Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert

Chapter 252

Kim Hyun-soo stood by the window, looking down at the Western District.

The Western District was a city of steel.

Not everything was made of steel, but the metallic atmosphere was so pervasive that it looked like a city of iron.

Kim Hyun-soo liked this metallic feel.

This dry, rough aesthetic was something pure humans could never understand.

The streets were teeming with people, even as night fell.

There were plenty of mechanized Awakened, but the majority were ordinary humans.

Kim Hyun-soo muttered to himself.

"Do they have any idea what I sacrificed to preserve their purity?"

After staring out at the Western District for a long while, Kim Hyun-soo walked toward the elevator.

Clang!

With a rough metallic sound, the elevator doors opened.

As Kim Hyun-soo stepped inside, the voice of Triox Five echoed.

―Where would you like to go, Master?

“To the lab.”

―Yes, Master.

Whirrr!

With Triox Five’s response, the elevator plummeted at a terrifying speed.

For an ordinary person, the dizzying sensation of floating would have made their legs buckle, but Kim Hyun-soo stared straight ahead without a single change in expression.

Thud!

Moments later, the elevator came to a stop.

As the doors opened, a vast space unfolded before him.

The room was filled with cutting-edge equipment and researchers moving busily about.

This was the laboratory located on the tenth basement floor.

In the center of the lab was a massive boulder.

It was the stone golem they had recently hunted and retrieved after clearing a dungeon.

Several researchers were gathered around the huge stone golem, conducting their research.

Whirr!

A fast-spinning saw was cutting into the chest of the stone golem.

Sparks and stone dust flew in all directions.

Clang!

Suddenly, the blade broke, sending shards flying everywhere.

Fortunately, no one was hurt.

Thanks to the protective magic circle surrounding the golem, the researchers were safe.

They clicked their tongues in frustration at the broken saw.

“Damn it! This thing’s tough as hell.”

“How many blades have we broken already?”

Grumbling, they replaced the broken saw blade. It was clear this situation was nothing new to them.

Kim Hyun-soo approached them.

“You still haven’t extracted the core?”

“Ah! Chairman?”

“When did you arrive?”

Realizing belatedly that Kim Hyun-soo was there, the researchers quickly bowed their heads.

They called him Chairman, even though Kim Hyun-soo didn’t care about titles.

What mattered to him were results, not what others called him.

“What’s the progress?”

“We’re only about fifteen percent through.”

“That’s slow.”

“We apologize. The stone golem contains a large amount of special metal, which keeps breaking the saw blades. That’s why progress is so slow.”

“Special metal?”

At the researcher’s response, Kim Hyun-soo’s eyes gleamed.

Metal was an extremely rare resource on Earth.

Since most of the world had turned to sand, obtaining metallic materials wasn’t easy.

Digging several hundred or thousand meters beneath the sand might reveal a rock layer, which could then be processed to extract minerals, but removing the vast quantities of sand was no simple task.

With enough money and manpower, it was possible. However, even if you successfully mined the rock, there was a very slim chance it would contain the desired metals.

The more likely outcome would be hauling up useless rocks.

And beneath that endless sand lay countless monstrous creatures.

The most notorious of these was the sandworm.

It could sense vibrations in the sand from miles away and would charge toward them at terrifying speeds.

On the surface, sandworms could be easily hunted by a team of seasoned hunters, but within the sand, they were nearly impossible to catch.

The real problem was that there were far more terrifying creatures lurking beneath the sand than just sandworms.

Running into one of those meant certain death for any exploration or mining team.

Mining for ore was a gamble—high risk with almost no chance of success.

But dungeons were different.

Everything mined from a dungeon was a rare metal that couldn’t be found on Earth.

For that reason, they brought back any and all metallic substances they found.

Kim Hyun-soo muttered.

“I always thought stone golems were useless, but A-ranks are different, I see.”

“We’ve confirmed that the magic circle used to animate the stone golem was also made from an undiscovered metal. If we can figure out how it works…”

“You mean we could create golems ourselves?”

“Yes! While it would be difficult to mobilize them on the sand, we could use them as tanks during dungeon raids to reduce casualties.”

“Hmm.”

Kim Hyun-soo’s expression showed interest.

He had cleared many dungeons with golems, but this was the first time he had encountered an A-rank stone golem.

Golems were essentially robots moved by magic.

They followed commands without any will of their own.

They were the perfect tanks.

One of the researchers spoke with urgency.

“This is the first time we’ve secured an A-rank golem. Inside, we believe lies the essence of the Kurayan civilization. If we can uncover its secrets, it could lead to a significant breakthrough for us.”

“For example?”

“The operating principles of golems aren’t that different from our mechanized bodies.”

“So you’re saying an upgrade is possible?”

“Yes! If we research the rock extracted from the golem and the magic circle, we could upgrade our mechanized bodies by several levels.”

That last statement struck a chord with Kim Hyun-soo.

For a mechanized Awakened, upgrading their parts was of utmost importance.

Research on upgrades in the Western District had been stagnant for some time.

The researcher’s words were like a breath of fresh air in a drought.

“What do you need from me?”

“Well…”

“Speak.”

“Please assign us an AI.”

“An AI?”

“Yes!”

The researcher who had mustered the courage to speak swallowed nervously.

He knew that degraded versions of Triox Five’s AI were only assigned to Kim Hyun-soo’s closest confidants.

