I Became a Hive Mind in the Game

After finishing the design of the biological anti-psychic bomb monster, I was, honestly speaking, a bit excited.
If until now I could only exert influence like a regional warlord, from the moment this biological anti-psychic bomb was created, I became able to influence the very political situation of the Korean Peninsula.

Although the excitement didn’t last long and was extinguished by my trait Imperturbability (A), the desire to create something remained as an aftermath of the excitement.

So I used this motivation as a driving force to implement various ideas that came to mind, and in the process, I accidentally created an interesting thing.

‘This… is really good?’

It was the Nano-Spirit, an ultra-small monster of nanometer scale, a degraded psychic life form monster that can exert physical force only when assimilated with matter.

Nano-Spirit. It’s a colony-type monster that assimilates with nanometer-scale matter, normally operating just like nanomachines from other media.

It’s possible to manipulate its form by implanting a control device in the brain, and it can be layered on skin or armor, taking advantage of its characteristic of being resistant to impacts due to its ability to instantly change its internal structure.

Furthermore, utilizing its ability to move fluidly, it can replace various precision parts, and except for the fact that it interacts through psychic energy, it functions almost the same as commonly dealt with nanomachines.

But if I inject a specific psychic wave into this Nano-Spirit, this monster disguised as a nanomachine instantly begins to mutate, assimilating with surrounding Nano-Spirits.

Here, I’ll give an example assuming there’s a passenger car made of particles inhabited by Nano-Spirits.

Legs made of flesh synthesized from metal using psychic energy grow from the gaps between the wheels and the body, and a tail made of metal segments grows from the rear of the body.

In addition, the front part of the body splits and something that should be called a mouth grows, and sharp teeth and a tongue appear in between.

A single passenger car is reborn as a monster that could be called a grade 7 monster.

Of course, besides the passenger car given as an example now, I can turn anything into a monster as long as it’s a machine made with nanomachines using Nano-Spirits.

Parts made of flesh like digestive organs or eyeballs are created by sacrificing some Nano-Spirits possessing particles to change the nature of the particles to flesh, while parts that can be replaced with machines are used as machines.

Although it’s impossible to implement bio cores, which can be called symbols of medium-grade or higher monsters, or various long-range weapons due to the limitations of the energy built into the Nano-Spirits, chain weapons using the characteristics of nanomachines are certainly possible.

Moreover, if armored vehicles or tanks are made with these Nano-Spirits, they can even use the bio cores that serve as engines or long-range weapons originally mounted on these combat vehicles.

Even some powered suits can control minor functions through control devices directly connected to the brain, and if even these control devices are made with Nano-Spirits, they can reversely affect the brain and use the human wearing the powered suit entirely.

‘…But how do I use this?’

However, even if I’ve made such a good tool, there’s no way to use it. Logically, no matter how much a company is failing, there’s no one who would use nanomachines of unknown origin in their products.

And it’s not like I have any senior executives of some company among the people I’ve switched out now, and even if I try to secretly insert nanomachines somewhere, while Nano-Spirits might go undetected, the use of nanomachines is bound to be detected.

‘Should I give up… but it’s such a waste.’

So while I was contemplating whether I should inevitably give up on this, I received an unexpected piece of news while receiving a report from Tetra, who was acting as my secretary.

[Four days ago, we were able to target about 30 new researchers working at a new material research institute who stayed at the motel we acquired for new employee training as subjects for switching.]

‘…Oh?’

Just in time, a way to use these Nano-Spirits appropriately came rolling in.

※ ※ ※

In South Korea, which was in chaos due to the war with monsters pushing down from the north as usual, one peculiar news was heard.

It was that 37 young people who had resigned from South Korea’s largest new material research institute had established a venture company called Nano-Tech.

If this was all, it would have been buried as it wasn’t particularly rare even if not very common, but there was a reason why this news happened to gain attention.

Through a small medium-sized media outlet, news came that they had developed the world’s first nanomachines.

Of course, people who saw the article all regarded it as a psychic ability fraud that had happened several times overseas, but the moment news came that it had officially applied for a patent and received investment from Seonggwang Group, the atmosphere instantly reversed.

