GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

Legion-5 returned to his neighbor's hex for a third time to grab all the mining bots and the fragments of golems in the hex. Not even those will escape from him.

He created several large phantom hands out of his divine sense and world power to grab anything of importance. It wasn't until he practically swept through the whole hex that he was satisfied.

Legion-7 chuckled in his mind. "Ah. The best way to get rich."

Legion-5 agreed. "Nothing beats stealing."

"It truly is the cure for envy. I feel better already."

Legion believes that power is supreme. Anyone that has power should not be poor while those that are weaker are rich. The weak are meant to work hard to gather wealth while the strong like him, will take part of their wealth in exchange for not killing them and taking all of their wealth.

That's the proper way of the world and the deal that he offered the supreme beast. Unfortunately, the supreme beast didn't appreciate his generosity. He decided to look the gift horse in the mouth.

Legion-5 ordered his base after completing the looting. "Convert all of these into resources and use it to upgrade yourself. Then use the leftover to print more battle suits."

Bots swarmed the fragments of the golems, the bots, and the two halves of a base outside. They began breaking down some into parts while dragging others into the base.

[Order acknowledged. Preliminary estimation indicates that the base can be leveled up four times. Which aspects do you wish to upgrade?]

He instructed, "Upgrade the barrier once, add two more Cannons to the defensive system, and finally upgrade the energy capacitors."

The defense of the barrier and its stubborn cannon made an impression on him so he chose to prioritize them over the production system or the surveillance system.

He could have upgraded the energy reactor which will provide more energy for the barrier and will increase the charging rate of the cannon. However, the little increase in the energy production rate cannot be compared to doubling the energy capacitors. That extra storage of energy will become important when the base truly needs more energy such as when the base is under attack.

So unless the energy reactor can be upgraded to the level where the energy barrier and cannons will not need to fall back on the backup power within the energy capacitors, the energy capacitors will continue to remain higher in priority.

The upgrade to the barrier will put the available energy to good use. It will be able to withstand more attacks. He is choosing to disregard the physical defense of the walls of the base in favor of the barrier and firepower. That's why he added two more cannons to increase the fire rate of his base.

He could have upgraded the cannon to increase its power but he finds that its current power level is sufficient. If it can trouble him, then it should be able to tear other Supreme beasts apart. So he opted to increase the fire rate by adding another cannon.

The increase in energy supply became important because of it. It won't do to have cannons but no energy to use them. They will just go to waste and Legion doesn't like wastage.

His decision for battle suits instead of golems was also about efficiency. Battle suits are cheaper so he can produce many of them. He needs the quantity to delay enemies that attack his base. The delay will allow the cannons to recharge before eliminating the attackers.

It is better to invest in quantity because any enemy that his cannons can't destroy will require his personal involvement. Golems will be the better option if he intends to field an army but he doesn't plan to subdue the plane. After all, a landlord doesn't work. They leave the work to their tenants.

The surveillance system is not prioritized either because very few people can hide from Legion-7. Anything that has a soul cannot escape from Legion-7 while he will focus on material things with his perception.

This session of decision making is something that every Supreme beast with a base have to go through during its upgrades. It is another tool that the Supreme Alliance employs in the rite of passage to train their young.

Practically every aspect of a base including production speed, mining bots and army capacity can be upgraded. These plethora of options is an obstacle that the young Supreme beasts have to navigate. They have to make wise decisions that will enable them use their resources efficiently.

This when combined with the task of acquiring resources from the plane will push the decision making abilities of the Supreme beasts to the limit. So even if they don't gain wisdom, they will gain knowledge and experience.

Legion-5 finished his arrangements for the base then he flew to the other hex beside his.

"Don't test me." He warned the owner before he made his request. "Give me 10% of your resources and a point. I will leave you be if you comply. If you don't comply, then everything you have will become mine."

The Cannon of the base didn't fire at him. The owner came out of his base and spoke to him.

"Please, I will give you all you want. I don't want any trouble."

"Very good. It seems you are smart. Then again, you have to be truly stupid to put up any resistance after witnessing what I just did. Give me what I want and you will be safe from me for the next 12 months. I will return in another year for another round of rent."

The Supreme beast felt anger rise up within her but it was drowned immediately and replaced with helplessness. She didn't complain or make any fuss. She obediently brought out 10% of her resources and handed over 1 point.

Legion-5 looked over at the cart of ores that she brought out and nodded. This is why he went all out against his first tenant. He had to show these Supreme beasts who the toughest and strongest was if he didn't want to be bogged down with endless resistance from children.