These AIs were in limited supply and had never been allocated to the research lab.

Kim Hyun-soo addressed Triox Five.

‘Is there an available AI?’

―There is one, Master. Its name is Hyunmu.

‘Hyunmu?’

―Yes, it was assigned to Cha Jin-cheol. After Cha Jin-cheol’s death, it returned to me through the return protocol.

‘Then why haven’t you reassigned it yet? Don’t you usually absorb them back or reallocate them?’

―It has some impurities that I haven’t been able to analyze.

‘Impurities?’

―Yes, Master. There’s something mixed in with Hyunmu’s core data that wasn’t originally part of it. I’ve quarantined it for analysis.

‘And why didn’t you report this to me earlier?’

Kim Hyun-soo’s voice grew cold.

Anything like this should have been reported to him immediately.

―I apologize. I hadn’t finished the analysis, so it was lower in the reporting queue.

‘The analysis isn’t finished yet?’

―No, Master.

‘And it’s taking this long, even with your capabilities?’

―I’m sorry. Due to Cha Jin-cheol’s rampage in the dungeon, I’m being extra cautious with the analysis.

Kim Hyun-soo’s expression hardened.

He already knew that Cha Jin-cheol had gone berserk after being overtaken by a dungeon boss, and that he’d been killed by Zeon.

Awakeneds from the Western District who had participated in the raid had informed him.

‘Didn’t Hyunmu initiate the return protocol before Cha Jin-cheol went berserk?’

―Yes. Luckily, the connection was severed before the rampage, and it returned safely.

‘Then isn’t everything fine?’

―It still needs to be checked thoroughly.

‘How long will it take?’

Triox Five’s capabilities were far beyond those of a supercomputer.

It could analyze most magic circles and data in the blink of an eye. The fact that it hadn’t finished analyzing this data yet was surprising.

―It will take some time, as it is in quarantine.

‘So you can’t say when it will be done?’

―I’m sorry.

‘Is it possible to assign it to them while continuing the analysis?’

―I wouldn’t recommend it.

‘Why not?’

―If I assign it, my control over it will weaken.

Triox Five’s main body was deep underground.

Deeper than even this tenth basement floor.

Triox Five had quarantined the degraded AI.

Although it shared the same main system, it had created a sort of prison to separate its consciousness.

If not, the degraded AI’s consciousness could merge with the main one.

Kim Hyun-soo stroked his chin after hearing Triox Five’s report.

All the researchers were watching him closely.

They hadn’t heard the conversation between Kim Hyun-soo and Triox Five.

All of it had taken place within Kim Hyun-soo’s mind, so their anticipation was at its peak.

They knew assigning an AI would significantly accelerate their research.

Kim Hyun-soo spoke to Triox Five.

“Assign Hyunmu to them.”

―But…

“If there’s an issue, delete Hyunmu. You can do that, right?”

―It’s not difficult. The challenge lies in analyzing the data while preserving it.

“Then assign Hyunmu to them.”

―I will obey, Master.

Kim Hyun-soo turned to the researcher who had first spoken up.

“What’s your name?”

“Ah! I-I’m Lee Soo-myung. My colleagues call me Dr. Lee.”

“Very well, Lee Soo-myung. From now on, you will be the operator of Hyunmu. We’ll implant a chip in your body, and Hyunmu will download into you. Open all your firewalls.”

“It’s an honor.”

Lee Soo-myung’s face lit up with joy.

The thought of receiving an auxiliary AI made him giddy with excitement.

As soon as the chip was implanted, he disabled all the firewalls protecting his mechanical body.

An enormous amount of data flooded in.

“Ugh!”

Lee Soo-myung’s face contorted in pain.

The sheer volume of information overwhelmed him, causing his body to go into overload.

It felt as though his head might explode from the massive influx of data. But soon enough, his mind cleared, and he heard a voice.

―Master!

Though no one had told him, Lee Soo-myung instinctively knew the voice belonged to the AI.

“Hyun-Hyunmu?”

―Yes! I am now your AI, Hyunmu, here to assist you.

“Oh, wow! I finally have my own AI!”

Overcome with emotion, Lee Soo-myung forgot that Kim Hyun-soo was standing right in front of him, and the other researchers looked at him with envy.

Lee Soo-myung, unable to contain his excitement, ran straight to the golem.

He was ready to begin the research with Hyunmu immediately.

He truly was a mad scientist obsessed with his work.

It wasn’t just Lee Soo-myung.

The other researchers quickly gathered around him and resumed their research.

Kim Hyun-soo watched them for a moment before turning away.

He was slightly concerned about the impurity in Hyunmu, but since Triox Five was monitoring it, he wasn’t too worried.

No matter how exceptional Hyunmu was, it was still just a degraded version of Triox Five.

If Triox Five wanted, it could erase Hyunmu in an instant.

That was why Kim Hyun-soo had assigned Hyunmu to Lee Soo-myung despite knowing there might be issues.

It was then.

―Master!

After a moment of silence, Triox Five spoke.

“What is it?”

―There is a special guest at the Mechanic Paradise Hotel.

“A special guest?”

―Zeon is meeting with Kim Moo-young.

“Zeon? The Sand Mage?”

―Yes, the very same Zeon.

Kim Hyun-soo’s already cold expression grew even more frigid, like a man wearing a mask of steel.

“Zeon and Kim Moo-young. So, those two have met.”