Marx's eyes flickered, not quite understanding what Zarek meant by this.
"This looks like a setback to you, and you're thinking about how to fix the situation first, and then advance later, when in reality you can do both at the same time. The rule of thumb in the apocalypse is to treat every opportunity someone else might use for defense as a chance to attack instead."
"What? You want us to attack them?"
"No. Though actually, that might work too, since they would be least likely to expect it now."
Marx's lip twitched, feeling as though he had just given this madman an idea he probably shouldn't have. Luckily for him, Zarek had no intention of doing that just yet.
Not now, anyway.
"Think about the problem you're having right now and how that could be used to your advantage instead, is what I am saying."
Even after Zarek said this, Marx was lost.
Zarek chuckled and stood. Taking a step toward Marx's desk, he pointed down at the map that lay across it. There were several red circles there, denoting the compromised warehouses.
"Remember what I told you when you were picking the locations for these warehouses?"
"… They should be in easily accessible places with open air and a main road leading in and out?"
"Yes."
Zarek picked up the red marker Marx had been using, his wrist flicking a few times as he drew new lines across the map. Each one followed a road out of the warehouses, toward the center of the territory. Then, Zarek picked up a green marker and drew new lines, these ones from the warehouses to the opposing territories.
Marx's eyes widened.
"All you really had to do is change your methods of blockading. These 'monsters' are stupid for the most part. The intelligent among them wouldn't appear in a region with dense human populations to begin with—at least not without observing it in silence for a very long while first.
"If they're being lured by the warehouses anyway, then why not let them through in a controlled fashion? That gives you two options.
"Either you can further funnel them toward external territories and force them to take on the load as well. Or, you use it to stock up your arsenal even further."
"What do you suggest?" Marx asked.
"The Fallen Steel incident."
Marx nodded slowly when he heard this. "So the latter."
During the Fallen Steel "incident," their enemies had displayed the ability to direct the Turned. If they tried to use a cruder method of doing the same, they would just end up harming themselves.
Even if it wasn't exactly easy for them to do so, it was best not to take that route in case it might backfire. In which case, allowing the Turned through in a controlled fashion toward their own defenses, and then using that as an opportunity to gather a large number of Godsfall Droplets, would be far better.
Given the secret Marx held closest to his heart right now—a secret that he had let Zarek in on just recently—this would likely be… a huge opportunity.
"There are three main warehouses for now. I can easily cover one on my own. I believe that Zade and Priya can cover another together. And you and the remaining can do the last. This way, we won't be dividing ourselves between too many tasks either.
"If we execute well, not only will we gain a great deal, but I bet we can churn more out of that little secret of yours."
Marx stood to his feet hurriedly, a grin spreading across his face.
"Honestly speaking, Zarek, I really feel like you should be leading us instead."
"Don't thrust that nonsense onto me. I would rather not," Zarek scoffed.
"Don't be like that. How about I boot my kid brother out of his vice-leader position and give it to you, then?"
Zarek waved a hand. "Not interested. Just point to the monsters—my blades are hungry."
Laughing all the way, Zarek made his way out.
"Oh!" his voice called out as he left. "I'm taking the biggest warehouse, by the way."
Marx's lip twitched as he looked down at the map. That one was by the largest road connected to a familiar bridge with too many lanes to count.
Zarek really liked that bridge, and he had probably killed more than all of them combined by it.
Taking a breath, Marx exhaled. Every day, Zarek seemed to prove his decision correct. No matter what, they had to keep this man by their side. And… they could never get on his bad side.
'The secret…' Marx's eyes glowed.
Not long after the apocalypse began, the Occam brothers struck gold. In fact, it was practically within a few minutes.
Within their building, a special Hub formed—a Hub that Zarek knew as one of the most valuable Hubs one could ever come across. The Matrix Hub.
A Matrix Hub came in various forms, but the type the Occam brothers had was known as an Intelligence Amplification Matrix Hub. Essentially, for every unit of Godsfall they put in, a change would occur.
This meant two things for this specific Matrix Hub, and a third hidden manner related specifically to Intelligence Godsfall Crystals.
If a normal Intelligence Godsfall Droplet would give them one unit and change to their stats, they would receive 50% more in return.
Second, if they inserted a Godsfall Droplet of a different type, they would receive 90% of it in return in the form of an Intelligence Godsfall Droplet.
That was to say that this Matrix Hub not only returned more Intelligence, but it also converted others into Intelligence Godsfall Droplets.
This accelerated improvement by a shocking amount. But, it also made Marx's stats incredibly lopsided, and he didn't get a chance to take advantage of Core Breakthroughs.
Even so… Core Breakthroughs weren't something everyone could experience either, and it was a tradeoff one had to make.
The chance to gather such a large number of Godsfall Droplets from Turned rushing along a controlled path on their own territory…
Well, it was a chance for Zarek to take his own Intelligence stat—one that had slowed to a complete crawl since he entered the D Class—to the next stage as well.
Even after over two weeks, he was still edging toward D from D-. It was time to change that.
He had a feeling he'd need that very soon.