Born in apocalypse

The island bathed in a warm, gentle morning sunlight. With no way to block the sunlight, thin rays directly kissed the skin of a young man. The soft rustling of water is accompanied by the distant chirping of birds.

A young man in his 20s gets up from his metal bed. He stretches his arms and legs luxuriously, like a cat awakening from a peaceful slumber. His face is illuminated by the soft, golden light streaming on him through the clear sky.

Dharuv’s face breaks into a contented smile as he basks in the tranquility of the moment. He slowly sits up, his gaze fixed on the mesmerizing dance of dust motes suspended in the sunbeams.

"What a beautiful morning," he muttered to himself.

He swings his legs out of bed and places his feet on the slightly warm grass. The sensation of the smooth, polished grass underfoot sends a shiver of delight up his spine.

Yawn

Noticing that he still hadn’t woken up properly he magically conjured water out of nowhere and washed his face with it. Feeling refreshed, he stretched himself and did some light exercise.

After doing the exercise he began to walk toward a bed where a demon was asleep, seemingly unaffected by the sunlight.

’Is he a sleep demon or a fire demon?’ Dhruv pondered to himself.

He considered waking him up with a kick like how his father often did but ultimately decided against it, as it wouldn’t be seen as a master-like behavior.

"Vexar, wake up," he said with a slightly louder voice than usual.

"Ugh!"

Noticing the sound the demon opened his eyes slightly to see who had dared to disturb his sleep. The moment he saw Dhruv standing in front of him he quickly got up like he was never asleep.

Giving Vexar some time to snap out of his daze, Dhruv started moving toward Azarex, who appeared to be commanding his undead.

After getting a full view of the island, Dhruv noticed that the undead were diligently clearing the island of all types of waste, whether it was corpses, goblin clubs, or their clothing. They would throw out the corpses in the river and create a separate pile for weapons and clothes.

Approaching Azarex, Dhruv called out, "I know you don’t get tired, but shouldn’t you take a break as well?"

Hearing a voice from behind, Azarex turned around and faced Dhruv. He began by bowing toward him before responding,

"Master, I’m delighted to serve you endlessly." As always the skeleton’s reply was accompanied by a smile on its skull.

Not knowing how to reply to this he just simply nodded and began chatting about different matters.

Hearing them talking the demon got fully awake and began his way to Dhruv.

As he walked, he occasionally kicked at the ground without any apparent reason, letting out a giggle now and then. It looked very weird from afar but upon closer inspection, one would realize that he wasn’t kicking at the air. No... Instead, he was playing with a fire spirit.

Dhruv shielded his eyes with his hand to protect himself from the sun’s relentless glare. He wasn’t feeling hot and why would he be after all he had fire immunity, but he was slightly irritated by the constant brightness of the sun.

’We should construct a shelter as soon as possible,’ he thought while gazing at the prison their only source of shelter, which had nearly crumbled to the ground due to the endless rampage of the monsters.

Contemplating the idea of building a shelter, Dhruv surveyed his barren island, where there was no sign of any resources far and wide.

’I suppose I’ll either have to transport items here or consider leaving this place soon,’ he thought.

He had to stop his train of thought over this matter when he noticed Vexar had reached him. Dhruv looked over him then Vexar. When he found out everyone was here he got the idea that this was the best time to check their progress.

He was about to call Alaric who was in his shadow but stopped himself he suddenly remembered that this sunlight might cause a problem for him as he was made out of shadow, so he closed his eyes and said..

[Alaric, are you able to come out in the sunlight?] Dhruv asked telepathically. The ability to talk with the trio telepathically is another function he had just discovered. He could use this ability due to the presence of Mark of Asteri. He had found out about this function after the trio’s evolution to the third tier.

[Yes master I can... b-but I have to constantly go in the shadow] Came the reply directly to his mind.

[Okay, come out then.] He said.

The moment Dhruv received Alaric’s confirmation, a dark vapor started to materialize in front of him. After a few seconds, the vapor condensed, forming a humanoid figure composed entirely of shadow. The figure had no distinct features except for its two eyes, which emitted a white, blurry light.

Once fully materialized, Alaric bowed to Dhruv as a sign of respect. After bowing to him, he turned to his siblings and nodded in greeting.

As all four of them presented themselves, Dhruv conjured four chairs and signaled the trio to sit. Once they had settled in, he looked at toward them and began to speak...

"Before we proceed with any planning, I’d like to see how much progress you all have made," Dhruv stated.

Finding no issue with the request, all three of them nodded in unison.

Previously, Dhruv needed to touch them to check their status, but now he could do it remotely, similar to how he could do it with his own status. The moment he thought of wanting to see Alaric’s status, a notification appeared in front of him with the desired information.

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Name: Alaric

Species: Ebon Guardian [Variant Asteri]

Level: 2 [1%] [Tier III]

Magic Affinity: Shadow (S), Shield (C)

Stats: Strength Lv. 25, Stamina Lv. 70, Agility Lv. 70, Magic Power Lv. 95

Exclusive abilities: Soul Bond, Shadowkin, Ethereal Body, Mark of Asteri

Skill: Advance Mana manipulation Lv. 6, Advance Shadow manipulation Lv.3, Advance Sheild manipulation Lv. 6, Shield Creation Lv. 2, Advance stab Lv. 6, Shadow Cloak Lv.2, Shadow meld Lv.2, Mana Shield Lv.2, Mana Sense Lv. 3, Create Tenticals Lv. 4, Quick Shadow Dive Lv. 9, External Mana Manipulation Lv. 1, Hardening Lv. 1

Mutation: Flexible Shadow Skin +7, Efficient Umbrastone core +6, Endless Stomach +0, Dark skin +0

Essence point: 20

Skill point: 7

Cosmic Coins: 15520

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