16

The recycling center on the Outpost was meant to repurpose Nikke components and/or fabricate them using compatible Rapture materials.

It was a bit unnerving to be honest since there were VERY humanlike limbs and stuff laying around.

But that wasn't why I was here.

"Hm... it's interesting." I brushed off the dust on some consoles and checked the terminals. "...It's definitely an advanced 3D printer."

A quick analysis of the UI and documentation showed that it was mostly automated. And it was meant to be used by commanders for emergency fixes and weapon backups while awaiting resupplies.

But I wasn't just 'a' Commander.

I was 'the' commander. At least, the commander who had broad enough knowledge to munchkin the crap out of this tech.

"Let's see..."

I checked the various material properties of the resources we had on hand.

In terms of Nikke alloys and components, we didn't have too much. Maybe enough to repair one frame that was badly damaged.

But in terms of Rapture parts and cores...

Well, we had a small mountain outside.

"This thing seems to be an analyzer, so let's check..."

I grabbed a pile of Rapture chassis from outside and placed it in a material scanner.

"Hm... high conductivity, low durability. Great for wiring, not for armor or weaponry. Huh." I rubbed my chin. "Did people really not consider this? Or DID they consider it and choose not to follow down this route?"

I could see rationale for both.

If they didn't consider it, I could imagine it was because they were hyperspecializing in Nikke after an initial success, thus discarding everything that wasn't more power or more performance output.

If they DID consider it and choose not to broaden out in weaponry, it was probably because there was an issue I hadn't encountered yet, or the tradeoff wasn't high enough.

"...Maybe the power output was too cost prohibitive?"

Come to think of it...

I was in a good situation because I was practically farming Raptures out here with my squad. Since I knew how to blast apart Raptures in hordes, I had a stockpile of Rapture components to mess with.

Until now, humans were at a losing war, right?

...Not sure HOW they were at a losing war since it was this simple to destroy them. But fear did a lot.

Huh.

Actually...

That was an interesting point.

In my world, due to gaming becoming mainstream, the average person in my generation wouldn't balk or falter at a horde of killing machines or even monstrous creatures. Especially since anime was ALSO mainstream now, exposing the collective cultural gestalt to apocalypse scenarios and world-ending threats on a routine basis.

I don't think this world was the same.

Culturally, it seems like people were still kind of in the 90s in terms of communication and stuff?

Like, social media existed NOW in this world, what with Blabla and stuff, but at the time, it seems like it didn't.

Not only that, but it seemed like social media right now mostly consisted of forums.

Short form content, YouTube, stuff like that... it didn't exist. Not really.

"Hm..." I rubbed my chin. "I wonder if I should do anything about that?"

On the one hand, it would definitely be a welcome morale boost.

On the other...

...We DID need more people for the recruitment drive.

"Eh, not my problem. Maybe in five years or so."

I'd think about it further down the line. For now...

I shifted my attention back to the fabricators and my stockpile of raw material. "Let's test something..."

===

As an avid gamer, anime enthusiast, and sci-fi tourist, I had a lot of random knowledge about potential innovations.

Coilguns mostly came to mind because of A Certain Magical Index and a specific 'Railgun.'

Honestly, still mildly concerned the tech tree jumped from heavy artillery to straight beam cannons...

But anyway.

Back to the main point.

In all of this, the primary weak point was me. During combat, if I kicked the bucket, it was wraps.

I didn't get second chances like Nikke, who could have their brains put into another frame.

If I died, I died. People die when they are killed, that's the way it was for most humans.

Nikke were the exception because they could 'die' but be 'rebooted.'

To sum it up, primary engineering problem: figure out how to not die.

Now, that seemed difficult. I mean, on paper, that was like trying to solve immortality.

...Side-note, I might have ideas for that.

But no, I wasn't doing that.

Yet.

Right now, I was removing the common deaths that a commander could befall while in the line of duty.

Chief among those was Nikke deciding to abandon their commander, but that was a non-issue. That was due to commanders treating Nikke like disposables, and I was hard against that, so that issue was resolved.

The next highest cause of death though was surprise attacks or injuries inflicted on the field of battle.

Basically, since I had a squishy human body, any injuries would be immediately detrimental and highly fatal. Mostly because the chain of command would reset. That, and morale would immediately tank.

So engineering problem: transcend the mortal limits of the flesh.

Now, since nanomachines existed, you might think I would be tempted to pull a certain 'Armstrong' and make a custom set that responds to trauma...

