6 Plans for the future

His journey back to home is smooth sailing, though it took more time than when he first got here, courtesy to his injury and dinner of course. Some areal Machines flew over his head a few times but nothing threatening. 4 hours later, he arrived back at his cave.

"Sigh… finally I'm home." Marco said as a relieved sigh escaped his mouth. After dropping all of his gear, he finally hit the bed.

Tomorrow morning.

*Yawn

Marco opened his eyes, put on some clothes, and did some stretching after that. Some really light exercise might help his bones to heal. Fortunately, the injuries aren't on his weight or he will struggle to even walk without damaging it even further.

Marco starts to ponder about his next step. There is so much thing that Marco can and needs to do. First of all, because he can't make a weapon, the only option left is to find a functioning one or salvage the parts to assemble one. The second essential thing is medicine, the lesson learned from this injury is the importance of medicine. No more medicine factories are functional anymore today, Machines don't require medicine, they will be dumped in a shredder and recycled afterwards.

The previous body's owner can make a simple ointment for wounds from plants, but that's it. If the wound is really bad with some infection, then he's fucked. There is two option for Marco, the first is to experiment with the plants, the second two search for other people already experienced with these things. Well obviously, the first is a no-go, god knows how long the experiment will take, which plants to use, what the effects are, he might just drop dead after testing it, Marco ain't a biologist after all.

There are other tribes other than his and he could go there to trade with either food or Machine parts. But he decided that he will try to search for weapons first, who knows what happens if the other tribes hate outsiders and just started blasting as a hello.

'Hmmm, if I remember correctly there's a tribe way in the north up in the mountains. Quite far, but I think it's worth it for medicine, and maybe I could get a few recipes.' Marco rummaged through his memories, his previous tribe has some contact with this tribe in the mountains. Apparently, this tribe has some Aerial Machines under control.

"This means that even though humans live primitively, they still know how to use technology, even some hacking or maybe they use other methods? I need to find the answer to this." Marco said to himself. 'Aerial Machines will be useful for scouting. They might be able to help me with the transmitter I got.' Marco thought.

'Prometheus did the map you got from this old base contain any city's location?' Marco said to Prometheus internally.

[There is no location of a city because they are unusable since the war, but there are a few big war base that also functions as a settlement. There is a coordinate of a big base, this old base use to got their supplies sent from that big base. ]

'There might be more guns in that base than a city. Alright, tell me.'

[Comparing the base coordinates to ours, the big base should be in the south near the waters. It was used to defend against the Aquatic Machines. ]

'There are Aquatic Machines???? What the f*ck, what were they use for??'

[There are no relevant data available in this old base. But if I have to make an assumption, they are probably used to mine precious metals and… extinguish humanity… probably. ]

"Wow… that is … one hell of an assumption. Now back to the point, how long will the journey take with my current speed?"

[With your current speed, roughly the journey will take about 4 days to get there. Not calculating the delays if you are attacked by a Machine. ]

"Four days?? That's quite far… I really hope there are some usable weapons. " prayed Marco. 'Or It'll be just a waste of time' Marco thought.

The priority now is to recover his injuries. 'With my vitality, the fracture will probably heal in a week maximum.'

---

One week passed by…

Marco's daily training never stops, the training just changed into something lighter for his body. The downside is he can't gain as many attribute points as back then. After a week, he only managed to get 7 stat points, but it's good enough. Every little point counts when he is this weak. He feels as good as new now though, which means he can finally go to that base in the south.

Now his stat looks like this:

Status]

[Body: Healthy (no injuries)]

[Attributes]

[Strength: 26->28

Vitality: 23

Dexterity: 35->40

Intelligence: 17]

"I feel great now, my hand isn't sore anymore if I put weight on it." Marco said in relief.

He starts to prepare for the trip, weapons, food, water, and clothes… well he only has 2 sets of clothes. After double-checking and making sure everything is ready he starts walking.

"Alright, Prometheus point me where to go". Marco said to Prometheus.

[Go south, you can just follow the river.] the AI replied.

"By the way, do you have information about the cult that wipe out my old tribe?"

[None. Either the cult was created after the fall of humanity or they can hide really well.]

"It should be the first possibility, there's no shady god worshiping cult in my time. Who believe in God nowadays. " Marco said while racking his head on why there's still a cult at this age. 'They are worshiping something that doesn't talk back.'

*Sharp inhale

'Or maybe it's not a god they are worshiping but… the Machines. How could I miss this possibility?' Marco's eyes narrowed when this thought comes to mind. Tossing the thought to the back of his head, he refocuses back on the journey, nobody knows what might happen after all.

---

Two days passed by… The sky is already dark

Fortunately, nothing happened till now, he's halfway through the trip by now.

Marco laid on the grass, pondering about what had happened. It has been more than two weeks since he got took over the body. He misses his family, friends, and colleagues. What do they feel after his death? Their absence and the fact that it's impossible to see them again greatly saddens him. He wonders about it while gazing at the stars-glittered sky before drifting to sleep.

The next morning…

*Whoosh

There is a sound of something cutting through the air, flying across the forest. Marco's eyes opened wide and immediately rolled the side. He hid under the tree and observed the skies. He could see a Machine flying low. The Machine looks like a hummingbird, but bigger than an adult and with wider wings.

'Hey wait a minute, is the beak a huge ass gun? Prometheus, tell me what is the purpose of that?' He said to his AI while he's hiding under the tree, trying to stay out of sight.

[…] Prometheus was speechless at his question, what else is a huge ass bird made of metal with a huge ass gun made for?

The Machine was only visible for 5 seconds. After checking that it's gone, Marco continues to walk to his destination.

---

He followed the river for three days, after which Prometheus redirected him. After about another day of boring walking with nothing going on, he finally saw his destination or the ruins of it.

The base is big with what used to be a huge wall surrounding it. Marco barged into the base, "Woahhh, this deserves to be called one of the main bases." Not only is the base big, but it also extends underground. In the middle of it is a huge metal door which is opened. If Marco had to guess, the door or gate will open and the platform underneath it will go up, bringing ready to be deployed aircraft, vehicle, and troops.

"I am definitely making this my temporary base." Marco said excitedly, he doesn't have much hope for the big toys as the base looks empty, but for the small toys… there must be some of them left here. If only the top part of the base is visible, it's a big base, but if you count the underground part then it's safe to say that it is an underground city.

After walking for about 30 minutes, Marco still hasn't explored all of the areas. He hasn't found what he is looking for either.