Chapter 152: [152] : The Sector 1 Broadcast, Sponsored Heroes
The central keep of the Iron Bastion was a massive towering structure of dark iron and gothic architecture.
Declan walked down the wide polished stone hallways. His +10 Spiked Striders made zero noise thanks to his Frictionless Movement trait.
Morgan and Nova walked a few steps behind him.
"Before we just walk out into the wasteland," Nova said while pulling up her glowing blue interface. "You need to see what we are walking into."
"I am listening," Declan said without slowing down.
"Sector 1 is not like the other sectors," Nova explained. She swiped her hand to project a live video feed into the air right in front of Declan.
Declan kept walking as his dark eyes watched the floating screen.
The video wasn’t a shaky amateur recording from a terrified player. It was a high-definition professionally edited livestream. The production value was completely absurd for the middle of an apocalypse.
The screen showed a massive pristine white military base. There was no toxic mud. There was no dark bruised sky. The area was covered by a massive shimmering gold energy dome that kept the world completely clean.
"They built their own Sanctum," Declan noted smoothly.
"They bought it," Morgan corrected him. "Proud Sword Megacorp dumped trillions of real-world credits into the game before the convergence. They literally bought an entire sector’s worth of safety."
The camera panned down to the center of the base.
Standing on a raised metal platform was a player. He looked like he had just walked out of a superhero movie.
He had perfectly styled glowing blonde hair. He wore a suit of completely flawless bright gold cybernetic armor. The metal gleamed under the artificial lights.
He wasn’t holding a rusty sword or a basic plasma rifle. He held a massive glowing white energy cannon that looked like a piece of naval artillery shrunk down for a human.
A bright golden system tag hovered aggressively over his head.
[Name: Cipher]
[Level: 75]
[Class: Plasma Vanguard]
[Guild: Proud Sword Megacorp]
"What is up, global server!" Cipher yelled into the camera. He flashed a million-dollar smile. "It’s your boy, Cipher, coming to you live from Sector 1!"
Declan let out a heavy tired sigh. "He talks like a streamer. I hate streamers."
"He is their top sponsored asset," Nova stated flatly. "Proud Sword pays him to show off their premium cash-shop gear and keep morale up for the corporate elites."
On the screen, Cipher slapped the side of his massive energy cannon.
"Today is the big day, chat!" Cipher hyped up the invisible audience. "The Great Convergence dropped the borders! The Blacksite Vaults are completely exposed!"
Cipher turned and pointed to a massive fleet of sleek white corporate AVs hovering behind him. Hundreds of heavily armed matching guards were loading into the transports.
"Proud Sword is deploying the Alpha Fleet!" Cipher announced proudly. "We are heading straight for the Aero Wing of Blacksite Vault 04! We are going to secure the Emperor-grade payloads and show those dirty Abyssal monsters how Sector 1 plays the game!"
The livestream chat on the side of the video feed was moving so fast it looked like a white blur. Millions of players were cheering him on.
Declan stopped walking.
He stared at the smug smiling face of the corporate celebrity.
He stared at the massive army of pay-to-win mercenaries loading into expensive flying transports.
"They are going to my vault," Declan said quietly. His voice carried a heavy terrifying Abyssal resonance that made the hallway vibrate.
"They have a massive head start," Morgan pointed out. She crossed her arms. "They have aerial transports. They are bypassing the ruined highways entirely. By the time we walk five hundred miles, Cipher will already have the loot."
"I don’t walk," Declan replied coldly.
He swiped his hand through the video feed and instantly deleted the hologram.
He didn’t care if Cipher was Level 75. He didn’t care if the guy had a million viewers and a corporate army backing him up.
Nobody stole from the Warlord.
"System," Declan commanded in his mind. "Open the Global Auction House."
The golden interface popped up in front of his face.
He didn’t filter by weapons. He didn’t look at armor or spell books. He navigated straight to the heavy machinery tab.
"You need a vehicle?" Nova asked as she watched him tap the screen. "Normal cars don’t work outside the dome. The game engine physically rejects combustion engines now."
