Chapter 22: Preparation for Evan's Upgrade 1
Next day,
In the morning time,
Birds are flying above Nexus City; animals are grazing grass and leaves of the plants, and the sun is rising in the Eldros world. A small wind crosses Ash's face.
Evan and Robin are sleeping in the house.
And Ram is refining mana-mist in the altar all night. A level 3 human can extend their sleep for 3 days for important work. Since Evan is going to use the altar today, Ram decided to use the altar for the whole night. The use of the altar by humans at night is very common in the Eldros world because places for mana-refining are only possible in the altar city, or any land where mana-refining is possible is considered treasure land in the Eldros world. This is because most places in this world have impure mana that cannot be used in refining for human beings.
So, most people have to come to the altar city for mana-refining; otherwise, when they try to refine pure mana-mist/core outside the altar city, pure and impure mana connect with each other, and mana becomes impure. Their pure mana is wasted because of this. If they forcefully try to refine that impure mana, they will show symptoms of mindless monster-like behavior from time to time. After a long duration of forceful impure mana-refining, people can become permanently mindless. The more impure mana you have, the more mindlessness duration you have to endure. After refining this forceful impure mana and trying to get rid of it, it will take a long time and hard work to cleanse the impure mana from your body.
Level upgrades become impossible for most people who have impure mana in their bodies.
Mana-refining in the altar of the city makes it much more efficient because in the city altar, you feel pure mana easily, and the mana concentration is also very high compared to other treasure or places. So, refining becomes easier.
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After 15 minutes later, Ash opened his eyes and saw Evan and Robin still asleep, so he did not bother them. He exited the house and started to see the sun rising and the fresh, pure wind on his face, mostly on his cheeks. He felt a sudden joy in his heart about his future as he gazed toward the rising sun, which mostly looked like an orange, a small bright circle increasing its size with time.
After entirely watching the rising sun, Ash went to the altar to meet Ram.
A few minutes later, Ash saw Ram refining mana-mist in the altar room. Seconds later, Ram looked toward Ash, and he started to exit the altar room and walked up to Ash. Both started talking. Ash mostly talked about Ram 's injury issue.
Ram said to Ash, "I will be entirely healed in two days." Ash nodded with smile on his face.
Ram then spoke to Ash about Robin, and Ash told him about Robin.
After that, Ash informed Ram that he would need to stay in the city and look after it because he and Robin would go monster hunting. Evan's breakthrough pill needed more mana-points than they currently had, and they also needed to further inquire about this area and the location of the other altar-city.
Ram agreed with Ash, and after both walked to the house, they woke Evan and Robin.
Evan and Robin's eyes were filled with shame because they were waking up after Ash, and Ash had to wake them up. They both felt guilty about that.
Ram and Ash understood their shameful eyes, but neither of them said anything about it. In this world, every living being is fighting for survival, so sleeping more was not a big issue for Ash.
So, Ash decided they should freshen up first, and after that, they would cook food.
35 minutes later, everyone had freshened up and they met with each other in the place where raw meat and food were stored for cooking.
After that, Ram and Robin started to cook food, and Ash said to Evan, "You go to the altar for mana-refining and prepare for your level upgrade."
Evan nodded, and he also wanted to go to the altar for mana-refining after Ash and Ram woke him up. But he did not dare to contradict Ash's order, so he followed Ash's command without saying anything.
Before Evan went to the altar, Ash decided to check Evan's status window to see his progress.
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Name: Evan (altar subject)
Age: 18
Status: Healthy
Abilities: None
Level: 0 (90/100 mana mist level 0)
Loyalty: 90 (max 100)
Weapon: Low grade axe, low grade shield
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After seeing Evan's status window, Ash thought to himself that Evan's level upgrade could happen today if Evan practiced diligently and if Ash provided the red pill for the level upgrade.
After that, Ash began to practice with his knife, while Ram and Robin were preparing ingredients for cooking. Actually, Ash didn't have most of the ingredients, but after some time of forest exploration, Ash and Evan had found some ingredients that could enhance the taste of food. Ram and Robin decided to use these to enhance the food's flavor, and this also excited Ash because who would want to eat tasteless food when you could eat tasty and healthy food?
After Ash's knife practice for 1 hour, and Ram and Robin had finished cooking the food, Ash, Evan, and Ram decided to eat the food first. After that, they would give some to Evan at the altar after eating.
15 minutes later, after finishing his food, Ash said to Ram, "You provide this food to Evan and give him some advice. Share your experience of your level upgrade and the problems you faced during your upgrade. That will help Evan in upgrading his level."
Ram agreed with Ash's order entirely, and he was fully committed to complying with his order. He also wanted to help Evan with his level upgrade because he liked Evan as his junior. After all, Evan was an 18-year-old boy, which made them feel the need to help Evan. Ram also learned from the experience of other veterans in his former city about how to upgrade levels without serious issues.
Helping Evan in his upgrade also made the city stronger, and Ram knew in his heart that Ash, Evan, Robin, and he were all part of one faction. The stronger their faction became, the more powerful they all would be.
After all, Ash had assured him that he was part of his core team that would run the city and become a top-level figure in the city. Ram had also pledged loyalty to Ash and the altar, so he had to do his best in teaching Evan how to tackle the upgrade shackles in his body to become a level 1 human/warrior.
Before Ram left to meet Evan and give him food, Ash decided to check Ram's status.
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Name: Ram (altar subject)
Age: 55
Status: Slightly injured
Abilities: ?
Level: 3 (?)
Loyalty: 60
Weapon: Low grade sword
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After seeing Ram's status, Ash noticed Ram's loyalty had increased, and he felt good about that. After all, no one likes a disloyal subordinate, and if that subordinate is more powerful than you, no one feels at ease about this loyalty issue. A weak disloyal subordinate is an issue that can be easily handled, but a powerful disloyal subordinate is a headache that you can't handle easily.
After that, Ash thought, "Why not check Robin's loyalty since he is the new addition to the city?"
Then a pop-up window appeared in front of Ash.
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Name: Robin (altar subject)
Age: 48
Status: Healthy
Abilities: None
Level: 2 (10/100 mana mist level 2)
Loyalty: 40
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Ash saw Robin's loyalty and felt satisfied with it, considering Robin was new to the city and had spent less time with him. So, he was pleased with the loyalty number of Robin.
After thinking for a while about how many resources he needed to get from outside the city, Ash decided to check the city's status window.
A pop-up window appeared in front of him.
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City: Nexus City
Ability: Territory defense double
Description: In the event of city defense, all the attack power and defense power of people and buildings become double.
Altar level: 0
Upgrade requirement: (woods * 1000, stone * 250, 50 * mana core (level 0))
Production: Mist mana level 0 * 10 per day
Area: 625 square meters
Status: Very small village
Mana (money): 33
Tax (from market & city): 0 * mana-mist level
Building: Guide mark * 1 (active), Market (5 free trades per day)
Blueprint: Low grade house (stones * 100, woods * 25)
Warehouse: Wood * 39, Rabbit monster hide level 0 * 11, Rabbit monster hide level 1 * 1, Stone * 10
Population: 4
Specialty: Mana tree (produces level 0 mana * 4 per day)
Resource point: Stone Mountain level 1 (310 * mined / 1000 all stone mineable in new mine)
Attack power level: 0 (900/1000)
Description: City's power level to attack enemies
Defense power level: 0 (4000/10000)
Description: City's defense power level against enemies
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