Gacha Kingdom Building-Chapter 301: System Break (03)

Even though she gave me a choice, Piper hated that I chose to sneak around instead of blowing the AOTG out.

I knew she was slightly jealous of the others, like Alex and James, thinking I was avoiding her. And I wanted to see the Witch of Narrations' power firsthand, too. However, I was much more interested in her other, less explosive abilities.

Pip tried to convince me out of this by calling it "boring" and "uncool", but all it took for me to flip the tables on her was to ask if she couldn't handle it.

She took this as a challenge. Her puffed cheeks turned into a cheeky smile and, in less than a second, she started bringing out the goods.

First, she created two simple brown cloaks for us. I instantly recognized them as the invisibility cloaks from a certain film adaptation. When I pointed it out, Piper lit up and seized the chance to nerd out about the books.

Once she was finally satisfied, we noticed a huge problem with the cloaks. They made us invisible, but they didn't distinguish between ally and foe. As long as we wore them, we couldn't see each other.

Thankfully, Piper had a solution. She remembered that the game we were playing last time had invisible enemies too, and that the high-tech helmets let the player reveal them. They also had encrypted radio comms.

In the blink of an eye, Piper had summoned four items, each with incredibly useful effects and very few drawbacks,

I knew that the items would disappear without her mana, but to my surprise, she said this wasn't too expensive for her. Apparently, she could keep it up the entire day.

I thought she might've been trying to show off a bit too much, so I offered to share some of my mana with her. Since I had Liz as a battery, I could fuel Pip's Gift almost indefinitely. This way, we could have some of the Kingdom girls join us.

Piper refused. Strongly.

She went ahead of me, making chicken noises and flapping her arms all the way.

Even after she'd put a small distance between us, thanks to the helmets, I heard her voice loud and clear in my ear.

Left without an option, I followed right after her until we came face to face with the first layer of fences.

Piper: "Hm... They must have a gate somewhere. Let's try the backdoor."

It wouldn't be hard to smash past it or even to jump over the fence. The real problem was the noise we'd cause.

Considering the guards were otherworlders, we should expect their mana sensitivity to be higher, too. Even if invisible, we should be careful not to expose ourselves.

As Piper predicted, we found an entrance on the other side of the facility.

It was inside a watchtower-like structure. Around six1 men stood guard before it, and inside, quite a few more. On top of the tower alone, we saw at least five different people, coming and going.

The gate was locked shut, but Piper and I knew that sooner or later, it would open. We sat near it and waited.

The cloth of the invisible cloak was thick. We wore heavy helmets made for space battles against aliens.

Sitting on the desert sands, it didn't take long for the heat to become unbearable.

My mouth had dried, and so had Piper's. No matter how much she tried to deny it, I could hear the noise she was making with her tongue.

Every time we heard sounds of people stepping on the floor of the tower behind us, we'd stand up to not miss the chance to enter, but the gate never opened, and we only grew frustrated.

After waiting for about two hours, neither of us could take it anymore.

I told Pip to wait and hopped inside the Kingdom. Immediately, the cold breeze refreshed me. I jumped into the river and cooled my head with the flowing water and [Ice Magic].

Then, I visited the cafeteria and started preparing a little something before returning to Earth.

Pip: "Ohhh!"

I came back with a priceless icy treasure in each hand, and Piper's reaction was even better than I expected.

She stood up, blocking my way.

I tried to take a side step, but before I could sit on the ground, she held me by the collar.

Miwen: "...I thought you were doing fine?"

Pip: "I am. But..."

Her arm slid down my shoulder, pulling me closer.

Pip: "You owe me, yeah?"

She gave my helmet a knock and helped herself to one of the milkshakes I had brought. I wanted to drag the joke a little more, but I also feared for my life. Pip was way more serious than I expected.

I also ended up forced to bring her one more, and a third after that, but it was all good.

The wait became much easier. After a while, someone finally opened the gate. We couldn't tell where he was headed, nor did we care. We entered the tower and, thankfully, the movement inside was much more frequent.

After the first layer of fences, it took us minutes, if that, to enter the facility proper.

Our mission was to gather intel on the AOTG and what they were using this place for. We had the option of destroying the place, but doing so would be less ideal. They could also restart somewhere else.

However, it was hard to know where to go. The facility wasn't a single building, but a complex.

