Steel took a deep breath and said, "I want a thousand soldiers to open the city's entrance and defend it. We're going to welcome Sir Draco home.""Yes, sir!" ***Novemton's massively secure gates opened, and a total of a thousand fully armed soldiers stood on both sides of the entrance. Steel had ordered a hundred thousand men to build these gates and walls around the city, which was completed in a few days. These were the walls that protected everyone inside from the monsters. Since Steel was the one who ordered the walls to be built, the survivors call it the Wall of Steel. They looked to him as their leader, and he protected them ardently. Steel and a few others stood atop the wall and spotted a convoy in the distance. He recognized it as Adrian's convoy. "Sir Draco's convoy has arrived," Hugh said, Crystal's former subordinate and closest confidant. After she disappeared, Hugh came under Steel's command and began doing his best to protect everyone in Novemton. The survivo
"Sir Draco!" someone yelled out.The civilians began waving in greeting as they cheered."Welcome home, sir!"Hooray for Wyvern Peak!”"All hail Navia!”"Sir Draco’s back!" Adrian was touched as he gazed at the excited crowd, while Helen and her sisters shed tears. They knew the civilians could finally see the light at the end of a very, very dark tunnel. "All hail Wyvern Peak!"All hail Sir Draco!" The civilians then got on their knees."Please save us, sir!""Please save us!" They saw Adrian as their last hope. After all, he was a man who had been through countless battles. They desperately hoped he would lead them to a new home. The city gates closed after all of the vehicles had entered. Standing before everyone, Adrian called out, "Everyone, please stand and let me tell you all what is happening.”"Thank you, sir." A little boy tugged at his mother's clothes, looking confused as he asked, "Mommy, who's that? He looks so cool. Why were we kneeling to him?"
Adrian gazed at the silent crowd and said, "According to my instructor, the meaning of life is to stay alive. That's right. I'm going to tell you all the same thing today. The meaning of life is to stay alive.""Stay alive…""Stay alive.""Stay alive!" Everyone raised their fist and chanted, their motivations and desire to live ignited. They wanted to live their lives with dignity. When the chanting died down, Adrian continued, "Why is the meaning of life is to stay alive? That's because only by staying alive will we have hope and a future. Not only should we stay alive, but we should also live our lives with dignity. Nobody in the world can take away our right to live. We each have our worth.“Regardless of who it is, anyone who tries to take away our right to live is our enemy. And what do we do to our enemies? I want you all to answer me at the top of your lungs!"The crowd answered, "We team up and defeat them!" Hearing their answer, Adrian smiled. "That's right. We team
The deafening voices spread across Novemton, reaching the sky. Everyone was in high spirits, their courage at an all-time high. Adrian hopped off the truck and headed toward the Battle Warrior Tower with Steel and the others. When inside, Steel said, "I thought you were gone, sir. It's so good to see you. Our people desperately needed hope after all this chaos."Steel sounded helpless as he spoke. The reset had changed the world so quickly. Nobody had expected such a thing to happen.Adrian asked, "How many soldiers and civilians do we have?""We have a hundred and twenty thousand soldiers and four hundred and twenty thousand civilians. We have scientists, academicians, artists, medics, elderly, as well as children among the latter. That's everyone I've been able to gather so far after the crisis. I sent soldiers to the cities, counties, and villages surrounding Novemton, and we now have a total of five hundred and forty thousand people."As a member of Wyvern Peak, Steel's calcu
What's the situation in Novemton? I need specifics," Adrian calmly said as he sat down.Steel reported, "We can only defend half the city with our current forces, so we've built walls around the city to stop the monsters from entering. These walls were created with concrete and steel rebars, making them quite strong. But due to the limited time and resources we have, we weren't able to build the walls that are taller and stronger.”Steel sounded slightly embarrassed at that last statement. He had done all this within a few days, and it was the best he could do based on his abilities and the resources they had. "You've done well. However, we can no longer determine how long we can defend Novemton. We need to think further. So—"Steel interrupted, "Are you saying we need to be prepared to live in Novemton for the long term?""Correct. So, we need to defend this city. We need to reinforce our walls and redevelop the place. Once that's done, we can figure out a way to defeat the Crea
Adrian's actions made Steel believe even more firmly there was hope for them. "Sir, I trust that War Legate Dominus and the other youngsters will one day accomplish this grand mission on your behalf." "Steel, allow me to introduce you to a friend. You could also say that she's our ancestor," Adrian said with a smile, which left Steel confused. A woman with slender legs walked into the room. She was one of the most beautiful women Steel had ever laid eyes on. Her mature temperament even left him feeling dazed for a moment. "Who's this, sir?" Rozi calmly sat down on the couch. Over the past few days, she had grown accustomed to living in this modern world.Adrian replied, "This is Abioye Rozi. Rozi is the Partingian princess from a thousand and two hundred years ago.” "What?!" Steel was so astonished that he staggered backward.A thousand and two hundred years?Color began to drain from Steel's face as he asked, "Are you kidding me, sir? She's a thousand and two hundred ye
Steel picked up the stone and took a closer look at it. "Isn't this a meteorite from Isle 416? But there's something different about this one… It's got these textures on it.""We got that from the monsters," Adrian said. "Why would something like this be found within the monsters?"Steel was thoroughly shocked. Everything he thought he knew about the world was being overturned. First, there was a woman who was over a thousand years old, and she was a Partingian princess from a country that had long since perished. Now, there was the stone of strange origins in front of him.Sensing Steel's confusion, Adrian said, "The meteorites have a powerful effect that affects and mutates the human genome but does not kill them. Let's put it this way. If a person was unable to control their mutation, they'd end up like Gloria. They would ultimately die if they didn’t receive treatment. However, as each individual's physique is different, some end up dead from the mutation while others undergo
“Runemasters?""That's right. It was a popular profession, and these people forged all sorts of weapons using said runes. This allowed them complete control over the weapon."Steel shook his head, unable to comprehend the true power behind the profession. Rozi was saying these few engravings would allow an immortal control over an item? That sounded unbelievable.Rozi struggled to explain this in modern terms, so Adrian said, "Those runes are similar to our blood circulatory system. Immortals infused their powers into these runes. This is similar to the blood being pumped through our veins, allowing us control over specific limbs. On top of that, there are all sorts of runes, each with its own password. It's like our safety boxes that can't be opened unless we know the password.""How are these passwords defined then?" Steel asked. "It's similar to QR codes or number passwords. They can be activated through different degrees of power, how frequently those powers are infused, the