They adjourned the meeting then and there, and they began to prepare for the battle to come. The city was in quite good shape, but there was always more fighting capability that could be added. It was because of this that Sam went on a journey around the city, inspecting all of the weaponry that was available there.
Starting at the city hall, he began with the superior mana cannon. The large cannon was the same as before, as it had not been upgraded. It was a long tube of metal,with a control pad at one end where Sam could see the amount of mana that was going into the cannon. It was still a devastating weapon, without a doubt, but it was definitely not the world shaking force that it had been before.
They had far more money than a measly 1.5 million credits now, and because of the way that power worked in the world of the System, everything was quickly outgrown, except for one’s own strength. Weapons, armor, and in some cases, companions could be outgrown, and because of the necessity of constant progression, there was no way to combat this, except by replacing the old with the new. It was a sad state of affairs, but it was the price of progression.
Sam patted the side of the weapon with his hand, and felt its cold surface. Hopefully they would get to test it out in the coming battle. Despite its relative weakness now, it would still be quite devastating against lower level foes. Sam was confident that, with all of his buffs active, including that of his armor, he would be able to survive at least a glancing blow from the cannon. However, he was not sure about a head on one.
The main problem with the cannon was its long recharge time, which was quite absurd in his opinion. It only made it useful once during a battle, or perhaps twice if that battle was especially long.
Leaving the mana cannon behind, Sam moved on. Some distance away, the Crystalline Devastator from the failed assault on the city stood. The weapon was an imposing sight, and the power orbs that were used to allow it to fire were nowhere in sight. Sam had ordered for them to be stored safely, in the case of more Legion infiltrators. There was always the possibility of an infiltrator at this time, and although they ran a tight ship, with the force field and the gates, it had been proven time and time again that people could still get through. Sam walked up to the hulking weapon, examining it, first with his sight, and then with his skill.
Crystalline Devastator
F-Rank Heavy Artillery
A devastator class siege weapon is one of the strongest weapons that can be acquired within F Rank. Forged through arcane rituals and connections to elemental powers, a devastator is more than just a mundane cannon. This particular one is attuned to the Earth elemental sub attunement of Crystal, allowing it to transmute raw mana into an intensely destructive shard of crystal once fired. Each firing takes 1,000,000 mana which must be fed into the weapon’s mana reducer. In addition, this weapon is especially powerful while attacking fortified structures.
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It was an immensely powerful weapon, but it was one that came at a high price to fire. Sam had employed a few of his captains to dig around on the Interweb for the ammunition, and had found that a single ball of condensed mana, at the caliber necessary to use for this weapon, cost upwards of a hundred million credits. He had no idea why it was so expensive, but as it was, they only had a single shot. Time would tell if it was worth it.
Sam left the cannon behind a moment later, heading towards a nearby training field. This was what he had been looking forward to, a chance to see the progress of his citizens in the flesh. The sound of fighting slowly started to drift towards him from the enclosed arena, and he quickly made his way towards the open archway that was the main point of entry of the building. A few of these buildings had been commissioned from the Metropolis Core, and they provided a small but significant boost to the training efficacy of those using them. It was too weak for Sam or his captains to use, but it did wonders for the weaker soldiers.
Sam entered the arena, and walked straight past the desk at the front, unsurprisingly unmolested by the guard sitting there. Everyone knew him at this point, and no part of the city was barred to him.
The interior of the arena was in a vaguely Grecian style, with large columns, and an open amphitheater style. People would rotate in and out of the seats, resting between bouts. On the floor of the arena, a pitched battle was occuring, with two units of about a hundred men and women having at it with each other, using training weapons. Even though the swords and axes that they were using were blunt, they still did a fair bit of damage, and nobody was using their full power. If they had been fighting at full output, serious injuries would ensue.
At the back of each unit, a small division of mages sent their spells rocketing into the enemy ranks, knocking people over and otherwise hindering them. Likewise, those mages were being attacked by the mages on the other sides, and weakened bolts of mana and elemental energy glanced off of diamond hard shields. The only things that were being used to full efficiency were the defensive abilities of those involved.
Sam quickly moved to the back of the arena and found a seat behind a pair of fighters who were lounging around, waiting for their turn to fight. They heard his entrance and looked around, with grins on their faces, obviously mistaking him for somebody else. When they saw his face however, they paled. Sam waved at them, with a smile on his own face, Shocked, none of them responded. He sighed, and crossed his arms, watching the fight instead.
Both of the sides were clad in their own colors, with the one on the right hand side of the arena wearing green. On the other side, their enemies were wearing red colored clothing, and of the two teams, it was them who were winning.Every time that someone landed an otherwise killing blow on an opponent, they would withdraw from the battle, and make their way to the stands.
At this point, about ten soldiers from each side had been defeated, meaning that they were everly matched, for now. However it seemed that the red side had stronger fighters, as they were slowly pressing the advantage. Their mages sent blasts of energy soaring higher and faster than those of the other side, and soon, they had whittled down the numbers of the green team by another few fighters. The melee fighters were no less effective, and over the next few minutes, Sam witnessed what looked to be an almost unmitigated rout.