The Heat Dome
Jinseong stepped out of the mansion and immediately began using Shrinking Earth in succession, leaping all the way up to the top of a high-rise building.
During the process, one of the soldiers standing guard on the rooftop nearly had a heart attack, but Jinseong offered no explanation. Instead, he simply slipped into the building’s shadow. The moment he used camouflage and melted into the darkness, he became part of the scenery itself.
Leaving the two men—who were now more focused on bickering than actually standing guard—behind, Jinseong turned his gaze toward the East Sea.
Like attracts like. A small snake swims on the back of the eye, so my own eyes shall become like a serpent’s.
Jinseong altered his eyes and stared into the far distance. Even though the location was far beyond what a Mongolian’s eyesight could perceive, his transformed eyes continued to expand his field of vision endlessly, as if they were machines. The expansion persisted, crossing over buildings and mountains, until it finally crossed the sea itself.
Enlargement. He saw the ocean rippling like waves. He saw ships drifting along with the current. Fish leaping and splashing above the surface. Birds circling in search of prey. And then…
Hmm.
He discovered an energy density that was unmistakably different.
Great sorcery? No, this wasn’t done with sorcery.
It was a grand working that even Jinseong found astonishing.
They altered the density itself! So that’s why my sorcery didn’t work.
Energy naturally sought equilibrium. From hot to cold, from high density to low. That constant drive to balance created flows and sustained the Earth’s ecosystem. Yet, starting exactly at the boundary of Japan’s territorial waters, the energy density was completely different.
It was a refined form of barrier and wall that Jinseong had never even considered.
They thought to create a heat dome with energy?
To put it simply, it was like a heat dome. Just as hot air covered a region in the shape of a dome, this raised the density of various energies to envelop an entire area.
Raising the density of energy in a small area to aid in summoning rituals or martial arts training was not unheard of, but applying it across an entire country was something Jinseong had never seen before.
What was even more shocking was how delicately, how subtly, they had only slightly altered the density. It was distinctly different from the surroundings, yet so faint that an ignorant person wouldn’t even feel any sense of unease. Moreover, they had mixed the energy forming the heat dome with thermal energy, making it appear at first glance like a natural phenomenon.
So when the Japanese called their land blessed, they were telling the truth.
Most likely, within that heat dome, the Japanese received a slight buff compared to other countries. Higher energy density meant they could absorb more energy while performing the same actions in the same amount of time. In other words, the longer time passed, the greater the advantage they would gain.
Since they had adjusted it so discreetly, the effect might not be large, but even a small accumulation could become a mountain. In exchange, they would have to suffer through horrifically hot and humid weather because of the thermal energy… but in a way, that too could be considered an advantage rather than a flaw. Cold could kill people, but heat only made them suffer to the point of death. It wasn’t hot enough to kill like in the Middle East, so what was there to complain about?
To think they could create something like this without using sorcery.
It was a clever trick that simply made the region appear to be overflowing with natural energy. Even more cunning was the fact that its effect made people think of a great sorcery ritual.
Granting a buff to an entire nation does resemble a great sorcery at first glance. High-ranking ability users would have sensed that energy heat dome, but they probably dismissed it as just another great sorcery. Hah. Truly sly and ingenious.
A great sorcery ritual that bestowed beneficial effects over a vast area could turn a famine into a bountiful harvest or transform barren land into fertile soil. During World War III, China had even concentrated the power of such a ritual on a small number of people to create berserk warriors. Their tenacious vitality and madness—closer to zombies than humans—had horrified the world.
Since the power of a great sorcery ritual was that formidable, people would have thought nothing strange about using it to grant this level of buff across an entire nation. There must have been those who harbored suspicions, but that sense of unease would have been swept away by the enormous wealth Japan displayed during its bubble economy. A rich country throwing money around to perform great sorcery rituals every year? Nothing suspicious about that.
My sorcery must have been completely deflected by that heat dome. Heh. Truly impressive. Truly.
Just as flowers in a greenhouse were protected, those people had lived lives shielded from sorcery. Ordinary spells would have been deflected the moment they touched the energy heat dome due to the difference in density, and even powerful sorcery would have shattered before it could exert its full strength, like a typhoon smashing against the dome and dissipating.
If a force on the level of a great sorcery ritual were projected, it might have ignored the heat dome and taken effect, but even then, its power would have been reduced. A truly dreadful trick. Truly.
The land where gods reside. Gods… gods, huh….
Jinseong narrowed his eyes and twisted his lips.
A land that rejects sorcery from the outside. And it also dislikes sorcerers coming in. The fact that I couldn’t enter Japan in my previous life before regression was definitely not a coincidence. There must have been interference from an intelligent being that manipulated events without my noticing.
The energy heat dome only blocked external sorcery; it did not prevent sorcerers themselves from entering. Yet despite Jinseong’s repeated attempts to go to Japan, he had failed. That could only mean there had been deliberate interference.
Back when he had been nothing more than a mercenary, he had been in a position where he could neither reach nor even see… interference born of some kind of authority.
In that case, there may also be means to monitor sorcerers coming from abroad.
Suddenly, he thought Japan was like the Galápagos Islands. An island completely isolated, developing an entirely different ecosystem from the rest of the world. Rare and academically valuable, yet in exchange, horrifically vulnerable to invasive species… that was the impression it gave him.
That was why the Galápagos made every effort to prevent invasive species from setting foot on the islands. Cats, dogs, insects, rats… even animals that were perfectly ordinary elsewhere could become catastrophes capable of devastating the island’s ecosystem.
Do you really think you can stop me from entering just because you block the way?
But no barrier was absolute. Even if you scattered salt, there were countless ways to get in. No rich household ever invited thieves on purpose!
Although they had employed a refined trick, it had left their security weakened in equal measure.
Getting in there is just a matter of using a few clever loopholes.
Creak—
Jinseong used Shrinking Earth and moved to the airport.
He sent a brief text to Lee Serin and Lee Arin, then immediately bought a ticket and boarded a plane.
His destination was Germany.
The place where Jinseong arrived was Frankfurt am Main International Airport. Without sparing a glance at anything else, he headed straight for the airport lounge.
The lounge had a stiff yet practical design, but the wallpaper was strangely decorated with patterns that could have been either pictures or abstract designs, giving the space a distinctly exotic atmosphere.
“Rune.”
Runes. Magical characters used in Northern Europe, a power that had developed dramatically during the time of Nazi Germany.
He stared at the wall for a long time until he spotted an X-shaped symbol, then placed his hand on it.
“Gebo.”
Crackle.
The moment he placed his hand on it and tried to absorb the symbol, it seemed to resist, sending out a small spray of sparks. But soon, as if surrendering, it stopped sparking and wrapped around Jinseong’s body like a cloak.
This alone won’t last long.
Each rune character contained multiple meanings. The Gebo he had touched also held various significances, and the one he had forcibly stolen was “gift.” He planned to wrap the stolen symbol around himself to thin out his presence.
This was only possible because runes inherently carried symbolic power, and because the runes engraved in the airport were only half decoration and did not possess strong power.
However, since they had never held strong power to begin with and he had stolen the symbol by force, one was ridiculously insufficient.
“Gebo.”
He wandered around the airport, placing his hand on every X shape he saw and stealing their symbols. When the number gradually increased and finally reached nine…
That should do it.
He was confident that the symbols wrapped around his body would be able to conceal his presence for about a day.
No matter how much they reject foreign species, do you really think that will be enough?
As Jinseong boarded the plane bound for Japan, the corner of his mouth twisted into a smirk.