“Hey, lift it properly.”
“Even with one hand, I can carry it better than you, one-eyed bastard.”
Sledgehammer retorted immediately to E-Bolt’s complaint.
“What does my eye have to do with this, you one-armed bastard?!”
They were carrying an enormous piece of scrap metal together. When E-Bolt complained, Sledgehammer answered without even looking back.
The two constantly bickered and mocked each other’s injuries.
“To hell with this. You are going to die soon anyway, so I might as well take your remaining arm!”
“I will put another clean hole through you.”
Just as they threw aside the scrap metal and prepared to fight again, I stepped in.
“Enough.”
“Oh, Leader!”
“Leader.”
I moved between them and pushed them apart with both arms.
“Good grief. Why are you constantly trying to tear each other apart? I heard that you risked your lives protecting each other outside.”
According to the reports, the two disliked each other intensely but fought remarkably well as a pair.
At the very end, each had supposedly sacrificed an arm or an eye to protect the other.
“What? Protect him? He was recklessly showing off as though he were the only impressive person there, so I merely intervened.”
“It would be humiliating to die after a weakling like him.”
People truly were strange.
They had begged for their lives and defected to the Sentinels in order to survive.
Yet when they faced genuine death, they had calmly prepared to throw away their lives.
And for such absurd reasons.
‘Perhaps even hatred can become a form of attachment.’
I could not understand it, but nothing else could explain their relationship.
Shaking my head, I led the two of them to my Workshop.
“As you already know, there is an extremely high probability that both of you will die in the next battle.”
“…Even so, I will not hide or run away.”
“Begging for my life once was enough.”
Perhaps they had learned a great deal from the previous battle. Both answered calmly.
They now understood that even if they somehow survived the next battle, death would eventually find them.
“Do you not want to live?”
“Even if I survive this battle, there will be another one, and another after that. I will die eventually. If that is inevitable, I would rather die cleanly.”
“I will choose where I die.”
At first glance, their reasoning sounded rational.
To someone who had died thousands upon thousands of times, however, it was utter nonsense.
“You speak as though you know what dying is like.”
The two looked at me in confusion.
“The idea that you only have one life and should therefore meet a clean end is something you can believe only while you are still alive. Once you are actually dying, you will desperately crave even one more minute or one more second. You will writhe in pain and pleasure while endlessly cursing how fucking wretched it is.”
These men had killed before, but they had never experienced death themselves.
They could not understand how utterly miserable it felt.
“Do you genuinely think you will die while telling yourself, ‘I lived well enough,’ ‘This is a splendid death,’ or ‘I was going to die soon anyway, so at least I went cleanly’?”
FLINCH.
They reacted as though I had seen through their innermost thoughts.
“You will not. The moment your entire body is shattered and your organs are torn apart, the only thoughts remaining will be, ‘It hurts. It hurts like hell. Fuck this. Why do I have to die? Just wait. I will curse you even after I am dead!’ Do you know why? Because dying is painful.”
Even as a Regressor, death had always been agonizing for me.
That remained true when I repeatedly starved myself to death in order to rest.
Deliberately allowing oneself to starve despite knowing that food could be found was far more difficult than most people imagined.
“I have only one thing to tell you. No matter how wretched life becomes, living is still better. Therefore, survive by any means necessary.”
That was also one reason I continued regressing endlessly.
Even crawling through these damned towers was better than leaving the world of the living.
No matter how many times I experienced it, I could never become numb to death.
“However, I am not ordering you to survive without giving you a solution. That arm and that eye are the reasons you were preparing to abandon your lives, correct? I will resolve that problem.”
Sledgehammer and E-Bolt, who had been listening silently, raised their heads.
“C-can they be restored?”
“How…?”
Their reactions felt strangely refreshing.
They responded this way only because they did not yet understand what kind of place the towers were.
Later, losing a limb would become almost insignificant.
“The towers offer profound despair, but they also provide limitless possibilities. With my skill, solving this problem is not especially difficult.”
Later on, nearly every competent Awakened acquired at least one healing- or Regeneration-related skill.
Failing that, they traveled with someone who possessed one.
Without such measures, surviving within towers where danger constantly lurked was nearly impossible.
“Why… Why are you treating us so well?”
After a brief silence, E-Bolt asked the question directly.
I gave an incredulous laugh.
“Treating you well? I am preventing you from dying freely. Though perhaps I should not say that after explaining how painful and wretched death is.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am persuading you to survive because it benefits me. When you finally die, you will probably realize it and think, ‘Because of that fucking bastard, I took the long and difficult route instead of dying easily.’”
It was because of the opportunity cost invested in them.
More precisely, I did not want to waste it.
They had received Guardian Selection. If they died, the Guardian Stones linked to them would disappear as well.
That would reduce the Points I received through Contribution and lower our allies’ morale.
In other words, these men were sunk costs.
Therefore, I intended to keep them alive for as long as possible and continue collecting interest.
‘It also allows me to spend my Points efficiently.’
Investment always carried risks, but success produced even greater returns.
They might betray me and leave, but I only intended to invest enough to make use of them here, during this stage.
“If you give me the opportunity, I will accept that regret when it comes.”
