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2024-10-29 19:42:56That evening, the airship arrived.
“Is it just me, or is the airship coming more frequently, these days?” Remian asked.
“You only say that because we left late last time.” Charlie snorted.
“Sorry. Did you get in trouble?”
“Not really, no. The amount of goods and profit we brought back more than made up for it.” Charlie cleared his throat. “The more business the Frontier gives us, the more often we can justifiably come out here.”
“Well, we don’t expect a Beast Wave for another week yet, so…” Remian grimaced. He really didn’t like the idea of depending on Beast Waves for the economy of Frontier Town.
“Actually, I brought you an opportunity. It’s an old survey map, something left behind by a certain Deutero prospector…” Charlie slipped parchment into Remian’s hands. “Apparently, there might, just might be… a man
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Kingdom of the Weak 33. Records
Tim was fascinated with the new headless spears. “They’re too heavy to throw or move around much… but if we’re just going to hold them in place and let the wilds run straight into them… I think they’re going to work! If we can just build them some frames…”“Frames?” Remian blinked.“Barricades that use these metal stakes instead of sharpened sticks.” Tim explained. “Actually, can we ask them to make completely metal barricades, with sharp stakes pointing outwards? I think the Iron Legion would actually pay for those.”It was a good idea. The Legion was experienced in fending off human bandits, so wooden stakes were good enough, but when it came to Tier 3 Wilds, they were going to need stronger, heavier fortifications.“Can you talk to Markus about it?” Remian asked.“Yeah. Last I checked, he was trying to buy out all the bear traps in town.&rdqu
Kingdom of the Weak 34. Searching For Mana
Not all of their plans went the way Remian hoped.For one thing, Tier 3 bows appeared to be a very, very bad idea. The reason for that was the difficulty in drawing them. It turned out, only Joshu and Xia could draw Joshu’s Tier 3 bow. None of their students and neither of the other hunters could properly draw it to its full length. Most of them couldn’t even manage to pull it halfway.“So… crossbows?” Remian eyed the weapons used by the other two hunters.They were twins, both girls, and both tanned brown like Xia. Neither of them were older than Mandy. Unlike Mandy, they had the advantage of living parents in town. It turned out, their father was the innkeeper of the Open Frontier Inn…The hunter twins Candice and Denise used different kinds of crossbows. Candice used a heavier arbalest designed for power. Denise preferred a light crossbow that was quicker to aim, reload and fire. Denise’s dream weapon was the
Kingdom of the Weak 35. Finding Mana
But, no, it turned out to be a pot.“This is…?” Remian stared.They were in a very cliché secret cave, located behind a waterfall which fed the lake where the Steel Scale Crocodiles lived. On the left was a bookcase; on the right, a bed, and right in front of them was a pot big enough to fit an entire Blood Rabbit Chief, one that Tim would probably love to use…But it was filled with some thick blue liquid.Oh, the mana crystals were there too. Remian could see them glowing right off the walls at the back of the cave. It’s just that he hadn’t sensed them. What he’d sensed was the blue liquid in the pot.Carrie sniffed the pot, then turned away and sneezed.[Alchemist cauldron. Tier 3.] Death inspected. [At least 200 years old. Someone left a batch of mana potion to cool after brewing and never came back for it.]Mana potion?! Remian twitched. This was like he’d gone prospecting
Kingdom of the Weak 36. Mandy’s Project
“Three floors and roof access.” Max rubbed his chin as he and Mandy met Remian to discuss the shop house. “Walls strong enough to fend off Tier 3 Wilds. Possible accommodation for wolfcats. A basement for storage, and the ground floor should be a shop open to customers. That’s…”“Can it be done?” Remian asked.“It could take some figuring out.” Max said at last. “Maybe a couple days.”“We need the design ready by tomorrow morning.” Remian told him. “We’ll do it like the Guard Tower. The first phase should be dug and built by tomorrow. I want at least the basement and two floors ready by the time the Beast Wave arrives.”“That’s going to put a hold on all the other projects.” Max winced. “Also, given the size you want and the plot of land you have, I’m afraid you’ll have to bid goodbye to the yard.”“
Kingdom of the Weak 37. Beast Wave 3
His name was Arnold. Back at Ashdale Kingdom, he had been framed for the theft of military supplies and thus he was deemed a petty criminal and sentenced to ten years imprisonment minimum. His only out was to join the Legion and waltz off to the Frontier. Many saw this as a suicide option; but Arnold straightened his back, proclaimed his innocence, and rejected jail outright. A week later, he was at the Legion camp of Frontier Town, building two ballistae. “So now you know my background.” He grunted, testing the crank of the one on the left. “Why do you ask?” “Because, well…” Remian scratched his head. “You’re good. Very good.” The ballistae were easily three meters long, and just as wide. Each was like a crossbow, only much bigger. They used the ‘headless spears’, that is, the simply steel shafts with sharp points for ammunition; Arnold said something about the consistent strength and weight distribution of the spears that made them more suitable and
Kingdom of the Weak 38. How?
