Chapter 402: The Two New Recruits
"All I need to do is to ingest these weird-looking gems?!!"
Mond’s voice echoed through the expanse of the club’s basement. He held one of the cores up to the dim light, rotating the glowing crystal with a mixture of awe and extreme scepticism. Next to him, Ben looked equally hesitant, his fingers tracing the surface of a similar gem.
John had led his inner circle and the two newest recruits down to the basement level. According to the blueprints provided by the girls, the base consisted of five distinct buildings on the surface. However, the true heart of the club lay beneath them. A massive, interconnected basement system ran under all five structures, covering the entire club’s territory.
This wasn’t just a simple cellar; it was a three-layered complex. The initial design had been engineered to turn the club into an impregnable fortress, with enough storage for an army. However, with John’s recent acquisition of the Instant Dungeon core, the need for this space had shifted, and he intended to have a long talk with everyone later about this.
The basement’s true marvel, however, was the mobile platform system. Designed by the girls as a trump card. These massive hydraulic lifts were built to mount heavy defences, towers, cannons, and other weapons, which could be raised to the surface in seconds to surprise any encroaching enemy.
To accommodate these platforms, the three-layered basement merged into a grand, circular ring that stretched along the inner perimeter of the club’s walls.
John had taken the group to this very circular structure, using the designated elevator to reach such depths. Once the doors hissed open, the sheer scale of the club’s basement became apparent. And then John took different cores and handed them over to the two new recruits.
"These cores can help you overcome your bottleneck and your control problems," John said, his voice calm but certain. He didn’t look at them as he spoke; his hands were already busy sorting through his inventory.
"They will enhance your body, strengthen your primary attributes, and if you’re lucky, they might even trigger the unlocking of secondary abilities. Besides... They can also work magic on your weapons."
Mond and Ben exchanged a long, silent glance. Their eyes were filled with doubt and a thousand unanswered questions. This sounded like heresy to everything they had been taught about how to gain power, by only consuming a Miracle Potion.
Yet John wasn’t in the mood for a slow explanation. He walked toward one of the massive mobile platforms. To him, it looked like a grander version of the mobile fortresses he had, and he began to unload lots of stuff.
The club’s outer walls stood at a respectable twenty-five meters tall. But the defensive towers and walls John began pulling from his inventory were taller and broader than the base’s defences.
The metallic clang of the structures settling onto the platforms rang out like claps of thunder. However, it wasn’t just the size that startled the recruits; it was the origin. These weren’t defences seen or found in the world; they were alien.
"These are weapons we acquired during our last adventure," Ricky noted, stepping in when he realised John was too busy unloading the weapons. He saw the confusion on Mond’s face and realised they needed some explanation. "Look... We weren’t actually in a special department training program these last couple of years..."
Ricky began to summarise their journey through the pocket trial. He briefly but vividly explained the existence of different races, the grand machine scheme that had threatened to consume their world, the betrayal of Mark, and their eventual, hard-won victory.
The more Ricky spoke, the more shocked and sceptical Mond and Ben became. It sounded like the crazy plot of a fever-dream webnovel, not the reality of the world they lived in.
"John, why don’t we just cut this short and summon Lanmar and Goven?" Luke said, his patience wearing thin as he watched the recruits’ faces twist in disbelief. He turned to John, gesturing toward an empty area, suggesting that John would summon the portal to the zone there.
"Let’s save some time and just prove our words with irrefutable evidence. Talk is cheap, but seeing is believing."
"Sure," John said, waving a hand dismissively. He didn’t even stop his work, continuing to take out heavy cannons and load them onto the mobile platforms. He picked the portal to the zone from his interface, and it instantly appeared out of thin air. "Go ahead and bring them through."
While John continued the work, Luke went toward the portal and returned a few minutes later. He wasn’t alone. Walking beside him was Lanmar, and a new Kroger that Luke had snagged.
According to Luke, Goven was currently deep in the middle of a weapon-smithing project and couldn’t be disturbed, so he had grabbed a random Kroger who had been resting nearby.
