Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: It Just Worked?
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Kang Geohan buttoned his uniform all the way up to his collar and pinned the brooch symbolizing his status as a White Knight to his chest.
He wore the neat knight's uniform in a mix of cream and neutral tones, with a Schpen 5 strapped to his waist. He checked his reflection in the mirror and adjusted his posture one more time.
Today was an important day.
The day Femoral's upgrade was complete.
Kang Geohan stepped out of his quarters with body and mind in solemn reverence.
There are two kinds of people in the world.
Those who ride Giants, and those who don't.
On the way to the Kingdom Workshop.
Kang Geohan felt countless eyes on him. Not a single one among them was a Giant Rider.
This fortress housed over twenty thousand people—knights, soldiers, technicians, laborers, and administrators combined—but the total number of Giant Riders and trainees didn't even reach 150.
Riders were beings who drew attention and envy wherever they went.
Rulers of the battlefield. Guardian deities of the kingdom! Vanguard of humanity!
Glory to the Giant!
Thump. Thump.
Kang Geohan's heart pounded uncontrollably.
He passed the massive Kingdom Workshop, which resembled a grand library, and entered the vast firing range that stretched like a runway.
There it was.
Standing with the clear blue sky above its head and its thick legs planted firmly in the ground: the advanced trainer Cyclops. Kang Geohan's Femoral.
"Ah... good to see you."
The words slipped out naturally as he gazed at the armor plates gleaming in the sunlight.
The last time he'd seen it, the armor had been battered from fierce combat, caked in mud, and covered in scratches. But now, fully repaired and upgraded, Femoral shone like something brand new.
The abdominal armor plate was open, as if showing off the upgraded work, yet even that looked as exquisite as the inner workings of a fine clock, pleasing to the eye.
"Oh, you're here?"
Davis, covered in grease, greeted Kang Geohan.
Uncle Davis hadn't stayed at the outpost but had returned to the border fortress with him. His combat prowess made him unsuitable for scouting missions there.
Lately, he seemed happy. He did the bare minimum training and spent the rest of his time trailing Ren Engineer around the Kingdom Workshop, helping with odd jobs.
He said just being able to watch Giants up close made every day enjoyable.
"Yes, Uncle. How'd it go?"
"How'd it go? It was a real war. Total chaos. Ren Engineer put in so much effort. I learned a ton too."
"Really? I should thank her then."
While Kang Geohan chatted with Davis, Ren Engineer—the one who'd overseen Femoral's upgrade—spotted him and approached.
"Cool, right?"
"Yes! It's awesome!"
What more was there to say? It was perfect.
"I maxed out the Crown's potential like you wanted and turned it into a monstrous SPU. In terms of SPU performance alone, even well-tuned Yotuns won't stand a chance."
Ren Engineer beamed with pride as she guided Kang Geohan.
"See that?"
He saw it. On the Giant's left abdomen.
Where the simple cylindrical SPU had once been.
Now, a slender Crown wrapped around the cylinder like a tight belt.
"It was major surgery. I put so much care into it. I analyzed all the circuits and connected them perfectly without any conflicts. Efficiency's over 90 percent."
"Whoa..."
Talk of circuits and efficiency was still beyond Kang Geohan's grasp.
But one thing was clear.
It was beautiful. Both the slender, expanded Crown and the SPU fitted to it like a perfect belt.
"And like I mentioned before, I modified the Giant Heart too. Upgrades within 10,000 silver were limited, so there won't be much visible change. But now you can handle the Giant Set without overclocking. I tweaked the cooling system while I was at it. The SPU's so powerful it'll generate a lot of heat... Still, with the existing liquid cooling and the full overhaul, it should be fine. I poured my heart into it. Didn't even think about my labor costs—just focused on the results."
"Thank you. Thank you."
The only attitude Kang Geohan could take toward this great engineer was one of overwhelming gratitude!
The total labor cost had been a whopping 120 gold coins—12,000 silver—but that didn't matter.
What mattered was that an exceptional engineer had taken on the Giant upgrade and gone all out on his requests!
"Get in and try it. I built it, but I'm dying to know if it'll actually work right."
Ren Engineer urged him on, her face a mix of worry and excitement.
Kang Geohan nodded and was about to board Femoral, whose abdominal plate had just finished closing, when a crotchety voice rang out across the firing range.
"Work? That hunk of junk with its trash balance? The idiot who asked for it and the idiot who built it!"
It was Harold Smith.
