Chapter 275: Imperial Ranking War: Preparations

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The peaceful month began without much fanfare.

After the Nuclear Fallout Calamity ended and the secret realm returned to its original state, everybody expected the World System to announce what was coming next.

It didn’t.

At first, nobody thought much of it.

They assumed the announcement would come later.

Perhaps the system was simply giving them a little more time to rest after the previous calamity. That wasn’t unreasonable, considering how brutal the Nuclear Fallout had been. The participants had spent an entire month dealing with radiation and the lingering effects of the Extreme Pollution Calamity, so giving everyone a few extra days to recover before announcing the next crisis made sense.

One day passed.

Nothing.

Then another.

Still nothing.

By the end of the first week, people started becoming curious.

By the second week, they became confused.

By the third week, most of them finally accepted that something unusual was happening.

There was no next calamity.

The World System remained completely silent.

It didn’t give them a warning.

It didn’t tell them to prepare.

It didn’t even bother explaining why there wasn’t going to be another calamity.

It simply remained indifferent.

For a group of people who had become accustomed to hearing system announcements every month, the silence was almost more unsettling than another disaster would have been.

Nobody knew what was going on.

But eventually, they reached the only conclusion they could.

If the system wasn’t going to tell them what was coming, then they would simply prepare for everything they could think of.

And that was exactly what happened.

The various teams became extremely active.

The peaceful month, which could have been spent relaxing after the calamities, instead became a massive preparation period.

People started collecting resources again.

Food.

Water.

Medicine.

Materials.

Weapons.

Everything they could possibly use.

Teams that had previously been content with their temporary camps started improving their bases.

Some built stronger walls.

Others expanded their shelters.

Defensive formations began appearing throughout the secret realm.

Some teams even began constructing underground storage rooms and emergency shelters, just in case the next calamity turned out to be something that could destroy their current bases.

Nobody knew what the World System was planning.

That uncertainty was enough to make everybody paranoid.

And honestly, Ren couldn’t blame them.

If anything, he was glad they were finally taking things seriously.

The Heavenly Bronze Empire Team was no different.

If anything, they were even more active than the others.

Under Ren and Diana’s leadership, the team immediately began using the peaceful month to improve everything they could.

Their existing stockpile had already been enormous.

That didn’t mean they stopped collecting.

The team continued hunting.

They continued gathering herbs.

They continued collecting materials from the surrounding environment.

The difference was that they no longer had to worry about calamities interfering with their operations.

The world was peaceful.

The monsters were back to normal.

The weather was normal.

The environment was normal.

It was the perfect opportunity to gather as much as possible.

Ren took advantage of it.

"Increase the food stockpile by at least another thirty percent."

That was one of his first orders.

Nobody questioned it.

They already knew how he operated.

If Ren said they needed more resources, then they were going to get more resources.

Water storage was increased as well.

The Rock already had access to a clean river, but Ren didn’t want to rely entirely on a single source. Additional storage tanks were constructed, and several backup water purification systems were installed.

The same went for food storage.

The original storage rooms were expanded.

Then expanded again.

Ren even opened several new rooms inside the Rock specifically for long-term storage.

Some people joked that they were turning the fortress into a warehouse.

Ren didn’t care.

A large stockpile was never a bad thing.

Especially when nobody knew what was coming next.

The defensive preparations were even more extensive.

Ren ordered the outer defensive lines to be reinforced.

The formations around the Rock were inspected and optimized.

Several weaker points were identified and strengthened.

New formations were added to areas that Ren considered vulnerable.

Some of the old defensive formations were also replaced with more efficient versions.

He didn’t simply want more defenses.

He wanted better defenses.

That difference mattered.

Ren also expanded the number of emergency routes inside the Rock.

If the main entrance was compromised, there needed to be another way out.

If one section of the base collapsed, there needed to be another route toward the deeper sections.

If an enemy somehow entered the Rock, there needed to be ways to isolate that enemy before it could reach the more important areas.

It was excessive.

Even by Ren’s standards.

But nobody really complained.

They had already seen what his preparations had done during the previous calamities.

His so-called paranoia had repeatedly protected them.

