The Spatial Ability User Who Puts Safety Above All Chapter 105

Forest of Darkness and the Empire (2)

 

“Umm……”

The first thing Seon Yul checked after opening his eyes was the handcuffs fastened around both of his wrists.

They were locked with his hands gathered in front of him, and at a glance, they clearly didn’t look ordinary.

Handcuffs engraved with all kinds of patterns, faintly emitting an aura. That aura was even wrapping around Seon Yul’s entire body, and it was clearly serving one specific function.

‘My mana is completely frozen.’

Seon Yul instinctively realized that his mana was tightly frozen.

This was a sensation any mana user could immediately feel.

‘Are these restraints that forcibly freeze mana?’

Seon Yul tilted his head while looking down at the handcuffs.

‘But more importantly… that was really stupid of me. It was something I could have predicted easily, and a situation where I absolutely shouldn’t have let my guard down… Is it because I’ve gotten too strong? I never used to make mistakes like this….’

Seon Yul immediately acknowledged his mistake.

And it wasn’t just any mistake… it was a huge one. Recently, everything had been going smoothly without many difficulties, so he had briefly forgotten his true mindset, the one that mattered most.

Seon Yul blamed himself.

While reproaching himself for becoming too complacent, he thought that this entire situation had happened because of his own carelessness.

“Phew……”

But right now, he couldn’t just sit around blaming himself.

‘Still, the fortunate thing is….’

Seon Yul briefly raised his head to look around. After confirming that there was nothing nearby, he immediately focused his mind.

Tsssss.

To his surprise, an Absolute Space entrance opened in front of him.

‘My abilities don’t use mana.’

In the current situation, from the perspective of an ordinary mana user, this was unquestionably an enormous crisis.

But for Seon Yul, it wasn’t truly a crisis.

The handcuffs that froze mana were nothing more than very sturdy handcuffs to him. Removing them would not be difficult, even immediately, using several possible methods.

In fact, he could use all his abilities without even removing them, so he didn’t particularly feel like he was in serious trouble.

However, Seon Yul did not remove the handcuffs right away.

‘For now… since I’ve already come this far, I might as well use this situation to my advantage.’

Seon Yul sat quietly in the prison cell and calmly waited for someone to come interrogate him.

From the beginning, since they had subdued him like this, it obviously meant they intended to interrogate him. If he waited, someone would definitely come.

And sure enough, after about two hours, several guards finally arrived at the prison and took Seon Yul to the interrogation room.

Clank, thud!

Once the interrogation room door closed, only Seon Yul and a tall, thin man remained inside.

Before saying anything, the man placed a necklace around Seon Yul’s neck, a pendant covered with numerous inscriptions.

Then he slowly opened his mouth.

“Irregulars can understand our language, but we can’t understand what Irregulars say. So translation magic items are essential.”

The necklace the man put on Seon Yul was an item enchanted with translation magic.

Thanks to it, Seon Yul could now speak with the man.

“It’s been a while since we detected a mana reaction… and at quite a high level too, so it surprised us a lot. It had already been a long time since a new Irregular appeared, but we never expected you to have infiltrated the fortress without us even noticing.”

The man spoke while looking at Seon Yul.

Seon Yul, who had been staring back at him, slowly opened his mouth as well.

“Was there some kind of device inside the fortress that detects mana reactions?”

“Of course. Irregulars from other worlds tend to think this world is backward and underdeveloped compared to theirs… but that’s a huge misconception. The direction of development may be different, but this world is far more advanced than the one you came from.”

Even without Seon Yul asking further, the man continued explaining on his own.

“There’s something called a mana detection device. It’s a device that can detect all kinds of mana reactions very precisely. Especially in this fortress, a large-scale mana detection device is installed, allowing us to monitor all mana reactions occurring within the fortress in real time. Mana reactions from Irregulars like you have completely different waveforms and colors, so they stand out very easily. Thanks to that, we were able to find you two quite easily this time as well.”

The man erased his proud smile and continued speaking, almost as if he were excited.

“Finding you two through the mana detection device was one thing, but wasn’t the encirclement ambush operation we executed also perfect? Irregulars never know that we can locate them and even possess the means to subdue them, so they always let their guard down like that.”

“Irregulars… that’s what you call us?”

Even though he already knew, Seon Yul pretended not to.

“That’s right. Uninvited guests from other worlds. We call all of them Irregulars… those who say they came guided by a god, those who say they were brought here by mysterious natural phenomena, and all others who crossed into this world for various reasons and by various methods.”

“But why are you hostile toward us? We just happened to cross over to this world for some reason. We’ve never been hostile toward you.”

“Oh… I think you’re misunderstanding something. We’re not hostile toward you. We simply… want to manage you.”

“You appear out of nowhere, knock us unconscious, freeze our mana, and subdue us… and that’s not hostility?”

“That’s only because things get troublesome if you resist. Once a simple branding process is done, you’ll be released freely again.”

“Branding process? What’s that?”

“It’s the process of stamping the Empire’s brand on your body, placing certain restrictions with a little bit(?) of coercive force.”

“That doesn’t sound like just a little coercion.”

