A convoy of trucks with trailers encountered them on the road the next day. All the different professional expeditioners were heading out, with a few returning to the city, their trailers already loaded down.

  As with Pueblo, they decided to bypass Colorado City, driving around the walled city. The walls of this city were older than theirs had been. There were sections of old concrete still visible, where it had been constructed back before they had started using the newer impacted dirt method.

  If they were going to try and make it to Trinidad that day, then they needed to get moving. It was a short trip at only sixty-one miles, but there was a lot they needed to do once they were there. Not to mention, those miles were all over crappy, destroyed roads and terrain. The tires and suspension of the overland RV were built for that sort of thing, and this would be a perfect area for them to discover its everyday limits.

  Would the rig be alright if they drove at a constant thirty miles an hour over semi-rough terrain? What about forty miles an hour? They weren’t talking about its true limits. They weren’t trying to break it. They wanted to know what the RV could handle day in and day out without causing a problem.

  If they could maintain thirty miles an hour, then the trip would take a measly two hours. That was plenty doable in a day, even if they had to go slower. However, it would have larger implications on what they could expect going forward.

  With Lindsay behind the wheel, who had woken up that morning feeling perfectly fine, that was incredibly unlikely. If there was ever anyone who had a need for speed, it was her. The girl had a distinct tendency toward a lead foot.

  Thankfully, Aura was doing much better as well.

  ***

  Nate bit his lower lip as he glared at the energy counter and then the number of dungeons he could still create. He had been playing it somewhat safe lately, taking things slowly, learning more about how everything worked. He had even come up with a new method for how to approach the dungeons.

  Yet, every time he needed to create another dungeon, he found himself hesitating. He hated seeing that creation map. Every time it came up it always made him feel so hopeless. There were so many dimensional zones on Earth, and he was only one person.

  He clicked on the ‘Dungeon Creation’ option and flicked the map a couple of times, sending it spinning about. For this next one, he wanted a location that he truly knew nothing about.

  The map stopped partially over Asia and the ocean. Zooming in, he saw Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, and several other countries. He increased the focus on South Korea, seeing that for such a small country they had a rather alarming number of dimensional zones active there.

  He selected one near the ocean, around where he thought the city of Busan was.

  The cost of creating the Dungeon Core had increased by another ten-thousand energy, making this one three-hundred and seventy-thousand. It hurt to spend that much energy all at once. His main energy earners were all dungeons that he kept dieing in, like the kobold dungeon. Although, the water elemental dungeon that he couldn't even enter did pretty well for itself.

  Then there were the annoying dungeons, the ones filled with insects and rodents. The ant, and rat dungeons, among others, while they had extreme numbers, that was really all they had. Each one of them barely gave any energy for even being inside the place, and their deaths were little better.

  He looked at the remaining energy in the shared pool before shaking his head. What was left was going to be needed during the construction of the actual dungeons. It was better to stop while he was ahead on this one.

  Starting the thirty-eighth Dungeon Core was already pushing his comfort levels.

  Nate had been discreetly working on the dungeon instead of meditating. Now that he had finished with what he wanted to do for the moment, he closed the menus and began meditating for real. Ever since he had properly worked through all the stanzas of the void art, his speed had increased. After finishing that, he had also taken the time to work on his old shadow meditation art as well.

  Anna tapped him on the shoulder a little over an hour and a half later. They were getting close to Trinidad.

  Surprisingly, the ride had been fairly smooth. The road was cracked and pitted, but what Nate had failed to account for was that potholes came from constant use. Without the constant wear and tear on the roads, they had worn down, but at the same time were also in better condition in this part of the state than he had expected. Trinidad experienced fewer temperature swings than where they lived, and that had prevented additional pavement cracking and damage.

  Still, a hundred years of neglect added up.

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  The suspension of the overlander RV and its massive tires did the rest to keep the ride smooth and comfortable for the inhabitants.

  There were jostles here and there, but as long as they kept the speed beneath forty miles an hour, it wasn’t too bad.

  Nate gently nudged Aura to the side from where she was lying, tanning herself with the sunlight from the windshield.

  “I didn’t expect us to make the trip this quickly,” He said, coming up behind Lindsay, and Angie, who was now sitting in the passenger’s seat.

  Anna nodded. “It would have been better if we had taken another day or two to make sure you all were ready. But that is just me being extra sensitive because of last night. You all have been working as a group for months now and know what you are doing. As long as you don’t get in over your head, then you should be fine. The RV was just a little more capable than we had first anticipated is all.”

  “A little?” Lindsay asked with a snort. “Try a lot. This thing is a freaking tank, and I love it.”