So when Ren said that the Rock needed more defensive lines, people simply started building them.

The training schedule changed as well.

The squads began drilling more frequently.

Not just their combat techniques, but their coordination.

Ren wanted everybody to know what to do if something went wrong.

If a defensive formation failed, they needed to know where to regroup.

If monsters breached the outer wall, they needed to know which squad would respond.

If the base was attacked from multiple directions, they needed to know how to divide their forces.

The drills became more intense.

Sometimes, people complained.

"Ren, aren’t we overdoing this?"

Ren would usually give them the same answer.

"Things could be better."

That was it.

Things could be better.

It wasn’t exactly a satisfying explanation, but it was difficult to argue with.

They had the time.

They had the resources.

They weren’t currently dealing with a calamity.

So why not improve everything while they could?

Diana understood his reasoning more than most.

She didn’t know the real reason Ren was pushing everyone so hard, but she knew him well enough to understand that he wasn’t doing all of this for no reason.

"If we have the opportunity to prepare, we should use it," she told the others whenever someone questioned the additional work.

"Once the next calamity arrives, it will be too late to start preparing."

That was enough to settle most complaints.

The Heavenly Bronze Team continued.

New storage rooms were built.

New defensive formations were installed.

Training grounds were expanded.

Emergency supplies were distributed throughout the base.

The medical facilities were improved.

The kitchens were upgraded.

The water systems were reinforced.

Even the living quarters were reorganized so that more people could be accommodated if necessary.

Ren basically treated the peaceful month as a construction period.

And the team followed along.

The strange thing was that the peaceful month really was peaceful.

Nothing happened.

No calamity appeared.

No announcement came.

No disaster interrupted their preparations.

The days simply passed.

People eventually stopped waiting for the system.

They still expected something to happen eventually, but the initial anxiety gradually faded.

The World System had gone silent.

Fine.

They would work without it.

Ren, however, never stopped thinking about what was coming.

He knew the reason for the silence.

The fifth month wasn’t supposed to have a calamity.

This was the calm before the next major event.

A period specifically meant to allow the participants to prepare.

Ren knew what the story had planned.

He knew what was coming after this peaceful period.

And that was why he refused to waste it.

Every additional wall mattered.

Every additional storage room mattered.

Every formation mattered.

Every training session mattered.

He wasn’t preparing for another natural calamity.

He was preparing for the event that would follow.

But he never told anybody.

There was no reason to.

What would he even say?

That he knew the future because he had read about it before?

That the world they were living in was originally a story?

That he knew the next major event because he had already seen it happen in the novel?

Nobody would believe him.

And even if they did, it wouldn’t change what they needed to do.

Prepare.

That was all.

So whenever someone asked why Ren was pushing everyone so hard during a month that was supposed to be peaceful, he simply gave them the same explanation.

They had the time.

They had the resources.

Things could be better.

So they might as well make them better.

And that was enough.

The Heavenly Bronze Team wasn’t the only one preparing.

Across the secret realm, the other teams were doing the same.

Some were more organized than others.

Some focused almost entirely on food.

Others focused on fortifications.

Some invested heavily into weapons and formations.

There were even teams that simply used the month to train, believing that their personal strength would be more important than anything else.

Everybody had their own approach.

Nobody knew which one would matter.

Ren wasn’t interested in comparing them.

He had his own plan.

By the end of the month, the Rock had changed considerably.

It was larger.

Stronger.

Better organized.

More secure.

Its stockpile had grown to a ridiculous level.

Its defensive formations were more complicated than before.

The squads were more coordinated.

The people inside were better prepared.

And Ren was satisfied.

Not completely.

He was never completely satisfied.

There was always something that could be improved.

But for now, it was enough.

The peaceful month was almost over.

The World System still hadn’t announced anything.

The secret realm remained quiet.

The Heavenly Bronze Team continued living normally, unaware of the real reason Ren had spent the entire month preparing them like they were about to enter a war.

Ren knew, however.

This wasn’t just another peaceful month.

It was the final preparation period before the next stage of the Imperial Ranking War.

And whatever came next, Ren intended to meet it with everything he had.