Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 57
Only Noblemtl
Old soldier (5)
The droopy eyelids lifted, and the blurry surrounding scenery was captured in the pupils. After blinking a few times, the image became clearer.
‘Where was this?’
Taylor tried to remember. Normally, he would have remembered it quickly, but perhaps because his brain expansion device was broken, his memories were hazy.
As soon as I saw the pipes, the assembly table, and the repair tools, I realized that this was a factory hidden in a secret passage. At the same time, my sense of smell picked up a certain scent.
‘The smell of grilling meat?’
Taylor’s mind suddenly snapped open and he looked around for Alan.
“This guy. He grilled meat while I was sleeping?”
“I only drank water while I was sleeping.”
The voice came from nearby, and there was Alan, disassembling the automaton.
Taylor realized that it was true, but his expression remained suspicious.
“Your sense of smell hasn’t gone away yet. You clearly didn’t use fire when you cleaned this place, so if you smell like burning meat, that means you’re joking.”
“Nothing happened.”
“Then what is that smell-chasing golem over there?”
As if his decades of experience as a maze explorer were no exaggeration, he knew what it was just by looking at the thing sticking out from the cart.
Eventually, Alan was pursued by Greenblood’s gang and declared that he had repelled them all.
“You little beasts. Your bad habits are the same now as they were in the past. Are you hurt anywhere?”
“I cleaned it up from a distance. It’s real.”
Only when Alan spread his arms and spun around in place did Taylor’s fierce gaze subside a little.
“Have you checked the auxiliary memory devices or memory modification?”
“I increased the firepower of the magic bullet to handle it safely, but everything burned down.”
“Yeah, digging around is good, but safety is the most important thing. Are you going to try to rip off an old patient and a child?”
“It’s not a child.”
“The fact that you get upset at that word is proof that you’re a kid. Rather, enjoy it a lot because it’s a good time. Time will never wait for you.”
Taylor came up next to Alan and moved the small parts from the assembly stand to the cart.
“I never tolerated it when I was young. When I was attacked, I showed them how to behave even on the ground. Now that I think about it, I think Jake stirred up Greenblood once, but did he rebuild it in the meantime?”
“That may be possible, but it absolutely cannot be.”
“What doesn’t work?”
“You’re planning a raid, or rather, revenge, right now.”
“Did you plant a hacking device in my head? No. Am I just going to sit there and do nothing like an idiot?”
“They hit me unilaterally.”
As Alan said, the battle ended blandly.
The orcs were hit by lightning in the narrow passage with nowhere to hide, and those who managed to escape the passage alive were in a critical condition.
All that Alan had to do was load the grenade launcher and collect enemy equipment.
Even though I explained in a calm tone, Taylor’s expression didn’t soften. Anger filled every wrinkle on his face.
“The rule of thumb is that favors are doubled, and resentments are tenfold.”
“Is this a national rule?”
“Don’t you know? If you don’t know these words… Oh, that’s understandable. You only see the crooked letters in the magic engineering book all day long. It’s an unspoken rule. So when are you going to go?”
Alan tried to calm Taylor down, reminding her that she had other issues to deal with first.
“There are things that need to be done before that, so please postpone revenge until later.”
“There are more important things to do?”
Taylor scratched the back of his head as he realized he was at the tip of Alan’s fingers.
“My worth is high. It’s embarrassing.”
“···It needs to be repaired.”
“When did you say it was treatment?”
“The rating went down a bit.”
With Taylor also helping with the cleanup, the preparations for returning were a little faster. There was so much loot that even the buffalo that rushed in at the end was raised up.
As Alan connected the sled to the buffalo, Taylor, who was standing next to him, blurted out.
“The necromancer was here.”
“A shaman all of a sudden?”
“Even if the automaton breaks down, you can just knead it a few times and it will get back up. What are you going to do with the buffalo if you get up there?”
“Of course we have to dispose of it. We have to suppress it as intact as possible, so the price will be high.”
“Cows work hard. While alive, they do the work that humans would do, and after they die, they taste good…”
“These days, everything is done by machines. Farming, transportation.”
“She has no romance.”
Taylor looked pleased, even as he shook his head.
