The Retired Max-Level Worker Wants to Rest - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Stability

TL/ED – Miso

The Railgun.

It was obviously one of the most powerful weapons around. But this was a small Railgun, so it shouldn’t have packed this much punch.

‘It’s this strong?’

I was genuinely surprised.

My Target Enhancement played a part, sure, but her Precision Shot’s charge-up effect must have contributed too.

The damage scaled up by percentage.

I’d known that.

That was why I’d had high hopes.

‘Still, I didn’t expect it to be this much.’

Hope sparked to life.

Birnoks were tough, fast, and strong.

Because of that, even hitting one with a standard Railgun wasn’t easy. You had to land a dead-on hit from beyond 800 meters, the Birnok’s effective range.

Miss by even a hair?

The tungsten round would ricochet off its heavy armor.

‘At this level of power, even a near-miss would shatter the armor.’

I was certain of it.

On top of that, the muzzle velocity had increased too, so I couldn’t imagine the Birnok dodging this Railgun.

“Going again.”

The rail cooling was done.

An indicator appeared showing the power charge was complete as well.

Wuuung.

Cha Yu-ra placed her hand on the Mana Battery. A faint stream of mana seeped into her body. She nodded as if she felt noticeably better.

“This stuff is nice.”

She said that and gripped the control stick.

And then.

Kiiiiing-

The Railgun began charging again.

This time, Cha Yu-ra breathed more deeply.

She took careful aim.

‘The Birnok has to stop moving first.’

That wouldn’t be easy.

One minute passed. Two minutes. Three.

Cha Yu-ra kept her eyes locked on without breaking focus.

“Hoo.”

Another short breath.

She pulled the trigger.

Pwahk-!

The air blasted outward in every direction.

The Birnok seemed to sense it and flapped its wings.

But.

━━━━━━!

A single line fired from the Railgun.

Before that single wingbeat could finish.

Before our eyes could even track the Birnok.

As if the world had slowed to a crawl.

Pwahk!

It reached the Birnok.

Its left torso and one wing were gone.

Completely.

Kwakwakwakwa-

The delayed shockwave pounded against our eardrums.

Kkiyaaaaaa-!

The Birnok’s death scream tore through the air.

It worked.

“Snipe complete.”

One line from her.

That was more reassuring than I could say.

-You have gained a large amount of EXP.

-You have leveled up.

I had finally leveled up.

Cha Yu-ra and Park Dong-cheol beside me seemed to have hit Level 20 as well.

“……Before that, though.”

She spoke up again.

She reached her hand toward the Mana Battery.

“Ugh.”

She was starting to hit her limit too.

She gripped the Railgun and spoke.

“Multi Shot.”

“……?”

I was caught off guard.

Would that even work on a Railgun?

She touched the Mana Battery again. But it was already drained. I handed her mine.

She drank in every drop of mana she could.

Kiiiiiiing-

The Railgun began charging once more.

The reddened rails cooled down.

When it reached full power.

“Firing.”

The moment she said it.

Pwahk-!

The atmosphere ripped apart.

━━━━━━!

━━━━━━!

━━━━━━!

From a single Railgun.

Three beams of light carved through the air.

They weren’t weakened in the slightest. If anything, they brought an even fiercer shockwave. Powerful enough to send both me and Park Dong-cheol staggering.

Whoosh-

Her hair whipped around as if caught in a typhoon.

Kwakwakwakwa-!

A massive blast echoed across the field.

The Brakta swarm charging in from the distance was torn into four. Hundreds of Creeds, dozens of Cree’vahs and Basilaks were shredded to nothing.

-You have gained EXP.

-You have gained EXP.

-You have gained EXP.

-You have gained EXP.

.

.

.

Hundreds of EXP notifications floated up.

Cha Yu-ra and Park Dong-cheol seemed to have gained several levels too. They’d been about four or five levels below me, but the gap was starting to close.

Why?

Because the EXP needed to go from Level 24 to 25 was greater than going from Level 20 all the way to 24.

“Uaah-”

Cha Yu-ra collapsed.

She slumped face-down as if she couldn’t move another inch.

Her face was pale and her lips had turned purple.

“Want a shot?”

“……Is it okay to take those often?”

“About one a week is fine.”

“Then please.”

She didn’t even have the strength to inject it herself, lying flat on the ground. I gave her a shot in the shoulder.

Pssht.

