The year is 2123, Earth was in the middle of its third world war. It was also during this time when 'they' finally made their move. We called them 'Precursors', an ancient alien race who was here before humanity existed. Ugly sons of bitches, looked like someone put Cthulhu into a suit of armor. According to government documents, they left earth long ago, due to a world ending cataclysmic event. Now they have come back to retake earth. In fact, they have been observing us for centuries, to see when they would have the best moment to act. Nations were unprepared for this new threat, some leaders wanted to submit to their new overlords. They were quickly taken out of their positions. Say what you want to say about politicians, but they won't give up their seats of power easily. It was during this time that humanity's leaders came together, and formed a united front. No matter what though, war needed soldiers. No one knew how long this war would last, and they needed a soldier printing press. With human extinction looming over the horizon, morality and ethics flew out the window. Thus project apex was born, humanity once again played god. Their goal was to create the deadliest killers thought possible, raise them from birth and grow them to adulthood. They looked human, but were not completely human. That is the origin of my birth in my past life. Even now I can still picture the battlefield and the family I once knew....but that is all a dream..
Sam woke up from his long nap, he saw a unit of energy mechs guarding the room he was in.
"Nostromo, how's everything going, Have you finally sweeped the entire place? What about the dungeon?" Sam asked from his wristband communicator.
"Reporting to the monarch, we have captured all deserting troops, underground organizations, and nobles. I have sent some units to explore some of the floors, and their appears to be a grassfield environment to this dungeon. Rather than the mountainside dungeon that has a stone hallway environment instead. The adventurers guildmaster also has been subdued, and the rest of the adventurers with him. How would you like us to handle them?" Nostromo reported.
"Just kill him, and take the adventurers back to the base with the rest of the people we're placing in the confinement area." Replied Sam.
Once he fought the forces of this dungeon county, the adventurers guild joined the fight this time, since handing over a dungeon is a large resource to lose. It was even part of their little loopholes to be able to join a war.
"Pfft 'Indepent organization', what a bunch of clowns. Now that I have another core shard farm, I should build a base on top of it."
Sam took a buzzer to the west side of the town, where the dungeon entrance was located. In the distance a large sinkhole the diameter of 15 meters, with a spiral staircase going down could be seen. Since dungeons frequently had outbreaks of monsters, it would be suicide to build a town on top of it. The military base that would be built on top of them were different, mechs constantly culled the excess monsters and had blast doors covering the entrances. Sam hopped off the buzzer as soon as it landed.
"Did you make sure the perimeter is locked down? I want no eyes to see what I'm about to do." Sam asked a nearby energy mech.
"Yes machine monarch, we have cordoned the entire area as you ordered." Replied the energy mech.
After that, Sam proceeded to build the base on top of the dungeon. After it was finished he went to the base of operations room and connected with Nostromo. Just to make sure the base was up to a certain degree of protection, he upgraded it to mark 3, using the exp he made from the battle in this county. After that, he left the area and told the mechs to keep it away from prying eyes until it was done upgrading.
"Nostromo, has Christopher and his escort team arrived yet?" Sam asked, but before he got an answer a notification rang.
[MARK 3 BASE HAS BEEN COMPLETED]
"This day just keeps getting better and better. Nostromo, update me on the new facility and changes, forget what I just asked." Said Sam, waiting with excitement.
"Mech assembly can produce Mark 3 mechs, lab and research facility can produce Mark 3 products and services, and the builder bot facility can now work on 3 construction projects. Core shard fusion facility has been added to the base." Nostromo reported.
"Let's go, This is what I've been waiting for! WOOOO!" Sam raised his arms and started doing a little dance.
The function of this facility is going to make unlocking the Mark 4, and the higher mark mechs way easier. Using his communicator wristband, he is able to use and contact any of the facility's. First, he was going to see how many tier 1 and 2 core shards he's been stocking up.
[17,544 TIER 1 CORE SHARDS COLLECTED]
[3,710 TIER 2 CORE SHARDS COLLECTED]
[735 TIER 3 CORE SHARDS COLLECTED]
[8 TIER 4 CORE SHARDS COLLECTED]
"Looks like the mechs are already harvesting the new 4th floor in the dungeon, and I already have more tier 3 shards. If I can just continue like this without any distractions, I can finally feel at ease knowing that I won't be attacked by a stronger opponent. Nostromo, get the lab to prep the Mark 3 gene mod asap. Start producing 5,000 of each Mark 3 mech. Now, let's get to the dessert" Sam said, not holding back a smile on his face.
Since he needed 10 shards to form the next highest tier, he could only fuse 1,750 for the first tier.
[FUSE]
[1,575 TIER 2 CORE SHARDS FUSED SUCCESSFULLY]
"Almost a near perfect 90% success rate, just like the game. From there it will decrease by 10% each time it goes higher in tier."
