But God Will Save (6)
My subordinates could exhaust themselves from before dawn without issue, thanks to the accelerated natural recovery from their bio-enhancements. Even if they pushed their bodies to the absolute breaking point where no more exercise was possible, they'd recover fully in at most half a day. Compared to unawakened people who needed two or three days of rest after maxing out to avoid burnout, this regenerative power was a clear advantage. Awakened ability users could achieve in as little as one or two months what ordinary people needed a full year of training for.
Of course, that assumed their physical enhancement reached the level of my men.
Excessive power can be a double-edged sword.
Magical muscle reinforcement operated on multiplication, not addition. Without a solid baseline strength, even a high reinforcement coefficient yielded disappointingly low final output. The problem was that higher coefficients made it harder to stress the muscles at all. Theoretically, an ability user with an astronomically high physical enhancement coefficient would have no way to load their muscles, leading to an incurable muscle atrophy like a chronic disease. No matter how brutally they trained, they'd sink into a quagmire of under-exercise worse than someone just lying in bed breathing. The resulting anemia, obesity, cardiovascular issues, chronic fatigue, hormonal imbalances, and more would turn them into virtual invalids. They'd be lucky not to fall into depression from the stress.
At breakfast, Kyung-tae had been chewing vigorously when he gulped it down and nodded at my words.
"I've thought about that too, hyungnim. We can dial back our powers a bit, or lean on you if needed, but for natural awakeners who can't do either... yeah, someday we might see a 'cursed genius' like that."
I stared at him steadily before saying, "Everything's fine, but chew your food properly before swallowing. This isn't a combat situation."
"Aw, hyungnim. Right now, I could chew up steel and digest it, no joke."
"I meant you don't need to rush your replies to me. Seems like I've said this more than once or twice."
"Haha. Got it."
Even as he said that, I doubted how long it'd last. It had been years since I started sharing meals with these guys, and all I could do was hope my subordinates felt at ease with a superior at the table.
How could a leader who made his underlings uncomfortable over something as basic as eating earn true loyalty? Shared meals were also for building camaraderie, open communication, and free exchange of ideas.
"I've been mulling over some unconventional ways to use our abilities," Kyung-tae said.
"Unconventional?"
"Yeah."
He set down his second tray and continued. "A rocket engine, minus the fuel system, is basically just a combustion chamber and nozzle, right? So if you detach the propulsion and mount it on hard points—like on a special combat suit—you could pack the chamber full of mana 'fire' to generate thrust."
"Huh."
"Practical idea, right? Add that auxiliary thrust to raw leaps, and... well, you'd need stronger powers to use it right, but it'd massively improve terrain traversal. Short flights without telekinesis! You could even run up sheer cliffs over 90 degrees!"
Kyung-tae's thinking broke the mold. It felt like stumbling on Columbus's egg from an unexpected angle. Seeing my expression, he lit up like a praised retriever.
"And if you swap the nozzle for a turbine, it might be weaker for propulsion but could double as a mini-generator. Not sure on efficiency, but at least no worries charging portable gear."
For ability users where pack volume set carry limits, tool utility was a key spec. A thruster-generator fit perfectly.
I expected growth in ability-user markets, but...
For instance, if electricity users like Suyeon became more common with higher average output, global EV makers would boom. Infrastructure that struggled for funding would complete overnight. Since awakening was probabilistic regardless of development level, market expansion would be absurd.
1 centimeter. Just sustaining a 1 cm air discharge long-term—even at 1 amp—qualified someone as a walking charger. At 2 cm, they'd outpace fast chargers.
Truth be told, a 1 cm discharge was pretty strong. Air's an insulator; breaking 1 cm at room temp needed ~30kV. 1 amp at 30kV yielded 30kWh/hour—equal to ten portable gas generators. Who'd call that weak?
This 'human resource' infrastructure wouldn't stop at cars.
Factory nations will panic first.
Backward countries with poor infrastructure building factory lines on human power alone? A revolutionary shift—and a nightmare for frontrunners. Cases were already emerging: child-labor-only mini hydro plants, no other fuel.
