Chapter 23: The Benefits of Mechanical Monsters, Weapon and Armor Gifts

"Thank you for your kindness! However, we only have one escape pod, and all our spacecraft have been destroyed. We have no way to leave."

"Even if we were to escape in that pod, there is a high probability that we would be captured by the Tyranids and converted into their biomass," Rhodes said.

Rhodes had spoken with the young sister earlier and learned that the escape pod came with significant risks. It would be launched into the vacuum of space to drift within the system, constantly emitting a distress signal. With only a basic life-support system and virtually no propulsion, if the human fleet did not arrive before the life-support energy ran out, those inside would be doomed. Rhodes had no desire to gamble his life on such long odds.

"It is our only way out! You must believe that Imperial reinforcements will arrive. This is merely a remnant of the Kraken Hive Fleet; our Chapter Master would never abandon this world," the Polar Warrior Captain insisted.

"I arrived on this planet in a spacecraft. I will use it to get you all out of here," Rhodes replied.

"You! You have a spacecraft? How many people can it carry?"

"I will bring the ship over tonight. As for its capacity, you will see for yourself when it arrives," Rhodes said.

*I don't actually know how many it can hold, since I don't even have it yet! But it will be here soon enough.*

King Red had recently destroyed several tentacles of the Tyranid Hive Mothership. These massive appendages were incredibly lucrative; each one was worth far more than several Tyranid Bio-Titans or even an army of tens of thousands of bugs. Destroying just one yielded between 3,000 and 4,000 system coins. In just a few hours, Rhodes had accumulated over 24,000 coins—a much more efficient way of gaining wealth than hunting individual bugs. After all, these tentacles were harvesting the planet's total biomass; they were far more nourishing than ordinary creatures.

King Red was already heading toward the location of the next hive mothership, intending to launch another round of attacks and plunder the Tyranid biomass. Rhodes planned to spend 20,000 coins on two ten-pulls. When checking the store's lottery system yesterday, he had discovered two perks: a ten-pull counted as eleven draws, and every ten-pull guaranteed a "pity" draw, allowing him to specify a monster type, ensuring at least five fragments of that type would appear.

While single pulls were a gamble on luck, ten-pulls were about guaranteed value and financial strength. One could choose Earth monsters, aquatic monsters, dinosaurs, ancient monsters, mechanical monsters, or even more specific categories like aliens or dark giants. Rhodes’s current starter shop only offered options for terrestrial, aquatic, avian, cosmic, and mechanical monsters.

Mechanical monsters were a major branch of the Ultraman-series monsters. Every mechanical monster in that series was game-breaking, and most importantly, many could function as spacecraft. Furthermore, Rhodes didn't have to worry about them running out of stamina; machines only dealt with energy consumption. They were immune to the Tyranids' attempts to harvest biomass or genetic material—trying to bite into a hunk of iron would only break their teeth. Moreover, a mechanical monster could easily pass for a Titan of the Warhammer world, and its origins could be perfectly explained. If he showed up with a herd of organic monsters, it would be difficult to explain their arrival, but with a few mechanical monsters, he could simply tell the Adeptus Mechanicus that it was a miracle of the Omnissiah. He could claim they were combat robots from the Golden Age of Mankind—since technology in the Warhammer universe was always considered better the older it was, he could easily bluff his way through.

Rhodes had plenty of reasons to justify the appearance of mechanical monsters, and if conditions permitted in the future, he could even manufacture them himself.

"In short, my ship will arrive tonight. If it isn't big enough, we can make some minor modifications to it," Rhodes said.

"Very well! Thank you, Mr. Rhodes. As long as we can reach space, we can evade the Tyranid assault and wait for the Chapter and the Imperial Navy to rescue us," the Polar Warrior Captain nodded.

Given the chance to survive, he naturally didn't want to die; he still had to serve the Empire and rebuild his battle company.

"Understood! Let's meet tonight and talk more then."

"Wait, Mr. Rhodes, you don't have a reliable weapon yet, do you? Take this chainsword," the Senior Sister interjected. She handed him a chainsword they had recovered. It was a two-handed version meant for Sisters, smaller than those used by Space Marines, making it a perfect fit for a normal human like Rhodes.

"I have a suit of standard-issue carapace armor from a fallen comrade. If you don't mind, take it. It’s better to have some protection," an Imperial Commissar added, offering armor from a fallen colleague.

Seeing the Commissar and the Sister offer gear, the Polar Warrior Captain couldn't be left out. He picked up a single-handed bolter and handed it to Rhodes. This type of bolter had massive recoil; even Battle Sisters usually required power armor to wield one with two hands, and only Space Marines could fire them one-handed. However, given Rhodes's physical constitution, the recoil was of no concern.

Rhodes did not decline, accepting the chainsword, carapace armor, and bolter, as he was indeed lacking proper weapons and protection. "Thank you all for the equipment. To be honest, I was in need of some proper gear."

Nodding to them, Rhodes returned to the cave he had been staying in with the young sister.

"Mr. Rhodes! Do you really have a spacecraft?" the young sister asked.

"Of course I do. Don't you worry!"

After reassuring the young medical sister, Rhodes sat on the ground and opened his system shop. He selected two ten-pulls, totaling twenty-two draw chances, and set his target to mechanical monsters.