"That’s forty-seven more storage devices for us to loot," Elena’s tone was filled with a weird mixture of greed and excitent. The prospect of such a massive haul was intoxicating.
"I can’t wait to see what all these items are used for! I can empty those useless, charcoal-tasted materials they call rations and replace them with well-cooked, delicious at from the blue cattle. As for their water flasks, we can fill them with river water..."
She kept speaking about her plans for the items John had opened before. Many were special storage cubes specifically designed for preserving cooked food, and dozens of flasks for water that were, for the most part, empty.
None of the other four was particularly interested in any of what she was talking about. Their minds were fixed on other matters—military matters.
"We need to see if there are enough of those defensive walls and mighty towers in there," Ricky said, ignoring Elena’s talk of food storage and jumping directly to what mattered. "We’ll end up with one hundred storage devices if we find the rest in the fog. That should be enough to build up a strong, sturdy wall around a decent-sized area, right?"
"I counted thirty wall pieces so far," Cissel added, her brow furrowed as she recalculated the loot in her head.
"Or perhaps more; I don’t rember exactly the count. But anyway, my point is, having thirty pieces from just a handful of storage devices ans that once we crack all one hundred, we’ll have enough to build a fortress surrounding a good area of our base."
"Not enough," John interrupted.
"What’s not enough, exactly?" Luke asked in confusion, recalling the massive, fierce-looking defensive tower currently sitting in John’s inventory.
"I say any piece of land surrounded by tough walls and tall towers is way more than enough for . It’s way safer than sleeping in the wide-open world like how we used to! Just imagine another group of those giants moved at night and surprised us in the middle of our sleep! We need to make preparations!"
John moved his eyes among his friends, realising they had missed his larger point. They were thinking about building a small cage for themselves, while he was thinking how to fortify the entire base area and even the entire area he ruled with sturdy defences. He decided to show them with proof.
"Hey, Lanmar, co here for a sec!" John called out. He didn’t even turn his head, but his voice carried the weight of the master-bond.
Lanmar, who had been trudging along at the back of the line, wanted to curse. He wanted to spit at the ground and demand his freedom. But the mont John’s voice reached his ears, his body betrayed his pride. He instantly picked up his pace and caught up to the front.
"What do you want?" he asked. He tried to sound defiant, but his tone lacked the arrogant edge of his past self. Any ti he was close to John, he was forced to speak obediently and act with respect, as if the human were a high-ranking Bulltor general.
"You said that races who have controlled at least one area in this cursed world gain access to a portal and can purchase items to prepare for the trials, like the things we found in your storage devices, right?"
"Sure," Lanmar nodded. This was common knowledge among the competing races, and he already ntioned it before. "We buy them using Source Code World coins—a currency we gain from conquering the areas."
"Wait," Elena interrupted, her curiosity piqued. "How co you have the currency if you haven’t successfully entered and conquered this world yet? You said this was your first ti in this trial."
"Ah, about that," Lanmar recalled the gruelling hell he had gone through back in his ho world to secure enough coins to get what he wanted. "The ones who did conquer an area in previous trials would eventually return to our world. They bring back these coins and sell them at astronomical prices.
Most of them wouldn’t ask for our world’s riches like gold or jewels; they ask for rare gears, exotic ores, or even the signing of a contract of affiliation. They make us belong to their faction in the new world—the world that will be ford after all the trials conclude."
Per habit, and under the irresistible force of the contract, Lanmar kept speaking for a long ti, giving examples of how those who had survived the Source Code World traded coins mostly for growing their influence. n like Lanmar had no choice but to do their best to get as many coins as they could before entering, just to have a fighting chance.
"So," John appreciated the depth of these stories. They revealed a chilling fact: these races had developed a complete ecosystem revolving around the apocalyptic world and the trials. "Any race, like yours, cos here loaded with lots of useful stuff, right? You aren’t the only ones coming with a full inventory."
"Sure," Lanmar nodded, still not grasping where John’s questions were heading. John’s friends were equally puzzled. They thought he wanted to know more about how the Bulltors gained the items, so perhaps they could crack a way to get them too. Yet what John said next made all four of them freeze, their eyes going wide with a mixture of terror and realisation.
"Then, do the machines that ca from our world have storage devices as well? Did they co fully prepared like you?"
Lanmar paused, thinking back to the stories he heard from the ones who ca back.
"I never fought with any of the chanical hiveminds myself to know for sure," he admitted, "yet any race, regardless of their origin and nature, that manages to secure an anchor point is guaranteed to co here fully prepared. That I can assure you. But why does that matter now?!"
Noticing the sudden, sharp change in everyone’s expressions, Lanmar looked on in curiosity. He didn’t have to wait long for an answer. The group rounded a final bend in the river, reaching the periter of the new base.
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