A few weeks later, the prototype for the super-enhanced android was complete.
There were many materials that could neither be cut nor processed with the facilities and technology available on Earth, so Suho had to diligently make parts in the forge and other production facilities inside his subspace warehouse and ferry them over. Naturally, each unit took an enormous amount of work to build.
“God... At this rate, I’m starting to wonder if mass production is even possible... I’m building an automated production line now, but all it can make is the basic frame...”
As Suho grumbled to himself, Rabi, listening to his worries, made a novel suggestion.
“If you need to make a lot, couldn’t you just copy them?”
“Copy? How am I supposed to copy them? Being an EX-grade crafter doesn’t mean I have an ability like that.”
“Hmm... Doesn’t Earth have a technology called 3D printers? That’s what gave me the idea. Couldn’t you make a 3D printer for item production in the subspace workshop? Is that hard...?”
The moment Suho heard Rabi’s words, it felt as though lightning had struck his head.
Like the principle behind a 3D printer—if he put in the necessary materials and specified the necessary design, it would print out as many copies as he wanted, exactly the same...?
Of course, materials too hard to be cut that way would still require Rabi’s help, but if he could create such a device, every process would be drastically reduced.
“Rabi, you’re a genius!”
Suho slipped his hands between Rabi’s forelegs and armpits, lifted him high into the air, and said.
“It’s nothing that impressive...”
Rabi’s slightly bashful look as he spoke as though it were no big deal was so adorable that Suho pulled him into his arms.
Seeing his beaming smile, it seemed the thousand-year-old baby dragon didn’t particularly mind being loved by a fully grown thirty-year-old man.
* * *
At the dining table of the mansion, the entire family had gathered for a meal: her father and mother, the second generation of the Cheonghwa Group family, their eldest daughter Baek Yuri, and Yuri’s younger sister.
It was a gathering that had been maintained for a long time because her father insisted on regular family meals.
It was supposed to be a family gathering her father emphasized in order to maintain close bonds between them, but the atmosphere was not very good. The biggest reason was Yuri’s mother.
That day, too, her mother began nagging without fail.
Yuri had already been active as an Admiti for years now, yet her mother still couldn’t let it go, and whenever she got the chance, the long harangue would come spilling out.
“Dear, they say more famous Admiti have died. And you know Oh Seohan, don’t you? He was famous and strong, too, but I heard he was crippled in the last Tower raid... Your mother simply can’t feel at ease. I mean, what’s so good about it that you keep insisting on risking your life and fighting in places like that? I can’t understand, no matter how much I think about it, what you lack that makes you want to go through such hardship climbing Towers.”
Her mother let out a deep sigh and shook her head.
“Do you know how hard your father and I worked to raise you as a cultured young lady? Do you know how solidly we paved the path ahead for you? I don’t understand why you insist on taking such a dangerous road. When are you going to grow up? Think rationally for once.”
For Baek Yuri, these family meals at home had always felt like sitting on a cushion of thorns.
Ever since she had dropped out of her master’s program in economics in the United States, come back, and thrown herself into life as an Admiti, her parents’ nagging had followed her without a single moment of respite.
In truth, among the members of her family, the only one who was pleased about Yuri’s activities as an Admiti was her grandfather.
Even now, it was thanks to that grandfather that she had been able to join the dream clan, Ultimate Line.
With her own ability, she never would have broken through that competition even if she died and came back to life. In that sense, no matter what anyone said, her grandfather was Yuri’s staunch supporter.
“Yuri, listen. You studied all this time...”
Before her mother could begin the second verse, Yuri cut her off by setting her spoon and chopsticks down with a sharp clack.
As her mother and father fell silent for a moment at the unusual atmosphere, Yuri looked at them quietly and spoke, enunciating each word clearly.
“What do Mom and Dad think the threat of the Towers is?”
Her mother sighed again and answered.
“The Towers? Of course they’re dangerous. Who doesn’t know that? Someone has to raid them. But what I’m saying is, does it have to be you, raised so preciously, and a woman at that? I’m saying all this because I’m worried about you.”
“Exactly. So who is supposed to do it? You do know that even A-grade Admiti can’t climb above the 75th floor, right?”
“Well, that’s...”
“Right now, in our country and all over the world, Towers over the 75th floor keep appearing, but our country only has a little over ten S-grades. Recently, more people have naturalized and all, but either way, we’re absolutely short.”
This time, her father joined in.
“Yuri, of course our country lacks S-grades. But high-level Towers are meant to be raided through cooperation between S-grades from around the world. It’s stated that way in international Admiti law as well. And if you look worldwide, the number of S-grade Admiti is by no means small.”
