***
The Prototype.
The final powered suit my past self had created by bringing together all of humanity's technology.
If you asked me why it was here, I wouldn't know.
It must have been about twelve years after I fell into this world. It suddenly dropped right in front of me.
It was absurd, but that was all there was to it.
The problem was that its external armor, internal circuits, and everything else were completely smashed, so it wouldn't even turn on.
Of course, I still had my knowledge of Gate Engineering, and since this place also had advanced magical engineering, I began to tinker with it and start repairs.
Naturally, it wasn't something I could easily show even to my family, and the materials needed for the repairs were not easy to come by, so it took quite a long time.
Has it been about five years now?
It had cost an enormous amount of time and money, but I was finally starting to see some results.
I still hadn't touched the outer frame or the built-in weaponry, but the repairs on the internal engine were nearly finished.
“Phew, well then, shall we begin.”
Pssht.
After lightly removing the outer frame, which I had already detached, I inspected the prototype’s interior.
I took out the inner frame and began to work on the core engine, bit by bit.
‘If there were aether in this world, this would have been a little easier…’
On Earth, it could be easily obtained near gates, but there was no aether here.
A very similar form of energy called ‘mana’ existed, but it wasn't interchangeable with aether.
‘If I could process mana and convert it into aether, I could solve the original charging problem…’
In any case, it wasn't something I could proceed with at this stage.
First, I had to get it to work at all.
‘But wait, I think I might be able to run an operational test on this today.’
Though the fine-tuning wasn't complete, the various indicators on the instrument panel were quite stable.
With just a little more work, it seemed worth a try to see if it would even turn on.
With a slightly excited heart, I finished working on the engine, then went outside to meet a previously scheduled appointment.
<><><>
The Leventia territory wasn't a completely backward village, but it wasn't a thriving, developed city either.
It was a typical rural town that had what it needed and lacked what it didn't.
Naturally, in a place like this, it was by no means easy to obtain the expensive magical engineering components or metals needed to repair the prototype.
So, what I started using was the auction house.
“This next item is a new product from the Leventia Workshop, which is making a name for itself even in the capital! A product with miraculous efficiency that increases the lifespan of existing light bulbs tenfold!”
The auction house, my main source of income.
The material costs were cheap, and it didn't require a great deal of technical skill, but I made and sold things that were at least worthy of being put up for auction.
Design wasn't my major, so I couldn't help that, but in terms of performance, they were overwhelmingly superior to off-the-shelf products, so every single one had been sold without a single failed bid.
By consistently selling items like that, a workshop premium was now attached, and I was earning a pretty handsome profit.
‘The light bulb is a particularly good cash cow. If it seems like the performance is being caught up to, I just have to make a slightly better one.’
With my technical skills, I could easily make something 40 times better than the standard products of this world.
However, if I released the 40x version right away, it wouldn't be profitable, so I started with 10x.
Besides light bulbs, I was also steadily preparing other lines of products to release while making a decent profit.
I would probably never have to worry about money for the rest of my life.
This was the engineer's pension, something a warrior could never imitate!
“100,000 gold!”
“120,000 gold!”
“Ahem, 150,000 gold!”
As always, a fierce auction continued, exceeding the estimated price.
After confirming a satisfactory amount, I got up from my seat and confidently headed towards the restricted area for authorized personnel.
Creeak.
As I opened the door and went inside, the person who had been observing the auction house through the glass window greeted me with a bright face.
“Oh my, Lord Raniel! You’ve arrived?”
“I saw on my way in that the atmosphere in the auction house was great.”
“It’s all thanks to you, Lord Raniel! My goodness, I should have gone out to meet you in advance!”
The auction house owner rubbed his hands together at high speed, as if he would give me his liver and gallbladder, and quickly approached.
“Should the owner be away from his post? You should be watching over the auction house.”
“I am always just grateful to you, Lord Raniel. Thanks to you, the auction house is always thriving. Hehehe.”
After exchanging some pleasantries, I got straight to the point.
“So, about the items I mentioned…”
“Of course! I have prepared every single one of them!”
The auction house owner laid out three hard cases in a row.
They were all engine-related components, and all of them were high-grade goods that couldn't be obtained through normal routes.
It was a hassle to find and purchase them on my own, and acquiring them was not easy, so I was obtaining them through the auction house owner like this.
