It took a few minutes for the boys to completely remove the objects from their hiding spots but they had already figured out what these things were. They had both seen these things on the stage during the debriefing; it was a loot crate.
Mako and Bill were both quite excited to have found a loot crate so early because Brigadier Jones did say that even though a generous amount of crates was hidden on the map, they were hidden quite well. The only reason Mako and Bill both even noticed the crate, was because of the light that shone in their eyes after being reflected off the shiny metal body of the loot crate.
After getting rid of all the vines and roots that were encompassing the loot crate, Mako decided that it would be for the best to open it when he met up with Bill so that they could equally share what was inside. The crate wasn't that heavy and with Mako's enhanced strength, he could carry it around just fine.
Bill had the same line of thought as after he wiped away all the sand on the loot crate, he started dragging it across the beach floor with one hand, while the other hand was pulling the makeshift leaf basket with all the seafood he had caught.
Mako hadn't found anything other than the loot crate and so he decided to explore a bit more before returning back to the meetup point.
************
Even though it looked quite unfortunate for the boys to be so far away from their initial landing position, it actually worked out in their favour. Back on the plane, almost all of the cadets who wanted to take part in the test had ejected themselves within the first five minutes.
The green light was active for a total of 8 minutes and 37 seconds with Mako and Bill ejecting themselves at the last possible second. All of the cadets that Mako had noticed still on the plane were those who had decided to quit. This was why almost no one had landed in the area near Mako and Bill.
It had been very fortunate for the two of them to get their bearings in order and figure out a solid game plan upon which they will proceed further. They didn't have to fight anyone yet nor did they know the info about what was happening on the rest of the island.
[Someplace on the island]
A great deal of fire was spreading in the jungle as the knocked-out bodies of several cadets lay on the ground. The sounds of clashing could still be heard in the background which indicated that some cadets were still fighting.
It looked like the fire was going to envelop the cadets that had been knocked out. Some were able to wake up and escape before they were in danger but some were not as lucky. As soon as it seemed that a knocked-out cadet was about to die, men wearing military uniforms would quickly show up on the scene and rescue them. They would pick up the cadet before disappearing out of sight.
These were the patrolling officers who were said to be hidden out of sight and would only intervene if they believed that a cadet would die.
This was the situation in most areas all over the island as many cadets would drop near one point of interest and start a battle with others so that they could claim the area as their own. The cadets who dropped in areas where there weren't many people near them but were still considerably deep in the island would often get attacked by a beast who was roaming in the area.
The only cadets who hadn't experienced an immediate battle were those who landed on the outskirts of the island such as Bill and Mako. They could theoretically just stay in the outskirts until the fifteen days were up, but that way they won't get any recognition or points from the military and would receive the lowest rank.
Mako was quick to realize this which is why he suggested that they continued to move inward each day, basically looking for trouble so that they could get more points.
They still had morals though and even before the test began, they had agreed that they won't start a fight with anyone and they would only fight if engaged first.
However, beasts were an entirely different story. They would engage a beast the moment they saw it so that it could harm them in any way. They also agreed that would keep the crystals of the beasts they killed themselves but would share the ones which they killed together.
************
After some more exploring, Mako still hadn't found anything and had decided that it was probably best to head back at this point. He had been searching the jungle for several hours now and knew that Bill would probably be back before him.
He picked up the pace as he ran back toward the beach. He was still carrying the loot crate with him which was hindering his speed a bit. He was compelled to just put it in his inventory and take it out later and since the box wasn't that heavy, it was a good option.
However, he quickly realized that he was about to make a colossal mistake. He remembered the Brigadier saying that they would be monitored closely at all times which would mean that they would notice Mako making a decent-sized box glow white and disappear into nothing. This would raise a lot of alarms which Mako didn't want. He was still too weak to become a target by the military so until he became strong enough to basically take anyone on, he had to keep his system-related abilities a secret.
He soon arrived back on the beach and it took only 2 minutes of walking to find Bill setting a small campfire on the beach.
"Yo! Guess what I found?" Mako said as he approached Bill while carrying the loot crate behind him.
Bill was setting up the fireplace when he looked up and noticed Mako carrying a loot crate behind him as he came closer.
"You too, huh?" Bill replied as he pointed at something behind his back with his thumb before resuming his work.
Mako wasn't expecting a reaction like that. He was hoping to tease Bill for a bit but he seemed totally chill with him having found a loot crate.
He looked over to where Bill pointed to see the exact same loot crate sitting next to what looked like a pile of palm leaves.
"No way! You also found one! What are the odds?" Mako was truly excited when he saw that both of them had found a loot crate and was happy to see that Bill also had the same mindset of opening the crates together.
Bill quickly explained what he had been doing and how he found the loot crate. He also showed his catch that was stored in the leaf basket which Mako thought to be just leaves. Mako was quite embarrassed that he didn't realize the bunch of leaves was a basket but he carried onward and was already mouth-watering when he saw all those fresh crustaceans.
Mako didn't have much to tell about other than him finding his loot crate and he quickly moved to open his first. Bill also joined him as he pressed the button on the top of of the crate as the Brigadier had instructed and pulled on the lever next to it to open the lid.
The crate made a small hissing sound as the lid was opened which indicated that the crate was sealed airtight. The contents of the crate were three small little black containers. The lid itself had a screen on the inside and on it was a display that explained what was inside each container.
"Man, they packaged this crate even more securely than those shipping companies who pack things in so many layers." Mako joked to which both of them shared a moment of laughter.
The screen on the lid displayed:
[Smoke Bomb x 3: A tactical grenade that can release smoke to provide cover or reduce visibility.]
[Low Tier Healing Pills x 2]
[Water Purification Tablets x 3: Each tablet quickly dissolves in water and makes a liter of water safe to drink]
They were all very decent Items. Mako was very excited to get to use smoke bombs after he got to experience their use firsthand during their fight in the warehouse when Jacob used his ability-based smoke bombs. Healing pills were always handy for having regardless of their quality and tablets were also nice.
Even if Mako didn't get these tablets, he could boil water to make it safe to drink but this would save him the hassle.
Now Bill was becoming impatient to open his crate as well, so he dragged his over and proceeded to open it up as well. The same thing happened as the crate let out a hissing noise and opened up. Inside there were only two black containers this time which meant the number of items per crate was random.
There was the same screen on the lid which displayed the description of the items stored within:
[Medium Tier Healing Pills x 2]
[Dueling Pin Code: Enter this pin code in any information tablet and request a duel with any cadet still on the map.]
"WHAT!" Both boys shouted in unison.
