He shot upright.
His eyes snapped open.
Sinhyeok turned his head to the side.
Unwavering.
Elysia was resting her chin on the workbench, staring holes into him.
He flinched.
Startled, Sinhyeok hurriedly rolled away to the opposite side.
“Oh my. Are you okay?”
Sinhyeok hastily got up and put some distance between them.
“Yes, yes, I’m fine. But why am I here?”
Finding himself laid out on a table like an operating table where monsters had been cut apart, he asked with a puzzled expression.
“Why, because you collapsed from exhaustion. I laid you down for a bit since there isn’t any space here to lie down.”
At her answer, Sinhyeok looked around to check.
“Ah, I see.”
Thanks to his stopped Mana Heart, for the first time in a while he experienced the sensation of mana hardening throughout his entire body.
The stuffy, suffocating oppression was extremely uncomfortable.
“My mana feels a bit off?”
“It’s going to be very uncomfortable. It seems whatever was inside that heart overexerted itself and stopped.”
Thump, thump.
The moment he focused on his heart, the Mana Heart briefly revved as if starting an engine, then died.
“Ah. Ugh!”
After starting up for a moment only to die, the mana throughout his body trembled violently.
“Mmph.”
He quickly took a potion out of his inventory and drank it.
“Haah. I’m going to live.”
Sinhyeok set aside the half-finished potion, only to spot a long blue leg reaching toward the mouth of the bottle.
“Blue!”
Turning to the side, he found Blue extending one arm out long.
Blue grinned and barked silently as always.
“Hey! Your big bro was worried, you know.”
He picked Blue up from beside him and hugged him tight.
Holding Blue, he felt a strange swell of emotion.
‘Hmm? He’s grown a lot.’
Lowering his head to check, he saw that it had actually gotten bigger.
Its fur had grown fuller too, and its face had become a bit more sleek.
If before it had been the size of two fists, now it seemed to be about four fists big.
“Well, as long as our Blue is fine, that’s all that matters.”
Blue smiled and mimed a bark.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m happy to see you too.”
Blue burrowed inside Sinhyeok’s body as usual, poking only its head out on top of his head.
“Ugh, cold.”
He still hadn’t gotten used to the sensation of Blue’s cold flesh after experiencing it again for the first time in a while.
“Pfft.”
She smiled as Blue’s head perched on top of his.
“It really is an interesting creature. No, should I call it a spirit creature now? I don’t know what kind of seed it will advance into, but.”
Sinhyeok once again expressed his gratitude to her for helping him.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to save Blue.”
“What did I do? The Staff Sergeant did it all. Come again when you have time. I’d like to test other seeds too.”
The end of her words looked quite dangerous.
Her expression looked predatory enough to devour just about anything.
“H-ha. S-someday.”
He immediately fled.
As he exited her laboratory, the quartermaster chief was coming in.
“Oh, there you are?”
The quartermaster chief welcomed Sinhyeok.
“Yes? Wh-why do you ask?”
The unusually cheerful demeanor made him feel uneasy for some reason.
“Haha~ should our Sinhyeok go run some field support?”
Looking at his beaming smile, Sinhyeok let out a hollow laugh.
“I just returned this morning?”
“Haha, me too~ I’m out of my mind because of the mess you caused. You have to pay it back with your body, don’t you?”
At the mention of the incident, Sinhyeok had nothing to say.
“Yes, I understand. Ah, damn… it’s time to get off work.”
Even though Sinhyeok grumbled, the quartermaster chief just kept smiling.
Patting Sinhyeok on the back, he said,
“Hehe. Finally enjoying the perks of having a junior! Haha!”
The chief immediately held out a tablet.
“It’s an operation order for 1st Company, 3rd Platoon. They requested a liquid mana bomb. Grab that and your gas mask and head out.”
Sinhyeok checked the document that had come up as an emergency supply request.
‘So they went to Paju City for a Gate closure.’
Reading it, he saw that it was noted as a Gate forming a mine.
It stated that all resources that could be excavated had already been harvested.
“If resource recovery is finished, there shouldn’t be any monsters?”
“Yeah, there aren’t. There were a few left inside the mine, but they probably already cleared them out? Since it’s the second day since they went in.”
After confirming everything, Sinhyeok lowered the tablet.