“……Cough. This stuff feels weird.”

“You pushed yourself too hard. Rest a bit.”

It was time for us to move.

I cast Target Enhancement on each of the Turrets.

With Mana Batteries attached to them.

Then.

Tutututututu-

Ten Turrets opened fire.

120 rounds per minute each.

Times ten.

‘1,200 rounds per minute.’

Even if only 80% hit, even if they couldn’t one-shot a Basilak or Cree’vah, that was still enough to kill hundreds of Creeds.

-You have gained EXP.

-You have gained EXP.

-You have gained EXP.

.

.

.

The EXP kept rolling in.

When the leading wave of Creeds reached close range, Park Dong-cheol stepped up.

Fwit-

He was a streak of light.

So fast there wasn’t even an afterimage.

His blade carried a faint aura of mana, cutting through several Creeds at a time. He pushed deeper and reached a Basilak.

Sgeoook-

A Basilak.

That impossibly hard Basilak armor was sliced clean through. The Basilak couldn’t even register Park Dong-cheol before it was carved apart.

“Guess I’d better join in too.”

I absorbed a Mana Battery. I cast Target Enhancement on the Light Tank and handed it over to Cha Yu-ra, who was struggling to pull herself together.

“Use this once you’re ready.”

“Whew- Got it. I’ll catch up quick.”

I climbed into the Light Tank.

I didn’t have much experience driving one. I’d always been in a Turk. But the unexpected happens on the battlefield.

The Turk gets blown up.

No combat troops left.

I had to escape alone in a Light Tank.

‘Of course, the Turk is better overall.’

The Light Tank was several times faster in terms of raw speed. But you couldn’t repair or build anything in a Light Tank, which made long-term survival difficult.

Still, times like this were different.

Tududududu-

The Light Tank’s mounted machine gun fired.

That was enough to shred the Creeds.

And in the distance, a Cree’vah.

Click.

The HE Accelerator Cannon.

High-explosive rounds fired at high velocity. That was what the name meant.

Thunk-

Kwaang!

The Cree’vah had to die.

What about the Basilak beside it?

Sgeoook-

Park Dong-cheol carved it up.

And then.

Piing-

Three writhing streaks of light.

They were all arrows.

I looked back.

“She’s joined up.”

Three at a time.

The arrows flew as if they had a will of their own, punching through several Creeds each and burying themselves in Basilaks and Cree’vahs.

This Trial was easier than expected.

.

.

.

-You have survived the Second Trial!

-Rewards are being distributed.

-You have gained a large amount of EXP.

-You have gained a large amount of EXP.

-You have gained a large amount of EXP.

-You have leveled up.

We held the line.

We won far more safely than the last time.

Thanks to preparing in advance.

Cha Yu-ra’s broken skills, Park Dong-cheol’s absurd cutting power, and my support had formed a fantastic team.

“……Hah, when are we gonna clean all this up.”

“Let’s get to it.”

I used the Turk to modify the front of the Light Tank.

I attached an excavator blade to it.

“I’ll push everything to one side!”

“Got it! I’ll gather the scattered ones!”

“I’ll haul the Basilaks out!”

I handled the bulk of the Creeds and Cree’vahs.

Cha Yu-ra took care of the isolated stragglers.

Park Dong-cheol cleared out the heavy, massive carcasses.

‘If I had the right facilities, I could turn those into resources.’

Not possible right now.

Creeds and Cree’vahs had nothing useful. Basilaks at least had some decent heavy armor, but… using Special Steel Alloy was just better.

So there was no point in collecting it.

‘Birnoks are different, though.’

There should be refined gas inside its body.

What they called Electan.

It wouldn’t be as much as finding an entire mine, but since it was already refined into an energy-grade gas, it would be plenty useful.

Once that was taken care of, we could rest.

.

.

.

It took a full day.

We built a fire in front of the base.

“What level are you guys?”

“I hit 23 this time.”

“Me too, 23!”

The level gap was definitely shrinking.

Proof that the required EXP had jumped to absurd amounts.

“You got two rewards, right?”

“Yeah, the skill Card Reward from Level 20 and an inventory from this Trial.”

Right.

That part had been surprising.

Small Inventory.

Anyone who’d played games would understand.

Just how overpowered an inventory system was.

The description read:

[Small Inventory]

: Provides three inventory slots. Each slot can store up to 100kg of a single item type.

One type per slot.

100kg of weight.

