Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 17



Only Noblemtl

Labyrinth (2)

After finishing his exploration early, Alan headed to Breaker with a wagon full of harvest.

It’s now 3pm. If we hadn’t stopped and rested here and there, we would have arrived much earlier, but there was a reason why we couldn’t.

Even though I took the subway, the elevator, and the cart, I rubbed my sore arms and realized how fragile my body was.

‘We need a solution. We can’t solve this problem by improving our physical constitution right away, so we’ll need to hire a porter or wear an exoskeleton suit to relieve the burden on our bodies.’

Of course, it wasn’t easy for Alan to get what he wanted, and he had to pay a price for everything. That was one of the reasons he went into the labyrinth.

Alan entered the five-story building among the Breaker buildings that had been newly registered yesterday.

The first floor lobby, with its overall white interior design, had a bright appearance and gave visitors a clean feeling.

Unlike yesterday, Alan entered the accounting room on the left. It was deserted, as it was not the time for explorers to commute to and from the labyrinth like day laborers.

The interior was divided into two, with the staff area and the labyrinth explorers area separated by a transparent wall.

Alan headed to one of the empty windows.

“Welcome. Please give me the items you want to settle. Just push them toward the transparent wall.”

As the employee said, he pushed the cart and the loot passed through the wall. Alan sat on the chair provided while waiting for the employee to finish his work.

The reason I went through all the trouble to come all the way to Breaker was because if I registered here, I would have to settle my loot here too.

The Explorers’ Guild provides services to registered members in return for a fee, and financial services were part of this.

Even though I have obtained a labyrinth explorer ID, I am still treated as a temporary resident and have a long way to go before becoming a full-fledged citizen. So, I leave it here, where I can protect only the principal but don’t have to bother opening a bank account.

I have no intention of engaging in anti-social behavior or joining a criminal organization, so having a formal status is just a phase that will pass if I continue to do my job.

Alan has two biggest goals.

The first is to properly control the eye left by the hole in the back of the head by the old man, and the second is to improve the body and lifespan weakened by excessive magic power.

Even the simple act of walking was soothing his sore calves, so the clerk who had finished paying the bill spoke to Alan.

“Please put your hand on the transparent wall between you and me.”

“All right.”

As I followed the instructions, the area my palm touched turned blue, just like it did in the crystal ball, and the number 0 on my middle fingernail changed to ‘70,000’.

As Alan stared at the first harvest, the employee took it as a request for a detailed explanation.

“You drilled a hole in the power source and caught it cleanly, but as you know, the magic stone and soul stone were damaged, so the valuation dropped. If it had been intact, we could have expected up to 150,000 coins.”

The soul stone is a vessel that holds an artificial soul, and because it literally acts as a soul or brain, the automaton can move without a complex design.

All related academic disciplines and technologies, such as CPUs, artificial intelligence, and deep learning, originated from or were directly used in the soul stone.

The employee smiled salesily after explaining the pricing.

“Do you need any further explanation?”

“I fully understand. Thank you.”

“Yes, I hope to see you again in good health.”

After leaving the accounting office, Alan went into the door that said ‘Hiring/Job Seeking’.

The explorers stood in front of the transparent crystal stele, pressing their fingers here and there.

When Alan touched the crystal, a text was printed.

[Alan, Reach Level: 1st Floor, If you use the matching service, a fee will be deducted from your account. Would you like to continue?]

If there was rivers in the agricultural era, there is money in modern times. The common denominator is that they have driven people crazy in many ways.

Alan pressed his eyebrows together, which had been narrowing frequently since arriving at Maze City, and proceeded to the next step.

Since it is easy to become exposed to crime if you go alone, you need someone to support you if you want to go down further.

Of course, since it was the first time they had met, there was a low level of trust between them, but since it was a system established by the union, it was much better than just grabbing anyone and acting.

*

“Hi, I’m Carlson. My primary weapons are a force field shield and a shotgun.”

A blond man of moderate height waved his hand.

“Ah, I came across the sea. To work. Magic possible.”

A large man introduced himself with a slurred speech. He was wearing the most basic form of headgear among the Evies.

“My name is Alan. My weapon is a staff that fires magic bullets.”

Those who met at the labyrinth station finished their introductions and headed towards the black door.

As we entered the fort, which was as gloomy as yesterday, Carlson, who had been observing Alan since earlier, asked a question.

“A magic engineer? Hmm… I’m not doubting Breaker’s matching system, but can you fight? Your body looks a bit weak….”

Carlson’s concerns were valid. In fact, combat was not the area where magic engineers shined.

Usually, a magic engineer would join an expedition and repair magical tools that are key to conquering a labyrinth.

“I don’t plan on going down to the 6th floor, so I think combat ability is more important.”

“You can check that thoroughly inside. It’s difficult to show you here and now.”

As Alan said, unless it was an emergency, the use of magical power was in principle prohibited near the Black Door to prevent unrest.

“You seem to be confident since you say that much. Well, let’s not forget that we have to do our share for the distribution to be proper.”

Carlson nodded with a displeased expression. There was trust in his eyes as he looked at Aung. It was unclear whether it was Aung’s size or Evie’s.

Entering the maze, Alan carefully examined the shield and shotgun that Carlson took out.

“I have a question. Can I ask it?”

“The first floor is okay because there are a lot of people and it’s just a passing street.”

