Jiang Zhixu’s plan was simple—use his talent, [Critical Everything], to multiply the number of artillery shells.
He hadn’t used his talent yet today!
If he could just critically multiply one shell tenfold or more, this crisis could be smoothly resolved!
The randomness of his talent wasn’t the fake kind used by game developers.
Jiang Zhixu felt his luck shouldn’t be that bad!
“Yes, sir!”
Qi Honglang’s eyes lit up. He immediately realized the City Lord was about to perform another miracle with his talent!
With more shells, they might just make these raiders regret ever coming!
…
The ammunition hold.
Empty.
The only two remaining shells had already been moved to the cannon emplacement on the city’s right side, not yet loaded.
Jiang Zhixu didn’t have the shells brought back. He dismissed all non-essential personnel, keeping only Qi Honglang and the two gunners by his side.
The Skilled Gunner was named Meng Guolong. He was quite steady, just turned forty this year, but his face was deeply lined, skin rough, making him look sixty.
The other was a boy, not so aged, only sixteen, but his nerves weren’t great, his eyes holding a trace of panic.
Jiang Zhixu didn’t make small talk. He picked up one of the round shells, focused his mind, and selected it.
[Target: Ordinary Gunpowder Artillery Shell]
[Type: Quantity Critical]
[Talent Activating…]
[Activation Successful. Multiplier: 97x!]
In an instant, a cacophony of dense clattering sounds filled the air! Countless black shells materialized out of thin air, raining down and denting the thick wooden floorboards.
Before anyone could react.
All ninety-seven shells had manifested. The once-spacious artillery room became impassable, shells piling up to everyone’s knees!
*Clatter!*
Skilled Gunner Meng Guolong’s eyes widened, his pipe dropping unconsciously onto a shell.
The young gunner momentarily forgot his fear, standing dumbfounded while clutching a shell that had conveniently landed in his arms.
Even with prior mental preparation, Qi Honglang was still shocked.
*’Here it is again, creation from nothing! What tier is the City Lord’s talent? Could it be God-Tier?’*
Talents were ranked as Low, Medium, High, Supreme, and God-Tier. Qi Honglang felt that only a God-Tier talent could achieve something like this!
Because the limit in his understanding was a High-Tier talent holder who could double the quantity of natural resources obtained.
That was already incredibly powerful, but it paled in comparison to turning one shell into an ocean of shells!
Jiang Zhixu struggled to pull his foot free from the pile of shells, his expression calm as he asked, “Is it enough? Are these shells enough?”
“More than enough!!!”
Meng Guolong had completely forgotten his composure, his face a picture of near-ecstatic joy.
He said loudly, “City Lord, with this many shells, we can completely blast that raider Mobile City to scrap and seize everything they have!”
In this world, if you could capture an enemy’s city, you could obtain all the production data from their workshops via their City Lord’s Control Hub.
This was also why some Mobile Cities chose to become raiders.
High risk, high reward. The winner takes all!
Jiang Zhixu gave a slight nod. “They have a Tier-1 cannon emplacement. Don’t get careless. Focus on repelling them, with destroying them as a secondary goal.”
“City Lord, I have some understanding of Tier-1 emplacements,”
Meng Guolong said immediately. “Their power is indeed formidable; one hit would cripple us. But Tier-1 emplacements must use special, matching shells. Producing those shells consumes massive amounts of special resources!
“So, they absolutely wouldn’t dare fire lightly. They’ll keep that as their trump card to decide the battle. As for us—”
He patted the sea of shells beside him, continuing with confidence:
“As long as you’re willing to spend the shells, we’ll maintain a distance of about one kilometer and establish a fire blockade! That way, they can’t get close, and if they try to run, they can’t escape our range!”
Given both sides were moving at high speed, hitting a target at one kilometer, let alone five hundred meters, was far from guaranteed.
The other side was also a Tier-1 city. Their resource reserves couldn’t be huge. They probably only had a few of those special shells at most, and certainly wouldn’t waste them. They’d most likely wait until they were within three hundred meters to fire.
This was the safest, highest-yield approach!
If that was truly the case, they could definitely capture this Tier-1 raider city today.
Jiang Zhixu pondered for a moment, thinking it was worth a try.
Even if they didn’t succeed… with this many shells here, the enemy couldn’t possibly take their city either.
So Jiang Zhixu said, “Alright. Since you’re confident, we’ll do it your way.”
Meng Guolong’s face lit up with joy. He rubbed his hands together. “Great! Don’t you worry, today I’ll definitely secure this city for you!”
He’d been firing cannons for years and had never fought a battle this well-supplied!
“Um…”
The young gunner, Lu Yan, seeing Jiang Zhixu about to leave, gritted his teeth and raised his hand. “City Lord, may I… may I use these shells?”
He didn’t want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
In the Wasteland, artillery shells were expensive strategic resources. A trainee gunner like him normally wouldn’t get to fire more than a few rounds in an entire year.
This was also why most gunners remained at the Skilled level even after seven or eight years—not for lack of wanting to practice, but because they couldn’t afford to!
Jiang Zhixu was taken aback because he hadn’t excluded the young gunner from the start.
But this was a good opportunity to boost loyalty. So he smiled and asked, “How many shells have you fired?”
The young gunner lacked confidence, stammering, “O-one… one round.”
“How many more do you need to reach Skilled level?”
“Fifty rounds…” The boy hung his head.
“But—” He lifted his head unwillingly, his dark, bright eyes fixed intently on Jiang Zhixu. “If I fire seriously, twenty rounds would be enough! Before, I didn’t want to help that nasty old man, so I just fired carelessly!”
Gunners gained experience from firing.
Exactly how much experience was a multi-dimensional calculation; only the system knew the precise algorithm.
But one thing was certain: the more accurate the shot and the greater the contribution to the battle, the more experience gained!
Jiang Zhixu became interested. “Fine. No need for the harsh twenty-round target. I’ll give you a quota of thirty rounds. But if you still haven’t leveled up after firing those thirty, what then?”
The boy gritted his teeth. Ignoring Meng Guolong’s attempts to stop him, he insisted on making a military pledge: “If I can’t level up in twenty rounds, I’ll drop dead right in front of you!”
One ordinary shell required 10 units of steel and 10 units of gunpowder. Twenty rounds combined were worth enough to buy two slaves.
A trainee gunner without a talent indeed wasn’t worth that many resources.
The boy was prepared to stake everything.
But to his surprise, Jiang Zhixu didn’t accept his pledge.
“Don’t go talking about life and death so casually. You have a long life ahead of you! Practice well. If you don’t meet the target, I’ll have a different punishment for you.”
Jiang Zhixu reached out and ruffled the boy’s hair, his hand coming away greasy.
He withdrew his hand without changing expression, clasped it behind his back, and turned to leave.
Meng Guolong watched his departing back with a complex expression.
The boy stood rooted to the spot, Jiang Zhixu’s words echoing in his ears, his eyes gradually welling up with hot tears.