Chapter 91 Pride!

Time soon passed, and the meeting progressed; both small and big issues regarding the shelter were being brought up.

From food production, to defensive measures, to scouting plans.

Under this wave, minutes soon turned into hours, and by the time the meeting finished, night time had already arrived on Blue Star.

Now alone in his room, Ethan stared at the ceiling, thinking about his future and what to do next.

"Sigh~ every time I get a minute to rest, I’m afraid all this will be a dream."

"Sometimes I’m afraid that I’ll just wake up and be back to scavenging to survive with Leon and the others..."

"Back to that time period where I would go days on end without eating or drinking, nibbling on corpses we found left over from Awakeners’ hunts."

Stretching his hand upwards, Ethan grasped at the air without letting go.

In his past life, he was tired, tired of suffering, tired of being hungry, tired of being weak, and tired of being alone.

It was also why, even when he suspected Leon and the others, he still chose to ignore his feelings and trust them, a decision that, while it allowed him to be reborn, also ended with his death.

Now in this new life of his, even though he had been constantly planning and fighting ever since he came back, the fatigue in his eyes could not be hidden.

"If the words Lucian’s system said had even any semblance of truth, then even if we get past the rat tide, the mutant beasts, and other Awakeners..."

"Ultimately, the final battle would be us Blue Star humans against the other worlds that came to invade us."

Thinking of those worlds that had developed enough technology to traverse the multiverse, he knew if not for restrictions, perhaps everyone would have been flattened into a painting by some high-level otherworldly tech like in the movies.

"But even then, in my past life, S-rank was the highest, but even that isn’t enough."

"To survive, not only I, but a lot of mages as well need to reach the twelfth circle. According to my deductions, that should be equivalent to the system’s 12th-order ranking."

"As for S-rank, that should be around the seventh circle or seventh rank."

Sighing slightly, Ethan realized he still had a long way to go; fortunately, he wasn’t without hope.

"Next, what I have to do is help the other Awakeners gain their first circle, which should lead to another increase in strength for me."

"After that, use them as teachers for the ordinary people in the base, also increasing the mage task force."

"As long as there are enough mages, my mana, strength, and spells should rapidly increase."

"And as for the issue with understanding principles?"

Ethan wasn’t worried too much, for as long as he taught his students a bit of the principles they themselves were trying to understand, then he would gain that understanding ten thousand times back.

Even during the fight with Lucian, the feedback he had gotten from some of the veterans, like Kenjiro’s marksmanship and swordsmanship, bordered on the lines of principles.

At that point, it would just be up to him to choose what principle to use to break through.

"Yawn~ In any case, I should get some rest. Tomorrow I have to focus on teaching."

"After all, since they neither have a ten thousand times increase nor Max-Level Comprehension, they aren’t going to form their circle in a few hours as I did."

Saying this, Ethan closed his eyes, soon falling asleep.

After a whole day of fighting and planning, in this world covered by the red sky, having a peaceful sleep like this was a luxury that few people had.

...

[Smith Shelter Training Area]

The new day had come, and once again, everyone sat cross-legged in front of Ethan, all twenty-five Awakeners.

Looking at their Patriarch in front of them, the kids especially had little stars in their eyes, as the night before, the adults had told them the Patriarch and a group of people had gone to wipe out a lot of monsters.

For little children like that, Ethan was almost akin to a superhero!

"Good morning, Mr. Patriarch! The orphanage director told me you destroyed monsters that wanted to eat us yesterday!"

"He even said that some were bigger than a house and could cover the whole sky! Is it true?"

Taking her thumb out of her mouth, seven-year-old Lucy looked over at Ethan.

Terry, who was right beside her, although pretending not to care, also stretched his ears out of curiosity.

In fact, you couldn’t really blame him, as overnight, talk of the veterans’ victory and the batches of corpses entering the shelter were everywhere.

Even Emilia, his aunt; Elena, who had heard the story before; and Victoria, who had known Ethan was strong from eliminating the Clown Gang, all looked at him at this moment, wanting to hear more about the monsters he faced.

Fortunately, in the face of such eager faces, Ethan wasn’t too shocked; rather, he looked forward to such a situation.

Using the incident of yesterday, he planned to inspire the people here.

"Indeed, what you heard is true! In fact, some monsters there were so big they would be able to swallow everyone here with one bite!"

"Arghh!"

Raising his hands like claws, Ethan growled at the kids, causing a few of them to be scared.

However, the older ones, although they could tell he was joking, still pretended to be scared, trying to help Ethan’s act.

"Then, Mr. Patriarch! In that case, if it was so big, how did you defeat them?"

"If it was bigger than you, then isn’t it meant to be stronger?"

Without fear in her eyes, Lucy asked with strong curiosity.

Although she was young, given her age, her courage was more than most kids her age.

And to answer her question, Ethan just smiled back at her.

"You see, that’s where you’re wrong, little Lucy, because bigger doesn’t always mean stronger."