The area where Swain and his group lived was a mining pit, a vast crater created by a mining nuclear bomb. All the pits, large and small, on Lycaeus were formed this way, and within them, the miners built their residential areas, which were, in essence, their cages.
As the leader of the largest camp in the vicinity, Swain's residence was centrally located within the mining pit. Unlike the meager dwellings of ordinary miners, his was a large, well-equipped three-story stone building. In a place where building materials were scarce, constructing such a substantial structure was a monumental feat—a "fortress" built by generations of miners, painstakingly accumulated over time to defend against various dangers.
This building served not only as Swain's home but also as the team's emergency food reserves and the storage for various supplies, painstakingly exchanged for ore. There were many talented individuals among the miners, and if this location could expand further in the future, Swain had no intention of mining here for his entire life.
"Grumble…"
"Time to eat, I'm starving....." Back in his room, Swain rubbed his stomach; after a day of labor, his stomach was already protesting wildly, a burning pain searing through it. What was more terrifying was that Swain had long grown accustomed to this sensation. Every cell in his body cried out to his stomach, demanding nutrients. His stomach could only continuously secrete gastric acid to digest whatever little remained inside, while simultaneously urging his brain to find food quickly.
Swain took out a piece of black corpse starch, about two fingers wide and palm-length. He carefully cut off one-third of its length with a knife, then decisively put the remaining two-thirds into a large bowl with half a bowl of water to soak. Immediately after, he very reluctantly took out a piece of smoked, unidentifiable beast meat, cut off a piece about one-third the size of the corpse starch, and held it in his mouth. He continuously sucked on this slightly salty and fishy beast meat to comfort his stomach. Normally, he would not have been so extravagant, but because adamantium ore was excavated today, Swain dared to be so luxurious; on regular days, he would only eat about one-third of the corpse starch.
Corpse starch is an industrial byproduct refined from promethium; after soaking, it becomes a mushy food. As for the taste, it's not exactly unpalatable—not like chewing wax—with a flavor that oscillates between disgusting and acceptable. It also emits a pungent odor like rotting corpses, hence its name. Don't think this stuff is so unpalatable that it's everywhere; in the Warhammer world, corpse starch is one of the standard supplies for the Astra Militarum, and most hive city residents can't even afford it.
The scavengers in hive cities eat starch blocks, which are produced in larger quantities and are even more unpalatable. Kiavahr, below Lycaeus, is an industrial world, producing large quantities of these two industrial byproducts. Fortunately, the High Tower currently has no plans to replace corpse starch with starch blocks.
"Damn slave masters, just you wait! Once Corax takes over this place, I'll make you eat this stuff every day until you vomit!" Swain cursed, enduring the pungent smell of decay. Even after transmigrating for so long, he still couldn't stand the smell, and what made Swain feel even more helpless was that he found his nose was slowly starting to adapt to the stench!
"Something's wrong, nine out of ten things are wrong!!" Swain frowned after quickly finishing all the corpse starch. He found that normally this portion would definitely be enough to fill his hungry stomach, but now he was only half-full. "Could it be that my puberty is truly beginning? Or is some Chaos Daemon playing a trick on me?"
"No, I don't have psychic powers, nor have I heard any whispers." Swain dismissed the possibility of Warp entities seducing him. "If this continues, won't I go bankrupt?" Swain felt a sense of impending doom as he felt the food in his stomach being continuously digested.
Because Swain realized that the food he had just eaten was already mostly digested, and considering the outrageous material exchange rates on Lycaeus, his face instantly darkened. "Am I going to starve to death before Corax even arrives?" Swain scratched the back of his head in annoyance.
"Swain, everyone's here, what are your arrangements?" Medan's huge head suddenly poked in, interrupting Swain's thoughts. As for why An didn't knock? There was no door.
"Tell everyone to gather in the hall, I'll be right there." Swain could only temporarily put aside these worries; he now had to arrange the organization's affairs for tomorrow.
As the headquarters of the Saviors, the so-called hall was merely a slightly larger room, containing only a stone table and a few stone stools. On Lycaeus, where various materials were scarce, stone became an important item closely related to the miners. The Saviors organization was a large miner organization, and the mining area they controlled was the vast pit blasted out by the nuclear bomb where they were located. The miners then began mining inwards from this area.
In addition to power picks, there were also some large mining machines, but these consumed a lot of energy each time they were operated, so miners mostly used their mining picks when not absolutely necessary.
At the very least, when the batteries of their mining picks ran out, miners only needed to exchange the dead batteries for recharged ones—provided it was only for power picks; this was one of the few acts of conscience from the slave masters on Kiavahr.
Various fuels for other large machines, however, had to be exchanged for minerals, and these damned overseers only allowed precious metals for exchange! After all, it's not possible for miners to mine bare-handed...
In the hall, three or five burly men in linen short shirts were chatting and joking with each other. The miners' exposed arms were bulging with muscles, as solid as old tree roots, each muscle brimming with power, and their rough palms were full of grooves and calluses.
Their skin had a sickly pallor from not seeing sunlight for years, but the eyes of these few miners did not show the lifelessness of the numb people on Lycaeus; instead, they were filled with longing for life and freedom.
"Holy crap, Swain got another piece of adamantium ore today! Are we going to dig into an adamantium vein? We're going to get rich!" Agapito Nefe, with a full beard, became excited when he heard what Medan said. This meant that the organization could expand more quickly, and even if it didn't expand, it could improve the lives of the miners, especially the elderly, weak, women, and children. The mining on Lycaeus had been going on for an unknown number of years; miners who were thrown in for various reasons formed families here. Corax' sister, Ephrenia, was a native Lycaeusian.
"Swain also said that we might have dug into an adamantium vein," An said, smiling as he introduced it to everyone.
"Since the boss said so, it's almost certainly true, but then the problem gets complicated!" Blaney Nefe was not so optimistic. A new adamantium vein involves too many things.