The Age of Adaptation
They called it NWA.
Nano Weapon Aggregate.
It was a phrase that didn’t quite make sense from beginning to end.
So had they just taken the initials and made a name out of them?
"I think so too."
He didn’t need to feel hurt, though.
Yoo Sung-jun twitched his eyebrow and stepped up to the station.
He placed the Omega Suit, in its smartwatch form, and the NWA inside it.
The analysis began at once.
Two pieces of equipment glowed in five colors.
As he watched in silence, his younger brother came over.
"How are you going to change it?"
"Better than the Agantic Sword, obviously."
"Better than that... long, tough, and sharp? Is that all it needs?"
"No, that’s not enough."
Was superior cutting power really all he needed against a Level 6 Infector?
That had always been a question in the game, too.
Some Infectors were simply overwhelming in brute force, while others created all kinds of variables through their abilities.
Something that could strike where they least expected it.
In the end, that was what he needed.
A single blow even an Infector couldn’t predict.
It might come from his innate power.
It might come from the Omega Suit’s capabilities.
Either way, the more ways he had to catch an enemy off guard, the better.
Whether he could actually use them all was a question of talent.
I can handle all of it.
Yoo Sung-jun nodded.
"It’d be good to add something that can maximize a single advantage, without question."
"For example?"
"Something that lets me attack from a distance, or something that can be transformed to increase the suit’s defensive power."
"But you’re not exactly the defensive type, are you?"
So the idea of adding something that felt passive wasn’t very appealing, was that it?
He wasn’t wrong.
Yoo Sung-jun tapped the station and stared at the NWA.
"Right. Then we should focus on destruction. I’m talking about an ability that can kill even a Level 6 Infector in one shot, if used properly. A true one-hit kill."
"Maybe by digging into the essence of simplicity? Like an ability that grants cutting power beyond mere sharpness for a brief moment."
"That’s too obvious... but it’s still a good direction."
"Oh? So that’s the answer?"
"Close enough."
Just then, the analysis finished.
Yoo Sung-jun studied the hologram that appeared in front of him.
Based on the Omega Suit’s information, it displayed options suitable for the wearer to use.
A variety of blueprints appeared, presented in a standard template.
Weapons of all kinds.
Rocket launchers, one-handed swords, assault rifles, sniper rifles, and more.
Of course, there was also a greatsword.
Yoo Sung-jun naturally chose the greatsword.
His brother crossed his arms as he looked at the enlarged blueprint.
"Simple. Just an absurdly huge blade with a long hilt."
"That’s where the modification comes in."
The blueprint changed shape under Yoo Sung-jun’s hand.
In response, the NWA shifted to match it exactly.
Gray powder drifted through the station’s interior as it built itself into form.
The sight of the nanoparticles dispersing and then gathering again was strangely mesmerizing.
Add the basic abilities of the Agantic Sword here.
Unlike already-hardened cold weapons, these nanoparticles were vastly more fluid.
Even length adjustment could be added with ease.
And if he pushed its cutting power and durability to their limits...
"This is something a normal person couldn’t even lift."
"I tuned it to my standards. You’d need Level 2 Body Enhancement before you could swing it properly."
Yoo Sung-hwan clicked his tongue as he looked past the blueprint his brother had created, toward the shape of the NWA.
The blade alone was broad enough to hide a full-grown man.
Its thickness had to be at least fifteen centimeters.
And yet the estimated weight of this monstrously huge, thick greatsword was, surprisingly, light.
Only surprisingly, of course—an ordinary person still wouldn’t be able to lift it, let alone swing it.
"Now we add the final ability."
As his brother moved into the finishing stage, Yoo Sung-hwan’s eyes lit up.
How would he put the final period on a weapon worth three hundred thousand points?
Various examples of greatsword-compatible abilities were displayed on the blueprint.
His brother deleted them all.
Then he picked up the Omega Suit, still in wristwatch form, and grinned.
"Yeah. This is right. If I want to kill a Level 6 Infector in one hit with my current specs, I’ll have to accept the risk."
