Chapter 100: Chapter 99 – Army

The next day, Mara and Arrina went on with their schedule.

Dream on the other hand was focusing on his next project. Or, projects.

[Other than getting a pet, we'll do some tests with flux and see if we can build new weapons. We should also build some combat robots and see if we can use those.]

"Alright. Let's test this flux bullet concept first."

Dream brought over some mithril and steel and put them on the table in front of him. He was currently in the storage area of the factory. Bots were constantly flying around enhancing the stacks of materials and explosions could be constantly heard. 

Sophia's design for the gun wasn't actually a gun. She planned for this weapon to be integrated with Aegis. Though they first needed to test whether this would work. 

Sophia had run several simulations in the past so she already knew how she would design this weapon. She took clumps of silver and encased them in steel like a cartridge. She then took this cartridge and put a steel bullet in it.

[Alright. This will be similar to gunpowder bullets except we have metal for the gunpowder. Now let's test it.]

Dream raised the bullet in his hand and infused mana, exploding the mithril 'gunpowder'.

*Boom!*

"...What happened?"

Dream looked ahead, not seeing any bullet holes. Did it not work?

[I think the propellant was too powerful. It shattered both the cartridge and the bullet.]

"Oh."

Dream looked at the cartridge in his hand which was now in tiny pieces. Though he wasn't at all disappointed. 

"Well, we at least know it's powerful. But how powerful?"

[It's definitely more powerful than the railgun. The 'gunpowder' was made with grade 5 mithril, which we have plenty of. I'm interested to see how it would do with grade 6.]

"But we don't have a lot of grade 6. Not to mention how we need better materials to act as the cartridge."

[That won't be a problem. We have Aegis who's made entirely from grade 7 mithril. So we can use whatever. The biggest problem is the actual bullet. We'll need to enchant it and it'll also need to be at least grade 5.]

"How much grade 5 do we have?"

[About 9 tons.]

"Oh, then we're fine. How long will it take to make?"

[Well, all we need to do is shape the propellant and bullet. Then we'll enchant the bullet, reinforcing it. Then we fill the propellant to the brim with mana and enchant it so it doesn't dissipate. This'll make it so that we can fire the bullet immediately after taking out. This will give us one bullet. It shouldn't take too long, especially with Aegis. I say we can have a stash of 200 thousand bullets by tomorrow.]

"Nice."

[I'll get the bots on it. Until then, let's test our robotics.]

Sophia brought over some steel and mithril, building a human-shaped robot. Its design was sleek and didn't have any moving parts, being run entirely off of mana. Aegis assisted in enchanting the core and once it was inserted, the robot came to life.

Well, to life might be an overstatement. It just stood there awaiting orders like a robot would. Interesting thing was, after power began to run through its magic circuits, Dream felt a small connection through mana being made. 

"Cool robot. Now...why do we need it?"

[So it can fight. Not necessarily for you, but if you're able to gain experience through it, then we can send squads of these things to go and hunt. They'll be able to constantly fight day and night and you'll just rake in experience.]

"But it's weak. It won't be able to kill anything near what I can."

Dream went over to the robot and punched it, easily blowing a hole straight through its chest. 

[...I see.]

"Well, even if it couldn't help me with experience, it can help me with information. Why don't we send some squads over to the demons and gather information? We could also assist people on the frontlines of the Mercenary Empire."

[Wouldn't they be suspicious of some metal humans coming to help them?]

"Well these metal humans aren't enemies, and it's not like they can trace it back to me. I mean we don't have to assist them, but why not save some lives while we're out there gathering data."

[Alright. How many do you want to send?]

"How many can we send?"

[We have an overabundance of steel, but not of mithril. So it depends on how strong you want them to be.]

"Or how I want them to be designed. We can make them agility based and equip them with railguns and blades. Don't need a strong defense if they can't touch you. Not that the steel is weak. And the weapons will allow them to kill the majority of mid-class 2 and below. And then we can make their cores out of mithril. It'll save us a lot."

[Perfect. How's this?]

