Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 525

Chapter 525

Oh Jin-ho’s expression remained dark as he walked through the West District.

‘Black Tiger could take control of my body?’

It was a premise he had never once considered.

When he first received the support AI Black Tiger, he had been so happy it felt as though he possessed everything in the world.

Simply being assigned a support AI was considered an immense honor in the West District.

In fact, everyone who had received a support AI was a core figure of the West District.

His support AI, Black Tiger, had been a reliable assistant.

Thanks to Black Tiger, he had become far stronger and faster than other mechanized Awakeners.

Black Tiger managed his entire mechanical body on its own and kept it constantly optimized.

Because of that, he could always draw out peak performance.

There was only one drawback: once he was assigned Black Tiger, his every move was reported to Triox Five.

It felt like being monitored twenty-four hours a day. That was why, whenever he went somewhere outside the West District, he deactivated Black Tiger.

Fortunately, Black Tiger did not resist such orders and entered a deactivated state.

Thanks to that, he had been able to visit the Goblin Market today and discover the cause of the issue that had long bothered him.

Suddenly, a question arose.

‘Was Black Tiger really deactivated? Or is it just pretending to be deactivated and staying silent?’

The suspicion grew like a snowball.

Oh Jin-ho did not like this situation.

“Black Tiger!”

—Yes! Master. May I activate now?

“Do it.” 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

—I will enter activation mode.

Ziiiiing!

Black Tiger immediately began inspecting Oh Jin-ho’s entire body.

Whenever it entered activation mode, the very first thing it did was inspect and optimize the mechanical parts.

Oh Jin-ho stopped walking for a moment and waited for Black Tiger to finish optimizing.

Then Black Tiger said something unexpected.

—While I was deactivated, your right-arm parts were detached. There are traces of third-party interference across the right-arm parts, including the neuron box.

“So is there a problem?”

—The problem is… there is none.

“Then hurry up and finish the optimization.”

—Yes! Master.

Black Tiger replied and focused on optimization.

A short while later, the optimization was fully complete.

—Master! Optimization complete.

“Black Tiger!”

—Yes! Master.

“Does all optimization data get sent to Triox Five?”

—That is correct.

“And if I don’t want the data to be sent?”

—That is impossible.

“Why?”

—Because all support AIs are obligated to report the master’s overall physical condition to Lord Triox Five.

“Even if the master doesn’t want it?”

—Yes!

At Black Tiger’s answer, Oh Jin-ho’s expression stiffened even further.

—Your heart rate is rising rapidly. Did I make some kind of mistake?

“No.”

—Then why?

“Where is Kim Hyun-soo right now?”

—He is currently in the underground laboratory.

“Underground laboratory?”

—The sector researching S-rank golems.

“I’m going there immediately.”

—Understood.

Thud! Thud!

As he walked toward the laboratory, Oh Jin-ho’s footsteps felt unusually heavy today.

---

“Hoo…”

Zeon let out a quiet sigh.

It was because he had a feeling that something quite troublesome was about to happen.

“I’d like to rest properly, but things just won’t let me.”

Since Oh Jin-ho had met with him, no matter what the issue was, it seemed likely he would get dragged into it somehow.

Zeon looked at Hicks.

Even after Oh Jin-ho left, Hicks still couldn’t bring himself to speak and merely watched Zeon’s reactions.

Although he hadn’t done anything wrong, the atmosphere felt ominous, so he kept his mouth shut.

“Mr. Hicks.”

“Y-Yes! Lord Zeon.”

“You said earlier that excessive intervention by the support AI caused an overload in the neuron box, correct?”

“Yes! That’s right.”

“And that neuron box plays the role of a human nervous system, correct?”

“That’s right. Once installed in the mechanical section, invisible artificial neural networks extend out, connecting the mechanical parts and the human nervous system.”

“The materials?”

“Beast byproducts, of course. Among them, goblin moth wings are the most effective. They have high mana conductivity, so reactions occur instantly. There’s a high probability that the neuron box material installed in Mr. Oh Jin-ho’s new parts also uses goblin moth wings.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes! All the latest models use goblin moth wings these days.”

“Impressive. How do you know all that?”

“Hehe! I was interested, so I dug into it.”

“You said you’re C-rank, right?”

“Yes!”

“To reach C-rank on your own is remarkable.”

“Hehe!”

At Zeon’s praise, Hicks twisted his body awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

To children who grew up in the slums, Zeon was a hero.

Especially here in Sinchon, Zeon’s influence was truly immense.

Before Zeon arrived, Sinchon was like hell.

That was because Goran, who ruled Sinchon at the time, exploited people mercilessly. On top of that, numerous villains harassed the residents. But after Zeon eliminated Goran and took his place, things changed.

Villains could no longer enter Sinchon, wary of Zeon, and Eton, who became the new ruler, conducted business at a reasonable level.

As a result, the lives of the people of Sinchon greatly improved, and they received many benefits, knowingly or not.

Hicks was one of the children who benefited from that change.

Under normal circumstances, he would have been dragged away and exploited by people like Goran the moment he Awakened. Instead, he was fortunate enough to be hired by the Goblin Market.

