99. Lv.6 (2)
Nexus Core : Metallokinesis lv6[0/100]
lv.6.
I started testing in the quiet southern part of Cheonan City.
The weight capacity had naturally increased.
However, I couldn't lift buildings weighing tens of thousands of tons.
But lifting an entire floor level was possible.
This meant that dismantling buildings had become a bit easier.
'It actually works.'
After trying various experiments, I figured out it was around 200t.
200t might sound like just a number, but since Metallokinesis only has a limit on the weight it can lift at once, it also became possible to float buildings in the sky and throw them.
The problem is, the speed remains the same?
Lighter objects could move at bullet speed, but anything heavier than a vehicle couldn't exceed a certain speed.
Still, it got slightly faster than before.
This will probably increase more as the level goes up, too.
But that wasn't the important part.
Weight and speed aside, something else increased tremendously.
It felt like... how should I put it, my dominance over things containing a certain amount of metal had increased?
To be precise, it felt like my control over the superpower had increased along with that dominance.
Before, to block incoming bullets, I had to constantly exert dominance over the metal around me.
It was the same when using my ability.
I felt like I had to be paying attention to block other attacks, too.
But now, I didn't have to pay attention.
It feels like using it instinctively?
For example, if I wanted to tear off metal and shape it into a barricade, I used to have to think about it and apply force to the object, but now, the ability is used the moment I think about it.
The ability naturally blocked the incoming monster's tentacle the moment I didn't even perceive it.
A huge difference.
This difference was significant.
Because now, even this is possible.
I felt my body floating.
Not on a metal platform, but the feeling of attaching metal to various parts of my body to float.
Control.
Dominance.
'......'
Nexus Energy.
What on earth is this?
Some kind of energy that humans don't know about.
Quiet southern Cheonan. I drove down to I-Pension.
#
It became June 24th.
I killed the Abomination in Cheongju again, but the Nexus Core didn't go up.
Nexus Core : Metallokinesis lv6[0/100]
Still at 0.
If this is the case, it means I have to catch an Infected stronger than an Abomination to level it up.
If I wander around, I'll figure it out somehow.
Especially... the Cheonan Hive.
It's still fine for now.
A Wave hasn't appeared yet either. Or rather, to be precise, it just hasn't appeared when I went there.
'I really need to set aside a day to go check it out.'
ㅡSwaaaaaa
I looked outside from the pension rooftop.
I can see rainwater falling on the barricade that Ha-eun and I made.
Nothing can be seen outside.
"Ugh..."
Beside me, Seo-yoon is lying on the bed, whining.
"Sleep more."
"...I'm on surveillance duty. This time. Yawn... I have to go in 20 minutes."
"Do you stand guard every day?"
"Yes. But it's gotten better lately. Hmm... it would be nice if we had surveillance cameras or something."
"Surveillance cameras? Can't we use them?"
"No. I asked, and they said we need something like wireless methods and local formats or whatever."
"Who?"
"Young-jin-ajusshi."
"Young-jin-ssi knows about that stuff?"
"Yes. That's what he said."
Cameras, huh.
It would be nice to install them, though.
"But he said it's not very good. There are surprisingly many blind spots. Especially since our main base is fine, but the Multi side doesn't work."
"Is that so."
"Yes. But..."
"Why?"
"With weather like this, will the crops be okay?"
"They said it's fine. The harvest is the same, too."
"That's true, but it's a really amazing ability."
It is amazing, indeed.
Because it's an ability that affects the plants themselves.
Animal growth ability... come to think of it, I don't think there's an animal growth ability.
Wouldn't they just age if you used it on a person?
Maybe Taming is an ability similar to Plant Growth, though.
Since I don't know what abilities exist.
If only Lee Cheol-woo had been alive back then, I could have gotten it, or no, if I had just saved a few people from the bunker, I could have gotten it.
I guess I was too on edge back then.
As I was thinking that, I saw Seo-yoon's face staring at me quietly.
"What were we talking about?"
"Abilities."
"Abilities. Right. Superpowers. The amazing ones are your ability and mine."
"...Now that I think about it, that's true?"
"Right?"
"Yes. But still, it's not like the other abilities aren't amazing. Like who was it. Jin-woo-ssi's girlfriend Ha-eun-ssi's ability too."
"That's true, too. Taming is also amazing."
"That's right. A-rin-ssi. She's been really scary lately."
"It is absurd that animals get beaten to death by chickens."
The farming is perfect.
The animals are doing well, too.
Especially as A-rin's ability has leveled up, most of the chickens and chicks are under control.
One day, there were carcasses of weasels or stray cats, so I asked, and it seemed like she controlled the chickens to gang up on them.
