It was early morning, the faint light of the sun had passed through the dormitory curtains and fallen on the ceiling of the room.
Lian slowly opened his eyes, unlike the past days when he had to wake up in a hurry because of the ceremony and duels, now he had no rush to get up.
He remained motionless for a few seconds, just staring at the ceiling, the silence of the room had a special peace, but very soon his mind went toward one of the most important things he had obtained from the Celestial Treasury.
The body of the World Devourer Giant, an Unholy creature, a monster at level seventy-seven, a monster that had passed through three complete evolutions.
Even now it was not easy to believe its real value.
Just thinking that such a creature once lived in one of the Ruined Realms, made him understand the greatness of the world better, and also made him understand how weak he still was.
He himself could not even take one hit from that monster and would be turned into thousands of unequal pieces on the spot.
Anyway, if the materials from that body were extracted properly... if the scales, bones, skin and inner cores were processed by a real master...
It would probably be possible to make an armor that would be the best of its kind, maybe even an armor at the Ancient level, something that could stay with him for a very long time.
But the problem was clear. He knew nothing about blacksmithing, he did not even know a high-level blacksmith, the only name that came to his mind was Kain, and even he was not a blacksmith, he just knew blacksmiths.
Lian let out a short sigh.
"Only he can help me find someone who knows how to make an Ancient armor from that corpse."
But this same issue created another problem, he had no idea where Kain was, he was in the Ruined Realm now, but where could he find him?
If he was hunting around the main base and returned every few days, finding him would not be difficult, but if he had decided to explore farther areas... he might not be seen for weeks or even months.
Lian got up from the bed, in the end he decided to enter the Ruined Realm first, then plan to find Kain.
In the worst case, he could find a clue about him through guilds and various hunters.
After washing his face and getting ready, he put on his armor, the same armor that Gareth had given him, compared to the treasures he had seen recently, this armor was no longer anything special, but it was still reliable.
It was still intact, and more importantly it was still usable, an A rank armor.
A few minutes later he left the dormitory, his target was clear, the academy’s portal building.
He could go to the Ruined Realm without portals too, this was an ability that had been given to him by the system itself because he had been able to return from being summoned in the Ruined Realm.
But if he used that ability, he would appear in the Dreadmaw cave, and that was not something he wanted right now.
The building for transferring to the Ruined Realm was located in the eastern section of the academy, a large and independent structure, with white walls and massive pillars that rose several meters high.
Almost all the students who intended to enter the Ruined Realm passed through this path.
When he entered the building, he saw several other students too, some of them were anxious, some excited, and some were looking around with obvious pride.
Most of them were newcomers, those who did not yet know how cruel the Ruined Realm could be.
Lian ignored them and went to the registration desk, the portal officer was a middle-aged man who raised his eyebrows as soon as he saw him.
"Oh, welcome back."
"Hello." Lian nodded.
"You want to enter the Ruined Realm? Student code." The man smiled.
Lian provided the code and a few seconds later his information appeared on the screen, the officer glanced at it and then began explaining.
"The base you are going to be transferred to does not belong to the academy, it was built by the government, the main operations center of the entire country inside the Ruined Realm."
Lian listened carefully.
"In fact, it is a complete city there, equipment shops, monster material vendors, an open market, medical centers."
"Rest areas, training halls, mission registration offices, and almost everything an awakened one might need."
Lian nodded, he had heard about bases before, bases practically acted as hubs and starting points, safe areas where awakened ones could rest without worry.
And more importantly, they were also places for hunters to earn income, places to find talents and...
These bases would gradually expand until they might cover thousands of kilometers.
The man continued.
"Inside the base there is also a special center for the academy, all students are required to register their presence there after entering."
"After that you can take missions, submit reports, receive rewards and use the academy’s services." Then his tone became a little serious.
"And a warning, for your own safety, do not go more than a hundred kilometers from the base for now."
"Within a hundred kilometer radius, the area has been largely cleared and is safe, there are monsters below level 15 for new awakened ones to benefit from."
"But beyond that... the rules are different, powerful monsters, unknown territories and deadly zones are all there."
A few seconds of silence followed and then the man shrugged.
"There is nothing more than this that you need to know, once you are inside, you will find guides who will explain about the areas and monsters around."
"Understood." Lian nodded, he did not take the warning too seriously, but he did not completely ignore it either, he definitely had to check to make sure that by going beyond that hundred kilometers, he would not suddenly face level 50 monsters.
"Then good luck." The man pointed at the portal.
The portal in front of him was shining, a massive circle of blue light with compressed energy flowing inside it, Lian stepped forward without hesitation and a moment later the light covered everything.
Space twisted, time had no meaning for a moment, he felt his body passing through different layers of reality.
And then... when he opened his eyes, he did not move for a few seconds.
He just looked, and the more he looked, the more impressed he became.
The country’s main base, this place was far beyond what he had imagined.
In front of him was a massive city, a city built in the heart of a ruined world, massive walls stretched around it.
Watchtowers could be seen in various places, mana cannons were installed on the walls, and thousands of awakened ones were moving through the streets.
Some of them had just returned from hunting, their armors bloodied, their weapons bearing the marks of battle.
Some were carrying monster corpses on large carts, monsters some of which were several meters long.
In another part of the city, groups of hunters were preparing to leave.
Some were buying equipment, some were examining maps, and some were negotiating to form groups.
The shouts of vendors could be heard from the markets, flags of different guilds were moving in the wind, mission boards were installed in various places.
And a lively energy was flowing through the entire environment, as if the whole city was built for only one purpose.
Hunting, survival and growth, for a moment he really felt like he had entered the lobby of a massive game.
But this was not a game, everything was real, every monster outside the walls could kill him.
And every opportunity he found in this place could change his future, and at that moment a blue window appeared in front of him.
[ Welcome back to the Ruined Realm ]
[ Current Region: Base#3 ]
Lian looked at the notification for a few seconds, each base in the Ruined Realm was recorded by the system and received its own code, and their base’s code was #3.
Then he smiled quietly, he was finally back, this time his goal was clearer than ever, reaching the first evolution.
Of course... after registering and maybe finding Kain.
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( The Base’s Visualization )