Human Settlement

The Alberone settlement was established one year after the Second Big Bang. It was established by a group of human warriors who cleared the area of strong mutated beasts.

The settlement, while not pretty, had a solid foundation. A six foot thick stone wall surrounds the town protecting its residents from the mutated beasts outside.

The leader of the settlement is a man named Jack Alberone. Jack was a world class body builder before the Second Big Bang. Jack is one of the founders of the settlement.

Jack is not the smartest man, however he is charismatic and has the strength to protect the people around him.

When the Second Big Bang occurred Jack was working out. His already strong body was nourished by mana and transformed. He gained super strength.

When the mutated beasts came and attacked, Jack fought back, defending those around him and gaining their trust. By the end of his first battle with the beasts Jack was unanimously voted to become the leader of their community.

Since then the settlement had fought many battles with strong mutated beasts. Jack himself had reached level 70 and established himself as the firm leader of the area.

The settlement continued to grow and draw in more and more people. Now the Alberone settlement is one of the strongest settlements in the area and is a thriving community that continues to develop.

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Alilith listened to Lao's history lesson with a bored expression. Alilith didn't care about the history of the settlement at all. However she continued to listen to Lao in case she said something useful.

It has been two days since Alilith's fight with the sunflowers and bees. They traveled nonstop to reach the settlement, sleeping only for a few hours at a time.

Alilith had reached level 24 during their travels, once again strengthening herself.

As they approached the towering walls of the settlement Lao stopped lecturing Alilith. She reached into her bag and pulled out a slip of paper and a glowing purple stone.

As Alilith examined the stone she noticed that the stone was full of magic power. She didn't know what kind of magic power it was. The magic energy swirled inside the stone forming a vortex of magic power.

Finally, Alilith and Lao came across a gate. Guards stood at either side of the gate as a third guard stood at the front of a line of people who were waiting to get inside.

Lao led Alilith towards the end of the line. Dozens of people were waiting in line impatiently. Most of the people in line were "ordinary" people. However ordinary people now are different than ordinary people before people awakened through mana. Only around half of the world's population awakened through mana.

Its been ten years since the Second Big Bang. 70% of humanity died out leaving 30% of humanity. Unfortunately, those who didn't awaken almost entirely died out. Ordinary people now have the physical prowess of an Olympic gold metalist or they have lesser magical abilities like basic telekinesis.

Ordinary people also don't include those who transformed into creatures such as the merman race or the elves. Truthfully, since the other races don't consider themselves humans any longer, only 20% of the worlds population of humans are still alive. With 17% of them not pursuing strength in this new world.

While these people are not defenseless, they are eager to quickly get into the Alberone settlement. Many of them are fidgeting and looking around nervously for any sign of danger.

Some are praying to their god or gods for protection. Many are even praying to new gods. Beings with great power such as the Lord of Spirits that Lao prays to.

These so called "new gods" are the main religions in the world. Many people gave up on the old gods and looked towards the powerful beings that they could see and hear.

Some of these gods would even bless their devotees with powers. This discovery made people flock towards the new gods in search of power.

Churches were established in the names of these gods. Some gods were benevolent and some were evil. The evil gods often demanded sacrifices and took the life span of their followers in exchange for power.

Finally after waiting for two hours, Alilith and Lao were at the front of the line.

"Papers please and if you don't have papers you'll have to pay a fee to get into the settlement." The soldier said with a bored look on his face

Lao handed him the paper and purple stone in her hand.

"A lesser lightning magic stone?" the soldier said with slight surprise, "You two may pass, you can get an ID at the Settlement Hall."

Alilith and Lao thanked the soldier before walking into the town.

"Okay Alilith, don't take off the cloak or the mask unless I say so, okay? " Lao said with a lowered voice.

"Why do I need to wear this." Alilith said, slight annoyed, "its uncomfortable and its blocking most of my view."

"Just wear it and don't ask questions!"

Alilith was annoyed but dealt with it and looked around. The settlement looked a lot different from the city that Alilith knew. There were no towering skyscrapers anymore.

Instead there were wooden and stone buildings dominating Alilith's view. Some of the buildings were painted giving a little splash of color in this otherwise brown and gray settlement. Some people walked the streets and a variety of attires.

The majority wore something similar to outdoor gear suitable for moving through the forest without issues. Others wore armor of sorts, most of the armors were patchy and had no visual appeal to it but looked sturdy. Others were a bit more professional looking. Most rare of all were people wearing a kind of robe which Lao explained as a kind of wizard robe which offered higher magical capabilities.

Most people carried weapons. There were swords, knives, spears, bows, and staffs. There were even cases were people were just carrying sledge hammers and makeshift blunt weapons. Guns were rare and not all that useful. Most of their gun supplies were used up and even if it wasn't they wouldn't be that useful. If a stronger monster such as the King of the Forest were to show up then guns would be useless.

However despite how everyone looked ready to fight at any moment, Alilith could see that most of them looked calm and some even had smiles on their faces. They clearly felt safe within the walls of the settlement.

Further in the city Alilith could see larger buildings with people going in and out of them constantly. Lao led Alilith to one of these buildings and entered.

Immediately inside the building was a reception area. Unfortunately there was a line at the reception desk do Alilith and Lao had to wait in line once again. Fortunately this line was much shorter than the one outside the settlement.

Once it was Alilith and Lao's turn the receptionist, a young woman who appeared to be in her early twenties, smiled at them.

"Good afternoon, welcome to the Alberone Settlement Public Hall. How may I help you Ms. fire spirit?" The receptionist said still smiling at them.

"We'd like to get her an ID." Lao said pointing towards Alilith.

"Okay, follow Ms. Smith, who's to the right, to the ID department." The receptionist said pointing towards Ms. Smith.

Lao thanked her and mad Alilith thank her as well. They then followed the supposed Ms. Smith to the ID department. In the ID department there was a simple desk with an orb and a printer next to it.

"Alright welcome to the ID department. Now, before we get an ID for you there are a few things you must know. Assuming this is you first ID, this ID is free for you to have. However if you lose or damage yours then you'll have to pay a fee to replace it." Ms. Smith explains. "To start put your hand on the orb, if your already in the system then you'll have to pay the fee to get a new ID. If not then the orb will record your name, DNA, and magic power signature."

Alilith and Lao nod, indicating to Ms. Smith that she can keep going.

"Alright, put your hand on the orb."

Alilith put her hand on the orb. After waiting a few seconds Alilith felt a small portion of her mana drain away into the orb.

"Okay you're all set. Once your ID prints you can take it and be on your way." Ms. Smith explains.

When the ID printed Lao grabbed it and put it in her bag. When the left the building it was already getting dark.

"Alright, let's find a place to sleep." Lao said while yawning.

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Hey guys! Its me, your probably not favorite inconsistent author.

Sorry once again for being late. Once again I couldn't write cause how much I hate writing on my phone.

I have a computer to use but I'm having problems with it and I need to get another one. But I'll try my best to write. If I don't write one next week I'll definitely write on the week after.

Alright thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!