ogras had proven himself quite useful he wasn’t too comfortable leaving the demon to his own devices in his camp . Besides , who knew how many crystals he was stashing away while Zac was preoccupied .

Zac sighed as he knew there was nothing much he could do about that for now , as long as it was kept within reasonable limits . He would just have to see it as a salary for the demon . As he walked he activated the Axe Mastery] guidance system , once more following its intrepid pathways .

Two days ago as he was swinging away at the tunnel wall he actually evolved the skill . It seemed that the method to level up Axe Mastery was to learn and internalize everything the trajectories had to offer , and he had arduously kept trying to improve his form over the last two weeks . It was now at Middle Mastery , just like Chop] . The changes weren’t as obvious as with his other skill though , only adding some techniques and strikes .

It did however also incorporate both his Dao of Heaviness and his Skill Chop] into the mix . Just as it before had fluidly changed between various techniques and attacks , it now also incorporated those two elements in the ever-changing barrage of strikes . He had quickly realized some new usage methods for the skills , such as using Chop] like a retractable lance , almost instantly impaling enemies as the energy edge expanded when he held the axe with the right angle . For that attack he didn’t even have to move his arm , just charge the skill as he held it stationary , making it a great surprise strike .

He also found out he used the Dao empowerment inefficiently , since he only really needed to empower the strike in the last second as it approached the enemy . Until now he charged his strike up as he did with cosmic energy , starting to infuse the Dao even before the swing started . That both gave the defender a warning and wasted too much mental energy .

Unfortunately , the improved Axe Mastery] didn’t show any strikes where the Dao and his skill were combined , like with his final furious strikes in the battle between him and Rydel . It also didn’t provide him with a new vision like it did when he first received the skill . He had hoped that the skill would give him a new vision that would help him finally understand the Dao of Sharpness .

He felt he was actually progressing there though , and might grasp it by his own soon . He was diligently trying to improve the sense of sharpness of his strikes , cutting increasingly large gashes in the tunnel walls .

There was another reason for Zac leaving the tunnels this day . He was very close to completing the quests for both his Loamwalker] skill and Forester’s Constitution] , and he felt it would be better to complete those skills when he was alone .

Since Alyn explained to Zac how Luck worked he was far more ready to listen to his gut . It turned out that the attribute wasn’t only good for things such as winning in card games or getting good rewards from quests . Luck was an extremely convenient attribute that greatly improved a warrior’s survivability , and cultivators across the multi-verse desperately looked for means to improve their Luck . There were actually fruits like the Fruit of Ascension that could permanently improve an attribute , and those that improved Luck were hundreds to thousands of times more expensive compared to the other ones .

It could be said that Luck gave a person a sixth sense , and the higher the luck the more pronounced it would become . At lower levels it could vaguely sense that something was wrong , causing a general sense of discomfort . As luck improved it would give the person an acute sense of danger in case his life was in peril , allowing him to survive where an unlucky person would die .

Zac thought back to some of his fights , especially the ambush in the caves . He had suddenly felt an extreme sense of danger just before an arrow slammed into his head , and it was that feeling that saved his life . Only now did he understand that it came from his extremely high Luck .

Alyn had also told him that it didn’t only work against bad things , but also for fortuitous encounters as the attribute kept increasing . She mentioned how a person with extremely high Luck could sometimes get an almost irresistible urge to walk in some random direction , and as long as he followed his gut there would be a treasure waiting at the end . But to get lucky to that point one needed hundreds of points in the attribute .

Therefore , since Zac’s gut told him he should be alone when completing the quest he didn’t hesitate to head out , using the fact he wanted to check out the camp as a convenient excuse . He once again checked the class skills .

Forester's Constitution (Class) : Fight in the forests , be one with nature . Reward : Forester's Constitution Skill . (29/30)

Loamwalker (Class) : Walk a thousand kilometers touching the earth . Reward : Loamwalker Skill . (983/1000)

After confirming the status he kept moving through the forest , westward rather than going south . He wanted to get out of the way , as there was some foot traffic through the forest that could interrupt him . Or rather jungle as it started to feel like . The path between Port Atwood and Azh’Rodum , which was the new name for the Demon Town , was getting to the point that an actual trail was getting created .

Ogras had decided to rename it since it didn’t make sense for the town to be named after the clan they abandoned . From Alyn’s explanation , Rodum simply meant capital in their native language , and the Azh-prefix was a reminder of their origin .

Apparently , there had been sort of an uprising in Azh’Rodum while Zac diligently trained in the mines . Zac learned that Ogras’ influence came from his extremely powerful grandfather , but his own reputation was less than stellar . Some demons felt that they would do a better job at running the town now that they didn’t have to fear repercussions from the clan or Ogras’ ancestor , and sought to seize control .

It was a group of demons who had been stuck in the mines looking for Zac when the incursion ended , and who were still disgruntled that they couldn’t get home . Different from most of the town , the demons who were in the mines had no choice whether to go home or not and were involuntarily stranded on Earth .

The rebellion had been shortlived and extremely bloody . Ogras unleashed a level of power that dumbfounded the town , and Alyn was still shocked as she retold the events . Just as interestingly , Ogras was aided by multiple powerful demons that had been thought to be non-combat class individuals until that moment . They sprung up from nowhere and suppressed the town with their power as well . They captured the dissidents in quick order and with overwhelming power .

The rebellion did not just end with the rebels being caught . What followed caused even the stoic Alyn to be shaken . Ogras ruthlessly tortured the group of demons in front of the rest of the town , their screams echoing through Azh’Rodum for hours before they finally were allowed to die . After that Ogras had once again become an unquestioned leader . Zac didn’t believe that those methods were sustainable , ruling with fear could only take one so far . But they were strapped for time and Zac needed the demon’s to work as if their lives depended on it , because in a sense they did .

During the past two weeks Zac learned a few words and sentences so that he could at least greet the demons who didn’t possess the language skill Book of Babel] . The name greatly confused Zac when he heard its name since it was clearly based on the biblical origin myth . But Alyn explained that the skill also translated many things into something that made sense for the listener . For example , the skill was named after an ancient Devil with a million mouths in demonic , which was based on their own mythology .

Soon he was close to the edge on the west part of the island , far away from any Demon activity . Zac marveled at the surroundings , as the forest had changed so much after only two weeks in the cave . Some trees were starting to grow impossibly large , and all sorts of plants and flowers peppered the forest floor . Many of the flowers were things that he’d never seen before , and he wondered whether they were mutations or something that had drifted over from a neighboring island .

As he walked along he killed a barghest every now and then in order to keep his quest progressing . He hadn’t been too surprised when he learned that the demons sent through hundreds of thousands of the beasts , as they were literally everywhere on the island .

When he asked why they didn’t send more demons instead Alyn explained that going through an incursion had a cost , and the more powerful a warrior the more expensive it would be . Non-combat classes like Alyn were somewhat affordable to send through , but individuals like Ogras and Rydel alone cost almost as much as the whole barghest hordes .

Suddenly Zac felt the familiar gathering of energy in his mind and his heartbeat sped up . Ogras had told him that the skill might be a seed-quest that was designed to award a Dao Seed , but Zac didn’t dare to hope for it after he’d already got a vision for the Dao of Axes .

Alyn had explained that a rare class could get two Dao Seed quests at the most , and an Epic class was needed to be able to get a third . Even getting two was considered great luck , and generally an indication that the Rare class was top-tier amongst its kind .

Zac quickly ran to a close-by tree and nimbly climbed its branches . After a thorough check for any inhabitants , he sat down on one of the wider branches and closed his eyes .

He was a small pod in the darkness . Nothing existed apart from the warmth of the surroundings , and the refreshing pearls of water that sometimes ran along his surface . Time was irrelevant , and the only thing that mattered was to keep reaching upward . Zac had no idea how long he stayed in the darkness , until one day a burst of light , or rather of life , inundated him as he struggled upward .

He had broken through the earth , a small sapling being greeted by the endless sky . The blast of light woke up Zac for a second , and he realized he was in another vision . This one was different though , as it seemed endless . Days quickly became years as Zac slowly forgot about his quest , his Town , even himself . The only thing on his mind was to keep absorbing life and growing .

Seasons came and went and beset him with an ever-changing trial by nature itself . Winds whipped his branches , trying to rip his leaves away from him . Rain pelted him relentlessly , quickly turning from a refreshing shower to a deluge threatening to drown him . The water froze and became a layer of snow and ice , freezing him and forcing him dormant , dreaming of the sun . But the trials always ended and were sooner or later replaced with the warm kiss of the sun .

Zac started to realize he was different from his brethren around him , as while their growth stopped after a few centuries , he kept growing . Soon he was towering in the sky , his kin only small dots hidden among his roots . He kept growing for millions of years , unceasingly absorbing the warmth of the sun and the sweet life in the atmosphere . Every inch of his being vibrated with vitality , every leaf glistening with life .

Small beings started to live around him , treating him with great reverence . Some even started to move up to his branches , forever denouncing the ground . Zac let them stay on , as some company was welcome in this eternity .

He kept growing upward , eventually breaking through the vault of the heavens . Sparkling dots glimmered in the darkness , as Zac started floating in the vast expanse . His old friend the sun stayed behind , but the whole cosmos was provided him with sustenance instead . He once again went dormant as he floated through the void , ever growing . Every place he passed as he slept was changed , desolate worlds rousing themselves , suddenly teeming with vitality .

He was the Lifebringer .

Chapter 80 - Loamwalker

Zac woke up , disoriented for quite some time before he found his bearings . This vision was even more impactful compared to the last in a sense . Living millions and millions of years was a completely surreal experience for someone who hadn’t even turned 30 in reality . Luckily the passage of time was made fuzzy somehow for him , otherwise he might have turned mad .

The vision showed him the peak of power just like the one with the axeman , but in a completely different sense . That tree he had grown into was truly gargantuan and reminded him of the old tale of Yggdrasil , the world-tree . It was larger than a star by the end , but more importantly , it contained an endless source of life .

Zac closed his eyes again and started to imprint the feelings he felt in his mind . He knew this time was critical , and wouldn’t waste it . It was only hours later he once again opened his eyes and checked out his new skill .

Forester's Constitution - Proficiency : Early . Man and Nature One Entity . Endurance +5% , Vitality +5% . Effects doubled while in a forest . Upgradeable

Next , he quickly checked his monster horde quest and breathed out in relief as he saw the timer . Only one day had passed in the real world , even though it felt like eons in his vision . He was once more happy he didn’t finish this quest in the caves . While everything looked fine on the surface , he didn’t relish the thought of going into a trance for a whole day right in front of a bunch of demons . Who knew which one of them held a secret grudge for a friend or family member killed , just waiting for an opportunity to strike? Relaxed , he once more refocused on the skill .

He had initially thought the Forester’s Constitution would be some sort of defensive skill like the Stone Skin he saw the earth mages use , but he was only partly correct . It was rather a passive buff skill that worked like a title that improved his survivability . The bonus was quite good , especially considering it would give double the bonus at most parts of the island .

Zac wondered if he could carry around a patch of forest in a pouch , and throw it out whenever he was entering a battle . That way he’d always have the improved bonus . He was curious if there were any other functions of the skill , as Axe Mastery] had given him the training system , so he tried finding another pocket space in his body .

As he suspected , when he turned his gaze inward he found another area in his body , this time in his chest . The last fractal he gained in this manner looked like a large axe , emanating the Dao of Heaviness . This fractal rather looked like the Tree of Life he saw in the vision , but inert .

Next , he checked out his status page to see what other changes might have occurred .

Name

Zachary Atwood

Level

36

Class

Hatchetman (F)

Race

Human (E)

Alignment

Human (Earth)

Titles

Born for Carnage , Ultimate Reaper , Luck of the Draw , Giantsbane , Disciple of David , Overpowered , Slayer of Leviathans , Adventurer , Demon Slayer I , Full of Class , Rarified Being , Trailblazer , Child of Dao , The Big 500 , Planetary Aegis

Dao

Seed of Heaviness - Early , Seed of Trees - Early

Strength

189

Dexterity

69

Endurance

147

Vitality

105

Intelligence

57

Wisdom

57

Luck

77

Free Points

3

Nexus Coins

538317

He actually already acquired another Dao Seed during his meditation without even noticing it . It was called the Dao Seed of Trees , and a prompt showed its properties .

Dao Seed of Trees – Early . Vitality +10 , Endurance +5]

The properties of the Dao indicated that it wasn’t a Dao meant for battle , but he was fine with that . He already had the Dao of Heaviness for battle , and he was making inroads on the Dao of Sharpness from his activities in the mines . Having a defensive Dao to accompany the offensive ones seemed quite good . And if he was going to fight in a sea of beasts , having an improved Endurance and Vitality would come in quite handy .

He was a bit disappointed that the Seed he gained felt pretty distant from the supreme entity that was the Tree of Life . Then again , the vision of the axeman was quite distant from the seed of heaviness as well . Besides , Ogras had already warned him from hoping he would gain some high tiered concept as a Dao .

Zac knew what to do now that he knew he had a new Dao Seed , and started channeling the Dao of Trees into the fractal , and it lit up with a green luster .

The once dead tree started to emanate an aura , but it wasn’t oppressive like the one from his axe . Instead , it gave a refreshing feeling , but also spoke of unyielding perseverance . Of course , the aura was like a firefly against the towering sun that was the Tree of Life in his vision .

If the endpoint of his first vision was the Dao of Axe or Dao of Destruction , then this one rather led toward the Dao of Life or Dao of Nature . The duality of his vastly different Seeds reminded Zac of Yin and Yang , and he felt that it was an extremely well-balanced foundation to build his future upon .

No prompts lit up his surroundings like with the last skill when he infused the tree made from fractals , and the only discernible difference was that he felt it started to emanate a warmth that spread out throughout his body . It felt a bit like when he drank the azure water , but he instinctively knew that this warmth wasn’t hurting him .

He tried swinging his axe a bit while he was infused with the Dao of Trees , but he felt no improvement in his speed or strength . He was even having trouble keeping the Dao active as he moved around , the warm feeling noticeably subsiding . It made sense since trees weren’t really mobile unless ents were a thing in the multi-verse . Besides , Zac had already surmised that the new Dao wasn’t meant for battle from the attributes it awarded , and this somewhat confirmed it .

