Volume 5, Chapter 4 – Cannon A, Cannon B, Cannon C—

White Sea Star was enormous, but because of its harsh living environment, not many people lived there.

Even so, although the population was small, the planet’s abundant mineral resources meant that signs of human activity were far from rare.

Over the journey of more than a thousand kilometers, Anran saw many artificial structures.

Only during the latter half of the trip, as they drew closer to the North Pole, did those traces gradually disappear. The temperature kept dropping, and large stretches of solid land became increasingly scarce.

In the end, all they could see were low icebergs and the occasional white animal flashing past the window, each one looking absurdly fearless.

Screech!

The ice vehicle’s broad wheels left long skid marks across the frozen surface as it came to a stop before a rather narrow ice valley.

The moment Anran got out, her face turned green.

The items were hidden beneath this ice valley, but she could already see obvious signs of human excavation.

There were steel-framed stairs and a section of ice that had been chiseled open. Only a blind person could have missed them.

“Anran…”

“Don’t say it. Let’s go down and take a look first,” Anran said.

It was unexpectedly chilly today. Still, the damaged area did not appear very large, so the inheritance should probably be fine.

“Hey there! Are you here to hunt for treasure too?”

Just after following the steel framework to the bottom of the valley, Anran saw what looked like a walking padded coat pacing back and forth with a metal detector.

The padded-coat man was also very friendly when he saw her and Aila.

The corner of Anran’s mouth twitched. She silently nodded. “Yeah.”

Her reply was filled with bitterness.

The bottom of the valley presented an entirely different scene.

A large section of the frozen ice had been chiseled away, exposing a magnificent metal structure within. Its doors were gone, and its windows had been smashed open, but it was clear that no one had continued digging downward. Good.

Anran lifted her foot to walk inside.

“Don’t waste your time, young lady. Who knows how many people have already searched that palace? Aside from some metal that nobody can dig out, everything that could be carried away has already been removed. You’d be better off searching outside like me. If you’re lucky enough to find a single item, you won’t have to worry about food or clothing for years.”

“…”

I…

凸(艹皿艹 )! Why do I suddenly feel such a strong urge to curse someone out?

Screw your damn nuts!

With a smile that looked frozen stiff, Anran asked, “Who discovered this place first?”

“The White Sea Star branch of Fitch Mining Company found it. Fitch Mining Company belongs to Governor Fitch, so Governor Fitch took the lion’s share.” The padded-coat man shook his head smugly as he spoke.

“Thank you so much.”

Anran smiled stiffly.

Once I have time, I’ll rob every last bit of it back, with interest.

“There’s really nothing left inside. Hey, if you don’t believe me, suit yourself.” The padded-coat man shook his head and returned his attention to his “gold prospecting.”

It was called a palace, but in reality it was only a small building that looked like one from the outside. Its total area was no more than roughly a thousand square meters. After walking around it twice, Anran knew the padded-coat man had been telling the truth.

There really was nothing left inside.

Except the walls.

Even the fucking lights had been stripped away, leaving only loose wires dangling in the air.

Even chunks of the walls had been chiseled off by those ruthless bastards.

Shameless scum.

Anran’s heart ached.

She had always thought she was ruthless enough when robbing other people, but compared with this group, she was still far behind. In the future, she needed to work harder and learn from them more seriously.

Yulan Metal.

It was the special metal used to construct the palace, a material with excellent overall performance.

It was heat-resistant, corrosion-resistant, and extremely hard, far superior to the Lig Alloy Anran currently used. Its disadvantages were that it was difficult to cut, mine, and process. Its market price was decent enough, but the people who had come “treasure hunting” clearly had no interest in painstakingly extracting such a massive amount just to sell it.

Besides, most of them could not dig it out at all.

“Aila, can you bite through this metal?” Anran asked, pointing at a damaged section.

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“I need to try,” Aila replied.

Anran nodded. “All right. Give it a try.”

Aila immediately bit down on it.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch, crunch, crunch…

A few seconds later, Aila tore a chunk from the solid mass of Yulan Metal.

She chewed and swallowed.

The entire process lasted more than ten seconds.

“How does it feel?” Anran asked.

