NEC Chapter 95: All-Terrain Self-Propelled Heavy Firepower Cluster

Which is more important, money or fish?

Many years ago, money should have been more important. Nowadays, it seems fishing is more important.

However, when the lord offered the title of "Chief Magical Advisor of Vast Sea Territory" and made a promise that in the future he would have Master Downs accompanied by the territory's full ceremonial guard and thousands of troops to visit Downs' former wife and children, Glen Downs burst forth with unprecedented enthusiasm.

It seemed this scenario was one that every man who had experienced betrayal had recalled countless times in his dreams.

Once a fifth-tier Void Chanter, Glen Downs had already entered the upper echelons of society in terms of both status and personal assets. However, Downs' wife had always harbored resentment about his background.

In the Mirror Lake Kingdom where he was born, the class distinctions were extremely rigid. Downs was merely a lowborn commoner born on a dilapidated fishing boat in a river bend. To compare it to Blue Star, it was "once a Dalit, always a Dalit."

After he achieved success and fame, he had a beautiful wife and children. However, when that high-born man merely crooked his finger, his family instantly fell apart.

Downs had also considered revenge. As a fifth-tier Grand Mage, his status was sufficient to mobilize certain kingdom resources. But after understanding the whole situation, even those closest to him advised him to abandon thoughts of revenge.

Why? Because the other party had done nothing wrong. There was no deception or coercion, his wife had thrown herself at the man voluntarily.

Such dalliances were considered romantic tales in noble circles, not even worthy of moral condemnation.

What grounds did he have for revenge? One must be reasonable after all.

If he had the ability, he could sleep with the other man's wife without using force, and everyone would give him a thumbs up in approval.

Utterly disheartened, Downs left that land of sorrow, wandered about for some time, and finally settled in Cloudmist Domain, living in a daze for over ten years before coincidentally coming to Vast Sea.

What he could find solace in was recalling the joy of that moment in his childhood when he caught fish on the fishing boat where he was born.

Now, because of a magical fishing rod, he had been half-coaxed, half-deceived into coming to Vast Sea Territory.

Here, he not only had money and would soon possibly have fish, but more importantly, in the future he might be able to reclaim his dignity.

Who says the nobility of Vast Sea aren't nobility!

Driven by such motivation, Downs spared no effort. With the hands-on assistance and guidance of this former high-tier professional, Chen Mo's growth rate suddenly jumped up another level.

The most important key factor in this was that Downs had constructed a miniature magical spiritual energy nexus in Vast Sea Territory.

Why so many mages were dedicated to building their own wizard towers was because the most crucial core function of wizard towers was the spiritual energy concentration effect brought by the tower's spiritual energy nexus.

Similar to what Chen Mo had used at "Hal's Mage Tower," the cultivation room that enhanced meditation effects was merely a trickle overflow effect from the magical spiritual energy nexus.

First-tier or even second-tier mages in their later stages could maintain growth in their vast spiritual power, all relying on the "super doubling" effect of cultivation brought by the spiritual energy concentration effect.

Old Downs had also once planned to build a wizard tower, so after advancing to the fifth tier, he spent enormous effort and assets to obtain a spiritual energy nexus.

Now that he had received the lord's exceptional promise, if not now, when?

The Grand Mage personally took action, arranging a complete set of guiding magic arrays around this magical core, while choosing to activate it with magic crystals, maintaining the high-efficiency operation of the spiritual energy nexus during Chen Mo's cultivation period.

In mid-January, Lord Chen Mo successfully completed his retreat, first bringing the first batch of new forces to Vast Sea Territory.

One squad, twelve units, skeleton riflemen.

Previously, Chen Mo had been reluctant to use his precious altar summoning slots to summon those low-value undead creatures. After all, under the same weight conditions, bringing over ten-plus kilograms of supplies from home versus summoning a skeleton rifleman was worlds apart.

But Steward Herlan gave him a reminder.

"For an undead mage, nothing is more loyal and reliable than your own undead creatures."

"Even if the undead mage betrays himself, your summoned creatures will still guard by your side."

