54 A horde
Upon opening the Privileged Market, Aldrin was faced with a prompt whether his delivery address was the same as what was recorded in his Energy Refiner's Identification.
Since the reason for opening it was to buy Terrorhawk eggs for his sister, he unhesitatingly tapped yes. It's not like he had another address to input.
Moreover, that address was still valid. Although his family accepted his suggestion about moving to the Central District, they still wanted to stay for a week there. Just to tie up some loose ends for their smooth transition.
After Aldrin confirmed the delivery address was correct, his phone screen switched to the product listing.
The list was first split into categories. There were Energy Refiner Weapons, Battlesuit, Rift Monster products, Elixirs, Concept Books and Metadomes as well as various Modules for it.
Aldrin instantly noticed that apart from elixirs and Rift Monster products, the Idle Shopping could provide the other categories by spending IDLE Points.
After asking Janet whether the Terrorhawk Eggs were the best for those who hoped to awaken and got a positive answer, he didn't hesitate to look for them instead of wasting his time browsing every item.
In less than a few seconds, by using the search function of the Privileged Market, the item he was looking for was instantly showed up on his screen.
Terrorhawk eggs – 100,000 Federation Credits/dozen
'Ugh... That's 1000 IDLE Points just for a dozen eggs... It's truly a Privileged Market. There's no way a normal citizen can afford to buy them. I bet even Bert will have to think twice about spending that much. Or he already tried it but failed to get the intended effect. He's from a lineage after all.'
With his thoughts lingering on that, he read the description of the item or rather, the source of the item he was trying to buy.
According to it, the Terrorhawk's strength is at least late-stage Ordinary Rank up to middle-stage Extraordinary Rank among the recorded Rift Monsters.
From what Aldrin read from the book he bought from Idle Shopping concerning Rift Monsters, there are five known categories among them. Those categories not only accounted for the Rift Monster's strength but also how hard it is to kill.
They go by Ordinary, Extraordinary, Rare, Elite, and King ranks.
They were simply categorized like that for the ease of remembering them. However, it was also common knowledge that each Rank corresponded to the five known stages that Energy Refiners could achieve. Just that, it was believed that Rift Monsters were slightly stronger than their counterparts. Perhaps one small stage apart.
That's why both Rift Monsters and Energy Refiners were using notations that went by early, middle, late and peak to differentiate those small stages.
Going by that reference, an early Stage 1 Energy Refiner was normally weaker than an early Ordinary Rank Rift Monster.
At the moment, Aldrin was still considered an early Stage 1 Energy Refiner. Not just him, every new Energy Refiner yesterday was all sitting at early Stage 1 even if they managed to withstand the pressure of those officials.
Jumping to the next small stage to be considered middle Stage 1 was only achievable after their Energy Quintessence got expanded to its limit. Although there's no indication, every Energy Refiner would feel it as soon as they achieved that feat.
'Now that I think about it, the price is understandable. The procurement process of these eggs is too tedious.' Aldrin muttered after reading it.
According to what was written on it, a group of Metadomes that specialized in speed would lure those Terrorhawks away from their nests while another group of Energy Refiners would risk their necks by sneaking in those huge nests, bagging the eggs.
Although that sounded easy because it would not always lead to a fight against the birds, accidents wherein part of the team could possibly die from the Terrorhawks were accounted for the price.
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"Huh? Did you really buy those eggs? This guy. Don't be a spendthrift. You should save up your money for Elixirs or Concepts that will be beneficial for you to learn." While clicking her tongue, Janet threw a piece of advice to him.
That's great advice but if Janet knew that Aldrin had already given out the money he received to his family, she would surely flip out and nag at him for the rest of this trip.
"It's for my sister. Even if the success rate is still considered low, I want to give her a higher chance than normal."
"It's not that effective to those not from Energy Refiner lineages, you know? I thought you're just curious about those eggs. What the hell are you thinking? Save that money to have your sister undergo that expensive awakening procedure instead. It has a100% certainty. How old is she by the way?"
"18. Even so... what I said was correct, right? The eggs can still raise the chance for someone to awaken."
"That's true but you're basically throwing your money away for that small chance. Your sister still has two years, just earn that amount."
'Elder sister, I can buy you ten dozen eggs by midnight. Do you dare? – As if I could say that just to brag with this teaser. Better to stop talking instead.' Aldrin inwardly thought as he put away his phone.
He already placed the order after converting some of his stored IDLE Points so there's no point arguing with it anymore.
'I will still use that option if the eggs doesn't work anyway.'
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Hours soon passed in their journey towards the Plainsteed Fortress.
During those few hours just safely riding inside the transport vehicle, the new Energy Refiners finally relaxed in their seats and that included Aldrin.
Just by this trip alone, his worldview had already expanded to the point that he began wondering if letting those Rift Monsters thrive to become Rift Monster product sources was the right move.
Being just a normal civilian a week ago, he was truly apprehensive about the existence of the Rift Monsters. For him, it's like a looming threat that could cover the city at any time. A threat that could endanger his family and friends.
Although he was aware that the government and other organizations were trimming their numbers periodically, Aldrin still thinks that they're better off gone.
Who could blame him? He's been taught and even experienced the terrifying might of the Rift Monsters.
In any case, his strength was still meager compared to those running the city and responsible for its safety. He was still level-headed enough to not babble his mouth irresponsibly.
He's still a newbie to the World of Energy Refiners. Perhaps, somewhere along the lines, his mindset would also experience a change. What he ought to do at the moment was to continue progressing and gain a foothold that could allow him to stop worrying about others finding out his secret.
"Huh? We're speeding up. What happened?"
Suddenly, one of the new Energy Refiners commented after noticing that the scenery outside the windows was slowly becoming blurry.
"There!"
A woman then pointed to the east along with a surprised shout.
Aldrin as well as the other passengers of the transport vehicle all looked in the direction she pointed.
"That's..."
"A horde?"
"A pack!"
"Wait, are we going to be fine? They're closing in!"
Panic instantly rose among the Energy Refiners inside the transport vehicle as they saw a patch of darkness growing over the horizon, closing in towards them by the second while creating a storm of dust from behind.
Furthermore, even though the transport vehicles had already sped up, it didn't appear like they're outrunning the patch of darkness
And a few moments later, the silhouette of their pursuers finally registered in their eyes.
"Calm down, that's just a herd of Iron Bulls that probably ran out of their enclosement. You can find their meats on the market. If that can make you panic, you'll find yourself beneath a Rift Monster soon enough, with half of your body torn or eaten by them."
"Don't scare them like that, Janet."
"They needed a reality-check. This is our world and this is their world now. Why are they even panicking when there are those Metadomes protecting us? Just watch, sit back and relax."
Janet crossed her arms and rested her back comfortably while exuding extreme calmness on her face.
Seeing her like that, those who were just shouting in a panic earlier gulped down as they sat back in their seats. However, their eyes remained looking towards that direction.
The same as everyone, Aldrin kept his eyes peeled. He'd seen the little skirmish between the ants and the spiders at the Lower Dimension. And truthfully, he found that battle more terrifying than the prospect of these bulls stampeding towards them.
Why can't he? They're protected by a battalion of Metadomes that, at the moment, was already gearing up to engage the incoming Rift Monster horde.
