Construction of the new city was in full swing, and beyond that, there were many other sites where large-scale construction work had begun in real time.
The training grounds for the “Ultimate Line” clan being built in Elysium Heights Park, and the TDM Convention Center being constructed to expand TDM globally.
Then there were the laboratories and factories for producing enhanced androids, newly begun on a large tract of land they had purchased.
There were even laboratories and production facilities for creating artificial space habitats.
There simply was not enough land to confine all of it within Songpa District, so Suho bought up vast plots on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province in bulk.
Many of those lands had been tied up as greenbelt areas with restrictions on development, but with a single phone call from Suho, every problem was resolved at lightning speed.
Because the government moved swiftly—either revising the relevant laws outright or simplifying the development permit process, expediting the necessary reviews and providing support.
After all, no matter what anyone said, Suho was a super VVVIP that the Republic of Korea had to “serve well.”
Thanks to the enormous, large-scale civil engineering and construction projects Suho was pursuing in various sectors, a tremendous workforce was mobilized, directly creating jobs, revitalizing related industries, and producing economic ripple effects that stimulated the nation’s overall economy.
The improved infrastructure also increased corporate competitiveness and revived local commercial districts, and the situation proved attractive to foreign investors as well.
Beyond that, Korea’s economy began to revive across the board.
First of all, the benefit of unlimited power was the greatest. This was the biggest point that set Korea apart from other countries.
Even if it was cheap, other countries could only generate as much power as the amount of E-rank Etherium they purchased, but in Korea, Suho had agreed to supply Etherium without limit.
No matter what they did, the energy costs involved had simply hardened into a fixed flat fee. So even if they operated every production line 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and ran heating and cooling without pause, there were no additional electricity charges to pay. Naturally, this became a source of national competitiveness.
Suho’s steady purchases of logistics goods also caused sales to surge across all categories,
and in particular, overseas exports enjoyed a boom. Since every country that signed contracts with Korea for import and export trade had to mind Suho’s mood, Korea was always able to occupy a diplomatically advantageous position.
In many ways, Suho was contributing to economic recovery and national development, so neither the government nor the corporations could afford to neglect him for even a moment.
* * *
“Thank you for calling me in! I’ll work hard!”
Watching former Team Leader Han Sincheol come all the way over just to greet him and bow at the waist left Suho feeling strange.
Their positions had been completely reversed—from the team leader and new hire of a small company to something closer to the chairman of a major corporate group and a bottom-rung employee.
Though, to be honest, even back then they had not exactly had a proper employee-and-team-leader relationship...
In any case, Suho had offered him a job purely because he felt sorry for Han Sincheol’s situation, so he had never had any intention of throwing his weight around.
As soon as Suho received Han Sincheol’s answer that he would try working there, he got Narae and Seongsik’s consent and assigned him to TDM’s General Affairs Department.
“Yes, good. Team Leader Han, you’re sharp and capable when it comes to work. I trust you’ll do well.”
“......”
The sight of him with his head lowered deeply, shoulders trembling, made Suho uneasy. Oh, for God’s sake.
Han Sincheol was crying. It seemed he had suffered quite a lot emotionally.
Well, it made sense. He had been dumped by his girlfriend, fired from his workplace, tried starting businesses with the money Suho had given him only to go completely under twice in a row... Nothing had gone well for him.
“Ah, why are you doing this? You’re a grown man. If you have any difficulties or inconveniences while working, just speak up right away.”
“Th... thank you, thank you so much...”
“Oh, right. At our company, your salary starts being paid from the day you join, you know? So before you leave today, give HR your payroll account information. They’ll explain the pay structure, payday, and other relevant details.”
Han Sincheol’s starting salary was 15 million won a month.
Suho hoped that would help him put out the urgent fires and return to a normal life.
Lightly patting his still-sniffling shoulder, Suho left the awkward scene behind.
* * *
The development of enhanced androids, with Dr. Choe Byeongcheol working alongside him, was fascinating.
Just what on earth had this man been trying to make? From the android designs themselves, they were on an entirely different track from ordinary androids.
If ordinary androids had sizes and appearances nearly indistinguishable from humans, Dr. Choe’s androids had an average height of three meters, and their overall appearance felt slightly more alien than human. They had four arms, and even tails that could move freely.
It seemed he had not been boasting when he said he had been trying to create super-enhanced androids specialized for anti-monster combat.
With a holographic 3D android blueprint floating between them, Suho engaged Dr. Choe in a heated discussion.
They had been discussing overall aspects such as exterior form and structure, defensive armor, weapons systems, output and power, sensors and communications, and AI software for quite some time when Dr. Choe clicked his tongue in amazement.
