Chapter 668: Random Box (3)
“A door? This?”
“No matter how I look at it, it seems like a box.”
“Van, just as you said, it’s just a random box itself.”
People looked at the gigantic box with disbelief.
But Lennok knew very well how valuable the box he had just created was.
The activation code for the Ascension Gate and its core system, obtained in the Machine City, Machina.
A miracle created based on the frame of the Mini Ascension Gate, which he had obtained from Kaiser’s secret vault.
With Davi’s help, he assembled it by designing only the minimum specifications required to build the system, then charged the necessary power to activate it.
Through this, Lennok succeeded in directly creating a miniaturized Mini Ascension Gate connected to the void beyond the Old World.
Proof that he had extracted and secretly taken out the core of a failed project created by drawing upon all possibilities of the Machine City, Machina.
If Ex Machina were to notice this fact, they would try to silence Lennok by any means necessary.
“One by one, step forward and form a line.”
Clank!!
As the black cube, Penteract, which had been ceaselessly moving within his arms, was finally inserted into the box, its black radiance writhed wildly before transforming into the shape of a lever to open the box.
Creeeak…!!
The moment Lennok grasped the lever and pulled it slightly, a crack in the box opened just a bit.
The expressions of the party members changed drastically as they realized the space visible within was different in color from this world.
“Wait a minute, Van. Just what kind of artifact have you created?”
[I thought you’d returned having acquired some strange new trick, but this… this is beyond that.]
From those who questioned in shock to those who began analyzing the box with interest.
“Did he forcibly twist real space-time and fix it as an artifact?”
“I knew such a concept existed, but it’s my first time seeing it actually applied.”
“Just observing it feels like I could learn something…”
“It’s an object that forcibly twists rules that would normally demand a significant price, increasing unpredictability.”
Lennok nodded, arms crossed, beside the gathering crowd.
“Because I reduced the price to be paid and left only the bare minimum function as a passage, I don’t know what can be pulled out from inside.”
“Ah, so that’s why you called it a random box earlier?”
Mila turned her gaze, looking dumbfounded, as if she had belatedly understood Lennok’s words.
“No, then the very reason you called us all here was to make us open this random box?”
Of course, Lennok’s reason for specifically calling others to open the Ascension Gate was not purely to give gifts.
It was to accumulate data on the Ascension Gate that Lennok alone could not, in order to achieve another goal.
However, he couldn’t explain the full circumstances right then and there.
Lennok let go of the lever, took a step back, and motioned to those gathered around him.
“Whoever is ready, grasp the lever. And remember, this isn’t an opportunity that comes around often.”
“Seeing a wizard like you jabbering like a hawking merchant makes me even more uneasy… Well, alright.”
Bellver, his face flushed from alcohol, wiped his mouth and stepped forward first before Lennok.
His twin sister, Bellita, grasped Bellver’s shoulder with a slightly worried expression.
“Bellver. Snap out of it. Are you really going to do this in your right mind?”
“Well, Van said it’s an artifact that feels like a random box.”
Bellver, who had dispelled his drunkenness with magic, shrugged his shoulders as he gripped the doorknob, following Lennok’s lead.
“Easy money is an investor’s dream. If I have to do it anyway, even if I only recover part of my investment here, I’ll break even…!!”
“He seems to have gone mad from a string of failed stock investments.”
“That doesn’t sound wrong.”
“Poor guy…”
“Everyone shut up!! Do you think you’ll be safe in this hellish bear market?!”
Bellver, who had snapped at the murmuring people, unhesitatingly grabbed the lever.
Lennok, standing by the door, smiled.
“Brave. Or perhaps reckless?”
“Let’s just call it a full-time investor’s eye.”
Bellver replied cynically.
“If you intended to play a trick on me, you wouldn’t have bothered with all this trouble.”
He closed his eyes and pulled the lever with all his might.
Click!!
Bellver pulled the lever down forcefully, as if pulling a slot machine, putting his whole heart into it.
At that moment, all sorts of strange, incomprehensible noises began to echo above Bellver’s head.
Riiing!
Click-clack-click-clack!
Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo!
Ding-ding-ding~
“Wh-what?!”
Bellver, startled, jumped back and looked up.
All sorts of strange phenomena that had been writhing throughout the mansion’s garden now revolved around the mechanical box, flashing brilliant lights.
Even the form of an unknown furball seemed to be jumping and playing on top of the box.
[Roll, roll~]
[You uninvestable organisms~]
Only then did the expressions of the people change subtly as they realized the meaning of those sounds and lights.
“So-sound effects…?”
[For sound effects, I feel like I’m hearing something strange…]
“The effects are incredibly flashy.”
“Why even pay attention to something like that… ahem.”
While people awkwardly tried to gather their words, glancing at Lennok, the effects and sound faded.
The lever returned to its position, and the mechanical box’s door swung open.
Everyone waited with a mix of tension and curiosity for what would pop out.
Thud!!
Something with a dazzling golden light plopped right into the middle of the garden.
“…Hmm?”
“Ooh! Gold… it’s not!”
Bellver’s expression, which had brightened with excitement as he knelt to greet the chunk of gold he had pulled out, soured.
He realized that what had emerged from the box was not gold, but a large, golden-hued blob of jelly.
“What is this?”
“Can’t you tell? It’s a slime.”
Bellita said, poking the golden slime with a twig.
It squirmed a bit with each poke, but it didn’t move much, as if it wasn’t a living creature to begin with.
Bellver, holding the slime with a displeased look, turned his gaze to Lennok.
“Van, what is this? Why did you put something like this in a random box?”
“I told you. The contents weren’t put in by me, nor can I decide what they are.”
Lennok replied.
“It only pulled out something in response to your will. That’s all.”
He had merely managed to manifest a passage using the items and system codes obtained from Machina, along with real-world equipment.
From the start, he couldn’t choose what to pull out from beyond the Ascension Gate.
The most he could do was use Penteract as a key, which might increase the relevance of the first attempt.
“Hmm…”
Bellver, holding the slime, mumbled thoughtfully.
“Then I guess I pulled a dud. What am I supposed to use this for?”
“I wonder.”
“I’m not a tamer, and I have absolutely no talent for summoning. Giving me something like this is useless. Oh, can I sell it?”
“Are you crazy, Bellver? Selling something Van gave you on the market?”
Mila hit Bellver’s head with disbelief.
“Do you think a wizard like Van gives gifts often?”
[Hey, stockbroker. If you’re going to sell it, sell it to me. I’ll give you a good price.]
“Ah, no, wait a minute.”
As Manson eagerly offered a price, Bellver seemed to lose the desire to sell it.
Did he realize, by an investor’s intuition, that he shouldn’t discard this right away?
No, considering Bellver’s financial situation, it was questionable whether he even possessed an investor’s intuition to begin with…
“I made sure the first attempt isn’t entirely random, so it won’t be completely unrelated.”
Lennok murmured, stroking his chin.
“Considering your usual words and actions, Bellver…”
Lennok took a coin from his pocket and lightly flicked it towards the slime Bellver was holding.
At that moment, the slime, which had only been squirming slightly without any other reaction, gulped down the coin Lennok had thrown.
Gulp!!
“It-it ate it!”
[It eats money…]
“A money-eating slime?”
“You pulled a pet exactly like yourself, Bellver!!”
Bellver’s face crumpled at the snickers of the mercenaries all around.
“D-damn it…”
Just as Bellver, who couldn’t retort and was trembling, patted the slime with a displeased look.
The slime, which had been chewing on the coin in its mouth, suddenly spat something out.
Ptui!
Something covered in sticky mucus.
Bellver picked up the faintly glowing substance from within and tilted his head.
“Huh? This isn’t a coin. What is it?”
“It’s Jeritite Ore.”
Felix, who had been watching from nearby, spoke.
“It’s an ore mined in small quantities in the Western Fossil Zone.”
“…It ate a coin and spat out ore?”
Only then did Bellver’s expression change strangely as he realized the slime’s ability was more peculiar than he had thought.
The other mercenaries also tilted their heads, seemingly not understanding.
