Seeing (2)
***
To make use of Cheon Li Yu’s ability, they first needed to clearly understand its limitations.
“Do you see Namsan Tower over there?”
“Yes.”
“Can you share your vision up to that point?”
“Hmm… I think it might be difficult… but should I try?”
“Hmm, then how about across that bridge over there?”
“I think I’d have to try to know.”
“Then let’s start with Namsan Tower.”
At the same time as he spoke, Seon Yul held out his hand, and Cheon Li Yu naturally took it.
Then she immediately looked toward Namsan Tower and activated her Divine Eye.
Fwoooosh.
Her vision narrowed at once. Up to this point, there was naturally no problem.
The important thing was whether it could be shared.
After securing the target within her sight, she began concentrating mentally to attempt the sharing.
1 minute… 2 minutes… 5 minutes.
“Puhah…”
After concentrating with all her might for five full minutes, she failed to share the vision.
“I’m sorry….”
Cheon Li Yu apologized with a truly apologetic expression.
“No. You didn’t do anything wrong, so there’s no need to apologize. Then perhaps across that bridge, would that be possible?”
“I’ll definitely succeed this time!”
Clenching both fists with determination at Seon Yul’s words, Cheon Li Yu nodded resolutely.
She took Seon Yul’s hand again and focused her mind.
20 seconds… 40 seconds… 1 minute.
Paaaah!
After grinding her teeth and trying for a full minute, she finally succeeded in sharing her vision.
Sweat poured down her like rain, and her body trembled slightly.
Anyone could see she was making a tremendous effort, so Seon Yul judged that this was close to the limit of her vision-sharing range.
“Roughly about 1 kilometer… The time it takes to share and the sharing distance are slightly disappointing, but it’ll still be extremely helpful.”
After confirming enough, Seon Yul closed his eyes and released the connection.
Even if it wasn’t Cheon Li Yu, Seon Yul could end the shared vision whenever he wanted. This was something Cheon Li Yu herself didn’t even know; Seon Yul had discovered it through various tests.
If he simply closed his eyes and firmly willed himself to end the sharing, it would break.
“Puh…”
As Seon Yul released the connection, Cheon Li Yu, who had been concentrating, exhaled roughly and lowered her head.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, yes!”
Cheon Li Yu replied brightly, but thanks to the repeated tests, it was obvious she was already a little exhausted.
“Is it because her level is low? It feels like she’s clearly lacking stamina or mana. Ah! Maybe… if she levels up, obtains Stigma points, and uses them to further upgrade her awakened ability the Divine Eye, then the vision sharing distance might increase as well.”
Various thoughts crossed his mind, but he didn’t bother telling Cheon Li Yu.
To Seon Yul, she was still a stranger.
He personally liked her singing, and it was true that she was currently of significant help to him, but even so, she was still a stranger.
So he didn’t feel the need to share such personal thoughts.
“Well, she’ll figure it out on her own.”
Seon Yul tried to maintain as much distance from Cheon Li Yu as possible.
It was true that her ability was incredibly appealing, but at the same time, he was worried he might grow too attached.
He knew that power he could not control could eventually cut him like a double-edged sword, so he treated her with caution and restraint.
“Let’s rest a bit… then move that way.”
Regardless of maintaining distance or being cautious, until the invasion event ended, he planned to make full use of her abilities, so he intended to rely on her help for movement as well.
Moving roughly 1 km at a time… Given Seon Yul’s originally slow movement speed, felt comparable to riding a KTX high-speed train.
There was only one catch.
For such movement, Cheon Li Yu would also have to enter and exit Absolute Space together with him.
But there was a clear solution to that problem.
***
After Cheon Li Yu recovered somewhat, Seon Yul immediately used her help to secure vision across the river toward Hannam Station.
Then he opened two entrances to Absolute Space, one on each side.
Jiiiiing.
“You can enter here.”
“Y-Yes? Y-You want me to go in here?”
“Yes. There’s no need to be afraid. It’s just a passage that leads out on the other side.”
“Ah… okay!”
Though still slightly frightened, Cheon Li Yu trusted Seon Yul and stepped into the Absolute Space entrance before her.
Surprisingly, the moment she entered, she immediately emerged from the Absolute Space entrance that had been opened near Hannam Station on the opposite side.
It looked exactly like two entrances connected directly as a passage.
This was possible because Seon Yul had overlapped the two Absolute Space entrances inside Absolute Space itself.
In other words, although Cheon Li Yu had technically entered Absolute Space, since the entrances overlapped internally, she had simply brushed past and exited from the other side.
This was the solution Seon Yul had devised.
He didn’t particularly like revealing that such movement was possible, but to continue making use of Cheon Li Yu’s ability, he had no choice but to show this much.
Swoosh.
Seon Yul followed Cheon Li Yu and moved the same way, then closed both entrances to Absolute Space.
“Wow… That’s an incredible ability.”
Cheon Li Yu muttered in amazement.
“Isn’t that something the one who sees the future shouldn’t be saying?”
“I-Is that so?”
In truth, her future sight was not an ability she could control but rather one that burdened her. Still, it was true that she could see the future, so she had no rebuttal.
“For now, we don’t have time. Let’s keep moving.”
