The Second Upgrade
"Master, you've woken up."
The next morning.
"Ugh... just how many hours did I sleep... huh?"
Rubbing my eyes as I woke up, the first thing I saw was Unit 2. She was sitting on the edge of my bed, staring intently at my face. In her other hand—
"Were you trying to wake me?"
I jolted upright in surprise. Without missing a beat, Unit 2 held out a box packed full of Mana Cores. When I added in what we'd gathered yesterday, there were easily hundreds of them at a glance.
"I worked hard collecting them through the night. It seems we've nearly cleared out all the zombies in this area..."
At those words, I looked out the window.
"You said you cleared them."
Yet the zombies were still shambling around, dragging their rotting flesh behind them. When I checked with mana detection, their numbers did seem a bit lower than yesterday. But—
"The thing is, they just keep coming endlessly."
No matter how many we killed, more zombies continued to approach from the distance. How many people even lived in this neighborhood? Adding up everything we'd slain so far and what I'd sensed with mana detection, it had to be in the thousands by now. I wasn't sure.
"They might be getting created somewhere else continuously."
"I guess so..."
Weren't zombies supposed to only increase by infecting people? I chewed on a banana while turning on my phone. I wanted to check if any radio channels were still broadcasting live. I'd meant to try last night but had been too exhausted and just passed out.
"It says it works if you plug in earphones."
Crackle— crackle—
"......"
No luck? Wait.
"......This is an emergency broadcast......"
Oh. There was one channel that kept cutting out with static but was still clear enough to understand the general message.
"......The defense lines...... Citizens, please......"
After listening for a bit, I pieced it together. The northern defense line stretched from the border area—where there were almost no civilians and the military had been stationed—to parts of Gangwon Province.
Then there were a few cities that had succeeded in immediate response using police and military forces, plus the southern defense line centered around Gyeongsangnam Province. Everywhere else might as well have been completely devastated.
"......Currently, the Chungcheong region centered around Cheonan and Chungju, as well as all of Seoul, contain numerous high-risk entities...... each possessing different supernatural abilities......"
The broadcast covered reports on special zombies, various guidelines for the situation, news from around the defense lines, and general survival tips. Just the known entities in Seoul alone numbered dozens of different special zombie types.
There were simply strong and massive ones. Ones that commanded surrounding zombies, like the one at the school. Ones that used magic. Ones that multiplied through self-replication.
"There really are a lot."
And the zombie outbreak hadn't been limited to our country either. It was a global catastrophe. Details from other nations weren't coming through, but that was the situation.
"Earth's pretty much doomed."
Even if you called it an infectious disease, it was like the initial carriers had been scattered by the thousands into every corner of the world. There might be people like me somewhere out there who'd gained superpowers and survived... but who knew.
Anyway, with Seoul and Chungcheong fallen, the closest defense line from here would be the DMZ at best... No, wait. There was one place still alive. Pyeongtaek. It'd be too much right now, but someday I'd have to send a golem over there to check it out.
"Is that news from outside the city?"
"Probably."
After listening through it once, the broadcast started repeating the same content from the beginning. It mentioned that the announcement would change every twelve hours. Since I needed to conserve battery, I'd turn it on again in the afternoon.
"Let's start with the Grade 2 upgrade first."
I turned off my phone and headed to the room piled high with Mana Stones.
"If you don't want to see the building collapse, move all this stuff outside for me."
"I'm back... Oh, is this a new task?"
Unit 1, who had just returned, dumped the Mana Cores he'd farmed into a box and joined the work. In just a few minutes, the piloti parking area under the building was filled with a mountain of Mana Stone rocks instead of cars.
"We've got plenty of Mana Cores too."
While the golems went up to the fourth floor to deliver food and water to the still-sleeping Dayeon, and cleaned the house and surrounding area, I focused entirely on alchemy and Mana Stone manufacturing.
