Chapter 95
"Mmm..."
I woke to the faint light seeping in through the window.
I was about to sit up when I heard a small snicker from beside me.
When I turned my head, Ha-seon was sitting on the bed, her shoulders shaking as she watched something on her laptop screen.
I looked at Ha-seon and asked with a smile.
"Ms. Ha-seon, what are you looking at first thing in the morning?"
At my question, Ha-seon jumped in surprise, then hurriedly covered her laptop screen and glanced at me nervously.
"N-Nothing! There was just a funny post on the Gallery..."
"What is it?"
"Huh? No..."
When I pressed her again, she blushed and slowly turned the laptop toward me like someone who had committed a grave sin.
A post from the Survivor Gallery was displayed prominently on the monitor.
---
[Title: Recent List of Nicknames for the Assistant Mod]
Main Mod (for real), Beastkin Collector, Beastkin Freak, Drone Enthusiast, Person Who Voted for Number 2
Is this right?
[Comments]
Anonymous: Why does the assistant mod get a new nickname every day lol
Survivor Gallery User: Voted for number 2 lol Who peeked at the ballot?
ㄴ Anonymous: ㄴㄴ I just figured that since he became Lee Han-yeon, he must've voted for number 2.
ㄴ Survivor Gallery User: LOL, bullshit.
Anonymous: Because he uses a spear as his main weapon. Spear...
ㄴ Busan Guy: Uh-oh...
ㄴ Ice Mage: You'd better say goodbye.
---
"..."
I had known that mentions of me in the Gallery had exploded at some point, but I hadn't expected them to be churning out nicknames this bizarre.
It didn't matter what they called me.
They could call me whatever they liked.
At least it wasn't hostile attention.
I got up, stretched, and headed toward the rear car of the train.
I had stayed up late looking through trade posts and fallen asleep, so I hadn't even checked where the newly arrived Nabi was sleeping.
I had assumed she might sleep beside me since she had been right next to me, but she was nowhere to be seen.
"I wonder where she's sleeping."
I checked Car 2 in case she was sleeping on the floor, but all I saw were the siblings, Donggeuli, and the golem in front of them.
Just in case, I opened the door to the passenger car.
"...There you are."
A chuckle escaped me before I knew it.
Nabi was asleep on one of the passenger seats.
She was sleeping in the perfect pose of a cat.
She had drawn her knees tightly up to her chest and curled her body into a ball, dozing with a purr in a hunched-up position.
She was so tiny that she fit perfectly into the single passenger seat without an inch to spare.
I wondered whether sleeping like that was uncomfortable, but she seemed fine enough, judging by her purring.
I covered her with a blanket so she wouldn't wake up, then returned to the cockpit.
"All right, then. Shall we gather some more high-grade mana stones...?"
I looked through the trade posts first.
I tried to find posts selling high-grade mana stones or offering them as rewards.
There were no sellers, and the trade posts themselves were hard to find, as though the supply of posts about the Beastkin had dried up.
"...Then perhaps the map."
I unfolded the Gallery map that Ha-seon had organized.
Since the map had been updated, it had become much easier to find hidden dungeons and major farming areas.
Whenever people discovered one, they marked it on the map.
As I zoomed in and out of the map, searching for a dungeon where high-grade mana stones might drop, one location caught my eye, marked with a red warning pin and several other pins.
It wasn't a dungeon.
But it was an interesting set of coordinates where Gallery users were pouring in reports in real time.
[Yongin Gymnasium: It suddenly got cold outside, and a snowstorm has started blowing.]
[Yongin Gymnasium: No word from the people who went out to find food...]
[Yongin Gymnasium: Help me.]
[Yongin Gymnasium: One Incarnation is struggling to hold them off, but... they seem to be reaching their limit. Everyone's lips are turning blue.]
"An Incarnation..."
I remembered the Incarnation who had gone around smashing vending machines and acting like a thug.
An altruistic Incarnation who helped others—whether it was at the Constellation's command or of their own will, I didn't know—was quite intriguing.
Besides, the fact that this was a sudden anomalous phenomenon made it all the more appealing.
In the past, Constellations had shown a great deal of interest in places like this.
'If things go well, I might be able to expect some sponsorship.'
When I had looked into Constellation sponsorships before, most of them had offered credits or mana stones.
Those were exactly the two things I needed right now.
However, I was concerned that the anomalous phenomenon there consisted of a blizzard and extreme cold.
The golem might be fine, but the cold could affect me and the drones' movements.
I thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Let's save them."
I set the train's destination.
***
The closer the train came to the coordinates shown on the map, the farther the scenery outside the window strayed from common sense.
Just moments ago, it had been a somewhat muggy ruin in early summer, but the instant we passed a certain point, the world transformed into a winter landscape swept by a blinding white snowstorm.
Vrooom-
The air conditioner switched on automatically.
[The external temperature is dropping rapidly.]
