Endzone: Simulated Apocalypse

After Ragnar left to recover, Cyanide decided to head for the basement of Aterra HQ. There, Luna tended to his wounded hand, far better than Doctor Finch ever could. The sun was still high, and it was only noon, so Cyanide wanted to head somewhere else after this.

"Cyanide… I believe in your decision, but I still can't help but worry," Luna said as she wrapped a bandage around his hand. "Was it really wise to accept that man's offer?"

"The Oathsworn bond exists, if you are concerned about him betraying me," Cyanide replied calmly. "Did you see his stats? He specced out all into Strength and Vitality. He'll make a good meat shield and distraction, should the need arise."

"That is true, but…" Luna still had an uncomfortable look on her beautiful face, and Cyanide smirked.

"What, you're worried he'll be able to beat me in the future?"

"No, that's not it," Luna replied. "I am 100% confident you can defeat him. However, regardless of his… personality, his strength is to be acknowledged. Even if you do beat him, it will be at the cost of injuries."

"… Injuries are fine by me," Cyanide replied. "So long as the battle they were from was interesting."

"Cyanide…" Luna sighed. "Really, sometimes I can't tell if you're a genius or just insane… or both, perhaps."

Cyanide ignored this remark and glanced down at his hand, now fully bandaged with materials found in the room. The wound was already completely gone, his HP back to full. There were multiple ways to heal in Endzone, Cyanide discovered. Treating wounds like so was one of them, but a more efficient way was simply to use certain potions, which…

… Yeah. He didn't have.

Doctor Finch—who, by the way, had been released from his room by Kirika out of pity—could make these potions, but needed the right ingredients and materials. The responsibility of gathering said materials fell to Cyanide and the combat crew, of course, since they couldn't rely on Finch to go anywhere without getting himself killed.

But in any case, those ingredients were all found in the wild, not here in the city. The mutant blood was the base ingredient, of course, which Cyanide had a ton of, but the materials that made a potion do what it does were all various herbs and flowers.

Still, getting those would be postponed to a later date. Right now, Cyanide had a different goal in mind.

As he stood up and headed for the door, Luna tilted her head.

"Where are we off to today, Cyanide? Searching for the Sentinels?"

"No," Cyanide replied with a shake of his head. "If we do that, chances are, we'll need to camp outside. Our equipment and items right now aren't fit for that just yet. Need more blueprints."

At this, Lust gave a beep of agreement. "My siblings and I all have our lairs very spread out from one another, to prevent us from helping one another escape. I recommend stocking up before then."

"Hm… that is true," Luna said, before curving her lips up into a smile. "Or, alternatively… we can just craft a portable teleporter that we can bring us back to here whenever we want."

"… That's a thing?" Cyanide asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Indeed it is," Luna replied confidently with a wry grin. "And luckily for you… I found the Blueprints, on the way out of that underground laboratory."

Saying that, she reached her hand out in front of Cyanide, and swiped across to bring up his system. Since she technically was virtual herself, she could summon his system like so just like how she used to before receiving her physical body.

On the holographic screen, the Crafting menu was displayed. There were quite a few Blueprints Cyanide had obtained from all the mutants he'd slaughtered over time, but all of them were quite worthless. Pens, phones (but without any signal or internet), and even… a toilet?

But the two highlighted by Luna's maneuvers were anything but worthless. The first was titled [Teleport Beacon], and the second was called [Portable Teleporter].

"To teleport long distances excluding Soul Arts, two things are required," Luna explained, folding her arms. "The first is the Teleport Beacon, which can be placed anywhere we want. This will act as the destination for our teleportation. As for the second thing, that is the Portable Teleporter. It's the device that enables us to teleport from wherever we want to a Beacon we laid down beforehand."

"So… we can choose which Beacon we want to teleport to via the device?" Cyanide asked, and Luna gave a nod.

"Correct. However, to be able to teleport to a Beacon, you must first activate it and register it on your Portable Teleporter. This means you can't randomly teleport to—for example—another player's Beacon without registering it first."

"I see… so? Where do we get the materials for this?"

"Well, the only rare component—the Spacetime Core—I already collected—they were all within that lab as well, in the deepest part beside where Lust was kept. I was only able to find two there, though, since it can be assumed this technology was still in the development stage when the apocalypse struck this world. That being said, it's two is just enough for the Teleporter and one Beacon. The other materials needed are all things you mostly have already, such as Metal, Solar Panels, Wire, and… wait, Batteries?"

"… Mutants don't drop those," Cyanide muttered. "Their mutant cores convert the solar power directly into energy, so there's no need for a battery."

"Hm… you also need Glass, but that is easily obtainable—just break some windows and it should be fine," Luna said. "But the Batteries…"

"The computers in this place could work. All PCs have small batteries within them to power the CMOS chip," Cyanide stated.

"Unfortunately, those are too small to be salvaged," Luna replied. "They are only meant to power one tiny component, and won't be enough to supply power to a Teleport Beacon or the Portable Teleporter device."

"What about cars?" Kirika interrupted, popping her head into the room, having overheard the conversation. "There's a bunch of them outside, no?"

"If they're outside still, that means they've all been damaged beyond repair," Luna sighed. "But the car idea could work…"

Suddenly, Cyanide stood up, and everyone turned to him in surprise.

"Did you figure something out, Cyanide…?" Kirika blinked.

"… The car park," he said. "During the first Scarlet Hour… I went there once. There must be still-undamaged cars in there."

"Understood," Luna said. "In that case, let's set off, and return before night falls."

"I will remain here to try and contact the other Sentinels," Lust said. "It will be difficult, but if I can get in touch with one of them's signals, it will make tracking them down a breeze."

Cyanide nodded, and together, the three headed out.