Chapter 312 - 305: Financial Statement and the Hive
Chapter 312: Chapter 305: Financial Statement and the Hive
「One year later.」
「Zone 18, outside the main workshop.」
Allen walked along a newly laid metal corridor, his boots making a dull, rhythmic echo on the surface.
On both sides of the corridor, Factory Servants bustled back and forth, a picture of efficient activity.
His destination was a newly constructed special assembly workshop in the distance.
"Jarvis, report the annual summary data," Allen said, his voice steady as he stared straight ahead.
[Command confirmed. Generating annual financial and production reports...]
[Financial Module]
[Total Revenue: 16,000,000 Low-Level Magic Stones from mineral resource sales.]
[Expenditures: 19,800,000 Low-Level Magic Stones.]
[Current Liquid Funds: 17,260,000 Low-Level Magic Stones.]
Allen’s pace faltered for a moment, and his brow furrowed slightly.
Over the past year, the nineteen mining sites had gradually returned to full production capacity. They had even prospected and developed two new, less valuable mica mines.
Relying on the stable output of high-purity metal ingots, the average monthly net income had stabilized at 2.4 million Low-Level Magic Stones since last month. They were truly raking in a fortune every day.
Yet when he checked the account balance, he found he was down by over two million Magic Stones compared to a year ago.
"Pull up the detailed expenditures."
[Expenditure details are as follows:]
[1. Mining Equipment Procurement and Maintenance: 2,950,000 Magic Stones.]
[2. Charging Station Network and Simple Repair Workshop Coverage Project: 3,420,000 Magic Stones.]
[3. Golem Legion and Mine Garrison Production and Maintenance: 6,370,000 Magic Stones.]
[4. Small-Scale Combat and Golem Repairs: 3,210,000 Magic Stones.]
[5. ’Hive’ Project R&D and Prototype Construction Costs: 2,850,000 Magic Stones.]
Looking at the staggering figures, Allen didn’t feel a sting of regret. Instead, he found it to be completely expected.
’Building up infrastructure really requires a high turnover.’
The money earned was almost instantly poured back into a new round of military expansion. He was fully committed to the principle that wealth spent would return manifold.
Fortunately, the restoration of production in Zone 18 was now largely complete, so there would be no such massive expenses going forward.
By now, he had reached the door of the assembly workshop.
The fifty-meter-tall giant doors slid slowly apart, revealing the immense space within.
Magic-powered lights on the dome ceiling lit up in sequence, dispelling the darkness.
Allen’s latest creation, a "drone carrier," hovered silently in mid-air.
It was one hundred twenty-five meters long and eighty-six meters high.
It lacked the aerodynamic, streamlined bow of a conventional Floating Battleship, nor did it have a flat, wide flight deck. Its overall structure resembled an inverted pyramid with its top lopped off.
This was the most un-Golem-like Golem Allen had ever built.
Its entire body was covered in matte black heavy armor plating. The most striking feature was the countless hexagonal apertures arranged densely across its sloped armored surface.
It looked like a giant hornet’s nest cast from steel.
Just by hovering there, it exuded an oppressive presence characteristic of heavy industry.
Allen tilted his head back, gazing at the aerial weapon that had taken him the better part of a year to create.
To bring the "drone mother ship" concept to fruition, he and Jarvis had overcome four core technical challenges this past year.
First, the Hive Mother Ship’s control and distribution link technology.
Making one mother ship precisely command thousands of sub-units simultaneously was beyond the capabilities of previous control-interaction technology, and equipping each sub-unit with its own Control Core would be prohibitively expensive.
So, he completely rewrote the underlying logic of the Control Core, creating a tree-like command and control network.
Second, the Mad Bee’s wireless charging module.
To address the short operational time of the sub-units due to their small size and limited Magic Power capacity, he used the principles of energy dominion Witchcraft to enable rapid drone charging within a 10-kilometer radius of the mother ship.
Third, the main cannon upgrade. He optimized the structure and enhanced the power of the ’Divine Punishment’ Magic-guided Cannon originally mounted on the Peacekeepers, reducing recoil and energy dissipation when firing at high altitudes.
Fourth, and the most difficult challenge: a miniaturized, fully automated production line.
He had integrated the manufacturing and assembly of sub-unit parts directly within the warship itself.
Only by overcoming these four challenges did this new type of aerial unit come to be.
