Leo led his troops all the way back to his territory.
As soon as he stepped into the base, several blueprints appeared in his hands.
“Build all of them!”
Boom!
Rumble!
The territory trembled again and again.
Large sections of land sank downward.
The first structure to rise from the ground was completely different from the Steel Legion War Fortress.
Towering chimneys belched black smoke.
Countless thick pipes crisscrossed the outer walls.
A red mechanical gear emblem hung prominently in the center.
Robotic arms.
Forges.
Repair platforms.
The interior was densely packed with machinery.
[B-Rank Adeptus Mechanicus Manufactorum Sanctum construction complete!]
On the other side, barracks rose from the ground, neat to the point of rigidity.
Training grounds.
Military banners.
Quarters.
Every building was positioned as though it had been measured with a ruler.
[D-Rank Mordian Company Barracks construction complete!]
The Military Forge.
A new Tier 1 Gold Mine.
A second Corpse-Starch Factory.
All of them settled into place.
Leo looked around.
Satisfied!
There were now two Corpse-Starch Factories.
Galaxy had one very convenient feature.
Corpses did not simply disappear.
As long as nobody cleared them away, they could remain there for years without a problem.
And what was most abundant on the wasteland right now?
Corpses!
Rock Lizards.
Centaurs.
Orks.
Goblins.
Their numbers were terrifyingly high.
As long as they were hauled back, they could be turned into food!
There was only one problem.
Not enough manpower.
Leo opened the territory recruitment interface.
One thousand peasants.
Fifty thousand gold coins!
His eyelid twitched.
“Damn it.”
“People are more expensive than guns.”
Fortunately, he had more than enough Advanced resources at the moment.
Leo directly took some Advanced resources he did not currently need from the warehouse and listed them on the trading house.
On the first day after the server launched, crystals, mercury, sulfur, gems, and similar resources were in extremely high demand.
The moment they were listed, they disappeared in batches.
Gold coins quickly flooded into his account.
“Recruit!”
[Peasant × 1000!]
One thousand subjects sequentially walked out of the Imperial Frontline Command.
A dense mass of people gathered together.
Leo immediately began assigning them.
Three hundred people went to the automated lumber mill.
Four hundred were responsible for dragging corpses back from the battlefield.
Two hundred were assigned to transport food, ammunition, and weapons.
The remaining one hundred were distributed among various mining areas and buildings.
The entire territory instantly burst into activity.
Not enough transport vehicles?
Use handcarts first.
Not enough handcarts?
Carry everything on their shoulders!
The Steel Legion was responsible for killing.
The subjects were responsible for stripping the battlefield bare.
“Not even dead bodies can go to waste.”
Leo watched cart after cart leave the territory, loaded with corpses.
He felt quite pleased.
A few hours passed quickly.
Chime!
[Imperial Frontline Command upgrade complete!]
[Current Tier: 3!]
[Can produce up to Tier 3 units!]
Leo immediately turned around.
Adeptus Mechanicus Manufactorum Sanctum!
A brand-new recruitment list lit up.
[Tier 1: Combat Servitor]
[Tier 2: Skitarii Rangers]
[Tier 2: Skitarii Vanguard]
[Tier 3: Tech-Priest]
[Tier 3: Sicarian Infiltrator]
Leo first opened the Combat Servitor.
A tall, semi-mechanical cybernetic body appeared on the panel.
A massive amount of flesh had been replaced with mechanical structures.
Its eyes were dull and lifeless.
Its arms could even directly swap between different tools.
[Combat Servitor]
[Possesses multiple work modes.]
[Can execute tasks such as combat, mining, hauling, engineering construction, and weapon operation.]
“Awesome.”
What peasants could do, these things could do too.
What miners could do, they could also handle.
Swap weapons during battle, and they could instantly become soldiers.
As expected, things from the Adeptus Mechanicus could not be viewed like ordinary units.
Leo scrolled further down.
Skitarii Rangers.
Their bodies were heavily cybernetically augmented.
The amount of remaining flesh was pitifully small.
A crimson robe covered their bodies.
Their faces were hidden behind metallic rebreather masks.
Pairs of mechanical lenses flickered with cold light.
In their hands were slender Galvanic Rifles.
[Bionic Enhancement]
[Stamina, endurance, and movement speed significantly increased.]
[Long-range reconnaissance efficiency increased.]
Leo’s eyes lit up.
This was exactly what he lacked!
Currently, scouting for the Steel Legion relied entirely on regular soldiers running on foot.
