Chapter 5

Chapter 5. Pirate Attack (1)

What a heartbreaking story.

Ignis, the first SS-grade character I pulled without any rerolls.

Our Ignis’s overall stats are top-tier even among SS-grades without any additional tweaks.

And it’s an undeniable fact that with the right item setups, Ignis can dominate even among SSS-grades.

But the problem was that Ignis’s performance was strictly optimized for one-on-one combat.

Against swarms of pirates like the ones coming now, Ignis’s efficiency drops drastically.

Of course, given enough time, Ignis could use that A+ stamina and endurance to take them all down in one go and declare victory.

But if we just fight like this, while Ignis is busy slicing through one pirate ship, the other two ships will sink our only patrol ship, destroy our utterly useless defense turrets, and loot our base’s resource storage and blueprints.

So, as soon as I confirmed Ignis’s presence, I immediately started producing a new patrol ship.

<Time remaining for patrol ship production: 70:37:40>

<Time remaining until pirate base attack: 70:04:31>

“F***.”

Even after using the production speed-up items I had in storage as part of the return rewards, the patrol ship would still be 30 minutes late compared to the pirates’ attack.

Realizing this grim reality, I decided to vent my frustration in the chat.

Of course, it was more about releasing my anger than actually whining.

-[Waaah, I just got Ignis in a single pull as a newbie. Is this… good?]

-[You f***ing bastard.]

-[F***]

-[Go die]

-[Why do I only get B-grades while you get Ignis?]

“Hmm, yami… no, this isn’t the time for this.”

In the midst of this, I accidentally bragged and got showered with curses.

I quickly tried to explain myself… well, explain in the chat.

-[Just kidding, I did get Ignis, but how am I supposed to stop these pirates with her?]

And other users immediately started responding to my chat.

-[How are you supposed to stop them with Ignis?]

-[LOLOLOLOL]

-[Of all things, a pirate swarm attack happens now LOLOLOLOL]

-[Bye, you lucky bastard]

-[Getting a top-tier character and then immediately getting wrecked? Big mood LOLOLOLOL]

“Ha, these f***ers.”

They obviously knew exactly what I was thinking.

The chat reactions were half pity and half mocking laughter at my instinctive bragging.

Of course, among those reactions, there were some useful replies.

-[If you manually control the patrol ship to buy time, you can have Ignis destroy them one by one.]

“Ooooh?”

Intrigued by this idea, I was about to get lost in thought when…

-[That’s easier said than done. If you just pulled her, Ignis is only level 1.]

-[Seriously, the pirates are coming in 3 days, right? Even if you grind or train Ignis for 3 days, she’ll only hit level 10?]

-[At that level, it’ll take too long for Ignis to take down one pirate ship, and our patrol ship will get destroyed first.]

Reading the chat, I imagined Ignis currently training hard in the base’s training grounds.

And just as I was about to give up and start trolling the chat…

-[Nah, a lot of people don’t know this, but Ignis has the Two-Swords Style trait.]

-[Yeah]

-[If you give her two pickaxes and make her do mining, it counts as combat and she levels up fast.]

“…That works?”

Seeing this interesting idea, I found it highly plausible.

And since I had no hesitation in putting this plan into action, I decided to call Ignis from the training grounds through Jessica.

“Commander, I heard you called for me.”

“Ah, you’re here?”

I handed her two pickaxes and checked the resource mining ship, which had just finished transporting resources and was ready to depart again.

I immediately decided to boldly execute my brilliant (not) plan with Ignis.

First, board the resource mining ship.

Second, head to the resource mining area.

And finally, the third…

First, I go and mine diligently.

Of course, at my command, Ignis made a truly “dumbfounded” expression.

“…Commander? So, you’re saying… I should do mining work now?”

Soon, that “dumbfounded” expression completely disappeared.

Instead, a look of disbelief, as if asking if that’s really what you’re telling me to do, appeared.

But despite Ignis’s attitude, I responded as calmly and confidently as possible.

“Yes, this is the key to improving your abilities.”

Hearing this, Ignis’s sharp eyes sparkled intensely.

“Then I’ll go right away.”

“Excellent choice.”

Soon, Ignis switched from being an SS-class combatant to an SS-class miner, embarking on a journey to enjoy 70 hours of non-stop mining work.

==========

Anyway, after turning our Ignis into a dual-wielding pickaxe warrior and sending him off as a mining machine,

I called Jessica and asked if there was any way to wake up the others who were in hibernation at the base.

Given the nature of my account, which had completed the endgame set, most of the hibernating characters were likely S-class or higher.

If even one could be awakened, it would be more than enough, an overflowing force.

But…

“The superhumans and heroes in hibernation are scheduled to wake up on their own after the base is repaired and upgraded…”

“…Really?”

“Yes, but we can’t know who will wake up.”

“You didn’t decide who wakes up first?”

“No, and except for the personnel obtained through base upgrades, the rest of the hibernating personnel will randomly wake up each time you manipulate the dimensional causality rate, Commander?”

“…”

According to Jessica’s explanation, the process of waking from hibernation was tied to the game’s system.

At this point, no matter what I did, I couldn’t immediately use the characters I had raised with my own money.

It clearly showed why this damn game is classified as one of the vicious crap games.

But in other words…

“Jessica, how much will the base repair and upgrade costs total?”

“Yes, it will cost about 650 minerals!”

Seeing Jessica salute briskly at my words, I nodded and thought.

‘If we can just withstand this pirate attack, we can upgrade the base and immediately add the awakened personnel to the fleet… right?’

Judging by Jessica’s tone and the information provided,

It seems that at least two superhumans will wake up from hibernation.

If I can’t handle this with just one hero obtained from the gacha, surviving in the future will be tough… that’s what it seems to mean.

Of course, pondering this alone is truly the worst of the worst strategies.

-[Guys, is it true that upgrading the base gives additional superhumans and heroes?]

I decided to struggle to obtain the information I needed by using a very neat collective intelligence.

Not long after leaving that chat,

-[Yes, it’s true]

-[Probably will give about 1, maybe 2 if you’re lucky?]

-[Didn’t someone prove they got 3 last time?]

-[But getting 3 is like hitting the jackpot, might as well consider it non-existent]

-[Agreed]

-[Agreed]

Through the flood of chats, I confirmed that the information I had and the new conclusions I drew were all correct.

After continuously pondering what I should do right now,

I thought about improving my ship control skills in preparation for the upcoming pirate attack.

So, I closed the chat window filled with trivial chatter again.

And called Jessica to order a separate console so I could directly control the patrol ship.