The First Companion (2)

"What do you mean by that? Are you saying you built the generator? Yourself?"

Eve expressed strong skepticism at my claim of having built the generator.

"As I mentioned, the world has collapsed. To be precise, most of human civilization has fallen. At least 300 years have passed since then. Over those three centuries, it has become incredibly difficult to find items or facilities that contain such advanced technology."

Eve tapped the generator with her fingers and continued.

"And yet, while it is surprising enough that you found such an excellent piece of equipment, it is difficult for me to believe that you, Jaero-nim, who only arrived here recently, 'built' it yourself—even if it is your own word."

I could fully understand her perspective. In a ruined world where it is difficult to even craft a simple tool, it would be hard for anyone to believe that someone could build a generator like this alone, without any factories or production equipment.

"Or is this a facility arranged by the person who built this research bunker? Judging by the lack of scratches and its excellent operating condition, it seems to have been preserved perfectly."

It seemed the idea that I had built it had already vanished from her mind. In times like these, showing was much faster than explaining.

"Eve, could you take a look at this for a moment?"

I activated the Factory System and selected the generator ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from the facility tab. A translucent, 3D blueprint appeared before my eyes. A quick glance confirmed that Eve could not see the hologram.

I built the generator about five meters in front of where Eve was standing. The blueprint vanished, and small particles began to gather. The generator started to materialize from the base, and within a few seconds, it was fully formed.

As the white generator revealed itself, Eve, who had been expressionless, widened her eyes in shock.

"What is this! How is this possible? How did you do that?"

Eve touched the generator with a look of disbelief. While I had somewhat accepted it with a gamer's mindset, looking at it objectively, it was indeed a phenomenon hard to believe even with one's own eyes.

"I can't explain the principles or the reason, but this is my ability. The ability to build facilities. More facilities will become available for me to build in the future."

As I continued to complete quests, the number of available facilities would increase, and given the nature of factory-building games, I would eventually be able to craft a wide variety of items.

"That is a truly astonishing ability. Can you build these without limit, Jaero-nim?"

Of course, that wasn't the case. When I first built the generator while completing the quest, it was free, but now it required wood as a material. Still, being able to build a generator out of wood was a cheat-like ability in its own right.

"I can't build them without limit, but I can craft them using easily obtainable materials."

I explained that I needed wood and plant resources from the surroundings. I said it nonchalantly, but Eve seemed quite shocked by this as well.

"Such a miraculous thing... Then, besides the generator, what else can you build?"

Aside from the generator, the only things I could build right now were utility poles and power lines. However, there was no need to connect more power lines, and adding more generators would only decrease efficiency since gathering the wood to fuel them would take too long.

Since there wasn't much else to build, I had to clear quests to unlock more facilities. I opened the quest window.

I had finished the quest by taking Eve as a companion. A 'Miner'... a facility perfectly suited for a factory game had appeared. Now that the miner was available, I could automatically extract resources. I had finally taken the first step into a true factory-building game.

Putting my excitement aside for a moment, I executed the Resource Scan feature.

A pale blue wave spread out from me, rippling through the surroundings. Then, a dot appeared nearby, and the distance was displayed.

'127m, 624m... and 3.7km. Let's head to the one at 127m first.'

I led Eve toward the point marked 127m. Together, we pushed through the rough, overgrown grass.

The plant stalks and grass reached up to our waists. It was pure wilderness, completely unmanaged by humans. It was fortunate that I had a sickle. I cut through the grass with the sharp blade and added the clippings to my inventory.

'Might be useful as fuel later, so I'll just store it.'

As I worked hard, the fear of the world's catastrophe or the terrifying disease that supposedly ravaged male genes began to fade slightly. According to Eve, other flora and fauna had also been infected, but I hadn't seen any creatures showing such symptoms nearby. Since about 300 years had passed, perhaps the disease had weakened a bit?

Thinking this, I cleared a path, and the destination drew closer. 127m wasn't a long distance, but it took some time to cross the dense grass and uneven terrain.

Finally, I arrived at the 127m mark. There was nothing special to see. It wasn't like a game where it would display 'Mine ore here!', nor was there any ore vein suddenly popping out. It was just an ordinary forest.

