Chapter 4

I had done it... I had achieved apotheosis in terms of technology growth. After six hours of the machines running I had gotten what I had desired. A far smaller form of the total collection of the electromagnetic smelter and sound system to force atoms into placement to form the structures I desired.

What I had done was create a trio of structures and systems. One was the Constructor which was a far more elaborate 3D printer that could do single-step productions rather quickly, the Furnace which would feed ingots of metal into the Constructor, and finally the the Miner which according to my notes upon arrival, would work with some game logic so I would be getting almost infinite ore from the locations I could properly set up the miner's.

But the issue... Was the fact that apparently outside of Liyue and even for the other nations. It was a hellhole of monsters fiends and abominations coming out of the literal shadows and endlessly invading the surface world. So even if I could get cart's to move the machines to be placed at a mineral node... How the fuck was I going to protect my machinery?

That would be my first thought but, with all the technical knowledge I had, and the exact knowledge of making the beyond-hardy-as-hell technology from Deep Rock Galactic, I had a great number of methods to which to protect my holdings... As remember, the technology the dwarves used in their mining expeditions was considered almost cheaply expendable, I however had much larger and greater weapons in mind.

Like for example the engineer's auto turret could track, movement via heat, motion, sound waves, and even electromagnetic disturbances. That was the modern equivalent of sticking a tiny .22 machine gun to a garage motion sensor system. But what if I scaled the turret up to using 50 BMG with explosive and incendiary rounds?

But once again the issue was the lack of materials, I had already used the system and constructors to make extremely sensitive solar panels and some small wind mills to catch the strong winds coming off the ocean to fuel the new machines with power. But in the end, if I wanted to scale up I needed help. I needed a sponsor, for materials, and I needed security to get the system going as a whole outside of the city.

As just the three machines in the miner, constructor, and furnace were going to take a whole caravan to move all that heavy metal machinery into the nearby mountains until I could get enough materials to make rail tracks so I could make a train to make the trip to and from whatever outpost I make.

I sat there pondering my options, looking over my leftover current supplies and then the money I had left. And I realized I needed to see if I could get a sponsorship in Keqing or another member of the Liyue Qixing. And from that thought, process I came to the thought of what would be a good weapon to market Liyue's guards who could be Martial Artists.

And then it hit me. If they had a decent superhuman physique then they could take much stronger recoil in firearms so they could use weapons that could easily pop people's shoulder's out of their sockets. So with my remaining material, I got to work with a great weapon design in mind.

One of the best shotguns to ever be seen on Earth was the AA12... A fully automatic combat shotgun that would typically use a large drum magazine to feed its gluttonous expulsion down range, but instead of just doing... Twelve Gauge, I scaled the weapon up, a good bit, just made it a four gauge so there would be a good deal of force that even the constant recoil absorbant system that the AA12 naturally had wouldn't be able to prevent even as I scaled up the size of the shotgun a good bit to compensate for the spring system.

The gun itself wasn't an issue to create with my Constructor's 3D printing capabilities printing out it's frame out of a hardened steel I put into the Constructor so I knew the gun would be capable of withstanding the forces of the projectiles it was going to be firing.

No, actually the hardest part of all this was just getting down and dirty making actual gunpowder. From there, was when I could have some fun. Making the large shells and then deciding what kind of terrible war crimes I should use to as the form of ammunition. And eventually, I came to the conclusion of four major ammo types.

First, the fuck you and whatever is behind you round in the four gauge slug, then obviously buckshot, and then a 'non-lethal' beanbag round, and lastly the holy grail of shotgun ammo, incendiaries or dragon's breath which used magnesium pellets which when ignited would burn at more than four thousand degrees Fahrenheit for a good ten plus seconds with the size of pellets being shot.

Hence why dragon's breath was called a war crime... But monsters don't have human rights and didn't sign the Geneva Convention so I can use whatever war crime I wish upon them, as Liyue has no pesky gun control laws.

