The Hungry Fortress Wants to Build a Battleship in Another World – World of Sandbox-Chapter 16Vol 3. : Establishing the Base

“Target airspace secured. No hostile forces detected in the area.”

“Zone is clear. Cargo planes moving in.”

“Expanding surveillance perimeter. Deploying large-scale power supply drones.”

Scout planes had gone ahead and confirmed the safety of the operation zone. The cargo aircraft now followed through the secure air corridor.

Simultaneously, power transmission drones hovering 400 kilometers behind and 20 kilometers above the operation zone began advancing, expanding the range of their microwave power field.

These large power-supply drones weren’t meant to beam energy directly to each individual machine. Their role was more about powering the frontline microwave transmission infrastructure itself.

Currently, they were supplying power to the eight recon planes from a distance.

“Cargo aircraft ETA to drop zone: 13 minutes. Diverting Recon D, E, and F to ultra-low altitude surveillance.”

“Utsugi taking control of recon units. Beginning recon flights.”

“Akane to Erika: Transferring control of the drop team.”

“Erika, drop team control received. Commencing rapid descent sequence.”

The current operation, Operation: Give Me Oil, was being executed almost entirely by Akane, Ichigo, Utsugi, Erika, and Olive. Ringo was monitoring the proceedings as an observer. Commander Eve was officially listed as “spectator.”

“...I really don’t like this ‘spectator’ role.”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Unfortunately, reassignment is not possible.”

“Why not!?”

Akane was handling aircraft control. She scanned the airspace using the lead recon planes, then moved the cargo and escort craft forward only once the path was confirmed safe.

At the same time, she was managing the movement of the microwave power drones to extend their effective range.

Ichigo coordinated overall operations—giving instructions and handling fine-tuned adjustments for the other four.

Utsugi and Erika were scheduled to directly control the assault forces. For now, they remained in standby. Once they reached the drop zone, they would deploy their forces via airdrop.

This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēnovelkiss.com.

Olive was in charge of steering the construction ship and escort vessels, as well as managing the production facilities in both The Tree and Fortress No. 2. She was currently focused on manufacturing equipment for the operation.

Ringo was overseeing her five sisters, monitoring their decisions and actions. She would offer advice only if a real issue arose—otherwise, she maintained a hands-off approach.

Commander Eve, meanwhile, didn’t have anything to do—so she simply observed them. Given the situation, it was no surprise that Ringo had officially labeled her a spectator.

To keep the sisters focused, Ringo had discreetly isolated Eve from the main interface. So, in practice, “spectating” was all she could do.

“Cargo aircraft group has reached drop zone.”

“Initiating airborne drop.”

The cargo plane hatches swung wide, and multi-legged tanks began launching one after another.

Ejected via electromagnetic rails, each tank immediately fired its rocket motors, accelerating its descent toward the target zone.

“Combat multi-legged units successfully deployed. Cargo Group A is exiting the area.”

“Cargo Group B is holding in circular standby at rear airspace.”

“Ultra-low recon complete. No threats detected in target zone.”

“Roger that. Airborne units landing as planned.”

The units entered the zone under powered descent, switching to reverse thrust and touching down one after another. After landing, they detached their spent boosters and immediately began moving out at full speed.

“All units have landed. Suppression action has begun.”

“Data link is stable. Beginning environmental data collection.”

“Starting analysis. No hostile entities detected in vicinity.”

“Operational perimeter secured.”

“Confirmed. Beginning deployment of heavy equipment from Cargo Group B.”

“Cargo Group C arriving in three minutes. Will commence supply drop upon arrival.”

The tactical map flickered rapidly with updates.

Environmental data streamed in from the tanks and recon craft, analyzed in real-time by local strategic AIs.

Unexplored gray zones quickly turned yellow to indicate surveyed areas. As sensor pylons were embedded into the terrain, those zones turned green to denote confirmed data.

Once The Tree’s core AI deemed an area secure, it was marked in blue as a safe zone.

****

“Everything’s going smoothly.”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. The area is a previously unclaimed and uninhabited region. Aerial surveillance has confirmed no threats in local wildlife. The mission should proceed without issues.”

“When are the construction ships arriving again?”

“Approximately 29 hours from now. By then, per plan, the watchtower should be complete. As this will be a prolonged operation, we’ll be rotating shifts every few hours.”

“Rotating shifts...”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Even brain units cannot remain awake indefinitely—50 hours at most. Since this mission is expected to last several months, unless something urgent arises, we plan to transition to rotating schedules shortly.”

“Yeah... makes sense. Unlike Ringo, those girls are more or less flesh-and-blood, so they need rest.”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Even the core’s brain units are designed to rest. About a quarter of the system is always in sleep mode.”

“Oh right, I remember reading that setting somewhere...”

The high-performance brain units inside the AI cores were capable of near-continuous operation because about 25% of them remained in sleep cycles at all times.

This meant actual performance hovered around 75% of the total unit count—but with how many units they had, the difference was negligible.

“Commander Ma’am, please rest as usual. We’ll wake you if something urgent comes up.”

“Alright. You will wake me, right?”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Also, with rotating shifts, the sisters will have irregular sleep schedules. You needn’t concern yourself—please sleep as usual.”

Up to now, she had always gone to bed at the same time as the five sisters. Realizing they’d now be sleeping separately made her feel oddly sentimental.

Would they be able to fall asleep without her?

She was, in every sense, thinking like a parent.

“In extreme cases, we will initiate forced sleep protocols. No need to worry.”

“Oh. That’s... comforting.”

Her thoughts had been completely read. Awkwardly scratching her cheek, she settled back into her chair.

“Alright... Let’s keep watching the mission for a while longer.”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am.”

****

The selected landing zone was located on the far left edge of a massive 500-kilometer-wide river mouth.

While the Forest Kingdom of Levresta used this river for trade, the area itself saw little traffic. Complicated by numerous islands and fragmented water currents, the selected zone was completely hidden from main routes.

With shallow water depths, construction would begin with dredging once the construction ship arrived. But precisely because it was so remote, no foreign ship was likely to stumble upon it by accident.

It was technically on the Telek Port City side, so if trade had still been ongoing, there might’ve been a small risk. {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} But that route was now completely severed, and the city itself had fallen under The Tree’s control. There was nothing to worry about.

“Beginning subsurface data analysis.”

“Acoustic data loaded. Real-time links to all embedded data pylons confirmed.”

“Geological analysis complete. Expanding scan range. Searching for optimal construction site.”

Using previously collected data, they now conducted sonic surveys of the terrain for potential build sites.

According to Ringo’s calculations, they could retrieve geological data down to several dozen meters with over 90% accuracy.

The planned structure was a fairly tall tower combining surveillance and microwave relay capabilities. It would be built from steel framing—no cellulose, since UV degradation made that unsuitable.

In a harsh desert environment like this, the structure needed to be as maintenance-free as possible.

“Target site selected. Exposed bedrock confirmed. Watchtower will be constructed here.”

“Analysis AI ranks structural feasibility at Class A. Proceeding.”

“Roger that. Initiating construction sequence.”

With the location confirmed, the multi-legged construction machines began to move. They drilled into the bedrock, set anchor piles, and welded the steel frame—assembling the tower at impressive speed.

“These small crawler bots really shine for this kind of task.”

“They sure do... It’s like watching baby spiders swarm together to build a tower...”

The sight of those tiny, multi-legged machines crawling over each other as they constructed the tower was—frankly—nothing short of a nightmare.