Capítulo 497: Securing An Army
Bwoom~
A menacing undertone of machine starting up filled Akiol's ears. A dark room began to brighten and several red lights revealed themselves across the room. Ground shook as giant machinery moved in sync. Akiol watched with a pleasant feeling, "There's a lot more! You've been working hard."
"Of course I have. After you so brutally defeated one last time I figured some improvements needed to be made.", Torch spoke through a speaker in the room.
"Improvement in quality or quantity?"
"Both!"
There was thirteen in total, all wielding different weapons. Although all the weapons were different, their stances had some similarity. Akiol noticed this and spoke his thoughts, "Same data?"
"It's to make them more menacing. An orderly bunch strikes fear."
"It's inefficient, but I suppose they are giant robots."
"Inefficient?"
"Better to have them all be unique in style. With cold calculations you could have them synchronize well. Having them all be built on the same foundation makes it easy to figure out."
"Interesting. . . shall we proceed?"
"Go on."
One wielding a claymore swung first towards Akiol. A powerful downward swing aiming to cleave him in half. Watching it descend Akiol didn't move.
Clang~!
The mecha's actions stopped, the claymore quivered a bit before falling to the ground due to the weight. Torch was baffled, the sound made it seem like Akiol had blocked it, but Akiol hadn't moved an inch! It was if the mecha hit some invisible object!
"Their strength improved somewhat, but it's a small amount?"
"Their strength can't be improved without incredibly rare resources. Even with what I'm able to get I can't make a whole mecha out of it."
"Ah, then I suppose this is where data comes in handy."
"To make their attacks more efficient yes."
Akiol finally made a move. Gently hopping onto the fallen claymore he casually ran up the thick edge. Despite it being a blade, the sharpness wasn't worth his attention. This weapon was more of a blunt one.
Another mecha swung a two-handed axe towards him. Akiol jumped slightly and landed on the swinging axe, reinforcing his position with a bit of Aura he stuck to the axe like a magnet as it swung through the air. Crouching a bit he spoke, "Yeah their movements are still crude! Definitely a tool of war."
A spear thrust through the air towards Akiol. Looking casually to the side Akiol watched it approach.
Again! It happened again! Torch fell into a fit of confusion as a metallic ringing sound filled the hall and the spear stopped short. As Akiol jumped from the axe and slid down the spear Torch was reviewing the data in real time. A robotic mumble entered the room through the speakers as he fell into thought, "They report hitting something. . . ?"
A mecha holding a sword and shield charged forward. Thrusting the sword with surprising accuracy Akiol saw it approach steadily. In his honest opinion, these mechas were more than enough to handle a large majority of the playerbase. The gaps in their coordination wouldn't be a problem simply due to their sheer size. These were exactly what he needed in a battle of numbers. Akiol felt like it would be a bit of a waste to damage them, but he did promise to provide data. . .
Ah well, Torch did say he could repair them in two weeks.
Akiol leapt over the thrusting sword and finally unsheathed his own. Although unknown to Torch he used it twice before to stop attacks. Aura swirled as he swung, it spun out in the shape of a spiral galaxy and cleaved the sword into two. A clean cut moving down the middle.
{Way of the Galaxy: Density Wave}!
Torch felt his wallet break upon seeing one of the weapons turned useless. Maybe he should've told Akiol to be a little easy? No no he already did that when asking about the cores.
Akiol frowned, "These weapons are a no go Torch! I noticed this last time but I really don't think you should use them!"
Thunk-
Torch barely managed to prevent himself from falling over. Is this how you treat me?? You break my expensive weapons and then call them useless?! Do you have any idea how much each one cost?!
Holding together his will he asked, "Care to explain?"
"They're hard. Sure it makes them sturdy but when faced with a harder surface it turns them brittle. For instance take a look at the claymore and spear."
Torch moved something about and gained a clear vision of the claymore blade. A solid crack formed on one side. Reaching up he held his metallic head. That meant three weapons were actually damaged! His wallet is in pieces now.
Akiol continued to explain, "You need softness to absorb the shock. It might be fine for the armor, but for a weapon you really can't have it like this!"
Stopping for a moment he then wondered aloud, "Actually is this metal even decent for Second Stage? I was able to break it before too."
Torch wanted to shout at this moment. This metal was untouched by other Second Stage players!! You're just ridiculous!
"Softer metal? I don't know. . ."
Akiol turned helpless at this topic, "You'd have to talk to a blacksmith. I know how to wield a sword, not how to craft one!"
In his pause several mechas swung their weapons at him. Watching them fall Akiol was pretty impressed. Despite their size these swings didn't impede any of the others. This synchronization was pretty good! That was all though, they had too many openings, and none of the swings were prepared to deal with anything that could dodge it.
Akiol raised Stars above his head and clashed with the swings. Altering some of the weapons to stack with the others with a precise movement. A loud crash sounded and all the weapons were stopped by Akiol's sword.
