Two months.

It took us two months to come upon civilization again. Well, civilization that was more than stragglers and small groups living in the newly created wilds.

After leaving what used to be the capital of Indiana and taming the herd of horses, we were off at a speed orders of magnitudes faster than our previous walking and covered an amount of ground to match.

We could have shortened that duration and stopped at a place found along the way, but no one was willing to do so. Some for the fact they didn't want the delay, and others for the feeling the city gave off.

Even from the distance we came across it, it wasn't a place I wanted to stop.

Chicago was irrevocably changed and it was nothing like it previously was. The Windy City was missing all of its buildings and seemed to be in even greater disrepair than the previous city we visited.

Nothing was still standing and the tallest structure left was a pile of rubble stacked no higher than the average human.

It looked like a war-torn ruin.

Flashes of skill use and the feeling of dense mana in the area gave an ominous feeling no one had the desire to intrude upon it. Something was going down in the city and no one wanted to become a part of it.

Lightning flashed and huge storm clouds revolved around the city like it was the city itself that generated them. Lightning arced down into the rubble at random intervals only to be matched with a corresponding deep rumble seconds later.

As we came upon it riding in our improved caravan, no one disagreed when I made the executive decision to bypass the city and keep on our way. Even the usual few who departed our caravan with second thoughts didn't think the city was a viable spot to settle.

We moved on from the city and gave it a wide berth as we traveled around it.

The wilds of Wisconsin were similar to the two previous states we traveled through with one caveat. The mana level here was much higher than where we had come from.

And it was in a form beneficial to a number in the caravan. Being as close to the Great Lakes as we were, Lake Michigan specifically, Water mana was abundant around the coasts.

The higher level of Water mana persisted until we were a few miles away from the coast and gradually fell way to Nature mana. The trees and forest here thrived from the mixture of mana and gradually lessened as we traveled further from it.

A Gardener in our employ explained, saying the mana mixture was just right for plants to thrive and by god they did.

They were so thick we almost needed to cut through them on our way through the state. Luckily, the environment only lasted for a short duration, and as the mixture became less Water, and more Nature the thick flora fell back to normal levels. Well, normal levels for our current situation. It was still way higher than normal levels from before.

It would turn into a great spot to grow crops and food if the levels of monsters in the area weren't similarly inflated to match the plant growth. It made sense for the two to go hand in hand but unfortunate for whoever tried to tame the area.

The beasts had started to become threatening long before reaching what remained of Chicago and they only became worse the farther North we went. They gradually went from the rare E-rank, to frequent E-ranks, to all of them firmly in E-rank.

We had to revise our scouting groups and double up some of them. Austin and Hal couldn't go galivanting through the woods with the same carelessness as before. Both could handle their own, but if they were caught unaware and ambushed, that could change.

Even I had to step in for a few of the higher leveled challenges. It wasn't strictly necessary, but I didn't want to chance losing anyone along the way. These people had traveled with us for months by now and it wasn't worth risking a casualty when I could easily dispatch any of the beasts.

For most, it was the first time seeing me fight and they were understandably impressed. Even though I didn't have to go all out, they were still bewildered with what I did show.

It made me want to laugh. They had barely scratched the surface of my strength and they were already impressed. What would they do when the need to unleash everything arrived?

While we had traveled and grown closer with everyone accompanying us, I didn't yet trust all of them completely. Some of them were complete strangers when they joined and holding no cards in reserve was a fool's game.

I advised Austin and Hal to keep some things hidden, just in case, and I did the same. Those two fought the most and were seen doing so the most often. Rachel and Jonathan did as well to a lesser degree, and I advised them to do the same.

I didn't think ill of the people who traveled with us, but it never hurt to be careful.

While the trip became harder, our speed only increased. The horses grew comfortable with pulling the carts and the people handling them grew more experienced.

What made the most difference was knowing what certain terrains would do to our traveling speed. Thick forests were obviously detrimental, but sometimes it was easier to travel straight through them rather than going around depending on the size of the forest.

All of that came with experience and we were quickly becoming more efficient about knowing which was faster.

