Chapter 119

I was heading to the hunting ground.

The last time I used the two tickets I’d received, ‘hunting’ itself hadn’t been my goal, so I hadn’t done any proper farming.

But this time would be different.

‘I’ll need to adjust my schedule soon.’

There were no restrictions on farming in the hunting ground.

So, if I wanted to use the tickets as efficiently as possible, I’d need to prepare what I could in advance.

And as for the timing…

‘It would be best to go briefly just before the summer vacation ends.’

After jotting down a quick note in my schedule application, I closed it.

Then I turned my gaze once again toward the three Arcane Modules Miyu had made.

These weren’t for me, but for my team to use.

“What abilities do these have?”

“Ah, I’ll explain them for youuu!”

Miyu’s face brightened at finally having the chance to explain her creations.

“As you know, Arcane Modules show their strongest performance when they preserve the monster’s original abilities. So, when Modulars make Arcane Modules, that’s the part they focus on the mosttt.”

To put it in game terms, you’d get the best results when you maximized the monster’s original traits.

For example, if you made an Essence with the essence of a Flame Demon, you’d need to grant it a trait like ‘Fire Resistance.’ If you tried to give it something like ‘Cold Resistance,’ it wouldn’t be properly completed, and even if you somehow did finish it, it would just turn into trash with a high output level.

“So, I tried to put the Outer God’s traits directly into the modules. But the structure of the Essence was extremely complex, so analyzing and reconstructing it gave me a lot of troubleee.”

“Aaron. I don’t really get what she’s saying.”

“You don’t need to.”

After quieting Evangeline, who was whining above my head, I accepted the data box Miyu held out.

As soon as I activated it, a holographic report floated in midair.

A 3D image of the Outer God appeared, while to the right, a detailed breakdown of the tentacles’ components popped up in information windows.

The molecular structure of the body’s composition, its energy wavelength—there was a lot written there, but I didn’t really understand any of it, so I just listened to Miyu’s explanation.

“As you requested, I reconstructed only the parts of the Outer God’s traits that would suit their three combat styles. First is Miss Iri.”

Following Miyu’s words, a simulation video began to play.

In the video, a 3D avatar that looked just like Iri faced an enemy.

“Miss Iri’s role is to endure enemy attacks at the front line, righttt? So, I made a module that would help with defense. For now, I named it [Poky Poky].”

“……”

I decided to let that naming sense slide for now.

In the video, Iri was punched from behind by a virtual enemy.

At that moment, needles sprouted from Iri’s skin and pierced the enemy’s hand.

“When struck, poisoned needles are ejected automaticallyyy.”

“Poisonous thorns, huh.”

It seemed to be a module that carried the Outer God’s trait of firing spines like a sea urchin.

Passive, yes, but not bad.

After all, Iri’s job was to defend at the front, meaning she could easily end up surrounded by enemies.

With this ability, she’d be able to escape from danger in such situations.

Though one thing felt a bit odd.

“For Lv.4, it seems rather plain.”

“Th-That’s not true at allll!”

Flustered, Miyu launched into a passionate explanation.

“Do you realize how amazing it is that she can eject spines regardless of what clothes or armor she’s wearinggg? On top of that, the poison’s composition and the size of the spines can be freely adjusted toooo!”

“Alright, I get it, that’s enough.”

If it had only created spines from her bare skin, it wouldn’t have been much use.

But if she could use it regardless of her outfit, then that was quite an impressive technology.

It was certainly worthy of being a Lv.4 module.

“S-So, does that mean it passes?”

“Yes, it passes. Let’s rename it [Thorn Armor].”

Miyu accepted the new name without any fuss.

Next was Silence’s module.

It was also a Lv.4 Arcane Module made from the same material, but its performance was entirely different from Iri’s.

“I named this one [Can’t See Mee].”

…Her hopeless naming sense really needed to be overlooked again.

“I designed it to enhance Mister Silence’s stealth abilities. The current module he uses has many weaknesses, doesn’t ittt?”

“That’s right.”

He could become invisible, yes, but infrared cameras or thermal imaging still picked him up without fail.

And whenever he used it, a shimmer like heat haze would rise around him.

Honestly, it wasn’t a very good level of optical camouflage.

“So I made this module instead. When used, it causes a low-level mental contamination in whoever is observing himmm.”

Even if someone looked at him, if they failed to consciously recognize what they saw, it was effectively the same as being invisible.

By disturbing the opponent’s perception, he could prevent them from noticing him.

“…This is quite something.”

I couldn’t help but be impressed as soon as I heard the explanation.

Unlike Iri’s somewhat underwhelming module, this one had limitless potential uses.

Not just for sneaking around, but even in a one-on-one confrontation, it could allow him to instantly seize the initiative.

Now this was a true Lv.4 Arcane Module.

