Easy. So Easy (1)
Beijing, China.
Inside the secret conference room of the Dimension Management Bureau, another confidential report was underway.
“The Magic Power Golden Pill has been completed.”
Wang Chu Qin, the head of the Magic Dao City under the Dimension Management Bureau, reported with a pleased expression to the Director General.
“What is the awakening success rate?”
However, unlike Wang Chu Qin, the Director General asked with a very cold expression.
“We have currently raised it to 40%.”
“Hmm… Then what about the duration of the awakening?”
“From a minimum of one week to a maximum of four months.”
“And lastly, what about the awakening rank?”
“The rank varies from the Human-class at minimum up to the Earth-class. Theoretically, Heaven-class should also be possible, but it hasn’t appeared in the results yet.”
“Is the Transcendent-of-Heaven class impossible?”
“Yes… That seems impossible.”
“And if awakening fails, the person who takes it still dies?”
“Yes. If awakening fails, a normal human body cannot endure the remaining mana… so there’s nothing we can do about that.”
“Death is fine. We began this research fully aware of that level of risk… But isn’t the awakening rate too low?”
“With a bit more research, it seems we can raise it to about 50%.”
“And the duration is too short as well. Try to extend it so the minimum lasts one month and the maximum about half a year.”
“Understood.”
“Well, you’ve worked hard. At least at this level, we can use it for urgent matters.”
“Yes. For now, we still have 16 Magic Power Golden Pills produced for experimental use.”
“Hm… How much production can we manage?”
“Because many rare materials are required, for now, the limit is about three per month. However, we are aiming to actively secure more materials and increase production to ten per month.”
“Twenty per month. Make that the goal.”
“Understood.”
“And use those 16 experimental Magic Power Golden Pills to create the first batch of the Magic Dao Elite Army.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to organize the Magic Dao Elite Army after we’ve produced more Golden Pills?”
“Of course, the proper Magic Dao Elite Army will be created after we accumulate more than fifty Golden Pills. The first batch we’re making now has another purpose. Just think of it as a live combat experiment.”
“Understood.”
Since the Director General had spoken this far, Wang Chu Qin simply nodded without saying anything further.
In truth, Director General Lü Xiao had a clear reason for rushing to create this experimental Magic Dao Elite Army.
“If we think of it as a live combat experiment… There is something that can be dealt with using this Magic Dao Elite Army.”
There was something Lü Xiao absolutely had to accomplish before this year ended, but recently that task had been running into many obstacles.
Because of that, his headaches had grown severe lately. But just as he heard that the Magic Power Golden Pill had reached a certain level of completion, he began to think about using it to solve one of those obstacles.
“If that one thing can be handled, it won’t matter even if the entire Magic Dao Elite Army dies…”
To the Dimension Management Bureau, the Magic Dao Elite Army was merely expendable troops.
While other countries researched ways to create semi-permanent artificial awakened users by equipping special gear or performing grafting procedures, China’s starting point had been entirely different.
They developed a drug that forcibly awakened ordinary humans who possessed no awakening abilities.
Through that, in a certain sense, they completed a technology that could truly be called artificial awakening.
Of course, it could not be permanent.
Nevertheless, China did not care at all. After all, the resource they possessed in greatest abundance was ‘humans.’
And so they continued this plan without the slightest hesitation.
***
After resting comfortably in Jeju Island and searching for a gate to challenge together with Cheon Li Yu, Seon Yul contacted her when the week was nearing its end.
“This time I’m thinking of raising the difficulty a bit… though it won’t really be difficult for you since you’ll still be operating inside my Absolute Space like before. Do you have the time?”
[Actually, I spent the past week organizing things. I told my agency that I’m taking about a year off, and I’ve resolved all the other minor issues. I have plenty of time now!]
Cheon Li Yu described them as minor issues, but in reality, they were anything but minor.
There were penalties for canceling already-signed advertisements, declining television appearances she had agreed to, and even delaying the release of her album.
The reason she went this far was simple.
The three weeks she spent with Seon Yul had genuinely been enjoyable.
After awakening her Divine Eye ability and becoming a mana user, Cheon Li Yu had put great effort into hiding the fact that she was a mana user.
And during that process, she had been forced to see unwanted glimpses of the future, which had been extremely exhausting.
However, strangely enough, after meeting Seon Yul, the number of unwanted future visions had drastically decreased.
In fact, during the entire three weeks they hunted together, her future vision ability had not activated even once.
Not only that.
While helping Seon Yul, Cheon Li Yu experienced a vivid sense of freedom she had never felt before.
During those three weeks, she felt emotions countless times that she had never experienced, no matter how much she sang.
Because of that, she let many things go.
Money was still plentiful even after paying all the penalties, and she had never cared much about popularity anyway.
Now there was only one thing she wanted.
To live vividly as a mana user alongside Seon Yul.
“Then would it be alright if I come in two days?”
[Tomorrow works! Actually, even today works!]
As always, Cheon Li Yu answered enthusiastically.
Seeing her attitude, Seon Yul chuckled slightly and replied.
“I’ll come early the morning after tomorrow.”
[Okay!!]
After ending the call, Seon Yul immediately stood up.
If he wanted to pick up Cheon Li Yu early the morning after tomorrow, he had to reach the destination first and open Absolute Space there in advance.
There was no need to bring her along for a long-distance journey.
“The destination is…”
Seon Yul checked the route he had prepared in advance once more and looked at the final destination written there.
The Hawaiian Islands.
The place Seon Yul intended to visit this time was an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, once known as Hawaii.
Now it was an uninhabited island.
The reason was that after the ‘Hell Flame’ gate… one of the so-called ‘Unconquerable Gates’, opened on the Big Island of Hawaii, the influence of that gate eventually spread to the other islands as well.
