Chapter 46: Ch-46: New Mech
Well, there’s nothing I can do. Looks like I have to wait for the Bloodline to awaken when I reach Tier 1, Victor thought with a sigh.
"Hmm, Senior, are you fine?" the Lord asked Victor with concern, seeing him immobile after consuming the fruit. If anything happened to him and his family learned of it, he would be doomed. Yes, in his eyes, Victor was a noble, as such a powerful Warlock would at least be a member of a Duchy or serve under one.
"Hmm, I am fine. I just got caught in the moment," Victor snapped out of his thoughts and replied, then asked, "You don’t mind that I took the fruit, right? If you want, I can compensate you."
"No, no, there is no need, Senior. No compensation is needed. That seed had been in our family for years and was unusable for us. It’s good it came to use under you," the Lord said hurriedly. Even though he was curious about the fruit, he did not ask, as it would be rude, and assumed it was an item meant for Warlocks, seeing how eagerly—almost impatiently—Victor had consumed it.
As he was thinking, Victor suddenly saw a notification.
[Fate has been updated]
"Huh?" Victor exclaimed.
"Something wrong, Senior?" the Lord asked.
"No, nothing," Victor said as he used his pupil technique and saw a black thread above his head.
[Fate Information: One week from now, the Black Church will send an army of 2000, consisting of one Tier 2 Warlock, and will raze the entire Silvernum Territory while you are away. They will do this as retaliation for causing chaos at the recruitment site and robbing their treasury.]
As Victor read the information, his expression immediately darkened, and he clenched his fists in anger upon reading that they destroyed his territory.
He took a deep breath and calmed his tense nerves. He could change the outcome, as he already knew what would happen.
"Senior Warlock, do you want to join us for lunch?" the Lord asked.
"No, I have something to do. I will leave now," Victor said.
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Black Church Base
"Have you confirmed who was responsible for causing the riot and stealing the treasury in Base Number 16?" a man wearing a black military uniform looked at his subordinates and asked.
"Yes, Commander John," the man said fearfully while looking at the commander, who was a powerhouse comparable to kings and some Dukes of the Kingdom of Eindrik, being at Tier 4. The man walked in front of the commander and placed a laptop, which started playing a video.
The temperature of the room seemed to drop further as the laptop continued playing the footage.
"Who is he? And it looks like he is a Warlock with an inventory skill," the commander said in a cold tone, which sent shivers down the spines of the subordinates present, as he watched a man rob the treasury of Base 16. On the screen, the man touched the items, and they vanished into thin air.
"Yes, we have narrowed down the suspect, and it is most likely the heir of the Silvernum Barony, Victor Silvernum," the man said as he showed another video of Victor changing his appearance to the person who robbed the treasury.
"A noble, huh?" the commander raised an eyebrow and then narrowed his eyes toward a man in the crowd.
"Captain Callum, wasn’t Base 16 under your charge? Didn’t you check beforehand if he was a Warlock, and how does he have such a powerful disguise artifact?" the commander reprimanded the man, who stepped forward while sweating.
"Commander, I had checked every person personally before taking them in for questioning. Most likely, he was lucky to awaken a Warlock Bloodline and got the artifact from killing a monster," the captain explained, as the commander snorted and looked at Victor coldly on the screen.
"Whatever the reasons might be, this happened under your jurisdiction. How are you going to handle this, Captain Callum?" the commander said as he narrowed his eyes and released his pressure, and Captain Callum’s expression changed instantly.
"Commander, I will personally lead my troops and not only kill the Baron but also kill every living being on his land," Captain Callum said hurriedly, and only then did the pressure recede.
"Good, make sure you do that. I would have personally gone if I were not entangled with something else," Commander John said.
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Victor was back at his estate and was heading toward his room but was stopped by an excited Edward.
"Lord Victor, just a few hours before your return, 100 gunmen and 100 more knights joined the territory," Edward said with a flushed face. He was thinking that as soon as Victor took control of the Barony, their luck had made a 180-degree shift.
