AN: Bonus chapter
The night before the offensive.
Adam sat on an equipment crate in a corridor a very long way under his sector and let Sage brief him.
For twelve days Sage and Nine had been researching and cataloging all the weapons and their designs.
[ I am going to give you the whole inventory, Host. ]
Adam rubbed his hands together. Let's see.
[ Spatial displacement. Experimental. They were not building a teleporter, but a way to tear space and use it for offensive weapon discharges. Eleven test articles, three of which completed successfully according to the logs. Range appears to be short, and it is single-use. ]
[ Biological agents. Nineteen separate programs, all in testing, none deployed. They are all the same idea. They target human DNA and dissolve it. It unmakes the sequence and the body follows. ]
Adam did not say anything for a moment.
Keep going.
[ High-yield energy munitions. These are finished. A pure energy detonation with a compressed implosion behind it. The interesting property is the containment: nothing outside the projected perimeter is affected at all. No radiation, no shockwave, no thermal bloom. It removes exactly what it is aimed at and nothing else. ]
[ Heavy super units. Android frames built from materials that only occur in planetary cores. Not one was ever produced. The designs exist. Projected combat rating is at minimum Level 8. ]
At minimum.
[ At minimum. Host, these machines are planet destroyers. ]
[ There is also faster-than-light propulsion, rocket architecture, six materials science programs, and about four hundred smaller items. ]
Adam thought about it all.
It all sounded so far away, too sci-fi for his mind, but it was here, already.
How long to make the biological one work on them instead of us?
[ Ah. ]
You've already looked.
[ Indeed, Host. It is not difficult. Based on the data we have, they started their experiments with their own kind. This already gives us a perfect template for what we want. ]
And the energy munition?
[ Finished. It needs a delivery system and a target. ]
Then that's what we're doing. The biological agent and energy weapons. We can use a rocket for delivery. Also figure out how to actually make them hit the enemy. I am sure they have advanced anti-air capabilities. He stood up.
[ Understood. ]
[ Host. Before you go up. There is a prediction attached to this, and you should hear it now rather than later. ]
Go on.
[ These programs are not unique to this facility. This was a research site under a forward position, not a capital. If the enemy is producing this here, they are producing it elsewhere, and more of it, and likely further along. ]
[ If we do not finish this on the coming push, they finish theirs. And then we are the ones being dissolved. ]
Shit. Sage, work with Nine to get this as soon as possible. I doubt they can match you in this.
The world was very quiet for two days after the war.
Not peaceful. Quiet. Ten thousand people spent forty-eight hours doing the enormous unglamorous work that follows a war ending, which is mostly moving bodies and counting things. Nobody made any speeches. There was no need.
Then the Bazaar finally spoke. The individual assessments were shown to each explorer.
They came all at once. Not a list posted on a board. Each explorer got theirs alone, in front of their own eyes, wherever they happened to be standing.
There was no rating. Only individual merit.
Ren's arrived while she was arguing with a supply officer.
VICTORY ALLOCATION Contribution assessed: impactful.
+15,000 NP
ITEM: SPEED DEMON A ring. While worn, the wearer's movement speed is doubled.
She stopped arguing about crates.
The ring was on her hand before she had finished reading.
Ren looked at it. Then she took two steps.
Due to a sudden acceleration she went through the side of a stack of crates.
"I'm fine," she said, from inside the crates.
It went like that across the sector all afternoon.
Nobody who had been on that world was skipped. Everyone got their deserved reward. This showed them that the Bazaar highly valued this victory.
Most commanders and high level explorers got better rewards, but none wanted to disclose exact numbers.
Adam's also showed.
VICTORY ALLOCATION Contribution assessed: decisive.
+70,000 NP
Standard item allocation is insufficient at this contribution tier. You will select your reward.
Then three options were displayed.
[ I ] ARMAMENT A weapon, forged to your existing capabilities. It will grow as you grow. It will not be surpassed by anything you can buy.
[ II ] CORRECTION An adjustment to your pathway. The corruption you carry will be reduced and, within limits, removed. Existing penalties attached to your progression will be eased. The pathway will be further optimized.
[ III ] ————
The third one had no text.
It also would not sit still. The first two were the ordinary flat white the Bazaar always uses, and the third was doing something with color that made it look like a glitch.
Sage.
[ Not enough information. ]
Nothing really?
[ No, Host. It can be anything at this point. Only thing I can infer is that it is something the Bazaar wants you to choose. ]
I think so too, it's too eye-catching. Why not just say what it is, though?
[ Maybe at some level it does not want to give it away. This way it gave you a chance to get it but also made a possibility of you not taking it. ]
He looked at the second one for a long time.
That was something he needed. Correction. The corruption reduced, the penalties eased. All he needed for a smooth climb and better power. The pathway would even be optimized, whatever that meant.
He was going to buy Sequence 5 soon. He had known that since he felt how close he was to digestion.
Sage, what would you do?
[ Logically you don't need to gamble, Host. The second option is already good enough. It is the thing we need the most. But... ]
But?
[ I know you won't take it. ]
Adam laughed.
I feel like the third option is something even I don't know that I need.
[ So be it, this decision will be logged for future use, in case the outcome is less than desirable. ]
Hey, stop doing that.
Adam finally resolved himself and chose the last option, and then the world went black...
AN: If we get to 100 power stones, I will release an extra chapter on 300, another one. If you wish to support the story and read ahead, visit [email protected]/skeri123