The traveling this time isn’t as useful as the previous one. Even if the guys could train their B.F.M. endurance, practicing their control became almost impossible.
This is because of their experience with the crafting tools. Everyone graduated from the Second wave reinforcement camp has already surpassed the lowest threshold for B.F.M. control.
In the future, any B.F.M. control related practice is tide to their crafting prowess. That is, until they receive more complex B.F.M. weapons and armor.
Complex B.F.M. weapons and armor are not rare. At some point everyone will have a piece of equipment that is considered complex.
But this is like a child destined to own a car. They still need to reach the age they are legally allowed to own a car. In the same way, in Perpetuity, certain parameters must be met.
Unlike crafting tools, weapons have a ceiling. In theory, crafting tools also have a ceiling for B.F.M. control, but the two can’t be compared.
There are hard limits on certain B.F.M. items. Once they are reached, they can no longer be used to reach higher B.F.M. complexity. They can still be used to stabilize their capabilities.
This is why crafting tools and crafting will always be the best way to determine a person's power level. The further ahead they are in crafting, the higher their potential power is.
It is still possible for certain weapons to become famous. Perhaps a someone will create numerous weapons that all have similar power and that could become a temporary marker for a person’s power.
The last Reinforcement camp is the third one. It is also the most demanding one. Demanding not exactly in difficulty, but quantity of requirements.
This is quantity not diversity, quantity like thousands of liters of water not quantity as in types of birds. Quantity in terms of how much B.F.M. endurance is required.
Similarly the requirements for combat, B.F.M. control, which is measured in crafting achievements.
On top of this there is some extended survival training, medicinal and in terms of foreign materials and cooking adequate meals.
In this there is included the philosophy of how to plan excursions, to know when to retreat and when to charge. There are many instances where knowledge is the right tool, when brawn isn’t sufficient.
On this journey to the Third reinforcement camp, the guys have begun feeling a bit irritated. They have already been traveling for two weeks and three days. And this is on trained animals.
Their conversations have died out and they all lean on their palm devices to pass the time. Even Sorp has begun finding things to be irritated about, something exceedingly rare for him.
The distance between the first and second camps is only just under half the distance from the second to third camp.
It's come to a point where the guys have passed a few carriages, because they all own their own animals. Ret has been training them, making their stamina better and their speed faster.
They aren’t the furthest ahead because they’ve stopped regularly to vent their frustrations. The small villages are indeed small but they are a nice change of pace for long distance travelers.
Daisy is in a carriages ahead of the guys, she and her companions are similarly dull, their expressions rather dazed and they spent most of their time immersed in their palm devices.
Sorp’s grand massacre from a while back now has a spiritual successor of sorts, a few spiritual successors. Videos emerged of people slaughtering one another for some unknown reason.
Unknown to people watching the videos, but the instigators of course had their motives. Similar to Sorp, they were merciless and killed in unusually cruel way.
However, unlike Sorp, their faces were not plastered with a handsome smile and their fighting not as domineering. They did prevail in the end.
These individuals have since continued acting in a barbarish way, this has caused others to mimic them. Waves of outrage has sparked.
Due to the number of videos containing graphic violence, seemingly for no good reason, has made people realize that Perpetuity isn’t policed properly.
Stolen novel; please report.
Numerous people have begun a sort of protest or at least a semblance of one, wanting their safety guaranteed. Perpetual Power has ignored all complaints directed at them.
Perpetual Power’s aim is not to please, it is to immerse. They do not care about morality, not in the same way a civilian would at least.
Perpetual Power’s leaders have the wisdom earned from over two hundred years of life. Their lifespans granted to them by the same technology used on every user in Perpetuity.
Unlike the users in Perpetuity, they have been using it for over a millenia and a half. These are the kind of people that can no longer relate to normal people.
This is normal people, rich, poor, handsome, ugly, talented, wastrels and so on. They can even consider themselves a different superiours species, and in some ways they are.
It takes this kind of people, with such detachments from what they once were, to plan out the eugenics plan that is Perpetuity.
The last thing on their mind is the virtual suffering of people bumbling about in Perpetuity. Their minds are on the incoming data on continuous and straining B.F.M. use. It is their hope that they solve problems related to their lifespans.
Sorp can be considered a high valued target in this data set. Not only Sorp, but the guys and everyone else in the second wave reinforcement camp and similar facilities.
There are literally billions of things Perpetual Power is monitoring, not just B.F.M. related things. They value a large span of information.
Whatever grand scheme Perpetual Power has are certainly quite a few years away. At least in Perpetuity’s time.
Ignoring Perpetual Power, the first carriage is about to arrive at the Third wave reinforcement camp. The mere sight of it caused the viewership of the people in that carriage to skyrocket.
