The following days were quite fun for Amon, Sophia, and little Zoey.
One of the things they found in the second backpack that Amon had collected was Storage Sacks.
These were truly magical items, and you could store a lot of things inside these sacks without them increasing in size. However, the items did add weight, but weight did not concern Amon. He could carry a great deal with ease.
Once they discovered that they could preserve food inside these sacks as well, all three of them collected plenty of fruit from the forests and even caught fish from the river they came across.
The Rings helped them identify edible things, which truly was a blessing because there were many poisonous yet beautiful fruits hanging from the trees and smelling divine.
Amon did not want to return to the Manor without Seaside Golden Coconuts, so he took the girls to the beach, where they collected many of these rare fruits.
They even hunted two Silver Reindeer, which Amon expertly dressed and then chopped up to store the meat inside two of the sacks.
There were seven sacks, and each seemed to be capped at around 150 kgs, and of course, Amon was the one who had to carry all that weight inside the backpack.
Even though they were not really hunting the Towers, on the fourth day, they did claim one when it appeared close to them.
Strangely enough, there was only a bunch of Storage Sacks inside the chest, quite small, but when Amon and Sophia saw their details, they were stunned.
These five sacks were Coin Sacks, and each of them contained 2000 Gold Coins.
The sacks did not weigh much, barely five kgs each, yet they carried over 60 kgs of coins inside them.
These Coin Sacks worked differently from the Storage Sacks. Only coins could be stored inside them, and each sack could carry at least 10,000 coins. They tested this by transferring all the coins into one sack.
It was not even a hassle. All you had to do was open the sack and place your hand inside it. The coins would then start flying out on their own if you did not pick them up, and they would automatically enter the open sack nearby.
"What are we going to do with these coins?" Sophia asked strangely after the shock wore off, and her Ring answered her question.
[Once the 10,000 Novice Chests have been claimed, these coins will be very useful in the New World.]
Amon too learned the same information from his Ring, and even though he wanted to get back home, he decided to actively hunt a few more Towers.
It took them two days to find and claim the next Tower, and quite a few times, they nearly crossed paths with other groups.
Thankfully, Amon possessed his Bloodsense. His Clairvoyance also seemed to kick in whenever he truly needed it.
They successfully claimed ten more Towers from under the nose of Aeons over the course of the next month, and then he finally called an end to the Hunt.
On March 16th, the Rayne brought the two girls with him to the Winter Manor, but his excitement to see his family instantly faded away when he saw the state of the grounds on the estate and one section of the building that bore signs of destruction.
His beautiful home was damaged.
He could not help but tear up as his heart felt suffocated, but he was relieved too as he sensed the signatures of his family and servants, who were all fine.
Meredith and Freya sensed his presence, and by the time he arrived at the front door, they were waiting for him there.
Both curiously looked at Sophia, who was walking by his side, and Zoey, whom he was carrying in the harness on his chest.
His niece could not help but giggle as she saw him carrying so many bags in addition to a seven-year-old girl, but then she quickly stepped forward and accepted Zoey from his arms.
"Aww... you are the cutest girl in the world," she sincerely said when the little girl looked at her with doe-like eyes.
After Meredith and Freya showed the girls around the Manor, gave them a room, clothes, and other necessities, she informed Amon what had happened in his absence.
A few days ago, a Tower appeared about seven kilometres away from the Manor, on the shore of the Crystal Lake.
And since the only way to the lake went through their estate from this side, Meredith decided to go and claim it before anyone noticed.
Unfortunately for her, one of the new members of the group that Nina used to belong to was an expert in stealth, and he caught her entering the Tower and then tracked her back to the Manor.
The group sent a few members to take control of the Manor, and Meredith decided to deal with them personally. Only Remus joined her in battle, and they were caught off guard by the strength of the group.
Even though they managed to kill every single one of the intruders, the Manor suffered some damage.
"It's my fault," Meredith admitted when his eyes scanned everyone in the study.
He stayed silent, and the atmosphere started to solidify.
"It's fine. You only made that decision because you thought it would keep people away," he said, then leaned back in his chair. "What did you find out about that group, Freya?"
