The Machine God

Chapter 308

Alexander stepped back onto Astra Omnia frustrated.

First someone had tried to assassinate him, on the bridge of his own starship no less, and then Sleipnir had refused to do anything except call him master on repeat.

He didn’t know if the ensouled machine had suffered some type of damage, perhaps even directly to its soul fragment, during the awakening process, or if it was just that he’d let himself down by expecting too much, too soon.

After all, Droney had done a whole lot of nothing early on too. The signs had been subtle and easily missed.

The little drone had stayed behind to communicate with Sleipnir, one machine to another. And as much as he wanted to continue working the problem, he had too many responsibilities and not enough time.

What he needed to do right now was to secure a supply of compact power generation units through Goliath, and while the mega corp had outlets all over the country, they wouldn’t suffice for his needs.

Someone like the Machine God would need to go to the source. Which meant heading back to New York, where Goliath’s headquarters was. As a global defense contractor, they needed an international hub to manage their daily business and the warehouses to back the quantities of trade they managed every month.

But even he knew that returning to New York right now was asking for trouble. Despite the coordinated release of evidence during the Dubai conference that Grimnir’s villain origin was manufactured by Flashpoint and AEGIS, it wasn’t realistic to assume all the other superhero guilds would step back.

Even with AEGIS’s authority dead and dismantled.

That left him two choices. Either he repaired the OACS first, then headed to New York in full kit, armed to the teeth and ready for a fight…

Or he tried being diplomatic about it.

Alexander pulled up the System Interface to make a call, only to realize he had a lot of unread notifications. Status updates accumulated over the past two days, beginning from the moment he’d intercepted the warships heading for where the nomadic clans were camped, all the way through to his daring escape.

—

[STATUS]

Alexander Rooke

| Alias: Machine God

| Guild: Grimnir (Leader)

| Alliances: The Royals (Defensive, Formal) | Throne of Scales (Defensive, Formal)

| Designation: Supervillain

| Bounty: 13,270,000 credits → 13,790,000 credits

| Rankings: Universe_1: 15, Unified: 138 → 135

| Evaluation: Tier 2 (66% → 72%) — Class A+

ASCENSION POTENTIAL INDEX (API)

Physical Attributes

| Strength ✧ 115 → 123

| Endurance ✧ 196 → 200

| Constitution ✧ 178 → 187

| Dexterity ✧ 108 → 116

| Agility ✧ 108 → 118

Cognitive Attributes

| Intelligence ✧ 197 → 199

| Processing Speed ✧ 183 → 193

| Perception ✧ 183 → 193

| Focus ✧ 193 → 199

| Willpower (Ambition) ✧ 200 (+22)

Divine Fragments

| Sovereign Blood | Eternal Spark

Power Manifestation

Machine God | Class S+, Tier 2

| Mind of the Machine ✧ 33%

| Spark of the Machine ✧ 35% → 49%

| Body of the Machine ✧ 38% → 68%

Stolen from novelbuddy, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

| Soul of the Machine ✧ 97% → 100%

| Heart of the Machine ✧ 19% → 32%

Techniques

| Blackout | Ensoulment | Soul Circuit

Skills

| Hyperawareness | Multithreading

Achievements

| Origin 0 Soul | Continue the Dream IV | Divine Slayer

—

Alexander came to a stop in the middle of the main concourse. Then he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. His gains were excellent, though not unexpected, given the scale of the battle. With two attributes at the Tier 2 cap, and five more close behind, it was possible he might reach Tier 3 before the Cataclysm truly began.

His Domain was fully functional, too, which meant there would be nothing holding him back. Unless he wanted to try and push his superpower to achieve Tier 3 at the same time. Looking at its rate of growth, with Soul of the Machine, Animachina, already reaching its cap, it was definitely a viable option.

Maybe there’d be an achievement for it.

But all of that was unimportant. What mattered was that the System had fixed its glitch, and restored his designation just in time.

He resisted the urge to express himself loudly, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and kept walking. Even with the diminished crowds, there were still people around, and he had an image to maintain.

A supervillain image.

Instead, he pulled up his contact list and called Augustus.

The old man answered almost immediately.

“Everything okay?” Augustus asked.

Alexander grinned to himself. “In fact, everything is okay, Auggy. Absolutely perfect. Couldn’t be better.”

“Ooookay, then. What do you need?”

