A few months have passed since Maximus escaped his base.
[Wanderer: Host, there's a group of Tier 4 monsters located 170 kilometers away.]
"Damn it, can't these monsters give me some peace?" Maximus cursed.
"Go ahead, inform the collection robots to evacuate," Maximus ordered.
[Wanderer: Understood, host.]
While the collection robots were evacuating, Maximus reminisced about the past few months.
Maximus didn't know what had happened, but after he crossed the three-year mark, it seemed like this world had started to move.
Yes, move.
It was as if there was some sort of tracker on him that attracted monsters.
And it wasn't just undead; various kinds of monsters were after him.
To collect materials while moving, he had even modified mechanic and construction robots into collection robots.
These robots would scan and gather materials as they moved.
However even with this, due to frequent movement, he could hardly get much done.
[Wanderer: Host, all collection robots are in position.]
"Good, let's move to another location," Maximus ordered.
This was already the fifth city he had visited.
Unfortunately, he hadn't had any luck finding higher-level materials; the highest he could find was Tier 3.
Regrettably, there were too few of these to create anything meaningful.
...
After days of travel, he arrived at another city.
"Wanderer, scan for the grades of materials in this city."
The reason he didn't use the system was because its coverage was limited to a few kilometers.
In Wanderer, the scanner he had created, could scan up to a thousand kilometers and provide detailed information within a hundred kilometers.
[Wanderer: Three hundred unknown Tier 3 materials, Tier 3 Tritanium Iron..., Tier 3 Jinx Aluminum...]
Soon, a list of materials appeared on Wanderer's display.
The "unknown" label was because he hadn't input the material information into the database.
The scanner detected the molecular structure to determine the material's grade.
This similar grade is also used in spiritual plants.
But instead of molecular structure what is measured, is the density and purity of mana.
"So much Tier 3?!" Maximus muttered in shock.
For the past few months, he had barely come across any Tier 3 materials.
Even when he did find some, it was only bits and pieces salvaged from destroyed mechanical devices.
"Scan for biological activities."
Maximus thought that since this place was rich in Tier 3 materials, it must be teeming with monsters.
[Wanderer: Detected 14,481 Tier 3 monster activities, 374,432 Tier 2 monster activities, xx tier 1... and 1 human activity...]
"Huh? No Tier 4?" Maximus questioned.
This was the first time he had encountered such a large number of Tier 3 monsters.
Usually, they only appeared in groups of a hundred, yet there were more than ten thousand.
Yet there was not even a presence of a tier 4 monster.
"Huh? A human?" Maximus finally noticed the human activity.
Human activity was listed last in the scanning because humans were the weakest biological entities here.
"Wanderer, send a signal to the human and attempt to establish communication."
There was a signal transceiver in the RV, though unfortunately, it was weak and can only connect nearby.
It can only be used, as a signal for his robots and drones.
Given enough material, he would like to create a stronger signal transceiver that can reach all over the world.
After all, there were only around 12 million testers in this world.
Getting in contact with them can make this hundred-year survival much easier.
However, according to calculation, he estimated that this world had a radius of about 100,000 kilometers—fifteen times larger than Earth.
Creating a signal transceiver that can cover the whole wasteland without flying would need, at least tier 4 materials.
...
In the underground base, a man was busy creating something when his signal transceiver receive a signal.
"Someone?" he questioned.
He was Andrew, a seeker who had been in the Origin Arcana Institute for more than a thousand years.
He had also taken the Mechanic Golden Trial no less than ten times.
Although it was said that death here meant death in reality, it was only the case if you died within this world.
If you felt endangered, you could simply exit, which equated to a failure.
The reason he had taken the Golden Trial multiple times, even in the face of danger, was due to the reward of the special student status.
Having undergone the Mechanic Golden Trial numerous times, he had become well-adapted.
Of course, surviving for a hundred years was not an easy feat.
Otherwise, anyone could spam the Golden Gate trial as many times as they wanted in order to pass.
"Is someone contacting me?" Andrew muttered as he approached the signal transceiver and pressed enter.
