IDLE Database

Time passed and Aldrin along with the trainees who got exhausted for the day soon welcomed their second night in the Drawyz Domain #5.

Due to how they all followed Aldrin and his assistants' direction, the construction of their living quarters was successfully completed before the sunset.

The comfort of resting in a proper bed with a roof successfully lifted their dampened moods. They still had to be vigilant though as the Rift Monsters wouldn't pick a time to attack them again.

To prevent that and for the sake of fairness, Aldrin had them draw the lots for sixteen trainees to take the role of being a sentry for the night. They'd be divided into two for two six-hours duty. And starting from there, everyone would at least get that duty once until the duration of the Base Building was done.

Apart from the living quarters, they also finished constructing sentry towers, ramparts and some defensive installments on the wall. The defensive installments consisted of artillery cannons that were powered by Dimensional Energy to defend against a siege. It was provided to them before leaving the confines of the Plainsteed Base Camp.

It would serve as their home for at least fifteen days after all. They'd be pushed to utter exhaustion if they could only rely on their Metadomes to defend themselves.

Apart from the above-finished constructions, a mess hall was also raised, giving roofs on their heads for their meals. It would be turned into a more fitting dining facility as the days progressed.

"Well then, let's rest for the night. We're all here to train and become a proper Energy Refiner, not to be a proper camper. We can expect the same thing as earlier to happen in the following days but we also can't neglect to progress. All of you will not want to be stuck at early Stage 1, am I right? Then let's all give it our best!"

To further lift their moods, Aldrin once again took the spotlight during their dinner as he offered some motivational speeches for those who got frightened at the prospect of losing their lives in the dimension.

Once that's done, he resigned to his room.

Earlier, the room assignments were left to their disposal but for convenience's sake, those in the same group stuck together and that included his group.

As he had expected, Irina picked a room right next to him. If not for the regulation set by the instructors, he believed that she'd probably just crash in his room.

She made it a point that her relationship with Aldrin was real, leading Frederic and Caroline to not see anything wrong with it but they surely pitied Clark.

Since their agreement was already straightened, Aldrin didn't go and rub more salt to the guy's wound. Besides, it's not like he's being alienated, he just brought it down on him because of his relentless pursuit.

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Irina did visit him but the girl left soon after once she successfully confirmed that he wasn't hurt or anything. He appreciated her concern and even her blatant affection despite their relationship being originally set as 'fake' but there are a lot more pressing concerns for him rather than entertaining it.

Still, he gave her some reminders without making himself sound suspicious. By attributing the information he got to the four 'experts in Battlesuits', he got away with it.

After she left, he was once again left alone and with his mind cleared as well as their vicinity somewhat secured, he pulled out his phone again, gloating firsthand after seeing his current IDLE Points.

Nonetheless, he drew back his straight face after bringing up the current state of his Dimensional Clones.

Without his ability to send his consciousness to one of them, Aldrin could only watch through his screen and command them remotely.

He still let them linger close to the hill but with little to no creatures around, he had them search wide to replenish his used up IDLE Points.

As for the Guardian Ant and the Spider Sentinel, they're close to being unsummoned due to the used-up Essence. He also let them split from the Dimensional Clones after knowing that they had already been recognized as some unusual Energy Refiners.

Left with nothing to do apart from waiting for his generators to credit the income for the day or his clones to kill more creatures, he sat down on his bed and tried the normal way to progress.

Absorb and refine the lingering Dimensional Energy in the surroundings.

He had already tried it before, in his room back in their house at the Lonewind City. However, Aldrin found it too slow. Either he just got too used to the easiness provided by the mysterious program that all he needed to do was to bask in its warm, comfortable light or he just didn't have that much talent at being an Energy Refiner. If it's the latter, then once the IDLE Database was taken away from him, he would have little to no chance of progressing further.

"… If I have to estimate, that's about 100 IDLE Points worth of Dimensional Energy. Two hours for 100 IDLE Points, heh." Aldrin wryly chuckled at himself after opening his eyes again and finding out how much progress he made.

Nonetheless, he still believed that he needed to improve one way or another so he continued absorbing and refining Dimensional Energy despite the smaller gains while also thinking about things or specifically about their training.

From his own observation, this part of their training was all about their survival in a dangerous foreign Dimension. Away from the safety of their planet where reinforcements could so easily arrive.

They're being prepared for a similar situation that might arrive in the future. They're all being honed to be ready in invading an opened Rift and surviving inside a foreign Dimension.

In his own thought-up conclusion, Energy Refiners weren't really all about defending against instance-type Dimensional Rifts or saving the populace.

True, there were those with a higher sense of heroism but most Energy Refiners were just selfish beings and most sought higher power.

"There are a ton of secrets about the world, planets and the Dimensions. Seeking out more power is a normal thought process. I, for one, have already been influenced by it. If I got satisfied with this meager strength, there's a possibility that it will fail me when I needed it the most…" Aldrin sighed, concluding the time he spared to think about the current issues.

He was about to open his phone again to check for the time when a familiar knock rang on his door.

It's not Irina, of course.

"Elder sister, you're back."

Aldrin greeted Janet and saw her expression slightly twisting in disbelief.

He understood why she did that. She saw him stabbed by Carlos last night and was on the verge of dying. To see him completely fine tonight as if what happened was an illusion, Janet had the right to be surprised.

Janet entered his room without talking and he followed after her.

It's just like those other nights, but this time, he sensed a rather gloomy air around her.

"Aldrin, tell me. What else do you know? About this Dimension.." Dropping that question at his face, Janet grabbed him by his collar and pushed her face near him to stop him if he ever attempted to avert his gaze.