Having nothing to do but but wait Sorp began practicing with his B.F.M. according to Kom incessant talking, this device has to be used a lot.

Sorp didn’t understand why. Half an hour in. Sorp’s breath was heavy. His head felt odd. He stopped practicing when he realize he let someone sneak up close.

This was a shocking occurrence. Sorp isn’t omniscient, but sneaking up on Sorp should be difficult.

Sorp stared at the halfling watching him. The man felt uncomfortable and began fidgeting. He tried talking to Sorp, but Sorp was just standing there staring at him.

It took the better half of an hour before the rest of the guys arrived. They trickled in at about the same rate. Most of them were annoyed.

As it turned out. They couldn’t sprint around like Sorp, and detect the creatures easily. Because the creatures fell into the background and barely moved.

In general, this type of creature took the longest time to find and kill. This varied between those creatures that would run when startled.

Sorp was resting. Sweating through his white cloth shirt. This is the same type of shirt everyone wears.

When the guys saw the even Sorp was sweating they felt a little better about their struggle.

They all turned in their assignments. A few of them cursed the plantation manager. Unlike Sorp they understood he was mocking them. It rang true, they had never stepped outside a city.

The Vcoin payout wasn’t much and the repeated process would yield even less. But do enough and you might unlock better contracts and rewards.

“Should we check out the third wave reinforcements?”

“A few people are heading there already. It sounds like an army camp.”

Kom waved his hand similar to the plantation manager. He pushed a translucent blue screen towards all of them, one by one, in small tapping motions.

“Check that out. Those are all people broadcasting what they are doing.”

“Oh.”

“Why are there people recording them?”

“There is no one recording them. It’s a built in system. You can do it to.”

“Hold on. Does that mean that people can all record me doing things?”

“That’s right. If they are close by”

“Like every woman?”

“Eh.”

“This isn’t good. Can they use this as evidence for a crime?”

“No. There is a privacy clause.”

Ret’s and Pal’s faces have paled. They are staring at Kom, questioning him constantly. Kom loves the attention and has already pulled up the related information.

According to the privacy clause, anyone recording will need to send related individuals requests to unblur their appearance.

This means that any recording will automatically blur humans and virtual humans. Even the requests to unblur will be anonymous.

The request is anonymous to provide further anonymity. Nothing stops the user from describing a person appearance however.

“They can still record us?”

“What happens if we invite a girl to a secluded place to play for a bit?”

Ret and Pal had regained some color in their face, but their expressions were still serious.

“Nothing happens. You are still free to play around.”

Dart had brung up the information as well. He read it thoroughly three times. He was already pale but he felt a sting in is heart just like Pal and Ret.

“Your voices are also altered.”

This was Dart joining the conversation. Kom nodded, he knew this as well. It just slipped his mind.

Sorp had no interests in any of this. He didn’t dislike being filmed. He had been filmed a bit on his advertisement tour.

The issue with Sorp was he didn’t understand what they were worried about. Because Sorp didn’t even acknowledge laws.

This was the core of the issue. What did it matter if someone saw or recorded you murder another person? He had no answer to this.

He even tied it together with his time in the underground fights. He had killed many people in real life and the virtual world.

In the virtual world he had seen recordings of himself tearing people apart with weapons. He’d see himself jab into their eyes and gouge them out.

The question ‘what if someone records me and arrests me?’ does not exist in his mind. And seeing as the guys never directly expressed it, Sorp wouldn’t think of it.

It has been some time since Sorp fought, so realistically he should be itching to fight. But his earlier mental fatigue had him distracted.

They were all heading towards the Third wave reinforcements place. To them, this was the next logical destination.

There are multiple other destinations, however. It just so happen that their spawn point in Perpetuity coincided with the direction that leads out of the great mountain formation surround Perpetuity.

The Third wave reinforcements are troops trained by Perpetuity’s military. It is a low risk training program.

It’s focuses are on the fundamentals and introduction to various survival techniques. They are called Third wave reinforcements because the training takes form in three waves.

The final reinforcement wave moves onto an expedition force. Their aim to safeguard Perpetuity and expand the territory.

The lore of the city Perpetuity, according to aged books and scholars residing within the city of Perpetuity. They state that this city is the final vestige of hope for humanity.

Only because of the natural protection of the mountains and The Endless River, did they survive to present day.

Turtling behind this protection is a wise decision. But multiple precious resources cannot be found within their territory.

Due to greed or necessity, Perpetuity has to establish itself in the greater outside world. Only then can they progress further with their technologies.

The greatest influx of technological advancements comes from what the The Endless River washes through the underwater caverns.

For the longest time, Perpetuity didn’t find a way to expand. They could barely defend themselves from the endless barrage of local wildlife. Such as protecting their farms.

With the introduction of B.F.M’s they could create powerful weapons. The B.F.M.s were just conduits and the firepower were the people.

People could be trained and considered a renewable source. There are still instances of powerful ranged weapons, but these can not be mass produced.

The advancements of B.F.M.’s increased production of farmland, this increased food allowances, and in turn increased population.

With more people and more food, it became possible to sustain the training of a new military force.

With the larger military, expeditions began finding previously unknown resources, allowing them to mass produce the common B.F.M.’s they issue to the lowest tier of soldiers and contractors.

