NOVPUB
Chapter 409: Chapter 29 Puppet Army, Defensive Secondary Gun
Pioneer’s armed puppets had been "reviewed" by Richard.
Excellent energy barriers, robust crystal bodies, and powerful demon-breaking methods that could breach energy barriers in moments... The caliber of these armed puppets was now comparable to the finest alchemy puppets among wizards.
Such level of alchemy puppets were jokingly referred to as the Imperial Guard by the alchemy wizards. Even the Great Wizard could only incorporate a small number of such puppets into his own puppet army for cutting-edge tasks.
Yet, behind this chasm, Richard actually saw thousands of such armed puppets.
The immense joy gave Richard an unrealistic feeling.
Is this really happening?
However, reason quickly regained control of Richard’s mind.
He hurriedly entered the Star Realm Fortress and immediately reported the situation with the armed puppets to the main control.
"Main control, how many armed puppets are stored in the fortress?"
[The fortress still holds nine hundred thirty-two spider-shaped armed puppets]
Getting the exact answer, Richard took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, and then continued, "Can these puppets be used?"
[Mobilizing armed puppets requires authorization from the fortress’s principal]
"...Hog!"
Richard, excited to the point of seeming slightly mad, hustled through the corridors quickly arriving at where Hog was. Hog, seeing Richard’s state, couldn’t help but jump and instinctively hid behind Ulysses.
"Uncle Raven, what’s wrong with the master?"
Ulysses flapped his wings, instantly appearing beside Richard.
"Richard, what’s gotten into you? What has made you this excited?"
Richard stopped, his lips curving upward uncontrollably.
"There is a batch of intact armed puppets in the fortress, as long as Hog agrees, we can take them away!"
"Ga?"
Ulysses responded in surprise.
The ancient battlefield had no shortage of armed puppets, and he had destroyed many on the road. Honestly, these armed puppets could slaughter ordinary third-level creatures with ease.
Even wizards could potentially be caught off guard and killed upon a first encounter.
If they had such a batch of armed puppets, they could virtually walk sideways in this plane war.
"This is great, even if we encounter bugs on the way, we still have the strength to fight."
Richard nodded and then made a request to the main control. Upon receiving Richard’s application, Hog naturally approved it without delay.
"Done!" Richard cheered, then hurried along the corridor towards the fortress’s basement warehouse.
To others, those armed puppets might just be puppets. But for Richard, those armed puppets were like design blueprints thrown on the ground.
Fish is tasty, but the fishing rod is more important than the fish.
Passing through the Black Crystal Channel, Richard arrived at the lower level of the fortress. This level started replacing black crystal with gold-veined metal.
Richard tried touching it a few times and realized these materials were like factory-produced parts and held no value for refinement.
Soon, Richard reached the lowest level of the fortress.
This level gave Richard a feeling similar to the slave chambers in a wizard’s floating city, where wizards would keep their slave army at the bottom to consume the first wave of native’s combat power.
And the Star Realm Fortress also had a heap of armed puppets at the bottom, possibly suggesting that the Star Realm Fortress was once used as an invasion weapon like a floating city?
Richard recalled the map recently detected by the scouting array, becoming more convinced of this idea.
In the warehouse, nine hundred thirty-two spider-shaped battle armored puppets quietly stood in one corner.
Richard approached them and gently touched one of the puppets; the Miracle Furnace quickly provided the puppet’s information.
[Raw material: Spider-shaped Armed Puppet]
[Refinable information: Spider-shaped Armed Puppet design blueprint]
[Refining cost: 250 spiritual power]
Seeing the information provided by the Miracle Furnace, a broad smile spread across Richard’s face.
This was not one of those incomplete technologies; these were complete design blueprints.
If he could decipher it, who knew how much useful technology he might derive from it.
However, Richard didn’t immediately choose to refine.
For one, refining these wasn’t urgent, he had plenty of time ahead to do that. Secondly, according to Ulysses, the Miracle Furnace used a kind of spatial method for refining, which could easily draw the main control’s attention if used within the fortress.
Richard was unclear about the internal regulations of the Star Realm Fortress and also the capabilities of the fortress’s main control. Should the main control detect it during refining, it could cause further complications.
Pioneer technology was profound and enigmatic, and deciphering it certainly wasn’t a matter of mere hours—he wasn’t short on time.
"Main control, how should these puppets be used?"
[New authority system installation in progress, upon completion, the puppets will automatically recognize commander orders]
As the main control spoke, several metal tentacles tipped with crystals extended from the warehouse floor.
These tentacles attached themselves to the spider-shaped puppets with their crystal tips, and soon, wave-like glimmers began flickering inside the bodies of the spider-shaped puppets.
Shortly after, the tentacles detached.
