Young Master in the Apocalypse

Viktor sat across the bar counter, his gaze empty as he sipped the mug in his hand once in a while. Not long after, a red-haired woman approached him with a curious look on her face.

"What are you drinking there, boss?" Viez asked.

"Tea."

Viez sniffed the air. A relatively strong smell was there.

"Tea," she repeated with her brows furrowed.

"Teaquila, it's pretty heavy this morning."

Viez's brows rose. No wonder she smelled alcohol.

Afterward, Viktor subtly pointed in a direction with his chin.

Viez turned toward where Viktor was hinting at. Two women could be seen having breakfast while conversing in the lounge on the other side of the room, and on the table were two plates with two sunny-side up eggs and grilled bacon.

They looked normal from the outside, but upon closer inspection, there was tension between the two women.

The two women were Jessie and a guest from the Vatican, Elena.

"How is your new life? I'm sure living with the young master of the Romanov family is more comfortable than the Church," Elena said while sipping a mug of warm milk.

"It really is. All my needs are fulfilled here. There's no one taking advantage of their position like in the Vatican, either."

Jessie's lips formed a smile as she replied. Although she didn't clarify whom she was referring to, her sharp words were insinuating at the woman in front of her.

On the other side, Elena remained calm. The woman was unmoved by the provocation Jessie threw, and only nodded while enjoying her sunny-side up egg.

"Hmm, is that so? Including sex?"

What the woman just said was enough to leave Jessie's words stuck in her throat.

"I'm kidding, sweetheart. Even if you're no longer part of the Church, I'm sure you wouldn't do such a thing, right?" Elena lovingly smiled before continuing to enjoy her breakfast.

Meanwhile, Jessie's face was bright red. Although she felt the urge to say something, she ultimately kept her mouth shut and simply looked at her breakfast.

The two silently focused on eating their meals.

On the other side, Viktor looked at them while shaking his head. He couldn't understand how two people with such a terrible history could eat breakfast and talk face-to-face like that.

He was worried that the two would try to kill each other behind him, and it seemed that Viez next to him shared a similar sentiment.

Soon after, the two heard rushed, irregular footsteps coming toward them.

Turning their heads, they found Barry running toward Viktor. His face was dripping with sweat as if he had just run a marathon.

"What's wrong, Barry? You look like you were chased by a ghost"

Barry nodded and wiped the sweat on his forehead. "Yes, Kosta is taking care of it. I'm here to pass a message to Young Master, there's a cargo shipment from the headquarters' ship."

Viktor squinted his eyes trying to remember. It took him a moment, but he quickly remembered about the present that Sheila, his older sister, promised to give if he successfully helped Mayor Benjamin restore Perm City.

"Ah, the mayor did his job well. Hehe," he mumbled, stroking his chin with a smirk on his face.

Viktor then immediately stood up from his seat and put his arm around Barry's shoulder, who seemed puzzled by his reaction.

He wanted to be the first person to see the Romanov family's gold!

The servant's master quickly left toward the harbor and arrived in approximately 20 minutes.

Perm City's harbor was bustling. There, the row of ships for both passengers and cargo transportation were neatly lined up. One stood out among the tens of ships with its clean white hull and colorful cargo, and on the ship deck, tens of ship crew members wearing the Rus Imperial uniform were on standby guarding the cargo.

When Viktor saw the ship, a bright smile bloomed on his face.

At that moment, a thick-bearded, well-built man walked down from the ship. The moment he spotted Viktor, he quickly gave a respectful greeting.

"Mr. Viktor Romanov, I am Marvis, the captain of this ship. Following Ms. Sheila's orders, I was instructed to deliver this cargo to Perm City and directly hand everything over to you."

Viktor only nodded as if saying "Yeah, yeah" before walking onto the ship to look at his gold. He couldn't wait to extract it all.

Captain Marvis then led Viktor to one of the cargo and told the ship crew to open it. When it was opened, a golden shine was reflected onto Viktor's face. According to Captain Marvis, the 10 cargo in the ship weighed 10 tons, and each cargo had 500 gold bars.

Which meant that approximately five thousand gold bars were on this ship.

Viktor grinned when he calculated the total gold.

"Mr. Viktor, where will these be brought to? With the weight and amount, it would take a few days to finish disassembling and bringing it down a kilometer from the harbor," the captain mentioned.

But Viktor had his own plan.

"Rest assured, Captain Marvis. The trip from Novgorod must've been very long. It would be better for you and your crew to rest. Enjoy the beauty of Perm City."

Viktor smiled while patting the ship captain's shoulder.

Captain Marvis furrowed his brows. He thought that he would be instructed to move the gold upon arriving at the harbor, but he was instead told to rest.

Without much thought, Captain Marvis immediately told all his subordinates to get down from the ship lest the young master changed his mind.

After no more of the Rus Imperial ship crew was on the ship, Viktor instructed Barry to keep watch on the ship deck and prohibit anyone from getting on.

In the meantime, Viktor would extract the gold.

"All right, let's see how much the Romanov family's gold can give."

Viktor began to pick up the gold bars one by one. His hands periodically turned the gold into metal essence and absorbed it.

After absorbing 100 metal essence, a notification appeared in his mind.

[100 mid-level metal essence extracted.]

[0.5% progress to Stage 7 Core of Anvil]

[Core of Anvil Stage 6: 0.509%]

"Hmm."

The 80 tier 2 weapons he previously extracted in the Pillar only gave a 1% increase, so he wasn't surprised that it only increased by so little.

"Looks like the road to a stage seven core would be hard."

Viktor grunted before continuing the extraction process. His hands once again reached toward the pile of gold bars.

[200 mid-level metal essence extracted]

[500…]

[800…]

[1000…]

Ever since Viktor's Core of Anvil reached stage six, his pain tolerance from the extraction process rose. Even after absorbing over 1,000 gold bars, he still hadn't felt any pain.

[1500…]

[2500…]

It was only after entering the sixth cargo that Viktor began to feel pain. His chest started to hurt and his hands felt sore, but he continued extracting.

[3500…]

[4000…]

[5000…]

After taking six full hours, Viktor finally finished extracting all the gold on the ship.

[100 mid-level metal essence extracted.]

[39% progress to Stage 7 Core of Anvil]

[Core of Anvil Stage 6: 39%]

Viktor clicked his tongue. Even though he already knew how the result would be beforehand, he still couldn't help but feel annoyed.

To reach stage 7, he needed either another 10,000 one-kilogram gold bars or tier 2 metal.