Chapter 363: Only Magic Can Defeat Magic

"What!?"

"Hurry and investigate the cause!"

"What on earth is going on!?"

"Has the Magic Energy supply line been cut off?"

"What exactly are those guys in the Guard and the City Defense Department doing!?"

Inside the Federal Parliament hall, the council members, who had been relatively calm, suddenly became flustered upon hearing the news relayed by the Guard.

Even if the city's Energy Shield were destroyed, they were confident they could repel the Old Legion invading the city; however, now... if their control over the Magic Fountain had failed completely, the situation would be entirely different.

Whether the Federation, having lost its nearly infinite supply of Magic, could repel the Old Legion before their reserve Magic Energy was exhausted was a complete unknown.

And unlike the chaos over at the Council Building.

At this very moment, beneath the headquarters of Huanle Intertainment.

In front of this mechanical construct, which was suspected to be a Command Center, Yun Mu and the others appeared rather silent.

"What is this..." After a pause, Yun Mu corrected herself: "I mean, why is this thing here?"

"This is a prototype of the Old Legion Command Center... one could say that, at least." Airui Laya walked up the metal steps, signaling for everyone to follow her: "There is no such thing within the Old Legion; it is a construct we developed independently based on information deciphered from the God Bone."

"Its functions are similar to how they appear in the game, and besides..."

"Hehe." Airui Laya chuckled softly and did not continue.

"You will know in a moment," she said.

Although she was a bit annoyed that Airui Laya was being mysterious at a time like this, since she said they would know in a moment, it was better not to ask too much.

Yun Mu followed curiously behind Airui Laya, her gaze constantly sizing up the mechanical construct before her.

They walked up the steps to the gate of the 'Command Center'. After scanning Airui Laya's pupils, the gray-white metal gate opened to both sides.

The metal shell of the mechanical construct was quite thick and heavy, looking very durable.

This point was actually similar to its performance in the game.

"There are many rooms inside the Command Center where you can rest; besides that, there are conference rooms, a combat command room, resource storage warehouses, and so on," Airui Laya introduced as she walked in front.

"And the most important function is right here."

Airui Laya led them into the combat command room. The first thing that came into view was a very large display screen, and beneath the screen were several seats and controllable Mainframes.

And behind the Mainframes was a virtual projected sand table.

The commander's position was behind the sand table, featuring a seat that looked quite comfortable, and in front of the seat was a microphone with adjustable height.

It looked like one wouldn't need to shout when commanding... "Miss Yun should have some way to inspect the abilities of items, right? You can try inspecting this Command Center." Airui Laya turned her head to look at Yun Mu.

This person knew after all... Back when Airui Laya gave her the Mask, she never mentioned the Mask's functions, not even providing a manual.

At the time, Yun Mu had suspected that she knew she could view item attributes.

As for how she knew? How could she know? Perhaps the God of Pleasure and Chaos, Vikala, told her.

After thinking for a moment, Yun Mu inspected the floor beneath her feet.

【Old Days Command Center — Prototype I (Black)】

【HP: 1050】

【Attack: 800】

【Defense: 850】

【Skill: Datafication】

【Under the blessing of the God of Pleasure and Chaos, Vikala, this Command Center possesses the ability of Datafication; as long as its HP is not exhausted, it will not break.】

【Skill: Morphing】

【This Command Center can switch between three forms: 【Fortress】, 【Radar】, and 【Ascension】. When in 【Fortress】 form, a rotatable turret will rise from the top of the Command Center, dealing damage to any approaching land units!】

【And when the Command Center is in 【Radar】 form, it can scan any area within a 10-kilometer radius. The scanned area is a circle with a diameter of 800 meters; the scan is permanent and cannot be obscured by any means.】

【When converted to 【Ascension】 form, the Command Center can fly in the air. (Note: The three forms cannot exist simultaneously.)】

【Skill: Production Unit】

【By consuming Resource Points, the Command Center can produce units 【Repairman】 and 【Executor】. Besides this, while the Command Center exists, the construction of our units will only cost a certain amount of 【Resource Points】.】

