Surprisingly, Switzerland did not request support from Ultimate Line.
Given that their gallant performance in the 96th-floor Tower was being treated as a topic all over the world, Suho had expected an immediate love call, but that prediction missed the mark spectacularly.
Whether it was out of consideration for the Ultimate Line team, who had only recently finished their raid and come out, or because they were nervous that he might demand an absurd reward,
the exact reason was unknown. In any case, Switzerland did not request support from Ultimate Line—or even from the global Admittee pool—at all.
Curious as to what on earth they intended to do, Suho diligently searched through related news, and later discovered that they seemed to be relying on a Europe Union S-rank raid team they had put together.
“Oh-ho... Well, the European Union did buy two super-enhanced androids, after all.”
For the staggering price of 100 trillion won per unit, no less.
Judging by the way things were going, it seemed they had resolved, in their own way, that they could not rely solely on Suho or Ultimate Line.
Even so, they apparently could not ignore the prowess the super-enhanced androids had displayed during the 96th-floor Tower raid, because the European Union separately sent a ten-person delegation to Ultimate Line.
The reason for their visit, as relayed in advance, was apparently related to the rental of super-enhanced androids that Suho had proposed at the previous International Tower Response Summit (ITRS).
In a private VIP meeting room at Elysium Heights, Suho welcomed the delegation and took his seat after offering them intermediate regeneration potions as drinks.
The delegation looked as though every second counted, so Suho opened the topic directly.
“So... you’d like to rent super-enhanced androids?”
“That is correct. Is the price you mentioned at the ITRS—3 trillion won per unit for one week—still valid?”
“Ah, yes... well...”
He had blurted it out at the ITRS on impulse, so now that they were actually asking to rent them, he found himself rather flustered.
Even Suho himself thought that 3 trillion won per unit for one week was too much.
Three trillion won was over two billion euros.
At this point, money to Suho was something he already had in the thousands of trillions of won, rotting in surplus, and it was still increasing in real time.
Compared to that, a few trillion or a few tens of trillions of won was pocket change.
However, to each nation, a rental fee in the trillions was still bound to be an enormous burden.
If they failed their Tower raid because they could not afford that much money, and it led to a Tower Break, would he really feel at ease?
With complicated feelings, Suho asked about their specific requirements.
“How many units, and for how long, are you planning to rent them?”
“We would like to rent a total of three units. For now, would it be possible for us to settle only the first ten weeks of rental fees, 90 trillion won, and pay the remainder later depending on how the raid progresses...?”
“Yes... that doesn’t matter, but are you all right with that kind of expenditure?”
“That is a problem for us to solve. Though if you were willing to offer us a further discount, we would be receiving an incomparable grace...”
The European Union delegation seemed extremely cautious, as if afraid of offending Suho in any way.
They had no idea what Suho was thinking, and if by some chance he declared that he would not lend them the androids, they would have no choice but to return empty-handed.
No matter how one looked at it, they were the ones in need.
“A discount, huh...”
As Suho stroked his chin and drew out the end of his sentence, the delegation stiffened with tension.
Instead of answering right away, Suho asked a question in return.
“By the way, on what basis did you calculate that the two units you previously purchased plus three rented units, for a total of five, would be enough?”
“That is...”
When the delegation leader hesitated, another representative beside him—the one who had introduced himself as a financial expert—answered.
“There was no special calculation. We simply set the limit at what we estimated could be handled within the current EU Extraterrestrial Defense Fund.”
“I see... But, well... Will five units be enough?”
“......Then may I ask you one thing? In your view, Clan Master, approximately how many super-enhanced androids would be the stable line for a successful raid?”
“I don’t know. There’s no such thing as a stable line. The truth is, we don’t know what kind of monsters will appear. It’s the same with every battle in a Tower, but when the matchup is favorable, even a small number of enhanced androids can produce plenty of efficiency. If not, it can be difficult even with many of them. That happened to us. When we encountered Ignis, a fire-type spirit boss, the enhanced androids couldn’t exert any strength at all.”