How exactly does this nanomachine work, is it cheap enough to be used economically, etc. While all sorts of questions were raised and false information was spread through the internet, Nano-Tech finally released official information.

Starting with the fact that it’s controlled by flowing psychic energy into a control device implanted in the head, they revealed that it can replace everything from simple cold weapons to tank armor plates, and even various precision parts if they have a simple structure.

In the meantime, it’s not particularly weak in bonding or durability, and it has built-in psychic energy, boasting several times the durability of ordinary metals against psychic attacks.

Despite such versatility, according to the data they released, if proper mass production facilities could be built, the unit price could go down to a bargain level compared to other nanomachines.

In other words, most people who heard this news thought that this would be accepted by the world as a kind of innovation, and this thought became even stronger when the powered suit they created by signing a technology sharing contract with Seonggwang Defense (Seonggwang Group’s defense industry) was revealed.

NS-01. This cool powered suit, the first model of the Nano Suit series, takes the form of a thin black bodysuit in its basic standby state when not deployed.

However, the moment the wearer with the suit’s control device implanted in their head activates the suit, large amounts of nanomachines stored compressed in various parts of the bodysuit instantly deploy over the bodysuit, completing it in the form shown in the illustration above.

Basically, artificial muscle fibers are placed over the bodysuit, synthetic fiber skin over the artificial muscle fibers, and dozens or hundreds of layers of armor plates and parts made of nanomachines are precisely positioned over the skin.

This structure works as an excellent advantage in itself as it sticks closely to the body, allowing free movement, but it also has various other functions.

The armor plates in the hit area can be reinforced at the moment of impact to show even stronger defense, and it’s possible to change the structure on the spot to create shields, hooks, and other simple weapons.

It even has excellent expandability, so you can additionally attach bio cores or reinforce it into heavy armor by purchasing additional large amounts of nanomachines, and further partially equip various weapons.

NS-01, which has performance that can easily settle in the upper ranks among existing light armor powered suits, began to sell like crazy from the moment it appeared on the market.

In addition to being used by hunters or the military, it was well-suited as clothing worn inside by VIPs or as uniforms for their bodyguards, thanks to its easy storage and ability to be worn at any time.

Also, as the performance of nanomachines was proven, many companies wanted to purchase nanomachines, so nanomachines produced from production lines expanded with funds obtained thanks to the contract with Seonggwang Group were sold to various places and applied to products as soon as they were produced.

Shinwon, Korea’s top armored equipment manufacturer, not only increased the protection of armored equipment using nanomachines but also achieved fully automatic loading of shells, and JSJ, famous for hunter close combat weapons, introduced a 15cm rod that can change its shape into any close combat weapon with large amounts of nanomachines inside.

Various automobile companies and aircraft developers also reached out to this and began to urgently produce new products, and it became fashionable to make various metal products with nanomachines.

Even when it became known that these nanomachines could be applied to fibers, using nanomachines became both a trend and a necessity in the fashion industry, and it even became trendy to apply nanomachines on top of perfectly good items.

It was truly a nanomachine craze sweeping the country, and this trend was no exception for Seonggwang Group, which had contracted with the original developer.

“Introducing! The new model, SL-72 Iron Monster!”

They showcased a Titan Armor made of 79% nanomachines using all their technological prowess, boasting specs beyond imagination with a height of 14 meters and based on a new species of grade 4 drake.

Especially, this new species of drake is a rare type that originally walks on two legs, allowing it to show improved action capabilities and agility compared to other Giant Armors based on other monsters.

In addition, using the mimicry ability unique to nanomachines, they equipped artificial muscles and steel frames inside the armor plates and pistons, giving it very agile mobility and flexible movements compared to its size.

Above all, this giant steel monster, thanks to being mostly made of nanomachines, can accommodate any weapon as long as there’s space.

Basic modifications like attaching missile pads on the shoulders or tank guns protected by rotating turrets are standard, and even hedgehog-like modifications where laser weapons are crammed into every available space on the body are possible.

Originally designed to easily exchange various modularized parts, it has options like shedding armor and switching to high-speed mobility mode, completing a weapon that’s evaluated to have turned on a green light for the future of Seonggwang Defense with this product alone.