Chapter 132

Summon of the Tower (1)

After returning home, I asked Hibiki a question.

"Ah, by the way, Hibiki." "...?" "Can I go to your room for a while?"

She suddenly blushed and mumbled. Realizing that the words had a misleading remark, I quickly patched it up.

"The cat is in your room right now, right? Can I see it for a moment?" "..."

Hibiki regained her composure remarkably fast and spoke with an expressionless face as usual.

"I'm not sure if it's in my room right now." "Hmm?" "It recently learned how to turn the doorknob... so it opens all the doors at home."

The Iponia, named Cat, had a tail longer than its body and used it as freely as an elephant nose. If it were to be compared to a human being, it's like a substitute for a hand. Last time, it learned how to press the water dispenser button and turned the kitchen into an ocean. After that, it had even learned how to turn doorknobs. Oh, was that why all the doors were open whenever I walked down the hallway the past few days?

"But it doesn't come into my room, though?" "Strangely, it seems to be a little scared of mister Jin-Wook. Except for the occasional times that you feed it."

I could guess the reason. However, since a lot of time had passed already, it was time to experiment again.

"Let's go together for now, shall we? Since your room is the place where it stays most of the time."

Fortunately, the cat was taking a nap in Hibiki's room. When I opened the closed door (She also said that if it's sleepy, it closed the door by itself and slept), I saw a cat that had a reversed U-shaped figure in the most comfortable position in the world. Its body flinched a little every now and then as if it's dreaming about something. The white foot, as if to give an edge on the black-furred leg, kicked the air.

"Cat."

When I called it, it slowly opened one eye and looked at me, then closed its eyelids again.

"It's completely ignoring you." "..."

Even though in the past, I rescued it out of the black market myself, fed it, and managed to fatten up the skin-and-bones kitten... At that moment, it was all heels over head for Hibiki, and I was overlooked. Hibiki called it out, extending her hand.

"Cat. Wake up."

Only then did it fully open its eyes and looked at Hibiki.

"Meow!"

It cried as if to murmur, yawned once, and then got up and stretched. Then it approached Hibiki. She turned her head and looked at me as if to say, 'what now?'

"Okay, I'll be quick in trying this out."

It's been more than a year since I brought the cat to my house, and it's bigger than ever. It was worth looking at it with astonishment. Wouldn't it be able to handle it by then? The work of eating up the curse in my heart, that was.

"Don't be scared this time. Go ahead and have a bite."

I moved the blue Mana into a particular pattern in the Core, stimulating the embedded [Mercadius's Seed]. Then the red Mana inside my heart began to rise quietly in the abyss like fruit flies gathering around the light.

'...Geeeek!'

The red energy started from the heart and spread all over the body. Back then, the cat could only busy itself by hiding under the bed whenever I stimulated the curse like that. But what about that moment?

"Hisss!"

I sang of joy inwardly. That's right! Its reaction was different from before. Hibiki looked surprised and gazed at the cat and me alternately. The cat and I were staring at the existence that was invisible to Hibiki's eyes. Red tentacles-like anemones sprouted from my chest and extended radially. Then-

"!"

Blue flashes poured out of the cat's eyes like starlights. All of it was aiming for my heart.

'It's draining its force before it consumes it!'

It was the step that needed to be taken to weaken the coagulated skill effect of the curses in the body before eating it up. However, the seed in my heart did not fall off easily. It wriggled as if to struggle and spread its red hands all around. It even tried to reach out for my head, but it was useless.

-[The Successor's Eyes (Rank: EX)] Resists to [Mercadius' Seed (Rank: SSS)]!

It was impossible to move to another body because it was already stuck in a host called 'me,' and it wasn't powerful enough to wrestle against me all for the sake of taking over my mind. I watched the fight between the two with my eyes shining. Maybe it was possible!

"Meoooow!"

Ra-ta-ta-tat!

It was the sound of my expectations collapsing.

"It didn't work again this time."

It was a swift turnaround. Iponia ran away without looking back and hid under the bed. But I wasn't as deeply disappointed as I was before, and I didn't even sigh.

"This is a tremendous improvement!"