One of the best things that happened was my level hit 60. While stepping in happened infrequently, that didn't mean we didn't come across dungeons on our way.

They were scarce and infrequent, but with the amount of ground we covered we were bound to come across a few. Most didn't have the same number of floors as the first we came across but some went deeper.

The ones with fewer floors were swiftly bypassed with barely half a day dedicated to their stop. The few who could benefit from their depths had the chance to run them but otherwise, we moved on.

The deeper dungeons, though, those necessitated a longer stop. The two we came across that went deeper than 6 floors were the longest stop. We still didn't spend the week like we had before, but longer than the half day for the others.

One and a half or two days spent on the two dungeons wasn't that much of a delay. Especially now that our pace was so much faster than before and the trip didn't feel as daunting as before.

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Before, when looking at the map to track our progress, each day only added a small line to indicate how far we made it. Now, those small lines turned into decently sized segments of progress.

It did a lot to ease people's frustrations and dispel some of the fatigue that built up.

The skill I was offered at level 60 had me riding a high note for weeks. Chipper and smiley for days after getting it. The list of skill choices wasn't as large as my other classes, but the three I was able to choose from all promised powerful upgrades.

Seeing the kinds of skills offered made me want to go back and hug my past self for picking the class. It was exactly what I wanted and would fit into my fighting style perfectly.

I could hardly wait for a chance to try it out in a real fight. None of the beasts necessitated such force, sadly, and I took most down swiftly to not ruin the meat and so that the animal could be used productively.

Smashing them to smithereens helped no one, even if I really wanted to use my new skill. Plus, it wasted good parts which I was unwilling to do. Ruining the meat for no good reason made it feel too close to killing for sport and there was no need for that. I had had enough senseless slaughter.

Everything we killed had a use and with the amount of mouths we had to feed, we had to make the things we came across last.

Speaking of mouths to feed, the horses were an upkeep that no one expected. We, I, had assumed they would graze on the grass as we traveled but that turned out to be not as true as first assumed.

While they did graze when given the chance and seemed to enjoy it, Sarah was adamant they weren't getting enough food from the grass alone. It was similar to what I had felt when eating lower leveled meat and it wasn't as filling.

While the grass could sustain them normally, we were asking them to pull heavy carts for hours at a time, every day. The grass alone wasn't enough. For the days we spent inside the dense foliage, it was, but everywhere else, supplementary nutrition was required.

Being where we were was probably one of the only saving graces to the issue we faced. Without it, we would have had to cut back on how hard we pushed the horses so that they weren't strained enough to require it.

One of the biggest things the Midwest was known for, and famous for, was farming. Farms dominated large swaths of area we passed through and all of the different farms gave us ample opportunity to fill up on grains and crops. Doing so along our journey was the only thing saving us from having to slow down and search out other food alternatives.

While what we passed was mostly abandoned and the fruit of the crop picked through and nibbled on by pests, we passed enough to take a sizable stockpile with us. Mostly corn but there were other things as well. Oats and wheat were less common but still available. Even barley.

The abandoned crops became less common the farther North we went so we dedicated a few days to filling two new carts with the stuff before we left the area.

Any farther North and planting season wouldn't have come before the tutorial pulled everyone away. The only reason the crops were even available in the first place was because some farmers got an early jump in mid-March before being pulled away.

Having said crops stowed away was one of the reasons bypassing Chicago was an option. Without the need to stop and resupply, it became easier to ignore the potential problems of entering troubled waters.

Besides Chicago and the rising challenge of the beasts, the two months we spent traveling were uneventful. People fell into a routine and became almost monotonous.

One of the ways people spent their free time was trying to ride the horses. Most of us didn't know how and had never ridden a horse before, me included, and it was a fun way to pass the time while we stopped.

It was on one of these stops that the monotony changed.

I was trying to steady myself on Remi when Austin and Abigail walked over holding the map.

"Woah... woah..." I repeated, trying to get the horse to turn right, instead of the circle we kept going in.

The Stallion didn't seem to appreciate the name I had given it but that was tough luck. I liked it and I had won our fight.