How? That was the question on Remian’s mind more than anything else. How to fend off the Beast Wave, for sure, but even before that… How did the Wilds know that this was the time the town was vulnerable? That the Legion was full-swing in celebrations today? How did they know to rush the Beast Wave a day early, and to hurry over even at the expense of their slower fighters? How did they know now was the time to strike? The fact that they struck now, like this, told Remian two things. First, somebody, somewhere, had told them. There was a traitor in town, probably one of the Wilds, possibly one of the wolfcats in Carrie’s pack. Second, somebody, somewhere, was controlling them. Somebody decided to rush the Wave so that they would attack during this one vulnerable day. It had been a deliberate decision. Similar to Shadowflash, there was another lord of the Wilds out there commanding the Beast Waves. And if the Waves could
Kingdom of the Weak 39. A Long Night
Tim and Silas were in trouble. They were the vanguard of the ammunition convoy, and they had just entered the town center when an immense bull on fire came charging straight at them. “Tier 4!” Silas gasped. “Brace!” Tim crouched, holding out his precious Tier 3 spear, praying against all odds that at least one of them might survive, at least one of the eight young boys behind him who went to get the spears might come out of this alive and finish the mission, because most certainly, he himself wasn’t going to make it… But a miracle occurred. Remian shouted, “Light!” Before Tim could exclaim anything, a wall of light twice his height and much wider rose up in between him and the charging bull. There was a terrible, jarring impact; Tim could feel the ground sake under his boots from the crash. But the Bull was stopped cold. It could not get even an inch past Remian’s light. Silas let out all his breath in relief. “I
Kingdom of the Weak 40. Choosing Runes
“What happened here?” Charlie was astounded when he arrived on the airship the next day. “The Beast Wave hit last night.” Remian summarized. They met at the half-built airport. There was a high deck for mooring airships, currently accessible either via a long ramp or a manually operated lift. At present, four Legion trainees were pushing at the wheel powering the lift which had two injured trainees on stretchers aboard. Next to the lift were eight more injured trainees in a row. Down below were four more and other people queued up with their crates for export, still waiting for their turn to use the lift. “We need more lifts.” Charlie observed. “We need a secure warehouse, so people with goods for export can bring them up here early.” Remian countered. “This airport currently only had three people on staff, and two of them work at the air traffic control lighthouse.” All three were hired by Deutero, so Remian had little say over whether more c
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523. Comms
Somewhere along the line, he’d lost consciousness. George only realized it when he woke up to a splitting headache. “Ow.” He groaned. “What... where...?” “We’re on the way back to Sorrel.” Grace told him, appearing by his bedside. And it was a bedside, he realized. He seemed to be in the Kara’s Medical Bay. “I’m sorry. We had to retreat.” “Our... people?” George managed. “The HAC Troopers made it back. The Mechs... did not.” Grace paused. “We have the refugees though. And the Robotic Assembly Plant for Mining Drones. That’s all they managed to grab.” George slurred. “Mech pilots?” “Alive, if battered.” “Good. Alive is good.” George sighed. “This... didn’t go so well.” “Hey, at least we got the guys we were trying to save, and some machinery on top of that. You might say it was a success. A costly one, but a success.” “Casualties?” George asked. “Plenty of injuries to go around, but no deaths. So far.” Grace paused. “Some of the really badly injured might change that before lo
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522. Second Aid Mission
“Were these really the best you could do?” George asked, eyeing the six hulking figures in front of him hesitantly. “Mmm.” Juni grunted. In front of them were six brand new Mechs. 2nd Generation products, they were armored weapons platforms on legs, with jumpjets for the signature ‘jumps’ that earned their generation the nickname, ‘Jumpers’. Or were they? George wasn’t entirely sure. When he looked at them, they really looked more like 1st Generation Walker-types. Those Jump Jets seemed to be an afterthought, an added equipment haphazardly strapped to their backs. “Would they really work right?” Juni shrugged. Given the time and materials he had to work with, George supposed he couldn’t expect better. He had only just received 2nd Gen tech. Until now, he’d been working with 1st Gen expectations and schematics. One of these Mechs seemed a bit worn, evidence that it had been built quite some time ago, and only recently been modified for George’s requests. “Fusion Cell for power, Pu
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521. Next Step
It turned out that they also needed to acquire salvage rights to haul away ‘scrap metal’. Fortunately, that was a simple affair now that they had local currency. 50 USD and the matter was done. Grant, being the nearest specialist on matters of scrap to their location, graciously offered to transport their ‘scrap’ directly to their vessel out of sheer goodwill. Finally Benny and Sam went to try out the barbecued skewers. At Grant’s recommendation, though, they didn’t go to the Starport roadside stall. They ended up at another roadside stall run by a ‘foreign refugee’ someplace downtown not too far from Grant’s workshop. There, each skewer was loaded with rows of thick, juicy beef sausages, and only cost 20 USD for 10. Benny stretched. “Not bad for our first day. We’ve got three days here, don’t we? But we’ve already got half of what we wanted.” “What’s the other half?” Sam asked. “Technical manuals on engineering, power and propulsion. Tech, basically.” Benny yawned. However, whe
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520. Uber States Colony
