Chapter 120. Gathering Intel

I walked out of the cozy room into the dark tunnel, I passed by different doors, some closed and others opened and I could see the old people living their minimalistic life.

I didn't know if I should feel sorry for them or accept it as their lifestyle, but in the end, I was a stranger to them so it wasn't my business to change their life.

Soon I was out of the old people's living area and back on the busy tunnels, I looked around and walked towards a female brute who was eating some cooked pork chop while looking bored.

"Hey, do you want to trade?"

She stopped and looked up and down at me before starting to smile.

"Sure thing sweetie, what do you want to trade?"

"I want some quartz."

Since I couldn't mine for it, I should buy it.

"Two gold pieces per stack and that's non-negotiable."

The woman quickly accepted the deal before I could even tell my price.

This was for the best as I was willing to pay way more than what she offered me, but I had to act like I was losing in the deal.

So after I acted like I was thinking about this I let a big sigh.

"Sure, how much do you have?"

"Ten stacks, my kids keep bringing them home from their exploration trips and I don't know where to store them anymore."

I can now guess why the price is so cheap, I can see quartz being similar to fishing, sure not everyone has the tools for it, but it's pretty easy to get them if you have a fishing road.

"I'll have all of them if possible."

The woman was taken by surprise, but she looked over my armor once again and nodded her head with a smile.

"Sure let me finish this meal and we can go and collect those items. "

Before I could even say 'ok' she just inhaled the rest of the food.

"I'm finished let's go."

She turned around and walked along the long hallways.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, I asked her a question.

"Have you traveled the Nether before?"

"You mean hunting? Yes, I still do get out and hunt occasionally."

"Not that, but to other bastions, have you visited any?"

"I have been to the Big Bastion once in my youth. First time I've seen so many people in one place and so much gold exchanged on the streets."

Is that some kind of capital? I should ask Undying or Blue about the geography around here.

"And how would you compare the leader of that place to yours?"

"You talking about the Chief? Oh, he has to change a lot if he wants to get to that level. First, he would have to let business properly appear around here and not control everything by himself and his family. I don't think he even trusts his family, but you didn't hear that from me."

The conversation didn't last any longer since we arrived at a hallway that looked similar to the apartments in my home world.

Everything was built with black stone and the doors were red.

We stopped at a certain door, no sign no nothing and we just entered.

She made me a hand motion to stop and walked into another room to get the items we were going to trade with.

I looked around the room which was small and devoid of any interior design.

There was some furniture here and there, but it was clear that some were handmade others made by the System.

The floor, walls, and ceiling were all made with the same blackrock as the ones in the hallways, and even though it didn't need light there was one soul lantern on the table which gave a creepy feeling to it.

I didin't have to wait for a long as the woman got back with some quartz in her hands.

"Ten stacks as I promised, that would be twenty gold pieces."

I took the gold from my inventory and passed it to her, and she took it at speeds I didn't know possible.

Fortunately, while she was distracted by the small fortune she remembered about her part of the deal and gave me the quartz.

"Do you want to buy anything else?"

"No, that would be all."

"Good then leave my home otherwise my husband is going to kill you."

Her voice instantly changed from a sweet lady to a cold machine throwing me out of her apartment even if she was the one to invite me in.

"That was so weird."

But I got what I wanted and I had enough for now, I didn't want to fill my inventory yet since I still have some time to stay here.

I walked out of the apartment complex and started to explore this place, it was so different than what I was used to that I had to see everything.

So for a whole day, I walked everywhere I could while getting weird stares from everyone.

I found out that this place was split into five major parts.

The entertainment arena, the retired tunnels where the old man lived, the community room which was above the arena where I could see the ceiling of the Nether, but where most of the training happened, the living area where there were tunnels arranged like an apartment complex and the Chief man arena, where the chief man lived together with his family.

Of course that was the most rich part of the Bastion and the most decorated one.

Of course, while I was exploring the place I talked with a few brutes, I had to make small trades with them otherwise they weren't willing to talk with me, no matter how rich or intimidating I looked.

"Looks like that woman wasn't an exception but the norm."

I found some interesting information from the few people that were willing to talk.

This Bastion wasn't always this rich, it all happened a few generations ago when the people still struggled to hunt hoglings in groups and didn't know how to mine gold nuggets.

But it all changed when one of the Chief's ancestors found a treasure trove, nobody knows what he found there, but in a short amount of time, he declared himself the leader of the people and started to teach them how to live a better life.