"Jarvis, run through the final model’s parameters," Allen said, flying up to a height level with the mother ship’s midsection.
[Project Codename: Hive Mother Ship Prototype.]
[Role: Low-Cost Air Superiority / Drone Combat Platform / Mobile Command Center]
[Hull Parameters: Length 125m, Height 86m. Outer hull is covered in twice-refined Black Patterned Magic Steel, with an average armor thickness of 4m.]
[Flight System: Utilizes six large Anti-Gravity Rune Arrays to maintain levitation, with four thrusters providing forward propulsion.]
[Defense System: Integrated full-coverage AT Protection Field Generator.]
[Reconnaissance System: Integrated wide-area Demon Eye reconnaissance module, capable of all-weather battlefield surveillance within a 300km radius.]
[Power Core: Three tandem Singularity Magic Furnaces. A single full charge allows for up to 20 days of continuous operation.]
[Weapons: Equipped with one upgraded ’Divine Punishment’ Magic-guided Cannon and high-strength capture nets.]
Allen reached out and touched the cold armor plating.
’It’s both tanky and has high damage output.’ But the mother ship’s true terror lay hidden beneath those hexagonal apertures.
[At full capacity, it can carry 1,200 ’Mad Bee’ drones.]
[Special Function Module: The mother ship has an integrated small-scale automated production line and a spatially-expanded cargo hold.]
[As long as sufficient materials are stored in the cargo hold, the mother ship can achieve battlefield self-sustainment.]
[Automated Production Line Efficiency: Can produce and deploy 5 ’Mad Bee’ drones per hour. Maximum daily replenishment: 120 units.]
As long as the resources didn’t run out, it was an endlessly producing aerial barracks.
Fighting while simultaneously manufacturing troops was an idea that had suddenly occurred to Allen while researching new technological paths. It might hold great potential for the future.
"Cost analysis."
[Mother ship base cost: 140,000 Low-Level Magic Stones. A full complement of 1,200 Mad Bees costs 360,000 Low-Level Magic Stones.]
[Total cost for a single Hive Mother Ship and its full complement of drones: 500,000 Low-Level Magic Stones.]
That was roughly equivalent to the price of 31 Storm Falcons, but Allen felt it was more than worth the cost.
"Launch demonstration."
[Command received.]
A faint glow lit up one of the hexagonal apertures on the mother ship’s side.
WHOOSH—
A small aircraft slid out of the opening and hovered steadily in front of Allen.
This was the "Mad Bee."
It was less than half a meter long and weighed only twenty kilograms.
It had no autonomous combat capability; it was purely an executive terminal, with all combat operations controlled by the mother ship.
[Mad Bee Drone]
[Weapon Configuration: Miniaturized Magic-guided Light Beam Emitter.]
[Special Abilities: High-Speed Flight, Overload Self-Destruct.]
[Unit Cost: 300 Low-Level Magic Stones.]
They were bullets with wings, consumables. Once their Magic Power was depleted, they would simply ram into the enemy and detonate.
"Firepower assessment results?" Allen asked, staring at the Mad Bee before him.
[Based on data model simulations, a single Hive Mother Ship, after releasing all its Mad Bees, has an instantaneous firepower projection equivalent to 20 ’Purgatory’ launch platforms.]
[Furthermore, it possesses all-terrain, no-blind-spot aerial suppression capabilities.]
The firepower of twenty Purgatory platforms, plus the superior advantage of being an air force unit.
Allen retracted his gaze and turned toward the control console at the edge of the assembly bay.
"The parameters are beautiful."
"But they lack the support of real combat data."
Allen pulled up the Zone’s holographic sand table. "Simulation data from the lab isn’t reliable. A simultaneous launch of 1,200 Mad Bees, high-frequency cluster precision control in a complex battlefield environment, signal lag, Magic Power interference, formation changes... these problems will never be exposed without a real battle."
Weapons are built for one purpose: to kill.
Without a baptism of blood, it would forever remain just an expensive toy.
Allen’s gaze swept across the holographic sand table.
Over the past year, the Third Golem Legion had completely cleared Zone 18 of all known High-tier Magical Beasts. The map was covered in green dots representing safe areas.
Finally, his eyes settled on a location just twenty kilometers from the workshop.
There, a large black blind spot existed, devoid of any topographical data.
The Silent Abyss.