“Eating money and producing something valuable in return, that’s not like Bellver at all.”
“Exactly. It doesn’t suit Bellver, who just throws all his office incentives into stocks and watches them burn away.”
“Can everyone just be quiet?!”
While Bellver bickered with the other mercenaries, Jenny opened her mouth as if something had just occurred to her.
“Jeritite Ore is one of the most volatile minerals in the market due to its irregular production.”
“Huh?”
[It was quite famous for its price fluctuating by millions of cells every month.]
Manson, also possessing similar knowledge, chuckled upon hearing this.
[If you’re truly an investor who’s put your life into the stock market, you’d probably understand why the slime exchanged money for such a volatile ore.]
“…”
Only then did the expressions of the others subtly change as they understood the slime’s ability.
They vaguely grasped that the random box Lennok had created had indeed produced something somewhat related to Bellver.
“Huh? So, instead of stocks, I should invest in the slime?”
Ignoring Bellver, who was still holding the slime with a somewhat dumbfounded expression, others began to form a line.
Their movements were imbued with a strange fervor and intense curiosity different from before.
The first to take the next spot was Mad Manson.
[Next is me. Is that alright?]
“Coward, tin head!!”
“Why are you the only one queuing twice?!”
Manson’s brought bodies were two each, male and female.
Lennok smiled at the words of the female Manson, who stood at the very front of the line, maximizing her number of bodies.
“Suit yourself.”
[I’ll go right away. Something like this gets corrupted if you hesitate.]
Manson, having received Lennok’s permission, immediately grabbed the lever and pulled it hard.
Click-clack-click-clack!
Rumble!
Pheeewing…!
Just like before, something with five tails bounced around on top of the box.
[Unlucky tin can~]
[Your personality program is outdated~]
[…It feels like it’s subtly poking at my sore spots. Is this just my imagination?]
“…”
Subtly different sound effects and visuals from before swirled above their heads.
All sorts of pale and strange lights flowed like a galaxy, entering and exiting the box.
Manson, as if possessed, reached into the box and pulled something out.
Lennok looked at the object and spoke instead.
“A fountain pen.”
[…]
It was small enough to fit in one hand and appeared worn, as if someone had used it.
From its appearance alone, it was difficult to guess its abilities.
In fact, it seemed utterly unfitting for Manson, who was a physical combatant.
“Is it something you recognize?”
[…No, it’s an item I’ve never seen before.]
Manson gave a bitter smile and lightly gripped the fountain pen.
[But I think I understand why such an item was pulled out for me. How I became this body was, in a way, precisely for a reason completely opposite to this.]
“…”
[It’s incredible magic, Van… You’ve truly created an amazing random box.]
A tone utterly devoid of his usual Manson-like sarcasm, filled only with unreserved admiration.
A rare and clear emotional fluctuation from him, a multi-bodied individual.
Unlike the others, perhaps the person who pulled the lever could discern the item’s history and reason at a glance.
“Me, me!! Can I go next?!”
“Mila, get in line!!”
“Can’t you see how many people are waiting?”
The loose, drunken atmosphere was gone, replaced by people circling the random box, eagerly awaiting their turn.
Lennok smiled at them and grasped the lever again.
“Don’t be too hasty. I’ll let you keep pulling it as long as the power allows.”
“Manson was right. I understand now what you’ve created.”
Jordan held the object he had pulled from the box and smiled bitterly.
A pair of broken glasses, snapped in half. The left lens and frame were completely shattered, leaving no trace.
“It pulls out an item related to the opener’s wishes, yet its direction deviates significantly from that wish.”
“Is that so?”
“These glasses automatically identify underlying diseases and assess treatment methods, Van. It’s my first time seeing such a miniaturized medical device.”
Jordan said, carefully touching a flaw etched into the glasses.
“However, the most crucial core part, the data recognition module, is missing.”
“…”
“It knows what I wished for, yet it refuses to fulfill it in the correct direction.”
Jordan chuckled softly.
