Power Leveling (2)
He descended endlessly through the corridor. An eternal silence pressed down on the passage. Yeong-sik arrived at its end.
Click.
A sound like gears meshing echoed out.
Yeong-sik reached out his hand. Following his gesture, a door composed of countless mechanical devices slowly began to open.
Thud.
A heavy rumble emanated from within. Beyond the door lay a vast cavern. Yeong-sik walked slowly into the empty void.
"I already know it's too late."
Yeong-sik muttered with a face weary from exhaustion. His voice was fatigued, desolate, parched.
Yeong-sik raised his right hand. His skin peeled away, revealing a swarm of metallic mechanisms. A faint voice leaked from his lips.
"But..."
Yeong-sik's right arm shattered into hundreds, thousands of pieces. The metal components that fell to the floor wriggled like living creatures. His eyes gleamed coldly.
"I can't stop here."
He spoke in a voice sharp as a blade slicing downward.
Vrrrrm!
The crawling metal devices on the floor traced out a unique pattern. A brilliant light rose from within that pattern. A massive sphere emitting bright light appeared before his eyes.
* * *
"Gah!"
The vision ended. Yeong-sik collapsed from the bed, curling up on the floor. A torrent of massive information shook his entire body.
"Urk?!"
Yeong-sik clutched his hair while huddled on the floor. Fragments of forgotten memories sliced through his mind like knives.
That sphere of light from before...
Yeong-sik thought about the final part of the memory—the glowing orb that had risen from the floor. It was undoubtedly the same light sphere he'd seen in the tutorial space.
Why was that in there?
Yeong-sik's expression twisted. The more memories surfaced, the fewer answers he found—only questions piled up. Why did his memories contain a Black Cube? A sphere of light? No matter how he pondered, it made no sense.
"What the hell am I...?"
Yeong-sik murmured in a low voice, staring down at his hands. He had no clue about his own identity.
Chik.
A familiar static noise cut through his thoughts, ringing in his ears.
Security Levels 1 through 7 have been fully unlocked.
Level 5 unlock grants access to Shotgun and Gatling Gun.
Level 6 unlock grants access to Mine and Electromagnetic Field.
Level 7 unlock grants access to Laser and Energy Blast.
"What...?"
Yeong-sik's eyes widened at the mechanical voice in his ears. Before he could process it, a flood of enormous information assaulted his body.
"Kugh!"
Shotgun, Gatling Gun, Mine, Electromagnetic Field, Laser, Energy Blast. Instructions for all six weapons poured into his mind. The sheer volume made his consciousness blur instantly.
Yeong-sik's body began to tremble faintly.
Clank.
His back split open, ejecting a grotesque Gatling Gun. His right arm twisted, revealing a shotgun barrel. His left thigh opened, dropping five mines to the floor, while a blue electric field spread around him.
Yeong-sik bit his lip hard to control the information overwhelming his mind. But against his will, red light beamed from his eyes—the light from Laser activation.
Dangerous.
Yeong-sik glanced at his left hand. A round energy orb began forming in his palm. If all weapons fired at once, this rundown inn wouldn't survive—he didn't even need to imagine it.
Weapon control impaired due to information overload.
Requesting rapid information processing.
"You think I can just do that on command?!"
Yeong-sik slammed his right arm against his forehead and yelled in frustration. The weapon data scorching his brain made his head burn.
"Huuuup."
Yeong-sik took a deep breath and closed his eyes. With his vision blocked, he felt the information torrent raging in his mind.
Classify the data first.
Yeong-sik separated the info by weapon. Then, imagining folders in his mind, he sorted each batch into its own container. If he couldn't handle it all at once, he'd store it away and check one by one.
A grueling task began. The data flooded in simultaneously, tangling up, but Yeong-sik desperately organized it.
Chik.
Information classification complete. Weapon control functions restored to normal.
At current information processing level, simultaneous use of all weapons may cause critical degradation in control functions.
"Hoo... Crisis averted for now."
Yeong-sik slowly opened his eyes. No more red light leaked from them. The mines on the floor and the Gatling Gun from his back retracted into his body.
