Chapter 86

The first thing Yuseong did upon returning to Earth was take out his smartphone to search for information.

Comparing the firearm image on the screen with the appearance of the gun the elf had been holding, Yuseong nodded faintly.

AK series.

Whether they had manufactured it themselves or not, despite some minor differences in small details, the gun the elf had been holding was definitely similar to an AK.

He had been half-certain since hearing about it from Kuzan, but now with physical evidence, there was no room for doubt.

“It’s certain that a user was involved. If it’s an AK, then perhaps it’s an Eastern European user… No, I can’t jump to conclusions based on just that.”

Given that it was the most produced and used rifle in the world, it would be too much of a leap to determine a user’s identity based solely on the fact that it was an AK.

From the information gathered so far, the only thing he could be certain of was that the user had completely devastated an entire world.

‘What kind of reward would make someone go that far?’

Calculating the karma needed for weapons capable of arming an entire nation and transporting them, it meant this mysterious user coveted a reward valuable enough to clear the quest even at such a cost.

Whether it was a skill or artifact, while its exact nature remained unknown, Yuseong came to the conclusion that one thing was certain – it held tremendous value. He gave a bitter smile.

The confidence that had swelled after obtaining Tyrant’s arms and swiftly dealing with Oswald was deflating in an instant.

Slap!

“Still a long way to go. Don’t get overconfident.”

He was merely a late starter who began much later than other users.

Even at this moment, other users would be continuing to grow stronger.

If he became satisfied with minor achievements and lowered his guard, he wouldn’t even be able to catch up to their rear.

Patting both his cheeks while renewing his determination, Yuseong entered the karma shop.

[Available Karma: 112,240,000]

[Product List]

-Tyrant’s Left Arm(A+): 30,000,000

-Tyrant’s Right Arm(A+): 30,000,000

-Black Greatsword(A): 25,000,000

-Eternal Wire(A): 25,000,000

-Vulcan’s Custom Prosthetic Hand(B+): 10,000,000

-……

-……

-……

‘Still too expensive.’

While he frowned at the artifact prices that were 1.5 to 2 times more expensive than skills of the same grade, as someone who had experienced Tyrant’s power, giving up on the purchase wasn’t even a consideration.

“Ah, I shouldn’t buy it here.”

Recalling Tyrant’s size, Yuseong moved to Dragonia using the power of the crest.

Both Tyrant and the nearly 500 mithril ingots obtained as quest rewards were things that would be difficult to take out or store in this house.

Woong!

Arriving at Dragonia with a spatial ripple, Yuseong immediately purchased Tyrant’s Left Arm and Right Arm.

Arms of tremendous size exceeding that of a large vehicle.

Instead of immediately storing Tyrant’s arms in Thousand Hands, Yuseong began observing them from various angles.

In [Twisted World], he had just moved on due to the urgent situation, but since they had been crudely cut off using a plasma axe rather than being properly dismantled, there was no telling what problems the arms might have.

Though he didn’t know anything about Gigants, there weren’t any major issues.

“It seems the main power comes from the energy supplied by the power source installed in the body, and the mana stones installed in the arms are more of a supplementary concept… Though the efficiency is lower, it should be able to function sufficiently with just mana stones. The inability to perform precise movements due to not receiving steam isn’t an issue since I’ll be storing it in Thousand Hands.”

Jerome’s Titan Heavy Equipment Operation and Advanced Equipment Maintenance skills from [Unidentified Organism. Highly Hostile to Humans], and the Mechanical Maintenance skill obtained from Kuzan this time.

While he couldn’t equate Titans based on science with Gigants based on magic, perhaps due to their common trait of being giant humanoid weapons, he could grasp their approximate operating principles, structure, and functions.

After spending sufficient time on analysis and basic maintenance, Yuseong stored Tyrant in Thousand Hands with a satisfied expression.

“With this, I won’t have to worry about attack power for a while. Next to buy…”

Having used more than half his karma just to purchase Tyrant’s arms.

Carefully scanning the shop, Yuseong first purchased the skills.

Since they were much cheaper than artifacts and of lower grade, buying them all wasn’t much of a burden.

Next were the potions Oswald had dropped.

Though not cheap, the potions with powerful doping effects were too precious to pass up.

Just as he had made the quest overall easier by raising the client’s abilities with elixirs, using doping potions would surely help with various quests.

“Let’s buy the prosthetic hand and leg too.”

While he wouldn’t have given a second glance to ordinary prosthetics, these were custom prosthetics made by Vulcan himself, and judging by their grade, they likely contained amazing technology beyond what was visible on the surface.

‘Whether I make it myself or bring it from another world, either way, it should help with making or improving Alice’s new body.’

Yuseong had already decided on an artificial construct like a golem or gynoid for Alice’s new body.

While there was the reason he had mentioned to Alice before – that it was much easier and safer to imbue a soul into an object than a physical body – there was actually another decisive reason as well.

The dragon heart.

An existence like a millstone around one’s neck, too difficult to utilize due to containing such enormous energy.

Initially, he had thought to just use it as a power source to maintain Dragonia or trade it with another user for something of equal value that he could use, but while pondering about Alice’s new body, a new use came to mind.

“Couldn’t I use it as the power source for Alice’s new body?”

The idea that while a body made of flesh might not be able to handle it, a golem or gynoid made of artificial materials might be able to withstand the dragon heart’s energy.

