================================
Chapter 489: First In The Frontlines
================================
The call ended and Siva stood there, staring at an open space, Akhenaton silent behind him.
After a while, Siva heaved a long breath and then asked, “How’s the Asgard?”
“Crime Rate is 0.1%. There were two cases that a few people were bribed from the outside and had sold the location of the Asgard. I’ve detained them in the dungeon and they are undergoing a severe discipline training.”
While he listened, Siva started to walk and he also checked the number of occupied stable cubicles in the Monster Barn. Right now, there have been a total of 52 used cubicles and Cortana had now recorded the Asgard’s stats and updated his own Asgard Management Tool Bar on his Player Panel.
======================================
–––STATS
–––EQUIPMENT
–––ABILITIES
–––MAGIC-JUNCTION
–––(Non-System) SKILLS
–––PNF [LVL-7] TASK PALETTE
–––QUESTS and MISSIONS
–––AUXILIARY UNITS DATABASE
–––ASGARD ADMINISTRATION
>> Universal Territorial Energy Core (17%)
>> Water Supply Statistics (Congius): 152,917(+)
——–— Production Integrity (100%)
—–—— Distribution (100%)
——–— Potability (96%)
>> Total Upkeep: 4,274(+) / 5,028(+)
———–— Food Production: +899 (biannually)
———–— Military Upkeep: 3423(+) / 5,028(+)
———–— Civilian Upkeep: 851(+) / 5,028(+)
—–—— Grains Resource (28%)
—— Wheat (28%)
—— Corn (9%)
—— Oats (17%)
—— Rice (33%)
—— Others (13%)
———– Vegetable Resource (20%)
———– Fruit Resource (14%)
———– Meat Resource (17%)
———– Others (6%)
–——— Food Reserve Resource (15%)
>> Main Imports: Dry Food and Synthetic Supply
>> Main Exports: Military Equipment and Techs
——–— BlackTech Equipment
——–— Invention
—–—— Consumable Items
—–—— Monster / Dragon Resources
—–—— Contractible Monsters
–––[DOMAIN] MANAGEMENT
>> 20km Defensive Zone (99%)
>> Illusion Barrier (100%)
>> District Divisions
—–—— Production District
—–—— Military District
—–—— Resource Area
—–—— Market District
—–—— Castle Region
—–—— Training Field (Sword God District)
>> Location Chart
–––CHECK LIST
–––INVENTORY [LVL-7]
–––LOG OUT
======================================
For now, Food Production is still dependent on a lot of imported products —payment, or looted, or otherwise— and aside from their water resource which was created by the Hydrospheric Distillation Machine, their food, now, became one of Siva’s main problems.
“I need to increase the upkeep to meet up with an increase in population in this war.”
Preparing food takes time and preparing sooner than later when the actual war breaks out brings in more breathing room for Siva to focus on the war itself and fighting.
“For that sir, you need a bigger territory.” When it was mentioned, Akhenaton spoke with his own opinion based on his own experience. “Upgrading the upkeep will need more lands to be developed so that more food crops can be planted. Or you can employ short-cultivating food grains for faster yields but lower payoff. For other food resources, we can increase them by cultivating more plants.”
Siva considered the chime in and said, “I already got a plan for a new more challenging but a safer place to hopefully put the Asgard. But reclaiming the area around it for food production might take a lot more time…”
He was murmuring, staring intently at the panel in front of him and when he entered the cubicle that Little Blacky was staying at, he saw him sleeping like a lug, even moaning like a baby.
Siva then pulled up a large piece of Fire Dragon’s carcass from the half-recovered one that he didn’t get in the underground cave. When he did, the smell of the meat woke up all sleeping monsters and Little Blacky’s eyes shot up. He drooled over the sight of the gift his master had brought to him that he even wagged his tail like a dog.
“You like this?” he teased.
Little Blacky nodded, danced, and the message was transmitted directly through their link.
Siva then left the food in front of Little Blacky and the rest of the monsters in the Monster Barn all howled in envy, rattling their cubicle to escape as their Immortal ‘keeper’ glared at them until silence.
“Ahem. You all will have your share.” Siva spoke and he knew the monster understood him through the Beast Blood Pendant he was wearing.
The half carcass was still at least 3km large and although he had already used some part of it to create the «Fire Lord Set», there was still a large amount of the carcass remaining.
