John initially thought Isabella was going to mention something about the resource points or some internal affairs within the fortress, but what she revealed caught him completely off guard.
He visibly paused, "Are you sure?"
Isabella nodded gravely.
She had been somewhat uncertain at first, but recently, while fighting the minor creatures, two people had died accidentally.
The time it took for them to disappear as white light had stretched to five minutes.
She didn't know what exactly was happening outside the secret realm, but this delay was undeniably real.
"That's strange…"
John lowered his head, deep in thought.
Such an occurrence should absolutely not happen.
After all, within these secret realms, true death was not supposed to occur.
Upon death, one was merely transported out, continuing as an observer, merely stripped of the right to compete.
But why then was the respawn time slowing down?
Could it be...
John suddenly had a chilling suspicion, but he forcibly suppressed it.
It couldn't be possible, absolutely not.
If the school had sent them here for an assessment, there couldn't be any mistakes.
However, if something else was indeed amiss, they wouldn't be able to resolve it immediately.
He wondered if the people outside had noticed anything unusual.
If something were to happen, would they continue with this assessment?
This examination was crucial for their potential admission into the academy; what would they do if a real problem arose?
"Have you mentioned this to anyone else?"
John's tone took on a more serious edge.
"A few people noticed it at the time, but no one has spoken about it publicly. However, I feel like there's something more to this. Keep an eye out on your end as well," Isabella advised.
Hearing this, John nodded slightly, but his mind had already begun to churn with calculations.
The school would never allow such a serious issue to occur unchecked, so there must be some unknown secret behind it.
As for what it was exactly, that would need to be seen in due course.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be going now. We'll keep in touch via private messages," Isabella said, gathering her belongings and preparing to leave.
John watched her retreating figure and smiled softly, choosing not to say anything, just lying back down to rest.
Just as Isabella was about to exit the cave, she suddenly halted, not turning her head back, but speaking indifferently, "Even though we cooperated this time, it doesn't mean I've forgotten our past conflicts. I still intend to test our strengths against each other next time!"
With those final words, Isabella turned and left without any hesitation.
John slightly turned his head to watch her leave, smiling lightly.
It seemed some things weren't as bad as he thought.
This person... was quite alright.
Once his stamina had recovered to a safe level, John slowly started packing up, preparing to leave.
Although the journey back meant passing through that unsightly mess again, which was quite nauseating, it was indeed the shortest route available.
Going out with Isabella would mean taking a long detour, which simply wasn't worth it.
On his way back, John sent a message to Archibald, inquiring if there was anything specific he still needed, as he could bring it back with him.
After all, it wasn't easy to come out here, and the more energy stones, the better.
Archibald, upon seeing the screenshot of the energy stones John sent over, was left almost speechless.
It's true what they say about comparison being the thief of joy.
While they were busy at the fortress with repairs and other duties, others were already venturing out to conquer new territories!
The energy stones John gathered were enough to last them a long time, especially considering they also had a large amount of iron-tier and borax.
"Right now, we're only short on wood and medicinal herbs, and I've already arranged for teams to go out and find some. We should have a batch soon," Archibald replied.
With less than 63 hours until the monster attack, there was a lot to be done.
They had to remain vigilant and ready for battle, or else they would definitely face problems.
"I've made contact with the second fortress, and they've agreed to our mutual defense pact. They'll send reinforcements if necessary."
Archibald found this message slightly odd.
Currently, he couldn't get in touch with anyone from the second fortress, neither through the command panel nor personal contacts.
"Did you meet someone from the second fortress?"
After much thought, Archibald came to the only conclusion that made sense, otherwise, there was no way to explain how John managed to cooperate with someone from the second fortress.
"Yeah, we teamed up to take down a platinum-tier boss and farmed some energy stones."
Hmm??
Archibald's face was full of question marks.
He felt as if his entire worldview was being upended.
"My man, can you not mention killing a platinum-tier boss as if it's no big deal, like it's something you can just do casually?"
And what does he mean by 'farmed a bit of energy stone'? Those energy stones were already a lot for them, enough for the entire fortress's use!
"Take another careful look around the fortress for any vehicles. I have a feeling that if we need to move between fortresses again, we're going to need some form of transportation."
After issuing this directive, John ended the call.
He knew the distances between the fortresses were far too great.
If they were to use the main roads, it would take about three hours!
Even if they took the nauseating route he had used, it would still take nearly two hours.
Therefore, in times of difficulty, they needed to be able to move quickly; otherwise, by the time they received a message for help and responded, it would already be too late.
John pressed on despite the nausea, continuing forward.
He had already obtained a large amount of everglowing sand from killing the minor creatures, so there was no need to pick any more from the ground.
Fortunately, once items entered his backpack, they were automatically cleaned and transformed into their item form, otherwise the sight of the murky mess would have been truly disgusting.
Holding his breath, he walked a good distance before finally reaching the beautiful entrance of the cave again.
John couldn't help but marvel at the cave's beauty.
The wonders of craftsmanship were indeed impressive, even within a secret realm.
As he reached the entrance, he finally took a deep breath.
The inside had been unbearably stinky, and even with a mask, the foul smell was overwhelming.
He looked at the lush trees around the cave entrance without any hesitation and quickly began to harvest them.
His backpack was empty anyway; he might as well take some wood back with him.
After completely harvesting the area, he quickly made his way back to the fortress.
Back there, they had essentially finished collecting a massive amount of resources and were in the process of organizing and integrating them.
Only Archibald knew about his return, but he had not come to disturb him.
John, carrying black iron ore and borax, made his way to the forge.
The fortress's personnel had already brought back the necessary materials, so Old Nick was swamped with work, his forehead covered in sweat.
As he heard footsteps approaching, his expression turned sour, and he grumbled gruffly, "I've told you I'm busy. If you want something made, get in line and just leave your stuff over there."
Old Nick muttered under his breath, his beard quivering as sweat dripped down his body, his hands tightly gripping the hammer, striking repeatedly.
"Good grief, they're going to work me to death! Can't a few people come over and lend a hand? I'm really going to collapse."
John couldn't help but chuckle at the grumpy old man's complaints.
He didn't speak, but instead reached into his backpack and pulled out a bottle of monkey wine, then popped the cap.
The aroma of the wine filled the entire forge.
Old Nick's head whipped around instantly, and he dropped his hammer, his eyes lighting up as he stared at the bottle in John's hands.
He looked like he wanted to snatch it, but upon seeing John, he restrained himself and instead bowed respectfully.
"Good day, esteemed Commander!"
Although Old Nick bowed, his eyes never left the bottle in John's hands, his eager expression almost comical.
John slightly swayed the bottle, a smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
"Not busy now?"