It was the same with Alan. He was usually a man of few words, but when he was with Taylor, his mouth kept opening.
“You mean you want to eat beef?”
“I didn’t say anything like that… I’ll hang out with you if you want. But what’s in your pockets that makes them so bulgy?”
“There are also magic stones and Opats soul stones.”
“What? Do you know how to appraise Opats too?”
“I can tell the difference between a magic tool and an Ooparts. Anyway, I’m going to use this.”
“Yes. You’ve worked hard, so you should satisfy your selfish desires. People can act more passionately when they are rewarded.”
“You said you were going to use hacking last time. You need Opatz soulstones to improve your abilities.”
Alan’s eyes moved according to the engraved star characters. To expand his abilities, he had to increase the size of the cloud-like input window or erase bad sectors.
Normally the size of the input window is fixed, but there are exceptions everywhere. One of them was Allen’s Eye and the Ooparts Soul Stone.
Last time, when I absorbed the new form of Automaton Soul Stone, didn’t the Bad Sector get erased?
In the same way, by expanding the area of the star character and strengthening the ability with the soul stone obtained now, much more stable surgery was possible.
Of course, the eye function was also enhanced, but Alan thought of it as a bonus and focused on the surgery.
*
Alan’s eyes projected a screen into the air like a beam projector. A list of Magic Wear items that he had confirmed his purchases appeared. Taylor, sitting next to him, read out the names one by one.
“Brain expanders, pain controllers, reflex accelerators, and artificial magic circuits, mana heart components, lungs, nerve bundles, muscle fibers, skin… That’s a lot?”
“That means you’re not feeling well. You need to change something like that to be able to live a normal life.”
“It’s expensive and cheap. Well, no matter how good the equipment is, it’s only useful if you have the skills to use it. There’s a reason why magic engineers are at the top of the professions.”
It cost 50 million coins just to buy Magicware. I chose only the cheapest items among those with good reviews, but this was the case. Later on, I was surprised to see that there were cases where I spent over 100 million just for one eye.
“If it’s 50 million won, it’s better to go to a hospital or a clinic… That won’t work.”
The regular clinics and hospitals were much more expensive and installment payments were not possible. It was widely known that labyrinth explorers made a lot of money, but everyone also knew that it was a dangerous job.
Besides, Taylor was short on time. When he first met Alan, he would forget himself for two hours a day, but now it has increased to four hours.
If I get lucky and find a factory like last time when I go down, I might not know. If I get lucky like that, I’d much rather buy a lottery ticket and win first prize.
“What about medical facilities?”
Allen’s warehouse was a space solely for magical engineering, so there were no life support devices or surgical instruments. When Taylor pointed this out, Allen responded calmly.
“I asked Mr. Rolf to get it for me. I also hired a doctor.”
“Are you a night market?”
“You said you’ve been in the industry for 15 years, so you’ve passed the stage where you can call it a black market. In this field, if you don’t have the skills or are a swindler, you’ll get shot in the head instead of getting paid.”
Taylor also nodded. Even if he was a night owl, if he had lasted long enough, he couldn’t be ignored. He could be considered a specialist, even if he didn’t have a formal license.
“That guy must have pride, but he dared to allow you to join him?”
“At first, they frowned, but when I told them about my physical condition, they said I couldn’t do it alone. In fact, they were happy because it saved them the trouble of hiring someone else.”
“So when is the surgery date?”
“It is today.”
“What? Don’t keep this to yourself. You should tell me too.”
“I was going to tell you yesterday, but you were sleeping, so I thought I’d tell you later, but then I forgot. The Magic Wear has been delivered to you, so you just need to go.”
Taylor kept her mouth shut. To say she was asleep meant she was out of her mind. What could she do, it was her karma.
The dispensary Rolf had introduced was located near his bar. The entire two-story building was an illegal dispensary.
“Call me Ulpa.”
A female dwarf with fluorescent red hair, a small stature, and a sturdy body greeted the two.
“Did you introduce me to your younger sibling? It seems like siblings have similar tastes.”
“Let’s say that he copied me instead of saying it’s the same. Without further ado, let’s just lie down. Did you go to the bathroom?”
