“Mr. Inero-ie, how much experience do you have with harvesting monster corpses?”

“De.pen..ds on mon.ster.”

A massive wall of hologram appeared filled to the brim with seemingly unending smaller holograms of the monsters. His eyes darted through the hologram looking at the monsters, most of them were unfamiliar but he found some that he had encountered before.

"Fam.iliar w.ith so..me…"

“Select those that you have harvested before. We will start with them.”

Controlling his Qi, Inero-ie started highlighting the monsters that he had harvested before, and soon after the corpses started coming in. The room became cold, his body shivered, joints became rigid, and as he distanced himself from the massive corpses a thin film of ice that had been created around his body due to the intense cold shattered.

Qi trickled out of his core as he very carefully guided it through his circuits. One circle, then another, then another, and so. With each new cycle, the speed at which Qi circulated increased, and slowly it started offsetting the cold.

“Har.vest?”

“Please use that armor suit. Harvesting requirements are next for each corpse.”

His gaze followed her arm, landing upon the armor suit that was standing there.

He stood in front of the armor suit, appearing very small, very fragile compared to the hulking suit made of metal.

***

Knock Knock

"Can I come in? Say something if you don't want me to."

There was no response and so she opened the door and entered the dark room.

"Inero-ie, are you free?"

Nod.

"Come with me then, I have gotten some samples of new alloys. Let's go check if they are any good."

"Please arrange transport."

[Request acknowledged. An aerial transport will arrive shortly.]

Below them was a sea of greenery with occasional openings filled with mansions. It all passed by quickly as they landed in one of the lift stations. The lift took them below, into the industrial layer that was filled with lights that were unable to push out the darkness, that was quiet despite the massive stream of people constantly walking, filled with a constant hum due to the trains and other machinery. This was the settlement that he was familiar with.

Inero-ie followed Fria-al, joining the stream until they reached a train station.

"Have you used the train before?"

"Do.n't re.mem..ber."

All he could remember was constantly going outside for expeditions, even that was blurry as for the memories before that, he had no recollection of them.

"You were strange when you were a kid but you have gotten even stranger as time passes, you know. You know how to survive for such long times outside all by yourself but you haven't ever ridden a train. Harvesters are strange but why are you an anomaly even among them?"

All she got in return was silence.

"This is what I am talking about. Even if the harvesters don't like talking, it is never this severe. They too are humans after all but it is like you don't want to talk with anyone."

***

Both of them stood in front of a massive structure, it was a rectangular structure, and went as far up as their eyes could see until it was engulfed by the darkness. Fria-al waved her hand and the material making the subsection rippled, receding, and in its place, a blue-colored barrier in the shape of a door appeared.

"Let's go."

One moment it had been light cold and the moment he passed through the blue-colored barrier, a blistering heat started burning him. The change was too sudden and he instinctively started circulating the Qi to protect his body from burning.

Pipes as small as a fist to as wide as he was tall filled the inside, going everywhere making a complicated maze.

The noise was sharp, loud, and constant, hitting his ears like sharp knives. The air was sticky and filled with an unpleasant scent that made him want to vomit, for the first time he regretted having trained his senses to such a level.

Highly trained senses were the most common tool that the harvesters used to survive on the outside and as he worked alone, he had trained his to an even higher level, especially because he did not use his eyes. Now because of those trained senses, he could feel the stickiness of the air against his skin, the revolting smell that made him vomit but the most unbearable was the noise.

"Hahaha, you don't like it here, do you?"

His frow became even more ugly but he did not say anything. He had endured worse things and this place was not causing him any harm.

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"Haha, don't frown like that, it messes with your pretty face. Anyway let's go, I too don't want to stay here for long."

Every intersection that she changed, every turn that she took was without hesitation as though she had the path memorized.

"Mercal! I am here, quickly bring the samples."

"Have some damned patience for once, Fria-al. You just got here."

A deep, clear voice responded, cutting through the ever-present noise.

"Just this much? All you could get was just this much? Even after spending months?"

"Why don't you go ask the Mus-Draik directly? Be thankful, it was already a headache just to get my hands on this much."

"All you do is complain, old man."

"Don't you dare call me old, you old hag."

"Hag? I look like I am this kid's sister so who in their right mind would call me a hag? But look at you. You look like an old man."

"Grit grit… hey kid, do I look old?"

"Can't you see his eyes are closed? How will he tell you?"

Thud~

"This is what you wanted, now get out. Every time I see you I get a headache."

