"We have nothing else to do here anyway," John said with a casual shrug.
He spoke as if they were deciding to end a vacation early, rather than concluding a months-long, life-altering struggle in the pocket trial, then at the new world. "We’ve scouted the area around, built the foundation, and secured the loot. With the Demon fleet surrounding our zone, there is nothing else to do anyway. Let’s go back tomorrow."
"At last," Luke sighed. "It feels like a literal lifeti since we were walking the halls at the academy."
"Do you think about how much ti has passed since we left?" Cissel asked softly, her gaze drifting toward the flickering bonfire. "If the ti ran the sa, they must have marked us as dead months ago. We’re going to be zombies walking back into that school. I hope there is a ti difference for our sake, or else..."
"It doesn’t matter," Ricky said, giving a casual shrug. "Once we are back, they’ll have to change their opinion whether they want to or not. Dead n don’t walk back through the front gates with enough gear to arm a small nation. Still... Are we going to stick to what we agreed upon before?"
He looked at John, his gaze mirrored by everyone else at the table. The weight of their future rested on the answer, and the man in question didn’t answer imdiately. He let the crackle of the fire fill the silence for a few monts before he slowly nodded.
"There is no need to change anything we planned," John said, his voice level and cold. "Let’s go back first, deal with the aftermath of our long absence, and provide them with the cover story we agreed upon. Once we’ve stabilised our position and cleared the initial hurdle of our return, we’ll start the grand plan."
"I bet the world isn’t ready for what’s coming, hehehe," Luke chirped, a wide grin stretching across his face. He was clearly the most excited mber of the team, fueled by the sheer audacity of what they were about to attempt.
"I can’t wait to see the look on everyone’s faces when news about the Anomaly God Paragon starts to spread, and portals begin appearing in lots of places, hehehe!"
"I bet a lot of chaos will follow," Elena sighed, though her eyes betrayed a hint of anticipation. "Yet, it’s for the better. Our world... It needs that kind of change. It’s grown stagnant, trapped in its own dilemma or old power struggle that made us lose such a grand chance, if not for John."
"Yet lots of things depend on the survivors we have," John said, shifting his gaze toward the distant camp where the few thousand humans were sleeping. They were the seeds he was planting in the soil of Athanasia. "Have you left a good impression on there? Is the legend established?"
"We sang legends about you, man," Luke laughed, slapping his knee. "By the ti we got through with them, they wouldn’t be sure if you were a man or a god who just happened to look like one. They will return and spread your na far and wide. Every street corner in the world and every tavern in Athanasia’s cities will hear about the new saviour, the Anomaly God Paragon."
"That’s good," John said, standing up from the bonfire and dusting off his clothes. "I’ll go to put the final touches on our arrangents with Goven and Blakar. We’ll leave first thing in the morning. Make sure you are well prepared."
John made his way through the quiet of the zone to et with the leaders of the two races. He left his final, ironclad instructions: they were to remain confined within the safety of the protective zone at all costs. The new world was too dangerous for them to conduct scouting missions while the Demon fleet was still hovering nearby.
It was formally agreed that the heavy excavation of the Mana mines would be the sole responsibility of the Bulltors. They had the ideal physical strength and endurance for the deep-vein labour. As for the Krogers, they would act as the master engineers, providing the tools and structural support for the sites.
As for the Krogers’ main task, John wanted them focused on mass-producing weaponry. He had asked Goven earlier if they could synthesise a true flying ship by rging the Dragon scales, claws, and wings into a single hull and try to add extra touches.
Goven’s answer, however, had been a firm, disappointing no. They lacked the blueprint and the heavy shipyards required to fuse such disparate racial technologies into a single cohesive vessel. On top of that, the Krogers had no prior experience in doing sothing like this. For now, they would stick to the sky-sledges.
After the etings were done, John spent the remaining hours of the night with his friends. The tension of the upcoming departure was palpable.
Cissel never left his side, the two of them chatting quietly about the small details they missed, the specific scent of the academy classes, the taste of real food in Athanasia, and the faces of the classmates and teachers they had left behind.
"It’s ti!"
In the morning, the orange sun of the new world rose to find the humans assembled. John had left the task of preparing the survivors to Luke, Ricky, and the girls. When they returned to report that everyone was ready and positioned, John stood in the centre of the open area beside the big lake.
He looked around at the group he had cultivated. He had entered this world to undergo a solo evolution trial, a test ant for one man. But through a twist of fate, he hadn’t stayed alone.
What started as a five-person team had expanded into a burgeoning civilisation: ten thousand Krogers, four thousand Bulltors, over three thousand humans, and one captured Demon.
He looked at their faces, seeing the mixture of hope and fear reflected in their eyes. ’I’ve co through a long path indeed,’ he thought, a wide smile warming his cold resolve.
He knew that despite everything they had achieved here, the battles won, the loot gathered, the zone secured, this was still just the humble beginning.
’Going back to Athanasia will be the real start for this ti,’ his mind whispered. His goals had expanded and escalated to frightening heights during his ti in the apocalypse. He no longer just wanted to survive; he wanted to lead.
He wasn’t worried. He had grown accustod to the quirks of his system, mastered his evolving abilities, and learned a lot by fighting against different races. He was more than ready to lead humanity through the apocalyptic challenges ahead and establish a foothold that no one could ever shake.
"Open sesa," John said aloud. He didn’t actually need to say anything to trigger the portal; he could manifest it with a thought, but he was in a rare, high-spirited mood. He figured he’d invoke a bit of old-world luck for the journey ho.
FWOOSH!
In an instant, the air in front of him tore open. A portal of truly gargantuan proportions manifested, towering thousands of ters into the sky and stretching over a thousand ters in width. It was a shimring, swirling blue void, large enough for the entire human survivor group to pass through in a single, massive wave.
"Let’s go," John commanded.
As the leader, he took the first step. Followed closely by his four friends, he plunged into the shimring light. He felt a violent, familiar force pulling him forward, stretching the world around him into long lines.
The Source Code World vanished in a blur, leaving behind the silence of the void as they began the long-awaited journey back to the world they called ho, going back to Athanasia.
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