He appeared with his hands behind his back, face twisted in a scowl.
Davis, standing beside him, grimaced and whispered.
"That old geezer again...!"
"Again?"
"Yeah. He didn't lift a finger during the upgrade—just stood around nitpicking. Ren Engineer was already struggling, and she ground her teeth putting up with it."
Hearing that, Kang Geohan felt a twinge of annoyance too.
Originally, he'd asked Harold Smith to handle this upgrade.
But he'd kept delaying, calling it a waste of materials, until Ren Engineer had finally stepped up and taken the lead.
'He didn't help at all, and now he's here causing a scene?'
Irritation surged inside him, but the man was the chief technical advisor, a sub-baron whom even Gold Knights treated with caution in speech.
A newbie White Knight like Kang Geohan couldn't show his displeasure.
But Ren Engineer apparently could.
"Old man! You gonna keep this up? What'd you contribute? Huh? What?! If you're not helping, at least don't get in the way!"
Young as she was, she brimmed with technician pride. She had a temper to match.
It was only natural to fly into a rage when someone badmouthed a creation you'd slaved over for days.
But Harold acted like he couldn't care less.
"Oh-ho? Old man? These days, rookies talk back to the chief advisor like it's nothing! Unthinkable back in my day! You gotta listen when someone speaks. I said no, no, over and over, but you barge in and ruin good materials? Ugh. Orcs with elven weapons. Elven weapons. What a waste. Imagine putting that on a Yotun instead. Wouldn't that be something?"
Ptooey!
Davis couldn't take it anymore. He glared triangularly and spat a thick glob on the ground.
Kang Geohan felt satisfied inwardly but knew they couldn't keep this up.
'Time to show them.'
Right. When words failed with someone like that, showing was the only answer. Wasn't that why he'd trained to death these past days?
Kang Geohan ignored Ren Engineer and Harold Smith yelling at each other and climbed into the Giant.
He pressed his hand to the cockpit floor, awakened his demonic energy throughout his body, and rose in one fluid motion.
Rumble...
An unfamiliar pressure bore down on him, different from before.
Ding-!
A headache like a hammer blow hit him, followed by a piercing ring in his ears.
Sky, earth, wind, all sounds flooded his mind like thick, viscous liquid he couldn't swallow.
"Urgh...!"
Kang Geohan gritted his teeth, twisted his demonic energy, and released it.
Boom!
Demonic power resonated through his body. Only then did breathing ease, and his vision sharpen.
'Ah... ahh...'
Dizzying elation. An omnipotent sensation like his first time riding swept over him.
A ridiculous confidence that he could count every droplet in the clouds if he wanted shook his entire being.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The Giant's Heart beat quietly.
Its pulse felt almost pathetic, unable to keep up with the SPU's overwhelming perception.
But that was fine. Just standing there, surveying the world like the lines on his palm—this serene moment was enough.
"Huh? How many seconds?"
"17 seconds."
"...Faster than before, huh? At least startup's decent."
"Grr. You'll see about the rest."
The conversation between Ren Engineer and Harold Smith below rang as loud as if shouted right next to his ear.
Kang Geohan shouted.
"Let's start right away!"
The test maneuver was simple.
Fire thousands of test rounds at Femoral indiscriminately. Some were target rounds that exploded on impact.
Find and defend against the target rounds amid thousands of bullets exceeding the speed of sound to pass the test.
"Yeah. Blast it! Pour it on! Beat some sense into that fool!"
Harold Smith slapped the shoulders of the machine gunners heading to their positions and sneered at Femoral. Sour to the end, the old man.
But to Kang Geohan now, it just seemed cute.
Tension?
Not a shred.
He saw everything. Heard everything.
No way to fail.
That certainty writhed in his chest.
Soon, the test began.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Dozens of anti-kaiju machine guns opened fire in unison.
Acrid gunsmoke tore through the fresh breeze, and bullets at three times the speed of sound pelted the Giant's armor.
Of course, no damage.
Test rounds were fast but weak.
Made of soft metal, they shattered like glass on impact with Giant armor.
Ting-ting-ting!
It felt like standing in a downpour. Kang Geohan savored the pleasant vibrations and focused.
He saw them.
Every single one of the thousands of bullets, crystal clear. Like slow motion on a high-speed camera.
Bullets approached slowly, shattered, and he felt every fragment hitting the ground.
Nothing could surpass his senses.
'God's Shield...!'
