“A country interested in purchasing has contacted us again.”
At the call from Director Kim Gyu-sik of the Tower Management Agency, Suho asked back in surprise.
“Pardon? No, did you tell them the price correctly?”
“Of course. You said it was 100 trillion won per unit.”
“Whoa... And there are countries that still want to buy one...? Do they have holes in their heads—no, which ones?”
It was absurd.
In truth, he had named a random price with almost no intention of selling them, yet there were countries willing to buy at that price.
“For now, we have orders for three units from the United States, two from China, two from India, one from Japan, two from the European Union, one from Brazil, one from Italy, and one from Australia.”
“Whoa... Thirteen units?”
“That is correct.”
“Good grief... They’re all crazy.”
A whopping thirteen super-enhanced androids priced at 100 trillion won each had sold. Wow, a staggering 1,300 trillion won.
But he wasn’t particularly pleased. He already had several quadrillion won, so he had nowhere to spend it all anyway, and more than that, making more enhanced androids was just such a hassle...
As of 2040, the United States was spending 1.25 trillion dollars a year on defense, which came out to roughly 1,660 trillion won, but even so, 100 trillion won was by no means a small amount for a defense budget.
With 100 trillion won, one could build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and still have money left over after forming an entire carrier strike group, including Aegis destroyers, frigates, submarines, supply ships, the fighters and various aircraft launched from the carrier, helicopters, and early warning aircraft.
One hundred trillion won was far more than the Republic of Korea’s entire annual defense budget.
It was enough money to buy 12,000 of the latest tanks and still have plenty left over, enough to arm the entire military of a mid-sized nation with cutting-edge technology and carry out massive infrastructure expansion.
And yet 100 trillion won for a single enhanced android?
And they were actually buying it. It was enough to make him faint.
Still, since the danger posed by high-rise Towers was a very real threat to every nation, it seemed they didn’t consider it a waste if they thought of it as gaining ten controllable S-rank Admittees for 100 trillion won.
After all, S-rank Admittees were not resources one could obtain just because one had money.
In any case, he had already said it, so he couldn’t refuse to sell.
“Phew... No country will be able to repair them with their own technology. That’s not Earth technology in the first place. Anyway, if repairs are needed, make sure to tell them to send it back to headquarters... no, to me.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll tell them that.”
“And as for delivery... by transport plane or... no. Just tell them I’ll deliver them myself.”
“Understood.”
It would have been annoying, having to act as the messenger in the middle like that, but Director Kim Gyu-sik seemed nothing but delighted, grinning from ear to ear.
That man was definitely thinking of every little thing like this as a boost to national prestige.
After ending the call with the director, Suho immediately went to see Dr. Choi.
“Huh... Thirteen units. They must all have been desperate.”
“I’m sorry, Doctor. I decided to sell them without even consulting you first. I really didn’t think anyone would actually buy them. Truly.”
“Oh, goodness, what are you saying...! The parts you materialized are the real thing, Clan Master. The technology I applied to these enhanced androids is honestly all things any country could do.”
At those humble words, Suho smiled.
In truth, even aside from the transcendent parts, the basic design, the key ideas for the main components, and every detailed element were all Dr. Choi’s work. And yet he claimed he had no merit in it.
“In any case, since I already announced it, I think I’ll have to sell them, and we should split the profits. Once we receive payment, I’ll make sure to distribute the earnings to you and the researchers, Doctor.”
“Huh... The researchers already think their salaries are far too high compared to the work they do...”
“Come on, how can it be too high? The more salary, the better.”
“Ha ha ha...”
The more salary, the better.
But if one asked whether the same was true for Suho, that was another matter.
Even if he sold thirteen units and another 1,300 trillion won came in, amounts in the hundreds of trillions no longer stirred much feeling in him.
The impact of selling Etherium had simply been too great.
‘At this rate of income, hitting 10 quadrillion won seems entirely possible... Possible? It probably won’t even take long, will it?’
Well, whether he reached it or not, it was all the same.
Suho additionally asked Dr. Choi to reset and initialize the AI systems of the enhanced androids.
So that the purchasing countries could perform a “command hierarchy reset and custom configuration” in whatever way they wanted.
Over the next few days, Suho was busy with a delivery service, personally bringing the super-enhanced androids whose command hierarchies had been reset to the countries that had purchased them.
Each country could have come to pick them up with transport planes and the like, but since they were all countries he had visited several times for Etherium sales anyway, he simply crossed over through dimensional gates and handed them over.
And in movies, isn’t it always like that? The greatest weapons always run into incidents during transport.
The transport process is always bound to be vulnerable, and to compensate for that, each government ends up pouring in enormous budgets and troops.
It was needless expense and waste. So Suho personally delivered them so there would be no need for any of that.
* * *
After selling the enhanced androids, Suho felt the need to develop a mid-sized android.
A downgraded, scaled-down version of the currently existing 3.5-meter large-scale enhanced android designed for use against monsters.
Something specialized more for anti-personnel combat than anti-monster warfare.
Its combat power would drop significantly compared to the current super-enhanced android, but its AI functions would be strengthened and its design made similar to a human’s.
If one had to compare their combat power and performance, it would probably be something like:
Extreme Powered Armor > Super-Enhanced Android (anti-monster, large version) > Newly developed enhanced android (anti-personnel, full human version).
Since the newly developed enhanced android would be drastically smaller than the super-enhanced android, the scale of its combat power was also reduced to about one-tenth.
