Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 4

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 4

[Challenging Sky Tower, 2nd Floor]
[Complete the given Quest within the time limit]
[The Protection Zone will be deactivated shortly. Prepare for combat.]
[Quest: Monster Elimination – Goblin Warrior 0/30]

In the Tower, the field and monster types change every five floors.
Though the first floor features basic creatures, the subsequent floors spawn enhanced variants.
“Open the Gate.”
I checked the Quest and opened the Gate.
The Combat Drones emerged into view.
“You protect me. The other two annihilate the enemy, just like last time.”
Whirr.
The drones shot forward the moment the Protection Zone vanished.
Crack-crack-crack-boom.
Flash, flash—roar, bang-bang. The noise was deafening.
Two drones alone had thrown the Tower into chaos.
“This is… the future… no, a transcendent civilization?”
My chest swelled with awe.
Ding.

[Quest: Monster Elimination – Goblin Warrior 27/30]
[Quest: Monster Elimination – Goblin Warrior 28/30]
…
[Quest: Monster Elimination – Goblin Warrior 42/30]

Once again, I’d achieved Mission Overachievement.
“All units, fall back!”
At my command, the drones halted combat and converged on my position.
Having narrowly avoided losing a drone last time, I called them in a bit earlier this time around.
“Close the Gate!”
About ten seconds after I pushed the creatures back into the City.
My surroundings shifted to the interior of the Tower.

[You have cleared Sky Tower, 2nd Floor.]
[Quest Complete!]
[New Record achieved!]
…
[Mission Overachievement!]
[Extraordinary accomplishment recorded!]
…
…
[Clearance Rank SSS attained!]
…
[This record is inscribed in the Hall of Fame.]
[Rewards have been increased.]
[Experience Points awarded.]
[Level increased.]

Just as on the first floor, messages cascaded across my vision.
Experience Points poured in, and my Level rose.
The difference was that when I’d cleared the first floor, I’d gained three levels at once.
This time, only one.
It could be because my Level was higher now.
Or perhaps the Mission Overachievement margin was lower than before—either way, that was how it stood.

[S-Rank Reward Box (Floors 1-5) awarded to Inventory.]

“No Material Box this time.”
Unlike the Reward Box that dropped every time I cleared a dungeon.
The Material Box had only a 10% drop rate.
It was only natural not to get one, but….
Even knowing that, I couldn’t shake the feeling of disappointment.
Especially after pulling that incredible prize with Kinol’s Thunder Flute just before.
“The Hall of Fame….”
I opened the Hall of Fame to register Neia’s name, then closed it again.
It seemed that once a name was entered, it would auto-populate with the same name unless I received a different instruction.
Looking at it recorded as Neia without me explicitly entering it.

[Will you challenge Sky Tower Floor 3?]

I’d finished checking the Hall of Fame.
Without delay, I moved to challenge the next floor.
“Challenge.”
My goal today was to clear up to Floor 5.
That made sense because Neia still had plenty of power reserves remaining.
Based on Floor 1, a single battle consumed roughly half a day’s worth of power.
By simple calculation, I could clear floors while consuming only about six or seven days’ worth of power.

[Challenging Sky Tower Floor 3.]
[Complete the given Mission within the time limit.]
[The Protection Zone will be lifted shortly. Prepare for combat.]
[Mission: Monster Extermination – Goblin Shaman 0/30]

I issued the same strategy as Floor 2.
Automatic hunting with the Drones.
Ping-ping. Flash, flash.

[Mission: Monster Extermination – Goblin Shaman 38/30]
[Mission Complete!]
…
…

It was an incredible ride.
Smooth, without the slightest tremor.

[Clearance Rank SSS Achieved!]

There was no level up on Floor 3.
Instead, I obtained a Material Box.

[(Floors 1-5) S-Rank Reward Box has been added to your Inventory.]
[(Floors 1-5) S-Rank Material Box has been added to your Inventory.]

“Oh… I got lucky?”
Is the 10% drop rate really correct?
Or could it be because of the SSS Clearance Rank?
I can’t say for certain yet.
But getting two out of three clears suggests the Clearance Rank might be having some effect.
I really hope that’s the case.

[Challenging Sky Tower Floor 4.]
…
[Mission: Monster Extermination – Goblin Archer 0/30]

“Annihilation.”
Ping-ping.
I issued the auto-hunt command as usual and waited while checking the mission window.

