Ming Ming was wagging his tail as he glanced around the Meeting Room.
Maybe he liked how we were murmuring in agreement with Dr. Ryoo’s opinion.
Dr. Min looked over at the Hazel Ring Dragon and continued speaking.
“So, what I’m saying is, if we enhance these Foreign Invasive Species through genetic engineering and spread them across the whole other world, we could fundamentally correct the ecosystem.”
“Ming!”
I shook my head firmly and said, “That’s not possible.”
Let’s not make Monsters, just deal with them.
“If one accidentally gets loose… it’s bound to lead to a horrible outcome.”
After that, Dr. Ryoo seemed to explain something more, but before long the discussion wound down.
As the murmuring subsided, Ming Ming, perhaps tired, curled up like a cat and lay down on top of the Table.
“The Second Gate.”
This time, Dr. Min raised his hand.
“Several domestic defense companies are begging us to show them byproducts from the Third Gate. We should organize the related materials and share them.”
The people gathered in the Meeting Room murmured for a moment.
“The strangely shaped Artificial Intelligence robot—that’s Dr. Lee’s creation, right? The one that uses a Tablet as its face?”
“Yes.”
“How did you make it?”
“The personality comes from an old Artificial Intelligence Module I used before, and the walker mechanism is from a repurposed military Walker Bot. I used a Crystal Computer and Magic Stone for the computer and Energy Storage Device.”
Dr. Min hesitated for a moment.
“Then, the Modification Crystal and Magic Stone extracted from the Steel Spider Monster—are they inside the Pineapple robot’s Personality Device?”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
He was right. The experiment appeared successful so far, but it wasn’t a situation to be completely reassured about. There was always a chance it could suddenly develop consciousness or a purpose and attack someone.
“That’s why Pineapple doesn’t have arms. I made sure the robot can’t shoot a gun or directly attack anyone.”
“Dr. Lee, do you think the Magic Stone is influencing Pineapple’s personality to any extent?”
Ming Ming yawned like a cat, as if he understood what we were saying. He wasn’t paying much attention, though.
“I don’t think so. According to the design, the Modification Crystal shouldn’t affect the robot’s personality. The Crystal is only used as an Information Processing Device.”
“So there’s still a possibility that, in some way we don’t know, it could have some emergent effect?”
I had no choice but to nod.
“There it is again, emergence.”
I hated to admit it, but I couldn’t perfectly control every aspect of Pineapple’s personality.
Even if we used Artificial Neural Cores that didn’t involve Gate Phenomenon-001, it was the same.
You couldn’t make machines imitate only the strengths of humans.
“The more human-like they become, the more they copy our flaws too.”
Dr. Kang, who had been silent, opened his mouth.
“That… is the Artificial Neural Core Module I made before, right? The square-shaped black computer.”
“Yes.”
“I understand the situation isn’t good, but it feels like we’re too quick to look for extreme solutions and play with dangerous things like toys…”
If I hadn’t returned, I’d probably have thought the same.
But I’d already been through it once, so I could move decisively.
“We’ll proceed with caution.”
Dr. Kang nodded solemnly.
At that moment, as if he had been waiting, Ming Ming flipped through the Tablet’s screen with his short front paw.
“Let’s move on. The Third Gate.”
The Third Gate had something unique about it.
The Magic Stone from the First Gate was Emerald or some kind of Gemstone, and the Magic Stone from the Second Gate was a Crystal.
“There’s something I wanted your opinions on. The Magic Stone from the Third Gate is Calcite, right?”
“Yes.”
“Calcite is a mineral we can grow in the Laboratory. I was wondering if we couldn’t just cultivate Magic Stones themselves.”
I looked at Dr. Kang.
This was right in Dr. Kang’s field.
“I’ll consider it. But since the Magic Stone from the Tentacle Dragon is an organic substance, maybe we could grow it in a Culture Medium instead?”
The ball was passed back to Dr. Ryoo.
Dr. Ryoo shrugged.
“You know when we were making Organoids last time? If we made a Tentacle Dragon’s Eye Organoid, maybe we could make a Magic Stone. I haven’t tried it yet, though.”
“What exactly is an Organoid?”
“Dr. Lee suggested the concept a few days ago. It’s a tissue-like structure using Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.”
“Amazing.”
Dr. Kang wrote something on his Tablet, looking intrigued.
With this, our research direction was set.
Now, the next thing to do was to hatch the egg we brought from the Black Forest.
“Let’s wrap up for today. If you need anything for your research, let me know. The Gate is likely to open again in a few days, so we need to advance our research as much as possible before then.”
The Principal Researchers organized the materials they had been reviewing.
Ever since the Gate opened, it had been this way—research had to be conducted with a combat mindset.
I left the Meeting Room with Ming Ming.
***
Right from the Meeting Room, I moved to Containment Room No. 3.
The Tentacle Dragon’s egg.
I intended to raise this creature as my third Summoned Beast and keep it with me.
“…It should work, right?”
I didn’t know if the Tentacle Dragon could be tamed, but it was worth a try.
“It’s just that powerful of a Monster.”
Tok tok.
I tapped the Tentacle Dragon’s egg.
There was no particular reaction from inside.
I placed the egg into a small Acrylic Tank, then set the whole tank on a Cart.
