Chapter 101: Chapter 100 – Preparations

Dream led Riddick over to the other extension of the storage.

It took him a while to tear his eyes away from the resources, but when he finally looked over, Riddick was rendered speechless once more.

In front of him were rows upon rows of robots. There were also large aircraft around them with their hatches open like they were going to swallow up the robots. 

"This is my army. 5,000 combat robots with C stats. They're capable of various magics similar to mine and they're equipped with my weapons. Some are more specialized for different purposes like defense or assassination, but that's only about 2,000. The rest are just the default soldier. This is what I was planning on sending to the third continent."

"...It really is an army. How have you made all these?"

"Like you normally would. Forging metal and enchanting. It took two weeks, but I've done it. Honestly the only thing limiting me was materials. I don't have an infinite amount. Otherwise I would've built several times this."

"...I guess your skill is about building. But this? This is crazy."

"Come on, you don't even know what they do yet. Here, try one out."

"Hm?"

When he said that, Dream activated a bot in the group. Its eyes lit up red and instantly dashed to Riddick.

It barely took a second for it to reach Riddick, but the Old Man wasn't at all slow. He easily reacted and grabbed the blade heading towards his neck. 

Though right after that blade came, five others did as well. They came from different angles and it wasn't something he could block with two hands. But he didn't need to. His shield came out and blocked them. 

*Ting!*

Dream soon saw a robot pointing all 6 swords at Riddick, but it couldn't move them any closer, rendering it useless against him. Though it's not like he was going to be disappointed about a robot not being able to hurt a class 3. 

"So?"

"This thing could take on a class 2 swordsman easily. It's fast and has more arms with more swords. And it's able to use them all flawlessly. Its defense isn't the best, but it's not bad either, though this thing wouldn't have to worry about that since it's fast. And this is only one..."

"One of 5,000. And I didn't use the gun either. This thing can fight ranged with unparalleled accuracy. All of them can. Not to mention their magics. Their versatility is the best. This is what I'm sending to go fight the demons. I'm also sending 50 special bots to go and help out the Mercenary Empire. Meet Bob 1-50."

"Bob?"

Riddick looked over and saw 50 robots come out of formation. They landed before them.

"They obviously don't look human, but they aren't as intimidating as the others. They're also stronger having C+ stats. They can talk as well. Say hi to Bob."

"...No."

""""Hello, Riddick."""""

All 50 Bobs spoke at the same time with a voice that sounded just like a human's. Riddick suddenly felt very unsettled. 

"Ya they don't sound the best like this, but if you were to just meet one out in public and disregarded the machine appearance, it wouldn't be any different than a person. And this is their leader, Bob 1."

"Sir."

The Bob at the front of the formation stepped out. This one looked and felt different from the others. 

"Bob 1 is a bit stronger than them and acts as the head. If there's any talking to be done with leadership, Bob 1 is the one who speaks. I know! How about you take them with you when you go over? They'll be an additional escort force."

"Take them with me? That's crazy."

"No it's not. They never get tired and can work all hours of the day, they can communicate flawlessly, and they're rather strong. I was sending them over to the front line of the Empire anyway, so when you arrive you can just have whatever commander give them orders and operations. Treat them like normal soldiers."

"...How can we trust that they can do things properly? They aren't even alive."

"Well one, they still have an intelligence programmed into them. Two, they're constantly monitored by Sophia. I'm sure you at least trust Sophia right?"

"She can monitor them from far away?"

"How do you think you're able to talk to the girls? Yes, she can. So? What do you think?"

"...One question."

"Shoot."

"Why don't you just get involved? You can come with me and fight instead of sending these out."

"...I don't plan to associate with the Spire."

"So? You'll come with me as a student. Though that might be hard to pass off since you're already so powerful, but it would work."

"What about attracting attention?"

"It's a problem, but not one that should stop you from getting out there. I know you've been running under the radar with us since you got here, but it's time to stop hiding. I mean, who's going to do anything to you? Your mana levels are approaching A, and despite not being class 3, you're easily as powerful as one. I can only imagine what's going to happen when you do reach class 3. But point is, you're not going to be easily targeted."

