Chapter 346
The fluorescent light cast shadows over the chessboard inside the office.
Professor Albert adjusted his thick-rimmed glasses and surveyed his peculiar opponent across the board. His gaze, sharp as a razor, bore down on the challenger.
“I’ll move the rook to c4. Care to block me?”
“Uuuh?”
On the other side of the chessboard sat a monkey, perfectly poised. Its cocoa-brown fur gleamed like polished copper.
The professor observed as the creature’s fingers danced delicately over the black knight like a pianist performing a sonata.
Unlike its wild relatives who flail about in the trees, Cocoa moved with calculated precision as if it were a seasoned knight.
“If you move the knight there… Hmm, that could be a dangerous play.”
The monkey tilted its head and shifted a piece. The fan blew, scattering research materials like autumn leaves, yet neither player seemed to notice.
Their world was condensed into those sixty-four squares before them.
In that pivotal moment, Cocoa’s finger slid across the board, executing a bishop move with the smooth confidence of a master con artist. Professor Albert’s face twitched as if a glitch in a video had just occurred.
“Bishop to check… I didn’t see that coming. I’ve lost this round as well.”
Cocoa’s lips curled into a mischievous grin, almost as if it were gloating. Albert chuckled helplessly and announced, “Checkmate.”
**
Final exams and all remaining assignments were finally done. We were gearing up for a full-scale operation, and as I watched the monkeys and crows diligently tapping away on the tablet, I couldn’t help but click my tongue.
I had said they could do whatever they wanted to stave off boredom, and they were completely absorbed in a game using my account. It was a medieval fantasy adventure game, and somehow they had even created a secondary account.
Especially the sight of the crows, tapping the tablet expertly while wearing tiny thimbles on their beaks, was bizarrely amusing.
“Over here! This way! We need to gather more gold! Just a little more and we can enhance our abilities!”
“That hunting spot is totally inefficient. Go catch wolves in the twisted forest and level up your skills first.”
Listening to their chatter through the network, I was astounded. When on earth had they managed to level up my character like this?
The level had skyrocketed beyond imagination, and I was operating in an area I’d never even seen before.
“When did you level up my character like this?”
The monkeys cheerfully replied, “There’s always a method! We discovered a bug!”
“We hit the enemies like this… input a specific command, and then move back and forth behind this tree, and experience points just pile up automatically!”
Oh wow, such a clever method! The intelligence of these V-animals was truly impressive.
After all, this creativity was surely inherited from the free-spirited nature of our Violets.
“Just a bit more and the boss character will hit max level! We’ll soon challenge in the arena!”
“Our animals will sweep the server rankings clean!”
“Really well done!”
As I pondered how to reward the cleverness of my V-animals, a scream erupted suddenly from outside.
Turning my head, I saw mice scurrying in all directions from the window.
“Emergency! Emergency!”
“It’s a cat! Quickly, form a defensive line!”
Without hesitation, the animals and I dashed out the door.
**
On the hot factory floor, a swarm of mice gathered, squeaking as they held a serious discussion.
The V-mice chattered about their abilities and contemplated their next moves.
“Squawk! I never thought we’d fail so miserably!”
“We lacked training!”
The mice painfully reaffirmed the bitter reality.
Even with the blessings of animal democracy and the gift of intelligence, biological limitations were certainly not trivial.
Mice were incredibly fragile creatures.
“Let’s utilize more tools! I heard there’s such a thing as a multi-tool!”
“What about increasing the use of explosives?”
The mice, heads huddled together, tried to implement a collective intelligence based on their boss’s method, even asking smarter animals for advice.
“At least it’s a relief! After dying and coming back, my sight is way better now.”
“Right? Squawk! I can now distinguish the red of apples and the yellow of bananas!”
At Lime’s words, the other mice nodded enthusiastically. The biggest weakness of mice was undoubtedly their vision.
Distance made them nearly blind, but that serious color blindness and myopia vanished upon being revived.
According to the professors, their eyes had developed to levels similar to humans’.
“If we just roam around the enemy’s surroundings, it’ll be a huge help for our boss! The crows say there’s no need to feel too pressured, squawk!”
Encouraged by Lemon’s pep talk, the mice clenched their little paws as if determined.
Lost in their discussion, the V-mice finally noticed a mindless beast climbing down the factory wall.
“Meow!”
The cat spotted the mice and dashed forward as if it had found the perfect toy. The startled mice scattered in all directions.
“Form a defensive line! Quickly, form a defensive line!”
Lemon hurriedly called the rest of the team to form a line. But the mice’s bodies trembled involuntarily.
Was it because of the predator before them? Instinctual fear was manifesting throughout their bodies.
“We can win!”
Though they shouted that, the mice hesitated. Logic said their numbers were more than enough to defeat the cat, but primal terror held them back.
