Upon opening it, he was greeted by a complex dashboard dedicated to portal managent and recruitnt.
This was the chanism through which he could reach back into Athanasia and summon humans to join his crusade. As he scrolled through the sheer depth of the options, a dangerous light glead in his eyes.
He had expected to be able to set basic entry requirents, but the reality was far more generous. The system allowed him to dictate the exact flow of humans passing through the portals, with a scale for portal capacity ranging from a modest one hundred people to a staggering ten thousand per gateway.
What truly caught his attention, however, was the affiliation filter. The interface displayed a comprehensive list of the world’s established powerhouses, the Paragons. He began to scroll, his eyebrows rising higher with every passing second.
There were three hundred and sixty-five Paragons listed. The number was far larger than he had initially estimated, painting a picture of a world far more crowded with monsters than he’d realised.
Yet, instead of feeling intimidated, John let out an evil, low-voiced grin.
’I can play my cards perfectly here,’ he thought, his mind already spinning sches.
’If I selectively open portals for the subordinates of specific Paragons while leaving others out, I can create the illusion of a secret alliance.
I’ll let the biggest nas in Athanasia think they’re the ones backing , and they’ll end up drawing all the heat while I build my strength in the shadows. They’ll take the heavy fire off my back and thank for the privilege. Hehehe!’
The customisation didn’t stop at demographics. John could record a broadcast speech that would loop at the portal’s mouth, echoing his voice across the Athanasian landscape to entice or warn potential recruits. He could even automate the onboarding process.
The system allowed him to set mandatory paynt conditions for entry, demanding tribute in the form of cores, rare items, or even a specialised number from other races that would be subjugated by humans; all being paid by the power of the system while the humans fight brutally in the pocket trial.
Conversely, he could choose to arm those who t his criteria, equipping a fresh army with gear the mont they stepped into the Source Code World.
It was an incredibly advanced administrative suite. While John initially credited his System for the interface, he suspected the true factor behind this gained privilege was the Red Badge itself.
Beneath the recruitnt tab, he found the Portal Summoning section. Unlike the Calling, these were the gateways he could manifest by spending ntal Points.
’I can place a permanent portal in the hidden base at the academy,’ John noted, his mind thinking through the possibilities. ’That gives a direct line between the two worlds whenever I need it.’
The system classified the portals he could summon into three distinct types:
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The Sovereign Gate: A permanent link between Athanasia and its zone in the new world.
The Anchor Gate: A bridge between two specific locations. To create this, John would need to physically visit both spots and plant portal anchors.
The Returner’s Path: It was a fixed portal that would take him back to where he was before coming to the pocket trial.
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’I’ll keep these hidden for now,’ he decided, closing the flickering screen. He turned his head, watching the celebration unfold around him.
His friends and the survivors were in high spirits, and they had earned it. Elena had taken charge of the festivities. She had already used several yellow grenades to spark massive bonfires that roared against the alien sky.
John noticed she had been busy during the final days before the ascension. Following the advice of Blakar and Goven, she had harvested all the blue cattle from the pocket trial before they could be erased by the ascension process.
She hadn’t stopped there. She and many of Bulltors and even human survivors had scoured the land for every remaining blue grenade and filled every available flask, many of which John had handed off to her earlier, with fresh water. They were starting this new life with a full pantry and an arsenal of supplies.
As the cheers of everyone echoed across the plains, John stepped away from the noise. He stood motionless, a silent statue under the giant orange star, and pulled up his map.
’Let’s see where we actually are,’ he thought. He winced slightly at the cost, a thousand ntal Points just to unveil the cloak over his zone. ’And another thousand if I want to expand my map to see further?!’
John had long ago ceased being startled by the blatant greed of his system. It wasn’t that he had grown comfortable with the costs; rather, he had finally begun to grasp the underlying logic of the system’s demands.
If ntal Points back on Earth and in Athanasia were the fuel that powered machines and AIs, then it was only logical that his own ntal Points served as the fuel for the system’s functions.
He didn’t hesitate. With a ntal flick, he authorised a staggering expenditure of one hundred thousand ntal Points in a single breath. To facilitate such a massive action, John had to perform a repetitive task.
He began pulling massive piles of tal scraps from his inventory and used his ability to drain the ntal Points from them. He would absorb the ntal Points, feed them into the system’s ravenous maw, store the drained husks, and pull out fresh scrap to repeat the process.
To his friends and others watching from a distance, John looked like a man possessed by a strange fever. He stood in the centre of the area, surrounded by flickering piles of steel and alloy that appeared and vanished in a blur.
As they had co to know him better over the past few months, his friends stepped in, forming a loose periter to prevent anyone from interrupting his trance.
They were certain that once John erged from whatever he was doing, he would return with news that was, as always, earth-shattering.
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