After that, she said the attacks haven't disappeared entirely, but they have decreased.
Seo-yoon chewed on her lips.
"...I wish we could just live like this."
"Like this? We should be more greedy. We should have internet, and order pizza and chicken like before."
"I want to eat pizza. Suddenly."
"Exactly."
I've thought about it once before, but no matter how much we gain abilities and do things here, we can't go back to before civilization.
The benefits of civilization that humans built up. A country that has completely disappeared.
"But we do eat roast chicken."
"Because we have an oven?"
"Yes. And... everyone knows how to cook."
People say cooking is hard, but unless you're truly hopeless, you can do it if you have a cookbook.
I did it a lot when I lived alone, too.
"Time's up. I'll get going."
"Alright."
"Yawn. Oppa, you should rest too. You've been wandering around too much lately."
"Yeah."
Seo-yoon trots off to the next pension.
I quietly looked outside.
The place I made.
15 people at the main base.
12 people at the Multi.
Total of 27 people.
It's a really small number, but it's a group that is somehow being maintained thanks to the power of superpowers.
Since I've been going back and forth for over a month and cleared out the entire area around Bugang-myeon and the Nami-myeon pension, this side is safe for now.
ㅡSwaaaaaa
Looking at the rainy night sky, I thought about what Seo-yoon said earlier.
'I wish we could just live like this, huh.'
I suppose so.
Infected.
Raiders.
Because surviving like this is better than fighting and clashing with IN Company and the warlords.
However, the Infected are constantly multiplying, and the enemies who are still alive are probably constantly doing stupid things.
First, IN Company.
'The IN Company Chairman is dead.'
He died, and the director-level personnel died too, but they probably aren't all dead.
People like Chief Researcher Lee Cheol-woo or those with branch manager positions, or major shareholders who know a lot about IN Company's information, or even people who somehow avoided the Chairman's contract at IN Company.
Those kinds of people are probably surviving and doing stupid things in IN Company bunkers at headquarters in various places.
That's not all.
The group in Chungju.
There's also the group that Lee Ha-yoon and who was it, Choi Woo-hyun? They went to.
Surviving in a world like this means they have that much power. It wouldn't be bad to go see them once.
Because I definitely need to get a Communication ability user.
'I need to save people, too.'
Because there might be another survivor group, just like how I saved Lee Jin-woo's group last time.
But not having communication was a bit of a problem.
Since I can't go beyond 5km, I couldn't know if a danger arose at our base.
'Hyun-jun, who manipulates water, is strong, though.'
There's a limit to doing it alone.
Maybe I might have to level him up to lv.5 later.
# "I'll be back. If anything happens, call Hyun-jun immediately."
"Okay."
The next night.
I flew into the sky alone, wrapped up tightly from head to toe.
Now that I can float my body and move faster than a car, there was no need to travel by car.
'Is there no such thing as teleportation?'
Like a portal or something.
It would be really nice if there was something like that.
Thinking that, I flew over the countryside.
There were no people in Bugang-myeon and Nami-myeon.
Even though I saw So-young and Seol-hwa a few times.
I understand.
This area is a place where there are only old people. The towns and townships of South Korea are gradually disappearing. Young people are going to Seoul, or if not Seoul, to the metropolitan area.
The elderly are dying.
On top of that, the countryside is a place with its own local cliques, so all sorts of dirty things happen there.
These were the kinds of places that were disappearing because that perception was ingrained in young people.
And... those kinds of people can't survive against the Infected. Even if they had superpowers, they would have died without even being able to use them properly.
Therefore, if there were people in places like this, it was highly likely that most of them were people who survived in the city like us.
Or a group of young people who lived in the countryside.
I arrived in Cheongju.
'Cheongju is definitely big.'
The places I saw were the southwest and south. And the east. I haven't seen the northwest at all.
And I haven't even touched the small villages surrounding Cheongju.
'Nami-myeon and Bugang-myeon were huge, too.'
It's been almost 7 months since the fall, starting from 6 months. This amount of time was enough to make the city center a dangerous place.
Of course, since Cheongju only has Abominations, it's not that dangerous to walk around the city center, but since superpowers are extremely weak at low levels, there was a limit to everything.
Unless it's people who are hunkering down or groups that survived by killing the Infected themselves, it's probably at a point where you can't see any normal people anymore.
Still, humans are tenacious.
They also have the ability to resist the Infected.
'Like Jin-woo's group.'
I thought about looking for more people later.
'There will definitely be people raiding marts or logistics centers like last time.'
Of course, the warlords in Chungju and the Communication ability user were the priority, though.
I continued to head upwards.