---o---
[You have successfully infiltrated the Underworld.]
[Following the familiar path from your last visit, you proceed cautiously along the filthy alleys of Belobog's Underworld, subconsciously mimicking the vagrants sleeping in trash cans and scattered along the roadsides.]
[The vagrants in the Underworld are as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. You, in your current state, blend in among them. Aside from looking even more wretched than most, there is no significant difference.]
[Putting yourself in the shoes of your Emanator self from the last simulation, you realize that without the corresponding authority or special powers, even an Emanator would find it difficult to distinguish you from a common vagrant—come to think of it, there is no difference between you and a real vagrant right now.]
[You have infiltrated the Robot Settlement without being exposed in the slightest. You have not forgotten your objective—the machine Svarog, the uncrowned emperor of the Underworld, actually appears before people quite often.]
[You know how to find Svarog and how to observe him to gather data, but you still need to decide on the exact method—]
[1. Seek help from Klara.
The kind-hearted Miss Klara is a super idol adored by all the vagrants in the Robot Settlement. She has extensive experience in repairing Svarog. If you can obtain this knowledge, you can immediately break through the shackles of confusion, pierce the mists of history, and bring the technology of the past into the present, completely intact.]
[2. Seek help from the vagrants.
A large portion of the vagrants in the Robot Settlement have become fairly skilled mechanics under the tutelage of Svarog and Klara. They have been in contact with Svarog for years and might have a certain understanding of him...
Choosing this option, you will undergo an Intelligence check. If you pass, you will bring back the past technology with the highest similarity. This option will take two days.]
[3. Observation is the best teacher.
If you want a thing done well, do it yourself. Sampo is still watching from the shadows. You are not prepared to seek help from anyone, lest you expose the slightest clue.
Choosing this option, you will undergo a difficult Intelligence check. If you pass, you will bring back the past technology with a medium similarity. This option will take three days.]
"As expected... as long as I'm well-prepared, even an Emanator would find it hard to spot anything unusual..."
"After all, no matter how strong he is, Sampo is only focused on his script. There's a whole Belobog outside of that script that he has neither the energy nor the interest to pay attention to. That guy is the ultimate jester; watching ordinary people holds no fun for him at all..."
Ron mused to himself as he read the text, then unhesitatingly tapped the third option.
There was no real choice here. To ensure his own safety, only the third option was viable.
An extra three days meant nothing to Ron; this simulation was not short on time.
As for that difficult Intelligence check...
Ron glanced at his Intelligence stat, which had been pushed to its absolute limit in this simulation thanks to walking the Path of [The Erudition] and his round-the-clock research. He felt nothing.
No matter how difficult the check was, with an absurd stat value like this, he should be able to pass it...
After all, he wasn't really researching this technology from scratch, just reproducing it...
With these thoughts, Ron watched as the options on the screen faded and new text appeared:
[You have decided to complete the data collection for this technology in the safest way possible.]
[You completely blend into the life of the Robot Settlement, going with the flow and living a life of scrounging for food and shelter with the other vagrants...]
The text on the screen faded, and then a large number of simulation entries popped up.
Ron looked closely and found that these entries were all about trivial, mundane matters. Many of them were not only minor but also quite bizarre.
For example, one of them read—
[The vagrants in the Robot Settlement are no longer true vagrants. The vast majority have their own small homes, or at least a tent to sleep in peacefully.]
[You, on the other hand, have become the most vagrant of all vagrants. You are completely unable to secure your own food, clothing, and shelter, which greatly troubles you.]
[Fortunately, you run into the "Klara Protection Association" and receive their generous help. The association is dedicated to protecting Klara and repaying her kindness for taking them in.]
[But after living with them for three days, you discover that this organization is simply a group of extremely bizarre perverts who have banded together to freak out over Klara—]
[For example, the association recently announced a special research topic and called on all members to participate. Everyone is full of enthusiasm for this topic, which seems quite normal, but unfortunately, the topic is titled "A Study on How Far the Stench of Klara's Bare jio Can Travel"...]
["These guys are too perverted! What on earth is going on in their heads?!"]
[You are utterly shocked by this. You discreetly leave the "Klara Protection Association's" base, deciding in your heart that you will never have contact with such perverts again in your life...]
[On a side note, there is nothing wrong with Klara's little jio. After your resear... no, after your expert glance, you discovered that Klara is clearly a Pathstrider. Her feet are protected by Imaginary energy, which repels all dirt.]
["These guys are steadily advancing on a path away from the truth..." You offer a silent, knowing smile at their ignorance.]
Looking at the text on the screen, Ron felt a perfect retort die in his throat. The sheer absurdity of it all left him speechless for a long time.
"...Am I really that perverted?"
"Or... have I been influenced by these perverts and become a bit of a pervert myself?"
Ron was at a loss for words. Although his simulated self had apparently been infected with perversion, the end result was no different from what he had expected.
These trivial entries continued to pop up on the screen, eventually reaching the end of the three-day period.
The entries faded, and new text appeared:
[After three days of living as a vagrant, you have finally obtained the observational data you needed.]
[Prototype Unit No. 3, Svarog, though a technological product from over six hundred years ago and weathered by time, still retains his boundless wisdom and unparalleled martial strength.]
