Chapter 184

Training Fight (2)

When the skill effect was proved through Hibiki, the next to take on the challenge was Nate.

He asked Hibiki, as if he was afraid, digging into the details of the illusion. Including what was the hardest.

She replied.

“As soon as I entered, I knew that everything was just a fantasy- like a lucid dream. Since time flowed without eating, sleeping, or Mana running out after the battle started, I was aware that it wasn’t real. However, it was still hard despite that.”

She said that her mind and emotions felt worn out.

“And no matter how fake it is, if you fight and kill, isolated from the world for years… you’ll start feeling like your mind is burning out. Honestly, I think I was half crazy considering my condition just before I came back. When I came back to reality, that madness disappeared like a lie, but when I think about it, it still scares me a little.”

Hibiki said the scariest factor was that she felt like she was becoming a ghost immersed in slaughter and was drifting away from people she left behind in reality.

She suffered from the fear of not knowing how much longer one had to be locked up there.

When Nate heard that, he smiled and replied.

“Really?”

He turned his head and looked at me.

“If that’s the case, I think I’ll be fine, Jin-Wook. I’m ready. Cast it on me.”

“…”

His tone told me he didn’t worry about the side effects and pain Hibiki talked about.

He had an expression seemingly stating that he could endure years of suffering in isolation, away from the people in reality.

Perhaps that was the case since he’d already been through such a situation.

I asked him if he would really be okay because I was worried that it might provoke his trauma, but Nate didn’t seem to mind.

“Then, here I go.”

Eventually, I used the skill on him.

Similarly, it was merely a moment for us, but Nate’s face changed beyond recognition and showed a similar reaction to Hibiki.

“Cough!”

His knees bent and fell.

And Nate vomited blood on the floor.

“Cough! K-eup!”

The result of the ordeal was a success once again.

His potential had increased by more than 20,000.

But his appearance, though he assured that he would be fine, wasn’t ideal.

No, to be exact, it was as messed up as when Hibiki had just returned.

“My…”

Euclid assisted him.

Nate murmured.

“I thought I would be all right…”

He mumbled and vomited blood a few more times as he coughed.

“Being stuck somewhere for years, it’s something I’ve done before, so I thought I could do it again.”

He spoke in a solemn voice.

“But why is it so hard now? It wasn’t even real.”

He said that the situation of being left alone was more difficult than the endless fight.

Next, I also tried it on Genograche, but as he expected, the skill didn’t work.

I could only think of one reason.

The difference between him and others was that he had no soul in the body where his Mana Heart was.

‘That means it’s a skill that interacts with the soul.’

And the Dragon, Euclid, had only lived for hundreds of years and hadn’t yet activated all of her potential Mana, so she wasn’t a subject that I could use the skill on yet.

After experimenting with the most important people that way, I contacted the guild members.

Of course, I did it in secret.

Hunters, whose growth was blocked due to the vessels’ limitations they were born with, causing them to be obsessed with despair, had always existed.

Their classes were not important.

Whether it’s F or SSS class, the desire to be stronger was no different.

Since there would be nothing good resulting from the news leaking out to other dimensions, conducting experiments on Awakened beings while practicing extreme security resulted in more than a 90% success rate.

The failed cases also had something in common. Everything stopped when they explicitly expressed their willingness to “give up” in the virtual space.

Of course, those who gave up once had been given the penalty that they couldn’t challenge the ordeal for a long time.

It didn’t take long to experiment with all the applicants. From my point of view, I only used a little Mana using the skill, and the activation time and the duration of the skill were close to an instant.

All that remained for them was to individually activate the increased potential Mana and then prepare to challenge the ordeal again.

*

The impact of my newly learned skill on the guild was greater than I thought.

The Hunters who suffered due to their limits trained, hunted and went on quests incomparably harder than they used to when the road opened up for them.

In particular, the Hunters who had hit the plateau for years expressed their gratitude to me with tears or wailing as if it moved them even more than the others.

