[Creating the [Mana Reservoir] itself was not difficult.]
[Mana Reservoir Lv.1]
[Construction Condition — Worker who understands the mana accumulation array — (0/1)]
Unlike the existing buildings that regular combat engineers could develop and construct, buildings unlocked after Vimana reached Level 2 seemed to require additional specialists.
Like the Spirit Users for the Artificial Spirit.
This Mana Reservoir was the same.
It could actually have been quite difficult.
Maybe I should call it good luck.
This part was—
“Hm. I think we can handle it.”
“You can?”
“...It feels similar to what we were handling until not long ago.”
The Demon Contractors who joined our unit recently...
No.
The Demon Hunters were able to satisfy it.
“You’re not mages. How?”
“We told you last time. Most orders the demon gave us were either to increase our numbers, or else...”
“Ah.”
Last time.
What they said came to mind.
—Our Guide has a trait called Great Evil Acts Knowledge.
—Using that trait, we would draw magic circles that store malefic energy here and there...
Magic circles that store malefic energy.
They said they drew them around.
The techniques and know-how they gained then.
That—
“This seems to almost match the knowledge required to make this.”
“Huh.”
It was the same kind of technique as making a reservoir.
And with that—
[The facility is complete!]
[Mana Reservoir Lv.2]
[What!? This is!?]
[A worker’s passion and talent shines!]
[The completed facility’s level increases.]
[Mana storage efficiency slightly increases.]
Not only was the Mana Reservoir completed—
“Mm. If we do this right...”
“We think we can also channel the power from the arrays we created for the demon into this side. It will take some time, though.”
“Ooh...”
The magic circles they had created back when they were Demon Contractors.
We could store all the mana accumulated there into the [Mana Reservoir].
“You guys... turns out you’re useful in day-to-day life.”
“Th-this won’t pay for all our sins, but...”
“If it helped even a little, we’re relieved.”
I felt newly relieved.
If I had turned them straight into vampires back then, I would have had to suffer here looking for technicians again.
“Talent really does come in many forms.”
Hmph.
Anyway.
“This might be easier to solve than I thought.”
Right.
Up to here, things really—
Went too smoothly.
****
“All mages assembled!”
“Good.”
To fill the mana the reservoir demanded, I gathered the mages in our unit in one place.
I even scraped together the mages who were out on expeditions for offensives.
Our maximum magical combat strength.
On top of that—
[War Chef’s All-Out Mana Frog Soup of Amplifying Mana]
“I-it’s delicious...!”
“But the buff feels way too strong...!”
After feeding them a dish made with everything I had, the mages obtained drastically amplified mana.
Before they passed out from the side effects of the excessive buff, we moved to the reservoir as quickly as possible and had them pour everything in there.
“Corporal Lee Minjae, along with all mages, has fainted from mana exhaustion symptoms.”
“...”
As a result, all the mages crawled around suffering for a long time and eventually passed out.
“We are treating them, but it will take about a week before normal magic operations are possible.”
“Grr.”
The operation I attempted so confidently ended in a miserable failure.
I even thought, Have I failed this hard recently?
“Will it affect subjugations in other regions?”
“Mages are important assets, but we have many other Awakened who can stand in the rear. The core of executing operations is the strategy you provide, Sergeant Shin, so it should not suffer major disruption.”
Thankfully, it was not to the degree that our other combatants’ operations would collapse.
Even so, their execution speed would slow down a bit.
“No... this loss was expected, so this itself isn’t the problem.”
Nine times out of ten, Awakened who eat my all-out dishes cannot handle the buff and faint.
I already knew this.
Even accepting that damage, the mana we shoved in there was mana we inflated as much as possible from the soldiers.
A dish I devised squeezing my brain as hard as I could.
A dish to amplify mana.
Even so—
[Condition 4 — Supply Vimana’s operational mana. (987/10,000,000)]
Our unit failed to fill even one ten-thousandth of the mana Vimana required.
“It wasn’t some other cook’s dish. It was mine...”
I had carved out my place as a chef.
I thought I had built a lot of pride getting through crises with these dishes.
“My cooking... is lacking.”
My pride...
Took a big hit.
****
“So, what happened?”
Except for Minjae, who had been dragged to the infirmary, the squad leaders remaining on base came to me and asked.
It wasn’t something to hide.
I explained what happened at the Mana Reservoir.
“...Huh.”
“From what you say, it sounds like it would have been a truly enormous amount of mana, but that was only a thousand?”
“To be precise, not even a thousand.”
Nine hundred eighty-seven.
Barely below a thousand.
Not even one ten-thousandth of the target of ten million.
Half of even that was mana the [Demon Hunters] had amassed for the demon.
What we filled with our unit’s pure power did not even reach five hundred.
One ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) thing was clear.
We could not solve this by increasing the mages’ mana with my cooking or by that sort of method.
“Mm... that little.”
“Afterward I went to the Spirit and asked how to achieve it,”
The answer was quite simple.
=That part is an obligation the lord must accomplish.