Having an idea he cut a wound on his left arm , and once again sat down . As he started to infuse the Dao and some cosmic energy into the tree again , he felt the warmth properly spread out once more . The wound on his arm started itching within seconds , and Zac felt how the warmth moved towards his wound and started healing it . It wasn’t to the point that he could see the improvements with his naked eye , but he knew it was improving his recovery rate . Unfortunately , it didn’t seem to work on his damaged pathways , at least not with Early mastery .

Satisfied he once again focused on the status screen . He noticed that there was no new title this time for attaining a second Dao . He felt it should be due to the fact that there was no award for a second Dao , rather than multiple people having beaten him to it . There shouldn’t be too many who already had a second Dao , it wasn’t like one could just stare at a fire for a few days and suddenly know the Dao of Fire .

He realized he still had three free points from his level when the Herald died . After some hesitation he allocated them into Dexterity , bringing the stat to 73 . Alyn toldhim earlier that the general view on the connection between Dexterity and Strength in the multiverse was that one of the stats shouldn’t be more than 100% larger than the other . After that , the effectiveness started to wear off .

For example with great Dexterity but no strength one would be able to hit the enemies in a dizzying blur , but each strike would be too weak to do proper damage . Conversely , Zac’s case was that he possessed monstrous Strength , but very low Dexterity . His strikes would be strong , but they would be slow and clumsy , making it easy to deflect or dodge them .

It had only really been a problem when he faced Rydel so far , but in the future he would meet more and more enemies with stats that could match his , so he needed to get his stats balanced as soon as possible .

It felt a bit weird to forgo his min-max strategy that always had been his method when playing games , but he needed to get used to the fact that video game knowledge could only take him so far in this reality . Of course , there were exceptions to the general guidelines of stat-allocation , but you really needed to know what you were doing .

Zac felt that he should stick to the most-accepted route for now at least , and only change it up in the future if he was absolutely certain . Besides , his Strength would keep increasing through his Dao and his class-bonuses even if he didn’t specifically allocate any more stats there for a while .

Finally done with everything he set out toward Port Atwood , but only after an hour of walking he was once again interrupted . This time it was his Loamwalker] quest that was completed . Eagerly he checked the skill out , and as he expected this time it was a fractal that went on his legs . More specifically it was two identical fractals that were placed on the soles of his feet , directly touching the ground below .

Zac didn’t hesitate and immediately infused the new fractals with energy . As he stood still he noticed no difference , but when he took a step the world turned blurry for an instant . Afterward , he found himself standing two meters away from his original position . The skill actually increased the distance he traversed somehow .

Zac kept trying to figure the skill out by repeatedly moving around , but he had a hard time grasping what the skill actually did . Initially , he thought that it teleported him small distances , but he noticed that the movement wasn’t instantaneous . Next , he guessed that he got super speed while he moved , but he felt that wasn’t quite right either . He tried swinging an axe while he moved , but the movement was far quicker compared to his swing . It was as though the earth moved around him , rather than him moving on the earth .

Did the skill somehow disconnect him from earth’s rotation? That couldn’t be correct either , as he had no problems moving in any direction . After a while he gave up trying to explain it with logic , and could only conclude he magically moved quickly somehow . As long as he was touching the earth , that is . He also tried jumping and running , but as soon as he stopped touching the ground with at least one foot , the effect disappeared .

He kept using Loamwalker] as he walked toward his camp in order to get used to the skill . It was an odd feeling to move faster when he leisurely walked compared to when he ran . After a while he was forced to stop using the skill , as the consumption of Cosmic Energy was quite high . It wasn’t made for long-distance movement , but all in all he was quite happy with the skill .

He wouldn’t be able to do magical feats such as strolling in the air as Rydel did , but the skill would be quite convenient in battle . He could keep moving between targets deceptively fast , and both use the skill for ambush and retreat . Of course , it would take some practice until he was proficient in combining the movement skill with battle skills .

His grasp over how far he walked right now was terrible , and he slammed into trees like a barghest four times in a short duration due to his lack of control . He could only put it aside for now and keep walking until he arrived at Port Atwood .

The wall was coming along nicely , and it was even taller compared to the one in the Azh’Rodum . The demons knew a Beast Horde was coming and didn’t dare slack off . If the town fell their settlement would be next , and they wouldn’t have the defenses of strong arrays or System-bought fortifications helping them out there . Saving Port Atwood was essential , even from a selfish standpoint .

He entered through a gate and started to look for Ogras . He couldn’t find him anywhere , and he wasn’t able to ask the resting demons either , as none of those present seemed to possess Book of Babel] . He first went to the merchant compound to check whether the demon was there . Calrin met up with him , and after a few pleasantries explained that the demon hadn’t been there today .

Zac also asked for a status update regarding his order , but Calrin explained he still hadn’t been able to acquire a pill that could heal pathways , looking a bit embarrassed . Zac sighed in disappointment but thanked him and left , heading for the shipyard .

Ogras shouldn’t have any reason to approach the Creators , but he couldn’t be sure . As he closed in on the shipyard , he actually heard some subdued voices . Suspicious , he brought out his axe and closed in on the source of the sounds . Soon he saw Ogras , and together with him were two other male demons Zac hadn’t seen before .

Ah , you’re here . That makes things easier , - Ogras said , as two spears wrought from shadows impaled the chests of the demons , instantly killing them .

Chapter 81 - Subjects

What the fuck are you doing? - Zac loudly exclaimed , shocked as the two demons fell lifelessly to the ground .

These two were snooping around the shipyard on their breaks . I’m not sure what their goal was , but we couldn’t have them walk around as they wished . These two will also set an example for any other curious individuals , - the demon tartly explained , as he brought out an axe identical to those Zac use from his pouch .

With two swift swings he decapitated the lifeless bodies before he slammed the axe into the thin wounds on their chests , effectively masking their true cause of death . Zac mutely looked on having some problems processing what was happening . Was the demon framing him right in front of his eyes? Ogras felt Zac’s stare and glanced at his direction , giving a slight shrug .

It’s better if you killed them . It will remind the others that you are not to be provoked , and you don’t take kindly to people looking into your business . If it was found out that I killed them just because they were looking at some humans at the shipyard I will start losing my grasp on the other demons . -

Zac silently stared at the two demons on the ground , a cold feeling gripping his heart . He felt he had grown a bit lax against the demons , particularly the one in front of him . While Zac believed it was in Ogras’ interest to keep Port Atwood and Zac protected for at least a decade until he could try to usurp it , he couldn’t be sure of the demon’s plans .

This was a person who had no problems betraying those close to him without batting an eye as long as it benefitted him . Besides , he couldn’t be sure whether Ogras’ story was true . For all Zac knew he happened upon a clandestine meeting , and Ogras killed his allies rather than letting his plans be exposed .

But Zac also realized that might just be how the multi-verse worked . Might makes right , and benefits trump friendships . He knew that he had grown callous as well , as he wasn’t about to clamor for justice for these two or start some sort of investigation . There was no benefit to it , and he’d rather just bear the blame so that people would keep away from his Shipyard . Getting tired from the whole situation he could only move on . It was a bit annoying to be framed for the murders , but he had already killed hundreds of demons , what was two more to the tally?

How are the fortifications coming along? And where are the crystals? - Zac asked as he put away his axe , not bothering with the two fallen demons any longer .

Ogras , looking pleased that Zac wasn’t making a big deal of the situation , swiftly took out a few Cosmos Sacks from a pocket and threw them over .

The wall will be done with a few days to spare , and the mining operations are proceeding splendidly . Now that there aren’t a dozen main branch assholes embezzling a part of the cake , the daily output is above expectations . We have mined and refined a total of 109 344 crystals so far , meaning slightly more than five million Nexus Coins . A few issues have cropped up though . -

What now? - Zac asked with a grimace . He should have known it was impossible to only get good news .

First of all the lizards down in the tunnel are getting more aggressive , and we don’t possess as much manpower as we did , making it hard to keep them at bay . Secondly , I have run into a snag with the Gnomes , but we might be able to turn it into an opportunity . But most importantly , I’ve run out of moving pictures . - He said

Moving pictures? - Zac asked confused , to which Ogras fished out Izzy’s portable video player from a sack , waving it at Zac . Zac had completely forgotten she had brought it with her when the group went camping , but it seemed that the demon had found it while idling in his camp .

I have watched everything inside this device , and I must say that this planet is pretty interesting making all these things . I bet we can make some money if we figure out how to turn the moving pictures into Crystals and sell them . Is there any more than what’s contained in this device? -

Zac was stumped , his mouth curving a bit upward . He knew that the demons didn’t use much technology as it was frowned upon on their homeworld just like large parts of the multi-verse . The demons were very much in favor of the System , which put them against the so-called Technocrats , and they disdained to use devices that weren’t created with fractals and inscriptions .

There’s enough for you to watch until you die even if your longevity gets a few upgrades . I don’t have any more with me though . -

Then we need to quickly beat the beast hordes and find human settlements . -

Uh , yeah . How are you charging the player anyways? It should have run out of power long ago . And what about the merchants? -

Any decent lightning mage can charge up the energy containers on this type of device . Even normal cultivators can do it when their fine control of cosmic energy gets high enough - Ogras waved dismissively . - And it seems we might have pushed the Sky Gnomes a bit too hard . I’ve had a talk with Calrin and they might actually go under if we keep forcing these prices . -

We pushed them? - Zac asked pointedly , as he stored the little information nugget that one could use cosmic energy to charge devices . Perhaps he could even resurrect the car with some training .

I didn’t see you stop me . In any case from what I understand the Merchants have made some truly troublesome enemies , and they have managed to put pressure on the Thayer Consortia even through the Mercantile System . Calrin is unable to make a profit as it stands , and The Ruthless Heavens might actually revoke their license , - Ogras sighed .

So we need to lower our asking price? Are you sure it’s not a business tactic? That little guy seemed to be pretty thick-skinned . - Zac asked , not relishing the thought of lowering the price . A difference of only a few Coins per Crystal would turn into a huge amount when put to the perspective of the whole mine .

It doesn’t look like he’s lying , he is truly fearing for his life from the look of his eyes lately . But that doesn’t mean we need to just throw away money . We’re not a charity . I’ve worked out a deal that I think will benefit you in the long run instead , - Ogras answered , the greedy face once more showing .

We only demand 42 Nexus Coins per Crystal , in return Calrin hands over 25% of the Consortia to us . -

That’s a lot of profit to give away for a run-down shop where I’m the only customer . And what do you mean to us? - Zac said unconvinced .

What we’re investing in is not the shop itself , but their Mercantile License . They are notoriously hard to acquire , and very sought after since they give access to the Mercantile System , allowing you to trade with the whole multi-verse . In a normal situation , you’d have to pawn off a whole continent to get the license , but now we’re in a position to snatch up a stake for just a few million Nexus Coins .

If we help them get back to their feet and help them grow , more and more coins will enter our pockets . Imagine your whole planet full of branches selling all the essentials to billions of people , and all that profit entering into your pocket . Then we can even expand to other planets , the income only becoming larger . Progressing and becoming stronger gets insanely expensive as you get to higher ranks , and this can help out a lot . - Ogras got more and more animated as he launched into his business plan , and Zac was starting to get excited as well . If it was as he explained this was a great opportunity to make some money .

What about their enemy , won’t they become our enemy as well? What do you know about them? - Zac still hesitated , as he had enough things on his plate . Adding some formidable foe into the mix wasn’t an option , even if it meant giving up potential profit .

It’s a powerful family on a top tier C-Rank world . They are located in another universe though , and I don’t think they will start a search for your planet , even if it’s for a Mercantile License . Besides , The Ruthless Heavens obscure your planet for a hundred years making it almost impossible to find .

Therefore I wouldn’t worry too much about it , but if they do come knocking we can just throw our shares to them as a greeting gift , feigning ignorance of the conflict , and then sell the Gnomes out , - Ogras said dismissively .

Zac was hesitating a while over what to do . The enemy of the Thayer family sounded troublesome , and he didn’t want to bring that kind of headache to Earth . But they were protected for a hundred years through the System . Even after that , it was not like they could easily find Earth even if they wanted to , and transportation costs would likely be huge . They might deem it not worth the trouble , and get the license from someone else . There must be more struggling corporations to exploit in the multi-verse after all .

After some time Zac agreed , and Ogras veritably dragged him to the storefront to sign the documents at the consortium without pause . It appeared that Ogras’ initial plan was an even split of 12 , 5% stake each between the two , but after a glare the split was changed to 20-5 .

Zac still let the demon get some stock in the corporation . He figured it would tie the demon to Zac’s wagon , and hopefully it would make him work more diligently if he had some stake in its success . Besides , it wasn’t bad to give something valuable to the demon , as he could threaten to take it away if needed .

Zac was in dire need for some talented people working for him after all , and Ogras was by far the best option for now . Zac already knew he wouldn’t be an active ruler , sitting on his throne and making decrees . He wanted to leave the island as soon as possible to find his family . After that perhaps even explore the multi-verse . And he needed to get stronger , which he couldn’t do from a throne room . Therefore he needed subjects , or at least employees , that could look after his little island kingdom while he was gone .

The Sky Gnome looked ready to vomit as he signed the documents after a great deal of hemming and hawing . He only looked a bit better after a promise that Zac would help give the consortia a strong position on Earth . Of course , it was Ogras that was promising things far and wide , and Zac only looked on helplessly . He had no idea how to do that , and he didn’t even know if there were any towns left .

Next , he ordered some demons to collect a large amount of meat for the salamanders . They had obviously warmed up to Zac when he had fed them various corpses , and perhaps it was possible to bribe them on a larger scale . If not it would at least keep the monsters satiated so the mining operations could go on unimpeded .

Finally done with everything he wanted to do Zac once again returned to the caves . The next time he emerged would be to meet the hordes of beasts .

Chapter 82 - The Hordes

Only wind and creaking from leather armors interrupted the silence as Zac stared out from his fortified position , a steely glint in his eyes . He was trying to gain any hint of what was to come when the timer went to zero in ten minutes . Everything that could be done to prepare was already finished during the past month , and the only thing remaining was to actually fight the hordes .

The once lush forest next to his camp was gone , replaced instead with a forest of jagged spears jutting out of the ground . Thousands of poles that reminded him of his first fight with the Herald was embedded in the earth , and moats ran along the wall at various distances . Apparently no one would get any Nexus Coins if an enemy impaled itself or fell down a trap while they stood up on the wall , but from what Ogras had told him about beast hordes it wouldn’t matter . What made the beast horde a horde was the seemingly endless amount of beasts , more than anyone could possibly finish by himself . No one would have to worry about not finding targets , even after the traps did their job .

