"...it's been a while since we had an actual home." Aria mused as she looked at the ceiling.
She's resting her head on Ashton's chest, basking in the peace and warmth they have after being outside for so long.
"Yeah, it feels rather weird." Ashton added, "I could feel myself still tense as if I'd be in a battle at any given moment, even though we're already out of danger. This is going to take some time..."
Adjusting will be hard, both of them know this. The exposure Ashton had as he trod the dangerous lands of the outside world honed his instincts to react to all kinds of danger with extreme prejudice. This might come off as a problem so he made a conscious decision that might help him out in this area.
First of all, the new home he chose for the two of them was relatively far from the commercial streets, meaning that there were not many people around them. Ashton chose a quiet and nice little area for them to live in and start a new chapter of their lives.
Now and then, Ashton will go out and try to socialize. He wants to adjust back to civilization and granted that he'd want to work with people in the future, he needs to make sure that he's comfortable enough to at least carry out a conversation.
In reality, Ashton's just waiting for the System to finish updating before starting his plans. He could definitely start now but he figured that waiting for the System first would be better.
"Hey, do you think that they'd make things difficult for us?" Aria asked, sounding slightly nervous.
"By 'they' do you mean the Morning Sun Federation?" Ashton asked back.
Aria nodded faintly and Ashton hummed. He started at the ceiling of the bedroom, going through his thoughts before saying:
"Hard to say..." He sighed, "I did tell the Oracle to keep quiet and don't tell anyone about me. But I don't think that it'd be enough to keep the rest at bay. Gaia really made things more complicated for me."
Smiling wryly, Ashton felt a bit helpless.
Truly, he wasn't expecting to be pushed under the spotlight in this rather abrupt manner. He was in no way prepared for it really, nor did he ask for it in the first place.
He understood that Gaia just wanted to help, but raising his status on the same level as the President of the Federal Government is a bit excessive, no?
If he was being honest, Ashton doesn't know what to do with this information, for now at least, since admittedly, he's still shocked by everything that has happened.
As for what the Federal Government will do with this information? Well, that depends on them. For now, Ashton couldn't be bothered to think about all of this.
"Let's rest for now, yeah? We can always tackle these things next time." Ashton told her and Aria agreed.
He kissed her and they slept. Admittedly, both of them were tired. Since they could afford to relax now that they're in a safe environment, they should be taking advantage of it.
Fantasia is a sprawling metropolis which the size of at least 10 cities combined.
Compared before, aside from the protective bubble, there is a giant wall that stretched around the whole metropolis. There are border patrols at the four cardinal directions and there's an additional dome that protected the air space of Fantasia, it is invisible to most people but Ashton could clearly make it out.
Due to the sensitive times, cultivation had become the main focus of Humanity. Moreso than before, especially since information about cultivation isn't being filtered anymore.
Due to the merging of all remaining cities of humanity has, there was a great shuffle that occurred to the hegemons as well. Organizations, companies, markets...there had been great changes in them as well but it is mostly focused on the current state of war.
Ashton could tell all of these even without consulting someone. As he casually walked around the busy streets of Area 5 and listened to the gossip of people around him, his knowledge base is being refilled as he goes.
Walking around, he could see stores who are apparently selling medicinal pills that could improve someone's cultivation. Some vendors were pretending to be mysterious, saying that they have a Magic Spell available that has been passed down from an ancient family. They even put an exorbitant price on it, when in truth it's just a measly Flamethrower Spell.
Back in the day, you wouldn't see such audacity from merchants thanks to the law which prevents that from happening. But since it's gone now, then it's all about profits for them it seems.
Thankfully though, it looks like they're not fooling many with their tricks. There were even kids who are deliberately trying to expose their schemes which is nice.
Beep! Beep!
Ashton's smartwatch notified him of an incoming call, this smartwatch is a brand new one, by the way, he bought it yesterday. Apparently, the old money he had before City M was destroyed was still acceptable to this day.
"Yo." Blake greeted on the other side. "Out on a walk, eh?"
"Yeah, grocery shopping." Ashton replied, "It's weird to do this again but well...anyway, what's up?"
"I'm going to fetch Mary, wanna come with us?" He asked.
"She works at the Federal Center, yes?"
"Yep." Blake nodded, "She's babysitting Alice there."
"Yeah sure, I'll tell Aria."
"Alright, cool. See you later."
Blake cut off the call, Ashton then hid the watch in his sleeves and sent a telepathic message to Aria. She's with him of course, just inside the library which is stored inside his Inventory.
After informing her about it, Ashton continued with his grocery shopping until he felt something that alarmed him greatly.
He froze in his tracks and closed his eyes for a bit to spread out his senses. When he received the feedback, his eyes turned cold as he started marching towards a certain destination.
'Right, someone's tailing me. Gotta deal with that first.' Ashton mobilized his mana at his fingertips and sent an invisible fluctuation toward the person who had been following him ever since he stepped out of his new home.
The stalker turned dazed for a bit before turning around. They then entered a shop while Ashton fled towards the location he sensed earlier.
Almost phasing through the crowd, Ashton's feet eventually led him to a spot where he felt the familiar stench of corruption.
Granted, the corruption was faint and almost unnoticeable. Anybody could be fooled but not Ashton who spent half a decade being exposed to that shit constantly.
Ashton's pupils glimmered as he scanned the area in front of him.
'This looks like...an Apartment Complex.' He mused to himself, 'the corruption is coming from the basement but some of it is already scattered across the building itself.'
'Its influence is still weak so there are no visible changes in the building but it doesn't mean that it isn't rotting on the inside. Though, my biggest concern here is those who live here.'
'Any kind of corruption from the invaders is incredibly dangerous for regular human beings. But the real question is, how the hell did it end up here?'
The glint in Ashton's eyes turned shinier as he inspected the apartment complex even closer. He was hiding in a spot while minimizing his presence as best as he could.
'Red hoods, purple clouds...and is that an Undead?' Ashton was flabbergasted, 'Again! How did that end up here? Weren't there better security?'
'Anyways, this is them, right? What Alice told me yesterday, the Cult of the Skydemon? I can't believe that there are actually morons who would follow them.'
The Cult of the Skydemon was a fairly new hostile force that emerged from within Humanity's ranks. They are a group of fanatics who worship demons to become as strong as they are one day.
Alice, as a newly conferred knight of the Federation, had been tasked to search for these maniacs and deal with them. She said this yesterday when Ashton asked about what her responsibilities were as an official Knight of the Federation.
'Hmm...' Ashton pondered for a bit. Then an idea crossed his mind.
With one silent leap, he appeared inside the apartment complex like a ghost. Turning on the recording function of his smartwatch, Ashton began recording his journey inside.
He even pointed the camera at himself and flashed a peace sign while standing behind an Undead Demon.
After roaming the majority of the Apartment Complex as if there were no demons there, Ashton ended the recording and sent it to Alice.
He then returned to where he was before, even waking up the stalker from the illusion he cast on him before pretending to do some grocery shopping once more.
Beep! Beep!
Ashton answered the call and immediately, Alice's dumbfounded face greeted him.
"Uh, Hi?"
"How?" She asked, "How the hell did you immediately find something like this when you literally just returned?"
She sounded stressed and exasperated. Ashton chuckled and shrugged. Alice huffed and said:
"Don't go anywhere, we're coming to get you."
