The celebration outside continued long into the night.

Marcus could still hear it faintly from inside the command building.

Laughter.

Music.

Bottles hitting wooden tables.

Someone yelling loudly after drinking too much beer.

The entire base felt alive tonight.

And honestly, they earned it.

They crossed the Forest of No Return twice.

Fought giant tree monsters.

Survived flying vultures.

Returned alive with one hundred million kinah.

Nobody was sleeping early after that.

But Marcus eventually slipped away from the gathering quietly.

No announcement.

No speech.

He simply stood up from the table while the pilot and co-pilot argued loudly about whether the vultures were bigger than horses.

Marcus grabbed one last beer bottle before heading toward the main building.

Elaina noticed immediately.

"You’re leaving already?" she asked softly.

Marcus glanced back toward her.

"Just for a bit."

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"...You’re thinking about equipment again, aren’t you?"

Marcus gave a faint smirk.

"A little."

The co-pilot overheard that instantly.

"SEE?"

He pointed dramatically at Marcus.

"This is what I’m talking about. The boss almost dies in a cursed forest and immediately starts planning military expansion."

Several people burst into laughter.

Marcus ignored them and continued walking down the hallway.

Though honestly, the co-pilot wasn’t wrong.

That mission changed things.

The Forest of No Return exposed weaknesses Marcus couldn’t ignore anymore.

The Black Hawk almost got overwhelmed.

The miniguns ran dry.

The tree monsters kept coming.

And without the A-10—

They would probably be dead.

Marcus opened the door to his room and stepped inside.

Then closed it behind him.

The noise outside faded almost immediately.

Silence replaced it.

The room was dimly lit by a single lantern sitting near the table. Shadows stretched along the walls while the faint hum of generators outside vibrated softly through the floor.

Marcus sat on the edge of the bed and exhaled slowly.

Finally alone.

His mind immediately drifted back to the forest.

The giant tree creature staring upward.

The vultures slamming against the helicopter.

The sound of the A-10’s GAU-8 cannon tearing through the canopy.

BRRRRT.

That sound stayed in his head the most.

Because it worked.

Modern military firepower worked against the monsters.

And that changed everything.

Marcus reached into his inventory.

A heavy reinforced chest appeared in front of him with a metallic thud against the floor.

Then another.

Then another.

Gold.

One of the payment chests from Merchant May.

Marcus stared at the chest quietly for a few seconds.

Fifty million kinah.

That was only May’s payment.

Merchant Kelly’s fifty million still remained untouched separately.

Marcus rested one arm against his knee.

"...Alright."

He already knew what he was going to do.

The mission proved something important.

Atlas needed escalation capability.

Real escalation capability.

Not just transport helicopters and rifles.

They needed surveillance.

Persistent air support.

Heavy response capability.

The forest was too dangerous for half-measures.

Marcus opened the system interface.

The familiar blue holographic panel appeared instantly in front of him.

[Military Contractor System]

[Current Balance: 0 MC]

Marcus looked at the number briefly.

Then opened the currency conversion tab.

[Currency Conversion]

Kinah → Military Credits

Rate: 1 Kinah = 10 MC

Marcus leaned slightly forward.

Fifty million kinah.

At ten military credits each—

That meant five hundred million MC.

Just from this chest alone.

Honestly, even Marcus still struggled processing numbers like that.

He selected the amount.

50,000,000 Kinah.

The system processed it immediately.

[Convert 50,000,000 Kinah → 500,000,000 MC]

Marcus stared at the confirmation screen quietly.

Five hundred million.

Enough to completely transform Atlas.

He pressed yes.

The system flashed.

For a brief second, nothing happened.

Then the gold inside the chest shimmered faintly.

The effect spread slowly across the coins, like heat distortion passing through the air.

And then—

The gold vanished.

Entire stacks disappeared almost instantly until the chest sat empty.

Marcus looked at the empty container quietly.

No matter how many times he used the system, that process still felt surreal.

Then the notification appeared.

[Conversion Complete]

[+500,000,000 MC]

[Current Balance: 500,000,000 MC]

Marcus leaned back slightly.

"...Jesus."

Half a billion military credits.

The scale of that number was insane.

Marcus opened the aircraft section immediately.

Rows of military hardware appeared before him.

Rotary aircraft.

Fixed-wing aircraft.

Drones.

Gunships.

Modern military hardware from Earth sitting in front of him like a shopping catalog.

And now—

He could actually afford them.

Marcus’s eyes moved carefully through the listings.

[MQ-1 Predator – 4,500,000 MC]

[MQ-9 Reaper – 12,000,000 MC]

[A-10 Thunderbolt II – 18,000,000 MC]

[AC-130 Gunship – 45,000,000 MC]

Marcus immediately focused on the drones first.

The biggest problem inside the forest wasn’t just firepower.

It was awareness.

The canopy hid everything.

By the time they spotted movement, the threat was already close.

