"Hmm…"
Lying in a hammock he had just set up while keeping an eye on the Red claw adventurer party through his neural uplink, Mac had started considering convoy layouts for dungeon exploration.
(Still, there's no guarantee they'll actually accept my request, but adventurers should want to adventure, right? I guess not, judging by our first interaction.)
Switching away from things he had no control over, Mac quickly got back to more important considerations. Like whether or not to bring tanks or just stick with IFVs.
(The real issue is terrain… Sure, tanks don't get bugged down in mud unless it's an ungodly amount but they can't really jump over any kind of distance, like those multiple sky islands linked by ropebridges. I guess it'll be best to just rely on Lynx's as always.)
The Lynx platform seemed a far better fit for dungeon exploration, as Mac could mount basically whatever weapon system on it he wanted and reasonably assume it would be able to navigate whatever obstacles he came across.
Automatic mortars, recoilless rifles, coilguns, rocket launchers and semi automatic raven cannons, everything was on the table.
Like a fat kid standing in front of a full buffet the choices were all too tantalising, but just like that kid Mac was limited by physical restraints and his mortal form. In specific there was a real limit to commanding every single unit he would bring into the dungeon, as he couldn't offload processing to the ever present FLAC command and control network that took orders like 'annihilate target' and turned it into 'target @ vector 119, elevation 021, task Lynx #510, bring defensive turret online, load and regard IFF network, observe ROE, secure weapon and vector, load anti material ammunition belt and commence fully automatic fire until destruction.'
The Fleet Logistics And Command network normally translated these orders for Mac, but as he would be going somewhere where he could only contact the outside world through his extremely bandwidth limited quantum communications terminal he would have to do all that translation himself. Sure, Mac could bring a FLAC node with him, but that node would need a powerplant, which would need additional protection which would mostly negate the advantage of bringing a FLAC node with him in the first place.
(Soft limit is 256 commands per second, with that I can normally command an entire Victory class battleship without a hardlink or active cooling… But without FLAC it's closer to 100 nodes, 50 if I want to avoid relying on their built in targeting systems and 25 if I want a level of quality I've come to expect from FLAC… Even less than that if I have to do actual thinking at the same time.)
While Mac's mechanical machinations were actually quite smart, they still needed to be able to be produced in actual numbers and have power efficient processors, so their effectiveness were limited when operating on their own compared to Mac or FLACs direct stewardship. Sure they'll be able to perform to a satisfactory level, but in the end they were made with their primary quality being their quantity and ease of manufacture. In a normal fight, against a peer enemy Mac could leave them to their own for the most part and they would conquer nations in his name.
But against highly irregular magical monsters that used the even more irregular magic that meant they could spew fire, appear out of thin air without warning or perform feats of strength physically impossible, Mac would need to command them to get a respectable output.
"In the end it all depends on whether Red claw will join me or not."
If they did, Mac would need to pack food and water, if not he would pack extra ammunition and drones for simple wave tactics.
"... This seems to be the place."
Spotting a small mechanical flying machine moving about above the forest, Dexter (correctly) assumed they were being watched.
"Then let's head inside."
Wanting to get things over with, Carl put his massive two handed sword up on his shoulder and started walking, but he didn't make it more than two steps before Jack stopped him.
"Wait for Ula to do her thing."
"... I thought you didn't think this would be an ambush?"
Seeing Jack taking things seriously, Carl questioned his motives. Still, Jack was known as the party worrywhat for a reason.
"I never said that."
"... Of course you didn't."
Resigning himself, Carl waited for their party mage to look ahead. Focusing on the spell she was weaving, Ula's vision shifted to the sky above the forest, from there she quickly noticed a large clearing about half a kilometer inside it where a group of flying machines had landed.
"He's here."
Looking closer Ula noticed that this clearing was something which had been done recently, it seemed Mac had prepared this stage beforehand.
"Or at least those machines are… Although it is useless in this case, I also looked for magical traps, but there were none to see."
Finishing her report, Ula and the other members of the party turned to their leader for further instructions. In the end it all came down to Liz's direction, this was a choice each of them had made individually over the years, they thrusted her determination and strength in a way Mac couldn't quite comprehend.
"Let's go."
Leaving all the minutia and mushy words about thrust and responsibility unsaid for the moment, Liz took the lead and started walking as her party followed behind.
"... Welcome to my little workshop, come on out from behind those trees."
Having waited for the adventurer party to slowly approach his location and figure out an escape plan, Mac warmly welcomed them as they got close enough to hear him speak up.
A little afterwards the leader of the Red claw stepped out from her hiding spot, she looked sceptically at Mac who was lounging in a hammock he had set up in the open door to his personal workshop for a bit before relaxing slightly.
"We're here, now what do you want? If you want us spilling blood in return for new weapons then we refuse."
"What? You think I want help assassinating someone? No, if I wanted to do something like that I wouldn't need any help with it."
Knowing full well that he shouldn't say things like this, Mac nevertheless felt insulted and sat up in his hammock at the insinuation that he couldn't topple a few regimes without assistance.