‘A single type, huh.’

Should I try putting Ferrosite in it?

Then again, 100kg wouldn’t amount to much. Better to stock up on advanced equipment or Revitals instead.

Not that I had many Revitals left, of course.

Whoosh.

I picked up the Fusion Cutter with one hand.

The moment I thought about putting it into the inventory,

Pop.

It vanished.

At the bottom of my vision, one inventory slot was now occupied.

And then.

Thunk.

It was back in my hand.

Meaning I could store and retrieve things with thought alone.

“Oh, is that how it works?”

“Seems like it. Just thinking about it does the trick.”

I’d need to test it with different types of items.

Especially when mining, being able to store ore or gas on the spot would be incredibly convenient…… Was I really destined to be a laborer?

No matter what I did, my thoughts always went there.

‘More importantly, time to pick a skill.’

I’d reached Level 25.

I wondered what skills it would offer this time.

-Remote Control: Expend mana to remotely operate machines.

This one again.

Did the system think I needed it?

‘Once the main control room is properly set up, I can do remote control without spending any mana.’

I could even use AI.

Meaning there’d be no need to manually pilot anything.

A useless skill for me.

-Electrical Affinity: Gain basic electrical resistance. Mana cost for lightning-type magic is greatly reduced. Additionally, gain the ability to control ambient electricity.

A lightning mage tech tree, maybe.

Learning this would definitely be useful.

I couldn’t stay in a support role forever.

‘I need to get stronger on my own too.’

That would bring retirement closer.

I wouldn’t need to buy weapons or robots just to defend the house.

And then the next skill.

-Steel Skin: Your skin hardens like steel. The more you use your body, the stronger it becomes. The same applies to your skin.

“……Now this comes up out of nowhere.”

Was the system still keeping doors open for me?

Like it was saying it wasn’t too late to become a tank if I wanted.

But I’d already made my decision.

‘Electrical Affinity.’

That was the one.

It would be a solid foundation to build on.

Especially since I worked with machines. Electricity was an inseparable part of any machine, and being able to manipulate it meant understanding machines on a deeper level.

‘Maybe I should clear a few more Trials before heading out.’

The rewards were worth it.

The skill selection and items from the first time were great.

The inventory this time too.

I wondered what the next reward would be.

“Want to take a day off?”

“……Just one day?”

“Please-!”

Their reactions made me sheepish.

Fine, we’d take the day off.

Time to dust off the cooking skills.

“Where are you going?”

“Grabbing something.”

I headed for the storage room.

There was a crate I’d brought from the previous base. Inside it was…….

“Here it is!”

Found it.

A gorgeous amber liquid.

It was whiskey.

“Ooh!”

“We’re drinking?”

Park Dong-cheol’s eyes lit up with hearts, and Cha Yu-ra stared at me in disbelief. I was a man who knew how to rest when the time came.

‘That’s exactly why I want to retire.’

I threw together an ice maker.

A little machine like that was nothing.

There were glass tumblers in the whiskey crate too.

“Should I grill the meat?”

Cha Yu-ra asked.

But today was my turn.

“No, I’ve got it.”

It was freeze-dried meat from the combat rations. It lost its moisture and came out dry, but with some sauce on it, it was decent enough.

Over the past thirty years.

I’d eaten this kind of combat ration more times than I could count on the battlefield. Naturally, I’d wanted to make it taste better, and my cooking skills had improved on their own.

Sizzle-

I laid the whiskey-soaked meat on the grill.

The charcoal was just right.

“Wow, this is legit.”

“This is insane. Insane!”

The two of them were thrilled.

I raised my glass too.

Three moons hung in the sky above, casting their light.

“Cheers-”

“Cheers!”

And so we toasted.

Things had gotten much better.

The past two weeks had been about survival, but now we’d stabilized. From here on, it would be about growth.

“Wow! This is seriously good!”

“This is crazy- What’s in the sauce?”

“Heh, that’s my secret recipe.”

“Can I have more? Is there enough meat?”

“Plenty. Eat all you want. And once we have some breathing room, I’m building a greenhouse. Fresh vegetables and lab-grown meat, but you’ll be able to eat fresh meat too.”

“Wow! The best! Ho-cheon oppa, you’re the best!”

“That’s my boy Ho-cheon, lemme give you a kis- blarghghgh!”

He nearly got a kiss on me.

His body was tough, so I zapped him with electricity.