Return of the last survivor

Chapter 97: The Fortress Nation of Cayden

Back in Earth's Dimension, the Nation of Cayden had grown immeasurably over the past year. From being the size of a city, to now covering 100,000 square km in size.

As news of the nation's establishment spread, more and more people chose to move to this place, since it was better than the groups they had been living in so far.

There was even news of strong Tier 2 beings travelling across the Atlantic ocean relying on their powers. Naturally, those who had taken over the respective vehicles to travel across the ocean did not bother relocating their entire bases for a possible increase in safety.

Why would they want to give control over the organisations they had built over the course of 2 whole years through sweat and blood, to someone else?

Naturally, most organisation along the East-coast decided it was better to shift to the nation of Cayden. This had caused a huge explosion in terms of residents, causing the nation to expand its borders.

Of course, they would not slack off, and had built incredibly tall and sturdy walls, with runes carves across them to block attacks from even peak Tier 2 beings.

That was the limit of materials available before the second mana burst.

With the incredible number of walled sections within the nation, Cayden slowly became known as 'The Fortress Nation of Cayden'.

Life in here was more or less peaceful. Naturally, the rule that Merlin had first created back when the place was called Merlin Sanctum, "Each person who signs up for Cayden's Army will be allowed up to 2 family members. This quota cannot be resold."

The definitions had changed, but it was more or less the same.

Cayden's army was divided into a few parts. First was the lower levels who were the normal Tier 1 soldiers. Anyone below Tier 1 was not allowed to fight, since Tier 2 monsters were incredibly common now a days.

Next came the Tier 2s who formed the mid-level army members. All of these people wore the blue colour of Cayden as their uniform with the Flag of Cayden on their uniform.

Cayden's flag was rather simple. I showed the founding of the nation. There was a small mountain of zombie corpses, and atop that, there was one person. Merlin with his right hand balled into a fist and raised up into the air.

This was the symbol of the founding of the proud nation of Cayden, 'Atop the corpses of our enemies, we prevailed, and we will prevail.' This was the symbol of hope for all the army members below the upper echelons and the normal citizens.

Next came the peak Tier 2 upper echelons. They consisted of two groups of people. One were those who had joined the nation after it was formed, or had grown stronger and become peak Tier 2, after the nation was created. These people also swore loyalty to the nation as per the constitution. By extension, they had sworn loyalty to the leader of Cayden, Merlin Ross.

The other section of the upper echelons were the ones who were completely loyal to Merlin. They wore the original Black uniform with Merlin's signature Elemental Storm stitched into the fabric.

Unlike last time, there were no revolutionary armies or rebellions formed. This was possible due to a number of factors, including the fact that Phillip, the central AI of Cayden, had reached the peak of Tier 2, and his some of his children had also reached Tier 2. This was a tremendous force, considering they could effectively take control of everything connected to their system if need be.

Another factor was that the part of the upper echelons loyal to Merlin was incredibly large. Nearly 70% of the upper echelons consisted of these people, and the other 30% did not wish to cause unnecessary trouble.

The had all heard about the strength of Merlin, and how he had leaped across the boundary to Tier 2 before the mana burst. They all thought he was some sort of freak to be able to ignore the laws of the world, and continue levelling up despite being restricted by the world. Furthermore, they had also heard of how he was basically invincible in the same Tier, and more importantly, the fates of those who had opposed him the last time he had gone out of commission.

Things were rather peaceful in Cayden, when suddenly, the space in the sky rippled.