Chapter 316

Chapter 316. A Peaceful Daily Story. (2)

Anyway, it’s already been a week since I ate that “sweet and sticky” Barracuda.

The Forward Base and resource fleets are all running smoothly, and fleet reconstruction is also progressing normally.

—————————————-

<<<Superhuman Soldier Training Facility Construction Complete!>>>

<As of now, you can produce ‘Superhuman Troops’ as assault forces!>

—————————————-

“Oh.”

The message popped up that the <Superhuman Soldier Training Facility>, which I started building before the invasion by those Walpurgis guys, was finally complete.

At last, I’m putting an end to the grueling march of life as an 8th-tier base and finally stepping into the 9th tier.

It feels like just yesterday I was struggling at level 6 while everyone else was flaunting level 7.

Now, with level 9 right around the corner, I couldn’t help but feel a little giddy.

‘Hmm, feeling motivated.’

Of course, seeing me like this, Jessica next to me wagged her short, stubby black bunny tail, showing a hint of interest.

“Commander, are you really that happy about the Superhuman Soldier Training Facility being built?”

“Of course, our base is finally entering the 9th tier for real now.”

“Hehe, that’s true.”

And thinking I couldn’t keep this joy to myself, I decided to hop into the Solo Rankers’ room for the first time in a while to subtly flex a little.

—————————————-

<Solo☆Rankers’ Room>

<Notice: Noobs, we won’t tell you how to become a ranker, so scram>

–<Icarus has entered.>

-[Hey](Icarus)

-[Welcome, Icarus](Menaldu)

-[Why’s the notice like that again?](Icarus)

-[Königs insists on giving consultations privately, so the ones who didn’t get it keep crawling in here and causing a fuss](Indypatible)

-[Ah, I see](Icarus)

—————————————-

Of course, if I started bragging right away, I’d just look like a brat, so I started by greeting them and casually mentioning the notice.

Then, once the atmosphere seemed to loosen up, I subtly dropped a hint about reaching level 9…

—————————————-

<Solo☆Rankers’ Room>

<Notice: Noobs, we won’t tell you how to become a ranker, so scram>

-[By the way, have you guys heard about users reaching 9th-tier bases recently?]

-[I remember everyone was stuck at 8th-tier not too long ago](Icarus)

-[Yeah, there are quite a few]

-[I just hit the 9th-tier construction button a week ago, and it’s still in progress]

-[Lately, among the newbies I’ve been consulting, quite a few are on the verge of entering 9th-tier](Königs)

-[Oh, really?](Indypatible)

-[Yeah, about 3-4 of them?]

-[But they’re stuck because they don’t have enough resources lol](Königs)

-[I’ve built the 9th-tier base, but the附属 buildings are so expensive I can’t even start on them](Laura)

-[Wow, I’m just now reaching 9th-tier](Icarus)

-[Congrats](Laura)

—————————————-

At this point, I couldn’t help but think I might be the first among the users to reach 9th-tier.

But contrary to my expectations, our Solo Ranker friends were all either already working on it or had already done it.

Of course, considering these guys have such great connections, and everyone around them is leveling up at the same pace…

It was only natural they’d react like that, so I responded nonchalantly in the chat.

Then, I pushed the Solo Rankers’ chat to the side and immediately opened the community-gallery tab to run a search.

But as I did, I thought, “Well, at least I’m still in the top tier, right?”

But as they say, the higher your expectations, the harder the betrayal.

Contrary to my hopeful thoughts…

—————————————-

<Gallery Search Results for ‘9th-tier’>

˪<Total Search Results: 50,169>

-[I hit 9th-tier, give me upvotes lol](1,555)

-[Are you the first in the gallery?](745)

-[If the OP is a girl, you’re my wife](16,560)

-[9th-tier, kyaaaaaah!](5,592)

-[What, is this a 9th-tier construction verification post?](6,813)

—————————————-

‘Ugh, typical.’

Unfortunately, not only in the chat but also in the gallery…

There were quite a lot of posts proving that people had reached level 9 or were already in the process of construction.

From my perspective, it was hard to hide my gloomy feelings.

Of course, seeing my expression, Jessica, who was browsing the gallery with me, subtly poked my side with her elbow.

“Still, Commander, even if you’re not doing great, it seems like you’ve climbed into the top 10% now, right?”

“…Hmm, maybe.”

“Yep, excluding duplicates from the gallery search results, it should be around that.”

“Hmm.”

Listening to her, it sounded quite plausible, so I decided to be satisfied with the fact that I had risen from the bottom 50% to the top 10% (?).

After sorting out my feelings, I was about to start the level 9 construction, but…

—————————————-

<Base Level 9 Upgrade>

<<<Required Resources: 4,500,000 Minerals, 1,700,000 Rare Resources>>>

<Upgrade Unlock List>

˪<Additional Docking Facility Unlocked>

˪<Resource Warehouse Unlocked>

˪<Special Defense Facility Construction Available>

˪<Nemesis Orbital Ring Construction Available>

˪<Dreadnought Platform Construction Available>

˪<Faction-Specific Special Building (Current Faction: 'Space Monster') Construction Available>

—————————————-

“…How much resources do we have right now?”

“We lost a lot during the Barracuda conquest, so we have about 3.5 million minerals and 1.2 million rare resources left.”

“Hmm.”

‘We can’t build this right now.’

The moment I saw the ridiculously expensive upgrade cost for the level 9 base.

I could deeply understand why top rankers like Königs and Laura couldn’t build their bases because it was ‘too expensive.’

==========

Anyway, at that moment when Icarus was shocked by the insane cost of the level 9 base.

After conquering the Barracuda supply base and securing two level 5 outposts.

Judging that there wouldn’t be any major battles for a while, Icarus ordered everyone to rest until further notice.

The superhumans under our protagonist were each killing time doing what they wanted.

And since everyone had such unique personalities, their ways of passing time were quite diverse.

In the case of Ignis, Partia, and Smeragi.

“Didn’t they tell you guys to rest?”

“We’re resting while guarding the Commander.”

“Well, that’s a decent way to do it.”

The three took turns guarding Icarus, one person per day.

While the other two spent their vacation leisurely in their own ways.

But Pashtira and Lephan, perhaps because they had similar chest sizes, seemed to get along really well.

After receiving their vacation from Icarus, they openly stuck together and were building their friendship.

Also, in the case of Belial and Tiamat, who were in charge of Icarus’s fleet and aircraft respectively.

Now, Marian, who had surpassed the teacher-student relationship and was practically on the same level.

Similarly, Aquarias, who commanded a fleet, was enjoying her vacation or discussing fleet command when she had time.

And finally, in the case of Gryanarr, the embodiment of a mad scientist…

“Hngaaah, indeed, the combat suit I made♡ is incredibly stimulating♡”

“Before stimulation, if we leave you like this, Professor, your brain might melt.”

“Eungiiiiit♡”

…While trying to modify combat suits (?) for the troops to be produced at the superhuman training facility into living tentacle outfits.

She ended up being ‘worn’ by it and was rolling around the research lab floor.

The problem was that this was for a ‘fitting test,’ so she, along with Rain and the fem Kanfu (body modification).

And the lab researchers were all wearing the suit…

Until the next morning, when Icarus came to the Nest of Life to ask something, they had to endure non-stop ‘stimulation.’

As a result, Gryanarr and the researchers had to take a full day off due to poor condition.