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I accepted the ginseng, its roots so thick they felt heavy. There was no reason to refuse a given elixir. It was already well-washed, so I could eat it immediately.
"Thanks, Helena. I'll enjoy it."
After the crunchy texture and bitter taste passed, a subtle warmth spread through my entire body.
- You have consumed a Thousand-Year Ginseng.
- All stats increase by 5.
- Mana increases by an additional 1.
Growing stronger always gave me an exhilarating thrill. I felt like running right now to release the overflowing vitality. It was an elixir potent enough to make my entire body's energy burn hot.
'Hoo... about five years of internal energy?' A 5 stat increase wasn't something to dismiss. Since reaching the Peak realm, raising even a single stat had become difficult, yet this raised five at once. After kissing Helena, who watched me with concern until the end, I headed outside the city.
Outside the city. Si-woo shook hands with a man who had a scar on his face. The mana I felt from him was so faint that at first glance he seemed like a non-awakened. But upon closer observation, I could vaguely sense it. It was a purely intuitive feeling.
'About at the peak of First-class, maybe.' He seemed to have learned a special technique or was wearing an artifact. He smiled slightly and spoke.
"Nice to meet you, Si-woo-nim. I'm Raiden, Centurion of the 3rd Battalion Rangers of the Northern Barrier."
"Nice to meet you too. But why the 'nim'...?" Even if he was Helena's subordinate, calling me 'nim' on our first meeting was a bit strange.
He gave an awkward smile. "Haha... the Lady ordered me to treat you with the utmost respect."
"Ah..."
After clearing the awkwardness with some small talk, he continued his explanation. The maid they discovered while tracking the feather.
"We've been watching her for three days now, but she hasn't come out of Harlem." He handed me a tablet the size of his palm. The screen showed a map. "This is the last transmitted location. And be careful. It's suspected that she uses a wide-area mental ability."
Not long after parting with him, I arrived in Harlem.
'A maid...'
As soon as I entered the neighborhood, the smell of burning hit my nostrils. It was much harsher and more foul than cigarette smoke. A man who had been smoking a cigarette grinned and approached me. A drug addict. Just from the smell, I could tell it wasn't an ordinary cigarette but a drug.
"Hey, buddy! Where are you going? You gotta pay the toll!"
The bastard was wearing tattered clothes full of holes. On top of that, half his teeth were missing. Seeing the empty spaces between his teeth reminded me of the bandits I occasionally saw in the martial world.
"Toll?"
"Yeah. Can't just let a new face pass through. This place has its own laws."
"Is this enough?"
Pwit. I flicked my finger and shot a Finger Wind. Naturally, there was no answer. He was already stiff as a board, so there was no way he could speak. I passed by the guy standing there like a wooden puppet and entered the village.
'Tsk...' It felt like I had suddenly entered a different world. The Seoul where the Academy was and the outside of the city were completely different. I could finally feel in my skin a world devastated by a long war with monsters. A row of collapsing shanties stretched out, and people who looked like homeless were scattered on the streets. One person lying as if collapsed had his chest slow down and then stop moving. He was dead. A few people watching nearby dragged the corpse into an alley and disappeared.
Thud! ... Thump. The sound of a dull impact and something falling followed in succession. I turned around — the drug addict I had paralyzed earlier was lying on the ground, bleeding from his head. Someone was straddling him.
Thud! Thud!
"Hehehe... Meat! Fresh meat! Huhuhu!"
A man so thin his ribs were visible was laughing with ecstasy and stabbing the drug addict with a dagger. He didn't care that his own hand was getting cut from the clumsy stabbing, just kept plunging the dagger in. A person who had been alive just moments ago was turning into a mere lump of meat. People were committing murder on the main street, and no one stopped them. Rather, there were even people cautiously approaching as if looking for an opportunity. I had no intention of saving the guy who tried to rob me, but the sight naturally made me frown.
'Horrible.' There was a reason Helena had tried to stop me until the end. For a moment, I wondered if I had come here for nothing. It didn't seem like there would be any strong people in a place like this. But since I was already here, I couldn't just go back. I recalled the map in my head.
'It was quite deep inside...'
I followed the alleyways between the shanties deep into Harlem. The further I went, the fewer people there were, and it became quieter.
