Mana (1)
When Seon Yul was first ambushed, he had been slightly flustered.
Even though he had prepared various measures in advance for this kind of surprise attack, actually experiencing it for real inevitably caught him off guard.
Even so, his response was swift. Seon Yul constantly engaged in image training, and thanks to that, he was able to react quickly.
Since the fastest way to escape into Absolute Space was to open its entrance beneath his feet, the very moment something stabbed into his back, he immediately opened the entrance and fled.
Fortunately, his reaction speed was good. Having escaped into Absolute Space, Seon Yul was able to activate the Hyper Regeneration effect that triggered immediately.
Using his Super Regeneration ability, he pushed the chilling blade lodged in his back out of his body and, at the same time, launched a counterattack toward the outside.
He threw two strands of wire out through the entrance, intending to capture the enemy who would be nearby.
As Seon Yul had anticipated, the enemy was indeed close to the entrance. What followed needed no further explanation; everything proceeded smoothly in rapid succession, and the result was exactly as follows…
Drip… drip….
Drops of blood fell one by one onto the plastic sheet spread out on the floor.
And hanging over that plastic was a man.
His right arm had already been severed. But at this moment, the missing arm was not what mattered most to him.
“P-please… just kill me….”
The man, who had already endured hours of agony, simply wanted to die quickly.
But his opponent showed no intention whatsoever of granting him an easy death.
“Sorry, but I don’t think you’ve told me everything yet… Now then, let’s confirm it again from the beginning. Where did you say you belong?”
Having heard the same question already ten times, Citizen No. 95 felt like he was going insane.
He had already told his opponent everything he wanted to know.
But with the excuse of “confirming,” his opponent never stopped the torture.
“Gaaah!”
At the intense pain stabbing into his side, Citizen No. 95 trembled violently once more.
“Just what kind of… demon did I provoke?” Citizen No. 95 regretted it over and over.
The demon he had provoked…Or rather, Seon Yul possessed an extraordinary tenacity in certain aspects.
The greatest goal of his life was ‘safety.’
And if someone threatened that safety?
Then he could truly become a demon.
To those who threatened his safety, Seon Yul was fully confident that he could become something more vicious than any demon. He had no intention of killing Citizen No. 95 easily.
Seon Yul met malice with greater malice.
Toward those who harbored killing intent against him, he would not grant even a shred of mercy. So even after extracting all the information he needed, he continued to inflict further suffering on Citizen No. 95.
And, while he was at it, he squeezed out as much information as possible about the group called Baekdu Bloodline, to which the man claimed to belong.
Seon Yul judged that Baekdu Bloodline itself could potentially pose a major threat to his safety, so he tried to obtain even the smallest additional detail.
In the end, Citizen No. 95 died after enduring all manner of agony at Seon Yul’s hands, and Seon Yul obtained every piece of information he could from him.
[You have eliminated the mana user ‘Swordsman.’]
[Calculating your contribution related to the elimination of Swordsman.]
[Contribution 100%. All experience points and loot are awarded to you. Due to the PvP success bonus, acquired experience increases, and loot quality improves.]
[First PvP success. Bonus experience and additional loot are granted.]
[You have gained a large amount of experience. Your level has significantly increased (Lv. 22 → Lv. 24).]
“Wow… so this is why people kill other users.”
In an instant, Seon Yul understood why some users engaged in the forbidden act of PvP.
At his level in the 20s, gaining two levels at once was tremendous.
Compared to the experience granted by a monster of a similar level to Citizen No. 95, it was several times more… no, nearly ten times as much.
“Let’s tidy up and then think about what to do next.”
Seon Yul began cleaning up the plastic sheet spread on the floor. Since Citizen No. 95 had turned into smoke and vanished after death, there was no need to deal with a corpse separately.
After finishing the cleanup neatly, Seon Yul first entered the community to check his loot.
The loot obtained from killing Citizen No. 95 had already arrived by mail.
[Swordsman (PvP) Loot]
→ 1 High-Grade Magic Stone / 5.1 kg Intermediate-Grade Magic Stones / 34.2 kg Low-Grade Magic Stones
PvP loot consisted of a percentage of the magic stones the deceased user had actually possessed, plus additional rewards based on that user’s level. It was commonly known that killing a Hunter-class user would yield at least one High-Grade Magic Stone.
“Oh, looks like he had saved up quite a lot of magic stones.”
The amount of magic stones left behind by Citizen No. 95 was higher than expected.
Even for PvP, it was a sizable haul.
“If that’s the case, then what I currently have is….”
His current loot inventory was as follows:
1 High-Grade Magic Stone / 10.3 kg Intermediate-Grade Magic Stones / 34.2 kg Low-Grade Magic Stones / 5 Ogre Tendons / 16 Dire Wolf Fangs / 2 Orc Teeth / 2 Mithril Fragments / 4 Meteoric Iron Fragments / 3 Black Iron Fragments…
“It suddenly feels like I’ve got a lot.”
Judging by the loot alone, it looked like he could end the hunt here.
“Still, I should raise my level to 25 before calling it. And as for Baekdu Bloodline….”
While muttering to himself, Seon Yul suddenly seemed to recall something and reopened the community.
