The silence of the Core Chamber was no longer peaceful. It felt taut, charged with the memory of the skittering claws on the other side of the door. Isaac stood before the humming crystal, the fresh data from Nexus Gamma-7 scrolling in his vision. A corrupted Leyline, guarded by a mixed force with a stationary Tier-2 anchor. A fortified position.
He couldn't assault it with six Militia. He needed more. He needed better.
"System," he said, his voice echoing softly. "Display full requirements for Barracks Level 1 upgrade."
The interface complied, text glowing against the dark stone.
Facility Upgrade: Barracks (Level 0 -> Level 1)
· Essence: 100 Units
· Salvage (Stone/Metal): 50 Units
· Salvage (Advanced - Conductive Crystal): 10 Units
· Prerequisite: Active Link to a Minor Leyline Nexus.
· Unlocks: Specialized Unit Production (Scouts, Grenadiers), Increased Queue Capacity, Unit Veterancy Protocols.
There it was. The bottleneck. He had the Essence (72 left after recent production, but he could harvest more from stored cores). He could grind more salvage from the ruins. The crystals he had.
But he needed a Leyline. And the only one he'd found was a Gloom-infested tumor.
The problem was recursive. To get the better army he needed to take the Nexus, he needed the better army he couldn't build without the Nexus. A classic military-industrial paradox.
He paced, the logical pathways in his mind firing. Break the cycle. Find an alternative. The prerequisite said "Active Link." It didn't say purified link. Could he… tap into the corrupted Nexus from a distance? Syphon energy while the Gloom still held it? The idea was repulsive and dangerous. It would be like trying to drink from a poisoned well with a bomb in it.
He dismissed it. Too risky. The System protocols would likely reject corrupted energy anyway.
Then acquire a different Nexus. But his map showed nothing else within a realistic scouting radius. Venturing further without a secure base was suicide.
Increase the efficiency of existing forces. This had promise. He had the Manufactorum. He had unlocked grenades. He had the ability to make more shield units, though the cost was prohibitive.
He needed a force multiplier that wasn't just another rifle.
His eyes drifted to the schematic of the Fragmentation Grenade. A thrown explosive. Effective against clusters, could shock and disorient larger targets. But it required a soldier to stop, aim, and throw, exposing them. In the open plain against Stalkers, that was a death sentence.
What if the grenade didn't need to be thrown?
The concept was simple: a launch system. A mortar, in its most primitive form. His historical knowledge supplied images: the stubby, brutal trench mortars of the Great War, simple tubes that lobbed a bomb in a high arc. He had no explosives expert, no chemist. But he didn't need one. He had the grenade schematic. He had the Manufactorum. He needed to adapt a delivery system.
He called up the Manufactorum's design interface, a more robust version of the Core's direct fabrication. It allowed for modifications based on existing schematics.
"Create a new design project," he instructed. "Base template: Fragmentation Grenade. Objective: Modify for indirect fire launch. Parameters: Launch system must be simple, man-portable, operable by a standard Militia unit. Prioritize range and arc over pinpoint accuracy. Use available materials."
The system hummed. Design Parameters Accepted. Generating Solutions…
A holographic display flickered to life, showing the grenade schematic. Lines of light extended from it, proposing adaptations. One design dominated: the grenade's body was slightly elongated, its base flattened and reinforced. A simple, wide-mouthed tube of reinforced alloy, about three feet long, with a fixed elevation stand and a rudimentary pin-pull trigger at the base, appeared next to it.
Proposed: 'Projected Charge, Type-1' (Grenade) & 'Launch Tube, Mark-0'.
· Ammunition Cost: 4 Essence, 2 Salvage (S/M) per round. (Increased cost for structural reinforcement).
· Launcher Cost: 8 Essence, 5 Salvage (S/M), 1 Salvage (Advanced Crystal).
· Estimated Effective Range: 150-300 meters.
· Accuracy: Low. Area saturation weapon.
· Rate of Fire: Very Slow (Reload and re-aim required per shot).
It was crude, inefficient, and wildly inaccurate. It was also exactly what he needed.
He didn't need to hit a specific Stalker. He needed to plaster the area around the Nexus fracture with high explosives, shatter the corrupting crystals, and disrupt the Gloom formation. He needed a bombardment.
"Approve design. Add to production queue. Manufacture one Launcher Mark-0 and… six Projected Charges."
Production Initiated. Launcher ETA: 25 minutes. Projected Charges ETA: 12 minutes each (Batch production available: 6 units in 30 minutes).
Essence: -32. Salvage (S/M): -17. Salvage (Advanced): -1.
