Humanity: Evolve

The night had been rough, the sounds of shouting and loud explosions echoed across the sleeping city.

Zhang Long had noticed several groups of pioneers rushing in the direction he had originally come from, wanting to participate in the chaos.

Unlike him, these people didn't cover their soul stones, revealing their grade one strength.

Zhang Long had attempted to persuade them not to go, just the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra's perimeter guard alone were at grade three, the former could not compare to the latter in any way, but they had shrugged him off and called him a "coward".

At that thought, he had shivered. If those delegated less important roles were at grade three, how strong must be those sent to directly attack the headquarters be?

When he arrived at his store, a rickety wooden structure, he had immediately sat down and leaned against the shop's front.

He couldn't go back to the Pitcher inn, nor could he go and actively look for Alan. He had only managed to escape the two musicians before by the luck, if he were to be found by stronger people, he may as well commit suicide on the spot!

Zhang Long had hid there in a half asleep state, only fully waking up when someone walked over and asked if he was okay.

A few more hours later, Alan had arrived. The man looked perplexed, creases lining his forehead.

'What are you doing here?' He asked, helping Zhang Long off of the ground.

The latter thanked him. 'I'll explain when we're inside.'

Alan nodded, producing a key from his back pocket, opening the shop's front door.

As they walked inside, the creaky floorboards causing their expressions to turn bad.

The moment he saw the interior, Zhang Long's face turned black. Alan's expression was equally as terrible, cursing under his breath.

'Where the f.u.c.k is... Anything?'

The shop's entire interior was empty. It was shaped like a box with a tasteless design and only two doors at the back of the main room.

'Well, we knew what we were in for.' He sighed, walking over to check out the back rooms.

Zhang Long followed, peeking with slight curiosity into the one on the left.

It was boxed shaped, just like the main room. A flat wooden board which seemingly resembled a bed sat in the corner, a small wooden stool resting opposite it.

The room across was the worst of them all, being the very smallest one. It was empty, like the main room but there were even cobwebs that stretched out across the walls in all different kinds of shapes and patterns.

Zhang Long and Alan sat in the bedroom area, the former explaining the events from the day before without missing out a single detail.

Alan just frowned and contemplated, never had he expected that they would get so involved with hidden organisations so soon.

'Pass me the journal, I'd like to have a look.'

Zhang Long pulled it from the back of his trousers, handing it over trustingly.

After a while of flipping through, Alan returned the journal and exhaled deeply.

He then looked Zhang Long in the eyes, resting his chin on his hands.

'That man who attacked you and died wasn't your fault, at least, not completely. He was the aggressor and took his own life, even though there were other options to take.

I'm not sure what your morals are entirely, but they should be similar to mine at least. I personally won't mind killing in retaliation, but I make sure to minimise the damage.

Whilst changing one's morals is extremely difficult, what you should know is that it's necessary to kill when you're cornered. In the end, whether you're dead or alive is more important.'

Then he pinched his soul stone, gently rubbing it's smooth surface.

Zhang Long leant back and frowned slightly, thinking.

He did feel disgusted with himself upon seeing the pale faced man dissolve into rotten flesh, no doubt his subconscious silently protesting.

Even though in his mind he knew it wasn't totally his fault that the pale faced man had died, a part of him still felt that the matter could have been handled in a lot better manner.

Unfortunately, due to the circ.u.mstances, there wasn't anything he could do but suck it up and carry on with life.

'As for the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra... You obtaining that journal from Eisel is just an unlucky coincidence. Us getting tangled up in their affairs is just complete and utter garbage luck.' Alan said, biting the corner of his lip.

'In truth, the best course of action for us is to pack up and leave this city, Bastion isn't the only modern human city in Pangaea after all. If we take a jeep from the association, we could be at another government run city in just a week's worth of travel.' He continued, thinking out loud.

'But the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra is currently storming the pioneer headquarters. Managing to go there and escape with a jeep undetected is impossible.' Zhang Long interjected. 'The city's exits and entrances are probably being monitored by that religious group as well, they would just chase us down to the next city if we do leave.'

'All we can do is wait then. However it may take a week, or maybe even a month for the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra to lower their guard. They can't keep tabs on everyone after all.' Alan replied.

Suddenly, Zhang Long had an uncertain idea.

'Why don't we just ask the pioneer's association to protect us? It would save a lot of trouble and we would be able to borrow an enemy's power to do away with another enemy. We could wear down on both party's strength at no expense on our side.'

Alan shook his head vehemently, 'No, that would be even worse. Think about it, the pioneer's association would want to know why the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra is after you and even if they did protect you, you would get caught up in the battle between two sides without the ability to withdraw.

If you did that, given that the pioneer's association won't be interested in the Autumn Grove- which they will, you would be indirectly letting the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra know that you have their notebook .

Why else would someone go and specifically look for protection just as they have begun searching the city for that journal, and why would the association accept only one grade two pioneer out of the hundreds of others? That alone is enough of a hint for the religious group to make a few assumptions.'

They sat in silence, before deciding to refurbish the shop. Even if leaving Bastion was their best option, there would still be some time before they could actually leave.

In that time, it would be best to earn as much money as possible, both sovereigns and spirit stones.

Zhang Long sighed again. His meagre supply of 33 spirit stones wouldn't get him anywhere. If he did use some of them to promote to grade 2/3, he'd be left with 21 spirit stones. If he were to promote Winter to 3/3, he'd have 9 stones left.

