Beyond the inner door lay a small room.
It had the air of an office, though it was currently buried under a thick layer of dust. It was clear this room had been neglected during the facility's routine cleanings.
In the center of the room sat a desk, and before it, a single automaton sat motionless, suspended in a long sleep.
"It should start moving after a short wait."
Jin moved closer, carrying the ether condenser. It wouldn't be long before this automaton woke up as well.
"A sleep state caused by ether depletion, I suppose..."
The golems and automata Jin created were equipped with auxiliary mana tanks, ensuring they never simply ground to a halt without warning. They were programmed to take every possible measure to preserve their state before shutting down—and they would certainly notify Hourai Island via manacam the moment trouble arose.
While Jin was lost in these thoughts, Elsa, Edgar, and Mii caught up with him.
"Jin-nii, what is this place? And this automaton?"
"Ah, Elsa. This automaton is likely the 'Factory Manager.' I believe it was responsible for overseeing the entire facility."
Mii’s eyes widened in shock.
"Th-this is incredible! No one has ever made it this far inside before!"
"Hmm, I wonder why? Well, even if someone had reached it, they wouldn't have been able to fix anything anyway."
As they spoke, the Factory Manager finally began to stir.
"...Have I... been stopped...?"
It noticed Jin and offered a professional greeting.
"Welcome. I am the Factory Manager. What is your order for today?"
Hearing those words, Jin felt certain of how the facility used to operate: the manager would receive orders and then supervise the production lines accordingly.
"No, I’m not here to place an order today. As you just realized, the Factory has been offline until this very moment. I need you to process that first."
The Factory Manager gave a diligent response to Jin’s explanation.
"My word, is that so? In that case, I must begin by performing a re-maintenance of the facility's interior immediately."
Jin felt a sense of relief. It seemed he could have a rational conversation with this Factory Manager.
"No, you should hold off on that for now. In the current world, the ether concentration has dropped significantly. The Factory won't be able to operate properly as it is."
"That is a problem. What should I do?"
Such a situation seemed to be outside its programmed parameters, and the Factory Manager appeared at a loss.
At this point, Jin decided to take a calculated risk.
"How are materials brought in?"
"Yes, we use the first, second, and third Warp Gates. However, if the ether concentration has dropped, I expect they have stopped functioning."
"Exactly."
Jin felt another wave of relief. As he suspected, this factory used Warp Gates to bring in raw materials. Since they had been used for travel to where Akitsu was located, he had suspected that might be the case here as well.
His "gamble" was the belief that since this was active technology, the system would likely accept him even if he used the Warp Gates himself. Jin felt a strong urge to restore the Factory to full functionality. Letting a facility like this go to waste would be a tragedy, particularly since it housed technology Jin had yet to develop or even encounter.
However, there were far too many golems for Jin to repair them all by hand. Fortunately, there was an alternative.
"Factory Manager, how are the golems here serviced and repaired?"
Since the facility had operated for a long time, there had to be a built-in maintenance system.
"We have fifty maintenance golems at our disposal."
It was just as Jin had predicted.
"Where are they?"
"Leave this room and take the door to the left."
"Understood."
Jin asked Mii, Elsa, and Edgar to stay behind and keep an eye on the Factory Manager while he headed off with Reiko to inspect the maintenance golems.
"...Are these the ones?"
Just as the manager had said, fifty maintenance golems lay in rows.
"Reiko, contact Laojun. Have him warp over a hundred magi-crystals... standard quality will suffice."
"Yes, Father."
While Jin could contact Hourai Island through his bracelet, Reiko could complete such communications instantaneously because the system was integrated into her body. Moreover, she didn't need to speak aloud, so Jin often relied on her for these tasks.
It was also a way for him to show her how much he relied on her; Reiko was always in high spirits after fulfilling such a request.
In less than a minute, a hundred magi-crystals appeared before them.
"Alright, I'll use these to make ether converters and mana drivers. We'll transplant them into the maintenance golems."
"Yes, I shall assist you."