"Hmm... where is it?"

The resource scan confirmed I had come to the right place. I looked around, scouting for a spot where ore might be. I cleared away the surrounding grass to see if there was anything on the ground.

Eve helped me from the side, pulling up grass with her bare hands.

Even after clearing the grass for a while with Eve, no suitable spot appeared.

"Jaero-nim. May I ask what you are looking for?"

"Oh, that. I'm trying to mine copper ore, but it's a bit hard to find."

"Pardon? Copper ore?"

Eve tilted her head.

"Ore is a resource that cannot be found with the naked eye. Did you find location information somewhere?"

I shook my head.

"No. It's hard to believe, but I have a... well, an ability? To find resources. Hahahaha..."

It was an absurd answer even to me. There was clearly a limit to explaining things with words alone. Just like showing her the generator earlier, it would be easier to explain if I showed her with my own eyes.

I opened the Factory System and called up the Miner Lv1. A translucent 3D blueprint appeared before me, but this time, there was a slight difference.

Usually, the blueprints were blue, but this one was red. Since I had seen this indicator often in games, I immediately understood the reason.

'It's an indicator that construction is impossible. In games, miners are facilities that can only be built at specific points.'

Even in factory simulation games, resource-extracting facilities could only be built on top of resources. It seemed this case was no different.

As I moved the blueprint around, it flickered blue at a specific location.

'This is it!'

I stopped the blueprint at the exact spot where it turned blue and built the facility. The blueprint vanished, small particles gathered, and the facility took shape from the ground up, becoming a complete structure in just a few seconds.

"Unbelievable..."

I heard Eve's voice of astonishment from beside me. The miner was incomparably larger than the generator I had built earlier. While the generator reached about waist-height, the miner looked to be at least 5 meters tall.

"It's truly amazing to see again. You can easily build such large things, too."

"This is a miner. With this, we'll be able to mine copper ore easily."

"I look forward to it."

Eve smiled brightly. I was momentarily dazed by her smile.

"Ahem... Anyway, I'll start the miner."

I pressed the power button on the miner.

Click.

"......?"

"?"

"Oh, right. Electricity!"

I had forgotten the power supply.

I returned to the generator with Eve and connected the power lines. After connecting the wires to the generator, I went back to the miner and pressed the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠power button again.

As soon as the button was pressed, a harsh mechanical sound erupted, followed by a loud roar.

Vrrrrrr!

Krr-krr-krr-krr!

The drill at the bottom of the miner dug into the ground. It was so powerful that I could clearly feel the vibration of the earth through the soles of my feet.

Beside me, Eve was watching the miner intently. Her expression was nearly blank, but her eyes were sparkling, suggesting she found it quite interesting.

"Jaero-nim. Something is coming up from beneath the miner."

At Eve's words, I looked back at the miner and saw chunks of rock coming up one after another from the ground. I opened a small door on the side of the miner, and copper ore began to pile up neatly.

I took one out and put it into my inventory.

I checked it just in case, and it seemed it really was copper ore, despite looking like a rock.

Ding!

A new quest had appeared. Since I had obtained the smelter and foundry as rewards, based on my gaming experience, I would now be able to mine this copper ore, turn it into copper ingots, and craft other processed goods.

"Eve! We can mine this copper ore, turn it into copper ingots, and use those ingots to craft other goods."

I said to Eve, holding the rock—no, the copper ore.

"Are you saying this is copper ore? It looks... more like a simple rock than I expected."

Eve picked up the copper ore and examined it. I understood her reaction, as it had looked like a mere rock to me until I put it in my inventory and saw the name tag.

"Shall we experiment to see if it's copper ore or just a rock?"

I built the newly unlocked smelter and foundry near the miner and connected conveyor belts between them. The structure was as follows:

Miner - Smelter - Foundry - Small Temporary Storage

Finally, I connected electricity to the smelter and foundry. The copper ore mined from the ground by the miner traveled along the conveyor belt and into the smelter. A whirring sound followed, and I could feel heat radiating nearby.

I didn't know the exact process, but after some complex internal steps I couldn't predict, hot copper ingots emerged from the smelter's exit and slowly entered the foundry's entrance on the conveyor belt.

Thump, clank! Thump, clank!