Back on 21st-century Earth, there was the Aegis system.
Tracking thousands of targets simultaneously, intercepting dozens at once... a divine shield downing any attack.
But he could declare with certainty: his senses now exceeded Aegis. This was the majesty of Giants, called gods...!
And finally,
Flash!
Amid thousands of bullets, he spotted one marked "target."
Absurd that they fired it for him to find—and more absurd that he actually did.
Rumble!
Only then did Kang Geohan move. And he felt it.
'Slow...!'
In his mind, he'd already snatched the target round and slammed it down, but in reality, his arm had only twitched.
This was the sensory lag Harold had warned about!
At this rate, he'd get hit clean!
In that moment of crisis,
'Overheat!'
'Demonic Vibration!'
'3RM!'
Kang Geohan instinctively unleashed his full power.
If it was a gap between body and senses, he'd drilled under 10x gravity until numb—nothing new.
The liquid cooling system revved up.
Boom~!
Demonic energy vibrated massively once more. Power poured out.
His hand moved. Still slow. But faster than the bullet.
Kang Geohan never took his eyes off the target round.
And without realizing,
Snap!
He caught it. Gently, with a wrist snap, like scooping a goldfish from a bowl.
Boom!
The shockwave followed belatedly.
Slow in his mind, but in reality, supersonic speed.
After the gale passed,
Kang Geohan opened his hand.
Firing had already stopped.
Rumble.
Femoral bent its legs and knelt.
He placed his palm on the ground. Harold Smith came running and climbed up.
There, in the palm, lay the hand-sized target round.
Caught so softly and precisely, it hadn't even exploded.
"Huh?"
A dumb sound escaped Harold.
He picked it up and looked up at Kang Geohan.
"How'd you do that? Why didn't it blow?"
Kang Geohan had only one response.
"It just worked."
Blink. Blink.
Harold Smith blinked repeatedly.
"Whoa... what is this? Balance should be trash, but how..."
Ren Engineer approached with a triumphant grin.
"What do you mean, what? Chief old man, don't you know the seventh major Giant component?"
"Giant Rider..."
"Yes. The rider's capability. I recognized the treasure. You missed it."
Harold whipped around to Ren Engineer and yelled.
"Let's do it together!"
She scowled.
"Huh? What?"
"Together! No, I'll do it!"
"What the hell, old man? I did everything, and now you..."
"No, no. This looks fun! Amazing, right? A Giant Rider handling that balance disaster. We could make a whole new concept Giant?! How can you hog all the fun?"
"You're... shameless..."
"Shameless! No shame here! Need an apology? Sorry~ This dim-eyed old fogey... Forgive me! Ren Engineer! Sorry, Kang Geohan! So let me in too!"
"No room!"
"There's room!"
"I'm out."
"Wait! Just wait... If Kang Geohan can handle the Heart-SPU gap this well, maybe we can lean harder into the materials' traits?"
"Huh? Material traits?"
"Yeah. This Crown. It originally unified lizardmen minds, right?"
"Yes... So I amplified perception as much as possible..."
"That's quantitative. I mean dial back quantity, go qualitative..."
"Ah...?! Hold on. If we nail this... not just performance boost, but a whole new ability..."
"Exactly! That's what I'm saying!"
Bickering Ren and Harold soon pressed their foreheads together in heated discussion.
Debating how to upgrade the already excellent SPU even further.
Kang Geohan dismounted Femoral, watching with a smile.
'Solid.'
The world's finest sights: food going into your child's mouth, and craftsmen butting heads to upgrade your Giant.
Those two, perhaps.
Kang Geohan looked up at the clear blue sky.
He thought of Kaltz Black at the distant outpost.
'One more step.'
The vow to become a noble. He felt closer by one step.
* * *
Kaltz Black, crouching low through the underbrush, glanced up at the sky absentmindedly.
Clear blue heavens.
A lake mirroring them perfectly.
Peaceful scenery, but a sudden ominous premonition hit.
'The insects stopped chirping.'
Blood ran cold. Killing intent.
'When... did we get surrounded?'
Or before that,
Why in this newly conquered frontier...
'Highly trained knights' killing intent?'
Kaltz Black gritted his teeth and waved his hand back. He shouted to the squires on recon with him.
"Everyone, down!"
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
Bullets tore through the clear air. Acrid gunsmoke stung his nose.
Kaltz pressed his cheek to the muddy ground and ground his teeth.
Something was seriously wrong.