In just one hour, I'd produced a thousand kilograms of Mana Stones and two hundred kilograms of Mana-infused Iron.
"Ugh, I'm exhausted."
It felt like one of those RPG game daily grinds that nobody enjoys but you have to force yourself through for the sake of powering up.
"Hmm."
Yeah. I wonder when she'll learn it. As I was thinking that, a notification from the messenger system flashed.
— Dayeon: Oh, I did it!
— Dayeon: This is right, yeah?
— Dayeon: Hold on
— Dayeon: (Video of vines growing from her hand)
The video function worked even inside the messenger. It was convenient that registered disciples could use it too.
"Oh."
It'd be nice to have a proper communications specialist.
— ☆: Oh
— Dayeon: It worked after I slept well, ate, and tried again
— Dayeon: But I'm a bit tired
Maybe the problem wasn't that she couldn't use magic, but that her body was too weak from long-term underground confinement and malnutrition.
— ☆: Good job
— ☆: Using magic usually makes you a bit dizzy at first. It'll get better if you keep at it, so don't worry.
— ☆: Once you've rested and feel okay, start making water and vegetables regularly — just enough for us to eat.
— ☆: I'll teach you other magic later.
— Dayeon: Yes sir
Anyway. Now that she'd learned it, it was time to put her to work. The mana issue would probably sort itself out while she was working.
— ☆: Also, just in case — don't flush the sink or toilet too much.
— ☆: I have no idea what state the water pipes are in.
— ☆: And please mark the water bottles you make separately.
— ☆: I'll use them for alchemy or showers and such.
I didn't think flushing a lot of water would cause any backflow or anything, but I still sent over various precautions.
The water I made and stored in empty plastic bottles would be used for alchemy ingredients or laundry. Making Mana Stones and Mana-infused Iron required quite a bit of water too.
"I'll have to teach her alchemy later."
For now I'd have her focus on producing water and such. Once our magic slots had a bit more room, she'd be good at pulling alchemy materials and water. Seeing how well she studied, she'd probably excel at alchemy too.
"I've moved all the Mana Stones."
The golem returned after completing its task. We'd gathered all the other materials now. The last material for the Magic Tower upgrade—'one material of the desired attribute'—was the issue. Apparently this material would influence the next stage of the upgrade to some degree.
It didn't have to be something containing magic. Even a cup of water or a scrap of iron would work, they said. Magitech users usually chose steel, electricity, or fire. Multi-element mages picked whichever attribute among those they liked best.
'Hmm... none of those really appeal to me.'
Then a thought suddenly occurred to me.
I hadn't learned any white magic, but this would let me cherry-pick an attribute for zombie hunting benefits.
'Since it's white magic, it's probably something like holy magic, right?'
Thinking that, I asked the Free Archive. The gallery's representative white mage immediately popped up.
If this worked, great.
"Unit 1, go raid a church and bring something back."
Wait, but isn't raiding a church sacrilege? Can a holy white mage even do something like that?
...I don't know. Wouldn't it be a good deed to smash zombies and save people trapped somewhere? That guy didn't seem to be denying it either. Once the golem brought back something that looked holy from the church, I'd toss it in and try right away.
About an hour later.
"I brought everything that was there."
Unit 1 set down a Bible, wine, holy oil, various sculptures, and paintings on the floor.
Holy (White)
'It works.'
It was definitely being treated as a material with an attribute. That meant we'd gathered everything. All conditions were met.
Since it wasn't particularly dangerous, I sent a message.
— ☆: Can you all come down for a moment?
I gathered everyone in the room. Since the domain was about to expand, I had a feeling something big was going to happen.
[Warning! Tower growth may be dangerous.]
[You may lose your life, so please proceed with caution.]
[Will you still proceed?]
[Yes / No]
Just as I'd expected. I cleanly ignored the danger warning and selected 'Yes'.
Rumble—
With a heavy sound, the entire building began to twist and change shape.