Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 

CLANG—!

CLANG—!

After catching his breath with water, Jin-woo gripped the pickaxe again.

The fuel had drained by as much as he had run the Water Purification Room.

He had to mine as much as he had used.

‘I have to keep moving.’

The rhythm was different.

His arm held firm, and his wrist did not shake.

Even with the same strength, the pickaxe sank deeper.

With every swing, the bedrock shook ‘a little more.’

‘Now that my Level has gone up, it definitely is easier.’

“Twenty-six.”

Jin-woo placed the Mana Stone he had just mined on top of the pile and counted the number.

His fingertips still were not trembling.

After reaching Level 2, he had stamina left.

“It’s still not enough to get a skill, but....”

Jin-woo trailed off, then immediately changed his conclusion.

“Instead, there’s more I can do today.”

He mined more.

He could do other work too.

Jin-woo left the mine.

Then he picked out only twenty Mana Stones and put them into the fuel tank.

The rest went into his pocket for emergencies.

[Energy Charge.]

[Remaining Energy: 91%]

[Note: Limited to Basic Functions maintenance]

“Good.”

What he gained from repairing this purification device was not just EXP.

“Magic Tower Stability....”

《Magic Tower Stability: 36%》

Jin-woo checked the number once more.

36%.

It had risen.

But that did not mean he had room to spare.

‘Raising it once is possible.’

The problem came after that.

Even maintaining a single purification device took constant attention.

If inspection was delayed, it would waver immediately.

‘In its current state, even the slightest misstep will make it drop again.’

The stability had not truly risen—

It was only at a level he was barely holding onto.

Jin-woo lifted his head.

It was quiet now.

There were no problems and no threats.

That made it even more dangerous.

‘When things collapsed, they were always this quiet.’

There was no enemy he could see—

But this Magic Tower was constantly being consumed.

Even at this moment, somewhere, its balance was slipping.

It simply was not visible—

It was already beginning to go wrong.

‘Below 40%, it isn’t holding out.’

Jin-woo lifted his head.

‘Right now, it isn’t holding out—it’s only slowing the collapse.’

If he let go even for a moment,

it would collapse straight through that gap.

Jin-woo headed directly to the Water Purification Room.

Emergency repairs did not last long.

If he missed it once, it would drop immediately.

Because this purification device was—the only way to get water on the first floor right now.

‘If it breaks now, I won’t be able to do anything about it, so I need to maintain it in advance.’

“Tsk....”

Even raising the efficiency alone would change the day.

Jin-woo attempted to Enhance the purification device.

《Not a valid target.》

《Cannot Enhance.》

“...So facilities are out after all.”

Jin-woo immediately checked the ‘rules.’

He picked up an unenhanced Blacksmith’s Hammer.

《Target: Equipment》

《Enhancement applicable.》

A moment later—

《Blacksmith’s Hammer Enhancement +1》

《Effect: Crafting Speed Increase》

“That settles it. Only Equipment I hold can be Enhanced.”

If he could affect even the Magic Tower, the story would be different.

Jin-woo looked around the Magic Tower.

‘If I could Enhance the Magic Tower itself....’

The moment the thought surfaced, Jin-woo cut it off.

Right now, he knew neither the rules nor the conditions.

If you relied on unknowns, you died in the Tower.

‘Since it’s a Perk, shouldn’t there be some way?’

Transcendence-grade Enhancement.

He had to know its performance and its limits if he wanted to live.

‘I’ll research this.’

Beside the purification tank, Jin-woo opened the temporary discharge valve, collected water, and drank.

“Ahh....”

At that moment—

[Water Purification Room: maintenance operation in progress.]

[Note: Water quality stabilization maintained]

“...Ah, this device.”

Jin-woo clicked his tongue.

“It doesn’t just ‘make’ water. It even ‘maintains’ it.”

The Arcanist’s Magic Engineering technology always exceeded his expectations.

Jin-woo took as much water as he needed.

“There’s no need to leave maintenance mode on. Turn it off.”

[Operation stopped.]

Its energy efficiency was bad, that was all.

Still, his Level had risen, so he could mine that many more Mana Stones.

For now, that was enough.

“That aside....”

Drinking water was settled.

But he could not survive on water alone forever.

‘Hunters can go days without eating.’

Before Regression, that had been true.

But now it was different.

If he mined every day while drinking only water, he would eventually collapse from the inside.

“Lumina. Is there any food in the Magic Tower?”

If there was drinking water, there might be food too.

[Searching....]

[A preservation zone exists in the lower part of the Magic Tower.]

[However, it is currently sealed.]

“There is?”

Jin-woo was slightly surprised.

He had asked just in case, but he had not expected there to actually be any.

“Where?”

An arrow appeared.

After seeing it a few times, he found it almost welcome now.

[Guidance beginning.]

He followed the arrow.

He went down the stairs and headed in the opposite direction from where the mine was.

‘There are still a lot of spaces in the Magic Tower that I don’t know about. I’ll have to set aside some time later and explore a bit.’

And at the place the arrow led him to, there was a firmly closed door.

[Translation: Food Storage.]

Before Jin-woo could ask, Lumina read it.

Jin-woo tried to open the Food Storage door.

But it did not budge.

“It isn’t a lock.... The mechanism is dead.”

Jin-woo ran his fingertips along the gap in the door.

There was no ‘resistance’ from locking mana.

It was simply in a state where no power remained to open it.

