Manpower Utilization for Long-Term Development

Taeho sent over several more videos after that, all of them heavily shaky. Footage of the golems stomping across piles of gray spores and smashing buildings to pieces.

Clips of what looked like swarms of bugs—some pitch-black mass—swarming through the air only to get hit by Mana Absorption and rain down like hail.

The quality was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠terrible and the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shots were taken from so far away that it was hard to make out exactly what was happening, but it was still way better than seeing nothing at all.

During the stream, the guy relaying it would suddenly vanish, saying he had to deal with some zombies, only to pop back up later.

There would be long stretches with no replies, then he'd pop up again cackling about how he'd taken care of the zombies.

Right after that, he uploaded a video proudly announcing that he'd managed to capture a proper battle scene. The golems' combat through the screen was crude, but it was shockingly effective.

A thunderous boom rang out as the mass-produced golems' punches shattered empty buildings, triggering Protection of the Law. The resulting holy shockwave tore through the spores across the entire area, turning them into scattering white light.

The noise drew in hordes of zombies and zombie creatures, but Unit 2 seemed to receive the location through some kind of telepathic link.

She suddenly burst out and erected a massive steel barrier, completely blocking their charge. The barrage of Mana Absorption light that followed and swept the zombies away was only natural.

'The zombies really are pitch black.'

The spore zombies had completely blackened flesh, and about one in five would explode upon death, spraying black spores everywhere. If you imagined fighting them as a human, it would seem utterly hopeless.

But for the golems, those explosions were nothing more than minor annoyances once you ignored the flying shrapnel.

Whenever any golems took damage during the process, Unit 3 would immediately shower them with her self-proclaimed "Healing Berry Cocktail."

And once they'd gathered a decent number of Mana Cores, Unit 1 and Unit 2 would cram them into their cores and prepare their ultimate techniques.

Pipes, tanks, and mechanical devices extended from Unit 2's fingertips and connected in a complex web. Unit 1 grabbed the massive handle at the end and spun it with tremendous force, pumping out water.

A deafening whooooosh echoed far into the distance as an enormous volume of water bombs blanketed the entire block.

Those water bombs carried a trace of holy attribute as well, so it was only natural that the spores everywhere the water touched melted away cleanly.

After a little more time passed, the district that had been packed with shops grotesquely covered in spores was reduced to complete chaos—ruins and a flooded wasteland, utterly demolished.

They say nothing is more terrifying than a flood, not even fire. The buildings, unable to withstand the impact, collapsed with a thunderous crash.

The mass-produced golems leaped across the wreckage, continuing their explosive extermination campaign with the clear intent of wiping out even the insect larvae hiding underground.

"......"

I copied the video exactly as it was and uploaded it to the Free Archive.

Maybe because it had been a while since a proper combat video was uploaded, the comments kept pouring in. There were tons of usernames I had never seen before.

Some people were clearly misunderstanding the situation.

That one line was enough to silence the crazy guy who had been so moved, and I was chuckling to myself when another comment appeared.

The terrifying Farmer Uncle who somehow turned every single topic into farming had appeared. I had no idea how he planned to farm on concrete fields and asphalt soil.

I wasn't sure if the man had actually farmed in hell, but now that I thought about it, if he went all-in on plant attributes and dug like crazy, it might actually be possible to grow plants through concrete floors.

Huh? Should I actually try it?

And just in time, I'd discovered an interesting spell over the past few days. It was the twisted version of hydroponic cultivation from the underworld itself.

When you put it in a pot with a plant, the thing grew as if it had been on steroids. It was a bizarre liquid. The artificial "injection" of growth did feel a bit grotesque, but everyone agreed it was incredibly useful.

The problem was the absurdly difficult and bizarre conditions required to learn it. Among them, "Understanding of Mana Lifeforms," which was ridiculously hard to fulfill, and "Healing," which was nearly impossible without White Magic, were especially vicious. I'd learned Touch of Healing just to try unlocking this, but if it didn't even activate, it was an instant failure.

Therefore, unless you had a special bloodline that let you skip the enlightenment requirements for White Magic, Alchemy, or Druid-type spells, or you were absolutely desperate for rapid growth of magical lifeforms, most people didn't bother learning it.

So I can learn it, right?

But they really were all open for me. I had no idea why. Healing I could understand, but why was Understanding of Mana Lifeforms already unlocked? I figured golems would count as "artificial lifeforms" or something.

Well, if it works, it works. Let's not overthink it.

Still, this guy really seemed to be overdoing it.

Seeing him complain about being tired, I figured he was right. I was about to reply and tell him to come back home and rest before he got himself killed fighting zombies in that state, but before I could hit send, a problem occurred.

In that instant, Unit 3's sparkling eyes and hyper-positive tone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠flashed through my mind. If she offered someone a sweet potion drink with that expression and that voice, it was honestly terrifying. It felt like she was forcing people to keep working even when they said they weren't tired.

But it looked like he was already too late.

'I'll learn it before he gets back and run some tests.'

That's what I thought, but it turned out that the complicated enlightenment conditions weren't the end of it. The materials were simple, but the manufacturing process and underlying principles afterward were so horrifically complex that a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠whole book could be written about them using 21st-century modern chemistry.

"Hoo......"

In the end, I left this one to my disciples as well.

"I'm a physics major, though?"

Unlike Dayeon, who immediately picked up a pen, Seongwoo listened to my explanation of the complex chemical processes and immediately raised an objection. Oh ho.

"Perfect. I was just looking for someone to make equipment that can charge batteries with this."

Crackle—

"Wait, you want me to...... No, unless you've eaten a substation or something, charging batteries with this would be really difficult. Wouldn't it be better to rip an engine out of a car somewhere and run it with fire magic?"

"That's a great idea."

"No, now the workload just tripled......"

That was when Dayeon stepped in.

"Hehe. If you want to survive, you have to work. Don't you feel bad for the wizard who saved your life?"

"Ah......"

I thought she was being a bit harsh, but it seemed Dayeon and the crazy wizards from the Free Archive had very different ideas.

And so, with almost no input from me, he ended up becoming a research slave dedicated to the Magic Tower's technological advancement.