John initially thought Isabella was going to ntion sothing about the resource points or so internal affairs within the fortress, but what she revealed caught him completely off guard.
He visibly paused, "Are you sure?"
Isabella nodded gravely.
She had been sowhat uncertain at first, but recently, while fighting the minor creatures, two people had died accidentally.
The ti it took for them to disappear as white light had stretched to five minutes.
She didn't know what exactly was happening outside the secret realm, but this delay was undeniably real.
"That's strange…"
John lowered his head, deep in thought.
Such an occurrence should absolutely not happen.
After all, within these secret realms, true death was not supposed to occur.
Upon death, one was rely transported out, continuing as an observer, rely stripped of the right to compete.
But why then was the respawn ti slowing down?
Could it be...
John suddenly had a chilling suspicion, but he forcibly suppressed it.
It couldn't be possible, absolutely not.
If the school had sent them here for an assessnt, there couldn't be any mistakes.
However, if sothing else was indeed amiss, they wouldn't be able to resolve it imdiately.
He wondered if the people outside had noticed anything unusual.
If sothing were to happen, would they continue with this assessnt?
This examination was crucial for their potential admission into the academy; what would they do if a real problem arose?
"Have you ntioned this to anyone else?"
John's tone took on a more serious edge.
"A few people noticed it at the ti, but no one has spoken about it publicly. However, I feel like there's sothing more to this. Keep an eye out on your end as well," Isabella advised.
Hearing this, John nodded slightly, but his mind had already begun to churn with calculations.
The school would never allow such a serious issue to occur unchecked, so there must be so unknown secret behind it.
As for what it was exactly, that would need to be seen in due course.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be going now. We'll keep in touch via private ssages," Isabella said, gathering her belongings and preparing to leave.
John watched her retreating figure and smiled softly, choosing not to say anything, just lying back down to rest.
Just as Isabella was about to exit the cave, she suddenly halted, not turning her head back, but speaking indifferently, "Even though we cooperated this ti, it doesn't an I've forgotten our past conflicts. I still intend to test our strengths against each other next ti!"
With those final words, Isabella turned and left without any hesitation.
John slightly turned his head to watch her leave, smiling lightly.
It seed so things weren't as bad as he thought.
This person... was quite alright.
Once his stamina had recovered to a safe level, John slowly started packing up, preparing to leave.
Although the journey back ant passing through that unsightly ss again, which was quite nauseating, it was indeed the shortest route available.
Going out with Isabella would an taking a long detour, which simply wasn't worth it.
On his way back, John sent a ssage to Archibald, inquiring if there was anything specific he still needed, as he could bring it back with him.
After all, it wasn't easy to co out here, and the more energy stones, the better.
Archibald, upon seeing the screenshot of the energy stones John sent over, was left almost speechless.
It's true what they say about comparison being the thief of joy.
While they were busy at the fortress with repairs and other duties, others were already venturing out to conquer new territories!
The energy stones John gathered were enough to last them a long ti, especially considering they also had a large amount of iron-tier and borax.
"Right now, we're only short on wood and dicinal herbs, and I've already arranged for teams to go out and find so. We should have a batch soon," Archibald replied.
With less than 63 hours until the monster attack, there was a lot to be done.
They had to remain vigilant and ready for battle, or else they would definitely face problems.
"I've made contact with the second fortress, and they've agreed to our mutual defense pact. They'll send reinforcents if necessary."
Archibald found this ssage slightly odd.
Currently, he couldn't get in touch with anyone from the second fortress, neither through the command panel nor personal contacts.
"Did you et soone from the second fortress?"
After much thought, Archibald ca to the only conclusion that made sense, otherwise, there was no way to explain how John managed to cooperate with soone from the second fortress.
"Yeah, we tead up to take down a platinum-tier boss and fard so energy stones."
Hmm??
Archibald's face was full of question marks.
He felt as if his entire worldview was being upended.
"My man, can you not ntion killing a platinum-tier boss as if it's no big deal, like it's sothing you can just do casually?"
And what does he an by 'fard a bit of energy stone'? Those energy stones were already a lot for them, enough for the entire fortress's use!
"Take another careful look around the fortress for any vehicles. I have a feeling that if we need to move between fortresses again, we're going to need so form of transportation."
After issuing this directive, John ended the call.
He knew the distances between the fortresses were far too great.
If they were to use the main roads, it would take about three hours!
Even if they took the nauseating route he had used, it would still take nearly two hours.
Therefore, in tis of difficulty, they needed to be able to move quickly; otherwise, by the ti they received a ssage for help and responded, it would already be too late.
John pressed on despite the nausea, continuing forward.
He had already obtained a large amount of everglowing sand from killing the minor creatures, so there was no need to pick any more from the ground.
Fortunately, once items entered his backpack, they were automatically cleaned and transford into their item form, otherwise the sight of the murky ss would have been truly disgusting.
Holding his breath, he walked a good distance before finally reaching the beautiful entrance of the cave again.
John couldn't help but marvel at the cave's beauty.
The wonders of craftsmanship were indeed impressive, even within a secret realm.
As he reached the entrance, he finally took a deep breath.
The inside had been unbearably stinky, and even with a mask, the foul sll was overwhelming.
He looked at the lush trees around the cave entrance without any hesitation and quickly began to harvest them.
His backpack was empty anyway; he might as well take so wood back with him.
After completely harvesting the area, he quickly made his way back to the fortress.
Back there, they had essentially finished collecting a massive amount of resources and were in the process of organizing and integrating them. .
Only Archibald knew about his return, but he had not co to disturb him.
John, carrying black iron ore and borax, made his way to the forge.
The fortress's personnel had already brought back the necessary materials, so Old Nick was swamped with work, his forehead covered in sweat.
As he heard footsteps approaching, his expression turned sour, and he grumbled gruffly, "I've told you I'm busy. If you want sothing made, get in line and just leave your stuff over there."
Old Nick muttered under his breath, his beard quivering as sweat dripped down his body, his hands tightly gripping the hamr, striking repeatedly.
"Good grief, they're going to work to death! Can't a few people co over and lend a hand? I'm really going to collapse."
John couldn't help but chuckle at the grumpy old man's complaints.
He didn't speak, but instead reached into his backpack and pulled out a bottle of monkey wine, then popped the cap.
The aroma of the wine filled the entire forge.
Old Nick's head whipped around instantly, and he dropped his hamr, his eyes lighting up as he stared at the bottle in John's hands.
He looked like he wanted to snatch it, but upon seeing John, he restrained himself and instead bowed respectfully.
"Good day, esteed Commander!"
Although Old Nick bowed, his eyes never left the bottle in John's hands, his eager expression almost comical.
John slightly swayed the bottle, a smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
"Not busy now?"
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