It called itself an advisor and whatnot, but when it mattered it had that attitude.
“...Hmm.”
After hearing me out, Squad Leader Lee Sanga seemed to think for a moment and then spoke.
“But this is not something that must be solved urgently, is it?”
“I agree. Our unit’s operations are proceeding well. We can take the long view.”
Corporal Seo Suhyeok seconded Lee Sanga.
“What you say is true, but...”
To complete the Perk Quest, we also have to get all the other facilities to Level 10.
That alone will take a considerable time.
It is certainly true that it isn’t urgent.
“Ten million, though.”
The problem was this.
Even after enough time passed to install every other facility, we likely still would not be able to fill that number.
And.
This was something I could not tell the other members, but—
“The fortress’s Spirit declared it.”
If we fulfill all those perks and the fortress reaches Level 3—
“Even if I leave the unit... it will have no abnormality. I may leave freely.”
I might be able to cross that wall of black fire and advance into Gyeonggi-do to find my family.
This was not something to say to others.
The idea that the Corps Commander wants to move alone would be an objectionable motive, even to me.
However—
“Personally... it is something I desperately desire.”
All the more reason.
“It feels wrong to just give up.”
“Sir?”
The squad leaders still on base, Lee Sanga and Seo Suhyeok, tilted their heads.
“It feels wrong to give up... even if you say that,”
“There’s no method... is there?”
“Hm? No. That’s not true.”
“Sir?”
My cooking did not work.
My pride is a bit hurt, but I will accept what I must accept.
“This only means my cooking is still lacking.”
I just need to work harder and improve my culinary skill.
However—
“I didn’t say there was no method.”
“???”
Whether it will work or not, I do not know.
But there is exactly one method I can try.
“I have been saving it because I had no fitting use for it.”
After I succeeded in returning the Abnormal Appetite, Lee Hyunjin, to a human being, I received an extra reward for the [Job Quest], saying it was a tremendous achievement.
“I’ve saved it until now, but well.”
[Gate Summon Ticket]
“There is no point in hoarding it too much.”
It looks like it is time to use this thing.
****
When the fortress rose to Level 2, its size increased enormously.
And this was not just on the X-axis.
“The underground floors deepened too.”
Previously, the fortress had only a single basement level.
[The Barracks] had been built there.
As many dragoons as the barracks’ level allowed were under continuous production.
This time, what newly appeared was—
“Basement Level 2.”
The building constructed there was...
[Mana Reservoir Lv.2]
This.
“Wow...”
“The name is plain, but it looks flamboyant.”
If [The Barracks] looked like a suspicious demon-summoning altar unbecoming of the name “barracks,” the Mana Reservoir likewise did not look like a space that stores something.
Rather, how should I put it—
“More like... the image of sealing something, not storing it?”
“Right?”
Gigantic pillars erected on all sides.
Bizarre patterns stretching across the entire underground from those pillars as centers.
The orb seated in the very middle...
And the thick cables extending from the pillars binding that orb tight.
Perhaps because it was a facility made with knowledge sourced from demons, the atmosphere was oddly eerie.
“We tried it. If you release mana in this room, those pillars and magic circle absorb it and store it in that orb.”
“Hmm. I see.”
Using my cooking was a no-go.
So the next thing to use was—
[Gate Summon Ticket]
[If you enter a desired keyword, a random Gate corresponding to that keyword will be summoned.]
[This is a ticket obtained as a Perk! A bonus effect is added.]
[Entities inside the summoned Gate cannot affect the outside unless the summoner permits it.]
“This is it.”
A Gate Summon Ticket.
A reward obtained for the miracle of returning an Abnormal Appetite to a human being, a feat almost unheard of across all dimensions.
Judging from what that achievement said then, it is probably classified as extremely rare.
“I have saved it this long because no good timing to use it came up.”
At last.
The timing had arrived.
[Caution!]
[All elements of the appearing Gate are decided at random except for the keyword.]
[A dangerous Gate may appear, so use with care!]
However.
As the caution text said, I had no way of knowing what dangerous Gate would appear.
“At [Heavenly Mountain Martial Hall], I was lucky.”
To be honest, given the name “Ruined World,” no matter what kind of monster was inside, it would not be strange.
To speak bluntly, even in Heavenly Mountain Martial Hall there is a peerlessly formidable monster, Seohwan and Miho’s master, lying asleep.
So this time—
“I told my disciples to take a brief rest and came, Benefactor.”
I decided to mobilize maximum strength.
“Hm. Another interdimensional gate.”
“Going to a world in the same plight as ours... it feels strange.”
The two martial instructors who taught martial arts in our unit.
—Grk... We have yet to even find an environment to raise our kin’s children. I worry this is too much strain...
“So you have a complaint?”
—Hardly. I am just speaking.
The Green Manes tribe’s shaman.
“We have mustered all soldiers who were resting on base.”
“The combat branches are busy with missions, so there are not many...”
And.
Even the personnel remaining on base.
“Most of them being in production roles is a drawback, though.”
We had gathered the maximum strength we could.
