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R-a - Volume 3 - Chapter 4

Added 2019-10-09 08:34:14 +0000 UTC

R-a - Chapter 162 (In editing -v3)

After jogging for roughly 40 minutes, Micheal reached a point where there was no one else in sight. By then, he had crossed away from the Spawning Grounds, but was still in the vast, grassy plain.

This territory had been mostly unoccupied before humanity arrived. It was nominally the territory of the Divine Might Sect, but in actuality abandoned and left to the wilds.

This region had a rather special climate that made it difficult for most kinds of crops to grow, rendering much of the land useless. Ferocious beasts didnt see much value in the land either, making it a sort of safe-haven, but the uselessness of the land itself led to it being abandoned.

The Spawning Grounds had magically arrived alongside humanitys presence. Seeing as humans could survive using the Shop, without the need to grow crops of their own, an area like this was a perfect match for humanity. Magic Beasts, a source for Points and rare resources, could be found in several large forests that were located nearby, making this area practically a safe haven for the powerful.

The Divine Might Sect that owned this land was part of the Six Great Sects. Each of these Sects controlled roughly the same amount of land, around the size of a mid-sized country on Earth. The continent that the Six Great Sects lived on was called the Asora Continent, and was shaped like a large, wobbly circle. These Sects were the Superpowers of this world and each individually held an enormous amount of influence.

Each Great Sect bordered two to three other Great Sects, and typically housed a number of smaller ones, creating a balance that prevented any Great Sect from going all out and attacking one another. Doing so would leave their home base relatively unguarded and vulnerable, encouraging others to attack them in their moment of weakness.

The Divine Might Sect was located directly on the East side of the Asora Continent, with the Ground Demon Sect to the South of them, the Silent Sword Sect to the North, and the White Mountain Sect to the West. As for the two other Great Sects, the Heaven Slayer Sect and the Evil Light Sect, the Divine Might Sect didnt share any borders with them.

Humanitys Spawning Ground was located in a Northeastern region of the Divine Might Sect's territory, tucked up into an unimportant corner. If Micheal had wanted to, he couldve traveled East for a few dozen miles and hit the Grand Ocean.

It was currently the middle of Spring, or Winwarm as the Byrens called it, on the Second Layer. That meant it was a decent temperature out, not too hot nor too cold thanks to where Micheal was located. Micheal didnt care too much about the temperature, but did care about which season it was, largely due to the weather.

Weather on the Second Layer was known to be rather haphazard, especially during the Summer and Winter months. Spring was slowly drawing to an end around now, meaning Micheal had plenty of time to act before having to deal with any annoying Magic Storms.

After reaching a place where no one could see him, Micheal had called out his two Life Orbs and jumped upon them. His green robe was long enough that it could cover the Orbs up, though he wasnt particularly worried about being spotted out here. If he ran into anyone, he would just switch over to his Cloud Stepping Shoes.

He then began to zoom off on his journey, continued North as he gradually headed towards the end of the land that had been, in part, ceded to humanity by the Divine Might Sect. The air whipped past him as he flew, staying low to the ground as he practiced using his newly strengthened Soul.

He constantly worked on rotating his Life Orbs, manipulating them in odd turns or abrupt reversals, and all sorts of patterns designed to experiment with his Soul. He needed to adapt quickly to the increased power, knowing that it could make all the difference in battle.

As he grew more adept with the increase, he could also feel something unique about his Life Orbs.

They almost felt like they had grown sturdier, as if they became more durable as his Soul grew stronger. They felt like they could endure more powerful blows, though that was something he wasnt likely to test, not if he was trying to stay disguised.

Alongside that, Micheal also vaguely felt as if something else had changed. He couldnt know for sure, not for a couple of days

But he had a feeling that the number of Life Orbs he could create, in total, had increased.

If his guess was right then he could now store one extra Life Orb, which meant he had an extra life when push came to shove.

Man the power to die and come back to life He shook his head slightly at the thought, still incredibly pleased. After his duel with Prime, a thought had become cemented in his mind: This Ability was truly mind-bogglingly powerful. While he now knew it couldnt heal injuries to the Soul, the fact that he could disregard injuries to the body was already incredible.

He could really see why users with this power were famed for being unkillable.

Micheal began testing his Cloud Stepping Shoes as he flew, getting to a point where he was comfortable with his Soul. Unfortunately, he quickly found an issue with them.