“These look good. The commission and the price of the goods…”
“As I’ve said before, don't worry about the commission! The success of this auction house is all thanks to you, Lord Raniel!”
“But…”
“As always, I will deduct only the purchase price from the auction proceeds and deposit the rest.”
Indeed, this is why I can't help but maintain a good relationship.
“Thank you. We really are on the same page now.”
“We’ve been doing business for years now. Heheheh.”
Hearing him say ‘years’ made me realize just how quickly the time had passed.
Especially the fact that I had put out quite a lot of items so far, yet I didn't have much money on hand.
‘I’m earning a handsome sum, but an enormous amount of money is being spent on repairing the prototype, so in the end, I’m back to square one.’
Suddenly, the face of the bald Minister, turning as red as a boiled octopus, came to mind.
“Research is always best when you’re using someone else’s money…”
“Pardon? Research?”
“It’s nothing. Well then, take care!”
I gathered the items and immediately left the auction house.
‘In any case, I have to finish repairing the prototype first.’
Whatever I did in the future, I had to finish that first.
<><><>
When I returned to the mansion, my father and mother still hadn't come back, and thanks to that, I was able to go down to the secret workshop with peace of mind.
As soon as I returned to the workshop, I took the items I had obtained from the auction house out of their cases.
“This isn't a bottomless pit, it feels like I’m pouring money into the ocean.”
I couldn't use mediocre-quality parts on the prototype, so I had to use only high-grade or better.
On top of that, there was no way parts from this world would be compatible with parts from Earth, so I had to reprocess them.
‘I’d love to just slap on something similar if possible, but…’
The problem was that the place I was working on wasn't the outer frame but the internal engine, a damaged aether engine at that.
An error of even a single hair's breadth could cause a malfunction or prevent it from working at all, so I had to be extremely careful.
I let out a short sigh and began to process the parts with the precision equipment placed in the corner of the workshop.
Kiiing!
Jiiing!
A process of pouring all my concentration into gradually refining and strengthening them.
I continuously etched circuits onto the parts using mana.
Physical circuits were sturdy, but magic circuits were easy to manipulate with mana, and their volume was smaller, allowing for more complex designs.
‘If I want to cover even a little of the aether engine’s performance with magic circuits, I have to do it this way…’
The aether engine installed in the prototype was the very pinnacle of all of Earth’s technology.
Its output could not be handled by any ordinary metal or part from this world.
Therefore, to handle that load, I had to use magic circuits, even with their durability issues.
‘The problem is, it’s uncertain if it will even move after all this…’
In the end, the prototype's power source was aether.
But there was no aether in this world.
So, for now, I had designed it so that it could at least be ‘activated’ with mana.
“Aether Particle Cannon, atmospheric entry, and interstellar travel… I gave up on all of it and bet everything on just ‘activation’!”
It might sound strange to say I’d spent years betting everything on just activation, but this was practically the same as trying to fix a cutting-edge AI android in a Joseon-era blacksmith's forge.
‘Please, please…!’
I thoroughly verified each part to ensure there wasn't even a sub-decimal error, then gathered them all and combined them, concentrating all my senses on my fingertips.
Then, they interlocked exactly as designed.
Click.
“…!”
Looking at the internal instrument panel, the output had risen to a level where it could theoretically be activated.
The gauge indicating the engine's status was fluctuating slightly, but a minimum level of safety was secured.
‘In that case, there’s only one thing left to do!’
I entered the time-honored ultimate technique of every field: the prayer meta.
“Please! Activate! Please…!”
I manipulated the internal instrument panel and entered the activation code.
Vwoooom.
The unique hum of the aether engine was heard as the engine began to operate.
“S-success!”
The fruit of my labor, finally faced after five long years.
I clenched my fists in a surge of emotion.
“Heh! As expected, my senses are still sharp!”
While the corners of my mouth crept up slightly, a familiar-looking interface window appeared before my eyes along with the stable sound of the engine.
[Synchronizing user…]
It had been over a decade since I’d last seen it, but it couldn't have been more nostalgic and welcome.
[Synchronization complete.]
Overcome with emotion, I curled the corners of my mouth into a wide grin and said,
“It’s been a while.”
[It has been a while! Master. Ahh, I really don’t know how long it’s been!]
I frowned at the interface window that had appeared before my eyes.
