Chapter 28 Part3 (1/2)
<chapter 28.=”” kratia's=”” quest=”” -=”” 3=””>
Prince recognized the fact that she was weaker than Kratia, and it seemed like the situation was somehow resolved... but unfortunately, the situation didn't progress so smoothly.
The joint operation... she hadn't even asked Lee s.h.i.+n Woo's group to work together with her, yet she insisted that, as heroes, they had to clear the training facility together.
”We're going to the next level. Train by yourself. I don't like you.”
”The next level? Don't lie. You came here before me? You came to the Empire a lot later than me, so how!?”
”I can prove it to you.”
”Keuk, that's a seal of completion... How!?”
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo let Kratia and Prince bicker, and went to explore the facility alone... No, he and Jin moved secretly and explored with Rem. There were two things that was surprising about this facility. One, it was huge, and two, mana was filling it to the brim.
[It looks like they used golem techniques as well. It cannot carry out specific commands, but a simple core was inserted that can carry out simple repet.i.tive commands.]
”Looks that way. ...That looks like you could use it to train knights, too.”
There was a corner of the facility that made him think of an amus.e.m.e.nt park. Starting from the entrance, he followed the guide through the facility and would go from one building-shaped training ground to another.
The difference between it and an amus.e.m.e.nt park was that there was a specific order one had to go through. And...
”It seems like there's no safety equipment...”
”I'll get scared, so don't say stuff like that.”
”But Kratia's right. It'll definitely help in controlling mana.”
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo secretly glanced back. Kratia and Prince looked like they were still arguing, so he left them behind and entered the first facility. Then, he heard a mechanical sounding voice in his ear. It was a similar sound to that of a golem activating.
[Beginning first training exercise. Testing how quickly the user can gather their mana.]
[Three partic.i.p.ants in the training exercise. Beginning training exercise. Please gather enough mana to use intermediate magic at minimum.]
”Aha, so they do start with the fundamentals after all.”
”Huh? I have to do this too.”
[Master, if you give me the order, I will destroy the facility's central hub. Probability of success: 80%.]
”For now, just do as it says.”
[I understand.]
If it just wanted him to gather his mana into one spot, then he could've done this when he was level 1, but by adding the intermediate magic stipulation, they were probably testing how fast one could gather their mana, as well as one's maximum capacity. To be honest, it wasn't all that difficult, so he did it immediately.
[Beginning second training exercise. Testing ability to infuse mana, as well as how much is lost during the transfer.]
[Three partic.i.p.ants in the training exercise. Beginning training exercise. Please infuse mana into the rock falling from above and stop it.]
”Huh?”
The message ended and at the same time, a giant rock suddenly fell from above their heads! Jin was taken aback, but Lee s.h.i.+n Woo fired out mana that was acc.u.mulated in his hand and concentrated it into the rock. In addition, he used his connection with Jin to transfer the mana Jin had gathered to the rock as well.
Rem could control mana well, as it possessed the Mana Parasite ability, and was easily able to infuse its mana into the rock. The moment the three's mana was completely infused, the once falling rock stopped in place. It was set up so that if an adequate amount of mana was infused, then the rock would stop falling.
”There's a limit to how inhospitable you can be; they're trying to kills us!”
”Get a hold of yourself, Jin. You won't die if you get hit by a rock like this anymore.”
”...Ah, you're right.”
[Pa.s.sed. Beginning third training exercise. Testing rapid concentration and multiple infusions of mana.]
[Three partic.i.p.ants in the training exercise. Beginning training exercise. Please infuse a sufficient amount of mana into each and every rock that comes flying in every direction.]
The third training exercise was even more ridiculous. There were cannons that seemed to spring out from everywhere within the vast facility; they aimed for Lee s.h.i.+n Woo's party and sharp rocks were shot at them from every direction!
Moreover, their mission objective was not to destroy or evade the rocks, but to infuse an adequate amount of mana into them to stop them! Jin was astonished once more, but Lee s.h.i.+n Woo immediately progressed with the mission. To be honest, this was nothing compared to the complexity of making the Steelworker seal.
'All I have to do is calculate how much mana they need before they stop, and divide my mana and infuse it into them.'
The amount of mana he needed to use to stop each rock was identical. But before the rocks came close, he would have to sense them, fire his mana at a long-range, and infuse it into them, which was a bit complex. However, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo was capable of this level of mana control when he was level 3, so he was able to do it easily.
But Jin was the problem.
”Hey! Why aren't you stopping the ones coming at me! Hey!”
”You have to practice too. It may look like it doesn't apply to you, but if you become able to control mana in a mult.i.tude of ways, then all of your abilities will get stronger.”
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo said provokingly as he shot out his mana everywhere and accurately hit the rocks.
After that, Jin was struck by quite a few more rocks (it didn't hurt much since he was covered in steel armor, but he felt quite bad) and gritted his teeth, then tried his best to imitate Lee s.h.i.+n Woo. Of course, it wasn't that easy.
”No, not that way. You have to control it a bit more thoroughly. It seems like they won't stop if you infuse too much mana.”
”How is this even possible!?”
But after continuously getting hit by the rocks, Jin concentrated more on his magic control, even if he was doing it out of anger. After 7 minutes of being struck by the barrage of rocks, he finally succeeded in infusing the right amount of mana into a rock! At that very moment, the rocks that had once been flying at them vanished.
[Ending training exercise. Pa.s.sed: 2, Failed: 1.]
[Would you like to kick out the failure and continue with the next training exercise? Or would you like to retrain with the failure?]
”This guy is doing this on purpose, isn't he!? He ended it here on purpose, didn't he!?”
”Calm down. If you get too excited, then you'll forget what it felt like!”
”I don't care. I'll just destroy it all!”
Right when Jin was about to destroy the facility with his mouth cannon, the training was suspended and Kratia walked onto the premises. Prince was with her, though it looked like she still didn't understand what was going on.
”s.h.i.+n Woo, we don't have time to waste on the basic training facility.”
”Yeah, if you want to a.s.sess this frustrating kid's ability, then you have to go further in.”
”So wait, you decided to work together?”
”So long as they follow us and don't say anything.”
”Keuk.”
”Oh...”
It seemed as though an individual who had previously pa.s.sed the training exercises can skip those facilities; it looked like companions could go with them as well. Hearing that, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo thought briefly and got down from Jin's back.
'You're going to follow them!?'
'I trust you. Plus, you need this training. Well, see you later.'
'Hey...!'
Jin was so surprised that he leap up, but Lee s.h.i.+n Woo just grinned and patted him. Once Prince entered, Rem went into stealth mode and hid itself. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo placed Rem atop Jin's back so that it wouldn't be noticed.
'Rem, just make sure this guy doesn't die.'
'I understand.'
Kratia, who had been watching that interaction, noticed that Rem went into stealth mode, but didn't say anything. That was because she realized that Lee s.h.i.+n Woo was trying to hide a few facts that stemmed from him being a skeleton.