Piper and I tried checking the busier places, but we found nothing of substance. Most times, these were offices. We checked the computers, carefully not to bump into anyone. On the screens, we saw weapons and bullets being designed, but nothing eye-catching about them.

Finally, we went to the factory building of the complex.

The factory was divided into five floors. The first was simple enough to enter; the people there were mostly responsible for the final packaging. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

We saw fewer people on the next two floors. The work there was mostly done by the machines.

Piper: "So... Is it just an ammunition factory? What a letdown."

I wasn't so sure yet.

The first floor felt smaller than the two below it. If the pattern continued, the last two floors should be around half of the entire factory.

Miwen: "On the bright side, no one will complain if we blow it up."

Piper: "Hm... But I was sure this one... Well, whatever. Let's continue."

Piper always liked high tension and action, so this should be good news to her.

Yet, she seemed slightly dejected.

Miwen: "...You're not hiding anything from me, are you?"

Piper: "Me? I would never~"

She absolutely would, and nothing made it clearer than the fourth floor.

We'd seen a lot about the ammo production process on the other floors, but it was hard to tell exactly what each floor's purpose was. There was too much going on at once, mostly hidden inside the machines.

The fourth floor, on the other hand, was simple. Conveyor belts carried empty casings into machines where a red, powder-like substance was poured inside them.

The machines sealed the rounds shut. When they came out, many were dusted with the same crimson powder.

It was something that had caught my attention before, though I hadn't thought much of it at the time.

Piper: "Alright! Now we're getting somewhere."

It was slightly concerning to see her so happy about it, but...

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious too.

Piper: "What do you think they are doing? Hm?~"

Miwen: "I'm not sure..."

The government was using its reserves of Dungeon Crystals to produce bullets capable of killing high-tier Gift users. Because of how the war turned out, with most adventurers under the AOTG, they were forced to be selective with this ammo.

Not enough supply for a long war.

While the AOTG had most of the top-tier adventurers participating in this war, it suffered from an even bigger problem: The technology used to integrate the Dungeon Crystals into bullets was a military secret of the highest grade.

The only way the AOTG could acquire these bullets was by capturing equipment, but with the government using them so sparingly, neither side had a reliable source.

It was safe to assume they weren't producing crystal bullets here, unless they made a massive breakthrough.

Miwen: "I guess... We'll find out soon enough."

There were two options regarding the origin of the red powder. Either it was shipped here pre-prepared, or it was being produced on the fifth floor.

My bet was on the latter.

Piper and I waited for someone to head down to the fifth floor, but considering how long it took for someone with clearance to enter the fourth, waiting around didn't look as promising anymore.

Since we already had enough information to consider the mission's main objective a success...

Miwen: "Pip... Take a step back."

I asked Cassandra to join me.

Since all that stood in our way were doors and walls, she chose to transform into a greatsword, one of the weapons I had the most trouble using.

Not that it was any problem against an immovable object. If anything, the reach made my job easier. The walls crumbled down, the doors were cut open, and we found the stairs to the fifth floor.

Our position had been revealed, and alarms started blazing, but neither Pip nor I cared about them by this point.

The helmet and the invisibility cloaks disappeared. In their place, Piper summoned a pair of plasma rifles.

I didn't need one since I had Cass, but she forced a pistol on me.

The walls inside leading down were a pure white, almost clinical. It didn't help that the corridor had much better lighting than the entire fourth floor.

However, it soon became obvious why that was the case.

The Fifth floor was almost completely empty.

Except for one man.

He lay strapped to a machine. Blindfolded. Gagged. Even his limbs had been severed.

Thin tubes had pierced his skin.

They were collecting his blood.

Piper: "What the hell?"

Miwen: "...Look."

There was another door in the room.

A secret sixth floor.

Miwen: "If I had to guess, that's where the red powder-"

Suddenly, Cass took control of my arm and struck the ground.

A barrage of [Wind Magic] bullets hit her. The sound of metal echoed through the room.

Miwen: "...The books?"

The direction didn't make sense.

The mana had to have come from either the books or the computers on the table behind us. There was nothing else there.

But Pip brought back the helmet, and she couldn't reveal any invisible enemies in the room with us.

Then, the door of the sixth floor opened by itself.

????: "You weren't invited. Get out."

I didn't recognize the voice, but the face was unmistakable.

Piper: "...Who are you?"

Miwen: " He's Finn Moore."

Also known as the leader of Neptune, one of the AOTG's top executives.

Do not write six or seven. Do not.