Chapter 99
Chapter 99
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: Tio's Dream Workshop
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Tio always had to prove himself.
>-You have no beard, and you think you can just waltz into the factory?!
>-Get the hell out!
>-There's no place here for a runt like you!
Dwarf artisans who refused to acknowledge him as a craftsman just because he had no beard.
>-Ha! What makes you think you're so great, strutting around like that?
>-Why don't you quit that weird research and go where you belong?
Dwarves with no real skill who looked down on him for working in the factory.
Even when Tio created the Manacon, many dwarves refused to acknowledge it.
>-It's a trick. Some other dwarf must've helped you.
>-You used witchcraft or something, right? How could a dwarf like you...?
Jealousy and envy.
And suspicion.
Countless dwarves who believed Tio could never have made it.
But as he continued producing and selling Manacons one after another, those who had dared to doubt him all lowered their voices and vanished.
That was how he earned his overalls.
Only those with proven achievements or recommendations from three master artisans could wear the overalls.
He had become a member of the factory like that, but Tio was always an outsider.
No one would acknowledge a beardless dwarf.
Arrogant dwarves.
While redesigning a new invention to knock those dwarves down a peg, he met a human.
Max.
A human who wanted an absurd item called a mana storage device with zero consumption.
It was a ridiculous demand.
To create something that could store mana—which naturally dissipates—with absolutely no loss.
The other dwarves would surely shake their heads.
Even he, a genius among dwarves, could only rely on Lutan, let alone the others. They couldn't even imagine it.
They dismissed Lutan—a mineral that repels mana—as useless scrap.
The most conservative race of all.
If he hadn't been doing that research, Max never would have gotten what he wanted.
'Perfect. It aligns with my research.'
He had been pondering whether he could make something new using Lutan when he met Max—and approached him.
Their needs matched perfectly.
Max needed a new invention, and Tio needed an innovative creation to earn the dwarves' recognition.
And he witnessed it.
The skill of the mage Max, who made such an outrageous demand.
'This human...'
He thought perhaps they could create results that no other dwarf would dare mock.
So he followed him to his workshop.
The room filled with massive magic circles was shocking.
'To stably create such complex spells...'
He wasn't a mage, but as an engineer, he knew how hard it was to embed multiple spells at once.
Dwarves used their own ritual script called 'D Language,' though their methods differed.
A dwarf technician's skill depended on how well they wielded D Language, and the more complex the calculations, the less room there was for even the slightest error.
The same went for human mages' 'Rune Language.'
So he wanted to experience it.
When told minors weren't allowed, Tio shamelessly lied.
He claimed the dwarf age of adulthood was 25—a blatant falsehood.
It was a hastily made excuse, but it worked, and Max readily permitted it.
Then he handed over a slip of paper with an absurd question written on it.
>-Are you a virgin? (Yes/No)
Insisting it was essential, Tio answered that he was a virgin.
'Why is something like this necessary? It can't be some weird spell, can it?'
Amid anxiety and anticipation, Tio sat in the chair at the center of the magic circle.
Light rose around him.
Woooong.
The world changed.
"...Huh?"
Beautiful machines adorned the scene before his eyes.
Rectangular windows of various sizes overflowed with unfamiliar images and text.
On square screens projected by magic.
'It's not even a projector... No, there's no wall behind it either.'
There was something like the mana projectors used in the Steam Factory.
Devices that projected images by firing mana particles onto a white cloth or wall behind them.
They had complex structures and enormous sizes, so they were used as bulletin boards to convey major Steam Factory announcements.
Image devices that could only be used with a large flat wall or tent, limiting their applications to a tiny few.
But the screens before him now weren't like that.
Sizes ranged from 27 inches to 120 inches, but compared to the mana projectors he knew, they were small and compact.
"Projecting screens without a projector?"
It was like a dream machine.
"How could something like this...?"
He dazedly reached out and stared at the screen before him.
But that was just the beginning.
It wasn't just devices for projecting screens.
"Full of amazing machines."
Rectangular boxes he'd never seen before, a vacuum cleaner that moved on its own to clean the floor, gadgets making strange sounds.
"This must be utopia..."
What Tio had hoped for was one thing.
A paradise of machines he hadn't been able to develop until now.
A lab filled with devices he could only imagine with his own skills, never realize.
He wanted to be the first to develop and create those machines.
He wanted to become the pioneer of dwarf technology, flattening the noses of the dwarves who looked down on him.
"If I had invented things like this..."
Tio could have been the pioneer of dwarves he'd longed to be.
"A machine that undresses itself?! How is this possible? How does the mana drive work? I'm dying to know the principles... But it's probably hard to figure out just from the illusion, huh?"
Ding!
The door of the dishwasher, which had cleanly washed the dishes, opened.
