It was more than 1,200 miles from Silverlake City to Atlas City, but riding Flamebirds, the trip took just over an hour. Their speed was straight-up ridiculous.

When the Flamebirds appeared over Atlas City, nobody fired anti-air this time.

By now, Flamebirds were probably famous across the entire Atlas Federation. And they didn’t look anything like Earth’s mutant beasts—those blazing red bodies were impossible to mistake. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The guards on the wall stood ramrod-straight, eyes following the Flamebirds as they swept overhead, then they waved them straight through into Atlas City’s compound.

Maxwell got the alert and nearly choked on it.

The call had ended barely an hour ago, and Ethan was already here.

Then Maxwell remembered what they were riding—Flamebirds of some unknown Tier—and it made a lot more sense.

He dropped everything immediately and came out with several high-ranking compound officials to receive them.

Ethan didn’t bother with pleasantries. "We’ll talk about everything else later. General Kane, take me to that crystal core decomposition tech."

"Alright." Maxwell didn’t waste words either. He turned and led them straight toward the research center behind the compound.

Atlas City poured a ridiculous amount of manpower and resources into R&D. It was their biggest advantage—one Fallen Star City couldn’t match.

Soon they arrived at a massive cluster of buildings.

The whole area was huge: weapons research, biotech, crystal core research, and more. Security was tight enough to make your skin itch. Normal people weren’t allowed anywhere near it.

To Ethan’s group, this stuff might not look that threatening.

But honestly? If not for the Void Realm, Atlas City’s research absolutely could’ve been the key to humanity surviving the apocalypse.

Laser cannons. Crystal core synthesis. Any of it could’ve kept humans ahead of the zombie tide.

If Ethan and the others hadn’t gotten that massive power spike from the Void Realm in Clearford City, they wouldn’t have dared swagger into Atlas City the way they had back then.

And according to Maxwell, even without the Void Realm data, Atlas City believed they could still figure out a way to speed up mysterious energy absorption.

So it wasn’t that their research was weak.

It was that what the Void Realm handed out was just too insane.

Under Maxwell’s lead, they stopped in front of a building that looked more like a factory floor than a lab.

The moment they walked in, they saw a piece of heavy equipment the size of a small room. Technicians moved around it, busy and focused. When they noticed Maxwell, they hurried over to greet him.

Maxwell gestured. "Ethan, this is the crystal core decomposition unit. Our researchers estimate it can decompose crystal cores up to at least Stage B."

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You can even measure the energy in a Tier 18 crystal core?"

A middle-aged man in coveralls spoke up from the side, sounding proud of his work. "That part isn’t difficult. Here, we convert all energy into data. Based on how each Tier scales, we can extrapolate the numbers for high-Tier cores."

Ethan nodded. "That’s... impressive." Researchers really were built different.

Then he frowned. "But if you can decompose up to Tier 18, why is synthesis only up to Tier 12?"

"Different technical tracks," the man said, like it should’ve been obvious. "Synthesis is far harder than decomposition."

"Got it." Ethan’s eyes sharpened. "So one high-Tier core—how many cores one Tier lower can it be split into?"

"Five."

Ethan just stared at him.

"Hold up," Ethan said slowly. "It takes more than ten lower-Tier cores to synthesize one higher-Tier core... but one higher-Tier core only decomposes into five lower-Tier cores?"

The man didn’t flinch. "Both synthesis and decomposition lose energy. Getting five is already the limit. Before this, we could only split it into two. This is the result of continuous improvements."

Ethan clicked his tongue. "Fine. That’s robbery, but whatever. So the machine’s finished, right?"

"Yes. It’s complete. We can run it anytime."

"Good." Ethan nodded once. "Then I’m taking it with me. Later, you’ll send a technician back with us to train our people on how to operate it."

"...What?"

The middle-aged researcher’s eyes bulged as he whipped his head toward Ethan.

"On what grounds?" he snapped. "Why would we just hand it over?"

These were pure lab guys—heads buried in research, not politics. They didn’t recognize Ethan or the others at all.

All they knew was that some strangers had walked in and, the second they saw the machine, started talking like they owned it.

After all the work it took to build this thing, of course he was furious.

"Let him take it," Maxwell said. "You can build another one later."

He knew Ethan’s personality. The moment he’d brought them here, he’d already expected this exact outcome, so he wasn’t surprised in the slightest.

Besides, this crystal core decomposition tech had basically been developed for Ethan’s group in the first place. From the start, the plan was to give him the unit. Even Charles and the others had no objections—this was the consensus.

With Maxwell speaking up, the middle-aged researcher could hate it all he wanted, but he still had to comply.

Once the technicians finished packing up the cables and securing everything, Ethan—right in front of a bunch of researchers staring like their brains had short-circuited—swept the entire machine into his spatial storage ring.

Then everyone left the research center. Maxwell had a huge feast prepared to welcome them.

With the biggest headache finally solved, Ethan was in a great mood. He ate like a man who’d just taken a boulder off his back.

When it was time to leave, Ethan pulled out one hundred Tier 16 crystal cores and handed them to Maxwell.

Ethan was simple like that. Treat him well, and he’d pay you back double. Cross him, and he’d erase you.

This time, Maxwell had helped him in a massive way. Maxwell had never once asked for payment, but Ethan wasn’t about to walk away without showing something.

And Tier 16 cores were what he had the most of. Giving up a hundred didn’t hurt him much.

But to Maxwell?

It was a fortune dropped from the sky.

When Maxwell took them, his hands were literally shaking. He didn’t even dare say anything polite like, Oh, you shouldn’t have—like he was terrified Ethan would hear it and snatch them back.

One hundred Tier 16 cores could be decomposed into 500 Tier 15, 2,500 Tier 14, 12,500 Tier 13, and 62,500 Tier 12 crystal cores.

Which meant if they wanted to mass-produce Stage C Enhanced, those hundred Tier 16 cores could instantly create sixty thousand-plus Stage C Enhanced.

How insane was that?

It didn’t even need explanation.

No wonder Maxwell’s hands were shaking. If it were anyone else, they probably would’ve collapsed on the spot.

Charles and the others were shaking too, so excited they looked like they might vibrate apart. Their smiles were practically touching their ears.

When they’d decided to research this in the first place, they’d hoped Ethan might be pleased enough to toss them a few high-Tier cores.

In their wildest dreams, they hadn’t imagined he’d be this outrageous—Tier 16 cores, and a full hundred of them.

The sheer windfall hit them so hard their heads went light. Even after Ethan’s group had already left, they still couldn’t quite snap back to reality.

After a long moment, Gabriel finally let out a breath and muttered, half-awed:

"Damn... that’s generous."