“Black Fang, you are cleared for docking. Follow the designated path and welcome to Trifer, colony of the Uber States.” Benny stood on the observation deck of the Black Fang below the bridge, listening to the conversation between the comms officer and the dock authorities. He eyed the massive sprawl of structures and smoke emitted below and wondered. “This is what they call a ‘small’ colony?” The colony was bigger than Craggy Falls, Kara-Goth and Nightshade City put together. “Just how many people live here?” Benny asked next. “According to our sensors, about half a million.” The bridge crew told him. Okay, that was less than the human population of the Sorrelian Migration, which, after including the Cumin survivors, was over 800,000. They shared the sensor feed with Benny, Sam and Foxy. Looking at the scope, Benny realized that most of the colony below consisted of machinery and robots. Furthermore, what he saw on the surface wasn’t even half the colony. The entire complex went
- Kingdom of the Weak
519. Scoop
That evening, Benny and Sam left with Tim’s battle group, headed for the nearest Uber States outpost with medicine in the cargo holds. This left only one freight galleon to ferry materials and regretful space miners from the surface to Sky Haven. “It’s going too slow.” Remian decided. “I need to call Raven.” With Mindy busy trading across star systems, Raven had inherited (bought over) her airship fleet and company on the surface. They built more gunships and scout ships than freighters these days, mainly focused on providing recon and fire support to ground forces fighting Undead. But it was those freighters Remian needed now, the bigger the better. “We need them refitted for extreme high altitudes, as high as they can go.” Remian explained. “Also we need them spaceworthy, at least up to low orbit.” “You want our airship freighters to fly into space?!” Raven spluttered. “Yes, but not on their own. I want them to haul cargo and passengers as high up as they can. Around 30km woul
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518. We should call Remian
“Relax, I’m not asking you to build them from scratch. You’ll need to remodel a Galleon and a trio of our current Dropships. We do want proper Mech Carriers in the future, but for now, we need to deploy urgently, so we’ll just remodel what we have.” Ermine brought up some projections. “The Mechs in question are going to be Light Walkers, designed and built by J-Armory. Juni’s had a workable prototype for a long time, but it’s never been needed until now. Live testing is scheduled to start in three days. They’re powered by Fusion Cells, the kind that looks like dustbins, so you won’t need to worry about fuel lines, just cell-swapping. You won’t need to worry about replacing the He3 in the Fusion Cells either; spent cells will be sent back to J-Armory for recycling or refueling or whatever it is they do. Same goes for the weapons; Jamie’s J-Arsenal will handle maintenance and replacement and all that. The ship only needs to carry the Mechs, deploy them, and run basic maintenance. Repai
- Kingdom of the Weak
517. Objectives and Objections
They met online the next day. Remian opted out, letting them handle it. Upon bringing up the subject of the Woofers’ request for more aid across different planets… Ermine snorted. “I refuse.” “What?” George stared. “I refuse to help them.” Ermine said stoutly. “I know that you guys all have some sort of savior syndrome, and it’s something that Remian seemed to have passed down from the very beginning, the sort of meddlesome hero complex that has you all trying to save the world at personal cost, but I’m no hero. I’m Tau, and we’re practical survivalists. We simply can’t afford to go around saving everybody. We need all our strength and resources to save ourselves. As for the Woofers, as a collective, they are a Class 5 Star Civilization, a whole class more advanced and stronger than us. They have their own governments and their own fleets. Let the Woofers help the Woofers.” Xiao Yan cut in. “As you say, they are a Class 5 Star Civilization. Since you’re talking about praticality, t
- Kingdom of the Weak
516. Changing Gear
“Go, go, go!” green light flared in the bay of the Dropship as the floor fell away. George and twelve other figures were unceremoniously dumped on the ground nine feet below. They landed with heavy impacts. George staggered, realizing the gravity on this world was at least twice what he was accumstomed to back home. For a moment, he regretted leaving his Frame back on the ship, but they were here to clear the bandits out from a city center, meaning tight spaces, narrow access points, and needing to take care to avoid civilian casualties. Or at least, that was the plan. George and his squad had been deposited on the outskirts of the city, at the very border of a suburban district. “Incoming!” someone yelled. George crouched as something exploded; the ground shook and chunks of dirt flew through the air. “Get to cover! Return fire!” George called, even though he wasn’t entirely sure where the attackers were, exactly. The guys diving behind nearby garages and a public toilet clued hi
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514. Out there
Quite predictably, the first of those calls to reach Sorrel II was from their dear friends, the Woofers. Three Paws explained it. [This is from Kelso III. It’s an agrarian world, roughly eighty hours’ flight from here for our fleet. Local gang bosses have titled themselves warlords and suppressed the citizenry with brute force. They take whatever they want, and demand whatever payment they like, on pain of death or torture. Local law enforcement has been completely overrun and even planetary militia couldn’t save the settlements under their control. The best our local paws could do is contain the situation and prevent it from getting worse.] Remian sipped hot coffee. Eighty hours flight for the Woofers Fleet should mean a bit less than seventy for the Tau fleet. “That’s rough. But what’s the point of calling us here to tell us this?” [We can help them. Just one division of your fleet could make a huge difference against these local gangs.] At the moment, the Sorrelian fleet consist
