Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: East Sea Submarine Hunt
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To Mom and Na-young, I'm sorry, but there's something I have to do soon.
Next week, a submarine from some country is going to test a mana stone engine in the East Sea.
Mana stone energy has many advantages over oil or nuclear power, so it's used across all industries. I can extract mana stone energy without waste, but the items and machines using mana stones right now have poor energy efficiency. Every country is constantly researching ways to improve mana stone efficiency, and they've achieved some small success.
They've created an engine that melts mana stones and reacts them with a catalyst to generate energy. This engine's efficiency is overwhelmingly higher than previous methods.
But the melting process alone is unstable and could explode, and mixing in a catalyst makes stability even worse. Of course, in the future, they succeed in controlling it after many tests. But the world ends before mass production.
The upcoming submarine experiment is one of those tests, and it was a success in a way. It extracted nearly 100% of the energy, but they couldn't contain the generated energy, so it sank and exploded on the seafloor.
That causes an earthquake, and tsunamis hit Korea's East Coast and Japan's West Coast.
Not many people live on Korea's East Coast right now, but there are still hundreds of thousands, and Japan's West Coast has far more. The casualties from this incident were countless.
I have to stop it before it explodes.
"I'm heading out to the sea for a bit."
I let Na-young know I'd be away for a few days, since we party and hit gates often.
"The sea? Suddenly? Why?"
Na-young asked.
"Uh... to have some fun."
She'd nagged me so much not to do anything dangerous that I couldn't tell the truth. No intention of revealing my past life either.
So I just said I was going to play.
"Then let's all go together."
Thinking about it, it might be nice to take a group trip while I'm at it. I can sneak out at night to scout the submarine.
"Sounds good. We're going to the East Coast, so everyone who's coming, get ready."
In the end, our mom, Na-young's mom, me, Na-young, Sang-heon, and Jae-in all went together.
We'd earned more than enough money, so we booked the top suite at a luxury resort guarded by hunters. The two moms took one room, and the rest of us took a big suite. It was huge, with separate bedrooms inside.
"Oh my, the room is amazing~"
"Mom, they have an onsen here too. Relax with Na-young's mom."
The two moms headed excitedly to the onsen first. They'd both worked so hard; I hoped they'd rest easy this time.
"I'm going to the beach."
"Me too, bro!"
We changed into swimwear in our rooms and came out.
Sang-heon and I wore trunk swimsuits, our trained muscles ripped and defined.
"No way, how's Jae-in bro so buff when he's always in the workshop?"
Jae-in wasn't tall, but his muscles made him look even stockier.
"Blacksmiths can't have weak bodies, right? Lifting and swinging heavy stuff every day in front of the forge."
The guys were all out, but Na-young still hadn't appeared.
"Na-young's taking forever."
"Bro, girls always take time. We just stripped and threw on trunks."
We waited a bit more, and Na-young came out. White bikini top, and a skirt with slits showing her thighs. Hadn't taken that long, but she'd styled her hair perfectly too.
"Ahem, we'll head out first."
Sang-heon dragged Jae-in and left.
"Let's go too."
Na-young's face flushed red as she grabbed my arm.
"The swimsuit looks great on you."
"Thanks."
Her face got even redder.
The beach had fewer people since the gate incident, feeling like we had it chartered.
"The sea!"
Sang-heon and Jae-in splashed in. The East Sea was always clean, but with fewer humans, it was even clearer.
Luckily, no sea monsters had emerged from gates. If there were, trade with foreign countries would be cut off completely.
Na-young lay on a lounger under the resort's parasol.
With her killer figure and sunglasses, she looked like she was shooting a photoshoot.
"I'll head out too. Gonna practice swimming and go far out, so play with those two, then take them back for dinner and rest."
"Okay~"
A resort staff brought drinks, so Na-young relaxed like it was a real vacation.
I left them to have fun and went to fulfill my original goal.
Submarines operate at depths humans can't survive. If I don't stop it in time and it sinks, it'll go even deeper. Before serious scouting, I needed a body that could handle those depths.
I dove into the deep sea, ditching the obstructive swimsuit on a nearby rock and wrapping myself in my suit.
My lung capacity already surpassed human limits, so a few minutes' dive was no issue.
My body was much heavier relative to volume, so sinking to the deep sea was easy. To float up, I could just enlarge my body.
I'd gotten used to swimming, moving freely.
The clean sea was beautiful. Sunlight streamed from the surface, illuminating the depths.
