The mist around the city began to thin.
A figure casually navigated through the city. It was an attitude that contrasted what one would expect from a ruined city.
Spring-Autumn was donned in his newly acquired robe and he had an objective in mind: to find clothes.
It's nice and all to have a cloak that covers the entire body but it's another thing to wear a cloak to hide one's homeless-like appearance.
Spring-Autumn was elevated from the homeless status after showering in the fountain that also contained the dungeon portal. However, his last remaining piece of cloth: his pants were entirely torn up.
He was not against public nudity but sometimes the situation required one to be dressed in a less vulgar way.
As such, he continued to make way to the commercial district in a jolly mood. Coincidentally, the commercial district also housed the aquarium he escaped from.
He was curious about what happened to it even though he already saw what happened through his future vision.
Spring-Autumn quickly arrived at his destination without trying. With all of his stats boosted, everything he did became faster unconsciously. This included the speed of his walking and so on.
The sight he arrived at was unexpected.
The entrance to the underground aquarium was covered by darkness. A familiar blue window hovered above it.
[Dungeon: The Cold Quarters]
"..."
Without saying a word, Spring-Autumn began to take steps away from it. It was a dangerous place that he did not need to go in.
There was a slight movement from the portal to the dungeon and a tentacle poked out.
Spring-Autumn:"???"
It might've been a hallucination on Spring-Autumn's part but in a flash, the tentacle was gone.
What was done was done. Spring-Autumn did the most logical thing and ignored the existence of the entrance to the dungeon and proceeded to his destination.
The commercial district was probably the most modern the city would get. As previously mentioned, the city was one of rich history.
Most of the city consisted of reused old buildings made out of stone. The commercial district was one of the only districts that were built entirely new with new materials.
Spring-Autumn stopped by a frequently visited mall and went to town. Along the way, he discovered a useful feature of his cloak.
It could store items within itself. This was akin to the inside of the cloak being an isolated dimension of its own.
It was indeed a useful item that he had stolen by luck.
In the end, he came out wearing a white dress shirt he would usually wear along with some pants and shoes. Of course, as a smart man, he thought ahead and stored a lot of clothes into his cloak.
Spring-Autumn also wanted to restock on food. When he entered a grocery store, it was practically an overgrown garden. This was because all the food turned into food trees…
Such a thing was not a problem and Spring-Autumn went to town again. Plucking every food flower in sight, he ended up shoving a lot of food into his cloak.
"What a useful little thing you are,"
Spring-Autumn grinned happily and was proud of himself for being smart enough to steal a useful item like this.
As a man of good hygiene, he did not forget to raid and stock up on hygienic products.
Now that he was fully stocked on necessities, he could finally go after his second main goal of coming to the city.
Spring-Autumn entered a bookstore and came out with a map.
"Now, the location that pesky brother of mine gave was around… here?"
"Very good. I can finally get out of this place."
Life was truly easy for those who were rich.
Spring-Autumn made his way to exit the mall, and then the commercial district. Before he took the last step out, he glanced back deeply.
He didn't notice at all that there were no monsters nearby in this district and only realized now when he was leaving. He also figured out the reason.
There were survivors in the commercial district. The leader should be a rather competent [User] to be able to clear out all the monsters.
Of course, such a person could never be compared to the great Spring-Autumn.
Spring-Autumn broke eye contact with the leader of the survivor group who was observing him from the top of a ceiling and proceeded on his way.
Another very convenient function of the [Attribute Cloak] that should be mentioned was the self-cleaning feature.
Now that countless buildings had fallen, there was always dust present in the air. If Spring-Autumn walked around without a cloak, his fresh, pristine white shirt would be dusty in no time. But with a cloak, he was now a clean, hygienic man.
On his way to his destination, he encountered many monsters. Most of them were weak and the strong ones were no longer around. They could be killed with a slash from the [Attribute Cloak].
Finally, Spring-Autumn arrived at his destination.
It was a warehouse. It seemed to be a supplying company that offered storage services at the side. Spring-Autumn gave himself a little tour of the place before arriving at his brother's storage cell.
When he arrived, Spring-Autumn felt strangely empty. Just one more step and he would have the means to get out of this place that was a foreign land to him.
He recalled the memories he had made. Most of them weren't meaningful but the most meaningful ones were made when the apocalypse struck.
The days of him escaping with Blue, finally arriving at the underground base and meeting her smoking hot mother. They were distant memories but at the same time, they were recent memories.
Spring-Autumn unlocked the storage cell. There was a small plane in there which he didn't know the type of. He was not a plane expert. He did not even know how to drive a plane. It was something he would figure out eventually.
He closed the storage cell. He wanted to go to say goodbye. It was unknown whether they would meet again or not after this.
---
In the middle of Hope City.
The Attribute Cloak that was previously keeping monsters inside the dungeon was no longer present. One by one, monsters from the dungeon stepped out.
Hobgoblins, direwolves, cockatrices. They gathered outside the portal one by one, surrounding the fountain.
However, they were unable to go anywhere further. There was a little barrier that obstructed from going to the rest of the city. But they could wait so they waited patiently.
They were wise enough to know that the barrier would soon fade without the Attribute Cloak.