“Still, 500 g a day is way too little.”
Jin-woo muttered softly as he looked down at the transmutation device.
The fact that he could secure good-quality materials thanks to the Transmutation Core was certainly an advantage.
Efficiency had gone up.
The problem was quantity.
Once he had it in his hands, it felt as if he could see the bottom almost immediately.
“Lumina. If I reinforce the Transmutation Core device, the refinement amount will increase, right?”
A response came back without even a moment’s delay.
[Affirmative.]
[Completion Rate: 20%. Reinforcement increases refinement amount and efficiency.]
[Possibility of additional material refinement increases.]
“I don’t have the materials.”
Jin-woo let out a short sigh.
What he could do and what he was doing right now were different things.
It was a shame.
Now that he knew the possibility existed, it felt even more that way.
But right now, he had to do only as much as he could.
‘Should I mine a little more Mana Stone first?’
Jin-woo calculated for a moment.
The purification device, the alchemy facility, and even the Transmutation Core device.
As the number of facilities he had started operating increased, the amount of energy the Magic Tower demanded had also increased noticeably.
An increased usage amount meant he needed that much more reserve.
There would definitely come a moment when a shortage of Mana Stones would put him in trouble.
Enduring without knowing that was not survival. It was leaving things to luck.
“Let’s move.”
He headed to the mine.
The inside of the mine was quiet, as always.
Beyond the range lit by the lamp, darkness lay deep, and the Mana Stones embedded in the wall reflected the light faintly.
CLANG—!
CLANG—!
The sound of the pickaxe striking bedrock echoed.
《Tool Sense assists you.》
Jin-woo began mining Mana Stones, adjusting his angle with a familiar rhythm.
He did not use unnecessary strength.
The motion was already ingrained in his body.
That was when it happened.
--GRRIND.
The stratum “groaned.”
It was not the sound of metal, nor the sound of stone breaking.
It was that unpleasant sound of rocks twisting against one another and grinding.
Jin-woo’s hand stopped.
This sound meant the next thing would be “falling rocks.”
‘…?’
Before he even had time to think, a vibration traveled up from beneath his feet.
The floor trembled very slightly, as if breathing.
“Damn it—!”
He immediately threw himself aside.
CRASH!!
Bedrock came falling down from overhead.
The lamp shook violently, and dust burst upward as if exploding.
Several large falling rocks crushed the place where he had been standing just moments ago.
[Rockfall warning!]
[Evacuation warning!]
“I know, okay? I’m evacuating right now!”
Jin-woo rolled across the ground and escaped to the opposite side.
His breathing grew rough.
But he did not stop.
‘It’s not over yet.’
Collapses like this did not end with only one fall.
Jin-woo put his back to the wall, then immediately changed his angle.
Walls collapsed.
Only pillars held.
‘The side is collapsing.’
He threw himself toward a pillar.
[Secondary rockfall warning!]
At that instant—
Something brushed past his arm.
A sharp sensation.
The feeling passed lightly, like a paper cut.
Jin-woo reflexively grabbed his arm, but he did not feel pain.
The adrenaline came first and pressed down on his nerves.
“…….”
Judging that he was fine, he quickly scanned his surroundings.
There were no more falling rocks.
The vibration was subsiding, too.
[Vibration pattern analysis in progress….]
[Characteristic frequency decrease confirmed.]
[Exited primary collapse-risk zone.]
[Caution: residual stress release in progress.]
That was when it happened.
One red dot fell to the ground.
Drip.
Jin-woo lowered his gaze.
Blood was seeping out between his gloves.
A vivid red line flowed slowly down his arm.
“…Ah.”
Only then did the sensation catch up.
A stinging pain tapped at his nerves one beat late.
It was not a major injury.
But there was definitely bleeding.
Jin-woo gritted his teeth.
‘I can endure this.’
[Injury confirmed.]
[Hemostasis recommended.]
[If wound is left untreated, contamination may occur.]
“I know that too.”
He had moved to live.
He had avoided what he could avoid.
Even so, the price remained.
Slowly controlling his breathing, he took out the hemostatic agent he had prepared.
“So I’m using this… already.”
Everyone’s Red Medicine.
It was a “medicine for enduring,” not a “medicine for healing.”
Jin-woo took out his water bottle and wiped away the blood.
He applied the hemostatic agent.
“Ugh… this feeling.”
When the hemostatic agent touched the wound, a sharp, cooling sting spread.
It felt awful.
But the bleeding stopped.
The effect was certainly there.
[Hemostasis complete confirmed.]
[Bleeding stabilized.]
[Contamination possibility: 0.5%.]
[Very low figure by current environment standards.]
[The hemostatic agent’s formula and concentration are appropriate.]
Lumina’s analysis was dry, but there was a clear evaluation contained within it.
“Of course.”
Jin-woo answered briefly.
“I made it, so it’s reliable.”
Jin-woo slowly looked around the mine.
Within the range of the lamp, there did not seem to be any major abnormality.
But the rockfall just now had made it clear that this place was no longer as safe as it used to be.
Honestly, he had not imagined that rocks would fall like this.
[Current work environment is unsafe.]
[Risk level increased.]
