Unlimited Power - The Arcane Path

Seeing their civilization being destroyed, humans fled to the country. The monsters were numerous, but they couldn't search everywhere. So, in the next few months, humanity fled while killing monsters and obtaining the power to recover their lands. Little by little groups of survivors started to appear, and they reclaimed their hometowns. Ren was part of one of those groups. However, he didn't reclaim his hometown; he reclaimed a city that was close to a particular dungeon. Because while exploring dungeons, survivors could obtain tomes and weapons easily.

Leon wanted to ask why their civilization looked like they had returned to the past, but he decided to give up. Perhaps that was something that only happened in that city, and that was also kind of a rude question.

Humans got powerful enough to recover some cities, but it wasn't enough. So, certain leaders of certain groups decided to form headquarters in the hearts of their countries where they would discuss and plan their future actions. The power was divided among the groups, that was the truth in most countries, but in Japan, things were different. Although several leaders talked to him about some things they could do, the last word belonged to the emperor because it seemed that he and his family saved many people, so his influence was back.

Ren also explained that borders mostly didn't exist anymore. Several countries decided to gather together to form a single nation. Japan was an independent zone, and the Japanese didn't ally with anyone, so they were an exception to the rule like Australia. However, everything changed around the world. America joined forces with Canada and Mexico, creating the Allied Forces of the North-America. Cuba allied itself with the countries of Central America and giving birth to Caribean Fighters. The same happened to South America; the survivors of all countries ran to Brazil and joined their survivors creating the Atlantic Free Nation. All the countries of Africa joined forces to create Neo-Africa, while Australia was still Australia.

However, things got complicated in Europe and the other parts of Asia. Most survivors in the world decided to abandon the concept of nation to focus on surviving; thanks to that, things were going well. However, survivors being lead by the political figures of the old world were fighting amongst themselves to obtain full control over that massive land.

"So… most political figures of the world died," Leon said. "But, some big shots of India, China, and Russia survived and are trying to become the new number one power of the world?"

"… Yes." Ren answered after a long sigh, showing a tired expression.

Leon couldn't help but feel like sighing too. It looked like some never learn, not even after surviving the end of the world. It looked like crossing Europe and Asia to reach home was a bad idea, he would save some time since the Atlantic Ocean was smaller, but he wasn't sure if he wouldn't see megalodons there or not. The trip would be long and dangerous, but he would have to cross the entire Pacific Ocean. He could reach America by using the extreme east side of Europe, but the path was long and cold. Leon would have to worry about megalodons, dragons, and the survivors in the land since everyone now hated unexpected visitors.

"I assume you guys have spies in other countries too," Leon said.

"Of course, we don't have allies, after all," Ren said. "We do trade with Australia, but I doubt they will buy our fight if something happens."

"I see… you guys are fine now while those three nations are fighting for hegemony, but eventually…" Leon hesitated.

"Yeah, most likely, they will invade us." Ren nodded. "We have a lot of dungeons even though our territory is relatively small."

"So, dungeons become something like a convenient natural resource?" Leon asked.

"Yeah… and that is why we don't like strangers very much." Ren explained. "Although that is more or less true to every nation now, we recently lost a powerful survivor when we got attacked by a group of spies who stole certain resources from our stock. That survivor was the eldest son of the Emperor…"

Leon felt a sharp headache when he heard that. The worst-case scenario had happened. A member of the emperor's family died protecting the resources of his country while fighting the spies and smugglers.

"Let me guess, American survivors did it," Leon said.

"Yes," Ren answered.

"… Why didn't they try to buy the things they stole?" Leon asked.

"They bought, but they didn't feel satisfied with the number of resources we wanted to sell," Ren said. "They did something unforgivable, but I can imagine that they were in a bad situation since they were forced to create discord between our nations."

The crime was a crime, and now they had an international problem in hands, but at least Leon felt a little less worried since only one person died. Although the person died would eventually become the next emperor of Japan…

"What did they steal?" Leon asked.

"Water Dragon's Scales… the obvious guess is that they are suffering from constant attacks of water monsters." Ren explained. "I heard that many dungeons in your country are near the coast but underwater."

Leon didn't like to hear that. Although his hometown wasn't that close to the ocean, it wasn't that distant either. They probably wouldn't be attacked by megalodons, but after hearing that small monsters decimated the population of the world, he couldn't help but worry.

Leon finally arrived in Asia only to find an even harder path ahead of him. He couldn't wait to receive help from Japan after the death of the Emperor's son, the best options would be to ask for help from Russia, India or China but those were fighting amongst themselves so that he couldn't do that either. In the end, Leon could only rely on himself.