His niece looked at him in surprise, and everyone else looked at her in the same way.
Seconds later, a bright smile bloomed on her face.
"They have 53 members left now, and their new base of operations is a Military Bunker, around ten miles from here, next to a lake and a mile off the road that leads to the Fort. They have a lot of military equipment; guns, ammunition, explosives, and more. However, right now, their leader, Silar Vance, is busy leading them on Tower Hunts."
"Their Powers?"
"Silar can use a strange ability that makes people lose their powers for a brief moment and even their limbs stop working. He can also use a Psionic Attack where he unleashes small Psionic Blades in bursts from his body, and he is able to suppress people and even Monsters with his mere presence."
He already knew what the last ability was. It was Domineer. He had it as well, but the other two made him curious.
"What can these abilities possibly be?" he asked in his mind, and soon the Ring showed him the details.
"Razor Pulse and Neurobind... interesting."
Meredith raised her brow when she heard him whisper, and curiously looked at him as he opened his waist bag and threw a Ring to her.
Without a word, she wore it on her right ring finger, and then Amon stood up and gave a Ring to Freya as well.
The girl playfully offered him her hand, asking him to put it on her finger, and he chuckled at her antics but obliged as he placed it on her left ring finger.
Amon gave Remus, Felix, Sylvia, and Nina these Rings too, but he did not intend to give them to Zoey and Ash.
He now had five of these Rings left, and out of everything they had found in the Tower Treasure Chests, these Rings were arguably the most precious equipment. He could not afford children losing them, as children were prone to misplacing their belongings.
Since they were all lost in a trance at what they had just discovered, he let them be and opened his waist bag to take out dozens of Monster Cores, which he spread on the table.
"Use the ones that suit your abilities. None of them are useful to me."
Sophia happened to enter the room at the right moment, and her eyes brightened when she saw so many Cores.
He had collected some with her, but there were more that she had not seen before.
"You may pick the ones that suit you as well," he said, and she charged forward without hesitation.
To her glee, there was a Core that possessed the level 7 Blink. It was silver in colour, almost smoky, and as soon as she pressed it to her chest, it exploded and the Aether entered her body.
"Hehe..." She felt super excited as she sensed her range and frequency of Blink improving, and happily started blinking all over the study.
Sylvia stared at her in dismay, but she too quickly approached the table and began making her selections.
Amon had a theory that those who were Aeons before the Cataclysm never turned into Monsters, and even after gaining new Abilities, they still retained their Bloodline Powers as he did with his Psionic Control, Telepathy, and Clairvoyance.
This meant that Felix and Sylvia still had their Draegor Family Powers, which included the fabled Aura Reflex, Aura Cloak, and Aura Frenzy.
Felix had all three of them, and he wondered if Sylvia too possessed all three.
He was not surprised when he saw her pick up the Strength Core, but he stopped her from using it.
"Don't," he said, and she blushed as she glanced at where he was holding her hand.
She placed the Core back and obediently nodded her head, not even raising a question, before stepping back to stand next to Freya, who was narrowing her eyes at him.
"What are you intending to do, Uncle?" his niece asked him in his mind.
"I have decided to take her as my mate." He did not hide his intentions from her, and to his curiosity, he saw a smile curve on her lips.
"Okay. Thank you for being honest with me."
He smiled at her words.
"Have I ever lied to you?"
"No." She cheerfully giggled, and everyone in the room curiously looked at her. "Turn me first."
Amon nodded to her and then picked up the other backpacks.
"These Watches give us access to the World Wide Network. They work similarly to how the satellites used to work, but even better. When you visit a place, it gets automatically mapped in a radius of 100 metres. They show you where the Towers are, tell you the exact distance between you and the Towers, and you can also mark places of significance on the map. Additionally, they tell time..."
Sophia could not help her giggles at his playfulness, but she was busy inspecting the Cores again.