Alexander switched to subvocalization. “I’m heading to New York, and I need you to put together a small team. You and Jasmine included.”

“Understood,” Augustus said. “Purpose?”

“Goliath Industries. We’re going to drop by uninvited and they’re going to sell us tens of millions worth of tech.”

“I see. And you’re just expecting them to go along with that?”

Alexander laughed. “Of course not. That’s why we need Jasmine. She’ll use her lawyer face, followed by her lawyer superpowers, and then we’ll walk away with everything I could hope for.”

“And the heroes?”

“That’s why you and whoever else you pick are coming.” Alexander clicked his tongue. “That Gravimax guy was apparently pretty upset after my last visit, from what I hear.”

“I wonder why.”

Alexander nodded to himself. “Some people are just unreasonable, Auggy. You have to learn to work around such problems if you want to get ahead in life.” He paused. “Check in with Max. See if they need anything from Goliath while we’re there. Or if they want to come along.”

“I’m on it.”

The line went dead.

***

Alexander stepped through the dedicated doorway from Astra Omnia into Jasmine’s office in New York.

Augustus had picked up Jasmine as he’d requested, but he’d also managed to recruit Maximilian and Annie.

Most of the others were busy, though Maximilian had pulled himself away from his own responsibilities for this because the Throne of Scales also needed equipment. And combining their influence with Grimnir’s in order to bypass any bureaucracy or other types of resistance just made sense.

Annie crossed her arms and glared at him. “If there’s another secret heist happening here, I better be included.”

Alexander grinned. “No heists this time. We’ve got far more important business to conduct.”

Annie huffed. “Then why am I even here?”

“The local heroes might want to start a fight—”

Annie perked up at that.

“—but we don’t have any time for that. So you’re here as a deterrent.”

She deflated immediately. “Lame.”

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Augustus patted her on the head. “Don’t worry. Given what he did last time he was here, you may get your wish anyway.”

Alexander glanced around the room. It was a far cry from the tiny, cluttered office where he’d first met the sharp lawyer. That one had been full of law books haphazardly stacked, with barely any room to sit.

This new one was easily three times the size, and it even had a bookshelf. A pair of sofas flanked a coffee table in the middle of the room, with a long, plush rug running from the door to the mahogany desk at the far end of the room.

“Love the new office,” he said. “It’s quite the upgrade.”

“With how much you’re paying me, I decided I could afford more appropriate offices for my assistant to use,” Jasmine said without looking up from her tablet. “I rarely get back here myself, despite my wishes.”

She didn’t sound bitter or unhappy about it, but he had promised her work here could continue.

“If you need more time—”

Jasmine shook her head. “It is not an issue. I may lament the fact, but we all know there are greater priorities.”

Maximilian nodded. “Speaking of. What is the plan, Rooke? Sindre sent across a list of equipment the Northern Shield wish to purchase, as did a few other members of the Compact after I put the word out. We need these negotiations to go smoothly.”

Alexander leaned against the table. “Well, I seem to recall that the Compact was granted Level 3 Clearance, which came with the ‘Special Asset’ designation?”

“That’s correct,” Jasmine said. “Technically, it only applies to the leadership of the Compact, but that includes the two of you. While such designations typically come with serious contractual requirements, such as Goliath and the now defunct Santiago Systems prioritizing the Space Force, no such obligations were levied against the Compact.”

Augustus crossed his arms. “The value here is that it permits us to legally purchase military-grade munitions and other highly restricted technology in bulk and through proper channels.” He frowned. “Only problem is whether they will actually sell to us. They don’t have to.”

Alexander clapped his hands together. “That’s why Maximilian and I are here. We need to convince them it’s in their best interests and that we’re happy to pay top credits. Then we’ll all walk away happy.”

Maximilian narrowed his eyes. “The last time you wanted to convince someone of something, you roped me into threatening King and Queen of the Royals. You didn’t even have the common courtesy to warn me what I was walking into.” He sighed. “I trust this time will be nothing like that. Unlike Santiago Systems, Goliath will likely remain an influential force even after the Cataclysm due to all their orbital infrastructure around Earth and Mars. Not to mention their pull with the Space Force. We do not need more enemies.”

Alexander raised both hands. “Relax, Max. I’ll be on my best behavior, I promise. I’m here as a genuine customer, looking to build long-lasting relations.”

Annie snorted. “Now I know we’re getting into a fight with someone. Anytime Alexander promises his best behavior, something always goes wrong.”