A good hour into pressing and making a whole system to mass-produce the shotgun shells without much input from myself I realized I was running... Desperately low on materials of all kinds, so with five large drum magazines filled with glorious ammunition I bundled it all up in a bag with the heavy as fuck shotgun strapped over my shoulder.

"Now where do I go find Keqing." I muttered as I went outside my workshop and realized it was pitch dark outside... Literally, pitch dark beside the lights of Liyue's most affluent section which was light up with almost eye-gouging golden lights that hung from their walls. Which was jarring from the dim lightning I had from the little lights inside the workshop I made.

I paused and realized besides the walls of Liyue, which were very well-lit and had guards visibly walking the walls and the martial arts and cultivator section of the city, everything was in pitch darkness and dead quiet so while I was feeling rather slightly un-nerved at the sight, I just went back inside the main home with the shotgun in hand.

As I came in, I heard the house loudly creek which made me shudder at the loud noise but either way, I continued on into the house onto the second floor where like an apartment there was a row of bedrooms separated by thin walls as was usual in this Asian building style. But thankfully I was able to mark which room was mine back during the day so there wasn't any incident like wanting into Qiqi's room unannounced or something.

My bedroom was a truly simple thing, but as I took in the room, I realized my bedroom window wasn't just sealed, but there was a whole piece of sheet metal over it that completely blocked any light from my room from escaping nor allowing me to look out for this peephole with glass that would keep any light from escaping from the room outwards.

'What the hell was going on in this world that needed every window covered with sheet metal?' I thought incredulously before shrugging and laying down in my admittedly shitty bed I got for cheap so I could get some sleep after the day's events.

But as the night went on, and I rested in my bed, I heard it. The skittering of clawed feet across the tiled roof above us. The crunching of wood as those claw's grasped tightly on the edge of the roof.

I heard the song of a thousand creatures scurrying about the property and then upon reaching the edge the song reached its zenith. A harsh screech rang out like a beat drop and then in unison a thousand more screeches rang out before a deeper voice roared and I shook as the very house shuddered in a place like a small earthquake rang out and all went silent.

My room was lit by a small candle no larger than a tiny finger's tip of flames but then as the world seemingly went silent, a whisper rang out. "They are angry." And I flinched and looked over and saw Qiqi was standing beside the covered window and clearly looking by the peephole. "Little foreigner from the land of wind... You know of the monsters that cover over the lands during the long nights. Why do you look so unsettled." Qiqi said softly and then she looked to me. And I realized her once so dull purple eyes were a lantern of intelligence and... Life simply put.

I bit my lower lip before I frankly said. "I don't know these monsters... I never heard of them beyond the Ju-On that I met on the road to Liyue to leave Mondstadt." I said weakly and her eyes tightened on me, and then before I could react Qiqi was all but straddling me with her purple eyes seemingly devouring my own eyes trying to piece together a secret.

And her thoughts were made clear as she muttered. "No... That's impossible, a person unknowing of the monsters that live within every shadow, every crevice and darkened spot of this world? Oh..." She whispered as though coming to a realization. "You are the son of a cultivator who never left their home before striking out on their own right?" She asked before she seemingly froze in place and her head tilted to the side as she then muttered with a heavy frown. "No... No... No! You aren't! You aren't crippled or otherwise incapable of cultivation or martial arts so you have had some success in either if that was the case." She yelled, and then her eye's snapped back to mine with disturbing light within them.

It was just further proof of how being a ghost, was not exactly being the greatest help to a stable mental state.

You know that moment, in a horror movie when everything goes quiet, and then some stupid asshole's phone in the movie goes off while the monster was walking by? That was literally Qiqi, as from her yelling and rambling, I could already hear the once brisk rasp of the clawed creatures above turn into intentful filled scratching as howls of demonic glee rang out as whatever above found our presence and tried scratching through the tiled roof and then the kicker came.

Hard thumping and scratching noises rang out in an unholy maddening repetition as whatever was out there, began ramming into the sheet metal-covered window.