Chapter 91
Chapter 91
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: Settling in Theopoli
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"Man, what a long way."
From the eastern Banteni region of Crosus all the way to the western edge of Theopoli.
They had passed through six rough long-distance spatial transfer gates along the way.
"Welcome. We extend our warmest greetings to you in Theopoli. I am Fricksle Grust Feniel."
Sky-blue eyes and hair.
A middle-aged man clearly bearing the hereditary traits of the Feniel family spread his arms slightly in welcome to Geon-woo.
"I'm Kang Geon-woo."
"Haha. Olka told me about you."
"I see. Then why didn't Olka come out to meet us?"
Originally, Olka was supposed to be the one handling Geon-woo's group in Theopoli.
But upon arriving in Theopoli, it was this man named Fricksle from the Feniel family who had come to greet them.
"Ah, Olka had other business and left on a short trip."
"Other business..."
Geon-woo stroked his chin, unable to hide his displeasure at Fricksle's words.
"She was the one who invited me all the way here, and now she's showing this kind of irresponsibility. I'm disappointed."
"I'm truly sorry. On behalf of the Feniel family, I sincerely apologize to you, Mr. Kang Geon-woo."
Fricksle bowed his head in apology at Geon-woo's words.
But unlike his words, Fricksle's expression as he bowed looked bright.
He felt it was worth pushing Olka aside to take this position, seeing Geon-woo express disappointment over her absence.
If he could create even the smallest rift between Olka and Geon-woo, that alone would be a success in Fricksle's mind.
"Still, there won't be any issues with the preparations Olka mentioned for us in Theopoli, right?"
"Of course not. I've personally overseen every detail."
"You, not Olka?"
"Hahaha. The Geon-woo Clinic is a matter of utmost importance to us Feniels. We couldn't leave it entirely to Olka."
"I heard Olka was in charge."
"That was just the start, but now many more from our clan are involved. Hahaha."
To Geon-woo's ears, it sounded like more people had stuck their spoons into the clinic.
'Has Olka lost control?'
Geon-woo thought as much while following Fricksle's guidance into Theopoli.
Like other cities in Crosus, Theopoli imposed no restrictions on entry or exit.
It was only natural in Crosus, which prided itself on freedom from control or oppression.
But once inside the city, things changed.
Wherever people gathered, organizations and factions inevitably formed.
"As you may know, Theopoli is home to several marquess-level powerhouses."
Fricksle spoke up as he guided Geon-woo's group into the city.
"I heard about ten or so."
"That's our Feniel assessment as well, though some say a few are close to duke-level."
"Dukes... You mean there are multiple powerhouses like that?"
At Fricksle's words, not just Geon-woo but the entire group faltered in their momentum.
It was that shocking.
"Ah, no need to worry. The Feniels don't bow to them."
"I see. That's a relief."
A duke-level powerhouse was equivalent to the leaders of the seventy-two demon clans.
Of course, some of those seventy-two demon leaders might exceed duke level, but it was roughly that caliber.
Yet the Feniel family, a single house, possessed strength comparable to all the demon clans combined.
That must be why they spoke of Theopoli's heavyweights with such confidence.
After all, the Feniel family likely had a similar number of duke-level experts, so there was no reason to fear Theopoli's.
"This way, please. There's a short-range transfer gate for moving between districts inside the city. It's one of Theopoli's proudest features."
"I've heard. Theopoli has a gate network connecting every corner of the city, right?"
"Indeed. We call it the Yungtra. The Yungtra Gates."
"Isn't Yungtra also a person's name?"
"Not originally. But at some point, people started calling the owner of the Yungtra Gate Network that."
"And that Yungtra is one of the duke-level powerhouses?"
"Correct. Ah, there—the Yungtra Gate."
Geon-woo showed interest in Yungtra and was about to ask more details when Fricksle pointed to one side, interrupting.
In a small plaza, six gates stood along the perimeter, glowing faintly.
"Interesting. Each gate has people entering from one side and exiting from the other."
The first to react was Jumper, who had been quiet until now.
It was a natural response for someone with spatial transfer abilities.
"Entering from one side, exiting from the opposite. Different flow directions mean no interference."
"Impressive. How do they manage that with simple gates?"
"You'll have plenty of chances to check it out later, so don't get too excited. Follow along."
"Yes, Leader. Coming now."
At Geon-woo's call, Jumper, who had been buzzing with excitement to inspect all six gates, calmed down.
"It's a gate using Mind Power, right?"
Geon-woo asked casually as they approached the gate Fricksle led them to.
"Yes. They say Yungtra mastered a unique Mind Power, but even I don't know the details."
"Haha. Everyone knows it's hard to precisely discern high-level Mind Powers. Still, I'd love to learn it if the chance arises."
"Who wouldn't? But Yungtra isn't the easy type. He's taken hundreds of disciples over the years, yet none have ever breathed a word of his secrets."
"Seems he has some extraordinary seal in place."
It was hard to believe all those disciples kept the secret willingly.
