"I should leave the fortresses here, just in case."
John decided. "If Mark has a way to re-trigger a destroyed den like the Wrathers, then I’m not leaving my back exposed."
Even if Mark didn’t do anything, the den defences would stand against any incoming machines or enemies.
As he stepped into the heart of the den, a massive core, ten ters in radius, stood pulsing in the centre of the area. It was silver in colour, possessing a cold, tallic lustre that seed to shine nicely even in the middle of the night.
John didn’t hesitate. He sliced a shallow cut into his finger and pressed his bloodied hand against the shimring surface.
[Ding! The Machine Core is at level 33!]
[Ding! You can choose to hack or destroy it!]
"Thirty-three already?!!" John whispered, his voice echoing in the hollow emptiness. He was genuinely surprised by how efficient his encirclent had been. He had initially thought his defences were rely slowing the machine waves, bleeding them out over ti.
It was clear now that he had underestimated just how deadly his setup truly was. The relentless, automated slaughter had levelled the core at a breakneck pace. "I’ll hack it!"
[Ding! System Handshake Established!]
[Ding! You have successfully synchronised with Machine Core 3!]
[Ding! You acquired 1x Machine Factory Fragnt!]
[Machine Factory Fragnt: Can be used to code Machine Factory Ability Core!]
"Ability core?! What is that?!!" John’s eyebrows raised in unison. This was a deviation from the standard loot nu he had grown accustod to. The terminology was entirely new, suggesting a tier of power he hadn’t yet tapped into.
[Ding! The core allows you to have a temporary ability!]
[Ding! 10 ntal Points are deducted!]
"..."
John knew the answer was clear, yet he still struggled to wrap his head around it. A temporary ability was sothing he had never heard of or experienced before. "It seems you have a big master plan hidden behind all this, right?"
John smirked evilly. He knew that even if the system acted bossy, cryptic, and unbelievable on many occasions, its interventions always seed to align with his best interests in the end.
"Anyway," he muttered as the system’s notifications went silent. John took a grand look around. "I can’t make it to any other territory before the morning arrives and the den cores reset. It’s better to be prepared than sorry."
He didn’t leave the den imdiately. The sight of such grand loot ignited a craving for even greater preparation. He spent the next few hours in a feverish blur of activity, hacking into the storage programs of the wreckage piles and enhancing the gained items in massive batches.
Since he had already stored all of the enhanced code lines of all items in his Shell ability storage space, his workflow beca efficient. He arranged items in groups of ten, editing the code of the entire stack simultaneously. By using the cores in batches, he was able to enhance a staggering number of weapons in a fraction of the ti it would have taken previously.
When he finally finished, he looked at his inventory with a sense of deep satisfaction. He had produced significantly more than he had during the entirety of the previous day.
While he worked, his mind drifted back to the recurring problem of his ntal Points. He wasn’t worried about running dry in the heat of a hectic battle, but during the periods of relative peace, as the one he was going to face.
While running from one territory to another, he needed a way to recharge his reserves frequently. Carrying pieces of destroyed machine units by hand was a limited, cumberso solution. On a whim, he decided to try storing the wrecked tal pieces directly into his inventory.
To his delight, it worked.
He didn’t hold back after that, and started storing tens of thousands of wreckage pieces. Even if he didn’t end up needing them all for ntal Point recharge, they represented a mobile treasure trove he could harvest and enhance at any ti.
With the ntal Point problem solved, John finally exited the den. He imdiately activated his Speed Lock ability. His velocity skyrocketed, turning him into a literal bolt of lightning streaking across the landscape.
As he ran, he occasionally pulled a piece of wrecked tal from his inventory into his hand, absorbing the ntal Points from it in five seconds. He would then hack its storage program mid-stride before tossing the loot aside into his inventory, never slowing for even a single second.
Ard with the constant use of his ability and a full tank of ntal Points, he managed to reach the fog line in less than thirty minutes. However, as he breached the fog, he was t with a daunting sight: the endless, roiling hordes of the evolved machine three units.
John had already anticipated this obstacle. Even if he kept his Encrypted Skin active, it would only solve the problem of damage, not clear a path for him. The machines were packed so densely that there was no room for him to run through the ranks.
If he tried to simply weave through them, he would eventually be overflooded and blocked, his montum killed by the sheer weight of the machine tide.
He needed a way to clear a path without stopping to fight every single unit.
"Even if it fails, using brute force to break through their ranks is still a viable option," he muttered to himself, his eyes locking onto the dense wall of the machine army ahead. He skidded to a montary halt as he started to execute his first solution to this problem. "Sandbox... Five illusions, red dragon, breathing purple fire!"
John’s imagination suddenly bled into reality as his thoughts materialised into a vivid illusion. It wasn’t just one dragon, but five. John picked five scattered using his Wirefra Sight ability, triangulating a potential path ahead in between them. Suddenly, five giant, spectral dragons erupted into the fog.
"Let’s see if you’ll react to this... Oh, they aren’t reacting!"
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