"Oh I might've courted death on this one. Their strength was more than I imagined!", Akiol laughed helplessly.
Torch no longer had the will to react. Akiol had actually managed to block all of the blows and with one hand. It looked like he was just casually lifting their combined might. Torch felt like these powerful mechas, things he would claim to be his ace cards, were not that great after all.
If he could have something with even half of Akiol's strength, wouldn't all of his worries be gone?
Akiol on the other hand was sweating a bit. He based their strength on his original encounter of the mecha, but failed to realize just how much they improved. He thought he would be able to handle the swings just fine, but had to hastily reinforce his strength with Aura! Although his expression remained calm, he felt a mix of excitement and concern! The excitement came from knowing just how effective these would be on the battlefield!
Torch was an amazing ally to have!
Akiol pushed with a great might, lifting all the giant weapons to the sky. Crouching down he dispelled Stars' scabbard into his offhand, "Overall not bad! You really need to improve on their weapons and uniqueness, but otherwise they have my approval."
Torch wanted to hold onto a bit of hope, "You haven't beat them yet-"
{Way of the Galaxy: Blazar Jet}!
Streaks of Aura dashed across the room, bouncing from wall to wall. In an instant several lines formed from Akiol's speed. Reappearing in the center he flourished his sword and sheathed it. A faint click echoed and a blast of air flew in all directions. Each of the Mechas' weapons shattered to pieces and fell to the ground. Torch, for a split moment, swore he saw countless stars scatter across the room.
"Is that good enough?"
". . . Yes.", Torch replied meekly.
There was something wrong with this guy, there had to be. What kind of player had such monstrous growth? Was there anyone who could compete with that level? He could accept a few mechas being defeated, but this guy went and casually disabled them all in a single move!!
A large pair of doors opened and Torch walked through, "My weapons. . ."
"Uh, should I have not?"
"I mean you did say they weren't going to work. I guess this is what happens when a mechanic tries to forge a sword? At least I can use the scrap. . . but it hurts my heart."
Almost pointing out that Torch currently didn't have a heart—since he was a robot—Akiol instead decided to ask, "Where they expensive? I could try paying you back."
"Each one cost around ten Crystal Plates. . ."
"A hundred million?!"
"That's for one weapon. . ."
"Uh. . .", Akiol could almost feel cold sweat travel down his body.
Considering there was thirteen mechas. . .
"I uh, could I take back my offer about paying that back? I don't think I would be able to make that kind of money in my lifetime."
"It's fine, I said I'd be able to repair it."
"Might I ask what the ratio conversion is now?"
"Uhh roughly a dollar per Silver Plate. . . overall if I were to directly transfer the costs it'd be below a hundred-fifty-thousand."
$150,000?!
"I am so sorry."
"I stopped exchanging gold via the ratio anyway. A couple of contracts signed and I'm having money put in my pockets for me. Just gotta slide a few robots to my clients and they're happy."
"You sell the combat ones?"
"No, not yet. I find if I were to sell them that might have some consequences. . . Rather I just sell the construction ones. I am considering building some sort of stationary guardian for the Guilds and charging a subscription fee. . . but I really don't need the money currently."
Akiol felt like Torch had become significantly more terrifying than before. It would probably be no exaggeration to call him a superpower. Being alone managing a top tier business that have the Guilds thirsting to be on his good side, and having an unrelenting army in his back pocket? This was like dealing with a mafia boss!
A thought struck Akiol at this moment. Out of all the people he had contacted, there was one he forgot. Considering their might wasn't simple either, it was an oversight he was glad to catch. Pulling up the forums he sent a message to another group and awaited a response.
Torch on the other hand sighed heavily, "Okay I will contact a blacksmith."
"I'd recommend an NPC one. The Royal Blacksmith is a decently skilled one."
"I have a few connections. Thank you for the data."
"No problem, I still feel like I'm getting the better bargain here."
"You are, but I'll call for you in the future. I just ask you show up?"
"As long as I'm not busy."
"That's good enough then. Message me the details later, I have some work to do."
"Do I just go?"
"Yep! Don't break anything on the way out!"
"I only break things intentionally."
Torch paused, "My statement still stands."
Laughing Akiol waved and left the area. Returning to the surface Mira and Givale appeared behind him. Givale wandered aimlessly while she asked, "Are we going to help against the undead?"
"That depends."
"On?"
"Whether or not I'm capable of ascending to Third Stage. If I can I don't have an issue since you should be strong enough. However if I cannot then it's much too risky."
"Hmm.", Givale looked towards Mira, who returned the glance.
Akiol could feel there was a bit concern on this matter. With a smile they couldn't see he assured, "I'll figure it out don't worry. I think I'm going about it wrong, so I just have to do some tests."
Since the strands always had something to do with Aura, and Akiol highly doubted the quantity was the issue, he figured he needed a greater control over it. This would require extensive practice, and he would need some time in peace to fully concentrate. Thus he awaited the next person to respond to his message.
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