Mrs. Driller
Mrs. Driller
Me, who tried to quit my job in my late 30s and return to farming.
A capitalist who had inherited my uncle's rice cake shop in my own way and even personally mapped out a smart farm.
Right now.
Me, with nothing to my name.
All I have is the body of an elf whose breasts are bigger than her head.
...And a status window supporting such a me, whose background is completely unknown.
A guy that only appears in situations that align with its own goals, or in situations where it wants to tease me.
Even as I think like this, it's like an AI embedded in my brain, clearly aware that I am thinking 'this and that' about it.
...Is this my own will, or is it a rail crafted by that guy?
I don't know.
At least, I can't accurately judge it just yet.
'Who am I, and where am I?'
Why did I wake up here?
Why is my body in this wretched state?
Where is this place, and who am I?
Why are my ears pointed like an elf's?
Why are the tits on this elf body bigger than my head?
Whether it's this fucking C8 or Adolf or whatever, whether it's a status window or an AI, I can't even be sure; literally, I know as much about it as a single tuft of grass in this desert—which is absolutely nothing.
'I can just figure it out as I go.'
I figured out one thing.
A single sapling.
One. The status window cannot exert physical influence without my body.
Two. The status window does not desire my death.
Three. The status window does not hesitate to conceal information from me for its own purposes.
And four.
Its goal is... surprisingly, the reconstruction of civilization.
'Right now, it's full of things I don't know, but there's no need to stress my head over such things.'
Why?
I put down that question.
Instead, I just need to repeat the question 'How?' in my mind.
'If I advance step by step, one stair at a time, I will eventually reach it.'
I just need to focus on living day by day while solving the given tasks one by one.
Is it because I already died once absurdly?
"Huu."
At the thought that living itself could become the purpose of life, my heart began to throb.
Deep breath, once.
Hi, hi, hoo.
...Hi, hi, hoo.
"...The effect is pretty good."
Taking a brief break, my thoughts about this status window guy were sorted out to some extent, so now it was time to move according to the given goal.
"Now you tell me. What is this 'real business' you're talking about?"
Was it because I showed a genuine willingness to get to work?
The holographic window floating in the air shivered faintly, as if moved to tears.
Driving me crazy.
Now it looks like it's alive.
It must surely be an illusion created by this AI status window trying to force heavy labor on me.
[ SYSTEM: Activation Authority Level 1 Unlock Confirmed ]
[ Codename: ]
C.V.8 Mk.13. A.D.O.L.F.
[ Current Power Source: ]
Leader's Mana Circuit (Synchronization Rate: 12%)
[ Notification: ]
Leader-nim, 'real business' is not simple labor.
It is a ritual of pioneering that breathes pulsation back into the heart of this dead planet.
A ritual of pioneering, huh.
"Alright. Then let me put it this way."
Jjak, jjak.
Lightly clapping my hands, I pointed forward.
"Hand over the project proposal. Make it so I can understand. You know I used to be a team leader, right? So show me a project proposal so simple that even Manager Park over there could get it."
It's not like I'm going to slam my head against the bare ground, so shouldn't I have something to look at and review?
"I'm the type who reads the manual step by step from the start."
When it comes to stuff like electronics, diving in with pure intuition without looking at the manual might be directly tied to a male's pride, but at least when it comes to situations where messing up means total ruin, I'm the type to build foundations step by step from the start.
I intended to analyze whatever data was available, whether it was a project proposal or a manual, but—
[ SYSTEM: Geological Scan Mode Activated ]
[ Analysis Target: ]
Geological structure within a 50m radius of the current base
[ Analysis: ]
Scan, expand, deep layer, wavelength.
[ Result: ]
First scan failed. Resetting detection area. Scan, expansion-detection complete.
150m below the surface, high-pressure vein of water integrated with a massive bedrock layer detected.
With those words, geometric schematics began to overlap over my retina.
"...Holy shit."
It felt like watching a scene from a movie.
Light began to flash, just like a movie scene where the US Secretary of Defense gathers top-tier scientists to prevent the end of humanity, and one of those scientists explains while saying, 'Look right here.'
And that light didn't just end as a screen visible beyond a display; it allowed me to feel the very ground beneath where my feet were standing.
'I see it.'
Beneath the pale brown-tinged sapling, a faint blue streak flowing through layers upon layers of bedrock.
Not like a wide brush stroke, but as if a stray hair sticking out from lack of grooming had brushed past, the faint blue stream of water was extending underground very weakly.
Jjuk, jjuuk.
The surrounding ground isn't clearly visible.
Only that faint stream of water.
As if only the area around that single blue line is visible, the stream of water illuminates the way as it pierces through the distant darkness.
And after that—what is visible is endless darkness.
[ SYSTEM: Geological Scan Mode Activated ]
[ Analogy: ]
The mud pool that Leader-nim is currently facing is nothing more than slight moisture clinging to the 'cork' of a giant champagne bottle.
The stream of water hadn't ended.
Although it was dark as if the whole world had been painted black, the darkness underground wasn't an abyss, but a giant, meandering current still moving continuously even now.
"A water vein buried underground where not a single ray of light enters, huh."
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the veins of the earth.
