Jax made his way to an elevated platform sitting opposite the main base. It was still within the hundred-meter influence range of the fortress—the perfect sweet spot.

Nestled in a corner of the terrain, he found exactly what he was looking for: a location suitable for a Tier 1 Extraction Well.

He confirmed the coordinates and mentally triggered the construction option.

With the process started, Jax looked up and shouted to Silas, who was busy cleaning the upper platform.

“Silas! Get over here, and bring your hoe!”

Silas nodded immediately, grabbed his tool, and slid down the guide rope to the lower level.

By the time his boots hit the ground, the Extraction Well was already finished.

It wasn’t a sprawling industrial complex, but a reinforced wooden pithead that had materialized out of thin air. The shaft led down about two meters, where faint, rhythmic pulses of light flickered in the gloom.

Jax leaned over the edge, peering into the depths. He could see fragments of crystal embedded in the earth—Energy Shards. Broken ones were useless, but where there were fragments, there were whole crystals.

“Didn’t expect to sit right on top of a deposit,” Jax muttered to himself. “Let’s see how much we can stockpile before the sun goes down.”

Silas jogged up to him, the hoe resting on his shoulder. “Boss? What do you need?”

Jax pointed a thumb at the newly formed mine shaft. “There’s a specific type of ore down there. I need it. Get in there and dig out as many Energy Shards as you can before dark.”

Silas stared at the wooden structure, momentarily stunned. He was sure this pit hadn’t been here when he climbed up earlier. It had simply… appeared.

He shot a covert glance at Jax. Did he summon this too?

Silas didn’t know much about the Awakened. To an ordinary scavenger, their powers were the stuff of legends and nightmares. Some could conjure fire, others could bend steel. Maybe creating a mine out of nothing was just another Tuesday for someone like Jax.

He sensed that what he’d seen so far was only the tip of the iceberg. Jax had secrets, and Silas was smart enough not to pry.

Without a word of complaint, he gripped his hoe and descended into the pit.

Inside, the earth was speckled with glowing dust. Silas raised the hoe and brought it down with a grunt.

Clang. Clang.

The rhythmic sound of metal striking stone drifted up from the shaft. Jax stood by the entrance, arms crossed, waiting.

Minutes passed. Suddenly, the digging stopped.

“Boss!” Silas’s voice echoed from below, thick with excitement.

He scrambled up the ladder, his hands cupped around a glowing object. “I found a whole one! Is this what you wanted?”

Jax took the crystal. It was warm to the touch, humming with faint vibration. A mechanical chime rang in his mind.

[System: Tier 1 Energy Shard acquired.]

Jax grinned. “That’s the one. Good work.” He looked Silas in the eye. “Get back to it. I’m going to patch up Barnaby. Come back up when the light fails—we’ll eat together. You’re with me now, Silas.”

The tension in Silas’s shoulders finally broke. He had been terrified that this was some twisted test, a prelude to execution or abandonment. But it was just work. And in exchange, the Boss had given him strength—he could feel it coursing through him, a strange vitality that made the heavy hoe feel light as a feather.

“Yes, Boss!”

Jax returned to the main platform where Barnaby was lying prone. He checked the big guy’s wounds and began suturing the worst of the gashes.

The fortress’s passive regeneration buff was already active. As Jax stitched, he could see the flesh knitting together at an accelerated rate, the angry red inflammation fading to a healthy pink.

By the time the sun began to dip below the horizon, painting the wasteland in hues of blood and rust, Jax checked the time.

“Silas! Wrap it up!”

A few moments later, Silas climbed out of the pit. He was drenched in sweat, his clothes plastered to his skin. The iron head of his hoe was chipped and dented, the wooden handle snapped in two.

But the man was grinning.

“Boss, look! Five of them!”

He clambered onto the platform and handed over the haul.

Jax took the five Energy Shards, nodding in approval. “Not bad. You worked hard today. Go rest under the awning. I’ll wake you when the food is ready.”

Silas nodded enthusiastically. He was exhausted—bone-deep tired—but his spirit was high. He had been accepted.

As he sat down, however, he frowned. Down in the pit, he had felt like an ox, swinging the tool with endless stamina. But the moment he stepped back onto the platform, that supernatural vigor evaporated, leaving him drained. Strange…

Night fell, bringing the rapid temperature drop typical of the wasteland. The three men shared a simple meal of flatbread and water. Barnaby, thanks to the fortress’s healing, was back to full health, chewing happily.

Just as Jax finished his portion, the System alert flashed across his vision.

[Warning: Small group of Sandworms detected.] [Please load Energy Shards to activate Defense Towers.]

[Task: Hunt 100 Sandworms.] [Reward: Stardust Stone x10.] [Failure Penalty: Deduction of all current EXP.]

Jax chewed slowly, unbothered.

He had learned to decipher the System’s threat levels. A “large wave” meant trouble. A “small group”? That was just free experience points. The only thing that truly worried him were “Aberrations”—creatures that didn’t exist in the standard bestiary.

“Finished eating?” Jax wiped his hands. “Gear up. We’ve got company.”

Barnaby kept chewing, oblivious.

Silas froze, his bread halfway to his mouth. He scrambled to his feet, straining his eyes toward the dark valley floor, scanning the perimeter of the firelight.

Nothing but shadows and sand.

He looked at Jax, bewildered. “Boss? How do you know?”

Jax pointed toward the valley entrance. “My eyes are sharper than yours. They’re coming. If they try to climb the walls, throw the torches down. Otherwise, stay put.”

Silas nodded frantically. He rushed to the woodpile, grabbing spare timber to stoke the fire, his hands trembling slightly.

“Relax,” Jax said, his voice flat. “It’s not a swarm. Just a few stragglers.”

Silas let out a nervous, self-deprecating laugh. He had forgotten who he was dealing with. Jax was an Awakened. He had powers, and more importantly, they had those two terrifying towers standing guard.

He took a deep breath, checked his weapon, and stood ready.

Minutes later, the scratching sound began.

It started as a low rustle, then grew into the sickening noise of hundreds of segmented bodies dragging over rock. A line of Sandworms emerged from the darkness, their mandibles clicking.

Jax did a quick headcount. About a hundred.

Compared to the horde from the previous night, this was a pathetic showing.

He walked over to the Sentry Towers and slotted the fresh Energy Shards into the receivers. The mechanisms hummed to life, barrels rotating as they acquired targets.

Jax leaned against the railing, watching with keen interest.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The Sentry Towers unleashed a rhythmic pounding, spitting death into the darkness.

Jax didn’t even draw his weapon. He just watched the carnage.

The Sandworms didn’t stand a chance. The heavy rounds tore through their chitinous armor before they could even reach the base of the platform. The “attack” was less of a battle and more of an execution. The creatures couldn’t organize; they were shredded the moment they entered range.

Ten minutes later, silence returned to the valley.

[Task Completed. Reward: Stardust Stone x10.]

“Show’s over,” Jax said, stretching his neck. “Go to sleep.”

He turned and walked back toward the fortress interior without a backward glance.

Silas stood rooted to the spot, staring at the heaps of alien carcasses.

He couldn’t process it. In the scavenger teams, a Sandworm attack meant screaming, blood, and usually a few funerals. Every encounter was a desperate struggle for survival.

But here? Jax hadn’t even broken a sweat. Two towers, ten minutes, zero casualties.

Silas looked at Jax’s retreating back with a newfound reverence. The Boss isn’t just an Awakened… he must have backing from the major families in Redrock Bastion to have tech like this.

With that reassuring thought anchoring his loyalty, Silas finally turned in for the night.