He wasn’t alone on the battlements , as roughly two hundred demons stood on the wall with him . Most had eager expressions in their eyes , while some looked quite pale . Down at the ground the rest of the demons were at the ready , preparing to serve as various types of support . Zac was at first confused why the demons happily agreed to man the walls without any persuasion needed , but Ogras explained it with only one word ; money .

A beast horde was extremely dangerous , but it could also be considered an endless stream of Cosmic Energy and Nexus Coins . The demons who stayed on had lost most of their wealth and needed to refill their pockets . Many of them were mortals just like Zac and needed millions and millions of Nexus Coins to be able to advance past their bottle-neck .

The cheapest method to become E-Rank Race was a medicinal bath that you took over and over that incrementally improved the constitution . But this method took years and cost tens of thousands of Coins each bath , making the monster horde a prime chance to be able to afford some more ingredients .

The method Zac had used with the Fruit of Ascension could be considered an extreme luxury , as the fruits were prohibitively expensive if you could even find a seller . The baths did however incrementally improve the attribute limits though , meaning that none of them would ever be in the same awkward position as Zac was earlier .

Are you ready to make some money? - Zac heard a voice from his left , and saw Ogras approaching . With him he had his four underlings , each with enough power to contend with the top tier warriors of the invasion . Zac sparred a bit against them the last few days as he waited for the monsters to arrive and was surprised to see that none of them used classes from Clan Azh’Rezak’s heritage .

They were Ogras’ hidden ace that he recruited and trained using his family’s wealth in order to have some back-up against the main branch forces in case it came to blows . He had smuggled them in after killing a few of his clan-mates without any strong connections or close friends , having these four take their places . In fact none of the four were actually real members of clan Azh’Rezak .

Ilvere was a burly man who had masqueraded as a farmer when he entered through the incursion . He fought with a flail whose chain could extend to over ten meters according to his will . He was actually trying to gain insight into the Dao of Heaviness in order to combine it with the Dao of Lightness . That would apparently create the Dao of Momentum which could imbue the spiked ball with a terrifying force as he swung the weapon . When the demon heard that Zac actually possessed the Seed of Heaviness he plastered himself next to Zac , to the point that Ogras finally had to kick him away due to the annoyance . His class was only an uncommon class called Strongman , and it didn’t give him any class skill that helped him with the Dao , and he desperately wanted to observe and feel Zac’s Dao in order to gain some insights .

Janos was a thin dignified-looking man who compulsively adjusted his spectacles as he looked around . He was quite terse in his communication and seemed to enjoy solitude over any company . That made it a bit surprising for Zac to learn that the demon actually was a support-mage that couldn’t really fight on his own , making him require teammates to fight . He walked the path of illusions , and used skills that confused and weakened his enemies . When in battle Janos would continuously mess with the senses of the enemies . It wasn’t enough to kill them , but it would completely disrupt their rhythm and making it hard to fight properly .

Namys was whirling her blades as she looked provokingly at Zac . She was one of the few in the camp who was a truly willing follower of Ogras . She even had a class that looked similar to his , as it utilized darkness and shadows to create an assassin-type combat style . She was extremely unhappy that Ogras was placed as a sort of second in command behind Zac , and his spars with her were the most dangerous . More times than one Zac felt that she truly tried to hurt him with her large daggers .

Alea was his largest headache though . The beautiful demoness looked at him with a slight smile as she winked her large eyes at him . She wore what looked like an old-fashioned dress from the 60s . Apparently she had asked Ogras what humans from Earth wore , and Ogras had explained in detail , armed with outdated information from old-timey movies on Izzie’s device .

Alea liked the strong and ruthless , and Zac fit the bill nicely as being able to single-handedly thwart an incursion made him quite the dashing figure in her words . Furthermore , she possessed a class related to poison , and the fact that Zac essentially poisoned two armies to death was a cosmic sign that they were compatible in her eyes . The fact that one of the poisoned armies was her own clan members seemed to be completely irrelevant to her . Zac wasn’t sure if her interest was real or whether Ogras tried to plant a honeypot by his side , but in either case Alea was a continuous source of exasperation .

Ogras didn’t kick her away as he did with Ilvere , leaving Zac to fend for himself . In private Ogras told him that he didn’t want to poison test every swig of water or bite of food he took due to angering Alea , as she was slightly crazy like all other poison masters . Something about breathing poison fumes for years made their wiring a bit off . That nugget of information only served to increase his discomfort .

Even the schoolmistress Alyn would make a measured but immediate retreat when Alea found him in the mines , and the poison master sometimes took over the role of lecturer . It was from Alea he found out the general rules of grinding beasts . He had asked why she chose poison class when poisoning enemies to death didn’t seem to reward Nexus Coins or Cosmic Energy . If it did he would be quite a few levels higher after throwing out the cauldron up on the mountain . But he was surprised to hear that she actually got rewards from poisoning enemies .

She explained the distinction the system made was whether effort , or skill , was involved in the kill . In her case generated the poisons herself and disseminated them using her class skills . The system awarded her cosmic energy for that . Zac just snatched a bunch of poison and threw it out , and the System didn’t consider it enough effort . For the same reason getting a machine gun or even an atomic bomb couldn’t help you gain levels at all .

The System considered those types of tools not to require skill . It did consider using a bow and arrow requiring of skill though , and would award everyone , not just archer classes , cosmic energy from that type of kill . From her words the System generally didn’t award energy or coins from kills when technology was involved . It was something about the System not liking tools not made with cosmic energy .

Zac thought that many armies in the world would be in for a rude awakening after hearing that . He believed that many would have a hard time letting go of their weapons , and instead fight monsters hand-to-hand in order to gain levels . That would mean that the beasts would get continuously stronger due to the System pumping them full of cosmic energy , whereas the armies stayed stagnant . Sooner or later it would reach a tipping point , where conventional weapons were useless . Zac was pretty sure that he was mostly bulletproof by now for example . It might hurt , but a bullet should barely be able to penetrate his skin . Especially if it hit his E-graded clothing .

You all seem to be in a chipper mood , - Zac said dourly . He didn’t relish the thought that he would have to spend the next three months continuously fighting for his life . He felt he was on the cusp of finally being able to leave the island and look for his family , but first he was stuck in an endless battle .

Birds die for food , men die for money , - Ogras answered with a shrug . - If worse comes to worst we can just jump ship and sail for kinder shores . -

Ogras was referring to a small Creator-vessel that Zac had bought for one million Nexus Coins . It was powered with Nexus Crystals and could comfortably house 10 people , or 30 if people covered every inch of the deck as well . It was one of the cheapest creations available for sale at the Shipyard , and Zac planned on using it for exploration , or fleeing if necessary .

Now that he knew the System wouldn’t punish him for failing a quest or fleeing for his life , he wasn’t as ready to risk everything just to finish the quest and become a Lord . He had confirmed that what Ogras said was true from a few sources , and that Abby had in fact lied . The largest punishments for failing quests were that he couldn’t get them again .

However if he failed too many quests he risked not getting awarded new ones for a while . For example Ogras would likely not get any quests for a couple of years due to eating The Coward’s Escape-pill . But for a cultivator whose life could be counted in the thousands , it was a small price to pay for escaping with his life .

That didn’t mean that he wouldn’t diligently try to complete the quest and rebuff the three monster waves . The more he learned about cultivation and the multi-verse he knew he was sitting on a rare chance . The island was likely one of the safest places on Earth right now . There were no dangerous beasts skulking around apart from the salamanders , and they kept to their caves . The reason for this was simple , it was the hordes of barghest . They had hunted everything that started to evolve since they arrived , stopping any species from gaining strength .

That made this island a haven , and an amazing source of wealth , for himself and his family . As he was the lord that wealth would turn into further safety as he could keep buying defenses if some force meant him harm . To give up this would mean he would turn from a so-called progenitor to another refugee without a place to call home .

Alea walked over and greeted him with a smile and a light touch on his arm , and Zac could only bear it for now with a grimace . He knew from experience that telling her off or pushing her away wouldn’t work , and if he got too insistent she might poison him in a rage . Nothing lethal , of course , but something strong enough for him to be puking his guts out for a few hours .

So they stood at the top of the wall surveying the battlefield looking like an old couple until the timer finally the timer went to zero .

Ladder activated , struggle for supremacy The emotionless voice of the System entered his ears just as the third month ended and the timer went to zero .

Huh , what’s this ladder that the system mentioned? - Zac said as he turned to Ogras . But immediately afterward he turned back toward the forest as he saw tens of grey pillars flash into existence roughly a kilometer away . They looked just like the incursion , just in a different color and a lot smaller .

The Ruthless Heavens spoke to you? Ladder? Must be some function it is using on this baby planet . It has all types of modes that it can activate that changes how – - Ogras explained but was interrupted by the System itself , this time speaking so everyone was hearing .

Special Dynamic Quest activated . Defend what’s yours and vanquish the hordes . The strong will be rewarded

Chapter 83 - Wolves

It actually handed out a town protection quest - Ogras exclaimed gleefully , as most demons around him looked like they had eaten stimulants .

What’s going on? - Zac asked as he looked over at the grey pillars . Nothing had emerged from them yet , but he knew it wouldn’t be long now .

It’s a bonus quest . Everything you kill will award contribution points apart from the usual Nexus Coins and Cosmic Energy . You can trade these points for all kinds of goodies at a temporary Nexus Node that should pop up somewhere close . Those who rack up the most points usually are awarded some bonus prize as well . - Ogras answered hurriedly as he took out his spear from his sack . It looked like he wanted to simply jump down from the wall and run to the pillars , not able to wait for the enemies come to them .

Zac started to get excited as well , but was very annoyed that he still wasn’t completely healed . He was a lot better by now , but not to the point that he dared use crystals or his amulet to quickly regain his energy . He wouldn’t be able to unheedingly use his Chop] skill to quickly gain contribution points in other words , and his two Dao’s weren’t helpful in fighting large groups of monsters . He still hadn’t gained the Seed of Sharpness , which he guessed would be convenient when fighting against packs .

He didn’t have time to ruminate over his condition any longer as grey silhouettes started to pour out of the portals and immediately flooded toward the wall .

No offense my friend , but I’m aiming for the top spot . It’s a shame we can’t have a completely fair competition with your condition - Ogras lamented with mirth and greed in his eyes . It looked like he was already considering the prize for most contribution points his .

Zac decided to ignore him as the horde was closing in on the battlements , and he could finally see their visage . It was an enormous wolf pack that charged as one . Each had a mottled grey fur and the rough size of a gwyllgi , reaching almost up to Zac’s chest .

He could also spot larger versions at various areas in the sea of wolves , and he guessed that they were the equivalents of the monkey captains . A piercing howl arose from the pillars as Zac surveyed the horde , and Zac spotted a far larger wolf skulking around in the back . All in all it looked like there were a few thousand wolves , almost all of them the normal-sized ones .

Zac didn’t feel that this looked too threatening , and he cast a questioning glance at Ogras .

This is just the first wave of the first horde . It will get more… exciting… soon enough - he said as if he understood Zac’s unspoken question .

The wolves streamed toward the walls and Zac saw that the erected poles didn’t have much effect on the nimble monsters , as they simply dodged them without any effort . A few unlucky wolves were accidentally pushed into the pitfalls by the wolves behind and skewered there , but generally the horde was unimpeded .

However , the erected wall was where their charge ended , and the monsters simply had no method to scale it . They clawed some scratches at the foundation , but at that speed it would take days for them to tear down the wall .

In the demons' eyes , this meant that the wolves turned into target practice , where each hit awarded some money . Arrows started flying out in rapid succession , and the wolves dropped one by one .

Some were even more efficient , such as the mages who managed to skewer multiple wolves with each earth spear attacks or create multiple fried carcasses with a large fireball . But the most efficient was clearly Ogras . Any shadow on the ground created by the wall or a wolf was a weapon for him , and shadowy needles kept poking up from the ground , hitting the throat or heart of the wolves . Wolves kept keeling over wherever Ogras turned his outstretched hand , and he was creating patches of utter death down on the ground .

Zac tried to keep up by throwing rocks he had prepared in a few pouches . Each rock he threw slammed into a wolf , the force almost always enough for an instant kill . Still , he couldn’t keep up with some of the stronger demons , let alone the sneaky spears of Ogras , and knew his contribution ranking wouldn’t be too great if things kept going this way .

He paused after killing a few and checked his status screen . It looked like each of the normal mottled wolves awarded around 100 Nexus Coins , which seemed very generous for helpless targets . The feeling of seeing an endless stream of money slipping out of his fingers was extremely uncomfortable , and he knew he needed to switch up his tactics .

Alea looked annoyed as well as she stood next to Zac .

They keep dying before my poison kills them , I only get a small part of the money . You’re supposed to be the Lord , do something and I’ll give you a reward - she whined as she looked entreatingly at Zac .

Zac ignored her with a roll of his eyes but he agreed that something needed to be done . After a few seconds of hesitation he took out one of his axes and simply jumped out from the safety of the wall .

As he fell he imbued himself with the Dao of Heaviness and he fell down like a meteor . A huge shockwave spread out as Zac punched into the ground ten meters away from the wall . Any wolf in the vicinity was killed or at least badly maimed from the impact . Zac stood up from the crater and he summoned Chop] .

His plan was simple . Even though his pathways weren’t completely healed they were in far better condition compared to a month ago . Together with his improved attributes his recovery might even be higher before he ruined his body with the Cosmic Water . He planned on going on a rampage as long as his energy allowed , reaping as many wolves as possible before swapping back to killing without using any energy . With his stats he wasn’t afraid that some of these weak wolves would threaten him , even if they came in droves .

He started to weave a net of carnage around him as he moved full speed ahead . His energy would only last for a short duration at full power , but that should hopefully be enough to thin out most of this wave and perhaps a few more . He headed straight toward where he had seen the huge wolf , hoping that killing the boss would offset his slow start .

No demon dared to shoot their attacks in his vicinity , with the exception of Ogras , who kept summoning spears at some wolves around him . Zac glared angrily in the demon’s direction , but Ogras simply looked back innocently and waved .

Zac wasn’t the only one who jumped down from the wall , as some of the stronger melee fighters followed suit . They generally stayed close to the wall though to keep their backs free , not daring to wade into the thick of it like Zac .

Zac was soon drenched as every wave of his axe created a fountain of blood and a few bisected corpses strewn around . He realized he had actually missed this feeling , and relished letting loose after over a month of being stuck in the mines mindlessly chipping away at the walls .

