Chapter 54
The author of the post on the monitor was the magical girl who had once faced me directly and had become a well-known regular on the gallery.
She'd become notable for no special reason—just because of her way of speaking.
Not in a good way, though...
She'd just become notable because people kept complaining that her way of speaking was annoying.
'...I'm sure in real life—'
Her distinctive way of talking was still the same, feeling worlds apart from that vicious side of her I'd seen in real life.
---
[Title: I Found a Strange Dungeon!]
[Author : Magical Girl]
I found a dungeon with an enormous crack, glowing a pale purple!
I went in just to take a quick peek out of curiosity, but what do you know? It turned out to be an endlessly vast forest!
I ran into this gigantic boar there, and I was so scared, but I was fighting hard with my weapon...
Then an older elf sister showed up and helped me!
Her ears were pointy and she was really beautiful! But she even pointed her bow at me, so I wondered what I should do... and in the end, I just ran away!
---
Her tone somehow reminded me of old blog posts.
The reaction in the comments below the post was exactly what you'd expect.
ㅇㅇ : What the fuck is that way of talking;
법사가될거야 : Without proof, what is it?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : For real, hurry up and post the elf pic;;
스윗 : Heh... I like elves too...
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : To an elf, you're a young-forty too, ㅇㅇ
Even if they weren't doubting the other parts, there were comments calling bullshit on the part about the elf showing up.
Then, the magical girl, as if offended, attached a photo along with her reply.
Magical Girl: I couldn't take a picture of the boar or the elf big sister because they were busy fighting, but I really did take a photo of the entrance! I'll leave the location, so if you're curious, go check it out!
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : Translation: if you've got a problem, you're saying we should go ourselves, right?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : A magical girl driving survivors to their deaths, huh;
ㄴ 생갤러 : Believe it or die, lol
In the attached photo, just as she said, there really was a huge pale-purple crack that looked different from a normal dungeon.
I'd seen a similar crack before.
'It looks just like the dungeon where the lizardmen came out.'
"Sowon. What do you think? Do you think other races like elves really exist?"
Haseon asked me with eyes full of both curiosity and anxiety.
I answered.
"There are constellations, and monsters even pop out from skills... so maybe elves exist too?"
I said it lightly, but another question arose in my mind.
If they do exist, would they be on our side?
The magical girl's post said the elf had saved her, though...
A foreign race appearing inside a dungeon.
If monsters can burst out of a dungeon, could they come out into the outside world along with it?
'...I'll find out later, I guess.'
I took my eyes off Haseon's monitor and headed to Car 2.
When I went to Car 2's storage and checked inside, the amount of resources had increased a lot.
Especially steel and wood.
...Ah.
It looked like we'd gathered these resources thanks to shredding that absurd barricade made of roadside trees and wrecked cars in Suwon.
On the other hand, the most important mana stones and monster materials had been in short supply lately.
"Hmm."
I looked back and forth between the drones in Car 2 and the artillery golem, which was clattering along.
'With this much firepower, they could probably handle a dungeon without me, couldn't they?'
We were short on mana stones and materials anyway, so it was a perfect chance to test them.
"Then I should go look for a dungeon."
We decided to get ready to set off again.
Mother and the siblings said their goodbyes once more.
"Mom! We'll come see you again!"
"Okay, listen to your big sister!"
The train started moving along the tracks again.
This time, what we were doing was dungeon auto-hunting.
The important part here was picking out easy dungeons that could be bulldozed with just the drones and golem.
In fact, we didn't even need Sua's help for this.
'Anything at intermediate rank or above stands out.'
The dungeon that had produced the lizardmen before, and the one I'd just seen in the post, were like that too.
The size and color of the crack were different from other dungeons.
And in my estimation, the drones and golem now had enough firepower to clear anything so long as it was easier than the lizardman dungeon.
So if we avoided those kinds of dungeons and sent in the drones and golem—
"That dungeon looks good. Take care of it."
Viiing—! Clatter, clack!
At my command, the drones and artillery golem left the train and charged into the dungeon.
Their movements were vigorous.
A while after they went in, I heard sounds coming from the cockpit.
Ratatatata—! KWA-BOOM!
They seemed to fight for a bit inside the dungeon, but in just over ten minutes they came clattering back, burdened with loot.
I had thought I'd just take a quick look at Donggeuli and head to the cockpit to watch the situation, but they'd already cleared it and come back with the loot too.
After that, we took a few more dungeons the same way.
We farmed not only mana stones but also plenty of monster materials, and sometimes even brought back treasure chests.
We decided to gather those up and open them all at once.
"Wow! The crab brought back a ton of stuff again!"
Sua clapped and cheered, and the golem puffed itself up proudly, making the cannon on its shell twitch.
After clearing dungeons for several hours while moving along the tracks like that, the low- and mid-grade mana stones we lacked, along with materials like monster hides and bones, steadily piled up.
"Now that we've got the materials, then let's..."
I went to the cockpit and touched the panel.
This time, I decided to add several amenities as well.
Among the things unlocked through satisfaction, there were quite a few related to convenience facilities.
That was because the lettuce and cherry tomato seeds I'd planted in the plant grower installed in a corner of Car 2 a few days earlier were growing much faster than expected.