Just like I did when I picked up the Basilisk, I’d have to run a CT Scan and set the incubation temperature—
“Oh.”
Something was off.
Maybe it sensed someone, maybe it was time to hatch, or maybe it was because I’d killed the creature that laid the egg.
The octopus Monster’s egg popped open immediately.
Ming Ming started growling at the black creature.
“Whoa, calm down.”
I quickly grabbed him before he could pounce.
Contrary to my worries, the newly hatched Tentacle Dragon was cuter than I’d expected.
Of course, since there was a risk it could pollute its surroundings, I had to be careful…
But actually, being dangerous could also be a tactical advantage.
It would be hard to take it everywhere like Ming Ming, though.
“What should I name you?”
I racked my brain for a moment. Last time, I noticed it had genetic similarities to frogs.
“From today, your name is Mangkomi.”
Mangkomi stared at me with six eyes.
Maybe I pulled a dud, or maybe it was just immature, but it really did look just like a Mangkomi, especially with no wings.
Well, except for the tentacles on its back like a horse’s tail.
“Can you speak?”
Mangkomi stared blankly at me and started making weird sounds.
[Specimen No. 12 of Gate No. 3 ‘Mangkomi’ has been designated as a Summoned Beast.]
“Why doesn’t it have wings, though?”
Just in case, I flipped it over, but still couldn’t find any wings.
Pineapple watched me from the side.
“Human. You’re raising another strange thing.”
“Call me Doctor.”
“Doctor, you’re raising another strange thing again today.”
“Yeah.”
I stared at Pineapple.
Was the Artificial Neural Core’s image recognition ability always this good? Or was this, too, because of the Magic Stone?
I picked up Mangkomi and showed it to the robot’s camera.
“Do you know what this is?”
“I went into the Gate with you, didn’t I?”
“That’s true.”
A frowning emoticon appeared on Pineapple’s facial screen.
I met Pineapple’s camera-eye.
“Based on my observation, the Tentacle Dragon appears to be an extremely dangerous creature. It’s absolutely not suitable as a pet.”
“Who are you, did Dr. Kang send you?”
Pineapple shook his head.
He didn’t seem to get the joke.
“I’m just stating the obvious.”
“Well, that’s only in the normal sense.”
I temporarily unsummoned Mangkomi, and he vanished into the air with a popping sound.
When I snapped my fingers, the Summoned Beast reappeared.
“That’s strange. It disappeared and came back?”
“Yeah.”
“How is that possible?”
Whether it made sense or not didn’t really matter.
“It’s Magic.”
From the robot’s logical perspective, it must seem unfair.
“Gate Phenomena are inherently illogical. In our line of work, relying solely on common sense can be dangerous.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“No matter how dangerous the Tentacle Dragon is, as long as it’s a Summoned Beast, it’s under my control. There’s no need to be wary of a Summoned Beast.”
It might not be easy for a robot to be flexible. But that’s just how the real world is.
[?@_@?]
Pineapple displayed a troubled expression on his face screen.
Mangkomi seemed to hear the robot’s voice and looked that way.
“You’re cheating.”
“That’s right.”
Anyway, I needed to think about what to feed Mangkomi.
Ming Ming ate dog food, and Honey Combo loved honey.
I’d have to try out some different foods for Mangkomi as well.
***
This is the new small animal Containment Room in the Research Institute.
As the name suggests, it’s not a real Containment Room—more like a dog park for my Summoned Beasts.
Let’s just call it a space for training Summoned Beasts.
“Will you eat well?”
Earlier, I brought some Dried Pollack from the Cafeteria for Mangkomi.
Like a Doghouse, I gave Mangkomi pieces of Dried Pollack one by one. Rumor has it cats love Dried Pollack.
Mangkomi ate the dried fish.
“Good, good boy.”
I watched him for a while, but Mangkomi barely made a sound. He only made weird noises like a frog from time to time.
Ming Ming, who had been watching the newcomer, sat next to me.
His hostility seemed to have eased, but he still wore a face full of distrust.
“Ming?”
“Why did you bring that Monster?”
“Ming.”
“Don’t worry so much. Summoned Beasts are under my control anyway. We have to fight the Monsters coming out of the Gate, so… we have to bring in things like that too.”
The Tentacle Dragon would serve as a tank.
Ming Ming and the Basilisk couldn’t keep fighting on the front lines.
I needed to deploy allies who could take a hit.
I tried using a Golem before, but it was slow and practically disposable.
“And expensive, too.”
While I was thinking, Ming Ming dashed forward and stole Mangkomi’s Dried Pollack.
The two beasts tangled together…
They chased each other, growling like playful puppies.
“They won’t actually kill each other, right?”
The Tentacle Dragon tackled Ming Ming and successfully snatched the fish away. Life was tough for beasts without hands.
Ming Ming returned to me with a very short-tempered look.
– If you don’t train that thing, I’ll transform and kill it.
That’s what he seemed to be saying.
I patted Ming Ming’s head.
“Well, what can you do? Sometimes the senior has to put up with things.”
I took out an Energy Bar from my pocket, broke it in half, and set it in front of Ming Ming.
“Ming.”
“Don’t worry. He’ll learn, too.”
Ming Ming glared at Mangkomi with his short-tempered look, but Mangkomi was just wandering around without a care.