Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: The Hidden Artifact Lab
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Nam Yeon-a's Porsche Boxster sports car, departing from the Charlotte Hotel, cut through the heart of Seoul for over an hour on its way to her research institute.
"The lab's pretty far out, huh?"
"Yeah. I put some thought into security. We're almost there now."
Before long, the car they were riding in reached the vicinity of Bukhansan Mountain.
And then it entered the underground parking lot of an apartment complex at the base of Bukhansan.
Shin Yu-hyun wore a puzzled expression.
"Is the lab around here?"
"Yes. But we've still got a ways to go."
"Then why the apartment basement parking lot?"
"You'll see when we get there."
Nam Yeon-a flashed a playful smile at Shin Yu-hyun's question.
It wasn't long before Shin Yu-hyun understood the meaning behind her smile.
At the farthest end of the underground parking lot, there was a vehicle barrier marked with a restricted access sign.
Beyond the barrier, descending one more level underground, they came upon a small parking area blocked off by a wall.
"There's nothing here?"
As Shin Yu-hyun spoke while eyeing the parking area,
A mechanical whir echoed from the wall directly ahead.
And then, just like the entrance to a secret base in a movie, the wall began sliding open to the left and right.
Incredibly, there was a hidden secret passage in the underground parking lot.
"This is...?"
"Welcome to my lab."
Nam Yeon-a started driving down the passage again.
"Feels like a secret base, right?"
"Yeah. I didn't see this coming."
Shin Yu-hyun shook his head in disbelief.
He never imagined an apartment basement parking lot would hide something like this.
"That apartment we passed through earlier? It's actually where my research staff lives. This path is one of the secret routes leading to the lab."
"Must be quite the operation."
"Nah, it's only five floors."
Nam Yeon-a laughed as she replied.
But judging by the area alone, it had to be substantial.
They had to drive quite a distance through the underground tunnel before finally arriving at Nam Yeon-a's secret artifact research institute.
Upon arriving at the artifact research institute, Shin Yu-hyun couldn't help but be impressed.
Sleek, modern interiors adorned each floor, filled with labs dedicated to researching, developing, and modifying artifacts.
And as they walked the underground corridors, researchers in white lab coats greeted Nam Yeon-a one after another.
There were quite a few of them, too.
'Bigger than I expected.'
He hadn't realized Nam Yeon-a ran an operation like this.
Shin Yu-hyun now understood why she said she'd be safe here even from Nam Min-hyuk's assassination threats.
The artifact research institute boasted an insane security system.
'This place is secure.'
As he marveled at the facility during the tour, Nam Yeon-a led him to their destination.
"Here we are."
Research Institute Basement Level 5
Barrier Coat Development Division
Nam Yeon-a entered the Barrier Coat development lab with Shin Yu-hyun.
"This is my personal lab. I like working alone."
The interior of the lab was fairly spacious.
Nam Yeon-a guided Shin Yu-hyun to the center of the lab.
"The coat I'm gifting you is this one."
A cylindrical glass experimental chamber, about two meters in diameter, stood in the center.
Inside hung a sleek black coat with a stylish design and red lining.
"Distortion Field Coat. Or DF Coat for short. It's a defensive garment completely different in concept from the existing Barrier Coat, the B Coat."
"Distortion Field?"
"Yes. While the standard B Coat deploys a barrier to block attacks, the DF Coat generates a spatial distortion field around the wearer to deflect them instead."
"Deflect instead of block..."
Shin Yu-hyun didn't know the exact mechanism behind how the DF Coat worked.
But from her words, he grasped one key fact.
"That must make it way more mana-efficient."
"Exactly! How'd you know? Since it deflects rather than blocks head-on, it drastically reduces mana consumption."
Nam Yeon-a looked at him with surprise. She hadn't expected him to spot the DF Coat's biggest advantage at a glance.
"Same goes for real combat. Deflecting uses less stamina than tanking hits directly."
Plus, deflecting enemy attacks allowed for maximum effect with minimal movement.
Which meant even greater savings on mana and stamina.
"I see."
Nam Yeon-a nodded at Shin Yu-hyun's response.
The DF Coat was the culmination of her research to improve B Coat efficiency.
"Anyway, being able to deflect attacks is impressive. It'd be especially effective against ranged strikes, right?"
"Huh? Yeah, exactly! How'd you figure that? It's super efficient against arrows or ranged magic attacks."
Nam Yeon-a stared at him in astonishment.
She was already amazed that he'd noticed the mana efficiency just from looking.
But to pick up on its ranged immunity too?
