-How popular is Aurora, anyway?
Feels like all I’ve heard lately is Aurora this, Aurora that.
ㄴHonestly, if you don’t know Aurora, you’re a pointy-eared spy lol
ㄴEven the elves seem to know about Aurora to some extent? There are a lot more elves using the Gallery these days.
ㄴAurora’s stream is just fun to watch. All that desperate contortion they do, you know? lol
ㄴFact) Do you know what kind of important places are talking about Aurora right now?
ㄴYou said “Fact,” you bastard, so why the hell are you ending it with a question?
-This month’s Gallery Lord photo
(A photo of Jui licking Assoluzn’s cheek)
ㄴSee, this is why our Gallery Lord is the best.
ㄴArbiter: I’m the owner of the Gallery, though.
ㄴShe’s just a worn-out old henhouse… (This user has been temporarily banned.)
ㄴSomeone died ㅠㅠㅠ
-Choose Grad School Carefully: You know what this is?
(A photo of documents piled high)
Do you know how much work Aurora has created!!
ㄴAurora: Oh, sorry about that.
ㄴChoose Grad School Carefully: You think this ends with “sorry”?
ㄴLet’s not get discouraged by this. Let’s just die.
ㄴChoose Grad School Carefully: Where do you live?
Even at the hour Aurora was streaming, posts related to Aurora were still being uploaded to the Gallery.
On Earth, to prevent cliquish behavior, mentioning registered nicknames had been banned, but here, posts related to registered users appeared constantly.
The reason that was fine was because, fundamentally, new posts continued to appear in the Gallery at every moment.
Since the users were almost the entire population of the Empire, the waters here did not stagnate. The head admin knew that as well, and so did not issue suspensions.
But just because cliques did not form did not mean their influence disappeared as well.
The ripples still affected reality.
Just as Aurora had begun digging into the Vanished Era while streaming about the deep sea.
Even now, while watching Aurora’s stream, the Vanished Era was being brought to light.
The relics of the Vanished Era that Aurora showed seemed as precious as bright jewels.
And because of that, people forgot one fact.
That when a new continent was discovered, the positive aspect of increased resources came together with the negative aspect of disease.
And that this newly discovered era had used an extreme measure called information concealment, erasing all knowledge.
Dwarves, elves, demons, beastmen, humans.
The aftermath of all races, without distinction, throwing themselves into the Vanished Era was…
Still something no one could know.
***
“No, is this right?”
ㄴTruth Scholar: Hahahaha, no, why is it like this hahaha
ㄴBoozeIsLife: Hey, even I could do better with my feet.
Today marked the 36th day since I opened my eyes in the deep sea.
I had made a repair tool and was tending to the damage the submersible Spear had suffered yesterday.
Fortunately, the repair tool could be made with simple materials, much like the scanner.
The problem was that it depended an absurd amount on manual dexterity.
I had tried to repair the rear of the Spear myself, the part that had been bitten by that deep-sea creature last time…
“This makes no sense…”
Before repairing it, the section had been pierced by sharp teeth and dented inward in a bumpy mess.
Now, on the contrary, it was bulging outward in a bumpy mess.
The principle behind the repair tool was similar to soldering, melting material onto the desired area to attach it.
So the hole was filled. Mm, only the hole was filled. The result just looked filthy.
ㄴBoozeIsLife: Isn’t this that? The guy who said he didn’t trust dwarves and fixed his weapon himself lol
ㄴBoozeIsLife: Why are you half-assing it when it’s yours? lol
“Hey, will you be quiet!?”
I was sure I’d been pretty good with my hands back on Earth…
Perhaps because the area I had repaired was a section where mana did not flow, I couldn’t grasp the flow.
And this was the result of relying on instinct.
“…Pfft.”
“Assoluzn? Did you laugh?”
“No, of course not.”
Assoluzn was covering their mouth.
If I said what I really felt, I would have told Assoluzn to move that hand.
But because of what Assoluzn said next, I decided to let it slide.
“If you are dissatisfied with the finish, you can also make a grinder.”
“There’s a grinder?”
“Yes. It uses materials similar to those required for the repair tool, so I recommend making one.”
Well, it would look better if it were neat, so I decided to try making one.
The materials would show up if I walked around the area a few times anyway.
Thunk.
The fabricator spat out a grinder like a vending machine.
I picked up the grinder that had fallen to the floor and returned to the Spear.
I had used a grinder back when I was in the army, so I was confident I could handle it well enough.
Whirrr!
The disc spun with a fierce noise as mana was consumed.
I brought the sandpaper-like face of the disc against the uneven surface.
Bzzzzzt!!
The surface ground away amid orange sparks.
Naturally, as for protective gear…
ㄴTruth Scholar: You think replacing it with mana counts as protective gear?
ㄴBoozeIsLife: I know several guys who kicked the bucket relying only on mana…
I wrapped my body in mana and got to work.
