From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 726 Lilith's 'Blue Army'

Time flies. For ordinary people, two months is just like turning over two pages on the calendar. The daily simple meals and running around for a living will not change much. But for the Atlas Group, which is fully prepared for war, every second of these two months is precious.

In the "big acquisition" some time ago, the various giant factories acquired from all over the federation have long since resumed their previous busy, or almost crazy, operations.

The workers in these factories were originally somewhat resistant to the idea of ​​having to work overtime after the change of boss. After all, they had heard that the Atlas Group was a relatively reliable large enterprise with strict restrictions on overtime. So after hearing the news that they would have to work overtime intensively, they felt somewhat disappointed.

But when they saw the three times overtime pay and a large amount of overtime nutrition allowance paid in real time on their new group-specific terminals, this sense of gap immediately disappeared without a trace.

Amber and Lilith are now veterans in improving employee motivation, so after entering the overtime state, the personal terminals of Atlas Group employees will display real-time overtime hours, work progress and real-time wages calculated based on these two data.

Since overtime pay is not only linked to time, but also related to the progress, efficiency and quality of work, it is meaningless to simply muddle through the hours. Only when you are actually working will the real-time wage figure increase.

With the existence of the "progress bar", the work enthusiasm of the group's employees no longer needs to be boosted through slogans or big promises. Seeing the numbers growing as they work is the best motivation.

Especially after the overtime is over, when this number is actually deposited into the personal account, the sense of satisfaction will fill the numb and empty brain caused by the high-intensity overtime, and after the employee has a full rest, it will be transformed into the motivation for the next round of high-intensity overtime.
In this context, all the factories under the Atlas Group that have been put into normal operation have begun to produce with the highest efficiency according to the assigned tasks. In addition to mass production of combat equipment and spare combat elements needed by the Immortal Legion, they also produce various types of ammunition, key spare parts and other consumables and vulnerable items.

In each workshop, the human-machine collaborative assembly line runs tirelessly, keeping production activities precise and efficient. Under Lilith's comprehensive control, the huge war machine Atlas has demonstrated production efficiency beyond ordinary people's imagination.

Metal parts shuttled quickly on the assembly line, flashing cold light. The high-energy furnace emitted a low roar, melting the rare metals into a hot liquid, like boiling magma, injecting life into the war machines on the production line.
On the Pella IV where the First Army was assembling and preparing, each unit was waiting for supplies and equipment to be loaded onto ships while conducting the final high-intensity combat training before setting out.

As the oldest and most experienced force in the Atlas Group's ground combat sequence, the First Army is about to face the largest and most intense battle since its establishment.

Therefore, commanders at all levels, including Hogg and Van Fleet, could not help but feel a little nervous and expectant.

They also planned extremely detailed combat plans with the combat staff of the First Army's General Staff, and with the assistance of Lilith, they deduced a large number of possible scenarios and made a large number of backup plans and emergency plans. All combat tasks - attack, defense, blocking, shielding, etc. were all broken down to the battalion level of each unit.

A large training ground large enough for multiple armies to deploy was set aside on Pyra IV. After Amber confirmed the possibility of armed intervention against the Star Dragon Empire, thousands of Hive Cores were airdropped from orbit by several batches of cargo ships.

And in a very short time, based on the information Lilith obtained from the Imperial Library and Archives, she restored the entire core area of ​​Saint-Saunière, the capital of the Star Dragon Empire, that is, the Grand Palace and the surrounding buildings and terrain.

Although the Grand Palace hastily constructed by the worker bees cannot be as magnificent as the 'original', it can still be restored to its original state with the assistance of a large number of holographic projection equipment and AR equipment of the soldier combat system.

At least in terms of terrain and building distribution, it has been truly restored 100%.

Amber's memory ability as a psychic also played a huge role at this moment.

He provided Lilith with all the hidden fortifications, artillery batteries, underground permanent bunkers, and troop storage areas that he had seen in the Grand Palace area when he accidentally traveled to the war zone two months later. The latter also calculated the city defense structure of the entire Grand Palace area based on these known fortifications, and then restored it on the training ground.

If the terrain and building distribution are restored 85%, then the restoration of these fortifications and turrets should definitely be above %.
On this 1:1 restored training ground, the First Army repeatedly simulated the process of attacking the Grand Palace from the periphery. Various results were deduced for what time each smallest combat unit - the combined battalion - should arrive at what location and what situations they might encounter.