“Consent for surgery? Of course there isn’t one.”
“Sir. You shouldn’t expect a document like this to be prepared at a proper medical institution. It seems like you were quite wealthy when you were younger. Now, let’s begin the anesthesia.”
Ulpa was immediately put on life support equipment, including an oxygen tank, and anesthesia began.
“Count to ten with your mouth.”
“Work, yi, s······.”
The anesthetic effect was evident. After checking the vital signs, Ulpa nodded with satisfaction and put on the equipment.
He placed the Hippocrates, a surgical prosthetic hand, over his good arm. When he wiggled his fingers, the mechanical fingers moved in the same way.
Alan stared at Hippocrates, remembering the time at the Novak Clinic.
“What’s wrong? Oh, because it’s so interesting? If you’re a magic engineer, you know what this is.”
“I tried using it too.”
The difference is that back then, magicware was taken out of corpses, and now, magicware is put in people to save their lives.
“Let’s get started right away. Are you sure?”
“It’s not a matter of confidence. It’s a matter of doing it unconditionally.”
Alan rubbed his eyelids. The automaton hadn’t touched it yet, busy filling in the hacking-related parts for today.
While slowly increasing his magical power, Ulpa frowned as he checked Taylor’s legs.
“Should I change the leg first? It’s even more horrible when you see it in person. It wouldn’t be strange if it died, but how did this old man endure it?”
The correct answer is magic control. The Taylor training method’s control is truly outstanding. The ranking will change when Allen experiences the bigger world, but for now, it is number one.
“The connection part is damaged and the living tissue is stuck together, so I think Manaheart will have an abnormal reaction as soon as this is removed.”
“We’ll hack Manaheart and send false feedback to make it look like it has legs. We’ll replace them in order, starting from the bottom.”
“Can you hold out during the surgery? I don’t know much about hacking, but I heard that it consumes a lot of mana.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“What can I do? I have to believe the person who gives me money.”
Alan’s eyes hacked into Taylor’s artificial manaheart, barely placating the damaged magical circuits and manipulating the signals sent from the bridge.
After finishing stabilizing the flow and patting his shoulder as a sign, Ulpa also operated the bone cutting saw without saying a word.
Come on!
The operating room was filled with a horrifying sound that was so frightening to hear. The sight was also brutal, but Alan never looked away.
At sea, no matter how much I opened my eyes, I couldn’t find it, but now it was right in front of me. It was a much better situation.
*
Taylor opened her eyes and removed the oxygen mask. She was so strong that the device was a nuisance.
I just lifted my head and looked around. Alan and Ulpa were sleeping, leaning against the wall.
After I finished checking, I looked around. There was a round mirror hanging on the operating table.
‘Did you put it up there so I could check it when I wake up?’
The skin on his legs, arms, and torso was taut, and the muscles were clearly visible.
‘From artificial muscles to artificial skin.’
I could feel the energy of my youth in his tightly clenched fists. After a long time, I felt that the world was a place worth living in.
I’ve decided to die, but is there anyone who really means it? They’ve all brainwashed themselves because of the situation.
In the mirror, I saw a wrinkled face and a slightly upturned mouth. It was the same as before.
‘This is appropriate. Wrinkles are a sign of the years I have lived, so there is nothing to be ashamed of.’
As I pushed the mirror away, a small note fell out.
[You can just get up. Just don’t go out.]
It was the first time I saw this handwriting, so it must have been written by a doctor. Taylor removed the cable attached to his body and stood up.
And then I realized I was standing on my own two feet. It was the first time in a long time that I was walking without a wheelchair, but I felt almost uneasy.
Taylor’s gaze naturally turned to Alan.
‘There’s so much to teach you.’
I wish he had learned slowly, but given Alan’s intellectual ability, that was impossible. Even a sponge would absorb it at a surprising rate.
Alan will grow up to be scary.
‘I will be the umbrella that will help you get through that brief moment safely.’
I’m not usually this sentimental. Taylor trailed off. For a moment, he looked at Alan with cold eyes.
‘Season 2? No, I guess it’ll have to be around season 3 to be able to keep up. Where did this kid come from…’
────────────────────────────────────
────────────────────────────────────