"What about my technology? Everyone's going to wonder about where it comes from and how I build it. The class 4's are also a possibility. If one craves the knowledge I have, then I'll be in trouble."

"I think you underestimate the integrity of our class 4's. Look, there's always going to be someone more powerful than you. But you can't let that deter you from gaining power yourself. Have you thought about if one takes a liking to you and maybe takes you as a student? Then you'd be set for life. But if you're just going to stay in here and build things then you'll never progress."

"I wasn't planning on staying in here all the time. I'm preparing. The demons are getting stronger, and I need gear that'll keep up. Plus you wanted me to go to the school. And I'm glad I did, but I must say that it's taken up a lot of my time."

"Then leave with me. You can go fight the demons. And if you really want, take this stuff with you. I'm sure you have a machine to do that."

"..."

Dream went quiet for a minute. 

He knew he wasn't totally prepared. He could build more devices, gather more materials, enhance his materials, and he still wanted his pet. But he knew that he had already sharpened his axe for a long time. He had his armor and even his new flux bullets. His body had also been optimized by Sophia even further, and he was beginning to reach a bottleneck. 

But gaining power would solve that issue. Though he was worried about someone stronger coming after him, he knew the chances weren't that high. He had plenty of ways that he could fight, and he also still had once contingency that should be able to get him out of that kind of situation.

The more he thought about it, the better fighting these demons sounded. As he imagined what it would be like, he even got a little excited. But he quickly calmed down and decided on what he would do.

"...Alright. I'll go. But there's one thing I want if I'm going to go."

"What's that?"

"Alchemy. I want the knowledge that the Spire has."

"I can do that. Anything else?"

"No. I'm sure my two friends will be disappointed, but oh well. You said we leave in five days?"

"Yes. I'll let the academy know you're leaving and that you'll be coming with me. I'll also get you on the escort list."

"Hmm, maybe you should tell your higher ups that I'll provide transportation for this escort. My ships can go as fast as me if not faster and we won't have to waste energy. It'll get us across Empires easily. Plus, I don't want to have to take as long as you guys would."

"You understand that we have our own items for transportation too right? Though they aren't as complicated as any of these ships, they're still fast."

"Can they fly without constant mana input?"

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"No. We need to input mana as we fly."

"Well mine can fly by themselves without help. That ship over there? It could get to the Empire in 2 hours by itself."

"...I'll bring it up to them. But you better make sure it works if they agree."

"I don't make defective products. This'll only impress them. You wanted me to get out there, so that's what I'm doing."

"Fine."

"Then it's settled. I'll send the bots out tonight and they'll begin gathering information. You go talk to them and get things figured out. I'll also be wrapping things up."

"Sure. Are you coming back with me?"

"No. I've got things to work on here."

"Then I'll leave. 5 days. I'll keep you updated."

"Thanks."

With that Riddick left back to the Spire. Dream stood in front of his mechanical army in thought for a bit.

"...Did I make the wrong choice?"

[I don't think so. You've grown your foundations, so it's time to start harvesting. And I've already begun working on how to make the factory mobile. Or at least a good way to transport things. Other than that, the only thing we haven't done is make some grade 8 mithril. Though we are getting pretty far with steel, which is proving to actually have more potential than silver.]

"Really?"

[Yes. At the same level, steel can hold a bit more mana and is stronger. It's just that the process to enhance steel is longer and harder. The best steel we have if using grades is grade 5. This grade 5 steel is almost at the level of grade 6 mithril, though it's less plentiful.]

"I see. Well, let's start prepping to move. I doubt we're going to be coming back here after we leave. And get these guys going."

[Ok.]

After he said that, the army of robots spurred to life and began boarding their ships. It wasn't long before they then took off to their destinations.

"I guess we're going to be doing this earlier than I thought. Hopefully things go well."

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

.........

.....