It was the same kind of window as before, but it was clearly different.
It felt as if it was speaking to me.
“Your way of speaking is a bit strange…?”
[Pardon? Me? I’m not sure what you mean.]
This thing, whether you called it a writing style or a speaking style, was one problem, but the bigger problem was.
“No, that aside, my current body should be different from my previous one, right down to the genes. So how does it recognize me as Master?”
The prototype was, in the end, a test model still under research.
Naturally, there was no way it had any user registration.
Moreover, I was sure I had set the prototype’s AI to call me ‘Professor.’
[Is there a problem? Master.]
“…Why do you recognize me as Master?”
[Because Master is Master!]
“And the basis for that judgment?”
[I don’t know?]
Hmm.
It seemed that while I had somehow managed to repair the engine, the software had gone haywire.
‘Why did the AI go crazy when I wasn't even thinking about it?’
[There is absolutely nothing wrong with me!]
“Are you reading my mind now or something?”
[Of course, because it’s you and me, Master! There’s nothing I don’t know about you, you know?]
“You and me? We’re a weapon of war and a weapons developer, aren’t we?”
Besides, reading my thoughts should be impossible unless it had crammed a nanoparticle interface, which I was experimenting with in my past life, into my head.
‘Did it just make a good guess?’
[Nope! There is already a nanoparticle interface stickily connected to you inside your head, Master!]
“It was real?! Why did you test that?! And you crammed it in there without user consent?! When?!”
[The stability tests were complete, and it was a necessary measure for you to draw out 100% of my performance as my Master!]
Around this time, I realized something had gone terribly wrong.
[Master’s medical check is complete. You are very healthy! But after scanning the surrounding situation, it seems this is a different planet, not Earth!]
Strange.
This is really strange.
Although it was based on a strong AI, it was an AI I had added as an auxiliary option to assist the user's tactical judgment.
It tested a nanoparticle interface on its own and inserted it into my head?
And the most jarring thing was its manner of speaking.
[Master? Why aren't you saying anything? Could it be that you're so overcome with emotion at finally meeting me again that you're at a loss for words?]
Not to mention the expression ‘stickily connected’ it used earlier.
The way the AI was talking now was something you would say to an old friend or colleague.
As if it were a person itself.
And the AI language protocol in my memory was definitely not like this.
It was a tactical AI created to ‘slaughter’ monsters by making judgments based purely on calculation and efficiency, with all emotion-related elements excluded.
‘Well, I’ve confirmed it works, so I should shut it down and take a look inside.’
I reached out to enter the shutdown code on the prototype's internal instrument panel.
But then.
Screeech. Thud!
Suddenly, the prototype's inner and outer frames closed on their own, and the space around it shimmered.
“Dimensional… Hangar?”
As I said the words, the prototype vanished into the Dimensional Hangar.
I thought it was completely broken, but the Dimensional Hangar works properly.
No, that’s not the problem!
“What do you think you’re doing right now?”
[M-Master, you were trying to shut me down!]
That damn nanoparticle interface!
The prototype, having read my thoughts on its own, began to refuse my command.
“Stop with the nonsense and come out of the Dimensional Hangar, Prototype. If there’s a problem, it needs maintenance!”
[No! I don’t want to be shut down! I finally, finally got to meet you, Master, and now you want to shut me down?!]
The wave of dizziness that made me stagger was no coincidence.
‘No, what in the world is this situation?!’
If I had to complain, my reincarnation into another world was absurd enough.
But why was the monster-slaughtering weapon I had spent years fixing in this state?!
I let out a deep sigh.
[Until Master promises not to shut me down! I am absolutely not coming out of here!!]
“…”
I had a very ominous premonition that difficult days lay ahead.
<><><>
“It has opened its eyes.”
A pure white suit of armor on a golden throne as large as a building muttered.
The man quietly rose from the throne.
“Our enemy has opened its eyes.”
Then, he looked forward confidently and shouted.
“Find it! And annihilate it!!”
As the pure white armor shouted, before it lay an endless swarm of monsters, spread out like darkness itself.
“Waaaaaaah!!”
“Annihilate! Annihilate!!”
The shouts of the monster horde echoed as if they would swallow the entire land.
In the midst of that roar, the pure white armor muttered quietly.
“If you do not accept this time either, all that remains is annihilation.”