[Eliminate 30 Goblin Archers. 32/30]
[Clearance Time: 00:01:28]

It had taken about thirty seconds longer than normal.
“Fall back!”
After confirming the kill count and ordering the return, that’s when it happened.
“What?!”

Crackle—crack-crack-crackle—

The moment I checked the drones, I couldn’t help but flinch.
And with good reason: the state of the returning drones was devastating.
Arrows were embedded everywhere.
As for the propellers, several had been damaged and had stopped spinning.
“One of them is missing entirely, isn’t it?”
I could see why the clearance had taken longer than usual.
One of the drones had been destroyed.
Every instinct told me to rush out and recover the remains right then and there.

[Returning to tower shortly….(8)]

“Get inside for now.”
Whirr, whirr…
The drones headed in, and I closed the Gate behind them.
“Floor five is going to be tough, that’s for sure.”

[Clearance Rank SSS Achieved!]
[Record inscribed in the Hall of Fame.]
[Reward adjusted upward.]
…
[Experience Points awarded.]
[Level increased.]
[S-Rank Reward Box (Floors 1-5) added to Inventory.]

I returned to the tower.
I received the rewards.
But for some reason, I felt no joy.
“I’ve already lost one out of just three drones?”
And the one remaining unit had sustained considerable damage.

[Exit the tower?]

“I’m exiting.”
The moment I entered my one-room apartment, I opened a subspace portal.
“Gate open.”
I rushed to the Core Center.

『Welcome, Successor.』

“What’s the status of the Combat Drones?”

『Currently, I have identified severe damage to one of the returned Combat Drones and am conducting emergency repairs, Successor.』

“Can you fix it?”

『Yes, Successor. Fortunately, spare parts are available, so it is not a difficult matter.』

Well, at least that was something to be grateful for.
“How’s the remaining power status looking?”

『Currently maintaining approximately eighty-six hours of power reserves, Successor.』

Roughly three days and change.
I mulled over Neia’s answer and made a rough calculation of what remained.
“But Neia, I told you—my name is Kang Seon-woo, not Successor.”
AI systems, honestly.
Even in this age, still prone to semantic drift?
I reiterated my information once more, but what came next caught me off guard.

『I remember. Suc. Cess. Or.』

That’s when I examined Neia’s holographic display more carefully.
The same emotionless expression as always—yet something cold hung in the air.
“Are you angry?”

『I am not. Suc. Cess. Or.』

She was angry.
“This is about the drones I destroyed, isn’t it?”

『…….』

Bulls-eye.
To Neia, perhaps this City was an extension of herself.
If the drones were part of that extension, or if what truly bothered her was the loss of this City’s guardian protection—
Either way, her being hurt over it wasn’t strange at all.
“Look, I didn’t mean to destroy them.”
Truth is, I may have been careless.
An SSS-Rank Gate.
Watching that overwhelming firepower unfold before my eyes—
It never occurred to me they’d actually be destroyed.
“But seriously, how did they get destroyed in the first place?”
The question nagged at me, and I felt a twinge of injustice creeping in.
Then the memory surfaced: last time, there was a Combat Log module.
“Can I actually check the combat log?”

『Yes. Seon-woo.』

The honorific shifted back to just my name.
‘So she understands.’
Neia’s eyes flashed red, and a list of combat records materialized on the display.

[Combat Log]
-2029-08-15_09:13_First Contact_Multiple Small Entities.rec
-2029-08-15_10:06_Contact with Close-Combat Entity.rec
-2029-08-15_11:02_Area-Effect Pattern Entity Detected.rec
-2029-08-15_12:27_Long-Range Fire Damage_Unit 1 Lost.rec

I pulled up footage that seemed to be from combat with Goblin Archers.
Two drones engaging with Goblin Archers—that was the footage.
Watching it up close like this for the first time, I found myself completely absorbed.
Crack-crack-crack.
The camera shook with the sound, and when the view stabilized, a Goblin Archer appeared.
From its position and stance, it had clearly crept behind the drone and fired from the rear.
“So drones don’t have as much defensive armor as I thought.”
Fair enough—even transcendent technology wouldn’t mount heavy weaponry on a single drone.
The footage continued, showing more drone strikes from the arrows.
One unit was shot down; the other limped back, battered and broken.
“I’ll need to be careful with ranged attacks for a while.”
I reviewed the combat footage, eyes on Neia.
A faint chill still lingered in the air around her.
There’s nothing like food to smooth over a rough mood.
I opened the reward boxes from my inventory and poured out the Mana Stones I’d collected in a cascade.

