B3-10 - Chimbote, Peru (Patreon)

“Six thousand five hundred and forty two landsharks were killed when they entered the Cage,” Yosi said. “The average weight was about a hundred and fifty kilos, although Bell claims that we can harvest twenty-five percent of five thousand of them, as the rest were turned into meat paste by the fall and weight. Those landsharks can be processed into alchemical ingredients, ingredients that his Matriarch will buy.”

“Easy money,” Maya said, looking down at the tablet before her.

“The rest of the landshark biomass will be converted into ration bars-“

“And chocolate and coffee,” Maya added.

“-to be used in George’s and Yuri’s humanitarian aid mission,” Yosi continued without interruption. “With the new food processors you brought back and the fact that ration bars are easy to make, Nan says she can produce up to ten thousand bars a day. The main issue is the lack of SIL-power to properly process the landsharks. Hanna and Bell are currently doing what they can, but it is… messy work. With Tender now staying in the RSH with Scotty we don’t have access to his drones. Roci is now working on the setting up the mana netting array. Inez and I have continued the unending inventory of the items taken from the hiveship, we are currently at fifty-seven percent complete.”

“Veskari?” Maya asked.

“Working with Roci. He’s the only pilot we have, although Zoya and Izumi are trying to learn. It’s a long road to becoming a [Pilot],” Yosi said.  “George has also forwarded a message asking how the mass driver is coming along. They are narrowing down signs of human survivor camps in the countries of Russia and the United States.”

“Tender is working on that, there’s some salvage we need to rip out of the hiveship before we can really progress,” Maya said, leaning back in her chair. “So what’s the profit on the landsharks? Is it small enough that we can just have Bell take what he can get and then turn the rest into ration bars?”

“It is pretty significant,” Yosi said. “From what Bell has calculated, the useable material from each landshark would net us at a minimum of three million credits.”

Maya sucked in a breath. “That’s a lot of credits.”

“Apparently the high ambient mana and the tier upgrade to this world has upped the landshark bits into high-grade alchemy ingredients,” Yosi said.

“Five thousand corpses to process… how long does it take to process one?”

“About three hours, with both Bell and Hanna working on it. They say they can get it down to two hours, they just need a bit more experience.”

“Alright, lets find us some fisher people,” Maya said, cracking her knuckles.

***

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“They’re arriving,” said Yosi.

Maya looked up from the holographic diagram floating before her and let out a curse. The entire Engineering knowledge set had finally finished downloading and a world of knowledge was flooding her mind. Maya leaned back in her chair and sighed, a pulsing headache beginning as the engineering knowledge made itself known to her.

Flashes of system tech parts, of what she could do, and ideas she hadn’t considered filled her brain. She always disliked the feeling of the knowledge unfolding in her mind. It felt as if she were finally remembering something she had forgotten, that the information had always been there and now she was just remembering.

Maya rose to her feet, grumbling about the timing of people as she opened a door. They had arrived to Chimbote, Peru two standard days before. They had seen human beings walking around, staring at the wall, they had changed the sign and told them they were welcomed to enter, but no one did.

She had seen thousands of people wandering by, staring at the wall and the signage and then just continue walking on with their daily lives. Maya didn’t understand why they weren’t rushing her shop, everyone eventually did. Even Ezra, who had been in the middle of a battle and eventually walked to the Emporium, yet the people here only watched with caution.

Military forces had arrived quickly. Maya was impressed to see that there was an actual military force, although her experience was only three settlements and those only holding refugees. They were quick and efficient, setting up barriers and clearing the area around the wall. It reminded her somewhat of Peg’s first assault on her Cage, although she doubted the people here had access to a dimensional lock.

After that, it had been mostly waiting. Maya got bored, returned to trying to figure out what union tech was, exploring the bulging sack of purified mana dripping into her Cage, and occasionally bothering an exhausted Bell and Hanna as they continued harvesting landsharks.

“I demand a living wage!” Hanna declared as she dumped a pile of landshark guts into a bucket. “I have doctorates in biology and chemistry; and I am a dang astronaut!”

“Just think of all the work experience you’re gaining” Maya replied. “You can put it on your resume.”

Hanna raised her middle finger in response.

“What’s the going rate for a monster processor?” Maya asked Bell.