“President Jeong, were you an engineering student...?”
“No, not at all. I gave up on math, and I was in the humanities. Political philosophy. I barely graduated because I ran into a nasty professor who slapped me with an F in my fourth year. Seriously.”
“...Then how do you know all these specialized details so thoroughly? Goodness, I would have thought you at least had a doctorate in autonomous systems and android engineering.”
“You flatter me. In any case, I only finished my undergraduate degree. As for androids, I just studied them on my own. Self-study. Some of it was as a hobby.”
He could not exactly say it was knowledge he had gained through the awakening ability of an EX-rank Crafter. Even if he did, the man would not understand.
Since there was nothing he could say even if Dr. Choe became more curious about that, Suho brought him back to the original topic.
“So, first of all, you’re saying there are clear limits to using hydrogen cells for power supply?”
“That is correct. Not only can hydrogen cells fail to provide sufficient output energy, but they also have the issue of being vulnerable to sudden temperature changes and external impact. Considering the durability and mobility of the android we are aiming for, the power unit is the number one component that requires an alternative.”
“Hmm... It would be ideal to use Aether energy from Etherium as the android’s power source. Let’s design a structure that can convert it efficiently.”
“That would be excellent. Aether energy has the advantage of operating efficiently at high temperatures and in extreme environments, while also remaining stable against external impact. I have already conducted related research as well. I have results from modularizing the Aether collection device into compact units and configuring it with multiple small, high-density storage units. Though Etherium is so rare and expensive that I was unable to conduct proper experiments.”
“You no longer need to worry about the Etherium supply, so I’d like you to run a great many experiments on this first.”
“Understood. I will first create a prototype and run simulation tests through computer modeling.”
The conversation between the two of them was reflected on the 3D blueprint in real time.
Suho pointed at the armor covering the outside of the android and asked,
“Do you have any measures for the armor section?”
“I tried every method available to me, but in the end, against the attacks used by monsters—whether physical or nonphysical, close-range or long-range—any attack containing Aether rendered every kind of defensive armor useless. Even superhard alloys were torn apart like paper.”
“That’s probably true. When Aether energy is converted for offensive use, Earth’s metals can’t withstand it. I have some ideas for this part.”
“Ohh... What kind of ideas? To be honest, President Jeong, I expected that you would already have considerable know-how accumulated from creating various tower-conquest items.”
“I’m thinking of four things in total. First, an externally manifested shield generator. Multiple energy converters installed outside the armor would use Aether energy to form a transparent, multilayered protective barrier. It would analyze external threats in real time and adjust the properties of the barrier, and I’m thinking of inserting a focus mode that can concentrate the barrier over a specific area when necessary.”
“Oh-ho... As expected, with a stable supply of Etherium, the number of options increases.”
“Second, we equip the outermost layer of the armor with Maglite external armor.”
“Mag...lite? What is that?”
“It’s a metal with more than five hundred times the strength and hardness of Adamant, and more than two hundred times that of Starlight. You know Blacksteel, which is being released in large quantities right now? You can think of it as fifty to eighty times harder than Blacksteel. It’s a metal that cannot be destroyed or deformed through ordinary methods.”
“...As expected... The universe is vast, and there are still many unknown materials yet to be revealed...”
“This isn’t even the strongest. In terms of hardness or strength alone, I hear there are metals above Maglite. But among materials where strength and hardness are balanced, this seemed to be the best.”
“The balance between strength and hardness is important. Hmm... Then we can make ultra-high-strength armor out of this material called Maglite and cover the android with it. However... is there a way to process such a hard metal? If it cannot be destroyed or deformed, I wonder whether we can even cut it into the shape or size we want.”
“Ah, you don’t need to worry about that. Among the friends I’ve hired and paid part-time wages to, there’s one who’s unbelievably good at cutting things like that.”
“Goodness... You have quite the remarkable friend.”
“He is pretty remarkable.”
Dr. Choe looked as though he could not believe it at all, but since Suho had no confidence in persuading him point by point, he passed over it vaguely without mentioning Ravi’s existence.
“And third, a shock-absorbing material. I’m thinking of ‘Dynamis Gel.’ It’s a high-density gel that reacts with Aether energy and changes its molecular arrangement. It disperses external impacts and minimizes the force applied to the internal armor or circuitry. It recognizes the nature of various kinds of impact—whether physical blows or explosions—and adjusts its density and elasticity accordingly to provide optimal absorption.”
“...So... such a thing exists...”
“Fourth and last, I’m thinking of adding a ‘self-repair function’ to the defensive armor that can restore specific damage.”
