Chapter 168: [168] : Mutating the War Factory, The Mechanized Legion
Sloane jogged over to the back of the warehouse. Nova followed right behind her, looking at the massive piece of machinery with intense interest.
"An automated assembly line," Nova noted, crossing her arms. "That is incredibly rare. Titan Heavy Industries must have spent billions of real-world credits to get this dropped into their sector."
"Can Bram run it?" Declan asked Sloane.
"He is only Level 30," Sloane frowned, checking her digital clipboard. "The prompt says it requires a Level 50 Artificer. He won’t have the system authority to turn it on."
"He will when I am done with it," Declan smiled.
He didn’t try to pick the massive machine up. He couldn’t put a facility core into his regular inventory without unbinding it from the floor, which usually broke the item entirely.
He just walked right up to the glowing orange core in the center of the assembly line and placed both hands flat against the cold metal casing.
"System," Declan commanded in his mind. "Target: Automated Heavy Assembly Line. Apply Boundless Enhancement. Push it to plus twenty. Burn the Origin Points."
He had over eighty million Origin Points sitting in his treasury. He had entirely bankrupted Sector 9 and wiped out a server event. He didn’t care about the budget.
The system interface turned a glaring, panicked red.
[System Enhancement Initiated. Calculating cost...]
[Warning: Target is a Facility Core. Facility Cores cannot be enhanced past +5 without catastrophic base deletion.]
[Cost for +1 to +20: 15,000,000 Origin Points.]
Fifteen million points. It was an absolutely sickening amount of currency.
"Take it," Declan ordered instantly.
Fifteen million points vanished from his bank.
The reaction was violently immediate. A blinding, searing white light erupted from the heavy machine. The light was so intense it completely drowned out the dark warehouse, forcing Sloane and Nova to cover their eyes.
The system chimes hammered rapidly inside Declan’s head. They screamed like a failing heart monitor.
[CRITICAL ERROR!]
[Facility density exceeding spatial limits!]
[Immediate core shatter imminent! Severe area-of-effect explosion guaranteed!]
Declan gritted his teeth. The headache hit him like a physical blow. The game engine was actively fighting him, trying to delete the massive factory before it broke the server’s parameters.
"Override," Declan growled.
His SSS-Rank talent did not care about the game’s safety warnings. It surged forward like a digital bulldozer and crushed the red error boxes into blue dust.
[Talent: Boundless Enhancement activated. Cap removed.]
[Assembly Line +10... +15... +20.]
[Triggering Conceptual Mutation...]
The white light violently shifted. It didn’t turn purple. It turned a deep, consuming pitch-black.
The physical shape of the massive factory warped and stretched. The heavy steel plating melted away, replaced entirely by sleek, dark matter alloy. The robotic arms lengthened, turning into sharp, precise obsidian claws.
The dull orange core in the center turned into a swirling vortex of deep purple energy. It looked like a miniature black hole powering an industrial engine.
The light faded.
Declan lowered his arms and let out a long breath. He looked at the new text floating above the terrifying piece of machinery.
[Item Mutated: Sovereign Abyssal Forge +20]
↳ Tier: Divine Anomaly (Facility Core)
↳ Description: A physics-breaking automated factory.
↳ Functionality: Level requirements nullified. Production speed increased by 5,000%. Converts raw materials into Level 60 Abyssal Scavenger Drones. Drones possess a hive-mind link to the facility owner.
Declan read the text twice. A slow, highly satisfied smile spread across his face.
"Fifty times production speed," Declan whispered. "And it spits out Level 60 elites."
Nova stared at the dark matter forge. Her icy blue eyes were wide with pure disbelief. "You just bypassed a facility tier cap. That thing shouldn’t even exist in the game’s code."
"It does now," Declan said.
He didn’t waste time admiring it. He tapped his Mythic ring and activated the Spatial Anchor. He highlighted the massive factory.
Because the +20 mutation had rewritten its core rules, he was able to store the facility directly into his inventory without breaking it. The massive machine vanished into a swirl of blue pixels.
"Alright," Declan said, turning around and walking back toward the entrance. "We have what we came for. Let’s head home. I want to plug this thing in."
They walked out of the empty depot. Morgan was waiting by the Rover, casually tossing her combat knife in the air.
"Area is clear," the assassin reported. "A few low-level mobs sniffed around, but they ran off when they saw the tank."
"Good," Declan said. He climbed into the driver’s seat.
They blasted back across the ruined wastelands of Sector 6, easily crossing the border and returning to the glowing purple dome of the Iron Bastion.
When they arrived in the central courtyard, the city was fully awake. Thousands of players were already seated or busy sorting through the massive piles of loot from the previous night.
Declan didn’t stop to chat. He drove the Rover right up to the crafting zone and parked next to Bram.
The Level 30 Master Artificer wiped grease off his face and looked at the Warlord. "You went shopping, Boss?"
"I brought you a new toy," Declan said.
He hopped out of the tank and walked to an empty patch of reinforced black stone pavement. He raised his hand.
The air distorted violently. The massive, pitch-black Sovereign Abyssal Forge dropped onto the ground with a heavy, earth-shaking crash.
The dark purple core hummed with terrifying energy.
Bram dropped his heavy wrench. The old NPC stared at the machine, his jaw completely slack. "By the code... what is that?"
"It is our new mining team," Declan said smoothly. He opened his digital inventory and dumped a massive pile of raw iron ore and high-grade copper directly onto the factory’s conveyor belt.
He tapped the glowing purple console on the side of the forge.
"System. Initiate mass production. Target: Abyssal Scavenger Drones."
The forge roared to life. The heavy obsidian claws blurred into motion, completely ignoring standard mechanical speed limits. The machine chewed through the raw iron in seconds.
A loud hiss of steam erupted from the output bay.
A figure stepped out.
It was a sleek, floating drone made of dark metal. It looked like a metallic spider with razor-sharp legs and a single glowing purple eye.
[Abyssal Scavenger Drone. Level 60.]
A second later, another drone stepped out. Then another. Then five more.
The forge was spitting out a high-level elite drone every two seconds!
Instantly, every single player in the courtyard released muffled gasps of shock as they stared at the mechanical spiders.
If Titan Heavy Industries had persevered and continued, then maybe they might have generated enough points to use it to upgrade the system. Who knows what system ability they would unlock next!
"Set their parameters to strip-mine Sector 6," Declan ordered Sloane, who was staring at the growing army of robots in pure shock. "Tell them to bring everything back to the treasury."
Declan shoved his hands into his coat pockets and turned toward the central keep. He had successfully fully automated his empire.
"I’m going to get lunch," Declan muttered, ignoring the horde of robotic spiders flying out of the city gates.
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