He steadily progressed toward the portals , and soon not even Ogras could kill steal his wolves due to the distance . Each swing created a swathe of death in front of him , but it was quickly filled with new wolves . He truly felt like the description of the Hatchetman class , Their army is an endless forest and I’m the lumberjack , was an apt description at this moment , as he methodically cut everything down like lumber as he waded forward .

The wolves desperately tried to bite him , but the few that managed to get close couldn’t even puncture his skin . A few tried to rip open his robe , but the clothing was even more durable than Zac himself , and not even a scratch could be seen on the green overcoat . Even so , the animals pushed forward toward their death , heedless of anything else . Zac started to suspect that the System had done something with these animals , as they were completely frenzied . Wolves should be smarter than this , especially evolved ones like these guys were .

After a few minutes of swinging away he was at close proximity to the portals . It should have been even faster , but he took some detours to kill the even larger wolves that were peppered around the horde . They only gave 2-300 Nexus Coins each , but Zac thought they might be more valuable in terms of contribution points as the System might consider them mini-bosses .

Wolves had stopped pouring out of the multiple portals a minute ago , and the area was getting a bit thin as most wolves headed straight for the wall . There were some exceptions though , most notably the hill with the leader . It looked almost identical as the smaller versions , apart from the fact that its eyes had a silver glisten compared to the duller brown of the others .

Zac approached the hill and started to kill the larger alpha wolves that surrounded their leader , but a movement in his periphery made him infuse his axe with his Dao of Heaviness and launch it at the wolf leader in a surprise attack .

The wolf’s reactions were quick , but not quick enough , as the axe ripped a hole in its throat , instantly killing it . Immediately after two large spears of shadows rose up from the ground and impaled the corpse . However , Ogras was too late as the energy entered Zac’s body as the spears rose up , confirming his kill credit .

Zac grinned at the demon who emerged from the shadows with a tsk as he took out another axe from his bag . This one was different from the ones he had used lately and looked like a misshapen monstrosity .

Its handle was roughly a meter long and the edge itself was almost two meters , formed in a rudimentary facsimile of his axe when he used Chop] . It was something Zac had ordered a blacksmith of the demon town create for him , meant to be used to retain some kill speed while he restored his energy .

It was ugly and completely unbalanced , but it got the job done . Unfortunately no one of those remaining had the skills to add the self-repair inscription on a weapon , and instead this one had an inscription that slightly increased its durability . Still , someone would need to fix it up every now and then after Zac’s onslaught .

I’m starting to see why you guys were so excited , - Zac remarked at Ogras as he started to swing at the remaining alpha dogs , heading to pick up the boss carcass and his axe .

Don’t get complacent . This is just the warm-up . If some mangy dogs was all that The Ruthless Heavens threw at you when creating a monster horde then it would be a reward , not a quest . It’s going to get much worse than this . - Ogras retorted , obviously a bit irritated that his kill steal hadn’t worked out . As if to confirm this the remaining wolves in his surroundings died by being impaled by multiple shadow blades rather than the usual one per monster .

As if they responded to the demon’s words , the portals pulsed and started to spew out another wave of wolves , but these ones looked quite different .

Chapter 84 - Super Brother-Man

Zac turned toward Ogras a bit confused .

Why are there already more monsters pouring out? How does the System decide? - he asked hesitantly . He felt that it was too big a coincidence that new monsters just started spawning after Zac and Ogras arrived here and killed the boss .

You ask me , but who am I going to ask? - Ogras responded . - But I think there might be certain triggers that push out new waves . Perhaps killing the boss immediately sends the next one through . But I think there is a limit of how long you can stall , even if you keep the leader alive . The Ruthless Heaven has its name for a reason , and it won’t let you breathe too easy by finding a loophole . -

If what Ogras said was true the System really created a conflict of interest . Killing the boss would spawn more monsters , but it also probably awarded a good amount of contribution points . Greedy warriors would hunt it for the points , not caring about the results . Soon the whole camp would be overrun by waves upon waves of wolves .

We need to set some ground rules , - Zac immediately said as he turned to Ogras . He didn’t mind the demon killing the odd wolf around him , as that was only playing around . There were almost an endless amount of targets , and Zac didn’t worry that he wouldn’t be able to hunt his fill . But running for the bosses in greed for contribution points couldn’t be allowed .

The boss is off-limits until only a quarter of the wave remains , - he said as he stared at Ogras , who only grimaced but nodded after some deliberation .

He didn’t have time to keep thinking up plans as the new wave was upon them . Zac first thought it was large rats when he saw them exit the portals . They were a lot smaller compared to their brethren , the normal ones only reaching his knees in height . They also looked completely wretched , with their mangy fur fallen off at large patches of their bodies . Their eyes were a sinister red , and the feeling he got from them was that they were putrid cursed creatures .

Ogras seemed to agree as he started backing away as he kept throwing out Shadow blades at anything approaching . He even seemed loath to use his real spear , afraid it would get dirtied by the new beasts .

These things look pretty disgusting . Try not to get bit , I am willing to bet an arm these things carry some weird diseases in their bodies - the demon said with a wrinkled brow . - If you capture a few live ones and gift them to Alea I’m sure she will be delighted . I bet she can create some sinister concoctions from these things after some experimentation . Anyway , I’m off . Good luck . -

With that the demon was gone , using his escape skill to move through the shadows . Zac was left alone pondering whether to stay here right by the portals or to head back . The gnarly wolves didn’t wait for him to make a decision as they stormed him with speed belying their small shriveled frames .

As they scurried close to him they launched themselves in the air toward his face in order to rip into more vulnerable areas . Zac turned his huge axe and with a horizontal swing smashed multiple wolves into broken pieces of flesh with the broad side of the edge . Even their blood smelled rancid , and Zac didn’t want to get any of that on his face . He rapidly backed away and quickly put a handkerchief over his nose and mouth .

Next , he swapped out his huge unwieldy axe to two normal ones . The new foes were too small so he couldn’t easily kill them with the giga-axe . A wide swing would simply fly past above their heads , and he felt that using two normal axes would be more effective . He kept swinging away , decimating anything that moved close as he gradually retreated toward the walls . His kill-speed wasn’t as great as when he used Chop] , but it was respectable .

Since he upgraded his race he found that his body’s coordination improved noticeably , and it had made him resume his training with two axes . The first time he tried it out he felt it was too unwieldy , but by now his arms moved independently from each other , each creating gouts of putrid blood wherever they hit .

Soon enough he was closing in on the wall and saw that most of the first wave was dead by now . A perimeter of melee fighters had been erected , and Zac saw some scared non-combat demons scurrying about the battlefield . They were throwing the wolf carcasses into cosmic bags , to be dumped and burned further away from the camp after anything of value was stripped from the bodies .

It was to both avoid pestilence spreading , but also to not allow bodies to accumulate to the point that they started to form a ramp up the wall . Their work was extremely efficient as they rapidly moved along , barely stopping as they threw the carcasses into the Cosmos Sacks . Obviously , the melee fighters had done a do-over of the corpses first with quick stabs , ensuring that everything was dead .

When they saw Zac and the putrid wolves approaching they all scurried through a gate to safety . The gate wasn’t some thick wooden door like in a medieval castle , but a section of the wall itself even thicker than most other sections . It was created in conjunction between some craftsmen and Earth mages and required 10 Nexus Crystals to power every time it opened and closed . It was a bit slow , but it didn’t present a point of entry or weakness like classic castle gates did .

One exception to the escape through the gate was Alea , who gleefully charged straight toward Zac .

I heard you’re bringing me gifts? - she exclaimed , looking absolutely delighted . She unheedingly ran straight into the frenzied pack of the mangy wolves , and Zac’s eyes widened in alarm . It was one thing for him with his huge endurance to be running around in the midst of the beasts , as these small ones couldn’t hurt him either .

But even he was wary of their blood as it looked positively unclean , with a greyish murky color instead of red . Luckily his clothes had a self-cleaning feature and the blood just slid off after a short while . But for the slender demoness to do the same approach seemed suicidal . He wasn’t sure what stats a poison master focused , but it didn’t feel like it was endurance at least . He quickly changed direction and ran to help her out .

Soon he realized he was worried about nothing as the beasts that got too close to her simply melted into pools of goop . Zac immediately stopped in his tracks , afraid to get caught in whatever poison the demoness had surrounded herself with .

Next she quickly threw out a small needle at one of the beasts that looked extra wretched , and it powerlessly fell down on the ground immediately after the needle embedded itself in its throat . She walked over to it and picked it up , and for some reason it didn’t melt like the others around her . Zac first thought the beast was dead from the needle , but the frantically whirling eyes of the beast told another story .

It seems its condition is due to living in a weird environment . The Ruthless Heavens calls its race Blackswamp Wolf , so it probably lives in a miasmic swamp . Something in the waters is corroding these wolves , and over time they have transformed into these cute little things . Perhaps it’s possible to extract whatever’s the cause and add it into a concoction , - she started to mutter mostly for herself , seeming eager to try and weaponize the wolves’ affliction .

People with less than 80 or so vitality shouldn’t come in contact with their blood , or they will probably get sick , - she added with a louder voice up toward the walls before she started to continue to examine the beast . She quickly broke all its limbs with a deftness that hinted that this wasn’t the first time she did experimentation on animals and started to retreat to the wall while she flipped it over to look at every detail of the poor creature .

Zac simply moved away without a word and kept killing wolves with his two axes . These small wolves were a bit more annoying to kill since they were so small , but he wouldn’t stop . Each one gave around 110 Nexus Coins , even better than the last wave , and he was accumulating wealth and cosmic energy at a terrifying speed . It was barely more than a barghest , but they were everywhere . If the density of barghest was this crazy he would have finished grinding for his first class quests in less than a day instead of a week . Of course , with his stats at that time he might just have died from being swarmed rather than just having more targets to kill .

Less than 30 minutes had passed since the start of the quest but he already managed to accumulate something like 30 000 Nexus Coins . He had only used less than a quarter of his cosmic energy so far , and could keep going for a long time . The attacks from the wall had reduced somewhat though , as some of the demons were sitting down and absorbing energy from Nexus Crystals that Zac provided .

Some of the other demons kept blasting away , greedily farming some money , and a few burly-looking demons even dared to jump down the wall as well , apparently trusting Alea’s judgment . This wave was starting to thin out as well after the furious melee continued , and it gave Zac a brief chance to catch his breath .

He had been busy with the monsters , so he ignored the prompt from the System that entered his ears just before the monsters arrived . It said that a Ladder was activated , and he was curious to see what that meant . He kept killing any beasts who approached with a quick swing with his axes , but it was mostly by instinct as he focused on the new screen that popped up .

Ladder System initialized . Enter pseudonym or real name?]

That gave Zac a start . He started to feel that the ladder system was akin to a ranking that you could see in many games , where his level was listed against others . It sounded like something the System would do . It wanted to force people to get stronger , and a ladder would generate competition amongst the elite .

Entering his real name would let his friends or family know he was alive and fine , but it might also cause them trouble . He was pretty sure he should be up there in the rankings if the Ladder was only for earth , even after his month of not gaining levels . Someone might want to exploit his family , or even kidnap them to threaten him if such a connection was made public . He already had created a beacon with the name Port Atwood , which should hopefully be enough when the town gained some fame in the future .

After coming to a decision he chose pseudonym , and a new problem presented itself . What should he call himself? At first , he thought of just using his class name , but he didn’t know if people learning of the name Hatchetman would have some implications . Suddenly he had an idea , and he chose - Super Brother-Man’ with a nostalgic look in his eyes . He could only pray that Mackenzie , his little sister , would remember .

She was only five when he played pretend-superheroes with her , using the name Super Brother-man . He hadn’t thought about it for over a decade , and no one but her should know about it . As soon as he chose it a large window popped up , and he quickly realized that he was right , it was a ranking ladder containing various names and their accomplishments .

As he went through the list his mouth started to widen into a grin .

Chapter 85 - Four Fates

Kenzie blew an errant wisp of frizzy auburn hair out of her face as she once again opened the Ladder system . It had almost become a compulsion over the last two weeks since the new function was enabled .

Browsing for a husband again? - a teasing voice came from behind , as another girl moved up to the fire and sat down . It was Lyla who came back with some dinner in her hands . It was a few cans of various vegetables and fruits , and somehow she had even scored some canned beef .

Whatever , - Mackenzie answered with a roll of her eyes . She stared at the familiar alias for a few more seconds before she reluctantly closed the window and turned to her friend .

Lyla had been by Kenzie’s side since everything turned crazy . Kenzie was just sitting at home playing with her phone when she suddenly found herself in a square in a medieval town with hundreds of others . When reality set in that this was not a dream , she soon realized she didn’t recognize a single person . Zac or dad wasn’t there with her , leaving her vulnerable and scared .

It was shortly after she met Lyla , another scared and confused 19-year-old . It was by sticking together they survived that hell that the System and fairies called a tutorial , and in a sense they were returned as reborn people like the fairies promised .

But they soon realized that just because they had been returned in one piece , all wasn’t well . They were placed in a town called Kingsbury , which actually was a chaotic hodge-podge of 4 different cities mixed together into a cauldron of conflicting interests and goals .

During the month of their absence all order collapsed and chaos reigned supreme . Roving gangs of thugs terrorized their blocks , and rape and murder were just commonplace events . It didn’t even take an hour after returning before a group of men accosted her .

Luckily the tutorial had truly reforged her . A scenario that would have petrified her in the old world was only a small annoyance now . With a few quick attacks the group of thugs lay on the ground with her not even taking damage . The thugs of Kingsbury just stayed in the safety of the town preying on other people , and likely weren’t even level 5 .

After the returnees appeared , it only took a few days for a new order to be enforced on the town . A few of the stronger cultivators allied and started a bloody cleansing , and soon held the population in an iron grip . There was no government , no vote , only forced obedience . The leaders named themselves the Kingsbury Council and set themselves up as kings .

Mackenzie and Lyla followed Ruth , a 48 year old lady who they got to know a bit in the tutorial . She had been a cleaning lady before the integration , but now she held command over a large district , subduing any discontent with surprising brutality . Ruth was harsh , but she was the best of the bunch . None of those who stood out were saints , as they had all bathed in blood during the tutorial to get their current strength .

