The fight ended without suspense.
The searing tracks from Wolfguard's Cannibalism rounds swept through the Riftbreakers like fire across dry grass, pinning them down completely—every so often he even tossed in a fragmentation grenade for good measure.
There was no doubt about it.
This wasn't just a gap in combat skill. It was a total equipment gap—an outright crush.
Compared to Thunderhead Industries' specialized firearms, the Grindbone ambush shooters' homemade crossbows looked downright laughable.
Even Hao Fan, standing as a teammate, suddenly felt his own Howling Sentinels were… embarrassing.
"Should I figure out a way to swap into higher-grade handguns?" he muttered to himself.
Against ordinary Riftbreakers, the Howling Sentinels could still lay down suppressive fire.
But they were ultimately a mid-tier product from Meshko Industrial—hardly rare, and definitely not top-end.
And when facing heavy threats like a Grindbone executioner, they simply lacked punch.
He'd never forget that moment at the bridgehead: his etched round had actually gotten stuck in the enemy leader's muscle.
It was like tickling a boss monster with sandpaper.
So—weapon replacement was urgent.
"I'll ask Perlica later," Hao Fan thought. "Endfield Industrial has to have better sidearms they can issue to operators… Crisis Management should get that kind of treatment."
At the very end, Chen Qianyu "secured the last hit."
"All cleaned up, OVO!" she declared, hands on hips, looking absurdly proud.
She didn't look particularly bright…
But her strength was undeniably real.
"You… you're that strong?!" Soss had watched the whole battle.
Only after confirming the Riftbreakers were wiped out did the older shelter leader step out from behind the boulder, his face full of disbelief.
Kaja, who'd come along, looked positively delighted.
"I told you—they can drive the Riftbreakers away!"
"…What a mess," Soss didn't respond to that. He simply surveyed the desolate, wrecked yard.
This Guild freight distribution site was even more barren than he'd expected—clearly abandoned for a long time.
Still.
Even in this state, it was a better place to live than a damp cave deep underground. It was suitable for establishing a new base.
"Anyway, let's see what's still usable," Soss said, shifting focus to the practicalities. He barely spared the fallen Riftbreakers a glance.
The Administrator spoke softly. "We should be able to help too."
Perlica nodded. "Perfect. We can use Integrated Industry System tech to build you a foothold."
"A base is Endfield's design—support nodes linked through the Protocol Network," she continued. "With a Protocol Core, we can put it to work immediately on-site."
Hao Fan remembered the Protocol Core they'd deployed back at the Hub Base.
He still didn't fully understand it, but to him, it looked like a large-scale energy-and-production system.
Power supply. Mass manufacturing. Logistics.
If they wanted a foothold in Valley Passage, using the Protocol Network and Integrated Industry System was the smart play.
"This spot's good," Perlica said, selecting the widest, flattest area. "We'll deploy a secondary core here."
Deploy—yes.
She called it "dropping" one, but in practice she pulled out a tablet terminal, ran a sequence of commands—
And the secondary core appeared out of thin air.
Compared to the Hub's main Protocol Core, the secondary core was smaller.
But it could still support the Integrated Industry System's operation.
Functionally, the same. Scaled down.
"T-This… what kind of Arts is that? I only blinked!" Kaja jumped, staring up at the newly materialized device with undisguised shock.
He had no real experience. To him, it looked like pure Originium Arts.
Soss was also shaken—but more interested in what it meant.
"This big thing… is this what you mean by a 'base'?"
"It's a secondary core—a sub-device of the Protocol Core," Perlica explained with a slight smile. "Within its operational radius, we can deploy Integrated Industry equipment."
"And as for the refining furnace…" she added, "…we'll need to refine large quantities of ore into materials for construction, so I requested one as well."
Meaning: the secondary core's storage already contained key equipment in advance. No need to fabricate from scratch.
Chen Qianyu gave Perlica a thumbs-up. "Perlica, you're always so thorough!"
"…It's what I should be doing," Perlica said, a little embarrassed.
"Step one is done," she continued. "Now there's a lot more work."
She was about to begin basic construction—
But Wolfguard cut in, because he believed one issue had to be handled first.
"I scouted while you were finishing up," he said. "Building Nest Spires here and spreading the haze is clearly Grindbone's objective… They won't stop."
He turned toward a route that led around the back of the mountain, brows knitting.
"There's a passage behind that ridge. They'll keep infiltrating from there."
"Then if the Riftbreakers come again…" Soss's face tightened with worry.
If Wolfguard was right, this wasn't an ideal place for a foothold.
But they didn't have a better option.
Perlica did.
"Next step: build combat devices," she said. "Automated fire support. Eventually, this kind of deployment can appear across the entire frontier zone."
Given the situation, she adjusted the sequence of the plan on the fly.
"We start with the most basic combat equipment. But…" she paused, thinking. "We'll need to prepare crystal casings first."
"A reminder," Wolfguard said with eyes half-closed, already drifting back into his calm. "Crystal casings require Originium ore, and current stock is limited."
"Then what—am I supposed to teach them swordsmanship on the spot?" Chen Qianyu blurted, adorably deadpan.
She wasn't truly stupid—just had that "looks simple, acts sharp" vibe.
At least, she believed she did.
"Endfield Industrial's logistics can solve it," Perlica replied. "The team at Hub Base already stored some Originium ore in the warehouse. We can retrieve it remotely through the secondary core."
So the storage systems of the Protocol Core and secondary core were linked.
That meant Hub Base ore reserves could be pulled directly into Valley Passage for immediate use.
But Perlica wasn't sure the quantity would be sufficient—because the automated production lines at the Hub were already consuming ore continuously.
At the mention of ore, Hao Fan suddenly remembered something.
"If ore runs short, we can source locally," he said. "Back near the abandoned path, there's a concentrated mining node."
When he'd gathered ketone shrubs earlier, the newly revealed section of his map had shown a hidden ore cluster nearby.
It was a bit farther from here—but still better than returning all the way to the Hub for extraction.
And he still had that portable Originium mining machine he'd "borrowed" from Andre—fast and efficient.
Also, the ore he'd been casually eating was almost gone.
Time to restock.
"I see… Got it," Perlica said, filing that intel away.
"Let's check the secondary core's delivery hatch," she continued. "I think the ore reserve should be enough. And besides—the Hub's production line right now is specifically set up to produce crystal casings…"
Halfway through, she realized another constraint:
Hub Base reconstruction also required huge quantities of crystal casings to repair badly damaged equipment.
So even with a dedicated automated line, casings were still in short supply.
To avoid burdening the Hub further, they'd need to establish an automated production line here in Valley Passage too.
Self-sufficiency. Independent throughput.
That was the whole point of the Integrated Industry System.
"Either way," Perlica concluded, "we build the line first."
....
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