"So this is it?" "Yeah. The reactor acts as some sort of refining chamber, draining the energy out of the nodes and keeping the crystals aside."
Red Wing Thunder was currently gathered in the production chamber of the Crawler. After Leah had successfully hacked it, all its functions that posed a threat to them had been eliminated.
At this point, one could say that they had acquired another Mammoth, one with offensive capabilities. Elena stood beside Nathan as he explained the process behind the refining and storage of the energy node.
"What about the crystals?" Reyes asked at the side. "Good question. After a quick check, I have come to realize that the Crawler did not toss away the drained crystals and instead stored them to be used as raw materials in the production of their 'battle bots'"
"The crystal is that tough?" "Depending on how much of it is used. Bottom line is that everything is valuable in the Energy node. It is a perfect resource."
"Okay, okay. Enough with the lectures. What are supposed to do now?... We have control of this hunk of metal. Let's use it to take down the two remaining enemy outposts."
"It's not so simple. I still need some time to figure out how to carry out the production of battle units and also how to work this thing. Don't forget that we also need to keep track of the Mammoth. Its [Stealth] function isn't exactly invisibility."
"I understand. Jeremiah, we just won our first fight and I am sure that everyone is exhausted. It won't hurt to take a break to recover. So I order everyone to take the rest of the day off to recuperate in the Mammoth. We will head out tomorrow for the Western outpost." Elena calmly said with most obliging as they took their leave.
"You should head back. I'll stay here and figure this out before the day runs out." Elena glanced over at Nathan. "When I said, everyone. I meant you included."
"No can do, Herald. The faster I can get a hang of this Crawler, the closer we get to our goal of finishing the mission in record time." Nathan hadn't realized it but he was already racking up a record of disobeying orders.
"Hah, fine then. I'll remain here with you. We will do this together." "But…"
"No need to say anymore." She put up her palm to silence Nathan, the latter swallowing the words he intended to say. "Why don't I stay with him instead?" Leah suggested as she stepped forward.
"No. We need someone to navigate the Mammoth. I will leave that responsibility to you. You have to bring the Mammoth here so we can begin extraction of the Energy node."
"… Understood," Leah said, visibly disappointed as she took a step back. "Alright then. Everyone is dismissed." "Yes ma'am."
She glanced at Nathan. "You, come with me." She walked out of the Chamber, the latter following closely behind. He could have sworn he saw Jeremiah shooting him an icy glare as he stepped out.
***
[Mission title: Command and Conquer.]
[Mission description: You are aboard the Mammoth, a supply ship built for the mining of energy nodes. It has been sent on a mission to collect three energy nodes placed at the North, East, and West sides of Krakatoa.]
[Mission objective: All three energy nodes have been taken over by The Machines Crawler units. Protect The Mammoth and also destroy the enemy to allow her to collect the energy nodes.]
[Note: The enemy is already aware of your presence and will do whatever they can to destroy The Mammoth. There is a limited time for this mission as they are already extracting energy from the nodes. Once the energy is gone, the mission would automatically fail.]
[Mission: Defeat the enemy and Ensure the Mammoth retrieves the nodes.]
[Mission progress (Captured nodes): 1/3.]
Elena heaved a sigh of relief as she went over the Mission template stored in Thunder. "Two more to go." She was currently seated a couple of meters away from Nathan.
"Hey, come look at this." He called her over. "What is it?" She rose to her feet and approached him. He was busy at the control panel. "Check this out."
He pushed a few buttons and after the last click, a diagram appeared. It looked like the design structure for the Scorpion units. "The Crawler works on a preset basis. It doesn't randomly chuck out units.
"The units available in its database are arranged in a specific order in regards to grades of the threat it might face." "…I see." Elena was a bit lost on why this was important.
"I'm thinking of reconfiguring it." She put up a brow. "Why?... You think the units are not good enough?" Nathan shook his head in response. "Not that."
"They are pretty good but they have certain flaws. I think I would be able to improve on them and create something we can use to take care of the second outpost without needing to move out personally."
Elena was taken aback by his bold claim. "Do you know what you are saying?" "Yes."
Nathan had such a confident look on his face. He had never been so sure about something. "What is the probability of it going as you have claimed?" "I am not one to brag but it should be pretty high."
They exchanged looks for quite some time with sweat beads starting to form on Nathan's forehead as he slowly began to regret his words. Elena did not say anything and studied him carefully before sighing.
"Alright then. I'll leave it to you." Nathan heaved a sigh of relief. "I won't let you down."
"I hope so. I'm going to take a stroll around the Crawler, inform me when you are done." Nathan nodded in response after which Elena saw herself out, leaving him to his devices.
***
[Leonardo's touch activated.] Nathan stood in front of a large screen that was substituted as a drawing board. [Please input Unit design before production can take place.]
He had gotten an idea from the moment he realized that the Crawler had the option to customize its Battle bots. He would make use of the Mech System to produce a unit that would wipe out the enemy.
The Scorpion units possessed light armor and light artillery. Their speed was their greatest strength. Unfortunately, they had to sacrifice a strong defense and even stronger firepower.
The Arachnids were in similar condition. The Tank that it had produced possessed heavy armor and powerful artillery. In its case, speed was completely discarded to focus on defense and firepower.
All three units were at extreme ends, having to sacrifice something to have another. Nathan was well aware that with his current skills he couldn't create a perfect bot. But he sure as hell was going to try and balance it out as much as possible.
He took a deep breath and reached out to grab a light pen. [Eyes of Laplace activated.] He got to work immediately. His hands flowed like water on the screen, mapping out the design.
[Eyes of Laplace] helped him to create a mathematically accurate drawing to ensure that the production would not have problems with improbable measurements.
He went at it for almost five minutes before his pen stopped moving. It was done. [Leonardo's touch and Eyes of Laplace have been deactivated.]
He staggered back a bit as he dropped the light pen. The activation of both passive skills had drained his core by quite a bit. Over sixty percent was gone. He was thankful that it wasn't more.
Of course, the drain caused him to feel quite exhausted. He struggled to keep his breathing under control. Once he had managed to do so, he sucked in air through his mouth and stood upright.
He approached the screen and gazed upon it. He was immediately stunned by what he saw. It was nothing short of a masterpiece. "I did this?" He could not believe it.
Just then, the door to the control room opened up and Elena walked in. "Turns out the Crawler has quite an interesting structure. Took me some time to explore its entirety."
Nathan did not even realize she had entered as he remained silent, his attention completely on the screen before him. "Hmm, are you done?" She felt obliged to ask and once she didn't get a response, she walked over to his side.
"Ow." "I was talking to you." She had pulled at his ear. "Sorry about that. Didn't hear you come in." He replied awkwardly. "Hah, it's fine. Are you done?"
"Why don't you take a look?" He said whilst gesturing at the screen. She glanced at the screen. "This…" She could not resist the urge to suck in cold air.
"You did this?" Nathan nodded proudly. "This design…. Forget the militaristic aspect, it is a work of art!" She exclaimed in appreciation. "I know right."