And I WAS tempted.

But I needed to study them a bit more first. Didn't want to accidentally cannibalize the world or give the Raptures something ridiculous.

No, no.

What I needed was something inherently human, but layered on top.

And the answer to that was simple.

"Armor, blade, shield. Nothing wrong with the basics."

I tested my new fit and checked it in a nearby mirror.

A suit of platemail forged from Rapture plating over their synthetic muscles as cushioning material and a pseudo-leather base. A shield that was the toughest Rapture metal I found, refined to be light enough for me to carry.

And then a monoblade with a sheath that resharpened it every time it was put away.

Yeah.

Turns out, this world had the tech for that.

Apparently, it had been discarded because, you know, sword in a world of guns.

But it seemed like they had ALSO forgotten one thing.

Guns and explosives were great. But some things couldn't be 'stabbed' or 'hit hard.' They had to be cut.

And as far as I could tell, although Raptures SEEMED to defy physics, that was just a misperception. They defied BIOLOGY. They couldn't bypass thermodynamics of course. If they COULD, humans would be dead a looooong time ago.

Which meant...

"I should design a giant boomerang sling." I rubbed my chin, thinking. "No, I need to develop ammo that can launch with coilguns without distorting in transit but embedding on impact..."

Assuming Raptures utilized nanotechnology, they could definitely regenerate. And there were reports about them doing so from what I saw. That was why people had shifted away from trying to do what I do in targeting limbs and stuff instead of the core.

"...Man. I really do wonder if our Earth is the psycho one..."

To me, it was common sense to target weakpoints, embed things to reduce mobility, and then finish off the opponent while it couldn't move.

Though, that common sense was born from playing Monster Hunter and other similar games...

I also didn't fear fighting titanic creatures because of Shadow of the Colossus. It was a firmly entrenched belief of mine that the bigger they were, the harder they fell.

You just needed the right weaponry.

I rubbed my chin... well, the bottom of my helmet.

I rubbed that and then did some thinking.

"If I sharpen Rapture plates to monomolecular levels, launch them at Lord-Class and above Raptures... Even if they can repurpose the material, it should throw them off."

Raptures were machines mimicking biology, but they weren't ACTUALLY biological.

After all, the moment they crossed that threshold, they could die.

Right now, it was more precise to say they 'cease functioning' instead of die.

But anyway, since they were machines, they relied on precision calculations.

Sudden shifts in mass will definitely introduce latency in their movements. And that gap was something I could exploit.

"Hm... Maybe I should make some arrows or spears too?"

Both were also technically 'blades' rather than 'piercing.' I could use the same sharpening technology to cleave my way through to a core.

Physics was physics, after all. If you sheared along a metallic fault, it could be pried open.

...Yeah. I think it'd work.

Since 'swords' were inherently a human invention, along with bladed projectiles, and since they were 'technically' inferior, the Raptures, beings of pure calculation, wouldn't pick up on them. They'd keep trying the old guns, missiles, bombs deal while getting sturdier and sturdier armor.

And if they DID try to adopt my tactics...

Well, it would turn from being a war against machines to a war against humanoids.

And THAT was one Humanity could win EVERY day.

While I was lost in thought, the doors to the recycling center opened up.

"Yo, Commander, are you in here?" Anis's voice echoed. "Rapi and Mari said to get you since they finished the reports... What the heck?"

I glanced over to see Anis walk in, surprise clear on her face.

Neon followed in after her, gasping when she saw my armor. "Master! Have you forsaken the ways of Firepower to return to the blade? Noooooo!" She dramatically collapsed onto her knees.

"Neon! Hey! Quit being so silly! This is serious!" Anis tugged Neon up and looked at me. "What's with the get-up, Commander? You aren't seriously trying to be our white knight or something, are you?"

I swung my arm out, the matte platemail turning into a white blur as I did. "Behold, the Yuusha arrives!"

Neon gasped. "That's SO COOL!"

Anis gave me a blank stare. "...You're serious."

I chuckled and rested my hand on my side. "Deadly. I could explain why this is logical and will help in our deployments... but honestly, we'd be here for a long while. To sum it up, Raptures can't comprehend or use purely human tech."

Anis paused. "...Huh?"

Neon paused as well, thinking. Then her eyes opened. "I see!" She adjusted her glasses and said, "Master said it! You're skilled in martial arts!"

"Marital arts? What does that have to do with-" Anis paused, thinking. "Wait. ...Huh. Martial arts were developed for humans. And human bodies. They probably wouldn't make sense to Raptures because it's impractical."