“The bombs are in the fourth room over there, see?”
The chief pointed them out in order from the left.
“Yes.”
“That’s the room. There’s an Enchanter there. That person makes complex, somewhat engineering- and technology-based equipment and artifacts. Just go and ask for them.”
Sinhyeok immediately headed for that room.
“The car keys are hanging in the administrative office~”
The quartermaster chief opened the workshop door with an excited expression, ready to get off work.
“Thanks! And your pet is cute.”
He looked at Blue perched on top of Sinhyeok’s head and grinned.
“But you’re not taking that with you, are you?”
At those words, Sinhyeok thought for a moment.
Blue slid down from his forehead and stared at Sinhyeok.
In its cooled gaze, emotion could be felt fully intact.
“Take you?”
Blue nodded.
“He says to take him; is that okay?”
The quartermaster chief shrugged.
“Well, if he’s fine with it. You take good care of him. And take a gas mask when you go.”
Blue smirked.
“Yes, sir.”
When he opened the door the chief had told him about, he saw a familiar person in the distance.
In a vast warehouse, Lucien Blume was carving magic circles on thousands of golems.
“Ah, so it was this person.”
Now that he was awake again, he remembered that this was the Enchanter he had greeted earlier.
Blume turned his head.
“Hmm? What brings you here?”
Sinhyeok spoke, pointing at the tablet.
“May I request a liquid mana bomb and a gas mask for an emergency supply case?”
Blume climbed down from a ladder, approached, and checked the tablet stuck in the corner.
“Both are sufficiently in stock. It looks like they requested a small spatial movement device as well, not just the liquid mana bomb.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Blume skillfully scrolled through the tablet as he spoke.
“It was just added. Looks like they’re planning to move only the bomb and detonate something.”
He set down the tablet and moved.
“Wait a moment; I shall bring them out.”
Sinhyeok stood awkwardly and waited. While waiting, from over there Aurumstone was grunting and dragging something that looked like golem parts.
“Runt! Leaving this here!”
Blume, who was checking another corner of the warehouse, shouted without looking.
“Yeah! Leave it there!”
Aurumstone suddenly grinned brightly when he spotted Sinhyeok there.
“What are you doing here, you punk!”
“What else would I be doing? Working. I’m going out for field support.”
“Haha! You look great!”
It made him sick to his stomach seeing him laugh like that. He didn’t want to stay quiet.
Sinhyeok smiled nastily. At that smile, Aurumstone rapidly grew uneasy.
“You know what? I can now Extract and Smelt.”
Aurumstone frantically denied his words.
“H-hey! What are you talking about!”
Sinhyeok smiled and pulled out the ballpoint pen in his pocket.
Aurumstone’s gaze focused on the pen.
“Smelt.”
[Smelts the contacted target.]
The ballpoint pen melted completely.
Sinhyeok closed his eyes and concentrated.
‘Focus. I have to follow the mana.’
As he concentrated, Sensory Field opened on its own.
[Sensory Field activates.]
Inside his extremely heightened senses, he divided it into the ballpoint pen’s constituent components.
‘Weave.’
He wove the unraveled mana and placed it in his hand.
When he opened his eyes, he spotted Aurumstone with his mouth hanging open.
[Extraction successful.]
[You have extracted Tungsten, Plastic, Ink, and Silicon.]
Shaking the small granules placed in his hand, he toyed with Aurumstone.
“What~ could this~ be~”
Aurumstone’s open mouth wouldn’t close.
In the meantime, Blume came out after gathering the items and looked at the dwarf with a bizarre gaze.
“Do you know why that dwarf is acting like that?”
He asked, handing over a sack enchanted with subspace.
“His mind is probably blown right now. Then I’ll be going. Good luck with your work!”
Watching Sinhyeok rush out, Blume called out casually,
“Come here too when you have time! I shall teach you some Enchants!”
At those words, Aurumstone’s mouth shut abruptly.
“You runt! No! He’s mine!”
Blume didn’t even pretend to listen.
“Hey! Yaaaa!”
* * *
“Still, gotta bring my gear.”
Sinhyeok went to the cabinet and packed his gear.
‘Bring plenty of ammo too.’
After packing well, he took the car keys.
“Blue, let’s go.”
Blue, having popped out, tapped the floor with light pops and hopped energetically.
