Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 27



Only Noblemtl

Eyes (2)

The city was filled with the characteristically humid and heavy morning air. Still, citizens formed long lines on the streets as they headed to their respective workplaces.

When you add in the suffocatingly packed buses and subways and traffic jams, it creates a horrifying scene for anyone who sees it.

Even though the roads were jammed like a clogged artery, the citizens of Maze City were indifferent. It was too familiar a scene to waste their emotions on, so instead of looking at the scenery outside, they used artificial eyes to connect to augmented reality or Samramansaeng.

The same was true for the waiting line to enter the labyrinth. The eyes of the labyrinth explorers standing in line flashed blue light.

Although emitting light itself is considered a waste of energy, artificial eyes had to be marked when they were in operation to avoid the risk of misuse, such as illegal filming or recording.

For that reason, the sky was filled with blue light, and if you looked at this scene from the sky at dawn, it would look like a march of fireflies heading towards the black gate.

Instead of being swept up in their behavior, Alan checked his equipment. He didn’t know if he would ever be like them, but for now, at least the sight of the giant door made his heart race.

‘helmet.’

I hit the shell with my fist. The thumping sound traveled through the hard outer layer to the soft inner layer.

‘Gas mask.’

As I took a deep breath of air, the plants woven into the filter filtered out the pollutants and only conveyed the freshness.

‘clothes.’

It was a combat uniform reminiscent of a SWAT team. The difference was that Alan wore a simplified outfit and a dark blue jacket instead of a bulletproof vest.

The jacket’s vital parts were engraved with [hardening] iron plates, making it quite heavy. Since it was strengthened by Allen’s magic, there’s no need to explain how sturdy it is.

The surrounding explorers glanced at Alan sitting on the cart. Or, to be precise, the mechanical leopard pulling the cart.

‘Was it too much? It seems appropriate to me.’

When fighting a knight, I kept remembering how uselessly I got cut down by the saw-toothed greatsword, so I added this and that.

“What is that? A tiger?”

“Uh······, just looking at the pattern, it looks like a leopard or a jaguar?”

“This is a low-rise building, but they’re pulling an automaton. Do you think that’s going to be profitable after deducting maintenance costs?”

“I’ll take you with me. Or I’ll come here to test the product.”

The runes densely engraved on the outer armor were reminiscent of the patterns of wild beasts. The large size naturally made the people on the first to third floors feel intimidated.

That gaze also disappeared as soon as they entered the labyrinth. They quickly dispersed to their respective goals.

“Left. Right. Forward.”

At each intersection of the maze, Alan gave a command, and the leopard carried it out without any problem, even much faster than when it walked on its own two feet.

On floors 1-3, where there were explorers in every corridor, I didn’t encounter a single automaton as usual.

It wasn’t until we reached the middle of the fourth floor that we finally encountered a wolf, but Alan didn’t go out himself and instead released a leopard.

The wolf charged at an enemy as big as a tiger. It wasn’t a real living thing, and the labyrinth world didn’t move according to common sense.

The leopard stood still for a moment, then lifted its upper body slightly. Its forepaws also rose upward in a semicircle.

I saw a wolf running towards me and then, bang!

The front paw swing was explosive. The technique called the cat punch was transformed into a destructive art by the combat weapon. The cuteness of the cat flew far away.

Thud!

The wolf’s neck snapped, something snapped, and his head fell to the floor with a thud. The cables attached to his body dangled mercilessly.

Alan got off the cart and immediately began his investigation. He first examined the leopard’s forelegs and upper body.

‘Thanks to [offset] and [elasticity], the joints don’t wear out too much. I guess I can increase the output even more.’

The leopard’s body was equipped with a second-hand magic power line. The conductivity was much higher than when simply inserting magic stones, so waste was reduced and output increased.

Thanks to this, even though his bank account was on the verge of starvation, Alan was satisfied. Because production and knowledge acquisition were much more important than money. Money was just a means and a transit point.

So, Allen didn’t participate in the battle until the 7th floor. The leopard’s armor got a few scratches, but that was to be expected.