Its behavior was completely different until the very end when it ran away, scared that the tentacles would win against it. That time around, it faced the seed bravely, and the seed of the curse seemed to have suffered too.

"I'll just have to wait for it to grow a little bit more."

Of course, I planned to pay close attention to supplying the food (skill cards) for rapid growth.

"I have high expectations for you."

I spoke encouragingly, but...

"Meow!"

It only cried in a sharp voice as if it were protesting under the bed.

*

"We're almost there, Guild Master."

Having enough time in the schedule, I visited the R&D Center near Gyeonggi-do with Secretary Kim. J/V's Korean research center expanded quickly and now used up a small industrial complex size of land. Of course, the Korean government actively cooperated in the process. The gate that automatically recognized the vehicle number opened, and we entered an area that couldn't be seen from outside. Inside, some ordinary factories appeared to be lined up. There was also a lot of unused land. Most were empty parking lots and unused vacant lots. Secretary Kim didn't slow down. He entered the road blocked by yellow barricades. If he kept driving like that, we'd crash.

"Are you nervous?"

Secretary Kim smirked.

"Come on, Guild Master. I've brought you here a few times already. This would be only..."

The distance from the barricades was getting narrower. Four meters, two meters... zero meters! The collision between the barricade and the car... did not take place, of course.

Shwoomp!

The air rippled like water, and the car naturally entered the shield.

"Wow, it improved compared to the last time we came here."

That was the case even in my eyes. Last time, there was a phenomenon in which light spread disorderly when an object penetrated, but that time, the shaking only reached a point where it was like gently pressing down on the surface of the soap bubble. The barrier wasn't a dungeon reward or exchanged item with experience points.

"Was it those that traded with humanity in Australia... The Pezra species? They would be surprised if they saw this."

It was one of the things I got from trading with Pezra, a metallic species that lived in the world beyond. However, the achievement of advancing it to the next level was purely from Earth's civilization.

"... I can't get used to it no matter how many times I see it."

Passing through a shielded barrier that disabled the people's ability to identify the scenery within its perimeters when standing outside of it, an image that ordinary people wouldn't even be able to imagine unfolded. Most of the things that drew out astonishment were in the air and not on the ground.

"Wow."

A vast artificial island with a diameter of more than 3 kilometers was floating in the sky inside the barrier. Shortly after I woke up from my hospital bed, the Senator collected all necessary construction materials as promised and directed them into the EX-Class item [Imperial Tactical Fortress Construction Kit]. Right then, skipping out all the design and manufacturing processes, the small cube-shaped item began to project light into the air as if it were projecting a hologram. What followed that was an extensive construction process as if a geographical-scale laser printer was activated. Every time the rays shot by the cube passed through the air, a reinforcement made out of unknown metal was created, and chunks were applied on that skeleton to build a fortress comparable to the size of an island. Like that, we got our hands on that air fortress.

"Oh, you're here!"

In a building on the ground below the center of a tactical fortress, I heard a voice. As we stopped the car, the man who had been waiting on standby welcomed us. He was Jonathan Gray, Chief Technology Officer and General Manager of the facility.

"There's a lot I'd like to show you today as well!"

Without being able to hide his excitement, he led us inside. That building was a docking station of some sort that connected the artificial island in the air and the ground. Researchers went up and down, riding on a circular column of light located in the center. That elevator was also one of the facilities attached to the fort.

"This is it."

Entering the laboratory equipped with particular safety devices, he handed us an artifact. My eyes widened when I saw it. It was absurd because I didn't know it would be possible to achieve it that soon. I asked unconfidently.

"Is it... a gun?"

He replied with a big smile.

"Yes! It's a Mana-activated... laser gun!"

We were only producing medieval weapons such as swords and spears a little while ago. However, at that moment, the level of artifacts suddenly jumped several leagues away. That kind of weapon could not be obtained at any tutorial dimension in my previous life. Usually, it's an item that could only be produced after entering the main quest.

"Thank you for your hard work."

I was aware that to identify the essence hidden and incorporate it into existing technology within few months after the tactical fortress was completed... a lot of tremendous sacrifices and efforts had to be made by the researchers, including Jonathan Gray. Still, based on common sense alone, it was impossible to complete such achievements in just a few months. The secret to the ridiculously rapid progress was within the tactical fortress.

