Chapter 98 Weakest link

Instead of going to sleep immediately, Dilan spoke to the other Ascenders and Survivors for quite some time.

They had to be reassured that everything would be fine.

Dilan’s confidence was more than enough to achieve this as he was by their side.

But even then, some individuals believed that it was time for them to become stronger as well. Thus, they kept looking at the numerous weapons in the corner of the room.

“For now, I allow everyone to take the weapons of your choice. This even includes the claws of the Lightning Shiroa rat and the Bronze treasures.

However, if anyone goes outside the cafeteria please reconsider that a single zombie scratch will be your death! Underestimating your opponent will be the first but also last mistake you make in a life-and-death situation.”

Dilan didn’t have anything against ambitious Ascenders.

He wanted to provide them with the necessary treasures to become stronger as well.

Yet, Dilan wouldn’t go hunting for them, just to make leveling up easier.

It would be better for them to face dangerous opponents to improve their fighting style and become stronger.

Thus, he showed his generosity while lecturing the others to be careful before he chose to rest for a few hours.

After he woke up from his well-deserved rest, Dilan got up from the mattress before eating something._-.

By the time he was done eating, Kathrine and Oliver returned with Ailee and Yvonne.

The four of them looked very exhausted, but that was less important than the fact that their strength had increased.

Kathrine had reached level 10, thereby opening her Ancient Paths of Advancement.

She had quite a few occupations to choose from, but Kathrine didn’t tell anyone about the different occupation choices she received.

Meanwhile, the others had leveled up quite a bit as well.

Despite that none of them reached level 10.

The others were quite slow in Dilan’s opinion, but that was fine because the increase in strength seemed to be exponential.

Tier-1 monsters would provide quite a few status points, even more so stronger monsters.

“Here take this. It should help you aim better.” Dilan said when he reached Kathrine, handing her the horn of the Lightning Shiroa rat.

Afterward, he told her that everyone should rest for a bit before he chose to leave the cafeteria.

“Thanks, but where are you going?” Kathrine asked, wondering what Dilan wanted to do.

She had been waiting for him to tell them what happened in the Krendel’s Underground Valley, and to provide them with more information.

Dilan noticed her confusion, which was why he smiled lightly.

“I will scout the area around the hospital. Don’t worry too much, I will take care of everything.

Ahh, also I wrote a small report about everything you guys have to know. It’s not much, but it should be quite helpful!”

Saying so, Dilan left the Rian mountainside hospital, without a weapon in his hand.

Dilan left the Captain’s Sword behind, knowing that it would only hold him back. It was simply too inefficient to run around with this sword.

He didn’t even have a scabbard to sheath it when not in use, which made it a hassle to carry it around.

Furthermore, his Clawed Gloves were more than enough for now.

Leaving without worrying too much about the other’s well-being, Dilan cleared his chaotic mind by taking a few deep breaths of fresh air.

‘I should collect a few Essence crystals for Old Jeff, and to create the mana replenishment potions. To think that the crystals I brought back are truly Lumina crystals. What great luck!’

Dilan didn’t know that the Gates only handed out rewards that were directly correlated to one’s location; to the place, the Gates had created a connection with.

As such, it was not his luck that the Lumina crystals were the same as required in the recipe he procured, but it was intentional.

It didn’t really matter if it was his luck or simply coincidence that the crystals were what he was looking for, but it made Dilan feel as if he was finally on a lucky streak, which was quite motivating!

That made it easier for him to feel less worried about numerous things that tormented his mind.

Dilan thus regained some confidence as he began to run through the surrounding streets.

With high Stamina, little consumption and a terrifically high Agility stat, Dilan could run at a ‘moderate’ speed for several hours.

He took down a few monsters that appeared in his way with ease before storing away most Essence crystals in the Featherlight backpack.

His backpack was slowly being filled with Essence crystals of various monsters as he kept moving ahead.

However, even after Dilan scouted the surrounding area for three hours, he didn’t find any new signs of a small human base.

Feeling slightly frustrated by the fact, he calmed down by killing a few more powerful monsters he encountered.

‘I didn’t expect to encounter so many Tier-1 monsters here…’ Dilan couldn’t help but mumble.

He was not in the outskirts of Rian anymore, which was great. After all, he had already encountered more than five Tier-1 monsters.

None of them was a Bronze, let alone a Silver monster, but they were still quite powerful.

‘Isn’t that way too fast? Or is it usually that easy to advance to Tier-1?’

Advancing through 10 levels, and choosing a lower-ranked occupation was certainly not difficult. That was also why most ordinary Tier-1 monsters in his surroundings were even easier to defeat than the ones he encountered in the Krendel’s Underground Valley.

But even then, ordinary level 10 Ascenders wouldn’t be able to defeat them, which was exactly why Dilan felt that the Primordial Ascension progressed way too fast.

Most human Survivors were still trying to adjust to the fact that the world was changing.

However, the monsters would not wait for weaklings to catch up.

Instead, they tried to reap every single benefit they could gain from the incompetency of the weak.

Recalling this, Dilan accelerated the way in which he fought.

‘I have to advance to Tier-1…as quickly as possible!!’

But in the end, it was not only Dilan, who had to advance but the others as well. Alone, he might survive as an individual, but their entire group of slightly more than 60 Survivors had to become stronger in their entirety.

And…a group was only as strong as its weakest link!

Within Dilan’s group, the weakest link was the Survivors that didn’t do anything and simply expected to receive hot and fresh food for free.

They were also the most likely to betray him.

However, that was something he was already aware of. But it hadn’t bothered him until now.

Luckily, the barbaric world outside the cafeteria had put some sense in them which was why they finally started to do something after getting to know that their life might be endangered if they were too weak.

But even then, Dilan was worried about the changes most Ascenders underwent after feeling the addictive sensation of Essence.

It led to a change in behavior within most Survivors, which was the easiest to see in the new Survivors.

He had rescued them from the fourth floor and they had been traumatized and some had even been on the brink of death not too long ago.

However, right now everyone was working hard, and striving for more strength so as to be of use to Dilan.

Their loyalty to him was odd, but it shouldn’t be in relation to the fact that all of them absorbed Essence, most of them even several times!

But what Dilan and most of the others had yet to understand was that Essence did far more than just invigorate one’s body, and mind, while slowly negating the fear of blood!

It fundamentally changed much more within one’s body and mind, far more than one could fathom at first glance!