[The train's automatic heating system is operating at maximum output.]
"The heating..."
I checked the system message that had appeared on the cockpit panel.
As the heating intensified, condensation began to fog the windows inside the warm train.
I wiped away the fog with my palm and looked outside.
A frozen city.
It looked essential to prepare for the cold if I wanted to go outside right away.
"...Come to think of it, I did pack some."
I took out the winter clothes I had acquired in advance.
I hadn't prepared for this exact situation; it just happened that having them ready in advance was useful.
According to the calendar, it was clearly the season leading into summer, so it felt strange to be pulling out thick winter clothes with the heating on.
Even with the heating on, the train's interior was growing chilly.
"Let's scout first."
As usual, I sent the drones outside first.
Whiiiiirㅡ
However, the drones that flew out into the snowstorm when the train doors opened began creaking and losing altitude in less than a minute.
The camera feed shaking violently in the cockpit alone was enough to give me an idea of the weather outside.
Extreme cold, strong winds, and a snowstorm.
"This won't do. Everyone, come back."
The drones' bodies were lurching in the fierce crosswinds, but more than that, perhaps it was the cold.
Their output felt noticeably weaker than usual.
It seemed difficult to survey the city with ordinary drones.
'I'm going to have to tune up the drones.'
I recalled the drones to the hangar, then checked the panel in one corner.
As it happened, a new function for upgrading drones had just been activated.
A function that could combine the abilities of two drones.
"Is this something like fusion?"
Curious, I looked through the list of drones and decided to test it.
If I combined a drone with high defense and stability, wouldn't it be able to push through the snowstorm?
As it happened, one of the drones was a shield drone, which was described as being able to withstand most attacks and environments.
I immediately used up the materials in storage to craft a shield drone.
Then I decided to upgrade and combine it with the sniper drone as the main unit.
I didn't stop there, adding one mid-grade mana stone and the dullahan's helmet I had taken from the Beastkin town before.
[The Shield Drone will be consumed to upgrade the Sniper Drone.]
[The ten additional mid-grade mana stones and the dullahan's helmet will be consumed to enhance the result.]
[Artisan's Touch has been applied.]
Fwoosh-!
All of Car 2 was engulfed in a blue flash bright enough to sting the eyes.
It was proof that Artisan's Touch had been applied successfully.
Fortunately, the siblings didn't wake up from the light.
They had been keeping their blankets pulled all the way over their heads since the train's interior had grown a little chilly.
When the light faded, what appeared was not the clunky drone form I had known before.
It had a sleek, smooth, streamlined shape that seemed designed to minimize air resistance.
From its underside poured brilliant blue flames reminiscent of a dullahan.
Its design looked almost like a modern stealth fighter jet shrunk down to size.
"The design is great, but... where did the gun and shield go...?"
The exterior had become incredibly cool, but there was no sign of any armament, such as a gun barrel or shield, anywhere on the drone, making me cock my head in confusion.
A performance test came first.
I sent the newly reborn sniper drone outside.
Shwoooosh-!
"Oh..."
A gasp escaped me.
As I had hoped, the drone began gliding smoothly between the frozen skyscrapers without meeting any resistance from the raging snowstorm or the freezing wind below zero.
Through the drone's camera view displayed on the cockpit monitor, I set out to find the gymnasium reported by the Gallery users.
Even in the city frozen completely white, it wasn't difficult to spot the destination, a massive dome-shaped gymnasium.
It was simply enormous.
The drone was just lowering its altitude toward the gymnasium entrance.
"Hm?"
Something faintly wavering was caught against the pure-white ground swept by the snowstorm.
Perfect camouflage that no one could notice without looking closely.
They were monsters resembling enormous apes, wandering near the gymnasium with snow-white fur covering their bodies.
The monsters had their lower bodies half buried in the snow as they stared at the gymnasium.
They were clearly hiding in ambush, waiting for the survivors.
"Attack."
I ordered it to attack one of the white-furred apes.
At that, the smooth armor plating on the drone's front split open slightly, revealing a tiny hidden gun barrel.
Judging by the size of the muzzle alone, it was so small that it seemed closer to a pistol than a sniper rifle.
'Can that really snipe anything?'
The instant I had that doubt, a blue flame deep inside the barrel compressed fiercely—
Pew-!
A tiny, sharp crack rang out, as if the weapon had a suppressor.
But its destructive power was anything but small.
The moment the finger-sized energy projectile flew in a blue arc and lodged itself between the white-furred ape's eyes.
Ppak-!
With a small explosive pop, the three-meter-tall ape's head burst into a cloud of bloody mist amid the snowstorm.
"..."
I stared blankly at the screen.
It was quieter than before, but its power hadn't diminished at all.
Considering that the monsters had grown stronger, perhaps I should say it had become even more powerful.
I moved the sniper drone again, reducing the number of apes before sending it inside the gymnasium.