Chapter 69 – What Actually Matters
Jack didn’t leave the center of Sanguina immediately after making his round through the settlement, because there was no reason to rush into another decision when the last one had already shown him what pushing too early actually gave in return.
Instead, he stopped near the edge of the central path, where movement flowed around him without interruption, and pulled the Beast Core from his inventory again, turning it slowly between his fingers as he focused on it more deliberately than before.
The system responded the moment he engaged with it.
[Beast Core — Elite Grade]
Options Available:
- Convert to System Gold
- Use in Crafting
- Store for Advanced Use
Jack read through the options without rushing, because even though the interface itself was simple, the decision behind it wasn’t, and choosing one direction too early would limit the others before he actually understood what they were worth.
Gold had immediate value.
That much was obvious.
Everything Adelaide had done so far depended on it, from terrain shaping to structural reinforcement, and the rate at which Sanguina was growing was already being constrained by how much they could spend without stalling progress elsewhere.
Crafting, on the other hand, wasn’t immediate.
It required people.
Knowledge.
Time.
But it scaled differently.
Jack exhaled quietly as he closed the interface without selecting anything yet.
“Still deciding?”
Adelaide’s voice came from his side, steady as always, as if she had already anticipated what he was doing before she reached him.
Jack didn’t look at her right away.
“Yeah,” he said. “Gold fixes short-term problems.”
“And crafting fixes long-term ones,” she replied without hesitation.
He nodded slightly.
“That’s the trade.”
Adelaide folded her arms loosely as she looked at the core in his hand, her attention sharper now.
“If we convert it, we can accelerate construction,” she said. “We stabilize faster, expand faster, and reduce the risk of something breaking before it’s fully set.”
Jack glanced at her then.
“And if we don’t?”
She shifted her weight slightly.
“Then we delay some of that,” she said. “But we open the possibility of equipment that we can’t get otherwise.”
Jack turned the core once more before storing it again.
“We’re not converting it,” he said.
Adelaide didn’t argue.
“Then we need someone who can use it,” she replied.
“Or we wait until we do,” Jack said.
She nodded once.
“That works.”
The decision settled without resistance.
That was how most of their conversations went now.
No wasted time.
No unnecessary back and forth.
Just direction.
Jack’s attention shifted again, this time toward the crafting area, where movement continued at a steady pace, the people there already working with what they had, even if what they had wasn’t enough yet to push into anything more advanced.
“We’ll need better materials,” he said.
“We will,” Adelaide agreed.
“And stronger sources,” he added.
She glanced at him briefly.
“That means leaving again.”
“Eventually,” Jack said. “Not like before.”
Adelaide didn’t respond immediately.
Instead, she followed his gaze outward, toward the edge of Sanguina where the forest began again.
“We prepare first,” she said.
Jack nodded.
“Yeah.”
That was the difference now.
Preparation came before movement.
His attention shifted again, almost unconsciously, back toward the Cathedral.
The doors were still open.
The rhythm inside hadn’t changed.
The Sisters moved with the same controlled precision, their training consistent, their focus steady in a way that was already separating them from the rest of the settlement.
Hanna stood near the center again, adjusting positioning with minimal words, her presence enough to guide without forcing.
Jack watched for a moment, not stepping closer, not interrupting, just observing how the structure held without needing reinforcement from outside.
Sophie stepped up beside him again.
“You’re thinking about leaving again,” she said.
Jack didn’t look at her.
“Yeah.”
She didn’t ask when.
“…Stronger stuff out there?” she asked instead.
“Has to be,” Jack said.
“And if it isn’t?” she asked.
Jack considered that for a moment.
“Then we keep going until it is.”
Sophie let out a quiet breath, something between a sigh and a small laugh.
“Fair enough.”
She glanced toward the Cathedral, then back at him.
“They’re changing,” she said.
Jack followed her gaze briefly.
“Yeah,” he replied.
Sophie didn’t sound concerned.
Just aware.
“And we are?” she asked.
Jack looked back toward the forest.
“Same thing,” he said.
That was enough for now.
There was still work to do.
Still things to set in place.
But for the first time since stepping out of the system space at the very beginning, the direction ahead didn’t feel like something he had to chase blindly.
It was there.
He just needed to decide when to move toward it.