Spotlessly clean dishes slid out.
"Wow! This is incredible too. If I could make something like this, we'd never need to wash dishes by hand..."
To inspect the internal structure of the dishwasher, he got down on his knees.
Unfortunately, he couldn't see the fine details.
'Those nozzles must spray water to clean them, I guess.'
But what kind of structure allows that? How is the water supplied?
There were too many things he wanted to research.
As he tried to don his dwarf goggles—equipped with tech to analyze mana flow and structures—to somehow figure it out.
Ziiing.
"Whoa!"
The machine moved on its own and spat out a sheet of paper.
And on it.
"What the...?"
The images and text displayed on the screen were perfectly printed.
"Incredible..."
He was still marveling when.
>-Nice to meet you, Tio-nim.
A golem in Max's form appeared before him.
With a long I-shaped line for eyes on its building-like frame and unfamiliar black lines drawn on its chin, the golem looked at Tio with an expressionless face.
No.
Could this even be called a golem?
Its appearance was so exquisitely human-like that it was indistinguishable from a real person.
"Who...?"
>-I am MK.12, your secretary.
"MK.12?"
>-Yes. My role is to assist with your developments, help with daily life, and ensure a smooth working environment.
"So this is my workshop?"
>-Correct. All of these are inventions you developed and created.
"......"
All of these, made by me?
It was unbelievable.
And then Tio belatedly realized this was an illusion.
"Ahh, I get it. This is my desire."
Tio, the greatest inventor who created all these inventions.
His heart raced at the realization that this was his desire.
'I thought something weird would come up.'
Why had he warned that minors couldn't see it?
"Definitely not something a minor should see."
He looked around at the surroundings filled with mysterious machines and equipment.
It was so meticulously crafted that he didn't think of it as an illusion at all.
Even Tio himself felt they were real—items with no sense of incongruity whatsoever.
"So, what do I do now?"
>-Do as you please. You are the master here, after all.
"I see."
Sitting back in the chair, he looked at the Max golem—no, MK.12—and asked.
"But why do you look like that human?"
>-Because you wanted me to, Tio-nim.
"I wanted that?"
>-Yes. I was modeled after the ideal form of a developer you desired most.
He had thought of him as an amazing mage and developer.
But a golem modeled after him personally?
Wasn't that weird?
"...Did that human just let it slide?"
MK.12 didn't answer.
"Did I make you secretly?"
>-No, that's not it. It took some time to get his agreement, but he permitted it.
"He permitted it...?"
>-Yes. He said it's fine to use if this golem helps with the master's developments.
"...That's a relief."
Max was the greatest mage he'd ever seen.
If he'd disrespected him, he would have come to hate himself.
Even if it was just an illusion.
>-Shall we start with the detox massage before your research, then?
"Detox massage?"
>-Yes. The massage you always did before starting your daily research.
"I did something like that?"
>-Yes. Studies show it helps clear the mind. In fact, research conducted after detox massages saw a 3.4 times increase in progress and over 4 times in efficiency. Inventions created after receiving detox massages include...
"Enough. I get that it works, so just give me a light one."
He cut off MK.12.
Truth be told, he was curious.
No matter that it was an illusion—who wouldn't want a magical massage that boosted research efficiency?
>-Then please sit in this chair.
"Got it."
The moment he sat in the chair.
Clank!
"Huh?"
Shackles shot out from the armrests, securing his hands and feet to the chair.
"W-What's this?"
>-Preparation for the detox massage. Please relax.
As if.
>-MK.12 only wants the master's safety and comfort. Just leave everything to me.
What is this?!
Reading Tio's desires written on the paper, I was inwardly surprised.
'The desire to become the greatest developer.'
It was a remarkably wholesome desire.
Wholesome enough that it was awkward to mix in the lust system.
"This should be fine."
I manifested his desire exactly as written.
Making him feel like the greatest developer was simple.
Just showing him a bit of modern gadgets would blow his mind.
"These are all inventions you developed."
Kuh, great line.
This should let him fully experience the feeling of being the top developer.
After setting it up and configuring the magic circle, unlike usual, I didn't enter the illusion myself.
"There won't be zero sexual descriptions..."
Still, I didn't want to watch a guy panting alone in an illusion.
Matching it inside the illusion together would be a bit...
"But I can't look away completely."
I needed to monitor from outside the magic circle for any issues with the setup or if something went wrong with Tio inside.
I'd end up seeing him pant indirectly, but.
'I have to endure this much.'
Tio, marveling at his surroundings, scanned every corner with a developer's keen eye.
He must be enjoying the scene.
This went on for a while.
"Huh?"
Discomfort began to spread across his face.
"It's starting."
The magic circle had begun operating properly.