Power Source

[Advanced Tutorial Tasks (Power Source)

*Collect Large Battery x1, Small Battery x6

*Collect Electrical Wires x25

*Collect 20 Low-Grade Metal Scraps, 150 High-Grade Metal Scraps

*Craft Solar Panel x1

*Craft Solar Generator x1

*Craft Light Bulb x2

Rewards: Random blueprint]

[Begin]

[Advanced Tutorial Tasks (Power Source) Started]

The long list was intimidating, even more that it was my first time reading some of the materials.

Fortunately, unlike the day before, I would have the whole day for the tasks. Not to mention, that I was more armed and more experienced.

I reequipped the metal armor set, which I took off when I went to sleep, pulled out the map and made my way down the plateau again.

I walked the same boring thirty-minute route towards the level one area. The silence was almost deafening, so I started another conversation with the bot.

"Are there other people here?"

<That is something you will have to know for yourself>

"That kind of wording just adds fuel to my suspicions. So, there are people here, maybe beyond what's in the map."

<I said nothing of the sort.>

"Well, if there's no one here, why don't you just say so?"

<It is because I do not know. I have told you, I am merely your assistant.>

I continued to speak with the bot, hoping it would slip, but being a machine that it is, its answers were consistent. Although I had my suspicions, I began to realize that meeting other people in Medreth would be unlikely.

Nobody would want to live, no, more accurately, nobody would be able to live in a waste world. Even if they did survive the hostile beasts in the place, finding food would be difficult. Unless they have a system that would give them soil and seeds.

No rats were in the outer area when I arrived. But just to be safe, I briefly practiced summoning the pistol without summoning the inventory. Then checked if it was loaded.

I started with the easiest material to get, the Low-Grade Metal Scraps. Looking where to start, I noticed that the number of piles was the same when I left it. The resources and mobs should respawn, at least that's what happens in the RPG games I have played. If it does not, that puts forward new implications.

But with a lot of metal piles still left, I did not give it much thought. I summoned my pickaxe and began the grind.

With improved muscle memory and more experience, my scavenging was noticeably more efficient. My strikes were faster; thus the piles also took lesser time to deal with.

A Hundred Low-Grade Metal Scraps were collected within an hour, the same number was collected for an hour more, the previous day.

The Low-Grade Metal Scraps taken care of, I turned to other needed materials. As stated by the materials' descriptions, I would need to scavenge the mounds of trash to acquire them.

The metal piles were mostly about 7 feet tall, and a volume that could contain at least one mutated rat.

The larger mounds, on the other hand, were as tall and voluminous as a small hill and could contain several mutated rats inside it. So if one was hiding inside, I would only inform it of my presence if I started hitting the mound with the pickaxe. Then it might pop out when I am most unready.

Yet, willing to conquer my fears and go forward, I made my way towards the nearest mound.

<Do you want me to protect you against hostile mobs while you scavenge the mound?> the bot offered his service, the first time he did so.

"You can do that? Why didn't you say so in the very beginning?" I said appalled, remembering the near-death experiences.

<Any mob killed by other than you will not yield any loot. I figured you would not want that, so I only step in when you are left with no means to protect yourself>

I wanted to be angry for a bit longer, having changed my mood, but what Caesar said just made sense.

"Alright. I will not need loot from rats for now, so you deal with any that appears near me."

<Copy that.>

[Mound of Waste]

Emboldened by the promised protection of the bot, I made my first hit.

[Obtained High-Grade Metal Scrap x1]

I was confused at first and considered a glitch, so I lifted my pickaxe and bore on the mound the second time.

[Obtained Low-Grade Metal Scrap x2]

Then another after another.

[Obtained Electrical Wire x1]

[Obtained Metal String x1]

[Obtained Bone x1]

[Obtained Fabric x3]

It took four hits before I realized what was on. Unlike the metal pile, the mound yielded loot after every strike. And it made sense, if the Mound of Wastes' health needs to be entirely depleted before I could acquire materials, then it would take me several days.

In many ways, it was a better a mechanism. It would mean I wouldn't need to move around, and could also stop at the precise moment I have everything I need.

The downside was that it was more laborious. The drops were more diverse, so getting a lot of a single item, would take a lot of strikes. But the day was long, and I had a lot of time to spent on the effort.

Gunshots rung out, startling me even when I knew from where they came from. Caesar spotted a mutated rat charging towards me.

[Mutated Rat Slain]

[Acquired 20 XP]

Consistent to what the bot said, no loot was hovering atop the carcass. It was a loss, but something I'm willing to pay for, for a better state of mind.

After the brief disturbance, I resumed the repetitive and boring activity. I hated that the body I currently have did not easily tire, giving me no reason for a break.

But because of the same fact, I was a workhorse and finished work significantly faster than a human being. Scavenging the mound for the necessary materials would've taken a day, but I completed the task just before noon.