“It’s hard to believe you made it intentionally, but if you didn’t, that’s even more astonishing. You truly are an incredible wizard…”
What could his wish have been for him to immediately recognize the ability of the glasses he pulled out and infer the true nature of the Ascension Gate?
Perhaps it was related to Jordan’s past, when he worked as a doctor on the Central Front.
But as Jordan said, not everyone who pulled the lever got something useful or desired.
Some pulled out easily usable items, while others pulled out completely useless ones and looked disheartened.
“No, why a rattle used by children…”
“Weian. We know your taste now.”
“Everyone, let’s keep a bit of distance from Weian from now on.”
“Right. He seems to need some time to enjoy his private hobbies.”
“N-no! It’s slander!!”
Weian, indignant over the seemingly useless rattle.
“The voice I heard when I pulled the lever earlier, it strangely hit the mark.”
“Perhaps it wasn’t a malicious spirit after all…”
“Should we try offering a tribute to it, secretly from Van?”
The mercenaries seemed to be genuinely falling for the spirit’s temptation, not just a random box.
Conversely, there were also items whose use was clear, but which made one hesitate.
The items Dylan and Jenny each pulled were precisely such cases.
[…]
A blue heart slowly writhing in Dylan’s hand.
And a pure white whistle clutched in Jenny’s hand.
Jenny, with a displeased look, showed the whistle to Lennok and asked.
“I shouldn’t blow it, right?”
“…Its condition isn’t good.”
Lennok took the whistle, observed it carefully, and nodded.
“It’ll break after a few uses. It’s best to consider it a consumable.”
“Hmm, a whistle that might produce anything when blown. I hoped for something that could help my business, but this is ambiguous.”
Jenny sighed and shook her head.
“Still, since Van gave it to me, it shouldn’t be dangerous, right?”
“…I can’t guarantee that. We might need to get it appraised if necessary.”
Lennok said this, then subtly glanced at the silent Dylan.
“I’ll go talk to Dylan for a moment.”
A brief event, using the Mini Ascension Gate as a random box.
Everyone gathered here had pulled something random from the door once.
With the initial objective complete, all that remained was for Lennok to handle the aftermath of his actions.
“Dylan.”
“Ah, Van.”
Dylan, who had been silently gazing at the writhing blue heart, forced a smile at Lennok.
“…I pulled out something more uninteresting than I thought. My apologies.”
To anyone, it was not just strange but ominous, an artifact radiating a malevolent aura.
No, could this writhing heart even be called an artifact?
He had naturally avoided mentioning it, but there was no doubt it was an object that brought about complicated thoughts in many ways.
And that, undoubtedly, was somewhat related to Dylan’s origins.
Lennok lightly nodded.
“Shall we talk over there for a bit?”
“Alright. Ah, but it’s a bit disappointing. Usually, at events like this, it’s fun to watch someone with freakishly good luck.”
Dylan chuckled and walked alongside Lennok.
“In this line of work, the freakishly lucky ones usually die first… Hmm?”
Dylan, who had stopped his steps for a moment, following Lennok’s gaze, quietly closed his mouth.
Only then did Lennok give a small chuckle and subtly remark to Dylan.
“So, as you said, someone with freakishly good luck has indeed arrived.”
“D-Director…?”
In the middle of the chaotic mansion garden.
A man radiating a peculiar aura glided in like a ghost among the group.
Taller than most by a head, dressed in a suit with a thick, fur-lined coat.
Even his long, swept-back hair seemed to fit perfectly in any setting.
A strange presence, visible and perceptible, yet making it hard to believe he stood in the same space.
Antares, standing before the giant mechanical box, looked at Lennok and smiled.
“I’m not too late, am I?”
“D-Director…”
“When did you return to Vulcan?”
He lightly nodded at his subordinates’ questions, waiting for Lennok’s answer.
He was thought to have left Vulcan, but had he been lingering near the mega-city all along?
“…No. Not too late. But if you want to participate, you’ll have to get in line.”
Lennok replied, turning his gaze.
“Someone seems to have arrived before you.”
On the mansion’s rooftop.
Amidst the swirling torrents of various magical storms and light, a green glow flashed.