Chapter 73

T/N: Hey y'all, have nothing to do today, was bored, so I'm blessing y'all with a chapter. This doesn't mean I'm back and editing this novel, just killing some time for now.

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There were too many conditions that needed to be met to fly a jet, at least a jet above the Parallax-Level. It was necessary to find a way to enter low-earth orbit through the unmonitored atmosphere, something that was not currently feasible for them.

"How about we take the interstellar merchant's transport jet?" Erica suggested.

"Interstellar merchants? Would they still be willing to do business with me, or any of you at that?" Ajax wasn't sure about taking this route, after all, not everyone would take such risks.

"You don't have to worry about them, they really don't give a shit. They follow the eddies, so as long as the price is right, they are willing to do just about anything. And who's to say that transporting goods is any different from transporting people? To them, they're still just transporting cargo, it should work." Al nodded, "Plus, their transport jet is at the Rakshasa-Level. They usually have a large holding bay that could transport us all. They'd also be parking at the Space Port, which could save them a lot of time and trouble.

"Then let's get in touch with them..... and let's get some other things while we're at it." Ajax's uneasiness had subsided and gave his input as he remembered that they still needed to add a batch of equipment that could not be obtained in the normal market.

After a little while, Ajax had placed an order for 50 timed Black high-explosive grenades, 40 smoke missiles, 40 incendiary missiles, 30 high-explosive missiles, and 20 armor-piercing missiles using Erica's Vox.

"Fifty Black high-explosive grenades? And so many missiles? Are you planning on raising the entire business district to the ground?" Erica was taken aback when she saw the amount of things Ajax had ordered. Her eyes almost popped out of her eyesockets when she saw just how much it was all worth.

She knew just how powerful a Black High-explosive grenade was. It was filled with condensed octanitrocubane. Just one of these puppies would be enough to obliterate a three or four-story building. It was fucking ludicrous.

At the same time, it was also quite expensive, with a market price of nearly 200,000 eddies. The only downside to it was that it needed to be detonated by other explosives or once its timer ran out, so there were not many applicable scenarios.

"It'd be better if we use these as a distraction when we're escaping...Is that why you ordered them?" Charles guessed what Ajax wanted to do as he took the Vox from Erica's hands and inserted his bank information, footing the bill for them.

Then they contacted one of the interstellar merchants, an old man who requested to be called "Lord Ge." Lord Ge said that he would be picking them up since it was not the first time he had done this kind of thing.

He overcharged the shit out of them too. One million eddies, and they had to pay in advance. Since Ajax and others were going to carry their mechs, they would have to pay more. This is no different from stealing, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. A ticket using the Space Elevator to get to the Space Port was only about 20-30 thousand eddies, and Lord Ge had skyrocketed the price. But since it was their only option, they could do nothing but sulk in frustration at their current situation...

In just a few minutes, they spent nearly 20 million with Lord Ge, shrinking the amount of money Al had left over even more...

***

Everyone prepared for D-Day which was only 3 days away.

On the first day, Ajax was responsible for the accessories and equipment of their mechs. Using ten Parallax-Level mechs he had requested for the border operators, Ajax repaired his Reaper. Its durability was fully restored, and its appearance was no different from that of a new mech.

Its main weapon was replaced with a long-distance beam charge sniper rifle; it was of excellent grade, was quite light, extremely powerful, and had a charging time of three seconds. Each charge allows for 5 shots to be fired at its medium output, consuming a blue energy block with each charge.

The head slot was replaced with an electromagnetic pulse cannon of excellent grade dealing high damage to a single target. It took 5 seconds to charge and could only be fired once per charge, consuming one blue energy block per charge.

The shoulder slot was replaced with a regular pulse cannon of excellent grade. It was light and was great for ranged damage, taking eight seconds to charge, allowing four shots to be fired at medium output, and consuming one blue energy block per charge.

He replaced the core component with an elite-level cooling core that could reduce the charging time of all weapons by 20%. The bullet accessories were replaced with sophisticated-level missile expansion slots, which allowed the equipment of eight additional missiles.

He also replaced the auxiliary accessories with sophisticated thrusters, giving the Reaper more movement ability. The armor was replaced with fine-grade light armor, which strengthened the durability and further reduced the weight of the mech, which further increased his movement ability by about 25%.

Coating accessories were replaced with camouflage coatings, which can change the color of the mech to mirror the surrounding environment, making it difficult for enemies to detect him. This coating is useless in close encounters, but it was highly effective when combined with sniping from long-range and ambushes.

He also carried six incendiary missiles and eight piercing missiles. Its self-test data was:

Class: Warlock-Level

Type: Berzerker

Durability: 100%

Energy value: 100%

Accessories: Cooling Core (Excellent), Missile Expansion Slot (Excellent), Light Armor (Excellent), Thrusters (Excellent), Camouflage Plating.

Weapons: Long-distance beam charge sniper rifle (excellent), electromagnetic pulse cannon (excellent), pulse cannon (excellent), incendiary missile*6, armor piercing missile*8.

Chassis Ability: Foreshadowing Force Field

The Warlock-Level mech that Al bought for himself was code-named Farr Knight AG. Its self-test data was:

Class: Warlock-Level

Type: Trailblazer

Durability: 100%

Energy value: 100%

Accessories: Protective Core (Excellent), Lancer Burst Head (Excellent), Dangerous Spark Plug, Long-range Armor (Excellent), Heavy Lead Material Coating.

Weapons: Farr Lance (Excellent), Lancer Shield (Excellent), Electronic Pulse (Excellent), Near Anti-Cannon (Excellent), Armor Piercing Missile*6.

Chassis Capabilities: Matrix Defense

Compared with Ajax who was set up for long-distance attacks and Erica who was set up for close combat, Al was more suitable for a Trailblazer mech with really high and strong defense.

The outfitting was more team-based. When rushing, Al has to go to the front, and when retreating, he has to go to the back.

The codename of Erica's newly acquired mech was Yasha. Its self-test data was:

Class: Warlock-Level

Type: Echo

Durability: 100%

Energy value: 100%

Accessories: Thrill Device (Refine), Reckless Grip (Refine), Jetpack (Reduce), Light Armor (Reduce), Disposable Heavy Armor Coating (Reduce).

Weapons: Extreme Light Saber (Excellent), Fire Pulse (Excellent), Shoulder Cannon (Excellent), Armor Piercing Missile*6.

Chassis Capability: Quantum Burst

Erica had insisted on maintaining her fighting style, opting fro more short-range combat. Especially with the addition of Al, she didn't even need a shield now and directly held a lightsaber with both hands.

The outfitting style maximizes the output of firepower and speed, only retaining a little bit of life-saving means. The mech accessories, weapons, and chips of the three of them are worth tens of millions, all thanks to Al's generosity.

The Parallax-Level mech Ajax had gotten for the operators only used conventional weapons, and the accessories were unified with self-destruct cores and missile expansion slots, and everything else was installed casually to save costs.

Lily had to learn too many things during this time, not allowing her to make a big breakthrough, so she still used the Cherry Blossom. Although she was extremely talented, driving a Warlock-Level mech with insufficient brainpower will risk disconnection during battle and put her life at risk.

Ajax didn't care about her equipment, as long as she could protect herself and attract some firepower, she was not the main attacker. Erica was in charge of communicating with the border and Lord Ge.

Seeing their mechs outfitted, everyone applauded. They were all top pilots from the border and were very reliable. The same went for Lord Ge, who will pilot the transport jet on the third day, but it would only stay for about twelve hours.

Al was in charge of the follow-up documents for the purchase of the Stingray (Spaceship), and continued to sell his items at a discounted price.