"We will leave in a minute but what about the other order?"

"It will take some time."

"Call me when it is ready."

Mercal left the counter, returning inside the workshop leaving behind the two bars of alloys. Suddenly the bars started twisting and turning, then started moving like water, quickly taking the shape of gloves.

“Inero-ie, check them.”

Clench… Unclench

Clench… Unclench

There was no discomfort, no resistance as he moved his fingers even though she had created it almost instantly.

Tun~ tun~

He felt impressed.

'It is fairly strong. Hum?'

The moment he tried to circulate the Qi through the alloy, he encountered a problem, the Qi moved quite sluggishly and the amount he needed was greater. Compared to the alloy of previous armor it was not very large but for him it was noticeable. This small number would cause big problems because every expedition of his lasted for a long time.

“Ha.rd but in.effi..cient to Qi us..age.”

"That is a big problem right?"

Nod.

"But it is stronger, you should take it into consideration."

“No.”

He replied to Mercal who had come out again. The way he fought was incompatible with this alloy. Though its greater strength was useful, he did not like to get his armor damaged in the first place. Getting the armor damaged was dangerous because he had no way to repair it outside so the way he fought relied heavily on the threads, using them to be aware of everything in his surroundings. This allowed him to dance even when surrounded from all sides. This was also the reason the increased strength of the alloy did not matter much.

Even the smallest monster he had encountered dwarfed a human in size and this size embued them with physical powers that could destroy the armor, they just needed time to do so but even if they did not get that time, each strike contained enough force to knock out the harvesters piloting the armors.

"Well even if you somehow get your hands on this alloy it would still be useless. Both these alloys become useless once you take them outside the Core Barrier, become too brittle."

***

“I have sent the request for the use of an external lab so we need to start preparing everything.”

“As you wish, my lady.”

“Send the team to start harvesting all the required materials. I want all of them to be fresh so have them delivered straight to the lab.”

“What about harvester Inero-ie?”

“How is he at harvesting, Sline?”

“Excellent with the corpses he has regularly practiced and good even those that he had worked on once or twice but he did encounter some problems with those that were new to him but that was to be expected. I have trained him with many corpses during this time so there should not be any problem.”

“Will he be able to harvest an Isoluid?”

“Isoluid? How did that get inside?”

“It's not fully mature and the reports said it was wounded so maybe the barrier along the Frozen Sea missed it. Still, do you think he would be able to do it?

“When he practiced on the new corpses, if I provided detailed information on the corpse, he would achieve satisfactory results almost all of the time so we just need to provide him with sufficiently detailed information of the physiology of the Isoluid”

“Send him to the mission then and also tell him to go to the external lab directly.”

“Then I will tell him to confirm the location with me when he returns to the Core Barrier.”

***

“This is an Isoluid.”

Inero-ie focused on the hologram, intrigued.

“It is usually found in the Frozen Sea but somehow slipped past the barrier that we have erected on the border of the forbidden zone, how it did so we still do not know. Your primary mission is to kill and harvest its corpse and the secondary mission is to inspect the area to see how it got in.”

The thing shown was massive in size, covered in layers of ice shells that were filled with holes.

‘It will be problematic to face it head-on.’

“Isoluids have a very special ability, they breath and store cold inside a special gland in their bodies and because of their massive size, it causes their surroundings to become even colder. Your priority when harvesting is to secure its gland and its core and if possible try to somehow stop it from using the cold energy stored in its gland. Also, try to harvest the full corpse if you can do so.”

“Ti.me li.mit?”

“There is no set deadline so just do it at your own pace. Also, when you return contact me when you enter the Core Barrier, and I will tell you the location that you need to come to. Understood?”

Nod.

***

The tension drained from his body the moment he put his step outside. There was a storm raging outside, shards of ice, small and sharp cut through the air shattering against his armor and flying in every direction. It was the place he was most comfortable with.

Nearly fifty threads moved in every direction, letting the know about the things that existed in the surroundings. It was a small improvement and though they were still nothing compared to when he used thousands of them at the same time, it was still a step toward his recovery. They would help greatly in this mission.

After finding a sufficiently secure place to rest he started planning how he would travel toward the place this monster was spotted. Unlike his previous settlement where he would have taken just a few hours to exit the Grand Formation even if he moved slowly, this place was massive, just the Core Barrier was 900km in diameter, meaning the Mid and Outer Barrier both would be ridiculously big but most importantly, he was unfamiliar with this place.