"Six new weapons."
With the situation stabilized, Yeong-sik pondered his new arsenal. His lips curved upward naturally. He didn't know why, but from Level 5 onward, he gained two weapons per level instead of one—doubling his haul.
And each one's insanely powerful.
Yeong-sik recalled the details. They had limitations like Boost or Slow Motion, but even accounting for that, they were tremendously strong.
"Hm...?"
While reviewing, Yeong-sik focused on two familiar weapons: Gatling Gun and Laser. These were the ones he'd used during his first forced unlock.
"So back then, I unlocked all the way to Level 7?"
He'd killed Nam Gi-tae with the Laser, so yeah, Level 7 made sense. Yeong-sik's face twisted.
Why the hell?
Nam Gi-tae and his thugs were just civilians—no Adaptation, wielding crude orc weapons at best. Unlocking to Level 7 against them? It was like the threat detection was busted.
Even Blade and Boost would've swept them easily.
Come to think of it, against Light Shield too...
Yeong-sik remembered the forced unlock versus Light Shield Guild. He'd massacred them with overwhelming power they couldn't even react to.
"Forced unlocks open way too many levels."
Yeong-sik muttered with a grimace. It blasted security levels open enough to crush the target—like using a bazooka on a chicken.
How many levels are there total?
Yeong-sik scowled, clueless. He had no idea how far the second forced unlock had gone.
"Anyway... this is another reason to never use forced unlock again."
Yeong-sik murmured lowly. Just the levels from Light Shield had dropped his level cap by 5. Against a guild with Rankers? It'd unlock even more—maybe his absolute max. The overload risk was too high. Not just the cap—it could kill him in the worst case. The pain during overload was intense enough to welcome death.
"...But with this power."
Yeong-sik smirked as he organized the new weapon data. Even compared to the stats and skills from Memory Cubes—which already exceeded expectations—these unlocks were greater still.
If I get comfortable controlling them, surpassing everyone else in three months isn't impossible.
Yeong-sik recalled the immense power of Yu-jin and Park Cheol-tae's party. When they parted, he wasn't sure about catching up in just three months. Now? He felt he could match—or exceed—them.
Good.
Yeong-sik smiled in satisfaction and opened his status window.
Name: Yeong-sik
Level: 30/73
Class: Mechanical Engineer (Hidden)
HP: 935 | MP: 753
[Structure Analysis: Lv 6]
[Disassembly: Lv 2]
[Extraction: Lv 3]
[Manufacture: Lv 4]
[Enhancement: Lv 1]
[Light: Lv 1]
"?Whoa."
A short exclamation escaped Yeong-sik as he checked his status. Monstrous stats far beyond average.
This is almost equivalent to Level 50.
No HP or MP from Memory Cubes, so not quite Level 50 there, but other stats even surpassed average Level 50s in places. At cap 73, he'd be near Level 90 stats.
If White Sword Kang Ha-rin saw this, she'd drop her arrogance and offer Leviathan deals to recruit him.
Not going there, though.
Yeong-sik shook his head firmly at the thought of Leviathan. Purely for gain, betraying Salvatore for Leviathan made sense now—no Elnot war, no rebuilding from scratch.
Plus, as a top-three guild, they likely had high-grade Black Cubes he needed.
But.
"Doesn't sit right."
Yeong-sik muttered sharply. Betraying Salvatore now felt petty.
His body was mechanical—rip off an arm, and parts spill, not blood. But that didn't make him inhuman. If anything, he was more human than scum like Nam Gi-tae or Hong Seung-geol.
"All Black Cubes used up anyway..."
Yeong-sik stored the scattered cubes in his inventory. Growth via cubes exceeded expectations massively. Now, time to grind his measly Level 30 to the cap.
Yeong-sik smirked, recalling the "plan" that flashed during the weapon unlock. If it worked, he could power level past Cheon Tae-hwang farming guild dungeons leisurely.
"First, make a drone."
Yeong-sik murmured, eyeing the gold from Bae Han-seong.