“N-Nice to meet you, too… I am Maxim.”

“Maxim?” She leaned forward, seemingly trying to chew my name. “How ‘bout I call you ‘Maxxy’?”

“Ahem! So, you can repair an airship?” I was skeptical at first, thus checking on her through [Identification] seemed wise.

Tuilë

[…]

Source Level: Tier-2 enhancer | Tier-1 evoker
Source Element(s): ???
Vocation(s): [Mechanical Prodigy]

Stats:

• STR: D (47)
• AGI: D (53)
• VIT: E+ (39)
• SRC: E (31)
• SPR: D (54)

Accumulation Points: 46 [D-]

Wow! She’s almost as strong as Spitzek. Despite that much strength, she didn’t look macho at all. Moreover, what’s this Vocation all about?

[Mechanical Prodigy]

An ability to make the user a genius in all kinds of mechanical constructs. Also, it gives the user a great discerning and perception ability to analyze the basic structure of things.

“I can’t be certain about that until I see it, but my people are experts in machinery…” Her look was distant, it appeared that I had hit her sore spot.

“Is that so…? Better to have someone than nothing, I guess. Will you help me?”

“Of course, I can help you for a price.” She hit her chest as if telling me to trust her.

“What do you want?” I was waiting for her to say that; it would be weird if she didn’t ask for anything.

I had asked about what kind of currency the people in this town were using yesterday, and it was said the main method of trading was by bartering. Source crystals would also work, but they were a bit too valuable to be used for little things.

“Follow me.” She beckoned at me and walked toward the workshop I had been leaning on.

“What’s that?” I noticed that there was a long tail behind her, swinging left to right. It looked different than a cat’s tail since it rounded to a point, but it was a tail all right.

“Is something the matter?”

“No… Nothing…” Pointing out a difference like that might be rude, so I better kept it to myself.

“Anyway, come on in. It’s a small place, but please be at ease.” She opened the door and turned on the lightbulbs.

Inside was a small workplace similar to a blacksmith workshop, and the air was thick with the scent of metal, but what caught my attention the minute I set foot was—

“Huh, what’s this?” At the very back of the workshop, I stumbled upon a large construct with the shape of a brown-painted metallic robot. “Wow! Is that a robot?!”

It had a large, buff body shaped like a knight in full body armor, a helmet-like head with a star shape marking, small, stacked rings-like hands and legs that seemed to prioritize mobility and agility above all else, and even two protruding pipes at its back. A steampunk robot no less…

“Robot, huh…” She patted the metallic robot with pride. “For now, it’s only a prototype. I want you to help with this.”

“You want me to do what?” I couldn’t stop myself from raising my voice.

“Look, I’m in need of a large number of source crystals to power up this thing and also one Third Order source crystal. While the lower grade source crystals could be substituted with electricity, the Third Order one cannot, and I can’t hunt it alone.”

“What?! I can’t face such a thing, lady!”

“Is that gun on your back for display only?” She pointed at my gun.

“Ah, this. Well, I can help you if it’s just a First-Order mutated monster or weaker.”

In this world, monsters were divided into several stages depending on their power from the lowest First Order to the highest known Sixth Order. I wasn’t aware of how people were able to know what stages they were in, maybe the answer could be attained once I became a source user, either an enhancer or evoker. This information was something that I acquired by asking Spitzek while being bedridden.

It was important to note that the mutant insectoid queen was only a First-Order mutated monster, and it had already given me some trouble. Imagining how ferocious a Third-Order mutated monster would be just made my stomach churn.

“Relax! I have a target and plan in mind, so you don’t have to worry about that. C’mon, don’t be such a stick-in-the-mud.”

I went into deep contemplation, weighing the pros and cons. But in the end, it wasn’t that I had much of a choice… Asking other people besides her without credibility to prove their skills would be like buying a lottery ticket or even paying for a cat in a bag; I wouldn’t know the end result. Furthermore, the mission difficulty was C-, which meant that I was on the right course.

“First,” I began. “I want to ask you some questions.” After all, I couldn’t just accept at the drop of a hat.

“Go on.”

“Er, why me? Aren’t there others you can seek for help? You know, like, I’m not even at Tier 1…” This had been bugging my mind since the start.

“It’s simple. Finding qualified individuals for the job is hard. In the whole Aquarine, only a few people can handle machinery, and most of them can’t fight.”

“Hmm… That makes sense. Fine. But you have to keep helping me three more times after that.” I held out three fingers while I said that.

“Okie! That’s a deal, then! I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I am a genius in machinery. No matter what kind of thing, I can make it as long as given enough time.”

“Mhm. I’ll believe you for now.”

“Let’s go then! Time waits for no one!”

“Wait, wait… Now?”

“Yup. The sooner, the better.” She dragged me with her large hand to an open area beside her workshop. I was powerless to resist her immense strength, which was many times that of mine.

Tuilë darted toward a large object covered under a thick cover and pulled it open. Below was a long, slim plane. It had the form of a powered glider with a propeller at the back powered by a steam machine which I couldn’t make the heads and tails. What a fascinating aircraft.