Their speed was too slow, and their exploration radius was limited.
These Rangers could completely handle long-distance reconnaissance.
Then Leo looked at the Vanguard.
The smile on his face grew even wider.
[Skitarii Vanguard]
[Abundant Stamina]
[Marksmanship Calibration]
[Mechanical Will]
[Immune to morale collapse, toxins, miasma, harsh air, and other negative effects.]
[Primary Weapon: Rad-weapons!]
Their firepower was already quite impressive.
These were the true elite Skitarii of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
In terms of certain combat capabilities, they could even go toe-to-toe with Astartes.
Just as Leo was about to recruit them, however, his gaze suddenly froze.
[Special Flaw: Radiation Contamination]
[Skitarii Vanguard will continuously emit high-intensity radiation.]
[Effective Combat Lifespan: 30 days.]
“…”
Leo fell silent for several seconds.
“Kill a thousand enemies…”
“And lose eight hundred of your own?”
Even allies standing beside them would suffer radiation damage.
And after thirty days, they would completely break down.
Their firepower was fierce, but the drawback was truly insane.
“Let’s put them on hold for now.”
It was not yet the point where they were absolutely necessary.
What truly occupied Leo’s mind were still the Tier 3 units.
“Tech-Priests.”
“Recruit fifty!”
Inside the Manufactorum Sanctum, scarlet lights flickered one after another.
Fifty figures clad in red robes slowly walked out.
Mechadendrites extended from their backs.
Cybernetic metal limbs stepped onto the ground.
Various scanning devices glimmered faintly.
Leo pointed directly toward the Military Forge.
“All of you, get inside.”
“First, build motorcycles.”
“Repair obsolete weapons.”
“Automated autocannons.”
“Defensive turrets.”
“Build as many as you can!”
His main force went out running around every day.
His main base absolutely could not be left undefended.
This game had no recall-to-town feature.
If other players actually managed to sneak up on his base, it would be too late to run back.
What Leo wanted was not a camp.
It was a fortress!
Finally, he recruited one hundred Rangers.
Orderly crimson figures stepped out from the Sanctum.
Their mechanical lenses gleamed coldly.
Slender firearms hung diagonally across their chests.
The scout mounts recently allocated to the territory were also brought before them.
Neighs rang out one after another.
One Ranger after another mounted up.
Red robes draped down.
Cybernetic limbs gripped the horses tightly.
Slender rifles rested at their sides.
A hundred riders stood side by side on the wasteland.
The sense of pressure instantly peaked.
“Now this looks like real scouts.”
Leo raised his hand.
“Fan out!”
“Scout every inch of the surrounding fifty kilometers for me!”
The warhorses bolted forward.
The hundred riders quickly dispersed.
Right at that moment—
Beep!
Beep!
Beep!
A piercing notification suddenly echoed across the sky.
Every player’s field of vision turned red at the same time.
[Global Emergency Announcement!]
[Attention all Lords!]
[In seven days, the first World Boss will materialize!]
[World Boss: Famine Giant!]
[During the coverage of the Famine Domain, all conventional food production will be reduced by 80%!]
[All Lords are urged to prioritize killing it!]
Leo stared at the announcement.
He was stunned for a moment.
Then he smiled.
Nothing had changed.
In his previous life, the first World Boss had also been the Famine Giant.
An immense number of Lords had died that time.
Many did not die at the hands of the Boss.
Nor did they die at the hands of other players.
Instead, they were killed by their own troops!
Every biological unit in Galaxy required food every day.
If there was not enough food, at best, loyalty would drop, leading to desertion.
At worst, they would rebel outright!
Raiding warehouses.
Killing Lords.
The entire territory could collapse from within.
Leo looked toward a spot not far away.
The two Corpse-Starch Factories were spewing smoke.
Across the wasteland, cartloads of corpses were still being transported back.
Right now, the trading ratio between food and gold coins was approximately one gold coin for two units of food.
Once the famine arrived?
The corners of Leo’s mouth curled upward.
Corpse-Starch was not farmland.
Nor was it a food resource node.
This was processing!
“An 80% drop in production?”
“What does that have to do with me?”
When the time came, the entire server would suffer from a food shortage.
His two Corpse-Starch Factories would be working like crazy.
As for eating it himself?
Leo shook his head.
“When there’s normal food…”
“Who would eat this stuff?”
Such good stuff should naturally be sold to others.
Leo looked at the increasing number of corpses being hauled back.
His eyes lit up completely.
“These aren’t corpses.”
“These are all gold coins!”