Chapter 164

Jason’s living quarters, the captain’s room.

As the firmly closed door opens, my view tilts slightly.

“Ugh…”

[ Beep?! / ٩(๑º ﾛ º๑)۶]

My body suddenly halts as it is about to fall to the ground.

While Hands supports my body, Bungbungi flies onto the bed.

As Bungbungi tilts its body and confirms that I am safe, Hands releases its hold, and my body heads toward the bed.

Softly.

The warm sensation enveloping my entire body eases the fatigue that had been building up.

[ Are you okay? ]

The voice of Nightmare.

Staring dazedly at the ceiling, I slowly reply.

“I’m a bit tired…”

[ It can’t be helped; success and popularity are always proportional, right? Plus, Master, you inevitably draw people’s attention in various ways. ]

“What do you mean?”

[ It’s literally what I said. Don’t you look small and youthful? That makes it easy for people to take notice no matter what you accomplish. ]

“Hmm, that’s true.”

In other words, people’s reactions change depending on who is doing something, even if it’s the same task.

It’s obvious for a pro gamer to play well, but when a child or an elder plays well, it catches people’s attention, just like that.

“Still, the hard work ends today; it’s been a long day….”

The whirlwind of days filled with broadcasts and various events since the improvement ceremony is finally over.

Even though I was well taken care of at the broadcasts and events I attended, I don’t particularly enjoy stepping in front of people, so just attending those events was tiring.

But since I resolved major issues, I did my best to circulate and uplift the overall atmosphere.

[ You worked hard. ]

“Yeah.”

The conversation comes to a pause.

Time flows slowly.

As I stare blankly at the ceiling, I suddenly think this might be the most opportune moment to level up.

For reference, in AOE, leveling up means changing your equipped items and using consumable items to boost your stats, essentially switching gear and using consumables to raise stats.

Until now, I had been busy preparing to defeat the Megabase, so I had put this off. But now, I have the time, and there’s no immediate issue.

Moreover, I have the excellent personal space of Jason, allowing me to stack many items.

‘This is perfect; maybe I can enhance my collection and prepare for Act 2 at the same time.’

The collection turned out to be much stronger than I expected.

If I can level up this collection and utilize it more effectively, I feel it could become a trump card that could turn unfavorable situations around.

And of course, preparing for Act 2 is a given.

Even though I’ve defeated the powerful foe known as Megabase, the enemy forces remain vast and strong.

Invaders that will mobilize the first-generation commander entities.

The Imperial Fleet and follow-up fleet of Ustansha are set to arrive soon.

While sorting out these thoughts, I realize that the situation involving the Cryptids is a bit ambiguous.

Ideally, the Cryptids should already be beginning their activities, centered around the White Queen and Red Queen, revealing their presence.

However, the White Queen is spending tranquil days not with an army, but happily with Nisia.

‘Now that I think about it, there was a strange aspect to the positive traits; could it be related?’

I open the stats window to check the positive traits.

——————————————————–

Positive Traits

——————————————————–

Genius / Bundle of Talent / Jack of All Trades / Manifested Genius / Intellectual / Predator / Eye of Truth / ◎■

——————————————————–

The strange symbol still exists in my traits window.

The Predator trait was obtained by battling the third interstellar fleet and defeating the Earth Eater, while the Eye of Truth was acquired in the sealed city.

This likely means that those traits were also obtained in the sealed city, but the problem is that I’ve never seen such a bizarre collection of symbols even after playing AOE countless times.

‘At a glance, it almost looks like a broken word….’

After pondering over the symbols for a while, I shake my head.

Ultimately, there’s no point in dwelling on it.

It’s time to take action.

“Uhh.”

I rise from the bed.

Knock, knock.

– Edu, are you here?

– Little Mom! Let’s play together!

Just in time, I hear the voices of Nisia and Seoli.

“Yeah, I’m inside. You can come in.”

“Little Mom!”

As the door opens, a beaming Seoli bounces in and dives into my arms.

With a gentle impact, the warmth spreads through me.

As I see her rolling around snugly in my embrace, my hand instinctively moves.

Pat, pat.

“Hehehe.”

