Scorching Ascension - [Progression Litrpg Apocalypse]

With Gavin and Sophia at his side, Ethan watched with nearly an equal amount of wariness and amazement as a five inch-wide hole in the stone wall separating them from Wyldrock stretched and widened at Marcello's touch, turning into a narrow, stone-lined tunnel that led upward toward the lights of the city.

It was easily 50 feet long, with even more holes along the wall and low ceiling, and as they walked through it, Ethan wondered if he should have insisted on flying instead. But he had to show a little trust, though trust didn't mean he wasn't ready for trouble.

Ethan would have been a lot more concerned if he didn't have the trigger for the Zenith state at his literal fingertips. With how claustrophobic the space was, the Prime Manifestation felt primed, and at any moment, Ethan could activate it and bulldoze his way through.

Maybe he was being paranoid. But there was definitely something nerve-wracking about walking into such an obvious kill-zone.

"Marcello went a little crazy with the defences of the wall," said Sophia as she saw him peer at yet another hole as they approached the exit. 'Went a little crazy' was most definitely a euphemism. The inside of the tunnel looks more like gruyere cheese, and the location of the side-tunnels was clearly randomized on purpose. Looking away, Ethan focused back on the light ahead and pressed down on the impulse to hurry up toward it, and he nearly did when Marcello's head popped out of one of the holes, causing Ethan's heart to skip a beat.

"Still think you can get through it?" leered Marcello in a singsong voice before he disappeared back in the hole, only to pop back out two seconds later from the other side.

Ethan swallowed and kept his features neutral. "Yup," he said, hoping his voice sounded as even as he believed it was. At the same time, he upgraded the threat-level of Marcello in his books as the man disappeared into the earth once more, cackling as he swam away through the ground.

The man might actually be a legitimate menace. Especially if he was afforded the home-field advantage. Thankfully, only a couple seconds later they came back out into the daylight, and Ethan finally took in the settlement.

He'd already seen its layout from above, but being this close to the crowd was certainly different, and that was for one main reason; people had not noticed him when he was flying in, but they definitely did when he stepped within their wall.

A hush spread out from him and through the crowd of nearly two hundred people, then the whispering and mutters started as Ethan looked around, and from this close, he could finally see what the two cabins he'd seen from above were about.

The first seemed to be a general bartering store for common goods, and it had the largest line out of the two. From where he stood, Ethan could see one of the two shopkeepers standing behind a simple wooden table, one of them extending a set of folded modern clothes to a woman in black billowing pants and a matching vest, and both of them had stopped their transaction to stare at him.

As for the second store, there was only a young man sitting in front of it, with two guards flanking the entry of the cabin, and from the sign Ethan could see, it was most definitely his next destination after the pylon.

Spellcores and primagem for trade

A clap resounded next to him, pulling him out of his musing, and Gavin spoke out in a clear and loud voice to tell his people about their new alliance. And while a few faces looked toward him with suspicion, Gavin really insisted that everything would be alright and that he–along with the higher level individuals of this camp–were going nowhere and that Ethan, who represented a neighboring pylon, would be their ally and protector.

That got a positive reaction out of them, and seeing he was the only tier-2 around, he could understand why but while he was tempted to clarify that he had his own things to do, he refrained.

This will be the council's job, he thought as the crowd began to turn back to which they'd been focused with, their curiosity satisfied, though the glances didn't stop.

They must trust him a lot, Ethan thought as the crowd progressively grew louder as they all went back to their business.

A moment later, both himself and Gavin were in front of the pylon, with most other lieutenants and curious passerby standing around as they watched Ethan approach the crystalline purple pillar.

He stood in front of it for a moment, wondering what was about to happen once he integrated this town, only for his musing to be interrupted by Dwane as the man came running toward them.

What… oh?

Dwayne was grinning, and under his arm was a pretty well preserved glass bottle and a bunch of wooden and glass cups in hand, with Taylor right behind him, carrying a few other mugs and even one mason jar.

Under Ethan's and Gavin's amused looks, the two distributed the cups before filling each with a belt, and when the bottle was empty, Dwane put it down on the well-beaten ground and lifted his cup as he gave a meaningful look at Gavin and Ethan, the former whom also raised a cup before smiling at Ethan.

Ethan blinked a couple of times at the people around him, then at the cup in his hands.

Keep it simple, he told himself as he tried to shove down the nervousness at being focused on by so many. He didn't think he'd ever cheered anything like this, but he'd seen enough tv and seeing the hopeful eyes around and how some were already eagerly sniffing at the drink, he knew that whatever he said would be enough. "To new beginnings," Ethan called out, lifting the blue mug with a little flower design on its side.

"To new beginnings!" echoed out the people of Wyldrock, and they all down their drink.

Ethan barely felt the whiskey's burn, and he chuckled as he saw the grimacing faces in front of him as clearly, not many had a taste for the stuff—him included. Only Dwayne and Sophia seemed to be enjoying it.

Ethan smiled and looked at the pylon. He didn't want to get attached or lower his guard too much, but he couldn't help but feel that his new… family—for a lack of a better word—had grown a little larger.

***

With Gavin standing next to him, the transfer of control of the pylon happened nearly instantly.

Foreign administrator is claiming the pylon.

Current administrator has been notified…

Current administrator accepts to surrender control.

