Jonathan bid Kanessa farewell, and, inspired by his success, decided to check the rest of the city for opportunities to use his array. It would help him train his skills, as well as help out the city.

As it turned out, many things ran on mana around the city. A lot of the industry was supplemented by mana powered machinery, which was oddly similar to the tech back on Earth. From mana powered looms to mana powered forges, it made itself known everywhere. None of it was overt, but it was there to help the artisans work. A lot of the requisite tech had come from the Trading Hub, it seemed, as Jonathan had never seen anything like it before in the Ash Heaps. Perhaps Granath made sure to round up all the merchants who gained access to the Hub, so that nobody would be able to progress without him saying so. That made a lot of sense to Jonathan.

Normally by this point, a high leveled team would have come around to take all of the advancements away, but Jonathan had defeated the last one, with the help of Edgar, so their city was being allowed to develop at an abnormal rate. At this rate, in a few more months of growth, it would rival the capital in terms of wealth. Well, maybe not that much. The Ashen Citadel was the center of all trade in this world, and the place where most people lived. This city was not anywhere near that level.

Perhaps that would all change in the near future though, as long as the city was ready to rebuff any and all attacks. Granath would not sit idly as his kingdom was disrupted, and Jonathan knew that complacency would kill everyone here. It was why he had instructed the council to focus on military growth. They were almost all pains in the neck to deal with, especially the badger woman who had insulted him, but they knew more about politics than him. When it came to the running of a city, they were all far more qualified than he was.

It was up to him to provide for the defense of the settlement against foes too powerful for anyone else to deal with. It was intriguing that this city had come together so quickly. Back on Earth, it would have taken years for a city to grow to this level. Here, there were no laws or zoning restrictions to inhibit the creation of a city however, which meant that it could develop as quickly as its inhabitants could work. In a world where a decently leveled person was akin to a machine, people could work very quickly indeed.

Jonathan made his way around the city, finding places where his runic expertise was useful. As he finished empowering the seventh mana powered forge, he noticed a stack of metal tiles on the side of the smith’s table, and had an idea.

“Mind if I borrow a few of those?” Jonathan asked, looking at the smith, a heavyset orcish man.

The smith nodded immediately, not wanting to upset Jonathan. Half of the people in the city regarded him with respect, and the other half with reverence. This was a world where power begot power, and that power was often misused. Jonathan was powerful enough to destroy anyone in this city in a matter of seconds, save perhaps for Edgar. If he went all out, he was likely one of the strongest beings in this circle.

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Jonathan picked up one of the slabs, and tried to engrave his runic array into it. To his surprise, it worked. The tablet of metal lit up with power, and started to cycle mana through it. With a glint in his eye, Jonathan picked up the metal slabs, and walked off with them, interested in their potential. If he could continuously create these, and find a way to match the to the mana input required by the machines that people were using, which were standardized as a result of their origin, he could make them far faster than before.

However, it would be quite challenging to find the right amount of energy for them to work like that. For now, it seemed that he had a useful quest for the next few weeks, along with his exploration of Tartarus. It was time to ramp up his development.

A few hours later, Jonathan had gathered up Edgar, and was preparing to enter Tartarus. He had explained to the man about his breakthrough in his mana array, which, according to Edgar, would be invaluable if they managed to reach the next realm. In its current state, it was able to counteract the natural limiter on Jonathan’s strength by increasing the ambient mana density, but in a world where the mana density was already high enough, it would allow him to increase his mana regeneration rate. While it would only ever be able to do so by a small amount, as it would otherwise blow up his core, it would still be a boost beyond the norm.

That also brought up the possibility of other runic enhancements, such as ones for strength, or other concepts. However, those were a lot further away than his mana regeneration array, and far more dangerous too. In any case, what mattered now was gaining levels.

Giving Edgar a nod, Jonathan pulled out the entrance token, and extended it to the other man. They both grabbed on, and Jonathan triggered it, teleporting them to the other dimension. It was time for some leveling.

Neither man had made a concerted effort to explore this world before now, because they had not wished to linger long enough for any serious threat to emerge in the outside world, but now that the city was far more capable than before, it was time.

They emerged into the scalding plains of Tartarus a moment later, with the languid wind of the realm caressing their armor. Tartarus was not a world with any sort of meteorological phenomena, but the sheer heat of it created all sorts of air currents and thermals that swept through the land. Hot air rose and then condensed on the marginally cooler cave ceiling, before dropping down, creating a cycle of air that mimicked the wind. It was not enough to provide any sort of relief, but Jonathan did not really need any. Edgar had his own mastery of the wind to rely on in any case.

As they started across the plain, Jonathan ran through the various discoveries that he had made in this world over the last few weeks, few as they were. Other than the Uthraki village, all of the beings within the vicinity were monsters, and they ranged widely in level.

Jonathan peered towards the north, spotting a line of gigantic dinosaur like monsters trooping across the plain. Each of the creatures was at least a hundred feet tall, and many times that in length. Jonathan had spotted a pod of such dinosaurs, or, as Edgar called them, Precursor Drakes, a week ago, but this was the first time seeing them since. They were migrating somewhere, but without a map of this world, it was impossible to know where.

Tartarus was not like a dungeon, and one could walk for months without reaching the end. Jonathan and Edgar could move a lot faster than that, but the natural danger of the high leveled monsters prevented such rash decisions. While both men were fast, there were always things that were faster.