Of course, it wasn't for free as they had to swear their loyalty to him and work hard labor.

With time, everyone got smarter and richer, until one day the Chiefman decided to stop sharing his scared knowledge with the masses and hold everything for himself.

That happened three generations ago, and now people still have a better life but know that the current Chiefman holds on to a greater power then whatever everyone is holding on to.

And unfortunately, nobody can do anything about it since he's the richest and most powerful person in here, and Brutes respected that.

They weren't oppressed just limited, and the Chiefman were the ones to sponsor the most of the big tournaments, so you could become one of the rich brutes because of him.

After I heard about this I immediately knew what treasure he found, it was the ruins connected to the one that I found.

The portal was broken and they didn't know how to open one, which was a good thing.

The only thing that confuses me is the reason no leader decided to conquer the Nether.

If the storage found was anything similar to what I have, then he could easily build an army and take over.

I wonder what made them stop?

Were they satisfied with what they had?

No that couldn't be, it's in Brute's nature to gather more riches, they wouldn't just sit down for no reason.

At least he would try to mine every piece of gold in a 1.000 blocks radios.

But no, he let everyone else gather the resources at their own pace.

I sat down at one of the bars in the community room and tried a drink that I didn't even know was possible to have in the Nether.

A cup of water.

It was three nuggets which was pretty expensive for a drink, but I was just too curious how it could be sold at a common bar.

"Seriously you have to tell me where you got this water?"

The Brute beyond the bar just grumbled at me.

"Why, are you trying to take my business?"

"I'm not! I'm just so confused about how something like this can be sold here of all places. If it was sold for nobles I wouldn't be surprised, but for everyday Brute, now that's something else."

I took one sip and was pretty close to what I was used to, it just left a mint aftertaste which was welcomed in a hot dimension like this.

The barman started to laugh at me.

"You're funny, I'm going to tell you since it's such a piece of common knowledge, I'm surprised you don't even know about them. Do you know the blue forest with the tall monsters?"

"Yes, the Endemans, what about it."

"The blue vines of the trees can be crushed and water would come out of them, we try to leave some behind so it can grow back, but it's still an intense labor to get the water."

I did not know about that, this wasn't part of the game, and also where did the blue trees get the water from?

There isn't a lot of nutrition in the ground so how does that happen?

At least now I have the answer to a question I didn't ask.

How do people in this world brew potions if they don't have access to water

I now wonder how people enchant here.

I know they have obsidian, but I don't think you can find diamonds.

And even if they were, you couldn't mine them with gold.

Now that I'm thinking about there are a lot of questions that don't make sense in the Nether.

Like where do they get paper from, or even glass since there's no sand in here?

Some things I took for granted since it was a game, but now that I live in it there has to be an explanation for everything which made me wonder if I should start a tour around the Nether to find more answers.

In the end, I stopped asking those questions, it wasn't time for me to do that, I needed to level up my Crafting skill, learn how to enchant, find more ruins, and maybe finally make a portal for my home.

There's a chance Merry the hero would be summoned by the System once the Zombie Lord was killed for good.

She should ask if there's any way we could go back home.

Satisfied with the new ideas and plans I made I turned back to the bartender.

"Hey bartender, one more cup of water for me, and do you know who would be fighting in two days at the arena?"

The man grunted and poured me another cup, while I put the nuggets on the table.

"I heard the Chief son is going to fight with a wild hoglin. That's the reason everyone is so excited to see the fight in two days. Even the Chief himself would be there to watch, which is a rare thing to catch him in those small fights."

So this was a special occasion, no wonder the old man suggested to get there.

I drank the water slowly enjoying the mint flavor, when suddenly someone opened the door of the bar with force.

It was a man fully equipped with golden armor like myself, and I was surprised since I didn't expect someone to afford this.

He looked around the room until he saw me.

"Are you Trader the traveler?"

"Depends who is asking.,

The man walked closer to me and took out his golden exe.

"The Chiefman wants to have a meeting with you."

I didn't like the fact that he threatened me, but he was a messager, so if I did something to him it would be like attacking the Chiefman himself.

I would go with him and have my petty revange later, he's not getting off so easily.

"Yes, I'm him."

"Good, follow me then."

He put his exe back and walked away expecting me to follow him.

I only gave a deep sigh.

Why do people keep on walking out like that?