[Rockfall occurrence rate: 35%.]
Lumina’s analysis was not exaggerated.
Once the situation was organized into numbers, it became even clearer.
“At this rate, I’ll get badly hurt.”
It was closer to words spoken to himself.
[Affirmative.]
[Accident occurrence rate increases over time.]
That was when it happened.
Ding!
《Signs of mine collapse detected.》
《Magic Tower Stability decreases.》
《Magic Tower Stability: 37%》
Stability was falling.
The mine was connected to the Magic Tower.
It affected Stability.
‘This is not good.’
If Stability fell, he would receive a penalty.
It was a variable he absolutely had to avoid.
“……How do I raise Stability?”
《1. Mine Closure》
《2. Mine Repair Work》
Closure was excluded as an option.
In the case of Mine Repair Work, it was impossible with what he currently had.
‘I find another move.’
He moved his gaze to the mine wall.
The spot where he had just been swinging the pickaxe.
The cracked bedrock and the faintly widened gaps entered his eyes.
Something similar had happened before the Regression, too.
Before he met his companions.
Back when he had still been staying on the lower floors.
People had flocked to a mine that was said to have been discovered somewhere.
‘Iron was precious back then.’
Weapons or armor.
If they wanted to make anything, they needed materials, and materials were always lacking.
To survive.
People picked up pickaxes.
The problem was that they had been too rushed.
‘Let’s mine as much as we can while we can.’
‘If we don’t do it now, there may not be a next chance.’
Safety was always pushed to the back.
The mine groaned and collapsed.
Dust choked their throats, and the screams came too late.
And some of them… were erased as if they had never existed .
‘I was lucky.’
Among them had been someone he had joked with that morning.
There had also been someone who had been swinging a pickaxe beside him just moments before.
That day, only a handful of people had walked out properly.
Jin-woo had been one of them.
“The problem was a lack of safety awareness.”
Jin-woo muttered in a low voice.
If they had been just a little more careful.
If they had properly prepared.
They were people who would not have died.
But back then, they had not had the room for that.
‘And I wasn’t any different then, either.’
Only now could he judge it coldly.
Jin-woo stroked his chin again.
If he wanted to prevent something like today from happening again, he needed preparation.
Not an improvised response, but structural preparation.
He could not give up on this mine.
‘Mana Stones are precious materials necessary for survival.’
If he lost this, the Magic Tower would stop as well.
If the Magic Tower stopped, that meant every facility would stop.
And the moment that happened, the probability that Jin-woo, in his current state, would survive would fall close to zero.
“The most realistic method would be to put up supports, but…….”
Before he could even finish speaking, Jin-woo shook his head.
It was the most realistic option, but in the current situation, also the most unrealistic thought.
The reason was simple.
‘There are no materials.’
He could obtain wood.
The problem was time.
Felling, processing, transporting.
If the mine groaned one more time in the meantime, it was over.
Supports were the correct answer.
But right now, they were the correct answer he would be dead before he could put up.
What he needed now was a method he could apply immediately.
《Magic Tower Stability: 36%》
《Decreasing》
“I have to find another move…….”
Jin-woo worked through his thoughts.
‘Start with what I can do right now.’
He looked toward the mine entrance.
“Today ends here. Reduce the mining range. Entry into deep sections is prohibited.”
If he could not reduce the danger, he at least had to control it.
That was when it happened.
[Report.]
[During internal exploration records, a usable information source has been confirmed.]
Jin-woo’s gaze turned.
“Information source?”
[A space presumed to be the Records Room.]
[Based on structural purpose, there is a high probability that facility maintenance and repair records were stored there.]
It was unexpected.
“Records Room? There was a place like that?”
[Affirmative.]
Jin-woo was briefly at a loss for words.
He had thought several facilities might remain in the Magic Tower, but he had not expected there to be a space that systematically stored records.
“Why didn’t you tell me until now?”
[Previously, the access route was severed.]
[After A-3 restoration, the internal network was reconfigured.]
[New exploration area activated.]
[Records Room location confirmed near A-3 point.]
“Ah…….”
Only then did Jin-woo understand the situation.
It was not that it had not told him. It had not been able to.
A-3 was an area he had only recently finished repairing.
As the passage that had been cut off all this time was restored, the Magic Tower’s internal “map” itself was opening anew.
“Let’s go to the Records Room.”
There was no guarantee that the next collapse would wait until he finished preparing.
If it was that place, there might be a clue to a method for saving this mine.
Jin-woo changed direction.
A road he had not yet taken.
This time, not toward the mine, but toward the place where the “answer” might be.
The Records Room, another place hidden by the Magic Tower.
And Jin-woo suddenly remembered.
The ‘tap’ he had heard from the alchemy cauldron.
The ‘GRRIND’ he had just heard from the mine.
They were of the same kind.
This Magic Tower was already cracking somewhere.
***
[Energy Charge in progress….]
[Remaining Energy: 85%.]
“Good.”
Jin-woo stopped by the Main Room for a moment.
He felt more at ease when the Fuel Tank was always filled with some margin.
Because in this place, an energy shortage was directly tied to death.
“Guide me now.”
[Guidance beginning.]