Journey Back & Preparations

We were now travelling back to our camp. Lucas has joined us in our journey way back.

Ruminating on the information that I had received from Lucas; I was still a little absentminded.

I have been in a belief that though there will be talented individual people, no one would be able to establish gatherings this early.

Atleast not large enough.

But knowing about Riverdale Village was an eye opener for me.

It's establishment was due to a series of coincidences. The river that was running had been divided into two and then joined again, creating a so-called massive island.

This island was an isolated place effectively cutting both man & beast alike from entering it by the river.

And on this island spawned a genius from Earth.

In Lucas words this person, is too powerful to even estimate.

The genius started hunting right from the start all the beasts on the island.

He reduced the number so much so quickly, that most of the people who also landed on the island were saved.

These remaining population were grateful and needed a path to survive. So, they all agreed to join that genius. And here came the forming of village.

Why village, it was because, there was also a stone village situated on the island.

This village was according to Lucas, eerily similar to the stone village we were just now in. The only difference was that it was in a better condition.

Such a series of coincidences lead to the formation of Riverdale Village.

I mused that while it was just a coincidence in this case, there is no mentioning that with the huge amount of influx of people from Earth, there might be a multitude of coincidences.

There might be even individuals who are powerful and intelligent enough to form groups, bigger and mightier than Riverdale Village.

This reduced the amount of pride I was feeling after some successes that came my way.

I can't rest still, being on the forefront of the way is the best and surest path to success.

This genius has also successfully piqued my interest. I want to meet and even join this Riverdale Village if it benefits me.

Moreover, there also might be a hidden chamber in the stone ruins there as well. Letting go of such a benefit does not sit well with me.

On our journey back, Lucas shared the details of the village.

He was holding a lot of information back. His aim is for us to join the village. The withheld information must be shared with us after joining it.

We took a little more time to reach the camp.

As soon as we entered, everybody came out to meet us.

They all looked towards us and did not see Robert.

Sensing there questioning looks, I made a sad shake of my head. This made all of them to jolt their heads in shock.

This was a sudden grave news for them. Robert, while for me was just a stranger we banded together to survive, for them he was much more.

This cruel world and hardships they faced together had led them to forge a bond.

Everyone was devasted, particularly those who joined earlier. Jia was the one with the most exaggerated reaction.

She looked truly saddened, she even wailed evoking pity from everyone.

It was also bad news for them as they lost the most powerful person in the group. They did not know that we will most probably go to Riverdale.

They did not know, or they did not dare face the fact that in the future many of us would not be able to survive.

This is a cruel and indifferent world we live in, the sooner this settles in their mind the better for them.

After some time, everyone calmed down. After sitting down Lucas introduced himself and his intentions. No one objected to go with him.

Why would they? It was a better place, more secure and they had just seen a death occur and that too of one of the strongest of them.

Freedom was important but not more than survival. I believe they might even be willing to be slaves for them, if it meant safety.

Moreover, we do not have much time to contemplate, Lucas would be returning to his team in a week, and we must travel with him.

Time was of the essence. Thus, it was finally decided that we will move first thing in the morning.

It was already nighttime, so we all called off the meeting and went back to our sleeping places.

I was packing all my stuff that I will bring with me. But firstly, let's see what I had gotten from the beneath the stone floor.

I took all the items out and I was greatly disappointed with each item that came out.

There were 42 coins like what I had gotten before, making in total 43.

I now carefully inspected the coin. It was made from an unknown material and was dark reddish in colour.

There were also 5 coins who were similar to it but were, grey in colour. They must be of different denominations.

'I hope it is a great fortune and has good value.'

While I was disappointed, I didn't let this shake me much, considering that I had lost just poison in the trip and also killed one of my potential enemies. It was fruitful, nevertheless.

Finally, I took out the remaining items. One was a fist sized stone or rather ore. Might be useful.

Considering it was carefully kept, either it has strong monitory value or rather a rare ore for making weapons and such.

Pretty good, while not convertible to strength immediately, maybe in the future it could.

Next was a bracelet, it was cracked at places and was in a poor condition. But it was still holding out.

The purpose for this bracelet is unknown, hopefully it will not be an ornamental accessory.

Finally, it was a stone yet not a stone. This was the most special object. Its shape was irregular, and there were some veins like lines running on it.

It was like a small part of skin that had fallen of someone.

I pinched it in my hand, it was hard but not much. What is this?

I don't know but, this might be one of the most valuable treasures.

How to use this? What is its purpose?

Uhh, this is too frustrating, I don't have enough information about this world.

Hopefully, I will be able to find all the information I need quickly or else I will be just sitting on the mountain of treasures without ever being able to dig in.

Now what to do with these treasures.

There are two options, first to take all of these treasures with me but it comes with a significant risk that it will all be ultimately confiscated. This would end up benefitting Riverdale Village.

It is regretful but I guess I have to implement the second plan, that is to leave all the important treasures here and only take objects useful to me.

After contemplating for some time, I finally decided to take only the strange ore & three dark reddish coins with me.

One coin can be given to Riverdale Village to maintain goodwill and see if they know of its uses.

Multiple people searching for its uses might be helpful in finding it quickly.

As for the ore I kept it to see if I can find some blacksmith or something similar and determine its usage quickly.

The rest of the coins, bracelet and strange vein stone will be hidden safely here.

For other supplies and objects, I packed my most compatible and useful weapons, the spears, knife and bow and arrows.

Sadly, the venomous arrows have been all used up. The poison has also been fully consumed.

There really was nothing else, of course I kept half of the bottle of Aracea paralysis medicine. It might again prove useful.

Finally, I was all set.

From tomorrow I will be on a new journey and hopefully Riverdale village will be full of surprises.