Investing in My Harem in the Apocalypse Makes Me Stronger

What had begun as more than a thousand Blood Crystals had grown into several thousand by the time Cain looked over the piles again.

He briefly checked the System countdown floating at the corner of his vision.

There was still enough time, so after releasing a slow breath, he placed both hands above the nearest batch and resumed the purification.

Dark-gray energy spread across the nearest Blood Crystals.

The dark-red surfaces reacted as contamination began emerging from deep inside them.

Cain handled entire sections at once.

The process moved faster than any of his previous purification attempts.

His improved control allowed him to divide True Ruin across hundreds of separate crystals, removing the contamination without disturbing the concentrated blood essence stored inside.

More purified crystals accumulated beside him.

People gathering loot had already begun running out of Cores to bring back, but Blood Crystals continued arriving from deeper storage areas.

Cain eventually stopped paying attention to the exact number as he simply purified whatever appeared in front of him.

Twenty minutes passed.

The pressure building inside his head gradually became difficult to ignore.

Cain purified another large section before pausing for several seconds, yet instead of stopping, he moved directly toward the next batch.

The pressure in his head worsened.

Cain’s breathing gradually grew heavier.

He could have forced himself farther, but doing so would eventually become stupid.

The moment his control slipped, True Ruin could destroy entire batches of resources.

Cain finally withdrew his hands.

“Haaah…”

He leaned backward and remained seated for a moment before deciding that sitting required too much effort.

Cain lay directly on the ground.

Several people nearby glanced toward him.

Cain ignored them as he opened his Inventory and took out a cold fizzy drink along with a sandwich.

The can released a sharp hiss when he opened it.

Cain drank nearly half before taking a bite of the sandwich.

The combination had absolutely nothing to do with proper recovery, but he did not care.

At that moment, it tasted better than anything he remembered eating during the past breaks.

Elara walked past with another box of Blood Crystals and looked down at him.

“You look terrible.”

“Don’t worry, I feel great.”

Elara looked at his exhausted face and then at the untouched half of the sandwich resting against his chest.

“You look like you’re about to pass out.”

Cain raised the fizzy drink slightly.

“I’m still conscious, so I think I’m doing fine.”

Elara stared at him for another moment as if considering whether it was worth arguing.

Eventually, she shook her head and continued toward the resource pile.

Cain rested for several minutes.

The pressure inside his head gradually eased.

His Mana had barely been depleted compared to its enormous reserve, which made the situation somewhat irritating.

He possessed more than enough power to continue, yet his mind could only divide its attention so far before precision started deteriorating.

Cain finished the sandwich before standing again.

“Alright.”

He returned to the Blood Crystals.

The purification resumed.

By now, the Zombie Cores had all been harvested from the corpses throughout the Central Base.

Blood Crystals were different.

The Zombie Race had stored them inside buildings across the fortress, and groups continued finding additional boxes hidden inside supply rooms.

Cain no longer attempted to purify everything that appeared.

He simply worked through as much as he reasonably could before transportation.

The System countdown steadily decreased.

When only ten minutes remained, Cain finally stopped.

There were still unpurified Blood Crystals left.

A lot of them.

Cain looked toward the countdown before standing and stretching his stiff shoulders.

“That’s enough.”

He called for the leaders of the other major groups.

Mo Xuanye arrived first with Tang Ziyue following a short distance behind, although she remained outside the discussion.

Aurelia approached soon afterward.

Viktor came from the northern group’s position after giving several instructions to his people.

The four gathered near the central plaza.

Cain did not waste time as he immediately opened the conversation.

“We need to talk about what happens after this.”

Viktor crossed his arms.

“You mean after we return to our world?”

“Not really, because there’s something much more important that we can’t ignore.”

Cain glanced between the three of them before continuing.

“The Main World.”

The atmosphere changed.

None of them treated that subject casually.

Everything they knew about the Main World had come from Serath, and even the limited information he provided was enough to reveal how badly Earth was lacking.

Their world had awakened without guidance.

They possessed no established force waiting for them outside Earth, and nobody from the Main World had any reason to protect them once they eventually became connected to it.

