This chapter's epigraph comes from a line in the novel's first chapter, in which the narrator describes a powerful expedition team that has been building powerful warriors all the time. The 18th squadron, which has 50 men, has a completion rate of about 30%. The 19th squad, with only 19 men, is about 30% stronger than the 18th squad. The narrator explains that this is the strongest technique known to man--the triple latch combination, or lacht. Lacht is a special training technique that allows two or three humans to combine their knowledge of different parts of a thing to create a powerful force that can overpower the weakest members of the team. This technique is dangerous, the narrator warns, because it means that an item can be completed by multiple people at a high rate. If the reserve team members are like the squadron 18th, they can easily catch up with the strongest members. This is bad news for the narrator, because he can't use the money he has earned from his father's work to buy new items for his friends. He's worried that his friends won't be able to help him, but he's not sure what to do since they're not good guys anyway. He hears that the narrator and his father have been spending a lot of their money on creating new treasures for their friends to pursue. He doesn't understand how they could possibly gain anything by doing this, since it's already a good thing