It took Shane a full day to finish another season of body refining, as he finally reached the perfect physique of a 4th Mortal stage.

Over the last day, Shane had also absorbed and purified his mana, which caused him to use up more tier-1 mana stones than he initially thought would be required.

With 15 tier-1 trash quality mana stones and 6 [Mortal-(extraordinary)] nutrition solutions left, Shane lamented about the scarcity of resources.

But even so, Shane’s mana purity had increased a little over 0.6% and reached 7.8%. There was only 0.2% left before he could break into the 9th Mortal stage.

He had also glanced through the window every once in a while and the sight had surprised him. He had noticed bloodied guards running around frantically with the military soldiers accompanying them…

`Was the shelter already under attack?` Shane asked himself worriedly, as he hurried out of his room, to inquire about the current situation with the Inn-owner.

“It seems like there will be a large-scale battle soon.

During the last two days, more and more purple-furred wolf groups have surrounded us, almost as if they want to find out about our numbers and strength. One of the guards told me that the military came because of this and we think that they will initiate their attack soon enough, once they secure the shelter from any kinds of assassinations of other beast races.”

Right as Shane was about to turn around because he thought that the inn-owner had finished, he heard him mumble

“Weirdly enough, the shelter captain has been forced out of his position and he was even arrested at such a dangerous time…Not like it would make a difference with or without him…”

Hearing the last sentence, Shane smiled lightly thinking that the shelter captain’s punishment was well deserved.

Fortunately, he was even detained and Shane didn’t have to be careful within the shelter anymore.

As such, he went outside to take a closer look at the current situation. Shane spotted many youths and young men wearing the common federation’s military clothes with its silver constellation emblem on it.

The emblem was not extraordinary, just a piece of silver with a few planets and stars on it. The uniform for basic soldiers was made out of peak apprentice cobwebs and weaved together.

Additionally, they received leather armor according to their contribution. Thus everyone within the military was well protected which was the most important factor for them to choose such a dangerous job, even though it was already well paid.

There was no mandate to join the military, but the benefits one could receive there were astronomical because the range of cultivation resources, lifestyle occupations, and so on were vast and more easily obtained compared to the Primordial Shops.

The prices for most products were cheaper in the military and there was no transfer fee, which was a relief. Having to pay a transfer fee for every single item bought was one of the most hated functions of the system.

After obtaining their basic cultivation resource set, the military would award merits according to an individual’s hard work. This made it a coveted position which was why most young men and women were eager to get accepted into the military.

Furthermore, the military provided enough resources, training, and nourishment to all kinds of brave youths and older folks who dared to fight against beasts head-on, even though it could mean their death.

The military was unbiased and did not differentiate between the rich and the poor. It simply rewarded everyone that gave their best for humanity.

This was one feature Shane was proud of, as his family had built a structure that supported every human, which he couldn’t really remember on earth.

It was not that dangerous on earth, but humanity wasn’t united. Back on earth, humans mostly wouldn’t help each other out as they valued wealth over human lives.

As such, he was extremely proud to live in such a society now.  Shane, who otherwise hated his father, couldn’t help but agree that his father had done a good job of enforcing such an idealistic way in addition to the military rules without discrimination.

Unfortunately, that didn’t mean that each human was important to the federation, as terror acts from some humans were pursued until the end.

The terrorists who got nabbed by the government wouldn’t be subjected to any puny punishment. In fact, the terrorists would be considered fortunate if they were beheaded straight away without being tortured for more information.

A single large terrorist act could immediately destroy the unity of humans and his father had used unorthodox ways to destroy his enemies without the slightest bit of hesitation.

The federation was built upon a democracy but the strong reigned above all. It indicated at the end that the most powerful human would lead humanity. In Igra’s case, it seemed to be John Stella because he was voted by a large majority.

Even if this annoyed Shane quite often, he had to accept that fact.

Walking around the shelter, he could see all kinds of new high constructions on the shelter walls that were most likely ballistae, towers, or something similar that was about to be constructed.

From what he saw, more than ten additional ballistae were constructed on each wall, while the edges were reinforced with large towers.

With enough archers, ballistae, crossbows, searing hot oil, and other tricks, Shane was confident that it would be extremely difficult for beasts to overwhelm the shelter.

There were still many unpredictable factors that the beasts could surprise humans with, like flying, moving under the ground, in addition to extremely physically enhanced- and spatial elemental beasts.

From their recently acquired knowledge, there were only a few dangerous flying beasts, while the other unpredictable factors had not been accounted for.

Even so, the defensive measures included all possible factors, as a mana fluctuation long-range radar was installed inside the shelter hall, which covered a radius of 100 kilometers.

This was extremely expensive to operate and only used for cases where the shelter’s survival was on the line.

Every large beast group and beasts at the awakened stage that was detected by the radar would cause it to immediately notify its operator which was extremely helpful in order to act without any delay.

Seeing how busy the military was, Shane started to wonder how much pressure his uncle or their subordinates put on the basic military force in order to act without a second’s delay. ‘Or is this speed normal?’ He asked himself, as it seemed somewhat disciplined yet chaotic, confusing Shane quite a bit.

Continuing to walk around, he estimated that a combined beast tide of two large beast races would most likely be useless against the newly constructed defensive measures. Additionally, the shelter was fortified with a high number of expert stage soldiers with a higher mana purity than most shelter captains had.

As long as everyone worked diligently without slacking off, everything should be fine.

Feeling relieved, he decided to go back to his inn-room. Umbra was supposedly still upgrading its quality which would require more than 30 hours.

After doing some quick calculations, Shane believed that he could enter the next stage with his perfect physique in the next 30 hours after re-refining it. It might even be enough time for him to reach an 8% mana purity which would allow him to break into the 9th Mortal stage.

Entering the room, Shane immediately sensed Umbra’s well-being in addition to his joy. He could even sense his tamed beast’s increased strength with his quality upgrade, even though it had not finished yet.

Weirdly enough, a certain window that he had kept open almost for the whole day seemed to change with Umbra’s evolution.

_______________________

Possible evolutions [Shadow-snake (Rare/Extraordinary)]

1) [Common] Shadow-python (24.3%/100%)

2) [Uncommon] Darkness-python (3.5%/100%)

3) [Rare] Colossus Darkness-python (0.006%/100%)

4) [Extraordinary] <Locked>

_______________________

If he hadn’t gone insane during the last few hours, why did the whole evolution progression bar seem to be completely off? Shane was sure that Umbra had already completely filled the first [Common] Shadow-python evolution path that was now less than a quarter filled.

Even though it was not a pleasant sight to see the progression bar decrease with each moment, Shane sensed Umbra’s strength increase simultaneously, which was not something to be frustrated about.

Smiling at the darkness transmuted mana cocoon in front of him, Shane took out a few mana stones. He then turned towards the basin, ready to continue re-refining his physique in order to get to know what real perfection felt like.

__________________________________

W E B N O V E L= https://bit.ly/3xrU5Yx

[If you like the novel, please support the Author with your powerstones]

__________________________________