Chapter 32 – Production and Control

“Oh, the drawbridge actually works!”

I laughed, feeling a bit absurd as I watched the bridge lower. The steel frame structure, built to suit the modern era, was quite convenient.

‘To think he already built this…’

It occurred to me that Seongjae had really been working hard.

Meanwhile, having completed my entry, I immediately ordered the Worker Bugs to bring resources such as steel and aluminum as soon as I arrived.

The reason was simple.

‘Finally, the first Mana Facility!’

That meant the mana supply had increased tremendously. I could afford to increase the volume of my units. In particular, I wanted to increase the number of Worker Bugs.

‘Summon [Worker Bug].’

And so, I began summoning them continuously.

It was a mass-summoning party the moment I arrived.

Meanwhile, Deokchan and Sua were looking at me with bewildered expressions. It seemed they had something to say.

“Um… Mr. Siwoo? The defense battle isn’t over yet…”

“Yes?”

“The… the monsters are still coming and—”

“Ah… you don’t need to worry about that. It’ll be over soon.”

I grinned.

Just one unit.

With just the one unit I obtained after acquiring the artifact this time, I could wipe out all the monsters of this level.

* * *

[Tenos’s Spear].

Originally, it wasn’t such a grand artifact.

Usually, the quality of an artifact is proportional to the strength of the monster. This is because both increase as the mana concentration gets higher.

Therefore, an artifact from my first dungeon, where the mana level was at an early stage, shouldn’t have been that strong.

The [Broken Tenos’s Spear] I saw in my previous life was exactly that kind of item. No, it was actually slightly below that level.

This was because the focus had been on the species of monsters appearing and the presence of Adamantite to make up for the lack of mana stones, rather than the artifact itself.

However, through the trial, I was able to obtain an intact Tenos’s Spear that wasn’t broken. There are cases where the quality of an artifact increases upon satisfying certain conditions, and this was one of those cases.

The function itself was the same as the original.

‘Speed.’

It was an item that relied solely on speed.

However, sufficient speed creates an advantage not only in movement or attack speed but also in overall areas such as evasion and destructive power.

Just like right now.

Whoooosh—

Pa-pa-pang!

Like a charging ‘cavalry,’ a black shadow pierced through the monsters with overwhelming speed, leading with a spear.

The identity of that thing was the [Mountain Cavalry].

It had simply stopped by a mine on the way back and secured some defense with a body made of Adamantite Ore.

In truth, there was no big difference in the main body itself.

The only difference was that the spear it held was [Tenos’s Spear].

Since I couldn’t throw away an artifact I had worked so hard to get, I told it never to use it as a javelin. Even without the javelin throw, there was no significant difference in its breakthrough power.

Pa-pa-pat— Boom!

Seeing the monsters being shredded like that, Sua and Deokchan finally realized what I meant and looked on with expressions of shock.

“What on earth is in there? I can’t even see it—”

“W-what is that thing?”

“Ah, that.”

“What happened again? We were so worried because you said you’d be late… it wasn’t anything serious, right?”

“Ah… I guess I didn’t explain it properly.”

Regardless, we were now in a fate-sharing community. I decided to briefly explain what had happened.

I told them about how I provided my mana as a sacrifice to keep the spear from breaking and fought a bloody battle against the monsters who had caught wind of it.

Fortunately, since the Worker Bug Self-Destruct Upgrade was completed later, I told them I finished it without much difficulty by consuming Worker Bugs in urgent situations. For some reason, Sua’s expression became grave.

“Um, Mr. Siwoo. The Worker Bugs… you did what to them?”

“Self-destruct. They explode like bombs.”

“Ding!?”

“Mr. Siwoo, why are you like this to our kids?!”

For some reason, she looked absolutely disgusted.

* * *

The black Mountain Cavalry ended the situation quickly.

After crushing the main force of monsters that Sua and Deokchan had been defending against, it went to support where Seongjae was. He was looking at me with a somewhat disappointed expression.

“Why?”

When I asked, he answered with a pout.

“No… I poured gasoline into the moat as a last resort, but it ended before I could even use it. It feels like a waste.”

‘Was he this obsessed with combat in my previous life too?’

In his previous life, he would have simply been happy that the battle was over; he had never felt disappointed. I felt a bit of doubt at his remark, but I decided to leave it be for now.

‘Well… if he’s become interested in combat, that’s a good thing.’

A win is a win. Once all the nearby monsters were cleared, the newly produced Worker Bugs quickly headed outside the city walls and began collecting mana stones.

‘Good, the amount of mana stones will increase tremendously again.’

The completed Mana Facility not only supplied mana to the machines near the facility but also recovered my mana at a rapid pace.

Since there were still many small-class machines, the maintenance cost was so meager that I almost hallucinated that my mana was infinite.

In other words, there was no need to use mana stones as fuel, at least near the main base, and this also meant that the cost of upgrades was significantly lowered.

‘I can now run low-level research to my heart’s content.’

I felt satisfied.

I immediately began running low-priority upgrades, such as Observation Probe Image Quality Improvement and Magitech Armor Noise Reduction.

Meanwhile, a new concern arose.

One was the dilemma of what to do with the surplus mana stones.

Reality was not a game. That is, I couldn’t repeat things multiple times, and every situation was different. Even the difference between my previous life and the current situation was obvious.

Therefore, the concept of a ‘build order’ was practically impossible. Since the situation changed every time, following a standardized optimal build could put my life at risk.