How many must have tried to uncover Yungtra's secrets over time?
Surely many disciples met unfortunate ends.
Yet the secret held, which meant the seal was ironclad.
By then, Fricksle had entered one of the gates, and Geon-woo followed with his group.
They soon arrived in a new plaza.
"This is Theopoli's Free District."
"Ironic, isn't it? A 'Free District' in a Crosus city that already claims freedom everywhere."
Geon-woo pointed out the contradiction in Crosus with a wry expression.
Crosus was a territory formed by those pursuing freedom.
Yet nearly every sizable city in Crosus had one of these Free Districts.
Which implied that outside it, true freedom was lacking.
"I don't think it's worth nitpicking. Hasn't the Free District become a symbol of the Crosus region by now?"
"Well, everything changes with time."
Geon-woo had no choice but to nod at Fricksle's words.
As he said, the Free Districts within cities had become symbols of Crosus.
Here, no organization or group could suppress individual freedom through force.
If they tried, everyone in the Free District would rise against that organization or group.
"We prepared here since you insisted on starting in this district."
Fricksle resumed walking and spoke up.
But this time, he glanced at Geon-woo cautiously, as if it wasn't easy to say.
"I didn't want to burden the Feniels too much."
"But as I mentioned earlier, the Geon-woo Clinic is extremely important to us Feniels. We're fully committed to supporting it."
"I've heard that plenty from Olka too. But we have no intention of running the clinic exclusively for the Feniels. It will be open to everyone. That's why the Free District suits us perfectly."
"Sigh, I figured as much. They said convincing you would be impossible, and they were right."
"Olka said that, huh?"
"Yes, she did."
"Haha, but with the Feniels having first dibs on info about our clinic, you'll have an edge in memberships, right? We're doing first-come, first-served."
"Once recruitment starts, every eligible clan member will rush in. I hear they've all been secretly gearing up for it."
"Hahaha. Looks like Olka spread the word properly."
Geon-woo grinned broadly at the news that Feniel family members were eagerly awaiting recruitment.
"Everyone's expectations are sky-high. Including mine."
Fricksle beamed back at Geon-woo.
* * *
The Geon-woo Clinic enhanced members' physical abilities.
Its core was auxiliary agents made by repurposing the elixirs used in jiangshi refinement.
The clinic provided these agents and taught basic exercises to aid absorption.
Methods to circulate the drug's effects through body movement.
"How is it? This is what we came up with after some research."
"Not bad. Incorporating practical combat techniques into movements that were useless outside of absorption."
A few months after settling in Theopoli.
The bio-armor implant bearers, after much deliberation, had refined the clinic's exercises into something solid and presented it to Geon-woo.
"It's nothing special. We just imitated what we learned from Gangsigong."
"Exactly. Gangsigong is a high-level fist art in itself. We merely grafted parts of it onto the clinic's exercises."
Muhammad and Cheon Su-wan took turns humbly downplaying it.
"Still, not an easy task. Good work, especially cleanly extracting the Gangsigong circulation method."
"Of course. We couldn't let the essence of Gangsigong leak out."
"Right, right. At first, it was a disaster—Gangsigong bits were fully embedded in it."
"If we'd brought that to Leader, we'd have gotten chewed out big time."
"Hahaha. Probably."
The bio-armor implant bearers chatted leisurely about the past incident.
"Alright. You all worked hard, so generous bonuses this time."
Geon-woo promised them substantial rewards with a pleased smile.
"Haha. Thank you."
"Does this mean we can snag some good essences this time?"
"Tucker, it's not your turn for a new essence yet, is it? You haven't fully grasped the last one."
"What're you talking about? I had an enlightenment this time!"
Tucker bristled at Ivan's jab, but everyone's faces were bright.
"The clinic's booming, so no worries about training resources. Feels great."
Amid that, Cheon Su-wan earnestly looked at Geon-woo and spoke.
The other three nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. The training environment's much better now. But you must have some complaints."
Yet despite their satisfied reactions, Geon-woo said something unexpected.
"What do you mean? We have complaints?"
"Yeah, right."
"No complaints here."
"Ivan's right. What would we have to complain about?"
Naturally, all four chimed in that there were no issues.
"We came here from Earth partly due to the system's coercion."
"Well, that was Leader's case... Ours was different."
"Yeah. We got screwed by the system a bit, but nothing compared to Leader."
Ivan and Tucker made sheepish faces as they spoke.
"Really? If I recall, the reason you wanted to come to a higher dimension was basically combat addiction—you couldn't handle a peaceful, ordinary life."
Geon-woo remembered them citing their inability to endure a calm, uneventful existence.
And sure enough, the reaction he expected burst forth immediately.
"You're saying that because you plan to stir something up, right?"
Muhammad asked, while the other three pressed Geon-woo with burning gazes, urging his answer.
"Now that the wandering's over and we've settled in somewhat, it's time for us to make our move."
Geon-woo was ready to meet their expectations.