Chen Mo felt like he had heard this somewhere before...

Right, back in Cloudmist Domain, at a banquet, a mage had told such a story about a certain undead mage who had advanced to Netherworld Guidance. Due to some special circumstances, he became utterly despairing and prepared to commit suicide.

His loyal Death Knight summoned creature, to prevent the mage from harming himself, urgently took action and killed the mage.

This was naturally an overly exaggerated joke. In Chen Mo's understanding, unless the undead mage himself issued clear self-attack commands, summoned creatures would not initiate any form of active attack on their summoner.

Herlan's words were more likely hinting that the group of old soldiers in the territory weren't reliable enough.

But Chen Mo dialectically accepted part of Herlan's opinion, summoned creatures were indeed more reliable than humans with unpredictable thoughts.

Because of this loyal suggestion, Herlan temporarily changed from steward to acting secretary of Vast Sea Territory.

Adding "acting" was also advice from the politicians back home.

It could be made permanent at any time, or reassigned for other purposes. Having a sword constantly hanging over one's head made subordinates unlikely to develop contemptuous thoughts in the short term.

Herlan went to work with great enthusiasm, while Chen Mo himself used the new round of summoning allocation to successfully summon a dozen skeletons from the familiar Number 404, the Bone Village Chief.

The main reason he could be so extravagant was naturally that Lord Chen Mo had successfully become Stardust.

Although still dust, having just escaped apprentice qualifications as a weakling, the lowest-level rookie among mages, and even because he hadn't undergone skill level certification from the continent's mercenary guild, he could now only be considered black Stardust, the kind not officially recognized.

But the enhancement of the summoning altar's strength was real.

Not only had the cooldown time shortened by nearly ten percent, but more importantly, the undead creatures he could summon had directly upgraded from slow, unintelligent units like skeletons and zombies to flying gargoyles or phantom souls capable of small-scale soul attacks.

The weight of supplies that could be transported from home had also jumped to 1,800 kilograms, entering an era where tons were the basic unit of measurement.

Lord Chen's confidence expanded dramatically. A mere ten-plus kilograms for skeletons? Piece of cake!

Now I can use one and throw one away, and still send one home!

Of course, these skeletons weren't summoned for fun. Combining his personal experience with research conclusions about Little White from home, Chen Mo carefully considered and organized the skeletons into his firearms unit.

According to the "Comprehensive Test Usage Report for Skeleton Zero" provided by East Xia, firearms perfectly compensated for the original skeleton riflemen's various serious flaws: frail bodies, inferior weapons, weak attack power, and severe terrain movement limitations. They were a perfect match.

Meanwhile, the skeletons' advantages were amplified in all aspects: stable limbs, unaffected by sensory obstruction, sufficient patience, fearless of pain, and getting burned a few times didn't matter...

When necessary, they would pull the pin on glory grenades without any hesitation!

Plus constant morale and absolute loyalty!

Thus, Vast Sea Territory's first lord's direct personal guard unit, later to become the famous [Skeleton Division], was officially established!

The first batch of equipment for the skeletons was still the structurally stable Type 95 bullpup automatic rifle, weighing only 3.25 kilograms.

To facilitate use by the skeleton guard, the rifle body was equipped with a pull-up gun sling. With just a simple motion, they could lift the automatic rifle normally stored in their abdominal cavity to attack position. This also ensured that during team movements, the firearms wouldn't lose the skeleton riflemen's control due to various unknown situations.

Each skeleton rifleman carried four magazines as standard. With the current intelligence level and operational skills of this batch of skeletons, changing magazines was barely manageable, but loading bullets into magazines one by one was somewhat demanding.

Therefore, Chen Mo equipped the skeleton guard with auxiliary troops.

Human auxiliaries were responsible for checking the skeletons' equipment and replenishing magazines before each battle, performing weapon maintenance after battles, and also maintaining the skeletons.

Finally, when East Xia shipped this batch of firearms, they made a special design called a bone detection device.