"Hello."
...
Inside Maximus' RV:
"Hello," Maximus said.
This was the first human he had encountered so far, so he was curious.
"Um, who is this?"
"I'm Maximus. You're the first human I've met, so I'm curious."
"Oh? How did you find me?"
"It's a biological scanner."
"What scanner? You managed to create such an advance one in just three years?"
Andrew was shocked.
After all, the materials in each Golden Trial were unique.
Unless you studied and know all kinds of materials in the world.
One could only do their best to adapt, and use these world's unique materials based on similarities.
This is also why, although they studied for thousands or even millions of years, passing the golden gate trial is still uncertain.
For example, his base.
He had been here for three years, groping around.
Due to being lucky, in the beginning, there was a bunch of tier 3 materials just lying around.
With his knowledge, he created a tier 3 weapon and sweep the surroundings clean.
He planned to stay here for at least ten years, so he had been isolating his base regardless of the cost.
Without an advanced scanner, finding his position is nearly impossible.
In fact, a few months ago, when it reach the three-year mark, a bunch of tier 3 monsters came yet he still didn't find him.
Yet Maximus easily found him, which could only mean that he had an advanced scanner.
"Well, it's been three years. That's quite a long time," Maximus bragged.
"Um," Andrew didn't know what to say.
He thought, "You're right, you're awesome."
"By the way, what do you want from me?" Andrew finally asked.
He didn't believe that Maximus had contacted him solely out of curiosity.
"How about joining my team? I need some capable subordinates," Maximus offered.
A while ago, when he had contacted Andrew, he had sent a drone to observe his base.
Seeing Adrew's base, Maximus couldn't help but praise it.
The isolation measures were truly top-notch.
Monsters could pass right by the area without noticing Andrew.
Even the Tier 3 monsters seemed unaware of his presence.
"Join you? Why would I join you?" Andrew sneered.
What a joke—as a student of the Origin Arcana Institute he still had arrogance deep in his bones.
Becoming a subordinate of someone is unacceptable.
Although he's only a seeker now, he believes that he is better than anyone.
That's also why he's been able to take the Golden Gate trial despite failing multiple times.
"It's simple. Because I can both kill you and save you at the same time," Maximus smiled.
He had been contemplating whom to recruit after creating a guild.
Technical talents were precisely what he needed.
Moreover, those in this Golden Gate trial are certainly not simple individuals.
"What?" Andrew's expression grew gloomy.
While he could retake the trial next time, who would want to repeat the same ordeal over and over?
"Are you sure you want to attack me?" Andrew warned.
"Hehe, are you relying on those toy weapons of yours?"
"Let's see if you can still use them," Maximus mocked.
After he decided to approach Andrew, He had already prepared for any circumstances.
He had drones drop signal-interfering devices near Andrew's weapons.
Unless Andrew operated them manually, his weapons can only became as good as scrap metal
"What?!" Andrew was shocked, hurriedly attempting to operate the weapons.
When he didn't receive any response, anxiety crept in.
"What did you do?"
"Oh, I just placed some signal interference devices."
"Why don't you go out and remove them?" Maximus taunted.
Not tested, by Maximus he operated and tap on a few more weapons hidden farther away.
Unfortunately for him, the signal interference device had a huge range.
"What a bad luck," Andrew sighed.
"I guess I have no other choice but to join you," Andrew compromise through gritted teeth.
Of course, he was only acting; once he got closer to Maximus, he would do his best to eliminate him.
"I'm glad you're someone who can be reasoned," Maximus nodded in satisfaction.
"But first, put on the gift I sent you. It will be delivered to your door," Maximus said, putting an exquisite necklace on the drone to be delivered.
This served as his insurance because he couldn't completely trust anyone.
Since it wasn't possible to sign binding contracts here, he can only make this thing.
The necklace was filled with intricate sensors that could detect thought activity, although not in great detail.
The necklace contained micro energy crystals that could explode upon command.
It would ensure that if someone dared to betray him, they would disintegrate.
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