Getting ejected from the mech suddenly, I barely have enough reaction time to activate my propellers, which thrust me back and accelerate me into the air, right before landing on the ground which is now full of metallic drone scrap, as well as rock fragments and dust. - At least tell me if we are going to do something crazy. - Time is gold, Yuusha. You should have known that long ago, and it is not like you would die anyway. Mirai has gotten ready with the signature, massive Railgun that by now, she is the only one with enough strength to even raise that gun and wield it effortlessly like a knife, so my job is to clear the path for her to reach the boss's core chip and destroy it. I prepare the photon shotgun and reload it with a cartridge of slug shots. - You can just stop your imagination. There is no way that you can touch my armour. - The boss still tries to bluff. - Let's see who is imagining. We have done it once, and we will do it again

Tokyo, Japan, the Earth, Thursday, January 5, 2051. - Sixty-five... Sixty-six... About forty drones left. And we are running out of materials. - I make the probably loudest sigh ever. The thrilling one-week journey to Australia has ended, but the repercussions are just, you know, painful. A rough check on damage statistics tells me that a hundred per cent of our drones suffer from circuit damage, which is cheap. However, a third of them break down due to falling, which adds salt to the wound of my bank card. And not stopping there, a six-metre tall robot is sitting in the archive, waiting eagerly to be fixed and hurting my income. This festive season is what I anticipate the most but things just spiral out of control for this unlucky year. Pods linking from my house to my parents' house were suddenly broken down due to snow or something, and no companies were working during this period to fix them, making me stuck in Tokyo. I plan to take some rest by indulging myself

The science area humbly lies beneath the extravagant and majestic chains of entertainment facilities. Designed specifically for researchers and scientists who must race against time to publish papers while still wanting to enjoy a meaningful holiday, the area consists of a lab with every apparatus spanning various fields, a garage-like tech room for creating inventions and fixing machines, and a field open to the public to facilitate virtual reality simulation. This self-explanatory description can easily tell you why the lab and the tech room are almost always empty. Mirai drags me to the tech room. - So, what are we doing here, specifically? - I ask. - Two things. I will be brief. - Go ahead. Mirai just stands still. In the next second, a fleet of drones appears in front of my eyes like a performance. - That is what I get from analysing the core chip. It seems to use the same technology as our BlueTooth, except that the Intruders can man

As I walk through the graveyard of loot boxes, I can feel a bone-chilling breeze through my spine. There must be not less than thirty boxes here. Bloodshed. With the loot boxes, there also come lots of valuable items inside. I just go scavenger for a few minutes and I have sufficient components to fully upgrade my weapon, along with an amount of ammunition and healing items that can last me the whole game. In the centre of the big laboratory, there is a big platform with a table on top which resembles a crafting bench. It lights up when I open my stats table. I approach the table and put my gun down. There is an arrow mark appearing in my vision, so I press on it. - Let's see... Congrats on discovering this crafting bench. Please follow the instruction to upgrade your desired items. I take out the wealth gap reduction module and place it on the bench, along with other modules and components. After the bench has registered the modules I have, from the ground next

The first day on the cruise just ends like that. The organisers announce that the refractive veil of the ship has been disabled, and since the ship has travelled sufficiently far away from the land, the ship is surrounded by the deep, starry night sky, as well as the sea view that expands even out of the human eyesight. After the sumptuous dinner, we are on the top floor of our hotel block. Mirai has set up a telescope for stargazing. Normally, it will be the time for couples to be lovey-dovey in places with a good view, such as places that are elevated or along the rear of the ship, but somehow, just for today, we are the only people here. The rest of the passengers are still busy exploring the huge infrastructure of the ship on the first day, and I would expect the trend to resume tomorrow, when they are bored with exploring and shift to something quieter. The telescope is a big tube supported by a tripod, with many wires intricately connected to a box that acts both as a pr