Limiting his strength had created significant increases across the board, bringing his skills even closer to their next ranks. Smiling, Jonathan left the corpse of the Fetid Ooze behind him, hopeful for the future for the first time in a while.
Some time later, Jonathan was walking along the top of an ash mound, when he heard a noise that he had never expected to hear within the Infinite Hells. The sounds of livestock moving across the land.
Far away lowing noises came from his right, signifying the presence of cows, or some similar creature. As he moved toward the sound, he gradually began to see a large road poking out of the middle of the ash, a road that was absolutely filled with carts and wagons, being pulled by various beasts of burden.
There were lines of glowing energy along the edges of the road, presumably to keep monsters out, and there were watchtowers visible every few miles down the road. There were thousands of wagons within Jonathan’s sight, not counting the ones that were further down the line. He had finally found out where the Ash Heaps got all of their food from.
Jonathan began to make his way down, curious about what he could find there. He noticed that the wagons were moving far faster than he would have expected, easily going as fast, if not more so, than a car back on Earth. He also noticed that there were strange fountains of energy every few hundred feet that bathed the wagons in light. It seemed that light was what allowed them to move at such a speed.
They were pulled by the same type of horse that the guards from the slave caravan had been riding, except these ones were clearly bred for labor, not war. They were stocky creatures, easily 5 feet wide and 15 long. They were far larger than horses back on Earth had been, and they seemed far stronger too. Depending on whether animals here could level up consciously, it seemed as if these horses had been putting all their points into Strength.
Jonathan paused quite some distance away from the road itself. He did not want to test his luck against the soldiers there, as his retributive mark from killing Ralnax would work against him in that case. He had no wish to have to deal with potentially thousands of guards for no reason other than curiosity.
Jonathan found a comfortable nook, and watched the traffic go by, trying to figure out more about the Ash Heaps from looking at the wagons. Most of them were unmarked, but a few of them had painted signs on the side, advertising them as belonging to a certain company. It seemed that corporations had made it to this world as well.
All of the wagons looked in far better shape than they should have given their predicament, stuck in the middle of a circle of Hell as they were, with actual paint decorating them. These traders probably worked directly for Granath himself, meaning that they were afforded the best of luxuries on the road.
As Jonathan spotted a strange looking wagon, one made out of crystal, he noticed something. The crystal wagon was filled with the same silvery dust that the mayor back in the last city had been addicted to. Memory stone. This was in far greater quantities too, meaning that it could potentially create thousands of addicts, if not more. Jonathan gritted his teeth, wondering what the right thing to do here was. On one hand, he wanted to be cautious about the threat of the guards, but as he slowly surveyed the scene, he saw that the towers were spaced far enough apart to not be much of an issue, as long as he finished his fight quickly.
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Jonathan slowly got up, and made his mind up about his decision before doubt could set in. He suspected that the energy barriers were made for monsters, seeing as he had no feeling of danger from them. Running towards the energy wall, keeping low to the ground, he avoided detection for a bit.
By the time that he had reached the wall, he was blocked from the sight of the watchtowers by some of the larger wagons, which was perfect. The one carrying the drugs was getting farther and farther away however, and Jonathan started running along the wall, trying to get to it in time. He was able to reach a top speed of about a hundred miles per hour in his low to the ground pose, although it severely taxed his stamina. Moving in that position was a lot harder than moving normally, he found.
Jonathan quickly reached the wagon, and kept on going about a mile ahead of it, to give himself time to plan. He tentatively stuck his hand into the glowing wall, and found that it was completely permeable to his touch. Jonathan smiled, and walked through it. None of the wagons even noticed him, and they just kept on going down the road.
Now that he was actually near them, he saw that there were clear lines along the road, like lanes back on Earth. This was probably to prevent accidents, but also to allow the guards to see clearly at all times.
Jonathan slunk around the backs of wagons, relying on his superior Dexterity to get him through the fast moving morass of vehicles smoothly. A few people spotted him, but other than a shouted expletive here and there, nobody bothered him. He suspected that would change as he neared his target.
The crystal wagon came into view a few seconds later, and Jonathan made his way towards it, weaving in and out of lanes of traffic at high speeds. The wagon vanished behind another one, but came back into sight a moment later, this time close enough for him to act.
Jonathan surged forwards, and punched one of the wheels, causing the wagon to collapse, skidding along the ground. It crashed into the wall, which had suddenly become impenetrable, and exploded, raining memory stone dust everywhere. Jonathan held his breath until the powder had landed, but many of the wagon drivers had not, and soon a massive pile up formed on all sides of Jonathan, with wagons crashing into each other left and right. He winced, but then shrugged. It wasn't his problem.
A horn, played at a deafening volume, sounded overhead, and guards started to mill around at the base of the nearest tower, trying to find out where the commotion was. Jonathan quickly imbued his gauntlet with Divinity, and punched downwards, burning away much of the dust near him. He only managed to destroy one pile, but it was the largest of the lot, and hopefully a sizable dent in the production. He had no sympathy for these wagon drivers around him, as they clearly perpetuated Granath’s hegemony over the land.
Jonathan turned tail and fled towards the edge of the road, spotting hundreds of guards pouring out of the tower in the distance. He knew that he could likely beat any individual guard in a fight, but he did not want to take his chances against so many of them. He could not detect their levels from here, but he knew that they would be a cut above what he had faced before, seeing as they were in all an important defensive position.
He wondered briefly how exactly labor was divided up within this world. Surely there was an element of power to it, as a strong builder would be able to achieve much more than a weaker one.However, he suspected that stronger people would have large egos, and therefore would not wish to be stuck in menial jobs. Because of this, there was likely a deficit in overall efficiency without this world. Then again, he would not particularly want to be stuck doing some manual labor if he had a choice about it. He had a greater destiny, which is likely what everyone else believed as well. Except, in this case, Jonathan actually had one.