Chapter 71 – Eureka

I paused for a moment after hearing the voice coming from the cellphone.

‘Did it just react to that guy’s scream?’

I was half-doubting. Unlike the Villains, who were capable of conversation, I had never spoken with a Mutant before.

Those who did not possess human forms—they were diverse in every way, and while they occasionally mumbled as if they were talking…

It was because, in the first place, communication was unlikely, and there was never any leisure to engage in conversation.

“I need to dig deeper into this…”

I immediately began to devise a plan.

“Minju, there’s something I need you to do.”

* * *

“Huff, huff! Huff!”

The massive Mutant began to flee.

‘I’m alive! I’m alive! I survived!’

When his entire body was being crushed by those heavy chunks of iron, he was certain he would die. But for some reason, the iron masses seemed to hesitate for a moment.

He had seized that moment as an opportunity to escape.

On another note, perhaps it was because he hailed from a crafter race, he quickly recognized the material covering their surface.

‘That was Adamantite!’

Adamantite. A material that required immense heat to refine and was incredibly difficult to obtain.

Even though they had established a Magitech Civilization, Adamantite was a material used only by the highest ranks, such as kings and emperors, and even then, barely for ceremonial purposes.

However, his opponent was using that material casually for military purposes. It was a level of technology he could never have imagined.

“I can’t win. I absolutely cannot win.”

His spirit was already completely defeated.

Rumble! Rumble!

As the iron masses began to move again, he started running even faster, startled by the sound.

Even then, he did not stop analyzing the situation.

‘I felt complex Mana patterns coming from those iron masses! Those are machines moved by Mana… in other words, a type of Artifact!’

Being a crafter by nature, he soon realized the identity of the Breakers, which only made him feel more powerless.

But that didn’t mean he was the type to give up.

‘I have to survive somehow!’

He ran to retrieve the spear he used to favor.

It had been a long time since he had fought, but he believed that with his Mutant body reinforced by Mana, there might be at least a small chance.

“Found it!”

And as he retrieved the spear—

Flash!

He surged his Mana and struck down, but…

Clang!

It was useless.

“As expected, there’s nothing one can do against Adamantite!”

He couldn’t help but fall deeper into despair.

‘I give up on fighting! I just have to escape!’

Ultimately, he completely abandoned combat and tried to flee using Artifacts several times, but he failed every single time.

‘They’re much faster than before!’

No matter how brilliantly he used the Artifacts, the Breakers kept pace, maintaining a similar distance and following him.

‘What on earth are they!’

It felt as if the opponent was holding back from the start.

‘I don’t have any more Artifacts!’

Just as he began to run in despair, a short-statured demi-human was waiting for him up ahead.

“Is that guy the main body!”

Just as he shouted that.

Swoosh—

A massive amount of Mana engulfed them—

Pop!

The two disappeared without a trace.

* * *

Meanwhile…

“Oh. Is that the spear?”

I smiled pleasantly as I examined the Artifacts he brought out one by one. Six Artifacts found in this Dungeon.

The Mutant had tried using them one after another to fight or flee, but they were insufficient against the heavy Breakers.

‘No… actually, this is better.’

I even felt grateful.

Without me having to go look for them myself, the guy had been desperately finding and using Artifacts for me.

‘Go on… roll around as much as you can.’

So, I decided to leave him be on purpose.

A short while later.

“To think there were two more…”

I chuckled as I checked today’s Harvest.

The number of Artifacts obtained was not six, but eight. It seemed there were more Artifacts that the previous team had failed to find.

But that wasn’t all.

The greatest harvest of the day was still before me.

It was the Mutant I had kidnapped using Minju’s Spatial Teleportation.

I turned on the Apoin translation function and began to ask questions.

“So, who are you?”

When an incomprehensible gurgling sound came from the smartphone, the guy’s eyes widened.

“Is… is that machine an Artifact?”

“Let’s just say it is.”

“I can’t feel any Mana… how fascinating.”

“Just answer the question. Or should I pull out your nerves this time?”

The guy’s face turned pale at my words.

“N-no! I’m sorry. My name is… Tekteras.”

He slowly began to converse.

He said he belonged to a race of the same form, and that they were generally a race that focused peacefully on crafting.

Through that, they had established a Magitech Civilization, but at some point, Monsters began to invade. He then explained that he became a Villain and fought on the side of the Monsters to emerge victorious.

‘Does that mean Mutants are other races who have become Villains…?’

I thought quietly.

Meanwhile, there were more important questions.

“Are there any more Artifacts?”

“There are no more… But my body is hot! Please, spare my life!”

‘Tsk, has it started already?’

I clicked my tongue.

I had hoped that since he was a Villain of another race, he might be slightly different. But it seemed there was no significant difference from human Villains. I pressed him further with questions.

“Then, how do you make Artifacts?”

“I don’t know. But there is a library owned by a crafting Guild nearby! But my body! Please! Something is wrong!”

The fellow, who began to tremble violently—

“Please let me g—”

Boom!

With a powerful impact, his core exploded.

I shook my head.

“In the end, it ends up like this again.”

Kidnapping Villains was something I had done several times in the previous timeline.