'In other words, they said it's a sample like a textbook prepared for elementary school students.'

I knew that it would be nice to gain at least something at the level of the enclosed manual when someone bought an assembly model toy so that humankind could learn the technology behind the tactical fortresses using that. However, according to Gray, what was prepared in there was something more than that.

"Honestly, we still haven't fully grasped the principles. We had just made a small-scale reproduction of the 'Instructions for Restoration and Maintenance of Fortress for Emergencies,' explained by the manual prepared in the fortress. This gun is only made after some of the weapons in the fort. Sticking strictly to the manual, that is. But it works! It's mindblowing!"

I could see why the ministry spirit desperately tried not to release EX-Class items at the tutorial stage.

"By the way, that kit... is it true that we can't use it again soon? The chairman said that he could get as much construction materials as we want."

He was talking about Danton, the Senator. He was asking if we could build a few more of those fortresses. Unfortunately, however, it was not possible at that moment.

"That wouldn't be possible no matter how we try for the time being." "Oh, I see."

He looked disappointed for a moment but quickly changed his face and gave me a recommendation instead.

"Would you like to experiment with it now?"

I injected Mana as he recommended and fired the Mana laser gun a few times from the prepared firing range.

Pew! Paht! Paht!

The destructive power against Mana consumption was not terrible, but my eyes could see how Mana rotated in the gun and where unbalanced interactions occurred. There was a very slight lack of quality in it. If they continued to produce it like that, it wouldn't last long. The manual was perfect, but there was a flaw in the technology that had been used to manufacture it.

'It would be awkward to point this out right now... I'll have to organize it in a data later and hand it over to the Senator.'

I held back on giving the feedback and handed over the gun instead.

"I'm delighted. We'll be able to mass-produce this soon, right? "I think it will be possible in a few months." "That's enough."

I was thinking of completing the climb to the Tower of Choice.

*

-Is the article being uploaded on the internet real? -I heard there's a strange rumor going around the hunters. They're saying that the system message is making a noise that they had never heard before!

A few days after completing the 12th 'Qualification' quest, the whole world became rowdy in unison. That had never been experienced since the day the Cataclysm began. Although they weren't even in the same dungeon, all the hunters were looking at the same message simultaneously.

-Congratulations! A few selected users on this level have met their 'qualifications.' -Your world is now closer to ending the tutorial and entering the main quest.

The first to boil up was the Hunter community on the Internet.

-This isn't just me, is it? Are other people looking at this as well? -Yeah, I think so. But... Main quest? Only now?

There was no one who didn't know that the Earth was still in the tutorial stage, but more than 20 years had passed since everyone focused on exploring dungeons and receiving rewards. Most of them had already lost interest in the main quest. The system message didn't stop there.

- Once you've entered the main quest, you'll have access to artifacts that go beyond the allowed item class so far!

The meaning of those words was unmistakable. The highest item rating known to Earth so far was the SSS-Class that couldn't be valued at any price since it was scarce enough that the entire quantity available could be counted within ten fingers. It meant that they could get items that were even superior to that!

-You can develop your civilization at an unprecedented rate through those. Exploring dungeons and preventing them from collapsing will be much easier!

The message also had subtle, hidden parts, as it was the system speaking. Some parts indicated that proceeding to the main quest increased the frequency of Gate occurrences and exposed our world to more aliens.

- A month from now, those chosen in the current dimension will be allowed to enter the exclusive dungeon. That's where the final challenge to the main quest will begin!

The challenge, of course, was none other than the Tower of Choice. I knew the reason why it necessarily decided to start a month later. It meant that in the meantime, it wanted us to gather our opinions on our own regarding if we should start climbing or not.

- No, what the hell is that supposed to mean? What does it mean a few hunters have been selected? Do you know anyone?

All hunters around the world heard the message. The fact that the system never lied had already been proven enough, so people had to make clumsy guesses in confusion. In the midst of it, the information that the Korean government released to the world by announcing its official statement was enough to astonish everyone.

-It was Seo Jin-Wook again!