Aila fell silent for a moment as she waited for the digestion process to finish. Then an expectant expression appeared on her face. “Anran, Anran, it feels wonderful.”

“That’s good.”

Anran smiled with relief.

I will never leave my things to you bunch of assholes. Every single thing you took will be returned to me!

Aila was still only Level 21, but once she finished eating the palace, her level would definitely soar.

There was still someone outside, so they could not make too much noise. Anran instructed Aila to eat and digest slowly while she searched for the secret entrance.

Ding!

Found it.

At the correct location, a red symbol appeared before Anran’s eyes, an exclamation mark enclosed within a circle.

In the game, this symbol indicated that a special event was present.

Naturally, only Anran and the players could see it.

It was a special marker that appeared only after a singular point had been discovered.

Perfect. There were no signs of excavation here. The location was to the right of the palace’s restroom.

Anran immediately grew excited.

She had been worried that the passage might have been discovered, but it now seemed that Pirate Princess Anran’s level of technology was far beyond anything these pieces of trash could match.

They had discovered the poorly concealed outer layer, but they had been completely unable to find the inner one.

After night fell and the padded-coat man outside left in confusion, Anran quickly called Aila over.

Holy shit!

Anran jumped when she saw Aila. They had been apart for only half a day, yet Aila had somehow become an entire size “fatter.”

Do not misunderstand. By fatter, she meant stronger.

Level 24.

[Six Attributes]: Strength 111, Agility 58, Endurance 82 (Armor 180/180), Intelligence 59, Spirit X, Charisma 9

Aila was ten levels below Anran, yet her Strength had once again surpassed Anran’s despite all of Anran’s bonuses. It truly was a racial talent.

Once her level rose and Agility was no longer a weakness, Aila would become a genuinely all-purpose “Warrior.”

“Anran, Anran, are we going to sleep here?”

Aila looked around in confusion. The space was rather small. She would have no problem sleeping there, but it would be inconvenient for Anran, wouldn’t it?

“We’re going below.”

“Below?”

Aila watched in confusion as Anran suddenly stopped moving.

Anran was undergoing authentication.

“Mental-wave verification in progress. Please wait.”

“Authentication successful. Teleportation beginning now.”

It was called teleportation, but in practice it physically transported their bodies.

Before Aila could react, the ground beneath her feet suddenly contracted. She and Anran immediately fell through it together.

Whoosh!

There was no anti-gravity, nor did they land quickly as expected.

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Aila’s skirt was blown straight upward, and her hair stretched out behind her in a very long stream.

After they had fallen for only a short while, an upward supporting force slowed Anran and Aila down. In the end, the two of them landed steadily on the floor.

Solid ground. A small room.

They were standing on a circular platform one centimeter high and one meter in radius, glowing with orange light.

This was the place.

Anran surveyed the room that felt both familiar and unfamiliar.

The room could roughly be divided into two sections.

On the left, a pale green sword as brilliant as a gemstone had been embedded in place.

Ah, look at that light. How gentle!

Ah, look at that shape. How handsome!

Ah, it truly was a weapon perfectly suited to Pirate Princess Anran’s personality!

It was insanely cool.

Even Aila’s eyes lit up from its radiance.

Without the slightest hesitation, Anran walked over and wrapped one hand around the hilt.

She pulled out the sword.

“Do you wish to accept the inheritance of the Gale Sword Saint?”

Of course the answer was “Yes.”

This was a special profession, one that did not require advanced knowledge. The only difference was that while other professions required advanced knowledge to advance, this one required EXP.

“Inheritance in progress. Current progress: 5%.”

“Inheritance in progress. Current progress: 7%.”

Wow.

Aila stared in surprise at Anran, who was gripping the sword hilt.

At that moment, Anran was enveloped in green light.

It formed a dazzling halo around her, turning her entire body pale green.

Gale.

In many games, pale green was the representative color of wind. [Night of the Stars] was no exception.

“Inheritance complete. You have successfully begun the new profession [Gale Sword Saint]! Strength +1, Speed +1, Spirit +1. You have received 3 Free Attribute Points and 1 Skill Point.”

Strength, Speed, and Spirit, combined with the Endurance and Intelligence granted by the Mechanic profession, made Anran feel like an all-powerful god of war!

Though she still could not compare with Pirate Princess Anran.

