Chapter 126: Chapter 123: Firepower is Truth
[Mission Objective: Hunt Volcanic Fierce Apes.]
[Quantity Required: Seven.]
[Resource Allocation: Five crystals for the ’Peacemaker’s’ main chest cannon array, two for the palm sub-cannons.]
[Risk Assessnt: Extrely High. Volcanic Fierce Apes are pack-based Magical Beasts with a rudintary social structure. Their bone density is comparable to Alchemy Alloy, and their innate heat rays can lt steel plates at a distance of one hundred ters. A single unit’s combat power is assessed at the Advanced Apprentice level. A clan of several adult Violent Apes is sufficient to contend with a low-ranked Official Wizard.]
Going alone to hunt a pack of Magical Beasts that, when gathered, could contend with an Official Wizard—it sounded like a joke.
But Allen didn’t believe in courage or luck. He believed in the truth he had forged with his own hands—a truth constructed from Runes and precision machinery.
"Ah Fu."
"At your service, sir." The chanical Body butler, dressed in a tuxedo, approached Allen and bowed.
"I’ve sent the component blueprints for the Spider Slayers to your Control Core. More materials will be delivered shortly. Once you receive them, prepare to assist with production. Quantity: ten units."
"As you command, sir. The production plan has been initiated. Estimated ti to completion is thirty-six hours."
The workshop imdiately filled with a more intense cacophony of chanical sounds. The "Blessing" series of Factory Servants sprang into action like the most diligent worker ants, carrying usable pieces of tal to the machine tools in the production area.
Allen, anwhile, walked over to a lab bench on the other side of the room.
He wasn’t lacking in conventional firepower, but he still needed a "big gun" to be the deciding factor.
He took out several sealed Alchemy Boxes from a storage cabinet. They contained finely ground "Explosive Mushrooms" and high-energy crystal fragnts—enough to fill two hundred "Explosive Type-I" grenades.
This ti, instead of making an easily throwable sphere, he forged a thirty-centiter-tall cylindrical tal canister.
Next, he switched to a Rune-etching stylus and inscribed a series of complex circuits onto the canister’s inner wall.
It was an Overclock Rune Array, derived from the sa principles as the "Single-Use High-Energy Amplification Unit." Its sole purpose was to amplify the explosion’s power to its absolute limit at the mont of detonation.
On top of that, he added twelve interconnected Remote-Controlled Chain Detonation Rune Arrays with multi-layered encrypted commands.
When the final Rune Circuit was etched, Allen carefully poured in the explosives—enough to level a small castle—and then sealed the canister with a machine tool.
And just like that, a giant, remote-controlled alchemy bomb, filled with a brutalist aesthetic, was complete.
[High-Explosive Alchemy Bomb, "The Final Interpretation." Cost: 400 Low-Level Magic Stones.]
[Power Assessnt: Sufficient to send all Low-Level Magical Beasts within a twenty-ter radius to kingdom co.]
Allen looked at the behemoth. ’That damned "firepower deficiency syndro" of his was finally eased, just a little.’
’But this still isn’t enough.’
He spent several more hours crafting two new Demon Eyes and upgrading their Illusion Rune Arrays. The upgrade not only provided optical camouflage but also allowed them to mimic ambient Magic Power fluctuations, taking their stealth capabilities to the next level.
After finishing all this, Allen left his workshop and headed to the Apprentice Trading Market once more.
He went straight to a few shops that sold special-purpose functional items.
"One Stealth Cloak, the best you have."
"A Heartkeeper pendant, the kind that defends against ntal probes and mind control. I’ll take one of those too."
"And also, two of these Flash Scrolls that allow for a 50-ter instantaneous teleport."
"The best Stealth Cloak is tanned from the hide of a shadow bat and enchanted with a triple-layered Rune for silence and reduced Magic Power fluctuations. Five hundred and twenty Magic Stones. The Heartkeeper pendant has a small protection crystal embedded inside. Three hundred Magic Stones."
The shopkeeper’s eyes widened in surprise as he watched the young apprentice spend money like water.
Unfazed, Allen paid over a thousand Low-Level Magic Stones, collecting each of these critical life-saving items.
Back in the workshop, the missing materials for the ten Spider Slayers were already laid out, waiting to be assembled into finished products.
Shadow Demon Spiders were a rare find, so Allen only made the basic version of the Spider Slayers, a task that took him a full day.
Allen spent another half-day assembling the ten new Spider Slayers, then uploaded the latest version of his custom automated combat logic into each of their cores.
Battle preparations: complete!
Inventory check:
One pair of Insight Glasses.
One "Judgnt" Alchemy Sniper Rifle.
One "The Final Interpretation" High-Explosive Alchemy Bomb.
A total of twelve Spider Slayers, including one competition model.
A total of five Demon Eyes, including the three previously made.
Fifty assorted grenades and ten Directional Mines.
One Stealth Cloak, one Heartkeeper pendant, two Flash Scrolls, and several other assorted Scrolls.
And various Healing Potions, Spirit Recovery Potions, and poisons.
For these preparations, he had spent nearly eight thousand Low-Level Magic Stones in total—a sum equivalent to five years of expenses for an Advanced Apprentice from any other school of wizardry.
Allen remained completely unfazed. ’Wealth is only aningful when it’s efficiently converted into power—power to defend oneself and achieve one’s goals.’
’If I hunt a few extra things along the way, I might be able to recoup so of these losses.’
Allen pulled up the three-dinsional topographical map of the Second Ring Belt’s "Fire Elent Highland," projecting it into the air as a massive virtual sand table.
"DSeek, load all known data and formulate a combat plan."
Light and shadow shifted, simulating blistering Molten Rivers and rugged volcanic terrain. Blue lines representing infiltration routes and green lines representing escape routes appeared, crisscrossing the projection.
[Based on the living habits of the Volcanic Fierce Apes, the terrain, and lava eruption cycles, three optimal infiltration routes and five ergency escape routes have been planned.]
[Seven optimal ambush points and thirteen backup trap deploynt zones have been marked.]
[Combat model established. Deducing outco based on integrated variables... Success rate... 92.4%.]
Allen looked at the number and nodded. On the battlefield, a one-hundred-percent chance of victory doesn’t exist, but a theoretical success rate of 92.4% was more than enough for him to put the plan into action.
All preparations were complete.
「The next morning, just before dawn.」
Allen dressed in a tight-fitting, gray-black combat suit and draped the Stealth Cloak over his shoulders. The cloak’s material was as light as air, its color blending seamlessly with the shadows in the dim light. He sorted his various tools and put them into his Space Ring, keeping only a few of the most frequently used items hanging from his waist.
He didn’t disturb anyone, only leaving a short ssage for Vera through his personal terminal: "Need to go into seclusion for a while. Do not disturb."
Then, Allen pushed open the workshop’s heavy tal door. The cool morning wind, thick with moisture, rushed in to greet him.
He stepped out, and twelve half-human-sized tal spiders followed close behind, their steps perfectly synchronized. The newly etched silencing Runes imdiately took effect, their articulated legs making no sound as they touched the ground.
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