He designed it as a model with combat power equivalent to roughly one S-rank Admittee per unit and consulted Dr. Choi.
“Smaller, and weaker, you mean? Hmm... In truth, there’s nothing difficult about that at all. Making it stronger is hard; reducing it is, well...”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. High-end humanoid androids are already common on the market. We can use those as a base and upgrade them.”
“But wouldn’t it become tricky if we put humanoid skin on them?”
“We just need to lay the defensive line beneath a special polymer or elastomer skin layer. This, too, was ultimately a matter of volume, but now that we’ve solved the power issue with Ether batteries, we can reduce the volume significantly.”
“Oh...”
“You would, of course, also want to structure it with biomimetic technology to resemble real skin and embed sensory sensors with electronic skin, yes?”
“Yes... If it’s something applied to high-end humanoid androids, I’d like to include it all.”
“Understood. It won’t be difficult. What about gender?”
“Please make them with a variety of genders mixed in.”
“I’ll do that. And... even so, combat function is their foundation. If you had to divide them into classes, how would you like to do it? We’ll need to reflect that in the detailed items and armament systems installed inside.”
“Hmm... Classes... We don’t need buffers or healers, so I think three types would be good: tankers, melee dealers, and ranged dealers. Yes. Let’s make those three a set.”
“That would make them a compact three-person S-rank team. Understood. I’ll finish the design in the form you described and show it to you again. Oh, how many units are you thinking of making?”
“I’m not sure. I’d like there to be quite a lot of these guys... maybe about 100 teams?”
“Should I understand that as around 300 units?”
“Yes, sounds good. Please make that many.”
Not an android with the power of a ten-person S-rank team, but one with the combat power of about a single S-ranker.
Even as a downgraded version, that alone was an incredible level of combat ability that would easily devour any combat android currently sold on the market.
More than anything, unlike the super-enhanced android, which could not help but draw attention the moment it was brought out because of its appearance, the new enhanced android was expected to have a wide variety of uses.
* * *
Having witnessed Suho’s strength as he easily crushed Diego with the Extreme Powered Armor, all the clan members accepted Suho’s participation in training.
Whether as a tanker, melee dealer, or ranged dealer, he was practically a hybrid class capable of handling most positions, so Suho’s participation could bring a major change to their tactics.
Giiiiiiik!
Baaang────
“Ugh!”
Kang Ho-jin, the shield warrior, was sent flying in grand fashion while testing his strength against Suho.
True to his moniker, “Indomitable Iron Wall,” Kang Ho-jin was a powerful tanker who never yielded to anyone in terms of strength... Yet he had been pushed back by someone in the crafting and support line. It seemed to have shocked him deeply.
As he lay sprawled out after landing embarrassingly on his rear, Suho held out a hand to him.
“No... What kind of strength is that...? Does that suit have no limit on its output?”
Kang Ho-jin grumbled as he took his hand and got up.
“Of course it does. It has a clear limit.”
“Where exactly is that limit supposed to be?”
In truth, the powered armor itself was EX-rank. On top of that, the Etherium used as its power source was also EX-rank.
They were items the clan members could not yet even imagine existing in the world. So perhaps the difference in strength was only natural.
“Now, now! Let’s stop sparring with the Clan Master. That’s enough!”
Although it was supposed to be training time to polish the team’s overall teamwork, everyone had ended up lining up to take a shot at Suho. Joshua cut off the sidetracked flow, and those still waiting their turns cried out in disappointment.
Danbi added,
“That’s right. There’s no point. What would fighting him accomplish? One-on-one, you can never beat the Clan Master.”
“Never? I think I spotted a few openings...”
When the martial artist Zhang Wei muttered that, Danbi drove the nail in.
“You can never beat him. I’ve fought him several times too, but... honestly, I think that powered armor has higher combat power than the super-enhanced android. Its defense, too. One team of ours, meaning ten of us, couldn’t even bring down the enhanced android, right? So that thing goes without saying. No chance. It’s a monster.”
Danbi shrugged as if to say it was the truth whether they admitted it or not, and the sound of tongues clicking could be heard here and there.
Then Ava Mitchell, the Living Armor summoner, spoke.
“I think so too. It feels like we’d need about twenty of us to even try to make it work... So why don’t we completely change the direction of our thinking?”
“The direction? How?”
“Sparring one-on-one with the Clan Master is meaningless, and having the Clan Master on a team is awkward in a lot of ways. So let’s assume the Clan Master is a boss monster and train our teamwork the way we originally planned.”
At those words, several people’s eyes lit up.
‘Crazy... They definitely think that’s a good idea.’
Suho was appalled, but everyone was already nodding.
“True... I think that would help. What do you think, Clan Master?”
“Uh... well... Huh?? Oh dear, I think I need to step out for something related to the new city...”
“Come on, Clan Master! Please cooperate actively. For the growth and development of the clan!”
The moment several people rushed in to grab Suho, he vanished into his subspace storage.
No matter how strong the Extreme Powered Armor was, the thought of being beaten up by dozens of S-rankers made him dizzy.
He would get pummeled countless times without even being able to properly do anything.
Oh, he would pass on that kind of training.
“Tch... He ran away.”
As Park Seo-yeon grumbled in disappointment, Ava Mitchell smiled and said,
“Now then, we’ve driven out the EX-rank existence who’s the sky above the sky above the sky above the sky, so let’s resume proper training among us S-rankers.”
Only then did the others realize her intention and snicker, each picking up their weapons and rising.
That was right. A tyrannosaurus had no place in wolves’ pack-hunting training.