(meanwhile, back at the base)

“Muahaha. Muahaha! MUAHAHAHA!!! Yes, this data will become indispensable for plan W. soon, all of the races under our care will be evolved, just as we have. With the data that was collected during the Perfect Storm experiments, as well as my own observations of success, it should be very simple to carry out this plan. I believe I should start with the goblins, their short lifespan and high generational turnover will allow this experiment to be carri-”

“What? You already found other humans? Your sending them here? Aren't you worried that they’ll try and kill the goblins? Just because you told them not to doesn't mean they wont. Hello? Aether? Can you hear me? I know you can hear me. Aether no… and they’re already here…”

James was currently having Rock find the files on the Perfect Storm experiment, and comparing that to his own experiences with Aether while Aether was talking to the new survivors, forcing him to run and get Xana to go greet the new settlers. Carrying Xana on Rocks shoulders, they eventually reached the settlers

James even noticed that the manacles that were on her wrists seemed to have disappeared after the cuelebre was slain, interesting.

Upon seeing the little girl sitting on the strange crystal figure’s shoulder, the car slowed to a stop, the same bronze skinned man stepping out of the car.

“Buenas, yo soy Jose, machetero del undécimo nivel, vengo con mi familia y unos chamaquitos que salve del enjambre, me dijeron que nos podemos hospedar aquí?” (hello, I’m Jose, an 11th level machete man, I come with my family and some kids I saved from the swarm, I was told we could be housed here?)

Of course, we have to remember that Xana is technically a princess.

“Por supuesto, ya tenemos unas áreas donde te puedes quedar, aunque todavía no hemos empezado las planeadas renovaciones, todavía hay varias áreas donde pueden descansar inmediatamente” (of course, we already have areas where you can stay, even though we still havent started the planned renovations, today there are several areas where you can immediately rest)

The man seemed slightly confused to receive such a reply from the little girl, probably assuming her to be a simple child from one of the parents in this area. He assumed the figure was also created by one of them, noticing that he himself gained something called “KI” that helped him do incredible things with his machete. But still, he got his family, a 14 year old boy and a 12 year old girl, as well as several college students, off the jeep and followed Xana into the castle.

“Aqui es, si necesitan algo, preguntenle a los duendes por Xana” (here it is, if you need anything ask the goblins for Xana)

“Duendes?” (goblins)

At that moment, they heard an interesting notification, delivered to them by James.

“Hacerse ciudadanos de la ciudadela sidereal?” (become a citizen of the sidereal polis?)

“Esto es interesante…” (this is interesting)

Of course, one of the students immediately said yes, and nothing happened except a small welcoming message, at least so far. Checking to see if there was an option to remove the citizen status, he found there was, and decided to keep the status anyway.

One college student doing it lead to another doing it, which eventually lead to jose’s family joining in.

“Interesting, a new menu has appeared, oh, that option will help nicely…”

“Option to purchase sidereal radiation confirmed, citizens will be strengthened under it while enemies will be weakened. Chance to cause mutations, generating random effects. -100000 G, balance: 900000”

“muahaha…”

Apparently once you get settlers into your base you can select upgrades for that base, using gold coins like the ones the Ojáncano owned to buy them. Of course if you just so happen to slay a dragon, well, what’s a dragon without its hoard?

(And back to Aether)

I was walking down the streets, scouting the area. There was the occasional zombie, ‍but they were dispatched easily enough with a simple fireball. Oh look, cosmic elemental manipulation leveled up, nice…

and with that I decided to try a new little spell. Generating a large updraft, as well as a gravity well above me, a blast of fire below me, and a magnetic field all around me, I began to lift off the ground, it wasn’t exactly quiet, about as loud as a jet engine, but I was practically alone and I doubt it would be difficult to heal any damages my ears end up taking.

“Unlocked cosmic flight level 1. That’s actually a pretty neat skill, almost not taking up any SE and allowing you to fly at tremendous speeds, nicely done”

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And so I began to hover about, noticing one of the manhole covers in the middle of the street opening up. Is it a people?

Nope, it was zombies… lots of them actually… oh, that makes sense, they were hiding in the sewers, coming out at night to attack. So that means the sewers would be filled to the brim with them…

I wonder what this “sidereal blast” skill does…

I fired a blob of what I can only call the physical manifestation of an acid trip. It looked like a blob of disparate colors mashed together, landing right in the manhole. About a second later, a multicolored burst erupted from inside the manhole, and zombies stopped coming out of the sewers. I only used a single point of SE on that and it looked like I just chucked a bandolier of grenades in there, not to mention how blood drain actually recovered that point instantly. I waited for the zombies that were on the surface to group up and I fired another blast, this one vaporizing all the zombies almost instantly, as well as shattering windowpanes on either side of the street.

