Exoskeleton Factory — Part 1
A night without even the moon.
A world where gray mana clouds obscured both the moon and stars.
I sat atop a towering chimney, overlooking the land below.
‘This is serious.’
In my original world, this area was ho to Seoul Forest.
Before Seoul Forest, there had been a racetrack, a sports complex, and a golf course.
And in this world?
Even dreaming of greenery was a luxury.
Between Jungnangcheon Stream and the Han River, where café streets and apartnt complexes should have been, factories stretched endlessly.
Each factory spewed thick, acrid mana smoke into the air.
Even with my [Indomitable] trait, my head felt light and dizzy.
It was filled with pollutants and dinsionally warped mana.
Anyone sensitive to mana could mutate just from being exposed to this smog.
Environntal protection?
Purification filters?
Expecting that in this wretched world was foolish.
[Manager Choi. This ti, it’s here.]
Tap! Tatak!
After sending a ssage, I kicked off the chimney and leaped down.
Even at this hour, the factories were running at full capacity.
In a world overflowing with resources—and even more so with people—labor was cheap.
They didn’t even need a three-shift system; with just two shifts, there were still plenty of workers to exploit.
‘This is the place.’
The innermost part of the Seongsu-dong industrial zone.
A particularly large factory stood there.
It spewed out the thickest mana smoke, its surrounding roads blackened by mana toxins.
The factory had towering walls and coiled razor wire fences, but they ant nothing to .
I lightly vaulted over them.
[Bright Eyes] [Sixth Sense] [Stealth]
Suppressing my footsteps, I blended into the building’s shadows.
Right then, a few guards approached.
“Hey, did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“There was another strike this morning.”
“Idiots. Where else would they find a boss like ours?”
“That’s what I’m saying. He gives them food, clothes, a place to sleep. If they don’t like it, they can just commute.”
“They’ll only realize how good they have it once they start paying fifty grand a month for a one-pyeong goshiwon, switching subways three tis, and spending two or three hundred thousand won a month on transportation.”
“And that’s not even all. Think about food expenses. I spend a million won a month just on that.”
“That’s because you’re a pig.”
“You little—”
The guards walked off.
A strike?
They were lucky to still be alive.
This world claid to be democratic, but in reality, it was an aristocracy. A single protest gone wrong could get you killed.
It was bitter, but there was a reason people called
a lunatic when I redeveloped Guro Stronghold.
I followed the guards, eavesdropping on their conversation.
Only I knew that this factory would beco a dungeon later.
No matter how strong I was as a Level 7 superhuman, I couldn’t just storm in and destroy everything.
I needed justification.
To do that, catching them in a cri and activating my enforcent privileges was the best approach.
And these bastards were bound to be up to no good…
Thud!
The guards entered a massive warehouse-like building.
Inside, rows of five-tier bunk beds were lined up like apartnt blocks.
Not two-tier beds—five-tier.
Roughly built from wood, covered in mold.
So had already collapsed, leaving only the bottom two or three tiers.
‘What the hell is this?’
Workers lay on each bed, snoring under thin green blankets.
There was no separation between n and won.
Teenagers barely older than high school students, elderly people close to sixty—each of them struggling to breathe in their sleep.
“Ugh, so hot…”
“Hhhn… hhhng…”
They tossed and turned, groaning as if trapped in sleep paralysis.
Sweat poured from their bodies.
It was inevitable.
Sumr was approaching fast.
And in this world, thanks to pollution, the heat waves arrived even sooner.
Air conditioning?
Forget about it.
The only ventilation ca from a few small, open windows.
With no airflow, the stench of stale sweat filled the air.
The humidity was suffocating.
It felt like stepping into a trash-filled sauna.
I shuddered instinctively.
A middle-aged man lying near the entrance noticed the door open and looked at the guards.
Scrambling to his feet, he forced a servile smile.
“Superhumans, sir. Could we please have just ten minutes with the fan?”
A warehouse-style dormitory.
A few giant fans hung from the ceiling.
But with hundreds of people cramd in here, those were useless.
They would need dozens of industrial air conditioners just to cool the place down.
“What? A fan?”
One of the guards scowled.
“It’s only June, and you’re already whining about a fan? Are you kidding ? Didn’t you hear the boss? Fans won’t be turned on until late July!”
“But… but it’s too hot!”
“This bastard really let himself get comfortable, huh? If you worked hard enough during the day, you’d be too tired to care about the heat! You want
to put you to sleep?”
The guard raised his massive fist.
[Strength]
That was his only trait.
Level 1.
Against a gun, he was just another weakling.
But to a Level 0 laborer, he was the Grim Reaper.
The man bowed his head.
“No, sir. I’ll just sleep…”
“Damn right you will. Rember, there are plenty of people who’d kill to take your spot!”
“Yes, sir…”
The guards glared at him before moving on.
The brief commotion had woken a few others.
But no one dared to complain.
