System's POV
chapter-338-2

As all the powerhouses in the world were thinking of ways to profit from Zion's money-making-scheme, the teenage boy was currently lying in the make-shift tent that was erected hundreds of meters away from the mining site.

He was currently talking with Giga, who was busy loading the Empyrium that Rocky was mining in another location, to two portable teleporters.

These teleporters were one-way teleporters, which could only send non-living things to a location.

The first teleporter sent the Empyrium to the Underground Bunker in Thirteen's home, which was located in the Aldebaran Continent.

He had already informed his father about this plan, so they made preparations to gather everything they could for the growth of their family.

The second teleporter sent the Empyrium to a submarine that was currently on the coast of the Rigel Continent.

This submarine was a military submarine that Thirteen had asked the Mechanics of the Leventis Family to build.

At first, they were reluctant to build it because they believed that the submarine wouldn't have enough power to activate these powerful cannons.

They could be powered up by Empyrium, but they would need at least a ton of the ore to make one of the cannons work.

Empyrium was a very important resource, so they deemed that this modification to the submarine was not feasible.

However, Thirteen didn't want to hear their complaints, and simply ordered them to build the submarine according to the blueprint he provided.

The teenage boy already knew that there was Empyrium in the Rigel Continent, and there was a lot of it.

The Mini Satellite that he had built had already pinpointed the locations of these Empyrium Deposits, so the power source for these massive cannons wasn't an issue for him.

The captain of the Submarine was none other than Cristopher's High-Orc, Jubei, whom Thirteen believed would fit the role of captain perfectly.

Manning the submarine were the Trolls who had been taught on how to operate the Nautilus, which was one of Thirteen's Trump Cards.

It took three years to build this submarine, using the latest technology that was available in Pangea.

Now that they had secured the Empyrium to make the submarine's cannons operational, Thirteen had gained the ability to bombard his enemies from the sea, destroying them en masse.

In order to protect his family, Thirteen had initiated four projects during the three years that he was in Pangea, and delegated it to different people, so that they would be ready after three to four years.

Project Athena, Project Nautilus, Project Sovereign and, lastly, Project Apocalypse.

Each one of these projects would give Thirteen a great advantage over his enemies in Pangea.

Right now, only Project Nautilus had become fully operational.

Project Athena still needed a year to be fully calibrated.

Project Sovereign was only at its initial phase, while Project Apocalypse had not yet begun.

Thirteen had focused all of his effort in making sure that Project Athena, which was the strongest among his Trump Cards, was completed first.

He had succeeded in completing it, but it would take a year for it to become fully operational.

Fortunately, Project Nautilus was now fully operational, and it was all thanks to the Empyrium, which Rocky was devouring non-stop inside his Mobile Fortress.

Giga stared at the small hill of Empyrium Ore and sighed.

However, since this was an important matter, he, alongside O1, and O2, were busy loading the precious ores into the teleporters, which were sending them to the Nautilus, and Thirteen's home respectively.

'It will take Rocky at least two weeks to finish collecting the Empyrium in Sector 7,' Thirteen thought. 'I guess we need to avoid that place for a while in order to prevent Rocky from getting discovered.'

Thirteen then looked at the map in the projection in front of him and frowned.

'The next place to mine something nice is in Sector 12,' Thirteen mused. 'But, it is right next to the battleground of the Dvalinn Federation and the Jinns in Sector 11. I guess I need to take that risk.'

Right now, he needed his army to gain experience fighting against Jinns and Majins. This was one of the reasons why he took them to the Rigel Continent, in order to prepare them for the full invasion of the Cygni Continent, which would happen in three years.

Three days later, Thirteen's forces left Sector 5 and headed straight to Sector 12.

Along the way, they met several Wanderers of the Dvalinn Federation, who regularly hunted Jinns in the area, and prevented them from advancing to their headquarters, which was located in Sector 1.

Thirteen and his soldiers participated in one of these battles because they were only up against over a thousand Rank 1 and Rank 2 Wild Dogs.

The majority of his members were Adepts and Apostles, but they had already experienced enough battles in Solterra, which allowed them to handle the Wild Dog horde that discovered them during their travels.

The adults watched from a distance with their arms crossed over their chests.

They could easily deal with these monsters if they wanted to, but knowing that Thirteen was letting his troops gain experience, none of them interfered.

The only thing they did was take note of the individuals, who stood out in the battle.

After a battle that lasted for more than an hour, the soldiers started to gather the Cores of the Monsters that they had defeated.

Although they were only Rank 1 and Rank 2 Cores, they were still resources, so they decided to gather them all.

Those who suffered injuries were taken care of by their Squad Mates using the training they received to deal with injuries on the battlefield.

Each one of the Green Lanterns was now a bonafide medic, which was a good thing in Thirteen's book.

All of the soldiers had gained items during the battle.

Several of them even gained Wild Dog Avatars, which Thirteen thought would be useful for scouting missions.

But, no matter how useful these Wild Dogs were, they paled in comparison to the two Pocopocos that had accompanied Thirteen on his travels.

'I miss Vassago and Poca,' Thirteen thought. 'If they were here, they would definitely be a big help to my military operations.'

The two Pocopocos had returned to their homeland, but they promised that they would meet Thirteen again once he returned to Solterra.

Because of how long Thirteen had been in Solterra, he was spared from being sent back to Solterra until he was sixteen years old.

That gave him enough time to finish his projects, which would give him some peace of mind once he returned to Solterra.

Project Athena and Project Nautilus were Projects geared for when Thirteen was in Pangea.

Project Sovereign and Project Apocalypse were the two Projects that would give him an edge in Solterra.

These four projects together would allow him to overcome his current weaknesses of not being able to rise in the ranks, use skills, gather items, and gain avatars.

'One step at a time.' Thirteen smiled as he listened to Giga's complaint in his mind.

The Blaze Skunk wanted to fight monsters instead of staying inside Rocky's Mobile Fortress to carry Empyrium all day long.

Three years had passed since the great battle in the Arcadian Archipelago, and Giga had just become a Rank 6 Sovereign.

Blacky and Hercules had also become Rank 6 Sovereigns, while Rocky was just a step from becoming a Rank 7 Sovereign.

O1 and O2 were Rank 5 Sovereigns, and were unable to become Rank 6 at this point in time.

Thirteen wanted the two of them to mutate into the strongest type of Ogre before they became Rank 6 Monsters.

Doing so would give them a drastic boost in strength, and they would become one of the deadliest fighters in Thirteen's monster army.

While Thirteen was thinking about these things, a certain Black Snake popped up from the ground and crawled up the teenage boy's body.

"Welcome back, Tiona," Thirteen said as he patted the head of the Black Snake, who happily enjoyed her Master's attention.

Tiona had accompanied Rocky to look for the mineral deposits because of her treasure hunting abilities.

Now that the Magma Bal-Boa was busy mining the Empyrium Ores in Sector 7, Tiona deemed that there was no need for her to stay, and returned to her Master's side.

After getting praised and patted by her Master, Tiona spat out a small piece of metal before coiling her body on Thirteen's chest in order to rest.

She had been scouting Sector 12 before she returned to her Master.

It didn't take long for her to find the next mineral deposit that Thirteen would be mining soon.

A chuckle escaped the teenage boy's lips as he picked up the metal that Tiona had delivered to him.

Although the blackish metal wasn't as precious as Empyrium, it was still an important find because it would once again allow him to earn money, without having to lift a single finger.

'All part of the plan,' Thirteen smirked before closing his eyes to rest.

He was waiting for all the actors to arrive at the Rigel Continent before he went to look for the Cursed Items that his former host had hidden.