As the copper ingots entered the foundry, the heavy machinery began to emit a rhythmic roar, as if waiting for them, and started crafting copper plates. Finally, the smoothly processed, soft copper-colored plates moved in a line along the conveyor belt and began to stack neatly into the storage.

"Oh! This is it. Just watching this is satisfying enough."

The sight of resources being produced without lifting a finger. The true thrill of factory simulation games, the 'automation high,' washed over me, sending a shiver through my entire body.

I took a copper plate out of the storage. It was a square plate with a smooth surface and that distinct, vivid copper color I remembered.

"I can't believe my eyes. To think metal processing is possible in an instant like this..."

Eve stroked the copper plate repeatedly, as if she couldn't believe it.

"Research System... it's finally starting."

There was no separate tutorial, but having played many games, I could immediately guess what the research system was.

Until now, features had been unlocked through quests, but the research system would likely be a system where I could unlock new ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠functions in exchange for specific missions or items.

I didn't hesitate and opened the research system. A new window filled with numerous icons appeared. It looked similar to the skill trees found in RPGs.

"Hmm."

Scanning through, there were many things that looked useful, but there was only one I could unlock right now. I could unlock the ability to mine and process 'Iron' resources in exchange for 100 copper plates.

"Iron is the absolute basic of basics in factory games. I have to unlock iron at the very least to say the real start has begun."

I could wait until I had 100 copper plates, but since they were being produced automatically, there was no need to wait.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Eve, shall we head back and eat for now?"

"...Pardon? Ah, yes, let's do that."

As I built the factory with Eve, the sun was already setting. I had been so absorbed in the quests that I hadn't noticed the time passing. I left the equipment producing copper plates and returned to the research bunker.

I pressed the 'Meal' button in the supply room, received an energy bar that tasted like dirt, and lay down on the bed.

'Tomorrow, I'll just make an iron factory with 100 copper plates.'

The first night in an unfamiliar place. It had been an exhausting day for both my body and mind. I had suddenly been dropped into a strange world, completing quests like a game to build a factory, and then I had met Eve.

'Is this really a world inside a game?'

Looking at the quests and the status window, it felt like a game world, but seeing the way Eve was born, it felt suspicious to conclude it was just a game.

There was nothing I could know for sure right now. I decided to think about it tomorrow and closed my eyes, but I heard the sound of a door opening, and Eve entered the room.

"You aren't asleep yet, Jaero-nim. You worked hard today."

I opened my eyes slightly and looked at Eve.

'Uh... oh.'

I was startled and sat up. Eve, who had entered the room, seemed to have just finished washing, as water was dripping from her hair. Her damp hair flowed down her neck and rested on her collarbone. And between the wide-open jumpsuit, droplets of water were gathered, clinging to her body.

"Ah... Eve. That... the warm water still doesn't come out, right?"

"Yes, the cold water is fine. The water pressure is also good, and it works without any problems."

I heard Eve saying something, but I couldn't hear it well over the sound of my heart pounding violently.

"That... come to think of it, what should we do about sleeping?"

My whole body was tense, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. First, I tried to change the subject, rambling to get out of this situation, but then I realized there was only one bed in the bedroom.

"I am fine. Even if I don't sleep, it does not affect my physical abilities."

Eve answered as if it were obvious, but there was only one bed in the research bunker. It was a size where two people could sleep if they had to, but they would have to lie very close to each other.

It wasn't like there was any other furniture to lie on besides the bed, nor were there any extra mats or blankets.

"Even so..."

"It is fine."

Eve was firm. She would not bend her will at all. After a long argument, I eventually gave up first.

"If you get sleepy, don't push yourself and wake me up. I'll take a shift."

"No need. Have a good night."

Eve turned off the lights and quietly left the room. I stared blankly at Eve as she left, and only then did I take a deep, ragged breath as if I could finally breathe again.

"Haa... haa... Crazy! I almost lost my mind."

I couldn't see anything in the darkened room, but the sight of her wet hair and water droplets flowing between Eve's collarbones kept flashing vividly in my mind.

"Oh, damn it! You horny bastard!"

I tossed and turned for a long time, pulling the blanket over my head, before finally drifting off to sleep.