These were the B.F.M.’s that Sorp and the lot were using.

“How far is it?”

“We don’t know, but one of the guys that is heading there has already been walking for about five hours.”

“Five hours!?”

“I’m not walking for five hours.”

“We can buy animals to ride.”

“Like horses?”

“Not exactly.”

The animals in question are domesticated beasts that move consistently at double the speed of jogging human. They are used in agriculture, for their meat and for long travel.

The problem with getting these beasts is that they have to buy them from merchants, the farmers themselves or acquire one from Perpetuity’s government.

All of this needed them to backtrack to Perpetuity. This would only increase the time it takes to move towards the Third wave reinforcement camp. Which is still an unknown distance away.

It’s not that it’s impossible to gather the information. There are maps of Perpetuity’s lands. Even detailed maps with not as well known precious resources.

A poor person with such a map could buy themself a B.F.M. tool to harvest these materials and enrich themselves.

It is possible to have governmental officials issue contracts on your behalf. A person could do this and have people gather materials for them.

The prerequisite for these things is to know they are possible. This isn’t public knowledge but the public can find this out from public records or governmental figures.

There are many restrictions within Perpetuity, and only when outside of it, can one become more tyrannical and unlawful.

Even with other villages, towns or cities established outside of Perpetuity’s territory, Perpetuity will be the central hub of the economy.

This has to do with technological research. Certain things can only be attained by Perpetuity. Sometimes this is long term rations.

Sometimes it is certain key components to building certain technologies. This includes the lowest tier of energy generators to hinges for doors. And other miscellaneous items.

“I vote we go back and get those animals then.”

“I agree. And I’m starving.”

“I’m also hungry.”

“You could try that green bug.”

“You can try it.”

“What do you think Sorp?”

“We can go back. I want to eat meat.”

They were all feeling hungry. After Sorp spoke they settled on it and started making their way. Sometimes cursing the long journey, sometime pulling out their B.F.M.’s.

This can be called a good decision. The journey to the Third wave reinfocement camp would take them many days on foot. And that’s assuming they don’t stop to hunt food or rest.

Kom kept an eye on the people streaming their journey. Dart also check in it once every few minutes. The others were joking around.

Sorp occasionally pulled out his short sword B.F.M. he swung it around until he felt that familiar fatigue. He noticed the world seemed less bright than before. The surrounding noises were less crisp

After talking to the guys for a bit they began practicing with the B.F.M.’s they all felt the fatigue. But in their eyes, the world was the same. They just felt like they couldn’t focus.

Hearing this, Sorp fell into deep thought. He began practicing harder. Eventually he reached a level of fatigue where he himself couldn’t focus.

None of the guys were surprised by how long and how hard Sorp could keep up his B.F.M. this was as expected.

Sorp concluded that forty minutes of rigorous fighting was a limit of sorts. Physically he didn't feel too exhausted and could still go on.

Having been experimenting the whole way back, Sorp didn’t notice they were almost back to Perpetuity.

After talking to some people they began walking towards a large farm. This farm didn’t grow crops but reared a variety of animals. All kinds of products came from here.

Similar to a plantation, it required large swaths of lands to house their animals. There are also facilities to train certain animals to become work animals.

After finding a supervisor is charge they were charged an obscene amount for six corses. A muscular wideback beast.

“Isn’t this too expensive? It almost half the price of a single device?”

The guys couldn’t afford the cost. The astronomical sum caused their heads to spin. Sorp was about to steal the beasts.

To their fortune, Dart had already researched the topic. Without items issued by the government of Perpetuity, it is impossible to command the creatures.

The creatures were all tamed using a unique B.F.M. Unique in that it was a device it grew up with. Without it, it will berserk until it exhausts itself or dies.

Every such device answers to a keycode. This is what the guys would be buying. The code to the beast’s B.F.M.

It is still possible for them to coerce a key code from the local supervisor. But this is still within range of Perpetuity. Law enforcers would arrive in a timely manner.

Unlike small time infractions or infractions concerning civilians, these beasts were a property of Perpetuity, and thus guarded well.

Whether the official could stop Sorp and the guys is undetermined, but it would exclude them from joining the Third wave reinforcement camp. As it is run by the government.

Sorp, knowing all this, still wouldn't care. But he listened to his friends. He did trust them and his mind was occupied with other things.

They could still order food in this location. Like in many of the plantations, a small village was created to house the workers.

This included a small Inn that served food and provided lodgings. The guys went to this place and ordered drinks and food.

These things were all cheap. The main reason why the tamed beasts cost as much as they do, is because of the B.F.M. this was a large B.F.M. that needed to grow with the beasts.

Unlike the common B.F.M. they received, it could be capable of supporting an Augment. This alone increased its price many folds.

The guys sat, ate, drank and chatted. They had entered the world when it was opened. This was mid afternoon in the game. Now they had already losing sunlight.

Perpetuity saw less sun because of the great mountains. But the days are longer in Perpetuity. Meaning the average day in Perpetuity was still a bit longer than on Earth.

Once they stepped outside the mountains, the sunlight would last three to four hours longer.

The food in the Inn was cheap. But Sorp ate like a dragon. It took them a full hour before he finished. Sorp overate. The food was not only delicious but very fresh.