Desolate World

Around 400 meters in front of him, a great tiger-like monster was feasting on a boar-like monster's carcass. The dark of the night didn't affect his view, rather the thick mist that made it difficult for him to lock it.

Ace took a deep breath and calmed his heartbeat. He, who was squatting on top of a tree, began to raise his right hand and open his palm. He used his left hand to hold his right hand to stabilize it.

He took a breath once more and then a sharp small lump of ice was created in front of his palm instantly. He looked again at the big tiger and aimed at the head of the monster.

'Fire!' Ace said in his heart.

Then, the ice lump accelerated at a very fast velocity. 

*Bam* 

-790

The Tiger's HP had fallen around ⅓ of its total HP. Ace could see a wound was created on the shoulder of the tiger. Made the tiger roar in pain.

*Roar*

'Still not good,' Ace complained in his heart. He had aimed at its head, but the ice bullet's trajectory somehow deviated. He had practiced his long-range attack since came back to the village. But, he still hadn't been satisfied with it. 

He then went to the tiger's location to finish it. The tiger couldn't do much, except for running for its life, as Ace was always attacking from the top of the tree. Another easy battle for Ace. The tiger was down, and Ace got the loot and a bite of experience.

However, he couldn't be happy with it, as 

shooting ice bullets was not as easy as he had thought. Although he was gifted with extraordinary senses, it was not enough to master this skill immediately. He had decided to start his training regimen a few days ago whenever he had time. Because, he realized there were no shortcuts in it.

Although he said it was training, he was there not only to train. In fact, training was not his priority. 

As they were short one race to complete the village building requirements, Ace with his own initiative, once again began his search. After taking a rest for two days, he departed once again to search for the refugees. This evening, he went East to try his luck. He didn't bring anyone else. 

The reason was because he had bats transformation skill. In the misty forest's environment that was always misty, his sight was limited so much, he was no different than other normal humans. But his bats transformation skill solved it. 

Could fly was good, but could detect his surroundings by the bats' sonar was his favorite of this skill. In short, he fell in love with this sonar system. He didn't understand how his brain could handle 20 different kinds of information from 20 bats, but it was so cool. He couldn't get tired of it.

Looking at the time of the system, he had been traveling for 3 hours. Based on the distance he had reached, If he traveled by walking like before, he would need 3 days to reach this point. 3 hours versus 3 days, it was no wonder most people loved to travel by planes before the 3rd world war. 

Then, he recalled his two days in the village. On the first day after he had arrived, with Noah and Kira, he met Aria to discuss the allocation of land for them. 

***

For Noah, it was an easy option. As Phil's people had started the building of their block in the South, he just joined in. The human block would be erected from the West of the Longhouse's area to the South of it. So the South area of the village would completely become their resident area. As for the farmland, they had to consult with other races. So, they needed to wait for them to arrive.

Because the humans' population had multiplied a few times with the arrival of Noah and the rest, Aria decided to clean more areas in the South. And Noah who would be responsible for this project. Noah easily agreed.

Next was about Ace's one-acre land. Ace asked for land near the plaza of the village. As he wanted to build an adventurer guild, and some workshops there. The reason he wanted to choose a location near the plaza was because many vital buildings were built around it. The village hall, auction house, mana pool, market, bank, commercial complex, and many more buildings and facilities would be built there. 

At first, Aria refused Ace's demand. Because she had completed the design of that area. One acre looked not large if you put it in the residential area. But to place it near the plaza, it was another story. Many shops could be built there. It would be impossible to give a large chunk of the golden area to one person.

Then Sofia came. She told Aria that it was her idea. She planned to be the manager of the adventurer guild complex in the future. Besides the adventurer guild, she would build a weapon shop, potion shop, armor shop, restaurant and contract making shop. 

Aria frowned when hearing Sofia's plan. But she couldn't directly rebuke her, as she was one of her few friends. These few weeks, they had worked together and she had a high opinion towards the guardian woman, which made her unable to flatly reject her plan. But as she heard about the contract-making shop, it piqued her curiosity. 

Aria then asked, "What is a contract-making shop?"

Sofia then explained, "A contract-making shop is a place where you can make contacts with other people. Maybe you need to make an agreement with someone about something, but you don't trust him or you just meet him. You can use a contract to force him to do the content of the agreement."

Aria became more confused, "Then what is the difference? He can still break it, can't he?"

Sofia shook her head. She said, "No! Either you and he will be bonded by the rule of the world. No one can violate the agreement, as the law of the world will not allow that. But, you can make clauses that give you a way to not fulfill your responsibility, but you must pay a price by doing so to the other party." 

***