A few months later...
"Is this Maximus Base?" Silas muttered, looking at the place bustling with activity.
However, instead of people, there are various robots doing the job.
Suddenly, a drone hovered above.
[Warning... please state your purpose]
"Huh? Such a powerful warning device," Silas thought.
You know, he is in a tier 5 vehicle, and he has all kinds of isolation, yet he was still spotted from far away.
"I'm here due to the recruitment of your base."
[Please provide your recruitment code...]
"09843-14872-3489108."
[Scanning Complete...]
[Welcome to the Shadow Hunters Guild.]
The drone flew up and continued patrolling.
Silas manipulated his vehicle to come to the core of the base.
After a while, he was welcomed by Andrew.
"Welcome to our guild."
"Hmm, where are the others?"
"Uh, they are working," Andrew was embarrassed to say more.
Silas was the first to come here.
Andrew didn't want Silas to leave after knowing the working conditions of the others.
"Then where is your leader?"
"He is also working. Do you need something?"
"I'm his friend. I want to talk to Maximus."
"Hmm, just tell him my name is Silas."
"Alright, you wait in the lobby. I will tell the boss about you."
While Andrew was away, Silas began to look around.
He scanned various factory buildings, pieces coming in and out, and the materials being used.
Silas roughly knew that Maximus was trying to build a massive bomb.
"This is also fine." Silas couldn't help but nod at Maximus' inguety.
"But to make such a bomb, you need a massive amount of manpower and material..."
Silas scanned around, thinking about all the pros and cons of Maximus' plan.
"Silas, you are here."
"Hey, you really are bold." Silas couldn't help but sigh at the problem that Maximus had created.
"Don't you know that you are the reason this world's danger skyrocketed?"
"Really? Anyway, I'm sure I can pass this trial, so it doesn't matter." Maximus shrugged.
"That seems to be right." Silas couldn't help but nod.
He could see that Maximus didn't seem to have given up and had great confidence in his heart.
"By the way, what are you doing here?"
"Of course, to help you."
"Hahaha, it seems like my recruitment notice caught a big fish."
"Oh, don't be too happy..."
Silas then explained to him that he was already the core of this world.
As long as he recruited more people, the mutation of the tier 7 monster would be shortened.
"No wonder, based on the wanderer's estimate, there is only about 60 years before the tier 7 monster appears."
"Now you know, so stop the recruitment already," Silas persuaded.
"Anyway, based on estimates, I can recruit up to 10,000 people, and it will only shorten the evolution of the tier 7 monster to 70 years."
"This way, I have 20 years more. It should be more than enough."
"You're crazy. What use can these people be?"
"It will just lower your chances." Silas persuaded.
"Of course, they will be my future members."
"Furthermore, after they pass, they will have special student status, which will be a bargain."
Seeing that he could not persuade him, Silas sighed.
"Alright, just be sure to pass this trial."
As time passed, various people joined Maximus' guild after noticing that something was wrong in the world.
Unfortunately, Maximus' recruitment had become more strict, leaving people in despair.
They could only do their best or quit.
However, as the Shadow Hunters Guild grew, so did the danger.
Initially, only tier 4 monsters chased them.
But now, there were tier 5 monsters, which intensified their despair.
Ten years later, Maximus had recruited 10,000 people.
As for the rest, they either quit or died.
On top of a platform, Maximus overlooked the people busy with their work.
Maximus and his group no longer traveled to collect materials, as they could send collection ships all over the world.
After 10 years, the whole continent where he was had returned to its old prosperous state.
There were no monsters; instead, mechanical structures covered the land.
The continent had literally become a workshop solely to create a world-destroying weapon.
Maximus also tried to eliminate all the monsters, but it was not an easy task.
Whether underground or under the ocean, Maximus had no time to eliminate them one by one.
"Maximus, you should reduce the size of the guild," Silas suggested.
