The way through was mostly uneventful after he killed the broodmother, while he killed a lot more cave rats there was no real challenge or gain from killing those mindless beasts considering their level. If they hadn’t attacked him, Ethan would just have ignored them all together. But even when he tried to simply fly above them they scurried up the walls and jumped him without care for their own lives.
After a few more hours of walking through dark tunnels and caves now covered with dead rats Ethan literally saw light at the end of the tunnel. He didn’t rush to the front like he might have done in the past, instead he sent a small group of his soldiers forward. His wraiths would have been great for this but they were still in the cavern, first to test if there was a distance limit. If there was no distance limit he wanted to see if they start to cost more in terms of upkeep. So far they were still there and the amount of mana didn’t change. Secondly, they were super slow and he didn’t feel like wasting time when he needed to find more allies as soon as possible. He also was super excited to see the new world but that was secondary.
While he couldn’t see through his soldiers he still got a vague sense of what happened, that boiled down to no one around or someone around, so it wouldn’t help against people with long range attacks or stealth but it was better than no precautions at all. After the group stood outside for a few minutes without being attacked Ethan finally got a taste of real freedom. The cavern, the oppressive valley or that horror forest. Nothing showed him the new world he was promised by the system.
Stepping out of the cave nearly blinded him as he saw the real sun after days and weeks of darkness. Ethan blinked a few times but when his eyes finally adjusted he could only smile. In front of him were rolling fields of knee high grass, flower patches could be seen farther away from the mountains and in the distance the darker green and brows of a gigantic forest that seemed to run the entire length of the horizon. In the sky he could see some massive birds flying that looked like someone took them straight from prehistoric times as they circled over the forest. The land under his feet looked alive and healthy with no blemishes, no weird pulsing plants and plague ridden creatures in sight.
Ethan summoned up a new platform, the magic circle on top of his staff glowing brightly as the thin sheet of ice lifted him from the ground, he made it large enough for his soldiers to fit on without it feeling crammed. He still had half of them kneel down so he could actually see where he was going during their exploration of this new world.
Marshal had told him that he and his group didn’t appear far from here, when they appeared there was nobody around besides them. Well he also told him that they didn’t really explore that much and just ventured into the mountains, so that meant Ethan was flying solo without any guidance. It felt liberating and scary at the same time, his whole life he was guided on rails from foster home to foster home. Later on his own survival and that of his sister set all the priorities. Even the tutorial laid out goals for him and now for the first time in a very long time there was an overall goal but without a path prepared for him.
He didn’t know why but it made him grin, using his boosted mana pool he flew high into the air to take a proper look. What he saw made him just stare into the distance for a moment, his mouth open in surprise. The land he had seen on the ground, which was already a massive area, was tiny compared to what he saw now. To his left and right he could see the mountain range stretching so far into the distance he couldn’t guess where it might end. The forest in the distance looked like an endless expanse, only broken up by a lake invading from the right side that could rival the Mediterranean Sea if the part that he could actually see was any indicator.
Realization was slowly settling in as his brain started to work properly again. With the world population basically halved, the planet now as big as well he didn’t even know what he would compare it to. How long would he have to look for other people? Ethan’s smile cracked for a second but then he took a deep breath and slapped himself, he needed to focus.
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“Stop thinking like you've already lost before you even tried it. There are allies to find, monsters to fight and levels to claim. Everybody needs water so that’s where I start.” He shook himself and let frost creep up his legs, he didn’t realize the predatory, bestial…grin on his face as he took another deep breath and accelerated the disk under his feet…burning a third of his mana pool to increase the speed.
The next few days Ethan raced over the land, always going in the opposite direction of his new mountainous home. He used his connection with Nora to stay on course, talking was no longer possible at this point but he still knew where she was. Their connection ran deep into both their souls so losing her wasn’t possible.
His journey took him along the massive lake/ocean he saw on his first day, so far he only spotted a few monsters and somewhat normal looking animals like the birds but looks could be deceiving. Especially when he saw a swarm of what he thought were squirrels devour a fucking bear with their razor sharp teeth. He didn’t stay afterwards and just filled his water skins an hour later at a different location after his soldiers secured the area.
Food and water was a curious subject, he didn’t really feel hungry for the first two days and only then did he feel a bit of hunger. His need to drink something came after around a day and a half but even then he felt like a few more days wouldn’t be a problem if he could deal with some discomfort.
While travelling these were some of the subjects he thought about, the system had changed them on a fundamental level and was continuing to do so. The simple fact that it could give him magic and skills wasn’t explainable by mere logic. But while he could spend years trying to crack a system that was in place for thousands…millions of years there was just no logical sense in doing so. Currently it was just to kill time during his search but lucky for him he would soon have something else to focus on.
Far in the distance he could see smoke plumes rising into the air, it screamed civilization especially since it was close to the water which was an important resource since the dawn of life. So he continued at a more relaxed pace to regenerate some mana, while the clock was ticking he didn’t need to rush and scare a bunch of humans with him arriving like a harbinger of frozen death.
When he actually arrived at the location he set down a good distance away and walked along the water. His soldiers formed a loose circle around him to shield him from any surprise attacks. Ethan himself watched the dark forest on one side and the unpredictable water on the other. To his surprise there was no attack for once, he was used to running into all kinds of stuff at this point so not being attacked made him feel even more on edge.
He stepped on to the land the humans have claimed for themselves and took in the scenery, his eyes grew wide when he saw what they had built in just a month. In front of him was a town, not a hamlet or village but an actual town. All around the town there were no trees in sight, even now he saw people cutting down trees with their axes needing only one or two swings to fell a tree. He would have loved to use Identify but they were too far away.
Ethan watched in stunned silence as people loaded the wood onto carts and pulled them, alone without any kind of help, towards the town. He saw a few removing tree stumps, their shovels almost catapulting the dead wood from the ground while a third group was plowing the ground, covering more distance than should be possible. For a moment Ethan wanted to rub his eyes or slap himself, maybe he was dreaming or got actually attacked and laid on some forest clearing while bleeding out, but no, he was awake and in full control of his body.
There was a need inside of him to get a closer look so he gathered his soldiers in two rows. He walked in the middle of them while they flanked him on both sides. Time to see what was up with this town, he had seen the dwarves work and while they were fast this was almost comical. But these people must be without a combat focused class unlike him, maybe they were some guards around but for now he was sure most people would belong to crafting and gathering classes.
Approaching the village was easy as there were no people to stop him, most people looked young and were smiling while doing their work but he was still not able to identify them for now. Keeping his guard up he walked through a rough looking arch made from logs and he could make out different buildings scattered around the open plain. He stopped moving when he saw a man jogging towards him, waving his hand and smiling. “It seems I will soon get some answers.”