Sophia pulled up a schematic. It was another human-shaped robot, but this one has two extra pairs of arms on its back. It was equipped with 4 railguns and 6 blades. It would be in its human form while shooting, but if it ever got into close combat, it would stash the railguns and transform into a wild killing machine. 

Its alternate form even scared Dream a little. It was intimidating and he wondered if he would be creating the demons instead. But that's exactly what Sophia was going for. She wanted this robot to be an efficient killer with increased functionality.

[I call it the Reaper Mk.1. It has two forms and can fight both ranged and melee. It'll have C- stats. Along with our weapons, it's the best mobility-based robot that can be mass-produced.]

"...It's good. Let me see it."

[Alright.]

Sophia nodded and began modifying the existing robot in front of them. Soon, it was built just like the schematic, guns, blades, and everything. 

The robot stood in front of him with its six arms, each holding a blade or railgun. 

"Very nice. How many of these can we build?"

[Thousands.]

"Let's build 3,000 then. We'll also build the ships to transport them. Although they can fly, they aren't fast."

[That's no problem, but we'll need to expand the factory to house everything.]

"Then let's do that."

[Very well. Aegis.]

"I understand, my lady."

After receiving instructions, Aegis moved. He went over to a wall and began digging into the earth. 

Dream also went over and assisted. It wasn't long before another area was cleaned out. This area by itself was the size of half the factory. Needless to say it provided them with plenty of space. 

After sealing the area and walling it up, Dream stood inside the vast metal room. It was easily as big as three stadiums and it went deep into the ground, making the ceiling very high. 

After constructing the room Sophia handed out more schematics. She wanted to build an assembly line that utilized bots. Dream understood and began bringing over tons of materials. 

After building a central core to power everything, he and Aegis began constructing the bots. These bots were designed with construction in mind and had multiple arms as well as lots of strength. They would bring the materials over which would be handled by a group, and there could be many different groups building at the same time. 

So after several hours, they had nearly 200 robots. And once they were built, they got to work.

[A few will work on the bullets while the rest will build the robots. We should have our army in the next 20 hours.]

As she spoke, Dream could see the groups split up and steel being worked. The building process was slower than him, but they could constantly work and on a larger scale. Everything was also completely controlled by Sophia. 

"Great. I guess it's time for me to head back."

Seeing everything getting to work, Dream left the factory and flew back to the Spire. It had come time for him to return.

.................

...........

......

Over the next two weeks, Dream focused on construction as well as research.

The robot army ended up taking more time to build since they needed more than just robots. Everything needed to be sustainable while away since he wouldn't be with the army. All in all, the army consisted of the robots, their weapons, supplies, a logistics force that was capable of repairing, recycling materials, as well as mining for new ones, and transportation. Dream also boosted the robot count to 5,000.

After that, he began planning out their battlefronts. 

He definitely wasn't planning on sending them all to the Empire. In fact, he was only going to send 50. These bots were built to be much less intimidating than the reapers and could interact with people better. Though they wouldn't be able to pass for a person since they were still steel androids, the people who interacted with them wouldn't be so freaked out. They would also mainly use swords and spears instead of guns as to attract less attention.

The rest of the army would be sent to the third continent. There they would run operations against demons to not only gather knowledge but cut down on their numbers. Though 5 thousand fighters didn't seem like much when going up against possibly millions, these five thousand would be virtually invincible against anything at or below their level. They could do some serious damage. Not to mention how they would work together flawlessly as well as use their weapons to the highest efficiency. 

But although Dream had finished with construction, he didn't send them out immediately. That was because he received a call from Riddick.

Dream picked up the call while in his healing class.

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"Hello."

"Boy, it's me. I have two things."

"Go ahead."

"First, I've contacted Selene. The girls were able to get the bracelet to her."

"That's great! So? How was it talking to her?"

"...Fantastic. Boy, I really can't thank you enough. I mean it."

"It's nothing. So what was your second piece of news?"

Dream changed the subject. He was often awkward getting such a heartfelt thanks. 

"I'm being sent over. I got the notice a few hours ago."

"To the Mercenary Empire?"

