Quote:As he got dizzy he started falling on his back and tried to grab anything to stop himself from falling; He grabbed the door and the door opened. He quickly got himself back up on feet and entered closing the door behind him. As he got into the room he fell down on his back exhausted and laughing thinking

‘Stupid door. Pull, don’t push...huh..hahahahaha’

His laugh suddenly stopped and he fainted.

Vol.2 Chapter 6-Following the Road

Paul slowly opened his eyes. As he did he noticed the ceiling that was full of some vines. He quickly grabbed his sword prepared to defend himself but the vines didn’t move

-“So they are different…normal plants”

As he looked more carefully around the room he noticed that in the center there was a large crystal that was pulsating light. He quickly ran over, bit his finger and put his blood on the crystal becoming the new owner. The crystal was white with some grey and gold mixed in. It was the size of a coconut and had similarities to a coral reef. It was like an explosion frozen in time. It had sharp edges. The crystal was on some sort of altar.

-“They probably realized that someone got into the dungeon. I don’t want the city ruler to teleport here. I don’t know how powerful he is. Still I might need to be careful since they might send someone after me.”

So Paul decided that before anything else he would modify the dungeon. As soon as he became the owner of the crystal and all its abilities he somehow knew already what he could do with it. He touched it and closed his eyes. In his mind a 3D map appeared and as soon as he thought of something the map would change. However to actually implement all the modifications he would need to say out loud “Change accepted”.

Paul changed the dungeon quite a bit so that no one could know the way. After making some slight changes he released the crystal and looked around. This time he saw some chests In the room. He didn’t notice them before since they were somewhat covered in vines and they looked to be made from stone.

-“Weird chests. Made from stone. Why would they made it from stone..”

He removed the vines with a dagger. He opened one of the chests with some difficulty. Inside the chest there was only pieces of crystal, some small and some larger. There were thousands of shards and Paul only opened the smallest chest. Then he opened the rest of the chests. The bigger chests were quite difficult to open. The material from which the chests were made was quite hard and heavy.

In the end a few chests had more crystals and some had gold coins. They probably stored all the gold and crystals in that room since it was the safest place in the whole city. Only the ruler could get there in an instant. They stored crystal shards for only one reason. In case of war they could modify the city into a fortress.

“They must have been storing gold and crystal shards for a very long time to get this many. I wonder how common wars are…”

He absorbed everything, all 2 739 832 gold coins and all the crystal shards. Since the shards aren’t the same size it is difficult to estimate how much would require building a house or anything else. Paul then proceeded back to the command crystal. He could visualize in real time everything in the city.

-“Finally….let’s have some fun”

He identified with ease the nobles. They had all the big buildings. Paul first made sure that there weren’t any people inside the houses by luring them out with some slight modifications. Paul noticed that everyone left the buildings, some even started screaming and running as far as they could. The elf could clear several houses at once. It seems that the crystal increases his thinking process well.

After clearing the houses he destroyed the house by making the earth swallow it. Everyone watched as large buildings just disappeared into the earth and they could only watch. Instead of the large houses, Paul created them a small wooden house.

While absorbing the large building Paul instinctively knew that he gained all the materials and could use them elsewhere. Every times he creates something energy disappears from the crystal and every time he absorbs something energy increases. It was very similar to mana and magic. Each crystal has a finite amount of energy and to keep creating you need more crystals. He now understood some of the logic of the crystals.

Using the energy he gained from the noble houses he successfully renovated all the building of the commoners and had more energy left. He created them then some fountains and improved the farmland. Not having anything else to do he remembered. He modified the dungeon on last time. Paul created a straight line to the outside without any dangers or traps. Just a long corridor that led him outside the city.

Paul removed his hands from the crystal and then gently lifted the crystal. The moment the crystal didn’t touch the altar it cracked and shards of it started to fall. Paul absorbed all the shards and not having anything else to do he exited the room. After opening the door he saw only a long corridor. In a few minutes he finally reached the end and saw some sunlight.

As he stepped outside he breathed in the fresh air and the smell of flowers. He looked around and recognized the place. He knew that he wasn’t far away from the city gates. He slowly walked to the gate taking his time. As he approached he saw a large crowd near the gate. The were some with carts and some with only a bag.

As he got closer he recognized some of them. Among them were the two brothers, Naj and Faj. They also noticed Paul.

-“Hey. I though you forgot about us.”

-“What do you mean?”

-“You told us to met you here remember? And also spread the word to other who wanted to join”

-“Yes.”

-“Well today is the day you told us to meet.”

It seems that Paul slept in the dungeon for a longer time than he realized.

-“Yes. But why are there so many people here?

-“Well some people heard the rumors and asked if they could join”

-“Rumors?”

-“About you. They heard that you will lead everyone abandoned by the city”

-“Lead? Lead them where”

-“They don’t care where. They believe anywhere is better than here”

Paul looked around and saw that there were over 70 people and among them only 30 had weapons. Paul listened to the brothers explain who the people where. A few of them were soldiers, some farmers, some traders, some hunters but all of them lost everything and had no future in the city. There were also some city guards staying alert in case there might be a riot.

Paul not feeling tired at all used his aura to silence everyone and then he spoke up in a clear voice that everyone heard no matter how far they were.

