Zeke found Sergeant Victor at the temporary supply point that had just been erected next to the assembly hall.
Soldiers were handing over various supplies seized from the traitors to the quartermaster to be logged into the register, after which they would be redistributed.
"Amasec, one hundred and twenty credits," the quartermaster, a meticulous veteran, said while pointing his finger at the dividing line in the ledger.
"One pound of pan-fried Grox steak, genuine, two hundred points."
"Dextrose, five points per bag."
"Five points?" A soldier queuing up voiced his confusion. "Wasn't it ten?"
"The troops found an entire unopened container of it on a traitor's Leviathan Command Vehicle, so the price dropped."
The soldier nodded and asked for two extra bags.
Zeke looked at the long queue and nudged Victor with his elbow. "For a Sergeant of your rank, how many credits do you roughly make a month?" (TL/N: The Author is using a single currency named Imperial Credits that are not canon in 40k since there are too many different currencies in the Imperium.)
"Me?" Sergeant Victor replied. "I hand over all my credits to the unit, for those who need them more."
Zeke was a bit puzzled.
Sergeant Victor's tone was flat. "The unit issues basic supplies every month, enough to guarantee basic survival."
"Credits are more of a reward mechanism designed to encourage the soldiers. They can be exchanged for better rations or alcohol. I don't really need those things."
Zeke looked Victor up and down, from the collar of his uniform, washed until it was faded white, to his heavily worn boots.
"Sergeant Victor, what did you think of the baked potatoes and bread I gave you earlier? How was the taste?"
Victor hadn't expected him to ask that, but he nodded. "It was delicious food. On Cadia, getting to eat food like that every day is not easy."
"Since Cadia's warehouses have always been tight," Sergeant Victor explained.
It's fine, they won't be tight soon, Zeke thought to himself. Just wait until I get the automated farm running.
Zeke followed Sergeant Victor into the assembly hall.
It had become a temporary command center, with countless soldiers and officers rushing about, exchanging documents.
Victor led Zeke through a winding path, eventually arriving at a heavily guarded area in the side wing of the hall.
It was isolated by an iron gate, leaving only a reception opening with an armored window.
"Sergeant Victor, here to collect designated supplies." Victor stated his identity and the command code.
The receptionist checked the data slate, then looked carefully at Victor and Zeke through the window. After confirming everything was correct, he pressed a button.
"Go in. Pay attention to the warehouse regulations and do not touch unauthorized items at will."
Walking into the warehouse interior revealed an extremely massive storage space.
Zeke craned his neck, unable to even see the top of the highest shelves.
Several automated forklifts shuttled back and forth, transporting cargo crates to different zones.
"Quite a lot of stuff," Zeke sighed.
"Don't let the apparent volume fool you," Sergeant Victor said from the side. "This is the sum total of the combat reserves for the entire Tyrok Bastion." He shook his head. "The forces of Chaos are becoming more rampant by the day. Importing supplies will only get more difficult."
Zeke didn't reply. On the surface, he looked shocked by the scale of the warehouse, but in reality, he was staring at the minimap in his vision, wondering if he should dig a tunnel here tonight.
After looking at the soldiers patrolling round after round, he dismissed the thought.
"This is the gold you wanted. It's very heavy; do you need me to call a forklift operator to help move it?"
"No need." Zeke stepped forward and reached out toward the metal box.
The entire box of gold went straight into his backpack.
Zeke looked at the increased amount of gold in his inventory, straightened his face, turned to Victor, and spoke in a tone of deep grief:
"Sergeant Victor, to be honest with you, lately I have been feeling very sinful."
"Sinful? Why do you say that?"
Zeke sighed, his eyes gazing into the void. "I keep having nightmares recently. I dream of Cow crying to me non-stop."
"He says he can hardly stand this day-after-day exploitation anymore, but for the welfare of the Cadian people, for the warriors, he keeps holding on."
Sergeant Victor listened, unsure how to respond.
Zeke slapped his thigh with a heartbroken expression:
"So, Sergeant Victor, what I mean is, you give me this little bit of gold... how can I justify this to Cow?"
"Little?" Victor was genuinely surprised this time. He pointed at the now-empty metal spot.
"By Imperial standards, the gold in there is enough to cover the gold-plating requirements of a munitions factory for an entire month!"
Now Zeke couldn't really say much; by weight, it was indeed a lot.
But there was no helping it. In Minecraft, a single Enchanted Golden Apple required eight gold blocks. The amount Victor provided was only close to a stack of gold ingots.
I'll hold off on the Enchanted Golden Apples for now. I'll just make a few regular Golden Apples to make do.
Sergeant Victor then pulled down a box from a nearby shelf and placed it in front of Zeke. "Diamonds."
Zeke's eyes lit up as he opened the box and collected them.
This time, a genuine smile appeared on his face.
There were actually quite a few diamonds, over 100 of them. They looked like they had been pried off jewelry and decorations.
"You know, the traitors killed a large number of high-ranking officials at the banquet," Victor said.
Zeke nodded. With this many diamonds, as long as he didn't make a Beacon base, it was more than enough.
"And the other thing you wanted... I recall it's called a pumpkin, right?" Sergeant Victor handed over a small packet wrapped in waterproof cloth.
Zeke opened the package; inside were a few seeds.
"Karmine helped get these," Victor added, handing over a picture at the same time. "She said she saw this kind of orange, giant, edible plant when she was on an Agri-world."
Zeke took the picture, which showed a pumpkin of a size that was somewhat bafflingly large.
A pumpkin this big... Zeke looked at the seeds in his hand, and the words [Pumpkin Seeds] floated in his vision.
"That's right, this is it." Zeke confirmed it was correct. He could finally build an Iron Golem.
The Iron Golem in Minecraft: 100 HP, attacks by swinging its arms, deals 7~21 damage, and tosses the target high into the air.
Zeke didn't know how the Iron Golem's strength would hold up in Warhammer, or if it could arm-wrestle a Space Marine.
However, the Iron Golem was never meant to benchmark against Space Marines, but rather against mass combat units like standard Cadians or Krieg clones.
Four iron blocks plus a pumpkin. At that cheap of a price, who needs a bike? Even as a meat shield to attract fire, Zeke would have to praise it.
"Well?" Sergeant Victor led Zeke out of the assembly hall.
Zeke gave Sergeant Victor a big thumbs up.
"As long as you're satisfied." The corners of Victor's mouth twitched slightly, the wrinkles on his face bunching together.
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