Alan got off the cart and went down to the eighth floor. The leopard was completely released from the cart, and a deer that had been forcibly recruited in the middle took its place.

If the 1st to 3rd floors were places for day-trip explorers, the 4th to 7th floors were places where you could experience the labyrinth, and the 8th to 10th floors were the testing grounds to first weed out the clumsy ones.

The automaton that used to charge forward blindly above became more cunning.

‘Like now.’

Alan stopped walking as he looked at the manholes that suddenly appeared in the walls and ceiling, surrounding him from both the front and back.

Push!

All at once, all the manholes opened, releasing steam. Suddenly, the maze became foggy, and the small grains of dust that could be seen by the light of the headlamps rapidly increased in number.

‘Where?’

Clearly, the manhole had spewed out automatons. Even if the exact number was unknown, it was clear that they were targeting Alan.

This was a kind of trick. There might have been as many manholes as there were holes, or there might not have been any at all.

This time it was neither.

‘stomach!’

Alan raised his head after hearing a slight friction sound. The red light was staring at him.

It was also very close. Usually, when you encounter this situation, it means it is too late. A icy sickle emerged from the fog. It was so sharp that the steam it cut was torn apart.

Alan’s body seemed frozen and motionless. Only his left eye emitted the light of the clear sky.

The blue light penetrated the steam and reached the enemy.

Squeak! Boom!

There was a sound as if the brakes had been forcibly applied, and then an automaton with the lower body of a spider and the upper body of a locust fell from the ceiling.

The leopard waiting at the side pressed down on his stomach to prevent him from moving, and Alan tapped his armor with his cane.

Chubby, thump!

I used a magic bullet to make a hole in the part with particularly strong repulsion, then put my hand in and took out the magic stone and soul stone.

Alan has extraordinary dexterity and has become adept at this type of work after doing it often.

And the fog cleared. The manholes that had been popping up here and there like skin troubles also disappeared.

“Let’s start again.”

Alan, who had only collected expensive parts such as integrated circuits, moved forward again. The remaining automaton slowly sank into the rock.

The automaton, which had been hunted somewhat pointlessly, did not stop because of a defect.

It was the ability in Alan’s eyes. To be precise, it was a trait that the bird possessed.

‘I didn’t know birds had commanding powers.’

That was the reason why the automatons were swarming around.

‘It wasn’t perfect domination, but more like incitement.’

If he had treated them like subordinates, he would have had to deal with multiple automatons instead of just one knight.

Although the bird’s soul stone was corrupted during the process of being transferred to Alan’s eye, it was extremely useful.

I’ve never heard of anyone taking control of an automaton born in a maze, like hacking Magicware.

‘Either no one really knew, or they knew and kept it a secret.’

So, Alan had no intention of telling anyone. He even prepared an alibi in case someone witnessed it and asked questions.

‘It would be sufficient to say that you used telekinesis or mana pulse.’

It was only a temporary stop, so it wasn’t that noticeable, and there might not be any need to make excuses for thinking it was a defect.

Alan, who was moving while thinking about how to combine the star letters that were the components of the ability, stopped walking.

There were quite a few people in the empty space at the entrance to the 9th floor, the 8th floor campsite. Everyone’s eyes were briefly drawn to Alan, who arrived alone, and then dispersed.

Alan moved to an empty space, took out the parts of the automaton from the cart, and began to work on them so they would be ready for use at any time.

‘There are more people than I thought.’

Either they were people who came here after hearing rumors of the appearance of a special entity, or they were explorers who happened to be going down there at the same time.

Alan, who had been ticking away, raised his head. There were several explorers staring at this place.

To begin with, magic engineers were rare. The prejudice that they would be weak because they focused on academics instead of combat was somewhat true.

There are some people who are willing to try and kill two birds with one stone, but there are no famous people in that field at least at present.

If you’re a wizard, there’s a chance. The spells they memorize are also acts of reading the runes in their own way.

So, for most explorers, it was their first time seeing a magic engineer alone in a labyrinth.