“This is work for [Harvesters] or [Butchers],” Bell said. “It depends on how the corpse is being used or who’s doing the processing. I would say about five hundred credits per corpse, for anyone higher than level 10 in any processing occupational ability. Someone entirely new… about fifty credits a corpse.”

“So fifty credits a level?” Maya asked.

“For low-grade abilities, a hundred for mid-grade.”

“Is there a difference?” Maya asked.

“Of course,” Bell scoffed.

“Fine, fifty per low-grade level. Seems pretty cheap.”

“You’re undervaluing the buying power of credits,” Bell said. “You have been literally handling millions of credits from the beginning.”

“Technically, I earned my first ten credits off of Tender.” Maya grinned at the memory. “Back when I was young, dumb, and starving in the rainbow sky hellscape. Good times.”

‘You mean almost five months ago,” Bell replied.

“I’ve processed nine of these critters,” Hanna said. “I expect my four thousand five hundred credits.”

“Whoa, there missy. What level are your monster processing abilities? You can’t just claim top-credit from the get go, you need to work your way up in this company. Look at Bell, he’s still getting his hands dirty and I’m not paying him anything.”

“I’m not being paid?” Bell asked. “I demand at least twelve hundred credits each, for I am level 12 in [Alchemical Harvesting], it’s a mid-grade ability!”

“What grade is [Chopper]?” Hanna asked.

“Low-grade, it’s an ability geared more for cooks,” Bell said. “Or body processors.”

“What?”

“They chop up bodies,” Bell said. “A somewhat frowned upon ability.”

“Why is that even a thing?” Maya asked.

“It’s not only mana mutations that can be harvested for alchemical ingredients,” Bell said.

“Ugh,” Hanna gagged.

“Oh, yeah. Someone once told me that I could sell the bones of a Tier 2 captain and doctor,” Maya said. “You wanna buy?”

“Some would take you up on that offer,” Bell said, frowning. “Personally I think it is a disgusting practice, but sometimes it is necessary. There are some potions that can only be made from the flesh of SIL or their bones, especially when they gain Tiers; their bones are forever changed. They destroy the bones of the dead in my world, so they are not stolen by others.”

“Yeesh, another thing to worry about,” Maya said.

“Yeah, this conversation went south real fast,” Hanna said. “So, what am I getting paid?”

“You’re serious?” Maya asked.

“Of course. I’m a die hard American, my labor is not free. Capitalism, baby. Now pay up. I saw this awesome handbag Yosi got in Beirut. It’s practically a steal!”

Maya shrugged and tossed her a credit disc. After a moment, she tossed one to Bell as he glared at her.

***

Five hours passed in the multiverse and the military finally began moving. Ten men and women, armed with assault rifles and swords, marched slow and steady toward the Cage wall. Behind them was arrayed a variety of vehicles sporting heavy weapons and more troops. From what Maya could see, it looked like the military backed up by a militia of some sort. She saw a lot of people with non-military weapons and twitchy trigger fingers.

Maya sighed, this would be another tense meeting. She didn’t blame them, she too would be suspicious of anything appearing out of nowhere in a world where only monsters had been doing that kind of thing. She created the same boardroom she always made when meeting with new people. Although she added a security area for when the soldiers entered. She didn’t want them shooting at her on sight.

The minutes crawled by as one soldier finally opened the door to the Cage and then another rushed in, gun at the ready.

“Aloha!” Maya called out and the man began shooting.

***

“Dreadfully sorry,” the man said. He was a plump middle aged Brit. A pillar of the community, a business man, a father of five, and also one of the four members of the Chimbote council.

The other two members of the council sat before Maya. Juan Vizcarra, a weathered short man with thick arms and seemingly entirely hairless. Veronica Sagasti was a thin woman with thick hair tied into a braid and had hard eyes of someone who noticed everything. Ramon Sanchez was a leathery man with iron colored hair and bandages running up both arms and underneath the loose shirt he wore. Joshua Barret was the Brit.

“We are all on edge,” Juan said.

“Yeah, no harm done,” Maya said.

The soldier that had entered had tried shooting her, but luckily she had her enchantment on, it was always on these days, just in case. The bullets hadn’t penetrated the shield and the man had been wrapped up in Cage material and held until he calmed down. The process had to be repeated four more times as the soldiers entered, until the last half a dozen realized they weren’t being attacked but being prevented from shooting at her.