"Yes. Apparently there's been multiple class 3's spotted by scout teams in the vanguard forces."

"...That's not good. That means that there's definitely a class 4 in their main base."

"The higher-ups were thinking the same thing. Though that may not have been enough to act. What really got this going was the data you gave me. Since it was so detailed, not only this Empire, but the other Empires have received and taken it seriously. They're recognizing this threat and are getting ready to do something about it before it grows."

"Like launch an attack?"

"Yes. They want to set up containment and establish hard information about this. The Spire is even sending out a class 4. And I'm going to be one of the escorts."

"Wow. They really are taking it seriously."

"Indeed. Not only that, but they've specially requested me to try and attain more information, however I got it. They don't know it came from you."

"Huh, well that's some damn good timing. I've recently constructed a small army and was going to send them out to the continent. They were going to be giving me detailed information on these demons."

"An army? Of what?"

"Robots. Actually, if you want I could show you. You'd have to make sure to keep it a secret though."

"I can keep secrets."

"Then do you have time?"

"I do. We don't leave for another 5 days. I can go over now."

"Then I'll leave my class. I'll meet you at the gate."

"Very well."

With that, they hung up. Dream spoke to Merlin and told him that he was leaving. 

After hearing that Riddick was asking for him, Merlin didn't keep him and let him go. Dream left the hospital and headed to their meeting point.

"Old Man."

"Boy."

They greeted each other at the gate and went through. After exiting the city, they rose to the skies.

"How fast can you fly, Old Man?"

"Not sure. I don't know how you measure speed."

"Then let's just race. The location will be marked on your bracelet."

"Hm? Oh."

Dream sent the information to Riddick, who soon saw a blip in his vision.

"Ready?"

"Alright."

"Let's go."

With that, both men blasted off through the air.

.............

"I win."

Dream spoke as he stopped above the factory. A few minutes later, Riddick also arrived. He didn't have the happiest face after seeing Dream's smug look.

"...How are you so damn fast, boy? And what's that thing you're wearing?"

When they started, Riddick was actually faster than him. But when Dream put on Aegis, that changed instantly.

"Old Man, meet Aegis. He's my armor."

When he said that, Aegis flowed off his body like a liquid and formed into a humanoid. He bowed to Riddick courteously and spoke with his deep and rough voice like a knight.

"Good day, Sir Riddick."

"...Good day. Is...he alive?"

"No. He's my armor. Though he isn't a living thing, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference just by talking to him."

"I see. Your armor is very powerful. I'm amazed that you were able to give it such a large mana pool."

Riddick looked at Aegis and could sense the mana levels that were higher than Dream's. 

"I used liquid mana and integrated it with his cells. I wouldn't be able to make another one."

"...I'm not going to ask how you got liquid mana. Anyway, you wanted to show me your army?"

"Yes. Check this out."

*Snap*

With a flick, the ground below them began to shift. A large metal mouth opened from under the ground like a huge monster.

"What...is that?"

"It's my factory. Follow me."

Dream descended with Aegis in tow. Riddick also followed while looking around curiously. 

When they got in, Riddick was greeted with a huge area and lots of machines. Loud noises were constantly made as steel and other metals were forged. Robots also ran around every which way doing various tasks like pouring molten metal and shaping red hot steel.

"What is all this?"

"My factory. A few weeks ago I began making mining machines that I could send out to gather resources. These are the machines of my world that are used to purify the metals and strengthen them."

"Amazing..."

"Don't get too impressed. Come with me."

Dream walked through and soon got to the storage area.

"...How?"

As Riddick looked at all the pallets of steel and mithril that towered nearly 100 meters high, he became speechless. 

"I've got a few hundred tons of steel, otherwise known as Iron, and a few dozen tons of mithril, otherwise known as silver. This is what the mining teams that I sent out have brought back."

"You could be considered richer than me with these materials. And that...is that grade 7 mithril?"

Riddick walked over to a pallet and picked up an ingot.

"It is. Though that's the highest I've been able to get. For now at least. But nevermind that. Come look at this. This is what I wanted to show you."