I Want to Go Outside

The karma needed to raise the remaining stats was around 100 million.

Literally a unit that makes you cry out “hundred million.”

Though momentarily startled by the suddenly changed unit, Yuseong didn’t view this fact entirely negatively.

‘If the price jumps tenfold again next time, it’ll take 1 million karma to raise one stat, and then 10 million karma after that. Even I, who’ve accumulated karma by clearing almost every quest with high rank, am struggling with insufficient karma, so other users must be in a similar situation.’

A structure where growth speed becomes progressively slower as you go up.

With such a structure, even latecomers could sufficiently catch up to the early starters.

Of course, given the time difference, catching up wouldn’t be as easy as it sounds, but just the fact that possibility existed was important.

Making an odd expression where regret and relief coexisted, Yuseong took off his goggles and began organizing the quest rewards.

“I’ll save the B-rank skill and artifact free selection ticket for later, and the metal ingots and mana stones can be used for Dragonia’s repairs…”

<Stat Increase Elixir>

-Rank: B

-Type: Consumable

-A mysterious elixir that increases a random stat by 1–3 points when consumed.

-The higher your stats, the lower the chance of the elixir’s effects manifesting.

<Skill Rank Increase Elixir>

-Rank: A

-Type: Consumable

-A mysterious elixir that increases the rank of one selected skill when consumed.

-The higher the skill rank, the lower the chance of the elixir’s effects manifesting.

<Growth Acceleration Potion>

-Rank: B

-Type: Consumable

-A mysterious elixir that enhances growth speed for 30 days when consumed.

Yuseong made a sour expression while looking at the mountain of potions piled up.

Stat Increase Elixir.

The first line made it seem like a good item, but the line written second was the problem.

When consumed with high stats, it could demonstrate tremendous efficiency but the likelihood of effects manifesting was that much lower, and conversely, consuming it with low stats increased the chance of effects but would be inefficient.

It was awkward to consume either now or later.

The Skill Rank Increase Elixir was similar.

Choosing a low-rank skill felt wasteful, but choosing a high-rank skill made him worry about the chance of no effect.

After contemplating for a while, Yuseong decided to store the elixirs in the dimensional storage he’d just obtained.

‘The situation isn’t so desperate that I need to drink elixirs right now. Let’s use them when a difficult situation comes up later.’

It wasn’t like he had to consume them himself.

Just as he’d escaped a crisis in [Twisted World] using the power of the Blue Wood Pill Elixir, he could use them to strengthen clients and easily progress through quests in the future.

However, the Growth Acceleration Potion was different.

It enhanced growth speed for a month without any penalties.

Though he couldn’t know exactly how far this growth applied, if it could affect wisdom and mental stats that increased through using the Forbidden Knowledge skill, it would be truly amazing.

“Good. Very satisfying.”

Time ratio, difficulty, rewards.

Not a single thing that wasn’t pleasing.

Making a satisfied expression while nodding his head, Yuseong took out the communication device Sophia had made and put it in his ear.

“Ah, Sophia? Can you hear my voice?”

-…Mr. Yuseong?

“Yeah, it’s me. Nothing unusual happened meanwhile?”

-Well… The only information I can get here is what’s written in the community… Seems like a few small incidents happened but I don’t think there were any major problems. More importantly, could we meet now?

“Now? Should I go to the rooftop?”

-Yes.

Arriving at the familiar rooftop, Yuseong whistled lightly while looking down at Dragonia’s scenery.

Though nothing had changed much compared to before, the sight of drones, robots, and various machines wandering around Dragonia, the essence of magical civilization, was still unfamiliar no matter how many times he saw it.

While watching the robots that never rested even for a moment, so busy with whatever they were doing, Yuseong turned his head at a distant sound and looked up at the sky.

Whoosh!

An iron suit that could appear in a sci-fi movie was flying through the sky.

The suit that had been showing off acrobatic flying with rapid acceleration, sudden stops, and sharp turns seemed to run out of things to show and flew toward the pyramid before landing in front of Yuseong.

“How is it?”

“Sophia?”

“Hmph, seeing your surprise makes all my hard work worth it.”

Yuseong, who had thought it was just an unmanned weapon like the drones, made a dumbfounded expression at Sophia emerging from the suit.

“No, if you could make a suit with this performance, why…”

“Ah, seems like there’s some misunderstanding, but this is something I only recently managed to make.”

Yuseong, who was about to interrogate why she had hidden such a high-performance suit until now, barely regained his composure at Sophia’s immediate explanation.

“To be precise, I became able to make it after getting the Type 99 Magic Engine from Mr. Yuseong.”

“Type 99 Magic Engine… The one that converts electricity to magic power?”

