Chapter 135

“Late, aren’t you!”

After the inauguration ceremony.

For the first time in a while, I headed to the Stingray Foundation Academy branch office.

Taking the staff-only elevator and stepping into the office, the employees greeted me with the same courtesy as always.

‘So this is the taste of power.’

Even though I had been absent for quite a long time without notice (Maria had covered it as sick leave, though), not a single person cast a reproachful look at me.

Of course, who would dare to question the unauthorized absence of the effective owner and manager of the Foundation?

In the first place, most of the employees working at the Academy branch were at the bottom rung, so if I hadn’t arbitrarily moved the office here, they would hardly even have had the chance to see my face.

If I had been an ordinary employee, I would have already been fired or, if lucky, subjected to severe disciplinary action.

But as the second most powerful person in this city, I could return to the office without the slightest restriction.

Really, having money was all that mattered.

However.

Just because the employees kept their mouths shut didn’t mean no one dared to say anything to me. Even Maria couldn’t demand, “Where the hell have you been!” but there was one single exception.

“Why have you only shown up now!”

Evangeline de Armedia, practically the second in command of the Stingray Foundation Academy branch, raised her voice in reproach the moment she saw me.

Why was she ranked second?

The answer lay in our office lounge, which had somehow turned into a children’s playroom. When I had left for vacation, the lounge had still looked relatively normal, but now it was a bright, childlike space.

Soft mats were spread across the floor, on the TV a carefree penguin friend was dancing around, and in the corner, a little slide and a ball pit had appeared.

One couldn’t help but doubt whether this place truly belonged to the office of the Stingray Group-backed Foundation, rulers of the city.

‘Our staff went and set this up on their own, didn’t they…….’

Back when I had been here, there had been a few children’s items scattered around, but at least it had still looked like a lounge.

The moment my deterrence disappeared, this was the result.

‘Why didn’t you stop them, Maria…….’

That question lasted only briefly before I realized how meaningless it was. After all, the biggest fangirl of Evangeline was none other than Maria herself.

Well, in any case.

With just one remark like ‘I don’t like this’ or ‘I like that,’ the little dictator who held overwhelming power to make our staff laugh or cry glared at me with obvious displeasure.

“I knew you had returned early! Then why did you not come straight here? What happened?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I do not care!”

“……”

Of course you don’t care.

You just come here to play in the lounge and go back, that’s all. But I still had work to do.

Yet if I ignored her and left for work, she’d sulk and refuse to even look at me for a while. With no other choice, I decided to explain as briefly as possible.

“I fainted.”

“Fainted?”

“While adapting to a new module.”

“……Module?”

Right, she didn’t even know what a Combat Module was.

Where should I start explaining?

After a brief moment of thought, I began carefully explaining things to Evangeline in terms she could understand.

The Blue Hunting Ground was a complete polar climate.

Blizzards raged, and all that could be seen was snow and ice—a frigid place where the temperature stayed below freezing all day.

In some ways, the environment was harsher than the volcanic region spewing sulfurous gas, and the amount of [Mystic] was extremely scarce.

Food was completely frozen, and there wasn’t any proper firewood.

Bringing along a thick jumper just in case turned out to be a stroke of genius. What’s more, among my modules was one with a ‘freeze prevention’ effect, so there was no major issue in keeping active.

But the [Cold Resistance] module only prevented my machinery from freezing and becoming inoperable. It didn’t mean I couldn’t feel the cold.

With no choice, I activated [Techblade], raised the nanomachine overload rate, and forced my body into overdrive to keep warm while I hunted.

Ironically, the low temperature made the [Techblade] more stable than usual.

Naturally, the [Mystics] that survived in such an extreme environment were much stronger than those in the Violet Hunting Ground.

Many of them acted alone, and each one’s combat strength was far superior. To think there was such a gap in difficulty when it was supposedly just one step higher. I couldn’t help but wonder how powerful the monsters of the Red Hunting Ground would be when I eventually faced them.

Still, that was all relative. Because of the extreme conditions, I couldn’t fight at full power, but even so, it wasn’t difficult to deal with them.

There, I hunted every monster I encountered: ‘Yetis,’ ‘Ice Spirits,’ ‘Frost Crawlers.’ Thanks to the bitter cold, they were preserved naturally, without the need for processing.

As expected, there were no drop items.

Once again, I confirmed just how stingy the drop rate setting of the Hunting Ground was.

At least I was able to gather plenty of materials, so I devoted myself to hunting until the very last day of vacation. Then, satisfied, I headed to Miyu’s workshop.

Will this be enough?

I-I’ll do my best……!

Though Miyu replied as if uncertain of the outcome, her eyes were clearly filled with excitement.

I knew that in such moments, she always came up with something extraordinary that hadn’t existed before.

It was, of course, not an easy process to create a new Lv.5 Mystic Module.

Gathering materials was already difficult enough, but beyond that, vast amounts of equipment and energy were required.