'Is this it?' I arrived, but something was strange. It looked like an ordinary building. If anything, it seemed in better condition than the old Lapis Workshop. That made it even stranger.
'Too normal?' Compared to the other shanties, this building was conspicuously intact. The other places seemed like something from the Middle Ages, but this building alone stood out as if built in modern times. Moreover, strangely, not a single one of the many homeless people was visible here. This was the place where the tracking magic Helena had placed on the feather was cut off.
'Hmm...' For a moment, I wondered how to investigate, then I gave up. Helena wasn't expecting a professional investigation anyway. Her goal was just to find out whether the maid who took the feather was related to the Apostle, and if so, what the hell she was doing.
'I'll just go in.' I walked calmly towards the building that stood alone like a deserted island.
Kiiik... With a sound like a rusty door opening, the interior of the building was revealed. An ordinary building matching its exterior. But one thing was out of place.
'A rift...?' Rifts could form inside buildings just as they could underwater. But I felt a nagging unease, and upon closer observation, I realized.
'It fits too perfectly.' It was as if the building had been built for the rift. No, it seemed like the rift came first and the building was constructed over it. The rift in the air fit perfectly. It was located right in the center of the building. A red carpet led all the way to the rift entrance, as if inviting someone in. Still feeling uneasy, I pondered and then realized.
'...Illusion magic?' A power that seemed like illusion magic was lingering here. No wonder it was strange that there were no homeless people around. I was curious about what effect it had, but I couldn't deactivate my mental protection skill.
'Is this right?' I hesitated until the end. Helena probably didn't expect me to investigate so recklessly. And a rift, of all things. I didn't know what would be inside. There could be powerful monsters, overwhelming strong beings, or tens or hundreds of enemies. On the other hand, there was only one reason to enter. My instinct wanted it. It wasn't a rational action. Acting on mere instinct still left a discomfort in a corner of my mind. I waited for my instinct as if asking myself, but nothing came. I closed my eyes for a moment and then opened them. Then I followed the red carpet into the rift.
Flash. I quickly scanned my surroundings. The first thing I saw was a reed field. It was peaceful, unlike a rift. The weather was perfect, like early autumn. The reeds swayed quietly in the gentle breeze. The ground was an earthen path, but it was clearly an artificial path stretching out. I'd heard there were occasionally ruins or city-type rifts, but this was too different.
'Too clean.' It looked like it had been maintained until recently. It felt like I had entered a peaceful farm from a movie. As I walked along the path, thatched houses appeared. These also seemed like recently built structures.
"Hmm..."
Kiiik. I picked a random building and opened the door. As soon as I entered, the stench of rot and a fishy smell stabbed at my nostrils. It was an unpleasant smell that naturally made me frown. I quickly scanned the room. Dozens of people were sitting in a row on chairs made of steel. And they weren't just sitting. Each one was covered in wounds all over their bodies, and an opaque liquid was dripping onto them drop by drop.
Tssss...! Whenever it touched their skin, a sound of something burning accompanied a harsh smell.
"Ugh..."
"Hup...!"
The people's faces contorted in pain. It was as if they were being tortured. I approached an old man who seemed to be in relatively better condition. He was staring blankly into space.
"Hey, old man?"
No answer. He was just staring vacantly. As I got closer, I saw a transparent tube connected to his spine. A liquid that looked like blood was flowing out and being collected in a large tank. It was as if his blood was being forcibly extracted. And while sitting in a torture chair. I placed my fingertip on the old man's forehead and infused the power of regeneration.
"Ughh...?! Cough...!"
With a coughing sound, focus returned to his eyes. His eyes wide, he looked around and mumbled something.
"...Kill me..."
"What?"
His voice had no strength, perhaps because he was an old man with wrinkled, sagging skin. I focused my internal energy on my ears.
"Quickly... kill me...!"
"Hmm..."
I infused more regenerative power. The old man's energy, which had been wavering dangerously as if he might die at any moment, gained a bit of vitality.
"Heoh... cough, cough...! Th-this place...?"
"Old man? Are you coming to your senses?"
"Ugh... Ah, I'm still here...!"
The old man, who had been looking around frantically, suddenly lifted his head.