NOVEL NEXT Chapter 90
On top of a massive skyscraper overlooking the entire city, a man was leisurely enjoying his surroundings while gazing down at his nest.
Since falling into this world, he hadn’t experienced a single good thing, but if there was one thing he liked, it was undoubtedly this city. His nest.
No dragon had ever had a nest this vast or commanded as many minions. Others barely had a few hundred underlings in their cramped mountain caves.
“You seem to be in a good mood, noble one.”
“That’s the secret of those who live long. Only those who find joy in the trivial can truly own their lives.”
“I don’t quite get that.”
Behind him stood a green-haired woman with long ears. Aousolion. A being who had crossed over to this damn world alongside him.
The man shrugged as if to ask what was the matter. Aousolion nonchalantly pulled out a paper and handed it over.
“Here. A recently submitted paper. I thought you might find it interesting.”
“Hmm? A paper…?”
Hisberk received the paper from Aousolion and skimmed through it. Unlike other businessmen in different cities, he was knowledgeable and had the intellectual capacity to read and understand the latest papers; this was no exception.
After flipping through the entire paper, Hisberk let out a chuckle and swatted the paper away from his face.
“Proof of the soul? Ridiculous. How could one measure the soul with machines and mathematics…?”
“Do you think so, noble one?”
“Of course! Do you really believe what’s scrawled here is the truth?”
At Hisberk’s question, Aousolion fell silent. To be honest, she did. As long as the paper didn’t contain major errors, this was either the truth or something she had to believe to uphold the social promise of scientific advancement.
However, the man before her seemed to think differently. Perhaps he had grown too stubborn with age to easily change his thoughts, or maybe it was simply because the soul was something immeasurable by formulas and machines.
Whatever the reason, Aousolion didn’t rush to speak. She knew far too well that silence is golden.
“Well then. That’s unfortunate.”
“Hmph—if it were that easy to create a soul, I would have resurrected my kin in this land long ago. The soul is absolute and sacred.”
Hisberk said this as he turned his head back toward the window, clearly uninterested in Aousolion any longer.
With a light nod towards the man’s turned back, Aousolion left the room, staring at the crumpled paper.
Thinking back, she didn’t believe the paper was wrong.
* * *
“Urrrgh…!”
“Are you in pain? That’s fortunate.”
“What? You miserable— ughh…!”
A beast filled with muscles instead of brains growled in agony. I let out a long sigh as I watched the wailing Galm.
“Are you really filled with muscles instead of a brain?”
“Of course not…”
“Then why did you eat two? I told you to only eat one, right? I even pointed out that you shouldn’t eat more than one just in case you got confused.”
To be precise, saying not to eat more than one was technically incorrect. Not more than one includes one, so it means not to eat at all. Saying not to eat more than one was effectively the same as saying don’t eat any.
However, I used that incorrect phrase because I was worried this foolish beast would interpret it to mean he could eat two. Even with all the warnings, he still ended up eating two.
“If you want to commit suicide, could you at least sign this document first?”
“…Consent for cadaver research? This crazy scientist…!”
“The crazy one is you, Galm! What were you thinking, eating two of those things… you unhealthy fool.”
“Ughhhh—!?”
Once again, a pained groan escaped from Galm. After giving him a solid smack on the back, I finally stood up, satisfied with my work.
Various devices were stuck all over Galm’s body, all meant to assist with healing and recovery.
“You’ll be in pain for a while. Considering Galm’s already a junkie with a ruined body, pushing it like this…”
“Can’t your boost item or red potion help?”
“Do you think those are miracle cures? Let me break it down for your muscle-headed intellect, Galm, what you did was a big no-no. Those two are meant to let you temporarily surpass your physical limits or to restore your stamina to the max.”
To put it simply:
The boost item adds a correction to your current stamina.
The red potion brings your depleted stamina back up to maximum.
Both only affect your current stamina, not your maximum. In contrast, Galm’s state was already hampered by aging, old injuries from long wars, and the backlash from eating two gene enhancements, leading to a substantial decrease in his maximum stamina.
This was something that couldn’t be healed with medication. Only prolonged recovery would hold the answer.
‘Using your body like that isn’t a good thing…’
It was a chronic issue following technological advancement. As medicine progressed to treat any ailment or injury, people began to take on far riskier challenges, thinking they could just heal if anything went wrong.
The same goes for scientific technology. Just as technology that reverses environmental pollution accelerates it instead, humanity’s greed knows no bounds; the limits are only in what humans can physically do.
“Rest up. You could genuinely die like this.”
“Tsk… Do I really have to take a break from exercising?”
“If you want to spend your life lain up, sure.”
After finishing up with Galm’s treatment, I stepped out of the hospital room. Several doctors had already come and gone, but they hadn’t provided any viable solutions.
What remained were only average doctors and nurses capable of basic measures, not legendary doctors from some dark world that could fix anything.
‘So busy, so busy…’
The war between City P and City W had ended. The citizens of the now-defeated City P were mercilessly attacking, while simultaneously, they bared their sharp teeth at City W.
They flooded into City W, aiming to take advantage of its resources and the situation from the war. The entire city was in ruins, exposing plenty of vulnerabilities in its administration, essentially reducing City W to a colony of nearby cities.
Citizens in City W used daily necessities from City H, the buildings were constructed from Cities A, B, and C, and they were selling their rights to resources in exchange for various forms of support.
It would be extremely difficult for City W to regain its former status.
‘Asking for security-maintaining androids… Boss, are you slowly starting to reveal technology?’
Naturally, our City E, so the Evilus Corporation also decided to dip its spoon into that raucous soup of benefits. Sure, the Boss lavishes far more welfare and support compared to other cities—but that doesn’t mean the Boss is a sucker or a generous tree.
In fact, it was the opposite. The Boss’s support signified an intent to extract even more than that. It wasn’t for nothing that the Boss had the nickname “Iron-Blooded Businessman” in the financial world. Keeping his true identity hidden, he was said to be ruthless and without compassion.
‘A suitable level of AI should suffice. I don’t need a Lucia level created by Dr. Kuroid, just something that can follow orders…’
This level seemed just perfect for what the Boss desired, and it wouldn’t cause too much chaos in this world either. People could be surprised yet still accept it without too much trouble.
Thus, I busied myself with creating security androids. Considering the level of villains in this world, armor capable of withstanding a couple of armored shells and weapons that could hit moving objects faster than helicopters should be enough.
Even with those specs, it wouldn’t be enough against an S-class villain, but… that’s fine. My job wasn’t to entirely snatch away human roles through a mechanical revolution.
‘Little by little, making the world a slightly better place….’
Like a soft rain soaking underwear.
So that people can unknowingly accept the technology.
That was my role.
* * *
“What? What does that even mean…?”
“They say we’re falling behind in performance. Absurd, but that’s the word.”
“There’s no way that can outperform anything in that price range.”
However, my security androids wouldn’t be employed right away.
Because the new android released from City D, the Dragon Bone Soldier, had pushed them out of the way.