  The phrase took Nate by surprise for a moment as he hadn’t even realized that this world had tanks until right then. For the first few years after the dimensional zones appeared, the world had still held itself together for the most part.

  The portals and the invading enemies had been the unifying force for the entire world instead of two world wars. It was during that time that they had lost a lot of their manufacturing ability for planes. From what Anna had told him before, from when she had bought her car. There were companies working to regain what had been lost. However, the extreme noise always drew attention.

  Anytime they attempted actual test flights of any sort, they would be swarmed by animals and monsters who had been drawn to the noise. They continued to make progress, but it was incredibly slow as a result.

  The large overlander RV slowed as the walls of Trinidad came into view. It was noon and there were no other expedition trucks on the road around them. They had the entire place to themselves.

  That said, the guards at the wall would not recognize their vehicle and would undoubtedly stop them for a few questions. Nothing major, just checking who they were and what they were up to. Trinidad wasn’t a city-state, at least no more than any of the places out here were. But caution was always warranted, especially after what had happened to their own city.

  Now that they were next to the city, their phones had a signal again. They each turned their devices on, and they each began dinging and making endless chimes as messages rolled in. Anna called Landon and let him know where they were.

  It took a few minutes for them to get through the wall and the guards that were stationed there. It took some time, but they didn’t have any issues going through it.

  Once they were through, Landon, through Anna, gave them directions on where to meet him.

  He was working with an expedition company, that was doing regular dives into the nearby dimensional zone. Nate had been avoiding this particular zone simply because of how close it was. He didn’t want to do too many in one place, especially in the beginning. People might begin to have suspicions about the location of the creator of all the buildings if he did that.

  It helped that the monsters of this particular dimensional zone were also fairly strong. Any traps he might create wouldn’t be strong enough to hurt most of them, yet. Research would help with that, and he was gradually working his way up to being able to take on stronger enemies by doing that at the other dungeons. It was simply a matter of time.

  They found Landon sitting on the steps of a large building, waiting for them. He jumped to his feet when they drove up and ran toward them.

  “Would you look at this? My little sister is already old enough to leave home and go on her first road trip with friends. She’s graduated high school and has now become a proper hunter. Our little Lin-lin is all grown up.” Landon cried out while wiping away a fake tear.

  Anna kissed his cheek and rolled her eyes.

  “Yeah, laugh it up,” Lindsay muttered as she opened the driver’s door.

  “Oh, that’s not nice, little Lin-lin,” Nate teased. “Your older brother is just looking out for you.”

  Landon chuckled and gave him a fist bump. “Let me grab my car and then I’ll show you to my place.”

  The plan was to stay in the Trinidad area for a couple of days. The company Landon was a part of had volunteered to include them on an expedition trip. Landon and Anna would be the ones mainly in charge of keeping an eye on them. They wouldn’t necessarily be allowed to do anything, but they were still allowed to come.

  It would be up to them to learn whatever they could from the experience, or simply to enjoy being taken along for the ride.

  Angela looked around curiously as they drove through the inner city to Landon’s apartment. With the work her family did, she had been to plenty of other walled cities. However, they all tended to head more inland than the direction they were currently going. The last time she had been to this portion of the state was many years before.

  Landon’s apartment was a clean, first-floor affair. As a professional hunter, he needed a lot of room and access to certain washing and cleaning facilities. Most of his equipment was cleaned by the company at their building. There were always items that they inevitably missed though.

  The apartment itself held racks of polished but chipped and partially broken khopeshs and other armor. Each one was a blade he had wielded at some point in the past, or a set of armor that had saved his life.

  The beasts they were fighting were not exactly soft targets, and it wasn’t uncommon for someone who used blades to go through dozens of them during their career. Just as archers had to continually upgrade their bows, all the other weapons a user could think of had to be upgraded at some point as well.

  Lindsay roamed through each of the rooms, taking quick pictures of the place before her brother could stop her. She was cackling madly as she dashed from place to place, her cell phone in hand.

  “Oh, mom is going to love this shot.” She yelled from the bathroom. “When was the last time you cleaned the sink? And why are your boxers hanging from the shower rack?”

  Landon blushed and ran after her.

  “He really should have expected her to do something like that,” Anna said, wandering over to the fridge and pulling out a jug of cold water. “Their mother is always trying to get him and all the other siblings to send photos of their homes. Lindsay is simply the only one young enough to still get bribed into doing something about it.”

  Nate leaned against the counter with Angie as they enjoyed the show. Over the last few months, he had come to know the Travers better and appreciate their special brand of weird.

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