Ch.97[Chapter 97] Bancense

Sir Dominic and Alice were in the midst of a license test that was designed to weed out the unprepared with difficult and terrifying trials.

At first, some people thought they could just learn basic driving skills as a concept to use casually.

However, half-baked concepts only diminish one’s value in Gacha Land.

That’s precisely why the license test was so difficult.

“Master! We’re in last place!”

Alice sniffled with a bright smile, seemingly delighted for some reason.

Though the spider tank wasn’t particularly fast, the harsh winds of the battlefield were quite biting.

“Is it really okay for us to go this slowly?”

“Think about the essence of this test.”

Sir Dominic answered Alice while slightly adjusting the controls.

Sir Dominic’s words were absolutely correct.

What was this test about, fundamentally?

It was a license test.

Although this fact could easily be forgotten due to the battlefield-like terrain and the permission to attack others, Sir Dominic hadn’t lost sight of the essential purpose.

Even if they moved slowly, even if they drove safely, success would come as long as they reached the destination properly.

Sir Dominic maintained maximum vigilance, carefully observing his surroundings.

However, he had only one eye. Inevitably, the left side covered by his eyepatch became a blind spot.

And the challenge for Sir Dominic was approaching from that very blind spot.

A loud bang accompanied by a flash of light.

Sir Dominic’s spider tank wasn’t hit.

Rather, one of the dragons flying in the sky had been struck directly by a spaceship’s main cannon and disintegrated.

However, that dragon had been taking a deep breath, seemingly attempting a final act of defiance by preparing to breathe fire.

The resulting explosion when the dragon burst was far greater than expected.

One of the smaller spaceships got caught in the explosion and lost control.

More precisely, the dragon’s mana acted like an EMP and shut down the ship, though Sir Dominic wouldn’t know such details.

And the ship that lost control began falling to the ground, pulled by gravity.

“Master! On the left! On the left!”

Alice shouted urgently, but Sir Dominic couldn’t hear her over the loud engine noise.

Suddenly, goosebumps rose on his skin and a tingling danger signal ran down his spine. Only then did Sir Dominic look to his left.

“Oh, dear.”

The spaceship was falling right next to Sir Dominic’s spider tank.

The fallen ship’s midsection crumpled, then folded in half and tore apart, revealing its interior.

The terrible sound of bending steel.

Through the split, Sir Dominic saw a blue sphere of fire glowing like the sun.

Three seconds. Not a long time.

To Sir Dominic, those three seconds seemed to stretch like three years.

The flames and shockwave from the exploding spaceship engulfed Sir Dominic’s spider tank.

…

The front-runners in license tests are always speed freaks.

These people make implicit bets on who will arrive first.

And those who get their licenses can’t forget that thrill, inevitably getting their licenses suspended and returning here.

But the speed freaks were quite satisfied with this cycle.

After all, they were the type who would pay any price as long as they could enjoy speed.

“Something seems off.”

A mohawked thug riding a pteranodon frowned.

It wasn’t because his brother riding a tiger had just deflected the axe he’d thrown as a check.

He simply had a feeling that something on this track was disturbing the speed freak’s peace of mind.

“Haha! Brother! Run! Tell me if you need more. I’ll give you more medicine!”

“I… will… run…!”

The brothers advanced, the one on foot kicking the ground with calves where veins and muscles were visibly bulging from the drugs.

At this rate, it seemed obvious these brothers would take first place.

But this was a license testing ground.

A demonic realm where half-hearted determination wouldn’t let you survive.

The mohawked man on the pteranodon soon discovered why he had such an uneasy feeling.

“Huh? Brother! Stop! I said stop!”

“Can’t… stop…! I’ll break through!”

The younger brother riding on his older brother’s back spotted something and frantically pulled on the reins around his brother’s neck, but had they administered too much of the drug? Their speed only increased, bringing them closer to the danger the younger brother had observed.

“Stop, stop, stop! Don—”

With a bang, the brothers were vaporized on the spot.

“Good grief.”

The mohawked thug had been watching from the sky.

And he realized why they had exploded.

There were landmines.

The thug on the pteranodon hurriedly looked up at the sky.

“Well, well. You just noticed? As expected, speed freaks only look ahead and never around them?”

“You’re talking like you’re not one of us?”

In the sky were a pilot riding a gyrocopter built from da Vinci’s designs and a witch on a broomstick.

This was about the middle of the track.