He added the final ability.
When Yoo Sung-hwan saw the result, his mouth fell open.
It had twisted beyond his expectations and veered completely off course.
He stared for a moment, then blinked rapidly.
Just imagining the destructive power of that thing made him suck in a breath.
"Y-you could add an ability like that...? But is it okay? If you mess up, you could get seriously hurt."
"If I get hurt, I’ll just finish it first and deal with it afterward. And you’ll treat me, won’t you? You stitched up Jeyca’s wounds pretty well back then."
"Still, don’t get hurt. I’m practicing, but... I’m still not there yet."
"If it comes to that, maybe I should ask Choi Hyun-seok to set up some kind of place where you can observe medical training or get hands-on experience?"
"Huh? You can do that?"
"If I ask, that guy would do just about anything. Why wouldn’t he help?"
"Oh! Then please do. I’ve really been feeling how much I’m missing by trying to teach myself."
Yoo Sung-jun let out a small laugh as he looked at his younger brother, burning with responsibility and scholarly enthusiasm.
He retrieved the NWA, now fully transformed into a greatsword, and nodded.
"Then I’ll contact him as soon as we’re out of the Enter Room."
But first, he needed to check the firearm.
He opened the repair case.
Inside was the newly purchased assault rifle, bought after selling the BK-108.
Unlike the clean, angular profiles of other rifles, this one had lines dangling all over it.
He pulled it out and slung it to his shoulder, and his brother pursed his lips.
"You bought that with the points Ryong-i earned after the mission?"
"Yeah. You swapped out your sniper rifle too, right?"
"They said it wouldn’t work against Level 5 Infectors anymore. I wanted the Omega Suit, but I had no choice but to change it."
"Good."
"Anyway... the greatsword and the gun are both nanotech gear?"
"You saw that in the setup home too?"
"Haha, yeah."
Leaving his brother’s awkward laughter behind, Yoo Sung-jun rested his hand on the trigger.
A warm sensation spread through the tips of his fingers.
The rifle, having recognized his fingerprints, stretched awake.
The limp lines along its body began to move.
Then the end of the weapon glowed brightly as it reached toward the Omega Suit on his wrist.
When all the lines finally connected to the suit, the rifle’s surface was traced in five colors to match it.
"Nice. It must be using some of the nanoparticles and its own power as a substitute for gunpowder."
"It’ll stand out in the dark because it’s synchronized with the Omega Suit, but as things stand, it’s hard to get a firearm this good."
"Really... I’m starting to wonder if there’s even a user stronger than you."
"Do you think there is?"
"Maybe Jack Kalt can come close?"
He was the clan leader of Quantum, the world’s number one clan.
Jack Kalt. The man who, if Yoo Sung-jun remembered correctly, had been invited to the White House without even hiding his information.
I wonder if that bastard is trying to rebuild a nation the way Choi Hyun-seok is.
That was likely.
Taking care of your own people and your own clan was important enough, but if you thought about the future, it was better to reconstruct society and rule over it.
Self-sufficiently controlling a group on your own only works for so long. If you’re a clan leader or someone running an organization, you’d also be looking for a replacement.
Choi Hyun-seok’s replacement would be a conglomerate chairman or a high-ranking government official.
What about other countries?
It was a matter of choice.
He might absorb subordinate clans to build up his power, or gather ordinary citizens separately and declare himself the king of the pack.
Should I even care that much?
Yoo Sung-jun’s concern wasn’t some complicated struggle among the powers above.
He cared about his brother’s safety and about finding a way to be happy himself.
This was only a step in that process.
The bunker raid. I hope it ends safely.
Yoo Sung-jun put the weapons away.
With that, all preparations to tear apart the 38th Mias had been completed.
Only the detailed battle plan remained.
The brothers left the Enter Room.
***
In a dark conference room, more than ten men and women sat gathered together.
They stared at the screen being projected to one side.
In the video playing there, Meteor cut Mias clean in two.