They simply blinked with hollow eyes like dead fish before turning over and forcing themselves back to sleep.
“Damn it.”
The man who had been scolded was no different.
After cursing under his breath, he buried his face in his blanket and forced himself to sleep.
Twelve-hour shifts, working in just two rotations.
Maybe that’s why he passed out so quickly, as if kidnapped by sleep itself.
‘Tch.’
I stood there for a long ti, unable to move.
It reminded
too much of my old life, back when I worked in a factory.
Compared to this, Hell Joseon wasn’t so bad.
At least before I got scamd out of my deposit, I had a fifteen-pyeong studio apartnt all to myself, with the air conditioner blasting at full power.
The occasional takeout chicken and beer, or samgyeopsal with soju, were the small joys in life.
‘Let’s just focus on my task.’
Even a king can’t save the poor.
I wasn’t so knight in shining armor who could overhaul this unjust world and bring happiness and prosperity to everyone.
I had my own problems to worry about.
I had to survive first.
I would help those within my reach, but that was my limit.
‘Here it is.’
A section of the warehouse-style dormitory.
Partitions had been set up to create a makeshift cafeteria.
The kitchen and food storage were connected.
I scanned my surroundings before approaching the food storage.
The locked door was easily bypassed with a [Unlock] magic chip.
Just like in the ga, the mont it unlocked, a mountain of utensils and supplies ca crashing down.
‘Hup!’
I held my breath and reached out.
Pans, pots, cans, tins, plates, spoons, forks—I caught them all.
Just like a certain superhuman with spider-like reflexes in the movies.
Using [Bright Eyes] and [Sixth Sense], I traced their trajectories.
With acceleration and precise movent, I snatched each falling object.
Maintaining [Stealth] to erase my presence, I focused completely on the task.
In the end, I managed to catch everything without a single piece hitting the floor.
‘Phew!’
A neat stack of utensils rested in my hands.
Carefully, I placed them all back in their original positions.
The precarious pile looked ready to collapse at any mont, so I handled everything with extre caution.
Normally, this would have been difficult, but oddly enough, it felt easy.
As if my re touch made the pile stabilize itself.
‘Ah, it’s the [Dexterity] trait.’
I hadn’t deliberately trained for it, but the reason I acquired it was obvious.
I had swapped weapons countless tis—switching from a sword to throwing Mj??lnir, drawing dual pistols to unload rounds, deploying Aegis, then switching to a shotgun.
[Stealth] and [Dexterity].
If I added [Ambush], [Assassination], [Critical Strike], and [Lethal Blow], I could unlock a powerful trait.
And it paired well with [Bright Eyes].
I’d start collecting them one by one.
Creak.
I shut the food storage door.
Using my [Keen Ears] trait, I listened carefully, but there was nothing unusual outside.
Satisfied, I turned my gaze back to the pile of supplies.
‘It should be here…’
In the ga, this factory was known as the Exoskeleton Zombie Dungeon.
The standard strategy was to enter through the factory itself.
Fighting through exoskeleton zombies, zombie overseers, skeletal amalgamations, and possessed wraiths would eventually lead to the reinforced skeletal corpse golem.
With the factory’s massive scale, clearing it took a long ti.
That’s why there was a backdoor.
Right here.
Instead of facing Level 5 exoskeleton zombies, this place was only filled with weak Level 1 zombies.
After clearing them out, players could either use a magic chip or find a key to enter the food storage and access a secret passage.
‘Found it.’
Beneath the pile of supplies, a small iron door revealed itself.
In the ga’s lore, it was an employee passage.
It had been abandoned for so long that even the factory owner had forgotten about it.
[Phasing]
I activated the trait.
My body turned transparent.
I swam through the pile of supplies like a ghost.
Then, I passed right through the iron door.
A narrow vertical shaft stretched downward into the abyss.
“Ugh, filthy.”
The tal ladder was completely rusted.
Cobwebs, mold, contaminated fungi, and mutant moss clung to the walls, writhing grotesquely.
Suppressing my disgust, I climbed down.
I was tempted to use lightning magic to burn everything away, but I held back.
I was too close to my target.
Getting detected here was not an option.
Once I was past the vertical shaft, things improved slightly.
A tight concrete passage, barely wide enough for two people, stretched in the direction of the factory.
Not a single speck of light.
But at least the security systems were all broken.
I advanced cautiously, using [Bright Eyes] and [Sixth Sense] to scan the path ahead.
Nothing blocked my way.
Except for the corrupted creatures.
Normally, corrupted beings were artificially created in governnt-controlled mana dungeons.
But if the environnt was extre enough, they could occur naturally.
Just like the ones in front of
now.
“Grghhh.”
“Keuk… grrgh, keuk.”
Dark, writhing masses.
Contaminated slis.
The very first corrupted creatures I had fought in this world were now slithering toward .
“Tsk. You just had to show up.”
Snap!
