I became the Lord of the Eternal World in Tokyo.

However, the crimson eyes that opened in mid-air found nothing; they could only see that the factory core, located at the very bottom and the most central part of the logistics factory, had disappeared.

No trace.

The force field that maintains the core's operation and stability is still there, but the things that were fixed by this force field have inexplicably disappeared.

—If you don't want to disrupt the force field, you would need to pass through a heat dissipation layer, which is also a protective layer, that is over 100,000 degrees Celsius and is released by the core operation of the factory.

The entire process, from the alarm to its appearance over the factory, took less than a second.

In such a short time, how could the thieves possibly cross this heat dissipation layer and then disappear within a radius of dozens of miles?

Even it itself couldn't do that.

His scarlet eyes scanned back and forth, but he found no trace of anything.

Got nothing.

Are you kidding?

The number of crimson blood vessels increased dramatically, and the area covered by the pupils nearly doubled, yet all that could be seen was the discolored sky and desert.

—Or perhaps, some ghostly tale or even god-level being, skilled in escape, discovered this remote logistics factory and took away its core?

Its scarlet eyes lowered their gaze, causing all the robots in the factory to freeze in place, completely motionless.

That doesn't make sense. The great rulers are renowned even in the mortal world.

Moreover, this core requires a special force field frequency to operate properly, and the frequency corresponding to each core is even different.

Even if you steal it, it won't do you any good.

Furthermore, the Overlords also produce cores for sale, so powerful beings wouldn't bother provoking the Overlords over things they can buy.

His scarlet eyes couldn't understand.

All it knew was that it was going to be in trouble.

The loss of the factory's core is a minor issue; the real problem is that the molds for replicating "Karuta" have now been installed in various factories, and this has been discovered by outsiders.

The Great Ruler had repeatedly given instructions and used an extremely expensive and mysterious artifact to allow himself to teleport instantly between numerous factories millions of miles apart.

But now that the factory's core has disappeared, there's a high chance that Karudo's scheme will be exposed, and he can only float in mid-air, staring blankly.

The task the Overlord entrusted to him last time—the infiltration and attack on the present world—also failed.

Thinking of this, its scarlet eyes trembled violently, and winding, terrifying blood vessels covered the whites of its eyes.

Angry! Angry! Angry!

……

At this moment, the person whose eyes were bloodshot and angry had already opened their eyes without realizing it on the soft bed.

[You have personally experienced being incinerated by extreme heat, and have gained some insight. Your proficiency in Corona Breathing Technique has increased by 150!]

After staring blankly at the notification floating in mid-air for a long while, Uesugi Tetsuya finally regained control of his body from the "emptiness".

"Phew... The feeling of being burned to nothing is quite novel."

Uesugi Tetsu moved his whole body slightly and circulated his Qi around his body several times before he felt his essence, energy, and spirit return to his body.

The experience of being incinerated in an instant by temperatures of tens or hundreds of thousands of degrees is arguably the most terrifying among the dozens or hundreds of ways he could die.

Before entering the range of the light sphere, Uesugi Tetsuya did his best to strengthen the triple circulation on the surface of his body and wrapped himself in lightning, but this protection only lasted for a moment.

The moment he touched the factory's core, Uesugi Tetsuya's "shield," which he had mastered to the point of numbness, turned to ashes along with his entire body.

That's right, he didn't even have time to feel the pain and the high temperature.

In the blink of an eye, Uesugi Tetsu lost his physical body, the foundation of his existence, leaving behind only a bewildered soul.

This led to a great terror where only consciousness and soul existed, yet there was no knowledge, no awareness, and no feeling.

"Fortunately, I opened my eyes in the real world right away." Uesugi Tetsu got out of bed and found that the mattress was soaked with sweat. "Otherwise, I would probably be a vegetable for the rest of my life."

He spat out a scorching hot sword of energy, intending to take out the factory's core to examine it.

But then Uesugi Tetsu thought about how terrifying this thing was, so he decided to take it out in the ordinary world—otherwise, what if it burned down his house?

With a blink of an eye, Uesugi Tetsu found himself in the wilderness that once belonged to Kisaragi Station.

—Of course, it's impossible to go back to Arakawa Village. Heaven knows if factory owner Z is now digging three feet into the ground trying to find him, the thief.

Apart from those familiar ruins, there was nothing else around; not even the vengeful spirits of ordinary people or the little demons that were everywhere.

This is probably true of most places in the world; prosperity is only a minority.

Without much thought, Uesugi Tetsuya reinforced the triple qi circulation again and focused his mind on the button to leave the mortal world. Only after making thorough preparations did he take out the factory core.

The terrifying light and heat that was expected did not appear.

A small blue ball, about the size of a basketball, lay quietly in his palm, its surface reflecting the faint moonlight, looking just like a glass bead.

【Factory Core】

【Quality: Super Epic】

[Effect: None yet; requires a specific frequency force field to activate its effect.]

[—The culmination of extraordinary energy industry.]

Clearly, the core of this factory, Uesugi Tetsu, is completely unusable.

Then it can only be used as a key to the map—that was his original idea.

Then, he took out the long-forgotten sheepskin maps from his storage backpack, one in each hand, and brought them close together.