The creature’s death cry rang in everyone’s ears.
After that blunt retort, Mias split into hundreds of pieces and collapsed.
The people gathered here, selected as team leaders after being assigned to the divided squads, blinked at the screen.
Even now, it was still hard to believe that swordsmanship.
No matter that he was swinging it with the help of the Omega Suit and Body Enhancement—the idea that a greatsword could move like that was absurd.
And yet Meteor’s greatsword technique was as swift as a flash, as sharp as a blade, and as powerful as a storm.
Some of them swallowed dryly.
They were probably imagining what would have happened if they’d faced that greatsword themselves.
Back then, he’d already finished Body Enhancement and Suit Enhancement to Level 4.
Yoo Sung-jun, having ended the video, folded his arms.
Because he wore the Omega Suit, even the smallest motion carried a heavy weight.
Several of the team leaders raised their hands as they looked at him.
"Did the Mias-subjugated leaders behind it all show up too?"
"That part wasn’t recorded, but the leaders did appear, and I killed them all."
That was what this video was for.
"Even if you succeed in exterminating Mias, that doesn’t mean it’s over. You still have to prepare to deal with every leader creature it commands."
"So that’s why you came up with a divide-and-conquer strategy."
"Exactly. You have to pull out the weeds before they can trip you up on the way in."
He moved to the next screen.
From the first reconnaissance to the second.
Fortunately, they had completed their scouting without any major losses, and now they could review an outer map.
They said twenty-four people died.
There hadn’t been any great sacrifice, but there had still been sacrifice.
Users who had never dreamed their end would come like this had died.
This map had been won at the cost of their deaths.
"There are eight entrances in total. That’s the number of openings leading toward the center of the bunker. There are five types of Infectors, and the environment is divided into three broad categories."
The underground bunker beneath Gimpo Airport, which didn’t exist here, existed over there.
And the reason was the D-Virus.
The final desperate act of the ruling class, trying to survive the virus.
That place had now been transformed into a massive nest of Infectors.
Even from the photographs taken at the entrance, it was obvious.
At the mouth of the entryway, lumps of flesh and viscera dangled like vines.
And down the passage, the floor was flooded with a green, steaming liquid.
In some places, even the ceiling and both walls were covered in holes the size of an adult man.
"A swamp made of cultivation fluid in a biological jungle. And finally, an environment with tunnel conduits."
He nodded at the words of the female team leader.
"I considered three things when choosing the confirmed entry route. First: is the entrance wide enough for multiple people to move through? Second: does it compromise mobility? Third: can we minimize user casualties?"
He had calculated it thoroughly, keeping all three in mind.
The forces they had, the positions they were assigning, even the team leaders who would command them.
And then he had considered the types of Infectors in each environment as well.
"The route we’ll be taking is this one."
One by one, the entrance images on the screen disappeared.
In the end, only the great entrance of the biological jungle remained.
It looked like a passage into hell.
Every team leader hardened their expression.
As people who had played Another Earth for a long time, they must have been imagining the Infectors that lived there.
Among those team leaders, one man in particular wore an unusually confident expression as he asked,
"So when does the operation start?"
It was Alexei Cruiser.
He was serving as the team leader for the users made up of mercenaries.
When there’s no tiger in the cave, the fox becomes king.
Even so, among the foxes, Cruiser seemed to have seized the position of leader by virtue of being the strongest and most capable.
"The operation begins in four days. We’re launching a raid to secure a massive hideout and lay the groundwork for national reconstruction."
He swept his gaze across everyone and went on.
"Do not neglect your training for your own safety. Keep drilling your teamwork with your squads without stopping. Finally, prioritize the orders I give you above all else."
Yoo Sung-jun finished speaking.
"If you follow those three things, you can avoid a pointless death. Understood?"
His body-enhancing power, which had steadied his mind, and the battle methods he had learned through years of solo play, pushed his charisma to its peak.
Feeling it acutely, the team leaders shouted in unison,
"Yes, sir!"
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