[Although you only observed his behavior from within the crowd of vagrants and never actually disassembled him to inspect his internal mechanical structure, the behavioral and external data is sufficient for you.]
[This small amount of data has become the thread that ties all the designs together. Your inspiration is threading the needle, weaving this thread through all the designs and completely reassembling these crude and simple concepts into a new form.]
[You return to the Overworld overnight, rushing back to your luxurious dormitory at the Belobog Academy of Sciences. After a quick wash and changing into a pristine lab coat, you lock yourself in the laboratory.]
[The fire of your inspiration is flickering in your mind. Using the data and real-world conditions of the automatons in the lab, a blueprint in your mind gradually becomes clear under the light of this fire...]
[You take out a blank sheet of paper and begin to unleash your inspiration upon it.]
[Because of the trait "'You' Exist" (Red), you have broken through the shackles of historical fog and completed a Miracle blueprint.]
[You have obtained the Miracle Blueprint "Titan." ]
[Titan: Out of distrust for Belobog's current industry and the demands of war, you have abandoned some of the more "sci-fi" special products that were within your reach.
This special mechanical construct, an evolved version of a mechanical exoskeleton, is the best choice for the present. By modifying and assembling parts from some automatons, and installing an anti-gravity module, a sapient AI combat module, and a cockpit, Belobog will gain a batch of loyal Titans.
They will become the blades of the battlefield, forging ever onward.]
Looking at the text on the screen, Ron nodded in satisfaction.
This kind of blueprint was exactly what he wanted... If he had actually recovered the complete manufacturing blueprint for a Creation Engine, he would have been at a loss.
After all, while the Creation Engines were powerful, the industrial level required to manufacture such massive and formidable mechanical constructs was beyond Belobog's current capabilities.
That was a level of productivity that only a civilization rapidly advancing towards the interstellar era could support... The current Belobog was already straining to produce simple automatons. This Titan design was mostly assembled from parts of existing automatons; only the anti-gravity module, the sapient combat AI, and the cockpit were new.
This meant that as long as they could rush production on the missing module assembly lines, the Titans could immediately enter mass production. Even scrapped automatons from the front lines, as long as certain specific modules were undamaged, could be disassembled and their parts used to assemble a Titan, turning waste into treasure.
Just as Ron was imagining Belobog pushing the front lines with these Titans and solving the Antimatter Legion problem, the text on the screen faded and a new entry appeared:
[You have just put down your pen. The afterglow of inspiration has not yet faded, and you even feel the urge to add a few more strokes, to draw something new on this blueprint—]
[But just before you do, you suddenly hear a crisp "tick-tock" sound in your ear.]
[The sound is not loud, but it is deafening. You immediately snap back to your senses, look at the pen tip about to make drastic alterations to the most important sapient combat AI module, and forcefully throw the pen aside.]
[You hear strange whispers in your ear, and the bizarre power that had just clouded your eyes and perception gradually dissipates.]
[Nous, [The Erudition], is watching over you, dispelling the mental influence of Mythus, [The Enigmata], with its divine voice.]
Reading this, Ron's brow furrowed tightly.
What's going on...?
Was Mythus, The Enigmata, such an active Aeon?
This was the second time in this simulation that It had targeted him... Every time he drew a Miracle blueprint, It would exert its influence, and its goal was always to destroy the blueprint.
And every time, Nous had intervened. The first time was understandable; he had just stepped onto the Path, so it was natural for Nous to glance his way for broadening the Path and to casually dispel Mythus's influence.
But Nous's previous behavior had clearly indicated a lack of interest in him. It had just glanced at him and left. To think that this time, It would immediately intervene the moment Mythus's influence appeared, clearly meant It had been watching him in secret...
Ron thought about this, unable to comprehend the thoughts of these two Aeons for the moment.
"The struggles and considerations between Aeons are truly not something a mortal can deduce with the information they have..."
Unable to figure out why they were acting this way, Ron decided to put these questions aside for now and tapped the screen to continue the simulation.
The text on the screen faded, and new entries appeared:
[After drawing the Titan blueprint, you immediately take it to Qlipoth Fort and enter the Supreme Guardian's office.]
[Cocolia is dealing with a mountain of official documents. You see petitions flying around her like snowflakes. Each one already has her opinion written on it before it flutters down to be stacked on a nearby pile.]
[You rouse her from this mountain of heavy political work and hand her the "Titan" blueprint.]
[She has extremely high expectations for this design, praising your abilities several times. She immediately orders the preparation of assembly lines for the mass production of Titans to reinforce the Silvermane Guard army.]
[Furthermore, she also gives an immediate order to quickly assemble a few Titans and send them to Qlipoth Fort. She wants to personally test just how powerful they are...]
[You watch the enthusiastic Cocolia, then quietly leave Qlipoth Fort and return to your research at the Belobog Academy of Sciences.]
[Late at night, frustrated by a lack of inspiration, you crumple up a ruined design draft and toss it into the wastebasket. You stare blankly through the window at the night sky outside.]
[The night sky is bright, the stars are twinkling—a shooting star, trailing a golden tail flame, flashes by.]