Normally, a resource like this one was already for the use of the elite group of an entire guild but it was all for Siva’s usage and there are still eight complete carcasses of these Fire Dragons still on his Inventory.
If it was the original Inventory Plus Ultra, all of the dragon carcasses would have rotted but since he had unlocked the Time-Space Cabinet, he can put a rule to a Mini Realm to stop its flow of time as to preserve any perishable goods he stored within it.
Not one of the 52 monsters in the barn was yet to show signs of evolving. After finishing his checks, Siva visited next the Production District.
“How’s the completion of the Dragon Tank?” Siva asked Akhenaton as soon as he saw the smoking large carcass of the Labrador True Dragon. Right now, it was swimming in the calculated regulated sea of Cryogenic Elements. It has only been just a few days but with the help of the Puppets and the workers he left back then, at least the neck, the chest, the body, and the fore limbs were already halfway through into integrating the new metallic parts he wanted to be installed on them.
“Based on the plan you wanted for these workers to accomplish, it’s only 11% complete.”
And by “workers”, Akhenaton actually meant these newly promoted Engineers from Jeremiah. Back then, he specifically went to Jeremiah to pick up a few people with specific skills for Asgard.
Though he managed to ‘pick up’ the people he’d wanted to pick up, he still can’t find someone who was deemed as a Master Smith.
—even when he asked Gaia.
The Master Smiths he was looking for definitely belonged to the Dwarven Race, but the skills and abilities of a real [Master Smith] have long since been extinct. Nowadays, even those few Dwarves with acceptable skills were “Inventors” who were using the PNF to create their masterpiece.
For what he wanted to them for, they aren’t gonna work… he needed someone with real skills in the Art of Smith-Crafting. Could it be I had to resort to re-inventing the Terran Art of Crafting myself?
Siva knew his limits and Smith-Crafting was just one of the least skills he had in his arsenal.
With 11% within just two weeks of work, Siva now believe that the Dragon Revitalization Project that he poured all resources into would be a weapon that can increase their chances of winning in this upcoming war for Terroa.
Since the project was on going and the monsters now had Fire Elemental Dragon to feed on, there was just the Universal Territorial Energy Core and the final form of the Mechromancer Project left in his list of agendas.
He teleported towards another workshop in the Production District and met with a team of young Engineers he got from Jeremiah.
These were the Engineers that left their day jobs in the Market District to their assistants and only ‘craft’ some jobs from time to time, with the rest of their attention focused on creating Siva’s [Energy Core] project using the rest of the Tesla Coils and other high-grade resources.
Unlike the Liberty Drones, this project was made up of multiple smaller parts —with each part being standalone Inventions that if assembled together with the rest of its pals, creates the Energy Core as a whole.
It was an ambitious project and just the resources used to create it according to Siva’s blueprint was already enough to buy him a brand new Warship.
“Status.” He prompted the team.
One of the young Engineers walked over and bid him a bow. He was an NPC. All of them, in fact, as Siva didn’t trust Players to keep their mouths shut if he give them PNFs and taught them that PNFs can also be upgraded by ‘eating’ more PNFs.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
These guys have been given five PNFs each and with the ‘Contract’ binding them as his people, he could secure these talented individuals and make them work for the Asgard with their loyalty intact.
“Boss Chief! You’re here! Hello! Yes. Yes. We are at least currently 17% closer to our goal with the last installment within the assembly. So far, we’ve completed the frame of the Energy Core and so what’s left for us to do now is just to integrate all the parts and make them work as a single unit. But the difficulty of the task isn’t simple. Your design is really ingenious! If this kind of technology could be released in public, it can change a lot of lives, and possible change the course and alter the path to our future! Oooohh… I can’t wait to see this in its final form… so you can rest assured, sire, that we will build this thing as soon as we can!”
Siva didn’t have to say a word to make them work faster than the schedule.
With their obvious zeal and addiction to the actual design of the Energy Core, he can be assured this team will do their best to complete it.
“Do you have a time frame?”
“If we forgo the personal requests in the Market District on our shops, then we can finish all of it in the next month.”
Siva thought for a moment.
Right now, there are 3,423 active Military Units in the entire Asgard, the rest are NPCs in reserve, tasked to keep the security of his territory as the arms and legs of Akhenaton who gives them their orders like a Superintendent.
Although he could give them their equipment that is superior and more high-grade than what these guys can give, it was still a fact that those could’ve been The Company’s selling items.
Thus, he can’t let them go offline like that to the members of the Asgard.