Alan glanced at the explorers’ faces. The expression on their faces was similar to that of the gang member who had asked for the repairs.

‘I expected this much.’

Alan took a small sign from the cart and placed it in front.

[Repair of magic tools and magicware. Price is negotiable in advance.]

If another explorer asked to see their gear, it would probably lead to a fight, but a magic engineer was a profession that could legally inspect other people’s magical tools and magicware.

In Alan’s case, his main purpose was to gain knowledge and experience, so the repair costs were nothing more than a side income.

The explorers who had been observing the situation began to slowly rise from their seats.

“Can you fix this?”

The first guest arrived carrying a magic lantern. A headlamp is a one-way light that illuminates a certain area, but this one was the type that scattered light in all directions.

“Let me check the status first.”

Alan, who received the dented magic stone lantern, activated his eye’s measuring ability.

Even though Novak was a so-called magic engineer, he had incorporated features that were only found in top-of-the-line eyeglasses for professionals, but now Alan was using them sparingly.

‘The circuit in the dented part is twisted.’

Even though he quickly figured out the cause, Alan stared at the stone lantern for a long time. It was to satisfy his petty greed.

“I will only accept 30,000 coins.”

“Really? I don’t want it to turn on for one day and then break again.”

“That won’t happen.”

“Okay. Fix it.”

As soon as the explorer nodded, Alan pulled out a tool that looked like pliers from inside his jacket. It was a tool called a heat pliers, which was used to heat metal to make it easier to straighten it.

After a few dents in the aluminum can, the stone lantern returned to its original shape. It wasn’t as smooth as before, but it looked presentable.

Then, he finished by repairing the circuit with a rune pen and closing the metal plate.

“It’s over.”

“already?”

Alan wiggled his fingers, looking at the dubious expression. Click. A bright light filled the empty space.

“I will also accept magic stones.”

The number of visitors increased one by one. I carried spare equipment, but it was always better to be safe because I didn’t know what would happen.

The magical tools they brought became increasingly complex. Some people even brought shrimp in the shape of helmets.

To repair the shrimp on your own, you need to be able to handle both runes and stars.

If the user of the Avi was not a wizard, they would need something to chant the runes on their behalf, and that was the soulstone.

Alan nodded to the lizardman’s question.

“It is possible.”

“Really? Hmm···.”

There was some hesitation. This wasn’t a formally registered business, and it was the first time he’d seen Alan.

Alan took the automaton’s soul stone from the cart, showed it the Milky Way, and placed the [Flame] card under the soup pot.

At that sight, the lizardman swished his tail up and down.

After finishing the job, I earned 700k coins just from repairs.

‘Even though I lowered the price, the income is better than I expected.’

However, it was forbidden to make a mistake. This place had the special characteristics of a labyrinth, and Alan was the only magic engineer.

As Alan was calculating the value of the magic stone he had received as a repair fee for Evie, someone put an arm around the lizardman’s shoulder.

“Are the repairs finished?”

“It was fast so it wasn’t boring.”

“That’s good. We need at least some firepower to take down the goalkeeper.”

The goalkeeper was the one blocking the 11th floor. He wasn’t always there, and when someone took care of him, he would disappear for a while.

Alan stopped counting and looked up. He remembered seeing the man in the second-floor store. He had registered with Breaker, so that meant he was at least acting like a human being.

“Can I take a look?”

“that···.”

“Instead, I’ll do the repairs for free after the battle. Not all of them, but only those that are possible in the labyrinth.”

“Let me talk to my companions for a moment.”

After discussing it with my colleagues, permission was granted faster than expected.

If it were another explorer, it would have been impossible, but since I was a magic engineer with low alertness, it was possible. Maintenance was essential if I wanted to explore for longer.

It was a good opportunity for Alan, too, because automatons aren’t living things, so they have patterns, and he can examine them directly.

It was impossible to record video of what the labyrinth creator was doing.

There are images reconstructed through memory, but memories are always accompanied by distortion and subjective interpretation.

So, I could really feel it by seeing it in person rather than just hearing about it.

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