“Ah......”
“This is...”
“Huh...”
Shadows fell over the delegation’s faces, as though this was disastrous news.
They were scraping together the EU’s Extraterrestrial Defense Fund, setting rewards for the twenty S-rank Admittees participating in the raid, and on top of that paying a vast sum to rent super-enhanced androids. If those androids failed to do their job? It was a terrifying disaster just to imagine.
In truth, this was the same for Suho.
If he accepted an absurd rental fee, only for the androids to fail to perform and the raid to end in failure, he would have no choice but to feel a heavy sense of responsibility and burden.
Just imagining that helplessness and apologetic feeling already made him uncomfortable.
As Suho fell into thought, the delegation also busily worked their minds while quietly waiting for his answer.
After a long while, Suho opened his mouth.
“Let’s do this. At the ITRS, I did decide something about 3 trillion per unit and so on, but as the one lending them out, if they don’t produce proper results, I’ll be embarrassed and apologetic too. So let’s fix the price at 200 trillion won.”
“T-Two hundred trillion won!!”
“N-No, why 200 trillion?!”
“You’re impatient. Listen to the end. You originally said you’d rent three units for ten weeks at 90 trillion, but if the raid drags on, weren’t you planning to pay more anyway?”
“Th-That’s true, but even so, it shouldn’t take more than twenty weeks...”
“Based on what?”
“Pardon...?”
“You said it’s a 103rd-floor Tower. Then the allotted time should be nearly 310 days. Are you saying you can finish the raid in under twenty weeks? Are you confident?”
“Ahem... Th-That is...”
“In my opinion, with just five enhanced androids, it seems like it would take more than thirty weeks. If you rent them for thirty weeks, isn’t that 270 trillion? So the 200 trillion I’m proposing now is already a massive discount.”
“B-But...”
“As I said earlier, even from the lender’s standpoint, my mind will only be at ease if the ones I lend you do their job. So, at a fixed price of 200 trillion won, I’ll rent you twenty super-enhanced androids. The rental period will last until the Tower raid is over.”
“H-Huuh?!”
At the unprecedented terms Suho offered, the delegation’s mouths fell wide open.
But his proposal was not finished yet.
“And there’s one more thing I’d like to recommend. I said that enhanced androids can’t do their job when monsters with faint physical bodies, like spirits or ghost-type entities, appear, right? So what I newly devised this time is the [Enhanced Android Ascend]. These are specialized units that go all-in on specific elemental resistance or elemental attacks according to their individual traits.”
“Android Ascend...”
“For now, I’ve created enhanced androids specialized in nine elements: cold, fire, light, darkness, holy, lightning, earth, wind, and water. Would you like to borrow these as well? I’ll lend you two of each element, eighteen units in total.”
A firm countermeasure against monsters unaffected by physical attacks—it was a proposal that made their ears perk up.
Of course, assuming they had the money.
“Th-Th-Th-That... h-how much...”
“I’ll lend you all eighteen of these for 100 trillion won. The period will likewise last until the Tower raid ends.”
“Huh...”
“Twenty super-enhanced androids and eighteen Enhanced Android Ascends. I’m lending you thirty-eight units in total for the low, low price of 300 trillion won. With no time limit. Isn’t that a super-special discount?”
“P-Please, j-just a moment for us to discuss among ourselves...”
The delegation leader requested a strategy meeting, and Suho readily gave them the room.
They exchanged opinions among themselves for a long while, busily made calls somewhere, and then requested another meeting with Suho.
“W-We will do it. For 200.2 billion euros... no, 300 trillion won, we will rent a total of thirty-eight enhanced androids. Please, we ask this of you!”
For a mere 300 trillion,
the rental contract was concluded at a bargain price.
