Chapter 22
The next morning.
My mind was busy with plans for the siblings.
"I’ve fed them and put them to bed for now, but bathing them and getting them dressed is the problem."
I sipped warm coffee in the driver’s cab of Car 1 while checking the panel.
Yesterday, I had quickly reclined the seats in Car 3 and used them as makeshift beds, but I couldn’t keep putting them to sleep like that.
The kids needed a proper bed where they could lie down and sleep, and clothes to change into.
"Beds can be bought with fuel, after all."
I opened the modification system’s interior customization tab and browsed the furniture I could place in Car 1.
After spending a little fuel and a few low-grade mana stones, a cozy bunk bed with a soft mattress rose like magic in one corner of the otherwise empty Car 1.
"Good, the sleeping arrangements are settled. Next is clothes..."
I rummaged through the system shop with a frown.
Clothing itself was available in endless supply.
But every piece I bought came in my own size.
"In the end, I guess I’ll have to find them myself."
I stared out at the cityscape beyond the window.
If not right away, I’d probably need to find a children’s clothing section in a large mart or department store before the day was over.
"First, let’s test the kids’ skills."
I stood and headed to the storage room in Car 2.
Among the unopened treasure chests the drones had picked up, I grabbed three spare old wooden boxes.
Just then, the door to Car 3 opened, and Jiu and Sua came out, rubbing their eyes and shuffling along with messy hair.
Their hair was still messy, but maybe because they had bathed well and slept properly yesterday, they looked much neater than when I first met them.
"You’re up?"
"Yes... I slept well. This is..."
"Yep, it’s your bed. A bunk bed, okay?"
"Yes!"
Jiu looked over the bed with a look of wonder.
"Ah, there’s something I need you to do for me for a moment.
"What do you need us to do?"
I set the three old wooden boxes I’d brought onto the kitchen island in a neat row.
"Jiu, could you try opening these boxes for me?"
"Just open them?"
"Yes."
At my words, Jiu swallowed hard and stepped toward the boxes.
The results when I opened these boxes were usually obvious.
Three or four food items such as vegetables or canned tuna, and a few lowest-grade mana stones.
And very occasionally, if I was lucky, one special item like a weapon or potion would be mixed in.
Since Jiu’s skill was still only level 1, I didn’t expect a huge difference right away.
I’d be grateful for even a tiny boost, like one extra mana stone than usual or a slight improvement in the quality of the food.
"No need to be nervous."
"Y-yes...! I’ll open it."
Jiu used her little hands to undo the old metal latch on the first box.
Click, creak.
The box opened, and as a faint light spilled out, its contents were revealed.
Two cans of tuna, one bottle of water, and three lowest-grade mana stones.
"S-so, how is it?"
"Uh... well, it’s not bad...?"
Jiu asked me, and I nodded.
In fact, it was a completely average reward, basically no different from when I opened them.
It just increased the odds of getting something good. It was as expected.
Jiu immediately opened the second box.
Creak.
The contents of the second box were similar.
One can of corn, two bags of jerky, and one rusty kitchen knife with a slightly nicked blade.
It looked like an item.
"Um... is this supposed to be good?"
"O-of course!"
This time, even Jiu didn’t seem very pleased with the result.
I gave Jiu’s shoulder a light tap.
Jiu shut her eyes tight and yanked open the lid of the last box.
Fwaaaat-!
A burst of light exploded out from inside the box.
"Huh...?"
I froze in place.
Inside the box, once the light faded, there wasn’t a single dreary thing like an item or mana stones.
Instead, filling a third of the box was fresh vegetables that smelled of earth, as if they had just been pulled from the field.
"W-what... is this?"
I picked up a lettuce leaf in disbelief.
I did sometimes get vegetables when opening boxes too, but never enough to fill a third of the box like this.
It was a little hard to call this a good reward, but it was a new type of reward I had never seen before.
So luck really was different, huh.
"Nice, Jiu."
"Huh? But it’s only vegetables. Is that good?"
"Of course."
I patted Jiu’s bewildered shoulder and praised her.
More important than the fact that so many vegetables came out was confirming that Jiu’s ability applied to gacha.
That meant Jiu’s skill would likely apply not only to boxes like these, but also to the random skill or item boxes sold in vending machines.
"I guess I need to save up some credits."
After confirming Jiu’s luck skill, I immediately moved on to the next step.
This time, it was time to verify seven-year-old Sua’s skill, Dungeon Search.
"If I want to check Sua’s skill, I have to go all the way to the dungeon entrance myself..."
I sat in the cockpit and turned the train’s nose toward Incheon Soraepogu Station.
Earlier, while skimming posts in the gallery, I had seen one saying that a huge and ominous dungeon rift had appeared near the entrance to the Soraepogu fish market.
It said that even the Awakened who happened to find it couldn’t muster the courage to go in, so there wasn’t even any detailed information available.
Rumble—!
As the train drew near its destination and I looked out the window, a massive dark-red rift revealed itself between the fish market buildings left standing like skeletons.
"Wow... it really is huge."
It was on a completely different level from the dungeons I had cleared so far.
