Dream Travel

Chapter 329 Customization is also possible
The resources of hell are far too scarce for humans; the water that demons can drink and the food they can eat are all harmful to humans.

Bai Mu can eat and drink those things, but when there are normal supplies, why challenge her taste buds and torture herself so much?

According to information provided by the leader of the demon hunter squad, clean water can only be kept in Hell for a maximum of three days, and that is under sealed conditions.

The sealed bottle of water has another protective layer, and once the seal is broken, the clean water will spoil within an hour.

Therefore, the water they carried was in small bottles, 100 milliliters each, strung together in a long chain, like an ammunition chain.

If there's absolutely no other way, once you find a water source in hell, you can mix some holy water with it and drink it directly, using the holy water as a purification solution.

Meat and the like are out of the question. Although there are many hellish beasts in hell, those creatures are also demons, just without much intelligence.

It's fine for demons to eat people, but it's problematic when humans eat demons.

However, for many demons, apart from wild beasts, they generally don't eat people; what they want are human souls.

The new supply depot they found was under construction, and the demon hunter team breathed a slight sigh of relief upon seeing it.

Judging from the people at the scene, the losses were not significant.

"Is it difficult to recruit staff here?"

"...Hmm." The squad leader said noncommittally, "Because the places to enter the Otherworld are scattered, even if a base is established, it is difficult for people who come in later to get protection."

Real-world warriors can come in, but to be effective, they need to regroup with the main force. The same goes for supplies; resources in Hell are extremely scarce.

Of all operations, resupply is the most costly.

Therefore, they had to establish multiple bases, as well as supply depots surrounding these bases.

The purpose is to ensure that incoming combat personnel can find the nearest supply depot or base as soon as possible.

They are currently far from the source of the dream, so their time in Hell is limited; if they exceed that time, they will be kicked out by the dream.

This is another disadvantage for the human camp, but relatively speaking, it can also be considered an advantage that is not really an advantage.

Those foreign demons will also be affected in this way; once they are far away from the source of the dream, they will also be kicked out by the dream.

This means that the scope of those alien demons' actions is limited.

"So how do you plan to resolve this? If this drags on, more and more people will die, won't they?"

Bai Mu's words made the squad leader fall silent for a moment. He looked at Bai Mu's weapon box: "So we need to acquire more Hell resources and take over the starting point of the Otherworld Source."

Real-world materials are too easily damaged in Hell, so they have to use what's available there to create more modern weapons.

We'll just attack the city then!
Although demons are powerful, they are not invincible. Humans may be weaker, but with sufficient equipment, they can still defeat demons.

"How long will this take..." Bai Mu looked at the supply station under construction. After confirming their identities, they were assigned to a temporary rest area.

The supply depot was very rudimentary, mainly due to the hellish environment.

Things from hell are harmful to humans, so when building, the people here can only try to avoid using problematic materials.

White Curtain saw Hellrock here, but the rocks were a pale red, unlike the dark red Hellrock used by demons.

Things like wood are all pretty much the same.

However, when the wood in hell is burned, the flames are quite violent, and there are often continuous crackling and popping sounds.

"How can communication be used in a hellish environment?" Bai Mu was slightly surprised after seeing things like radios.

"That's a radio made of hell metal."

"……Fine."

Bai Mu thought for a moment and poured out some of the Hellmetal from the weapon box.

This part of the Hellmetal is rather fragmented, so there's no use keeping it. After dealing with the demons and encountering larger pieces of Hellmetal, this part of the Hellmetal will need to make room.

In that case, why not clear out some unknowns in advance?

"Consider this my support. There don't seem to be any more supplies to exchange here, so I'll be going now."

"Wait a minute..." The squad leader looked at the hell metal left behind by Bai Mu and immediately went to find the person in charge of the supply station.

The person in charge had recently been in a battle and still had bandages on his body.

However, although the other party's wound had been bandaged, it did not seem to be improving. In any case, Bai Mu could smell a putrid odor.

