Ch.176176. Engineer World

In truth, while it’s inefficient and not very useful, I can’t help but feel a bit of lingering attachment that makes it hard to completely give up on it.

‘This, if done right, could actually lead to something amazing…’

If there were absolutely no possibility to explore, that would be one thing, but according to my—our—transcendent intelligence and situational judgment, there definitely exists potential here.

The kind of potential worth continuing to invest in rather than simply giving up…

‘…Hmm?’

And right at that moment, I—we—came up with what seemed like a rather good idea.

‘Wait… Why did I insist on installing this in monsters when it could be used in so many better ways?’

That’s right. This psychic ability to manifest mental images for terraforming doesn’t necessarily need to be installed in monsters when I think about it rationally.

After all, this is just another psychic phenomenon, so various methods could exist.

Like binding a psychic life form composed of mental image manifestation abilities to a machine, or creating organic components that retain only the parts necessary for mental image manifestation.

Or even making nanomachines exhibit these psychic properties to instantly rewrite terrain, or combining it with memetic weapons to create a planet killer.

‘…Maybe I’ve been overthinking things lately.’

Noticing that something was off with my—our—state of mind for failing to realize something so simple, I soon pinpointed the cause.

‘Have I taken on too many projects?’

Recently, I’ve split my consciousness many times to carry out operations across the galaxy. Could it be that dividing myself so much has caused errors in my cognitive abilities?

‘Hmm…’

But it’s not like I can immediately reduce any of my current workload, so after pondering briefly, I made a decision.

‘Whatever. Let’s just start quickly and get it over with!’

I’ll start the large-scale event I’ve been planning—the so-called “Rebellion of the Engineer World”—earlier than scheduled to create some free space in my cognitive circuits.

※ ※ ※

Engineer World.

In the Human Federation’s planetary classification, it’s a proper noun referring to planets specialized for industrial production, particularly those focused on manufacturing machinery or electronic components.

Typically, these planets are modified from worlds too distant from their stars to be habitable even with terraforming, and it’s no exaggeration to say their entire surfaces consist solely of factories.

The industrial products manufactured on these planets suffer less damage over time than trade goods like crops or other items, making them easier to transport. Additionally, the original planetary environment has little impact on production.

Therefore, Engineer Worlds, which exist in almost every planetary system, sometimes cluster together in certain systems.

In these systems, where entire planets are converted for industrial use, self-sufficiency in food production is naturally impossible, making them heavily dependent on trade and commerce.

“Damn it!”

And predictably, among them are planetary systems failing because their products can’t keep up with the times.

Calisman 77-8. This Engineer World, the eighth planet in the 77th planetary system of the Calisman sector, specializes in manufacturing bipedal war machines called “Walkers.”

Famous for their unique form—a cockpit about the size of a small two-person electric vehicle with mechanical legs and machine guns attached—these bipedal war machines first appeared in the 7900s and have a fairly long history.

With their reverse-jointed structure, these lightweight bipedal war machines offered excellent stability and could be equipped with various weapons from machine guns to multiple rocket launchers, all while maintaining impressive speed.

Moreover, they weren’t difficult to pilot, had a simple structure making maintenance easy, could operate in any terrain, and possessed combat power that infantry simply couldn’t match.

Being able to deploy such war machines even in environments like jungles where armored vehicles struggled, and at an affordable price, Walkers sold like crazy.

They were truly revolutionary equipment, not an exaggeration to call them “the poor man’s armored vehicle,” but as time passed, various shortcomings emerged, causing sales to decline.

First, their height.

The characteristic height of these bipedal war machines, typically 5-6 meters, could provide a mobile tower-like advantage, but on flat terrain, they were just tall targets.

Furthermore, to maintain mobility and speed, Walkers had armor that could barely withstand infantry weapons, and psychic shields were prohibitively expensive for the poor who operated these Walkers.

As more operators avoided installing shields due to cost issues, the thin armor—which couldn’t honestly be called thick even as a courtesy—became a fatal weakness.

Medium machine guns or anti-materiel rifles could easily penetrate even the thickest cockpit armor, and with skill, even personal infantry weapons could destroy exposed joints, which was also problematic.

But setting aside all these shortcomings, there was one decisive factor that marked the downfall of Walkers—

It was the exponential increase in both the average psychic ability and manifestation rate among humans over time, which reduced demand for Walkers as psychic users became stronger and easier to deploy.

“[CENSORED]!!!!!!”

*Censored due to concerns about excessive offense and feelings of insult.

Naturally, the corporate executives, former elite experts, were aware of this trend and proposed changing the production model to the current planetary governor of Calisman 77, who is now cursing and regretting.

But blinded by money at the time, he ignored this advice and instead modified the entire planetary system’s production structure to specialize in Walker mass production.

The result.

“AAAAAAAARGH!!!!!”

The 77th planetary system in the Calisman sector now faces potential ruin at the hands of this foolish imbecile.

Of course, Calisman 77 wouldn’t break free from the governor’s control on its own.

The Calisman sector, a quintessential frontier region, is known for its backward political system and dictatorship, and the governor is no exception.

Treating planetary workers like bio-robots or replaceable parts, he implanted control chips in the heads of all workers and employees in his factories.

While this physically prevents coups, overthrows, or assassinations, other terrible outcomes remain entirely possible.

The most likely outcome right now is seizure by the Federal Central Bank due to mounting debt.

Having to import most raw materials from outside, he entered into a long-term contract with a mining company, Nano-Mining, to regularly receive raw materials and make payments… but what if he fails to make these payments?

According to the contract, he would have to pay enormous penalties or compensation, but neither Calisman 77 nor he has enough money to pay such penalties.

To make matters worse, in the past, he pushed the penalty clauses to the extreme to gain favorable contract terms, making the penalties exceed the value of the entire planetary system and his governorship combined.

Therefore, if he fails to pay the penalties, Nano-Mining will certainly request seizure by the Federal Central Bank, and even if he wants to pay, his capabilities fall far short.

So, in this situation with no apparent solution, what the governor chose was:

“H-hehehehehehe—!!!! Here it comes! Here it comes! HERE IT COMES!!!!??!”

He reached out to the Hive Cult, who had approached him disguised as his secretary, and spent his days indulging in the special hallucinogens they provided.

Having spent so much on his health and longevity that ordinary drugs were quickly neutralized in his system, the drugs produced by the Hive Cult became essential for stimulation—another reason he joined hands with them.

The fact that he thinks his secretary is just a stooge sent by some galaxy-wide gang proves how incompetent and clueless this governor truly is.

“Hee-ha! Hee-ha! Hee-ha! Hee-ha! Hee-ha!”

And so, he began to gradually fall apart.

As he became increasingly addicted to the specially produced drugs from the Hive Cult, his money-coated body developed stronger tolerance over time, leading him to increase the dosage as he became dissatisfied with the diminishing pleasure.

Though the drugs were quite toxic, his various implants prevented death regardless of how much he took, perpetuating this vicious cycle until one day:

“KYOOOOOOOOOT!!! KYATHOUUUU!!! KIRUK-KIRIRYAA—KKEOK!”

Finally, perhaps because his implants could no longer withstand the drugs, he struggled to breathe, and as all the side effects hit him at once, he died in agony, unable even to breathe.

“Is it over?”

“Yes, it’s been handled.”

“Good. Then let’s begin.”

“Understood, Minor Father. Everything for the Great Father.”

“…Everything for the Great Father.”