Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 21



Only Noblemtl

Maintenance (2)

Alan woke up and stretched his hand toward the ceiling. Since it was a capsule hotel, his palm touched the ceiling.

‘My body feels much lighter than usual.’

Every time I wake up, I feel like an invisible chain is pulling me, but today, for the first time since I left Lanka, I was able to experience the word vitality.

There was no trace on the arm where the flower had taken root. Choosing Western Sky among the many pharmaceutical workshops was a good decision.

The crystallization of the medicine that had been honed over many years in the land called the Eastern Continent, located to the west of the Soldos Federation, suited Allen’s body well.

‘Or maybe it’s the ability of the fairy boss. Now he’s gone up a level.’

It may not be possible to say that the fundamental problem has been solved, but if we move forward slowly, like following the path cleared by a snowplow, we will eventually reach our destination.

Alan left the capsule hotel after leaving the honeycomb-like room. It was morning and the streets were crowded with people going to work.

The zombie-like, limping labyrinth explorers headed to the subway station, and Alan cut across them and headed to the Breaker.

The five-story building that accommodates explorers staying on the lower floors was full of employees who had just finished work.

Alan stopped by the store on the second floor and looked for the employee he had talked to last time. He also recognized Alan, wearing a white shirt and black vest.

“You’re here. The shell of the automaton you asked for last time is over there in the corner. You said that any one would do, but I decided that a mammalian shape would be better than an insect shape, so I prepared a leopard one. Did I make a mistake?”

“No, thank you for your concern.”

Even though there were many interesting items in the Explorer’s Shop, Alan’s eyes and neck did not move at all. All he could see was the automaton.

Alan looked at the leopard whose throat had been neatly cut off. In fact, there was no pattern on the plate, so there was no way to know what kind of feline beast the underground people had in mind when creating it.

As I was trying to unfold the cart and put things inside, an employee clung to me.

“I’ll be happy to help you. Excuse me, but can I ask you a question?”

Rather, it was rare for explorers to ask employees, and rare for employees to ask explorers questions.

When Alan nodded slightly, the employee lifted the automaton with him and asked.

“First of all, I would like to inform you that this is a matter of personal curiosity. Since automata have been studied for quite some time, it would be difficult to decide on additional research topics. Is there a reason why you are looking for one? Oh, perhaps as a pet robot?”

“No. We want to go down the labyrinth together.”

“Oh, as a battle partner? … Yes, I understand.”

The employee nodded in words, but his face did not. Even though his mind was still filled with doubt, he could not stop Alan from leaving because of his boss’s gaze.

The staff had good reasons for being skeptical.

Automatons are machines and do not feel pain, so they fight roughly, throwing their whole body at each other. That is why even if we make them our side, they are often quickly destroyed.

In addition, there was the problem of supplying magic stones used as a power source, so using an unreinforced automaton in the maze was an act that did not yield good results compared to the input in many ways.

To others, it may seem like a big foolish thing to do, but isn’t Alan a mana addict? He had so much mana that it was hard to control that it was ruining his body.

Even though the problem with the magic stone was solved, the problem of damage remained, but since Alan was a magic engineer, he didn’t have to worry about that.

If repairing an automaton that has been overworked in battle doesn’t work, you can just insert a soulstone into a defeated enemy and use it.

‘Somehow he looks like a summoner or trainer.’

The only difference was that, unlike them, Alan was used to working them until they died. There was no sense of camaraderie or bonding that the trainers craved.

The plan to use automatons as servants seemed well-conceived, but there was something to be taken care of first.

It is to manipulate the soul stone based on the special character book. To do so, a personal space is needed.

A capsule hotel is just a hotel in name only, it’s just a place to sleep. I didn’t want it to be a place that would be a spectacle for someone like a park.

Alan crossed the road and headed to a three-star hotel, thinking back to his escape and the story Vito had told him.

‘Do you know why warriors are strong?’

‘Because I’m the chosen one?’

‘No. It’s because the world is on the brink of destruction. We have to put all our efforts into preventing it. There are many stories about parents using their brute strength to save their children from danger. It’s similar to that.’

Alan’s choice of hotel was along similar lines.

If Alan stays in a hotel for too long, his bank account will be empty due to spending money on various things, and this limitation will give Alan a high level of concentration.

As soon as I finished checking in, the staff member bowed his head slightly.

“Please go to room 301. Thank you for staying at our hotel.”

The staff looked at the automaton on the cart with strange looks. Alan, as usual, maintained his composure and headed to the guest room.

Since there was no time to examine the inside, I immediately took the leopard apart, leaving only the head, and extended the cable to connect it to the power source.

‘This way, even if a mistake is made, the hotel furniture cannot be moved, so it will be safe.’

Alan, sitting on the edge of the bed, breathed magic into the soul stone, and a white smoke-like input window appeared. The lights in the room were off, so the star characters sparkled like a real Milky Way.

Alan opened up the Star Characters book next to him and looked over the battle-related phrases. The underground people had put it together so well that there was no need to mess with it.

The phrases that Alan had to work on were friendly recognition and voice command reception.

First, recognize your allies. Alan, imbued with magical powers, crushed the small stars with his fingers.

After deleting the text that excluded attacks and injecting magic power into the power source with the input window turned on, the area where the leopard’s eyes were turned white.

“Look here.”

The leopard’s eyes shifted to the side in response to Alan’s voice. It was similar to how a human’s eyes would move.