Jin set to work immediately, crafting ether converters and mana drivers tuned to the current environment's ether levels. Reiko swapped them with the maintenance golems' old equipment one after another.
While working, the thought crossed Jin's mind that once the local mine was back in operation, he should have them replenish what he had used today. It seemed Elsa’s lessons in administrative responsibility were proving quite effective.
After swapping the parts for the first ten units, Jin paused to reboot them. Since he had replaced the energy generation systems, a formal wake-up was necessary. Unlike a control core replacement, a simple hardware reboot didn't require a keyword.
<What are your instructions?>
He started by waking up the first unit. Reiko stood on alert just in case, but there seemed to be no danger.
"The current ether converters and mana drivers are incompatible. Do you understand?"
<I understand.>
Being maintenance units, their knowledge and skill regarding golems seemed comprehensive. Jin wondered if this meant their design philosophy favored high specialization.
"Good. I have prepared replacement ether converters and mana drivers here. Cooperate with the other nine and retrofit the remaining forty units."
<Understood.>
Once he rebooted the other nine and handed over the completed components, the ten maintenance golems began working with mechanical precision. While their speed couldn't match Jin's, they were still remarkably efficient.
"Once you're finished, perform maintenance on each other. Then, stand by for further orders."
Jin figured they would be done in about two hours. Leaving them to their work, he returned to the manager's office.
"Ah, Jin-sama, how did it go?" Mii asked anxiously.
"The maintenance golems should be fully functional by the end of the day. We'll handle the rest tomorrow."
Mii was so moved she was nearly in tears.
"R-really?! Oh, I knew you could do it, Jin-sama! Thank you!"
"Well, I just hope I haven't overstepped my bounds by tinkering with everything."
Thinking about it calmly, Jin realized he had taken quite a few liberties with the local equipment.
"It's fine! I was with you, so nothing is wrong at all! If anyone complains, I'll give them a piece of my mind!"
Jin let the remark slide and confirmed one last thing.
"...Factory Manager, where are the Warp Gates for material transport?"
"Yes. Leave this room and enter the room opposite the maintenance golems."
"I see."
This time, the entire group headed to the designated room.
"...Oh, they certainly are Warp Gates."
They looked somewhat antiquated, but there was no doubt they were Warp Gates.
"...But they haven't stopped."
"Eh?" Elsa asked. She was still a novice regarding Warp Gates and couldn't yet see what Jin had discerned.
"Look, the magic circles inside the Warp Gates... the magi-formulas are faintly glowing. That's proof they're in standby mode. Don't go stepping into them carelessly, okay?"
"Y-yeah."
Elsa nodded solemnly. She had once nearly gotten lost after accidentally stepping into a Warp Gate on Hourai Island, and she wasn't keen on a repeat performance.
"But why? Even though the golems stopped working?"
"I suspect the ether converters and mana drivers in the Warp Gates were made to be exceptionally high quality."
Jin cited the fact that the Warp Gate leading to Akitsu's location had still been functional, and Akitsu herself had been operating, albeit unstably.
"So you mean, even if they're old, they'll still work if they were well-made?"
"Exactly."
That said, the risk was too high for Jin to go and investigate what lay on the other side of these Warp Gates personally. Instead, he decided to toss in markers to be teleported, then identify their landing points using a magi-radar and the Watcher satellite.
Reiko moved a short distance away and received the markers from Laojun. This allowed them to proceed without Mii noticing where the items had come from.
"Let's see if they really are operational."
Saying this, Jin tossed a marker—which looked like a simple stone—into a Warp Gate. It vanished instantly.
"It—it disappeared!" Mii cried out in astonishment.
Jin tossed markers into the remaining two Warp Gates as well, confirming that they were equally functional.
"The Warp Gates are definitely still alive. In that case, if the flow of materials stopped, the issue must lie on the other end. We're out of time for today, though. Let's head back and return tomorrow once we're better prepared."
Before they knew it, it was already close to 5 PM.
After instructing the Factory Manager to remain on standby, Jin and the others left the Factory and returned to the city of Miyako.