I swam alongside a school of fish for a bit, enjoying the ocean.
As I went deeper, light faded, and colors shifted. At this depth, non-awakeners would be crushed by pressure. I endured the full-body pressure and kept sinking. Eyes and ears hurt most, but after blood burst from them a few times, no more came, and the pain vanished.
Adapted to pressure, now breathlessness set in.
I closed my eyes and focused on every cell.
Minimize oxygen use in inactive cells, make each hold more oxygen, use less even in intense movement—I visualized it all.
Evolution reflects my will strongly, so clear imagery is key.
Eyes closed, I waited for adaptation.
Pain from pressure and oxygen lack was intense, but I relied on Resilient Mind skill to endure. I felt unadapted cells dying. No problem—new ones were replacing them.
For regeneration, I absorbed surrounding energy. Sucking in the sea's abundant life energy, I took in more than needed.
My mind grew hazy, unable to hold out. I enlarged and swam to the surface.
"Puha... Huh?"
No land in sight.
"Went too far."
My sharpened senses let me sense position like an animal. Normal people veer off swimming straight blind, but I could go exactly one kilometer with eyes closed—my internal map was that precise.
Beep beep beep.
Catching my breath, my expensive diver's watch rang.
"Hello?"
"Bro, where are you?"
"Oh, went far for a swim."
"Swimming that long? What about dinner?"
"I'm good. Take the moms and eat first. Don't worry about me, rest up."
"Got it~"
Deep breath, and I sank back into the sea.
This time, deeper abyss. Visibility worsened with depth.
To sense surroundings, I clicked my tongue, feeling echoes rebound off objects via skin—like submarine sonar.
Without keen senses, I'd feel nothing, but my touch and hearing were beyond sensitive.
I calibrated senses matching echoes to visuals.
* * *
Late evening, I finished training. It was a success.
Dove thousands of meters; diver's watch shattered. But my body now ignored pressure and breath holds; I could detect via sound echoes from hundreds of meters to kilometers underwater.
My Keen Senses skill leveled up to A thanks to it.
Swimming felt natural. Faster than any sea creature now.
Put on the swimsuit from the rock and returned to the resort.
Dragging my exhausted body in, a drinking party was in full swing.
"Bro~"
"Boss~ Where ya been~"
The two guys were nicely drunk.
"Where are the moms?"
"Already asleep~ What time is it~"
Slurring, staggering—they'd crash soon.
"Let's eat."
Ordered tons of room service and sat in my swimsuit.
"Na-young didn't drink?"
"A little."
Her face was fine.
"Nuh-uh~ Sis drank the most~"
Sang-heon slurred. Empty whiskey and wine bottles littered the table. Hunters indeed—not normal stamina.
"No, just a bit."
She smiled, but bottles by her said otherwise. Clearly a heavyweight.
I polished off their leftovers, drank and chatted with them.
All four had suffered a lot, so they were hyped on this rare vacation, eating and drinking hard.
Not the original plan, but seeing them happy didn't feel bad.
Na-young, usually shy, stared straight at me.
"Why?"
"Just."
"I'll tuck these two in first. Go to bed if you're tired."
"No. Wanna drink more."
Moved sprawled Sang-heon and Jae-in to their beds, closed doors.
Back at the table, Na-young stood.
"You going to bed too?"
"No, more drinking."
She scooted right next to me. I hadn't showered post-sea, but she smelled nice, freshly bathed.
Face unchanged, but different behavior—she was drunk.
"So much happened in such a short time. Must've been tough for you, Na-young."
"Lots of hard stuff, but it's okay. More good things too."
"Yeah. Your mom recovered, abilities improved."
"You know, and you say that?"
Na-young stared. Her clear, moist eyes drew me in.
Our distance closed bit by bit.
* * *
Left Na-young asleep and slipped out. Regeneration skill upgrade meant less sleep needed.
The day my life regenerated, I jotted life plans in a notebook. Some went as planned, some didn't.
Na-young was unplanned. In the notebook, she was listed as a villain, with capture strategy.
Life really is unpredictable.
More reason to grow stronger. More people to protect.
Resolved, I dove into the sea.
Drive off the submarine before it sinks.
If I circle or attack it, the covert op sub will flee this area.
To do that, find it in the vast East Sea. Knew rough sink spot from future news, so circled outward from there.
Surface had fishing boats coming and going, no sub traces.
Sun about to rise, heading back—then at 300 meters, spotted the submarine.