Unlike Yuri, Yoo Giwon didn’t like drinking alcohol. He just didn’t see the point of drinking it to make himself numb. However, today was different. He was alone, away from his lover, with the strong liquor he got from Yuri.
-We will be at war.
Everyone was surprised, but what was more surprising was the people’s reaction. Hesitation and fear were but for a slight second.
-We will follow you to the end!
-Let’s have at it!
People began to shout, and soon, they were determined about the upcoming war.
‘It wasn’t just a word… they truly think it is worth it to go to war.’
Of course, it wasn’t the entire city, but they were the representatives of each region within the city. Their opinions would be enough to be considered as the city’s opinion.
“…”
Giwon drank. The loyalty people showed today was very good. Giwon also wanted it since the beginning.
But…
‘I…’
As the people became determined by Dohyuk’s declaration, Giwon realized that he did not want a war. Even now, there was the sight of the city spread out the window. There were lights everywhere, but not every one of them was from the fires started by the people. Recently, a part of the city had regained electricity as Dohyuk used quite a bit of faith to uncover a ruined power plant from the Dalian City ruins and combined it with the city. There were a lot of things that needed to be done in order for it to work, but it was only a matter of time when enough electricity flowed into the city to light everything up.
The city was becoming perfect. But if the war started…
‘Even if we win, there will be consequences.’
He wasn’t thinking of the damages, but also the people Dohyuk was trying to rescue. Even if they were brought in successfully, were they going to really help the city? There was a clear limit to increasing the population.
At least that’s how this city was. Dohyuk was now being considered as the Savior than the King. Everyone else was equal, and no one was allowed to fight or oppress others. Of course, there was no doubt that Dohyuk would lose control over the city, but the problem was the conflict that occurred between people.
The city had been quiet since the events from a few months ago. Yet, for Giwon who handled all the small to large conflicts happening within the city…
‘It’s at the limit. If the number of people with equal rights grow, the number of conflicts will grow too.’
It wasn’t severe, but the people who came into the city through Dalian also had small problems against the people who were already here. At least they all were lost sheep who only gathered under Dohyuk’s leadership.
But what if more came? There will be more people with different cultures and values. And if these concentration camps were there to train people to become stronger… the power of the individuals will vary. For now, most people started off weak and were trained in the same way, resulting in various levels of strength. That’s why they accepted their differences. But if there were newer, stronger people coming in….
The answer was certain. There will be conflict.
“Dammit.”
He crushed the liquor bottle in his hand. The pain from the glass pieces pierced through his palm. That’s when Giwon finally realized his desires.
Yoo Giwon did not want war.
Rather than saving the world, he wished to keep the city safe and secure. For him, war was only a threat that will get in the way of his purpose.
“You idiot…”
Giwon grabbed another bottle instead of pulling the glass pieces from his hands and drank. Nothing was going to change. If Dohyuk was going to war, then he was going to help.
Even if his actions did not change, his purpose now deviated from his master’s purpose.
Giwon was blaming himself for that fact.
“Whew.”
Dohyuk also had a drink. It was late at night, but Dohyuk was shoveling the large ground with Blass to flatten it out. It was for the factory. There wasn’t any room for it inside the city, so Dohyuk had prepared some land he checked during the day time to level it out
Shoveling wasn’t the reason why Dohyuk was fatigued.
He crouched down, and a factory with a faint glow could be seen. A while ago, Dohyuk had put his energy into the ‘power plant’. Unlike last time, he inputted more than half of his full energy. As a result, the factory worked for a while, giving various information to Dohyuk.
It seemed there were five types of weapons that could be created. Along with the sword and crossbow-looking weapon, it could create a spear, a double-sided axe, and a blunt weapon that looked like an elongated dumbbell. But not everything about the factory was there to create weapons. It seemed like everything was activated, but Dohyuk realized that there were still a lot of functions that were hidden.
‘Or, I have more variety of weapons I can create.’
He had no way to guess.
‘Well, what do I know. I’m not good at this stuff.’
Dohyuk sighed and turned. There was the power plant still glowing in energy and…
“…”
Blass had been standing in front of it for an hour already. He was already excited moment they walked in and was astonished as he checked inside. But when he got up to the power plant, he became that. It almost seemed like if he was broken. His two hands were on the surface of the power plant and unlike Dohyuk, Blass’s energy wasn’t taken away by the power plant.
“If you need more time, I can go back alone… are you going to tell me when I come back in the morning?”
“…”
Blass turned.
“…This place… the people who made this had to have more advanced technology than I expected. I thought I was at the top of recreation of life through metal…”
“So, I did bring something really good, right?”
Dohyuk, however, didn’t feel too good. Everything was not too good if it was too much. If Blass, an expert on metals, was astonished, it was possible that this factory was just too much to be touched upon.
“Care to explain why this is so great?”
“When you first came back with those weapons… I just thought its purpose was to store and release. I was only concentrated on the fact that it was possible to hold such an ability in small weapon and mass produce them.”
“But it wasn’t?”
Blass shook his head and turned to the power plant. The orb had small roots, or thin bloodlines within the orb.
“This is a kind of a living cell. It just doesn’t hold your energy… rather, it uses it to grow and evolve. Like a true cell would do.”
“….Huh?”
“I’m sure the weapon being created has the same type of character in it. It can’t be seen from here, but the factory itself is probably being provided energy to move the machines. It’s not just growing, but it knows how to change its shape to fit its purpose.”
It seemed that Blass had spoken about something that blew his mind, but Dohyuk wasn’t too surprised.
“You can change your shapes too, can’t you?”
“It’s different!” Blass objected strongly and pointed at himself. “This body has a core. It only contains me and my body. Every metal I control is controlled by that core. But this is only for freely-shaping the metal. It’s not my real body, nor I can send any power other than the signal to control it.”
“So, if you use this root-looking thing, you can make your metal body to like a real one?”
“If I succeed in transplanting it, yes. If I fail, then my core will receive critical damage.”
Which meant a death. Dohyuk asked, “Is there a huge difference if you succeed?”
“No.” Blass continued, “It won’t make my attacks more precise, or increase my power. I might rather be hindered for a while. But… it will solve the core problem I had once I had moved over to this body.”
There was only one problem that Blass would mention.
“I will be able to grow.”