A Black Market LitRPG

A week later…

In a bombed-out section of Ocra, Masir waited with five other men, geared up in their full military gear and waiting in a clearing. Seven others were sweeping the perimeter, ensuring that no one else was within sight. “All clear, boss.”

“Good. The packages should be coming soon.”

As if on cue, five parachutes appeared from the middle of the sky just a kilometre up, attached to their respective crates as they slowed the fall, drifting slightly before they impacted the ground with a light bounce.

Masir was slightly stunned, his men scampering to avoid the falling crates. Wait, wasn’t he supposed to land with a mineral ant? Did he launch them into the air?! “Quickly check the packages to make sure they are safe!”

They inspected the surface of the crate, noting it was a reinforced wooden crate, though it suffered some cracks on the side during the impact. “Boss, there’s a note!”

“Hand it over.” Masir grabbed the piece of paper, eyes darting as he read quickly. “Be prepared for three more drops… Next delivery in three days.”

Sure enough, over the course of the next six hours, three more similar airdrops were performed, increasing the supply of goods to Masir tremendously. Masir was at a complete loss as to how Kyle was doing this, his eyes unable to perceive the new stealth hovercraft.

However, he did not care too much about how he got the goods, only if he got them. The more goods he had, the more leverage he held over the people. Even other soldiers were beginning to enter his sphere of influence, creating a disparate network spreading through the garrison, no one willing to rat out Masir.

The other criminal groups have tried to, but Masir held the most social capital in Ocra, being one of the former large gang bosses. His reputation far preceded him, enabling him to develop a covert system and a black market for goods. He had even managed to get a posting to the back end as a logistic officer, swaying those in power with bribes and a cut of the proceeds.

People in Ocra did not care as much – if it were not for the black market, they would not even have access to the goods at all. Masir did not rip them off as much as he would have in the past, knowing that if he pushed too hard, the people would revolt against him.

Even the general was well aware of such a thing happening, instead electing to be involved in it rather than outright banning it. It was such a supply chain that would prove to be the breaking point between victory and defeat in his eyes – more goods, and basic supplies meant that his garrison would last longer.

As such, he had no qualms about using the Versian coins in his coffers to purchase weapons and ammunition. They were much higher than the average market price, but at least they could break through the blockade, unlike their own military, which was getting stalled by other forces.

Just like that, Kyle had established his first war profiteering chain, with the weapons, potions and food being sold to the defenders of Ocra. With the new hovercraft that had been perfected in the second prototype, Kyle began training a select few individuals to pilot the hovercraft. He kept the circle of those who knew about the stealth hovercraft as small as possible.

I will go once a week to collect my coins, but for now, I have to solve an energy issue. Kyle did not intend for the Advanced Arcia Crystal to be permanently used for the hovercraft – he needed it to power the Version 0 exosuit. It’s time for a raid.

“Do I really have to go back?!” Feldon complained as Kyle grabbed hold of him, dragging him along to the hunting party as well. Kyle did not elect to bring Makoa along, as Makoa was still unable to fly properly, getting motion sickness far too easily.

Kyle led the hunting party back to where they exited the dungeon next to the destroyed village. He could already see Tenar Logging Incorporated expanding their operations, their lumberjacks moving further and further in.

Avoiding their detection, Kyle had the hunters set up camp around the exiting tunnel of the dungeon while he wore the Version 0 exosuit complete with helmet and Advanced Arcia Crystal. This time, he brought along a heavy variant rifle, a near duplicate of the one he made in the catacombs.

It was nearly a machine gun but far more sturdy and resistant to continuous fire in exchange for its heavy weight. However, thanks to Kyle’s improved Arcian physique, he could handle the weight just fine. No point using a lighter weapon – it’s time to fight head-to-head. Slinging his pulveriser on his back, he marched towards the tunnel accompanied by the stealth hornet.

“Prepare yourself,” Kyle ordered the men to gear up for the raid, making sure they had enough protection. “Bring the mining equipment out.”

Vibration pickaxes were all brought along for the raid, necessary to crack open the rock that held the crystals.

Kyle mounted the stealth hornet, which was now covered in metal plating that served as additional armour, almost like a steel steed. Swooping down into the tunnels, the hornet followed its instincts, tracing the previous path that they took to enter the dungeon.

The myriad of tunnels and hollowed-out tree trunks flashed past him in a mosaic of moss and foilage, Kyle’s eyes scanning for any anomalies that he missed on the way out. If I can find another Artificial Hive Core…

Soon, they reached the same gaping hole at the top of the ceiling, looking down on the outcrop. The outcrop had been cracked open in half last time due to Kyle slamming it with the Pulverizer. But he wasn’t here for the prize – he was here for what remained. He could already see with his keen eyes that there was plenty of Intermediate Arcia Crystals embedded within the chunks split in half.

“You think that large rock claw thingy would come back?” Feldon asked.

