Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Connect: Bayron and Friction
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Theopoli Free Zone.
A standalone building completely unrelated to the clinic.
In its basement was Jumper.
“We succeeded again this time.”
Jumper opened his eyes after using his ability in the center of the complex magic circle and reported to Geon-woo.
“Yeah?”
“It’s only communication for now, but someday I’ll make it possible for people to travel back and forth.”
Having succeeded in several communication attempts in a row, Jumper showed a confident and enthusiastic demeanor.
“Good work, Jumper.”
Geon-woo approached Jumper and patted his shoulder.
“No, it’s nothing. I grew a lot thanks to this opportunity. Connecting dimensions, of all things. If you hadn’t supported me, Geon-woo, I never would have even dreamed of it.”
Jumper was well aware of how much Geon-woo had invested in him.
He had absorbed far more essence than the other comrades who’d been implanted with living armor, and he’d used experimental materials.
All of it was related to mind powers like spatial transfer or dimensional interference—perfectly tailored for Jumper.
Without that support, he wouldn’t have dared to even imagine these results.
And without Geon-woo’s ongoing help, there was almost nothing Jumper could achieve going forward.
“But what about the system?”
Geon-woo casually asked about the system’s response—the biggest potential obstacle in this plan.
“There’s no interference yet. It seems like it’s allowing communication, at least. If the system had tried to stop it, I couldn’t have succeeded with my current abilities.”
“Phew, that’s a relief, at least.”
Geon-woo let out a short sigh at Jumper’s answer.
The system surely knew about the communication link between this higher dimension and Earth.
The lack of reaction so far meant this much was within acceptable limits.
It was just communication, but if both sides could exchange ideas, how much could they accomplish?
The mere thought made his face flush with excitement.
“But there’s still no response from their side… Huh?”
They had opened the communication channel between dimensions, but Earth hadn’t noticed yet, so there was no reaction.
As Jumper voiced his concern, his face suddenly lit up in surprise.
Jumper’s gaze fell on the small obelisk he’d been focusing on moments ago.
That small obelisk in the center of the magic circle was the core of the dimensional passageway.
“What is it?”
Geon-woo asked, looking at Jumper.
“A response—it’s a response! Someone over there is speaking through the obelisk.”
Jumper practically shrieked, then immediately sat down, closed his eyes, and focused his ability on the small obelisk.
= Zzzt! Zzt! Jumper! Jumper!
Noise-mixed voices flowed from one side of the magic circle.
It was a magic circle that converted mana flow into sound.
“This is Jumper. Who is this?”
With his eyes closed, Jumper replied and posed the question.
The voice then passed through the complex magic circle, transforming into a mana wavelength that crossed dimensions to the prophet’s obelisk on Earth.
That prophet’s obelisk had been Geon-woo’s intended point of contact for dimensional communication from the start.
= Zzt, this is Bayron. Is that really you, Jumper?
“Director Bayron, good to hear from you. This is Jumper. And Director Kang Geon-woo is here with me.”
= Ohhh, zzzt! Kang Geon-woo is there? Zzzt, what about the others?
“Everyone’s safely adapting to this dimension. How’s Earth?”
= Zzzt! Zzzt!
There was no immediate response to Jumper’s question.
The noise indicated the connection was still active, but Bayron had gone silent.
= Zzt! This might zzzt! take a while. For now, Earth’s situation is extremely bad.
A moment later, Bayron’s voice came through, heavy with unspoken troubles.
The mana-to-voice conversion stripped away emotion, but it was clear something had happened.
“Jumper, communicate as best you can and figure out the situation.”
Geon-woo gave the order and stepped out of the magic circle, creating a chair to sit in.
“Director Bayron, please brief us on the details. Director Kang Geon-woo is listening in right now.”
= Ah, Director Kang. Zzzt! Nice to zzzt! finally say hello like this. How’ve you been?
“Director Kang can’t intervene in the communication directly. This is still the early stages, with lots of limitations. So…”
= Then zzzt! what? If that’s zzzt! the case, let’s handle the urgent zzzt! stuff first! Zzzt zzzt zzzt!
“Ah, dimensional interference. It cut out. We’ll reconnect shortly.”
= Jumper, zzzt, is this…
“Damn, it disconnected.”
Jumper cut off his ability, opened his eyes, and gave Geon-woo an apologetic look.
“It’s fine. Bayron received the communication, at least. He’ll prepare something and wait for the next one.”
“That’s true.”
“Once we reconnect, get the rundown on Earth’s situation and make sure to clearly convey what we want.”
“You mean the plan to train Earth’s talents and bring them here?”
“You know the system might only allow so much. Push too hard, and it could seal off our connection to Earth entirely. We have to be really careful.”
“Yes, I know. And I’ll make sure Director Bayron understands it’s not just on us to be cautious. If they spread our teachings recklessly, the whole of Earth could face penalties. I’ll drill that in.”
“Good. No rushing—take it slow…”
“Yes, understood. I’ll be as prudent as possible.”