Before the white light turned red, Alan breathed magic into the soul stone.

widely!

The jaw that was about to open slightly closed. The leopard’s eyes remained gleaming even when it saw Alan, and there was no reaction when he touched it.

Now, you can input voice commands as written in the book, but since it is a basic book, only short commands such as ‘Stop, Attack, Follow’ were possible.

As Alan, who had engraved the star character, breathed magic into the power source again, the leopard opened its jaws and its eyes glowed.

“Stop.”

Hard!

But the leopard disobeyed the order and bared its teeth at Alan. It was too weak to attack because it had only a neck, but it roughly struck its metal jaws up and down. It was clearly a hostile reaction.

“I definitely entered it correctly···.”

The worries continued for a long time. Normally, I would think about my body and go to bed on time, but today, I couldn’t do that.

Alan, who had been staring intently at the letters, turned his head when he felt a warm breeze. The sun was rising and the sunlight was reaching his knees.

Before he knew it, the night had passed and morning had come. Even as he moved slightly to avoid the sun, Alan did not take his eyes off the star characters.

“ah!”

I couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration when I discovered a tiny, hidden dot. It was a blemish that I had never noticed before because it was stuck between the closely-spaced letters.

“I understand why people say it’s difficult.”

It wouldn’t matter if a little mud splashed on clothes or shoes, but Byulja wasn’t so indifferent.

It was an elaborate and complex character. Just as the stars in the sky cannot be seen even when there is only a little bit of cloud cover, those with low magical sensitivity could not see the star characters at all.

‘The star character is a three-dimensional shape, but did I think of it in two dimensions?’

At that moment, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

‘Runes too? Unlike before, where they were only engraved on surfaces, could they be engraved overlapping space?’

But there was no progress in his thinking. Now, to Alan, who was dealing with a single rune, it was a story from a distant world.

Alan, who had returned to his focus on the asterisk, had solved all the problems by lunchtime. When he straightened his back, a dull ache instead of pain struck his body.

I could feel the effects of the flowers. If it had been before, I wouldn’t have even thought of staying up all night. No, my tired body would have collapsed onto the bed by itself before that.

It was foolish to rely solely on the efficacy of the medicine and torment your body. It was a time when sufficient nutrition and rest were needed.

Alan, who was washing his face to go out, rubbed his cheek while looking in the mirror. For some reason, the corners of his mouth seemed to be slightly upturned.

‘Is this a mistake?’

Or perhaps it’s the outward expression of the joy of being able to immerse yourself in something.

Runes and star signs were difficult subjects that tortured the brain cells, but Alan found a sense of accomplishment in overcoming the difficulties.

Carlson said that Alan was crazy for studying runes and astronomy at the same time, but Alan, who had never been to college, couldn’t understand how difficult it was.

‘If you go to college and then advance to graduate school, won’t you go to graduate school?’

Alan’s attention was completely occupied by magical engineering, so such questions were quickly forgotten.

*

On the third floor of the labyrinth, Alan, who luckily found an unoccupied fixed manhole, took a seat in front of it. He intended to test how strong the leopard was by having it face the automaton on the third floor.

The originally plain iron plate had small patterns drawn on it, which at first glance looked similar to the patterns on a leopard’s skin.

The identity of the pattern is [hardening]

It was the result of Alan’s work of engraving runes on each piece of iron plate with a rune pen.

Since you can’t repair it every time you fight, this was part of an effort to make it a little easier.

‘If it works well, keep repeating. Otherwise, the automaton should be used like a consumable.’

It might be possible to use magic iron or a good alloy for the automaton’s frame and armor, but Alan did not yet have the funds or machinery to handle them.

While trying to find room for improvement while keeping your eyes fixed on the manhole.

Push!

As the manhole opened and a locust-like automaton jumped out, the leopard that had been lying down next to the cart reacted and sat up.

Alan also stood behind the leopard and aimed his cane.

Swish swish!

The locust, crossing its two forelegs with claws attached, made a threatening sound as it quickly approached, moving its legs.

If it had been a real multi-legged bug, it might have been creepy, but since it was a metal automaton, it was quite tolerable.

Alan took out his laser pointer as he watched the still-still-still leopard. A red dot appeared on the locust’s body.

The red-eyed leopard charged. The locust saw the honest movement and brought down its raised foreleg.

Kaang!

Sparks flew as the scythe and the leopard’s back plate clashed. The iron plate, which would normally have been pierced, deflected the attack beautifully.

With the locust’s attack having ended in vain, it was naturally the leopard’s turn next.

The leopard raised its head and bit hard at the thin part connecting to its stomach.

Kwajik!

As the leopard shook its head, the mantis split in two. It thrashed around on the ground, the cable trailing like intestines.

Alan opened his mouth after finishing off the locust by firing a magic bullet.

“Stop. Come here.”

The leopard’s eyes, looking at Alan, glowed white, unlike when it recognized the mantis. It was proof that Alan’s modifications had worked well. It was a bit of a shame that the mantis was destroyed like that.

‘Unlike the fox, why did the leopard immediately recognize it as an enemy? Did the aura it gave off change after modifying the soul stone?’

Alan put aside his rising doubts and examined the leopard’s condition. It was fine, except for the dent in the metal plate on its back.

Now that I was ready, I could go down even further, just like I did when I was with the party.

Alan gave up his seat to the dwarf man, who was startled by the sight of him with a leopard, and headed to the next floor.

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