Then he began writing a post on the free bulletin board, which could be considered the core of the community.
What was unfortunate was that there was no search function on the free board.
If there had been one, Seon Yul would have already searched for information about Baekdu Bloodline long ago.
[Does anyone know about Baekdu Bloodline?]
That was all he wrote for both the title and the content.
Yet the moment he posted it, comments began pouring in.
[Does anyone know about Baekdu Bloodline?]
- You mean the Baekdu Bloodline active around Baekdu Mountain?
- Haven’t heard that trash guild’s name in a while.
- I’d recommend not getting involved with them if you can. Especially don’t go near Baekdu Mountain.
- Baekdu Bloodline? Who’s that?
- It’s a guild in Korea. The head is some bastard high-ranker called White Tiger… total piece of crap.
- Rumor says those guys secretly do PvP.
- Secretly? Nah, those bastards do PvP openly.
- Huh? Is that even possible? The Korean Management Bureau just lets them?
- There are political issues between China and Korea involved, so Baekdu Bloodline is profiting in the middle.
- But they’ve been crossing the line more and more lately. Feels like they might get crushed big time soon.
- Korea probably can’t directly touch Baekdu Bloodline because of China.
- If China and Korea worked together, they could wipe them out anytime.
- You think China and Korea will join hands? Doubt it…
- Even if not the Bureau, plenty of people have it out for them. Sooner or later, they’ll pay.
- I avoid the North Korea dungeon region because of those bastards.
- Heard a Korean high-ranker is already targeting them.
- Whatever the case, they’re clearly total scum.
……
……
The comments were continuing to pile up in real time, but Seon Yul felt no need to read further and closed the community window.
“They’re dangerous bastards….”
Seon Yul pondered further about Baekdu Bloodline.
“They’re clearly large in scale and not to be underestimated in skill….”
The head of Baekdu Bloodline, White Tiger, was one of the famous Twelve Heavens, with an estimated level of over 90.
In other words, a monster.
“There’s absolutely no situation where I should touch them first… but why does this make me so irritated?”
Muttering with a frown, Seon Yul felt the simmering annoyance.
In truth, this situation wasn’t quite severe enough to warrant such irritation. It was true that Seon Yul despised entities that threatened his safety, but for now, it was more of a potential danger than an immediate, tangible one.
Thus, he could calmly observe the situation further.
But even knowing that, his irritation persisted. Then he suddenly remembered reading that many mana users had experienced personality changes after awakening.
“Have I changed a bit after awakening, too?”
Thinking about it, it did feel somewhat true.
For example, choosing to confront an ogre not long ago was something the old Seon Yul would never have done.
“I need to be careful. Absolutely… I must not be swayed by the power of mana.”
There was an organization that claimed mana was a kind of virus and that mana users were beings infected by it. They were the ‘Old Blood,’ formally called the ‘Old Humanity Union.’
They were a small faction that operated under extremely radical logic and expressed their beliefs through terrorism… an obviously terrible method, so few people favored them.
Of course, Seon Yul did not agree with their assertions.
But he always believed one had to be cautious of mana.
Seon Yul believed that great power always came with a commensurate price.
“Mana is just a tool. Don’t forget that.”
Seon Yul tried not to become intoxicated by mana and lose something far more important.
In fact, mana of S-grade and above exerted a tremendously powerful influence.
Though the scale and direction of that influence differed depending on the grade and type of ability, mana was more than capable of changing a human being.
This was precisely the aspect Seon Yul instinctively guarded against.
And his ability grade was none other than EX.
As the only person in the world possessing an EX-grade awakening ability, the influence exerted on him was beyond imagination.
Yet Seon Yul instinctively guarded against it and continued to overcome it himself. Through this, one could indirectly sense just how powerful his obsession and inclination toward ‘safety’ truly were.
“For now, I’ll just be cautious and keep an eye on Baekdu Bloodline.”
After calmly suppressing the strange urge to immediately destroy Baekdu Bloodline, Seon Yul finished organizing his thoughts.
“Let’s hunt for just a few more days and quickly reach level 25.”
If he stayed here and happened to encounter another Baekdu Bloodline user, the dangerous emotions he had forced down might explode. So it was best to finish the hunt quickly and return.
“Set aside the emotional side… and if I judge that I can truly crush the head of Baekdu Bloodline, then I’ll move.”
Seon Yul had no intention of enduring forever.
Someday, he intended to smash the head of Baekdu Bloodline that had laid hands on him.
The most important point was whether, when crushing Baekdu Bloodline, his own safety could be completely secured. That was the key.
To achieve that, he naturally needed to grow stronger than he was now.
Having calmed his boiling anger somewhat, Seon Yul put in his wireless earphones and played Cheon Li Yu’s song.
To Seon Yul, Cheon Li Yu’s songs were a healing tool more comforting than anything else. For someone who preferred staying home over going outside, her music had been almost the only presence that soothed his weary heart.
“You’d better be ready to see me again next time.”
While listening to Cheon Li Yu’s song, Seon Yul sent a warning to Baekdu Bloodline.
Of course, Baekdu Bloodline would never hear that warning.
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