“Yeah, good.”
Geon-woo extracted promises from Jumper several times before leaving.
Afterward, Jumper communicated with Bayron to plan a special gathering on Earth.
* * *
“Aren’t you overdoing it?”
“Yeah, do you even know how long it’s been since you last showed up?”
As soon as Geon-woo appeared, Paeng and Ilryeong ganged up on him.
“Sorry. Starting a new project left me no time to breathe.”
“You said to leave the clinic to me and Ilryeong, sure—but I didn’t expect you to vanish for over two weeks without a trace.”
“Seriously, you’ve been way too neglectful.”
Geon-woo apologized, but Paeng and Ilryeong’s pressure didn’t let up easily.
But this wasn’t the time to indulge their complaints.
“Hang on, this isn’t the moment for this. Didn’t you say there was a problem? Was it a false alarm?”
Geon-woo had rushed to find Paeng and Ilryeong after getting word of a clinic issue.
Yet here they were, yapping about trivial stuff—had the problem resolved itself in the meantime?
“See? I told you. We can’t expect too much from our lord.”
“Sigh. What do you even see in a guy like that…”
Paeng and Ilryeong’s expressions soured at Geon-woo’s bewildered look.
It felt like he’d messed up big time.
“No, what is it?”
“Never mind. It’s nothing major. Your urgent matter is probably Rapin Tebrus.”
“Yeah, you said something came up with them, so I hurried over.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you!”
“Oh, right. Then why are you so mad?”
“My lord, it seems like you keep making mistakes here.”
“What?”
“No, nothing, my lord.”
Ilryeong felt a pang of pity at her lord’s somewhat lacking demeanor but judged it wasn’t her place to intervene and stepped back.
“We got a strong warning from Tebrus. In the name of Rapin Tebrus himself.”
Paeng cut straight to the core.
Tebrus was a massive faction bordering Pheniel family territory.
Phenie l was a blood-related family, while Tebrus was an organization bound by master-disciple ties.
The issue was that the two neighboring powers were more rivals in competition and opposition than allies.
And the simple reason that spelled trouble for Geon-woo’s clinic?
Thanks to the clinic, Pheniel family’s forces had surged in strength.
When the opponent grows much stronger, it relatively weakens your own side—so it was natural for Tebrus to view Geon-woo’s clinic unfavorably.
Of course, Pheniel had anticipated this and was protecting the clinic as much as possible.
But for Rapin Tebrus—the pinnacle of Tebrus—to issue a warning personally was no small matter.
“Rapin Tebrus stepped in directly?”
Even Geon-woo couldn’t help but be startled that the faction’s leader had gotten involved personally.
It carried the same weight as Pheniel family’s patriarch acting directly.
“Not directly, but the warning came in his name for sure.”
Paeng clarified the issue once more.
“So, what’s the warning say? Shut down the clinic?”
Geon-woo eyed Paeng with a what-if expression.
Fortunately, Paeng shook his head—it wasn’t that bad.
“Not that extreme. Just stop expanding.”
“Stop expanding? Maintain the current level?”
“Exactly. But there’s a condition attached.”
“A condition?”
“Accept as many Tebrus members as Pheniel family has spots.”
“Hmm. I see what these bastards are thinking.”
The moment he heard Tebrus’s condition, Geon-woo’s face twisted as if he’d figured it out.
“Right? You get what they’re after too, huh? I didn’t realize until Ilryeong explained, but once I did, my head spun.”
Paeng shook his head knowingly.
And rightly so—Tebrus faction’s mind power was necromancy.
Built on what was commonly called necromancy, Tebrus’s growth relied on it. So where would those body-enhanced by Geon-woo’s clinic end up?
No need to guess: they’d become high-quality undead soldiers, bolstering Tebrus’s forces.
“They’re probably very interested in our clinic’s enhancers too. Send in members, let them grow a bit, turn them into undead, and run all sorts of experiments.”
“You’re right, my lord. And that setup would give them an edge in dissecting our enhancers.”
“Our enhancers come from jiangshi refinement potions to begin with, don’t they?”
“Yes, my lord. We made them from drugs designed to work well on corpses, so if Tebrus researches undead…”
“They’d have a good shot at finding ways to enhance the dead—undead, that is—even if just partially.”
“Necromancy already combines with alchemy to strengthen corpses in some ways…”
“Jiangshi refinement shares similarities with that. Tebrus will likely notice. And once they do, they’ll covet what we have.”
Geon-woo muttered as if he could already see Tebrus faction’s future moves.
But.
“Well, Pheniel wouldn’t be any different. Once they truly grasp the value of what we have, they’ll all want a piece.”
Geon-woo had anticipated as much.
And naturally, he had countermeasures in place to some degree.
In particular, this provocation from Tebrus was something his preparations absolutely required.
He’d be in trouble if they didn’t pick a fight.
‘Show off by crushing a strong foe. For that, there’s no better prey than Tebrus.’
Tebrus was the very opponent Geon-woo had been honing his appetite for.