Over the next 5 days Dream just prepared to leave.

The first and only people he spoke to were Mara and Arrina. He explained how he was being taken by Riddick to the Mercenary Empire to go fight some battles. He didn't give himself any other excuses and just put the truth out there, hoping they would just accept it. Especially Mara. He was worried most about her and he hoped this explanation was good enough.

Other than that, he spent the rest of his time doing last minute things. The most important of which was figuring out how to move his resources. 

He definitely couldn't put all that metal into his inventory but he still wanted to have access to everything. So they decided to just bring the factory along. Though in a different way than one would normally imagine.

Dream decided to go over the top and make sure that he had access to the factory from anywhere in the world. And sure he could make it into a flying fortress, but that would be noticeable and the power required to maintain its flight was ridiculous. He honestly wasn't sure if he build it. So he decided on something else. A space station. 

If it were in space, Dream could get to it in as little as 40 minutes from anywhere in the world. All he had to do was fly into space and intercept its orbit. Not only that, but nobody would know it was there. The only problem was getting his resources up there, though even this was solvable. So on the third day, Dream was enacting his solution.

"We got everything?"

Dream spoke while overlooking a vast area. In front of him were nearly 20 rockets, all of which were primed and ready for launch.

These 20 rockets carried all of his resources as well as the machines. Not only that, but Dream and Sophia specially designed some robots and structures that would be used to construct the base up in space. 

If it were before when Dream launched that very first rocket, he would never have been able to pull something like this off. But Dream now has much more mana, better skills, and knowledge. So he was able to summon and construct everything necessary within three days.

[Everything is ready. On your mark.]

"Alright. Begin countdown."

[10. 9. 8...]

Sophia began the startup process. All 20 rockets began to ignite and fire their boosters.

[3. 2. 1. 0. Ignition.]

*BOOM!*

With a word, all 20 rockets went full power. A massive shockwave was released under all the millions of pounds of force being delivered by the boosters. 

Soon, the rockets were up in the sky. He could see 20 different trails of fire being created and disappearing into the void. In a matter of minutes, he could no longer see them.

"Good."

[Within the next day everything will be constructed and the base will be operational. All we need to do now is modify the transport ships.]

Dream nodded. The main downfall of this plan was that the transport ships used to carry resources needed to be upgraded to be able to get to space and back. Though they could do it, Dream would have to use the majority of his high-grade silver for the cores. It made him hurt, but it was a necessary cost.

Dream looked down at all the transport ships next to the launch site. He was going to do this now and then he would be ready. The mithril was even prepared beforehand.

So he did. Dream went down and began enchanting the cores. He also retrofitted the ships so they could handle space and such. 

In only a few hours, everything was complete. Dream sent them off and went through his list.

"Weapons, armor, resources, army, knowledge. All check. Well, I still need to get those books from the Old Man, but I'm not worried about that."

[Alchemy will be interesting. It may provide more insight into the nature of mana.]

"Maybe. Speaking of, how're you liking the master sequencing book?"

After Riddick gave his news to Dream, he let Sophia crack open the master level sequencing book. She was very excited when he did and began another round of thorough research. 

[It's great! They began to touch on 3-dimensional magic circles. Though the only upside to it is the ability to store more information and sequences. Though the real kicker is how they begin to realize the existence of flux.]

"Really? I'm surprised."

[Yea. But it's not in the way we discovered it. They discovered it by actually controlling it through powerful sequences. Basically, they were trying to come up with a way to combat enemy weapons. One way was to suck out its mana, but it would only regenerate it. So they began to dig deeper and concluded that if you had a strong enough circle, you could strip away the weapon's power to regenerate. In other words, it's flux. It took lots of mana and preparation, needing catalysts to pull off as well, but it was possible.]

"So they found a way to control flux. That's impressive."

[It is. But the power needed is at least A level mana for light effects. So the method was deemed unrealistic, especially in combat. But I think I found a way to use their method except over time. If things work out well, it could really improve our ability to enhance materials.]