"They also inform you how many Towers have been claimed, and how many of the Novice Treasure Chests have been claimed. They also record your battle information, kill count, stats, and other details. You can share these on the Global Feed. Yes, there's a Global Feed. There are also the Ranking Tables where the Top 300 Aeons and Top 100 Weapons are listed. You can, however, choose to hide yourself, and the slot will appear empty. People can only access the details you share with them or the ones others share about you. These Watches allow you to capture images, record videos, and can be used as Holographic Projectors. With linked Watches, you can send distress signals and keep tabs on the locations of your group. These locations only remain active as long as the Aeon wearing them is alive."
"No calling feature?" Freya raised her brow, and he smiled.
"There is. However, all calls, voice or video, are public. Anyone on the Global Network can access them."
"That's... sad," she sighed, and he smiled as he picked up a small metallic ball, the size of a tennis ball. "What's that?" she asked, and her eyes widened in surprise as the veins on the ball glowed red and then turned blue.
The ball shot up in the air, the cover in the middle slid away, revealing a circular lens that ran around it.
"Anti-Gravity Surveillance Drone," he informed them. "It only works if you have a Watch linked to it. This drone sends out pulses, mapping an area with a radius of a kilometre around it. You can send it out to 100 kilometres, but since this thing cannot defend itself, there's a good chance you will lose it. However, up to the range of 20 kilometres, it can stay invisible."
All of them looked around as the drone suddenly vanished, completely disappearing. It made no sound either, which made it impossible to track, but Freya and Sophia could sense some spatial distortions, and the young girl instinctively caught it mid-air when it was passing her.
"As you can see, it can still be caught. However, the useful and disturbing thing is that it can record things in high detail from over two kilometres away. It's like your mini satellite, and most people would not even know that they are being recorded. You can use this drone to record your battles, and you can also use it to start a livestream on the Global Feed."
"How many of these do we have?" Felix quickly asked.
"10. At any one time, only one drone can be linked to a Watch. We have 10 Watches as well."
"Hey, we have 15 each," Sophia suddenly said, and he smiled at her.
"I thought you were not sharing your bag and its contents with us."
The girl pouted a little.
"I don't want to, but I have no use for all of them."
Amon chuckled at her words and then looked at everyone again.
"15 each."
They all nodded to him and then watched him take out an even bigger ball from the backpack. It was the size of a football and had semi-spherical protrusions all over it. The entire ball was black.
Amon pressed one of the protrusions, and suddenly, a small drone shot into the air.
"Anti-Gravity Drone Torch."
As soon as his words finished, the little drone exuded a soft light, which gradually brightened to a level that started hurting Sophia's eyes.
"It can stay active at its brightest for up to ten days, but then you have to put it back in its slot and let it charge. It can work underwater as well, and will follow you if you link it to your Watch. We have 6 sets of these. Each set has 12 Torches, and all 12 can be linked to a Watch at any one time."
Next, he showed them the contents of two more backpacks, which were only filled with Storage Sacks. Each bag had seven Storage Sacks, so they had fourteen of them. Ten were filled with food and four with Coin Sacks.
Amon had found exactly 50 Coin Sacks from the 10 Towers, and 10 of these contained Purple Coins instead of Gold.
The Ring told him that each Purple Coin was worth 10 Gold Coins, so these 20,000 Purple Coins were equivalent to 200,000 Gold Coins.
Counting all the things from the Towers, they had a waist bag and five backpacks as well.
"So, what did you find in the Towers?" he asked Meredith, who walked over to a painting and slid it away, revealing a safe.
She pulled out five Coin Sacks and a backpack, and Amon became curious when she opened the sacks first.
However, he soon understood why she did it.
He dumbly stared at the black coins with the golden octagram, and felt dizzy when the Ring revealed their information to him.
It was the same for everyone else as they laid eyes on them. Now they finally understood what these coins were meant to do.
These Black Coins were the future highest currency in the world, and each Black Coin was equivalent to 100 Gold Coins or 10 Purple Coins. So, the total value of these 10,000 coins was 1,000,000 Gold.
Sophia burst out laughing when she saw his expression.
He had been running from Tower to Tower in hopes of collecting more Gold Coins, and Meredith and the others had found more from a single Tower than he had harvested from ten...
As for the backpack, it contained sets of Tactical Belts and First Aid.