After finally arriving at the cave, my thoughts were coming back to me. First, I sat down and began to meditate to cleanse the venom from my system. Although I already had circulated my energy, I could only control it, and not get rid of it from my system.

_________________________________

Time passed quickly, It was already the last day of the test. I could not wait to leave this godforsaken place. After the meeting with the spider, my thoughts were not the same. I was too full of myself previously, I could not even identify why It a disadvantage. Ignorance truly is bliss, before, I thought that my development was unstoppable, but now I know that everyone has their limits and that true power cannot be achieved instantly, a long training was required.

Since I was poisoned a week ago, my progress stopped. All my time was invested in getting rid of the venom from my body. The venom was not very powerful, it could be suppressed with the energy from my cultivation, but I could not keep doing it indefinitely. Getting rid of it was truly a great burden, but now, after an entire week, it was finally done.

After getting rid of the last strand of venom, my body felt liberated, my energy could flow freely in my body without the necessity of suppressing the cursed venom.

Looking at the sky and seeing that the time to go away was arriving, I quickly adjusted myself and grabbed my things in preparation to go. Looking at myself, I could see great changes. Although my new clothes that I received from the system were great, they left the impression that I was a person from medieval ages.

My body was more defined now, my muscles a little bigger, not too much at least, and my hair was already reaching my neck.

Black clothes, red hair, blue eyes and a spear in hand. I looked quite dashing in my opinion.

Taking a deep breath and calming my mind I waited for the fated time.

Congratulation! You have survived the first trial. You will be shortly be transferred to the new hub city of your region. The city is already occupied by people older 60 years and younger then 15, they have received the instruction on how to take care of the city and operate its stores. From now on new missions will be available in the city hall of your city. Now the rewards for completing the mission will begin….

Seeing this message, Bryan was relieved. Everyone that he knew would probably be in there if they survived the mission and there would be a safe place to rest for a while. He looked at the window that appeared next.

Rewards calculated! For getting through the basic mission of surviving 1 x Protection Badge. For exterminating the monster in the vicinity of where you stayed 500 City points. For completing Basic combat training 100 city points.

Seeing the city points that he received Bryan wondered for what purpose they would serve. He looked down at his hand and saw the blisters in them for wielding the spear, he clenched his teeth hard and vanished from the place, leaving behind the peaceful clearing.

_________________

Bryan only saw a distortion appear in front of his face and he suddenly was between a multitude of people. The sight startled him momentaneously but he began to look around for faces that he could recognize. It was not a good sight, there was a lot of people that had nasty scars and clothes full of blood, most of them was wielding some kind of weapon in their hands, but there were many people that were pretty thin and emaciated.

in his vicinity, unfortunately, there was no face that he could recognize, but people began to murmur between themselves and at least he could recognize the accent from them, and it was from his region at least.

“EVERYONE, PLEASE PAY ATTENTION.”

A strong and seasoned voice came from above, Bryan looked and saw some elderly people on the balcony of a huge building. Looking up, he could finally see the scenery around himself, the building was big in the place they were in, most of them had at least 6 floors and were made of pure stone by what he could see, they were gray and strong.

“Now that I have everyone's attention, I shall introduce myself. My name is Peter and together with my colleges besides me, we form the city council.”

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Before he could proceed with his speech, a voice came from the crowd.

“And what gives you the right to be part of the council, no one here has voted or agreed with that yet.” Bryan couldn’t see the person that was saying this, but he could hear the murmurs from the crowd already.

“The system has deemed us worthy, this position was imposed upon us as well, but we assumed the duty to guide the younger ones.” Answered Peter with a stoic face. His answer to his instantly quieted the crowd.

“I need not explain myself about what humanity is going through right now, I believe most of you have read the messages that the system threw at us. The thing that I can tell you is this, there are only hub cities per region now. We haven’t had any communication with other cities, so we do not know the status quo of them.”

“This city will be our home from now on, wanting it or not we must be able to coexist inside these walls. The city has its point system as you should be aware by now. The points that you receive by completing the mission will serve to buy houses and apartments where you can live in. The cheaper apartments cost 100 city points, that is the prize that you have gained for completing the surviving mission, while the most expensive one is 10.000.000 city points. The houses can be redeemed on the 2nd floor of the city hall where the system will show a map of the city and the prices according to the region. the houses on the outskirts of the city are cheaper, while the closer to the center they are, the more expansive they are.”

