Chapter 191

Chapter 191. Gugu Beopgu, Looking This Way (2)

After stopping Gryanarr’s insane attempt to turn a superhuman into a superhuman (or what used to be one), I found myself in a test tube opened by Gryanarr, who was pouting and grumbling. Inside, I received a greeting from ‘Smeragi,’ who seemed quite different from before.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Smeragi!”

“Hmm…”

“Sorry about last time, but now there’s absooooolutely no chance of that happening again, so relax♡”

But seriously, what on earth did Gryanarr do to them?

When they were being dragged away earlier, their eyes were still sparkling with life.

But now, after coming out of the test tube, they looked… well, completely out of it.

It seemed like they’d gone off the deep end, so I decided to confront Gryanarr about it.

“Gryanarr.”

“What? Commander.”

“Their eyes have no light in them. They look dead.”

“Human eyes don’t naturally have light in them.”

“Also, tentacle-like things are wriggling out of the cat ears on their head.”

“An SSS-Class Superhuman has a tough brain. Simple drugs won’t even make a dent.”

“…”

“Don’t worry too much. Those things will go back in soon, and they won’t come out again.”

‘Holy moly.’

But Gryanarr shot back every complaint with razor-sharp comebacks, wearing an expression that seemed to demand praise for their “masterpiece.”

Regardless of appearances, I decided to check if the trust level had actually been filled.

So, I pulled up Smeragi’s Status Window and the Trust Status Window together…

—————————————-

<Smeragi>

<Level 53>

<Type: Close-Range Combatant>

<Traits: Super Alloy Claws, Enhanced Senses, Flexibility, Assassination, Brain Parasite, Physical Modification, Obsession>

<Stats>

Health: S+

Attack Power: SSS-

Physical Defense: SS-

Magic Power: C+

Magic Defense: S-

Agility: S-

—————————————-

—————————————-

<Smeragi’s Current Affection>

<+105>

<Special Note: The parasite attached to their brain and spinal cord, combined with appropriate drugs, is causing their affection toward you to rise in real time.>

—————————————-

‘The traits have increased, and the stats have changed.’

The animalistic senses they originally had seemed to have been tossed aside, replaced by traits like brain parasites, physical modification, and obsession.

Moreover, the stats had changed in various ways.

Health, physical defense, and agility had all increased by one tier…

(Health S⇒S+, Physical Defense S+⇒SS-, Agility A+⇒S-)

But magic power, which is supposedly tied to the mind or brain, dropped by one tier, and magic defense dropped by a whopping two tiers.

(Magic Power B-⇒C+, Magic Defense S+⇒S-)

What kind of madness leads to this? I stared blankly at Smeragi, but instead of the now cat-like Smeragi answering, Gryanarr, standing beside them, placed a hand on their head and responded to my silent question.

“Oh, and Commander, to make them more friendly, we had no choice but to mess with their brain.”

“Meow~♡”

“That’s probably why the magic-related stats, which are directly connected to the brain, had to drop in performance.”

“…Hmm.”

“Though it’s not much of a consolation, we thoroughly modified other parts of their body to compensate for the drop, so they should still be quite useful.”

“Meow, meow, nyaaa~♡”

“…I see.”

But why, while explaining, did Gryanarr feel the need to stick their fingers into Smeragi’s ears and wiggle them around?

Leaving aside the incomprehensible situation, I couldn’t focus on the conversation like this.

So, I nodded and gestured for Gryanarr to stop messing with Smeragi and give a proper explanation.

Of course, in response to my attitude, Gryanarr pouted and stuck out their tongue like a brat.

But that didn’t last long.

Soon, Gryanarr proudly began explaining in detail, complete with a PowerPoint presentation, exactly how they had trained and modified Smeragi.

Though there was one minor problem…

“So, here, we added a protein-binding component and then extra muscle fibers…”

“Uhhh…”

“Hey, focus! We’re almost done…”

“So, the physical modification part is done.”

“Just the modification part…?”

“Yeah, anyway, so we untangle the nerve bundles, disassemble them again, and then add our monster cells and this and that, mix it all up, and blah blah blah…”

Most of the stories our professor tells are like this—filled with super detailed, super technical jargon that you’d never find in any manual or guidebook.

But it’s not like I can just cut him off mid-sentence.

—

**<Event>**

**<Gryanarr is really happy to finally have a chance to show off in front of you after a long time.>**

**<The chance of a major success in research or modifications involving this superhuman will slightly increase next time.>**

—

“Ah, I can’t resist a major success.”

Sure, he said listening to his stories might lead to a major success in research, but…

Judging by the event, it seems our dear Professor Grigri has been feeling pretty lonely.

So, to boost the major success rate and also take care of his mental health, I—along with Jessica, who happened to be nearby—ended up experiencing the joy of Gryanarr The Too Much Talker’s biology research presentation.

Of course, there was no way I, who never even went to college, could understand such a complex and vast explanation…

“Don’t, don’t put weird stuff in my brain!”

Not long after, I got to experience firsthand what it feels like to have your brain short-circuit from information overload.

—

Anyway, after picking up the “completed” Smeragi (ver. Parasite) and bringing it back…

With Smeragi’s friendliness now over +100, and Gryanarr finally free as a result…

I started using the now six-member superhuman pool to seriously tackle quests and various tasks.

And the goal of those tasks, of course, was to upgrade the base to level 7.

—

**<Current Quest List>**

**<Elimination of Wild Monsters in the Mining Asteroid>** (Ignis) – **<Reward: 1,500 Minerals>**

**<Fleet Mobility Training!>** (Belial, Pashtira) – **<Reward: 300 Minerals, 100 Rare Resources>**

**<Unlicensed Pirates are Disinfected!>** (Partia) – **<Reward: 2,000 Minerals, 300 Rare Resources>**

**<Suppression of Forced Labor Revolt>** (Smeragi) – **<Reward: 1,000 Minerals, Reduced Chance of Revolt in Forced Labor Camps>**

**<Research on New Materials!>** (Gryanarr) – **<Reward: Ship Armor Material Enhancement Possible, 100 Minerals>**

—

And with all these quests running at full capacity…

The appearance and rewards of quests are entirely random, so the highs and lows of performance are pretty wild.

Thanks to that, I’m maintaining a mineral supply rate of at least 15,000, which makes me nod in satisfaction.

But still, no matter how I look at it, keeping up with other users at this resource rate feels like a huge struggle.

Right now, our absolutely furious Marian has sent a pirate fleet…

A grand fleet of at least 5,000 ships, including a minimum of 10 cruiser battleships, is standing by just to protect my base.

If it weren’t for that, as soon as someone posted an analysis of my fleet situation in the gallery…

There’d definitely be at least one guy going, “LOLOLOL rank 3 base raid ez clap,” and coming for me.

Anyway, with all these reasons piling up, I’ve come to realize that, whether I like it or not, I absolutely need to upgrade my base to level 7 by any means necessary.