Somehow, even though Ryan had to stop and slow down several times since he was the only one who could find monsters before the monsters find them, he and the survivors reached the base in less than a day. That was quite surprising given that some folks were over sixty, and there were a few kids as well among that group. Another fact that completely helped them in that regard was that they avoided dragons completely, even though they saw three along the way. In any case, Mark was waiting for Ryan when he and the others arrived.

"It seemed you succeeded again," Mark said. "Still, I can't understand why you and Alissa split up."

"That is none of your business," Ryan said. "If you want to talk with me, that is fine, but you will have to do so while we walk. I will leave again soon. Sorry, but I have too many things to do and too little time."

"All right," Mark said. "Alissa returned earlier with her… followers? However, I didn't hear a report from her. I tried to talk with her, but as usual... she is a difficult one."

Ryan sighed… that was the downside of working with people who valued stiff rules too much. In any case, Ryan gave a proper summary of the events because otherwise, Mark won't be able to plan his actions accordingly, and for the good or for the worse, his actions might help or prejudice Ryan, even if they weren't originally his goals.

"To think that the president…" Hugo muttered in shock.

"Don't speak of this, Hugo," Mark said. "We don't know if… anyway, we can't let the situation scare any further than this. It is regrettable, but it looks like we can only rely on ourselves from now on. In any case, it is good that we learned this sooner than later."

Ryan, Mark, and Hugo finally reached the warehouse. Thankfully since the place was well-cooled down, the meat of the dragons didn't rot. However, Ryan had a hard time wondering how he was going to eat the frozen dragon hearts. If he cooks them, will they lose their effects? Hopefully not.

"Do you want to sell your dragons' heart?" Ryan asked.

"Why do you want it?" Mark asked. "We started analyzing every single piece of the dragons, but…"

Ryan began to wonder if he should even sell that valuable information about dragon hearts. It was a pity, but he couldn't show interest in anything, and others won't ask the reason behind it. Still, will that affect the world all that much? How many humans out there can fight dragons? It was possibly one hundred or even less… although there were six hundred people stronger than Ryan, a good part of them wasn't insane like he was.

"I will sell you that information for one hundred thousand coins," Ryan said.

"What?" Mark asked in shock.

"Are you insane?" Hugo joined the conversation. "There is no way that we have so many available coins!"

"Well, I won't give this information for free," Ryan said.

"… How about we sell the dragon heart for one hundred thousand coins?" Mark rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"You are a real pain in the ass…" Ryan frowned. "I guess it is fine. If you give me dragon heart, I will tell you its use."

After receiving the dragon heart, Ryan began to eat it like that. Although he never ate anything uncooked, something like that wouldn't stop him now. As expected, the fact that it was frozen only made things worse, but in the end, after Ryan finished that terrible meal, he felt more than satisfied with it.

Your speed increased by twenty points.

Ryan told what just had happened, but Mark and Hugo had a hard time processing what they heard… they couldn't believe that just eating something would have such an effect even though that something was a dragon's heart. In any case, despite the fact that the dragon hearts were bigger than a human's head, Ryan ate the other two without ceremony. When he felt sick of it, he made everything go down by drinking water. He needed more power, much more power, and the best way to achieve it was by hunting dragons.

Your dexterity increased by twenty points.

Your intelligence increased by twenty points.

"I was lucky, but I can't rely on luck. I should kill as many dragons as I can, but I should focus on those that can increase my dexterity."

"Although that piece of information is valuable, I don't think we will be able to use it for the time being," Mark said. "In any case, I thank you for the help this time. However, I need to ask, what are your plans right now?"

"I will clear as many dungeons as possible," Ryan declared. "Meanwhile, you should create a map with the location of all dungeons in our country. I will need that, and I helped more than I should to deserve that."

"Certainly," Mark nodded. "We owe you quite a lot. Still, is there something else we can help you with?"

"There is, but I will leave that for later," Ryan replied. "If you try to do too many things at once, you will end up doing a half-assed job at all of them. Just focus on finding the survivors that you want and finding the dungeons for me."

Before leaving, Ryan decided to grab some bones and scales of the dragons he defeated. It was time to check if they could make better arrows than the ones his bows could make. Hopefully, Ryan will be able to create some reusable arrows, if that doesn't happen… He will have to use them to create projectiles to deal with small fries. Although tough opponents will make him stronger faster, the small fries will grant him enough coins to train for long periods of time. Ryan will definitely need both of those aspects. Besides, it wasn't like the powerhouses were just lying around waiting for him.