I should be writing my argumentative essay but my mind is begging me to do another chapter
Also if anyone didn't know, I also have this crossposted onto ! Albeit the fanfic net version has some differences between this current fic and the one crossposted that you may notice.
Anyway enjoy!
I plan for this chapter to be atleast a tad bit short this time compared to the 4k words chapters.
~~~~~ MINDUSTRIAL WAR ~~~~~
Atlas was horrified.
While Ironwood was away, an unidentified object that people initially thought was a meteor landed in an isolated part of Solitas, before it quickly became what looked like an outpost
The General of the Atlesian Army did eventually send a fleet there to investigate and make contact with the people residing there, so as to explain why they were there in the first place
But it all came tumbling down from there.
They responded violently at his fleet, hails of fire and flak all around, decimating androids and mechs alike alongside taking the lives of at least a dozen people in the process, whenever it'd be downing tons of Dropships or Paladins.
As a result they were forced to retreat, essentially leaving the outpost alone for now, but the current condition of the retreating forces had already picked up TONS of attention, and soon there were already news outlets covering the juicy details that were on Remnant's version of the internet.
The reactions to this were a mixed bag.
Some families grieved for the loss of life during that failed first contact, while others rallied to avenge the fallen.
Many were shocked at the existence of said outpost, some were willing to go as far as to investigate it in person and maybe even record footage of it since there were none at the moment, only details and wordings revealed from the Atlesian Military.
And as for Ironwood..
"They fired at us"
"I can tell"
"Ozpin this is no time for sly jokes" The General stopped pacing back and forth to stomp at his desk and slam his arms down with teeth clenched "THEY FIRED AT MY FLEET!"
"I do believe that was an army was that not?" The Headmaster furrowed his eyebrows, leaning forward as he supported his head with his arms on his desk.
"It was, I meant for it to be a show of force in order to press the people behind the base into asking questions, they were MEANT for diplomacy" He grunted, standing up from the desk to pace back and forth once more "And-"
"And they treated it as an invasion force instead, acting in fear and firing the first shot before they thought you did" Ozpin sighed, reaching his hand out to his coffee to take a sip.. It was cold, he shouldn't leave it out for too long like this "Look, I know you want to negotiate with the unknown faction, but an army is a symbol of war" He reasoned,
the Kingdoms did dismantle their military after the Great War came to a close, but Atlas did not, only militarizing themselves further to the point where even their students from their academy had to involuntarily join the army. All for the sake of eliminating Grimm and protecting their people.
"And thus, it's no surprise that our secluded friends had to respond in kind, treating the arriving army that you sent as a potential invader"
He stopped in order to let Ironwood respond, but all the General did was respond in silence instead. His eyes boring into him with an emotion that told him he had no idea how to respond
So he continued "If you're going to send another army to the same base, all you're gonna be rewarded with is a growing negativity in both our kingdoms during the preparation of the Vytal Festival, and a potential enemy that will in no doubt side with her."
"So let's just play safe for now" He finished, glancing at his cold coffee, to which he shook with a frown. Then he'd look back at the General "I hope you're not making any more reckless decisions while we're preparing for a festival for peace. Don't forget about my warning when we first discussed about this."
Ironwood lets out a humph with crossed arms and closed eyes "I won't promise you that Ozpin, but if this faction makes a move that threatens the safety of our kingdoms, I will-" Before he paused at the sight of what looked like ANOTHER meteor flying past by.
Ozpin soon followed suite, and both watched as the star flew above Vale and later on, Beacon.. It seemed like it was also way closer compared to the previous shootings star that flew above beacon before Team RWBY engaged with Roman Torchwick again.
"..." And the office went silent, with cogs and machinery only filling in the silence as ambience..
"Tch" Ironwood grimaced once more, when Atlas saw the core launch a replica of itself into the sky, it was visible across most of Remnant as a shooting star. Most would assume otherwise but the more smarter ones would know that shooting stars don't do that sort of stuff..
The General would then walk towards the elevator..
"I assume that would be a call of concern" Ozpin mused "Ironwood, everything that you're planning to do with this Unknown Faction" he frowned once more
"Please inform me in advance before an incident like before happens again"
Ironwood would hesitate before letting out a sigh "I will"
It wasn't long before the Headmaster of Beacon Academy was finally alone in this room, sight of Vale and Airshios outside his window only accompanying him in this lonely place.
He took a sip on his now cold coffee. "If this misunderstanding keeps up, I might have to intervene"
Even if it meant visiting the base in person..
~~~~~ MINDUSTRIAL WAR~~~~~
CORE LAUNCH
Sector 219 - Sector 778
Threat: Extreme
Resources Detected: Copper, Lead, Sand, Coal, Titanium, Thorium, Beryllium, Pyrium, Cryotite, Geolocite, UNNAMED-ITEM25, Water, Oil
The AI had to admit, this sector has got to the the most richest in terms of resource detection, from these elemental crystals to even thorium and oil! It was a potential hotspot for major factories to be built there!