Soon, Uesugi Tetsuya could see a faint glow appear on the surface of the sheepskin map.

The prompt pops up.

[Do you want to use "Factory Core" to activate the unknown core factory map?]

"Yes."

This is something that requires absolutely no hesitation.

The next prompt then appears.

Please select one of the following three unknown core factories and point to it!

With a flicker of light and shadow, three semi-transparent images immediately appeared before Uesugi Tetsu's eyes.

Destruction, evolution, rebirth.

The three images each contained some rather enigmatic keywords.

Uesugi Tetsuya first looked at the first picture and saw that the factory was magnificent, with all kinds of steel structures standing tall, and rows of long guns and short cannons standing horizontally.

Even more remarkably, Uesugi Tetsuya spotted the [Combat Order Vanguard] he had encountered before at the Shizuoka Prefecture Special Affairs Office building in a corner.

It's obvious that this first factory is a weapons factory, and the treasures inside are most likely psionic weapons or a powerful combat unit.

Uesugi Tetsuya wasn't particularly interested, just as he disliked using modern gunpowder weapons.

While using purely external forces may give you a temporary advantage in the early stages, it can also lead to dependency over time.

The second image shows countless specimens standing side by side, with countless bottles and jars held by robots that look similar to those in the logistics department.

And then, considering the word "evolution"...

Uesugi Tetsu thought that this might be a pharmaceutical factory.

The grand prize might be a vial of medicine with amazing effects and significant benefits for long-term development.

After mentally ranking the Evolution Factory before the Destruction Factory, Uesugi Tetsuya looked at the third image.

The third picture is no different from an ordinary factory assembly line; it looks quite ordinary.

Uesugi Tetsu didn't see anything related to "new life".

But after a more detailed observation, Uesugi Tetsu's eyes suddenly narrowed.

He immediately took out the [Component 028] that he had just taken from the logistics factory, held the square black component up to his eyes, and compared it repeatedly with the tiny image on the screen.

The interpretive eye contracts, "etching" the image into memory, and then magnifies it proportionally in the mind.

Therefore, Uesugi Tetsu confirmed that the image was exactly the same as part 028.

And there are hundreds or even thousands of similar images in the picture!

—This is the one! 【Newborn】Factory!

Although the image alone doesn't reveal what makes this factory so impressive, the reality is that factory owner Z's entire logistics factory is producing only one component.

Hundreds of parts are being produced simultaneously in this factory.

The big prizes and secrets hidden in this factory are absolutely amazing!

[You've pointed to the unknown core factory, part three!]

After making a selection, a series of prompts popped up in front of Uesugi Tetsuya's eyes.

[You've pointed to the abandoned core factory, Karuta III!]

【Abandoned Core Factory - Karuta III】

[——Initiated by Factory Owner P and Factory Owner L, this top-secret project, which involved the hard work and funds of a total of seven factory owners, was an attempt by the factory owners to explore "possibilities".]

But it failed.

This is one of the planned mega-core factories.

After reading the introduction, Uesugi Tetsuichi clenched his fist, his face unusually beaming with joy.

You made the right choice!

The seven factory owners worked together on a major project... Even though the factory was abandoned, the leftovers were enough to fill Uesugi Tetsuya's stomach.

Moreover, the abandoned factory would make it easier for him to explore.

Otherwise, if every time you step out the door you are noticed by a ghostly, godlike eyeball, or even a more terrifying factory owner, wouldn't this project be wasted?

[You have learned the location of the abandoned core factory, Karuta III!]

Upon opening the map function, which he hadn't used in a long time, Uesugi Tetsu discovered that the Karuta III Factory did not have a corresponding location in the real world.

The light spots only twinkle in the world map.

This means that Uesugi Tetsuya cannot easily open maps in the real world.

Moreover, this point of light is extremely far from the maps opened by Uesugi Tetsuya, separated by long stretches of unexplored, dark maps.

If you want to go there, you can only rely on a train that can travel hundreds of miles in an instant.

Uesugi Tetsu thought about it and felt that calling it Kisaragi Train was not a good idea—even though the factory had been abandoned, it was once a project that multiple factory owners valued.

Uesugi Tetsu would feel bad if she got into trouble with so many factory owners because of him.

Therefore, we have no choice but to use the traditional approach.

【Round-trip ticket for the train (special item)】.

A brand-new Shinkansen ticket appeared in his hand.

The Mōseki Train, which belongs to no one and is merely a phenomenon within the Mōseki, will not encounter the problem of being targeted by factory owners.

After confirming that the coordinates of the Karuta III factory could be entered into the ticket, Uesugi Tetsu put it back in the ticket.

I've been "sleeping" for an hour or two now, it's time to go downstairs and have dinner with Ririko.

We can go to the factory after dinner.

There's also "Karyudo"...

Uesugi Tetsu felt like he'd heard the word somewhere before, so he went back to look it up.

The sea was calm.

Uesugi Tetsu opened his eyes.

After some searching, Uesugi Tetsu roughly understood what Karuta meant.

Karuta, also known as karuta, is a traditional Japanese card game.

Before the game begins, write the waka poem on a playing card.

The cards used by the players only have the next line written on them. The referee reads the first line, and the players have to find the corresponding card. Whoever finds it first wins.