Things had been amenable afterward.

Ramon Sanchez was a captain in the Peruvian Army, although he had been on leave at the time. He represented the entire military force in Chimbote, Peru, one hundred soldiers and three hundred militia, with most of the military forces being scrounged up from other branches and former service members.

He had apologized for the attack, but it had been brisk and curt.

“You say you wish to hire people to harvest monsters?” Juan asked.

“Yeah, things we call landsharks.”

“You control this machine and claim you can go anywhere, why do you need us?” the woman Veronica asked.

“Many hands make light work,” Maya replied. “I have this machine, but I lack the manpower to harvest these creatures.”

“This is absurd,” Ramon stated. “You have this amazing power and you think we’ll believe you cannot ‘harvest’ some creatures?”

“These creatures require SIL to harvest them,” Maya said.

“SIL?” Joshua asked.

“Uh, System Identified Lifeforms,” Maya clarified. “People who can channel mana, who have levels, and all that.”

“Not machines?” Joshua asked.

“According to the [Alchemist], it can be harvested using machinery, but that would cause it to lose much of its value. There’s something about SIL harvesting alchemical ingredients that allow the mana trace within the parts to maintain cohesion. If it was harvested by a machine or heavily automated, the mana trace would be disrupted and the organ, plant, or whatever’s mana trace would be corrupted.”

The four people looked at her with some confusion.

“Alchemy?” Juan asked.

“Mana trace?”

“I need living, breathing human beings to harvest these landsharks for me. That’ll maintain their value, you’ll be paid for your work, and we can all come out of this with a better relationship and a settlement deed.”

The others conversed among themselves as Maya leaned back in her chair. From what Maya could tell Joshua and Juan were the main business people, Veronica was the government or what passed for one here.

“What will you pay us in?” Veronica asked. “Dollars? Sols? Those are worthless now. We need tools and weapons, this Integration has done a lot of damage and we’re losing people just from the lack of clean water and basic medical supplies.”

“Credits,” Maya replied.

“Credits? Those are worth something?” Veronica asked.

“You’ve been gaining credits, right? From defeating mana mutations.”

“We have seen the monsters, but we have not much interaction with them. There are some pests, mutated rats, bugs, and the like, but they are easily dealt with.” Ramon stated. “The soldiers and militia keep them from becoming a problem.”

“Wow,” Maya said in surprise. “You’re telling me its been pretty peaceful here? No mana renders, no massive surge of mana mutations from the oceans or mountains?”

“It hasn’t been peaceful,” Juan stated.

“What are mana renders?” Joshua asked.

“Mana renders are tears in the fabric of reality that connect our world to other Tier 2 worlds. That connection brings a bunch of mana mutations from those Tier 2 worlds, old mana mutations that are far stronger than anything here on Earth.”

The four frowned at that news and glanced at one another.

“We have not experienced any of that,” Ramon replied. “We have been fairly isolated in the last two weeks, scouts and couriers sent to other cities and towns have not made it back.”

“Except from Samanco,” Juan spat, bitterness creasing his face.

“Samanco?”

“The district of Samanco is south of here, like Chimbote, it is a fishing port and before Integration wasn’t much of anything.” Joshua replied. “Now… now it’s controlled by a man who calls himself Samanco.”

“So he named himself after the district?” Maya asked.

“He is not very smart,” Veronica said, “but he is very strong.”

“The courier we sent there claims he is over eight feet tall and massive, that he carries a giant club and kills anyone who disobeys him.”

“Jesus,” Maya muttered. “Anyone taking care of him?”

The four members of the Chimbote council shared a look.

“We are not strong enough,” Ramon finally stated.

“There’s like fifty thousand people in this city,” Maya replied. The others looked shocked at her number.

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve got scanners and it can count,” Maya replied. “If this guy is trouble, it’s probably best to take him out.”

“Easier said than done,” Juan said.

“He is level thirty and he has over a thousand followers, the lowest being level 10,” Ramon replied.

“How the heck did he get to level thirty so fast?” Maya wondered. Even Anisa had gained massive levels from the fight with Shen and she had also been fighting non stop since she created the Settlement.

“Murder,” Veronica spat. “He has killed hundreds, all of his ‘soldiers’ have. They kill the useless and from that they gain more power.”