Getting fully out of his hammock as he felt like he needed both hands free to say it, Mac spread his arms wide as he finally revealed why he wanted to work with Red claw.
"I got into contact with adventurers because I want to launch an expedition into a dungeon."
As far as things went that was the most reasonable thing Mac had said to Liz so far, so she found herself confused by his request.
"... Isn't that something you could take care of yourself?"
It was almost too reasonable of a request, so Liz was confused and pretty sure there was something Mac hadn't mentioned.
"Yeah, you would think so, but my machines aren't really optimized to deal with monsters."
"I find that hard to believe, seeing as I've personally seen how well they kill monsters."
Thinking back to the recent monster surge, Liz's strongest impression of the strange machine had been how well it killed monsters.
"The dungeon in question is unknown terrain."
Again Mac wasn't telling the entire truth, there was something preventing him from accomplishing his goals himself, so he was forced to seek help.
"... I see. That was too bad, we'll have to decline."
Turning to leave Liz didn't have to see Mac's expression to know she had put him in a tough spot. Not that she didn't want a weapon, but Liz found that dealing with an unreliable client outweighed every possible reward she could gain from it.
"That's too bad, just don't beat yourselves up too much when the news spreads and you find out you could have been the party to reclaim the first banner."
Coming to a complete stop, Liz wished she hadn't heard Mac's words.
"W-what did you just say?"
Turning back, Liz didn't let Mac's smug smile annoy her.
"I am aiming to reclaim the first banner from the hearst dungeon, your help in this endeavor is what I ask in return for a weapon which can keep up with your strength and power as a half dragon."
Stating his request in full as the other members of the Red claw came out of hiding, Mac realised he should've led with this. When asking Hanna about it later Mac would learn that reclaiming the first banner was the kind of feat every single adventurer hoped to accomplish.
"... But that's impossible."
"How so?"
Seeing he had firmly grasped Elizabeth's attention, Mac's smile widened slightly as he saw the gears starting to turn in her head.
"We don't know where it is."
"It's somewhere within the hearst dungeon."
"Just doing the reconnaissance to locate which floor it is located on would-"
"My drones can map a square kilometer a minute."
"Then how would you deal with the mons-"
"I can bring the firepower to deal with most monsters, but for the more magical ones I would ask for your assistance."
"Simply reaching the deepest mapped floor of the dungeon will take a month, we would need a massive resupply effor-"
"A single Lynx transport can carry enough food and water for a month, I plan on bringing 5."
"But just us alone wouldn't-"
"You seriously doubt your own abilities to that level? A gold ranked adventurer party supported by me and supplied with first class, unbreaking weapons should be plenty to conquer the hearst dungeon and reclaim the first banner… But assuming we get most of the way and are still forced to retreat, I won't hold it against you and repo the weapons."
Successfully cornering the adventurer, Mac watched her share expressions with her party members that told him they were all strongly considering it he delivered the final blow.
"If you refuse you could still make you a weapon, you would just need to recommend to me another gold ranked adventuring party that could take your place and reclaim the first banner with me. Just don't be too jealous of them later."
At this point Liz realised she couldn't refuse, her pride as a veteran adventurer simply refused to pass over such a chance at glory, a chance to truly map the unknown and a chance to help reclaim the first banner. Looking at her other party members, Liz saw they were all in agreement, there was no way they could pass up this opportunity.
"We, Red claw, accept your request to reclaim the first banner, assuming you can provide us with weapons as per my original request we're willing to work for you."
"Good, then step into my forge."
Turning around with a smile, Mac led the members of the Red claw into his highly modified heavy dropship, stopping at a central, featureless table.
"Step on up, I'll need some scans before I can start working out a design."
The inside of Mac's 'forge' appeared to be empty, but as he entered the room transformed around him, and a large table appeared in the centre of the room.
Approaching like Mac had instructed, Liz watched the featureless table light up with strange runes and dials as she approached. This wasn't the only thing that changed as she approached, the previously featureless room transformed as panels, doors and hatches opened as strange equipment appeared, all lit by the same kind of strange runes.
As she placed her hands on the table as instructed, Liz found the metal looking table quite soft, and her hands slightly depressed the metal as lights appeared around them.
"Good. For material I figure the same as my own sword will suffice, so mostly tungsten impregnated xenon carbon fiber. What kind of weapon do you want?"
"... You're really making me a weapon? How long is that going to take?"
Seeing Mac was considering creating a weapon from scratch like he had said before, Liz started getting worried about the time it would take. While waiting a few weeks for her new weapon wasn't a problem before, now that she knew they would attempt to reclaim the first banner she was starting to feel impatient.
"It'll take a few hours for a longsword sized weapon, but if you want anything smaller than that it'll be faster."
With a flick of his hand, Mac brought up a variety of different designs, mixing in things from his home with copies of what he had seen in this world. As a variety of designs floated around Liz felt like a kid at a candy store, and while Mac had expected her to pick a two handed sword like her brother she eventually settled on a twin bladed longsword with a thin, notched blade and two handed grip like Mac's shortsword.
"Design will take 1 hour and 21 minutes to print, while that one is going, let's figure out weapons for the rest of you guys… Yeah, I'm serious."