It didn’t matter which Kroger it was. The mere presence of two alien individuals was more than enough proof. The scepticism on Mond’s and Ben’s faces vanished instantly, replaced by a stunned, wide-eyed stare.
They weren’t like Nikolas or the Headmaster; they didn’t immediately launch a rain of questions at Lanmar. Instead, the sheer reality of the situation hit them hard like a thunderbolt. Seeing these beings emerge from the surprising portal was the ultimate confirmation that the world was far larger and more dangerous than they had ever imagined.
Mond was the first to recover, his curiosity flaring as he asked Lanmar about how the world looked on the other side of the portal. He looked genuinely disappointed when he learned that he couldn’t simply walk through and visit the zone yet, given the fact that he hadn’t cleared a pocket trial yet.
However, when Elena explained their long-term plan, to send human forces to clear more trials and eventually merge the zones, Mond’s eyes lit up with a fire of desire and excitement.
"Can I let my family join this?" Mond asked instantly, his voice urgent. "We are a strong, independent family, but our refusal to play the political games of the major Paragon factions has left us on the sidelines. Many fear our strength, so they isolate us."
"I also want to let my family try it," Ben added instantly, his voice brimming with a sudden, desperate hope. Inspired by Mond’s boldness, he began to pitch his own kin as the perfect candidates for this new frontier.
"My family has a long history of wind strong abilities, but like me, many struggle with the volatility of the power. If we can stabilise it, we could provide a strong force unlike anything the world has ever seen!"
"First things first," John said, finally ceasing his work on the defences. He turned his full attention toward the two newest members.
"We need to fix your personal problems before we start talking about grand expansions. A time will come for your families. I’ll need people I can trust to lead humans in the new world. But for now, just take the cores and let’s test how effective they are on your specific conditions."
This time, the two didn’t offer a single word of protest or a sceptical question. The presence of the Bulltor and the Kroger had shattered their old worldview. They took the first cores and placed them in their mouths. The moment the crystals touched their tongues, they dissolved into a pure, electric surge of energy that raced through their veins.
Feeling the immediate, invigorating effects, they didn’t wait for further instructions. They began ingesting the rest of the cores like hungry wolves, their bodies trembling as the cores began their magic.
John didn’t close the portal. Since this club base was destined to be their long-term headquarters and a bridge between worlds, he decided to leave the gateway active.
He turned to Lanmar and the Kroger, instructing them to return to their zone and spread the news among their people. If Blakar or Goven needed to reach him for anything, supplies, technical consultation, or emergencies, they could simply step through and find him here.
Elena, however, immediately stepped in with a valid comment. "It’s not wise to let them just walk around the club grounds looking for you, John," she said, her eyes scanning the basement layout.
"Even though we’ve ensured that the club will only accept members whom we filter and invite, having alien races roaming the surface freely is asking for trouble. It would draw too much attention from the academy and the other student factions."
Instead, she proposed a solution. She spoke about establishing a dedicated communication hub right here in the basement, situated directly next to the portal. Using this device, anyone arriving from the other side could easily contact John or the other inner circle members, relaying their needs or messages without ever needing to set foot on the surface or risk being spotted by outsiders.
John liked the idea immediately, though he admitted he didn’t have the means to establish such a communication network. He left the task to his friends, who were already getting pumped to design a secure communication system.
As for the strict academy regulations regarding unauthorised communication systems, Nikolas gave a reassuring wave of his hand. He promised to speak with the Headmaster later to find a suitable legal loophole they could exploit.
"Now, let’s test and see how you’ve improved," John said, his eyes narrowing as he watched the two recruits. He waited until Ben and Mond had finished ingesting the final cores, then he gestured for Ben to step forward first.
John wanted to see if the cores had managed to patch the stability flaw in Ben’s ability. He also noticed that Mond’s body was currently undergoing a much more violent transformation. And that left him very curious to see the final results.