Over the next stretch of time, Ethan and the others settled into a brutal, satisfying rhythm.
During the day, they went out hunting red-skinned monsters.
At night, they returned to the compound, lay under the open sky, stared at the stars, and absorbed that mysterious energy.
Busy. Productive. Almost peaceful, in its own apocalyptic way.
After Ethan hit Stage B, killing red-skinned monsters stopped being a "send Dopey" situation. Ethan could bully them himself—no suspense, no struggle. Just clean, efficient violence.
And the more they killed, the more high-tier crystal cores piled up in their hands.
Red-skinned monsters started at Tier 16 minimum, which meant every core they got was Tier 16 or higher.
Chris and the others still couldn't directly use Tier 16 crystal cores yet—but that didn't mean the cores were useless.
