2-8. A Warm Welcome
The next morning dawned crisp and cool, but Elijah was hesitant to extract himself from his warm, rabbit-fur blankets. Still, he was a creature of habit, and he had many tasks to accomplish before heading to Ironshore. So, he groaned as he threw the comfortable bedding aside and pushed himself to his feet.
Soon enough, he began his morning routine. Starting with a leftover fish stew breakfast and ending with an abbreviated version of his training regimen, it wasn’t long before Elijah was donning his best outfit. It was a toga, just like the one he’d worn for the first meeting, but the stitching was a little tighter, and the fit a little better. Still, he knew he was never going to be much of a tailor, which highlighted one of his goals for the day.
If he did nothing else, he intended to purchase some proper clothing. To that end, Elijah found the little basket where he kept his pilfered etherium and dumped it all in one of his homemade satchels. Then, he gathered the looted weapons in an awkward bundle before heading to the beach where the invaders’ incursion had begun.
The rowboats were all exactly where he’d left them, so he selected the sturdiest one and shoved it into the surf. The water was frigid, but Elijah had grown used to it during his daily swims, so it was only mildly uncomfortable. Likely, that had as much to do with his Constitution as it did his routine. In any case, he pushed the small vessel out to sea, then hopped inside and started rowing across the strait.
As he went, Elijah was reminded of the last time he’d crossed over to the mainland. Back then, he’d been on a mission to rescue a dragon from people intent on draining her for their own cultivation. That had ended with Elijah killing quite a few gnomish ritualists, saving the dragon, and obtaining a Dragon Core. That Core cultivation had, in turn, given him the strength to kill the invaders.
He sighed as he continued to row.
So much had happened, and in so little time. Once, he’d struggled to even place on the power ladder, but now? He’d progressed into the top twenty-five, and given the advanced state of his cultivation – which Nerthus claimed should have been impossible on such a young world – Elijah felt comfortable in saying that he was one of the most powerful people on Earth.
Which was insane.
Almost as if to reassure himself, he opened the ladder and found himself in the thirty-second position:
| Planetary Power Rankings (Earth) 1. Oscar Ramirez – Level 38 2. Sadie Song – Level 37 3. Hu Shui – Level 35 4. Ram Khandu – Level 35 5. Anupriya Pandey – Level 34 6. Kimberly Jackson – Level 33 7. Abigail Lowrey – Level 33 8. Michael King - Level 33 9. Gunnar Lindstrom – Level 33 10. Thor Gunderson – Level 32 11. Niko Song – Level 32 12. … 13. … 14. … 32. Elijah Hart – Level 30 33. … 34. … 35. … 91. Carmen Rodriguez – Level 21
|