"That sounds pretty secure," Kyle answered. "However, I always tell you what you should tell the others, which means you know the contents of my messages. Isn't that a weak point?"
"It's a necessary evil," Major Sovignor answered. "Telling the senders how to encode the message themselves means spreading the way it works to a multiple of people. More people means more security risks. Besides, every leader of any base has sworn a strict oath. If we betray Humanity, we will die. We could also force every member to swear this oath, but this might create resentment. Such an oath is difficult to bear."
Kyle scratched the back of his head. "Can't you just use a Formation Array?"
"Every Formation Array has a design, and that design can be compromised. Formation Arrays can't swear oaths. A compromised person will share one message. A compromised Formation Array will spread countless before someone finds the injected flaw," Major Sovignor explained.
"I guess so," Kyle answered. "Anyway, sorry for getting distracted and asking all of these questions."
"Doubts are natural," Major Sovignor transmitted with an even voice. "There's a lot of pressure on your shoulders. Any error you make might have devastating consequences."
Kyle just nodded. "Probably."
"We should get back to the actual topic," Major Sovignor transmitted. "Are you willing to exchange some of your Military Merits or will you save them?"
"Actually, I'm not sure," Kyle transmitted. "I've gone through the Fourth Refinement, and I've realized that it's not that easy to keep operating at peak efficiency. I don't think I will be of much use during my Fifth Refinement."
"That is not an issue," Major Sovignor transmitted. "Every Advanced Sage receives a free attempt for the Fifth Refinement, and if they fail, they get another free attempt after some centuries. The Fifth Refinement is difficult, but it is also the most valuable for Humanity."
"How come?" Kyle asked. "Advanced Sages can already advance. A Spirit Lord should be more valuable than a Fulfilled Sage."
"Aside from the few Ascendants, Spirit Lords are our most important line of defense," Major Sovignor answered. "The vast majority of Spirit Lords will never become Ascendants, which means the Domain Realm is the Realm in which our members reach their peak and contribute the most."
"The level our people reach as Sages essentially dictates how much they can contribute for the remainder of their lives. For Humanity, the advancement bonus a human receives after becoming a Spirit Lord is the most important of all of them. That's why everyone gets a free try, and if they fail but keep contributing very well, they will receive another one. Otherwise, they have to exchange Merits."
"Makes sense," Kyle transmitted. "So, I get a free try, right?"
"Yes, you don't have to exchange any Merits. However, if you accept the free attempt, your Emblem will tell us about the state of your Refinement. It's to stop people from claiming that they're still in the middle of their Refinement to gain more free time. Usually, we don't tell them about that function of their Emblem and use this opportunity to gauge the loyalty of our soldiers, but I don't want you to be the victim of an investigation. The fewer people look into you, the better for all of Humanity."
"Thanks for telling me," Kyle answered. "By the way, is there some kind of arena or hard room? I want to practice swinging my hammer during my Refinement, and I want something I can hit."
Major Sovignor slowly shook his head. "Creating such a room requires hard metals, and we barely have any. The only fitting place would be a Fort, but only soldiers on duty are allowed to enter one."
Kyle looked with a bit of surprise at Major Sovignor, and he felt like he saw Major Sovignor show some shame or embarrassment.
The reason for Kyle's surprise and Major Sovignor's embarrassment was clear.
Humanity couldn't even offer a hard wall.
Even though the Forward Bases had walls, they were used as a medium to keep the Connections and Nodes of their Formation Arrays stable. They were not supposed to be hit.
There were also no prisons or any rooms fortified with hard materials, aside from the Forts. Everything was fortified with Formation Arrays, and hitting a Barrier Formation Array consumed its Energy.
Kyle felt like he was in some kind of weird dream in which the concept of hard walls didn't exist.
This was the first time Kyle had been in a place that didn't have something he couldn't destroy.
On Earth, there were stone walls everywhere, and even if they were not enough, there were also steel beams. In the Tertiary World, there were powerful ores, fortifications, castles, and even if they were not enough, there was also the big black wall that Star Genesis had built.
In the Supreme World, there were plenty of indestructible places.
But here...
This was the moment it finally hit Kyle.
'Humanity is poor as fuck,' he thought. 'No metals. No Law Wells. No methods that help with the Major Laws of the Aspects. Weapons are super expensive as long as you don't have a Metal Affinity. Sure, there are Demon corpses, but they decay with time. I could technically burrow into the Corpse Mountain and go ham there, but I might attract a bunch of powerful Demons, and since I'm not on duty, Humanity won't back me up.'
'Bro, this is so weird! There's nothing I can properly hit with my hammer! I mean, I could probably hire a Spirit Lord to be my punching bag, but that's weird and probably expensive. I would feel like a dickhead if I paid a guy just so that I can punch him.'
"Can I purchase a cubic meter of hard Spacetime Metal?" Kyle asked. "You do sell metal, right?"
"A cubic meter of Spacetime Metal can create almost 4,000 Spirit Lord weapons and over 500 Sacred Weapons. The cheapest weapon for a New Spirit Lord costs 100 Military Merits," Major Sovignor transmitted.
'400,000 Merits!' Kyle thought with terror. 'Bro, I can't even buy a semi-valuable cube of metal!'
"What about very hard Peak Gravity Metal?" Kyle asked.
"The cube would cost you around 6,500 Military Merits," Major Sovignor answered.
"How much for one Grade Six Energy Stone?" Kyle asked, getting desperate.
"Also 6,500 Merits," Major Sovignor answered.
"Wait, what?" Kyle asked. "That makes no sense! I can create a Grade Six Energy Stone myself by just gathering Energy for a century, but I need over a thousand years to make a cubic meter of Gravity Metal!"
"We need Energy Stones more desperately than metal," Major Sovignor answered. "All of our Forts need Energy Stones, and we're paying for any of our members' advancements. We are buying them at 100 Merits, but we need all of them ourselves, which is why we do not sell them, unless it's for an unreasonable price."
Kyle tried his best not to shake his head at the absurdity of his situation.
Anything that was even remotely useful to him cost an unreasonable amount. Kyle had more Merits than 99.99% of Sages, and yet, he still felt poor.
With the help of a Grade Six Energy Stone, Kyle could create his own cube of powerful Gravity Metal within a century.
"Can I sell the cube back to you later?" Kyle asked.
"We will buy it back for 5,850 Merits."
"How much for the most expensive cube of Gravity Metal?"
"We'll buy it for 6,600 Merits."
Kyle took a deep breath and accepted this fate.
"I'll just buy the cube for 6,500."
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