“Hm… It’s a brand that might actually have more advantages if you obey the Empire’s commands. Of course, if you keep refusing to obey, the brand can cause intense pain… and in the worst case, death… but you can simply obey, right?”

The man spoke as if it were perfectly natural.

Watching him, Seon Yul clearly understood how the Empire currently treated Irregulars.

“Where is the person who was captured with me?”

“Oh, that woman? She’s probably being interrogated by another administrator in the room next door.”

After confirming Cheon Li Yu’s location, Seon Yul felt he still had some time.

“But why do you want to manage Irregulars like that? Wouldn’t it be fine to just let them live freely?”

Seon Yul asked this because he wanted to hear the reason the Empire’s attitude had changed, based on the information he had already heard earlier.

“In the past, we also guaranteed Irregulars their freedom. No… in fact, we even helped them and treated them well.”

Perhaps because he believed Seon Yul was completely subdued and would follow their orders once the branding process was finished… the man answered everything very smoothly.

“But seven years ago, it was revealed that Irregulars had been heavily involved in a rebellion within the imperial family. After that, voices calling for the management of Irregulars grew stronger, and eventually things turned out like this.”

“When will this branding process happen?”

“Branding requires at least a 5th-grade arcane technician, so… we’ve already submitted the request, and a technician should arrive within a few days. Why? After hearing about it, are you eager to get branded quickly?”

“What happens to Irregulars after they’re branded?”

“What happens? They become members of the Empire. Most of them are deployed to the Towers that rise across the Empire’s territory, though depending on their abilities, they might be assigned to other missions. Speaking of which… what kind of ability do you have?”

“Towers? What are those?”

Instead of answering, Seon Yul asked another question.

“I think it’s time you start answering instead of asking questions. Once the brand is stamped, you’ll be forced to answer honestly anyway, so instead of being forced later, just tell me now. What ability do you have?”

“Explain the towers first. Then I’ll tell you.”

“Hm… well, I have to explain it at least once anyway, so I’ll tell you first.”

The man continued speaking with a slightly displeased expression.

“The Towers are both the driving force behind this world’s advancement and the source of destruction that threatens it. Most of the arcane technology that exists in this world originated from the Towers, and through it we built a brilliant arcane civilization. However, if certain conditions are not satisfied, the Towers go berserk… and a berserk Tower leaves a clear scar as it fills the world with darkness. One of those scars is the Forest of Darkness where you fell.”

After hearing this, Seon Yul understood the conversation he had overheard earlier much more clearly.

“Thanks to long years of cleaning, the Forest of Darkness has become a relatively manageable region among the scars left by the Towers. But besides this forest, several other Tower scars still threaten this world.”

“So Irregulars are deployed to the Towers to prevent them from going berserk?”

“That’s right. You understand perfectly.”

The man nodded in response to Seon Yul’s words.

“Now that I’ve explained everything about the Towers, you should tell me your ability. Once I find that out, I’ll report it to my superiors.”

While the man was speaking, Seon Yul decided he had already obtained most of the information he needed. And if there was no more information to gain… the only thing left was escaping from here.

Since Seon Yul had already inscribed the Absolute Space [tattoo] on his palm, he slowly opened his right hand.

“My ability is.”

Seon Yul interrupted the man and began speaking.

The man stopped talking and looked at Seon Yul, expecting an answer.

But contrary to the man’s expectations, Seon Yul did not give the answer he wanted.

Instead…

Shrrrk. Whip!

“Ghk!”

Seon Yul shot an Arachne thread at the man, and it instantly wrapped around the man’s neck.

The man struggled without even being able to scream.

Without hesitation, Seon Yul snapped his neck.

Crack.

Now that he clearly understood how the Empire thought about Irregulars and how it treated them, there was no way he could be on the same side as the Empire.

Which also meant the Empire had now become an enemy.

After easily eliminating the man who had been interrogating him, Seon Yul immediately opened an Absolute Space entrance.

Tsssss.

Then he pushed both hands, still wearing the handcuffs, into the entrance and closed it again.

Slice, clank!

The mana-freezing handcuffs were cut cleanly and fell to the floor.

After cutting them off, Seon Yul slowly looked around.

‘First rescue Li Yu… and then escape from here.’

Since the interrogator he had just killed had mentioned that Li Yu was being interrogated in another nearby room, rescuing her didn’t seem difficult.

BOOOOM!

After easily dealing with the nearby guards and smashing through the door to the room where Cheon Li Yu was being interrogated, Seon Yul immediately fired a bullet into the interrogator’s forehead.

Bang! Thud.

From fighting them, Seon Yul had realized that these people were not individuals who directly used mana.

Most of them fought using magical tools created through special methods, so firearms were extremely efficient weapons against them.

After all, when using the same weapon category, a gun’s attack speed was naturally much faster.

“Yul!”

The moment Cheon Li Yu saw Seon Yul, she looked both shocked and relieved.

“You did well. Let’s get out of here first.”

Seon Yul immediately opened an Absolute Space entrance beside Cheon Li Yu and escaped the place together with her.

It had been a major crisis caused by a brief moment of carelessness.

But fortunately, they had gained a lot of information… and managed to escape safely.

However, there was one thing they had definitely learned.

That was… this world was not an easy place.