“I do not care.”
E-Bolt and Sledgehammer spoke in turn while touching the eye and arm they had lost.
“Then take these.”
The work had required more effort than expected, but remembering their gazes made me nod without hesitation.
Their eyes had seemed to burn.
That was not unique to Sledgehammer and E-Bolt.
Everyone who had survived within these ruins carried something resembling a flame within their eyes as they silently completed their work.
[Steel Corpse Arm]
[Eye Imbued with Lingering Thoughts]
I had created the items specifically for the two of them.
I extracted an arm and an eye from enemy corpses, converted them into Unranked Junk, and spent a considerable number of Points using Boundless on them.
‘It required a substantial investment, but considering the possibility that the Contribution reward will be multiplied again, it should be worthwhile.’
My plan was simple.
Invest Points to earn even more Points.
Even if I spent everything now, clearing Stage 3 should reward me with twice as much.
If we safely cleared Stage 4 as well, I would receive several times the reward from the previous stage.
Then, during the next mission, I could use those Points extremely efficiently.
There was no Shop here, but one would become available during the maintenance period.
And the Shop would not be the only place where Points could be spent to my advantage.
I was making a short-term investment for the future.
I was not wasting Points on them merely to benefit someone else.
If the equipment I provided helped them, the corresponding Contribution would be credited to me.
In other words, they were laborers who earned Points on my behalf.
There was a risk that they might quit, but every Point they earned before then would be converted into my Contribution.
There was no reason for me to suffer a loss.
‘The same applies if they change employers. Even if they die or betray me, the Contribution accumulated until then will become my Points.’
Sledgehammer and E-Bolt examined their new arm and eye with wonder.
“Wow. This feels completely real.”
“The movement and sensation are identical.”
Sledgehammer struck his new arm several times, testing its sense of touch with visible amazement.
“Surely you did not think I had merely given you an ordinary arm and eye?”
“What?”
“I will explain how to use them. Sledgehammer, imagine any weapon. Then picture the arm transforming into it.”
“…Do you mean?”
“Try it.”
Sledgehammer concentrated on his new arm.
GRIND.
CLATTER.
The shape of the steel arm began to change.
“…A Sledgehammer?”
“Why is a Sledgehammer the only weapon you can imagine? Regardless, your arm can transform freely like that. It can become a whip, a parachute, or even a tentacle.”
Most importantly, he could not feel its weight.
Wielding it felt no different from moving his original arm.
“A Special Ability will activate if you infuse it with Mana before attacking. Remember that. Go over there and test the details by yourself.”
Without saying anything, Sledgehammer nodded and continued transforming his arm into various shapes with fascination.
“Th-then, what about me…?”
After discovering the special secret hidden within Sledgehammer’s arm, E-Bolt began growing excited as well.
“Concentrate on the newly transplanted eye. Close your other eye if that makes it easier.”
At my instruction, E-Bolt hurriedly squeezed his original eye shut.
“Wh-what is this?!”
He immediately staggered backward in shock, fell onto his backside, and stared at me with bewilderment.
“The Eye of Lingering Thoughts allows you to glimpse the thoughts left behind by the dead.”
E-Bolt appeared thoroughly confused.
I had given Sledgehammer an ability suited to close combat, yet his own equipment seemed to possess an inexplicable power.
“Observe carefully. The dead leave behind many clues—who killed them, how they died, and what secrets they knew.”
Lingering Thoughts always appeared on a battlefield.
It did not matter whether they belonged to allies or enemies.
Those lingering impressions contained a great deal of information.
Used properly, they could provide the foundation for reversing an unfavorable situation.
If someone had hidden something before dying, the Eye could even reveal where it was.
“You probably cannot read anything deeply yet. Raise its Skill Proficiency.”
As its Skill Proficiency increased, it would allow him to read deeper Lingering Thoughts.
The Eye of Lingering Thoughts also existed as a Passive Skill.
Its function changed later, but initially, it was regarded as a skill for discovering weaknesses, much like Park Gilsu’s Sphinx of Thebes.
“Th-thank you. But is that all it does?”
E-Bolt asked whether the Eye possessed any other abilities.
For the moment, it did not.
“Right now, it merely allows you to see farther and more clearly. Its abilities will change as its Skill Proficiency rises, so work hard to improve it.”
“Ah, um. Understood.”
E-Bolt seemed somewhat dissatisfied, but he would understand its value after using it.
His specialty lay in freely controlling Energy Bolt, an exceptionally cost-effective form of magic.
However, Energy Bolt’s weakness was its extremely low damage.
The Eye of Lingering Thoughts compensated for that weakness.
Its conditions were somewhat troublesome, but if he discovered and exploited an enemy’s weakness, he could overcome his insufficient damage.
Moreover, once its Skill Proficiency increased, he would be able to perceive many other things.
“Ah, and if either of you betrays me, I will take revenge even after death.”
“What? Ah, there is no reason for us to betray you, but I will gladly accept such revenge if it happens.”
He would not have been smiling if he understood what I meant by taking revenge after death.
I spoke with the two for a little longer, explained several precautions, and sent them away.
“Now, all that remains is enhancing the base.”
I still had a considerable number of Points remaining.