“No. Just continue on this pace. Don’t neglect the other Asgardians. At least, at this current pacing, you will complete the Energy Core Project within the next two months.”
“Your call, boss.”
Siva was satisfied with the report and updated his Check List.
======================================
–––STATS
–––EQUIPMENT
–––ABILITIES
–––MAGIC-JUNCTION
–––(Non-System) SKILLS
–––PNF [LVL-7] TASK PALETTE
–––QUESTS and MISSIONS
–––AUXILIARY UNITS DATABASE
–––ASGARD ADMINISTRATION
–––[DOMAIN] MANAGEMENT
–––CHECK LIST
1. Mechromancer Project
2. Dragon Revitalization Project (11%)
3. Universal Territorial Energy Core (17%)
4. [AI System] for BM-Puppet “Maxima”
5. Lift the curse
6. Go to Chronos
7. What is the Dead Man’s Chest?
8. What is the Skeleton Key?
9. Find material for Cortana’s Mana Receptor
10. Trample Dakar, HQ-base of The Union
11. Destroy the Bloody Church
–––INVENTORY [LVL-7]
–––LOG OUT
======================================
“I have so many things to do… and I completed not one of them so far…” Siva was aware that he was somehow piling more tasks after another instead of completing them one by one.
In fact, the addition of the tenth item on his check list is one of the biggest reasons why he thought so at this very moment.
Now that he had all things going smoothly, he turn to Akhenaton for the last task he had in mind.
“When is the 20km Defense Zone going to complete its set up?”
Akhenaton reported, “It is due to the next 6hrs.”
It might’ve been too long but the Island Fortress’ 20km Defense Zone was Asgard’s best defense.
It has an integrated Illusion Barrier which misleads all possible unwanted visitors, and the 20km zone also acts as buffer zone to both prepare Asgard to a defense and as well as hinder invaders by an invisible and automatic suppression effect.
The Illusion Barrier was easy but the Defense Zone uses a lot of Apus Epirus’ Energy Reserves.
And so, when he said that the defense zone will be completed within the next six hours, it actually meant that Apus Epirus will need an additional ten hours of resting before it could teleport again to another place.
He could only wait it out.
“Do not let your guard down. During this time, the defense and safety of the Asgard is the priority.”
“Yes sir.”
“Then I’ll leave it all to you. Continue to guard the citizens of the Asgard and as well as make sure that the capture of the monsters alive are met. We need to use this chance to awaken as many of them as fast and as soon as possible.”
A two kilometer-large Fire Dragon carcass just for food, as well as the flesh parts of a True Dragon, removed as part of the Revitalization Project, all these monsters really were lucky. To be treated like this for a meal of a lifetime was their fortune.
“I will, sir.”
“Alright.”
Right as he spoke, Siva vanished and teleported to the Throne Room. After he sat on the throne, he called for Gaia.
“Do you have the Mana Gathering Formation?”
Siva didn’t even say hi or hello at her and just went straight to the purpose of his call. This was a tyrant speaking.
Gaia answered with reluctance. After all, just one Mana Gathering Spell Formation is already a very valuable resource and yet Siva actually demanded five of them just for himself.
Just one of these ‘items’ was enough to support a Terran Settlement for eternity and yet he…
Gaia could only sigh and listen to him.
“Then please bring the Memory Crystal, the Mana Stones, and the Mana Gathering Spell Formations into the castle.”
The call ended and Siva waited as he laid his back on the soft cushion of the throne.
Siva wasn’t blind to the reluctance on Gaia’s tone but he didn’t have a choice. What if he can’t fix his curse even after all his time and efforts? If so, he then have no choice but to rely on outside source to use magic and the only method left for a magic-incapable person like him was Spell Formations.
To power a Spell Formation, either a Mana Stone or a Mana Crystal can be used.
One Mana Stone gives a half-life for a formation but its berserk Mana Density can trigger a better Spell Effect after consuming. To maintain the Tier Effect of the Spell Formation and answer the long standing issue of half-life for the Spell Formation, a Mana Crystal can be used to sustain it for a very long time. Of course, Mana Crystals have grades on them as well and the lower the grade the lower its capability to supply Mana to the Formation.
As such, for a better Spell Formation Effect, one will first use a Mana Stone to trigger a better Spell Effect, use a Top-Grade Mana Crystal as battery to power the Spell Formation, then use at least a Mana Gathering Spell Formation as the backup to ‘recharge’ the mana Crystal of its lost essence.