Seon Yul’s goal was Gate No. 1 near Namsan Tower.
Originally, he had planned to go to Gate No. 2 first, but with high-speed movement now possible thanks to Cheon Li Yu, he changed his mind.
“In the end, destroying Gate No. 1 will end this chaos.”
He intended to solve the root problem and quickly conclude the invasion event.
[1st Invasion Event]
—> Location: Central Seoul, Republic of Korea
—> Participants: 116
—> Destroyed Gates: 3 / 5 / 6 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 15 / 16
—> Time Remaining: [5 hours 01 minutes 44 seconds]
[Real-time Contribution Rankings:
AbsoluteSafetyFirst 85.74% / No Particular Reason 9.74% / Fast Blade 0.7% / Shadow King 0.6% / Double Counter 0.4% … (omitted)]
- I get AbsoluteSafetyFirst, but who the hell is No Particular Reason?
- Never seen that ID before.
- Is another super rookie appearing?
- Not super, more like a promising rookie at best.
- Seems like it’s trendy these days for unknown IDs to suddenly pop up. This is why the ID-only registration system is a problem. At least basic personal info should be registered so we know who’s who.
- Are you a Bureau employee?
- Bureau employees can get lost~ How dare you try to break the most important principle?
- But don’t most people register basic info anyway for the benefits?
- Nope, I don’t.
- Usually, the ones who don’t are NEU guys.
- Why are you idiots talking nonsense on an event announcement? If you want to argue about user registration, make a separate thread.
- Anyway, AbsoluteSafetyFirst is still holding firm. At this point, isn’t he basically at the Twelve Heaven level, the Korean hyper-ranker standard?
- That comparison’s a bit much.
- I think it’s fair. Twelve Heaven isn’t some sacred being, and with AbsoluteSafetyFirst’s current presence, it’s enough to compare.
- You can compare if you want, but he’s not at Twelve Heaven’s level yet.
- If AbsoluteSafetyFirst destroys Gate No. 1, then in terms of fame, he’ll be practically on the same level as Twelve Heaven.
- Will it really happen? I hope it does and reduces the damage.
……
……
The community announcement board was still burning with activity.
Separately from that, Director Jeong of the Northern District Office situation room spoke with a stiff expression.
“You still haven’t identified ‘No Particular Reason’?”
“No… The ID isn’t even registered.”
“A completely unregistered user?”
“Yes.”
“Is it even possible for such a user to perform at that level?”
“…We don’t know. Lately, too many new users have been breaking common sense.”
“First AbsoluteSafetyFirst, now No Particular Reason… I don’t know whether to be happy or worried.”
Director Jeong tilted his head slightly as he muttered.
“What about the reconnaissance results for Gate No. 1?”
He decided to set aside what he couldn’t figure out and verify what he could.
“There’s no significant movement yet. It hasn’t budged from the Namsan area, and when it first appeared in Sydney four years ago, it showed the same pattern.”
“Mountain Turtle… Of all things, why did it have to be this raid monster…”
The A-rank raid monster Mountain Turtle resembled a massive turtle.
When it moved, it looked as if an entire mountain was shifting. It first appeared near Sydney four years ago and took a full twelve hours of combined effort from the Australian Bureau and users to defeat.
All that raid data still existed, so it wasn’t unbeatable.
But the problem was Mountain Turtle’s characteristic.
It would tuck its head and limbs into its heavily armored shell and remain stationary.
This was its “Defensive Stance,” and in this state, dealing damage to it was nearly impossible.
Its body was covered in a shell with extremely high defense, so hitting it did almost nothing.
Even if you tried to attack the openings where its head or legs retreated, hardened shell-like plates would protrude and block them.
So no matter where you struck, it was the same.
To defeat Mountain Turtle, you had to pour damage into its exposed head and legs when it extended them to move or attack.
However, when it emerged from a gate, Mountain Turtle immediately entered Defensive Stance and began gathering surrounding mana—meaning it couldn’t currently be attacked even if they wanted to.
Four years ago in Sydney, not knowing this trait, they had wasted firepower and suffered more for it.
Now, the strategy was official documentation, so they wouldn’t repeat that mistake. But they also couldn’t simply wait.
If it were an ordinary raid gate, they could wait and then attack… but this time, there was a clear and rather short time limit for completion.
Which meant, ultimately, time was on Mountain Turtle’s side.
“About five hours remaining… If Mountain Turtle doesn’t move within the next two hours, deploy all available firepower solely against Mountain Turtle.”
Director Jeong made his decision.
“And if Mountain Turtle moves before that, all Bureau strike teams and the Oracle Response Team will converge on Gate No. 1 and engage it.”
This was the best decision available to him.
“Transmit this information and Mountain Turtle’s strategy in detail to all event participants.”
Since the core of the invasion event was destroying Gate No. 1, if that failed, destroying all the other gates would mean nothing.
But when you combined all of this information, it could also be interpreted as meaning that attacking Gate No. 1 was difficult for the time being.
And the moment the Bureau sent detailed emails to all event participants…
Two people read that message and sensed something was wrong.
The two were staring at the gigantic, mountain-like Mountain Turtle in the distance.
They were Seon Yul and Cheon Li Yu.
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