After the construction of the training ground was completed, the core of the hive and the worker bees also began to play the guest role of the "Blue Army" on the spot, and conducted exercises with the First Army, which was the "Red Army" launching the attack. Under the control of Lilith's mother hive mind, the "Blue Army" played by the worker bees can be said to have a much higher degree of organization and combat efficiency than human troops, which also caused a lot of trouble for the First Army, because they were facing a "Blue Army" whose technical and tactical level was far superior to that of the previous enemy.

In addition, due to the influence of various factors created by the exercise system, including long-range fire attacks, orbital strikes, large-scale tactical nuclear strikes, etc., the First Army's initial simulation exercises were not smooth. In the first two exercises, they were even pushed back or even mostly annihilated. This also made Hogg and Van Fleet feel a little embarrassed.

If the military commander of a unit loses face during an exercise, the troops under his command will only face one result.

Lift it up and work hard!
After the simulation exercise is over, while waiting for the training ground to be restored by the worker bees, in addition to the necessary rest and equipment maintenance, each unit will also use the "full immersion equipment" issued to individual soldiers to enter the virtual space and continue the exercise.

During the exercises in virtual space, the First Army also conducted multiple joint drills with the Immortals. Veterans of the Immortals, such as Baninger, also joined Hogg, Van Fleet and others in optimizing the combat plans.

In this way, after a month and a half of "practice in reality, practice in virtual reality, and continue practicing in reality after virtual reality practice", the combat outlook of the entire First Army was completely different from before the exercise.

If we say that the First Army had the appearance, technical and tactical level of an elite force before the exercise, then through this period of exercises, the soldiers of the First Army, in addition to continuing to maintain this appearance and technical and tactical level, have also gained a kind of roaring spirit and unyielding temper.

Lilith, who was originally developed as a commander of unmanned forces, naturally has extremely high talent in combat command. With the assistance of Dr. Mephisto, Lilith's command level has also improved exponentially during this period.

This directly led to the First Army's illusion that the battle was getting harder and harder. They had clearly tried their best, but the Blue Army still seemed invincible.
By the last few training sessions, whether it was real-life exercises or exercises in virtual space, the First Army could be said to have been truly enraged.

As the fist force of the First Army, the First Heavy Combined Brigade, commanded by Monton and Telak, even launched a desperate armored assault against the Blue Army's multiple rounds of tactical nuclear strikes when they were about to attack the Grand Palace during the exercise. In the end, they annihilated the defenders in the core area of ​​the Grand Palace with more than 50% casualties, and planted the military flag on the ruins of the main hall of the Grand Palace.
To be honest, after seeing the results of the next few drills, Amber actually wanted Lilith to lower the difficulty a little.

After all, not all human troops can survive 90% casualties without losing morale. No human ground troops will drop nuclear bombs a few kilometers in front of their defensive positions. No support troops can march 1500 kilometers day and night from the other end of the continent to the core area of ​​Saint-Saunière and encircle the First Army.
But when Amber thought that the core force stationed in the Grand Palace was the Imperial Guards and the Legion of Martyrs, he finally gave up the idea of ​​reducing the difficulty.

Not to mention the former, they are the absolute elite in the entire Imperial Army and can be said to be the strongest opponent that the Atlas ground combat forces will encounter.

The Martyrs' Legion is even more complicated.
Because according to the portrayal in the game, this group of 'Kartari' are really a bunch of lunatics who dare to throw nuclear bombs in front of their own positions. At least the player guilds in the game have suffered many suicide nuclear explosions from the enemy when they were doing some large-scale missions where the main force of the enemy was the 'Martyr Legion'.

Therefore, the trouble caused by Lilith's "Blue Army" is not completely impossible to occur in the next crucial battle.

As the saying goes, it is better to be prepared than to anticipate the enemy's weaknesses. Only in this way could the First Army avoid being panicked by some unexpected situations on the battlefield after arriving at Saint-Saunière.

Soon, with the end of the last exercise, the First Army had to assemble and board the ship. This was also the limit time Amber left for the fleet to go to Saint-Saunière. After all, she couldn't arrive after the coronation ceremony.

Thousands of aerospace transport aircraft began to take off and land frequently at the hundreds of field airports opened up around the training grounds, while heavy equipment was transported uniformly by land to the orbital elevators and then directly to the giant 'door panel' parked at the starport.

In addition to quickly delivering troops to the surface, these airdrop fortresses also act like roll-on/roll-off ships in the dispatch of large-scale ground forces.

(End of this chapter)