It was to ask them numerous questions since they sided with the Monsters, but the information obtained from them was not much.

Because the cores of Villains have a self-destruct function; if one tries to harm the Monsters, they explode before they can even speak properly, just like this.

Especially when asking about the conditions for becoming a Villain, the identity of the Monsters, or their goals, there were many cases where the core exploded the moment they opened their mouths.

This time, I had deliberately avoided such sensitive questions, which seemed to be why he lasted quite a while.

Thanks to that, I was able to obtain a significant gain.

‘Artifacts… as I thought, they can be crafted.’

My eyes sparkled.

* * *

Afterward.

We spent some time searching the surroundings.

We were clearing out the Monsters in the Underground City and searching the surrounding buildings one by one, but since the city was vast, it was no easy task.

Rumble—rumble, rumble—

Meanwhile, Seongjae, who was scouting the area with me, seemed to be reminded of something upon hearing the thundering sound of the Breakers.

“The Spanish bullfighting festival… I’ve always wanted to go!”

Seeing the Breakers roaming the streets, it seemed he was reminded of the bullfighting festivals where angry bulls charge through the streets.

“Ah! Passionate Spanish noona!”

“Ugh, Seongjae, you’re seriously disgusting.”

Minju shook her head with a smile, looking at Seongjae.

“Ah, Minju, could you possibly take me to Spain?”

“Forget Spain, I’ve never even been to Europe.”

“Aww…”

Just as Seongjae was despairing—

“Huh? Wait a second.”

“What is it?”

“I smell a library coming from that building.”

“What on earth is a ‘library smell’…?”

“I may look like this, but I’m an engineering geek. I wasn’t great at school studies, so my academic record was just so-so. But I’ve visited almost every library searching for rare books.”

“And… so?”

“That building looks like a library for some reason.”

With those words, he suddenly started sprinting toward a certain building. He opened the door and shouted with a triumphant expression.

“Eureka!”

* * *

“So, I’m asking what kind of ‘smell’ a building that ‘looks like a library’ has.”

Minju looked at Seongjae with an incredulous expression.

Meanwhile… I couldn’t help but wear a satisfied smile.

‘He’s coming through with the results again.’

“Seongjae, I’ll definitely take you to Spain someday.”

“Really?! For real!”

He was overjoyed, practically jumping.

I placed a hand on Seongjae’s shoulder and said.

“But… for now, you have quite a bit of work to do.”

I explained that we might find clues for Artifact crafting in the library we found, and added that I hoped he could find those clues.

Seongjae understood the situation and began to ask.

“Can’t Apoin translate these books?”

“Voice translation works, and text translation works too… but this is a photo, right? Unless it’s typed into an electronic device, I think it’ll be difficult.”

“True… that seems likely. But then, can’t we just create a system to type these characters?”

“Do you think you can do it?”

“Hmm… it’s not my specialty. It would probably involve cryptography or linguistics, right? We’d need a programmer too. In that case… it would be best to take it to Seoul National University, wouldn’t it?”

Seongjae found the solution immediately.

* * *

Late winter, as the cold deepened. Despite this year’s exceptionally freezing winter, the heat in the shopping district near the Dungeon was intense.

“Speed Artifacts! Cheaper than shoes!”

Speed Artifacts couldn’t actually be cheaper than shoes, but the merchants were using exaggerated advertisements.

“Buying Monster Materials in bulk! We’ll definitely pay more than the shop next door!”

Agents purchasing Monster Materials.

“Ma~na Stone! Ma~na Stone! Ma~na Stone! Ma~na Stone!”

Or agents buying and selling Mana Stones, dragging out the pronunciation like a street vendor selling rice cakes.

All of them were…

[Artifact Crafters].

A new world was opening up.

I smiled as I watched them.

‘It’s still not as good as the things found directly in the Dungeon, but…’

It was because the level of technology was not yet high.

The characters used by the crafter race were logograms, like Chinese characters, and had far more varieties than phonograms.

Thanks to that, it took considerable effort to create a system for inputting them into electronic devices. Furthermore, an enormous amount of manpower had to be deployed to input the books.

However… the result was amazing. As the method of crafting Artifacts spread, a new market opened.

Because the technical level was lacking, the effects weren’t overwhelmingly superior yet, and the materials required were immense, but for humanity, who had been struggling against Monsters, even this much was a blessing.

Not many people bargain with their own lives. Thus, even Artifacts that increased speed only slightly sold like wildfire, to the point where supply could not keep up with demand.

Of course, it wasn’t all advantages.

As the production and utilization of Artifacts began in earnest, the consumption of Mana Stones surged, and prices rose.

Because of that, it became a bit harder for me to just coast on the Mana Stone Refinery as I had been… but it wasn’t a big problem.

This was because the demand for Mithril, Adamantite, and Aetherium also skyrocketed. Along with Worker Bug Coins, the mining rights for these resources belonged solely to me.

Therefore, financially, I was in a much better position. As for the Mana supply, I could simply increase it.

More than that, I loved seeing the people regain their vitality.

And I loved how the world was changing.

‘This time is definitely different.’

I grinned.