Undying Warlord

Dilan had never forced anyone to stay with them. That was why he didn't feel bothered when the traumatized Ascenders left them.

If they couldn't even endure some gazes of contempt, it was wrong of Dilan to think that they were worthy of being nurtured either way.

Those who fled from a battle were not worthy of being called Warriors, to begin with.

The Ascenders, who decided to run away after making a mistake, were not welcome in his group. It was best for them to leave because that meant they wouldn't try to fix their mistakes either way.

Almost all Ascenders thought that they led Dilan down, that they didn't meet his requirements, and that they were a burden to him.

There were many Ascenders who were trying to fix their mistakes, to become better persons, make up for the bad traits of their personalities, and to allow others to help them.

For many people, it was difficult to accept that they needed help and then ask for it. But it was only fortunate that many Ascenders were able to overcome the hurdle of putting aside their pride and the facade of being strong and unaffected.

They had a psychologist in their group, who proved to be quite helpful in tending to the traumatized Ascenders and Warriors.

In the beginning, Dilan didn't think that it was necessary for anyone to pick such an occupation. At least, he didn't believe that it was necessary to have an Ascender choose a Rare occupation in the Ancient Paths of Advancement, related to Psychology.

In his opinion, it would have been enough to have a regular psychologist and not a specialist. However, he was entirely wrong, which was what he clearly perceived when he saw how much better the Ascenders, and even other Survivors were doing after a single session with the young woman, who had chosen this occupation voluntarily.

There were many mysterious occupations, and all had their own unique use. The only difficult thing was to figure out how to use each occupation in the best way.

With time, everything gradually improved as the Ascenders worked hard to better their living conditions. The warehouse and the toy manufacturing factory turned into their actual base that kept transforming with every passing day.

Observing the way the base was transforming was quite interesting, and it swelled several Ascenders' hearts with pride upon seeing what they were capable of achieving as long as they made enough efforts.

However, nobody dared to believe that their new base was going to be their forever home.

The Red Dragon's might was still imprinted in the depth of their conscience, and it was impossible for them to ignore the possibility of monster tides and powerful legendary existences attacking them out of nowhere.

The Pagoda of Time was just one small incident. Many Ascenders might have died, but it was still not something that instilled deep fear within everyone.

It was the unknown they feared, and the fact that there were many Gates none of them was able to enter.

"If all of the Gates release a wave of monsters at the same time, we'll be doomed!" One of the most pessimistic Survivors said for the 10th time. It seemed as if he was trying to scare everyone with every single sentence he said.

"Yeah, and if another dragon appears, we'll be doomed as well. Can't you just shut up, and fix the gas stove?" Bianne retorted angrily, rolling her eyes before pointing at the gas stove that had stopped working, again.

While Bianne was still using a gas stove, their group had already found many treasures labeled [Magic Devices]. They were empowered by Mana and Essence crystals and didn't require any electricity to function.

Initially, many frowned at the prospect of using one of the Magic Devices because they didn't want to waste their precious mana or Essence crystals.

But the Magic Fridge, Magic Oven, the Tier-1 Electric Fence, and various other Magic Devices had become essential for their group.

Only a few Gates exchanged the Magic Devices with Essence crystals, and the possibility to get one of the Magic Devices was also quite low.

There were also a few Magic Devices, which they couldn't use yet, including a Magic Tier-1 pen. It was a pen whose ink would never run out as long as one had enough Mana.

It sounded interesting but was actually a boring Magic Device.

Following the appearance of Magic Devices, more Ascenders chose to actively search for Gates, and more monsters to hunt, so that they would be able to get their hands on more treasures.

Most Ascenders hoped to get their hands on some seeds. The lifestyle of their group was certainly not normal because all of them were still forced to eat just meat.

Thus, to many Ascenders, finding grains had become extremely important. For a minority, it was their biggest motivation to keep going outside and fighting ferocious monsters.

Dilan felt the same, but he was not yet desperate enough to waste his precious Dungeon Points to purchase some seeds from the Shop, <Taurus, the Mighty>.

<Taurus, the Mighty> specialized in goods that were great for combat purposes.

There weren't many Magic Devices or miscellaneous goods sold at the shop.

There might be a few but they were not actually useful and overpriced in Dilan's opinion.

"Aren't there wild potatoes in the Silvergrass plains? The Mythical Forest has a tree with ripe fruits as well. Though, I cannot say for sure that you can eat them.

The Mountain ring of the Elements might hold some great items as well…have you guys even been at these places before?!" Oliver asked, feeling slightly weird.

He had entered a few of those Gates earlier, and he was pretty sure that it was possible to find something there.

If one searched well enough, it shouldn't be impossible to find something edible, other than the monsters.

Oliver's sudden question attracted everyone's attention.

Dilan was one of the only people who had entered the Gates because many Ascenders were still traumatized about the incident that had happened in the Pagoda of Time.

The human mind and self-confidence were fragile as glass and truly easy to break. However, they overcame their nervousness and could get their act together after some time.

They would grow from their failure and become better!

That was something Dilan noticed when the expressions of the people around Oliver brightened up at his comment.

"I didn't check if there were any wild vegetables, fruit bushes, or something similar to that, but it is not unlikely to find something there. If you guys want to take a look, go for it."

The moment Dilan said this, many Ascenders roared out in joy. They forgot about the pain they had felt in the past few days as they began to smile brightly.

"Let's go!! We need some vegetables and fruits!!"

Dilan almost laughed out when they saw how much motivation the potential find of other food provided to the Ascenders.

He began to smile faintly and forgot about the anger that had been bubbling inside him for the past few days.

It was not healthy to dwell on the mistakes others made in the past. Rather, one should focus on the present and the future.

Dilan understood this much better than others because his past had been far from easy. However, he was also aware of the fact that one should never forget the past.

It was not necessary to think about it all the time, but one was never supposed to forget the past, how people had treated them, and what others had done to them.

This was one of the most important things Dilan had learned in his short, yet, eventful life.

He was observing the Ascenders, who were looking at Oliver as if he was some sort of Sage, who was knowledgeable and extremely intelligent.

Oliver felt a bit embarrassed because he was not used to being subjected to such stares. It was something new and he smiled bashfully.

When he calmed down, he led large groups of Ascenders to the different Gates to research their environment and to see what potential food could they find.

'I guess Mira will have quite some work to do once they find something to plant. Well, it was about time that this little troublemaker could finally show off her abilities!' Dilan mused before he averted his attention.

Meanwhile, Kathrine and Yvonne had simply watched the scene from the sidelines, and they had also seen Dilan's faint smile.

"Looks like Dilan has calmed down again, you're probably happy about that, right sis?" Yvonne asked, grinning slyly as she looked at her sister, who had an identical expression of relief as Yvonne had on her face.

"Yeah, I'm happy…that's good…maybe everything will get better now…"