Through images and scan data provided by Chen Mo, East Xia Military Industrial Group installed a linked sensing device on this batch of Type 95 automatic rifles. Only bone hands of similar size could release the safety and pull the trigger when placed on it.

In other words, if other human warriors in the territory wanted to use these guns, they would have to scrape off all the flesh from their palms.

If it were that dumb bull, he would have to scrape off most of the bone too...

East Xia was currently developing second-generation bone sensing equipment, aimed at detecting whether bone structures pressed against it were active or passive, preventing people from using skeleton hand segments for exploitation.

It seemed they didn't intend to give humans any opportunities.

Finally, the skeleton guards had very poor throwing ability. East Xia's conclusion was that without muscle-driven force, movements were rigid, so the skeleton guard temporarily wasn't equipped with infantry throwing weapons, only retaining one "glory grenade"!

This was also temporary. Modifications for equipping skeletons with exoskeletons, grenade launchers, and even built-in vertical launch missiles were already underway.

In late January, another batch of new forces arrived.

Centaurs from Six-Leaf Grove.

This was an unexpected team. When Chen Mo confirmed his lord status in Cloudmist Domain, he had arranged for personnel to go to Crescent Moon Federation, trying to see if he could contact familiar mercenaries, Old John and Little John, Big Luke and Little Josie, including his magic instructor Morton.

Chen Mo hoped to have more familiar people come help him, and of course, there was also some intention of providing assistance.

During this process, he received shocking news: Six-Leaf Grove, ruled by the centaur tribe, was gone.

Forces from Zircon Family of Greenspine Kingdom had captured Six-Leaf Grove.

The reason Greenspine Kingdom broke the long-standing peace between humans and centaur tribes was, ostensibly, that the centaur camp had long harbored various fugitives, refused to submit to royal authority, caused serious economic losses to the kingdom, and brought enormous security risks.

This couldn't be called wrong, after all, the chaotic situation within the centaur camp had long existed.

For example, the "Big Eye" shaman in the camp had been highly suspected by the kingdom of being a spy from another country because he had repeatedly treated "violent criminals" for injuries.

After applying a major memory restoration technique, the "Big Eye" shaman's memory quickly recovered. He confessed to whatever the interrogators asked, revealing numerous inside stories about Six-Leaf Grove's corruption, and successfully graduated with decapitation.

Of course, removing this surface reason, hidden beneath was a simple yet absurd reason.

Zircon Family, due to certain previous improper actions, owed the dwarves enormous compensation for floating airships and crew members. They couldn't come up with this money, or rather, were reluctant to pay it.

So they chose to use the operating rights of Six-Leaf Grove as collateral payment to the dwarves.

The dwarves, having operated shipping routes for years, naturally had clear knowledge of Six-Leaf Grove's value. Both sides hit it off immediately.

Before the centaurs' blood had dried here, the dwarves' business had already opened there.

Although the centaur tribe's power was famous throughout the southern forests, once facing a systematic kingdom army, they still had no ability to fight back.

With the death of the centaur tribe's great chief and the slaughter of the tribe's warriors, this renowned centaur camp became history in the mouths of wandering minstrels.

Only when later visitors occasionally drank a bowl of fresh mushroom soup in the new Six-Leaf Grove could they vaguely see the former glory of the centaur tribe.

But the centaurs hadn't died out completely. When facing the kingdom's encirclement, while the centaur chief led the tribal warriors in resistance, he arranged for a small number of young adults to take all underage centaurs, break through the encirclement, and flee into the mountains east of the Crimson Corridor.

Upon hearing this news, Chen Mo immediately hired a mercenary squad skilled in mountain activities to go south and successfully found the centaur tribe's remnants.

The centaurs eventually accepted the supplies Chen Mo provided. At Little Kaga's strong recommendation, they traveled over mountains, crossed the great desert, and came to Vast Sea Territory.

The moment he saw Chen Mo, Little Kaga burst into tears.

At a moment when most of the elders had died, the tribe was wanted and hiding everywhere in constant fear and confusion, someone suddenly told this little guy, "Do you remember the undead mage you once received? He says to wait for you in his territory."