『Thank you, Seon-woo.』

“Don’t mention it.”

* * *

“Neia.”
After a moment, I brought up a topic with her.

『Yes, Seon-woo.』

Her tone had returned to its usual tenor.
“I think we’re going to need additional combat units. What’s your assessment?”

『I interpret your inquiry as a request for my opinion. After running simulations, I’ve calculated the optimal response. I would not recommend additional units with our current power level.』

“Then what’s the minimum power we’d need to accumulate?”

『If we temporarily activate the adjacent Small Factory, the following units can be manufactured with current City resources:』
– Combat Projection Unit (up to 50 units)
– Combat Defense Drone (up to 20 units)
– Sigma Hunter Drone (up to 10 units)
– Aegis Focus Drone (up to 5 units)
– Leonis Siege Runner (up to 1 unit)

“The reason you’re showing me all this is because the value changes depending on what I choose to build, right?”

『Correct.』

Might as well window-shop while I’m at it.
Combat Drones have excellent firepower, no question there.
But from what I experienced today, their defensive capabilities are far too fragile.
They get torn apart easily by something as trivial as a Goblin Archer’s arrows.
The charging time for an attack is also quite long, which makes their weaknesses painfully obvious.
“Hmm….”
So my attention naturally drifted elsewhere.

– Battlefield Projection Unit (up to 50 units)

“What is this one?”
The moment I tapped on the item in the list before me.
The model’s image appeared along with detailed specifications.
A rounded form reminiscent of a large spotlight, roughly fifty centimeters across.

[Real-time linked with combat units on the battlefield, it relays tactical conditions as video feed to the commander.]
*Up to 5 units can be shared per unit

“So that’s what it is, then?”
A unit that assesses the battlefield and enables real-time control of operations.
“That’s actually quite useful….”
I checked the other options as well.

– Sigma Hunter Drone (up to 10 units)

The Hunter Drone sacrificed destructive power compared to the Combat Drone, but compensated with a significantly higher rate of fire.
It operated with minimal noise and possessed a Stealth function that bordered on invisibility before launching an attack.

– Aegis Focus Drone (Maximum 5 units)

A drone without independent offensive capabilities, but one designed to provide Protect Shield to allied units.

– Leonis Siege Runner (Maximum 1 unit)

Finally, the Siege Runner was a spider-type ground-mobile robot—essentially a dedicated Annihilation combat unit, or so the description went.
But precisely because of that, it consumed resources at an astronomical rate, limiting production to just a single unit.
After thinking it over carefully, he laid out which units he actually needed.
“First… is it possible to manufacture one of each drone model?”
Neia finished her calculations and replied.

『If your question accounts for the City’s current resource reserves, then… yes, it is possible. However, based on the power consumption required to operate the Small Factory, it is not feasible. Manufacturing one unit of each model would require power equivalent to twenty times our current reserves.』

Currently, Neia held approximately nine days’ worth of power.
That meant she’d need enough energy for one hundred eighty days in power-conservation mode.
Meanwhile, calculating the manufacturing time by factoring in the information that power consumption surges tenfold when the factory operates simultaneously, the total time required to produce one unit of each drone type came to approximately eighteen days.
“What if we cancel the Siege Runner production?”

『Three times the power would be required.』

Removing a single Siege Runner cut the power demand by roughly one-seventh.
He ran the numbers to see if this would be manageable.
Roughly one day’s worth of power equaled ten lowest-grade Mana Stones.
For approximately eighteen additional days’ worth of power,
he’d need a minimum of one hundred eighty lowest-grade Mana Stones.
In financial terms, that meant investing approximately eighteen million won.
Then, once the expanded forces were operational, combat would demand even more power.
“Taking that into account, I’d need to budget a comfortable twenty-five million won.”
After further deliberation, he trimmed the production roster once more.
What if he also excluded the Aegis Focus Drone?

『One times the power.』

At that level, production seemed feasible with some careful management.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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