My Apocalypse Territory-Chapter 481 - 443: The Three Major Institutions

Two days later.

On a certain coastline in Daxia Country, five tower ships engraved with countless runes were docked, and Awakeners were busily unloading a great deal of supplies from the ships.

A deserted small village along the coast had become the temporary stronghold of "Sky Wolf Hall."

The presence of a mermaid figurehead on the ships seemed to keep many sea beasts at bay, making the ocean a natural barrier for safety.

"Infinite Blademan" Nishimura Shonin left all worldly affairs to his underlings while he sat cross-legged in a small courtyard. His slender tachis emitted an eerie red mist which flickered in and out of sight. In front of him, a ping-pong ball-sized transparent crystal ball floated, with countless energies surging into Nishimura’s body.

"It won’t be long, less than a month and I will officially step into the Transcendent realm!" he couldn’t help but look at the floating transparent crystal ball in front of him, "This bead is indeed a treasure; without its aid, I would need at least a year’s time to reach Transcendence."

The thought of the bead’s origin brought a flash of wariness in Nishimura’s eyes.

It was not obtained from a Secret Realm; the Life Holy Fruit, the rune tower ships... they were his greatest gains from that Secret Realm, which also granted him strength surpassing all other Awakeners on Nine Domes Island.

But Nishimura knew that this so-called supremacy was meant only for humans of the Fifth Epoch, for in the Fourth Epoch... just the Secret Realm he stumbled into alone, if not for some anomalies during the awakening of those few people, there would likely be some whose strength matched his current level – reaching Awakening Tier Perfection. Furthermore, with other adventures, Nishimura’s power did not stagnate but progressed further. Facing himself from a month ago, who had just touched the realm of Great Perfection, Nishimura felt he could now take on two of his past selves.

In the Fourth Epoch, there were still stronger individuals on Nine Domes Island.

Sky Wolf Hall’s dominance over most of Nine Domes Island was due partly to his strength and partly...

Nishimura thought of that mysterious person whose face was unclear and shrouded in shadows!

The crystal ball that supported "Sky Wolf Hall" and aided his rapid cultivation came from that mysterious person.

Nishimura had probed; the stranger was unfathomable, transcendent at the very least...

He couldn’t fathom the mysterious person’s objectives, "First to step into Transcendence. Daxia Country has far richer resources than Nine Domes Island, and if I can find a suitable high-purity Source Crystal for my cultivation, my time to Transcendence could be significantly reduced."

Knock, knock!

"Come in."

The female secretary pushed open the door and bowed slightly, "Lord Nishimura, we have completed the investigation. We are now located in the East Sea Province of Daxia Country. Over a hundred kilometers away, there is a large Sanctuary named ’Yong’an,’ which should have hundreds of thousands of survivors with tens of thousands of Awakeners, but the majority are low-tier Awakeners."

The five tower ships of Sky Wolf Hall were substantial, but ultimately they were just ships. The members of Sky Wolf Hall arriving in Daxia Country amounted to no more than twenty thousand at best. However, unlike the Sanctuaries in Daxia Country, these twenty thousand were all Awakeners, the new breed of humankind best suited for the post-apocalyptic age!

With over a thousand of them being advanced practitioners above the Sixth Layer, they were far beyond what any Sanctuary in Daxia could compare to.

With the strength of Sky Wolf Hall, as long as the strategy was right, conquering a large Sanctuary would be easy!

"Foolish!" Nishimura rebuked, "Daxia Country is rich in resources, and its population is the largest in the world; it should not be underestimated. Even if we could conquer one Sanctuary, there would be many similar Sanctuaries in the East Sea Province.

We are newcomers, the most important thing is to find a suitable place to settle, to seek out resources, to plan for development, and to proceed gradually."

The secretarial hesitated before speaking, "But... we have discovered that there are several important Resource Points around Yong’an Sanctuary, one of which provides advanced timber that is the main material needed for constructing our rune tower ships."

Nishimura: "..."

