Ch.9797. Moonstone

While the Emperor and Seah were happily playing together, my plans were also progressing smoothly.

For quite some time now, at least one replaced individual had been infiltrated into the leadership of most neighboring countries. The scale of Nano-Tech, which made this possible, had grown enormously—to the point where branches the size of major corporations existed in most countries.

The hunters affiliated with Nano-Tech were already top-tier in both quantity and quality, leading some nations to hire them instead of maintaining their own armies.

Furthermore, various developed countries frequently employed Nano-Tech hunters at the national level. Even the United States occasionally hired them for dragon extermination operations in the western regions, demonstrating how highly regarded they were in terms of military power and reputation.

The reasons for this high regard were their exceptional skills, sophisticated tactics, and most importantly, their superior equipment.

Lower-rank hunters were essentially infantry with physical abilities superior to ordinary humans, while simultaneously wielding various heavy weapons and equipment for impressive firepower.

Each individual wore a nano-suit, allowing even ordinary infantry to carry medium machine guns. When deployed to the front lines, they were always accompanied by armored vehicles operated by other lower-rank hunters like themselves.

Their standard armored vehicle—the Techria—was equipped with a laser medium cannon that could function as a laser cannon when needed, making it more akin to a tank than an armored vehicle. It was also armed with anti-tank missiles and small plasma weapons, making it quite capable in close combat.

The Techria chassis was so well-crafted that it could be outfitted with various armaments, including notable models like the Volcano with its mounted mortar, or the Organ with its multiple missile launchers.

Their organization was so excellent that they were often criticized for being excessively powerful for mere guild hunters, surpassing the military forces of many middle-tier countries.

Meanwhile, unlike the lower-rank hunters who operated like a military force, mid-rank hunters moved more like elite special forces units.

Typically, 12 mid-rank hunters formed a squad, each with their own role and equipped with the best gear available.

One squad leader—Sergeant, six medium infantry armed with high rate-of-fire weapons and light close-combat weapons, two anti-tank specialists with powerful single-strike weapons.

Then there were two psychic specialists who supported the team with their respective psychic abilities, and one pilot wearing Giant Armor to complete the squad.

Does this sound familiar?

Well, the Special Orders were originally designed as monster versions of Nano-Tech’s mid-rank hunter squads, so if we’re talking about the original, this would be it.

Anyway, while these corporate guild hunters—who were essentially private military contractors (PMCs)—were expanding their influence in real-time, the finishing touches on the spaceship were being completed in the underground headquarters.

The vessel itself had been completed some time ago, with only the optimization between the mind and the vessel remaining to be done.

Therefore, I devised several methods to send this spaceship to the moon, which would serve as an outpost for space exploration.

Originally, I would have simply launched it into space and flown it physically to the moon, but honestly, the distance between the Earth and the moon is… well, enormously far.

It would take a considerable amount of time, and given my relatively limited knowledge of space, there was no guarantee I could successfully send the spaceship to the moon normally.

So, my second idea was to use space-type psychic powers to transfer the spaceship to the moon.

Although the distance was quite far, teleporting something across the distance between the Earth and the moon was well within my capabilities now.

I was feeling confident about solving the problem of sending the spaceship to the moon, but… a flaw emerged from an unexpected place.

‘…How do I set the teleportation coordinates?’

The moon, the destination for the psychic teleportation, orbits around the Earth, making it extremely difficult to set precise destination coordinates.

On Earth, I could use the planet as a reference point to set coordinates, but it was uncertain whether this method would work in outer space.

Moreover, if I accidentally lost the spaceship, I might have to waste several more months in the worst case.

After much contemplation in this complex situation, I finally devised a method that was certain and safe, even if it would take a bit more time.

‘Theresia.’

[Yes, Mother.]

‘Contact Nano-Tech and tell them we’re going to conduct a manned lunar exploration.’

[Understood.]

My plan was to install equipment on the moon that would serve as a reference point for teleporting the spaceship.

※ ※ ※

Manned lunar exploration.

In reality, it ended long ago with the Apollo 17 mission in July 1972, but in the game, manned lunar explorations were conducted frequently.

The purpose wasn’t some romantic notion like colonizing the moon to secure a safe place from monsters—it was to extract resources from the moon.

Why extract resources from the moon when there’s no shortage on Earth? Because of a rare metal that exists only on the moon and not on this world’s Earth.

Moonstone, which emits a subtle purple glow, is the core material extracted from lunar mines.

Moonstone—said to be formed when psychic energy from space crystallized with a special substance on the moon (a setting often circulated among those who enjoy breaking the fourth wall)—is treated as a top-tier weapon in the game.

It cannot be traded, and the only way to obtain “moonstone equipment” is by clearing the game’s campaign story.

Despite these restrictions, moonstone equipment performs exceptionally well. A prime example is the coffin I used previously, which is made with moonstone.

Seah didn’t use it properly, but if used correctly, the coffin could allow me to solo a Level 0 monster.

In the game, the coffin is the ultimate fire support platform for top-tier hunters, containing hundreds of high-grade hunter weapons with unlimited ammunition and automatically casting various shooting skills.

Even when used by Seah, who couldn’t utilize it well, it could grind through hundreds of thousands of monsters. Its various transformation functions represent the pinnacle of such support.

It could combine with the sword I used before to turn normal attacks into area attacks, transform parts to enhance mobility by flying, or even become a one-shot ultimate Vulcan cannon.

It’s essentially a balance breaker that allows close-combat specialized psychic users to perform incredible feats against multiple monsters.

Given the exceptional performance of moonstone equipment, I tried to secure some moonstone, but… it was truly an extremely rare item.

It couldn’t be purchased even with money due to complete lack of supply, and artificial synthesis was impossible without samples of the moon’s special material that condensed psychic energy.

Even if you sent an exploration vessel to the moon, psychic crystals weren’t scattered all over the lunar surface.

The yield was so small—squeezing an entire school playground might produce a crystal the size of a grain of sand—that exploration vessels typically installed automated mines somewhere in the lunar subsurface and then departed.

They would return to collect the moonstone once the automated mine had gathered a sufficient amount… but how could this be economically viable?

Collecting 8g after waiting 10 years was considered a lot, and lunar territory, despite having little value, was extremely expensive to purchase.

However, these conditions didn’t matter to me, as I didn’t need to worry about money issues.

The mine was merely a cover; the real purpose was to install a coordinate receiver on the moon for teleporting the terraforming spaceship.

※ ※ ※

And so, about a month after I contacted Nano-Tech to send an exploration vessel to install the receiver on the moon…

[We’ve secured the spacecraft and launch facilities, Mother.]

‘Good work. What about the installation personnel?’

[They’ve all been replaced under the pretext of training. And…]

‘And?’

Seeing Theresia trailing off, I asked curiously. She sighed briefly before speaking.

[Recently, a president we haven’t yet replaced seems to have eaten something strange or fallen into some odd ideology.]

‘What?’

[Suddenly awakening to a love for humanity, he’s been pressuring his closest aides to find ways to steal Nano-Tech’s nanomachine technology, claiming that for humanity’s sake, such technology shouldn’t be monopolized by a single company…]

‘——Hmm?’

It was such a pathetic move that I couldn’t even respond—I was literally speechless.