Naturally, if I had used the power of the Stingray Group, I could have obtained all of that with little trouble. But I wanted to avoid letting this matter reach the Chairman’s ears.

So I kept it secret even from Maria, disguising myself and drifting around the Black Market in Sector E, procuring the equipment and materials Miyu asked for each time.

In the process, I withdrew over 100 million Credits from my personal account.

Even after all that, I had to use my own body as a generator to make up for the lack of power.

I converted the massive energy consumed when using [Techblade] or [Cloud Spider] into electricity, supporting Miyu’s work so that it could proceed smoothly.

After several weeks of hardship, we finally managed to complete the new module.

Miyu herself admitted that the work should normally have taken at least a year of research.

“It helped that I had already analyzed the structural essence of the ‘Outer God’ and studied the [Corpse Eater] module……”

Both [Cloud Spider] and [Techblade] were modules with extremely strong individuality.

Trying to add a new Lv.5 Mystic Module on top of them severely limited the options.

It had to make good use of the ‘Outer God’ essence as its foundation, while not conflicting with the other modules I already possessed.

It also had to be compatible with the user and avoid consuming too much replacement ratio.

In this situation, where I had to catch more than two rabbits at once, the [Corpse Eater] module became the key.

“The [Corpse Eater] will act like an emulsifier……”

Like how an emulsifier allows oil and water to mix, the [Corpse Eater] served to let the two existing Game Changers with strong individuality combine with a new module.

Miyu decided it was better to sacrifice a bit of stability in exchange for performance and output. Her calculation was that [Corpse Eater] would make up for the lack of stability.

“So, without the support of [Corpse Eater], this module can’t function on its own. Strictly speaking, it doesn’t quite meet the Lv.5 standard. It’s more like Grade 4.5……”

But with [Corpse Eater]’s support, its performance rivaled that of other Game Changers.

“I-I’m sorry…… You went through so much trouble preparing everything……”

“No. It’s fine.”

Miyu blamed herself for failing to create a fully independent Lv.5 Mystic Module, but it was inevitable.

If Game Changer-level modules could be created so easily by individuals, why would Stingray or Militech go to such lengths to monopolize the technology?

No matter how much I drained my personal account, the lack of facilities and materials was undeniable.

Rather, I should be praising Miyu’s genius for overcoming those hurdles and producing such a result in such a short time.

Besides, this was only a test.

The purpose was to confirm whether the [Module Level +1] Ticket could be applied even to a top-tier Lv.5 Mystic Module.

‘First, I should check the performance before using the ticket.’

I equipped the new ‘Outer God’ module and carefully checked if there were any problems and what functions it possessed.

Then, anticipating the possibility of a sudden spike in replacement ratio, I unequipped all modules except for [Corpse Eater] before using the ticket.

After finishing all the preparations, I tore the ticket and applied it to the new module, and at that moment—

I fainted.

“So in short, you mean you temporarily lost consciousness because you installed too powerful a module?”

“……Yes.”

Of course, I couldn’t relay the whole series of events to Evangeline exactly as it had happened, so I mixed in some lies and gave her an explanation.

Even though I thought I had simplified it enough to match her level, it seemed she didn’t understand even half of it.

Still, at least she understood that I hadn’t simply been out playing around, and soon her expression softened as she nodded.

“If it was something unavoidable, then it cannot be helped. I shall forgive you!”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Head.”

“Hm?”

“Bow your head!”

It seemed she wanted to pat my head.

With a wry smile, I knelt down, and she patted my head with her small, fern-like hands.

“I absolve you of your sin.”

And then Evangeline grinned widely.

This little one.

Seeing her act so cute, I couldn’t really blame our staff for being completely taken in by her.

So I succeeded in obtaining Evangeline’s forgiveness, but there were still problems I hadn’t told her about.

‘My body is screaming.’

I had succeeded in upgrading the Lv.4.5 module to Lv.5.5 using the ticket. Its performance was incomparably stronger than before.

But perhaps because of its overwhelming power, it felt like heat was constantly surging from within my body just by breathing.

I wasn’t exaggerating—despite having it deactivated, if I loosened my focus even slightly, energy would leak out and affect nearby electronics.

LED lights flickered, monitors buzzed.

According to Miyu, it wasn’t a flaw in the performance itself, but simply that my body and the module hadn’t yet accepted each other.

When it would stabilize was anyone’s guess.

‘It’ll resolve over time, so it should be fine for now…….’

If even the Lv.5.5 module was like this, what would happen if I upgraded [Cloud Spider] or [Techblade]?

It would surely be worse, not better.

‘For now, I’ll hold off on using any more Module Level-Up Tickets until my body stabilizes.’

In the meantime, I had to focus on adapting to the new module.

And I also had to consider which of the other three Game Changers—including [Corpse Eater]—should receive the last ticket.

Honestly, I wanted to return to the mansion and rest until I recovered, but that wasn’t possible.

‘I need to meet the Transmigrator Alliance.’

I had to meet them and confirm something.

Why, even though the second semester had started,

the second scenario still hadn’t begun.

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