Chapter 240: Chapter 234: Armaments Iteration
The holographic sand table in the main control room glowed with a faint blue light.
In the Black Stone Gobi area, the red dots representing the Rock Armor Earth Dragons still hadn’t updated, indicating they hadn’t shown themselves.
The stalemate had lasted for half a month. For now, there was no better solution than to wait. They would have to come out to feed sooner or later.
Allen suddenly realized something.
"Jarvis, bring up the combat attrition and output data for the Spider Slayer II from the last half-month."
The light screen flickered, and rows of data streamed down like a waterfall.
Allen looked at the data, his fingers tapping lightly on the desk.
The Spider Slayer II had once been the backbone of his forces when he was just starting out.
Costing 2,200 Magic Stones, its cost-effectiveness was extremely high.
But as the front lines advanced, they faced Mid-to-High Level Magical Beasts whose Magic Power fluctuations easily surpassed a thousand. This Mechanical Body, with strength equivalent only to an Advanced Apprentice, was proving inadequate.
Their forelimb blades couldn’t cut through thick scales, and their flimsy bodies couldn’t withstand a single heavy blow.
In the initial encirclement at the Black Stone Gobi, if not for the main firepower from the Inferno Mechs and Storm Falcons, the Spider Slayer IIs couldn’t have even tied down the Rock Armor Earth Dragons.
"The enemies I’m facing are getting stronger," Allen sighed. "As conventional infantry, they’re no longer qualified."
[Initiate the upgrade research and development sequence for the Spider Slayer II?]
"No upgrade." Allen rejected it outright. "The chassis architecture’s potential has been fully tapped. Forcibly adding more components would just ruin its cost-effectiveness."
He stood up and walked to the workbench.
"Cancel the Spider Slayer II’s ground assault role in the Golem Legion. Pull it from its position as a main combatant."
"Reassign the active units: scouts and tactical snipers. They will only be responsible for patrolling the battlefield’s edge and gathering intelligence."
[Command recorded.]
"We need a new mainline ground unit."
Allen gestured in the air, pulling up the 3D blueprint for the Pacifist PX-1.
This mass-produced Pacifist model had formidable firepower and a high cost of 31,000 Magic Stones per unit. Mass-producing it as a mainline unit would still be a financial strain for Allen.
’The mainline position needs to be filled. The Pacifist is great, but I just can’t afford it.’ Allen brought up the Pacifist PX-1’s blueprint and began making drastic cuts. "Then let’s keep stripping it down."
He rapidly modified the parameters on the light screen.
"Cancel the Divine Punishment Main Cannon on the chest."
He erased the iconic main cannon. Firing it required expensive Transformation Crystals, and there was no need for regular infantry to wield such extravagant firepower. Long-range strike missions would be handled by other types of Golems.
"Compress its height to 2.5 meters. Keep the melee module and the basic beam emitters."
As the parameters were adjusted, a smaller Humanoid Golem took shape.
"Calculate the cost."
[Project Codename: PX-1B. Estimated cost per unit: 18,000 Low-Level Magic Stones. Comprehensive combat rating: Surpasses Advanced Apprentice, but does not reach the level of a First-level Wizard.]
"This is it. We don’t lack high-end combat power; the new mass-produced PX-1 will win through numbers." Allen made his decision. "This will be the new generation of mainline ground troops."
He pulled up the legion’s table of organization.
The old standard configuration: 100 Spider Slayer IIs, 20 Infernos, 5 PX-1s, 10 Demon Eye IIs, 3 Demon Eye IIIs, 12 Storm Falcons, and 2 Floating Ships.
Total cost: 750,600 Magic Stones.
It looked impressive, but in reality, the entire legion’s cost was just enough to build a single Freedom Gundam.
"Jarvis, reorganize the legions," Allen ordered. "We have three existing legions, plus a fourth one being assembled. Add 50 PX-1B units to each legion."
[Calculating. A single legion will require a budget increase of 900,000 Low-Level Magic Stones. Equipping all four legions will require 3.6 million. Adding the fourth legion’s base cost of 750,000, the total budget is: 4.35 million Low-Level Magic Stones.]
Allen wasn’t too worried looking at the string of numbers. His current monthly net profit exceeded a million. Money wasn’t the issue.
’The problem is production capacity.’
Between the main workshop in Zone 18 and the branch workshop at Molten Lake, there were a total of six fully automated production lines.
[If all monthly net profit is invested into production, estimated completion time for all orders is four and a half months.]
"You can’t calculate it like that," Allen shook his head.
The territory of Zone 18, now over 40,000 square kilometers, required Golems to maintain its operations.
There was the attrition of 130 Mining Golems, and maintenance costs for twenty-three mining outpost garrisons and the underground tunnels.
All of these costs were a constant drain on his Magic Stones.
Moreover, his own training couldn’t stop. Constructing the fourth Core Matrix required purchasing expensive high-level Meditation-aiding potions. Further Golem and weapon R&D also needed a steady stream of funding.
"Set aside one production line." Allen held up a finger. "It will be dedicated to producing replacement parts and various types of ammunition. We must guarantee the supply for the front lines’ consumption."
"The remaining five production lines will all be switched to the production sequence for the PX-1B and the fourth legion."
[Production capacity redistributed. Estimated delivery time extended to six months.]
’Six months is still too tight. I need to reserve some funds and production capacity just in case.’
"Extend the deployment plan. Set it for eight months."
[Eight-month armament upgrade plan established.]
"Also," Allen added, "the six Freedom Gundams we built in one go are enough to handle high-level threats, so we don’t need to build more for the time being. The production line that’s freed up, use it to produce 20 Shadow Assassins when there’s time. After that, focus entirely on stockpiling Crystallized Ammunition and Red Lotus Magic Missiles."
[Production line task sequence updated. Estimated output of all magic furnaces will be increased to 98%.]
A very faint tremor ran through the ground beneath his feet.
It was the sound of the workshop’s magic furnaces beginning to operate at full capacity.
Deep within the workshop, the Alchemy Servants began their busy, orderly work.
Freshly moved ingots of magical steel began to take shape, one by one, on the equipment.
Cold war machines were about to be mass-produced.
Allen stood up and walked to the window.
Outside the window was a dark red sky and a continuous stretch of scorched earth.
"Eight months," Allen murmured to himself.
He didn’t need to know where the mastermind behind the Black Wizard attack from two years ago was hiding.
Nor did he care what secrets were hidden in the Silent Abyss.
He only needed to know that in 240 days, when these four Golem Legions—composed of hundreds of heavy infantry units and massive aerial firepower—were complete, on this land, besides his Golems, no living creature would dare to walk openly on the ground.
Any enemy that dared to extend its claws toward him would be crushed into paste by this torrent of steel.
"Jarvis."
[I am here, Commander.]
"Continue optimizing the production and mining processes."
Allen turned, a cold fanaticism flashing in his eyes. "Our armories... are not full enough."
[Added to the research queue.]
Allen walked back toward the Meditation Room.
The world outside was turbulent, but he had enough patience to sharpen his sword in his own fortress until it gleamed.
