Chapter 117: The Day the World Shook

The woman, Lucia, gave an awkward nod in acceptance of those terms. She continued to stagger after him until [Dragon Fear] wore off.

Still, that didn’t mean she was walking through the world of ash with boundless confidence.

At least she was moving forward.

That was a lot more than could be said for many others Ash had witnessed struggling through hardship over the course of his life.

When Lucia finally caught up to him, Ash restarted his journey toward the mountain. He did, however, walk a bit slower.

It wasn’t exactly for Lucia’s sake, but he’d realized after meeting her that people would be appearing in the world at different times depending on when they completed the tutorial.

He didn’t want to risk moving too fast and passing by someone who had been summoned a little too late.

After all, Ash considered those who took their time promising, just as he did those who completed it in no time.

That was because taking one’s time meant maintaining composure. It gave them the opportunity to test more features of the game. Ash didn’t need to — or rather, couldn’t, given his circumstances — but if one was smart, they’d incapacitate the goblin, then go over the system interface and read everything. Afterward, they could take their time testing whatever they could while familiarizing themselves with whichever weapons they’d chosen.

‘I wonder if any will actually do that.’

It was likely, given the sheer volume of people being summoned.

Trudging down toward the foothills, his eyes settled on the crystals embedded in the ground all around them. Now that he was closer, it was unmistakable that they were shards of the seal’s ceiling.

‘I wonder if these can be mined…’

There was a mining Trade, after all…

“S-sir, look!”

Upon Lucia’s shout, his gaze snapped back to her, then toward where she was pointing. Atop a hill to his left were two people frantically looking from side to side.

One of the two was a Dragonkin; the other was the same race as the woman behind him.

‘Two different races summoned next to one another?’

That was… weird. To say the least.

Not wanting to walk too far out of his way, Ash called out to them.

“Hello!”

The two locked eyes with him. Neither wasted a single breath. They’d seen Lucia wearing the same rags and sandals as them and immediately seemed to regard Ash as their salvation.

As they rushed toward him, Ash cocked his head to the side and asked:

“What is the name of your race?”

Lucia shivered slightly, then said:

“Uh, oh… Salamander.”

‘Hmm…’

Was it a coincidence that he had now found two of them?

‘But Salamanders, like Dragons, have a connection to fire in mythology, right?’

It would make sense for them to be summoned in this volcanic land as well.

‘She’s not even sweating.’

Anyway… Ash already had a theory — or more like a hope — that if they weren’t summoned at the Totem, the others would at least be summoned relatively close to one. Not in a faraway place like some undiscovered zone or the Scarab Sands.

There was no proof behind such conjecture yet, but if it were true, that would mean the Salamander’s Totem was likely somewhere within the Ruins of Evercrest.

But…

‘They seriously saw this place and thought it would be… habitable?’

Ash could not help but wonder where they were getting water from. Or even food…

Only the Firebound Hounds stalking the hills looked somewhat edible. Even then, there were some hefty ethical and moral questions surrounding the idea of using them as a food source.

Finally, the two made it down the ashen hill without incident. Ash did, however, notice a pack of Firebound Hounds clawing their way up through the ash, then another.

‘Hmmm… I wonder if population causes an increase in spawn rate.’

That was a mechanism many RPGs used to accommodate both capped servers and underfilled ones.

If it were true, things were calm for now. But they were bound to get dicey soon, with some people only barely within reach of being saved while others were doomed from the start.

Conversely, though, that would mean the Marauder population would increase, allowing them to get that tendon quest done.

Ash looked at the Dragonkin, a man on the shorter side with charcoal-colored horns like his own and short, wavy red hair.

♱♱♱

[Jalen Rheet]

LEVEL: 1

STR: [10]

AGI: [10]

DEX: [10]

INT: [10]

CON: [10]

ACTIVES: [Dragon Fear] [Strike]

PASSIVES: [Scale Armor]

♱♱♱

Ash looked at the man, then said:

“I am Ash, the Dragonkin Champion.”

“O-okay! Thanks so much, dude! But why was I summoned in the bowels of hell?!”

Ash scratched his cheek as he looked around.

“What an apt way to describe this place…”

‘Winter had called it “hell”…’

The girl, named Kaila, shook her head and placed her hands on her knees as she slid to a stop, spraying ash across Ash.

When she finally caught her breath, all she could manage was:

“Dragonkin?!”

Lucia answered for him.

“Yes… that’s right. Not a Salamander; however, he said we can follow him, for now.”

“F-for now?!”

Ash nodded.

“Yes. For now… I will not let you follow me back to my Totem. I am not sure where your Totem is, so it will be up to you two and whoever else joins you to find it.”

“I… I see.”

Ash’s eyes followed the hounds at the crest of the hill as they disappeared over the other side.

“I’ll offer one word of advice: you two should party up and learn as much about each other as you can while we walk. Strategize, figure out your composition, and adjust as we bring in anyone else we come across. And Jalen—”

“Gah! How do you know my name?!”

“—you should do the same with the other Dragonkin we find. Do not dare rely on me for protection.”

“Ah— S-sure, dude. But how—”

Ash shook his head and cut him off.

“Let’s start moving. No time to dawdle.”

‘I forgot about that…’

He’d gotten a bit too used to peering at statuses over the last two weeks, so much so that knowing the name of something had become simply a given. It was only now that he realized, while escorting two potential enemies, that he needed to keep such an ability hidden.

In fact, he wanted to keep most of what he could do to himself.

To that end, he’d keep [Sealed Fate] sealed away and rely solely on the [Evercrestian Recurve Bow] he’d already shown them.

Well, to be honest, it wasn’t like he had too much he could show off. [Rancor] wasn’t needed on low-level targets he could defeat easily without the buff. And [Hunter’s Hymn] had little use in such an open area, especially while traveling with a group making little effort to conceal its presence.

The four resumed walking, ascending the next mound of ash. The three behind him began whispering among one another, both about this strange world and what they’d gone through in the tutorial. They also obviously had mounds of questions for Ash, but the way he carried himself made him quite difficult to approach.

‘I wonder…’

Since they were new, they might be able to be taken advantage of and coaxed into revealing their racial abilities for free. It was also likely the converse was possible.

But… giving a warning to Jalen would instill caution in the two women.

‘Ah, damn…’

It was likely that learning all racials would simply be a matter of time, but the dilemma was a little more than that.

‘What would a proper leader do?’

As they reached the top of the hill, Jalen’s voice suddenly caught his attention, forcing him to make a decision.

“My given abilities didn’t help too much. Well… the fear one was alright, but it didn’t seem to do much of—”

Ash cut the man off:

“This world is not the one you knew, Jalen… Don’t give away information so carelessly. Trade it. Not every interaction has to be a transaction, but every interaction carries meaning, no matter how meaningless it seems.”

“Ah— sorry!”

Ash didn’t turn, but he added:

“You two should take that advice into consideration as well… And do note this is a lawless land. It’s bound to breed chaos.”

‘And the most surefire way to bring order to chaos is to be the harbinger of a chaos grander than the rest.’

The tyrant before whom chaos itself bows.

The four stopped at the top of the hill.

Then… the world began to rumble.

‘That’s right…’

The tutorial was on a timer of sorts.

There were five minutes to start, then three in between kills. Those around him must have instantly killed the goblins. But if one killed them normally without being hasty or wasting time, then most would be summoned around the same time…

‘You’ve got to be shitting me.’

At the same time, his earlier conjecture about spawn rates must have been correct. Across the panorama before him, he caught sight of a few crystal golems, fire golems, and hounds clawing their way through the ash alongside an assortment of Dragonkin and Salamanders.