Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 71

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 71

As I made my way toward the Supply Base that Neia had marked for me, I was certain of one thing.
The Hero-tier Unit completed this time had to be the Longwhale Turtle.
At the point when the Seisrunner had roughly two weeks left until completion, the Longwhale Turtle still had a full month of production time remaining.
So once the Seisrunner was generated,
and considerable time had passed since then—
the timing aligned perfectly, and since the Supply Base’s location was adjacent to the original small factory that had started operations, the inference was straightforward.
‘It feels like all the congestion that’s piled up these past few days from the Resonance Stone problem is finally clearing out….’
Seeing that not only did Line Expansion trigger on a unit with a whole month of production time, but Special Assembly synergy went off as well—such a stroke of fortune.
Life was truly something you could never quite understand.
Though I had set up these skills from the start hoping for this effect, getting such a jackpot right from the first activation left me feeling profound emotion.
Whiiiiii—!
A figure slowly emerged from the mist, stepping into view.
A small girl with sleepy-looking eyes.
Flaxen hair braided into two pigtails and glasses covering half her face.
Strapped across her back was an impressive sniper rifle, larger than her own frame.
‘Seeing her in uniform confirms she’s definitely a Hero-tier Unit….’
Though the style of her uniform was slightly different in color from what I’d known before.
Where Ar’s uniform had been a cold black tone, this one was a burning red.
Not that it was anything I particularly needed to worry about.
“Reporting for duty, sir!”
The girl spotted me and offered a crisp, precise salute.
I naturally waited for her self-introduction to follow.
But no voice came.
Instead, her half-closed eyes gradually shut, and her head began to droop as she drifted off to sleep.
Longwhale Turtle.
I’d assumed that because she was a turtle, her movements would be sluggish.
But it wasn’t that her movements were slow—it was that she slept a lot….
“You there.”
She flinched.
At my call, her eyes snapped open as if struck by lightning.
Having just woken up, she answered in a drowsy voice.
“I apologize, sir. Second Lieutenant Tia Stillwell, joining the unit at the call of the Successor!”
“Right, Second Lieutenant Stillwell. Do you usually sleep a lot?”
“…Yes, sir. Even at the Military Academy, I was always teased about it….”
Tia quickly slipped into a gloomy mood.
I felt a twinge of regret for triggering what seemed like a trauma, but when I looked again, her head was already drooping once more.
Frustration welled up in my chest.
Give me back my concern!
And another thought struck me at the same time.
‘Do all Second Lieutenants come with one problem or another?’
If it wasn’t an unspoken system rule, then there’d be no need to keep following it.
My first meeting with Ar when he’d joined flashed through my mind.
He’d had plenty of problems back then too.
But I was beginning to suspect that Tia’s defect might be even more severe.
Because while Ar lacked tact and common sense, it never actually hindered mission execution—whereas I was already worried that Tia might suddenly fall asleep like this in the field.
Should I assign her a partner?
But then, who would it be…?
Pairing her with Sermin might be…
a bit…
“Mmmgh….”
I let go of the thread of my deepening concern for now.
I decided to think positively.
A solution would turn up eventually.
Or perhaps, just as Ar had, Tia would overcome her shortcomings in the near future too.
“You there.”
“…Ah! I’m s-sorry, sir!”
“Yes, I apologize for stirring up such painful memories. In any case, I welcome your arrival. Take your time walking through the base and greeting your new comrades.”
“Yes, sir!”
Tia answered with confidence, but after taking barely five steps, her stride visibly narrowed.
Was she walking in her sleep?
In a certain sense, it bordered on the divine.
“I doubt we’ll finish introductions by the end of the day.”

I left Tia behind and headed straight into the Supply Base interior.
Two Longwhale Turtles had been produced in total.
Having confirmed Tia in her humanoid form, I now wanted to see the original—the unit in its true configuration.
The Longwhale Turtle positioned at the center of the hangar was quite massive.
Its width and height measured roughly three meters each.
Though small compared to the wall-like Seisrunner, it occupied a heft and volume that dwarfed every drone-class unit I’d seen thus far.
“Mm… this is good.”
I admired the Longwhale Turtle’s features one by one.
A heavily armored chassis reminiscent of a colossal turtle’s carapace.
Rising from its shell like the apotheosis of precision engineering: a golden cannon barrel.
Along its flanks, hydraulic support struts were firmly attached, serving as stabilizers….
Was this apparatus meant to absorb the recoil from an enormous discharge of power?
In any case, a sniper piercing targets beyond the horizon.
My expectations were already running high.
“Neia, I’d like to test this unit’s performance.”

“I shall prepare immediately.”

I’d assumed we’d move outside the City for a test, as we had with Ar.
But what followed defied expectation.

“Longwhale Turtle is now operational.”

The route Neia had marked was heading toward the urban core instead.
And the distance was remarkably short.
The Longwhale Turtle moved out and traversed in front of the Supply Base at a crawl.
Upon reaching its destination, it drove its stabilizer struts directly into the road.
After observing the sequence, I began to understand why Neia had positioned the Longwhale Turtle here.
The distance was roughly four hundred meters.
It had consumed considerable time covering even this short span.
For a unit designed in an armored vehicle configuration…
…moving this slowly could only mean the weapon mounted above was extraordinarily heavy, couldn’t it?
In any case, to exaggerate slightly—it moved at a farm tractor’s pace.
Whoosh-click. Click.
Something was ejected skyward.
And at roughly four hundred meters altitude, a small disc-shaped Detection Scope unfurled.

“Longwhale Turtle performance test is ready to commence.”

