Will of the Unyielding [LitRPG Apocalypse • Progression]

Nova looked each of them in the eye, one by one. Seeing that they understood, he nodded with a smile.

"Now that that's out of the way, I brought back something for you."

He took out nine small glass vials, each containing only a handful of drops of liquid, and laid them out on the table.

Alaric and Cassidy, who sat immediately to his right and left, were closest to him and could clearly see the pure white liquid inside. The latter took only a few moments to match its appearance to the liquid Nova had told her about just over a week ago.

Her mouth slightly parted but she didn't say anything.

The others, though also able to see it clearly, still craned their necks for a better look. None of them had any idea what it was.

"What's this?" Hector asked, voicing what everyone else was thinking.

Nova looked at their puzzled expressions and smiled.

"It's a liquid called bone tempering liquid," he said, before giving them a brief recount of its uses and his personal experience with it.

After listening to the bone tempering liquid's description, their eyes gleamed in excitement.

Alaric said, "Boss, are you sure you want to give it away? This seems too precious."

If the liquid could improve one's body as much as Nova said with just a few drops, then it would be a priceless resource, one that could only be obtained by sheer luck.

Shira, who'd been silent the whole time, nodded slightly. "Alaric is right."

The temptation of increasing their bodies' strength without the need for their Stats to rise was too enticing. It would make the future portals far easier, almost like a cheat, where their Status displayed Stats lower than what they actually had, resulting in a portal balanced around incorrect values.

In fact, if Nova could find a way to reinforce his organs and bring them up to the same level as his body, he would be able to rapidly advance all his elemental Mana Cores, thus increasing his strength many times over.

He had a lot of Gold coins now, more than 7,500,000, but he hadn't had the time to sit down and browse the Store for possible solutions yet.

He'd planned to calmly use them to boost his strength shortly after coming out of the portal, but matters kept coming up, and he'd forgotten about his agreement with Erevan altogether.

"Right, right, Boss. This is truly too much to gift us," Malachi echoed righteously, but his eyes were fixed on the small glass vials like a starving beast before a banquet table laden with food.

Adira snorted. "At least try to hide your true thoughts."

She couldn't stand it when Malachi acted in ways she thought unbefitting of a general. Which meant she couldn't stand Malachi most of the time.

He didn't even bother glancing at her, his eyes still glued to the vials.

"No need to say more," Nova said, waving his hand and sending eight of the nine vials toward Cassidy and the seven generals. "There are five drops inside each vial. They should be enough to greatly increase your strength. Make sure you're in a safe place when you take them."

They nodded quickly, accepting the vials. After staring at them for only a moment, they tucked them away into their Inventories.

Then Nova picked up the last vial, one that contained visibly less liquid compared to the rest, and turned to Darius.

"Where's Elric?"

"He entered a Blue portal almost a month ago. He should be back soon," Darius promptly answered.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Nodding, Nova sent the vial toward him. "Since he's your commander, give this to him when he's back."

"This?" Darius looked back and forth between the vial and Nova, a complicated expression on his face. He wasn't sure what was going on.

"Don't worry, I'm just repaying him for something." Nova smiled slightly. Inside, he thought, 'I feel bad for borrowing his face inside the portal for free.'

Darius nodded and stored the vial. "Alright, I'll deliver this to him as soon as he's back."

Clap

"Good. Then," Nova clapped his hands and continued, "how have you guys been while I was gone?"

What followed was the generals sharing their fun experiences and the changes they'd gone through, both inside and outside the portals. It was mainly about their daily lives.

Nova learned how Alaric, who had no intention of having his own organization or subordinates, had taken in Jasmine as his one and only commander after she kept pestering him, and also because he needed someone to clean his villa.

From the others, he also learned about their new hobbies and the titles their subordinates had given them, which they slowly grew into.

Nova couldn't help but chuckle at a few of those titles, especially when he heard that Malachi was considered a Tyrant.

Not that Nova didn't believe it, he fully knew this subordinate of his was capable of being one, but as far as he was concerned, the Malachi he knew was the one who always had puppy eyes and a sly smile on his face.

He already knew Darius' title, and he soon learned the others'.

Nox was called Reaper, a title both simple and a dead giveaway as to why he was called that.

Hector, who'd spent his time enforcing the law in Quarath, had been given the title of Adjudicator.

When Nova asked about Shira and Alaric's titles, they simply shrugged.

Nobody had given them any.

The reason Alaric didn't have one was mostly because he had no organization, no subordinates other than Jasmine to spread any sort of rumor or title about him.

What puzzled Nova, however, was why Shira, despite having her own spy organization, Umbra, had no title.

He looked to the other generals for an answer, but they only shook their heads, signaling that they didn't know either.

Since there was no answer to be found, he let it go and continued listening to his generals.

After recounting their stories, they began asking about Nova's own adventures, and he calmly answered each and every one of their questions.

Before they knew it, the midday sun had long vanished, replaced by a moon hanging high in the night sky.

The generals had all left the meeting room and now there were only two people who remained behind, chatting quietly.

"Have you gotten used to being back already?" Cassidy asked softly, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

Nova thought back to what he'd felt while walking down the street a week ago and chuckled.

"No." He shook his head lightly. "It still feels like I'm visiting a new civilization. I don't think I'll be able to get used to it so easily. Maybe by the time I do, I'll have to enter the Orange portal."

Imagining such a scenario made Cassidy laugh softly. Trying to keep a straight face, she said, "If that happens, then when you're back from the portal, I'll ban you from entering the next one until you've fully adapted to the current state of things."

"Eh? Isn't that too cruel?" Nova exclaimed. He didn't know how long he would be inside the portal, given the general trend of things, a decade or even several decades might pass.

To come back to Earth after so long… he didn't dare imagine how vastly different humanity would have become by then, making the task of rejoining civilization even harder than it already was.

"You can't always train and never relax, especially later, when you'll need more comprehension than physical training to advance further," Cassidy explained softly. "Alaric and the others didn't pick up hobbies just because they wanted to. They needed something to relax their minds and speed up their comprehension process."

Nova listened with a thoughtful look.

He didn't have much experience with that type of training, since the only skill he currently possessed that required comprehension was Aura. He didn't dare include 'One with' in such talks.

Comprehending that and comprehending Force was like comparing a grain of sand to a desert.

'Wait, I have something else that requires comprehension,' he thought, his mind turning toward the newly unlocked section in his Status. Concepts.

'I just don't know where to start when it comes to comprehending Death… well, not exactly. Since I gained it after killing the four armies, I might be able to comprehend more if I kill again. It's just… I'd need to enter another portal for that. There aren't nearly enough strong people here.'

He snapped out of his thoughts and smiled at Cassidy. "I understand. Thank you for the advice."

"Happy to help," she said brightly, standing up. "It's getting late. I'm heading back home. If you need anything, call me."

"Wait."

"Hmm?" Cassidy turned toward him with a half questioning half expectant look.

Nova took out dozens of books from his Inventory and placed them on the table. "These are the most important books from the Purple portal I entered, I also included a book about their language to start reading these books. Let the others read them when they have time."

Cassidy's expression slightly dropped while staring at the table filled with books.

A quiet sigh escaped her lips.

She stored them all and said, "I'll let the others know, I'm sure they'll rush to read these books. Don't forget to go and take a rest."

"Mhm. Will do." Nova nodded and watched as Cassidy left the meeting room, remaining seated until he was alone.

He sat in silence for several minutes, going over his thoughts, then, his eyes sharpened.

He stood up and left.