With the massacre complete, the adrenaline faded, leaving Jax with time on his hands.

Back on the safety of the platform, he pulled up his interface to inspect the loot from the System.

[Item: Tier 1 Barricade] [Stats: Attack 0, Height 5, Integrity 300] [Quantity: 10]

“Finally got some defenses,” Jax muttered, rubbing his chin. “Ten walls… I wonder how much coverage that buys me. If I could fortify the entire perimeter of this rock, we’d be practically untouchable.”

He selected the blueprint. A green holographic grid materialized over the dusty stone floor. He dragged the ghostly image of the wall over to the fortress to test the dimensions.

“Okay, the fortress is three meters wide. Each barricade segment is exactly one meter long. To fully enclose the building, I’d need nine segments.”

He did the math and grimaced. “Nine segments for a full loop. That leaves me with… one. What am I supposed to do with one spare wall?”

“Damn it.”

He dragged the projection over to the Sentry Tower. The tower sat on a 2×2 grid. Enclosing it would take four walls. That would leave him with six—enough to cover two sides of the fortress, but leaving the rear wide open. Useless.

Jax weighed his options. The fortress wasn’t exactly a bunker, but it was a solid shelter against the elements. Combined with the ten-meter height advantage of the rock formation, the Sandworms weren’t getting up here easily anytime soon.

“Personal safety comes first,” Jax decided.

He finalized the construction. Green light flashed nine times as wooden pilings slammed into the rock, encircling the fortress in a tight, protective ring. Each segment consumed one Energy Shard, draining his stockpile further.

As for the tenth wall, Jax simply slapped it down on the exposed flank of the Sentry Tower—better than nothing.

The rest of the night passed in a blur of exhaustion. The Sandworms, having learned their lesson, didn’t return. Jax collapsed onto the cool mat inside the fortress, drifting into a fitful, half-asleep stupor until the harsh light of dawn pierced his eyelids.

“Jax! Jax! Wake up!”

Jax was jolted awake by a voice that sounded like a foghorn in a library.

He groaned, burying his face in his hands. He wanted to strangle the giant.

“Do you have any sense of public decency?” Jax croaked, his voice thick with sleep. “I guarded you all night while you snored like a chainsaw. Why are you screaming like a banshee at sunrise?”

Barney ignored the hostility, bouncing on his heels and pointing over the edge of the cliff. “Brother, look! Bugs! So many dead bugs! Let’s go get the shinies!”

Jax stared at him, feeling every muscle in his body ache. He just wanted five more minutes.

“No,” Jax mumbled. “Go back to sleep.”

“But the shinies!”

Realizing peace was impossible, Jax sat up, cracking his neck. He rubbed the grit from his eyes and walked out to inspect his new fortifications in the daylight.

He stopped dead.

“System, are you kidding me?”

The ‘Tier 1 Barricade’ looked less like a military fortification and more like a bamboo fence a farmer would use to keep chickens in. It was thin, spindly, and looked like a stiff breeze would knock it over.

“This is it?” Jax poked one of the wooden stakes. “I spent ten shards on a garden fence? I could snap this with one ha—”

He gripped the wood and pulled.

Nothing happened.

He braced his foot against the rock and heaved with all his strength. The wood didn’t even creak. It stood immovable, rooted to the stone as if it were made of titanium.

Jax let go, impressed. “Okay. Never judge a book by its cover. It looks like kindling, but it’s tough as nails.”

He vaulted over the wall to get outside. The five-meter height made it a challenge; getting out was easy enough, but getting back in would be a hassle. The gaps between the logs were wide enough to use as footholds, but it was essentially rock climbing.

“I need to build a gate next time,” Jax noted, dusting off his hands. “Climbing over my own walls every day is going to get old fast.”

He walked to the edge of the cliff. Barney had already lowered the rope and was staring down at the ten-meter drop, hesitation written all over his face.

“Jax… it’s high. Should we go together?”

Jax nodded. “I’ll go first. You follow. Just grip the rope tight. I’ll catch you if you slip.”

He grabbed the rope and rappelled down efficiently. Once his boots hit the sand, he signaled Barney. The giant followed, clumsy but safe.

The scene at the bottom was a graveyard.

Hundreds of Sandworm carcasses lay piled in the sand, a testament to the previous night’s slaughter. Jax didn’t bother counting; the System had logged exactly one hundred kills for the quest, so there were one hundred bodies waiting for harvest.

Barney stood there, torn between greed for the Cores and his innate fear of the creepy-crawlies. He shuffled his feet, unsure where to start.

“Barney,” Jax ordered, seeing the giant’s paralysis. “If you’re scared, go be useful. Find some dry wood for a fire.”

“Oh! Okay!” Barney beamed, relieved to have a non-combat task. He sprinted off toward the dead treeline like a kid released for recess.

The area used to be a forest, but years of desertification had turned it into a boneyard of bleached driftwood and withered roots. It didn’t take long for Barney to return, hauling two massive logs as if they were twigs.

Jax, meanwhile, had gotten to work. He dragged the carcasses into a central pile and began the messy process of extraction.

The Guild Hub required the bodies for bounty, but the Cores inside were finders-keepers. It was a tedious, burning job. The Sandworm ichor was acidic, stinging his hands like nettles.

Three hours later, Jax sat back, wiping sweat from his brow. His hands were red and raw, but the small leather pouch at his side was heavy.

“Seventeen Cores,” he counted. “Plus the thirteen from before… that puts us at thirty.”

Barney trotted over, eyeing the pouch hungrily. He reached out a massive hand. “Jax! Give me one!”

Jax slapped the hand away. “Back off. What do you need a Core for?”

“I…” Barney stammered, looking down at his feet. “I want to save them. To buy my sister back.”

Jax paused. The cynicism in his eyes softened, just for a moment.

“Listen to me,” Jax said, his voice surprisingly gentle. “I’m going to get your sister out. But not like this. We hold onto these. When we get into Redrock Bastion, we’ll need real leverage.”

He sighed, looking at the naive giant. “Right now, the ransom is probably seventy Cores, minimum. And that brothel is run by vampires—they’ll jack up the price the second they see we have money. These Cores are for survival. We don’t spend them unless we absolutely have to.”

Barney’s face lit up. “Brother! You’re saving money for my sister?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Jax scoffed, his hard-boiled persona snapping back into place. “Using hard-earned Cores on a rescue mission is a terrible investment.”

“Huh? So… you’re not saving her?”

“I am. Just not today. She’s safe enough for now,” Jax said with a smirk. “Knowing her fiery temper, I doubt anyone’s been stupid enough to try and take advantage of her yet.”

Before Barney could respond, a scream tore through the silence of the valley.

“Help! Someone help us!”

Jax spun around.

Down in the dry riverbed, a lone figure was sprinting through the sand, waving his arms frantically. He was stumbling, exhausted, looking over his shoulder as if the devil himself were chasing him.

Jax frowned. “Barney, hide. Get back up the rope or stay out of sight.”

Jax moved to the edge of the ridge, looking down imperiously at the desperate runner.

“Brother! Brother, please!” The man spotted Jax and screamed like he’d seen a lifeline thrown from heaven. “Save me!”

Jax didn’t move to help. He just crossed his arms, his voice cold.

“Identify yourself. Which district? Which guild?”

The man gasped for air, falling to his knees. “District Thirty-Four! War-Tower Aegis! Please, man, help me!”