Chapter 1869 – 1869. Eternal Eden
I finished showering, roughly patting my dripping hair, and headed to the lab where Na Chaeyoung was. She was sitting in a chair, wearing a white coat, intently staring at the computer monitor. I glanced at the screen. It seemed to be a mechanical blueprint.
“What’s that blueprint for?”
“It’s a combat AI blueprint. What we got was the software. This is the hardware blueprint.”
“Don’t you need a supercomputer for that?”
Even though I don’t know much about engineering, I know that AI basically needs to be able to process an enormous amount of calculations.
“Did you forget I’m a technologist? We have the blueprint here, and the resources we got from Taewang. There’s no reason we can’t make it. We should be able to make the minimum equipment to use the combat AI before that day comes.”
“You said that to make something using a technologist’s ability, you have to understand what you’re making. Even with all the data, can you understand it that quickly?”
“I can only say it’s because I’m a technologist. You could call it a kind of superpower? When I’m researching machines, it feels like my brain gets a huge boost.”
With that, Na Chaeyoung finally took her eyes off the monitor. She turned her chair slightly to look at me. She immediately frowned.
“…Why are you naked?”
“It’s stuffy. And I’m going to bed soon anyway. In bed… you know?”
I grinned. Na Chaeyoung wasn’t embarrassed by my suggestive gaze. She just sighed softly.
“You were practically dying just now… Do you really have to do that?”
“Sex is the meaning of my life. And my body has already fully recovered. I realized today that my recovery speed is faster than before.”
“That’s not strange. It varies from person to person, but the more an Awakened uses their abilities, the stronger they become. Your ability must have gotten stronger too.”
“Dr. Na, how powerful do you think my recovery ability is?”
“I don’t really know your recovery ability. It’s the first time I’ve seen it.”
“But you’re a player.”
“Just because I’m a player doesn’t mean I know everything about Eternal Eden. That game was excessively vast.”
“If my recovery keeps growing, could I become immortal?”
“You could become something similar. But becoming completely immortal is impossible.”
“Why?”
“Abilities aren’t no-cost. Using abilities accumulates both mental and physical fatigue. If either one bottoms out… the ability won’t activate.”
“Are you talking about that feeling when my stamina drops sharply after using lightning? Mental fatigue is… um. Isn’t that the same as physical fatigue?”
“It seems that Absolute Spirit affects that too. But nothing is absolute. If you rely only on recovery and push your body too hard, you’ll be in big trouble. There will come a time when you can’t recover.”
“It seems like recovery also restores that stamina?”
“…I said mental fatigue accumulates.”
“But I’m saying I’ve never felt mental fatigue.”
“……If that’s true, then your recovery might really be working like a perpetual motion machine. Still, there’s no guarantee that your ability will activate after you die. Don’t do anything reckless.”
“No, it will activate even after I die. The side effects of Vister I. Did you forget? After I killed those gangsters, all my blood vessels burst and I died.”
“Did you lose consciousness?”
“No, it didn’t feel like I lost consciousness.”
“Then how are you so sure you died? Maybe it wasn’t death.”
“I know because I died.”
“……”
Na Chaeyoung looked at me as if I was strange.
It was hard to explain. I had already faced death several times. And I had come back to life through complete recovery. So, experiencing death was familiar to me.
“It’ll be hard to achieve meaningful growth by just using your abilities recklessly. Especially since you have the ‘Dunce’ trait.”
“Do I look like a dunce to you?”
“…No. Your combat abilities are beyond genius, they’re monstrous.”
“Dr. Na, the ‘Dunce’ trait means it’s hard to learn new things, right?”
“That’s right.”
“It means that even if learning is hard, using what I already know isn’t a problem, right?”
“……That’s what I can’t understand. Your swordsmanship, your ability to use lightning, your ability to endure pain… how do you know all those things?”
“I wonder.”
Na Chaeyoung stared at me intently before shaking her head with a sigh. She knew I wouldn’t tell her anyway.
I went out of the lab and brought the sword I had carelessly tossed aside, handing it to Na Chaeyoung.
“Can you sharpen it for me?”
Na Chaeyoung took the sword out of its sheath and paused. I was surprised too. The titanium blade, which had been close to gray, had turned white.
“…Did you paint it or something?”
“You know better than anyone that I didn’t have time for such pranks.”
“The metal has changed.”
Na Chaeyoung pulled the entire sword out of its sheath. Except for the handle, the entire blade had turned pure white.
“Can metal change like that?”
“It sometimes happens in Eternal Eden. Very rarely, when metal comes into contact with the blood or flesh of an evolved creature, it mutates. We’ll have to research what kind of special metal it is.”
“Is it because I killed that monster?”
“The metal wouldn’t change just because you killed the Brain Devourer with a sword. There must be another factor. Tell me in detail what the situation was when you killed the Brain Devourer.”
