Atlas started his search of the guardroom, soon stumbling upon some cans of food, a timely reminder as his stomach grumbled. Exploring further, he located a stove in a small kitchen area and approached it, scanning for a means to ignite it.
After tinkering with it for a bit, he stumbled upon a button that unexpectedly drained mana from his body, catching him off guard. With the stove finally ignited, Atlas retrieved the peculiar food he stumbled upon – beans that appeared green and emitted a sweet aroma upon opening the can.
Scanning the surroundings, he spotted a pot conveniently placed on the nearby counter, presumably cleaned before the city's downfall. Drawing from his upbringing in the orphanage, Atlas possessed the cooking know-how, a skill Pamela had taught him.
Dumping the contents of the can into the pot, he allowed the beans to simmer while he checked his remaining mana before his status.
[Mana: 195/554]
'Damn, I used a lot of mana to fight those Ghouls, but the experience I gained makes it worth it,' Atlas thought while shivering while remembering the creature's howls.
Atlas checked on his beans and realized he still had a few minutes, which allowed him to check his status.
[Level Up: 1→3]
[Experience: 300/1000]
[Experience Gained: 2000]
[Health: 72→76]
[Mana: 554→570]
[Strength: 72→76]
[Stamina: 72→77]
[Intelligence: 72→75]
[Core Points: 850→2050]
[Core Points Gained: 1200]
'Oh nice, I leveled up once and got a small boost in my Attributes,' he mused before checking his race information.
[Voidborn: A mysterious being that originates from the depths of the void, possessing incomprehensible powers that haven't been seen in thousands of years]
[Voidwalker: Has access to the void, which is the primordial element in the universe, as everything was born from it]
Atlas's eyes widened, and his breath caught as he read the description. The reality of his new abilities began to sink in, but he soon stopped thinking about it as the green beans were finally cooked.
He turned off the stove while grabbing a dusty bowl, which prevented him from dishing up his dinner. Atlas looked around, spotted a sink off to one side, and approached it before looking for the mana port.
Just like the stove, there was a little hole that he placed his thumb in and sent some mana into it. Soon, the water started to run, allowing him to clean the bowl and utensils before dishing up his food.
Atlas sat at the table where his loot was and started eating while counting his collected coins. He shoveled some green beans into his mouth, savoring the taste as it burst on his tongue.
The simple dish tasted delicious to his starving self. While eating, he reached for the small pouch. Pouring the contents onto the table, he began counting. One by one, Atlas stacked the silver neatly in one pile and the copper in another.
"113 silver," he muttered, his fingers moving across the table. "And 50 copper."
He recalled from the old Atlas's memories that 100 copper coins equaled 1 silver coin, 100 silver equaled 1 gold coin, and 1000 gold equaled 1 platinum coin. Moreover, he knew a 1000 platinum coins would equal 1 rare and elusive star coin.
After counting everything Atlas looted from the corpses, he put them all into a pouch, including the ones he found earlier. Once they were sorted, he started eating the beans until he was full and realized he needed a drink.
He grabbed a dusty cup from the counter and cleaned it before filling it to the rim. After that, he sat down, and in a single gulp, he drained its contents, a surge of refreshment coursing through him.
Once Atlas couldn't eat any more food or drink water, he checked the officer's chambers to see if he could find a bigger bag to carry his loot in. When stepping into the room, he noticed it was well-maintained and looked fancy.
Gazing around, he spotted a few things that would be useful to him: a map, a cloak, and a satchel hanging up on one of the walls. Atlas closed the door behind him before walking over to the bag.
Atlas pulled it off the hook and placed it on the officer's bed before going through it. He pulled out loads of men's clothes and other stuff, which confused him as there wasn't enough room in the bag for all of it.
While staring at it, he decided to use Void Sight on it, which revealed its purpose.
[Space Bag]
[Rank: Common]
[Level: 3]
[A Basic Morozov Space Bag that can carry up to 50kg worth of stuff without hindering the user]
'Oh, a magic bag,' he mused with a smile. 'This will come in handy.'
After getting over the excitement, Atlas took out the 26 Monster Cores he'd collected up until now and stored them in the bag alongside his Battle Staff until he left the guard tower.