* * *
After immediately sending the repaired “super-enhanced androids” and “Enhanced Android Ascends,” which had been damaged in the 96th-floor Tower but subsequently restored, to Switzerland via subspace dimensional gate quick delivery,
Suho had to devote himself to producing additional androids for a while.
There were still plenty of Enhanced Android Ascends remaining, but he had rented out every single super-enhanced android.
Since an incident requiring these things could occur at any time, he wanted to make enough in advance to feel reassured.
At the very least, Suho wanted to replenish the original thirty units, so he once again spent several months in the workshop inside his subspace warehouse.
Of course, outside, only a few seconds passed, and it was within subspace where his body did not tire, but mentally, it was boring enough to exhaust him.
“Hraaah... I can’t make any more. Seriously, this is so boring I could puke... This same repetitive work over and over. Is there no one who can do this for me... Wow...”
“Hmm...”
Ravi looked at Suho with pity, but had no particular method to recommend.
“I don’t even want to look at these damn iron plates and leathers anymore. Something else. Let’s do something else. I need to refresh my mind.”
After that, he spent time watching movies and enjoying activity sports, but perhaps because he was an EX-rank Crafter, somehow his head was full of nothing but thoughts about production, and no matter what he did, he found no satisfaction.
Even if he stopped making the parts needed for super-enhanced androids, he felt as though he would only be satisfied if he made something.
“Argh...!”
Suho sprang up from his seat and headed to the alchemy laboratory for the first time in a while.
The alchemy laboratory.
Suho’s alchemy laboratory had been set up not only to create various magical chemicals but also for the purpose of enchanting equipment. In truth, however, it had only been used to enchant crafted items, and almost never for making specific drugs, potions, or the like.
Long ago, he had created the A-rank pill item [Vitanova], which supplied all calories and nutrients with a single tablet; that was probably the last thing he had done in that field.
But now, for the first time in a long while, a fresh wind blew in this direction, and his motivation surged.
After passing through the magical vacuum room and refinement room within the alchemy laboratory, Suho stood before the elemental storage room and operated the touchscreen installed on the table.
Then, from there, a basic atmospheric image of elements surged upward as a 3D hologram, visibly manifested.
It was a rare sight of an alchemy laboratory where cutting-edge science and magic were exquisitely combined.
“What are you planning to make?”
Ravi, who had been curious about Suho entering the alchemy laboratory for the first time in a while and had followed him in, asked.
“Mm... Potions that exist in natural forms in the universe have far too many things unsuitable for humans on Earth to use. No, actually, most of them are like that.”
“Hmm, that is true.”
Suho thought back to the lecture on potions and elixirs he had once diligently listened to from Ravi, as well as the knowledge of all materials that had been directly downloaded into his head after he awakened as an EX-rank Crafter.
Most of the universe’s resources truly were not human-friendly. Most were either too dangerous or meaningless for humans to use.
“So I’m going to try making potions and elixirs that have effects suited to the human body.”
“Oh... Is that possible?”
“Yeah. According to the new knowledge that entered my head, it’s theoretically possible. If I process several rare herbs into the natural potions that exist in the universe, then put them through proper extraction, distillation, mixing, stirring, aging, filtration... the simulation says it should be possible.”
“In your head, Suho?”
“Yeah, in my head. So that means it’s theoretically possible. I’ll have to try it to see how it actually turns out...”
Ravi’s eyes shone with interest as she sat on the table.
For now, the goals were “Human Body Application - Strength Enhancement Potion and Elixir,” “Human Body Application - Agility Increase Potion and Elixir,” and “Human Body Application - Ether Adaptation and Recovery Potion and Elixir.”
“Doesn’t it sound fun?”
“Mm, if it succeeds?”
“You only get results by taking on challenges. Now, are the ingredients ready, Assistant Ravi?”
“Just say the word.”
The Blue Dragon race and the human race joined forces, taking their first step toward creating new types of potions and elixirs that had never before existed in the universe.