Which meant they had arrived here faster than him and planted mines.

“You-bas-tards!”

The mohawked thug threw a throwing axe at the witch.

“No, no, no.”

But the axe was blocked by the special ability shield of the pilot in the gyrocopter.

Meanwhile, the gyrocopter continued dropping mines to the ground one by one.

“I’d like to play a bit more, but we’re too busy to play with just one person, aren’t we?”

The witch chuckled.

“Well, see you later!”

The witch and the pilot split in opposite directions to find others.

The mohawked thug caught his returning axe and looked at the spot where the brothers had been blown up.

“This isn’t the time for us to compete against each other!”

The mohawked man had taken the license test multiple times and gained various experiences.

And he had experienced this kind of situation exactly twice before.

When applicants were divided into two teams, with each team’s starting point being the other team’s finish line.

Given Gacha Land’s aggressive nature, when teams were divided, encounters would never end peacefully.

In fact, in the two experiences the mohawked man had, there were no successful applicants!

Could people who were worn out from competing within their team withstand meeting the other team?

And even if they subdued the other team, could they endure the terrifying trials the course presented?

The answer was “no.”

“We need to go back right now! We need to stop fighting among ourselves and focus all our strength on the opposing team!”

The mohawked man turned his pteranodon around and flew back.

He could have gone to the finish line alone, but his two experiences had taught him that individual action was actually more dangerous.

Cooperation was absolutely necessary in this situation.

Above all, the mohawked man had a reason why he absolutely had to pass this test.

He had “promised” to go on a “date” with his “girlfriend” riding a pteranodon tomorrow.

True to his thuggish appearance, he was an incredibly evil person.

A truly bad person indeed.

…

Sir Dominic felt his entire body burning with pain, but outwardly he appeared fine.

“Are you alright?”

Sir Dominic coughed as he examined his body’s condition.

It wasn’t so much the pain as having inhaled too much dust kicked up by the falling spaceship.

“Oh my goodness! Master, are you okay?”

Alice looked at the coughing Sir Dominic, not knowing what to do.

Yet Alice herself seemed completely unharmed, without any injuries.

Even her chain mail and surcoat showed no signs of being singed.

“It seems you don’t take any damage.”

Sir Dominic satisfied his curiosity, concluding that equipment doesn’t take separate damage, while observing the unscathed Alice even in this situation.

As the dust settled, Sir Dominic’s spider tank was revealed.

And the spider tank too was in perfect condition, with only a few scratches.

How could Sir Dominic and the spider tank remain intact after such an impact?

This was the result of the perfect combination of Sir Dominic’s toughness stat, his characteristic [Tanker], and his special ability [Rider].

Once mounted, the vehicle and Sir Dominic were recognized as a single entity.

The spider tank, having received Sir Dominic’s characteristics and special abilities, only lost a little HP despite absorbing so many fragments and impacts.

Above all—

[You have discovered the spider tank’s Easter egg!]

[The foundation of steampunk: Steam and electricity]

[Did you know that while steam engines are famous in the steampunk series, electrical development also progressed alongside it?]

[Surprisingly, steampunk people knew that brass conducts electricity well!]

[The spider tank converts part of electrical energy into power through a special device and discharges the rest into the ground.]

[Plasma? Well, steampunk people insist on calling it ‘electricity.’ If we go by their claim, it’s possible.]

A window appeared before Sir Dominic’s eyes.

The system window was showing an Easter egg that was detailed and deep, but so complex that one might not want to know about it, coded by a setting-obsessed coder.

Thanks to this Easter egg characteristic, they had survived unscathed from the plasma storm created by the spaceship engine’s explosion.

It was the moment when a characteristic of the spider tank, previously thought non-existent, was revealed.

Sir Dominic couldn’t know what plasma or electricity was, but he figured that in Gacha Land, it was treated as an electrical attribute.

Learning detailed information is always a happy occasion.

“Master? Something’s wrong with the engine!”

Alice’s cry came from behind Sir Dominic, who had been satisfied with gaining new knowledge.

Sir Dominic turned around at her words.

Blue flames were periodically sparking from the engine with a crackling sound.

[Engine overload ready. Movement speed will increase for 30 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of discharge.]

Sir Dominic trembled as he looked at the system window that had popped up from the engine.

He had thought they were moving plenty fast already, but they could go even faster?

Unable to resist the temptation, Sir Dominic immediately triggered the overload.

His spider tank began moving forward at twice the speed.