Kill The Old Ones!

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The morning after the defense was quiet...

That wasn’t surprising; people were tired, and the celebration lasted late yesterday. Most of them are still sleeping, and Ren wasn’t one to prevent them from resting because he wants to get things done.

The smell of blood has been completely eradicated thanks to the clean they’ve done yesterday. And even though nobody stood guard last night, no monster came close to the camp, not even a wild animal. It’s like all there had been a tacit agreement between humans and the monsters; there was too much bloodshed yesterday, so for now, they have a truce.

Despite not resting for long, Ren was full of energy and was feeling well-rested. His recovery rate was, after all, incredibly fast thanks to his talents.

Lily was still sleeping soundly in their tent. She was exhausted, especially since their nightly activities pushed her to her limits. She’s like a kitten curled up in a nest of warmth and peace right now, and Ren doesn’t have the heart to disturb her.

Ren went out to inspect the walls he erected to protect this little camp.

As expected, they have been through a lot. Even though he did his best to build strong and reinforced walls, the time he had was too short and the materials he had were limited. The walls endured the attacks of the monsters and his teammates. Therefore, it’s only natural that it’s broken in some places.

Nevertheless, for the limited time he had and materials available to him, this wall had done more than enough to protect them.

Obviously, he knew that the monster horde was coming. He knew the plot of this story after all. Unfortunately, he couldn’t freely build things to guard them against what’s coming ahead of time since that would put too much suspicion on him, and he knows that they’re being watched.

But since this event has passed, Ren has had more leeway to be more creative. He could start preparing for the worse because it is definitely going to get worse.

’A camp is no longer enough,’ he muttered inwardly. ’We need a base. A well-built, sturdy, and large base of operations. Especially if we want to last for a whole year in this place.’

The main thing that’s making Ren hesitate is whether to stay or move somewhere else.

To be fair, their landing spot was great. They’re far enough from danger and had more than enough space to build, but not so far from opportunities to earn merit points.

The thing is, Ren’s sensory network hasn’t had enough time to spread that far just yet. He wanted to wait until he could see everything within 10,000 miles first before making a decision, and he’s only a little bit over halfway to that distance.

So far, he hasn’t seen any place that’s better than here. But he definitely knows that somewhere in this realm, there is a perfect spot for them to use as a base, one that would allow them to truly pull ahead of the rankings.

Speaking of which...

**

[Current Imperial Ranking]:

#1. Heavenly Bronze Empire: 367,510 points (Lead Contributor: Soren Marek Vire)

#2. Burning Firmament Empire: 85,025 points

#3. Deep Blue God Empire: 74,150 points

#4. Free Heavenly Paradise Empire: 63,810 points

#5. Berserk Mountain God Empire: 52,505 points

**

This is the current ranking of teams...

As expected, their team was way ahead of everybody else. Their lead was so large that it’s not even funny, and this is because of several factors that added up over time.

Ren himself was the richest among his team in terms of merit points. He killed that Nightmare Fog Demon and got 100,000 merit points at once, even though it was severely weakened.

And this isn’t mentioning the points he got from killing the larger and stronger monsters who wanted to trample the walls.

The total amount of points he earned by himself was more than half of the team’s total points; that’s why he’s still the lead contributor on this team.

’We are ahead by a large margin, yes, but that is not an excuse to be complacent. This realm is unpredictable. And I can’t really say if the order of weekly crisis will follow the canon timeline.’

’One misstep from us and the others will take advantage to close the gap. We can’t let that happen.’

Ren was in deep thought for a bit. He relit the bonfire to emanate warmth in the camp since it’s a bit chilly. While doing this, he kept thinking about a lot of stuff to ensure that their team maintained their lead.

’It’s not just the week’s crisis. What we truly should be preparing for is the monthly calamity.’

’In the canon timeline, the first natural calamity we’ll face is the ’Extreme Cold Calamity.’ Temperatures will drop -50°C on the very first day itself. Which, in itself, is insane.’

’We may be martial artists that have evolved beyond the peak of human standards, but that doesn’t make us invincible or immortal.’

’Besides, natural calamities last for a whole month. And the changes in the environment will also have an effect on the monsters lurking in this realm.’

Ren kept inspecting the camp as he thought about this.

Yes, the initial location was good and all, but in his opinion, it’s a little bit exposed. It’s in the middle of nowhere and out in an open space where they could easily get surrounded.

Sure, given time, they might be able to turn this place into a fortress, but that would require so much resources, effort, and time.

If the timeline follows the canon, the extreme cold calamity indeed comes first. Then the creek nearby—which is also their current water source right now—will be frozen.

Also, because of the cold, the monsters in the rainforest will be more desperate. They will roam and hunt for food, and that will inevitably lead them to these walls.

Once or twice wouldn’t be an issue, but considering that each calamity lasts for a whole month, and there will be weekly crises, too, that will get annoying fast.

’Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I believe that we should move somewhere else.’ Ren grimaced.

It’s not completely impossible, though. Don’t forget, Ren had a lot of points. He has too much spending power and capability to make life easier for everybody.

But that, in itself, is a dilemma. Because Ren thinks that if he’s going to splurge for items anyway, he might as well make sure that he’s getting his money’s worth. And splurging to improve this current camp doesn’t seem to be a good investment.

Ren sighed and muttered to himself: "No rush...I think I could wait for a few more days before making a decision."

’If the canon timeline was still being followed, the next weekly crisis is a ’Ghost ’Crisis’—the lamest and easiest crisis to solve. And even if it wasn’t that, no big deal. The other iterations of the weekly crisis aren’t that impossible to solve, anyway.’

’I just need to be patient.’ Ren sighed again before returning to his and Lily’s tent.

His girlfriend was still there, curled up in the little nest of warmth he left for her. Her breathing was even and peaceful.

A fond smile appeared on his face as he returned to that nest. The moment he lay down next to her, she instinctively reached out for his touch as if her subconscious could immediately recognize him.

Ren smiled and pulled her close, securing her firmly and peacefully in his warmth.

He doesn’t plan on sleeping because he’s already too awake. But lying here doesn’t mean being idle and lazy. There was a lot for him to think about still, and as someone everybody’s looking up to, he had to be considerate.

**

"Well, that could’ve gone worse..." King Petyr sighed as he watched the replay of the team’s successful defense. "...much, much worse...fortunately, that kid saw that demon and took care of it first."

"Yeah...fortunately," another king chimed in, definitely sounding as if they dodge a bullet there.

The audience doesn’t watch the progress every day. They’re not that free after all. They need to run their respective territories while their representatives are doing their best to earn glory for them. They can’t be idle.

As such, at least once a week, they could watch the highlights of what happened in that week: the important decisions that were made, turning points, activities, and even arguments or drama that will affect the whole team and their performance.

God knows that relief they felt when they saw how Ren decisively killed the Nightmare Fog Demon, so much so that the poor thing never even saw his face.

And thank god for that because if that thing didn’t die, the monster horde that followed would’ve been the least of their team’s worries.

Obviously, they also saw Ren pondering about something by himself. And while they can’t really read his mind through the screen, they could make educated guesses about his thoughts.

’Well, then, good lad. Let me see how you’ll play this. You’ve done well so far; don’t be a disappointment now.’ The Emperor thought to himself as he watched Ren’s thoughtful expression.