A few hours later, Francis returned bearing good news.
The transmission site survived, but it was close. The footprint of the Titan Demon was only a few meters away from it, which means that it was nearly destroyed. Fortunately, it wasn't, and everything was still functional.
Additionally, he also returned with a full haul.
Using the box Cedric gave him, he captured 5 Dreaming Silkworms, 5 of each: Demon Hogs, Hens, Hares, and Bisons. He captured enough test subjects for Cedric to perform his experiments.
Knowing that Francis left eagerly to fetch the errand, Cedric prepared a holding cell for his experiments. He didn't want to risk the safety of the team for the sake of securing more food; that's why he did it.
This brings us to the present, where Cedric is staying inside the holding cells and busy with his work. Elric and Francis left him to do his work; the former was making reports to send to HQ, while the latter returned to the monitoring tablet to keep watch.
As for the girls, Cedric convinced them to go to sleep, which isn't hard since deep down, they're exhausted.
Right now, Cedric was blandly staring at one of the silkworms he took out of the box that's now hissing at him hatefully. It's spewing thick threads of sticky silk emanating with toxins that could cause hallucinations.
Dreaming silkworms are the pre-evolved versions of nightmare worms. The former was obviously much weaker and more vulnerable compared to the latter, but even the weakest Dreaming Silkworms reach Tier 5 Superhuman in strength equivalent. More importantly, you'd never see them alone.
A single Dreaming Silkworm could easily spew enough silk to trap at least ten people into full-sized cocoons, which would harden within minutes. And at a minimum, Dreaming Silkworms could be found in groups of five, so one could only imagine the dangers they pose.
That said, dreaming silkworms are slow, and their senses are rather dull. Anyone who's skilled at stealth techniques could easily capture them before they could react. More over, Dreaming Silkworms usually respond ferociously to threats by releasing all the threads they have in one go.
They won't stop until they're completely empty, and it usually takes at least 72 hours before they regenerate all the threads they have. Within that timeframe, they're at their weakest.
It took five minutes for the silkworm in front of Cedric to run out of juice. The worst part is that none of its threads even came close to touching him. The silkworm visible deflated once it was out and laid there weakly. It couldn't even hiss anymore.
Cedric drew a rune in the air and cleansed the silk of its toxins and corruption. Now, he has enough Tier 5 silk, which he could use to make a lot of things, and there's still four more in the capture box waiting to be harvested.
The silkworm didn't respond. Even if it could, it wouldn't be able to since it's near death's door. Cedric sighed once more and placed it back in the box. It's probably going to die inside that space, but, oh well, there's nothing he could do about that.
"Okay, let's see if this streak continues then."
**
A couple more hours passed by.
Currently, the base is quiet and peaceful, something that's exceptionally rare considering where they are and what's happening around them. The girls were still sleeping soundly, and so was Elric as well as Francis, who's supposed to be keeping watch. It was fine, though, since Cedric was still wide awake and busy.
What was he doing? Oh, nothing much. I'm just preparing a feast for the team.
Yes, his experiments were a resounding success. 25 of the creatures Francis brought to him have been returned to their original state. Cedric had enough silk to make cloth armor for everybody and for other uses. But more importantly, they have enough food to last for an entire month.
He created things to prevent their food from spoiling; he's even drying some and turning them into jerkies. As for the water source, Cedric already has that covered; he did, after all, make a fully functional bathroom for the team.
Right now, he's making a beef stew. He uses ingredients on the MREs to add more flavor to the dish, and it has been simmering for hours.
Cedric already had the table prepared; he also made plates, bowls, and utensils from the resources readily available within his surroundings. The feast was ready, and the only thing missing was the people to eat it.
But instead of going over to their tents and waking them up one by one, Cedric used a different method.
He removed the lid of the cauldron and allowed the heavenly scent of the food to spread through the entire base. A smirk appeared on his face moments later because his desired effect occurred.
The girls flinched awake and sniffed the air, followed by their stomachs rumbling. They then scrambled out of the tent and saw Cedric stirring the contents of the cauldron. Elric pretty much did the same; Cedric even saw him salivating a bit. However, he maintained his dignity as the captain of the team and pretended to casually go out of his tent to inspect what was going on.
As for Francis, he shamelessly ran, seemingly teleporting himself to the table, holding his utensils, and giving Cedric the puppy eyes. But instead of paying attention to him, Cedric looked at the holding chambers, which then opened moments later, revealing Floyd and Darwin, who's busy sniffing the air while releasing fluctuations belonging to that of Planar Travelers.
"Congratulations, guys. Come, I prepared something good for all of us."