“Yes. Though it might not seem like much, this suit consumes an unbelievable amount of energy. With power sources that could fit in this suit, operation time wasn’t even 30 minutes, so I tried using mana stones to solve the energy problem… But since this is such a delicate thing, stability was too low due to the repulsion between electricity and magic power, making it completely unusable in actual combat.”

“And the Type 99 Magic Engine went in there and improved stability?”

“Yes. Being able to freely convert energy between electricity and magic power solved all the problems. Besides this, there were other items that were difficult to use due to power issues, but now I can use them all.”

He had thought it strange that she only received an engine that converted magic power to electricity in exchange for making a gynoid that cost more than America’s annual defense budget, but now he understood.

To think she could make such wonderful items but couldn’t use them due to power source issues.

If he were in Sophia’s position, he would have accepted the deal too.

“Could you make one for me too?”

“Since it uses parts that can’t be made on Earth, it’s impossible right now, but I’ll make you one later. Ah, you know this isn’t free, right?”

“I don’t care what the price is.”

The value of a suit that could freely fly through the sky couldn’t be measured in money.

Looking at the suit with enchanted eyes, Yuseong soon came to his senses and turned his gaze to Sophia.

“But surely you didn’t call me just to show this off?”

“That’s exactly why I called you.”

“……”

“…It was a joke, so don’t make that expression. The upgraded version of the gynoid is complete, so I called you to do some simple testing.”

Like last time, a case nearby opened and a gynoid with an appearance exactly like Alice appeared.

When he first saw it, there were slight differences in the details, but after one round of feedback, it now had a level of completion where you’d believe it was the real Alice.

“I made a new program based on the data collected last time. Normally the AI moves the body, but when new commands come in, the AI takes on a supporting role for movement. Though it has the weakness of being vulnerable to hacking, at least it won’t break down like last time.”

“Can we try possessing it?”

“That’s why I called you in the first place.”

At Sophia’s permission, Yuseong took out the soul stone from his chest and began casting dark arts.

Woong!

‘Huh?’

The speed at which the dark art was cast was incomparably faster than last time.

No, it wasn’t just faster but more stable too.

The first time he cast the dark art, he had to control even minute energy flows using Eye of Truth, but this time he could easily embed Alice’s soul as if returning to its rightful place.

The almost nonexistent mental burden was a bonus.

‘Is it because of spirit power?’

A power originating from the soul, unlike internal energy or magic power.

Everything about what effects it had and how to use it was unknown, but through casting the dark art just now, he could get some sense of what spirit power was.

“It’s moving!”

“Ooh!”

Unlike last time when she couldn’t take a single step without falling, this time she was moving forward despite staggering unsteadily.

Slow steps became fast steps, and fast steps soon turned into running, but Alice wasn’t satisfied with just that and began showing various movements like jumps and turns.

“The movements seem to be getting more natural as time goes on?”

“Because it’s a learning program. The more data accumulates, the more natural movements will become possible.”

“That means…”

“It means you need to maintain the possession state as long as possible. Though it can’t be helped during quests, when you’re on Earth, please possess it whenever you have time so it can accumulate various experiences.”

“Hmm.”

‘So from now on when I’m on Earth, I have to keep carrying Alice around? Going around with someone is a bit…’

Since his family died… No, even when his family was alive, Yuseong was used to being alone.

It wasn’t that there was discord in the family or problems with sociability.

He just inherently liked being alone.

Though he was with clients during quests, someone who could only transmit their voice was different from someone who could have a physical form and affect reality.

“Huh?”

Lost in thought, Yuseong tilted his head at Alice who had approached and was looking up at him.

“…Ah, aah.”

“Di-did you speak?”

“Huh? But I haven’t made any conversation programs yet?”

Though it was a monotone mechanical voice, she had definitely spoken.

While the startled Yuseong and even more shocked Sophia were in a fluster, Alice, like she had gotten used to walking, showed signs of becoming increasingly accustomed to speaking while uttering various words.

‘Did she use Eye of Truth?’

Alice’s eyes glowing with a faint golden light.

Though he didn’t know how it was possible, it seemed she was getting used to moving the gynoid’s body using the power of Eye of Truth, which could see and control all energy.

“…Mr. Yuseong?”

“Oh, did you call me?”

Yuseong looked at Alice with a helpless expression.

He hadn’t thought anything of it when she had no physical form or was inside a doll, but when she spoke to him in her original form, the pressure he felt was no joke.

“What is it? Are you uncomfortable somewhere?”

“No. There’s just one thing I’d like to ask.”

“A request? Ah, a laptop?”

Recalling how Alice would always grab a laptop and focus on web surfing and NewTube whenever she possessed the body to improve the dark art, Yuseong nodded with a slightly relaxed face.

However, Alice’s request was something Yuseong hadn’t expected at all.

“I want to go outside.”

“…What?”