Chef in the Apocalypse

Jayce did not sleep at all that night, burning through around 30% of the mana stones he had mined. He would have absorbed more, but he felt that his body needed more time to acclimate itself to this new influx of energy.

He was also worried about any impurities that he might inadvertently absorb in the process. The last thing that he wanted to do was have to clean his meridians once more.

Just remembering the pungent smell and the sticky sensation of the impurities made him feel queasy.

The overall effects of absorbing the energy was evident right away. Jayce felt as if his Dantian was now saturated, filling his meridians with denser and more powerful Qi. His body felt another level stronger, as if he had ascended another level.

The funny thing was, upon opening his status window out of habit, he realized that there was no change in his stats despite the increase in his strength. It was clear that the system and this power were independent of each other.

Rather than worry him, this actually made him feel more at ease. Especially with the warning from Rubick to not rely on the system, he felt even more that this was the correct path.

Jayce stretched his muscles that had been idle most of the night, feeling a wave of comfort flow throughout his body. The sun was beginning to peak his head over the horizon, bringing with it a new day full of promise.

Now that he was back home, there was plenty of stuff that he needed to do. There was the restaurant, new power system, and the need to find mana stone deposits. Now that he had found a surefire way of moving forward, they needed to secure mana stones more than ever.

Opening the door to his house, he walked out into the central square with a smile on his face. There was actually a few people already up at sunrise, doing their chores and starting their day.

He made his way over to the main building, hoping that Dion and Kane would be up already. A few people called out to him, happy and surprised that he had returned.

"Jayce! Welcome back."

"Oh it’s Jayce? When is the next feast?"

"Hahaha, I hope its soon. My wife’s food can’t compare."

Jayce smiled, seeing the familiar faces of the town greet him. "Don’t worry, you’ll be able to taste some good food again real soon."

Talk of good food had reminded him of Tony who he so heartlessly ignored last night. There was also the fact he had not eaten at all since yesterday thanks to the time difference.

’I’ll go find Tony after I meet with Dion and Kane.’ Jayce thought, rubbing his growling stomach.

As he approached the main building, he saw just the people he was looking for. Dion looked a lot better than last night, there were no longer bags under his eyes and he was carrying himself with purpose. It seemed that their meeting last night had been a wake up call for him.

Jayce felt a sense of relief wash over him. It would be very tough to do what he needed to do without the capable Dion and Kane. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Morning you two. Looks like you had a good sleep."

Dion nodded, in truth last night was the first decent sleep he had since the announcement of the invasion.

"Yeah thanks for asking, what brings you here so early in the morning?" Dion replied.

"There’s a few things we need to discuss, some are more time sensitive than others."

Dion raised an eyebrow, looking at Jayce in question. It was only now that he realized that the man in front of him had changed since last night. He had already been shocked by the strength that emanated from Jayce, yet now that pressure had gotten even heavier.

"Ahem. Sure, let’s go upstairs and chat. I was originally going to organize a few expeditions in order to increase our levels to 60." His gaze turned to Kane for a brief moment before adding, "Well, most of us."

Kane sheepishly smiled, feeling a little embarrassed. He had already given up on increasing his personal strength, so he put all of his time and efforts into making Bastion a better place.

However, Dion never blamed him. In fact, the swarthy Paladin encouraged this, stating that his brain was the better asset than his fighting ability.

As Kane’s thoughts moved to this, his face was full of sadness. He remembered Juliet who had given her life in the Beast Tide all those months ago. She also did not have a great fighting capability, yet she gave it her all until the very last moment.

Seeing Kane’s face, Jayce and Dion could guess what he was thinking about. Originally when Jayce arrived there were three people who greeted him and Colin, however now only two were left.

This just served to further enforce that they must all get stronger, using human ingenuity and their potential to overcome difficulties.

Dion let out a soft sigh, placing his hand on Kane’s shoulder. "We need to continue to struggle and live a long life, otherwise she’ll hate us."

Kane nodded solemnly in response.

"Alright, head upstairs and get started." Jayce said after a few moments, trying to break the somber atmosphere.

Eventually, all three made their way up to the top floor of the main building, the makeshift headquarters. This was where they had planned everything from the rebuilding of Bastion, to the defense against the Beast Tide.

Today they would discuss the next steps in humanity’s evolution.

A couple of hours later, the three were sat down at the table, staring at the whiteboard in front of them. Jayce had a satisfied smile on his face, whereas Kane and Dion looked as if they were out of their depth.

Find and extract Mana stone deposits (Priority)

Reach level 60 (Priority)

Open Hell’s Kitchen Restaurant

Distribute Teleportation array blueprints

Host Worldwide Summit in Bastion - Distribute Qi manuals

Discuss Earth Invasion Defensive mission

"Perfect."