Emery strolled around the settlement, walking through a place that ran deep into an underground cave. Inside he saw more people gathering and huddling together. Half of them were women and children. Hundreds, by no means, were in ideal conditions to be moved.
The one who led him through this place was the young boy from before. He was called Jim, the son of General Solosa, who led and took charge of this place.
"Thank you, mister, for saving our lives." The boy said before taking off.
Emery watched as the boy ran towards a corner, where people were busy making things needed to survive in this apocalyptic world such as food and medicines.
Then, to his surprise, Jim took out a handful of flowers with striking light blue petals and handed them over to those people. He could clearly see the surprise as well as delight on those people's faces when they saw the flowers in the boy's hands.
Without saying anything, those people took the flowers very carefully, yet also with eagerness, before promptly preparing other tools used to process them.
With [Analyze], Emery quickly learnt of the flower's properties.
[Agapanthus - Tier 2]
It was quite an effective healing herb and ingredient for concocting. It was known for its soothing effect, which helped to reduce pain from injuries sustained.
It was at this moment, when Emery was deep in thought, that Jim turned around. He noticed Emery had his gaze fixed on the flower and assumed he was interested in it. So, he offered it to him.
Emery was touched by the boy's sincerity.
He understood that, although that flower was merely Tier 2 ingredients in his eyes, it must be something precious to the boy standing in front of him.
Therefore, he refused the boy's offer with a wave of his hand and decided to help them instead.
Emery raised his hand towards the place where the injured and sick were gathered and cast [Rejuvenating Mushroom].
That corner of the cave was enveloped by a bright green light, startling those who were there. The dirty soil of the underground cavern was now filled by a dozen unique-looking mushrooms that gave off a faint glow.
In a short time, the complexion of the people lying there brightened and the wounds on their bodies got better. Jim, who was taken aback by the miraculous sight, finally regained his senses. He immediately turned around and bowed deeply towards Emery.
"Thank you, mister… Thank you."
After saying that, the kid turned around again and ran towards a woman who was also in the crowd of people, who were healed by Emery's spell. It seemed the other party was the boy's mother, as she looked at him with affectionation and smiled seeing the boy hug her.
Emery then walked to that corner of the cave, treating those whose condition was too severe for [Rejuvenating Mushroom] to completely heal them and even used [Regrow Limb] to those who needed it.
This sight quickly made the red-haired girl who followed him annoyed.
"Are you gonna spend all day doing things like this?"
"No, of course not. Just a bit more..." Emery answered, as he treated a young man who had lost his two hands.
After an hour of exploring around the place, Emery realized there were about 5,000 survivors staying in the outpost, but considering the existence of the underground cave, this place should be enough to hold up to 10 times that number.
When Emery returned to the surface, Julian was already finished briefing his squad and called all the Earth and Metal element users among them. There were five of them, four men and one woman. He then chose 1,000 able-bodied survivors to help fortify the place, remaking it into a stronghold that could resist those Crawlers.
Thanks to the [Soften Earth] spell, the survivors would have a much easier time completing their jobs of building defensive structures surrounding the outpost. The [Stone Wall] spell, on the other hand, would definitely work wonders to create a better outer layer of the walls.
In the meantime, Julian would join forces with the Metal acolyte to reinforce the walls with sharp metal spikes and nets.
Julian also instructed the other members of his squad to divide into two groups to rally survivors from other nearby settlements to this place.
One was led by Okoye and consisted of her Akanda warriors, while the other consisted of the remaining members and led by Aiko the Jade Flash.
As for Thrax and Chumo, neither of them left with the escort groups, as Emery requested them for a different project.
"Alright, Just make sure to be back here in 10 hours. So we can start our meeting with the other squad leaders."
Emery then called his squad members, Annara and Atlas, as well as two elite members he borrowed from Julian's squad, Thrax and Chumo, of course Klea was already with him. The six acolytes including him swiftly headed out of the settlement together.
"What are you planning to do?" asked the red-haired girl, as they walked away from the settlement, her expression dubious.
"Don't worry. Just follow me."
Annara seemed to want to say more, but Thrax's loud laughter stopped her from doing so.
"Hahaha! As long as there is a fight, I will follow you everywhere, brother!"
As they all flew on top of an orbiter, Emery turned to Chumo, "Have you found it yet?"
"Yeah. The closest is 60 miles up ahead."
Thanks to his [Eye of the Raven], Chumo's reconnaissance ability far surpassed Emery's with his Spirit Reading. Not only could he sense life signs much further than him, but he could also perceive those with a weaker lifeform, like the stage 1 Crawler or other small creatures.
With their current speed, the six of them could easily cover 60 miles in just 10 minutes. Therefore, Emery decided not to use [Spatial Gate] and continued flying, using this opportunity to study the landscape better.
After traveling across the yellow plain and passing several small forests and dozens of abandoned buildings, the group finally reached their destination. A cave located in one of the forests.
Realizing Emery had actually brought them to one of the existing Abyss Nest, everyone looked excited. Especially the battle maniac, Thrax.
Before heading in, however, Atlas touched the ground with his hand, using the seismic scan. The light from his mechanical eyes was projected out and formed into an image of the underground map.
This was definitely one of the benefits of having the half-man, half-machine acolyte on the squad.
Seeing this, Emery clapped his hands, "Alright, guys. We're going in!"