“Ah, like shape-memory alloys...?”
“Uh... Similar, but the efficiency needs to be incomparable to something like that. I’m envisioning a smart fiber restoration system.”
“A smart fiber restoration system...”
“We embed polymer smart fibers and the control modules that activate them into thin fiber layers laid within the armor. The damaged fibers would automatically crosslink and restore the original structure. Even with these fibers, restoring Maglite, which is a transcendent material, would be difficult, but Maglite probably won’t be destroyed easily anyway, so that doesn’t matter. And the reconfiguration of the fibers fundamentally requires Aether energy.”
“N-no, President Jeong, do those fibers you’re describing actually exist?”
“Of course. There’s something called ‘Erudite Nano Fabric.’ It’s an intelligent fiber with its own learning ability, capable of detecting and resonating with various energies.”
“...My God...”
“I’m thinking of constructing the defense system in these four stages.”
An android built with not one, but four stages of transcendent defensive systems.
Just how powerful would it be? At this rate, might it even surpass high-grade Admiti?
Dr. Choe, who had been staring blankly at Suho like a fool, finally came to his senses, adjusted his glasses, and asked,
“P-President Jeong...”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“What... did you say your major was again?”
“Political philosophy.”
“......”
It was a question that had absolutely nothing to do with enhanced androids.
* * *
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh......
Shiiiiiiing───
Four octocopters, each carrying ten clan members, rose from the rooftop of Elysium Heights all at once.
Their destination was a civil engineering aggregate quarry in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, which Suho had purchased.
For some time, the clan members had discussed and simulated various things among themselves—understanding one another’s traits and abilities, compatibility, combat formations, and more—so today, they had decided to conduct a practical test and identify what needed improvement.
They would artificially generate monsters and try dealing with them in teams, and Suho was in charge of generating the monsters.
They had decided to use earth-attribute Core Stones to create high-grade rock golems.
It was a party made up entirely of S-rank Admitees, and since every one of them had finished enhancing themselves with S-rank equipment and S-rank Aetherium suited to their own attributes, each team possessed overwhelming combat power.
Because of that, the golems made from the “A-rank Earth-Attribute Core Stones” Suho already had seemed far too trivial, and he doubted they would produce any meaningful training results.
‘I guess it’d be better to try something a little stronger...’
Suho briefly went over to the subspace warehouse, and at his request, Ravi gave him 100 ja won’s worth of “S-rank Earth-Attribute Core Stones.” The total amounted to 3,300 trillion stones.
Attribute Core Stones existed all the way from SS-rank to EX-rank, but if he created a golem that was too powerful and they couldn’t handle it, that would be troublesome. So he decided to be satisfied with S-rank.
At the quarry where they arrived, each team was given time to prepare for battle.
Each team had been flawlessly organized with a tank, melee DPS, ranged DPS, healer, and buffer, so that every single team was capable of carrying out a raid on its own.
“Now then, I’m going to create an earth-attribute golem. Team A will try fighting it first. Are you ready?”
Joshua, wearing a grim expression, nodded.
“Yes, Clan Leader. Team A is ready.”
Thud.
Suho dropped an S-rank Core Stone onto the ground, then spread his Wing and quickly retreated. The S-rank Core Stone that manifested on the ground began sucking in the surrounding rocks with tremendous force the instant it formed.
It was like watching footage of an explosion being rewound in reverse.
Ruuuuuumble... Kwagagagagagagak───
Kwadududududuk───
“Wh-what the hell!!”
“How big is it going to get!?”
The dignity of an S-rank Core Stone was incomparable to an A-rank one.
Kraaaaaaaaa!
In just a few seconds, an earth-attribute golem that looked to be a full fifteen meters tall formed and roared with a sound like a landslide.
“Fuck! We can take that thing down, right?”
Faced with a golem far more powerful than they had imagined, the S-rank Admitees were visibly tense.
They were all S-rank themselves, so what were they so nervous about?
Just as Suho was thinking lightly of it, something suddenly flashed through his mind.
‘Ah, crap... Since we’re not inside the Tower, they can only use up to 15% of their power...’
He abruptly realized that, in this place, the S-rank Admitees could not exert their true S-rank strength.
“Th-they’ll be fine... right?”
Well, if things got dangerous, Suho could destroy the golem at any time or shove it into his subspace, so there was no need to worry.
There were also plenty of healers, the other teams were waiting close by, and if anyone got hurt, he could just feed them a top-grade potion.
So... Suho tried hard to rationalize to himself that it would be all right to give them real combat training that left them just shy of death.