'It seems the artisan's touch applies to convenience facilities too.'
Since it had come to this, there was no reason to hesitate.
I just had to make a few more and test them.
Paaat—!
[Adding an additional restroom.]
[Adding an oven and an ice water purifier to the kitchen facilities.]
[Upgrading the bathroom.]
Since our group had grown to four, I added one more restroom, and also an oven to support Haseon's cooking skill.
For my own personal satisfaction, I also upgraded the ice water purifier and the bathroom.
"The oven looks ordinary enough... I guess I'll only know how well it works once I try it myself later..."
As I examined the newly acquired appliances, Haseon, who'd been watching beside me, pointed at the ice water purifier and said in fascination,
"Sowon, look at this. There's a separate button on the purifier for clear ice."
"Uh... what's that?"
Isn't ice supposed to be transparent in the first place?
When I looked confused, Haseon explained that she'd seen it on the gallery before.
"People who enjoy drinking apparently like this kind of clear ice. They say it's free of impurities, so it doesn't melt easily and looks nice too. ...Actually, I don't know much about alcohol either, so I don't know if that's true."
Haseon didn't seem to enjoy alcohol any more than I did.
Inside our train's refrigerator, there was nothing but bottled water and drinks stuffed to the brim, with only one lonely suspicious brown bottle of liquor that supposedly caused an absolutely brutal hangover.
Would the hard liquor I'd stashed away in case I ever needed it someday ever be drunk with clear ice?
"...I don't think so."
The bathroom upgrade was pretty ordinary.
A bathtub with spa functions was added.
"Huh?"
Looking closer, something felt off, and when I turned my head, I saw a window cut into the wall beside the tub.
Now I could sit in the bathtub and look out the window.
It was a relief that the inside couldn't be seen from outside, but if monsters showed up in the scenery beyond the window, it would somehow feel unsettling.
"And I should make this too..."
I hadn't only upgraded the convenience facilities.
I also modified the thing labeled automatic collector.
It was a newly unlocked option from when I recently reinforced the spikes on the front of Car 1 with the shredder.
[Consume an intermediate mana stone to add automatic collector functionality to the exterior of the train.]
Viiing—clack!
"...It's quiet."
Unlike the other modifications, the train's body didn't shake.
Only a grr-grr mechanical sound rumbled beneath the train.
This collector was a function that automatically sucked up mana stones, monster byproducts, and various useful items scattered around the train like a vacuum cleaner and delivered them to the storage room.
"Phew..."
I was just about to lean back on the sofa and catch my breath after successfully finishing the collector upgrade.
When I opened the gallery to check, the post the magical girl had uploaded earlier had spread quite a bit.
The post about seeing an elf had really gotten the survivors' imaginations going.
The board was plastered with heated debates over which foreign race people actually wanted to exist.
ㅇㅇ : Honestly, when it comes to foreign races, elves are the original, right? Blonde pointy-eared archers—can't give them up? Can't give up the waifu?
ㅇㅇ : If there were dwarf bros who'd make endgame weapons for a single beer, survival rates would skyrocket. What can those pointy-eared bitches do;
ㄴ 생갤러12 : ㅇㅇ Then date a dwarf.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : You bastard
야옹멍멍 : I'm beastkin.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : The world's gone to hell, so now you're not even hiding it.
ㄴ 야옹멍멍 : I never hid it to begin with, though?
Especially the ones claiming to be beastkin were even waging an internal war among themselves.
From those who liked only ears and a tail added to a human body to those who insisted the entire body should be covered in fur.
ㅇㅇ : Dammit, you crazy fur-fetish bitches, the world's ended and now you're all crawling out of the shadows. Please get bitten and dragged off by a monster.
...
I rubbed my forehead.
I had just taken one last look at the exchange and was about to close the laptop window when it happened.
A trade post in bold letters at the top of the exchange.
---
[Title : Since it has come to this.]
Author : Alcohol and Music
From now on, the first person to discover a foreign race and bring back a clear photo will receive a reward from me!
It could be dangerous, so be careful!
---
"...Even a constellation is jumping on this bait."
The words slipped out of my mouth before I knew it.
I'd already noticed it when the constellations' rewards started changing based on what gallery users wanted, but it looked like they were watching the gallery closely too.
Now they're even fanning the flames.
The gallery users' reaction was just as heated.
A constellation had personally poured gasoline on bait I thought would end as nothing more than survivors' joking fantasies.
ㅇㅇ : Isn't this basically proof that foreign races really exist?
ㅇㅇ : Then there really are elves and beastkin?
ㄴ 제작혐오를멈춰주세요 : Why are you leaving dwarves out?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : There are plenty of short bearded guys in real life too, weren't dwarves already a thing from the start?
ㄴ 제작혐오를멈춰주세요 : You bastard
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : Why is this guy getting so mad??
야옹멍멍 : Hah, hah, hah, hah!
...The gallery's in complete chaos. Everyone's going outside to look for purple cracks.
It seemed Haseon had seen the same thing while browsing the gallery.
She looked at the laptop screen with a worried expression.
"I clearly warned them it was dangerous, though... they won't actually go out searching for it after seeing that, right?"
...
Haseon stared at the post with dull eyes.
Yeah, somehow I had a feeling this wouldn't end as a joke.