danger and doubts

The matter of the diary was settled for now, and Cavil wasted no time heading to inspect the basic equipment crate. He had lost a whole night, and his understanding of this planet was still zero. He couldn't help but feel a sense of urgency—though urgency didn't mean he'd act recklessly.

Opening the equipment crate, he found no complex compartments, just a straightforward display of a metal axe, a long shovel, and a lighter.

[JinAI Appraisal successful. Report generated for the pioneer.]

Cavil's ears rang with JinAI's voice again—unexpected, yet somehow predictable.

[Lithium Pool Military-Gen 1 Civilian Axe and Shovel]

[A standard axe and shovel forged from iron-carbon alloy.]

[In 10 A.D., Dan, who was the founder of Lithium Pool Military Industries, arrived in the then-undeveloped H103 star system (now the Lithium Pool star system) with his private starship and produced a batch of iron tools to support the pioneering efforts in this region. As a result, the Empire renamed the star system Lithium Pool. The products from that batch are still in service for the Pioneer Project today. The most distinctive feature of this series is the snow leopard logo engraved at the base of the wooden handle.]

[Market value: 114.5 credits.]

[Tiny Ant Lighter]

[Just a lighter with a small fuel capacity.]

[In fact, the Tiny Ant brand only existed for a month. After producing a month's worth of archaic products like lighters, the company went bankrupt, leaving the owner to flee. All products were reclaimed for use in the Pioneer Project.]

[Market value: 14 credits.]

[JinAI has automatically generated a five-star review for the pioneer.]

If Cavil remembered correctly, it was now 83 A.D., meaning these tools had been in service for over seventy years. If there were an Iron Preservation Society out there, they'd probably want to protect these "veterans" of the pioneering effort.

But of course, no such organization existed—after all, the iron in their own bodies had been in service for decades too.

Cavil picked up the shovel and axe, tapping them lightly against each other. The sound was crisp, the echo lingering. He vaguely recalled studying materials science in college. Under the same conditions, the clearer and longer the echo from striking steel, the harder the material. For tools over seventy years old to remain rust-free and sturdy was no small feat.

He slipped the lighter into his chest pocket and carried the shovel and axe out of the storage compartment.

It was early morning, the star just rising, its light still gentle—perfect for exploration. Even so, Cavil wasn't ready to head out just yet. Instead, he took a seat in the cockpit and activated the central display.

The central screen resembled the dashboard of an old-fashioned car, embedded in the console to the right of the pilot's seat. With no co-pilot, the screen was free to dominate the space.

The screen lit up, summoning JinAI's interface. The UI was simple but packed with powerful features.

From left to right, the options were: Internet, Cabin Management, Appraisal System, and Pioneer Hub.

Presumably, the Empire had already set up signal towers across the planet to serve the three hundred thousand pioneers. The Internet option included the features JinAI had mentioned upon his awakening: [World Chat, Forums, Trading System.]

Cabin Management provided centralized control over the ship's interior.

The Appraisal System, much like the biochip in Cavil's brain, could identify information about any item, including its origin and market value. However, whether it could appraise anything remained to be seen, especially with so many undiscovered entities on this still-uncharted planet.

The last option, Pioneer Hub, was the most intriguing. Its name gave little away.

[Pioneer Name: Cavil]

[Level: 0]

[Federation Credit Balance: 200 credits (Initial Pioneer Subsidy)]

[Controlled Territory: 30m² (Ship Cabin)]

[Total Item Value: Signal interference. Appraisal unavailable.]

[Level-Up Requirement: Total item value reaches 5,000 credits.]

[Level-Up Cost: 2,500 credits.]

[JinAI Reminder: Federation credits can be traded directly with the Federation via the market at market value. Alternatively, you can trade with other pioneers.]

Pioneers had a leveling system? This surprised Cavil, though it made sense given the nature of the Pioneer Project.

But what did leveling actually do? That would require further exploration.

[JinAI has successfully connected to Ship Cabin LTf1. Offline functions synchronized.]

JinAI's voice chimed in abruptly.

At the same time, the total item value on the central screen updated to [Total Item Value: Approximately 150 credits.]

It seemed Cavil still knew very little about the biochip in his brain.

With no time to explore JinAI's new functions, it was time to prepare for departure.

Of course, he couldn't head out completely blind. Cavil opened the forum system on the Internet.

Though he'd lost a night, as a latecomer, he now had the chance to learn from the experiences of those who'd arrived before him.

The forum's homepage displayed posts sorted by popularity.

Cavil had expected the top posts to be from pioneers sharing skills to help others survive on this planet, or from brave souls who'd ventured out to face dangerous creatures and shared their encounters to prevent others from falling victim to the unknown.

But reality was far more unpredictable. Half of the top hundred posts were… less than wholesome. The specifics didn't need elaboration.

He wanted to believe that humanity as a whole hadn't devolved to this state. But on this lawless frontier planet, anything was possible.

And since the ranking was based on popularity, the most sensational content naturally rose to the top.

He sifted through the posts, finding some of the useful ones he'd expected.

The skill-sharing posts were fairly basic, covering topics Cavil had dabbled in during his civil engineering studies. After all, advanced techniques weren't something most people knew, and those who did weren't eager to teach without proper resources.

Among the encounter-sharing posts, one caught Cavil's attention.

[Just now, a rat-like creature burst from the ground and tried to bite my ankle. I reacted quickly, smacking it with my shovel. The good news: it immediately retreated and didn't attack again. The bad news: its fur secretes a black substance that corroded a hole in my shovel!]

The post included two images, which was what drew Cavil's attention. The first showed a shovel with a corroded hole, stuck in the soil of a hill covered in coniferous trees.

Cavil glanced to the left, where a hill covered in dark green conifers stood about ten kilometers away. The scene matched the photo.

The second image confirmed his suspicion. It showed the view through the ship's front window, with the rising star just peeking over the hill. The post had been made an hour ago, around the time Cavil had awakened, when the star was in the same position. This meant they were in the same time zone.

But beyond all that, one question lingered in Cavil's mind:

How did he take that photo?