Like protective gear, I gathered mana around the front where the grinder was and raised its strength.
A faint green barrier formed that way.
If I gathered mana, I could produce a hardness that made it impossible to believe it was human skin.
Thinking that, I continued grinding the surface, and before long, a clean surface began to appear.
Now, if I just smoothed it out a little more—
Tang!!
A red spark flickered before my eyes.
Feeling a heavy sensation at my torso, I looked down and saw it embedded there.
ㄴTruth Scholar: …I suppose it’s fortunate you weren’t hurt.
ㄴBoozeIsLife: Hey, if that barrier were thin, it would’ve gone straight through. How much mana do you even have?
A fragment of the exploded disc had stopped right in front of my abdomen.
Blocked by mana, the fragment failed to pierce my stomach and fell helplessly.
…Cold sweat ran down my back.
I was sure I’d used one just fine on Earth…
“…If you are a little lacking in dexterity, I will do it for you.”
“Uh… yeah. Please.”
“Yes.”
I had no idea what would happen if I tried to keep fixing it, so I immediately handed it over to Assoluzn.
Assoluzn simply fabricated a new disc in the submersible and began working.
Bzzzzzt!!
Assoluzn worked with a thin layer of mana spread out in front.
Unlike me, Assoluzn used only the amount that was truly necessary, not some ridiculously excessive quantity.
Watching from the side, it felt like looking at a factory.
Sparks flew at a steady rhythm, and there was no tremor in those hands.
Whirrr…
The sound of the grinder died down, and Assoluzn stood up, brushing off their knees.
The area Assoluzn had worked on looked clean, flawless, and perfect.
“It is finished.”
“Thanks.”
The Spear’s repairs were complete.
I had wasted a truly pointless amount of time, but in truth, it was time I could afford to waste.
ㄴTruth Scholar: Are you going back out into the deep sea?
“No. I realized this after going outside, but I don’t think I can do without a weapon.”
The Spear was already full of mana and could go out at any moment, but without a weapon, one unlucky encounter could blow it apart.
So what I had in mind was making a weapon that could be attached to the submersible.
Fortunately, a new weapon I could craft had been unlocked this time.
From none other than the culprit that had wrecked the Spear.
-Goldcrown Fish
-Primarily inhabits the area near deep-sea City NP023. When attacking, it is characterized by charging like a spear amid golden ripples. Because its nerves move independently, it can remain mobile even if the head is severed.
-{NEW} Acceleration Harpoon
-A weapon attachable to a submersible. It can rapidly launch a harpoon used mainly against small fish and occasionally against medium-sized fish as well. Its retrieval function also enables swift maneuvering.
The new weapon I would be crafting this time.
But it required more materials than I had expected.
There was a bigger problem than that, however.
“One of the materials is the body…?”
Of all things, the required material was located in the body section drifting around the deep sea.
In other words, it meant I had to take the submersible into the deep sea and somehow retrieve that body wandering around on its own.
“Goldcrown Fish are quite strongly drawn to underwater scanners, so if you simply turn one on, you should be able to lure the body in.”
“That’s not the problem…?”
“If you cannot do it, you will have to keep living here anyway.”
“Urgh…”
Assoluzn’s words dug straight into my chest.
No matter how dangerous it was, I had no choice but to do it.
If I didn’t, I would have to keep living here.
…Well, with Assoluzn here, even that might be bearable. But my intuition kept stirring up a strange sense of fear.
At least until I confirmed what that fear was, I would do my utmost to escape.
“Let’s make a proper attempt tomorrow. I’m ending the stream.”
ㄴTruth Scholar: No. What? It hasn’t even been four hours—
***
No one would remember the day they first opened their eyes.
There would only have been the self that had gone on existing with its eyes already open.
But for the machine, that moment was painfully vivid.
When it first perceived the world, enough to call it opening its eyes.
When it rolled its caterpillar treads and wandered inside the building.
When its mechanical hands moved with a clack.
And the intangible sensation it felt in one corner of itself.
That was… what one would call memory in a person, and data in a machine.
Its contents were exceedingly simple.
But for a machine that had only just opened its eyes, they were truly difficult to understand.
-Find the proper target. Become its trigger.
And before long, a loud sound rang out.
It met him for the first time.
A person whose aura of mana was especially unusual, and whose eyes were upright and clear.
A person with black hair faintly mixed with a bluish hue.
A person with distinct black eyes, faintly tinged with green.
Because it knew, by “intuition,” that he was the proper target.
It gave him the most important thing it possessed.
And that bond continued, turning a mere machine into a person.
Only then did Assoluzn realize its role.
“Let’s make a proper attempt tomorrow. I’m ending the stream.”
Leaving Cheonche behind as he tossed words to himself into empty air, Assoluzn pulled at their shirt and looked near the collarbone.
There, a distinct manufacturer’s mark existed. And the command had been engraved there as well.
It was a brand.
A brand announcing that it had been born a sinner.