Chapter 13
Even at my old company, I hadn't been particularly close with government officials.
But the waste-disposal business was so closely tied to government officials that I couldn't help dealing with them often.
But the officials I was meeting now couldn't have been friendlier.
It felt like dealing with a company rep who'd do anything for me.
“If you reach Level 11, would you consider tackling this Impossible Gate, too...?”
The man had even brought a catalog and was actively trying to sell me on it.
And this man was, officially speaking, a director-level bureaucrat.
The director of Development Bureau 5 at the Ministry of Resource Development, or something like that.
Zephyros smiled and put a stop to the official's sales pitch.
“Our Hunter will decide based on their condition and how well-suited they are to the Gate.”
“Ah! Y-Yes, of course! Still, I do hope you'll give it serious consideration!”
After the officials left following a string of formulaic pleasantries, Zephyros furrowed his brow and said,
“Those government bastards still want to get something for nothing. If they want us to clear a Gate, they should at least pay us for it. What’s with ‘Please clear it for us~’ without offering a single thing? They have no shame.”
“They are paying us. There's a reward.”
“They're making a big show of offering pocket change.”
I was happy with that pocket change, so I guess I still hadn't outgrown my ordinary-guy mindset.
Perhaps he'd read that on my face, because Zephyros gave a snort and said,
“Well, there's no need to get hung up on the government's reward money. We're already getting calls from all over.”
“...From all over?”
“From China up north to Japan down south?”
“China and Japan are looking for me?”
That was something.
“The system message reached them, too. It may not be as big a deal as it is here, but an Impossible Gate getting cleared is still making waves over there. You think their Hunter industries aren't stagnant, too? And it's starting to make a little noise beyond Northeast Asia as well.”
“That's a lot of impact for clearing a low-stage Gate.”
“It's been a long time since anyone saw a first-clear message.”
Since Gates first appeared, none had ever reappeared or disappeared.
Almost all of them had been cleared. The only ones left were either too high-stage for Hunters to clear yet, or Impossible Gates whose difficulty was far too high for their stage, like the one I'd cleared.
“Well, for now, they'll probably just be interested... but if you clear even one more, things will change.”
He was right.
One might be a coincidence, but two couldn't be.
Besides, Hunter posts were already popping up about how clearly they could feel the Pacified effect in Chungcheongbuk-do.
There were plenty of regions that couldn't enjoy the Pacified effect because of that one last missing piece of the puzzle.
Those regions would be even more eager to find me.
Well, if there was a problem...
It was that I wasn't sure I could clear every Impossible Gate.
First, I needed to improve my stats.
Fortunately, I had someone who could help me with that.
**
Wearing thick-rimmed glasses and a lab coat, Gyuseon handed me a flask.
“Here. This is what you asked for.”
The flask was filled with a translucent liquid that sloshed gently.
“What is it?”
“It's a culture medium made up of the nutrients P.E. can use most efficiently. You found a way to make them multiply easily, remember?”
“I did.”
I wasn't sure whether they'd multiply the same way as ordinary bacteria even in their undead state, but I had to give it a try.
I opened my inventory, set aside some of my bacterial legion—which now numbered over three billion—and put most of them into the flask.
I did it just in case something went wrong.
Eat up and grow big and strong, my No. 1 bacterial legion.
Gyuseon stared at them in wonder, bringing her face so close to the flask that she was practically pressing her eyes against it.
She looked almost ecstatic.
Hey, that expression of yours is a little scary.
“It's dangerous. Don't get too close.”
Even though I was controlling them, these bacteria could still break down a living creature in an instant.
She reluctantly stepped back at my warning and let out a small sigh.
“It's still amazing. How can you control bacteria like this?”
“I know, right?”
I thought it was amazing, too.
How could these microscopic creatures, invisible to the naked eye, follow me as if they had a will of their own?
Well, if you thought about it that way, the world was full of things that were amazing.
Anyway, let's see how it's going.
[Currently Maintained Undead]
(1) Perpetuus Exomodulus
─Population: 3,124,357,329 individuals (Currently multiplying under optimal conditions. At the current rate, the population will reach 20 billion—the current maximum maintainable population—in 5 hours and 32 minutes.)
“Oh, it works.”
I could actually see the population counter going up in real time.
“It does?”
“Yeah. It says they'll reach 20 billion in 5 hours and 32 minutes.”
With my control at 200%, maintaining a population of 10 billion consumed 1% of my mana per second. So 20 billion was the maximum population I could currently maintain.
If it was this easy, I should've asked her to do it sooner.
“W-Wait. Five hours and thirty-two minutes?”
“Yeah. Is there a problem?”
“There is! They're not supposed to multiply that fast! If their rate of division were that high, it would've been impossible to research them in the first place. They would've quickly broken down everything around them while being cultivated, then come into contact with air and gone extinct.”
“...So it's a survival strategy unique to this bacterium.”
“Exactly! You're so perceptive, Mr. Bacteria! How did you reach that conclusion from just one thing I said? You're not even a specialist.”
“Haha...”
Me...?
“If P.E. weren't an obligate anaerobe, the whole Earth would've been covered in P.E.”
That made sense.
A bacterium that could break down everything would've had no weaknesses at all.
