Chapter 28
I leave the base "Golden Capital" and head east.
My objective is the destruction of the Golden Tanks. A sudden event popped up, but I must not forget my original purpose. Leveling up and making money—clearing the mission I accepted: the subjugation of twelve Golden Tanks.
I don't know what the Golden Tanks look like or where they are. Probably tank-shaped, and they shouldn't be far from the Golden Capital. Maybe I should have done some proper scouting before leaving the city.
(This ground sure is strange.)
The ground of the Gold Planet is made of thin, golden crystals. There is no soil. Because of that, no plants grow at all. Only crystal hills, crystal towers, crystal coral, things like that.
"What's this..."
Three Machine World Beast icons on the radar—behind the giant crystal coral ahead.
These crystals feel pretty hard when stepped on. No wall-phasing through. I'll wait for the enemy to come out.
"Eh. Cute..."
Golden Bunny x3
Three rabbits made of golden crystal. They look like glass figurines. Adorable. I want one for my room.
They have beam horns and thrusters on their backs. The golden rabbits use thruster-powered acceleration to encircle me.
"Animals using encirclement tactics? That's really cute."
--ARR-2, equip assault rifle.
Using the assault rifle, I focus fire on the Golden Bunny in front. The left and right bunnies leap, trying to skewer me, but I thrust-dash forward with my thrusters to evade.
(Low durability but the drop rate is also low... Their armor is tough. High-defense, low-HP monsters exist in every game.)
Until I get used to it, the assault rifle can't hit every shot. Some rounds miss. Then—
"Whoa!"
Laser rounds that hit the crystal ground or pillars ricochet back. I barely block them with Shield Pieces.
"The crystals reflect lasers, huh."
In this environment, against tough enemies, an assault rifle is worse than...
"Maybe this one."
I draw a pistol from the holster on my hip.
--M1911 G-AGE
"Test shot."
Every part of the Golden Bunny has 100 durability.
(Well, let's see.)
I fire. The bullet hits the Golden Bunny in the head, leaving a rough bullet hole. One shot drops the head's durability to zero and it vanishes.
"One shot..."
If the armor value is ignored, this gun can shave more than 100 durability in one hit.
(Which means... if I hit Space Girl with this bullet, I can reliably destroy that part...!?)
Space Girl has all durability values set at 100. So far I haven't found any way to raise durability. And the M1911 can definitely shave more than 100 durability. In other words, if I hit a vital spot, I can instantly break Space Girl. The description wasn't lying.
Because bullet speed and range are inferior to laser guns, I have to get pretty close, but the power more than makes up for that weakness.
(And that's not all. Shield Pieces are physical shields with armor values too; if I can ignore their armor value, that's huge. Shield Pieces, like these golden enemies, are high-armor, low-HP equipment... their durability is only 20. Depending on G-AGE's power, it might pierce the Shield Piece and destroy Space Girl...)
I finish off the remaining Golden Rabbits with the G-AGE. Sweep complete.
Three units dropped 2,190 chips. Nice haul.
(I need about 150,000 chips. That should buy everything I want.)
Level also rose by two, to 13. I'll put the stat points into armor.
Without a break, a golden tank now appears.
"Golden Tank..."
All parts have 150 durability.
"Let's see how much it drops."
I fire the G-AGE at the Golden Tank. Then—
"Eh"
One shot strips the Golden Tank's durability to zero.
(Wait wait wait! That can't be right!)
The Mecha-Dogs on the Desert Planet had 100 durability. I don't know their armor value, but it took 10 shots from the M1911 to delete them.
Yet a single shot took out 150 durability...?
(Maybe physical bullets suffer a huge damage penalty from armor value. It's entirely possible that laser rounds that melt armor and physical rounds that break armor use different damage-reduction formulas against armor value.)
After that, I ran various experiments on golden-type enemies.
I measured damage against high-durability Machine World Beasts, verified power loss when piercing two enemies at once, and tested what happens when a laser weapon intercepts a bullet.
First, damage: it was 160. The enemy had 200 durability and 40 was left.
Next, power loss on piercing: there was none.
Normally, both laser and physical guns lose power when they pierce an enemy. That's expected. But the G-AGE didn't. From this, I learned that damage loss is based on the target's armor value. Objects without armor value (like lasers) probably use a different stat for reduction (probably).
In short, the G-AGE, which ignores armor value, won't lose power against walls, Shield Pieces, or Space Girl. The bullet keeps flying. As long as its power exceeds the target's durability by even one point, the bullet pierces the target as if slicing through air.
However, laser weapons are its natural enemy. The instant a bullet touches a laser, it melts. For example, if it collides with a laser round, it loses easily. If the opponent blocks with a laser saber instead of a Shield Piece, the bullet melts quickly.
When the enemy plants their feet and raises a physical shield—that is the moment the G-AGE can show its true worth.
"Golden Tank subjugation: 12 units complete"
Level 13 to 20. Chips 13,560. Stat points 21.
Raise armor to 30, then dump the rest into thruster capacity and precision.
Armor: 20×1.5 (30)
Thruster output: 40
Thruster capacity: 80×2 (160)
Precision: 80×2 (160)
Radar: 100×1.3 (130)
Stealth: 60
EN capacity: 60×1.05 (63)
I'll stop armor here. Precision isn't maxed yet, but it's above the minimum line. Next I'll raise EN capacity to 100. Since I started using the assault rifle, EN consumption has gone up.
The quest status also changed from "Incomplete" to "Ready to Report."
Time to head back and report.
"..."
I feel eyes on me...?
"Good work, rookie Space Girl."
A Space Girl steps out from behind the golden crystal. Tough-looking face...
"Drop your money and vanish."
"Ugh... w-what do you mean... you?"
"PK Army 'Konpeito' leader."
She's wearing a golden hood and a golden cloak. Flashy.
Clearly hostile toward me. People who want to be friends don't sneak up like that.
(Why didn't she show up on radar...? Right. She dumped points into stealth and equipped the same special cloak as me. But she was sneaking so carefully—why now step out boldly—)
A chill runs up my spine.
I get nervous when people look at me. In other words!
"Botch radar reaction! Enemy behind!!"
I spin around. Two Space Girls are holding sabers.
I back-flip to dodge the saber strikes.
"Eh!? I totally thought we had you by surprise!!"
"...Reaction, good. I can do it."
The saber users also wear golden hoods and cloaks.
(Just as I thought—decoys! Not good.)
Two in front, one behind. I'm inside a triangle.
"We're Alpha!"
"I'm Beta!"
"...I am Gamma."
"We three sisters, the power of the Golden Triangle... taste it well!"
Let's flip my thinking. This is a chance. A chance to test the G-AGE against Space Girls.
(This many people is still within my tolerance for tension. A little sluggishness is manageable. Be my test subjects...)