[Opening/closing mechanism damaged.]

[Affirmative.]

“Hmm....”

The door was far too thick.

The door to the Food Storage was so thick that it could not even be compared to the others.

He could tell just by knocking on it lightly.

‘This was... made thick on purpose.’

Jin-woo struck the door once with the back of his hand.

A dull resonance sank down into his bones.

“Why make it this thick?”

[Record search.]

[To protect the food from someone.]

“...‘Protect’ the food?”

Jin-woo’s eyes narrowed.

Something targeted the food.

Whether that was a person or something else.

“From who?”

[Record inaccessible to Temporary Administrator.]

Apparently, that ‘someone’ was the Arcanist.

Why had they tried to protect it?

He could not know the reason.

But once he became Full Administrator, he would find out.

“Good. Then....”

Jin-woo examined his surroundings.

There was food inside.

He did not know what kind, but for now, opening this door was what mattered.

‘I need to figure out how it broke first.’

Jin-woo used Magic Engineering.

《You have used Magic Engineering.》

Blue light gathered in his eyes.

At the same time, he vaguely grasped what he had to do with this closed door.

‘Here, huh?’

Jin-woo lightly touched the wall.

Click.

It was the sound of a hidden panel unlocking.

When Jin-woo hooked his finger in and pulled, the thin wall plate opened as if ‘sliding.’

Inside it,

the core magic circuit that moved the door was revealed.

‘As I thought.’

There were burnt sections, and there were also clear places where the flow of mana had been cut off.

The door had looked intact from the outside, but on the inside, it had already reached its limit.

Jin-woo swallowed a sigh.

‘This is... an old overload.’

[Magic Engineering assistance active.]

[Circuit structure analysis.]

[Mana flow visualization.]

Blue light overlapped his field of vision.

The mana flowing over the circuit was cut off at a specific point.

More precisely, there were traces of it being forcibly connected, only to burn out again.

‘If this were a proper repair, I’d have to replace everything....’

Right now, he did not have that luxury.

He had handled something similar before in the ruins on the eightieth floor.

Even then, he had not saved everything.

‘There’s no need to save everything.’

‘Leave only the parts that have to work.’

Jin-woo traced part of the severed circuit with his finger.

He boldly cut away the unnecessary branches and the auxiliary circuits that had been causing the overload.

His fingertip tingled briefly.

It felt as if the skill had forcibly pressed down and blocked the mana trying to ‘backflow.’

‘Lower the output.’

‘Raise the stability as much as possible.’

When he dropped a small amount of Mana Crystal Fluid, the liquid seeped along the grooves of the circuit and connected the mana again.

Originally, it was work that required fine adjustment, but thanks to the assistance of the Magic Engineering skill, the error was being minimized.

[Correcting.]

[Mana flow stability: rising.]

Jin-woo stopped his hand for a moment and looked over the entire circuit.

Mana was flowing again.

Slowly, but without breaking.

‘It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to open.’

If he failed, there would be no time to fix it again.

If he was blocked here, there would be no food.

Jin-woo put strength into his fingertips.

Right now, there was no reason to stop.

Finally, he pressed down on the joint and fixed it in place.

This was not a repair.

It was life support.

Still, the door only had to open.

Jin-woo looked at the door again.

“Lumina. Execute only the opening protocol.”

Opening the door was not a matter of force—it was a ‘signal.’

[Emergency repair confirmed.]

[Circuit connected.]

[Opening.]

Clunk.

The firmly closed door opened.

Thankfully, it had succeeded.

“Whew.”

Jin-woo let out a light breath.

His shoulders lowered in relief.

‘Good.’

Jin-woo entered the Food Storage.

The air inside was cold and dry.

A space designed solely for preservation—the shelves were lined up as if to specification.

“Is this the Food Storage?”

There was nothing ornate about it.

It was practical.

Everything placed on the shelves was a container of the same shape.

Palm-sized, made of gray metal.

Instead of labels, only simple engravings had been stamped on them.

They were too simple to be Runes, and as numbers—they were closer to ‘Classification.’

“Lumina. What is this?”

[High-protein, high-calorie compressed nutrition block.]

[It contains the essential nutrients and calories needed for survival.]

Jin-woo picked one up.

It was light in weight, but the sensation it gave his hand felt heavy.

‘Taste... probably wasn’t a consideration.’

It was food made solely for survival.

Taste was not a consideration.

“Really... huh?”

That was when it happened.

On one side of the shelf, something unexpected entered his sight.

“A note...?”

A small piece of paper was attached to the corner of the shelf.

Jin-woo hesitated for a moment, then carefully detached the note.

It was surprising.

The note was—absurdly intact.

“...Why hasn’t this decayed?”

When Jin-woo held the paper up to the light, Lumina answered immediately.

[Food Preservation Barrier.]

[Included among targets maintained by Magic Tower Stability.]

[Uses a portion of maintenance energy.]

Jin-woo’s eyes narrowed.

“So... as much as I mine Mana Stones and put them in, energy is leaking out here too.”

‘The more things I keep alive, the more maintenance grows.’

He looked at the note again.

“Translate it.”

[Translation.]

[I’m sure I told you.

Not to sneak in at night and steal food.

In the end, you opened the door after all.

Honestly, when it comes to making one person unable to live in peace, you’re exceptional.

Next time, come in properly.

If you get caught again, I really won’t let it slide.

If you’re hungry, say so.]