Though there was no basis or evidence, something in his subconscious was signaling that this would work.

After finishing with the karma shop, he took out the quest rewards from his inventory to organize them.

480 mithril ingots and 24 Supreme Magic Stones.

He invested all but about two-thirds of the mithril and a few mana stones to be used as Tyrant’s power source into repairing Dragonia.

[Total Repair Progress: 2.6%]

“This really is a money pit.”

Even after draining the black card and using more than half of a B-rank quest’s rewards, it was only 2.6%.

Would he ever live to see the repairs completed and Dragonia restored to its perfect form?

Looking at Dragonia with bitter eyes, Yuseong turned his gaze to the final reward.

Type 35 Magic Engine and Type 99 Magic Engine.

They had peculiar appearances that made it impossible to guess their purpose, looking somewhat like generators and somewhat like engines.

‘Going by the name “engine,” it seems to be related to energy.’

<Type 35 Magic Engine>

-Grade: C+

-Type: Engine

-An engine created by miracle alchemist Arkon and magic engineers. Inspired by the power sources of the elves’ strange weapons, it can convert mana into electricity.

-Converts inputted mana into electricity.

“Ah, this is something from Earth.”

Devices using mana to produce electricity were created in the early days of monster appearances.

While not enough to cause an energy revolution, unlike fossil fuels, they could produce much more energy from a small volume and were easy to miniaturize, making them widely recognized even by Yuseong, who was indifferent to Earth’s affairs, as they were used in various applications from power plants to the development of new weapons like exoskeletons.

Letting out a small sigh, Yuseong finally appraised the Type 99 Magic Engine.

<Type 99 Magic Engine>

-Grade: A+

-Type: Engine

-An engine created by miracle alchemist Arkon and magic engineers. Made from the idea of somehow utilizing the elves’ strange electricity-producing devices, it can produce mana when supplied with electricity.

-Converts inputted electricity into mana.

He rubbed his eyes and checked again.

However, no matter how many times he looked, the content written in the appraisal window remained unchanged.

An engine that produces mana by inputting electricity.

After quite some time had passed, Yuseong finally managed to utter a single line.

“…Why did this come from here?”

An engine that converts electricity into mana.

It was one of the items he had been desperately trying to obtain.

The reason Yuseong had been seeking an engine with such capabilities was simple.

It was to solve Dragonia’s most urgent problem – its power source.

The amount of mana Dragonia needed to function properly was truly beyond imagination, so much so that dragons had to sacrifice themselves.

So Yuseong had initially come up with the idea of first generating electricity, then converting that electricity into mana to supply to Dragonia.

Unlike mana stones which have an unstable supply since they can only be obtained by hunting monsters, fossil fuels that can generate electricity can be obtained from Earth in any amount.

It didn’t even have to be fossil fuels.

If thinking about efficiency, uranium could be used for nuclear power, or superior power generation technology could be brought from worlds more scientifically advanced than Earth.

Just the High-concentration Helium-3 Fuel Rod obtained from [Unidentified Organism. Highly Hostile to Humans] was one of the materials used in nuclear fusion.

He had thought it was an innovative idea that could greatly reduce Dragonia’s maintenance costs, but he had given up because he couldn’t find the crucial device to convert electricity or thermal energy into mana – who would have thought he’d obtain it like this.

[When clearing the special quest, user Han Yuseong will be able to obtain what he needs most.]

Recalling the message when the special quest was first generated, Yuseong made a wry expression.

Attack power that he had felt lacking at crucial moments, mystical metals that couldn’t be obtained on Earth but were essential for rebuilding Dragonia, and now the power source.

It was such an exquisite quest that one could believe it was artificially created to solve the problems he was facing.

“……”

Until now, Yuseong hadn’t had much curiosity about the goggles.

The only important thing was the function of being able to bring skills and artifacts from other worlds.

He hadn’t paid much attention to operating principles, purpose of creation, or intentions since knowing about them wouldn’t help in using the goggles, but at this moment, for the first time, he had questions about aspects other than functionality.

‘Do other users know?’

“…Let’s figure this out step by step for now.”

The secret of the goggles wasn’t an urgent problem that needed to be solved immediately.

Right now, he was busy enough just solving the problems right in front of him.

One was searching for an engine to supply power to Dragonia, and the other was obtaining a body for Alice.

Either way, they were difficult problems.

Even if electricity could be converted to mana, any ordinary power generation facility would be far from enough to supply the amount of energy Dragonia needed, and regardless of the specific type, creating Alice’s new body would require tremendous technology.

‘The easiest way would be to complete quests, but…’

Yuseong shook his head.

It was already the case that bringing artifacts to Earth required more karma than skills, but obtaining power generation facilities that could support a decent-sized nation or a body that could withstand a dragon heart through quests would be far too inefficient.

Just Tyrant’s arms cost 60 million karma, so it wouldn’t be strange at all if the things listed above required at least hundreds of millions of karma, or even more.

“It’s better to get what we can on Earth when possible.”

Of course, there were no organizations or nations on Earth with the technology to create things that met those two conditions.

However, there was an individual with such technology.

Taking out his smartphone, Yuseong scanned through the user information sent by Kang Changseok.

Among them, there was one user who had the ability to solve these problems.

[made in usa.]

“I wonder if they take custom orders?”

It was time to contact a new user.