The greater the desire for strength, the more dramatic the reaction was.

Not all of the members were aware of it, but the changed atmosphere was noticeable and turned our guild even more lively.

Satisfied with the result, I visited the residence of the magic species.

They were also playing a part in the rising trend of our guild atmosphere lately.

“Guild Master, as instructed, limited to volunteers among the magic tribe, they are being dispatched to the dungeon Clears with the existing guild members. The response is very good. Both the humans and the magic species seem to be motivated.”

The devils couldn’t enter the dungeon Gates by themselves because they weren’t Awakened who agreed to a System contract.

Therefore, they entered after being recognized as a possession belonging to other guild members. The magic species, who were puzzled at first, also showed great performance by reawakening their unique fighting instincts when the hunt began.

“The magic species’ fierce combat style and persistent enthusiasm seem to have stimulated even the old guild members.”

And so they were keeping their heads straight and setting their motivation on fire.

Meanwhile, the magic species were shocked as well.

Having been isolated in the forest for a long time and living close to primitive life, they had forgotten most of the high-quality spells used by their ancestors.

However, although it was a skill that the System instilled into the Hunters conveniently, witnessing the advanced spells said to have made the magic species show expressions as if they had entered a new world.

However, the superior characteristics of the magic species were also revealed there.

“They are said to imitate A-Rank magic or so on the spot just by looking at it. At first, the power was a little weak, but… They say that as time goes by, they make perfect modifications based on their own liking.”

Ordinary human beings without [The Successor’s Eyes] couldn’t immediately imitate skills by glance alone.

They were Hunters who had become accustomed to the existing system wherein they became capable of using skills just by filling in the slots.

But the magic species were different.

The Mana-specialized race, which was used to creating and controlling spells on their own by observing their Mana Hearts (Core), used the Hunters’ spells as a reference to reproduce the results similarly.

Of course, it wasn’t a perfect copy like in the case of [The Successor’s Eyes], but it showed 40-50% efficacy. Due to individual characteristics and talents, they had different areas that they could copy, but that alone was outstanding.

That format wasn’t limited to magic but also applied to sword movements acquired in the form of skills.

The Terran Hunters felt as if their secrets were stripped bare.

“Hmm?”

As I approached the residence of the magic species, some individuals came to greet me.

But I didn’t notify them of the visit, did I?

“Oh, Great Monarch! You’ve come to such a humble place yourself…!”

They all lowered their bodies and paid their respect.

‘How did they know?’

The answer came from my Mana Core.

The Monarch of Evolution whose entire soul and power I absorbed had answered.

– A powerful divine power lives in your body. It’s natural for them to notice your presence when you’re this close. The sensitive ones among the citizens must have felt unpleasant from a while ago. For many reasons now, they are worshipping you, managing to interpret the foreignness as a sense of awe.

I carefully examined their living conditions since caring for the magic species to get along well on Earth was a contractual condition promised with my soul.

Of course, I instructed them to pay extra attention, so the guild members must have taken measures to make sure nothing was lacking.

As I wandered around, the magic species seemed confused by the gap between the touching emotion of a great leader who carried the Monarch’s will and the repulsion provided by the subtle divine power.

When I saw that, I suddenly wondered.

I murmured quietly.

“Why is it that only the magic species overreact to the divine power like this?”

– Hmm? Didn’t the subjugated Monarch-level devil explain it to you? He must be an ancient devil who was born much earlier than me.

“Weirdly, he never talks about such things in front of me.”

The following was how the Monarch of Evolution explained it.

– You must know we’re the oldest species in existence in this world.

“I know.”

– The early days of the material world were much more chaotic than now. In the species that appeared then, there were many mutagenic traits that are hard to find in the current era. In relation to that, we were born with the trait of objecting to divine power.

He continued.

– Thanks to that, we hadn’t been driven to extinction until now.

What?

“What do you mean?”