“Jesus,” Maya glowered.

“ There are too many mouths to feed, vehicles for the most part do not work, and everyone will starve. Samanco has been pushing his forces east, grabbing what farmland he can. He’s killing those that resist.”

“He hasn’t moved in this direction?” Maya asked.

“We pushed back a few of his scouts, but he’s focused on securing his food source before he moves on us. When he does, it will be a slaughter,” Ramon said.

Maya looked at the military man and saw a bit of hopelessness in his eyes. “What levels are your people?” Maya asked.

“I’m the highest leveled, at nine,” Ramon said. “I’m a [Foot Soldier].” He scoffed at the ability. “Twenty five years in the army and the System reduces my rank. Samanco has a thousand soldiers, we only have at most five hundred, and all of his men over level us.”

“How long before he moves on your city?” Maya asked.

“We’ve had some scouts keeping an eye on his forces and they say that he is already beginning to pull back his men and readying them for an assault against us,” Ramon replied. “Perhaps in a day or two.”

Maya drummed her fingers on the table. “A day? I think we’ll have enough time,” she muttered.

***

Maya felt sick and bloated, like she had eaten far too much and then drank far too much. She groaned as she lay in bed. If she could vomit, she would have. As it was, it had nothing to do with what she had consumed, it was the sheer amount of people within her Cage.

The largest amount of people who had entered the Cage had been when she had met with Asoltolia and Peg, that had been a few hundred buying and selling things for only a day. The people of Chimbote had heard of her Cage and what it held, they came by the thousands.

Ramon and the new militia of nearly a thousand men and women had arrived first, after meeting with Bell and getting over the shock that there were aliens out there. Bell was being harried as he was the only one with some levels in anything resembling military training. One hundred men and women arrived later, people who were being tasked with processing the landsharks, with Hanna assisting in explaining what to do.

Then came the normal everyday civilians. Thousands of them, pushing their way into the Cage, suddenly realizing what there was to buy and then rushing back out to return with things to sell, everything from old family jewels to an entire truck filled with liquor. Yosi was doing brisk business, nearly being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of trading going on.

It would have been a great time for Maya to have leveled her other abilities, but from the moment there was over fifteen hundred people within the Cage, she began feeling sick. Then more and more arrived, making Maya determine the new limits to the size of her Cage.

She would have chased them off, but greed pulled at her. With everyone in the Cage, with the militia learning to fight and training, with the harvesters processing the landsharks, and the civilians buying and selling, there was a massive outpouring of mana from everyone.  She could feel the purified mana pouring off the people, as they used their Skills and leveled their abilities, they flooded the reality bubble with mana.

It was causing a feedback loop, one that Bell and Yosi mentioned to her. Maya could feel it, the purified mana building up and then beginning to drip out of the ‘tank’ faster than the union components could be made by the Cage. Already the Cage had allowed others to level a bit faster than normal, with the steady universal mana coming out of the tesseracts embedded within the Cage. Now with the purified mana flooding everything, Bell claimed it doubled the speed of leveling.

Maya was glad for it, even if she felt like utter crap the last few standard days. The only reprieve was entering the Engineering VR gear, which detached her from her physical pains. She would have done it either way, as there were an unending amount of things to work on.

The real work was for the upcoming battle. One where the enemy would be other human beings. The thought plagued her sleeping hours, but Maya was firm in her decision to go through with it. These were mass murdering bastards that needed to be stopped. The real worry was wondering how many people were dying as she sat in her Cage and tried to power level an army?

There would have been an easier way, to give them all experience shards. The million XP shard she still had could have bumped Ramon or any other soldier up to level 14, a decent level. If she really pushed it she could probably get someone to the same levels as Anisa.

What held her back from distributing experience shards was simple. She didn’t know what else to do with them. She didn’t know their value and what they could be used for. Purified mana was more theoretical, no one had actually obtained it before. That meant there was something more that could be done with it.

She had tried contacting the System, using the Point of Contact pathway to reach it, but nothing had come of the attempts. She was being ghosted by the System after stumbling across what was probably its entire point of existence.

Maya sighed and pushed away the thought. She had a war to prepare for.

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Knowledge blossomed in her head and Maya gasped as she began to grasp what Union tech could do.