No reaction?
Magnus stiffened. A sudden thought flashed - what if the one that controls the Life Crystal was his pinky? Without wasting ti, he gently pressed his pinky against the tattoo on his left middle finger. In an instant, the thick, milky-white mist from the Life Crystal in his right hand retracted, rushing back into his pinky.
Relief flooded him. Good... That’s a damn relief.
Now that he could command the Life Crystal, its value to him wasn’t just about saving lives or bringing back the dead. He could use it to heal wounds - his own, or soone else’s.
To be honest, this was just Magnus being a bit ignorant. The truth was, Life Crystals always had healing power. Any Awakened knew that - used right, they could nd wounds, even regrow limbs.
But no one actually used them that way. Too damn pricey.
Then another thought hit him - what about Earth Crystals and Nature Crystals? Would this strange black ring react to those too?
So far, their team hadn’t stumbled on either. Earth Crystals weren’t rare, but Nature Crystals? Those were near mythical.
Still, Magnus had sothing others didn’t - "Prophet." Thanks to that, he was confident he’d track one down.
Let’s just hope those two won’t be a letdown when the ti cos.
*****
Dusk settled in. The team had beefed up their watch through the afternoon while continuing to dig out teorites. All 607 of them, digging up 57 teorite chunks. According to Charlotte’s estimate, given this morning’s incident, they’d barely finished forty percent.
As twilight deepened, it was ti to prep dinner. Magnus had reminded Liana ti and again - make sure the al was good. Ask what folks wanted. Liana checked around, and most still preferred sothing hot.
Hot food...
On the sleeper car, Magnus frowned, still thinking. Emily threw out a suggestion, "How about instant noodles tonight?"
"No way," Charlotte shook her head. "Noodles sll too strong."
Sophia chid in, "Then what? Hot food, but no sll? What’re we eating, biscuits soaked in hot water?"
"Hot water and biscuits?" Emily instantly replied, "I’m down for that! Liana, let’s do it!"
"No," Magnus sighed. "That won’t do. Not enough to fill ’em up. They’re burning a ton of energy during the day. We need sothing packed - high calorie, high protein."
Sophia scoffed, "So this won’t do, that won’t do - seriously? You students talk too much. If it were just us squad regulars, we’d eat compressed rations for a month straight and not complain once!"
Magnus ignored her. He’d already pegged Sophia. One day she’d find a man tough enough to keep her in check, and maybe then she’d finally shut up.
After a pause, he turned to Liana. "Miss Jabbar, do we have any fresh eggs in the freezer truck?"
"We do, but not many. Around twenty boxes," she answered.
"Alright, we’ll boil eggs then. Get a pot of water going, cover it, no need for tents. Once it’s boiling, get the team to soak their noodles in their ss kits. Noodles - don’t limit ’em. Eggs - try to get one per person. Each also gets a sausage, share packs of peanuts two by two, two bananas each, and finish it off with a pack of dried beef."
"That much?" Liana’s face twitched.
Just the "noodle unlimited" part alone - feeding 607 people, she knew they’d need at least 1,500 packs.
A hungry girl could down two by herself. And these weren’t just hungry girls - they were exhausted Awakened. Their appetite? No joke. One box of instant noodles had 24 packs. Ten boxes made 240. That one al devoured over fifty, maybe sixty boxes - gone, just like that.
And that’s not all. Over 600 sausages, 1,200 bananas, 600 packets of beef jerky, 600 eggs, 300 bags of peanuts, and a whole lot of water just for boiling noodles...
Forget whether it’s enough or not - even if it is, this kind of waste isn’t sothing to be proud of!
"Magnus..." Emily chid in, "We’ve got over 600 people now. Food’s not as plentiful as it used to be..."
"No. No matter what, these few days, the team eats well and eats full," Magnus said firmly. "We’re low on supplies, I’ll figure sothing out. It’s not like we’re going to starve this mountain bare. Tonight we eat like this. During dinner, tell everyone - we aim to finish digging up the teorite by tomorrow. By then, we’ll settle sowhere for the night and have roast lamb, at stew, and rice."
Liana shot him a helpless look and shook her head. "Fine. We’ll do it your way." She pulled on her helt, climbed out of the bus, and muttered as she left, "Why the hell didn’t I notice earlier what a reckless punk he is... Should’ve smacked this little bastard straight ages ago..."
Watching her go, Magnus could only smile bitterly. Sure, everyone understood the logic of saving food and preparing ahead. But it was early days, and this was the mont to bind the team’s hearts together. He couldn’t shortchange the ones risking their lives beside him.
Thankfully, dinner wasn’t that complicated. By about 6:40 in the evening, just over an hour later, over a hundred pots, ladles, basins - anything that could hold water - were boiling over the fire.
Team mbers gathered in small groups with their own bowls and utensils to prep noodles. So didn’t even bother with a bowl - just carried the pot right back into the bus to eat straight from it. Soone sprayed bug repellent at the doorway, and laughter echoed everywhere...
In a world like this, crawling with death, if the won could have a hot al, their own bed and blanket, wearing nothing but oversized T-shirts - sotis less - and lie back eating instant noodles and fruit, snacking, giggling, and teasing each other...
What more could they really want?
"Hey! Lily, give two pads, my period just hit out of nowhere - "
"Whoa, where’d you get that MP3? Does it really have music?!"
"Ah! Look! Miss Jabbar brought us books!"
"Yup! Miss Jabbar, please don’t tell us it’s C-language! If it is, girl, I’m done with you!"
"What books are those? Novels? Hand one if it’s about so hot, domineering CEO!"
On the 11 sleeper buses, the female team mbers not on duty soaked up the rare peace. It was the sa on Magnus’s bus - among the sixty-odd won, everyone relaxed completely. Dressed light, so walked back and forth like it was a runway, not even treating Magnus - the only guy there - as a man at all.
He didn’t mind. He’d built up serious discipline last ti around - nine months sharing bathing space with won. This? This was nothing. As long as they didn’t throw themselves at him, it was fine.
Inside, Magnus’s bunk was in the front middle row, with aisles on both sides. For better coordination and quick decision-making, Emily, Liana, Sophia, Grace, and Charlotte had taken the two lower bunks nearest his - beside him and across, along with both bunk spaces above his head. Sarah slept in the bunk directly above him, while Taylor was in the one above Charlotte.
While the won got their peace, Magnus and the core crew didn’t get to rest yet. At least two major matters still lood, and the whole Ice Regint was still in the dark...
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