“Even this is considerable strength.”
To put it bluntly, we could march to conquer another city as is.
We prepared power on this level.
No matter how strong a monster lurked in the Gate, we should be able to handle it.
“Then...”
After confirming the troops, I tore the ticket.
“Let’s go.”
[Using the Gate Summon Ticket.]
What we need right now is—
[Please choose the desired keyword!]
“Mana.”
The demand was so enormous that even with our unit going all out, we could not fill one ten-thousandth.
Enough to fill all of that.
“I will summon with the strongest possible mana as the keyword.”
[Keyword confirmed!]
[Checking...]
[Checking...]
The System checked whether there was a dungeon suitable for the keyword I said.
Soon—
Sklrrrrrip...
“...!”
With a horrible sound like something tearing, darkness opened its mouth on one side of the reservoir.
[A Gate has been summoned!]
A hole of pure black light without even a hint of shade.
“It’s similar in color to what I saw at [Heavenly Mountain Martial Hall]...”
And just as I thought.
Before long—
[Fragment of a Ruined World — Gate has been discovered.]
[A fragment of a world, shattered miserably, adrift in space.]
[A door leading there.]
[No one knows by what process of ruination that world passed.]
[Perhaps it is a world ruined by pestilence, and you will vomit blood and die the moment you enter.]
[Conversely, perhaps you will discover useful items.]
[The choice is yours.]
The same text appeared before my eyes as when I discovered Heavenly Mountain Martial Hall.
“...Huff.”
As it said, this Gate could hold unknown danger.
But as always—
“If I were going to cower because it’s dangerous, I never would have gotten this far.”
I took courage and hurled my body into it.
****
Fwoosh—!
The black hole, the Gate, that gaped in midair.
As soon as I thrust my body inside, I felt the surrounding environment change in an instant.
That was not all.
I felt my body grow a bit heavier.
It must indeed be a world different from Earth.
Thunk...
When the body I had thrown landed on ground inside the Gate—
Shing...
I immediately drew my blade and scanned my surroundings with maximum caution.
“Entry, entry!”
“Enter with maximum vigilance!”
The combat-branch Awakened entered the Gate after me, but—
“Hostile life signs in the vicinity...”
“Do not seem to be present.”
There were no signs of life nearby.
No.
Not even signs of life—
“...Why is there nothing here?”
“It looks like an empty cavern.”
The inside of the dungeon had the form of an enormous cavern, empty of everything.
“...?”
It was fortunate there were no enemies.
Even if not enemies, there should have been something.
An empty space.
As I stood dumbfounded, flustered by that fact, soon—
“The interior seems clear. We will enter as well!”
The non-combat-branch Awakened began to enter.
“...?”
“What are you all doing here?”
“Well... once we came in, there turned out to be nothing.”
They are non-combat-branch, but still Awakened.
Like me, who can fight as decently as an ordinary warrior even without buffs, they, when gathered, become considerable power.
I had called them as a temporary support team for rear support.
“Nothing...”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Huh?”
Unlike the other soldiers, they began to break into impressed cold sweats the moment they entered the dungeon.
“...Ha ha. What is this thing...!”
“No joke. I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve seen something this rare.”
What they were looking at was neither left nor right, neither front nor back, nor up.
“Down...?”
Down.
When I looked there—
[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]
[Orichalcum for Sealing]
My trait activated.
[A rare ore, Orichalcum, brimming with limitless potential that can be used for any purpose depending on how it is processed.]
[It has undergone special treatment to greatly enhance performance as a sealing material, but in exchange it can no longer be used for armor—]
“...”
Only then could I realize it.
This Gate.
The ruined world was not this empty cavern we were in now.
Rather—
A bit farther below.
“Sergeant Shin. We combat engineers have a trait called [Material Appraisal].”
“With that trait we can check a material’s name and use, but...”
Beneath the ground we stood upon—
“This place seems extremely dangerous.”
As we realized that—
[An Underground Mine Dug Too Deep — Morzan]
As if to confirm our thoughts, a window appeared before our eyes.
[A race renowned for powerful technology, the Dwarven.]
[They subdued their world perfectly with their great engineering and succeeded in creating an empire so vast they enslaved all other races.]
[A race smaller than others and not particularly strong. The Dwarven.]
[There was just one reason they could reign as rulers of their world!]
[It was thanks to the underground mine in their capital from which manastone was mined without end.]
[The Dwarven gathered the endlessly mined manastone from the mine and researched and processed it,]
[And they established a great magical civilization.]
[They who forged a mighty empire.]
[Everyone believed without doubt that their glorious age would last forever.]
[That is, until they dug too deep into that mine!]
“...”
“...Uh, how should I put this.”
[Having dug too deep,]
[The Dwarven provoked something that had slumbered beneath the mine.]
It was indeed a Gate summoned to our intent.
However—
[A great magical civilization and a vast empire that unified a world.]
[Thus did the Dwe Morzan fall in a single day.]
“Why is it so grim.”
The content—
Was quite grim.