It was actually due to one of the other councilors that Mackenzie and Lyla decided to volunteer to scout out the undead problem that was spreading . They needed to get away from the town , and hopefully gain some strength while away . Harold was an insatiable old goat , and he already considered himself an emperor and had started amassing women for his harem . Some of them were willing to get the protection of a powerhouse as food was running scarce and monsters were roaming the outskirts of the town , but most reportedly were unwilling captives . There was a lot of discontent about his conduct but Harold was possibly the most powerful cultivator in Kingsbury , and even Ruth didn’t dare to confront him outright .

Of course , Harold was a joke compared to the people on the Ladder , like a fly compared to giants . Especially her brother , the Super Brother-Man…

With a thundering swing Billy crushed the skull of the rat-like monster , grey smelly goop splashing all around . It was one of the last of their kind and he could finally catch his breath with deep guffaws . The whole field around him were filled with big holes from his mighty thwonking .

The new world was good . Before , everything had been confusing and complicated . People had given Billy stinky eye all the time for no reason . But no one looked down on Billy now . Not even papa , not after the thwonk on his head set him straight .

Billy didn’t understand why so many didn’t like the new world . It was so simple . Hit things on the head and they gave you money and made you stronger . But people hid behind the walls and cried instead of going out thwonking . People were the idiots , not Billy .

Good work great chief! You are so strong . The name Billy is surely known around the world by now! - a voice came from up on the wall .

It was Nigel . Nigel was smart but dumb . He was smart because he understood Billy was a good chief . He was dumb because he didn’t thwonk monsters with Billy , and instead stayed on the wall .

I bet not even the Super Brother-Man is a match for you and your club Billy! See how those large rats got destroyed! - Nigel continued , even waving the flag of the town , Billyville .

When Billy heard the compliment is back straightened a bit further and the bulging muscles on his huge frame swelled , but he soon shrunk back a bit .

Super Brother-Man is probably super-strong , he has thwonked a lot more than Billy . But Billy is going to catch up , there are still many rats to bash , - he said with the type of modesty that mama always said a gentleman should have . He really missed mama , but she was gone when Billy came back from the funny town with the mini-people . Nigel said that she had died , but Billy knew no monster would dare hurt such an angel .

Billy really wondered who the Super Brother-Man was . It was a great name , and caused Billy to regret the one he chose , Thwonkin’ Billy . He really wanted to see who could swing a club the best . Having another smart friend to bash rats with would be great .

Billy was right about the rats . There were so many of them and some help would be nice . He had tried counting them but he got a headache from it . They all came from that grey weird shining light in the distance . Nigel called it an incursion , but Billy preferred to call it a ratlight since it created rats and was a light .

Nigel always told him that the thing needed to be closed for some quest , but Billy didn’t care about any of that . He needed no reason for thwonking rats . It felt good , it gave money and made Billy stronger .

Billy was truly in heaven .

She moved through the forest , a flittering shadow between the trees . Any unsuspecting beast that came within a few meters were bisected into pieces by a quick flash .

Thea was days from any back-up or civilization , but it was out here in the wilderness that she felt most at home . No politics and intrigue , only survival . She had hoped that the integration would make the world simpler , but it was anything but the truth .

The Marshall-clan went into overdrive the moment Earth was integrated , ever hungry for empowering the family . She was tired of it and had essentially become a nomad , fiercely battling in the wilderness non-stop since she came back . The pixies had called her a once-in-a-millennia genius , but she didn’t care about any of that . She relished the feeling of balancing on the edge of life and death , pushing the limits of her power even further .

Still , she was shocked when she saw the Ladder . Her tireless effort and fortuitous encounters seemed almost like a joke in front of that man . She thought herself the true elite of Earth , as no one in her tutorial town even came close to her accomplishments . It only took her a week of grinding after the tutorial was over before she attained her class , and it was of the Rare-rarity , something that was almost impossible to get .

Yet she barely maintained the third spot on the ladder . She had even pushed herself beyond what she thought was possible in order to catch up , refusing to lose to someone with such a stupid moniker . But no matter what she did he steadily increased the distance between them . Who the hell was the Super Brother-Man?

She sighed and opened up her quest panel and stared at her newly acquired mission . Completing it might be her only option to pass that monster , but was it worth it?

Order was crumbling . Thomas Fischer sat on the short-side of the large table and quietly stared at the troubled faces in the meeting room .

What about recruitment? - Thomas said with a sigh .

80 Returnees , or cultivators as they call themselves , have signed up to the special government task force the last week , - a bespectacled middle-aged lady answered . - Unfortunately , most of them are in the lower tier who barely came out of the so-called tutorial in one piece . The stronger ones have largely stayed ambivalent , adopting a wait-and-see response . -

We need to get tougher! People are running around playing super-heroes . Or even worse , super-villains . We need to round them up . If they don’t want to join and register , they need to be locked up! - a robust scarred man shouted while thumping emphatically at the table . It was Hank , the representative of the army .

Thomas was somewhat inclined to agree with him , but not really due to safety . The more powerful of these cultivators were setting themselves up as local lords , completely ignoring the government . If this was allowed to continue , then Earth’s countries would just become a memory .

What about the rankers? Have we located any of them? - Thomas probed . Getting the support of a few of the rankers would hopefully once again legitimize the government in the eyes of the population , and rebuilding work could begin in earnest .

Why bother with them? The training program for the elite forces of the army are coming along well , and there are cultivator servicemen who have reported for duty leading them . Soon we will have an army adapted to this so-called System . It is better to rely on patriotic soldiers than some war-lords who can betray us at moment’s notice , - Hank interjected .

What’s the average level so far among the trainees? - Julia asked , breaking her hour-long silence . She was the newly appointed liaison with the unaffiliated cultivators , and one of the four cultivators herself in the meeting .

The average level is 19 , and we already have two people who have gained their classes , - Hank answered proudly .

How can you compare some fodder to the rankers? Any one of them is probably able to decimate your army in a minute . - Julia said dismissively and turned back to Thomas .

We have located 5 of the rankers so far . Rank 34 , 58 , 63 and 94 on the level ladder . We have also located Rank 87 and 99 on the wealth ladder . Rank 87 is as you know the same individual as rank 34 on the Power Ladder .

There are also about a dozen individuals who used their real name that we have identified with some certainty . Most notable is Thea Marshall of the Marshall-family , who is ranked 3rd on the level ranking . Unfortunately we do not know where these people are located at the moment , with the effects of the reshuffling still being mapped out . -

Any word on - Super Brother-Man’ or - Salvation’? - Thomas asked . Thea Marshall would be a good get for the government , but the Marshall clan likely had their own plans in this new world order . And he didn’t want to wage war against that ancient family when there were both the incursions and the new natives to worry about , so he could only turn his eyes toward the other two top rankers . Of course , neither of them seemed to be quite sane from their choice of pseudonyms , but one couldn’t be picky after the apocalypse .

The hesitant look in Julia’s eye was all the answer Thomas needed as he sighed .

Next on the docket is the situation with our new… neighbors… to the west . -

Chapter 86 - Ladders

Zac opened up his eyes after an hour of meditation . Alea sat next to him like an ever-present shadow , but even she lacked the energy to banter lately . Even Zac felt exhausted after the last three weeks of wholesale slaughter , and the demons were even in worse shape . He had killed thousands upon thousands of wolves in all shapes and sizes , as the waves unceasingly kept coming once every hour from the start of the quest . In the beginning the wolves were just free money for the defenders , and each wave took between fifteen minutes to half an hour to complete .

But their strength incrementally increased with every wave , and after hundreds of waves they barely managed to finish the last one before the next one arrived . Zac and Ogras had been forced to create rotating groups of the stronger demons , as there was a wave that actually caused a crack in the wall since almost everyone was resting .

There were some good signs though . If he and Ogras were correct , they only needed to hold out for another 3 days before the first part of the quest was completed . A new wave arrived at the hour unceasingly , and they needed to defeat 720 waves in a month . They had already cleared 641 waves in 3 weeks due to quickly finishing the early waves , and hoped that would mean that they got the rest of the month off until the next part of the quest started .

Another good news was that Zac hadn’t been forced to use any of his aces so far , with the walls and demons having been enough for now . Perhaps they would be able to finish the whole first part without any tools , which would save a lot of Nexus Coins for the next parts of the quest . Since it was getting incrementally harder he assumed that things would only get worse with the second and third horde .

It was his turn to man the walls in just 10 minutes , so he started to get ready . He opened his status screen to check his progress before heading out .

Name

Zachary Atwood

Level

48

Class

Hatchetman (F)

Race

Human (E)

Alignment

Human (Earth)

Titles

Born for Carnage , Ultimate Reaper , Luck of the Draw , Giantsbane , Disciple of David , Overpowered , Slayer of Leviathans , Adventurer , Demon Slayer I , Full of Class , Rarified Being , Trailblazer , Child of Dao , The Big 500 , Planetary Aegis , One Against Many , Butcher

Dao

Seed of Heaviness - Early , Seed of Trees - Early

Strength

248

Dexterity

125

Endurance

165

Vitality

108

Intelligence

62

Wisdom

57

Luck

77

Free Points

0

Nexus Coins

21 281 353

He had gained a whole twelve levels from the last weeks of desperate struggle , which averaged to roughly a level every other day . He put all free points into dexterity until he reached a 2 : 1 ratio of Strength to Dexterity , and after that started putting points in Vitality . By now his build was far more balanced compared to before , and he wasn’t a lopsided one-trick pony anymore . That didn’t only go for attributes . He had battled every imaginable kind of wolf as of late and gained tremendous battle experience in a very short time .

Zac gained most of his levels in the first week of the monster horde , and it started to slow down considerably after that . The last four days had gone by without a single level . When he complained about it to Ogras , the demon got so agitated he started to spit after him . Apparently his leveling speed was out of this world . It had taken Ogras 5 whole years to reach the same level as Zac . Of course , Ogras wasn’t pushing toward getting levels , but rather focused on the Dao and his body-grade . Otherwise it would have been a lot quicker .

But if a cultivator didn’t level through battle like he did , and instead only relied on their cultivation techniques , it would take years and years to get to this point . A few days ago he gained a new title which was quite telling about his life on the island so far .

Butcher : Kill 100 000 beings in solo battle . Reward : Strength , Dexterity , Intelligence +3

The absolute majority of those kills were the wolves from the last weeks , but he had been steeped in blood and gore constantly since the world changed .

Next he opened the ladder to see if any changes happened in the last few days .

Ladder - Level

Rank

Name

Level

1

Super Brother-Man

48

2

Salvation

39

3

Thea Marshall

38

4

Joker

35

5

Enigma

34

6

Dahlia

34

7

Dillinger

33

8

Thwonkin' Billy

33

9

Abbot Everlasting Peace

33

10

The Gravemaker

32

. . .

100

Santiago

30

Ladder - Wealth

Rank

Name

1

Super Brother-Man

2

Smaug

3

Joker

4

Enigma

5

Thwonkin' Billy

6

Salvation

7

Greed

8

Little Treasure

9

Thea Marshall

10

The Eternal Eye

Ladder - Dao

Rank

Name

1

Abbot Everlasting Peace

2

Guru Anaad Phakiwar

3

Thea Marshall

4

The Eternal Eye

5

Silverfox

6

Abbot Boundless Truth

7

Super Brother-Man

8

Father Thomas

9

John Doe

10

Daoist Chosui

He had mostly memorized the ladders by now , and the top ten spots didn’t really change in the last few days . The ranking boards only showed the top hundred , and it was clear that a few frontrunners ware solidifying their position as future progenitors as Ogras called them . Beneath the true powerhouses were the elites , and it seemed the elites in the world should have gotten their class a few weeks ago , and now were around level 30 .

When the Ladder was introduced the 100th spot on the leveling ranking had been level 27 , which meant it took them roughly a week per level up until now . Beneath the top 20 the list was a lot more volatile , with people changing positions every day . He had also seen over a dozen names just suddenly disappear , which he assumed meant that they died .

When he first checked the ladder he found himself only two levels ahead of Salvation , which shocked him quite a bit . Certainly , he hadn’t improved his level for over 40 days while in the mines , but he started out at level 16 with extremely boosted stats due to the lottery he was forced into . Furthermore , he had almost only killed incursion monsters who awarded an increased experience . Yet this Salvation , and to a lesser degree Thea Marshall , were right behind him in progress .

That changed over the last few weeks though , as his level kept steadily increasing while they could only helplessly fall behind . Still , their speed was respectable , and Zac assumed they found great grinding spots as well , likely incursions with their improved experience rewards .

The wealth ranking thankfully didn’t broadcast the exact wealth people possessed , but it did show he was number one in that ranking as well . Surprisingly , the second spot belonged to someone who wasn’t in either the Level or the Dao-rankings . He had named himself after the dragon in Lord of the Rings , so Zac assumed he alluded to the fact that he was sitting on a pile of treasure .

Otherwise , there was some correlation between the level-ranking and the wealth ranking , as everyone on the list must’ve killed an enormous amount of beasts and farmed Nexus Coins . But the level rankers only accounted for roughly half the names on the wealth rankings .

Ogras believed that it was due to dumb luck . Some individuals had found some great treasures and sold them in the System Shops that should have cropped up at various places by now . Some might have scored millions of Nexus Coins just from one herb or rare metal . Neither Zac nor Ogras was sure how the System calculated wealth . Nexus Coins were a given , but what about his other treasures , such as his remaining Fruit of Ascension? What about the Creator’s Shipyard? Either of those were worth a fortune , far more than every coin he had gained so far . Calrin might know , but they hadn’t visited lately due to constantly being in battle .

But even without those two treasures he wasn’t too surprised about his number one spot . He gained over ten million nexus coins from the crystal mine , and another twenty million from the last three weeks of carnage . He had a hard time imagining anyone gaining coins at his speed .

Last was the Dao-ranking . He was only ranked seventh on that ladder , even though he already acquired two Dao-seeds . He wasn’t sure whether the ones above him somehow gained even more seeds , or if they managed to upgrade the ones they had . More interestingly , a large part of the rankers seemed to be spiritual people from the old world . There were priests , gurus , monks , and even a shaman represented on the list .

He learned from Alyn that a combination of meditation and study of fractals were the best combination to improve the Dao , so it seemed that these individuals hit the ground running when it came to pondering the Dao . They were already quite used to meditation , and maybe even entered the System with certain useful insights .

The Dao-list was also the only list that wasn’t filled , with only 68 spots occupied so far . There was a few that got added every day though , so Zac expected this list to be filled within the month . This list was also the one who moved the least . He had only seen one movement , where Thea Marshall instantly went from the 23rd spot all the way to the third . Ogras said she must have had an epiphany or a fortuitous encounter that gave her Dao a level up .