“If it does, we can simply run away. It’s a hit-and-run operation.”

Instead of jumping down immediately, the hunting party took their time to walk around the hole. Kyle noticed that all of the mineral ant corpses were gone, as though they had vanished without a sign. The previous ‘hive brain’ was also missing, its body nowhere to be found. Kyle looked around for traces but could not find any. Where did they go?

“There’s about thirty crystals down there from what we can observe – maybe more embedded into the rock.” Feldon reported.

“Okay. I’ll jump in and kill the rock spiders; you guys begin mining. Feldon, you’re in charge of them. The moment you see the same large rock claw, get back out to the ceiling.”

Kyle was much more prepared this time. Taking a deep breath, he mentally steeled himself as he entered the cavern with his hunting party, the dozen mineral ants swooping in like a air raid.

A trial message again – but I’m ready this time. Kyle felt that he was getting a grasp on what Soren was doing in the dungeon and why he was so angry about Kyle killing the boss. It seems that he was resetting the trials, though I’m not clear on the respawn cycle.

Hundreds of rock spiders of all forms began to skitter out of the uniform boreholes on the side of the walls, with larger Territorial Defenders coming out in force. Kyle counted the number, noticing that there was far more than before. He landed on the ground with his men, his armoured boots cracking the earth.

Before he could even prepare himself, three blue energy beams from ranged rock spiders fired at him, their blue gem-like eyes glowing fiercely as the luminescent crystal outcrop brightened up the entire cavern.

Time to grind. Penchant for Violence!

With the increased Dexterity, the world slowed to a crawl around him. The energy beams were still as fast, but Kyle could see clearly the charge-up time of each rock spider. It reminded him of his combat training back in the Galactic Era. Just like in the simulations.

Kyle lifted up his rifle on hand, immediately firing back at the glowing eyes with pinpoint accuracy, the heavy rifle’s recoil and barrel shake muted by the firm grip of Kyle. He dodged while a torrent of energy beams blanketed the ground, many hitting his armour directly. At the same time, the men began to fire back in response, earning a few retaliation energy beams.

However, the Sturore-enhanced armour proved far sturdier than expected, only earning a few blackened spots as the energy beams failed to melt through. This made Kyle even more bolder, allowing him to rush through and decimate the ranged rock spiders with ease.

Soon, the normal rock spiders had already scaled rush them, with the hunters and their partner mineral ants beginning to fight. The majority of the rock spiders targeted him, lunging at him as he continued to kill them en masse, swapping to his pulveriser and smashing them with heavy-handed swings.

He and the men fought for thirty minutes, decimating the rock spiders with ease while the venom-spitting hornet chimed in, spitting globs of acid at the large Territorial Defenders and allowing him to easily kill them with a ranged hit, claiming all the EXP for himself.

The first wave of spiders began to subside, with Kyle immediately ordering the men to mine. As soon as they got their hands on an intermediate crystal, they became new targets. “Toss all the crystals to Feldon!” Kyle roared, aiming to concentrate the aggression onto a single person rather than spread out among all the men.

The warrior mineral ants were no slouches either, protecting the hunters while they mined furiously. Sometimes, the hunters even swapped places, letting the warrior mineral ants use their claws to dig away at some of the harder large rocks.

The chunks of the outcrop began to crack apart, with even more crystals revealed inside. “My god, forget about thirty – there could be sixty in here!” One of the hunters exclaimed while a screaming Feldon swooped past on a mineral ant, holding sacks of crystals as the blue rock spiders all focused on him.

“First batch, move up!” Kyle ordered, with Feldon tossing the sack to another hunter who immediately escaped the dungeon. Twenty crystals out now…

They continued mining, the cavern became an active warzone as the second wave of rock spiders began to rush in, their numbers far higher than even the first wave. The hunters and mineral ants were beginning to accumulate injuries.

As strong as Kyle was, he could hardly defend all of the men at the same time without overwhelming firepower. The men were well equipped, but if they were shooting back, it meant that the mining had paused.

“Boss, we need to leave! The men can’t mine properly anymore!”

“Agreed. Retreat!”

Kyle and his men immediately flew out, grabbing whatever crystal they could get their hands out and leaving. They followed the same path out, with Kyle smiling to himself. Thirty crystals in total – more than enough to create an airforce of hovercrafts.

Just as they exited the dungeon into the surface however, Kyle’s stealth hornet was suddenly shot by a large cannon, the explosion blasting it apart as Kyle was flung off, his back slamming against the forest floor as he rolled into a recovering mode, confused. What the?!

His eyes locked onto the camp that they had set up, with the first hunter that was sent up already dead, his body surrounded by three humans. Kyle grimaced as he recognised the first face, though he was internally shocked to see all three of them nearly identical, like doppelgangers.

“Orders are to restore the dungeon for the next batch. Which means it is off-limits to you and your men, Kris Greyborn.”