Inside the mansion, Ethan pulled out a large sack and dropped it in front of Miles.
Miles opened it—and his eyes went wide.
"Captain, where the hell did you get this many Tier 1 crystal cores? Don't tell me you robbed a major compound or something."
"Come on, we're not bandits," Ethan said with a grin. "We ran into a big compound in Clearford City. Traded some Tier 6 cores for these."
Miles gave the bag another look. "There's gotta be close to two hundred thousand in here. Clearford's compound is that loaded?"
"Yeah, they're doing pretty well. It's a large-scale compound with a population of around 300,000."
"No wonder," Miles nodded, eyes gleaming with excitement. "With this many crystal cores, and paired with the Energy Absorption Technique, our compound's about to hit a serious growth spurt. Might be time to start expanding into nearby regions."
"Don't overreach," Ethan warned. "This kind of game's all about pacing. We're going elite, not playing the numbers game."