Cain continued.

“We don’t know when our world will properly connect to the Main World, but eventually it will happen.”

Mo Xuanye nodded slightly.

“Serath was clear enough about that.”

Cain looked toward the remaining ruins of the Central Base.

“We barely survived one prince from the Zombie Race. I don’t want to imagine how many people like him exist in the Main World.”

Nobody disagreed as they knew that Serath was truly monstrous by Earth’s current standards.

Yet he was still only the youngest prince of one race.

That alone told them enough.

Cain returned his attention to the three leaders.

“That’s why splitting up after reaching the Main World would be stupid.”

Aurelia understood his intention first.

“You want our groups to continue cooperating.”

“At least when we enter the Main World.” Cain nodded, then continued. “We have no backing there. No one knows our world, and nobody owes us anything. Staying together gives us a much better chance than wandering into that place separately.”

Viktor remained silent for several seconds before nodding.

“I agree.”

Mo Xuanye showed no objection either.

“If the Main World is as dangerous as Serath implied, creating unnecessary divisions among ourselves before understanding it would serve no purpose.”

Aurelia gave a small nod.

“My group will cooperate.”

Cain was satisfied with the answers.

He had not expected the discussion to become difficult as they had already fought together against something that could have destroyed their world.

None of them were foolish enough to ruin that relationship over pride when a much greater threat waited somewhere beyond Earth.

Cain then brought up another problem they would eventually have to face.

“There’s another problem. We also don’t know where the System will send us when we eventually enter the Main World.”

Viktor frowned slightly.

“You think we’ll be separated?”

“Most likely.” Cain shrugged. “The Main World is supposed to be enormous, and all of us come from different groups and regions in our own world. I wouldn’t count on the System conveniently dropping everyone in the same place.”

Aurelia thought for a moment before asking, “Then how do we regroup if we’re scattered?”

“That’s what we should decide now.”

Cain glanced between the three of them.

“If our groups appear in different regions, the first thing everyone should do is find the largest city in whatever region they end up in.”

Mo Xuanye immediately understood where Cain was going with this.

Cain continued, “A large city should be the easiest place to gather information. We can learn more about the region, figure out where we actually are, and find out which city is considered the largest or most important one in the Main World.”

They currently knew far too little about the Main World to choose an exact meeting place.

Serath had only given them a general understanding of what awaited humanity there, so naming some city none of them had even heard of would be pointless.

What they needed was a method that would still work even if the System scattered them across distant regions.

“Once we know enough,” Cain continued, “we gradually move toward that largest city. It doesn’t matter if it takes months or even longer. As long as everyone follows the same route of heading from their region toward the most important city we can identify, we’ll eventually have a place where all of us can regroup.”

Viktor thought about it briefly before nodding.

“Simple enough.”

“It also gives every group time to understand the Main World before traveling too far,” Aurelia added.

Cain nodded.

That was another reason he preferred this method.

Entering an unknown world and immediately rushing across unfamiliar territory would be stupid, especially when they knew nothing about its factions, races, or dangers.

Mo Xuanye folded his arms.

“Then it’s decided. Wherever we appear, we first establish ourselves in the largest nearby city, gather information, and eventually make our way toward the largest city we can identify.”

“Exactly.” Cain nodded with a faint smile.

“We might get separated when we enter that place, but that doesn’t mean we have to stay separated.”

The others gave small nods in agreement.

With that settled, Cain’s thoughts moved toward another problem that had been bothering him ever since Serath revealed how much attention the Universal Announcement had attracted.

Compared to deciding where they would regroup in the Main World, this issue was far more personal, yet Cain knew it could eventually affect everyone standing around him if he handled it carelessly.

His expression became noticeably more serious.

“And another thing.”

The others looked toward him.

“Don’t spread anything about Heavenly Dragon.”

Mo Xuanye immediately understood.

Aurelia’s expression changed slightly as she remembered Serath’s explanation about the Universal Announcement.

Cain continued as he looked at everyone.

“As you already know, the whole Universe knows that title now.”

He pointed toward himself.

“But most of them shouldn’t know exactly who I am.”