"See? We haven't even completed one-fourth of the bomb," Silas, standing next to him, persuaded.
Indeed, even in these ten years when they hardly slept and ate, they had only completed one-fourth of the world-destroying weapon.
With ten thousand members their time is shortened, now they only have 10 years left.
"Not possible, what do you think I've been doing in these past couple of years?" Maximus smiled confidently.
"Uh, giving orders and having fun?" Silas didn't know what to say.
He usually didn't see Maximus much since he was always locked in his room.
Fortunately, Maximus was the leader, so the others weren't too dissatisfied.
"What do you think is missing to finish our project?" Maximus didn't get angry but asked.
"Of course, it's manpower!"
"The materials are more than enough with all the collection ships going around the world."
"As for the technicalities, with your blueprint, which even amazed me, it's more than enough."
"There's only manpower left."
"Unfortunately, the robots are too clumsy and stupid."
"They can't handle anything delicate."
Silas ranted, also venting his accumulated stress from working day and night nonstop.
"Do you have a solution?" Silas asked, seeing Maximus' confidence.
"Here, look at this." Maximus tossed a bottle containing tiny metal particles that looked like scrap metal shavings.
"What is this?" Silas muttered as he opened the bottle and examined its contents.
"Huh?" Silas changed his expression and took out a small magnifying device.
"Nanobots?" Silas looked at him, confused.
Indeed, nanobots were one of the solutions.
But without magic or spiritual power to accurately control and command them, they were useless.
"It's useless," Silas shook his head.
If it were useful, Silas would have already manufactured them.
"Hahaha, I knew you would say that."
"Say hello, Wanderer."
Silas seemed to have thought of something when Maximus mentioned Wanderer.
"An ordinary artificial intelligence doesn't have enough computing power."
"It's only been 10 years; there hasn't been enough time to upgrade artificial intelligence to that level," Silas said in disbelief.
If it were merely about controlling the nanobots, he wouldn't doubt it.
But seeing Maximus' confident smile, he knew it was not simple.
What they were creating was a tier 6 world-destroying bomb made from tier 5 materials.
This was a cross-level task that couldn't be accomplished solely through calculations.
Even the other members here barely grasped it, needing Maximus and Silas to intervene from time to time.
Well, it's mostly Silas, as Maximus was busy with other things.
Silas mastered all the material here through the information in the database.
"Of course, I know," Maximus rolled his eyes.
"Wanderer isn't enough to fill the manpower gap."
"Why do you think we still lack manpower despite having 10,000 people?"
"It's because we're ordinary. Without magi—" Silas seemed to have thought of something.
"You mean that artificial intelligence of yours can help us control the nanobots?"
"Tsk, you really are a genius; you caught on quickly."
"How did you do that?" Silas wondered.
Silas didn't know how to connect someone's consciousness to something without using mana or spirit, so he was curious.
"With Wanderer, it can process the minute changes in people's brainwaves, allowing them to control these nanobots."
"With it, we wouldn't have limitations anymore."
"As long as there are enough nanobots and sufficient brain power, our work will be a hundred to a thousand times faster," Maximus said excitedly.
This was what he had been busy with for the past 10 years, almost passing all the work to Silas.
"It's indeed possible," Silas was stunned.
He hadn't studied much biology.
After all, the mechanical profession mainly revolved around magic and mechanical items.
Moreover, even if he studied the combination of the two, only mortals could benefit from them.
More importantly, despite his millions of years of studying, it still wasn't nearly enough for him to master one type of knowledge.
Silas could only blame his lack of preparedness, underestimating the power of biology, in this type of world.
Who could have known that this world didn't have mana, nor even spirit power?
After all, there were different golden trials every time, there were only a few of them without mana and spirit power.
"Phenomenal. With this, passing this trial will be a breeze."
"Then cheers to our victory in advance," Maximus said, taking out a bottle of wine from a compartment.
Silas poured himself a glass and clinked it with Maximus'.