“Whoa, what is this?”

“It’s a steam kite; a thing that has accompanied me all these years. We won’t be going there walking, obviously, that will take at least a day.”

This so-called “steam kite” had enough room for two people — one seat on the front and the other on the back — but it would be cramped to the max. Besides, I didn’t see that it had a seatbelt, or any button to be pressed to eject me when an emergency arose. Was this thing even safe to be used?

“Gunpowder, check. Landmines, check. Weapons, check. Supplies, check. Camping set, check. Parachute, check. I guess we’re ready to go.” She gave me a big thumbs-up.

Peeking at the things that she had prepared beforehand, I discovered one curious thing: a strange-looking gun. What I meant by strange was its shape looked akin to a miniaturized cannon and additionally had a dark purple gem embedded on its back.

“Is that gun yours?” I eyed the thing with bewilderment. “Why is its barrel so large? And there’s a cable attached to it?”

“It’s an electromagnetic gun. It used a battery to make electricity from the electromagnetic wave in the air, but I upgraded that with an Electro ‘catalyst stone’ to boost its power threefold.”

“That’s an over-technology weapon! Where did you get that?” I was so curious that I used [Identification] on the thing itself.

Rudimentary electromagnetic gun (catalyst weapon)

A gun that was made to be capable of generating enormous thrust to launch bullets by utilizing a weak electromagnetic force. While its power is only so-so, it utilizes a large bullet to blow an enemy to smithereens. Because of the effect of a catalyst stone, it can generate thrice the normal power and thrust.

“I made it myself, of course. My people are used to utilizing things like this, but this one is a ‘catalyst weapon’ that I made for myself.”

“Catalyst weapon? What’s that?”

“You don’t know about it?” With her hands on her hips, she began iterating, “Listen well, it’s a…”

To make a long story short, catalyst stones were naturally occurring stones that appeared in all kinds of places. Depending on the type, it could appear inside a volcano, under a glacier, or even deep inside the ocean. Once refined into a crystal, it could be embedded into a weapon, which is then called a “catalyst weapon.”

“I see.” I still didn’t really get it but…

Catalyst weapons were just like magic weapons in RPGs but depended on catalyst stones for them to work. Nowadays, catalyst stones were used hand in hand with source crystals to make magic tools.

“Neat. I wonder if I can get one myself.”

“I can fetch something for you real quick, but you can’t use it if you’re not Tier 1 either as an enhancer or evoker. And becoming one isn’t just something achievable in a matter of days…”

“What a shame.” That’s one more reason to become one. “Well, let’s leave it at that for now.”

“Then, what are we waiting for? Come on up.”

Before I even knew it, she was already sitting inside the steam kite. She sure was one quick gal if I put that correctly. Even though we looked different, she treated me just like a friend did. I guessed that the people here were just that nice.

I decided to get along with the ride and hopped on. The engine surprisingly didn’t make much of a noise before the propellers quickly started turning, and we launched into the air after gaining momentum.

“Full speed ahead!” she declared, full of spirit.

Amidst the gazes of people below, we left the town with the steam kite, entering the tunnel that I’d previously walked on.

This was my first time riding a unique craft like this, surely a one-in-a-million experience. It really tickled my curiosity as an avid sci-fi fan. Just how did she manage to construct such a thing? Magic, or was there more to it?

Even with this thing, she said that we needed an hour to reach the destination. Regardless, finding empty land to land from above the sky was much easier than doing it from the ground. She also said that if push came to shove, she could land on a large body of water.

I also used this chance to inspect the surrounding area. It was surprising. With the expansive hill where the giant mushroom was situated at the center, the red fog was circling the place in about fifty kilometers radius. It was as though the fog had its own will and intentionally evaded this place. Maybe the notion that the mushroom was warding off a calamity that was the red fog wasn’t a completely baseless rumor, either.

About half an hour later, we reached our intended destination and landed on an empty highway. It was a concrete forest of an abandoned city like in many post-apocalyptic movies— No, it looked like an alien world in a lot of documentary movies.

Plants and animals from unknown places wriggled their way into this world. What was normal, little by little became abnormal.

“The ecosystem here feels different than the one near the giant mushroom.” I nudged at a plant that looked like a coral with my right foot.

“Naturally, whenever the fog comes and goes, it replaces everything.” She heaved a sigh and warned, “Listen, this place will be covered by red fog at night. Thus, we only got a day to do this.”

“Can’t we continue tomorrow if we fail today?” I shrugged my shoulders at her.

“Unfortunately, an ‘interval area’ like this always changes every week. And today is the last day.”

“Oh…”

Since we were rather secluded, I took the initiative to observe around. Crumbling buildings that had merged with mother nature were abounding, along with wreckages of what were once modern vehicles and public properties…

“Wait, what the fuck is that?!”

A giant mosquito about six meters tall with six wings and many short sharp legs was flying between the concrete buildings.

I had heard that mosquitos in the Amazon Forest were bigger, but I never expected to see one this big. I bet that once it stabbed its proboscis at me, I would become a desiccated corpse in mere seconds. Heck, my body had begun shuddering at the thought.