"This is the food and silver coins he sent for you!"

The desperate centaur tribe embarked on this long eastward journey.

Holding the little centaur who was now much taller than himself, Chen Mo comforted him for a long time before finally stopping Little Kaga's sobbing.

Back at Six-Leaf Grove, Chen Mo knew that Kaga was a standard second-generation centaur. Many industries in the camp belonged to his family elders.

Now, in this fleeing group, Kaga also enjoyed high authority.

When Lord Chen Mo, as Kaga's old acquaintance, provided the centaurs' final sanctuary, Kaga completely rose to power, becoming the new leader of this centaur tribe.

Even though he was still a half-grown child.

Besides Kaga, the only one Chen Mo recognized was "Little Dreadlocks," who kept hiding and dodging.

The remaining two hundred-plus centaurs included only thirteen adults, with the rest being children. However, with centaurs' size and strength, even underage centaurs were comparable to adult low-tier mercenaries.

The centaurs' arrival gave Chen Mo another bold idea.

Soon, complete centaur physical examination data was sent to East Xia.

A few days later, the first batch of custom equipment arrived. Chen Mo strictly sealed off the scene, posted skeleton guards on the perimeter, and only brought the dumb bull to secretly observe this new weapon experiment.

Adult centaur warriors weighed around 800 kilograms, with individual leader-level centaurs reaching up to one ton. Their excellent strength allowed them to carry loads of more than a quarter of their body weight, with strong individuals even able to bear loads equal to their body weight for extended periods.

Even underage centaurs could easily carry a person.

However, when the centaur tribe was driven from the grasslands where their ancestors had lived for generations and forced to eke out a living on forest edges, they left behind an insurmountable ancestral rule: the centaur tribe must never allow humans to ride on their backs.

Only the centaurs themselves knew how much blood and tears this rule contained.

Actually, if not for this ancestral rule, perhaps the centaur tribe might have prospered under human breeding and cultivation.

After all, centaur girls who could fight, be ridden, and carry loads, and occasionally might be useful for other things, hit certain humans' fetish points.

Chen Mo respected the centaurs' tradition and didn't think of organizing any centaur cavalry battalion. However, if you won't carry people, carrying some weapons doesn't violate the rules, right?

What was currently equipped for the centaurs was a 14.5mm caliber, QJG-02 type high-flat dual-purpose machine gun.

The gun mount together with the body-fixing device weighed only 76 kilograms. With 200 rounds of ammunition, the total combat weight was around 140 kilograms. Even underage little centaurs could carry it easily.

On the training ground, Little Kaga charged forward at about 60 kilometers per hour. After reaching the designated position, he stopped with a whoosh, turned his horse body toward the front, with the dark gun barrel mounted at his horse tail pointing in the attack direction.

Meanwhile, his upper human body flexibly twisted sideways and backward to aim, essentially looking at his own horse rear.

His four hooves spread apart and stood firm, braced diagonally in the gravel. He lowered two support frames from both sides of the gun body, driving them deep into the ground, firmly stabilizing the high-flat dual-purpose machine gun.

Then, Kaga held the gun with his left hand, pulled the trigger with his right, and fired a long line of tracer fire.

Due to lack of calibration and the centaur's inexperience in actual combat, the attack was definitely wildly off target.

But this was already enough. Chen Mo's heart surged with excitement, and he couldn't help but punch the air forcefully.

What was this? This was a truly all-terrain self-propelled heavy firepower cluster.

At this very moment, on distant Blue Star, East Xia's military was conducting frantic equipment testing.

In their new round of weapon configuration list, not only did it include lightweight 12.7mm heavy machine guns and twin-tube single-barrel missile launchers, but also 30mm rotary cannons, 76mm recoilless rifles, 105mm low-recoil howitzers, twelve-tube medium rocket launchers, drone hive launchers... and so on and so forth.

Chen Mo now had only one thought.

No, the altar's transmission capacity still wasn't enough.

He still needed to train!

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