Finishing speaking about this, Peter motioned to his right where a huge black building was standing and said. “That building is the city hall. Now Roxanne will speak about the children.” Saying this, he took a step back and an old lady with white hair and soft expressions took a step forward. “Welcome to our new home. The parents that want to find their children can proceed to the building on the right side of the city hall, there, some seniors will be waiting to identify the children and bring them to their parents. I beseech you all to be patient, we are having a new beginning in here. There will be houses for everyone in the city, so, do not worry about being left on the streets. For those who want to find someone, they can proceed to the 3 floor of the city hall, there you can post your name on a board and search for someone that has already done so.” Finishing saying this, the people began to talk between themselves while throwing some questions to the council.

Bryan instantly proceeded to the 3 floors of the city hall to search for Jessica, Samuel and their parents. He knew that it was useless to search for his parents because they had traveled to another continent, and that he couldn’t find them in here. He could only hope in his heart that they were safe.

Arriving in the city hall, the sight stunned him. The place was huge, the ground floor was 7 meters tall. with a lot of pillars standing to support the structure. The floor was white while the ceiling was blue, just like the sky. Entering the building, he saw that there was a balcony on the right side with some older people waiting for it. He proceeded in their direction, arriving before them, Bryan saw that there was already a crowd gathering around to ask for instructions. He went through them and asked one of the elders.

“Hi, sir! How do I proceed to the third floor?” Asked Bryan to the man

The old man pointed in a direction and said: “There are some stairs in that direction, from there you can get to the third floor.”

Bryan thanked the old man and went in the direction of the stairs. The stairs were very wide so that a lot of people could go up and down at the same time. Bryan proceeded to the third floor. Arriving there, there was a big screen by the end of the room, there were already a lot of people buy it.

Approaching the big screen, a message appeared in front of him.

Do you wish to register?

Yes

No

Seeing the question, he quickly clicked on the Yes button.

Looking up, he saw that his name appeared on the screen, next, another box appeared before him.

Looking for someone? Type the person's name below.

………..

Seeing this box, he quickly typed Jessica Darkrose.

Instantly, an arrow appeared before him, he followed it, until he saw in a corner of the room, a lad with black hair descending through her back like silk, she had two big green eyes that were looking at the air as if looking at something, her pink lips were half opened as if she was distracted. The girl raised her head and looked at his direction, her eyes following the movement of something. She looked directly into Bryan's eyes, surprise was shown on her face, suddenly, a smile so appeared in her mouth, in Bryan’s vision, it was as if an angel was descending upon the earth, so beautiful and holy that no words could describe what he was seeing. She was using the tutorial clothes from the noob pack, and she had a bow and arrow with her. The happiness of seeing someone so dear to him now was indescribable, after one month of loneliness, there was finally a ray of light in this new world.

Bryan stepped forward and went into her direction. Jessica quickly did the same and in an instant, they were embracing each other tightly.

The feeling of holding her in his arms was as if holding a precious jewel and didn’t want to let go. They looked at each other eyes and their faces approached slowly, their lips touched each other.

Feeling the soft sensation a second time on his lips, Bryan felt relieved. His emotions finally came upon him and at Jessica as well, silent tears began to fall from their eyes and mixed at their lips.

Sensing the salt taste, both of them separated and looked at each other eye. A smile appeared on their mouths and there was peace for a moment.

“How are you?” Asked Bryan looking at her.

“I am fine, it was difficult, but I am still alive, that’s what matters.” Said her smiling. “Now help me find my parents.”

Bryan nodded his head and tipped her parent's name’s on the screen, Willam and Jasmine Darkrose.

They searched their names but nothing showed up, it seemed that the other person needed to be registered to be found. They waited for two more hours, but nothing. countless people were showing up, but the room was big enough to support the flux. countless families reunited and walked away. After an entire day of waiting, they still didn’t show up. Samuel showed up and informed him that he had found his parents and that they had bought an apartment, after the explanation he gave Bryan his new address, saying that they should meet up later.

Jessica’s expression was becoming darker and darker, she was beginning to become desperate because they weren’t showing up. Both Jessica and Bryan were the only children their parents had, so they only had them, it didn’t make sense that they still didn’t show up after so long. The only possibility was because both of them had perished during the month of the test. They were not the only people that were still waiting, but most of the others realized what had happened and left. Only a few stayed and hoped that everything was alright.

Bryan knew that the chances of something bad were greater, he only hugged her and said. “We need to find a place to stay Jess, let’s go.”

Bryan took her by the hand and guided her away carefully.