Pylon has been successfully claimed. Select one of the following options:

Integration: Integrate the pylon within your own faction, enabling access to the pylon you founded and its benefits.

Salvage: Attempt to salvage the components of the pylon before it is dismissed. Modules might be extracted. Modules that cannot be extracted will be converted into fragments.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

This time, there was no need to think long, and so Ethan selected the first option and waited. The pylon pulsed once, then twice, and on the final pulse, Ethan watched a wave of purple spread out of the crystal, reaching the walls in an instant as he sensed something leave his body.

1702 fragments transferred to New Dawn

An instant later, a prompt came up unbidden.

A new pylon had been integrated. The range of your pylons has been increased.

A new faction has been created.

A faction name can be assigned.

The seat of the faction has been designated as New Dawn (E-G12)

Pylon upgrades, functions, and fragments will be housed in New Dawn (E-G12)

6122 fragments have been transferred from Wyldrock (E-G23) to New Dawn (E-G12)

The text quickly moved through his vision, and once it was done, Ethan was about to bring up his interface and see if it was any different when he recalled something he had in his pouch.

Right. What I salvaged from the other spot, he thought as he reached into the pouch before he pulled a purple crystalline cube.

Within a moment of it being out in the light of the day, a weak pulse emanated out of the cube in his hand, and another box showed up.

A salvaged pylon has been detected. Do you wish to assimilate its content?

Ethan agreed, and more resources were transferred to New Dawn.

A new pylon had been integrated. The range of your pylons has been increased.

Milestones reached. Your faction has integrated 3 pylons.

Pylon function - Administrative Recall has been unlocked.

11078 fragments have been transferred from Wyldrock (E-G23) to New Dawn (E-G12)

Ethan's brows shot up, and a smile stretched on his lips. There were milestones?

Even though we lost the quests, it seems like the System still intends on keeping things interesting. And it's telling all of us that we need to capture as many pylons as possible, he thought as he eyed the message. So what did <Administrative Recall> do? It really did sound like it would send him back to New Dawn, but maybe he could check that in a minute. For now, he continued reading through the options, pausing a little at the impressive amount of fragments that had transferred.

Maybe this was because no module had managed to transfer?

He couldn't tell, but now that he was done with mostly everything, he pulled up the interface.

Unnamed Faction of Ethan Voss

Current location: Wyldrock (E-G23)

Integrated Pylons: 3

Tier: 1

Owner: Ethan Voss

Administrator: Ethan Voss

Vice administrators:

Liz Taylor,

Audrey Vale-Duvray,

Amelie Vale-Duvray,

Gerald Richardson

Collective fragments: 26761

Modules:

Taxation module (I)

Reconnaissance module (I)

Construction module (I)

Upgrades:

Tier-2: Unlock the tier-2 tier, which would unlock the communication and defensive modules, as well as tier-2 upgrades for tier-1 modules - 10000 fragments

Ethan eyed the upgrade, then all the fragments he had available, and without wasting any extra second, he bought the upgrade.

"What's… happening?" Gavin asked, voice a little hesitant as the pylon began to pulse, and as energy began to crackle around it.

Ethan finally let out a sigh of relief as he stretched his neck. "A tier upgrade. Should be fine," he said as he felt his shoulder relax. This should give them access to the communication module. Would that make communication between foreign pylons easier?

Glancing at Gavin, Ethan was about to ask the man about the primagem store, but his eyes lingered on the banana peel in the man's hand.

Ethan hadn't seen any fruits ever since they'd come back. Where had he gotten that?

Ethan was curious, but he didn't let himself be distracted. He had a meeting in an hour or two, and he intended on making the most of his free time before it. Heck, if he was done fast enough, he might be able to sick Amanda on these Union people. Pointing with a thumb over his shoulder, Ethan asked."That store, the one that's offering primagems and spellcores. Is it any good? Did you guys figure out a way to extract assimilated primagems, or did you manage to stockpile some? I got a few I'd like to exchange."

He had plenty of draining ones. He could use a lifeforce primagem or two and who knew, maybe he could find something even more interesting.

Gavin blinked at him for a moment, then a smile stretched across his lips as he nodded. "I can help you there, and yes, we did figure out a way of extracting primagems, though it won't last us for much longer, I think. I'll go with you. I know Johnathan. He's the man holding the shop."

Ethan grinned. It seemed that he finally might get his hands on some valuable primagems. But before they could leave, he threw one last glance at the upgrade menu of the pylon, looking for what would be unlocked at tier-3, and ignoring the module upgrades listed, he focused on the tier-3 upgrade.

Tier-3: Unlock the tier-3 tier, which would unlock the guild, rift management, and rift harvesting modules, as well as the tier-3 upgrades for all other modules - 1000000 fragments, 50 tier-2 riftcores, 10 tier-3 riftcores

"Holy… shit…"

Ethan mumbled as he saw the insane price tag, drawing Gavin's curiosity once more, and as he read through the description, excitement welled within him.

Rift management and harvesting? Guilds?

He had no clue about what the guild module would involve, but the rift ones seemed obvious enough. One thing was clear, though. Ethan was looking forward to being done with these political chores.

There was plenty to do, and he'd love to be the first to unlock the tier-3. For that, they needed rifts, and they needed talents. And they needed him to get the most out of his new trait, [Founder's Bounty].

Now, let's see for some primagems, and to finally upgrade [Draconic Claws]