Book 4 Chapter 14.2 - Habit
When the base's situation stabilized, Su decided to go to war with Steel Gate and Kelan City. His short term goal didn't necessarily have to be complete occupancy; if he could obtain a comparatively stable trade relationship through military means, then that was still acceptable. Like this, even though he was just starting to have his own base, he would have the first and most simple piece of the jigsaw puzzle in place. He already discovered that if he wanted to deal with an existence like Bevulas, becoming powerful himself wasn't enough. He had to occupy enough resources and establish a power that belonged to himself.
Su wasn't someone who excelled at supervising others, nor was he a qualified leader. If his dream could become a reality, the most realistic thing would be to be together with Persephone, and while guiding Madeline, they would find a place with their backs to mountains, face towards the sea, somewhere with clear skies and blue waters to settle down. Then, just like those of the olden era, they would slowly age.
Su knew that this would forever be just a dream.
In reality, Su could keep running, escaping to an even further place. However, Pandora's appearance proved what he previously realized, and that was that no matter how far he ran, he wouldn't be able to escape the pursuit of a Saint level ability user. That was why after discovering this region west of the great lakes, Su immediately decided to stay, moreover try to establish his own strength in the shortest amount of time possible. How he originally thought was no longer important, because he already set the resolution to establish a country that belonged to himself.
During this period of time, there was another small incident. When Su brought up his thoughts regarding the northern Frozen Throne with Madeline, Madeline told Su with an extremely serious voice that there was no need to go there and take such risks, nor was there a need to worry about Pandora, because she wouldn't come looking for them again.
Su immediately chuckled, telling Madeline that he felt a type of intuition, and that was that he had to seize that thing in Frozen Throne before the apostle obtained it. If the apostle discovered his existence, then he would most likely come to kill Su. That was why anything that could weaken this apostle, he absolutely had to do, even though neither Su nor Madeline understood exactly what kind of existence this so-called apostle was.
At that time, Su looked towards the north, his mind lost in thought. That was why he naturally, almost subconsciously said, "I can't die. If I die, then no one will protect you."
Madeline nodded, grabbing his hand tightly while standing beside him.
Even though in the battle against Pandora, Madeline displayed power even greater than Su, Su still spoke this sentence as if it was proper and to be expected as a matter of course. Meanwhile, Madeline similarly accepted it in the same manner.
Habits were powerful. After more than ten years, a few things, a few ways of thinking already became deeply-rooted in their minds.
This was true for Su, and it was true for Madeline as well.
After fifteen days of cleaning, N69 finally completed its preliminary organization, barely reaching the requirement for residence. However, for all of the trash piled up in the rear escape passage to be cleaned out, that would still be an extremely long process. After all, what had accumulated over ten years by the mutants couldn't be underestimated. The engineers Victor sent over were extremely useful, as they were extremely familiar with the various installations of an olden era base, especially towards the restoration and maintenance of the water treatment unit.
As the main power unit gradually recovered its power output, N69's ventilation unit, water treatment unit, residential district, and factory district started up one after another, allowing the base to recover its former appearance. However, the large amounts of underground water the water treatment unit needed all came from the underground river connected to the escape passage. If the escape passage wasn't cleaned out, then the current underground water source only provided enough water for the water treatment unit to produce ten tons of second grade water, or half a ton of purified water. The water that was produced, after subtracting their own usage, the remaining amount was only enough to pay the men Victor sent over a small part of their reward. The remaining amount was all owed as credit. When the escape passage was cleaned out and the water treatment unit could produce large amounts of pure water, it would be enough to enable the survival of over ten thousand people. In the new era, clean water was only for drinking. Showering, laundry, and all types of cleaning work all used underground water with relatively lower levels of radiation, and most people didn't need showers or cleaning. That was why the water treatment unit that could only maintain the normal lifestyle of a few hundred people, in the new era, could support more than ten times the number of people. If they were a bit more frugal, for example, giving the lower level slaves and laborers even lower grade water, they could even support the livelihood of thirty to forty thousand people. Even a city like Midnight City only had water treatment ability ten times that of N69's, yet not only could it support the extravagance of a city, it also had enough to carry out a large scale agricultural industry.
Kane stayed together with the engineers during the entire restoration and maintenance process. Both sides took what they needed from each other; the engineers' rich and developed system of knowledge were things Kane didn't possess, while Kane's moulding ability could manufacture practically any essential component. At the very least, for these olden era equipment, there weren't any components a moulding expert couldn't forge.
Su also intended to have this group of engineers stay behind. Having Kane learn all of the engineering knowledge by himself wasn't too realistic, even if the brains of new era humans could process several dozens or even over a hundred times the information of olden era humans. The expansion of knowledge would forever be several orders of magnitude greater than the speed at which the human brain could process it. Of course, a freak like Helen whose data processing speed was comparable to computing backbones wasn't included among these new era humans. There weren't many of these freaks even within the Blood Parliament where powerful individuals emerged in large numbers.
Apart from his moulding ability, Kane's greatest value still laid in his business and leadership abilities. After all, he had previously established an armed mob of over a hundred members, and he even monopolized close to ten inhabited areas. From the wilderness' standard, this was extremely ambitious and formidable, but after becoming Su's subordinate, because his own combat ability wasn't great enough, he often purely assumed the role of a military engineer. However, Kane didn't voice any complaints. Perhaps in this man's heart, the fact that Su saved his wife was already enough for him to hand over his life.