[FUSE]
[1,260 TIER 3 CORE SHARDS FUSED SUCCESSFULLY]
"1,995 tier 3 core shards, not bad. When the new base is ready, I'm just going to lead the army from here. No need to put my life in danger until I'm strong enough. With my enemies able to teleport anywhere they want, it changes the risks im taking."
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The next day once the new base finished upgrading, Sam went to the new and improved base of operations room. Nothing much changed, other than the large rectangle holo table changed to a large round table now. He messed around a little bit with it and it felt like a mobile strategy defense game, but on a whole different level. He wasn't able to do that with the previous upgrade. It covered all the territories he has taken over, can assign the builder bots to work on any project he wanted. This was a pretty great improvement, even the chair turned into a huge floating throne.
"Omg! It feels like it's molding around my body and its so comfortable. No wonder that purple comic villain never got off his own floating seat." He said while letting himself feel relaxed for once, now all he needed was some snacks.
Getting back to a more serious mood, he once again brought up his tier 3 core shard count.
[2,234 TIER 3 CORE SHARDS COLLECTED]
"Nice, I wish I could just pause my campaign to farm the new dungeon, but that would just leave my enemies more time to prepare. My only edge, is the advanced weaponry. The arachno tanks, JLTV'S, strykers, and even the cargo trucks that serve to transport troops faster than any wagon they have. If this was a more modern civilization, I would have a way harder time. The fact that one gold tier 3 can block multiple energy mechs attacks is nuts. The problem with the mechs is that they are set at a certain power level, and never improve past that. Other than giving them guns, and weapons from my past life they will never get stronger." Sam thought to himself while making a worried face.
He just shrugged it off, if he ends up meeting a strong opponent like Zal-Urk, all he would have is numbers. Feeling even more anxious, he took a ride to the main base back in the forest. He could only hope the mark 3 gene mod procedure was ready, making his body more stronger would improve his confidence of not dying as easily. He hasn't been slacking his own training either, in this world. Increasing body muscle mass and improving one's health isn't enough to get themselves awakened. It takes drugs, and certain resources to breakthrough. He found it interesting when he looked through this body's memories on how they achieved this. All it takes is ingredients from strong beasts, rare herbs, and even poison. Turning it into Elixirs, and pills to help the body go through a certain level of stress, power up, or cleansing. They also have certain crystals, believe or not, that is packed with energy. They use these crystals to transfer said energy, through the pores of their bodies. Obviously the more money or status you have, the easier it is to come by these things. Which is why the majority of humanity is weak. Always the 1% hoarding all the resources.
He soon reached the lab and ran into the creepy lab bot from before.
"Oh machine monarch, I was just about to report that the gene mod is ready." Lab bot said.
"You know, I should name you Otto. You remind me of certain german scientist from my previous world and look like one of the coolest comic book villains." Sam remarked.
"I am extremely flattered for the name 'my master', and these other things you mentioned seem very curiously interesting." Said Otto, while showing an abnormally wide grin.
"Alright, you can stop that. I'm starting to believe you really are my past colleague. Just lead the way to the lab." Sam changed the subject immediately.
With Otto leading the way, they arrived shortly and started preparing the same process as last time. It was an incredibly brutal process, but if he wanted to feel more secure of his own mortality. Then he would have to keep enduring the pain. Unlike last time, he didn't pass out during the process. It did sap a lot of his energy, so he rested while being taken care of by Otto.
"Can you report on how the pill and elixir research is doing?" Asked Sam.
"Oh yes, we have examined the pill and elixir samples that you have provided, and you were right on not taking these worthless little pellets and poisons of death. We discovered high amounts of toxins and impurities that would kill you or if you survived, It would make the process of increasing your strength far more difficult." Otto said with a disgusted tone.
"That would explain why the denizens of this world have such a hard time increasing their strength, tell me more." Replied Sam.
"Through our numerous experiments, and studies. We took out the components that were useless and harmful, Isolated the ones that offered benefits. We later improved upon the process by adding other components that synergize far better. The final results were very satisfactory, we tested it with the goblins first, upon your request. Obviously their monster genetic make up helps them improve by leaps and bounds, but the pills and elixirs helped them regardless if they were human or not. A simple goblin evolved into a Class 3 in just an hour, and that was the first batch. Once we really perfected the product, we had to kill it, otherwise it was going to surpass a mark 3 mech in strength." Otto reported, as he handed a pill and a syringe to Sam.
Sam examined the two products, he could feel a certain energy coming off of them. A simple whiff of the pill made his silver core inside tremble. The pills that he handed to Otto before were ping pong ball sized, were rough and had a chalky texture to them. The one he held was as small as a tic tac, and transparent. The liquid inside the syringe was also clear, but had a light yellow tint to it.
