Tom was caught by surprise by the announcement. Of course, he should have anticipated that there was some catch to this integration, as nothing was truly free.

"Well, I can only get stronger." Tom decided.

Of course, he could try and make more of a difference by trying to get the city governor position for himself. However, he was realistic about his chances against career politicians who had been campaigning for longer than he had been alive and had literal country-sized support networks behind them. So he decided to leave the leading to those who knew what they were doing and focus on his own strength, as he wasn't even interested in leading.

Tom watched for a moment how people's actions started seeming firmer and more decisive now that they had a solid objective to achieve, win a war.

Then Tom started jogging, heading for the center of the mountainous zone. While jogging, he felt weird as he continuously passed groups of people. He had gotten used to having this whole zone to himself without even realizing it.

When he had been alone, he hadn't really paid attention to it, as he had been busy torturing himself or theory-crafting how the cores worked. But, now that countless people were scurrying around the little mountains like ants looking for something to fight. Tom didn't know how to feel, he had gotten used to looking at the empty mountains.

Of course, if he had gone to the pine forest, he would have truly welcomed others, as that place was just too monotonous.

Tom felt almost bad for these people who had gone straight to the traders, decked themselves out in gear, and were now eagerly looking for opponents to fight. But Tom knew that they were bound to get disappointed, as during the week he spent in this place, he had only found enemies naturally in two different locations, and he readily claimed responsibility for other times.

After Full two hours of jogging, Tom was starting to feel a bit tired, as he had around 20 kg of gear on his back, so even his improved physique was reaching its limits. But Tom was already quite happy with his progress, by his estimations, he must have jogged between 15-18 km, so he had to be starting to approach the center of the zone. He was also sure that he wouldn't be running into other people any time soon, this far from the city, so if he found another cave, he could take his time with it and monopolize it.

Then Tom logged out, he needed to take care of his real body.

Tom's first sensation as he logged off was disappointment. He had just spent multiple hours in a body that was so much better than his current one, performing arduous tasks. It was like he had downgraded his car, but instead of only driving it, he was the car. "Oh, wait a moment," Tom thought, "that's exactly what happened!".

Tom decided to test the nutrient paste, as it was going to be his food for the foreseeable future, while he tried to get his economy under control.

He picked up the bag, it felt like he was holding a tennis ball made out of a gel. Tom quickly stopped playing around with it, as he didn't wish to lose his appetite even before he tasted it. He took a knife, poked a hole in the pack, and started drinking. Its texture was like a bit thicker puree, and to Tom's surprise, the taste wasn't bad, as it basically had no taste whatsoever. It was more like he was eating thick water, that had a bit of sweetness to it.

Only after a minute, he was already done eating. " I almost could get used to this... having to spend only minute eating a full meal..." Tom once again felt weird. He had eaten more than enough calories to sustain his body, but the actual amount of food he put in his stomach was much too little, so it felt like he had to eat more, just in case. But he managed to keep his impulses under control.

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Then Tom decided to check the news, as he was quite curious about how the looming war would be covered. He doubted that many people had internalized that they would be participating in an actual war just by the Empire's rules. It is quite a different thing to see your planet contested by another race than to place a helmet on your head and know that nothing can actually happen to you.

To Tom's relief, the news was full of information about Secverse and the looming war. There also had been additional information released about the war. Apparently, someone had figured out just the right tool to get humanity serious about this war. "If humanity wins this war, everyone will receive additional 30 credits, and the basic Secverses helmets price will be refunded. In addition, there will be very affordable loans available for those who wish to purchase a Secverse helmed."

Tom was clad that someone or something had decided to motivate humanity to fight in this war. But he was also, jealous? Yes, that was probably the right word for it. As a person who had no money, how could he not be, as they were offering loans to acquire the thing he had spent most of his money on. But he soon reasoned that it had been worth it as he had awakened his mind and body.

Then he exercised a bit. It had been a wake-up call when he logged out and realized how weak his body was compared to the one in the Secverse. So he knew he needed to do something about it.

He had an idea in the middle of his pushup set. "What if I just purchase

a core and do the exact same thing here that I did in the Seccverse!!!" Tom immediately stopped his exercise and looked for cores in the Empire net. He could only see tier-zero cores. However, there were still countless different variations to the cores. Tom was pretty sure that there was a core for every possible substance and then some. As he looked at their prices, he couldn't make a heads or tails of them. They seemed to be determined by a random number generator, or at least that's how it seemed to Tom. He could see multiple registrations for the same type of core at different prices, but after some quick searches, he found out that the price highly depended on the purity and rarity of the core. He also saw a notice that all resources cost much more in the real world, as they are real resources that have a more limited supply.

Tom quickly searched for the purest iron core, as he wasn't at all sure of his ability to attempt it with any other type of core. But Tom's hopes were quickly destroyed, the cheapest pure iron cores cost five credits. He also got a helpful notice from the AI. "If you attempt awakening your body with an iron core in your current environment, you will run out of willpower and die. Consider acquiring something that will help with willpowers recovery." Tom was glad that the paywall didn't exist when it came to making sure that he didn't kill himself.

Tom finished his exercise. Then he sent his friends a quick message, asking where they had spawned at. As they surely were in Secverse, so he didn't wait for a response and logged straight back in.

Tom spent the next couple of hours testing his body's limits by traveling faster and faster as he looked for anything different. He saw a couple of different rivers running toward the lake zone, but he didn't follow them. Because he didn't wish to alter his course too much, as he'd been traveling in as a straight line as he could manage toward the center of the zone. He had reasoned to himself that, if you created a zone full of pure elemental energy, it would only be logical to place the highest concentration of it in the center of the zone, right?

But Tom was sure that he had to be soon reaching the center or that he had already passed it. Because the zone was 50 km in every direction from the city, so the center should be at the 25 km point, and by his estimations he had already traveled around 25-30 km.

While latter as Tom climbed up another hill, he could finally see past the mountain in front of him. Far in the horizon, he could see a mountain that was twice as wide as anything around it, and unlike the other mountains, it had barely any grass on it. He was immediately sure that it had to be something special.

Tom didn't waste any time and started making his way toward it mostly walking sideways compared to his original course. It Took him around half an hour to reach the edge of the valley that surrounded the mountain. Unlike other mountains, it was completely surrounded by the valley, cut off from the greater network of mountains. He also could see multiple caves on the mountain it almost reminded him of a termite hide. Tom could feel how he was starting to get excited, he could almost smell the fortunes the mountain hid from here.

However, before he went to explore it, he knew that he had to take a break. He didn't wish to lose his hard-earned gear, so going in while tired would just be a stupid idea, so he logged off.