The pale-faced leader glanced at the hell metal left behind by the white curtain and nodded to the squad leader next to him.

Soon someone delivered a square box, which was only the size of a palm and had an antenna that could be pulled out from it. It was something even more robust than a walkie-talkie.

"This is a communicator; it can receive signals from at least ten kilometers away."

"So powerful?" Before Bai Mu traveled through time, he had used walkie-talkies, both civilian and professional, and they generally had a range of less than ten kilometers, and were also limited by the environment.

And this area is at least ten kilometers long, although it's related to the environment of hell... well, most of it is plains.

"This strange dream has magic, but it's not considered strong," explained the supply station personnel who delivered the communicator.

Without wasting any time, the other party quickly emptied the hell metal left behind by Bai Mu into a basket.

The hell metal left behind by the White Curtain will take them a very long time to collect.

In addition to resupplying combat personnel who enter this alternate dream, the supply station is also responsible for collecting these resources.

However, the supply depot was recently attacked by demons, forcing them to evacuate and also resulting in the loss of some Hellmetal.

This kind of thing is always in short supply because some of the hell metal needs to be brought into reality.

The losses during this process are even greater, but it has to be done.

The hellish metal brought to reality will be processed into production parts, and then brought back to this alternate dream world to be used to manufacture more weapons and equipment.

The communicator, like the one with the white screen, is locally manufactured. Because it lacks the precision manufacturing of real-world equipment, its communication range is somewhat limited.

The reason Bai Mu was given such a communicator was because he had the ability to acquire a large amount of hell metal. With the communicator, Bai Mu could more easily contact nearby supply stations.

The distance between supply stations is generally no more than ten kilometers.

"This car looks pretty good. If I collect enough hellmetal, could I get one?"

Bai Mu looked at the two transport vehicles at the supply station. Although those vehicles looked simple and wild, like those in Mad Max, why would they think about this and that in a hellish environment?
"Okay." The staff member who was about to leave hesitated slightly before saying that as long as Bai Mu could collect enough hell metal, it was not impossible.

"What kind of fuel do they use?" Bai Mu didn't believe there was such a thing as oil in Hell. If there were, it would depend on whether there were Americans in the human world of this alternate dream world...

"It's refined Hellrock. Hellrock plus water from Hell is all you need." The staff member didn't keep this a secret. And there was no need to keep it a secret; knowing it wouldn't do any good.

"I understand." Bai Mu rubbed his chin. "Then, if I bring enough Hellmetal, can I customize it?"

"..." The staff member called over another person, who then stuffed all the untouched metal over there and explained the situation to Bai Mu.

—Just because Bai Mu casually pulled out a piece of hell metal weighing over a pound.

"Generally speaking, customization is not possible, but if your abilities are excellent enough, it's not impossible. However, it's not possible at the supply station; you'll have to go to the camp."

The staff member didn't leave after speaking, clearly waiting for the white curtain to ask more questions.

He realized that Bai Mu knew nothing about this strange dream, and this wasn't an isolated incident.

Some powerful people always get caught up in alternate dreams. Bai Mu isn't exactly one of those people, but he's strong enough.

Putting everything else aside, if White Curtain can collect several tons of hell metal, the camp could really customize an excellent vehicle for him.

Those transport vehicles, for example, weren't made of pure hell metal.

It is made from a combination of hell metal and hellhound.

After processing, Hellrock becomes as strong as some metals, but much lighter.

Some of the transport vehicles were brought from the real world; those vehicles were made of an alloy mixed with hell metal.

While not as powerful as pure hell metal, it can still withstand the erosion of hellish power.

It's out of the question for combat, but it's more than enough for transportation.

However, the engine of the vehicle must be made entirely of hell metal.

Normal engines break down quickly in Hell; only Hell engines made of Hell metal can function properly.

There is no oil in Hell. The only usable resources are Hellrock and Hell plants.

