Chapter 62: Survive and Explore

The Last Bastion is under a strict lockdown because of what happened.

Considering that an entire city was not only destroyed along with most of it's citizens, and missing, this shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone.

Nobody was prepared for what happened, neither were they expecting it to begin with.

Not even a day passed since the disappearance of City M, humanity was in a full blown panic. While the Morning Sun Federation deals with a lot of things to maintain peace and stability, there's really not much they could do in this scenario.

After all, how can one even begin explaining the disappearance of an entire city?

The authorities were frazzled by this. Even though they already determined that Revenants did this, they still can't understand how they managed to infiltrate the Last Bastion.

Wasn't it that protective dome's job to filter these things out? How come it failed?

Nobody has any explanation for it.

Similarly, nobody could tell where the city went. They have no idea where it is right now. Plus, it didn't make sense you see.

If the Revenants' plan were to kill every humans within that city, then why did they remove it from the Last Bastion? Seems like a wasted effort, no?

If everyone's dead and the city was burned to the ground, then the next logical move for them was to do the same for the other cities. But that's not what they did. They killed almost all of City M's citizens, burned the entire city to ashes then pried it away from the Last Bastion itself.

What is it, that they're trying to accomplish here? This is what Humanity's Leaders were trying to discern right now.

Well, that and how to calm the public outrage. Everyone's panicked after all.

In order to make sure that any event like this would be prevented before it happened, the Morning Sun Federation called out to all Licensed Cultivators to increase humanity's security.

Even those who were outside of the Last Bastion were called back as well. The Federation wanted to make sure that their security becomes the main priority here.

They also launched multiple investigations. This act of terrorism might be a work of a traitor so it's logical for them to do some introspection just to be sure.

As for Mary, Alice and Blake well...they're not doing fine.

They all woke-up in 'City O'. Not beside each other but eventually they were reunited.

They didn't take the news very well. All they knew and loved disappeared and they didn't even know how. All they could remember was getting knocked out from the explosion while celebrating their friend's birthday, the next thing they knew, everyone's dead and only the three of them remained.

None of their families made it out, neither did their teachers and friends they met along the way. All of them were gone and they only have themselves.

It was a horrible nightmare. Something that even consistent therapy sessions wouldn't ease-up. The fact that they have to live like this now, branded as City M's only survivors, surely doesn't make it any easier. So it the survivor's guilt that comes after that.

Of course, they only think they're the ones suffering from this because they have no idea that Ashton and Aria survived. If they only knew really...

Sadly, they would remain clueless about it for a very long time.

***

Ashton was emotionally drained.

At this point, he doesn't even had the energy to shed tears anymore. He's tired of asking the world; why does this have to happened to him? Or, what did he ever do to deserve this.

He's just tired.

The silence was deafening but he prefers this over explosions. Honestly, Ashton might just develop some serious PTSD with explosions as a trigger at this point.

He's in bed with Aria right now and no, get your mind out of the gutter.

They're cuddling, sure. But that's just that. They only have each other right now and both of them were too distraught with what happened so far.

In his exhaustion, he didn't even had the time nor the energy to ask why does Aria have a room within the Library.

All he could think right now is how to move-on from this. And even that was starting to feel a little tedious...a little too stressful as well.

Is there even anything that's useful in this city still? Everything was burned. Could he scavenge food? Clothing? Maybe materials?

Shelter shouldn't be a problem, he has the Grand Library to stay so it wasn't a priority. Well, if it turns out that he can't stay here for long, he had enough materials and knowledge to build a decent home so it shouldn't be a problem.

The most pressing matter right now is safety.

Ashton is currently at an unknown territory. Surrounding with all sorts of horrors and dangers at all sides.

He's is too weak to even be out here yet here he was. He didn't want this at all but if he intends to survive, he has to be stronger.

After all, he isn't just living for himself, no. He's living for Aria as well since, for some reason, he is now in-charge of her, whatever that may mean.

He's not doing this out of responsibility nor need. He's doing this because it's his choice to do so. He isn't doing it to repay the kindness of Chief Leon or to honor his memories and respect his wishes.

He's going to do it because it's the right thing to do and Aria was a dear friend. He couldn't possibly abandon her.

Speaking of which, said friend has passed-out from crying. Ashton's feeling very reluctant to leave her side right now because she might breakdown when she woke-up and he's not there. He didn't want to traumatize her beyond this.

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Despite his horrible situation though, Ashton still has some hope left.

Had it been other people, they might've already given-up at this point. Possibly taken their own life so that they'd die in their own arrangement.

But Ashton has something they don't have.

The System.

Frankly enough, he doesn't want to rely on it too much for survival but since push had already come to shove, he needs to do what he has to do.

Ashton's going to survive this. He's determined to do so. He also vowed that, one day, he will return to the Last Bastion.

His current predicament isn't really the most ideal one but it certainly could be worse. Thankfully it's not.

He has a lot of tools to use in order to ensure his survival, additionally he also has time.

So long as he's being careful about this, surviving shouldn't be as hard.

[Notice: Host received a Quest and Missions!]

Ashton's brow rose because of the notification. It seems that the System was in sync with his will. He opened his updated Quest Tab to check the mission given to him.

***

[Quest: Survive!]

: Host has been forced into an uncompromising predicament but hope is not gone. Survive the horrors and dangers of the Outside World for as long as you can.

• Survive for 1 month - Rewards: Bloodline Purification Pill x5

• Survive for 3 months - Rewards: Mobile Safehouse x1

• Survive for 6 months - Rewards: Exosuit x1

• Survive for 1 year - Rewards: Randomized 'Trait' x1

• Survive for 3 years - Rewards: Specialization Soul Card (L) x1

• Survive for 5 years - Rewards: Curse Banishment Pill x1

***

Ashton's eyes widened. Those rewards were certainly alluring. It seems that his determination to survive will be rewarded handsomely. Now, there's more reason for him to do so.

But of course, there's more to this.

***

[Mission: Investigate]

: It's a long way home from here. Where even is 'here'? Well, why don't you find out? Plus, aren't you curious as to what the Outside World looked like? The more you discover, the more rewards you'll get.

• Discover where you are - Time Limit: None. Rewards: New System Function unlocked.

• Find a way back home - Time Limit: None. Rewards: Randomized 'Trait' x1

• Discover and Study Hostiles - Amount: 200. Rewards: New System Function unlocked.

• Path to Enlightenment - Time Limit: None. Rewards: System Overhaul.

***

Once again, Ashton was surprised.

It seems that the System wants him to explore the Outside World since he's already here.

If he were to be honest, he'd rather not but those rewards were tempting. Additional System Functions are always good. Those could help him after since right now, he's pretty limited. He didn't know what he'll get yet but that's fine.

The missions were comprehensive enough, save for the last one. That one, he didn't understand.

Path to enlightenment? Did the system think he's some sort of monk trying to ascend and become a Buddha? What the hell?

That being said, he knows that the system wouldn't add this if it wasn't important. He doesn't know how to complete it but he's going to try at least. The reward for it was a System Overhaul which may be good or bad, who knows?

Anyway, since he received this quest and missions, he might as well do his best to complete all of them.

If he happens to die while trying to complete them well, at least he had an action packed second life.

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