The spider-shaped puppets lying on the ground immediately stood up, and their polyhedral crystal tips shot a red beam of light towards Richard.
[Commander confirmed, puppet qy9743 has been added to your command sequence]
"New authority system..."
Richard noticed this special term in the main control system.
With a new authority system, there naturally existed an old one.
Combining what the main control had once said about nearly collapsing due to the erasure caused by the Supreme had caused Richard’s heart to flutter suddenly.
Could it be that the giant floating mother body wandering in the ancient battlefield killed on sight because of a system collapse?
If he could upgrade its system, then would he be able to bring that giant floating mother body under his command as well?
The impression that the giant floating mother body left on Richard was profound; those clusters of floating cannons were something even a Three Rings Wizard would only think of fleeing from.
And escaping wasn’t even a certainty.
If he could command it, its combat capabilities might rival that of this entire warehouse of armed puppets.
With this idea in mind, Richard immediately asked the main control, "Main control, do you have a way to upgrade the authority system for the armed puppets in the wilderness?"
[Yes, there are two options for you to choose from.]
[Option one, let the armed puppets return to the fortress and use information transmission tentacles to upgrade the system.]
[Option two, install the information transmission crystal into the armed puppet’s information interface and perform the system upgrade directly in the field.]
"I choose option two," Richard said without hesitation.
The giant floating mother body had an enormous number of floating cannons around it, making it too difficult to lure it to the Star Realm Fortress.
Moreover, it might not even be attracted to the fortress.
After all, as something akin to an aircraft carrier, charging into battles was certainly not its strong suit.
Upon receiving Richard’s choice, the main control did not respond. Half an hour later, a metal tentacle emerged from the ground and appeared in front of Richard.
At the tip of this tentacle, a polyhedral crystal "clicked" and fell in front of Richard.
Richard caught the crystal, and immediately, the Miracle Furnace sent him a message.
[Raw material: Information Transmission Crystal]
[Potential data to be refined: New Authority System]
[Refinement cost: 10 spiritual power]
Richard pocketed the crystal and then inquired further about the giant floating mother body.
But this question seemed to reach the blind spots of the main control’s knowledge; main control only answered about the information interface’s location. It knew nothing else about other giant floating mother bodies.
That seemed somewhat unusual.
"Main control, where is your crystal array?" Richard suddenly asked.
[Access to the main control array room is prohibited to non-fortress leaders.]
"Would obtaining permission make a difference?"
[There is no such application.]
"What about a repairman?"
[The fortress’s main control has a sufficient number of repair drones; there’s no need to dispatch additional repairmen.]
Richard nodded slightly, thinking to himself, "It seems that the database is not destroyed, it’s just that it was really not input into the main control’s database."
He hadn’t asked for the location of the main control array with the intention of tampering with it.
In fact, he didn’t have much interest in the main control array.
His expertise was not in alchemy machines, and such mechanical intelligence had little use for him. Moreover, a Wizard’s Tower Spirit Technology could serve as a substitute for the main control.
And lastly, the most important point.
That was, if he examined the fortress’s main control and then couldn’t refine the technology due to insufficient resources, that would be truly frustrating.
As the saying goes, ’out of sight, out of mind,’ Richard thought it better not to trouble himself unnecessarily.
After all, besides the fortress’s main control, there were plenty of other things worth exploring within this Star Realm Fortress.
"Main control, guide me to the channel of the fortress’s secondary guns."
...
A fortress needed sturdy walls, but naturally, defensive weapons were also indispensable.
Although damage to the energy conduits had caused the main gun and most of the secondary weapons to be destroyed in the battle that had led to the fortress’s downfall,
a very small number of weapons survived unscathed, like this defensive secondary gun in front of Richard.
It was a beautiful creation made of metal and crystal, its base forged from colorless crystal directly connected to the fortress’s power conduits. On this base was a metal gun barrel resembling an inverted trumpet. This barrel was connected to the base through a simple yet reliable mechanical device that allowed it to adjust direction up, down, left, and right.
In short, it resembled a gun turret.
This device, though somewhat odd-looking, melded the intricate beauty of machinery with the natural perfection of its crystal base—all components blending into one.
It was a somewhat contradictory creation, but after using it, Richard immediately perceived its special aesthetic—strength.
When functioning fully, its power was at the Ten Thousand Energy Level.
And this was just one of the most common, and most numerous, defensive weapons in the fortress.
So much so that the explosion caused by the energy conduit issues hadn’t completely destroyed it.
Even having witnessed the terrifying capabilities of a Pioneer Creation, Richard couldn’t help but exclaim softly after testing the defensive secondary gun’s power:
"A common weapon at the Ten Thousand Energy Level, truly a powerful civilization indeed."