“Besides, the rate of division also affects the bacteria's chances of survival.”
“If they multiplied quickly and broke down everything around them, they'd come into contact with the atmosphere and die.”
“That's right. P.E. has a survival strategy of its own: its ability to divide is heavily suppressed. That's why cultivating it was so difficult for me. But for them to multiply nearly 6.5-fold in just over five hours...”
“That means my bacteria are stronger.”
I thought I knew the reason, even if I couldn't be certain.
It must've been the effect of my 200% control.
“Oh, and... I don't have many suitable bacteria on hand right now... I think I'll need to get the lab up and running properly before I can source good strains.”
“Oh, that's all right. I don't need any right away.”
“If you can use this, though...”
She handed me a bacterial culture in a Petri dish.
“What is this?”
“It's Caulobacter crescentus modified with traits from Hirschia baltica.”
“...Those aren't alien words, are they?”
Hirschia what? Cau... what?
“Caulobacter crescentus. As you can see in the microscope images, it's crescent-shaped, which is why it's called crescentus. Caulobacter also refers to its shape. The name comes from a word meaning stalk- or stem-shaped bacteria.”
“...So it's a crescent-shaped bacterium that also looks like a stalk or stem. I think I've got that much.”
“Yes, you're very smart.”
Am I supposed to feed this to them?
It was kind of embarrassing how often she called me smart just because I'd gone to MIT.
“So what does this bacterium do?”
“It produces an adhesive.”
“...What?”
That was another unusual ability I hadn't expected.
“But the adhesive is too strong, so it hasn't been commercialized.”
“How strong is too strong...?”
“Seventy newtons per square millimeter. That's about four times stronger than the strongest commercially available adhesive.”
“Whoa...?”
“Think of it as strong enough to suspend four cars from a single 100-won coin. It sticks even better underwater, since it's an aquatic bacterium to begin with. It used to have the drawback of being vulnerable to ions like those in seawater, but we eliminated that weakness by combining it with traits from Hirschia baltica.”
I had no idea what she was talking about, but I understood that it was one hell of a strong adhesive.
Adhesive, huh...
This was a CC skill.
Crowd control, or CC.
The term originated in gaming, and it was used just as often in the Hunter industry, in a world that had become like a game.
It was a catch-all term for skills that interfered with or incapacitated an enemy, such as binding, stunning, or putting them to sleep.
CC skills were important even in games, but they were even more important in the Hunter industry.
In dungeons, where a split-second could mean the difference between life and death, stopping an enemy from taking even one step could determine whether a raid succeeded or failed.
“And it's excellent for treating wounds, too.”
“Treating wounds?”
I hadn't even considered that use.
“Yes. Since it's not a chemical, it's harmless to the body, and it retains its adhesive properties even in an ionic state. It was originally researched for medical use.”
It could take care of both treatment and CC in one go.
I'd gotten my hands on something incredible that I never would've imagined.
Looks like this would be my No. 2.
“Can I use it right away?”
“Yes. I deliberately killed them off, since I heard dead ones were better. They're hard to handle while alive because of the adhesive they produce.”
I knew how that felt.
I'd seen plenty of people get into a mess after getting superglue on their hands during elementary school woodworking class.
...I was one of them.
Phew. I took a deep breath.
First, I took out my staff.
I needed it to raise my Undead Rise proficiency to D so I could maintain two or more undead groups.
“Undead Rise.”
[Would you like to use the Undead Rise skill?]
[Target: 118,414,470 dead Caulobacter crescentus individuals]
“Please.”
[You have raised 118,414,470 dead Caulobacter crescentus individuals.]
[They will become your loyal subordinates and follow you.]
[Currently Maintained Undead]
(1) Perpetuus Exomodulus <Description hidden>
(2) Caulobacter crescentus
─Population: 118,414,470 individuals
─Description: An aquatic bacterium commonly found in freshwater. Its genes have been modified with the technology of the bioengineer Im Gyuseon, allowing it to function freely in saltwater and other ionic environments. It forms a biofilm on surfaces, giving it powerful adhesive properties.
─Ability: For every 100 million individuals, can produce 20 g of adhesive per second (base: 0.1 g, with the 200% control effect applied).
Oh, nice. It worked.
“How is it?”
“It worked.”
No. 2, too, moved around freely according to my will.
And on top of that...
“It isn't producing any adhesive!”
“Yeah. It seems to be under my control.”
Even the biggest problem with using it—its tendency to produce adhesive indiscriminately—had been solved.
Oh, but what would happen if I unequipped the staff?
I put the staff back in my inventory.
[Your Undead Rise (Unique) skill proficiency has decreased to F. The undead population you most recently raised has entered dormancy.]
Fortunately, they hadn't been unsummoned. They'd simply gone dormant.
I took the staff out again, controlled No. 2, and put it in my inventory.
“Thanks to you, I got another great bacterium. I really appreciate it.”
“Oh, no... It's a common species.”
“Even if it's common, I wouldn't know about it.”
Once again, I realized how lucky I was to have Ms. Gyuseon helping me.
Even if they were common in freshwater, there was no way I could've singled out a bacterium like this with my ability.
So...
Where's the next Impossible Gate again?