"I am not buying a normal car," Declan smiled.
He scrolled past the cheap motorcycles and the busted delivery trucks. He scrolled until he hit the absolute bottom of the list. The items nobody could afford.
He found exactly what he wanted.
[Item: Decommissioned Corporate APC]
↳ Tier: Forged
↳ Description: A heavy armored personnel carrier. Engine block completely ruined. Armor plating severely dented. Useful only for scrap metal.
↳ Buyout Price: 50,000 Origin Points.
It was a total piece of garbage. A normal player wouldn’t even look at it.
Declan tapped the buyout button instantly.
[Item Purchased. Origin Points: -50,000]
He didn’t materialize the massive vehicle in the hallway. It would crush the floor.
He just kept walking and led Morgan and Nova down to the ground level of the keep. They stepped out into the massive busy courtyard of the Iron Bastion.
Declan walked right past the refugees. He walked past Bram’s roaring purple forges. He headed straight for an empty flat section of black stone paving near the main gates.
He stopped and raised his right hand.
The air distorted violently. A massive heavy object dropped out of his digital storage and slammed into the pavement.
CRASH!
It was an absolute wreck.
The APC was huge and easily the size of a city bus. But it was covered in rust. The thick metal treads were snapped. The heavy iron armor was full of holes. The engine block was smoking and leaking black oil onto the clean stone.
Morgan stared at it. She looked at Declan. "You bought a dumpster."
"I bought a canvas," Declan corrected her.
He didn’t waste time. He had a sponsored celebrity to catch.
"System," Declan ordered with his pitch-black eyes locking onto the ruined vehicle. "Apply Boundless Enhancement. Target: Corporate APC. Push it to plus thirty. Burn the points."
The system interface turned a glaring panicked red!
[System Enhancement Initiated. Calculating cost...]
[Warning: Target mass exceeds standard enhancement limits.]
[Warning: Item integrity failing. Catastrophic detonation imminent.]
↳ Cost for +1 to +30: 5,000,000 Origin Points.
Five million points!
It was an absurd price tag. It was the cost of outfitting an entire guild.
Declan didn’t even blink. "Take it."
The five million points vanished from his treasury.
Instantly, a blinding violent white light erupted from the ruined APC. The light was so intense it completely blinded Morgan and Nova. They threw their arms up and backed away.
The system chimes hammered rapidly inside Declan’s head. It was screaming about safety thresholds and hardware limits.
His SSS-Rank talent completely bulldozed the warnings. The red error boxes shattered into digital dust.
[Talent: Boundless Enhancement activated. Cap removed.]
[APC +10... +20... +30.]
[Triggering Ultimate Conceptual Mutation...]
The white light violently shifted. It didn’t turn purple. It turned entirely pitch black!
A massive wave of raw gravity-defying energy exploded outward from the vehicle. It pushed the surrounding players back and forced them to shield their faces from the heavy wind.
The physical shape of the vehicle warped and stretched.
The rusted iron melted away and was replaced instantly by dense perfectly smooth dark matter alloy. The broken treads vanished and were replaced by four massive glowing blue anti-gravity thrusters.
The bulky ugly frame smoothed out into a sleek predatory shape that looked like a stealth bomber mixed with a main battle tank.
Mounted on the top of the chassis was a heavy twin-barreled plasma cannon that hummed with terrifying kinetic energy.
The light faded.
Declan looked at the massive physics-breaking machine resting silently on his courtyard floor.
[Item Mutated: Abyssal Behemoth Rover +30]
↳ Tier: Sovereign (Vehicle)
↳ Stats: +50,000 Armor Integrity. Top Speed: Mach 1.
↳ Trait Unlocked: Void Glider.
↳ Functionality: This vehicle ignores all terrain friction and environmental hazards. Automatically deletes any hostile entity under Level 40 upon impact.
Declan read the text. A dark and highly satisfied smile spread across his face.
He looked over his shoulder at Morgan and Nova. The elite assassin and the top-tier hacker were just staring at the hovering tank with their jaws hanging open.
"Get in," Declan ordered smoothly. "We have a livestream to crash."