In the end, the entire Hawaiian archipelago had effectively become part of the Hell Flame Gate itself.
So why had the Hell Flame Gate become an unconquerable gate?
The biggest reason was simple.
Even at this very moment, lava was endlessly pouring out from the Hell Flame Gate.
The Hell Flame Gate continuously spewed a special kind of lava, and that lava had completely covered the entire Big Island.
Not only that, but it also extended its influence to the neighboring islands… Maui, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Kauaʻi, and others, turning every island in the Hawaiian archipelago into a den of flame-type monsters.
Because of that, to raid the gate, one would first have to cross the sea and land on an island covered in lava.
But the problem was that flame-type monsters also emerged in the surrounding seas near the lava-covered islands.
Even if one managed to land on the Big Island and attempt to raid the gate directly, the island itself was completely covered in Mana Lava, far hotter than ordinary lava… making it impossible even to find a place to step.
Since the Hell Flame Gate was fundamentally a raid gate, the only way to clear it was to eliminate the ‘Flame Soul,’ which had taken residence atop the volcano on the Big Island and was responsible for all of this.
But approaching it alone was already extremely difficult.
To make matters worse, the Flame Soul possessed a signature ability called ‘Flame Aura,’ which emitted powerful mana waves that transformed nearby living creatures into flame-type monsters.
As a result, countless flame-type monsters now roamed the Hawaiian Islands.
In the sea, fish transformed by Flame Aura rampaged wildly.
On the other islands, countless flame-type animals wandered about.
Under such circumstances, conquering the gate was naturally extremely difficult.
Moreover, since the gate was located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, abandoning it was simply faster than trying to conquer it.
The Flame Soul itself was an SS++-rank monster.
On top of that, it was not an ordinary monster but both a spirit-type and a psychic-type entity, making it particularly troublesome to deal with.
The Big Island, where the Flame Soul resided, was entirely covered in lava.
In the nearby seas, fish wrapped in blazing flames swam everywhere.
On the nearby islands, countless animals engulfed in flames roamed around.
Given such conditions, abandoning the SS++ Hell Flame Gate was perhaps an inevitable decision.
Since approaching it was already extremely difficult, it was not even attractive as a hunting ground.
Thus, ever since the Hell Flame Gate appeared five years ago, the Hawaiian Islands had effectively become abandoned land.
So then, how did Seon Yul intend to conquer a gate in this place that had turned into hell?
The starting point of the strategy began on Niʻihau Island, the westernmost island of Hawaii.
Niʻihau was the most intact island in the archipelago.
It barely lay outside the influence of the Flame Aura emitted by the Flame Soul, so no monsters contaminated by Flame Aura existed there.
However, the surrounding environment had already become far too dangerous for humans to live in.
A mandatory evacuation order had long ago been issued, and everyone had left.
Since then, the island had remained like a ghost island.
Tsss
Seon Yul opened the entrance to Absolute Space and stepped onto Niʻihau Island together with Cheon Li Yu.
“Wow… the scenery…”
Cheon Li Yu had naturally visited many places famous for their beauty around the world, but the untouched appearance of the Hawaiian Islands… left alone by human hands for years, was beautiful enough to make even her gasp in admiration.
“This place is really nice.”
Seon Yul had always thought the scenery of Jeju Island was beautiful, but after coming here, that thought changed completely.
However, the two had not come here for sightseeing.
They immediately began their work.
Their final goal was the Flame Soul.
But the Flame Soul was roughly 550 km away from Niʻihau Island, so they could not reach it in one go.
Therefore, Seon Yul and Cheon Li Yu planned to use the islands of Hawaii as stepping stones to gradually approach the Big Island, where the Flame Soul resided.
Of course, along the way, they would have to eliminate countless flame-type monsters.
Flame-type monsters were animals transformed into monsters by Flame Aura.
Geese, turtles, seals, cats, dogs, and many other animals had become monsters.
All of them were wrapped in blazing flames and attacked anything that approached.
Their rank was at most around B-class, but their numbers were enormous, making them extremely annoying.
Nevertheless, Seon Yul and Cheon Li Yu easily swept them aside, hopping from island to island like stepping stones until they eventually reached Maui Island, right next to the Big Island.
At the eastern tip of Maui Island.
The two stood while looking at the distant Big Island.
Even though the islands were at least 50 km apart, the heat radiating from the Big Island was so intense that Seon Yul and Cheon Li Yu felt hot just looking at it.
“How… do we get there?”
Using her Divine Eye, Cheon Li Yu examined the Big Island thoroughly.
But no matter how she looked at it, the island was nothing but lava.
Landing there seemed impossible.
“We’re not going.”
Seon Yul answered with a faint smile.
“To conquer the gate, don’t we have to eliminate that… huge flame in the center of the island?”
“Yes. That flame is probably the Flame Soul. Of course, we need to eliminate it.”
“But can we defeat it without landing on the island?”
“We can. And there’s not just one way.”
Honestly, the easiest method would have been the Hammer of God.
Dropping one Hammer of God strike onto the Big Island would probably shatter the Flame Soul completely.
But Seon Yul felt there was no need to go that far.
“Anyway, this fight will become a battle of range. The biggest reason the Flame Soul hasn’t been conquered by other users so far is probably because of its ridiculously wide combat territory.”
Seon Yul smiled slightly while looking toward the Big Island.
“If we compare it to boxing, it’s like having arms so long that the opponent can’t even land a proper punch and ends up giving up the match… But what should we do?”
He grinned.
“Our arms are even longer.”
The ‘our arms’ Seon Yul referred to was a special long-range bombardment weapon strengthened through enchantment.
The Railgun.
Comments (0)