"Chris, we need your input for a second to settle something," Abigail asked standing off to the side of the spinning horse.

"Oh come on, you two. Just get over it already. It wasn't like Connor did it on purpose." I said exasperated.

Another thing people started to spend their free time on where pranks. Our resident Alchemist enjoyed them the most and he sometimes took things too far.

"My hair was pink for a week!" Austin exclaimed, trying and failing to sound indignant. He gave out just as much as he received and if he was mad about a prank, he shouldn't be the mastermind of so many.

Abigail had a different reason to be mad at Connor but it was no less trivial. He had made a few fireworks for fun and some of the younger kids ended up running around with magically enhanced sparklers one night.

While I wouldn't say it was harmless, with magical healing and potions, the kids weren't in any real danger and it was all in good fun. Fun that was just starting to come back and I refused to smother it in its infancy. People needed a good laugh.

Abigail disagreed.

"Even though I still disagree, that isn't why we need you." Abigail clarified.

I oscillated between looking at the two, and down at my horse, then back at the two. Debating whether it was worth it.

"Ah, fine. Remi was being fussy anyway." I said and made to get off the horse.

An indignant chuff was its only response, as if to say nah uh.

Dismounting gave them the chance to unroll the map on a nearby tree as they got into the reason I was needed.

"We are here." Abigail pointed. Putting us somewhere in the Northwest of Wisconsin. A few days travel away from bending around Lake Superior and heading due North for a while.

We were close to getting around the massive impediments called the Great Lakes. More like the Great Detours.

"And we have kept our heading Northwest for the past few days," She continued, "But Austin wants us to travel due West for some reason."

She finished her statement by pointing at the man accusingly while I just looked at him confused. Why did he want to go due West?

He took my silent question and explained, "I have gained a lot of experience these past few months and everything my Profession is telling me, is that we need to go West."

The usual carefree and joking manner he usually had was gone and he seemed to believe in what he said, even if he didn't give any details.

"Why though? It will add days to our journey and for what? The only thing West is more of the same. I won't add days to our trip just because you want to see a dungeon." I said.

While we did make a few creative adjustments to hit certain things, those were close enough to add little more than a few hours to our trip. A slight adjustment to come across a point of interest rather than passing by a few hundred feet away.

We had done the same to a few of the dungeons on our way.

"Christopher, I'm not doing this for dungeons. We need to go West. I can feel it." He said firmly.

"You have yet to give me a reason. How far West do we even need to go? You aren't very forthcoming with information right now." I answered, "And what's even over there anyway?"

Tracing a line with my eyes West from where Abigail indicated didn't indicate anything of interest. A few Dungeons here and there but nothing stood out.

There was an area where 3 were close together but even still, that wasn't anything new. A dungeon was a dungeon, having three together, while convenient, didn't change that. The mana was a bit high but nothing insane like a few other places on the map.

The teal glow of Virginia only seemed to grow as the days passed.

"Isn't that where the Twin Cities were?" Abigail commented as she did the same as me, but with her finger on the map rather than with her eyes.

I was unfamiliar with where, exactly, cities were without them being points on a map and the only reason I knew we passed Chicago was because it was sitting on the coast of Lake Michigan.

Indianapolis was easy because I had been there a few times.

Cities in Minnesota, on the other hand, were a mystery.

"If we're gonna detour by that much, I need a little more than a vague feeling. That's weeks out of the way!" I said a little annoyed.

To travel that far West and then back East to correct our path would add multiple weeks to our trip and I wasn't going to just do that for a feeling, no matter how much I trusted the man.

"There's something over there and we need to go West." Austin reiterated yet stated nothing new. He almost seemed frustrated at being unable to put it into words.

"All of our estimates for food and supplies would have to be redone. The added time would have to be accounted for and the horses would need food as well. The carts would need to be repaired again and it would add more than just the travel time to our journey." Abigail rebutted.

I gave Austin a look and said, "I'm sorry, bud, but if you don't have anything more to go off of I can't agree to the detour. For now, we continue Northwest."