But Yuri’s gaze as she looked at her parents was only cold.
“You really don’t know anything... Do you think that if we send a request for reinforcements to the global Admiti market, everyone treats it like their own business and rushes in like clouds to help? Sigh... Since you’re thinking of it so comfortably... No, forget it. What more can I even say?”
Yuri put down her utensils and rose from her seat.
“W-wait, dear, where are you going in the middle of a meal?”
“I’ve eaten enough. I’ll excuse myself first. If I stay here any longer, I think I’ll get indigestion.”
Yuri, who had been about to leave, turned back and spoke again.
“Oh, and stop sending the car and driver. Who rides around in a chauffeur-driven car these days...? Every time I hear people calling me ‘miss’ in the parking lot, I’m so embarrassed I could die. My heart drops every time, worrying someone might hear. My position is just that of a beginner and a newcomer. I’m not in any sort of position to be treated specially, all right? Ah, and the clan has provided me a home in Elysium, so from now on I’ll live there and commute directly. I’ll only come home once every month or two.”
Yuri turned away, practically radiating frost, and no one could stop her. They could only stare blankly.
Yuri listened because they spoke with parental authority, but in truth, even if they mobilized every bodyguard in Cheonghwa Group, they could not physically restrain Yuri or force her to do anything.
* * *
“Suho? What have you been so busy with lately?”
“Ah... Pardon? Me?”
It didn’t seem to be the Aetherium delivery work, nor the TDM Convention Center construction site, nor the Ultimate Line clan, nor the new city construction site. Seeing Suho completely engrossed in something somewhere and spending much of his time on it, Danbi asked him as if tossing the question out casually.
At that, Suho suddenly looked flustered.
“Well, I’m sure you have something keeping you busy. It’s not as if I have the right to be curious about your private life... I was just asking. These days... you haven’t really been spending time with us.”
“Ah...”
Come to think of it, before, he had stuck to Danbi, Taewoong, Joshua, and Thomas like glue. At some point, he had become too busy to do so.
It seemed Danbi was secretly disappointed about that.
All the more so because the Suho who had once been monopolized by a small group of members now had to be shared while competing with over forty S-grade Admiti.
In truth, Suho’s recent busyness was all because of the super-enhanced android project.
This was work he was keeping secret from the entire clan. He had planned not to tell them until the design was sufficiently satisfactory and concrete results had emerged, then reveal it with a ta-da! as a surprise.
But keeping it secret even from the founding members did make him feel somewhat sorry.
Since the topic had come up, he decided it would be better to tell her and opened his mouth.
“...Actually, I’ve been making a bit of a secret weapon.”
“A secret weapon?”
Danbi’s eyes widened, and Suho told her everything about the surprise he was preparing—the enhanced android.
“Come on... You kept it secret even from us...”
“That was a bit much, wasn’t it?”
“When it’s completed, you were going to have it do a demonstration battle against an S-grade team too, weren’t you? Like when you had that S-grade rock golem fight.”
“Uh... I hadn’t thought that far...”
“You should. That’s how we’ll know how useful it is in actual combat against real monsters. And if you’re planning a mock battle against an S-grade raid team, then as team leaders, I think the four of us should know in advance at least.”
Suho had nothing to say in rebuttal, so he agreed.
“You’re right. As it happens... the prototype is finished. Then shall the four of us get together for the first time in a while?”
“Sounds good! I’ll call everyone right away.”
Danbi smiled brightly and went out to fetch the others, quickly gathering them all.
If Suho had been alone, he could have gone straight to the research lab through the dimensional gate in his subspace, but since he was going with Danbi, Taewoong, Joshua, and Thomas, they each grabbed an electric bike in front of the Elysium lobby.
And within just a few minutes, they arrived at the research lab, located not too far from Elysium Heights.
“Wow... So there was a research lab here.”
“Wow, I always wondered what that building was.”
When they arrived at a place where three large, sturdy-looking dome-shaped buildings stood in a row, Dr. Choi and the other researchers came running out to greet Suho and his party.
“Oh dear... such humble people in this precious place...”
As the S-grade Admiti suddenly came pouring in, Dr. Choi became flustered and started rambling nonsense.
Guided by the doctor, they went inside and found a very spacious area. It seemed to be the largest of the three domes, the central dome.
“The prototype has been moved into the testing field here.”
The entrance to the testing field was made of metal with a massive thickness, like a vault door, and the walls looked quite thick as well.
In the center of the empty space, watched by hundreds of cameras, something clad in black armor was crouching silently.
Suho pointed at it and said.
