He sped up his attacks to the limits of his ability, sloughing off great chunks of rock every second. Soon he had reached the center of the monster’s head and with one last strike, straight into the nexus point of the damage, he shattered it, spelling an end to the golem.

His body was covered in burns, and his armor was heated to a cherry red, but it was already showing its worth, as it quickly returned to a normal temperature, looking no worse for wear. Essence rushed into him, granting him two levels. He leaped off of the stony bulk of the dead golem and landed heavily next to Edgar who had moved in towards him.

“That armor seems unfairly powerful,” Edgar said, casting a thinly veiled glance at the surface of Joanhan’s plate armor. “It's almost unharmed after a battle of that magnitude. Perhaps that is the strength of Tier 2 armaments.”

“I guess. It held up far better than I was expecting. Hopefully we can find you some Dawnstone so that you can upgrade your armor,” Jonathan replied, smiling. “However, I believe that it is time to leave. We have things to attend to in the outside world.”

The minute marker for combat ran out a few seconds later, and the two men grasped the token, teleporting out into the Ash Heaps. The lower mana density hit Jonathan like a hammer blow, but he soon got used to it. He would start to work in earnest on finding a way to stop that eventually. It would have something to do with his runes, no doubt.

Edgar peeled off, heading down into the city. He simply said that he had someone to meet. Judging by the look on his face, it was some sort of romantic partner. Jonathan had mostly forgotten about the pleasures of companionship of the fairer sex for quite some time now, but this reminded him that women still existed in this world. He might be focusing on his power growth right now, but it would do him no harm to blow off some steam eventually. For now however, Edgar could have his fun.

Jonathan’s grand vision for this city was to improve the average levels of the guards to an appropriate amount. To make any changes to the guards, one would have to seek out the guard captain, rather than the politicians. In the barracks, it was the captain that had all of the power.

He made his way down the side of the mountain as his wounds healed over fully, and took his time with it, taking in the tiny oasis amid the desolate wastes. The city was not much better off than the ash around, with drab houses and windswept ashy streets, but it was still home, at least for now.

Jonathan strode through the streets like he owned the place, which he supposed he did, and walked towards the training area for the guards. It looked like a small arena, and the noises of pitched combat could be heard coming out of it. It seemed like the men were training. He walked up to the door and strode in, finding himself in a spartan room, filled with weapons and gear. In the center was a small ring, where a dozen or so guards were sparring with one another, using blunted training weapons. Back on Earth, they would have been using wooden weapons, but in this realm, such things were rarer than actual weapons.

Jonathan watched as they weaved around one another with considerable skill, even with their low level. These fighters could prove to be useful if he got a few levels in them. They were clearly skilled, and had the drive to progress. Watching over them was a scarred elven woman of about thirty, who was eyeing them appraisingly, clearly tracking their movements.

“Keep your guard up when you riposte, Hawkins!” She shouted at one of the guards, who snapped to attention and started to pay more heed to his stance. The woman had already noticed Jonathan, but she ignored him for now. Jonathan quickly scanned her, wanting to get an idea of her strength.

Eva Windstar

Level 30

Health:780/780

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Status:Healthy

She was a bit higher level than the other guards, and was clearly some sort of veteran. As the training exercise came to a halt a few minutes later, she finally decided to acknowledge Jonathan’s presence. Jonathan saw a flash of motion out of the corner of his eye, outside of the building, but when he turned around, it was gone. For the briefest of moments, he could have sworn that he had seen Edgar.

“Well? What did you come for? I know who you are, but this is still my domain. You better have a good reason for being here.”

Jonathan raised an eyebrow at this, but the women did not respond to his silence, simply staring him down.

“I wanted to help your soldiers gain more levels so that they can better protect this town,” Jonathan eventually replied. He noticed that the soldiers’ eyes lit up upon hearing this. The guard captain remained more aloof however.

“And how exactly would that work?”

“I will take them out into the wastes and let them help take down stronger monsters than they are used to. The essence from such a kill would go far for such low level fighters,” Jonathan replied.

“I will allow it, only if I go with you. I need to keep an eye on my men,” Eva replied, ignoring the fact that Jonathan was more than capable of that task, far more than her in any case.

With that agreement, Jonathan started to gather the expedition, deciding to start out with five guards at a time. Eva took up one of the slots, and she recommended another four of them to come. With that they left the other, more disappointed guards behind, heading out towards the gate. As they walked, Eva started to badger Jonathan about his past and fighting abilities, to which he responded in a mostly honest fashion. Everyone knew that he was a Tier 2 by now, and that he specialized in melee combat. However, few knew about his more magical abilities. In any case, they would be showcased during this next fight.

More strangely, the woman asked about Edgar, seemingly abashed at the question. The normally stern woman seemed to become shy at the mere mention of the man’s name. Jonathan had to prevent himself from smiling at this. Perhaps Edgar would be getting lucky soon.

He wanted to start off easy, so he loped away from the group and quickly found a level 60 Ash Prowler that looked perfect for his goals. The monster was racing across the ash in pursuit of some small animal of prey, seemingly for the fun of it rather than for any sort of meaningful reason, as it was moving far slower than it could have.

Jonathan quickly reached it, and before the beast could do anything more than yowl, he broke its legs with quick blows from his gauntlets, and scooped it up, carrying it back towards the waiting guards. He set it down on the ground in front of them and then withdrew, waiting for them to strike. Eva was the first to move, and she thrust her spear into the writhing beast, skewering it through its side. However, the skin was too tough for her to make it more than a few inches in, and she withdrew the weapon, grunting in effort.

The other guards started to work on the beast, using their weapons to slowly batter it to death. It was hard going with their relatively low level, but the beast eventually died and essence rushed into them. The four subordinate guards each gained two levels, and Eva gained one. With smiles on their faces, the guards turned to Jonathan and saluted him in unison, even Eva. It seemed that they were very grateful for the opportunity to level.

They kept at it for another few hours, but after each of them had gained about 8 levels, or six in Eva’s case, the leveling rate began to slow down. It was already diminished due to Jonathan’s interference, and even more so due to the number of guards working in unison. However, all of them were ecstatic. It was likely more power than they had ever gained in a single day.

Most of the guards had been in the low twenties in terms of level, but now they were approaching thirty, and Eva, forty. It was a significant leap, and one that Jonathan would make sure to extend to all of the guards. Once they had reached a sufficient level, perhaps fifty or sixty, he could get started with the citizens. He would feel a lot more secure if the citizens could defend themselves. Eventually however, that would happen on its own. He was just speeding it up a bit.

Jonathan did not know how many people had died on the trip here, but he assumed that it was high, given that nobody talked about it. Few people had injuries, given that higher level monsters were unlikely to leave survivors when they attacked. It was only thanks to their numbers that they were able to even make it here at all. Most of the monsters were satisfied with a single victim.

It was a recurring theme in the psyches of the citizens, and Jonathan knew that he would have little to no difficulty persuading them to level up alongside him. Most of them had rarely seen combat, only enough to grant them a few levels. Out here in the untamed ash however, there were opportunities for growth aplenty, ones that Jonathan would be taking advantage of.