"Yep." I walked over to them and said, "In terms of sheer destructive power, guns, missiles, bombs, lasers... those win out any day. But in terms of taking down single opponents..."

Neon clapped her hands and said, "Martial arts can take them all out!"

I nodded. "Right."

Anis sighed. "Newsflash, Commander. No human is outputting enough force to punch through a Rapture's plating."

"I know. So I won't punch through. I'll cut through."

"...Huh?" Anis blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Here. I'll demonstrate." I stacked up a bunch of Rapture parts. Then I shifted into a basic sword stance and slashed.

There was a sharp screeching sound, and barely a second into the cut, I felt my blade being dragged down, already losing its edge. But I stepped back and pulled it clean before resheathing and sharpening it. "See?"

"...Holy shit." Anis's eyes widened. "How the heck?" She immediately moved closer and poked the Rapture parts. "...This wasn't some trick or anything, right?"

Neon moved closer too, staring at it with wide eyes. "...Wow. So this is the difference between the blade and Firepower..."

"Yeah. A blade can cut through anything. But a bullet? A laser? A bomb? Sturdy enough armor will stop it."

Lasers could be disrupted by strong enough energy.

Bullets and bombs could have their force dissipated.

But blades? The moment they severed the molecular bonds, the mass and force behind said mass just traced the cut until friction stopped it.

But if said cut was on a fault line or introduced a fault line... well. Shearing happened.

And since Raptures were mostly metal or imitating biology...

They'd be cut through. Plain and simple.

Hm.

It was obvious.

If it was obvious, someone must have tried it.

So...

"Well, yeah." Anis frowned. "But you have to get close enough to cut the thing. And I'm pretty sure I heard about some old Nikke squad trying this. But as you can see, it didn't stick, Commander."

Huh?

Hm...

AH!

I got it.

Hearing Anis's response, I chuckled. "Of course it didn't, Anis. Martial arts are inherently a human endeavor. Especially the way of the blade."

Anis tensed. "What? Are you going back on what you said about us being humans now, Commander?"

"Not at all." I poked her arm. "I'm talking about the difference in physiology."

"H-Hey! Watch it!" Anis stepped back, frowning.

Neon's eyes widened. "Oh! It's BECAUSE you're squishy muscles that it works!"

"Right." I smiled at Neon. "Martial Arts derive from a simple meta-principle: intuitive and self-amplifying kinetic chains. That's something that you can't do as a Nikke because of the physical makeup of your frames. It's close, probably 99.99999%. But that missing percentage point is the decisive factor."

It was pretty straightforward. The old xianxia and wuxia books mentioned it too. 'Qi' didn't exist in the sense of spiritual energy back on Earth, but it DID exist in the form of potential to kinetic energy transfer and amplification.

Although Nikke were designed to mimic human flesh to near indistinguishment on the surface, I knew for a fact it didn't completely replicate the entire human neuromuscular system. It just replicated enough for the brain to not freak out while allowing basic body mechanics for using human tools.

Also, I had, ahem, thorough experience in the internals and externals of a Nikke frame due to Marian.

Anis stared at me, pursing her lips. "...That... makes sense, I guess. But if that's true, why did no one else try it, Commander? Humans, I mean. If martial arts were enough to cut down Raptures, why don't we have like an elite squad of super soldiers doing that?"

"Because reaching this level takes decades. Cost-utility wise, it wasn't there." I drew my blade and did another smooth slash, shearing through the pile of Rapture parts again. "It also takes intuition. Something that people have or don't have, and something you have to earn if you lack it."

That was the hardest part.

In my life back on Earth, I had achieved it. There was a real state where your body felt one with the sword and where you intuited the kinetic chains.

Someone would call it qi. Others would call it one with the sword or sword intent.

All I knew was that the blade flowed smoothly in my hand and responded to my will.

But it had taken me a year of dedicated non-stop sword slashes against a steel core for eight hours a day to reach that level.

A literal familiarization of the blade and enough time spent with it for my brain to perceive it as an extension of myself.

Thankfully, it seemed that body awareness transferred to this life and body. But without it, I'd be set back pretty far.

Anis gave me a blank stare. "Commander."

"Yes, Anis?"

"...Still not beating the sleeper agent allegations."

"True." I nodded. "But on the upside, DEFINITELY betraying them if I am."

Neon gasped and pointed at me. "SO YOU ARE A SPY!"