Seoli grins broadly.

While I pet her head, I glance at Nisia.

“Nisia, what’s going on?”

“Seoli wanted to see Edu, so I was wondering what you were doing here?”

“It’s hard to rest in the dormitory, so I came here to relax comfortably.”

“Ah…. That makes sense.”

Nisia gives a wry smile.

Although other students had shown some interest before, after defeating the Megabase, the level of interest has become overwhelming, with classmates and upperclassmen frequently coming to visit.

Even with Diana’s intervention and help from friends like Edward, it was still inadequate.

So, I’ve been just resting in Jason’s captain’s room for the past few days.

The ship deck is a restricted area, so academy students and the general public cannot enter freely.

“By the way, this works out perfectly. Nisia, can you contact my friends and gather them here?”

“Do you have something you need to do?”

“Yeah, there’s something I want to get done while there’s still time.”

….

“Sister, did you call for me?”

“Yeah. Come in, Mili, Sita.”

Mili and Sita respond immediately to my call, and behind them, familiar faces like Edward appear.

“We came too; what’s going on?”

“I’m thinking of handling some postponed tasks.”

“Postponed tasks?”

Edward tilts his head in confusion.

“Yeah, let’s go collect some items!”

“Items?”

“I’ll send you the data first, so can you all check that out?”

“Sure thing.”

I share the map of the Fangju where the item locations are checked by using the ID.

“This is the Fangju map?”

“It has a lot of markers, huh.”

Nisia and Jenny nod in agreement.

“Yeah, there are items we need to find. I’ll show a quick example, so would you all like to follow me?”

We head out of Jason and move towards a corner of the ship deck.

An open area that is generally barren with just some grass growing.

“Bungbungi, can you fly as low as possible?”

[ Beep. /⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝]

Bungbungi lowers its altitude, getting close to the ground.

“Hands, can you dig here?”

At my words, Hands nods in agreement and extends its arm to dig into the ground without hesitation.

As Edward watches, he tilts his head in curiosity.

“Edu, what are you doing right now?”

“Looking for items.”

“Hmmm….”

Edward’s eyes narrow.

“Edu. I know you’ve accomplished amazing things so far, but it’s absurd to think items can come from underground—”

Clang—

The metallic sound cuts off Edward’s words.

“Oh, here it is. Hands, can you lift that?”

As Hands rummages through the ground and picks something up, it reveals a rectangular metal storage box.

It was the same shape as the box Mili and Sita found in the garbage dump before.

“…Huh?”

Edward lets out a silly sound.

“Hands, open it.”

At my command, Hands opens the storage box, revealing the item inside.

“Tada, it’s an item. Pretty easy, right?”

“““….”””

My friends look at me with blank expressions.

In contrast, Mili and Sita, who have experienced this before, look at me with wry smiles.

“Wow! Treasure!”

Seoli comes running over with a loud voice.

The dazed friends snap back to reality at her voice.

“Little Mom! I want to find some too!”

“Okay, shall we search together?”

“Yeah! It’s treasure hunting time!!”

While Seoli jumps around excitedly, I pat her head.

“This is how to do it; it’s not that hard, right?”

“I’m sorry, but it’s not a matter of it being hard or easy; it’s about how to even do this—”

Just as Clari was about to say something, Jenny’s hand rests on her shoulder, and her gaze appears strangely vacant.

“This is what Edu does, just accept it, Clari.”

“Yeah, it’s unnecessary worries.”

Edward nods in agreement, adding.

From his face emanates a sage-like atmosphere.

“Don’t question what Edu does; natural disasters are beyond comprehension.”

“Come on, stop calling it a natural disaster, will you?”

“Are you saying it’s not? Didn’t we have a casual experience on the surface, meet an invader during a light training jaunt, and then a massive clash with the Cryptid armies in the sealed city? Wasn’t there something in the places that were supposed to be empty?”

“…Cough.”

Life can throw unexpected situations at you, so it’s petty to remember all that.

I subtly gauge the group’s mood before speaking again.

“…Anyway, just go to the places I marked and bring back the items. Can you do that for me?”

Everyone nods.

“Great, then let’s split into teams and get to work!”