Claya sat in utter silence looking at her left arm that had completely burst into dust before instantly healing. The man she was healing had gotten up and then collapsed again. Her eyes burned from the intense light that had covered the battlefield.

  She looked around and everyone was fine. Even Element, the bear that was bonded to Zuls was completely recovered and hopping around like nothing happened. The monster they were fighting was gone and she had a new achievement for slaying it that gave her a ten percent boost to all her stats.

  People were smiling and laughing. Some were exhausted and could barely get off the ground. They had somehow won, and no one seemed to know how. Moments later the strangers that started all of this stumbled over.

  “So, we won! How did we win? Wait, Element! You’re okay!” Zuls fell into an embrace with the tri-headed bear.

  “I’m not sure either. We were all dead. Turned to dust. And then the light reversed our condition. It came from this man here.” Claya answered to the best of her ability.

  “Vorin’s alive?!” Prith asked and ran over to his friend’s body.

  “He was barely hanging onto life. I could feel a thread of life still within him. He was out of health points, however. That’s what I was doing. I was infusing his body with some of my vitality to kickstart his natural regeneration and then his body took over. It was miraculous. I’ve never seen anything like it. I think he saved us though.”

  “That sounds like our captain!” Zuls helped Prith turn Vorin over and sure enough he was breathing just sleeping.

  “Unfortunately, he couldn’t reverse everything.” Shell looked around in despair as she took in the destruction and loss of life they had faced. She knew the population of both towns had been significantly reduced.

  “I believe we should all retreat to Southern Slate. We need to recover and rebuild. Synexus, you will be indispensable on that effort.” Zuls said.

  “Our town officials died in the attack.” Claya added.

  “The mayor of this town did as well. Sounds like you are now in charge.” Yu had tried to save him during the fight, but leeches piled onto him as he ran for the gate.

  Claya shook her head.

  “No. We will hold an election. However, I will take authority for now.” She stood up on a destroyed home and caught everyone’s attention. “Listen up! This feud between our town is stupid. It was clear something underhanded was going on. I declare it over! Furthermore, Slate will be whole again. We will all live in what was formerly Southern Slate for now while we all join the effort to rebuild then we will connect our two towns and create a special place. We have lost too much already!”

  The crowd cheered as a fresh snow started to fall from above.

  ***

  Synexus looked out at the town he had helped rebuild over the last two months. His Instant Repair skill got a workout, but it couldn’t fix everything. Homes needed to be completely rebuilt from the ground up.

  He looked over at Kumo as they prepared to finally put Slate behind them and head back up to the mountain pass. Winter was coming to an end, and he could tell it would be an early spring.

  Kumo smiled back at him, and he caught the gleam of the sun off her upgraded bracers.

  Following the battle several notifications had filled their screens.

  Progress Garden has leveled up!

  Progress Garden has leveled up!

  Progress Garden has leveled up!

  You are now level 26!

  For slaying another mythical Ullashtt, your achievement Ullashtt Ender has evolved to Ullashtt Hunter!

  Ullashtt Hunter: You bested another of these massive, fabled beasts taking some of their vast power for yourself. +20% to all stats.

  Amulet of the Devoured has been upgraded!

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  Amulet of the Devoured(legendary): Ullashtt items choose who to bind with. Bound to Synexus. This amulet cannot be destroyed or removed except by the bound. Effects remain if not on the body. The amulet yearns for magical items. Feeding the amulet will allow it to convert residual magic into stat points. You can now choose where to allocate the points.

  The amulet’s hunger continues to grow. It will now feed on powerful skills used against the bound. This will only occur once every 40 days and will grant the bound stat points according to the power of the skill absorbed.

  Potential locked, level up to unlock.

  Warning: This item is much too powerful for you. If its ability is not used within 8 years then it will turn against the bound. The amulet will take health points from you at the rate of 1 point every hour until it is fed.

  His achievement was now giving him even more points and his amulet upgraded to allow him to choose where he put his points. He would kind of miss the random allocation since it felt a bit like a game each day when he fed it, but this way he could do a better job at controlling his stat growth.