How would leaders kick away ladders and protect their rice bowls? The inevitable chaos and war sparks rising from it. I awaited those filthy embers.
Kyung-tae chattered excitedly for a bit, then swiftly changed topics when my reaction cooled.
"That ritual sword you mentioned—the one that extracts and stores souls. Does it have a name?"
"A name? Dunno what West Burton called it originally. It's not in my mentor's memories either... Why the sudden interest?"
"C'mon, a sword with such mystical power needs a cool name. Like Execution Blade of the True Dark Emperor."
"True... what?"
"Execution Blade of the True Dark Emperor."
"What's that?"
"Trend among the young crowd, hyungnim."
"Kids these days like that flashy stuff?"
"So I hear."
"...?"
"Heard it somewhere myself. Not sure on details. Hahaha!"
Irked by his own lame joke making him laugh, Suyeon set down her chopsticks and scolded him quietly with a cool gaze and soft voice.
"Don't waste breath on empty talk in front of hyungnim."
"Thing is, one day I seriously reflected on my words and actions."
"...What nonsense now?"
"Noona, this isn't nonsense. After deep self-reflection, what did I realize? That Kim Kyung-tae is always a man full of substance. It's just your standards are sky-high, making me seem lacking by comparison."
"...."
"But I'm not one to give up. Is there a mountain in this world you can't climb by rising again and again? I'll keep at it, so please keep watching over me with your loving guidance, noona. Hahaha!"
"Ha...."
Suyeon stared at the grinning Kyung-tae with eyes saying she had no idea what to do with him. I'd thought it before, but drawing emotions from her like this was a real talent. Without Kyung-tae, would she show even half her current faint feelings?
His lightness contrasted the heaviness until yesterday. When I noticed his downed mood—no touching his beloved booze—he was minding it in his own way.
Suyeon's gaze shifted to me.
"Hyungnim. Speaking of the sword, I have a question about its use."
"What?"
"If it extracts souls, would it work the same on grand magi like you or the Round Table delegates?"
"No."
I shook my head. "That'd be like fishing a whale with a single rod. No matter the angler's skill, you can't haul that mass on one line. Even if the line holds, the fisherman's hands would shred. And the vessel for the soul? Way too small."
"I see."
"Why ask?"
"You once taught that magic-infused items are made only by extracting souls from living organics and grafting them onto objects."
"And?"
"So if we ripped out a grand magus's soul and grafted it... couldn't regular ability users like us wield a fraction of that power? Using Round Table grand magi as sacrifices to build tools for hunting their own—maybe even reverse our power gap someday."
"Sweet dream."
"Yes. A shame."
If magic tools worked that way—grand magus soul in equaled grand magus power out—I might've abandoned the London assault. Arming regulars with that would've leaped their level.
Grafting souls from the living to inanimate objects inevitably lost efficiency—worse than external combustion engines. Thus, contemporary grand magi tools had limits.
Even so, like last time—shoving mana-field sensors into guided mines—it's a threat.
The core danger hid behind familiarity's veil: surprise. The ancient ritual sword wasn't unusable in combat. In my hands, at least its mana-field suppression would work on grand magi. It might not extract souls but could deliver a shock—enough to disrupt their circuits.
For now, getting used to wielding it came first.
"Since it's come up, after eating, contact Gao Xusen. Ask him to hand over any disposable ability users from prison."
Suyeon tilted her head at my order.
"Test subjects for the sword?"
"Exactly."
"How many?"
"Not many. Ten? More would strain even him. Beijing probably allocated quotas for human experiments up there."
"What to offer as payment? Money?"
"Pick a decent porcelain piece from storage. Song Dynasty era—he'll love it."
"Understood."
Practicing on awakened flora and fauna would suffice for feel, but with easy human test subjects available, why use the inefficient option?
Whether the condemned truly deserved death didn't matter. Left alone, they'd face torture chambers, labs, and monkey cages anyway. No meaningful difference between that end and a few sword stabs from me.
At least I had no intent to torment long-term and would feed them properly till the end—so by total suffering, mine was relatively 'humane.'