Chapter 234.2 – Tutorial 55th Floor (2)
Editor: Tide
“Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
After lunch, a teacher called by the butler came by. Supposedly, he was a teacher who instructed the basics of Mado engineering, a rather arduous subject.
“Ahb.o.o.boo, do you understand this?”
[Yes.] Ahb.o.o.boo, who was in cla.s.s with me, dressed in a flapping handkerchief in the air, replied.
d.a.m.n it.
[It’s normal that you don’t understand at your level.]
“What do you mean?”
I’m at a level where primitive people who work with stone tools are forced to memorize the equation of ballistics. How big of a difference is that?
The 26th floor, where Ahb.o.o.boo was located, was a world where the war between humans and tribes was fierce, so they actively used magic sh.e.l.ls and weapons.
If you look at it, it’s Mado engineering in a way, so it wouldn’t be that hard for Ahb.o.o.boo to understand, since he’s familiar with the magic of this world.
That’s how I got Ahb.o.o.boo to attend the cla.s.s, but I became uninterested after being unable to understand a single word. I never thought that I wouldn’t be able to even understand the basics.
[What did you expect from someone who doesn’t even know the basics of magic? You’re a primitive man here.]
“I’m not a primitive man at all. I know how to use the elemental series of attack magic.”
[That’s like a primitive stone axe.] Ahb.o.o.boo mercilessly commented.
I think he wanted to brag about himself rather than make fun of me.
I asked the teacher, who was watching me and Ahb.o.o.boo talk, if he could proceed with cla.s.s without me.
“Yes, of course.” He gladly accepted, saying it would be fine.
The teacher, who had been openly showing interest in Ahb.o.o.boo the first time he saw him, didn’t miss this one-on-one opportunity.
I don’t think I can do well in the Mado engineering cla.s.s, even if I learn it.
It’s not like I can study it for months or years; I was just here for a few days.
Judging from the pacing of the cla.s.s, it seemed impossible to learn something in depth in just a few days.
I thought it would be better to let Ahb.o.o.boo, who could understand the cla.s.s, remember the concepts here, and then teach me later.
[No.] Of course, Ahb.o.o.boo didn’t want to teach me magic because his presence was fading.
“I won’t fix you.”
[Of course I will! Hmph… Your true self is showing.]
“There’s nothing free in the world. Everything comes at a price.”
After a brief scuffle, I was able to get Ahb.o.o.boo’s consent. In hopes of getting his blade fixed, Ahb.o.o.boo had no choice but to obey me.
[In spite of your wickedness.]
“What?”
[Keeek!]
“What the f.u.c.k?!”
[Keeek!]
“Kee-ek!”
When Ahb.o.o.boo mimicked the frog, the frog couldn’t stay still, telling him not to copy what he says.
* * * *
After dinner, I came out of the room and headed outside the castle.
Ah, of course, I left Ahb.o.o.boo back in the room. He was still in the room with my teacher.
When I climbed onto the walls and looked out, I found the ground covered with red spirit stones.
There’s always a certain amount of power coming out of them. Naturally, it was very harmful if a person was directly exposed to such power.
People laid huge floors on the ground covered with pebbles, and the city was built on top of it. Here, the city was regarded as a single building.
I’d heard the backstory of the castle, something that was quite pitiful.
Outside the castle was a huge minefield; spirit stones covered the ground, stretching beyond the horizon. Workers, who looked as small as ants, labored throughout the day, transporting spirit stones to the city by railroad. The workers were all dressed in white, protective clothing.
I’d have to check out that protective suit later, and I’ll take one if possible.
“Kee-ek!”
“Yes. It really looks like an island.”
It was as the frog said. The castle looked like a small island isolated in a sea of spirit stones.
Of course, no other cities or villages existed around here. Ordinary people couldn’t live in such a harsh environment.
The dimension gate managed by Sung-Joo was the only thing that connected this solitary place to the outside world.
It was a sort of mining city. Through the dimension gate, people mined products, sold spirit stones, and imported other daily necessities.
It was a dangerous, lonely environment, but as rumor had it, people who dug up spirit stones could bring home quite a bit of money. As time pa.s.sed, those who mined together formed their own society.
That was the history of this castle.
[What’s wrong?] Seregia asked.
Seeing this, I’m worried.
Perhaps the most valuable thing that we have gained from the tutorial was information about Earth. In Korea, the occurrence rate of monsters is low, so the damage caused wasn’t significant. Perhaps, because of that, there’s relatively little information about monsters.
There are two main threats that are now threatening Earth, gates that appeared unexpectedly, and monsters that were either leaked or naturally occuring.
When a gate appeared, nearby animals and plants would morph into aggressive monsters. Therefore, it was said that gates are most dangerous when formed in ranches or forests where livestock are abundant.
Maybe humans could be affected by the gate. This possibility was still being researched.
One more important piece of information was that small stones came out of the bodies of such monsters; the stones could be used as fuel.
When monsters began to appear around the world, the most dangerous sp.a.w.ning locations were power plants. The appearance of monsters in such areas caused unimaginable terror.
Supply of crude oil had been cut off. Mining, distillation, and distribution of crude oil all became difficult. In places like Korea, the main issue wasn’t aggressive monsters, but the inability to secure fuel and natural resources.
Against this backdrop, stone fragments from the monster’s body have become major sources of energy that can be procured anytime, anywhere. Even if I were to go back to Earth, kill all the monsters, and destroy the gates, not all the problems would be solved.
If they can’t find new energy sources, Earth would have to continue to rely on monsters. I imagined that Earth would look similar to this isolated castle. The people there were like the miners here, only able to secure a certain amount of safety with protective walls, while risking their lives to take spirit stones.
Of course, I wished that all the problems would be easily solved, but I’ve never seen things end well when I want them to.
This translation belongs to Centinni.