Actually , the Dao ranking was the one that shocked Ogras the most . There only were 3 demons currently on earth who actually possessed a Dao according to him . And two of them only gained their seeds after arduously meditating for years . Ogras believed that it was the Tutorial giving a huge hand in some way , otherwise only those who got Dao-seeds from quests like Zac should have touched the Dao this early .

Zac was surprised to see that many of the top 10 individuals of the level ranking actually hadn’t gained a Dao seed so far , not even the second-place individual named Salvation . Zac didn’t know whether that made him more or less scary , having reached that level without any Dao to assist and empower his or her skills . Actually , only he and Thea were the two people represented on all 3 lists , with his rankings slightly better .

Finally Zac closed down the windows and got ready for work . Alea roused herself as well , and mutely followed behind him as he proceeded up to the wall walk . Ogras approached not long after Zac arrived at the top of the wall , the usual lackadaisical attitude missing . He had a grim visage as he nodded toward Zac before once more looking out toward the battlefield . His hand didn’t stop moving , and the large bristled wolves beneath died one by one .

Third casualty this wave , - he curtly said , worry evident in his eyes . The demon forces were limited , and every death hurt them in the long run . Over the course the whole monster horde quest it meant thousands of additional monsters the others would have to kill . Three deaths in three weeks might sound good , but only roughly 200 of the demons were combat classes . Three deaths were noticeable , besides the quest wasn’t even one third completed , and Zac could only assume it would keep getting worse .

It wasn’t that the wolves were extremely strong . The large wolves beneath the wall could roughly be considered as strong as the monkeys in the mountains by now . But their numbers were endless , and the demons were tired . And tired people made mistakes .

The wolves of this wave apparently were able to shoot out the bristles on their backs in a wide range attack that targeted both friends and foe . One demon had been unlucky and actually got skewered up on the wall from an errant flying bristle . Normally he should have been able to erect a defense or dodge in time , but he spaced out due to extreme fatigue .

Zac only grunted in affirmation as he looked out over the battlefield . Most of the wolves were dead , with just a few large packs remaining . He could already see the next wave’s approach from the distance , so he didn’t hesitate as he jumped down right among the bristled beasts . The impact killed 8 of them , not giving them any chance to shoot out their projectiles .

With a large Chop] he immediately created a circle of death , and then he methodically started killing the beasts with a blank look on his face . A few bristles flew in his direction , but they were no threat to him . The ones hitting his body he simply ignored since his clothes nullified the impact , and those flying for his head he blocked with his axe head .

Just as he killed last of the Bristleback Wolves , as they apparently were called , the next wave was only a hundred meters away . These wolves were of average size and build , and had a greyish black color . What made them stand out was that they actually looked a bit translucent as he saw them approach .

Hesitant , he brought out a rock from a pouch and launched it like a rocket at one of the frontrunners . It was his standard move lately whenever a new wave of wolves approached . He started using it after wave 372 , which had consisted of - Wolves of Kar’Ka’Venum’ .

He still had no idea what Kar’Ka’Venum was , but when he charged into the group of wolves and swung his axe in a large Chop] , every single monster exploded in a huge shockwave upon death . The blast from his swing almost killed him then and there , and after that he swore to be more careful .

To his surprise the stone whizzed straight through the monster like it was a ghost . Zac got a sinking feeling as he saw the approaching horde , and without hesitation turned around and roared .

ACTIVATE THE ARRAY! -

Chapter 87 - Spectral Wolves

Ogras was quick on the uptake and he immediately shouted down the other side of the wall , where Janos stood next to a large crystal . The illusionist immediately activated the array with the help of a pile of Nexus Crystals , and with a deep hum a shimmering dome grew out of the ground , covering the whole inner area of camp Atwood . It reminded Zac of a large soap bubble , with prismatic colors covering the whole shield , slowly swirling about . But the observant watchers could see that the swirls weren’t really random , but rather followed some pattern , and that the stripes of colors were reminiscent of fractals .

It was the E-Grade Medium scale Town Defense Array] . It was Zac’s first purchase with his wealth gained by the crystal mine . The town planners had gone over various other solutions , such as purchasing a defensive and offensive arrays separately , but the Town Defense Array simply gave an unparalleled bang for the buck at these low tier battles . In the future an established force would likely have tens of arrays available , each designed for a specific defense or attack , but with their limited resources they went with the generalist approach .

The only downside was that it cost quite a lot of crystals to operate . But with a crystal mine in his possession Zac wasn’t too worried about consumption . Initially , its radius was roughly 50 meters shorter compared to the wall , creating an inner death-zone between the wall and the barrier . But after some adjustments , it grew to stop ten meters outside the walls , not allowing the spectral wolves access to the fortifications .

Zac took a few quick steps backward with Loamwalker] , allowing him to cross over a hundred meters almost in an instant . He smoothly passed through the barrier without creating a ripple . The shield wasn’t intelligent enough to distinguish friend from foe , but as the owner of the array he had some perks .

Normally he would have preferred to keep the array at its original size and test whether the wolves could actually run through the wall , but there were too many tired demons up on the battlements at the moment . They were changing shifts with this wave , and everyone hadn’t left their posts yet . Instead , he had to expend some money in order to ensure the group of demons heading further in to rest wouldn’t be assaulted by these ghost wolves . They were wrung out and didn't have the energy to resist anymore .

Soon the beasts heedlessly slammed into the shield , some even dying from the impact . The shield was a product of the System itself , and didn’t even flicker from the impact . The wolves weren’t disheartened , and started to claw frenziedly at the translucent barrier , but it had no effect at all . After a few seconds it was obvious that these beasts’ only strong point was their incorporeal state .

Zac didn’t want to waste even more crystals by activating the offensive component of the array as well , and instead took out out his axe and headed out through the array once more . Attacks from the wall also started to fall down at the wolves through the barrier , as it only stopped things from going inside and not the other way .

It immediately became clear what worked and didn’t work with these things . The arrowheads helplessly embedded themselves into the ground after passing through the transparent bodies of the wolves , with a few exceptions . Any arrow that was imbued with some skill , such as lightning or darkness , had no problem killing the beasts . Meanwhile , the mages had no problems at all and gleefully peppered the wolves full of holes .

Zac saw the same results . His axe just passed through the wolf it targeted , and it responded by trying to bite his free arm . Zac actually let it in order to see the result , and surprisingly it managed to grab a hold of the small of his arm . Its bite had no effect on Zac , and he felt that its power was only equivalent to the beasts on the 200th wave or somewhere around there .

He charged a minimal amount of cosmic energy into the fractal on his hand , and a small edge from Chop] appeared . It was barely as long as the normal edge , but it costs almost no cosmic energy . Normally there would be little benefit to using it like this , but with these particular wolves it was very effective .

The wolves were like normal beasts to the edge created from cosmic energy as its head was split in two . However , no blood spurted out and the beast simply broke down into motes of darkness before it was completely gone . Next he tried using only the Dao with his axe , and it worked as well in letting him kill the monsters . Obviously , the beasts would be extremely dangerous to normal humans , but against skills they were pretty weak .

Still , the speed of whittling down their numbers was quite slow , as not all the demons possessed ranged skills . Those who were melee classes usually helped out by throwing rocks or shooting arrows from the wall when the battlefield was too dangerous , but now they could only helplessly stare on .

Very few demons dared to pass through the barrier to fight head-on . It wasn’t like the wall that had the gates or ropes hanging from it that would allow the demons to quickly retreat if needed . If they passed through they would be stuck on the battlefield until the barrier was lowered as they couldn’t come and go as they pleased like Zac .

The longer the barrier stayed active the more crystals would be consumed , and Zac felt the need to end this battle quickly . He started to charge up his Chop] skill until it was five meters long , then with a mental command the edge multiplied into five identical parallel edges . They were right next to each other with less than a centimeter between them , making the edge look like a thick block of fractals .

Zac rapidly swung his axe horizontally five times , and with every swing one of the edges flew out in a different direction . Each blade created a huge path of death , and Zac felt a constant torrent of cosmic energy enter his body as a large part of the battlefield turned into black motes of light .

The new attack was the result of constantly being in pitched battles for weeks . Both his Axe Mastery] and Chop] had improved once again , reaching Late Mastery . According to Alea the mastery stages of skills were Early-Mid-Late-Peak before they reached their limits and needed to be upgraded , meaning the skills were close to completion .

The improved Chop] currently held stable at five meters instead of at one , and now allowed for multiple blades to be created . Initially , he had only managed to create two , but as his control over cosmic energy improved from constant battle , the number of blades he could maintain stably increased . The extra blades had no purpose when they were attached , but greatly improved his area damage when he shot them away .

Chop] was more and more turning into an area skill , but it didn’t really improve the power of his strikes . He would have to imbue his Dao into the blades in order to improve the lethality compared to a normal swing . Luckily area damage was just the thing he needed with the monster hordes , so he was quite happy with the improvements .

Initially he wasn’t sure what the point was of creating five blades in this new manner since he could just create them one by one and shoot them out in succession instead . But he realized that the Cosmic Energy consumption was a lot lower for copying an existing blade rather than creating it from scratch for some reason . Creating five blades the new way only required half the cosmic energy compared if he created them one by one . East blast he shot out usually killed a good amount of beasts , so being able to launch twice as many was a huge improvement .

He hadn’t really explored the effect of Axe Mastery] yet , as he didn’t have the luxury of spending cosmic energy on the training system with the hordes constantly requiring attention . He hoped he’d get some days off where he could try it for a bit after the first horde was finished with .

Zac spent a decent chunk of cosmic energy in quickly reaping the lives of a large part of the wave , which allowed the melee warriors to head out and help out with the remainder . Soon only a few stragglers remained and Zac could deactivate the shield . The shield was only active for roughly 30 minutes , but Zac knew that it cost him over a hundred thousand Nexus Coins . Even with his large number of kills from using his area attacks he knew he took a loss from this wave .

That’s why he had refused to use the shield thus far , even though it cost the lives of a couple of demons . It might seem callous , but no one was stepping up to share the cost of maintenance , with everyone trying to amass as much wealth as possible from the waves .

He could force them to hand over some the earnings , in a manual shakedown of sorts . But he didn’t feel the need for that as of yet , and saw their gains as a salary . But if it came down to it he wasn’t above commandeering everything they had in order to protect his base . The demons were aware of this fact , and many even braved the dangers of the wolf hordes in order to burn all their cash at the Thayer Consortia when their pockets became heavy .

Apparently Calrin was well aware of the situation and had hiked up the cost of the herbs needed for medicine baths to twice its normal prices , citing the troubles of restocking during war-time . Zac suspected was all baloney as the Gnome had access to the Mercantile System , which allowed him to easily restock the supplies at any time .

The demons could only grit their teeth and cough up their hard-earned Nexus Coins . Zac really looked forward the shareholder’s meeting of Thayer Consortia in two months when he would get his quarterly dividends from the proceedings . He had a feeling that the little gnome should have squeezed out an extraordinary amount of coins from the poor demons by then .

Since the ghost wolf wave was largely dead the System quickly pumped out the next one , and the army went back to business as usual . This time it was large lumbering things that looked made out of rocks , and some even had moss growing on their wide backs . The wolves were easily the largest kind so far , each reaching over three meters tall , with the leader towering over five meters . It was a bit troublesome as the walls only stood at 8 meters , meaning that the huge thing might be able to reach the top , if it stood on its hind legs .

The saving grace was that there only was a bit over a hundred of them , but each felt like a walking siege machine , and Zac started to wonder whether he should erect the barrier again before these hulking things started to break down the fortifications . Imagining the cost of maintaining the barrier with these monstrosities charging at it quickly helped Zac arrive at a decision , and he charged toward the wolves after the customary rock throw which only elicited an angry growl this time .

Chapter 88 - A day in the Wolf Horde

Zac intercepted the group of wolves some distance in front of the walls , not wanting to give them a chance to ruin his fortifications . These hulking things really looked like they could cause a dent it the wall . Zac really wished that the walls were inscribed with protective inscriptions like the whole Shipyard , since then he wouldn’t have to worry about this . Unfortunately , there was no one with the skillset to inscribe the wall among the demons .

It was a recurring problem with the non-combat class demons in Azh’Rodum . Only a handful possessed great proficiency or promise in their field , with the rest generally being assistants or simply untalented . Most of the more talented ones enjoyed almost the same level of reputation in the demon clan as the warriors and decided to head back as their punishment would be bearable . That left a large number of people fumbling around , kind of like Zac . Ogras had obviously oversold the competences of his people the first time they met .

A huge rocky maw approaching woke him from his thoughts , and he sidestepped a few meters with his movement skill . His normal axes were much too small to do any real damage to these massive things , so he swapped it out for his huge elongated axe . He didn’t want to use too much energy this wave , as he spent more than usual the last one .

Fighting the monster waves was a marathon rather than a sprint , and conservation was key . He jumped up a few meters and with a grunt decapitated the huge monster . Rock chippings flew all about as the head fell down , and Zac felt that the cut barely was enough . The axe took noticeable damage as well from cutting into the hard monster even though it had strengthening inscriptions .

Suddenly his Luck stat warned him of something approaching from behind and he immediately pushed to the side . It surprisingly was the head of the fallen beast . Or rather , it were a few smaller versions of the large rocky wolf that somehow was born out of the decapitated head . Zac was surprised but quickly killed them with a few swings .

He looked over to the main part of the body and saw that it was starting to squirm . Soon over ten wolves were born through its various parts , the transformation creating jarring sounds of rock scratching against rock . These wolves were apparently like some type of matryoshka dolls , containing more monsters inside . Even worse , he saw the smaller version he just bisected once more turn into even smaller wolves , these ones the size of medium-sized dogs .

After some deliberation , he chose to ignore these new smaller beasts and instead ran toward the next huge wolf . With a large jump he approached the next wolf from above , and at the last second he infused his large axe with the Dao of Heaviness . The swing contained the momentum and weight of a falling meteor , and not only was the beast cut in two but cracks ran all along its body .

A large surge of cosmic energy entering his body told Zac that the swing had destroyed a lot more than just a few beasts like his last swing did . It seemed he needed to do large scale damage to the rocks if he wanted to destroy the smaller versions along with the main body . Since most of the beasts in this one was dead , he proceeded to the next one . The large ones were the real trouble , as they might be able to threaten his walls . After they split into multiple smaller targets their threat lessened greatly , and the demon army could handle that .