Win the hearts of the people, and bring peace to the world!

Cultivate the self, manage the family, govern… or punish the nation, and bring peace to the world!

Of course, developing two professions simultaneously consumed an enormous amount of EXP during the early stages. One had to be primary and the other secondary.

Anran did not want to be surrounded and forcibly killed by the plot again as she had been before, so she still chose Mechanic as her primary profession. Gale Sword Saint would serve as her trump card.

A Mechanic capable of fighting at both long and short range.

Anran spent 129,300 EXP in one go to raise her Sword Saint profession to Level 11. Her attributes were now as follows:

[Six Attributes]: Strength 124, Agility 135, Endurance 135, Intelligence 203, Spirit 95 (+20 Spirit Barrier), Charisma 10

She also unlocked several new skills:

[Flash Step Lv. 1]: Forces movement over a distance of 0 to 3 meters. Consumes 20 Sword Aura. Cooldown: 25 seconds.

[Charged Strike Lv. 1]: Coats the blade in sword aura. The next attack deals 150% damage. Consumes 15 Sword Aura. Cooldown: 10 seconds.

[Wind Slash Lv. 1]: Performs a horizontal slash covering a 150-degree arc directly ahead, with a radius of 1.5 meters. Consumes 30 Sword Aura. Cooldown: 15 seconds.

[Advancing Slash Lv. 1]: Forces forward movement over a distance of 0 to 3 meters and launches a slash. Consumes 40 Sword Aura. Cooldown: 25 seconds.

The combo effect of Advancing Slash followed by Wind Slash caused Wind Slash to deal a 200% critical hit.

Compared with the more science-oriented Mechanic profession, melee professions truly demanded more technique to maximize damage output. Skill combinations could often produce damage numbers that left less-skilled players staring in disbelief.

“Is this really the same weakling profession I used to play? These damage numbers aren’t scientific at all!”

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Finally, reaching Level 11 unlocked a new ranged harassing skill.

[Sword Wind Blade Lv. 1]: Releases a wind blade thirty centimeters wide with an attack range of fifteen meters. Consumes 50 Sword Aura. Cooldown: 15 seconds.

The green light surrounding Anran faded away. Only the sword in her hand, [Hurricane], continued to emit a faint pale-green glow.

“Anran, Anran, how did you know there were so many things here?”

“I left all of these things here before.” Anran tossed [Hurricane] into subspace, then turned her attention to the other half of the room.

Besides the Gale Sword Saint inheritance, the other side contained many remnants from Pirate Princess Anran’s other profession.

Her Level 99 Artillery Specialist had left behind small-scale… coilguns, Gauss cannons, kinetic cannons, long-range rending cannons, ultraviolet laser cannons, rapid-fire armor-piercing cannons, and rotary anti-aircraft cannons.

There was also a [Spaceport-Class Laser-Cutting Turret] blueprint that Anran could not yet understand, along with a [Cataclysmic Fire-Rain Bomb] blueprint.

She stored the incomprehensible blueprints away for now. The dozen or so small cannons were more troublesome. There was no way she could fill her entire six-by-six-by-six subspace with them. Anran could only barely squeeze in the kinetic cannon, long-range rending cannon, ultraviolet laser cannon, rapid-fire armor-piercing cannon, and rotary anti-aircraft cannon.

As for the remaining coilgun and the others, Anran tested them. With her current Intelligence, she could analyze the coilgun if she spent enough time on it.

Thus, Anran settled down there.

Aila entered sleep mode, while Anran began working hard to analyze the coilgun.

After nearly four days, Anran finally obtained the blueprint for the small coilgun.

Even with her Endurance, she felt somewhat hungry by then.

“Aila, wake up.” Anran nudged the dormant Aila.

Aila woke immediately.

“Are you finished?”

“I’m finished. We can only take one of the two weapons that remain, so you can eat this coilgun directly.”

“???”

“Go ahead. Eat it.”

Since Anran had said so, Aila did not hold back.

The table-sized coilgun did not last long beneath Aila’s teeth. It took her only a little over twenty minutes to finish eating it.

Then she gained a level.

Nice.

These things were far more useful than ordinary resources.

Besides, if they wanted resources, didn’t Fitch Mining Company have plenty?