"Elixirs are more effective when injected to the blood stream, which is why a lot of the elixirs these underdeveloped minded fools injest, don't feel most of its effects. The size of the pill may surprise you, but that really is how many impurities they held before." Otto explained.
"This is all very impressive work Otto, I am extremely surprised at the amount of effort you and the lab has put on this." Sam said, in truth he was way more blown away on how different the facility's act now. When he played the game before the facility's only did their programmed functions. Coming into this world, he noticed the features and systems had a lot more freedom. It made him think if they had the full knowledge of working on anything relating to their abilities, then he could in theory assign different tasks. So far the only restriction is how upgraded the base is. Before, when it was just mark 1, Otto didn't have as much intelligence to him. He seemed more monotone, but the more the base upgrades, the more personality he shows. Just now, he didn't ask him to explain any further but he did that on his own choice.
"Tell me Otto, has Zal-Urk used these yet?" Sam asked, hoping that Zal-Urk was finally strong enough to help him.
"Unfortunately, mister Zal has been practicing the same self improving methods this world uses. Because of his dragon bloodline, his lifespan is far greater then any human and his body has collected such an immense amount of corruption that its literally killing him. It's also due to his dragon bloodline, that it's countering the effects of such corruption. Once he went through the gene modification and we introduced him to the improved pills and elixirs, his body went through a significant amount of detoxification. He soon had to be put under watch, since he went through 'unpleasant' ways on purging toxins out of the body. It will take time for him to finally get rid of all the corruption, but he is feeling significant changes already." Otto reported.
"Let me know when he makes a full recovery, in the meantime, keep mass producing these products. Whatever resources you need, just notify Nostromo to send the mechs to collect." Sam ordered, he was thinking on a way to use these things to make his future empire far stronger. If he had an army of loyal mechs and people on his side, he can achieve his goals on a faster pace.
Once he was done recovering his energy, he made his way back into the base of operations room. He also took some pills and elixirs in a briefcase, since he was planning on improving his rank. Slowly injecting the syringe, then swallowing some pills made his body start feeling the effects almost immediately. He tried to use some breathing techniques to calm himself down. Unlike the gene mod which is more of a process that rebuilds the structure of your body to make it more efficient. Taking the pills and elixirs act more like a steroid for your cultivation. Soon he started feeling like needles were poking through every pore in his body, it was extremely uncomfortable. Pushing through the discomfort was slowly getting easier, all that energy seeped into his silver core. Silver pieces started to peel off from the surface of his core, revealing a golden luster underneath. A couple of hours have passed and he finally felt his core settle down.
"Fuck yeah, I feel like I just had an insane workout. Phew, let me just just... take a nap." Sam slowly closed his eyes, it would be another couple of hours until he would wake up.
After finally breaking through to gold rank, Sam adjusted to his new strength by doing more training. As well as managing his army and soon days turned to weeks. His forces were unstoppable, none of the county's armies were able to put much of a resistance. Four weeks have passed, and sixteen counties have been taken over by him. The kingdom has sent some reinforcements but overall, it's been getting easier to defeat the county militias. Some counties were just abandoned by the nobility, leaving to a nearby kingdom for refuge. Sam knew they were gathering their forces to defend the capital, but he knew they were planning to attack him eventually. He also discovered another dungeon, it was a small one. Only 2 floors deep, it was a resource that was vital to his progress so he didn't complain, he just placed another base over it. The guilds were becoming more of a problem, they on the other hand have been sending assasins constantly and other powerful mercenaries. They were quickly put down, and imprisoned. Even Christophers life and the other important people that are working for him have been targeted.
"Sir, I am detecting a large amount of activity at the borders of the new county we just took over." Nostromo reported.
"Let's see it, put it up on display." Sam said.
A large holo screen popped up from the point of view of a hanzo in a tree. He could see long columns of infantry soldiers, knights, cavalry, and wagons filled with supplies. He then turned to the holo table that displayed the marching army, it is estimated at more than 100,000 strong.
"It's no big deal, we've dealt with these kinds of numbers." Sam said.
He was going to mobilize his own troops to get ready. In these few weeks, the amount of mech troops rose higher than one million. Altough a good chunk was used as occupational troops, it was still far grander than this puny human army. He turned his attention back to the screen, out of nowhere, the hanzo mech was thrown to the floor by an unknown stranger. The view changed to the treetops of a small forest, a figure walked slowly towards the hanzo on the ground. He wore a leather cessnock hat and coat.
"Caught myself a little bird, tell me. Where are the rest of your friends little bird?" Asked the stranger, the hanzo tried to reach for his legs with its arm but had it kicked to the side. "Fine, have it your way my friend."
The last image was of the stranger boot stomping the head, and the transmission was cut off.
"Nostromo, ready the mechs. The enemy has come knocking at our door."