System Programmer - 55 Arrival

Soon, everyone had packed and they were all ready to leave. They gathered at the exit on the surface, leading back into the forest. They had stocked up on food and had looted the armory to get themselves some good rune based weapons. This outpost had been like an oasis in the desert for them and their gains were immense. Joshua was a bit sad to abandon the place since it still contained a lot of resources but he figured they could always drop by on the way back. For now, they had to reach the ruined city and rescue the other groups.

Since they had obtained maps of the area, the journey was fairly simple. Three days after leaving the complex, they reached the end of the forest. The green landscape ended rather abruptly and was replaced by the usual large cave complex they had followed for the first part of the journey. Even the fake sky was replaced with a thick rock ceiling. With his newfound knowledge of runes, Joshua was slowly forming a vague idea on how the forest and the sky were maintained, but the analysis of such a large rune array would take a lot of time and he had other priorities for now.

The group met a few adversaries along the way, but nothing they couldn’t handle, especially with their newfound strength. Joshua actually spent most of his time analyzing the development of everyone’s body and had Luna calculate how fast they were progressing.

[Catherine: Body Rank 5, Soul Rank 4, Estimated time until next body evolution: 6 months]

[Eric: Body Rank 3, Soul Rank 3, Estimated time until next body evolution: 3 months]

[Cynthia: Body Rank 5, Soul Rank 1, Estimated time until next body evolution: 6 months]

[Lydia: Body Rank 5, Soul Rank 1, Estimated time until next body evolution: 6 months]

[Boris: Body Rank 6, Unranked Soul, Estimated time until next body evolution: 1 year]

And last but not least:

[Joshua: No Physical Body, Soul Rank 2 ++, Soul evolution ready but on hold.]

The cavern complex wasn’t as straightforward as the forest, but using the map they made constant progress. A few days later, after following a narrow tunnel, their destination was finally in sight.

In the distance, they saw the ruins of a massive city. It was hard to make out how many people used to live there from where they were, but Joshua’s initial impression made him think it was much larger than the capital of Cestor.

“We’re finally here!” he shouted, “Now let’s find your friends and beat the crap out of whoever has taken them captive!”

“This plan is a bit too simple-minded for someone like you, don’t you think?”

“It’s just the initial idea, we’ll work out the details later!”

“First we need to get past the barrier. I hope the removal of the seal will be enough.”

“I’ll go ahead. Luna should be able to detect the barrier.”

“Very well, be careful.”

Joshua flew about a hundred meters in front of the party. He made sure they followed him and moved toward the ruins. Things were fine for about an hour until he received a warning.

[Rune Barrier detected! Scanning…]

He warned the others and waited for Luna to finish. A few moments later, Luna had reproduced the runes the barrier was composed of. A quick analysis revealed that as expected, it’s only functionality was to activate the seal and to render whoever passed through unconscious. Since the seal was no longer an issue, there was no need to be worried.

He stepped through the barrier without hesitation. For a moment, his vision was blinded by a bright light. When he regained use of his sight, Joshua’s mouth fell agape as he observed incredulously what his eyes were seeing.

The ruined landscape had vanished. Instead was stood in front of them was a city bustling with life. Tall buildings resembling skyscrapers could be seen everywhere. Vehicles were flying all over the area. People could be seen in the distance, going about their daily life. The surrounding bare land was no longer that rocky cave, but instead rich farmland with livestock that was peacefully eating grass. Like in the forest, a fake sky was also present. Joshua spotted several billboards, floating near the entrance, with text written in Easan.

[Welcome to Easa, the Eternal city!]

[This week, enjoy a 20% discount at Simon & Cindy’s Clothing]

[The new adventures of Nathalie Tangai are out! Get your copy today!]

Ultimately, Joshua just pronounced four words.

“What…

the…

actual…

fuck…?”