Anran and Aila carried the Gauss cannon onto the orange platform again. The two of them then rose into the air and returned to the surface through the same place where they had fallen.

Clang!

The thick Gauss cannon landed on the floor.

It was still nighttime when Anran emerged.

There was nobody in the palace. Since there was nobody around…

“Then keep eating.”

At Anran’s instruction, Aila opened her stomach and began devouring everything in sight.

“Leave some for me too.”

The remaining small gaps in subspace were soon filled with Yulan Metal as well.

It would make much sturdier cannon barrels.

The higher Aila’s level became, the faster she ate. Anran did not prepare to leave with her until she was unbearably hungry.

By then, Aila had already reached Level 29.

The moon was hidden and the wind was strong.

The air was icy.

The temperature was more than twenty degrees below zero.

Cold and hungry as she carried the Gauss cannon, Anran looked every bit like a shivering girl Mechanic.

They soon reached the ice vehicle. After throwing the Gauss cannon into the back, Anran drove rapidly toward the spacecraft.

She first placed the Gauss cannon aboard the spacecraft, then went to return the ice vehicle.

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“Where is Fitch Mining Company?”

“Near the equator. It seems a little far away.”

…

“Holy shit, what happened here?”

The padded-coat treasure hunter froze in shock the moment he walked into the palace.

What had happened? The entire rear half of the palace was gone. Only a thick layer of ice remained visible, and even the ice had developed tiny cracks.

He immediately thought of the two girls who had walked into the palace right in front of him earlier.

He had not seen anyone else here over the past few days. The problem was that the two girls had arrived empty-handed and had not looked capable of carrying away such sturdy palace walls.

He was completely baffled, but he decisively reported the matter to Fitch Mining Company. Otherwise, someone might later accuse him of taking the palace away.

“What? Someone dug away half the palace?”

The Fitch Mining Company staff members were stunned when they received the news.

There were several reasons they had left the palace intact. First, they were worried that excavating it might cause the ice layer to collapse. Second, the excavation cost was high while the return was low. Third, they wanted to see whether the palace might contain something else. It would have been rather disappointing if it held nothing but money and valuables.

“Assign me two exploration teams. I’ll go take a look immediately.”

“All right.”

While Fitch Mining Company brought people toward the Arctic Circle, Anran landed once again somewhere near the equator.

She casually stole a vehicle, loaded the Gauss cannon onto it, and set off.

The Gauss cannon used upgraded electromagnetic coils as its launching force. Compared with a coilgun, it had a longer range and greater destructive power. Both were kinetic weapons and belonged to the category of mass drivers.

Its special design also meant that the Gauss cannon did not have particularly strict ammunition requirements. As long as something could fit inside and was polished enough not to damage the bore too badly, even a lump of iron could produce tremendous force.

All the more so with Yulan Metal that Aila had polished into a rounded projectile, allowing it to unleash the full effect of a kinetic impact.

The highest-level person in the entire company was only Level 36, and he was an office worker.

Anran immediately grinned when she saw that.

She aimed the barrel at the office of the branch manager of Fitch Mining Company.

First shot.

The projectile left the barrel.

In the blink of an eye, the manager’s office was destroyed by the immense kinetic force.

“You have killed…”

She aimed the barrel at the equipment warehouse.

Second shot.

Boom!

The projectile struck with perfect accuracy, and the warehouse immediately burst into flames. An oil tank had exploded.

The entire Fitch Mining Company branch instantly descended into chaos.

“Main Quest triggered: [Wind of the Avenger]. Do you wish to accept?”

[Main Quest] [Points Quest] [Wind of the Avenger]

Quest Description: After growing to this point, you can finally extend the hand of vengeance toward the Empire. Let the raging winds of revenge sweep across the entire Empire and its traitors!

Wait, there were traitors too? What the hell?

Anran’s expression changed slightly.

Quest Rank: SSS

Repeatability: Unique

The reward list was far too extensive. The exact rewards depended on completion and destruction rates, but every single one was enough to make people green with envy.

Of course she had to accept a quest like this!

Besides, Anran had never intended to let the Empire live comfortably. The more thoroughly the Empire collapsed, the happier she would be.

Charge!

Time to rob them!