You can't exactly burn those hellish plants with the engine of a vehicle, can you?
Since the plants in Hell are also wood, the best fuel is refined Hellrock, and only Hellmetal can withstand the effects of this fuel.

After asking a few more questions, Bai Mu left the supply station.

He didn't find what he needed here, but he did gain a lot of useful information from the White Curtain.

At this stage, the human camp is doing something to gradually surround the origin of the alternate dream source.

Although there are frequent personnel changes, there are enough participants to form a large cycle.

Moreover, during the cycle, the important camps are being built at an accelerated pace, gradually completing the encirclement of the starting point through the construction of these camps.

Then it will be time to attack the city.

However, considering the bonus from the Dream Source at the starting point, Bai Mu didn't think things would go too smoothly.

The Dream Source is the 'protagonist' of the starting area. As long as you work hard, you can achieve great things here.

Although leaving the starting point would mean losing the 'protagonist' treatment, would the demon allow the Dream Source to leave the starting point?
"Next, we need to collect enough hell metal to customize a war machine."

“Do you have too much time on your hands?” Luxembla couldn’t help but ask.

He didn't oppose Bai Mu's plan to collect large amounts of hell metal. Unless Bai Mu was lucky enough to find a mine, the best way was to kill demons.

"It's not like I can't bring it back. What's wrong with customizing one? Sharpening the axe won't delay the work of chopping wood. With a means of transportation, we can find the demon more effectively."

“You’re the boss, so you get to decide.” Lexenberg had no objections.

Although he had decided to use his own fishing skills to lure out the being related to his true form, this was clearly not a good opportunity.

It would be best to wait until his power is strong enough before fishing, at which point his attraction to that being will increase.

"Let's go find the hell lava you mentioned first, and see how to refine hell metal."

At the very least, he should break those scattered hell metals into blocks, since the metals he's currently collecting are irregularly shaped and take up too much space.

As for the burden, he could simply summon a few Awakened Ones to carry it.

For example, right now, White Curtain has summoned Octavia, who is currently his main mount for maintaining high mobility in Hell.

Compared to the forms of other Awakened Ones, Octavia's Awakened form is not large, and is even within the normal standard range.

Her awakened form is a horse, and Bai Mu feels that the only slight drawback is that it is not a centaur in the traditional sense.

Instead, in addition to having a complete horse body, her upper body is growing on the horse's back.

Although there are some shortcomings, it's okay to ride together.

"How long do you plan to stay here?" Octavia, who had been summoned, didn't say anything and immediately reverted to her awakened form.

She allowed Bai Mu to sit in front of her, or behind her, depending on the situation. If it involved a battle, Bai Mu would definitely sit in front of her.

"It'll probably be a while before things go as planned. I actually quite like it here, if this hell doesn't offer much protection for demons—"

This is what disgusts White Curtain the most: demons don't truly die in Hell unless certain conditions are met, which makes it impossible for him to collect demon souls.

Otherwise, his weapon case would contain at least two thousand demon souls by now.

Even if we can't use it, at least we can use it for other things.

For example, raising poisonous insects.

When Lexenberg harms his own kind, he is incredibly ruthless and cruel. He claims to have a way to enhance the souls of demons through a kind of "breeding and strengthening" process.

Demon souls can also engage in blood battles, but only if White Curtain collects enough demon souls, kills the original demon, and fills in the missing related memories.

Lexenberg's words, seemingly for the sake of the White Curtain, actually revealed that he was only thinking of himself...

However, Bai Mu did not refuse. After all, given his situation, it was most appropriate for the summoned creatures to follow an elite route.

It's perfectly fine to gather a huge number of demon souls to raise poisonous insects.

The biggest problem is that it's impossible to collect them. Hell's 'protection' of demons has greatly reduced White Curtain's fondness for this place.

"Where are we going?" Octavia hugged the white curtain with both arms, no longer talking about anything related to hell.

Bai Mu took out the communicator he had just acquired: "Let's find another supply station first. I need to gather some other intelligence."

For example, information such as where there are many demons.

(End of this chapter)