That couldn’t happen again.

The MQ-1 Predator would solve part of that immediately.

Long-duration surveillance.

Thermal optics.

Reconnaissance.

Target tracking.

And unlike helicopters, it could remain airborne for extended periods without risking pilots directly.

Marcus crossed his arms lightly.

"...Useful."

But then his gaze shifted lower.

MQ-9 Reaper.

The Predator’s larger and deadlier successor.

More range.

Better sensors.

And armed capability.

Hellfire missiles.

Precision strikes.

Persistent hunter-killer platform.

Marcus immediately imagined one circling above the Forest of No Return.

The Reaper would spot those vultures long before they reached attack range.

And if necessary—

Destroy them before they even got close.

Marcus nodded slowly.

"That’s definitely worth it."

Then his eyes shifted again.

And stopped completely.

[AC-130 Gunship – 45,000,000 MC]

Silence filled the room for several seconds.

Marcus stared at the listing quietly.

Then slowly leaned back.

"...No way."

The AC-130.

A flying artillery platform.

105mm howitzer.

40mm Bofors cannon.

25mm autocannon.

Thermal targeting systems.

Night combat dominance.

Persistent orbiting fire support.

Marcus immediately imagined it over the forest.

The tree monsters below wouldn’t survive long under sustained AC-130 fire.

The vultures?

The gunship’s tracking systems and sheer volume of fire would turn the sky into a kill zone.

More importantly—

It could escort helicopters directly.

That mattered.

The Black Hawk almost died because they lacked persistent heavy support overhead.

An AC-130 would solve that problem violently.

Marcus opened the details panel fully.

[AC-130 Gunship]

Armament:

105mm Howitzer40mm Bofors Cannon25mm Autocannon

Capabilities:

Persistent Close Air SupportNight OperationsThermal TrackingPrecision Orbital Fire Support

Requirement:

Medium Runway Infrastructure Recommended

Marcus stared at the weapon list quietly.

A 105mm artillery cannon...

Mounted on an aircraft.

The sheer insanity of that concept still impressed him even after years of knowing it existed.

He thought back to the giant tree monster emerging from the forest.

That thing survived sustained minigun fire.

The AC-130 would have erased it.

Completely.

Marcus took another drink from the beer bottle before making his decision.

"...Alright."

He selected the aircraft.

[Purchase AC-130 Gunship?]

[Cost: 45,000,000 MC]

Marcus pressed yes.

The interface flashed instantly.

[Purchase confirmed!]

[-45,000,000 MC]

[Remaining Balance: 455,000,000 MC]

[AC-130 transferred to inventory.]

Marcus exhaled slowly.

"...That’s insane."

He had just casually purchased one of the deadliest gunships ever created.

And somehow—

That still wasn’t the craziest part.

Because he still had almost half a billion MC left.

Marcus shook his head once before selecting the MQ-1 Predator next.

[Purchase MQ-1 Predator?]

[Cost: 4,500,000 MC]

"Yes."

[Purchase confirmed!]

[-4,500,000 MC]

[Remaining Balance: 450,500,000 MC]

[MQ-1 Predator transferred to inventory.]

Then immediately afterward—

[Purchase MQ-9 Reaper?]

[Cost: 12,000,000 MC]

"Yes." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

[Purchase confirmed!]

[-12,000,000 MC]

[Remaining Balance: 438,500,000 MC]

[MQ-9 Reaper transferred to inventory.]

Marcus leaned back again after the final confirmation.

Now the inventory contained:

Black Hawks.

An AC-130 gunship.

A Predator drone.

A Reaper drone.

Atlas was changing rapidly now.

And honestly, it needed to.

The Forest of No Return proved something important.

This world was dangerous enough to require overwhelming force.

Marcus opened the inventory display.

The aircraft entries appeared one after another.

[UH-60 Black Hawk]

[MQ-1 Predator]

[MQ-9 Reaper]

[AC-130 Gunship]

Marcus stared at the list quietly.

Then another thought entered his mind.

Infrastructure.

The AC-130 needed runway space.

Maintenance capability.

Fuel storage.

The drones needed operational stations too.

Atlas Base was no longer large enough.

Not for what he was building.

Marcus stood slowly and walked toward the window.

Outside, the celebration still continued.

Mechanics laughed around lantern light while guards carried more crates of beer toward the tables.

Nobody outside fully understood yet.

Not even Elaina.

Atlas had just crossed into a completely different category tonight.

Marcus looked toward the darkness beyond the walls.

Toward the direction of the forest.

The next time they entered that place, it would not just be a Black Hawk trying to survive.

Next time, there would be drones overhead.

Persistent surveillance.

Hellfire missiles.

An orbiting gunship carrying artillery in the sky.

Marcus took another drink before quietly muttering to himself:

"Let’s see how the fantasy world handles this."

He grinned and chuckled to himself. This is going to be interesting.