This caused his friends to turn grim and the four other worlders noticed it as well.

“ A nation’s wealth is not an individuals. In this case, the United States of America is forced to pay its debts. First, we take the treasury value of the country. In your case, gold, silver, and other high valued cultural items. As Dollars, as you know it are just promissory banknotes backed by such treasures. Next, we take physical assets. Buildings, vehicles, supplies, and such. Then a copy of intellectual properties. And finally the land itself. As you may have noticed, much of the goods taken in the shop are reclaimed via debts of factions. A good portion of that will be scavengable.”

“ One final question for you, Four. What happens if a faction goes into debt while in the scavenging portion of the update, but can not pay it back afterward?”

This one caused Four to pause and put a hand to his chin.

“ All debts must be paid before the update ends. It is a balance thing. Like if there is an end there must be a beginning. Or how eternity and infinity go together. So you can claim whatever assets you deem from the faction if you are the debtor. At a fair rate, we will judge, mind you.”

David nods and looks at his friends.

“ And that is why I said before the country as we know it is gone earlier. I realized with its massive debt...”

John finishes his sentence. “ It is a shell of its former self. With no taxes or trade anymore and having to still pay all the people.”

David nods seeing she now gets it.

“ I hope to buy out several people's debts owed to them and hopefully score all kinds of things for much cheaper than the shop.”

Laughter came from behind David again and the forgotten guests were highly amused. At least the dwarves were.

“ I can see how that one can build such coffers. Come as a hero in a devil's contract.”

David looked at Rick and Marry and blushed.

“ Look, my focus is going to be on technology. Free use of all patents without cost, kind of thing. If what I am guessing is going to happen, the universe is about to be much more interconnected. I bet you can not even make a loaf of bread in the future without the proper patents. That is unless you are willing to lose a portion of that loaf.”

This got the dwarves and lycans thinking.

“ We know the power of knowledge, young alpha. You seek to clean the scraps off of a corpse, but I should tell you that greed can lead you to your doom.”

Hearing Gark speak for the first time put David in a somber mood.

“ And if I leave too much meat on the rotting bones. My pups may grow hungry when winter comes.”

Gark releases a sharp laugh that almost sounded like a bark.

“ As is the great test in the wild. But enough of your individual planning and let us begin as a group.”

David nods and turns to Four.

“ Can we get a bigger table and more chairs?”

Four nods and waves his hand.

“ A minimum of comfort will be provided for free while here. It takes no effort to do so.”

David nods again and when he noticed the table again it was now several times bigger. Almost like the one a king would sit at.

“ Let us leaders sit on one end and our host on the other. The rest can sit as they please.”

-----

“ So you are thinking of a valley with a cliff on one side you plan on building into for your fortress. It is a bold plan that has many difficulties involved,” said Silve as he stroked his beard in thought.

“ I was thinking of one great defensible location that had a large stock of wood that could be chopped for our needs then further cleared for planting of crops.”

Gark hummed as he looked at the map that the shop provided that was a parcel of land being offered for sale. Clearly his mate was seeing the same thing.

“ A valley you describe would have one day been flooded and will flood in the future. If magic would return to the world then it is not a viable location because a high-level mage would just drown us.”

“ Aye, and it leaves you vulnerable to those above the cliff as well. A sensible idea at first, but we can do better.”

He then opened his hand to his wife, who had been nose deep into her menu and he brought out another map like a hologram to show more terrain features of a mountain, but a lack of trees. She then procured two more maps.

“ Unlike your suggestion which has everything and a bunch of flaws. I propose three linked places. Unlike the one and a half billion for your price range, this will cost us two per area.”

That was a hefty price hike and also triples the area they had to secure, but also appeared to have fewer downsides at first glance.

“ If our populations were ten or even a hundred times greater, I would agree with you Master Silve, but I feel that might spread us far too thin...”

“ And separate,” David added to Loa’s point and she dipped her head in acknowledgment.

“ If some threat would appear, it would take too long for us to marshal against it before losses would be great. I am sure we are going to have neighbors one day. If they are hostile.”

Silve sighed deeply understanding. It was Gark turn to bring out a pair of maps. One was an oceanfront while another was cliffs surrounding it. It looked like the crater of a large impact or explosion on the edge of an ocean that had filled up with water halfway. Making both the waterways and ground paths risky. Even David could see the mineral deposits however on those cliffs. Needless to say, this place was not appropriate either. It was Marry who brought out the next map.

“ For fucks sake, don’t overcomplicate the entire thing.”

The map was huge, much larger than the three the dwarf brought out combined, in fact, it showed an entire continent. The first thing David noticed was the price tag of eight and a half billion.