【Skill: Real-time Sand Table】

【The sand table in the combat command room will display the surrounding terrain and everything seen by our units within their field of vision in real-time. Besides this, the Command Center can remotely control our constructed mechanical units with zero latency!】

【Skill: Stage I】

【The current stage level of the construct is I. By spending 3000 Resource Points and 2500 Research Points, its tier can be promoted to II. The method to obtain Research Points is—recycling the mechanical constructs of hostile factions; depending on the technological level and integrity of the construct, an indefinite amount of Research Points can be obtained.】

【This is the only mechanical construct of its kind in the world, ranking among the Artifacts under the dual blessing of the God of Pleasure and Chaos, Vikala, and local popularity.】

【"Don't give me time to develop, or I will show you what cruelty is."】

"This thing is actually an Artifact!?" Yun Mu stared at the string of text information on the Game Panel in a daze.

This was quite different from the small, exquisite appearance of Artifacts in her impression.

But then again, it seemed she had never seen what a real Artifact looked like... "What did you see?" Airui Laya asked, seeing the expression on her face.

"Hmm..." After hesitating for a moment, Yun Mu briefly described the information she saw.

Airui Laya should have known the abilities of this thing; the reason she asked was probably just to see how much she could actually see.

Regarding this, Yun Mu felt there was no need to hide anything; telling the truth was fine.

"Just as my God said, it really is an incredible ability." After listening to her account, the expression on Airui Laya's face did not change much, only sighing slightly.

"Hey, you aren't planning to use this thing to repel the Old Legion, are you?" Yun Mu frowned. Thinking of the situation outside and the purpose of this thing, she suddenly had an ominous premonition.

The purpose of the Old Days Front couldn't be to select a Champion with command talent, could it? Just by borrowing the Authority of the Joy God, the performance of this Command Center was just like in the game... Don't tell me they want her to do it, damn it!

What a joke, even if this Command Center is an Artifact, it's impossible! According to the game's logic, the other side has already developed into a fully-fledged entity, possessing all ultimate units.

And she has only just started the game.

Can this be won? Even a Champion wouldn't be able to pull it off! Not to mention she is only a 'suburban' Champion.

"Cough, cough." Airui Laya gave a light cough at this moment, and she said to Yun Mu in a Seductive tone: "Once it's done, this Artifact will belong to you."

An Artifact?

That's only if one has the life to take it.

Yun Mu was very clear-headed; she didn't want to get dragged into this mess. Damn it, why won't my hands listen to me!

"I, I think I can try," Yun Mu said, gripping Airui Laya's palm.

This thing is an Artifact, after all; if she missed this chance, she didn't know when she would ever encounter one again.

Besides, regarding the situation with the Federation, if she had the ability, she didn't really want to sit idly by.

It wasn't just for the sake of her partnership with the Fire Weaver Bird Family, but also... in short, there were all sorts of reasons.

"What should I do?" Yun Mu asked Airui Laya.

"It's very simple, just do it like you usually play Old Days Front." Airui Laya let Yun Mu sit in the commander's seat, then pointed her finger at the lever on the Mainframe in front of her.

"In any case, let's start with the first step."

"This is the switch for the Command Center; pull it to start the system."

"Like this?" Yun Mu pulled the switch, and soon, the sound of the system starting up rang out; the previously dim command room was suddenly illuminated by lights.

Afterward, Airui Laya pointed her hand toward the monitor that had lit up in front.

"The monitor can switch to any unit's perspective, or display the scenes seen by multiple units in a split-screen; besides that, the monitor can also view the area scanned by the Radar in Radar mode."

"Resource Points and Research Points can only be seen by the commander; they are right there on the Mainframe console in front of you."

"Unlike in the game, any unit's action requires the consumption of energy; this is the Magic Energy currently stored in the Command Center."

"Building an Energy Plant can convert Resource Points into Magic Energy, so the Energy Plant is very important!"