Zac went from beast to beast and with large swings destroyed one towering beast after another . Every time he infused the swings with the Dao almost half the monsters inside died as well due to cracks forming all over from the impact . After roughly a dozen wolves his large axe was starting to distort from the force , and he could only helplessly tuck it away , instead bringing out a large mallet . It was reminiscent of the large hammer a demon used on top of the mountain , and Zac found it pretty interesting when he raided the Demon’s armory .

He still preferred using axes , but sometimes other weapons were simply more convenient . Blunt force was clearly the best tool against these beasts , and that wasn’t something axes excelled at . Unfortunately Zac had problems using his Dao of Heaviness with the large mallet , but with his enormous Strength he only needed his body against these wolves .

One by one the large wolves were decimated by Zac’s approach , and he actually managed to destroy 80 of them before they reached the wall . Left behind in his wake were broken rocks and smaller wolves who resumed the approach .

The demons on the wall had huge trouble destroying these large beasts , as it took them an inordinate amount of effort to destroy another 10 of them . Helplessly they could only focus on the smaller ones , as they began a methodical dismantling . The number of wolves was staggering by now , as most of the wolves survived after Zac switched to the mallet .

The last surviving whole wolves heedlessly ran into the wall , creating huge impact that could be felt to the bone . Worst was the area where the boss rammed the wall , as large cracks ran all the way to the foundation . The earth mages on top of the wall quickly stopped their attacks , and instead focused on mending the cracks before they spread any further . A few unlucky demons were even flung off the wall into the ground by the shockwave .

After the initial impact , the normal wolves couldn’t do too much damage . They scratched and bit the walls , and with every attack deep gouges were created . Still , it would take some time before they got through the thick walls , so Zac wasn’t too worried about that . The boss was another matter .

With surprising nimbleness , it backed away a bit and stood up on its hind legs . The monster was huge , reaching a fair bit over ten meters in height when it stood like this . It looked like bad news to Zac , forcing him to action even though he usually tried to ignore the boss as long as possible . He even swapped out the mallet for his usual axe , and charged up a Chop] as he approached . With one quick motion he cut off one of the hind legs , but it was too late . The monster was already falling down toward the wall , and with a tremendous crash it slammed into it . Rocks from both the boss and the wall flew everywhere , and the shockwave forced even Zac back some distance .

Luckily the wall was sturdy enough that a single bodyslam wasn’t enough to destroy it . A section of the top wall was crushed though . Even worse , the boss created a sort of ramp up toward the other side , and it looked like most of the wolves were ready . They stopped their assault at the wall and charged toward the now unmoving boss .

The fact that Zac gained almost no cosmic energy when he lopped off the leg told him that the boss was still alive , and simply kept still in order to let its minions over the wall . This put Zac in a predicament , as he didn’t know whether to kill the boss or try to stop the invasion on its back . If he destroyed the boss the security breach would be fixed , but the next wave would spawn prematurely . Conversely , if he left it alive some demons risked dying from the onslaught .

After some hesitation he started chopping off parts of the large boss , making the walkway along its back a bit thinner . He quickly stopped after the walkway was only three meters wide at most parts though , as he was afraid the System would count it as a kill if he continued on .

After that he placed himself on the back of the wolf to meet the oncoming onslaught . Hundreds of stone wolves were converging on his location , and Zac destroyed them one by one as they approached . He once again took out a second small axe to dual-wield against the incoming sea of wolves . He was like a grinder where wolves entered and small chunks of rocks exited . Every now and then some of the smaller wolves slipped through the cracks and ran past Zac up toward the wall . A second line of defense consisting of a few melee warriors had already formed behind Zac though , and they were quickly dealt with .

The other demons weren’t idle either , as they bombarded the wolves below . Zac’s actions created a chokepoint , and the wolves trying to get up their leader’s back were packed tightly along the wall . Any attack was having great efficiency as it was essentially impossible to miss by now . A group of warriors also scaled the wall down to ambush the wolves from behind as they all tried to move toward Zac .

The number of wolves was steadily decreasing , and the battlefield was starting to fill with rocky debris . It was worst around Zac as most of the action was centered around there . It was actually starting to create a problem , as every death added onto their boss , and the wolf-ramp was growing wider and sturdier as the battle went on .

It was getting increasingly hard for Zac to kill everything that tried to get up without expending any cosmic energy , as he simply had trouble reaching both sides of the widening ramp . Every now and then he stomped the ground with a Dao-Empowered Foot , creating a small landslide of rocks and gravel . It helped to somewhat allay the problem , but it was only delaying the inevitable .

Stash the rocks into Cosmic Pouches! - Zac shouted behind him , and a few demons moved forward to comply . He had actually attained the Book of Babel] some time ago by using contribution Points .

The skill wasn’t available in his Nexus Node , so he was quite excited to see the skill in the temporary contribution shop . The shop was actually another crystal that spawned close to his camp , along with a huge monitor that listed the rankings of contribution . It only showed the top 10 though .

The skill cost a week’s worth of Zac’s contribution points , but he felt it was worth it . Communication was getting more important as the waves got harder and some teamwork was needed . Besides , he would need the skill soon anyway when he set out from the island . He had no idea who he’d meet when he left since the world had gotten randomized , and it would be quite frustrating if he finally met humans but couldn’t communicate with them .

The wave was finally starting to thin out , but the battle on top of the boss had continuously caused damage and cracks to the hulking beast they stood on . Finally , some threshold was passed , as Zac saw the portals start pulsating in the distance . Since there was no reason to be careful anymore Zac ordered the demons to back up to the wall again .

Next he charged up a huge fractal blade on each of his axes , and even empowered them with the Dao of Heaviness , turning the blades darker and giving them a palpable pressure . With a roar he swung down on the boss below , and the power from his swings completely decimated the beast and everything along with it .

The landing that had accumulated over time from the kills was completely destroyed as the strikes made debris fly in all directions , and even the closest wolves were thrown away . He immediately removed the Dao empowerment from the blades but kept them up for a few seconds as he completely destroyed any remainders of the siege . It would be impossible for the non-combat classes to pick up all these small pieces of gravel so he had to spread them out as much as possible .

Tens of the stone wolves were caught up in Zac’s wide swings , and along with the efforts of the demons less than ten percent remained . Finally content Zac let the fractal edges dissipate as he turned toward the next wave that was already approaching . These wolves had a washed-out cyan coloring , and the ground actually froze to ice where their feet touched as they ran . Zac sighed as he picked up one of the larger rocks from the ground and moved toward the incoming wave .

The day was far from over .

Chapter 89 - The Final Four

As the days passed the fights got increasingly desperate . Zac had improved quite a bit over the last weeks enabling him to pick up some of slack . But the same thing couldn’t be said about the demons . He was surprised to hear that most of the demons that entered the incursion were actually level 75 already , stuck in the first bottleneck . Their current power was around a level 50 , or a level 30 elite . This made Zac realize that levels were only a half-decent indicator for actual power .

The continuous battling was a crucible that let a few warriors push through their limits and improve their skills . There had even been a few warriors who gained a Dao-Seed in their desperation . A nondescript demoness gained the Seed of Tinder , and her fireballs suddenly created waves of death as the flames quickly spread into their surroundings . But it wasn’t enough .

Ogras was truly impressive , both in the number of his kills and his leadership . Over the weeks his role as the leader of the demons went from something born out of fear into willing submission . Unfortunately Ogras didn’t have the inhuman Endurance and Vitality of Zac , and as the fights got more intense the shorter amount of time he was able to keep going .

Initially the two split the fighting 50-50 , giving both sufficient rest , but now Zac fought in 75 percent of the waves . In some waves he simply acted as a back-up to the tired Ogras , but the other waves he was forced to almost single-handedly carry .

Just in the last day Zac had been forced to activate the shield on eight of the waves , rapidly draining his crystal reserves . One of the waves he actually decimated with the offensive component after letting everyone rest for a full 59 minutes .

In a perfect world he would have done that in every single wave for half a day , but it , unfortunately , was impossible . The offensive attack took twelve hours to recharge and cost 2500 crystals to use . Even though he had a crystal mine to his name , the actual amount of crystals he had on him wasn’t too large , so he had to use the attack sparingly .

Zac was running quite low on crystals , even though Ogras reluctantly fished out a surprising amount of them a week ago . They were his private hoard he kept as long as possible . Zac regretted that he traded so many of them for Nexus Coins prematurely . He was afraid the whole wave would come in one go instead of the incremental way the wolves had , and splurged on the array and a few offensive options to be able to meet a storm of beasts .

Only afterward did he know that he was wrong , and Ogras was as surprised as he was . It was easy for him to sometimes see the Demons as some omniscient beings , but Ogras was only a youth from a D-Ranked world just like him . There were an endless amount of things he didn’t know the specifics of either .

Zac had even gone to buy back some of what he sold to Calrin , prepared to eat a loss . He was dismayed to learn that Calrin’s reasons for hiking up prices of herbs weren’t actually purely a business tactic . There apparently were restrictions put in place the moment the waves started and the protective shields of the shop were erected . The System stopped the trade of certain items , and crystals were one such thing .

Crystals were used in powering most powerful arrays and war machines , and Calrin said he believed the reason for the embargo was that the system didn’t want people to finish hard quests with money alone . It made sense , as the beast horde quest would become a joke if Zac had unlimited funds . He could just sit on top of the wall and watch as powerful arrays ripped the wolves to shreds . He had seen the terrible power of the arrays the one time he activated the offensive functions . The blasts left nothing alive of that wave .

He already had an advantage from possessing the mine and the knowledge of the demons . Without either the quest would be far harder , but still manageable . Unfortunately the restrictions on trade meant that Zac couldn’t just keep the array active for the last four hordes . His remaining crystals simply wouldn’t be enough .

Just four more waves , - a voice said next to him as Zac stood on the wall . It was Ogras who looked uncommonly rested . Both he and Zac had taken it somewhat easily the last day even though the waves were getting quite extreme , which was partly why he had been forced to use the shield so much . The two could only assume the finale would be pretty bad from the escalation of difficulty .

Zac grunted in affirmation as he threw rocks at the stragglers of the wave below . These wolves were extremely thin and excelled in speed , so Zac only managed to hit them every ten throws or so . He could have gone down but these wolves were actually quite dangerous . Their claws were razor-sharp and together with their speed one of them actually managed to cut a wound on Zac’s throat before he managed to react . He had quickly climbed up the walls again after the scare .

If the wolves were a bit faster the wave would have been really calamitous . With their amazing speed and light frame they actually managed to run up most of the wall before being impeded by gravity . A few actually made it all the way , but they were quickly ganged up on before they could orient themselves and do any damage .

The rest had slowly been dealt with using quantity over quality . The monsters were too deft to target so the demons simply focus fired certain congested areas , pelting it with spells and arrows . A whole area with a radius of fifty meters quickly became a zone of death , and even these quick wolves couldn’t escape .

Still , the elusive wolves took time to kill , and some still were running about below the wall even as the summoning of the next wave approached , every so often trying to scale the fortifications . The portals in the distance pulsated , which signaled the next wave’s arrival .

Soon the 717th wave was approaching . These wolves looked quite normal , apart from the fact they were completely white , making them look albino . But instead of the red eyes that usually accompanied that condition even their eyes were without any color , making them look blind . The only exception to the monochromatic color scheme was a perfect black circle in their foreheads .

They trotted toward the wall in a uniform speed , not heedlessly charging like most of the waves did . When they were a few hundred meters they suddenly stopped and let out a synchronized howl toward the defenders .

The sound pierced into Zac’s ears and he immediately got woozy . He forcefully refocused his mind and looked at the surroundings , and saw most of the demons hunkered over . Many bled from their eyes or ears as well , a testament to the penetrating power of the howl .

Mental attack , - Ogras hoarsely said , his eyes a bit red from the impact . He glanced at Zac who seemed completely unperturbed by the assault . - Jeez , just how high is your Intelligence? Such a synchronized attack didn’t even affect you . -

Zac ignored the comment as usual . Ogras tried to dig out some information about Zac’s class and attributes every so often through innocuous comments . Zac didn’t trust himself to weave a believable net of lies and then keep track of it , and could only stoically ignore the remarks . He instead focused on the psychic wolves in the distance , and suddenly his eyes turned into a needlepoint .

DOWN! - Zac roared on top of his lungs , and most demons immediately threw themselves at the ground . Over the past weeks most learned to trust Zac’s nose for danger , and wouldn’t hesitate to follow his commands . However , a few were still dazed by the mental attack , and they paid dearly for it .

Another earth-shattering howl somehow created an enormous shockwave that pushed toward the fortifications with lightning-quick speed . In just over a second it closed the distance to the wall , ripping the straggler wolves from the last wave to shreds on the way . The wave slammed into the wall with a tremendous impact and the only thing stopping the demons from falling off was the protruding wall on the inner side of the wall walk . Multiple cracks ran along the fortifications , and some parts even completely crumbled .

The few demons who hadn’t reacted in time met miserable ends as well . Some at least managed to activate one type of defense or another , such as stone skin or a magic shield . But the defenses quickly shattered as the demons were thrown off the wall into the distance , their life , and death unknown . The demons who hadn’t even erected defenses immediately turned to mangled pieces of flesh and bones that splattered their teammates .

Fucking imbeciles - Ogras muttered as he shook off a piece of brain matter that had fallen on his legs . He had been the first to throw himself to the floor , his survival skills simply impeccable as always .

We can’t let them shoot off another blast like that , the wall will completely crumble , - he continued as he turned toward Zac .

The shaking from the impact quickly subsided and Zac hesitantly looked up over the wall . The wolves simply stood rooted at the same position as before , their white eyes staring at him . Not one of them took a single step forward , and they seemed to be waiting for something .

Zac guessed that it took some time to charge a blast of that power , but he didn’t want to find out how long . This race of wolves clearly preferred ranged attacks , and if they were left alone they would quickly turn the whole wall into rubble .

He didn’t dare erect the shield as well , as he wasn’t sure that it could even withstand such a concentrated attack . It was one thing for it to defend against a multitude of claws and bites , but to withstand the concentrated power of hundreds of fused attacks at once? Zac felt doubtful . Even if it held it would take a massive amount of crystals just to defend against an attack of that magnitude , and Zac might find himself without the use of the fortifications against the next three waves .

We need to go , - Zac simply said and got ready to jump over the wall .

What the fuck , are you crazy? - Ogras immediately said , clearly unwilling to brave such an army .