“That’s the secret weapon I was talking about.”
“That’s an android...? It just looks like a robot... No, its form doesn’t seem human at all...”
“It looks like an oversized Alien...”
“It looks even flashier than that, though? Anyway, it looks like an extraterrestrial.”
Each of them offered their impressions as they looked at the “super-enhanced android” wrapped in black, gleaming armor.
“It’s not yet at a level where it can carry out mock combat. For now, we’re conducting defense tests against various attacks.”
At Dr. Choi’s explanation, Suho’s eyes lit up as he turned to look at his companions.
“That’s what he says. This is a good opportunity, isn’t it? Let’s go in, too. All the people who can deal serious damage happen to be gathered here.”
Suho left the monitoring room, whose window was made of reinforced glass, and led the other four into the testing field.
As someone entered the testing field, the super-enhanced android unfolded its crouched body.
The sight of it planted on two legs and four arms, sprawled like a spider, was enough to give one chills.
It was also 3.5 meters tall, making it feel like a huge alien lifeform.
Then it straightened its back and stood on two feet, and only then did something slightly humanlike about its form become apparent.
“It’s big...”
“Whew, for starters, it looks terrifying.”
As everyone stared in fascination at the gigantic enhanced android, Suho asked.
“Doctor, only the defensive functions are on right now, correct?”
At Suho’s question, Dr. Choi answered through a microphone from the monitoring room.
“That’s correct. All other functions are currently turned off, and only defense mode is active.”
“That’s what he says. Go ahead and attack it as much as you like. With your own weapons or skills.”
“May I go first?”
Thomas, who had already drawn his S-grade magic gun, [Chronos], asked with one eyebrow raised.
“Do as you like.”
“Go ahead.”
The others agreed and moved back.
With lightning-fast hand movements, Thomas removed the magazine and inserted a new, rather large one.
“Since the main purpose is a durability test, I’ll go hard from the start. I’ll fire some adamant bullets.”
“Whoa... Those are expensive.”
“Never mind expensive, I heard they’re not easy to get anymore.”
“If you blast it with those, the next person might not even get a chance to test anything.”
Thomas possessed a trinity: an ability specialized for shooting, skills specialized for ranged damage, an incredible S-grade gun, and on top of that, powerful bullets.
Joshua, Danbi, and Taewoong all had no doubt that the insect-like android with the black exoskeleton Suho had so ambitiously created would be torn apart like paper.
After all, no matter what material armor was made of, blocking an attack clad in ether was a distant dream.
Bang—tatatatang!
“Wh-what...”
They saw the forcefully fired bullets strike something like an invisible membrane, lose their power, and rain down to the ground.
“This can’t be...”
“No way...”
As Thomas stood there devastated, staring at the bullets lying neatly on the floor, Joshua stepped forward.
“I’ll try.”
Whoooosh—
Hissssss—
Then he ignited a high-temperature flame in one hand and created a rotating wind blade in the other.
And then—
Fwoosh—
He threw them toward the enhanced android.
Boom!
Joshua’s attack pierced through the android’s shield, but it was blocked by the external Maglite armor and vanished weakly.
Everyone was gradually beginning to sense it.
The sense that Suho had created some kind of monster.
“Haaaaap!”
Danbi drew [Seolbing] from her waist.
Though she herself believed it was S-grade, it was in truth an SS-grade item—a freezing-attribute sword.
Danbi filled Seolbing with ether and unleashed a downward slash. In truth, it was not an attack specialized for both offense and defense. It was a clean cut that disregarded self-defense and counterattacks, concentrating entirely on damage.
There was a response. It passed through the shield and seemed to have inflicted effective damage on the external armor.
Because she felt something.
“Wow... Impressive.”
Suho applauded Danbi’s successful strike.
But feeling dubious, Danbi approached the area her sword had struck, only to find the enhanced android still perfectly intact and undamaged.
Even on close inspection, she could not find a broken spot.
There was only a mark. A scratch, perhaps; in any case, something like a minor mark had appeared on the exoskeleton.
And on top of that, whatever function it had been equipped with, the marked section rippled once, and the mark disappeared completely.
“Taewoong, would you like to try too?”
Suho suggested that Taewoong also deal some damage, but Taewoong declined and stepped back.
“I don’t really have any powerful attack skills...”
How laughable would that monster, which hadn’t taken even a scratch from Joshua and Thomas’s attacks, find Taewoong’s blunt attacks if they hit it?
Danbi, as if still unable to recover from the shock, was blankly staring down at her new sword, [Seolbing].
“...What on earth... did you make?”
Danbi murmured.