“We’re finally here!”
“Finally! I can’t stand seeing your ugly faces anymore.”
“Don’t even mention your faces, I can’t stand your stench!”
“Freedom”
It didn’t take long before the guys noticed the people about to enter the next camp. This camp was actually more like a city rather than a camp.
In this camp, millions of people live. Unlike Perpetuity, the city, this camp can only sustain a few million people. While Perpetuity can hold billions of people.
“This is a camp?”
“It’s huge.”
“We’re back in civilization, I can finally meet good looking guys again!”
“Hey!” “Hey! “Hey!”
“Don’t act shocked, you three barely pass when i'm stumbling drunk.”
The camp has too many people to act surprised at the new arrivials, they were given a cursory glance before being ignored.
Those that saw the new people arriving assumed they were just one of the farmers or a trading group.
One carriage is too inconspicuous, perhaps when they come in the tens or hundreds or even thousands, virtual humans will react to the incoming people.
There are thousands of people living at the edge of the city. These people were descendants of people with great potential, family of great people or descendants of great people.
All in all, even the weakest among the people here, servant or not, were descendants of great people or great people themselves.
The harsh truth is that even those that manage to climb can still fail. Not hundreds, but thousands of people have had to make the First wave reinforcement camp, their home.
To the citizens of the First wave reinforcement camp, also known as Reinforcement city or First wave city, the new arrivials did not make much of an impact.
As the day passed, Sorp and the guys went so far as to climb on top of their carriage, ignoring the filth that had accumulated on it.
“Dart can you see anything?”
“I’m just a little bit taller then you, what can I see?”
“If you can’t see, shut the fuck up and keep looking.”
“I’ll come down there and beat your midget ass.”
It would be fair to say that tensions in the carriage have been rising steadily as the days go on, but this boiling pot has already lost most of its steam with the news of the earliest arrivals.
This does not mean that a friendly wrestling match in the small confines of the carriage was averted. Like every wrestling match, it eventually dragged everyone into it, ending when Sorp joined in, as they could not match him in anyway.
“Can’t they go any faster, Ret?”
“They can, but it is would harmful if they do it for a long time.”
“How long are we talking?”
“I can use their B.F.M. harness to bolster them but they can only keep it up for a few minutes at a time before they start hurting themselves.”
“Then do it for a few minutes.”
Seeing no objections, Ret took it as a silent consent, the four corses began gaining speed. The carriage remained steady, unfaced by the increased velocity.
“Woah!”
The only one affected by the increase was Dart and Sorp, who both stood on the roof of the carriage. The momentum nearly throwing them off.
The increased speed is just under a thirty percent increase. This is quite the increase, seeing as the corses are heavy set creatures, meant for stamina not burst speeds.
What the guys didn’t know, despite Ret trying to thrust it into conversation on multiple occasions, was that the corses can serve as attackers as well.
Their ramming momentum can be used to tackle beasts and their muscular hinderleggs can become a deadly force.
In truth, corses are not very suited for combat or traveling in uncharted territory, but on a long stretch of road, they can be considered invaluable.
A few minutes pass before Ret eased the pack back, letting them return to their former speed. The guys couldn’t see it, but the city was not far off now.
They were so close that any minute, mirage like buildings would begin to make their appearance on the horizon.
The towering buildings are not skyscrapers but they are not lacking in grandeur, not to mention that largest portion of the city is underground.
Majority is underground due to an inexplicably deep and complex cave system. So deep is this came system that it is still unexplored.
This is not without reason. As explained by Perpetuity lore, this cave system was originally considered a human habitation.
Perpetuity’s lore does not declare who loved in this cave system but it does explain that the caves structures were so immaculate they were unsure whether it really was a cave.
It was not until previously undiscovered opening, that depth and complexity of the cave was discovered. This addition the cave is not inhabited by humans.
This is one of the reason the cave is not completely explored, because it can be considered somewhat new. New in the sense that those that built the city Perpetuity did not leave behind any information about this cave system.
The second reason, is that people tend to vanish down there. This can be allocated to the complexity of the caverns but more importantly the caverns creatures.
Throughout the years, cave diving has been a lucrative trade. To dive in the cavern, a B.F.M. weapon or multiple people are required.
As most B.F.M. weapons have a coating of invisible energy. Weapons can glow and make noises, but all B.F.M. weapons have a coating of invisible energy.
Quite a few creatures in the caverns posses B.F.M. abilities. And as with all B.F.M. related creatures, they posses B.F.M. defence and offence.
With enough people with static B.F.M. weapons of the lowest standard, these creatures can be whittled down. Greater fighters with better weapons may do this alone or dive deeper.
These creatures can be brought back and used to discover their use in crafting recipes. Weapons, armors, trinkets, potions and various poisons.