A significant investment. He was draining his reserves for a single, specialized weapon system. But if it worked, it could break the stalemate.
While the Manufactorum whirred and clanged, he turned to his other resource: manpower. He had six Militia. He needed a larger, more flexible force to assault the Nexus, even with a mortar. He navigated to the Barracks queue.
"Produce four additional Militia units."
Militia x4 added to queue. Cost: 8 Essence, 4 Salvage. Total ETA: 40 minutes.
His resources were plummeting, but his capability was about to spike. He would have ten soldiers, a mortar, and a supply of heavy grenades.
But ten soldiers with muskets and one mortar weren't enough for a frontal assault on a dug-in, mixed-force position. He needed a tactic. He needed to use the one advantage he had that the Gloom didn't: the ability to plan.
He pulled up the tactical recording from his scouting mission, watching the Gloomspawn patterns around the Nexus. The Stalkers patrolled outward. The Amalgams were slower, staying closer to the fracture. The Parasite was immobile. The explosive crystals were scattered around the rim.
A plan began to form. It was a three-phase operation, leveraging the new tools.
Phase One: Artillery Preparation. The mortar team, from a hidden position at maximum range, would bombard the Nexus rim. Target: the corrupt crystals. Goal: trigger chain reactions, cause mass confusion, and hopefully damage the Parasite.
Phase Two: Feint and Fix. A small squad of Militia would advance from a different direction, drawing the attention of any surviving mobile units—especially the Stalkers—away from the mortar position and the main assault vector.
Phase Three: Main Assault. The bulk of his force would advance from a third direction, using the chaos of the bombardment and the distraction of the feint to close with the fracture. Their objective: clear remaining hostiles and plant a System Purification Beacon—a device he would need to fabricate—onto the Leyline fracture itself.
He opened the Core's design interface again. "Design a single-use, deployable device capable of interfacing with a Leyline Nexus and executing a System-based purification protocol. Must be man-portable."
Designing… Purification Beacon (Minor) Schematic Created.
· Cost: 15 Essence, 5 Advanced Crystals.
· Function: On deployment at a Leyline source, initiates a localized energy purge, destabilizing Gloom-corruption and asserting System control. Effectiveness scales with Gloom infestation level.
· Deployment Time: 30 seconds of uninterrupted contact with the target site.
Another cost. Another piece of the machine. He approved the design for fabrication at the Core. The Essence and Crystal counters winced.
He was committing everything to a single, complex operation. If it failed, he'd be bankrupt, with a decimated force, and the Nexus would be alerted and likely reinforced.
The Manufactorum conveyor chimed. The Launcher Mark-0 slid into the collection bin. It was ugly: a thick, seamless tube with a bipod at the front and a heavy baseplate. It looked less like a weapon and more like a piece of industrial plumbing. Next came the Projected Charges, larger and heavier than standard grenades, with finned tails for stability.
A few minutes later, the four new Militia—M-007 through M-010—marched out of the Barracks and assembled in the chamber. His force now stood at ten.
He had the pieces. Now he had to build the machine of war, not from metal and crystal, but from orders and timing.
"Listen carefully," Isaac said, facing the two ranks of expressionless soldiers. "We have a new objective: Operation Purge. Here is how we will take the Nexus."
He began to lay out the plan, assigning units to roles, drilling the simple but critical sequences—the mortar team's firing drill, the feint squad's advance-and-retreat pattern, the assault team's breach and beacon deployment. They practiced in the Core Chamber, using piles of salvage as stand-ins for terrain. The Militia learned instantly, executing maneuvers with flawless, soulless precision.
After an hour of drills, the Purification Beacon was completed—a hexagonal column of polished crystal and grey metal, humming softly.
Isaac looked at his assembled force. Ten soldiers. One mortar. Six heavy shells. One beacon. All his eggs in one very dangerous basket.
The System displayed the final resource tally.
Essence: 17. Salvage (S/M): 4.6. Salvage (Advanced): 4.
He was running on fumes. But a machine, once built, must be used. The cost of inaction was greater than the risk of failure.
"Gear up. Final weapons check. We move out in ten minutes."
The Militia began their silent, efficient preparations. Isaac checked his plasma pistol, then slid it into its holster. He picked up the beacon; it was heavier than it looked.
He had solved the production problem not by finding a new resource, but by inventing a new way to use what he had. The arithmetic of war wasn't just addition. It was also innovation.
He looked at the sealed postern gate. Beyond it lay the answer to his Bastion's hunger, guarded by the infection he was meant to destroy.
It was time to perform the surgery.