I Became a Witch and Started an Industrial Revolution

【Ding-ling-ling…】

In the subordinate military district under the Alliance Scientific Laboratory, the urgent ringing spread continuously throughout the district.

Already prepared, Betty threw aside the book in her hand the moment she heard the bell, rose swiftly from her bed, put on her military boots, and rushed outside.

From the surrounding rooms, large numbers of figures also rushed out.

Nobody exchanged a word; all headed uniformly toward the Ordnance Department.

Throughout, only dense footsteps could be heard, and nothing else unusual.

This was a special secret unit—without a codename.

Whenever they went on missions, they usually drew an Arabic numeral temporarily as their designation.

If anything could prove how different they were, it was that their entire uniform bore nothing but a single five-pointed star.

Mitia divided the Alliance’s special forces into three levels, without elimination—only advancement.

All elites selected from the entire army were gathered together from across the nation to undergo systematic elite training in various combat skills and tactical doctrines.

From the moment they were chosen, they became basic Level-3 special forces personnel.

Those who failed to advance would be sent back to their original units to form their own special reconnaissance teams.

The remainder automatically advanced to Level-2 special forces.

They would undergo harsher, more brutal training and real combat drills.

Those who still did not advance would also be sent back to their local districts, where they would be integrated into the district’s Special Task Battalion.

Level-1 were naturally the top-tier soldiers directly under the central command.

Based on number and teamwork compatibility, they would be grouped into two or three independent special forces units with their own designations and insignias.

Beyond Level-1, there was a secret tier—the fifty-person unit to which Betty belonged.

They were a special force personally created by Mitia, chosen from the best of the best.

Aside from military assignments that had never been issued, their greatest current function was to serve as testers for various black-tech or experimental-grade equipment developed by cutting-edge laboratories, providing data feedback.

When necessary, they held the highest authority to directly retrieve and deploy any special weapons available within the Alliance Laboratory.

For example, the experimental, heavily modified Barrett-style bolt-action rifle that Mitia previously gave Miwei—every one of the fifty members owned one as their standard weapon.

They even trained with genuine silver-plated elemental rounds, all so they could fully master the weapon’s maximum power.

Investment in other developments was equally generous—such as the exoskeleton armor they were donning now, shimmering with cold white light and faint golden rune arrays.

With the cooperation of the Elves providing craftsmanship, Mitia providing intellect and prior-life ideas, exoskeleton armor from her previous world had been realized here through magic.

She had to admit that the Alliance consisted mostly of ordinary people.

Even if mass-produced mechanical bodies could be manufactured like dumplings, she simply did not have enough population capable of operating them.

So she chose another path based on her previous world’s approach—using an exoskeleton as the support base to lower the mental-strength requirements for operating a mechanical body, then adding a second layer of heavy mechanical armor on top.

The advantage was that the inner exoskeleton had its own power.

The Elves optimized a node-based power pack for her, deconstructing a cube-shaped elemental power module into rectangular power rods as thick as a forearm.

Although the total energy was much lower, multiple rods could now be stacked together, arranged on the back and shoulders of the exoskeleton in matrices or rows.

The combined output was even 20% stronger than before.

With rune arrays fitted close to the human body, the mental requirement dropped to nearly zero.

Even an adult man could operate the exoskeleton freely.

Once a person could control the exoskeleton, everything became simple: on the outer layer, using the exoskeleton as a structural frame, a set of mechanical armor plating would be mounted outside it.

In other words—the operator inside controlled the exoskeleton, which in turn indirectly controlled the outer mechanical body.

There were many drawbacks to this matryoshka-style approach: the process was complicated, the cost was enormous, repairs were difficult, and sometimes replacing the entire unit was easier than fixing it.

But the advantages were also significant: the outer armor could add another power system on the back, and with the exoskeleton amplifying the mental output to drive the outer armor, the operator’s control over the mechanical body reached a level comparable to moving their own limbs.

Previously, the Kingdom’s and Empire’s standard mechanical bodies lacked a head—avoiding that vulnerable target.

Normal three-meter units housed a soldier curled inside the midsection cockpit, controlling movement and attacks via mental projection.

But this exoskeleton-based model was what Mitia preferred to call a mecha.

Because the exoskeleton adhered to the operator’s body, the added armor naturally formed a complete humanoid outline—with a head and rear portion—just enlarged.

At the “fragile” head area, retractable transparent protective plates made of pure magic-immune crystal were installed front and back.

Controlling the outer armor was no different from moving normally; the only difference was that—like humanoid soldiers in StarCraft—the limbs were extended outward.

A fully equipped adult man of 1.8 meters would reach over four meters in height.

Their ammunition also came in two types: silver-plated anti-magic rounds and special armor-piercing rounds.

A fully custom steel nail bullet fired with dual-stage ignition—magic powder mixed with nitroglycerin fiber as propellant.

Inside the barrel, nitrated fiber launched the round.

The 12.7–108 mm bullet exited the muzzle, its rear fins springing open.

Under heavy opposing airflow resistance, the fins were torn off.

A dust-charge explosion at the bullet’s base blew open the metal casing, revealing the silver-plated tungsten core, accelerating again mid-air and piercing the enemy’s magic shields with needle-like blasts.

And its delivery system was the upgraded PKDM heavy machine gun.

To prevent magical damage, the entire gun body was made of a special alloy mixed with magic-immune powder.

“M” meant magic-immune; “D” meant heavy.

This weapon—whether against mechanical soldiers or even captain-class units six meters tall—could turn them into a sieve within twenty rounds if they dared expose themselves.

But these rounds were extremely expensive.

Every shot fired was not a bullet—it was a projectile worth more than the same volume of gold.

Not weight—volume.

Its theoretical maximum rate of fire was 950 rounds per minute.

Drum capacity: maximum 200, minimum 50.

With flexible belts, one could fire as long as one could carry the weight.

This money-burning insanity made Mitia sign every expense form with her eyes closed; opening her eyes risked psychological collapse from the astronomical sums.

But she had no choice.

This world was not normal.

If she did not hold a trump card in her hands, she felt uneasy.

She could not rely solely on the Witches—that was her bottom line.

And today, they finally welcomed their first mission target: protecting the venue of the Holy Light Cathedral.

There, diplomatic envoys of various nations, major state officials, representatives from the Alliance’s Workers-and-Peasants Union, and other important figures would gather.

This level of gala was the first the Seris Alliance ever hosted.

To prevent the kind of sabotage once caused by the Church, they were specially deployed.

It would also be their first appearance before the public.