“But how are we supposed to conduct a test here?”
This was the heart of the City.
No matter how much I wanted to test ultra-long-range sniping, without a suitable target….

“There is no cause for concern on that account. I have enlisted Crail’s assistance.”

Neia’s voice came through, and immediately after.
Two additional screens materialized.
One showed Crail.
The other displayed the landscape of a ghost city that could scarcely be called anything but ruins.
I gazed at the ghost city screen and asked.
“Crail, what is this?”

“A location two hundred kilometers from Nemesis. I am currently broadcasting footage of that location via Valar.”

It was closer than I’d thought, yet I’d never known such a place existed.
Come to think of it, I’d always been curious about what lay beyond the City’s borders.
And yet there were reasons I’d never actually explored to confirm.
Fear that poking around without information might lead to something I couldn’t handle.
Besides, the City’s development had to come first.
‘But is there really nothing special out there…?’
Even now, internal issues within the City kept me occupied enough that expansion wasn’t on my mind.
Still, the thought occurred to me that when I had a spare moment, it wouldn’t hurt to go have a look.
In any case, I lingered for a moment on the brilliant traces of civilization beyond the City’s walls, then turned my attention back to the matter at hand.

『You need only specify a target,』 Neia said.

At her words, I pointed to one without hesitation.
“How about that massive building over there?”
Since this was the first shot, after all.
Given the absurd 200-kilometer range, I’d picked a relatively large target to aim at.
The Detection Scope, which had been rotating steadily, came to a halt, and the Longwhale Turtle’s upper body swiveled in that direction.

『Longwhale Turtle target locked. Firing.』

A Gravity Rail Cannon fired from the enormous cannon barrel.
Fwooosh—
Moments later, the upper portion of the building on the screen was sheared clean away.
So it handles this level of target with ease?
I selected a dome-shaped structure nearby—a museum or research facility, I couldn’t tell which.
How would this go?
A relatively smaller target this time.
Krackle—
But it struck true once again.
The structure vanished without a trace, reduced to ash.
An even smaller target next—a partially collapsed residential building.
Fwooosh—
Another direct hit.
I was particularly pleased that the preparation time between designation and firing wasn’t terribly long.
“Could it handle something even smaller?”
A desire stirred in me to test the absolute limits of accuracy.
But the screen didn’t show anything suitable.
There were utility poles and streetlights visible, certainly.
But I wanted something more challenging, so I passed on those.
Something moving around would be even better.
But was there anything like that?
I’d expected at least a few stray monsters to be lurking about, yet there was nothing.
“…Ah!”
The thought occurred to me as I watched the screen.
My gaze turned toward Crail.
But hesitation gave me pause as I opened my mouth.
Sensing my uncertainty, Crail spoke first.

『Is there something you wished to say?』

Since Crail had asked first, and seeing no harm in trying, I voiced the thought.
“I was just thinking it would be nice if Valar could serve as a practice target.”
Of course, I’m not saying this because I’m a psychopath.
I understood that Crail and Valar, despite their memories being artificial, had developed a genuine bond.
But their core had already been merged into one, so the Valar that exists now is nothing but a shell…

『What do you mean…?』

It was difficult to put the thought into words, that was all.
Once I actually pulled it out, stripping the armor plating wasn’t difficult at all.
“Are you saying you don’t trust your partner right now?”

『…How could that possibly be the case?』

Then it shouldn’t matter either way, right? I’m not asking you to stand idle and take the hit. I want to test the limits of this turtle.”
Crail seemed to be moving into range, so I mixed in a bit of provocation and pushed harder.
“Or are you afraid, Warrant Officer? That this turtle moving at hypersonic speed might grind Valar to dust from this enormous distance?”

『Huh, I suppose there’s no helping it.』

“So you’re accepting?”
『Yes, I accept your challenge, Commander.』

Crail bit at the bait.

『However, this shall be a fair contest. I won’t hold back, no matter who the Commander is.』

“Exactly what I wanted.”
The landscape on the screen began to shift at tremendous speed.
Valar, moving back and forth across similar ground, was certainly fast—impressively so.
The moment it flashed at the far horizon, it was already touching the opposite end.

『Go ahead and try to match it. This is Valar’s maximum speed.』

Either way, whether I hit or miss, there’s no pressure on me.
I had already won this battle from the start.
After all, Crail and Valar’s victory is ultimately my victory too.
It’s the kind of ideal contest that embodies the old saying—fight with the battle already won.
“Fire the Longwhale Turtle.”
Boom—
The pale yellow muzzle of the Longwhale Turtle blazed with light, emitting a roar as if heaven and earth were being torn asunder.
Moments later, one of the three screens went dark.
…….
Silence fell.
Was what I just thought actually right?
Even accounting for the reciprocating motion it was in, even at such speed.
Neia gave me the answer.

『Direct hit.』

Goosebumps erupted across my entire body.
This was proof—even accounting for projectile velocity—that the shot had been fired based on calculations far more precise and sophisticated than I’d expected.
Crail’s eyes were filled with conflicting emotions.
Then, noticing my gaze, he masked that look and offered me congratulations with studied composure.

『An… an astounding accuracy rate, Commander. With this, the City’s power has risen once more, and I too am delighted.』

Of course, there was no smile on Crail’s lips as he spoke.

『I… I’m afraid something urgent has come up. If you’ll excuse me….』

Whoosh—
The screen went dark.
A rudeness Crail would never normally commit.
Yet I found myself without any urge to reproach him.
If anything, I felt concerned.
“I hope the disappointment isn’t too great….”

『I’ll send Warrant Officer Crail some words of comfort separately.』

“I’m counting on you.”

Not right now, though.
I’ll check back later to see if it’s alright.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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