-“Everyone my name is Paul. If you wish to follow me you need to follow my orders. We don’t have a destination. Some of you might die in the process. Those of you who still wish to join me….just follow me.

Paul then started walking following the south road. Out of 70, 55 followed Paul. Minutes later, once the city was further away Paul stopped and so did everyone else. Paul asked to see how many of them knew how to fight. Out of 55 only 30 knew how to use a weapon. Paul then explained how they will travel. The ones who know how to fight would be on the outside and the others in the center. The fighter could protect the weak. Paul told them to prepare for any situation and while the checked their weapons, supplies and anything else Paul ran as fast as he could back to the city.

The city was very loud. There were many soldiers and guards walking around. Paul knew that he was the cause of this. Not attracting any attention he headed to the market place. He brought a cart. After filling the cart with food he went to a place where he could not be seen and absorbed all the food. He repeated this process a few times. In the end he spend 50 gold on food. After buying as much food he believed was enough he placed in the cart as many pelts as he could and then sold them. He sold all the pelts for 60 gold.

After not needing the cart anymore he sold it at half the price he bought it.

‘These supplies should last us at least a month’

Paul went straight to the gate. He avoided all the guards since he didn’t want to get stopped. He left the city without any problems and reached his people in no time.

-“So, are you all ready to go?”

Every person responded positively and they started moving again. They moved at a slower pace than Paul was used to. They also needed to stop from time to time to rest. The ones who had some sort of training didn’t get tired but the rest did. As they followed the road the city was no longer visible. On the right of the road there was a green field for a long distance. On the left there was a small river and some trees. They walked for quite some time. Now the road ahead was going through a forest and it was night so Paul decided to stop and sleep on the edge of the forest.

He ordered 10 of the fighters to guard the rest of the people. And he took 5 of them with him into the forest hunting. Paul already heard wolves howling as they entered the forest. The 5 joining him could hear Paul say

-“Excellent”

Soon the wolves could be heard. Paul just told the men

-“Gather every body you find”

They didn’t know what Paul meant and looked confused at each other. Paul then smiled and went on a rampage killing every wolf he saw. After killing about 40 of them there was no other wolf. He helped carry the bodies of the wolves in one pile. He then remove the pelt’s and gave them to the 5 men with him. He told them to return and give the pelts to those who need it.

The 5 men grabbed the pelts and ran towards the camp. Paul then continued hunting. He finally found another large wolf pack and killed them with ease. He removed the pelts and put them in the ring leaving the rest of the remains to the forest. Having enough pelts he returned and when close to the forest edge he got out all the pelts from his ring and carried them. He handed pelts to those that didn’t receive one. Everybody thanked him.

During the night people took shifts and the rest slept, Paul included. The next day they had breakfast and they went back to the road. In the forest the road was rougher and they had to move slower since the carts couldn’t keep up with the normal speed. There were some creatures that attacked but they were weak and Paul didn’t even need to act, the ones responsible to keep them rest safe killed them.

During the night it was more dangerous in the forest so half of those that could fight stayed awake. And then the changed shifts. Paul also helped. During the night they were attacked by some goblins, a bear and some plant like creatures. There were some injuries but Paul healed them without any problems.

The next day Paul went ahead a few times to make sure that there weren’t any dangers. Each time he encountered something he defeated it with ease. They were in the forest for two full days. When finally they reached the end everybody was brimming with joy. They finally felt the sunlight on their skin. In the forest the sun did pierce the trees from time to time but it didn’t last long.

As soon as Paul got out of the forest he was stunned by the beautiful view. In the distance there were tall mountains that reached the clouds. The clouds kept changing color like a rainbow. He heard someone talk about them and after finding more information about them he learned that the clouds are changing color as a natural phenomenon. It is quite unique and they are called rainbow clouds.

Paul then looked around and saw a small lake nearby. He headed there and made camp. They all rested for a full day. That day, while resting Paul told them that they will be going towards the mountains so they should get as much rest as they could.

They were not attacked by any creature. Strangely enough they didn’t see any creature. It seemed like nothing was alive around them, not even bird flew by. Next to the lake there was a large rock formation. Some of the travelers made camp in the shadow. Some of them even jumped into the lake. The lake water was quite pleasant. Then Paul observed something.

‘The water is a bit strange…It shouldn’t be this clean after everyone washed themselves in it. It should at least have some blood or dirt mixed in it.’

As he looked at the water he didn’t find anything weird. Even after using identify there was just regular water. As he studied the water there was a small earthquake for a few seconds. There were a few more after that. Paul then asked everyone to give them their equipment to repair. While Silver was repairing the items, some of the people kept playing in the water, some ate, laughed and talked. It was like this was what they did their entire lives.

Then there was another earthquake but Paul ignored it and focused on the items. Then he heard a woman scream followed by other screams. When he looked out of the tent that the people made for him towards the screams, what he saw made him freeze while everyone else was running towards the forest abandoning their belongings. Some of them tried to get it’s attention so that others could escape.

Paul quickly snapped out of it and grabbed his two swords and headed towards the largest living creature he saw so far in this world. His heart was beating like crazy. Paul was scared.

-“Seriously…could it get any worse?”

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:hi: Hope you like the new chapter

Edenawe will be on a short hiatus until somewhere in November.

Thank you for all the comments.