Once the cores were sorted, he walked over to the cloak and examined it.
[Enchanted Winter Cloak]
[Rank: Rare]
[Level: 2]
[Keeps user warm during the Frostwinter months - Resizes itself to the wearer]
'Interesting,' Atlas thought while putting on the cloak that was way too big for him, but as soon as he clipped it onto himself, it resized itself to fit perfectly, and it could wrap it around himself, which acted like a blanket.
After checking out the cloak, Atlas approached the map that was spread out on the desk, and what he saw amazed him. Echo Isle was connected to the Frostmark Kingdom by a small strip of land covered by a monster-filled forest.
'I wonder why the Frostmark people haven't settled on the island,' Atlas shrugged before rolling up the map and putting it in the space bag.
Once the map and cores were stored, he slung the bag around his shoulders and tightened it before looking around the room. Atlas spotted nothing apart from a large cabinet in one of the room's corners and approached it.
He noticed it was locked, so he cast a Void Bullet at it without thinking, causing a loud explosion to ripple through the room and hurting his ears. Atlas held his ears until the ringing stopped, but he criticized himself for being stupid.
As the dust cleared, Atlas realized the cabinet was open, revealing hundreds of small round bottles full of colorful liquid. He picked up one while noticing it was a dull red and glowed when the light hit it.
Atlas used his Void Sight and scanned the liquid.
[Minor Health Potion: Restores 40 Health Points per potion]
Curious, he picked up the four other bottles with different colored liquid inside. Atlas scanned the second red one he held. This one was more vibrant, and the red was more of a ruby red instead of dull, like the first one.
[High Health Potion: Restores 80 Health Points per potion]
Aftward, he scanned the blue one, guessing it was a mana potion.
[Minor Mana Potion: Restores 100 Mana per potion]
A darker blue one followed this.
[High Mana Potion: Restore 250 Mana per potion]
Atlas was getting excited as he found a stack of potions, but he calmed down and continued scanning a green one he picked up.
[Minor Stamina Potion: Restores 100 Stamina per potion]
Once he had looked at all the potions, Atlas grinned before opening his space bag and scooping them into it, leaving plenty of room. He quickly had over a thousand, which he guessed were the city guard's stockpile, but they didn't need them anymore.
'Atleast I can heal myself from now on.'
After that, Atlas continued to search the room and found some books that caught his interest. He took five of them: 'The History Of Valoria' and 'Thalassia's Founding: Valoria's Last World War.'
He stored them in his bag before looking at the other four, 'Monster Compendium,' 'Dungeon Diving: A Beginners Guide To Dungeons,' 'The Valoria System: A Need To Know Guide' and 'Legends Of Astoria: Stories and Tales Lost To Time.'
'Interesting,' Atlas internally mused. 'These will come in handy.'
Atlas found a pouch with 20 silver and 2 gold, which excited him, but he threw them in his space bag before walking back into the guardroom, where something felt off. He quickly took out his Battle Staff and readied himself.
'What the hell is here now!'
But upon glancing around, he found nothing alarming, finally allowing himself to relax. Walking toward the nearest window, he gazed outside and noticed the sun still high in the sky.
Seeing this, Atlas decided to spend the night in the guard tower after looking for anything useful. After searching for ten minutes, he found a cold box the size of an American refrigerator.
'Please say there's food inside.'
Atlas opened it and saw a treasure trove of food—all kinds. There were loaves of bread, cheese, meats, and strange-looking vegetables. He selected several, including ones that resembled carrots, tomatoes, and potatoes, to scan them.
[Emberroot]
[Crimson Sunfruit]
[Earthspud]
'Strange names,' Atlas thought before loading all the food into his bag and deciding to find some clothes in the city.
Atlas finished with the food and left the guard tower to loot anything valuable. Outside and walking through the streets, he noticed the planners had built most of the city from dark-colored wood, but there were some stone buildings here and there.
'It reminds me of a medieval city mixed with the ones from a fantasy novel,' he thought while scanning the street.
It looked ruined, with fires still burning and corpses littering the streets. The scene made him want to throw up, but Atlas controlled it before he started walking down the main street and looted any bodies he found.