I didn’t need my [Treasure Hunter] trait.
I didn’t need my [Contamination Resistance] trait.
I simply snapped my fingers.
A golden [Sacred Fla] surged forth, piercing through the corrupted slis.
In a jagged, lightning-like trajectory.
Like a divine Lightningbolt striking the earth.
Was it overkill?
The slis struck by [Sacred Fla] instantly combusted.
Even their solid Level 0 mana cores crumbled to dust.
It felt like a waste, but I let it go.
I made billions a day just by breathing.
At Level 7, collecting Level 0 mana cores was just pitiful.
‘I’ve arrived.’
The end of the concrete passage.
A massive circular iron door blocked my path.
It was rusted beyond recognition.
In the ga, you had to defeat the dungeon boss to obtain a keycard and unlock this door.
That ant doing a full clear at least once before gaining access.
But ?
I had a broken trait—[Phasing].
Swoosh.
I phased through the door like a ghost.
Unlike the ga, where this led to a dark, cavernous underground chamber, what lay before
was a cutting-edge magitech factory.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Heavy presses slamd down on steel plates.
The tal plates were molded into the shape of human torsos.
At the sa ti, magic circles projected onto them, engraving internal circuits.
Hiss! Chiik!
Next, steel limbs were attached to the torsos.
Mana welding sealed the joints while simultaneously connecting mana circuits.
Workers sward around, inspecting the connections.
They drew large circles in the air, signaling for the next stage.
Mana hearts were implanted, electronic systems activated, and functionality tests conducted.
‘Do I need to go deeper?’
This factory’s true core wasn’t re exoskeletons.
If exoskeletons were all there was, then the ga would have only featured enhanced exoskeleton zombies and nothing more.
The real threat was the corpse golem.
Which ant this factory had been producing sothing ant to beco a corpse golem even before the zombie outbreak.
“This is killing …”
“When’s the shift change?”
“How long have we been at this? It’s only 2 a.m.?”
“Damn it. I thought it was at least 5.”
[Phasing] wasn’t an option here.
[Stealth] could suppress my presence, but that was all.
It didn’t grant invisibility or camouflage—if they saw , it was over.
I carefully moved past the workers.
At 2 a.m., their focus was starting to slip.
Had it been dayti, the guards or the shift supervisors would have noticed
instantly.
I kept descending, deeper underground.
Passing through multiple floors, the facility grew more elaborate, while the number of workers dwindled.
Finally, I reached the lowest level.
A cutting-edge magitech security door lood before .
‘How do I get in?’
Even with [Bright Eyes], I couldn’t see inside.
A security spell on the door blocked all vision.
And that wasn’t the only problem.
The protective magic on it repelled and exorcized all spiritual entities.
Even my [Phasing] wouldn’t work here.
In the ga, the door had already been destroyed, so this was never an issue.
But now, I was stuck.
I checked the ti.
3:10 a.m.
Should I wait until soone arrives for work?
Or just break through?
If I were a Reinforced, I might have had a third option.
But as a Warrior, my choices were limited.
‘Let’s go in.’
A swift, decisive attack was best.
This corridor was completely exposed—there was nowhere to hide.
Right now, I was in a blind spot for the security caras, but if anyone walked by, I’d be caught imdiately.
Even if I clung to the ceiling, I’d eventually be discovered.
Click.
I pulled a shotgun from my weapon holster.
I activated [One-Man Army] and [Destruction].
The shotgun was also imbued with the [Destruction] attribute.
Then, I ran my hand over the Dragon Monarch’s Crown.
It turned transparent, and a black-gold radiance ford around my face like a helt.
A magical glow that functioned as goggles, a gas mask, and a headset all in one.
Anyone looking at
now would think I resembled a faceless ghost.
Bang!
I fired imdiately.
A Lightningous blast struck the security door.
With the triple-layered [Destruction] trait from [One-Man Army] stacked on top, even the most advanced magitech security couldn’t withstand it.
The door was instantly shredded, and the alarm blared.
Weeeeee-oooooo!
“H-huh?”
“What the hell?”
Red warning lights flashed throughout the factory.
The people inside the security room snapped their heads up in shock.
The dozing superhuman guards reacted as quickly as they could.
They fired their guns and activated their magic thrusters, charging toward .
“You bastard!”
“Do you have any idea where you are?!”
Too late.
I had already scanned the facility.
People lay restrained, their eyes open but unfocused, heavily sedated.
All of them were superhumans.
Even if they were low-level, I could sense their mana wavelengths.
Their organs were being extracted.
Their souls were being siphoned away through dark magic.
The harvested organs and souls were then grafted onto the enhanced exoskeletons beside them, one by one.
It was undeniable.
The heart of a Warrior.
The nervous system of a Reinforced.
The brain of a Mage.
The soul of a Priest.
A bio-mutated, cybernetic weapon.
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A superhuman-fused combat machine inspired by Leviathan.
–TL Notes–
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