They were glad to launch a core towards here now, even after the events in First Contact which had left them quite paranoid from further attacks.
Well, now that's out of the way.. Ah, what's Beryllium?
From the looks of it, it seems like it's another resource that their predecessor once unlocked, their database immediately recognizing it upon landing, after all they was built from the Derelict, but there were no traces of beryllium on Serpulo so..?
Oh right, the Interplanetary Accelerator, they had that before the Crux took over. Perhaps one of the planets they colonized had Beryllium.
Scanning the surroundings, the AI could find more foliage, except this time it's green all round. With patches of dirt and oak forests lying around. The veins are located underground obviously so Deep Drills are to be prioritized instead..
...
They had flown for minutes already and tried searching for ore veins in the north
There's a massive area with literally no resource veins around it seems, and it goes on for miles..
Is it the AI or is there an underground cavern beneath this area...?
But on the other hand, the AI also didn't expect there to be.. Ah..
Structures of varying kinds..
...
They're all ruined it seems, windows shattered and buildings left in their incomplete state, yet none of these structures are in the database, just like how Scrap Walls back in Serpulo are practically unresearchable.
It suggested that there was a base here, possibly estabished by the same forces that attacked First Contact before they promptly lost this sector
And now they're the ones claiming this place now, and the threat levels here were "Extreme"
Ruined structures and an Extreme threat level really mixes together well if one thinks about it.
RENAMED Sector 778 TO "Desolate Ruins"
And now they have to prepare.
Flying over to spots where they're able to place Deep Drills down, they began to mine both copper and lead. Heading over to the core to construct a Ground Factory that built Daivos to help with mining. The unloaders were connected to the Ground Factory from the core.
Then they desperately searched for patches of sand, and to their relief, there was indeed black sand available here. There's practically little to no difference between black and yellow sand really, with the only thing that seperates them being that the efficiency of Oil Extractors are boosted on the former.
With a Silicon Smelter and a Metaglass setup already built alongside Combustion Generators loaded with Pyrium, the AI went on to wait for several seconda while their core was being filled with necessary materials, and after that. They began to mine Titanium with the Pneumatic Deep Drills.
Now the AI had one question, now that they have Thorium, technically they now have a reason to use Laser Drills. But can it really dig deep enough to mine for Thorium veins..?
In theory they could do it, Laser Drills and Airblast Drills were designed to drill up large outputs of Thorium after all, and with that much power, surely they could?
...
The Laser Drill seems to be completely slow when it came to mining it.
What didn't help too was that even with water pumps connected to it, the output only budged with just about 1 more efficiency to the drill..
Yeah a modified Laser Drill is needed then.
New Content Unlocked!
Deep Laser Drill
- Allows drilling even deeper and faster through laser technology, but it requires power. Capable of mining Thorium.
That should do.
Now with the Deep Laser Drill in their building list, they began to mine Thorium.
Now that advanced minerals like that are obtained, the AI can finally move on to building even more advanced structures without the fear of depleting their Thorium resources!
Sector "Desolate Ruins" Under Attack
Estimated Time until Enemy Forces Arrive: 5:00
But first, pest control is needed.
...
They've been hearing the deep rumbling for the past several minites, and it hasn't stopped.. Hey im not sure if it's even gonna end at this point
"AAAUGH!" Roman groaned with arms clutching his head "Can someone stop that noise!? Im trying to get some quiet time around here!"
"But sir.." One of the White Fang Members reasoned out "We completely have no idea as to where it's coming from!"
"Then go find it!"
The White Fang members would look at each other, and promptly sighed shortly after.
~~~~~ MINDUSTRIAL WAR ~~~~~
Wave 11
2:11
24 Enemies Remaining
These dark wolves were becoming quite frankly, annoying
Well for starters, Beowulves, Ursa Minors and Nevermores began to attack the Sharded base in typical grimm fashion. But what the AI would assume as cannon fodder way earlier quickly died down when the Beowulves began to zig zag around the base, attempting to dodge the attacks coming from either Thorium-loaded Salvos and Pyrium Ripples.
This increased their chances at survival, with the Sharded having to build several Scorches along the defense line just incase Beowulves were this clever in taking less damage from their defenses and reached the walls.
The Nevermores however were pathetic, incredibly so as they were just so small compared to the omes back at Sector 219 and First Contact. They came in droves and shot bullet hells consisting of feathers, but the AI had one trump card up their sleeve.
The Force Projector.
As a result, the shield that the support structure projected had made their feathers entirely useless, and even if it did take these down, there were Mend Projectors to fix any damages that their buildings had taken during the waves.