As it settled on his head, he staggered for a moment.
“Urp!”
He braced himself with effort.
Blue slipped back inside and poked its head out over his shoulder.
“You’re heavy now, aren’t you?”
Blue feigned ignorance.
Sinhyeok held Blue and moved.
“Go, go.”
Having packed the supplies, he traveled for quite a while.
He could see the site where nearby military units were standing guard.
‘I have my ID.’
He made sure the subspace sack was secure and got out of the car.
As he got out, a soldier belonging to the Awakened Army spoke to him.
“Loyalty. Where are you from?”
“Hongik, out on emergency supply. May I enter?”
The soldier immediately spoke into his radio and opened the temporary barricade.
“You may proceed inside. Good work. Loyalty!”
“Loyalty.”
Returning the salute, he headed inside.
Checking his rifle, he checked the portal.
‘I need to swap out my equipment too.’
He needed to extract the seemingly useful Fragment of the Corrupted World Tree from his late ex-lover.
‘But what should I do with that?’
Lost in various thoughts, he stood before the portal.
“Sigh, let’s go. Gotta get this over with and get some sleep.”
He immediately entered.
Once inside, the surroundings were silent.
A spacious village was visible.
It seemed to be a mining village situated on a mountain.
“Hmm, around medieval times?”
Sinhyeok immediately took out his gas mask and held it ready.
‘According to the Gate information, toxic air flows starting from the village.’
Bearing that in mind, he moved.
“There’s no base camp? Is this a two-day operation?”
Sinhyeok looked around and checked.
“For a B-rank Gate, it looks pretty small?”
[Mapping initiated.]
Just to check, he immediately tried Mapping.
Watching the probes zoom off, he checked the vicinity.
“It sure is small.”
The probes quickly returned.
It was roughly the size of two Korean neighborhoods combined.
“Man oh man, Arin and Ichan are getting off easy.”
Sinhyeok walked diligently, thinking of the two who would be working hard.
“Blue, you’re looking forward to seeing them again too, right?”
Blue grinned and nodded.
“Let’s hurry~”
He climbed the mountain diligently.
Two hours later, Sinhyeok wiped his sweat and looked up.
“Ugh! So damn high!”
He got instantly annoyed at the hiking after so long.
Grumbling, he headed toward the mining village situated mid-mountain.
“If I’d known this, I would’ve asked Bak Inho for a wyvern…….”
He thought that for him, who had the Dragon Knight class, getting one probably wouldn’t be hard.
“Phew. I’m here.”
He slowly put on his gas mask.
Looking at the moisture clouding the eyepieces, he let out a hollow laugh.
“Why does this never change.”
Still, the incoming air was relatively clean.
Taking comfort in that, he headed inside.
‘Where are they.’
[Mapping initiated.]
He mapped again and moved to where they were.
‘There they are.’
They were at the path leading to the mine entrance.
The 3rd Platoon Leader of the 1st Company raised his hand high in greeting.
“Sinhyeok! You don’t need the gas mask!”
At those words, he immediately took it off.
“Phew, what a relief.”
3rd Platoon Leader First Lieutenant Gang Siyun smiled and welcomed Sinhyeok.
“We had some time to spare so we purified the air a bit~ Aren’t you grateful?”
Sinhyeok smiled, took the subspace sack out of his inventory, and handed it over.
“Thank you so much. The lenses kept fogging up, so it was really uncomfortable.”
The platoon leader checked the received items and handed them over to the deputy platoon leader.
“Second Lieutenant I Do-hyeon, go set it up.”
“Yes, sir.”
Second Lieutenant I Do-hyeon, who served as both first squad leader and deputy platoon leader, received the items and took them.
“Are the guys in the middle of an operation inside?”
“Yeah. The seniors are giving the juniors a carry inside. If you’re bored, go watch or something.”
Sinhyeok thought for a moment, then moved inside, reminded of Blue, who had perked up.
The platoon leader looked at the bluish decoration hanging on Sinhyeok’s shoulder and asked.
“Is that new equipment?”
“Huh? This?”
When Sinhyeok tapped it, Blue shook as if annoyed.
“Is it a pet?”
“Yes. It’s surprisingly useful.”
‘It can even Smelt.’
“Well, take it with you carefully. It’s really hot inside!”