Zac only ignored him and jumped down , creating a thud as he landed . At least there were no wolves of the last wave remaining standing after the blast wave . He unhesitantly charged straight for the ranks of the psychic wolves . As he started running he heard an exasperated - Goddamnit - and a lighter thud behind him .

With a wry smile , he kept running and took out a huge boulder from his pouch . It weighed a few hundred kilos and looked like something a catapult should throw rather than a human . Zac launched it straight into the middle of the pack with a resounding roar , wanting to disrupt their rhythm .

A shimmering shield actually winked into existence in front of the group , and the boulder slammed into it with a terrifying force . The shield wobbled and flickered from the impact , but it barely held true . But just as the stone helplessly fell to the ground a black javelin slammed into the very same spot , cracking the shield with a snap . As the large shield broke and many wolves let out a pained yelp .

The wolves’ magical defenses were down and an opening was created . One human and a demon rushed inside , each creating a storm of blood .

Chapter 90 - Worsening Conditions

The psychic wolves weren’t as deadly in close quarters , but Zac still was constantly pelted with waves of mental attacks which strained his mind . Fortunately his stats made him able to barely hold on , but he was worried about his partner . A quick glance showed him that he was worried about nothing .

Ogras was creating corpses all around him with his deadly spear . Zac also saw that the demon wore a circlet he had never seen him use before . It was a simple metal band with engravings , and in the forehead between his horns a large milky white gem was inlaid . The gem flashed with power every now and then , giving out a hazy light . It looked like the demon had a tool that protected him from psychic attacks .

Zac didn’t have that kind of luxury , and could only painfully withstand the attacks as he wildly swung his axe around . The two were quickly decimating wolves , but the wolves weren’t just sitting around doing nothing . The flanks of the wolf wave split off from the rest while the main group kept the two powerhouses busy , and instead headed closer to the wall .

Zac tried to move to stop them , but was overwhelmed with shockwaves and mental attacks from all directions , and couldn’t get out in time . The offshoots started to bombard the wall with attacks , mainly targeted the damaged area .

The demons on the wall , led by Alea and Namys , tried to handle the wolves as quick as possible , but most of the attacks were ineffective against the wolves’ newly erected shields . Besides , many warriors on the walls weren’t still back to fighting condition after the initial psychic blast .

Hearing the ominous sounds of rock cracking Zac could only grit his teeth and Summon Chop] . He didn’t want to use any cosmic energy this wave in order to save it all for the last three , but he saw no option . He expanded the blades to five meters , and in conjunction with Loamwalker] created huge swathes of death in the main group of wolves .

Every step moved him a few meters into a new group of wolves , who immediately were bisected by a swing of the enormous edge , before he disappeared to the next cluster . It looked like large blood explosions erupted amongst the wolves in quick succession , as he almost wasted no time on movement between the swings .

Over the countless battles over the month he had mostly mastered his movement skill , and could freely move within a few meters of his position with a speed that almost looked like teleportation . It had a huge effect on his kill speed in conjunction with his enlarged edge , but it also cost a substantial amount of cosmic energy .

When he felt he had pruned the group of wolves to the point that Ogras could take care of it himself within the remaining time of the wave , he charged toward the offshoot groups . Ogras seemed to be incensed from seeing Zac rack up a huge amount of contribution points in short order , and his spear turned into a blur as he moved through the wolves . He used some odd skill that caused holes to erupt in the throats and heads of wolves even when the spear was meters away , making it look like there was a sniper in the distance assisting him .

The flanks that assaulted the wall had splintered into even more groups in order to avoid the attacks from the demons , and small shockwaves were constantly flying up at the cracks on the wall . The wall looked ready to fall down , with spiderwebs of cracks running along large stretches . A few earth mages frantically infused the wall with energy in order to patch it up , but it would take some time to restore its structural integrity .

In some areas large chunks of the wall were even lying down by the foundation , having been blased clean off . Fixing those large breaches would take time and require a lot of manpower to lift the pieces back , which there obviously was no time for .

The battle started calming down over time , as Zac eased the pressure for the demons by charging at the wolf packs one by one and decimating them . He was starting to get a pounding headache from all the mental assaults , but he couldn’t do anything but grit his teeth and continue . Another fifteen minutes later Ogras came running over , a sheen of perspiration covering his head . He stopped and took a few deep breaths before he turned

Lunatic! Leaving me alone with all those beasts , - the demon spat out between deep breaths , looking miffed but obviously not too angry .

Well it worked out fine , didn’t it? Do you have some solution for the wall? - Zac answered with a shrug as he waved at the crumbling battlements .

The two had taken stock of the available crystals right before the last four waves , and there were enough Nexus Crystals left to power one widespread attack and to use the shield for roughly an hour unless the attacks were too powerful . With three waves remaining he didn’t wish to start using the shield already , potentially leaving them undefended against the last two waves .

As if feeling Zac’s thoughts a deep rumbling could be heard from the wall , and a whole section crumbled , leaving a three-meter wide opening through the wall .

FUCK! - Zac screamed and didn’t wait for Ogras’ answer , immediately running toward the breach .

The last stragglers of the psychic wolves were already converging at the hole as well , seemingly wanting to cause some damage before they were wiped out . To make matters worse the pillars started pulsing again at this very moment , the 718th wave starting to pour out from the shining lights .

REPAIR THE WALLS! - Ogras roared as he ran after Zac , shooting out shadow spears at the charing psychic wolves .

With Zac and Ogras holding up the wolves a few dozen burly demons frantically started moving large pieces of rubble back into the wall , where earth mages melded the pieces back into the main structure . The earth mages had been tapped hard lately , and they looked like walking corpses by now , completely pale and with sunken eyes .

But they were the only ones who could fix these types of things in short order , and simply had to keep going even if they overtaxed themselves . They knew that if the wall fell most demons would die . If they were overrun the two leaders in the front might be able to escape , and perhaps the generals like Alea and Ilvere as well . But the earth mages didn’t specialize in escape techniques , and the wolves would hunt them down sooner or later . So they kept infusing the wall with cosmic energy , to the point of harming their bodies .

Ilvere and Namys appeared next to Ogras , who started to give out orders .

Ilvere , help with the repair of the walls , only you and Zac can hold the largest blocks of stone while they get reattached . Namys , help me control the remaining Psychic Wolves . Zac , can you go ahead and try to stall the next wave? -

Zac looked around for a second and judged the situation was under control , so with a nod he sped off toward the next wave . He held roughly the same pace as the new wolves so he met them right between the wall and the mini-incursions and frowned when he saw the new adversaries .

The new wave consisted of metallic wolves full of jutting edges and sharp blades , looking like some steampunk tool of war . Just from a glance he couldn’t tell whether they actually were machines or living beings . Of course , that line apparently was a bit blurred in the multi-verse , with the Creators being a prime example of that . He guessed that destroying one should give him the answer , as he would see whether parts or metallic blood would spew out .

He took out another rock and threw it with full force at one of the wolves in the front . It moved its head to not take the stone right in its snout , so it slammed into its shoulder with a tremendous crash . The wolf was thrown away a few meters from the impact , but Zac saw the beast shake its body and get back on its feet right away . Where the stone hit only a small dent could be seen , and it didn’t seem damaged at all apart from that .

Zac possessed over 250 strength by now and had the power to lift a small car . That a full-powered throw from him only caused some superficial damage to the beast told a troubling story about this wave . How were they going to destroy these wolves in time? There would only be a scant few that could deal with these things apart from himself and Ogras .

But he had a job to do so he could only grit his teeth . He charged up a five-meter Chop] and unhesitantly imbued it with his Dao of Heaviness . The blade turned darker and more intricate as he swung at the incoming stampede .

He felt a shock travel up his arm as he mowed through the metallic beings with his axe , their sturdiness being far and above anything he had fought so far . Even the rock wolves from earlier weren’t any problem for him with his overpowered stats .

Luckily the wolves didn’t fare any better as they were destroyed into metallic pieces over the ground . Zac did everything he could to impede the charge expending both mental and cosmic energy in wreaking havoc . Many of the wolves headed straight for Zac in order to avenge their brethren , but some still ignored him and continued onward toward the wall .

Some packs kept trickling past him as the main force kept trying to mob him to death , and after 15 minutes he was pretty wrung out and needed a break . His arm was actually starting to feel sore and he had been forced to swap axes six times in the short duration , as they simply were getting destroyed on the tough bodies .

He started to push back toward the wall , and he could only hope that it was somewhat fixed at least . Unfortunately , he saw that it was still an open entrance , and the metallic wolves were trying to get in . At least the hole was mostly shored up , the opening being quite a bit more shallow .

Zac soon arrived at the breach and met a tired-looking Ogras accompanied by Namys and Ilvere . A quick glance showed Janos and Alea at a walkway that was built above the crack , giving the demons above a spot to throw down large boulders of debris at the monsters . The boulders were too heavy to be carried , but they simply used Cosmos Sacks for it , summoning them up above and letting gravity do the rest .

These fuckers are so hard to kill , there’s no way we will be able to take down all of them , - Ogras grunted , clearly starting to fade from his high Cosmic Energy expenditure . The two demons looked ready to keel over , but they coordinated their attacks to take down one wolf by one in a stoic manner .

Zac planted himself in the crack , and helped arduously destroy one wolf after another . Eventually , they ran out of time , even as quite a few wolves remained . The pillars started to light up as usual , but this time it looked different . The glow looked almost blinding , and soon Zac saw why .

The 719th wave was an endless sea of wolves , tens of thousands of them . And even as they approached the wall , the pillars kept spewing more out .

Chapter 91 - Lightning Punishment

RETREAT! - Zac unhesitantly roared as he saw the insane amount of wolves approaching . If he had to guess he would say that the System crammed 20-30 waves worth of wolves into one .

The demons immediately complied and moved down from the wall to a far lower one roughly 50 meters further in . It could barely be called a wall , not even reaching three meters in height , and was rather a purchase to gain a bit better vantage when fighting . The wall wasn’t made to physically rebuff enemies , but rather it was there as a line of demarcation , showing where the Town Defense Array would cover .

Soon only Zac , Ogras and his two confidantes were holding off the remaining metallic beasts as the rest had moved back to safety .

Ogras looked a bit hesitant as he turned to Zac .

Are you sure about this? -

In response Zac only nodded and took out a blue glass ball out of his pouch , not stopping his attacks with his other hand . The glass ball crackled with lightning , as though a thunderstorm was caught and crammed inside the bauble .

Alright . See you on the other side friend , - Ogras said with a solemn expression as he nodded to the other two demons . They rapidly moved backward , leaving Zac alone in the crack facing a sea of wolves .

Soon after the last three demons were inside the defensive array flickered into being , covering the inner area of Port Atwood . Zac instead moved out toward the incoming waves . Some of the metallic beasts charged after him , while some tried to claw their way into the array .

As Zac pushed forward he started to infuse the glass ball with cosmic energy , making the thunder inside flit about more and more erratically . After roughly two minutes a large part of Zac’s remaining cosmic energy was consumed , but finally a change happened in the ball . It was as though it had reached critical mass , and started to absorb a huge amount of cosmic energy from the environment itself .

The ball started to flow in the air on its own , and Zac’s both hands were freed to protect the device . It would take a few more minutes before it was ready . He stayed put and mindlessly killed any wolf that came close , and he was surprised to see that he recognized many of the wolf-types from things he had fought during the past weeks .

It was like the System had summoned an all-star combination of the wolf-waves for the 719th assault . Zac was pelted by all types of attacks , but luckily his E-Grade robe protected him from most of it . As he fought the sky started to darken , and ominous rumblings echoed out through the island . A huge bolt of lightning flashed , and suddenly the hovering ball next to Zac was gone . He knew his mission was completed and started to bolt toward the protective array with full speed , not caring about the wolves anymore .

As he ran the battlefield turned almost pitch black from huge dark clouds that amassed with impossible speed , and then all hell broke loose . Huge pillars of lightning slammed into the ground all around the area , frying any unlucky wolf that was too close . But that was only the start as the chaos kept intensifying .

The area was blasted with such an amount of lightning bolts that the whole southern tip of the island was brightly lit up . The ground crackled and exploded at every place the bolts landed , completely destroying any wolf corpses or fortifications strewn about . In some areas the lightning was so intense that they started to spread along the ground , creating what looked like lakes made out of lightning . These lakes kept expanding , creating a field of death for anything caught inside .

Zac desperately ran toward safety , shocked about the efficacy of the device . It sounded mighty from the description when he bought it for 3 000 000 Nexus Coins , but he hadn’t expected it to be of this scale . Of course , something like this would only work on dumb beasts who refused to flee . The area of attack even spread toward the array , and lightning bolts slammed into the shield every now and then , making it light up .

The ball Zac used was actually a purely offensive array that he bought as preparation for the monster wave called E-Grade Medium Scale Lightning Punishment Array] . Different from the offensive capabilities of the Town Array it was a one-time usage attack . It was an array that consumed itself to summon the monstrous cloud in the sky that would rain death and destruction over the area .

It was Zac’s ace in the hole that he had hoped to keep until the last wave , and finish it off with a bang . But he immediately knew there was no way for them to manually kill the endless amount of wolves that spawned out of the wave , especially not with the wall in shambles . They would have been tired out then overrun from the numbers .

An acute sense of danger warned Zac , who immediately used Loamwalker] to move away as far as possible . Soon after he heard the ground explode behind him from a lightning bolt , but he didn’t bother turning around . He was closing in on the safety of the array .

The lightning actually kept increasing , and Zac was forced to keep dodging the bolts . But even with his movement skill he didn’t came out unscathed as the lightning ran along the ground between two nearby bolt , shocking Zac on the way .

His world turned white for a second and he stumbled , but he shook himself awake and continued . It felt like he was cooked from inside , and the pain was even worse than the black lightning arcs that the main branch demons used . He was forced to eat a few more secondary blasts of lightning before he finally threw himself through the array and fell down panting .

Smoke was rising from his body , and the short hair that had grown out lately was singed clean off , once again turning him into a bald monk . After a few steadying breaths he got up and turned toward the battlefield . Now that he wasn’t running for his life he could actually properly inspect the lightning storm , and the sight was truly exceptional .

He felt it was a joke he considered Rydel’s final attack to be a punishment from heaven . This was what real heavenly thunder looked like . It was as though the god of thunder himself wanted to smite this whole part of the island out of existence as huge bolts unceasingly slammed into the ground .