Undying Warlord

"Other than providing you, Kathrine, and Old Jeff with enough Essence crystals to advance to Tier-1, I want the remaining towers of the hospital to be cleared."

Dilan stated in a rather simple tone while he revealed the contents of his Featherlight backpack as he emptied it on a table.

Seeing the massive pile of several hundred Essence crystals, nobody was able to prevent their heart from palpitating.

Some Ascenders, who saw the pile of Essence crystals while walking past Dilan and the others, gasped in shock, clearly sensing the energy radiating from each of the Essence crystals within the pile.

There was even a handful of Silver Tier-1 Essence crystals in the pile.

"Furthermore, I will exchange high-ranked Essence crystals with Essence crystals from zombies.

Please tell everyone about it. I want to upgrade one of my abilities and I require many infected Essence crystals!

That being said, I'm even willing to exchange Tier-1 Essence crystals if necessary."

In order to upgrade his Immunity ability, Dilan required a total of 2,000 Essences of infected monsters, amongst which 100 had to be Bronze Essences!

This was merely the requirement to upgrade the Tier-0 ★ability to Tier-0 ★★!

The upgrade requirements for the Immunity ability would increase drastically with each upgrade. As such, he needed as many infected Essence crystals as possible.

Satisfied with the expressions on the others' faces, Dilan smiled.

Only Oliver showed a trace of disappointment, which caused Dilan to nearly burst into laughter.

"I know that everyone wants to advance to Tier-1 but Williams and Kathrine were the first to reach Level 10. They have already accumulated lots of Essences as well.

Even if the pile of Essence crystals on the table looks like a lot, there won't be much left after Williams, Kathrine, and Old Jeff advance to Tier-1!"

Adding Old Jeff to the bunch of Ascenders that had to advance to Tier-1 early on was only obvious.

They had to provide the blacksmith with the best possible environment to receive the most benefits from him as well.

As long as he advanced to Tier-1, Old Jeff would receive abilities focused on the occupation he chose.

This occupation was 'The Wise Blacksmith", and as the name suggested, Old Jeff would become the said Wise Blacksmith.

Abilities related to the words 'Wise' and 'Blacksmith' were pretty self-explanatory and bound to be helpful.

That was also why nobody said anything against Dilan's decision to nurture Kathrine, Williams, and Old Jeff first.

"If we're already talking about upgrading our abilities…should we start helping others in leveling up their abilities as well? We can either use Essence crystals as currency to start helping one another, or we can start exchanging them.

For example, some abilities might require an Ascender to absorb the Essence of fire-type beasts, or lightning-beast Essences.

Meanwhile, others would just require the high potency of Essences to level up or amass more Essences to fill their Essence pool with.

Your example is probably the best, Dilan. You want infected Essence crystals and the other Ascenders want more Essence!"

Sven felt that it would be a great opportunity to use Dilan's example to allow Ascenders to increase their strength.

As long as some Ascenders could strengthen their ability, their combat prowess would increase tremendously.

Some abilities were able to make up for the gap between the difference between a high level and great strength.

One of such abilities was Kathrine's [Lightning Strike], which allowed her to kill a Level 9 War Krendel even though her level and stats had been far lower!

Sven recalled similar abilities that were simply extremely powerful, including William's [Psychokinesis]. He had been strong enough to defeat dozens of low-leveled zombies while being rather low-leveled as well.

By now, his control over the [Psychokinesis] ability had increased a lot. This made it possible for Williams to kill even more and stronger monsters without any difficulties.

Imagining the boost in strength William's ability would receive by upgrading it, Sven felt that his idea was simply too great.

The only issue was that it might be a little bit early to start an exchange system. After all, most survivors had yet to leave the hospital after they had found shelter there.

It would take a while until more survivors would dare to go outside, much less hunt alone or in small groups.

Thus, the demand and supply of Essence crystals would be out of balance. This was the only worry Sven had for the time being.

Nonetheless, he mentioned what was on his mind in order to let the others know what they could do in the future.

"So it would be like an exchange plaza…sounds good. But I doubt that it will be helpful to start creating a complex exchange system.

It should be easier to create a bulletin board where everyone can pin down their demands and what they can offer in return.

I like the initial idea you have in mind, but I don't have the time to focus on thinking about how to make it work properly without any conflicts."

Dilan just shrugged his shoulders. He had too much to do, which was why he was even considering pulling an all-nighter today.

As such, Dilan didn't even notice that his idea with the bulletin board was great.

Even if they had yet to create a properly working society or anything that was remotely similar to the way it had been in the past before the Primordial Ascension, it was possible to let the survivors share what they needed and what they could offer in return.

"Please tell Kathrine to prepare a team of Ascenders that can venture into the Krendel's underground valley.

A few days ago I told her the way to the cavern entrance. As long as she advances to Tier-1, there shouldn't be a problem for her to protect a few Ascenders, who can mine Jadetite and Silver Iron ore."

After Dilan said this, he turned to Williams as he smiled faintly.

"I don't think it's necessary for me to tell you what would be the best for you to do. Old Jeff's safety and that of the Ascenders, who'll transport the goods between the hospital and the blacksmithing workshop, is our responsibility."

In the end, Dilan trusted his people far more than he wanted to acknowledge.

That was also why he left behind the pile of Essence crystals, knowing that they would take care of everything.

Dilan was merely getting his hands on a bunch of high-ranked Essence crystals he had another purpose for and one particular item that had landed on the table, slowly burning through it.

It was the blazing marble that Dilan had spotted earlier before he chose to search for the only person capable of appraising it- Old Jeff!