After pondering for a while, he looked up, "Have the Sky Wolf Hall Warriors take action; I want to build another five rune tower ships."

...

East Sea Province.

Luoxia Sanctuary.

As one of the earliest to open a Sub-territory Sanctuary, the distinct characteristics of Green Shadow were apparent throughout Luoxia.

Awakeners were seen wearing Standard Combat Uniforms passing by – there were the Cheetah Series, Beacon Fire Series, Maniac Ape Series... each with distinctive styles and unique appearances. Wearing Advanced Combat Uniforms, Awakeners drew envious glances from passersby.

Compared to the plain-looking, normally effect-less rune weapons, combat uniforms – designed from the start to be distinctive – were a matter of prestige!

Many even wore badges symbolizing their star rank as adventurers on their chests.

Three-star signified an Elite Adventurer, four-star a noteworthily skilled master, and five-star indicated a rare talent capable of commanding a large adventure group.

Six-star... within the entirety of Luoxia, there were only a few adventure giants who had reached this level, and it was rumored that at the headquarters of Green Shadow Adventurer Guild, the number of six-star adventurers could be multiplied by dozens.

Since a few months ago, when the "Adventurer Guild" officially set up in Luoxia Sanctuary, it had surpassed the former Mercenary Association in development.

Unlike some Sanctuaries in Tiannan Province, Green Shadow and official Luoxia had always maintained a good partnership. The "Adventurer Guild" replacing the "Mercenary Association" was a gradual and peaceful evolution.

Green Shadow expanded its influence, and the officials of Luoxia could also issue commissions through the guild, thus calling upon the master adventurers from the headquarters. Moreover, Luoxia officials’ commissions had priority...

Everyone shook hands for a win-win outcome.

At this moment, Awakeners in Luoxia were even more familiar with Green Shadow.

The Transmission Array was currently only open to the Direct Lineage agencies, but Floating Airships flew back and forth between Luoxia and Green Shadow daily. There were also quite a few Green Shadow Awakeners active on this side.

Mutual exchange had caused the Awakeners’ collective strength to improve rapidly.

On this bustling street frequented by Awakeners, there stood two towering and majestic buildings, in addition to the "adventurer guild."

"Extreme Martial Arts Hall" and "Trading House."

The "Extreme Martial Arts Hall" was known as the number one martial arts hall in the Sanctuary, seemingly no different from other private forces. However, over eighty percent of the Awakeners from Luoxia had received training at the "Extreme Martial Arts Hall."

One could say their disciples were everywhere!

The other four major martial arts halls seemed to be only slightly behind the "Extreme Martial Arts Hall," but the gap was as vast as the universe’s starry sea.

The "Trading House," which combined functions like auctions and consignment trades, was the largest institution in terms of area. Enormous volumes of transactions were completed here daily, making it the busiest commercial center in Luoxia.

A fledgling Awakener often needed simple training at the "Extreme Martial Arts Hall," then would go to the "Trading House" to equip themselves with the cheapest beginner’s gear, and afterward, they would register with the "adventurer guild" to take on commissions...

And the same went for veteran Awakeners.

The complete one-stop service—convenient, considerate, the three major institutions—had become the most familiar and most frequently visited places for Awakeners.

Tang Yu hoped that one day, he could spread the three major institutions to every major Sanctuary across the Earth and integrate them into the lives of every Awakener.

Wherever humans existed, traces of Green Shadow would be found.

But the task at hand was formidable. Apart from inside Tiannan Province, expansion elsewhere was not going smoothly.

Due to various reasons, Tang Yu had increased his investment in Luoxia, prioritizing its development into fertile land suitable for "leek" growth. Originally, he had hoped to use Luoxia as the center to gradually spread "leek" fields to the entire East Sea Province, turning other people’s leeks into his own...

But Tang Yu had underestimated other Sanctuaries’ vigilance over their vegetable gardens... A lack of manpower was also a factor hindering the pace of land reclamation.

Within the entire East Sea Province, aside from the "Extreme Martial Arts Hall," which had branches in several large Sanctuaries, only Luoxia had established the "adventurer guild" and "Trading House."

