BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

Erik walked up the old stairway, his footsteps bouncing off the walls. He checked each floor of the building carefully, but found nothing except empty rooms and fallen hallways. A layer of dust covered everything, floating up into the air as he walked and moving at his passage.

[Nothing on the mana scan either,] the system said as they reached the last floor. [The snake was the only thing here.]

Erik moved to a broken window, surveying the surrounding area. <We cleared another floor, but still no sign of the others.>

In truth, there were only signs of human presence on the ground level, nothing up here. But what did that mean? Had those people died, or had they simply left without checking the upper floors?

Maybe they were in a hurry or simply didn't care about what was here. Erik had no way to know, and he didn't care, since it was unlikely those traces had been left by his friends.

It wasn't all bad, since at least now he had a clear picture of the place. Unfortunately, there was no one here.

[We should find a safe place to rest for the night. The sun is setting; visibility is getting worse. ]

<Will you complain if we camp here?>

The system paused.

[No. It will still be dangerous, since we don't know if there's something on the upper floors, but the same can be said for the wilderness.]

Erik nodded. <You're right. Then let's rest and restart the search tomorrow. We will head to the other buildings and see if we can find something there.> As he went down the stairs, he started having a little hunger.

<No point searching on an empty stomach anyway.>

[Agreed. That snake meat might actually be useful.]

Erik stopped at the second floor. He quickly chose a room where to camp, one that had a window, since he needed to start a fire.

However, he created a small shelter inside the room with his Verdant Architect brain crystal power. Where the window was, he created a sort of chimney that went out of the window and then changed the material to something that wouldn't burn easily.

Then, he created some wood, which he then chopped down, and that he set ablaze with his Elemental Lord.

The flames licked at the wood, quickly growing into a robust fire. Within minutes, waves of warmth radiated through the room, pushing back against the winter-chilling temperatures.

As Erik sat by the fire, his thoughts drifted to Rick, the clone he had left behind at his shelter. He was worried. However, he quickly pushed those concerns aside.

The clone was far from helpless - he had all of his abilities and combat experience. Sure, he lacked his brain crystal powers, but it wasn't a problem, since he was still strong enough.

<Rick should be fine alone for a while longer.>

Erik returned to the dead snake on the first floor and cut off pieces of its meat. The meat looked good—it was thick and dark. He took it back to where he had made camp and put it over the fire to cook.

<At least we got something good out of this hunt. The snake meat is lean and tender. I also got a lot of usable meat.> Yet Erik only took around four pounds, which should last him for the next three days. Besides, if he wanted, Erik could even freeze it so he could get more.

[Indeed. Though I hope you're not planning to make a habit of hunting inside of ruins. The building's structural instability makes them dangerous, especially if you are forced to fight like you did earlier. You might end up destroying everything and burying yourself in.]

<It doesn't depend on me,> Erik said. <But anyway, I will try to avoid it if it worries you this much…>

…

…

…

Morning light filtered through the broken windows as Erik woke up, stretching his stiff muscles. He could do the best he could to make his stay here as comfortable as possible, but it was still true that sleeping on a real mattress was different from sleeping on something he made.

The fire had completely burned out overnight, leaving behind a scattered pile of gray ashes. Without the flames' warmth, the winter air had seeped into every corner of the room, making the temperature drop significantly, but not so much as to make Erik uncomfortable.

Besides, he woke up many times during the night to put more wood into the fire and then went back to sleep. This made it so Erik wasn't exactly well rested, but since he had a lot of time to sleep, he at least got a decent amount of hours.

<Damn… I miss the Chimaeric Demons. Everything was easier with them around.>

[I could make a clone joke, but it would just be a copy of another one.]

<What the…?>

Erik ignored the biological supercomputer and focused on his situation. He had gone through similar situations countless times, but after he got the clones, hunting and camping became much easier, since they took care of everything burdensome, and he just needed to rest or to train.

The clones could spread out to cover more ground while hunting, herding prey into optimal positions before slaughtering them. They also served as lookouts during camp, taking shifts to watch for threats while he rested.

Besides, he would get passive experience points. The system was on even when he slept, meaning that he still got experience points when they killed something and were close enough for the system to absorb the mana.

Gathering firewood—whether chopping down what he created or finding other resources—went much faster with multiple people working together. It also made carrying large game back to camp and preparing resting spots much easier.

Erik rose from his makeshift bed and stretched his limbs. After relieving himself in a corner of the room, he pulled out the leftover snake meat from his pack.

The meat was cold but still good—he finished it quickly, washing it down with water from his canteen. Once done with his morning routine, he gathered his belongings and prepared to head out for the higher floors.

[Don't forget your backpack,] the system said.

<Yeah, sorry, I'm still sleepy.>

Erik took the pack and headed out of the room. He spent the following hours searching the ruined city, checking every building still standing. This time he was much faster because he used Phantom Veil to lure everything that might have been inside.

Luckily, there were no creatures, or they were weak. There was no point in anything strong to hide indoors. The snake was strong but still hid since it had little mana, and that forced the beast to specialize in ambushes and stealth.

The ruins were small, with just a handful of buildings still standing. Most of the original structures had succumbed to vegetation; their remains were now buried beneath tangled mounds of vines, earth, and roots. But it was better that way.

According to the biological supercomputer, this wasn't really a city at all—just a small town from the start. Though Erik had been calling it "the city," nature had further diminished its already modest size, leaving only a fraction of the original settlement visible beneath the vegetation.

The decaying structures—empty offices, abandoned homes, and crumbling shops—told stories of the long-lost civilization of humans, of the people that came here hoping to survive, and of the blackguards, which had clearly been here. Yet they revealed no trace of his friends' passage.

<Are there more ruins nearby?> Erik asked as he finished checking the last building.

[According to my data, there are two more locations within walking distance we could investigate,] the system said. [Both places are towns smaller than the current one. The blackguards' reconnaissance data shows they're mostly ruins—mostly collapsed buildings and foundations. However, I've identified three buildings in the first location and two in the second that seem stable enough to investigate.]

Erik nodded, adjusting the straps of his pack. The odds weren't great, but he couldn't afford to skip any potential hiding spots. His friends could be injured, trapped, or worse—every minute counted.

<Even if the chances are slim, we have to check. I won't leave until I'm absolutely certain they're not around. We need to pick up the pace, though. Staying in one place too long is dangerous—especially in these ruins. We've already found that snake, and there could be worse predators nearby.>

[I agree. The nearest place we can check is about three hours away to the northwest, along the old highway. We can get there at that time if we keep moving and don't run into any dangerous thaid or other problems. Even though plants have grown over most of the path, we can still walk through it.]

Erik double-checked his gear one last time and began moving, picking his way through the debris to avoid alerting anything he couldn't fight. He kept close to the weathered walls of the ancient structures, using their shadows for cover as he navigated toward the north.