– Isn’t it true that the tribes that lived in our contemporaries were destroyed, and only we are the ones left? What do you think is the secret?

“Because you’re a race specialized in Mana?”

– There’s a more important reason. Because of our mutated nature, none of the devils serve a god.

That’s a given.

– Imagine the early environment of the material world. It hadn’t been long since the gods were exiled back then.

“Hmm.”

– They were in the early stages of losing their egos. Thanks to that, the gods were much more involved in the material world than they are now, and their influence was great. Therefore, the races that served a god at that time could perform near-miraculous phenomenons. They borrowed the ability to cut the sky, boil the sea, and move the stars.

“And such races are all extinct now, you mean?”

– Not because of the Red Gate. All of their civilizations collapsed or fought each other for internal reasons. The funny part is that the more individuals served in a dimension, the earlier they were destroyed. Do you know at which point these events started?

“Since the System made a bizarre move?”

I thought it started when the System suddenly changed its attitude, opening up numerous dungeons and properly starting the hunt against the magic species.

– Exactly.

At that point, I could recall the name of a certain species that would have provided a reason for their destruction.

Mercadius.

‘After the System joined hands with Mercadius and granted them a strange “breeding” ability, the first thing they did with its power was… to destroy races full of the gods’ touches?’

I was lost in thought when the terminal on my wrist rang.

Secretary Kim told me that a secret communication was being attempted from outer space.

“I should return.”

*

When I operated the telecommunication machine at home, Bachurka’s face took shape.

She announced the progress of the situation.

– The Roheems have agreed to accept all the terms and conditions we have offered in exchange for avoiding a forced withdrawal from the Union. In the future, they will have to pay the Terrans, to be precise, the organization you lead, a great amount of compensation for the damage they caused. Of course, the political organization behind the scenes also had to be stripped down from their place.

The agenda on Roheems seemed to be ending there.

I hastened the alien for the next story.

“What about Adgons?”

There was only one reason why she contacted me through secret communication, out of all the options, that day.

As a result of the investigation on the Adgon executive we handed over, the Union leadership, excluding the race, decided on the future actions.

– Six tribes of the command, excluding Adgon, have reached a secret agreement. We’re going to strike them soon.

It was the good news that I had been waiting for.

– However, we’re not going to attack their home dimension first. We have a method of hitting two birds with one stone to subdue Mercadius while securing evidence to add to the Adgon charges.

The hologram displayed planetary coordinates that existed in different dimensions.

Places that weren’t unfamiliar since Adam had already researched it before.

– These planets have something in common. Even though they’re all planets that aren’t the Adgons’ parent dimension, the Adgons occupy it and block access to other species, and no native inhabitants remain there.

She also mentioned another common factor.

The Adgons’ security for the planets had risen to a very high level ever since the resurrection of Igras-Sho’s eighth leg.

– We have testimony and evidence secured that something similar to the fragments of the magical god you, Seo Jin-Wook, liberated may be sealed in those planets.

Of course, attacking those places one by one was meaningless.

It would only be like giving the Adgons time to prepare.

The Union intended to carry out a joint assault operation at those target points and take complete control all at once.

That was a declaration of war against the Adgons.

– There’s a reason I contacted you directly this time, not through the Earth’s government agency.

She gazed at me.

– This operation should be carried out without the Adgons knowing it. We have to keep it with maximum confidentiality. And I want you, Seo Jin-Wook, to help us, too. I’m asking you because I know your skills are already superior to the best of the elite warriors of the Union.

I looked at the planets that came up in the hologram.

“You’re asking me to join the squad that’s assaulting one of them, right?”

– Yes, we will leave your target to your wishes.

At that moment-

Shhh!

The broken sword on my waist rose in the air and pointed in one direction.

It was at an angle that pinpointed one of the planets shown in the hologram.

I laughed bitterly at the scene.

“I think a god has already chosen for me.”

The beginning of a pan-dimensional counterattack against the Adgons was just around the corner.