As a result, Awakeners from neighboring Sanctuaries would often sneak into Luoxia, and then... not return.

For these leeks that had grown legs and come to them of their own accord, Tang Yu and the higher-ups of Luoxia were very satisfied.

...

North of Luoxia, Yong’an Sanctuary.

The leader, Cui Xinseng, had been feeling irritable lately. He had always had a low opinion of unofficial Awakeners; weak in strength, undisciplined, and the fastest to run at the first sign of danger, yet acting like sharks that smell blood at the hint of profit.

He never took them seriously, preferring to focus on cultivating Direct Lineage Awakeners—reliable, capable of hitting wherever pointed, with a higher mission completion rate.

However, a large outflow of unofficial Awakeners from the Sanctuary had recently occurred. Cui Xinseng was taken aback to discover that the top-listed missions at the Mercenary Task Center, which used to be snatched up within minutes, were now facing a shortage of manpower. The higher-ups responsible had come to him more than once to complain.

As Cui Xinseng was mulling over this,

the person in charge of the mission center came with a look of distress, "Boss, the escort missions for the two mining regions in the West Wind Plain don’t have enough mercenaries to fulfill the requirements, which could lead to heavy losses for the escort teams on the road.

Moreover, there’s been a significant drop in the number of people taking up patrol missions in the White Tree High Ground. It used to be a patrol shift every half hour, but now it’s been extended to more than an hour. The survivors who cut advanced timber in White Tree High Ground have recently suffered numerous attacks by Demonized Beasts, with fifteen fatalities. Whatsmore, this has caused widespread panic, adversely affecting the collection efficiency of the timber."

Around Yong’an Sanctuary, there were three major Resource Points.

On the West Wind Plain, there was a Black Stone Ore mine producing rare minerals including Black Stone, and another was a Dark Series Source Crystal Mine, which was also the main source of Source Crystal revenue for Yong’an Sanctuary.

These two mines, located tens to hundreds of kilometers away from the Sanctuary, were too distant to establish safe mining areas, so they would typically send mining teams during the day, primarily composed of Direct Lineage Armies, with hired Awakeners for protection (and some low-tier Awakeners as miners). However, now, the numbers of both miners and guards had drastically decreased.

Even the Direct Lineage Army couldn’t handle everything personally.

Because White Tree High Ground was closer and geographically safer, a lumberyard was constructed there, and non-official Awakeners were employed to patrol, creating a certain range of safe area, which made the efficiency of timber collection much higher than the other two mines.

The three Resource Points were the lifeblood of Yong’an.

Cui Xinseng refused to allow the "adventurer guild" to set up a branch, but he couldn’t afford to lose the lifeblood either, "Send the Ancestor Dragon warriors for now... Moreover, increase the rewards, it’s just some Source Crystals, I can afford it, but even if I jumped down from here and died in the jaws of Demonized Beasts, I would never agree to let their guild set up here!"

An hour later,

The news of an incident at White Tree High Ground abruptly arrived.

Cui Xinseng sent an elite squadron to investigate, to no avail, leaving their fate unknown.

He then dispatched an Ancestor Dragon Team, but the result was another devastating defeat, with a heavy loss of Direct Lineage Awakeners.

"They are humans, but they don’t come from any surrounding Sanctuaries, the information doesn’t match up... Just where did they pop out from?"

Cui Xinseng was hugely troubled.

He considered sending out another Awakener fighting group from under his command, but feared further losses, and posting a mission at the Task Center didn’t seem right... Now in Yong’an, there were scarce few strong unofficial Awakeners left—The Ancestor Dragon Team had been repelled, sending just a handful of kittens would merely be feeding the enemy.

After much thought, Cui Xinseng took a long breath and looked to his confidant, appearing to age several years in an instant, "Go to Luoxia, and post a commission at the ’adventurer guild’ to investigate the enemy situation at White Tree High Ground."

(If there aren’t two updates tomorrow, I’ll eat my keyboard!)