‘We’re just tiny mice… we just want to run away…’
Just then, Lemon stepped forward. It was only one step, inspired by the belief that fleeing was not an option. However, in that moment, an unexpected flash struck his tiny brain.
An idea sparked in the little creature’s mind.
“What? Lemon? What are you doing?”
Lemon stood on his hind legs, stretching his front paw towards the cat.
The flash, the thunderous sound, and a righteous strike flooded his imagination.
“Thunder!”
The imagined reality became true.
A small bolt of lightning shot from the mouse’s front paw.
“Meow!”
Hit by the shock, the cat jumped into the air in shock.
Smoke curled from its singed fur. The startled thief cat sprang up, equally astonished as the mice.
“How did you manage that?”
“I just did what my heart told me!”
Soon after, Lime dashed forward, lifting his paw to mimic the same action.
In that instant, the mightiest image a mouse could conjure sprang to mind. It was likely inspired by the gunfights and explosions shown to them by their owner.
And thus, the mice united with pure, righteous hearts, shouting together.
“Lightning!”
“Fire! Squawk!”
As the bolt charged forth from their ether-charged paws, the cat screamed and fled.
“Meow!”
The cat bolted from the mice’s attack, not looking back. The monkeys and Violets, who had rushed outside with tools in hand, witnessed the miraculous scene of the mice.
“We did it! We did it!”
“The V-animals have evolved yet again!”
In amazement at their surprising growth, the Violets looked around. The monkeys who rushed to save their companions were just as spellbound. The mice before them had once again transcended the limits of their species.
It was then that Violet noticed another strange thing.
“Huh…? Monkeys? What’s that?”
“Uuuh?”
At first, the monkeys didn’t comprehend what their master’s pointing finger meant while it pointed at the tools in their hands.
“Oh no! Could it be that you all…!”
The weapons the monkeys wielded glowed with a faint red light.
**
While pondering how to take down the evil foundation, an unexpected variable appeared.
“The animals are using magical power!”
The great Violet Animal Special Forces suddenly gained the ability to use magic.
I had sensed their growth, but to see such a rapid change was utterly unimaginable.
Surprisingly, the reaction of the Violet researchers was calm.
“Hey, Lemon. Shall we try it one more time?”
“Got it! Boss, squawk! Watch this… Thunder! Lightning!”
Uncle Yurik rubbed his roughly shaven chin, making a ‘hmm’ sound. That was all.
They showed a mouse shooting lightning, reacting as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“The internal magical power levels have been increasing consistently. It was expected. However, I didn’t anticipate it would manifest so quickly.”
“Oh, so you knew this would happen?”
“I couldn’t predict the specific form, but I had a hypothesis that once a certain threshold was reached, magical energy release would become possible. I just didn’t think it would happen this fast.”
I see. I was curious about the cause. When they had used magical power earlier, I felt as if a bit of my own energy had slipped away.
Could it be that their network was connected to my magical energy? I sat down with the animals at the measuring device, and the results were as expected.
“…Yes, it seems that way. Analyzing the network—magical energy tracing system shows a pattern where a certain amount of magic dissipates into the air, then reappears in a somewhat diminished state on the animal side…? Hmm, the phenomenon of slightly decreased magical energy is quite interesting… Didn’t the mice die and come back recently?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“It seems that when multiple mice died and revived simultaneously, both physiological changes and shifts in the animals’ network occurred. I suspect it may have evolved into a more complex form.”
Seeing Uncle Yurik engrossed in research, I decided to leave.
One thing was certain: the animals had acquired the ability to wield magical power.
While their overall output was still at a modest level, it meant that we would have to completely rethink all the operations and tactics we had previously conceived.
“Isn’t it a good thing after all! Shouldn’t we be able to teach the monkeys and crows more advanced magic?”
“True. Even Professor Albert is already trying it out. The monkeys are so smart that their chess skills have improved to the point where even the professor sometimes loses to them.”
Indeed, the learning ability of the monkeys and crows was astonishing.
They might spend most of their time idly in front of the computer or comic books, but when it came to learning something, their eyes would change entirely.
Moreover, perhaps due to being able to explain things directly via the network, they had completely mastered the use of all the weaponry we had at our disposal and had swiftly learned how to handle explosives.
“Must we teach them magic? Let’s consider other directions too. Their computer skills are top-notch.”
“What if we leverage their small size to assign them infiltration missions?”
As we tossed around ideas, I was sure that something good would come out of it. Our V-animals had a special talent—a talent capable of spreading seeds of violence and liberation.
“Let’s leave the roles of the V-animals to their autonomy!”
I had heard that wise leaders trust their subordinates and grant them autonomy. I had no doubt they would rise to their potential.
We had gained staunch revolutionary warriors.