It could be said that each spirit stone could save both Alan and Zhang Long's lives, with 33 spirit stones, they could essentially take 33 mortal wounds.

After some time, the sun hung low in the sky and the shop had been completely changed.

The dirt covered floors had been completely cleaned, leaving behind smooth and seemingly shiny wooden boards behind. The walls had been painted to fit the shop's name, with trees in Autumn shedding their orange-brown leaves on the right and green trees bristling with the energy of Spring on the left wall.

A table and two comfortable chairs had been bought- both by Alan who had used his rank as pioneer captain to send the bill to the pioneer's association.

Whilst this scene of peaceful change was happening, the other side of the city was chaos.

Wounded men and women alike were being dragged off of a battlefield. The Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra's musicians played like tempting demons, their music luring tens of pioneers into the maws of several ravenous spirit beasts.

The pioneers were managing to hold the religious group off however, dealing just as much damage as they had taken back to the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra.

The Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra had a grade four leading the battle. He held a conductor's baton which he waved around. Everywhere he pointed, a surge of music would fly forward, as if lines of music were flying straight off of a sheet.

The pioneer's attacks were messy and disorganised, however the Hymnist's attacks were directed by their grade four leader, gathering into deadly concentrated beams of light.

The pioneers only had the advantage through quantity rather than quality, the sheer number of grade twos outnumbering the musicians ten to one.

Waves of spirit beasts charged forward, from both sides. The Hymnist's beasts were all at grade three and they tore through the pioneer's grade two spirit beasts at a rapid pace. Even so, they couldn't keep up with the sheer numbers, the Hymnist spirit beasts were gradually surrounded and sliced apart under a flurry of blows.

At the front of the pioneer's formation stood two grade threes, both holding large tower shields which projected a thin but sturdy sheet of glistening yellow energy. The energy drifted across the pioneer's numbers, blocking the brunt of the musician's attacks.

Suddenly, the conductor raised his arms, signifying the climax. The tens of grade three musicians unleashed a massive burst of yellow energy which shattered the yellow shield energy before them into smithereens, it careened through the pioneer's large numbers like a wrecking ball.

Still, the pioneers stood firmly, smaller shield energies forming within the crowd of people and protecting them. After a few minutes, the Hymnists ran out of spiritual energy and couldn't continue to send out any more waves of destructive energy.

The attack didn't have the d.e.s.i.r.ed effect of intensifying chaos and they used up all of their spiritual energy, thus they immediately left the scene, death and destruction in their wake.

***

Eisel g.r.o.a.n.e.d as the medic used her healing talent and sealed off the stub of his severed arm. An unbearable itch crawled through his skin as the skin stretched to cover the wound and soon enough, blood had stopped pouring out.

The medic frowned with exertion, gently bandaging the stub before holding his remaining hand with an exaggerated pitying look.

'Unfortunately, your severed arm has been completely destroyed by those cultists. If it had merely been cut off, I'd have been able to reattach it, but without the arm this is all I can do.'

He nodded dumbly and held back his tears.

When he had first found out that the pioneer's association was being attacked by cultists, he immediately volunteered to defend, like many other hot headed individuals.

He had vowed to right his wrongs and contributing to this battle was just the start of all the good things he planned to do.

Unfortunately, life never seemed to go as planned. One of the weaker grade one pioneers behind him had been lured by the cultist's demonic tunes, walking directly into a grade three crocadilian spirit beast's ambush.

Long story short, Eisel had leaped in to save the man, and lost his arm in the process.

'And now I can't fight anymore. Even after Mister Zhang's words of wisdom, I failed at the first step.' He muttered bitterly, wiping away the wetness in his eyes.

He remembered that night clearly, he remembered how Zhang Long could heal a severed arm easily- without breaking a single sweat. There was a clear contrast between the wise man and this woman in front of him.

'I would go and find him... But I can't ask him to do me another favour.' Eisel sighed.

He then looked at the bronze spear on the ground, the weapon which he would never be able to wield properly again.

Something large and heavy like that required both hands to use. With one arm, it would be like a child trying to swing a hammer.

Eisel looked at the medic with a pleading look.

'Are you sure there's nothing you can do?'

The woman laughed in response, covering her mouth with the back of her hand.

'I'm already one of the best in the association. My healing talent is ranked as one of the highest too. A wound like this definitely can't be fixed without modern technology- something we obviously don't have access to.' She boasted, ignoring Eisel's distress.

'So there's no one who can help me?'

She shook her head, removing a pair of bloodstained rubber gloves.

'I actually heard that there is this shady store across the city which claims to be able to cure any injury or disease. There's a catch though. You have to pay an arm and a leg for treatment-'

The woman eyed his missing arm before continuing, 'I wouldn't recommend it though since you won't have any arms left after paying for the treatment.'

She cackled in a vain manner, before hurrying him out of the tent.

Eisel strode out, attaching his spear to his back. He stood ramrod straight and decided- He would go and seek out this "shady" store and no matter how much he had to pay to regain his lost arm, he'd pay for it.

The thought of mugging some grade one pioneers passed through his mind, but he swatted it away as one would an annoying fly.

'Even if I lose all of my limbs, I will find a way to pay back my sins.' He muttered, teeth gritted in both anticipation and worry.