  The amulet had also grown in potential allowing him to absorb a powerful skill used against him once every 40 days. He hadn’t tried it yet and hoped he wouldn’t have too anytime soon.

  Due to the amulet gaining more potential the drawback had extended to eight years which was an outrageous amount of time. He doubted he would ever feel the effects of the drawbacks unless someone imprisoned him somehow for that amount of time.

  Kumo had also had the same upgrade to her achievement, and her bracers had gotten an upgrade as well. She shared it with him immediately to brag a little bit before she realized he had also gotten an upgrade.

  Bracers of the Unrelenting Storm (legendary): Ullashtt items choose who to bind with. Bound to Kumo. These bracers cannot be destroyed or removed except by the bound. Effects remain if not on the body. These bracers refuse to let their prey escape. Creates a vortex of air that drags foes in. You may now choose to stop the bracers, however, the use of the bracers will only count if a foe is slain within the vortex.

  The power of the gale has grown within the bracers. They will now deliver deadly bolts of lightning to any enemy trapped within the vortex. Each bolt with take 10% of your mana.

  Potential locked, level up to unlock.

  Warning: This item is much too powerful for you. If its ability is not used within 8 years, the bracers will turn against the bound. These bracers will start to slowly suck the air from your lungs. You will be in a constant state of suffocation until you die or until the vortex is released on an enemy.

  She was happy with the direction they chose to upgrade in because it added in more of her storm abilities. Deadly lightning bolts were something she was all about.

  Kumo and Synexus weren’t the only ones that had received something from the battle. Every single class chosen involved had been given the base Ullashtt Ender achievement which was already huge. In addition, Shell had received her own Ullashtt item. One of the citizens who had joined the assault had also been granted one to everyone’s surprise. Shell’s item was certainly interesting.

  Cleansing Raindrops (Legendary): Ullashtt items choose who to bind with. Bound to Shell. These earrings cannot be destroyed or removed except by the bound. Effects remain if not on the body. These raindrop earrings were made from filth and cleansed through death. When activated a cleansing rain will cover a substantial area washing away negative effects such as auras, debuffs, and illness. The rain will not cleanse the bound.

  Potential locked, level up to unlock.

  Potential locked, level up to unlock.

  Warning: This item is much too powerful for you. If its ability is not used within 25 months, the earrings will turn against the bound. The earrings will perpetually fill the lungs with water until they are used.

  Shell ended up trying the ability out almost immediately and it rained for days except no one felt cold or sad in the rain. Each drop brought renewal and cleanliness. People danced outside the whole time. Elderly citizens of Slate said they felt like they were twenty years old again when benefiting from the effects of the raindrops. Shell joined everyone outside and played her music, so everyone had something to dance to.

  Zuls and Prith checked on Vorin every day until he woke up which ended up being two weeks after the battle. He explained what happened within his mind and how his body reacted once a single health point was transferred to him from Claya. Everyone sat around listening to his tale and were grateful that he had saved everyone. The citizens threw him a party in celebration.

  When everything quieted down and he got a moment alone he went through with his level 50 class evolution and naturally stuck with his path by choosing the Mythical Plague Doctor class which he unlocked for taking down Plague himself. It gave him quite the boost to his stats per level and his natural health regeneration was even more ridiculous. A few new skills came with the class like the ability to create plague clones of himself that can infect his enemies and the ability to cure plagues at a distance for when his Dawn of the Plague Doctor skill is on cooldown. Overall, he was amazed by his gains even though a tragedy had to occur for him to break through the level wall.

  Once he was up and ready, they made the final push to help the town anyway they could. The citizens of Slate elected Claya to lead them officially and they had built new buildings and walls that now connected the two towns through the tunnel in the mountains. It was clear they had gone into a new era and would thrive even if the era started with a funeral to remember everyone they had lost in the attack.

  With the town prospering and the party healed up, it was time for them to leave and get back to their mission of taking Yu home. The detour had added nearly two months to their trip, but it was worth it to see the smiles on the faces of those who call Slate their home.