To Hell With Being a Hero!

“It automatically sucks in mana, but…nothing else is happening.” Yunael tilted her head in confusion. Suddenly, Yeriel grinned, and everything happened in an instant—she pulled out a dagger and threw it hard at Yunael. As expected, it never even reached Yunael since she quickly unsheathed her sword to parry it off. After Yunael awakened a new ability called the Sixth Sense, there was no way she would be struck by an attack at this level.

“What are you doing?!” Although she blocked the attack, Yunael got up from her seat and shouted in anger. Instead of answering, though, Yeriel narrowed her eyes and wordlessly looked around her. Then she made a sudden swing at Aida. Aida easily evaded the attack by slightly tilting her head.

“Ah, sorry, I did it without thinking,” Aida said with a slightly surprised face and put her hands together in the shape of a V. “Though I might not look it, I’ve been a hero for quite a while too.”

“Ah, seriously!” Yeriel shouted angrily as things weren’t going her way.

“Ms. Yeriel. Why don’t you aim at me? I will stay put.” Thinking that there was a reason behind Yeriel’s actions, Chi-Woo volunteered himself and quickly added, “Mr. Ru Amuh, please don’t do anything.”

Ru Amuh stopped short. He had gotten up and rushed forward to guard Chi-Woo.

“Ha…seriously…” Yeriel picked up her dagger again while sighing that it couldn’t be helped. Chi-Woo crossed his arms and waited; when the dagger was about to make contact, the marble he was holding began to change shape. Like a raindrop morphing into a circle when hitting the ground, it stretched out.

Clang! The metallic marble shielded Chi-Woo and took the dagger in his stead. Everyone’s eyes turned wide. Even Yunael, who had lifted the table over her head to make a great fuss, stopped. Chi-Woo looked at the dagger that had fallen onto the ground in a daze. Then, he looked at the substance covering the body part the dagger had aimed for. After a couple of seconds, the metal warped and returned to its original form. Chi-Woo looked at the circular, blackish marble in his hands, and his mouth gaped slightly.

“That’s surprising,” Aida murmured in a low voice. Though she couldn’t see what had happened with her eyes, it seemed she had figured out the situation with just her senses. It was then Hawa shot an arrow at Yunael’s back while Yunael was off-guard. Her arrow flew at an incomparably faster speed than the dagger, but the result was the same. The marble that Yunael held liquified and shielded her back.

“What?” Yunael turned around and blinked hard. She was too fixated on what just happened to respond to this attack properly. She stared at the perpetrator who had just attacked her, Hawa.

“It was just a test,” Hawa said calmly while putting her bow down. Yunael looked at her dumbfoundedly. ‘Did you think I would just go, ‘Ah~ I see?’ her face seemed to say.

“I get that, but why me?” Yunael asked.

“Thank you.”

“No! I’m asking why you chose me to shoot at!” Yunael cried out. But her outburst was cut short when Yeriel said, “It’s an AI Armor,” and got everyone’s attention.

“Is it like an Ego Amor[1]?”

“You can say that they’re similar. This item can’t talk though,” Yeriel shrugged at Aida’s question.

“This is pretty good. Even a priest-type like me can carry this around. It’s perfect for emergencies too.” Evelyn seemed to have tried attacking herself and looked impressed by the metallic liquid surrounding her. Yeriel snorted, suggesting that the marble’s convenience wasn’t even one of its main strengths.

“The AI Armor’s core ability is its defense system.”

“Does that mean it will sense attacks and shield the user by itself, just like what has happened?” Evelyn asked.

“That’s not all. That would be nothing more than an automatic transforming shield.” Yeriel shook her head. “First of all, I must say that this AI Armor doesn’t ensure the user’s survival a hundred percent of the time. It simply lowers the chance of death.” No matter how well a person armored themselves before entering battle, there was no guarantee that the person would survive. There was always a stronger weapon that could pierce through the hardest armor, and even something as tough as the AI Armor would crumble after getting struck by a catapult projectile.

“Still, it will increase your chance of survival more than regular armor.”

“How?”

