Chapter 535: Finding A Place to Rest, Stronghold’s Panel

The girls paid little attention to the whispers and continued searching for a place to rest.

"Oh, that’s the place where we stayed before!" Emilia suddenly exclaimed, pointing toward a massive building with a large sign above its entrance. "The Requiem Hotel! Let’s go there!"

Violet adjusted Leon’s position on her shoulders and followed Emilia inside, with Celeste walking close behind them.

The lobby was crowded with roughly a hundred people, many of whom were discussing the battle and the sudden change in leadership.

Their conversations gradually faded when the three women entered, and several people turned toward them with expressions of surprise.

Violet approached the reception desk while continuing to carry Leon.

"Give us a room," she said calmly.

The receptionist opened his mouth, seemingly ready to ask a few questions or explain that the hotel didn’t take people in currently.

However, when he looked at Violet’s cold expression and used appraisal to examine the unconscious man on her shoulders, his attitude changed immediately.

"Y-Yes! Of course! Lord Celestial is exhausted and needs to rest here!"

"Wow, they already call him Lord Celestial?" Emilia laughed. "I guess they can see his ID, huh?"

"Probably," Violet replied, paying little attention to the receptionist’s sudden change in attitude.

It took only a few minutes for the receptionist to arrange a room for them.

The girls then made their way upstairs and entered a spacious room with a massive window overlooking the stronghold.

Violet carefully placed Leon on the bed, allowing him to rest comfortably, before joining Emilia and Celeste near the window.

From there, they could see much of the damage caused by the battle.

Smoke rose from several areas where buildings had been struck by the guild’s attacks.

Farther away, the central area was almost completely destroyed, bearing witness to the devastating fight that had taken place there.

"Everything that happened until now was so crazy," Celeste said with a smile as she sat beside Leon and gently played with his hair. "But I guess that’s just what it means to travel with him, hehe~"

"I don’t wish to travel with anyone else," Emilia replied with a shrug. "It doesn’t matter where we go, even if it leads to our deaths."

"Agreed," Violet said, looking out, "We’ve already been through so much, far more than even the strongest players might experience in their entire lives, and yet we’re all still standing."

For a while, the three women continued looking at the stronghold, remembering everything they had experienced since beginning their journey.

However, Celeste’s smile gradually faded as she considered what awaited them in the future.

"But..." she began quietly, "until now, we’ve fought players, natives, and the servants of the gods. Yet what about everything that comes after this?"

Leon had made his intentions clear. He planned to hunt down the gods and their servants, regardless of how powerful they might be, and the girls had chosen to follow him despite knowing the dangers involved.

Yet none of them truly understood what awaited them in the Eternal Battlefield or Eternal Domain.

Would they die the moment they confronted a god?

Would they encounter some impossibly powerful monster or entity capable of destroying them without effort?

Perhaps they would become trapped somewhere from which even Leon could not find a way out.

Eternal Ascension was a cruel and unforgiving world after all.

They had grown stronger, but there was no guarantee that their strength would ever be enough to overcome every obstacle ahead.

"There’s a low chance we’ll reach that level," Violet admitted with a faint smile. "My parents told me about the [God of Dragons] before. Apparently, he can destroy entire countries if he wishes, and I can’t imagine any of us reaching that level of power anytime soon."

"So, we’re just going to stay with Leon and enjoy ourselves until our inevitable deaths?" Emilia asked, her expression immediately turning angry. "Hell no! I believe in Leon! W-we’ll win in the end!"

Violet smiled and gently patted the elf’s head.

"Sure. I also hope that happens."

The three women fell silent as they looked toward the damaged stronghold, then raised their gazes toward the sky before glancing back at Leon, who continued sleeping peacefully on the bed.

’I wonder how far we can keep going,’ they all thought.

...

Three days later, Leon finally opened his eyes.

"WAH?!"

He immediately sat up and looked around in surprise, instinctively raising his arms into a fighting stance.

However, after realizing that he was lying in a bed inside a room, he slowly relaxed.

"I guess the girls brought me here."

He glanced around the room but found that none of them were present.

Before he could wonder where they had gone, several panels appeared before his eyes.

Ding!

[You are now the owner of the "Requiem Stronghold"]

[You are able to promote it, give orders, and much more...!]

Leon studied the notifications for a moment before frowning.

"Does leaving the stronghold indefinitely do anything? I don’t wanna stay here."

He waited briefly, but the system offered no response.

"Damn. Well, either way."

He had no intention of settling down in the Requiem Stronghold.

His goal remained the same, and staying behind to manage an entire settlement would only slow him down.

However, he could always give the authority to someone competent, allowing them to handle the stronghold while he continued his journey.

As long as they could rebuild the damaged buildings and restore the settlement to its former condition, there should be no problem.

Leon then checked the notifications related to the battle.

[You have killed 9 players.]

"Well, Celeste and Emilia killed some of them too, so it’s fine."

Ding!

[You have obtained three items from each player’s storage space.]

[You have taken 5% of the player’s eternal coins.]

"12 million Eternal Coins, not bad," Leon said with a nod. "And the items are... decent."

He checked the rewards briefly, but most of them consisted of armor, equipment, and weapons that offered little value to him.

Since he already possessed powerful equipment, there was no reason to spend much time examining items he would probably never use.

Just as he finished checking the rewards, the door opened and the three girls entered the room.

Their expressions immediately brightened when they saw him sitting on the bed.

"It took less time than expected!" Emilia exclaimed happily before hurrying over and wrapping her arms around him.

Leon smiled slightly as he returned her embrace, "How many days have I been out?"

"Around three," Violet replied.

"Yeah, it’s less than the last time."

Violet approached the bed and looked at him thoughtfully.

"Since you’re the leader of the Requiem Stronghold now, could you give me the authority to manage it?"

Leon raised an eyebrow, "You want to stay here and take care of the stronghold?"

"Hell no, I’m coming with you guys, but someone needs to handle things here while we’re away," Violet explained. "I doubt you’ll have any interest in managing the inhabitants or rebuilding the damaged buildings. I can take care of that, so you won’t have to worry about it."

Leon considered her suggestion for a moment before nodding, "Sure, go ahead."

He opened the stronghold’s management panel, which showed the following panel:

[Stronghold Name: Requiem.]

[Leader: Celestial.]

[Co-Leaders: None.]

[Level: 6.]

[Population: 2.3 million.]

[Passive: Protection, Native, Advanced Structures, Eternal Growth.]

[Info: You are able to increase the size of the stronghold after reaching Level 6!]

"Hm."