Sam walked over to the glowing orb and laid his hands on it, opening the interface. Navigating to the Icon as quickly as he could, Sam took a deep breath and bought it, wincing a little at the ten million credit cost. The ground outside started to rumble, and Sam rushed outside as quickly as he could, eager to see what his money had bought.
When he exited, his smile faltered. A titanic, angelic figure was coming into being above the city, floating on pinions of light. It was high up enough to not interfere with the workings of the city, but close enough that every feature was painfully obvious. Especially the fact that it had Sam’s face. It was dressed in shining plate armor, and in one hand it held a hammer, and in the other a pair of scales. Sam knew what it was getting at, and he did not like it. It was setting him up as some avatar of justice. Then a wave of warm energy washed over him, and Sam stopped thinking about the negative aspects of his purchase.
You are now under the effect of a G Rank Icon.
+5 percent to all stats while defending your city
Despite all of the statue’s flaws, the boost was more than worth it. It effectively gave Sam over fifty extra stat points across his stats, and it applied to everyone in the city as well. Unfortunately, the Icon was ranked, meaning that they would be stuck at this output until the faction reached F Rank.
Sam went back inside, wondering what to buy next. The city already had a plethora of ranger weapons, and there was no need for more. In addition, there was no way to upgrade the weapons past what they were already at, seeing as the Metropolis core was bottlenecked at the strength of the faction. Although Sam and his closest allies were at F Rank, that on its own was not enough to increase the power of the faction as a whole to the next rank.
It was quite strange, seeing as Sam on his own could have wiped out every one of his lesser citizens without breaking a sweat, but such were the vagaries of the System. Sam walked down the carpeted floor of the city hall, keeping his pace to that of a normal human so that he had ample time to think. Most of the potential constructions that he could create were completely useless to them, with the city shield providing most of the effective defenses of the city. Sam barely remembered most of the available options, but he knew that only the things in the defenses sector of the interface would be remotely useful. Sighing, he opened it up as soon as he reached the core.
Defence
Basic Trap:Spike, Pitfall or Deadfall:50 Credits
Turret:Arrow:2500 Credits
Turret:Gun:2500 Credits
Turret:Aura:2500 Credits
Turret:Healing:2500 Credits
Mana Cannon:10,000 Credits
G Rank Concrete Walls:250,000 Credits per mile
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
G Rank Steel Walls:500,000 Credits per mile
Superior Mana Cannon:1,000,000 Credits
Anti Air Defense Array:1,500,000 Credits
Everything up to the point on the list was the same, but now that Sam had more money, it was time to look into the previously unreachable purchases.
Defence
Short Range Missile System:5,000,000 Credits
Lesser Automaton Barracks:7,500,000 Credits
Long Range Missile System:10,000,000 Credits
ICBM System:25,000,000 Credits
Automaton Barracks:35,000,000 Credits
Nullification Field:50,000,000 Credits
Potency Field:50,000,000 Credits
All of the stuff past that was far too expensive for Sam to justify, even if he could potentially buy a few of them. All of the options were quite enticing, but the last two piqued his interest. The rest of them were quite self-evident, and Sam was especially excited to see what an ICBM system could do, but nothing about the names of the two fields told him much about them. He opened up the description of the Nullification Field first.
Nullification Field
An energy field that extends over a circle with a diameter of 100 miles. Within that space, all hostile entities to the owner of the field suffer a 25% decrease to all stats. This only applies to entities at F Rank or under.
It looked promising, but before Sam made any decisions, he opened the other one.
Potency Field
An energy field that extends over a circle with a diameter of 100 miles. Within that space, all friendly entities to the owner of the field gain a 25% increase to all stats. This only applies to entities at F Rank or under.
It was the same thing, except inverted. Sam saw why they cost so much more than the icon now, as they both gave more powerful effects than it, although in a single area. Sam had more than enough money to purchase both of them, but for such an expensive purchase, he wanted to confer with the others first. Sam was sure that they would agree with his decision upon seeing the benefits of the fields, but he wanted to make sure first.
Sam closed the interface and made his way back up the stairs and towards the top of the building, The others were waiting in the war room, talking in low tones about possible attack plans. Sam cleared his throat as he entered, and they all looked up from a diagram that they were poring over. Sam only got a quick glance at it, but what he saw looked like a map of troop movements in the eventuality of attack.
“I have some potential purchases that I would like to run through with you all,” Sam said. “They both cost quite a lot, but their effects are quite powerful as well.”
“What are they?” George asked.
“One of them increases our power by a decent amount, while the other does the opposite to our enemies. Combined, it should increase our combat potential by around 50 percent. I thought that I might help even the odds a bit against the vastly more powerful opponents that we will be facing.” Sam knew that it wouldn't make much of a difference against Hugo Mar, but that was a problem that he would deal with when it came to it.
“Those sound like great purchases. We aren't using the money for anything else anyway, so you might as well buy them. How much will be left afterwards?” Eduardo said.
“Around a hundred million credits. Why?”
“Oh, that’s plenty. I just want to make sure that this little endeavor of ours does not bankrupt us.”
Sam nodded and ran back down the stairs towards the Metropolis Core. He knew that he was being used as the guinea pig for this because there would be no consequences if he messed up with his selection. Unlike if one of his captains chose the wrong item to purchase from the Core, Sam did not answer to anybody else. The other possibility was that he was getting a bit cynical from his life under the System. In fact, that option was a bit more likely, seeing as his captains were all some of the best people that he had met. Banishing thoughts of this nature from his mind, Sam reached the Core, and purchased the two fields without any more delaying.