From the gigantic gap, which looked to be at least well over three meters across, dark red energy kept pouring out nonstop.
"Jiu, stay inside the train and make sure the door is locked. Sua, come out with me for a bit."
"Yes, Noona. Sua, be careful!"
"Unnie..."
"Don’t worry, unnie and the drones will protect you.
I gripped the toothed mace tightly, prepared for any unexpected situation, and had Sua walk close beside me.
"Protect the area around us."
Whirr—clack!
At my words, the three drones simultaneously unfolded their weapons and formed a perfect escort formation.
I carefully approached right up to the massive rift.
As I got closer, I felt an unknown pressure, but Sua stared at the wavering rift with curious eyes.
"Sua, do you think you can try using your skill?"
"Yes... I’ll try."
Sua stretched out her small hand and shouted toward the rift.
"Search!"
Fwaaaat-!
Sua stared into the air and began reading the information out clearly, one word at a time.
"Um... the dungeon’s name is 'Lizardmen Settlement.' There are 34 monsters in total... Huh? There’s one boss too... And the dungeon difficulty is... it says intermediate."
"Oh..."
It was slow, but she had successfully read it.
I let out a small exclamation without meaning to.
I had thought it was just a skill that roughly told me the dungeon’s difficulty, but it had perfectly identified the dungeon’s name, the exact number of monsters, and even the number of bosses.
It was more efficient than having the drones scout it out.
"So it’s an intermediate dungeon..."
I muttered, stroking my chin.
The dungeons I’d raided until now hadn’t had difficulty ratings listed separately, but by feel, they must have been low-grade or lowest-grade.
Then just how difficult was a place the skill officially named intermediate?
"That’s enough checking for now. Sua, let’s head back."
After stroking Sua’s cheek and praising her, I quickly turned back and returned to the train.
After seating the little siblings safely beside the cockpit in Car 1, I sent only the drones back into the dungeon.
I intended to test directly how the intermediate difficulty was being measured, and how accurate Dungeon Search really was.
As the drone went inside the dungeon, the interior of the Lizardmen Settlement lit up on the cockpit monitor.
A wet, sticky-looking swamp stretched out before me.
Scattered across the swamp were hut-like structures made of grass and pieces of wood.
And amid that swamp, I could see bipedal reptiles with blue scales glinting on bodies a little larger than a human’s—Lizardmen.
Unlike the monsters I’d seen so far, they even had proper equipment like armor and shields.
"Hmm..."
At least by appearance, they didn’t seem strong enough to be called an intermediate dungeon.
Honestly, the monster called a Lizardman didn’t look particularly strong either.
"...Engage the Lizardman in front."
Tutututang-!
The battle drone at the front poured out its usual merciless submachine-gun barrage.
But the next moment, my eyebrow twitched as I watched the monitor.
Clang! Bang! Paaang-!
"...They’re different."
Firepower that would have turned the monsters I’d faced so far into Swiss cheese long ago.
But the Lizardmen let out sharp cries and raised the thick log shields they were holding in one arm all at once.
A few bullets did punch through the shields, but not enough to inflict fatal wounds.
Their torsos were also covered in clearly metal armor, though it had rust on it.
Zzzing-!
The scout drone took the opening to fire its high-heat laser at their eyes, but the Lizardmen simply closed their thick transparent eyelids and easily blocked the light.
I wondered if that was what reinforced reptilian eyelids felt like.
"Kieeeek-!!"
Soon, their counterattack began.
The Lizardmen moved in perfect unison, and those in the back started hurling balls of swamp mud at the drones, while the ones with spears began throwing them.
Swish-!
One spear barely skimmed past the battle drone’s propeller.
If it had been even a little slower to dodge sideways, it would have been shot down on the spot.
They were adapting to the drones’ speed in real time.
"Sniper drone."
In the end, the sniper drone waiting overhead stepped in.
Bang-!
The crack of the sniper rifle echoed through the swamp, and against that level of penetration, neither the metal armor nor the shields were of any use.
Thud!
One Lizardman who had been at the front throwing javelins pitched into the swamp with a huge hole blown through its chest.
Only the sniper drone could land a definite hit on them.
However, every shot from the sniper drone took a long time to fire.
If I kept fighting, there was a chance the ones who had grown used to the drones’ movements would take them down.
"All units, retreat. Come back outside."
I gave the withdrawal order without hesitation.
I had no intention of clearing this dungeon all the way through anyway.
If just four monsters were this strong, I could tell without even looking that the boss waiting deeper inside the dungeon would be a whole different story.
With my current drone force, I could pick them off one by one with sniping, but handling a boss fight would be close to impossible.
"Sua."
"Yes?"
After confirming the drones had safely withdrawn outside the train, I looked at Sua and swallowed dryly.
"Sua, your skill was a huge help."
"Really?"
I nodded and brought up a map on the cockpit monitor.
I felt like dungeon clearing efficiency would increase greatly if I made use of Sua and Jiu’s abilities.
'Now, while I’m at it, I should get clothes and shoes for the kids too....'
I decided to make a large department store my first target.
There, along with clothes and shoes for the children, were the people who would become my very first passengers.