It meant I had to survive by utilizing the characteristics of the machines and facilities I experienced during the first playthrough, modifying the build as flexibly as possible to fit the situation.

‘Should I increase the volume further after all…?’

The first thing that came to mind was volume.

If I build a Production Facility, production is possible without necessarily going through me. Although the mana efficiency was lower than when I did it myself, this was a massive advantage.

Because facilities didn’t need to sleep.

Moreover, considering the mana required for small-class summoning, such a cost was negligible now that I had a Mana Facility.

‘Or should I just keep expanding…?’

Adding more Mana Facilities was another way.

If the mana supply is high, I can cover more maintenance costs, which means the number of troops can increase and I can prepare to go up a higher tech tree. However, this was not an easy choice.

The core of the problem was mana concentration.

‘For now, with this concentration, building more in the main base would be impossible…’

The current mana concentration of Earth was on the lower side.

Even a single Mana Facility in the main base lowered the mana concentration to a noticeable degree. This led to several complex results.

First, the ability manifestation of other Ability Users, other than myself, would weaken. It was natural since the amount of mana in the atmosphere decreased.

This was a double-edged sword; while Sua and Seongjae’s strength might weaken, the abilities of other Ability Users trying to attack me would also weaken. Except for me, who received mana directly from the facility.

The same applied to growth rates; low mana concentration affects the amount of mana growth.

Since I would be sending them on business trips often anyway, it wouldn’t matter immediately, but the growth rate that accumulates bit by bit every day couldn’t be ignored.

Also, since the mana concentration was low to begin with, building facilities repeatedly in the same location would decrease the efficiency of the facilities.

In other words, Mana Facilities had to be built spread out, but given the characteristic of Mana Facilities that forced a defense battle, excessive expansion was forbidden.

‘Maybe summoning one large-class unit would be better.’

For example, the [One-Horned Dragon] I summoned briefly to kill the Black Stomper special entity was a large-class unit.

Compared to the limit of my ability, it wasn’t much, but in the early stages like now, a single large-class unit was no different from a strategic weapon.

‘But I have enough troops right now…’

[Tenos’s Spear] was something I ordered the Mountain Cavalry to use directly because it was too wasteful to use on summoning small-class units, but even then, it had no problem slaughtering ordinary monsters.

‘Then should I summon a large-class unit that isn’t a combat machine?’

It wasn’t the case that only combat machines existed among the large-class units. For instance, there were those that helped with construction, or those that guaranteed convenient long-distance travel; the types were diverse as always.

Of course, there were downsides.

‘But then how would I handle the maintenance cost…?’

With only one Mana Facility during this period of low atmospheric mana concentration, it would be difficult to operate multiple large-class units.

Even now that my ability had grown, if I were to summon a One-Horned Dragon without mana stones, I would struggle to cover the maintenance cost for even 10 seconds.

While I was pondering these various things.

“Why are your expressions so varied?”

Seongjae spoke to me.

‘Should I try talking to him?’

Considering the insight he showed in my previous life, I would likely receive help rather than suffer any great loss by telling him.

* * *

After a brief explanation.

“Something like that.”

Seongjae had a strange expression on his face.

“But then, if there’s a Production Facility, material shaping would be possible just as you do it?”

“That’s right. It takes longer than I do, and more mana—”

I was in the middle of explaining.

“Siwoo, could you… do this with a Production Facility…?”

“Huh?”

Seongjae suddenly made a request.

“Why a Production Facility?”

“I don’t know about other things, but if material shaping is possible even when you’re not around… I think it would be an enormous help in renovating the house.”

“Oho.”

I thought for a moment.

In the past, material shaping was possible even without me.

As his ability grew further, he was able to shape materials himself through various methods, such as melting metal, without me.

Also, by that time, there were people other than me who could perform material shaping.

But this time was different. Seongjae’s ability had not yet grown, and it was obvious that material shaping would still be difficult for Sua.

“While we’re at it, I could make the power facilities look cooler. It’s almost winter, so there are many things I want to do… but I couldn’t keep asking you since you’re always busy, which was troublesome.”

I chewed over his words for a moment.

‘Many things he wants to do…’

In my previous life, it was rare for something Seongjae wanted to do to be unhelpful. I felt that this time would likely not be much different.

‘If I use a Production Facility…’

First, volume is produced.

Moreover, I already have the black Mountain Cavalry, and if the volume of Assault Cannons increases further, special entities will be no problem.

‘Then I can go out and do what I want.’

It was clear that I would be able to act in earnest, without being tied down to production alone as I am now.

Furthermore, since I would be steadily producing Worker Bugs, I felt this wouldn’t be a losing deal.

‘And house renovation…’

I didn’t know what he was thinking, but given our history from the previous life, I decided to trust him for now.

‘Then, Seongjae. I’m counting on you again this time.’

I grinned.

Fwaaaaah—

I summoned the mana.

I began to summon the Rift that would become my third facility.

* * *

Meanwhile, it was right after that when Sua, with wide eyes, brought her phone and showed me something on the screen.

“Mr. Siwoo! Mr. Siwoo! Look at this!”

“?”

The video was cutting out slightly, perhaps because the signal was weakening.

[Kshhh— I have inherited the legitimacy of the Republic of Korea government—]

[Kshhh— I have secured the forces of four divisions—]

[Incheon! Come to Incheon. A warm home, food, and safe— kshhh—]

But the content was clear.

‘That guy has started moving.’

Choi Seunghwan. He is a villain…

Those who sell out their country are no exception, even in the Apocalypse.