"Well, there will be more troops. They will all join us as our reputation improves. This is just the beginning," Victor said with a smile.
"You’re right, Lord Victor," Edward said, his eyes gleaming.
Victor nodded and then went to his room.
"Well, let’s equip the army with better equipment," he mumbled as he opened the Mech Shop, and instantly his eyes caught two blueprints he was interested in.
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Automatic Turtle Shell Defensive System (Bundle)
Magic Forcefield: An invisible dome made of pure mana which covers the territory and can defend against attacks up to Tier 3 enemies.
Magic Missiles: Hidden launchers release hundreds of missiles imbued with mana, and each missile can easily destroy a cluster of Tier 3 troops upon impact and destroy rare-rank defensive items.
Area Covered: 100 km²
Items Required for Construction: Locked
System Description: This system can easily defend against enemies within Tier 4 as long as the generator is fed with enough monster cores for power.
Cost: 1 million experience points
Rank: Epic
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Dual Saber Missile Mech
Description: A multi-purpose mech which can be used by both gunmen and knights up to Tier 2. This mech has an inbuilt missile system, bullets, shield, and saber which is made of pure mana and uses monster cores as a power source.
Modes:
Long-Range Mode: This mode is for gunmen. It transforms into a lightweight mech which enhances the speed, accuracy, and vision of the gunman operating the mech. The mech can fire missiles and bullets as long as monster cores keep providing mana.
Knight Mode: Suitable for knights. It transforms into a medium-weight mech which has the highest defensive and health stats. It acts as a mini mobile tank built for close-range combat.
Items Required: 5 tons of Magisteel, 20 Tier 0 Monster Cores, 1 Tier 1 Monster Core
Cost: 500,000 experience points
Rank: Rare
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The defense system was something he had already had his eyes on but could not buy previously due to a lack of experience points.
"This will do for now..." Victor mumbled as he read the description of the Dual Saber Missile Mech, which could be used and customized for both long-range and close-range combat. Compared to individual mechs for gunmen and knights, this one was far more suitable in terms of price and power.
Victor saw the steep price and grimaced a bit, but without hesitation bought them for 1.5 million experience points.
[You have purchased Dual Saber Missile Mech blueprints]
[You have purchased Automatic Turtle Shell Defensive System blueprints]
Victor then went toward his personal smithy, which he had set up in the basement of his manor, and tossed all the obsidian and cores to produce magisteel.
After about an hour later, all 100,000 tons of obsidian had been converted into 50,000 tons of magisteel.
"10,000 new mechs, huh?" Victor thought and then mumbled, "I think 100 mechs should be enough to deal with the Black Church."
3 hours later
Victor clicked his tongue as he looked at the 10 large matte-black mechs. Five of them had a sword and shield made of pure mana, while the other five had something similar to rocket launchers on their shields and chests, while their palms had inbuilt automatic magic bullet launchers.
He waved his hand as he stored them in his inventory and walked outside.
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A carriage drawn by magical beasts, surrounded by powerful knights, was heading toward the Silvernum Barony. A few attendants were holding a flag which had the sigil of a pickaxe fluttering in the wind. This was the symbol of the Oreburgh County.
Inside the carriage, the scenario was completely different. No ordinary person could guess from the outside that the carriage, which looked like it could carry at most five people, had an interior so spacious it could be compared to a small mansion in size and luxury.
Whip!
Amber Oreburgh looked at the bleeding man at her feet, who had whip marks all over his body and was bleeding profusely. He bit his lips and did not dare make a sound, as he would be subjected to more pain by the sadistic woman.
Boom! Boom!
"Huh, what’s going on outside?" Amber frowned in displeasure. She was already irritated by the delay mid-journey when they were attacked by bandits and had vented her frustration on her pathetic fiancé.
Boom! Boom!
She frowned and stepped out of the carriage, and her eyes widened and her jaw almost dropped.
"What are these?!"
She shouted, pointing at the giant steel humanoid behemoths.