As Carlson said, there were so many that it was almost overwhelming. In fact, it was pitiful to see the automatons trying to stop the intruders.

“That shield and shotgun aren’t off-the-shelf.”

“You have a keen eye. Actually, I’m not a maze explorer, but a student at a municipal university. I came down here because I had to do a field trip for my assignment.”

The fact that Carlson owned great gear and went to an expensive college was enough to tell him he was doing pretty well.

Alan’s questions kept Carlson’s appetite for talking nonstop.

“Did you know that the underground people come out from the 11th floor? Actually, there is no exact name for it, so we call them underground people, but the technology of the automatons they use and the ones that come out of the labyrinth are the same. So we are researching whether they might be related to the creator of the labyrinth.”

“The labyrinth is much deeper.”

“Aren’t you judging too hastily? In-depth information will come from famous expedition teams. However, you will have to pay a high fee for using the information depending on its importance.”

As we talked, I realized he wasn’t as bad of a person as I thought. I guess his urging of Alan was also an expression of his impatience.

By the time Carlson had heard the entire story of Aung’s census, birth, and immigration, Alan had set foot on the fourth floor.

Although the result was achieved in just five hours, no one was happy.

It was a natural result of the nature of the labyrinth, which gets wider as you go down. There was also no need for other explorers to fight against automatons on the first, second, and third floors.

The atmosphere was definitely different from the 4th floor. The maze that seemed like daylight had disappeared, and only the headlamps of Alan and the party members drove away the darkness.

Carlson, who had been talking almost alone for three hours, swallowed hard and raised his weapon forward.

The tension was heightened by the narrowed field of vision. The other senses, especially hearing, were amplified as the field of vision was limited.

The sound of footsteps and breathing, which would normally be innocuous, became extremely irritating. It even seemed as if I could hear the sound of a pulse.

The manholes on the fourth floor, which were larger than those on the upper floors, were enough to create a sense of crisis. These could even disappear or appear inside the walls.

After moving along the maze for a while.

Pushuuu···.

Alan, who was walking at the very back, heard a faint sound in his ear. If his senses hadn’t been so keen, he would have noticed it much later.

Alan instinctively raised his head. An automaton resembling a shaman spider was hanging from the ceiling, aiming for Aung’s crown with its sharp, bladed legs.

A critical situation.

Alan didn’t even have time to scream, so he just aimed his cane upwards.

“Alan. Why the weapons? We are allies. We are···.”

Before Aung could finish speaking, a blue bullet pierced through the spider’s iron plate and struck the power source.

After shooting, I thought about the magic stone and the soul, but I couldn’t help it because the situation was so urgent.

While Alan was feeling sorry.

“Ugh!”

Aung, who was crushed by the spider, struggled vigorously. It must have weighed tens of kilograms, but judging from the way it escaped, it seemed to be unharmed.

Carlson, who had been examining Aung’s body, scratched his head in front of Alan.

“I misunderstood you above. You caught the spider, so we’ll take it apart.”

Common sense Carlson and Aung cling to the spider and start tearing off the iron plate.

“Here’s the joint. It’s hard to separate.”

“It seems easy if you just look at the arm muscles···.”

It was like a child wondering how to pluck the feathers of a boiled chicken.

Alan, who had been timing himself, approached, taking out the sack he had placed in the folding cart.

“I will do it.”

“No, it’s okay. It just takes some time, but we can do it. Look. We just took off one of the legs.”

“I’ll show you an example, so you can do it easily later.”

As the two retreated, Alan stuck the hammer into the crack in the metal plate. The most important ability for dismantling machines, including automatons, was not strength, but cunning.

There was a small squeaking sound, and the spider was torn to pieces faster than the two could tear off its legs.

“Cool. I don’t know.”

“Ah, that’s right. I’ve definitely seen the disassembly video from Samramansang, but it’s difficult.”

With the help of Aung, the group continued to move, pulling the cart.

The subsequent explorations were similar. They moved much more cautiously, with Alan first identifying the automaton’s appearance and informing them of its location.

Carlson blocked the attack by slamming his shield into the ground, then blasted the automaton’s joints with his shotgun.

Aung waited for his chance and used the ‘Blade of Wind’ to deliver a fatal blow to the automaton.

As Alan watched, something bothered him. He was thinking about something that didn’t have a proper form.

“How did you detect it so quickly? Does your artificial eye have detection magic? You’d probably run out of magic power to keep using it.”

“That’s not it.”

“Then are you a magic user? Then that would explain why you have such keen senses.”

Only then did Alan realize that what had been nestling in a corner of his heart was a feeling of frustration.

Carlson and Aung’s equipment was decent, but they didn’t have Manaheart.

Manaheart was still a realm of talent, but as magical tools and magicware became more widespread, even ordinary people gained the ability to navigate the labyrinth.

Besides, since Alan’s reach was 1st floor, there was no way he could be matched with someone of ability.

It’s not that their abilities were lacking. It was just the average of people who mainly explore mazes, but the problem was that Alan’s standards were too high.

‘It’s much more convenient and useful to carry an automaton around······.’

Alan’s gaze turned to the loot piled high on the cart.

Of course, there were those who thought like Alan, but in the labyrinthine lower floors there was a problem of cost-effectiveness.

But Alan was a magic engineer who could repair automatons, and he had an abundance of magical power to power them.

Of course, in order to carry out the plan as is, I had to learn the ‘soulstone language’ to reprogram the automaton.

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