Because that darkness was distinctly different from the surrounding darkness, I could clearly feel the scale of the water vein revealed as faint wavelengths scattered.
A river, no, an ocean.
If only I could breach that water vein, this entire area would no longer be a parched Mars or a desert filled with heat.
'Can nature really be this extreme?'
.......
No, now is not the time to worry about that.
What I need to think about right now is underground.
"150m? Are you fucking kidding me? You're telling me to dig the ground with these two bare hands right now? No, if you're gonna do that, at least summon an excavator or something!"
Whether it's an excavator or a tractor, I can't do it with just two hands.
Was a complaint of this degree within the acceptable realm?
At my shout, as if it had been waiting for it, the status window overlaid a new schematic onto my field of vision.
[ SYSTEM: Answer ]
[ Notification: ]
Leader-nim's physical body is a high-efficiency mana conductor based on an 'elf'.
Mechanical devices are unnecessary.
You yourself are a living high-performance boring machine—a drill.
[ Status: ]
Mana capacity must reach critical threshold.
With your current weak output, you cannot even brush off the sand dust on the surface.
"......."
A drill, huh.
I wondered if my hands would turn into drills and bore downward, but it wasn't like that.
'I thought I was changing classes to Mr. Driller.'
My reason is screaming.
It's not about physically digging or piercing the ground directly.
The thing playing that role is mana.
This thing called 'mana' that this guy keeps talking about.
Then what is mana?
I didn't know its exact definition, but I could guess what kind of energy it was.
Something like high-voltage electricity flowing through my whole body when saving the sapling.
The very wavelength reaching downward when identifying the underground water vein.
Maybe all of that is mana.
If there's a sensation touching inside my head—it's probably an all-purpose resource that can be converted into any energy.
'I don't understand the principles at all, but my head understands that 'that's just how it is.''
If there were something like [Introduction to Magic Studies], I'd read 1,000 pages or a thesis, but our status window is flashing its lights telling me to breach the water vein 150m underground before worrying about any of that.
Just like someone sending a radio message saying 'Here is the oasis' to a person who is about to shrivel up from thirst right now.
"Yeah, you're doing this to keep me alive too, right?"
I reach my hand downward.
Before I could even do anything, something flowing out from my body—
No.
Mana extends underground.
Along the extremely faint water path touching the sapling, along the trace brushed by the wavelength, mana flows lower and lower downward.
[ SYSTEM: Guide ]
[ Suggestion: ]
You are not crushing the earth's crust with physical force.
Condense Leader-nim's mana into the form of a 'wedge' and vertically strike the 'pathway' through which the pressure of the underground water vein will erupt.
[ Notification: ]
The water vein is already waiting to burst forth.
Pop open the cork of the champagne prepared for you.
A sound brushes past.
A light, cheerful sound signaling that time trapped inside a wine worth millions of won is being released into flavor.
Slowly, I stretch my arm inward.
Pushing my arm through the mud, I extend my hand deep underground, not just to the point of burying my upper body, but so deep that my face comes level with the ground.
Hwiiiiing-!
The sand wind is rough.
Just when I thought it had calmed down, is the god of the desert refusing to allow a refreshing, clear stream of water to surge up in this land?
Even the mud, which I thought was relatively humid and cool, began to heat up as if gradually encroached upon by heat.
The mud encroaching on my body slowly began to dry up, as if it had snatched its prey.
The region holding moisture is gradually shrinking.
The sapling itself isn't affected yet, but if things continue like this, it's crystal clear it will dry out from the roots.
'A bit more.'
It went down quite deep.
I don't know specifically how many meters down I've sent the mana flowing, but mana is reaching downward much faster than expected.
It's not just my power alone.
The moment I slightly raised my head and looked straight ahead, I saw a faint ray of light gently pushing my mana from behind.
'It's you.'
The little sapling.
A miracle that sprouted, relying entirely on a single stream of water rising from underground.
That tiny life is helping me right now.
It clamors that the stream of water absorbed through its roots flowed in right from this very spot.
[ SYSTEM: Mana Synchronization Rate Increasing ]
[ Current Output: ]
25%... 45%... 60%...
[ Warning: ]
There is a risk of overheating as Leader-nim's nervous system fails to adapt to the flow of mana.
Do not forget the title 『 One Who Cuts Through the Scorching Sand 』.
"I know!!"
3 minutes.
It's not 3 minutes.
Just a little more, just a little more.
If there is a time when such thoughts end, it's not after 3 minutes, but when everything is finished.
'It's merely 150m.'
150m isn't climbing a mountain, it's just a small hill.
Whether going up or down vertically, I can accomplish it and reach the result.
There's nothing I can't do.
If it were something impossible in the first place, this fucking guy wouldn't have made me do it.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
As if probing the deep place, reaching my hand downward, as if sweeping through the deepest part.
As if caressing.
As if tickling.
And at that end, the moment I feel something catch, deeper...!
I thrust the mana in.
"......!!"
With a crackling pajijik sound, my arm began to shine.
Blue sparks bursting from my fingertips.
Along with the sound of something cooking, the smell of burning sand brushed past the tip of my nose.
And what I felt at the end of it.
Ttorureuk.
The sound of water echoed clearly in my ears.