26 The Aftermath
Around two kilometers outside the southern wall of the Lonewind City, a lone figure could be seen seemingly gliding through the wind.
It's the same man that Aldrin saw earlier.
At the moment, a faint green wisp of energy could be seen covering his whole person.
With this, there's no doubt that he's an Energy Refiner. And not just a novice Energy Refiner like Aldrin or Renissa. He was an experienced Energy Refiner that already traveled around the planet, working as a mercenary for someone other than the existing government in the Planet Dualmoon.
After a while, the man stopped in place when a huge shadow loomed above him.
At first, nothing could be seen except feeling the raging winds and hearing the faint sound of the engine and turbines that was totally subdued.
A few seconds later, a silver jet gradually appeared with its cloaking mechanism deactivated.
The figure from below didn't hesitate as a green burst of energy shot from his feet, propelling him upwards.
As soon as he reached the height of the silver jet, its door opened and he changed trajectory to hop inside.
The cloaking activated again before the silver jet quickly flew away from the Lonewind City.
"Have you recorded the entire process?"
Once he settled down on one of the seats inside the silver jet, the man in a suit next to him asked.
"Here." He threw a recorder device in the shape of a pen towards the man in the suit which the man instantly checked with one of his devices.
"Alright. This is great enough. Hide yourself for a while until this incident passes. You're most likely recorded in that city's non-citizen Energy Refiner list." The man in a suit nodded and instructed him. "Even if you took care of eyewitnesses and left no evidence, it's always not a bad idea to add another layer of protection.
Following that, silence ensued.
However, inside the man in civilian clothing's mind, something was bothering him and it's not the fact that he was ordered to lay low. 'There's someone there. Whether he heard me or not was unclear. He might be an Energy Refiner but he's probably a newly-awakened that the fluctuation of Dimensional Energy around him was too weak. If not for that showoff mayor arriving, I will not be this bothered. He better not hear anything or...'
As his thoughts trailed, a sinister smile flashed on his lips. '... I might need to take a trip back in the future.'
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After recording and living through that predicament thanks to the arrival of the City Hall Mayor who was riding his flashy Metadome along with the famous Windblades, Aldrin changed his plan of watching the entire process of closing the Dimensional Rift.
If he could be real for a moment, the man he encountered could easily kill him. Not just because of his inexperience but because of the eerie fluctuation of Dimensional Energy being emitted by him.
It's totally different from what he felt from Renissa that was still somewhat gentle despite having icy properties. Or in other words, weaker than from that man.
Because the plasma train was down for this part of the city and the seats from the rescue vehicles were better used for those who truly needed it, Aldrin, amidst corpses and destruction left behind by both Metadomes and Rift Monsters, took a few hours of walking to reach the border between the Southern and Central district that had its peripheral walls raised.
While on the way there, Aldrin was notified through the vibration of his phone that the IDLE Database or specifically, the Idle Adventure resumed its operation as soon as he reached a certain distance away from the Dimensional Rift.
When he checked what changed to it now that he awakened as an Energy Refiner... the difficulty of the insects experienced a change. The Worker Ants remained as Easy Difficulty but the Caterpillar and the patrolling Soldier Ants dropped to Easy and Normal Difficulty respectively.
As for the higher leveled Ants, his Dimensional Clones failed to find one of those during the duration he was checking it.
After reaching the Central District wall and was about to gain entry the same as the many evacuees who couldn't wait for rescue vehicles, he was actually detected as an Energy Refiner by the guards stationed in it.
Due to that, he was given quick passage while some of the soldiers tried to befriend him, perhaps for a favor from an Energy Refiner.
An Energy Refiner always had a special standing in this new era. They're the ones most responsible for closing the Dimensional Rifts so they were given some special treatments.
Fortunately, nobody checked if he was registered to the Refiner's Association, otherwise, it would bring him some trouble like... he might be mistaken for an undocumented Energy Refiner that was often linked to terrorist organizations.
He could resolve it by telling the truth about him being recently awakened but... it would still take him some time to leave. Checking those who were with him earlier and his family that was also evacuated towards the neighboring Eastern District would surely be delayed.
He walked through the busy streets of the Central District where people were all sorrowful towards what happened in the Southern District as well as the damage that spread towards the neighboring Southeastern and Southwestern Districts.
Up above the sky, the same projection that was showing the face of a reporter as she delivered updates from the frontlines could be seen.
[It is a grave day for the Southern District. A Dimensional Rift appearing right in the middle of the city is something we all did not expect...]
No matter how grave the news was, it was the job of the Communications Department to deliver it to the residents of the Lonewind City.
Although people were already given joyful news about the opened Dimensional Rift successfully closed, complete with some of the footage where the Mayor himself was fighting against the Rift Monsters, the mood of the whole city remained forlorn.
According to the current official tally of the casualties, the number of dead residents of the Southern District alone is as high as 50,000 people. Among those 50,000 casualties, there were at least 10 Energy Refiners that fought bravely against the Rift Monsters and 200 Soldiers from the City Hall Guards who responded to their duty.
Through the footage shown that caught the battlefield along with the people fighting in it, Aldrin caught sight of Renissa's Metadome along with her co-workers from the Frostland Corporation.
And as he expected, they were labeled as part of the City Hall Guards.
Since he didn't have her contact, Aldrin first checked on Bert, Alisa and their other classmates who were now in one of the prepared evacuation centers in the Central District.
After knowing they're alright and relaying to them that he was still alive, Aldrin asked Bert for Renissa's contact to also check on her.
When he connected to Renissa via call, she told Aldrin that she had already returned to her corporation's branch headquarters in Lonewind City.
As it turned out, the woman was also trying to contact him but it passed her mind to ask Bert for his contact when she also checked on them earlier.
In any case, Renissa told him to meet her tomorrow. Before she leaves for the Primary City where a Refiner's Academy was located.
As thanks for his help, she thought of treating him, sharing her experience as an Energy Refiner as well as accompanying him to the Refiner's Association to register himself as one.
Renissa also mentioned giving him his share for that one Rift Monster they killed together. Although it was only supposed to be a small sum, she wouldn't forget his contribution.
If Aldrin thought that she saved them, Renissa was also thinking the same thing. If not for Aldrin, she would probably be injured and unfit to operate the Metadome or worse, dead against the second Rift Monster that appeared.
After agreeing and setting that meeting with her, Aldrin's feet turned towards the Central District's Plasma Train Station.
'It's better to check on them personally than only calling them... Besides, it's been a while since I answered any of their calls or rather, I hadn't answered them at all.' Aldrin thought as he went to board the train towards the Eastern District.
As Aldrin expected, most of the passengers could be seen gloomy. Such was the mood created by the unprecedented disaster of a Dimensional Rift opening and killing numerous lives.
He quickly found a corner to sit in before the train started moving.
With his phone in his hand, Aldrin watched the progress made by his Dimensional Clones while waiting for the train to arrive at his destination.
RING!
However, halfway through it, his phone lit up to show an incoming phone call... and upon seeing the name registered on it, Aldrin deliberated whether to answer or not.
After a few seconds of deliberation, Aldrin inhaled deeply before picking it up.
As soon as he put the phone next to his ears, the nostalgic voice of someone he hadn't seen or heard for more than 2 years entered his ears. "You finally had the guts to answer your phone, huh? Idiot brother."