I learned several interesting things. One, blood drain even works when the opponent is vaporized, and two, the zombies dropped gleaming copper coins, like the ones that the cyclops dropped. These coins had a strange starry texture, as if the copper was made from highly compressed coppery glitter.

“Would you like to auto collect loot and store it at the base?”

Thanks James.

The coins seemed to evaporate away into gold dust, floating towards the base. Given that the monsters dropped coins, I assume that there must be some way to use them…

Either way, I decided to fly towards where I thought it was most likely for people to conglomerate, spotting the nearby hospital in the distance. I shot over, crossing to it in less than a minute. It was then that I noticed that zombies were just milling about the entirety of the grounds, walking in and out of the buildings.

So, I decided to make some noise.

I flew over an open location next to the hospital’s main building, firing a couple sidereal blasts at the zombies beneath me. This, along with the sound of my flight, drew a bunch of them over, sending them crawling out from the hospital entrance. Not the best situation, to have the zombies swarming out of a hospital, but…

oh thank god, there are still living people in the building. I saw a little girl and here family looking at me through the window. I guess they heard the sounds and must have thought the army sent a jet or something, to bomb the crap out of the zombies. They were right about one thing, I thought as the zombies began to climb on top of each other to reach me, forming a hill about 5 meters tall.

I was going to bomb the everloving shit out of them…

I used up a thousand SE to fire down at the zombie pile, obliterating them, as well as shattering the windows of the lower floors of the hospital. My bad…

Of course the equivalent of 1 ton of tnt going off certainly drew a crowd, and seeing the thick cloud of copper particles as coins started flowing towards the base, I realized something… I am going to be rich.

So, while the zombies began to collect again, I used elemental manipulation to block up the windows I shattered, and reinforce the ones I didn’t. I also quickly mapped out the inside of the hospital using James’ scouting abilities, noticing that the elevator wasn’t working, and the stairs were boarded up. Smart, given the situation.

Soon enough there was another pile of zombies, reaching for me and begging for the sweet release of oblivion, to escape from the torturous hunger of their unlives. That or they were reaching to try and rip my guts out and chew on my brains. Take your pick.

They too were summarily dispatched with another extra large boom, blood drain allowing me to keep this up as long as the zombies kept coming.

This time I began to use elemental manipulation to make a bowl area to hold the zombies, moving the dirt over to the hospital building to fortify it so it doesn’t collapse from being a bit too close to the explosions. Demolition safety regulations be damned.

Let's be honest, there was something very cathartic of seeing zombie limbs flying through the air.

“Level up”

Nice. That just gave me a tiny bit more power, but it was certainly noticeable.

By the end, a grand total of one metric buttload of zombies showed up. After about 70 thousand showed up, they began trickling into the grounds less and less, right up till the last zombie died off. In total, they were worth about 15 levels, and 630 thousand copper, or 63 gold pieces. Were the coins made from actual gold? Probably not, since that would end in extreme inflation given that you could magically convert enough copper into gold.

Anyway, I climbed into the hospital, using poincare restoration on anyone who couldn’t walk, and telling them to meet me on the roof. Apparently using it on a hospitals worth of patients was enough to level it up. I went from top to bottom, and once I made sure I got everyone, even the people who decided to spend their time hiding in a cupboard. I guess I should have expected what I got when I reached the roof.

People were bowing, the kind where your forehead touches the floor. In hindsight casually curing bedridden people, especially those suffering from incurable diseases, is something very common to messianic figures. I tried telling them that I was, in fact, not the second coming, and just a regular guy. A few seemed suspicious for a moment, but then continued bowing… well, if the adults won’t be reasonable about it…

I walked over to one of the children, one about 12 years old. They boy seemed confused, and I tried to use my most reassuring smile.

“Mira niño, parece que los adultos se han vuelto locos, así que siendo uno de los pocos que han guardado su razón, tendré que hablar contigo. El mundo ha cambiado de maneras misteriosas, magia se ha hecho real, y monstruos caminan por las calles” (look kid, looks like the grown-ups have gone crazy, so being one of the few who have kept their reason, I'll have to talk to you. The world has changed in mysterious ways, magic is real, and monsters walk the streets)

The kid nodded. He obviously didn’t know what I was talking about, but he decided to face it bravely. Tempered with a bit of common sense and that will serve the kid well.

“Tengo un lugar para hospedarse, donde tú y tu familia podrán vivir en paz” (I have a place to house you, where you and your family can live in peace)

Suddenly, one of the adults, an older fellow, stood up from a bow into a kneeling position

“Te seguiríamos hasta el fin de la tierra, mi señor” (we will follow you to the ends of the earth, my lord)

You know, maybe this whole religion thing might not be all bad…