Chapter 508 - Chapter 452: Critical Problem Detected
Bell-buchou poured about 20% of her MP into the extra-large Magic Crystal Stone. Even so, she seemed to have plenty of MP left from her maximum. As expected of a pure magic build.
[Emergency mana confirmed. Preservation State ending. Restarting.]
“Oh, here it comes!”
“Ooh~!”
The room lights flickered two or three times, then stabilized, and a voice said,
[Restart complete.]
If it’s the same as Nina’s case, then all that’s left is administrator registration. I looked at Bell-buchou and nodded.
“Alright, I’ll give it a try.”
Bell-buchou stepped up to the console.
[Welcome. Please place your hand in the designated position while wearing the ring.]
The area was clear not only in my memory but also marked by a round, palm-sized frame that blinked, so there was no mistaking it.
“Hoh-hoh.”
Seth, who was peering in, looked very happy, or rather, I understood her excitement. Mion, while enjoying snack time with Sweee and the others, was watching from a slight distance, clearly interested in what was happening.
[Checking… Complete. Administrator information has been initialized, executing administrator registration.]
Yeah, it was something like that. But the voice is subtly different; I wonder if it varies for each Ancient Ruin? The blinking of the round frame stopped, and Bell-buchou removed her hand.
“Is this alright?”
“Yes, I think next was setting the administrator’s name.”
As we were talking about that,
[Administrator registration complete. Please set the administrator’s name.]
“Please use ‘Bell’.”
[Administrator registration complete. Welcome, Bell. This facility is currently undergoing inspection of its various sections after restart. If no specific instructions are given, inspection will be complete in approximately 15 minutes.]
[A new administrator of the Ancient Ruins has appeared!]
“Ooh~, congratulations!”
“Congratulations!”
“Mhm, mhm. This is cause for celebration!”
“Congrats~!”
Words of congratulations came from everyone for Bell-buchou, who looked relieved. Sweee, Pan, and Shal also clapped, creating a peaceful atmosphere.
“The World Announcement, it appeared, didn’t it?”
“Yes. It did.”
“After that, I received the title of ‘Administrator of the Ancient Ruins,’ but the Bonus SP was ‘none’.”
Bell-buchou said. It seems the Bonus SP I received was indeed because it was a “world first.” Well, if you could just get SP for becoming an administrator, people would just pass the role around to earn money. It also didn’t specify which Ancient Ruins it was, so I feel like everything remained a secret, resulting in the best possible outcome.
“Hey, hey. Can it talk like Shou-kun’s facility?”
Azure-san seemed to have been listening to our conversation, but he deliberately didn't mention it, waiting until we finished.
“Ah, um… First, an introduction? I think it would be good to have it introduce itself.”
“Eh, yes, I’ll ask. Can you explain what kind of facility this is?”
[Yes. This facility is an Autonomous Resource Mining Facility, RM-103.]
I thought the name I heard beforehand was ‘Southern Ocean Seabed Resource Mining Facility,’ so perhaps that’s a common name for it. Well, that aside,
“Is it alright if I call you Hitomi-san?”
“Yes. I think so.”
“Alright, your name is ‘Hitomi’.”
[Yes. Name changed to ‘Hitomi’.]
For Bell-buchou and Mion, the name seemed more important. Well, it’s probably better to have a name when talking to it. We still had time, so we decided to ask RM-103, now Hitomi, various questions.
“First, then. Can you tell me your role in this mining facility?”
[Yes. In this facility, I, Hitomi, manage and operate various equipment.]
It’s generally similar to our facility, but specialized in mining, and seemingly on a much larger scale.
“What is the composition of each floor here?”
[Yes. The initial settings for each floor are…]
According to Hitomi-san’s explanation:
・10th Floor Above Ground: Control Room
・9th Floor Above Ground: Office, Data Room
・8th Floor Above Ground: Administrative Office
・5th, 6th, 7th Floors Above Ground: Research Labs
・2nd, 3rd, 4th Floors Above Ground: Production Rooms
・1st Floor Above Ground: Core Section, Storage
・1st, 2nd Basement Floors: Smelting Rooms (Furnaces)
・3rd, 4th Basement Floors: Large Workshop
・5th Basement Floor: Large Transfer Room
・6th, 7th, 8th, 9th Basement Floors: General Ore Mining Area
・10th Basement Floor: Small Transfer Room
And,
[11th Basement Floor and below are set as Special Ore Mining Areas.]
“Special ores? Like Mithril?”
Mithril can be made on our island, so there’s a possibility of something even more dangerous…
[Resources from the 11th Basement Floor and below are primarily for mining Iris Silver Ore, which is contained in meteorites fallen from the sky.]
“““What?!”””
According to Hitomi-san, the initial state of this facility was 10 floors above ground and 11 floors below. And it was a facility designed to excavate further downwards from there. I thought they were digging for ore resources from underground, but they were digging up fallen meteorites, huh…
“The Transfer Elevator had buttons down to the 30th basement floor, so that means they were digging down that far, right?”
“So it would seem. Brother, you have not been there yet, have you?”
“No, I haven’t, I haven’t.”
By all accounts, only dangerous enemies would appear there. And besides, at that time, I was only thinking about getting out to pick up Mion…
[Report. A critical problem has been detected during facility inspection.]
“““Huh?!”””
“…What kind of critical problem is it?”
[A large-scale disconnection has occurred in the core section of the 11th Basement Floor, making management of the 11th Basement Floor and lower levels completely impossible.]
Apparently, we can’t even go that far down in the first place.
“At Shou-kun’s facility, the Ancient Ruins could self-repair, right?”
“Yes. Oh, maybe it can if we replenish mana? In our case, Nina said she could repair it…”
“Yes. It can be handled with emergency mana.”
As expected of Mion, she remembered it well. I asked Bell-buchou to confirm that.
[No. To repair the existing disconnection, the mana from the Emergency Magic Crystal Stone is insufficient, and necessary resources are also lacking.]
“I see…” Azure-san said, looking disappointed. While I understood his feelings,
(Is this ‘that’ kind of thing?)
(It is likely ‘that’ kind of thing, is it not?)
(Ah, is it ‘that’ kind of thing?)
(Ah…)
We talked in hushed whispers a little distance away. What “that kind of thing” referred to was the suspicion that the 11th Basement Floor and below, which couldn’t be accessed due to a problem, were “unimplemented” content…
“Well, for now, it can be said to be a sufficient harvest. There still seems to be time, but what shall we do next?”
Seth reminded me, and I checked the time. There was still a little over an hour left. In that case,
“Why don’t we go see the disconnected area?”
If it really was “that kind of thing,” I wanted to see what it looked like…