That issue wasnt something he could solve: the enhanced gravity. His body, as of right now, wasnt super powerful. Physically, he was on the level of an average Third Rate Warrior, something that wasnt anything special.

If he wanted to use his Cloud Stepping Shoes to jump high into the sky, and then use that height to glide long distances, his physical strength currently wasnt quite enough.

Just jumping that high, alone, would be extremely exhausting. While his Strength stat was at 80, his Endurance and Recovery stats were only in the mid-50s. His body would grow tired long before he reached anything approaching a decent height.

Such exhaustion would ruin any potential perks he might gain from being up so high, leaving him vulnerable to attack. His Life Orbs could restore injuries, but they couldnt restore spent energy. Exhaustion was a poison he would be unable to shed through normal means.

As a result, he stuck to just soaring along the grass, only half a meter or so above it. He made fast speed and kept up his practice, blazing along steadily.

The farther from the Spawning Grounds Micheal moved, the more and more rugged the landscape had become. The grassy plains where nothing seemed to grow gradually faded into the raw wilderness. Hills, forests, and a mix of wild territory spread out before him, dotted with wild animals, though he had yet to see any Magic Beasts.

And it was here that Micheal finally saw his first Slum.

He spotted it in the distance as he flew up one particular hill.

It was a large, motley collection of tents, houses, and shoddy walls covering an area of several kilometers. Some of the homes seemed well constructed while others were in disrepair and falling apart. Garbage littered the nearby area, some of it half burnt, as if people had attempted to clean up but given up halfway through.

In this meshed together attempt at a Camp, Micheal could see hundreds of figures resting or moving about. His eyes narrowed as he zeroed in on them, a frown appearing on his face.

Elderly folks that seemed too brittle to have even made it to the Second Layer, crippled or horribly disfigured warriors that were barely making it by, those of weaker mind or those that had suffered severe shock

After two weeks, every Chosen had to make a choice to join an organization within the Human Alliance. When you did that, you had to meet certain goals to stay within that organization.

If you were unable to meet those goals multiple times, you could be expelled and banned from staying in, or near, any of the Camps that protected the useful humans.

In other words, these people were abandoned. Too sickly, too useless, too injured, too dumb, there were a variety of reasons that someone might be rejected from one organization or another. Very few people would be willing to take care of invalids in this horrible death war with other races.

Micheal turned and spat to the side, a vile taste filling his mouth as he looked away. He could see people literally collapsed on the sides of the road, begging for anything.

It cost a few Points a week, at most, to live here on the Second, even in these barren lands. Yet, for someone that shouldnt have made it here in the first place, or was too injured to care for themselves, that could be an unreasonable burden.

It was like this for a while in the beginning. In Micheals first life, the harsh Slum/Camp system existed in his time as well, many months down the road. This setup was cruel and heartless, and ended up costing countless lives, an unacceptable loss in Micheals eyes. It was also stupid, at its core. Humans could only have a limited number of Abilities, it made no sense to just throw people away. There could be so much value in every single person!

It was actually the Purgatory Church that first made major moves to fix this system, setting up food and care kitchens and hospitals in all of the shanty towns that began to develop, especially as hundreds of millions of people reached the Second Layer. Things got better, but not for a long time.

As Micheal looked on at this horrifying facet of reality, a feeling of helplessness began to fill him.

How would I fix this..? As he confronted the issue, he couldnt help but feel useless.

He was no genius when it came to management. What he knew best was combat, battle, swordsmanship, and training. He knew how to kill his enemies and develop complex battle plans, to take out anyone that was going against him.

But he couldnt stab starvation to death with a sword. He couldnt heal the injured with a dagger. He couldnt solve poverty with his fists.

Micheal sighed and looked away.

It was an issue that needed work but it wasnt his top priority right now. He had a few ideas on how to approach it, but none that could be implemented immediately.

The First Layer had been handled, especially with the messages hed sent to his various allies before he left. What he needed to focus on, for now, was handling the things that needed immediate attention here on the Second.

The Slums could wait a few more weeks.

Saving the Farian that could stop the Great Disaster could not.

It wasnt long before the infamous Sanctum of the Second Layer would open, where everything would begin to unfold, all over again he had precious little time left as it was.

However, to save that Farian, Micheal first needed to reach the territory of the Silent Sword Sect.