"The map sandbox will display the surrounding terrain and buildings; if our units are present, the sandbox will also synchronize the scenes seen by the units in real-time."

"If you feel the sandbox is too large and can't see a specific place clearly, you can also choose to zoom in on the sandbox..."

With Airui Laya's help, Yun Mu spent half an hour finally grasping how to use the Command Center.

By this time, she had already built some repair workers and executors; the former were busy building an Energy Plant, while the latter... were window shopping.

There was no help for it; with just this few executors, going out wouldn't be enough to serve as food for the Old Legion, so she could only let them stay underground.

By the way, in the real world, the construction speed of buildings is naturally not as fast as in the game.

But it could still be considered quite exaggerated.

An Energy Tower 80 meters high with a base diameter of 32 meters actually only takes twelve hours to build.

The construction speed of the Barracks is slightly faster, taking only ten hours to complete.

The only problem is that after placing the Energy Plant and the Barracks, the underground space of the Joy Company is a bit crowded.

In any case, it is impossible to fit an Ore Refinery anymore.

As for placing buildings on the surface? She wasn't that stupid yet.

"It's fine, you can have the repair workers expand the underground section, it's just that the time to build structures will be extended quite a bit," Airui Laya explained to her after learning of her problem.

"I see... but how can Resource Points be obtained?" After controlling the repair workers to expand the underground space, Yun Mu looked at Airui Laya and said: "There doesn't seem to be any ore vein resources nearby."

Ore vein resources can be viewed on the map sandbox; Yun Mu had carefully surveyed it earlier, and the closest ore vein to them was 1,200 meters to the east of the Command Center, 500 meters underground; as it stands, it cannot be collected.

"Resource Points can be obtained just by recycling metal; isn't this stuff everywhere in the city?" Airui Laya said to her: "The Armored Mining Vehicle will collect the metal and bring it back itself."

"Right." Airui Laya thought of something at this moment, and she pointed her finger at a location on the map sandbox: "This is an underground base our company built."

"Our company employees and the Survivors are all arranged here; if you want to expand, you can have the repair workers expand in that direction."

"No problem." Yun Mu nodded, then asked again: "Brenna and the others went there, right?"

Earlier, Airui Laya had Rafael take the Joy Company employees and the Survivors to relocate their base.

Considering that they might be attacked on the way, and that there was nothing for Brenna and the others to do if they stayed here.

They went along as guards to accompany the movement.

Calculating the time, they should have arrived by now.

After all, that place is not far from here, and there is a secret passage built by the company; the so-called route where they might be attacked is only that short stretch of road after leaving the Joy Company and heading to the entrance of the secret passage.

"Ah, so boring~"

Yun Mu lay back on the commander's seat; at a time like this, besides waiting for the repair workers to finish building the structures, there was nothing else she could do.

However, once the Barracks are finished, she can let the executors go out to explore.

Whether it's searching for and rescuing Survivors or finding a way to recycle some Old Days mechanical bodies to obtain Research Points, both count as good choices.

There is no need to worry that the executors' actions will attract the attention of the Old Legion.

Because the appearance of the executors she produces is completely different from those in the game and the mechanical bodies of the Old Legion.

They look like humans wearing exoskeleton armor, and they even have the Joy Company logo on them; anyone who sees them will only think these executors are the Joy Company's armed forces.

Anyway, there are already enough similar armed forces from other companies in Feiluoka at this time.

It wouldn't be strange to have one more team appear.

Speaking of which, Yun Mu suddenly wanted to know how things were outside.

The Federation counts as a national power, after all; it shouldn't be that easy to be crushed by the Old Legion, right?

With the almost infinite Magic supply from the Magic Fountain, even if they can't knock back the Old Legion, shouldn't defense be more than enough? Yun Mu remembered that deleted System Log in the Magic Fountain again.

Facts have proven that the Federal Councilor's control over the Magic Fountain is far from as secure as they appear.

If at this moment, that guy who deleted the System Log were to control the Magic Fountain to cut off the power supply... uh.

It should be fine, right?

(End of chapter)