Pick Me Up!

After returning to the waiting room, I had to spend the next two days almost bedridden.

If it were just wounds from swords or arrows, it wouldn’t matter, but the aftereffects of Ascend couldn’t be cured by simple recovery.

From beside my bed, Jenna, who was pestering me about what had happened, was given an explanation of the recent events.

The type of mission had suddenly changed, leaving me alone, and in that state, I managed to clear up to the 45th floor.

For more detailed content, they could check the replay stone. It would be okay to leave out the conversation with the sparrow that included the imperial secrets since its voice would only be audible to me.

Anyway, the important thing was not the events on the 45th floor.

No matter how difficult it had been, it was already a past mission.

What mattered was the future.

‘The mission on the 50th floor is almost set.’

To prepare for that time, we needed to enhance the power of the waiting room.

Not just in quantity, but also in quality. The members of Party 1, including myself, were not yet familiar with the combat method involving engravings. To smoothly handle boss-level entities in future missions, we needed to improve this as well.

‘We’ll have to do something about Anytng too.’

After returning from the 45th floor, a red warning icon with a notification window was displayed on the right side of the menu screen.

[Warning!]

[The next main mission has a time limit.]

[If you do not clear it within the designated period, the difficulty will increase significantly.]

The designated period meant before the eggs hatched.

Anytng would roughly grasp this as well. The fact that if we didn’t hurry to clear the 50th floor, it would become troublesome. It was impossible not to be bothered by the warning window flashing every time he logged in.

Thus, the entire waiting room was in a state of emergency.

“A summary of the current waiting room situation.”

A few days later, in the mansion’s office.

I received the paper handed over by Neryssa.

On the white paper, the progress of the ‘Townia Power Enhancement Plan’ was detailed.

“We’ve recruited 100 lower-level heroes and added 5 high-level heroes. They are all currently receiving training from the instructors in the training center. In the equipment workshop….”

Neryssa calmly recited the contents of the report.

The content was nothing special. It stated that we had summoned a bunch of heroes and were frantically making equipment.

“It seems we can deploy them to the front line within a month at the latest.”

“A month, huh.”

The period should be longer than that.

I had set the deadline at about two months.

“Once these guys become useful and the equipment is roughly in place, we will have about 200 combat positions.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“How about it? Do you think it will work?”

Neryssa furrowed her brow.

She had also watched the video of the 45th-floor section via the replay stone.

In that record, there was a scene where I, along with Pria, looked down on thousands of monsters stationed near the eggs.

“Unless there are reinforcements or a special object.”

“There won’t be reinforcements. Nor special objects.”

“In that case….”

Neryssa did not answer.

Well, she meant it would be tough.

“Our numbers are lacking. Would it be okay to recruit more?”

“It will be difficult.”

Neryssa shook her head.

“There’s a limit to the materials we collect from the weekly dungeons.”

“Indeed.”

I tapped the desk in the office with my forefinger.

Currently, the total number of main and sub-combat positions in the waiting room is about 100.

We had just recruited another 100, making it 200. But simply recruiting was not the end of it.

We had to feed them, equip them, train them, and maintain their morale.

‘We can’t manage any more.’

The master’s level was 45.

At most, an intermediate weekly dungeon was open.

Since the amount we could collect in a day was limited, there was a limit to relying only on the weekly dungeons.

‘I can’t just feed them potatoes either.’

Anytng knew about this too.

Recruiting recklessly would not make them stronger.

Without proper support, it would be meaningless.

“If we can’t increase the quantity, how about improving the quality?”

“We’re doing that.”

Velkist was acting as a daily instructor in the training center.

This morning, I had forcibly dragged him from the private training room where he was rolling around.

He was so stubborn about not wanting to go.

In the afternoon, Jenna was supposed to go, and in the evening, Edis.

We also prepared a large number of replay stones to supplement the new recruits’ lack of mission experience.

They would experience the recorded videos from the 5th to the 45th floor.

And they would start leveling up from the 1st floor.

‘One unique point is…,’

It was impossible to repeatedly challenge floors 41 to 44.

Even though it was a sub-stage, there was a lock on it.

As a result, new recruits found it hard to reach level 40 and above.

This was one of the adverse conditions.

“What’s the status of the airship?”

“Early yesterday morning, Lucette was completed.”

Neryssa laid out the report on the desk.

It stated that Capitalism had been upgraded for combat, and the second airship, Lucette, was completed. At the bottom, there was a note from the responsible magical engineer requesting a week’s vacation due to working over ten days of overtime and catching a cold.

“Tell them to prepare for the construction of a third airship.”

I tore the report in two and threw it in the trash can.

Neryssa cleared her throat a couple of times and said.

“I will convey that.”

“If that person tries to run away….”

Neryssa took out a rope and handcuffs from her pocket.

Good. Well prepared. I nodded in satisfaction.

‘Is this enough to relay to Anytng.’

I took out a white paper from the drawer, dipped a quill in blue ink, and started writing a report to show Anytng.

‘The heroes are being trained in the training center… Another airship has been completed… It would be good to start constructing the third airship….’

The report I wrote would appear at the top of Anytng’s game screen when he logged in.

Just like how Seris used to do.

‘So busy I could die.’

Originally, after clearing a boss stage, a brief rest was given, but not this time.

We had to go straight into a war footing. There wasn’t a moment to spare. There wasn’t even proper rest. Even while suffering from the aftereffects of Ascend, I handled the duties of the waiting room.

‘Receiving reports in the morning, writing reports in the afternoon, conveying Anytng’s orders in the evening, and personal training at dawn.’

My daily sleep was about three hours.

It was a murderous schedule.

“How much material is left in the warehouse? We received a lot of materials as an event reward last time.”

Neryssa immediately handed over the warehouse item list.

I couldn’t help but sigh.

It was almost depleted. It seemed most of it had been used up in building the new airship.

“Building a third airship….”

“It’s tough, isn’t it.”

It was not just wood or metal, but the core materials like levitating stones and blueprints were lacking.

These items did not drop from weekly dungeons. They either came from exploration dungeons very rarely or had to be sourced from places other than the waiting room.

‘We need at least five more.’

Airships were useful battle tools and also essential for transporting heroes.

They were crucial for operating large-scale troops.

“Shall we cancel the construction order?”

“No, tell them to prepare. I’ll find a way to get the materials.”

Neryssa looked at me with doubtful eyes.

It was not unreasonable. There were no more sources for the materials now.

Currently, with Townia’s resources alone, we could not increase our forces any further.

‘But that’s only here.’

Anytng had studied Pick Me Up quite a bit.

He would come up with a solution on his own without me having to force advice.

I decided to wait until he logged in that evening.

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