"The DF Coat is also equipped with a high-performance micro-processor chip based on a 4-star mana crystal. In theory, it can automatically defend against attacks from 4-star magic beasts. And tests simulating those attacks confirmed it works."
Barrier Coats varied wildly in performance by grade.
Especially the mass-produced models, which required the wearer to manually activate physical protection.
Only then would the embedded barrier magic activate, generating the shield.
The delay from activation to shield deployment was under 0.001 seconds.
But mid-tier coats and above automatically triggered barrier magic under certain conditions.
Like if something approached the wearer at high speed, or if the ambient temperature shifted, and so on.
Whenever the micro-processor chip judged it a physical threat to the wearer, it auto-activated the barrier.
Chip performance determined detection range and activation speed. Typically, it sensed within a 2-meter radius, with activation around 0.001 seconds.
High-end chips could do it in under 0.0001 seconds—near-instant.
In other words, it could even auto-defend against rifle bullets.
Of course, mid-tier coats could still be manually triggered by the wearer.
Sometimes their senses outpaced the chip.
Full compatibility.
"Deflecting 4-star magic beast attacks? That's top-tier performance."
"You bet. And it's the only coat in the world that can deflect attacks."
Nam Yeon-a beamed with confidence.
The Distortion Field Coat was high-grade, 4-star rare quality.
It matched the new model from today's auction in rating, but the core design concept set it apart.
Making the DF Coat truly unique.
"Like it?"
"Yeah. I love it."
Shin Yu-hyun smiled contentedly at the DF Coat as he answered.
Barrier Coats in general consumed mana from their crystals with every use of defensive magic.
Once depleted, they needed recharging to function again.
But the DF Coat slashed mana consumption dramatically, allowing more stable fights against magic beasts.
"Then, as promised, this coat is yours."
"You sure I can accept it?"
"Of course. You're the one who saved my life—this is the least I can do. It's one of my masterpieces, so take good care of it."
Nam Yeon-a removed the DF Coat from the chamber and helped Shin Yu-hyun into it herself. But once he had it on, it felt quite oversized.
"Isn't it a bit big?"
"I made it that way on purpose."
Nam Yeon-a smiled at his question.
Right then,
A feminine mechanical voice emanated from the coat.
"What's this?"
"The DF Coat has a support AI built in. It collects combat data to optimize the coat for your style, Yu-hyun."
"It does that too?"
Shin Yu-hyun looked stunned at her explanation.
A combat support AI in a coat? Even in his previous life, nothing like this existed.
"Yep. Once optimized, it'll generate the distortion field even faster. Theoretically down to 0.0001 seconds."
"That's incredible."
6-star top-grade coats were the only ones that could activate that quickly.
With the completion announcement, the DF Coat began reshaping to fit his build perfectly.
"Once registered, it auto-adjusts to your body type."
"I had no idea it could do that."
"It's got all sorts of tricks."
Nam Yeon-a gave a meaningful smile before asking,
"How's the fit?"
Shin Yu-hyun twisted and turned to test it.
It felt like an extension of his own body—perfectly comfortable.
"Feels great."
"Good to hear. Oh, and the mana crystal in the coat is removable and swappable."
"What...?"
Shin Yu-hyun's eyes widened in shock.
Standard B Coats had non-removable, integrated mana crystals.
Removable ones?
That meant...
"So I can slot in 4-star or higher mana crystals?"
"Exactly."
Nam Yeon-a nodded with a grin at his question.
Upgrade the DF Coat with 5- or 6-star crystals to boost its grade.
"When did you even start developing this?"
"About three years ago. I only just finished it a few days back."
'My judgment was spot on.'
At her words, Shin Yu-hyun felt confirmation that his post-regression choices had been right.
In his previous life, no Distortion Field Coat existed.
Nam Yeon-a, who should have developed it, was assassinated in an unconfirmed dungeon gate.
She never completed it, and it never saw the light of day.
'If not for Nam Min-hyuk, she might have rolled out whole new defensive coats.'
Right now, Shin Yu-hyun had the only DF Coat, but mass production might not be far off.
And Nam Yeon-a could iterate on it into even better versions.
'If DF Coats had been mass-produced back then, they'd have helped against the Getia... and the Chaos Stampede that ravaged the planet.'
Shin Yu-hyun looked regretful.
With DF Coats, superhumans' casualties during the Chaos Stampede—and against Getia—would have been lower.
In his eyes, the DF Coat was a revolutionary leap over the B Coat.
As he pondered the DF Coat, an important question occurred to Shin Yu-hyun.
"By the way, have you ever...?"