Because of that, Hicks was able to let his talent fully bloom here.

Being in the same space as Zeon, his hero at heart, felt like a dream.

“Mr. Hicks.”

“Yes!”

“Is there a way to stop a support AI if it tries to take over a mechanized Awakener’s body?”

“Shall I try researching it?”

“Please do.”

“Thank you.”

“Hm?”

“I’ve always dreamed of following Lord Zeon’s orders.”

At Hicks’s unexpected reply, Zeon made a dumbfounded expression. But Hicks was genuinely happy at the fact that he could do something for Zeon.

“If you need anything, speak to Ms. Yoo Se-hee or Mr. Black Lion. I’ll inform them.”

“Yes!”

After firmly instructing Hicks to keep everything strictly confidential, Zeon went outside.

He tried to meet Yoo Se-hee and Black Lion while he was at it, but they were both away on other business.

With no other choice, he asked one of Yoo Se-hee’s close aides to support Hicks, then left the Goblin Market.

The next place he headed to was Old Man Kleksi’s shop.

“So you’ve been back for ten days, yet you only come now. You’re disgustingly lazy.”

“Rather than lazy, I’d say relaxed.”

“So, have you recovered from the fatigue of your travels?”

“Yes! Thanks to you, I’m full of energy.”

“And have you eaten?”

“I’m very hungry.”

“Wait a bit. I’ll have it ready soon.”

“Yes!”

Zeon replied and took a seat.

Even as Old Man Kleksi prepared the food with quick hands, he continued talking with Zeon.

“Nothing unusual this time?”

“There was something, but it was resolved well.”

“You won’t tell me what it was, will you?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Tsk! People with too many secrets are never decent folk.”

“Isn’t that the same for you, old man?”

“What about me?”

“You run the largest information network in the slums, don’t you? If you searched all of Neo Seoul, there wouldn’t be many people who hold as many secrets as you. Ah, Chairman Jin Geum-ho would be an exception.”

“I’m honored. To be compared to that man.”

“That’s unexpected.”

“What is?”

“I thought you’d dislike being compared to Chairman Jin Geum-ho.”

“Personally, I dislike that man. But Mayor Jin Geum-ho of Neo Seoul is someone I can’t help but respect. No matter what anyone says, the fact that the ruined city of Seoul was rebuilt into a city again is largely due to him.”

Old Man Kleksi let out a brief sigh.

Zeon could feel that countless emotions were packed into that sigh.

“Did you work with him in the past?”

“For a time.”

“Then why live in the slums? If you wanted, you could live in Neo Seoul anytime.”

“That’s enough. Eat.”

Bang!

Cutting Zeon off, Old Man Kleksi placed the freshly made food on the table.

Zeon realized that Old Man Kleksi was deliberately changing the subject and did not press further.

There was no reason to force someone to talk about something they didn’t want to discuss.

‘He’ll tell me someday, when the time comes.’

Thinking that, Zeon picked up his chopsticks.

Slurp!

Old Man Kleksi looked at Zeon with eyes filled with complicated emotions.

After a while, Zeon finished his meal, chatted a bit more with Old Man Kleksi, then stood up.

Having eaten food made by Old Man Kleksi after so long, he felt quite full.

“I feel like I can live again now.”

“Zeon!”

At that moment, someone loudly called out to him.

“Tesserina?”

Zeon immediately recognized the owner of the voice.

The person approaching him while calling his name was clearly Tesserina.

Her expression looked unusually excited, as if something good had happened.

Tesserina walked up to Zeon and said,

“I was just on my way to find you, and we run into each other like this.”

“Me? Why?”

“Hehe! There’s a place I want to show you.”

“What?”

“I finally got it.”

“Huh? Don’t tell me—”

“Yes! I got my lair.”

Tesserina beamed.

“Already?”

“Yeah! Luckily, there was a place that suited me perfectly.”

“Where is it?”

“Curious? Then follow me.”

“Seriously…”

Even while wearing a dumbfounded expression, Zeon followed Tesserina.

To be honest, he was curious.

Tesserina was a dragon, the embodiment of greed.

Although she had abandoned her true body and taken on a human one, her essence had neither changed nor disappeared.

‘But was there really a place in the slums that could satisfy Tesserina’s desires?’

No matter how much money one had, buildings in the slums couldn’t simply be bought.

Even Zeon had only managed to acquire buildings through sheer luck; unless it was a special case like that, it was nearly impossible for an individual to obtain one.

Yet the place Tesserina led Zeon to was, unexpectedly, near the Goblin Market.

More precisely, it was one of the buildings behind the Goblin Market.

A shabby ten-story building stood tall behind the market, almost like a shield.

But there were unexpected figures standing in front of the building.

“It’s been a while, Zeon!”

The woman waving at Zeon from the front of the building was none other than Yoo Se-hee, the owner of the Goblin Market. Black Lion was standing beside her.

“You said you were out. So this is where you were?”

“Oh my! Were you looking for me? As you can see, I stepped out briefly for an important deal.”

“An important deal?”

“Yes! I decided to hand this building over to Lady Tesserina.”

Yoo Se-hee smiled and pointed at the building behind her.