There was no reason to hide it. I told her that I had swung the sword while channeling a massive amount of electricity into it.
“That attack that split the lab in half, huh? Try channeling a little electricity into the sword. Not too strong.”
Na Chaeyoung said. Her eyes, which were usually deeply sunken, were sparkling for some reason.
I took the sword and generated a weak lightning bolt.
*Crack*
The small lightning bolt that flashed was absorbed into the pure white sword. The sword momentarily shone silver before the light disappeared.
‘Was that too weak?’
*Fzzzt!*
The lightning bolt that came from my hand was absorbed into the sword. I felt the lightning being pulled in. The blade, now infused with lightning, shone silver. It continued to turn silver even though I wasn’t supplying any more lightning. And that wasn’t the only change. The blade had become incredibly sharp in an instant.
“Wait a minute. Stop supplying electricity.”
“I already stopped. It’s like it’s charged up. And look at this. It sharpened the blade on its own.”
“…Charged? Then can you discharge the electricity?”
“I’ll try.”
I discharged the electricity from the sword. It wasn’t difficult. The force with which the sword pulled in electricity was very weak. Almost non-existent. As the electricity was discharged, the silver sword returned to white. The blade was now razor-sharp.
“Oh. Is this an automatic blade restoration function!”
I chuckled. I didn’t know the cause, but it was a feature I liked. There was nothing more annoying than having the blade break every time I swung the sword.
“…This metal isn’t just that. The fact that it restores its shape must be one of its abilities. What about its strength? How strong is the sword?”
Her voice was slightly higher. She was excited.
“Huh? I don’t know. It was titanium originally, so isn’t it about the same as titanium?”
“We’ll have to experiment. More important than the strength of the metal is the amount of charge it can hold and the charging speed. If the metal itself can act as a battery… it would be nothing short of a revolution. It will be helpful. Give me the sword. I need to start researching it now.”
“…But the sword is my weapon.”
“If we research and understand it, we can mass-produce it.”
“How long will it take to research everything?”
“It won’t take long. A sword isn’t a complex machine, it’s just a piece of metal that’s been thinned and sharpened. Looking at its structure, it’s no different from a rock lying on the street.”
“You’re underestimating the technology that goes into a sword… Oh, right. Dr. Na is a technologist.”
For her, the process of melting and hammering metal to make a sword was unnecessary. She could create metal from resources and shape it with her ability. As she said, a sword was just a piece of metal that had been thinned and sharpened. I had seen her make a sword myself. She had simply stretched the metal with her ability, and a sword was created.
“I need to start researching right away.”
“…Should I help?”
I didn’t have anything else to do. It wasn’t even evening yet, so it was too early to go to bed.
“Help me. If you help, we can get research results faster.”
I looked at the sword in my hand.
The titanium sword had transformed into a new sword. So, it was right to give it a new name, abandoning the name Titania.
“You are now a Cutlass Sword.”
“…What?”
“The way it shines silver looks like a cutlass fish. Cutlass Sword. Hmm. I like it.”
Shouldn’t it be called a ‘do’ since it’s a sword? The thought flashed through my mind, but Cutlass Sword had a better ring to it.
“Oh, right. I heard that the first person to see a metal gets to name it? Then I should name it?”
“…Don’t tell me.”
“This metal is now Cutlassium.”
“That cutlass….”
Na Chaeyoung held her head as if she had a headache.
As it turned out, Cutlassium was an amazing material. Its strength was similar to titanium, and its charge capacity was about 12 times greater than a battery of the same size. And that was without any special processing.
According to Na Chaeyoung, if Cutlassium was processed into a proper battery, its efficiency would increase by at least two times.
“This is an incredible metal. The biggest headache in modern society was the battery problem… and now that problem has taken a huge leap forward. One step? No, this metal alone has advanced the battery industry by at least three steps.”
“Amazing, Cutlassium.”
“Can you please do something about that cutlass?”
“I’ve already decided on Cutlassium. But if it’s such a great technology, shouldn’t we hide it?”
“We can monopolize it for now… but it’ll be difficult. I’m thinking of actively using this…”
“Cutlassium.”
“…Yes. Cutlassium. Those who get their hands on it will also research it and immediately create Cutlassium. So, I’m thinking of using it for trade as well.”
“Who are you going to trade with?”
“Companies. Or the government. Of course, I don’t mean right now. And I’m just stating my opinion. It’s up to you to choose my opinion.”
“Me?”
“You’re the leader of Seongak Elementary School here. The leader ultimately decides the assets of the faction. This Cutlassium is yours. What are you going to do with it?”
I thought for a moment before saying,
“If such an opportunity arises, let’s trade with the government.”
“Why? Companies might offer more money.”
“I know the limitations of companies well. If we’re going to make friends, it’s better to befriend the government.”
“Okay.”
And finally, that day was just around the corner.
D-1.
