Looking at the rations laid out in front of me, I couldn’t help but sigh at the state of things after a single day.

  The life we knew had ended, cities were destroyed and reduced to ruins while monsters roamed around every corner.

  Glancing around the campsite, I looked at the caravan that I had been leading made up of all the people we evacuated from the cities that crumbled apart.

  "Asher, what’re our next plans?" My friend called out as he sat next to me.

  I was never good at leading people but since I was the highest level and I managed to get everyone out safely, I was chosen as the caravan leader.

  Unfortunately, this also means that I’m the one who will be blamed should anything go wrong.

  "Let me think. With how many rations we have, if we’re careful, it should last us around 2 weeks or so. It’s risky to go for teleport shrines since they’re surrounded by monsters. Who knows if we’ll teleport into a more dangerous nest of monsters. Are you able to access the internet?" I asked.

  After the cities crumbled, some regions lost access to the internet and weren’t able to find out about the situation in other cities. When we evacuated, we were still able to use the internet but once we got far away, our connection was severed.

  Finding our whereabouts along with what’s happening in other places is going to be hard.

  "Not yet. The connection is still broken." He sighed with a shake of his head.

  "Have the scouts found anywhere that could possibly have a connection established?" I asked curiously.

  We’ve been sending scouts for the past few hours now since we need to map out a route for us to travel that yields the best results.

  "No they haven’t. Currently, the north is filled with snow and frozen beasts that can kill you in a single swipe. They’re recommending that we go south."

  "Hmm…… South is probably the territory of fire type monsters. Compared to the ice based ones, the fire based monsters are more volatile and aggressive when it comes to humans. We’ll continue east for now. There should be a few villages on the way there. If they haven’t been destroyed yet, we might be able to find more people. If it has been destroyed, we’ll be able to get some supplies if we kill the monsters there. Since it’s not a city, the levels of the monsters should be much lower." I replied.

  "Alright, I’ll relay the message. Hais…… what’s even happening anymore." My friend scratched his head as he ate his rations in frustration.

  "Well the system did say that the tutorial is over. There’s still a lot of mysteries surrounding what’s been happening but life won’t get any easier from now on. If we can ally ourselves with a good Queen, we’ll be able to at least live a decent life for a bit." I sighed.

  The system gave us some information about this new age and apparently we should seek out Queens for their protection. The anchored cities are a natural repellent for the monsters that spawn so not many would attack it voluntarily. But for cities without factions, they’ll be destroyed and turned into a nest for the monsters.

  To survive, we need to find a Queen.

  ’But since they’re from a different ’garden’ I doubt they’ll be kind to us.’ I thought to myself.

  Similar to when humans invaded new lands and kicked out the original inhibitors, the Queens will probably do the same. Even if they don’t, they probably have a goal in mind that they want to fulfil. We can’t trust any of them easily. Everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt just in case so that we can protect ourselves.

  "Hey can’t we just ally with a Queen or something? Surely there’s something like a human Queen right?" My friend complained as I shrugged.

  "Who knows. If we find one, maybe, but even then, you shouldn’t trust them so easily anymore. With everything that humans have worked for being destroyed over the course of a day, you can expect that it may become a little primitive. Kindness might just become a rarity now. Who knows if there’s someone that will suddenly backstab all of us." I sighed since that’s just human nature. When pushed to the limit, there’s a good chance that they’ll backstab someone just for their own safety.

  "Ugg…… this kind of life is annoying. Having to constantly be scared of who will backstab you. Surely they won’t forget that you risked your life to save them from the cities right?" My friend asked but I shook her head.

  "That’s not certain. If I pose any sort of danger to their safety, they won’t hesitate to cut my throat." I smiled while making a gesture across my neck.

  Hearing this, my friend sat in silence as she both looked at the campfire.

  ’I don’t think a Queen or the system can be trusted. It has been a supporting guide for us all this time but if it was truly on our side, it would not have destroyed so many cities or killed so many humans. While it helps us, it does not side with us. Anything it says has to be read with a neutral standpoint. While it is in our best interest to ally ourselves with a Queen to survive, it’s not necessary so it’s still possible to live without the protection of a Queen. It’s the age of demons and gods but the demons are already here but the gods aren’t present meaning they’ll arrive later. There could be a different set of ’Demons’ compared to the ones that we normally see as well. The system told the Queens that it wishes them luck, meaning there can only be one Queen at the end. There’s a reward for them.’ I narrowed my eyes at the fire before coming to the conclusion that the system couldn’t be trusted. We’ve been taking it for granted but its true alliance is not with anyone. It’s a neutral party that can harm you just as much as it can hurt you.

  "Get some rest. We’ll be leaving early in the morning. Before we ally ourselves with anyone, we need information. Try to see if there are anyone trustworthy in the caravan that we can talk to. Don’t be hasty in choosing since we’ve got a bit of time right now." I instructed my friend as he nodded his head.

  Sitting by the campfire by myself, I tilted my head back and looked at the sky which was slowly filling up with stars and constellations from a different world. But despite that, I could still barely make out the constellations from Earth.

  Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath of the cold night air while the fire crackled in the silence. Extinguishing the fire, I returned to my tent and prepared myself for tomorrow. Life from now on was going to be hard but it’s not hopeless.

  ###

  ". . ."

  Staring at her ceiling, Shiro had a blank expression as she sighed heavily and sat up. Despite wanting to rest and passing out the moment she hit the bed, she only slept for around 3 hours before her body woke up back up.

  "Ugg…… at least let me sleep for more than 6 hours stupid body." She muttered.

  Since she fell asleep immediately, she wasn’t able to bring Nimue and Attie back so she knew that they were probably sleeping in a different room.

  Glancing out of her window, she could see that the night was still dark.

  Even with the city basked with a soft glow from the street lamps, very few people could be seen walking around except for a few patrolmen on night shift along with some drones.

  With a city this big, security during the night was going to be tough but the addition of drones helped reduce the burden on the soldiers.

  Getting changed into some casual clothing, she decided to have a walk around for now a bit since she’s woken up.

  ’Iziuel’s sleeping so I shouldn’t disturb her. Estrella’s recovered quite nicely too so she’ll probably be back in action tomorrow.’ Shiro thought to herself while looking into the mana realm.

  Walking around the main tower, she saw that the command room still had its lights on. Seeing that it’s the middle of the night, all the staff here should be sleeping since the AI will handle things while they rested.

  Opening the door, she saw Nan Tian leaning on the chair with his head resting on his hand.

  Glancing at the screen, Shiro sighed softly since it was all the doc.u.ments regarding the expansion of the city, filtering of evil natured people, registering new citizens along with a few plans to improve life for the people below ground level.

  Seeing that he was still working hard despite the time of day, Shiro couldn’t help but shake her head.

  Reaching into her inventory, she pulled out the blanket that he had given her last time and tapped away at the keyboard. She might as well finish some of his doc.u.ments since he had done the same for her last time.