Chapter 17 - Following The Road

Paul slowly opened his eyes and noticed the ceiling was covered in vines. He quickly grabbed his sword, preparing to defend himself, but the vines didn’t move.

“So they are different… normal plants,” he muttered.

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

“They probably realized someone entered the dungeon. I don’t want the city ruler to teleport here. I don’t know how powerful he is. Still, I need to be cautious; they might send someone after me.”

Paul decided that before doing anything else, he would modify the dungeon. As soon as he became the crystal’s owner and understood its abilities, he touched it and closed his eyes. In his mind, a 3D map appeared, and as soon as he thought of something, the map changed. To implement modifications, he needed to say out loud, “Change accepted.”

Paul changed the dungeon significantly so that no one could navigate it easily. After making the modifications, he released the crystal and looked around. This time, he noticed some chests in the room, previously hidden by vines and made of stone.

“Weird chests. Made of stone. Why would they make them from stone?” he wondered.

He removed the vines with a dagger and struggled to open one of the chests. Inside, he found only pieces of crystal, both small and large. There were thousands of shards in the smallest chest. The larger chests were more challenging to open due to their hard and heavy material.

In the end, a few chests contained more crystals, and some had gold coins. They likely stored all the gold and crystals in this room, as it was the safest place in the city, accessible only to the ruler. The crystals were stored for potential war, to modify the city into a fortress.

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

He absorbed everything—2,739,832 gold coins and all the crystal shards. Since the shards varied in size, estimating how much would be needed to build a house or other structures was difficult. Paul then returned to the command crystal, which allowed him to visualize everything in the city in real-time.

“Finally… let’s have some fun.”

He easily identified the nobles’ large buildings. Paul ensured there were no people inside the houses by luring them out with some slight modifications. As people left the buildings, some screamed and ran away. The elf could clear several houses at once, thanks to the crystal’s enhancement of his thinking process.

After clearing the houses, he destroyed them by making the earth swallow them. Everyone watched as large buildings disappeared, only to be replaced by small wooden houses.

While absorbing the large buildings, Paul instinctively knew he had gained all the materials and could use them elsewhere. Every time he created something, energy disappeared from the crystal, and when he absorbed something, energy increased. It was similar to mana and magic. Each crystal has a finite amount of energy, and more crystals are needed to keep creating. He understood some of the crystals' logic.

Using the energy from the noble houses, he renovated all the commoners' buildings and had extra energy left. He created fountains and improved the farmland. Having nothing else to do, he modified the dungeon one last time. Paul created a straight, danger-free corridor to the outside city.

He removed his hands from the crystal, and as soon as it was no longer touching the altar, it cracked, and shards began to fall. Paul absorbed all the shards and exited the room. After opening the door, he found only a long corridor. A few minutes later, he reached the end and saw sunlight.

As he stepped outside, he breathed in the fresh air and the smell of flowers. He looked around and recognized the area, realizing he wasn’t far from the city gates. He walked to the gate, where he saw a large crowd. Some had carts, and others carried only bags.

As he approached, he recognized some of them, including the two brothers, Naj and Faj. They noticed Paul.

“Hey, I thought you forgot about us.”

“What do you mean?”

“You told us to meet you here, remember? And to spread the word to others who wanted to join.”

“Yes.”

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

It seemed Paul had slept in the dungeon longer 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 would 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 over 70 people, with only 30 armed. He listened as the brothers explained the group: soldiers, farmers, traders, hunters—all had lost everything and had no future in the city. There were also city guards staying alert in case of a riot.

Paul, feeling no fatigue, used his aura to silence everyone and spoke in a clear voice that everyone could hear, no matter their distance.

“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 south. Out of 70, 55 followed him. Minutes later, once the city was further away, Paul stopped and asked how many could fight. Out of 55, only 30 knew how to use a weapon. Paul explained their travel plan: fighters on the outside, the rest in the center for protection. He told them to prepare for any situation, and while they checked their weapons and supplies, Paul ran back to the city as fast as he could.

The city was very loud with many soldiers and guards. Paul, trying to avoid attention, headed to the marketplace. He bought a cart, filled it with food, and went to a secluded place to absorb all the food. He repeated this process several times, spending 50 gold on food. After buying what he deemed enough, he filled the cart with pelts and sold them for 60 gold.

After no longer needing the cart, he sold it for half the price he bought it.

“These supplies should last us at least a month.”

Paul went straight to the gate, avoiding guards to prevent being stopped. He left the city without issues and quickly rejoined his people.

“So, are you all ready to go?”

Everyone responded positively, and they started moving again. Their pace was slower than Paul was used to, and they needed to stop occasionally to rest. Those with training didn’t tire, but the rest did. As they followed the road, the city was no longer visible. To the right of the road was a green field stretching into the distance, and to the left, a small river and some trees. They walked for quite some time. As the road entered a forest and night fell, Paul decided to stop and rest at the forest's edge.

He assigned 10 fighters to guard the group and took 5 with him into the forest to hunt. Paul heard wolves howling as they entered the forest. The 5 men heard Paul say, “Excellent.”

Soon, the wolves' sounds grew closer. Paul told the men, “Gather every body you find.”

Confused, the men looked at each other. Paul then smiled and went on a rampage, killing every wolf he encountered. After slaying about 40 wolves, he piled their bodies, removed the pelts, and gave them to the 5 men to return to the camp.

The men ran back with the pelts, and Paul continued hunting. He found another large wolf pack and killed them with ease, removing their pelts and leaving the remains in the forest. With enough pelts, he returned to the camp, handing them out to those who didn’t have one. Everyone thanked him.

During the night, shifts were taken for guarding while the rest slept, including Paul. The next day, they had breakfast and resumed their journey. In the forest, the road was rougher, and they moved slower as the carts couldn’t keep up. Some weak creatures attacked, but the guards handled them without Paul’s intervention.

The forest was more dangerous at night, so half the fighters stayed awake and took shifts. Paul also helped. That night, they were attacked by goblins, a bear, and some plant-like creatures. There were some injuries, but Paul healed them without issue.

The next day, Paul scouted ahead to ensure there were no dangers. He defeated any threats with ease. After two full days in the forest, they reached its edge, and everyone was overjoyed to feel the sunlight again. Though sunlight pierced the trees occasionally, it didn’t last long in the forest.

As soon as Paul exited the forest, he was stunned by the beautiful view. Tall mountains in the distance reached the clouds, which changed colors like a rainbow—a natural phenomenon known as rainbow clouds.

Paul then noticed a small lake nearby. He headed there and set up camp, allowing everyone to rest for a full day. Paul informed them that they would be heading toward the mountains, so they should rest as much as possible.

They were not attacked by any creatures; in fact, it seemed like nothing was alive around them—not even birds. By the lake, a large rock formation provided

shade, some travelers jumped into the pleasant water, and others made camp. Paul observed something unusual about the water.

“The water is strange… It shouldn’t be this clean after everyone washed in it. There should be some blood or dirt mixed in.”

Despite his observations and the use of Identify revealing only regular water, Paul continued to study it. Suddenly, there was a small earthquake, followed by a few more. Paul asked everyone to give their equipment for repair. While Silver repaired the items, some people played in the water, ate, laughed, and talked, as if they were accustomed to this life.

Another earthquake occurred, 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 and saw what caused the panic, he froze as everyone else ran towards the forest, abandoning their belongings. Some tried to distract the creature so others could escape.

Paul snapped out of his daze, grabbed his two swords, and headed toward the largest living creature he had seen so far. His heart raced with fear.

“Seriously… could it get any worse?"