“It’s more efficient,” Yeriel replied after clearing her throat. “As I told you before, AI Armor detects an enemy’s attack beforehand and protects its user. More exactly, it focuses specifically on the point that an enemy is aiming for and puts up a concentrated defense. Thus, it boasts a more outstanding defensive power than even armors made of the same material.”

There was a temporary silence. Then a couple of them exclaimed when realizing the implications. For example, if 100 units of materials were each used to make a regular armor and an AI Armor, the former would provide an equal balance of protection to all parts of the body it covered, while the AI Armor would concentrate all the materials used to specific points. Naturally, the common armor would provide a lower level of defense in individual body parts than an AI Armor that could move on its own and manipulate defense powers from 0 to 100 throughout the body.

“I have a question. Then, what happens when we are attacked in many places at once?” Ru Amuh raised his hand and asked.

“The AI Armor would then be no different from regular armor, but that is only if you’re hit from head to toe without a gap in between. Otherwise, the AI Armor would be much more efficient no matter how short the gap is,” Yeriel answered. The AI Armor used 100% of its materials at once if the user was attacked by a single attack. If the user was attacked by five attacks at once, it would use 20% of its defense to protect the user against each hit. In other words, the armor protected its user from all attacks in the most strategic manner.

After hearing Yeriel’s explanation, Hawa’s hands moved like a flash of lightning. Five daggers flew toward Yunael, and simultaneously, the metal marble protected the latter from all five attacks with precision.

“Are you kidding me!” Yunael jumped up and down. But before she could complain, Jin-Cheon stepped forward.

“That must mean it can block an attack that an armor made out of the same material wouldn’t be able to withstand.” With this, Jin-Cheon swung his fist at Yunael hard. The metal marble gathered into one place and blocked the punch.

“…”

Yunael felt like the neighborhood’s drum and quietly turned around. Then, after some time, her eyes brimmed with tears while her lower lip protruded.

“Am… I being ostracized? Does everyone hate me?” she asked.

“Of course not, Yunael. Come here,” Aida said.

“Thank you. I can only count on you, Aida…but why are you picking up a dagger?”

“Just stay put for a moment. I need to try something.”

In the end, Yunael burst into tears and left the conference room.

“This is surprising.” But indifferent to what was going on, Chi-Woo inspected the marble thoroughly and exclaimed in admiration.

—Yes, it’s revolutionary.

Philip added. With this item, they could ignore any attacks that couldn’t pierce through the armor, which meant that they could focus more on the offensive when fighting. Every breath was precious in a battle between superb fighters, and with this, it would be much easier to gain the upper hand. It was really revolutionary, as Philip had said. Yes. Yeriel’s invention would bring about a radical change on Liber.

Then, Yeriel stretched out her arms and said indifferently, “If everyone is finished looking at the items, return them now.”

“Hm? You aren’t giving it to us?” Ru Hiana’s eyes sparkled as she clutched her marble tightly. It seemed she really liked hers. Yeriel snorted.

“What are you going to use that for right now? What I showed you guys is just the prototype. It’s something rough I’ve put together with shoddy materials.” Then, Yeriel said that she would give them better AI Armors when the Cassiubia League gave them better quality materials, and Ru Hiana quickly returned her marble.

“So, now that I’ve shown you the general design of the product…let’s talk business,” Yeriel said.

“Sounds good. Let’s get to it.” Noticing Yeriel’s gaze, Chi-Woo got up.

***

After moving locations to the office, Yeriel surprised Chi-Woo with her business plan.

“Are you really saying that you will provide us with all the equipment we need for free?” Chi-Woo asked.

“At least temporarily, and I’m only providing the others in Shalyh with lower quality AI Armors.”

Chi-Woo didn’t get it. He couldn’t understand why she would provide items of such value for free. It was a guarantee that the AI Armor would sell by the truckloads. It had so many strengths and positives that most people would buy it no matter how high its prices were, as evidenced by the way Seven Stars’ members had reacted earlier.

Of course, Chi-Woo didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth when a mysterious danger was encroaching upon them, and they needed to maximize their strengths. But he didn’t think Yeriel would be thinking along the same vein. She looked like she would always be greedy for some extra cash.