They didn't become that much of a threat as a result, but that may bite the Sharded back later on..
Guardian of Sector "Desolate Ruins" Detected
Estimated Arrival in 4 Waves
Oh.
...
During these four waves, the AI had built several things before the Guardian had arrived.
Plastanium Factories, Phase Weavers, and a Silicon Crucible Schematic which took an incredulous amount of time to finish, but now they don't have to worry about Siligone.
As they were busy, they had noted about dark Elephants joining the others in their sieges against their base.
Now the attacks began to escalate more and more, Goliaths tanked the Ripple shells and took all the heavy Thorium blows from Salvos, and the Beowulves and Ursais would begin to claw at the Thorium walls.
At some point, they began building Surge Smelters, but that's when the final wave had arrived..
Estimated Guardian Health: 100%
A loud screeching caw can be heard from afar, the AI instinctive turned to face their..
HOLY CRUX IT'S TWICE AS BIG AS A ZENITH!
Panicked, it began to build more Swarms and Scatters around the base, with the former being loaded with what looks like Surge Alloy coming from.the Smelters!
The Nevermore instead didn't take interest in the main frontline as it eyed the Sharded base from afar, circling around while tanking Scatter flak.
It immediately squinted before flapping their wings at one part of the base, and then their plastanium factories were being destroyed left and right, Liquid Tanks being shattered as oil splattered toward the ground from the sheer size of the feathers
The AI was screaming internally from this, Force Projectors were already being built in response alongside Cyclones and such
But the Nevermore made a mistake and flew close right about the middle of the base where most of the AI's turrets were situated
Surge missiles shot from Swarms start homing in, flak bullets began exploding around once more and Thorium salvos flew into the air, each severely damaging the Giant Nevermore as it cawed once more
Feathers were shot towards the defenses.
And the AI took note of the flickering Force Projectors, oh for- they were already starting to overheat from tanking these feathers! Just what were they even made of!?
It wasn't long after before the AI had just decided to build a Spectre in the middle of the base in a fit of annoyance and fear. While Spectres, as massive and imposing have a short range, their giant Thorium bullets flew as far as possible before plummeting into the ground, only if the AI possesses it and starts manually shooting it.
It did exactly that, and now with a unloader keeping the Spectre supplied with Thorium, it began to shoot..!
BANG BANG BANG BANG!
The Thorium Spectre bullets were incredibly effective this time, as the AI had noticed gaping holes in the Nevermore's body, it cawed in pain as it flew around in circle
It already noticed that it's gonna die, so if the Giant Nevermores gonna be taken out, then how about they try taking the defenses out with them!? It flew back towards the approaching horde and began divebombing the frontlines as a last resort. Coordinating with the invading Grimm forces for a massive push.
The Salvos immediately took aim and pelted the Nevermore with Thorium.
And just like that, it crashed into the Thorium Wall, unresponsive as countless Beowulves and Ursais began climbing over the alpha grimm's Thorium-riddled corpse, and not long after they were met with a mix of Spectre bullets and Salvo bullets to the face too..
Only the lucky ones got to be burned with the sheer firepower of Scorchs.
Sector Captured
Despite having shorter waves, it functioned akin to that of Eradication-level Sectors with way tougher enemies and shorter waves. Though the difference here is that this sector was an Extreme-level threat.. Not an Eradication-level.
If that's what an Extreme-level threat is to an AI. Then they fear what an Eradication-level Sector would be like..
...
Now that the Grimm aren't around anymore, they began to fly around the map, taking in sights from ruins to all kinds of stuff. They wanted to try and mine beryllium but the ruined city caught their attention, they just wanted to see more of it after they defended themselves from.the attacks grimm..
Vale's failed expansion to Mountain Glenn had already made an impression on the Sharded AI with all these towering buildings, and yet they weren't exactly sure as to what their exact functions are like
Its as if they're made for smaller beings judging by these small entrances on the ground.
It continued to fly it's core unit around, no grimm in sight and no creatures roaming about.
It was peaceful, but solemn and sad.
The AI let out a sigh, imagine if they sent a core here while this city was bustling, maybe interactions would've been very different and then, maybe they could technically work together...?
Is that..?
The AI moved further into the city, taking a glimpse of an out of plsce ruined..
Conveyor belt
The Core Ship eyed the curiosity even further, it seems to be recently damaged..? The Core Ship slowly turned as it followed the trail of ruined conveyor belts, the size of the conveors becoming a sore thumb that stuck out way more than it should've been.
It soon arrived at a clearing, a park where.. There used to be..
...
Ruined Mechanical Drills, Large Solar Panels with Scratch Marks and most importantly..
A Destroyed Core Schematic, the Core inside had already been destroyed with a gaping hole in the middle, but the AI was not focusing on that detail
They were instead focusing on the faded out red stripes on these buildings..
[No brief info this time around]