Mana Crystals are rarer than Stones and so some, according to Siva’s memory, directly uses a Mana Gathering Spell Formation to feed and maintain the high-grade-ness of a Mana Stone-triggered Spell Formation.
—these are all his general knowledge about Spell Formations from his past life.
Whether by luck or not, Siva received a Tier-7 or perhaps Tier-8 Barrier Spell Formation in the basement of the City Lord’s Mansion in Maria.
If he uses a Mana Stone to trigger it, he can even cast a Tier-9 Barrier Magic Spell and then link it to the Mana Gathering Spell Formation to maintain its high-grade effect.
With this setup, he can get a nigh-impenetrable shield to use during the incoming war against the Demon Armada, at least against the Pawn Leaders during their [Released] state, and in Terroa and not in outer space.
Stat-wise, Pawn Leaders / Commanders at least have 1000+ base stats for either strength and the speed stats.
Captain-level Commanders, a level higher than the Pawn Leaders, at least have 10,000 or so stat attributes on their main battle stats…
And for the Supreme Commanders… they have at least 20,000+ stats during their [Released] states.
Therefore, if the Terrans wanted to win against them in this war, they can only fight the Demons on their home turf —here in Terroa.
During the Demons’ [Released State], they only have ten minutes to accomplish their vow of killing the target of their release.
Supreme Commanders have ten minutes…
Captain-level Commanders at least have seven or maybe even less…
Pawn Leaders, five or less…
As for the Devil Gods, Mefisto and the rest, since Siva killed Baal and Invidia in Jeremiah, they can’t get to their peak within these nine months’ time.
Still, what makes him worried is that he doesn’t know where Eros was hiding.
His CC-ability was the most troubling. Paired with Sefirah’s Prided Sword, they can wreak havoc on the Terran Frontlines in a finger’s snap.
—No.
In fact, just Sefirah’s sword, Gyoolu’s tank body, Invidia’s copying ability, as well as Eros’ Crowd Control abilities… without as much as a single God on their side, it was actually impossible to win against this Devil Gods line up.
“Ah, shit. There’s also actually the Bloody Church to worry about as well. Damn it.”
The Blood Dragon God Church has two Supreme Commander-level Dragons with them, Balaam and Ajora, and they aren’t affected by the suppression of the Planet towards foreign entities. Their stats were definitely more than 20,000. That’s for sure.
And to make matters worse, the Church is almost everywhere and can go at any frontline city with close to no problems to sabotage the defense line of the Terrans.
Things are really difficult for the Terrans this time with almost, in fact, no chances of winning.
Siva closed his eyes, is this only my problem?
No.
This was the problem of the entire Terran Race!
But who would jump in the front lines and face all these threats if not him? Or at least, as far as he can tell, these guys won’t be first in the frontlines if there’s not one “hero” image that will lead their forces against the invasion. In the face of Demon threats, without their Gods, Terrans are nothing more than just prey to be fed on.
Wasn’t this the case back then, 56 years ago?
The Terrans fought their wars on their own turfs without any sense of unity, and only when Neth and the others stepped up to lead the resistance did they get their chance at winning the war. But by then, how many Terrans had already died for their pointless squabbles and finger pointing?
“Do I have to be the first to jump in for them?” he couldn’t help but think over this thought.
After all, the longer he delayed eradicating these problems in Terroa, the bigger the threat they become to Baron’s safety.
—not to mention that Metheus’ intel also said that the Bloody Church are aware that he was looking for a boy which was being hidden in Dakar.
“Okay. Setup priority: what’s more important right now is consolidating strength, upgrading systems, lifting my curse, and destroy the Bloody Church.”
—right.
——the war isn’t up for nine months… I still have time to destroy the Bloody Church.
———destroying them would eliminate internal threats to Terroa!
Asgard’s defense and overall strength was on the right track and he can always bring the people of Horbe into its scope of protection, in addition to the fact that the Vajras are an excellent increase in the Asgard’s Military Strength.
“Alright. So the Bloody Church it is.” He whistled the thought in his mind.
Just as Siva began to burn his blood in excitement to the prospect of exterminating the threat of the Bloody Church, the [Absolut Domain] picked up the signal of Gaia arriving while carrying a box.
“Just in time —wait! Is that———!!”
.
.
================================
Finally!!
================================
.
.
.
.
.
Next Chapter: Siva is going back in time?