“That’s for sure a fine plan.” But Eval seemed to think differently and made a satisfied smile. It was as if he had anticipated Yeriel’s response exactly

“There are three things Ms. Yeriel is aiming for,” Eval explained, noticing Chi-Woo’s confused gaze. “First is maximizing the number of merits that will come with this action. If the AI Armor is widely distributed and proves to be useful, everyone involved with its creation, including Ms. Yeriel, would reap many merits as a result. And rather than selling and receiving money for these goods, she would continuously gain merits this way.” In other words, doing good work without receiving monetary compensation resulted in more merits. Yeriel nodded in agreement.

“The second is fame. What will people think when they hear that not only does Ms. Yeriel work with the buhguhbus to create a fantastic item like the AI Armors, but she’s also giving them away for free? In a world where a person couldn’t even hope for a free lunch, this is huge. Furthermore, this piece of equipment could save their lives. What would you think if you are on the receiving end, boss?”

Of course, they would be grateful. Beyond grateful, they would sing praises to Yeriel’s name; and Yeriel would earn higher priority in the next drafting event.

“The third goal is…boosting publicity, right?” Chi-Woo answered.

Eval smirked. Right now, there were two potential markets for the AI Armor: Shalyh and the Cassiubia League. There was not much to gain even if they tried their hardest to sell in Shalyh because the market was too small. Thus, rather than vying for small profits, it was better to focus on the first and second goals. And after AI Armors’ effectiveness was sufficiently proven at Shalyh, the Cassiubia League would naturally gain interest in the item too. Then, they could control the production and supply system and sell the products at a premium price there.

“Thank you for saying what I wanted to say. How smart of you,” Yeriel said.

“Haha. You flatter me, Ms. Yeriel,” Eval responded very politely, unlike his usual self. In his eyes, Yeriel was like a gold mine. She was someone who could help Seven Stars surpass Ho Lactea by a couple more leaps, so he had to pay special attention to how he treated her.

“Thus, for the time being, I plan to focus on the production and distribution of lower-end AI Armors. I’m almost done with preparing for mass production. Since I’m doing this for all our benefits in the end, don’t complain later that I didn’t look out for you guys first and whatnot, all right?”

“That will never happen, Ms. Yerirl. But can I ask you one question? You say that you are going to produce lower-end AI Armors. Does this mean there are middle and high-end ones too?”

“Of course. AI Armor is made by compounding alloys and smelting them. What determines their quality is the alloy forming process, when different metals mix together and change so that they can accept mana.” This meant that whatever its process was, the AI Armor’s quality was determined by the metal’s quality.

“So, the quality is better the better the materials are?” Chi-Woo confirmed.

“Yes, of course.”

“Then, what about this?” Chi-Woo put down both the white glove and chains he was wearing.

“What the fuck? Hold up?!” Yeriel heaved when she saw the items. “…Ah.” But her gaze soon turned dejected. “Seriously? These won’t work.”

“Why?”

“Don’t joke with me. I could take these items to my home planet, go to the biggest research center there, and have all the elders pour their efforts into it, but no one would be able to do a thing,” Yeriel said with disappointment. “I’m interested in the kind of metals they are, but…this is no time for me to leisurely engage in some research,” Yeriel grumbled and crossed her arms with a sigh. “Anyway, just wait a bit for good materials to come in, and I can make special ones for you. It looks like you have no need for a weapon though.”

“I’ll leave that matter to you,” Chi-Woo said and promised maximum support.

***

Chi-Woo saw the result of his trust not long after. Under the collaboration between Yeriel and the buhguhbus, production began inside Seven Stars’ workshop. And about five days after the AI Armors were distributed throughout Shalyh, Chi-Woo checked his fostering information and was stunned by what he saw.

[User Chi-Woo’s accumulated merits: 15,354,7620]

“…Whoa.” His merit count had increased by about 3 million only five days after the goods were distributed.

‘600,000 in just a day? This is insane. If it’s this much already…’

Yet this was only the beginning.

1. A gaming term that refers to sentient equipment with their own will. ☜