“This one passes too. As for the name… [Mental Noiser] should do.”

It sounded a little chuunibyou-ish, but in a way, that suited Silence.

And no matter what name I gave it, it would certainly be better than [Can’t See Mee!].

Now then.

Lastly, there was Raina’s module.

“Miss Raina, among Gunners, she mainly handles heavy weapons like a minigun, right? Since she’s the team’s firepower, it’d be best if she could sustain that firepower for a long time, but the weapons she uses consume ammo so quickly.”

It was the chronic problem Gunners had as Adaptees.

Once their ammo was used up, they had to rely on a Modular for resupply after the battle.

If a battle dragged on and resupply was cut off, it was practically the same as losing combat ability.

That was why Gunners had always come up with their own ways of dealing with it.

Either carrying a massive supply of ammo from the start, or avoiding battles that consumed too much ammo and conserving what they had.

Alternatively, instead of using metal-based rounds, they could use energy-based rounds.

That required implanting a biogenerator and a round-manufacturing device in the body to produce energy rounds on the spot.

But even that wasn’t perfect.

It wasn’t as if they could manufacture ammo infinitely, and weapons that fired energy rounds were astronomically expensive.

On top of that, just implanting a generator and a manufacturing device caused a huge spike in replacement rate, which in turn restricted how many combat modules they could equip, drastically lowering their specs compared to Adaptees of the same level.

For that reason, compared to melee weapon Adaptees, Gunners faced a lot of disadvantages.

Sure, having overwhelming long-range firepower was a tremendous advantage, but their weaknesses were just as clear.

“So I thought about it. How could Miss Raina sustain that powerful fire without worrying about running out of ammooo?”

“So, what’s your conclusion?”

“Well, it doesn’t necessarily have to be only metal rounds or energy rounds that get fired, does ittt? So I made a module that could modify her minigun without raising the replacement rate too much.”

Another simulation played.

This time, Raina’s avatar fired her minigun at enemies.

Soon, the ammo was depleted.

Her chest plate opened, and an unfamiliar object popped out.

It was a box, about the size of a fist.

“Is that… an ammo box?”

“Please watch just a little longer.”

In the simulation, Raina inserted the box into the minigun, then immediately began firing again at the enemy.

But what came out wasn’t ordinary bullets—it was a black liquid.

Like a water gun filled with black ink, the shots splattered liquid everywhere around the impact points.

Yet the power was anything but weak.

The virtual enemies hit by those black liquid rounds were riddled with holes as if they’d been shot with normal bullets.

“That black liquid is…”

“The ‘Outer God’ had the ability to create minionsss. I applied that trait to design a module that produces a new type of ammunition.”

“Is the firepower sufficient?”

“It’s weaker than standard machine gun rounds, but about as strong as subsonic rounds. As long as her stamina holds, she can practically fire without limit. Since it’s in liquid form before being shot, it can be used regardless of weapon type toooo.”

“What other advantages?”

“It won’t consume much replacement rate. And there’s no need to swap out the weapon either.”

I see.

So it could resupply ammo on the spot like an energy weapon, but with far less replacement burden or weapon limitations.

An unlimited magazine, huh.

Not bad.

That alone was more than enough for a Lv.4 Arcane Module.

“What about weaknesses?”

“The firepower is somewhat lower, and the user’s stamina consumption is heavyyy. The overload rate will keep increasing the more it’s used.”

That was unfortunate, but this was meant to be an emergency weapon for when ammo ran out anyway.

Besides, Arcane Modules were notorious for massively increasing overload.

As I made my evaluation in silence, Miyu looked up at me nervously.

“S-So, what do you think?”

Pass or fail.

Well, there was no need to hesitate.

“This should pass.”

As for the name…

[Ink Bottle] should do nicely.

With that, the inspection of the Arcane Modules that would grant my team new abilities was finished.

Taking Evangeline with me, I left Miyu’s workshop.

I had no further business here, so I contacted Maria.

“I’ll be moving to the next location.”

[Yes. I’ll be there to pick you up right away.]

Not even two minutes after the call ended, Maria arrived with the car.

I lifted Evangeline from where she was clinging to my head and set her in the back seat before getting in beside her.

Maria pressed the accelerator smoothly and asked me,

“Shall we head to the place you mentioned earlier?”

“Yes.”

Since I was already in Sector E, it was best to take care of this issue now.

No point in delaying it further.

It had already been more than a month since I’d returned from Colony V7, but I’d been so busy that I hadn’t had the chance to deal with this matter until now.

I pulled out the business card I’d received from Director Patton before leaving Colony V7.

With a blue hologram, the voice of a man utterly devoid of motivation began to play.

‘Bluecoat Problem Solver Office….’

This was the place.

Where the man I was looking for was.

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