Chapter 6

The days went by rather boringly, with the occasional herd of monsters and foolish bandits that were after the initiates that were scouting the perimeter every now and then.

Mikhail noticed something completely different about himself compared to his previous incarnations in the other dreams, something the man discovered upon erecting the barracks, the psychic could mind control, multiple individuals, at once but at the cost of him needing to be closer to his targets by another 10 meters per additional victim under his control.

The total amount of people or monsters he could control at a time is ten, however, he would need to micromanage them completely as they would be akin to mindless dolls that only knew how to walk should he push himself to that point, the most efficient amount to control without any trouble would be four or five.

Any higher than that then their mental facilities would be forcefully suppressed by 20% for every additional person/monster added after that.

The Kobolds were more than willing to be his guinea pigs for these kinds of tests as some of them said something about 'being closer', Mikhail didn't really care about it since he was busy trying to learn more about his psychic abilities.

But things have gotten out of hand five days later when he erected his first Gatling turret and being ten days away from receiving a slave miner with two more initiates added to his units as he was waiting for the tenth one before trying to make some brutes.

The local monsters were 'attracted' to the cave by the turret leading to the current issue as his lasher tanks blasted some monsters to kingdom come, and the initiates managed to create a forest fire, the new ones that is.

the kobolds within the unit section were eligible to become fellow initiates at least until the cloning vat was made as for why that was important unlike in the game you get fully trained soldiers while the initiates that came from his barracks were absolute amateurs!

they couldn't even hit their target that was ten meters away!

Another thing, the two newbies were teenage girls, with tight leather outfits like what his first soldiers were wearing!

so either his barracks currently only has a female clone available in its repertoire or all of his troops were going to be women!

This was not a good thing for a healthy young man, as stress will build up eventually and the constant coaxing and goading of these women that are trying hard to get into his pants were the least of his worries!

The last time he gave in to his lust towards his troops there was a lot of infighting and bloody scenes that followed amongst them especially during the time when he needed them the most.

So yes, brainwashing does work, however, if someone starts adding sex, then starts making a brainwashed soldier dependent on him after the deed, they can become borderline crazy dick claimers.

So yeah, he'll control himself this time for the most part but enough of the bullshit.

The main problem now was that the newbies had brought forth a wildfire that surrounded the cave and the monsters that originally came here either for food, to fight, or curiosity.

while the two culprits proclaimed just like in the game while running around in fear of things getting out of hand and leading to Mikhail getting hurt from this.

"fire out of control!!!"

After giving them a 'really?' look as did the others, Mikhail took control of a snake and a bat something that he had been meaning to get to protect himself better as the snake looked similar to a coral snake and long enough to wrap around his right forearm while the bat, was small enough to fit in his hand, rested on his left shoulder.

He was controlling the battlefield as best as he could with the limited units he had at hand, the kobolds were currently unusable.

So he had those lizardmen man the walls around his MCV, with the crude bows and arrows he had them make.

While Krux donned a buckler and a shortsword acting as his 'final' line of defense should any of the monsters that were smart and swift enough to slip through his troops and decide to attack him.

But Mikhail knew better than to stop a willing meatshield thus he allowed Krux to do as she pleased.

Even if it was pointless.

His initiates including his bodyguard acted as the first line of defense as they had to deal with boars, wolves, bears, large lizards, and some ugly harpies leading a bunch of other flying monsters.

Thanks to the size of the entrance and how hard it was to transition through that area thanks to how slippery and wobbly it was, it was a cluster fuck for the land-based monsters as the smell of cooked meat certainly worked up an appetite for both sides and the flying monsters were shot down viciously by the Gatling turret and the longer it attacked the faster it started firing~

The was definitely a moment there as Mikhail laughed at this moment, as shells of recyclable brass fell to the ground, littering the entrance with beehive carcasses, he was doing so while caressing his new pets, as the snake hissed in delight as its forked tongue tickled his hand, while the bat was trying to push the snake out of the way to get its share of petting.

This sight made him chuckle before returning his sights to the monsters at the entrance, Mikhail knew that this fire will definitely attack some unwanted attention, making him ponder with an idea as punishment for this disaster that the two newbies brought upon the entrance to his base if they managed to get a field promotion he would've spared them but alas he required some good muscle around but it required him to send a body to make one.

So after all that trouble, what those two newbies did was VOLUNTEER themselves thus he had them to become his first brutes, as for why he needs them as such, a brute can rival a second-tier aura/mana user then when they receive three stripes they can match a third-tier before the additional upgrades that could make them reach even higher.

Mikhail wished to catch some 4th tiers to improve his army soon, himself as well. but the only annoying problem was that he needs the damn battle lab and cloning vat soon, but was he was also looking forward to was the psychic radar as this would alert him immediately if anyone or anything held any intentions within its range~

As for how long it took to get rid of the monsters that were persistent enough to get themselves killed, a grand total of 11 hours, all of his initiates were tired as hell.

The psychics within the lasher tanks were passed the fuck out from blasting away with the cannons that shot out their psychic bombs, yes, these tanks didn't use ammunition.

They used the psychic ability of their drivers that were similar to initiates it was just that the tanks' cannons amplified their powers damage and range by manifolds.

The monsters finally left his base alone while there were some missing a limb or two and/or gravely injured among his troops, his first bodyguard made full use of her ability to heal the others which prevented any of them from dying.

Mikhail then ordered the kobolds to clean the entrance of all the carcasses, which made him annoyed that he didn't have the damn grinder at this moment for additional funds!

Or even the cloning vats to exploit the characteristics of the corpses but alas they'd be too spoiled and would attract more monsters to the area should he try and store them without the battle lab to do so.

So he had little choice, but to use the carcasses as provisions since he could only use 'fresh' ingredients with grinders and it will be a while before he gets it.

it was the same for the cloning vats since spoiled flesh could create deformed failures and could affect his future troops which can be quite the headache as he'll need to destroy the barracks and build a new one to prevent any more problems for his future soldiers

What He could do though was to let the kobolds collect the necessary ingredients and let them practice crafting as their unique way to make things was through a technique called Aura crafting, similar to mana crafting that he was familiar with in his previous dreams by using Aura they can manipulate materials to take forms and shapes as they wished then connect them together be it weapons or armor~

Sadly it would be as strong as the tier of the crafter but it was better to let them practice than let such skills waste away!

Still, This was something that intrigued Mikhail as the last person he needs that could do that was an enemy that was after his life and through using his mind control ability he spied on their methods~

but despite surviving this day there was still one question.

"how long does he have before someone strong comes along and tries to claim his tech, or try to make him their slave, or try to kill him?"

you know the typical bullshit...

This leads him to make a choice to add more monsters into their ranks with a high chance of being betrayed should they surpass his control, or be dumb and faithfully believe in his defenses that may or may not be able to only enemies of the 5th tier and below.

Gatling turrets at the start can handle 4th tiers once it goes full auto in can handle 5 tiers with its rain of bullets regardless that was still a gamble there unless he adds two or three more of them together.

He sighed while rubbing a finger on the bat's head as it squeaked at this in bliss, before finally making a decision as he told himself.

"I really need that damned radar!"

Time was always his enemy unless he figures out how to make more time.

So the psychic commanded his lasher tanks to take a rest, make the necessary repairs before eliminating anything that was a threat to the base regardless of how much weaker they were compared to his group, Mikhail was going to make his tanks become bait!