Transcendent Gene-Chapter 270: Connection [6]

It was an exaggeration to say he "found" Riverene, but he confirmed that it should be where he thought it was.

There were maps at the end of the first book Gio translated that showed the entire landscape of Azaereal that Leonidas’ group had explored.

The mountain they were currently on was one of the only mountains in the entire region. By checking the surrounding area, Gio confirmed where it was on the map and sectioned off their location.

Essentially, their current position in the monster world could be transposed directly onto New Renis if the map of Azaereal was overlaid with the map of the old Earthen country.

The two areas were placed next to each other for a reason. This region was moved north simply because the two sceneries couldn’t exist together.

If the rest of the territories followed a similar pattern, then Riverene had to be somewhere in the west. Perhaps it would be moved north or south to some extent, but its relative position would be similar to the original.

"Or, well, that’s what I’m guessing," Gio explained.

He and his party were already moving. They left the mountain as soon as day broke at the end of the week. In order to waste as little time as possible, they were on their way to test Gio’s hypothesis as he spoke it out loud.

"When we get there, we’ll be able to find out why the survivors down there were taken by monsters. They alluded that it had something to do with their research. It can’t be anything ordinary."

Their trail originally started with research. As they tried to find the relationship between humanity and the Monster Race during the earliest times of war, they were led to Azaereal.

In Azaereal, where they thought they’d find more about monsters, they found human researchers and survivors whose tracks led them to yet another lab.

Gio wondered for a second if their trip to Azaereal was worthless. Really, it was a pointless worry.

He was racing against time. If that weren’t the case, the translations of the books he already had stored in his mind would have already led them far closer to an answer than anyone else.

In Azaereal, they found proof that humans lived in the monster world. Some of them were escaped slaves, some of them were still enslaved, and some of them had submitted to the monsters.

They lived in cities like humans, yet they lived entirely differently.

’The Monster Race that went to war with us didn’t do it for no reason. It’s not a mindless war that only exists because of the Forthcoming. They’re attacking us for a reason.’

They wanted the Gehenna Complex. They wanted the human workforce.

’What is their goal?’

Was the Scenario Quest asking them to find out?

Gio shook his head. He contemplated it even as he continued to explain his thoughts to his comrades. They traveled across Azaereal for half a day without interruption, but when they were moving so openly, something was bound to happen.

The four of them slowly came to a stop around the same time as their senses picked up disturbances rapidly approaching them.

Whoosh!

A rush of wind accompanied their approach. Five figures rushed at them and faced them menacingly with weapons drawn.

"Newbies! I never thought we’d be lucky enough to find some Sprouts this time around! I mean, how many of you guys ever come to the mountain range?"

"I said the same thing! I was getting annoyed by all of these tryhards. How are they still so strong when they’re suppressed?! It doesn’t make sense!"

"You guys! Focus up! You’re embarrassing us in front of our marks!"

As they exchanged banter amongst themselves, they faced Gio’s party with smirks on their faces.

"Now, there, little Sprouts. This can go one of two ways. Either you give us everything you have..."

Did they need to hear another word?

Bang!

Before the man could finish his threat, the ground under his feet abruptly shot into the air, sending him flying. As he tried to regain his balance in the air, his eyes went to the ground.

Shiro had already manifested his flames into a bow with its string drawn taught.

Boom!

The moment he let it loose, a huge flame arrow blasted through the air and exploded in front of him.

The days when Gio had to move with a fearful party were over. They were ready to fight for themselves.

The bandits were weak. It should’ve been obvious after all of their yapping, but they weren’t nearly strong enough to stand against the average person within the scenario.

Despite the suppression effect, powerful experts were naturally able to use their abilities much better than amateurs. They could fight better and understood death better, so even if power alone didn’t put them at an advantage, the steps they took to become powerful certainly did.

Gio’s party was lucky they hadn’t been targeted by anyone truly strong yet. The only ones who wanted to aim for the weakest links were the ones who’d become the weakest links when they were gone.

’But if we keep aiming for the top, we’ll come in contact with the strong eventually.’

They didn’t kill the bandits, but they did more than enough to keep them from trying the same thing a second time. They also took the liberty to go through their enemies’ pockets to look for compensation for their troubles.

They gained a bit of money and some useless resources along with information about a campsite where more bandits were gathered nearby.

In any other case, it would have been a great target...

"...but let’s save it for later. If they’re still here after we finish up in Riverene, we can try our luck."

The bandits probably stacked up quite a few treasures, so defeating them was worthwhile. Merely, they couldn’t let themselves stay behind in the main quest. Once they’d made some progress, they could think about chasing smaller rewards.

The party continued their journey, facing three more small groups of bandits before they left Azaereal. When they reached human territory again, the number of ambushes decreased to zero.

’Everyone focused on fighting other humans instead of doing the quest is gravitating towards monster territories. I guess it’s because they cater more to that kind of environment.’

The human cities were empty aside from clues that could only be found if one was actively looking. Those who wanted immediate benefits, violence, and chaos could find none of the three.

Gio prepared himself for a long search through several cities before they found their way to Riverene, however, it was a needless worry. In a Scenario Quest, only areas that mattered to the scenario would be manifested.

They followed a long road that led west, and though they passed several smaller human settlements, the first city they found practically screamed at them that it was the one.

The large, rusted "Welcome to Riverene" sign was a relief. Gio led his party into the city with bright eyes, searching for specifics he’d seen in the books.

[We were near the Grenwhich Building. There was a strange logo on the front that Nala always used to say looks like...well, protection. It was funny because a few buildings nearby looked in need of protecting.]

He wrote with shaky handwriting like he was trying to contain his laughter as he jotted the words down. The memory was stupid and contained an interaction that was equally stupid, but the most insignificant memories of how life used to be were the most important in his mind.

[The coffee shop on Glendale...that old antique shop...I remember when it went out of business. They replaced it with a bakery that we hated until we tried the food for the first time...]

It was a section at the very end of the first book. After documenting the new and deranged world down to its finest details, Leonidas took a moment to remember the one he left behind.

His world ended, leaving only such simple memories to remind him that it still existed out there somewhere.

And he wrote about it, knowing that nobody would be able to retrace the path he left. He was aware that it was almost impossible for someone to find his journals in the future.

’But I did.’

But Gio and his party found those journals and Gio was stubborn enough to translate them.

He learned what Leonidas hoped to pass on to future generations, and despite the fact that he’d only done so through a Scenario Quest, he was determined to find what the man wanted them to see.

Hopefully, Riverene would lead them to some real clues.