The First Trial in the Great Rift
The number of expelled individuals, which reached nearly ninety, fell within Han Yujin's predicted range. It was, however, on the higher end of that spectrum.
These were not particularly stupid or incompetent people. The fact that they dared ignore an absolute being's warning and still took action naturally meant each had their own reasons.
Some couldn't easily sever longstanding personal connections. Others had faced simultaneous threats and temptations too difficult to dismiss. A few had overconfident in their own intellect and methods. Still others had misjudged the situation, believing that because the knowledge they had learned overlapped considerably with what was now being distributed across Korea, this much would be acceptable.
But if one were to name the greatest reason, it was that they simply did not understand the extent of Han Yujin's psychic abilities.
Some had been completely ignorant due to a fundamental lack of information from the start. Many more had possessed only a superficial understanding and mistakenly believed they could exploit enough loopholes to keep their secrets safe.
This stemmed fundamentally from Earth humanity's ignorance of mysticism. Knowing so little, they had witnessed his martial prowess yet still failed to properly gauge his capabilities in other domains.
Some, trapped by their preexisting biases, had even wrongly assumed that Han Yujin—like most hunters—would only excel in certain specialized areas.
'Whatever their reasons, those who were expelled won't simply continue to swallow their resentment.'
Someone who shifted blame for their own mistakes onto others and sought revenge would inevitably emerge. In other words, noisy incidents and accidents were likely to erupt across the world in the near future.
Such events would serve as powerful advertisements demonstrating exactly how strict the academy's regulations were. Moreover, as time passed, the natural comparison between those who had been expelled and those who had not would automatically elevate the academy's value.
To show mercy while still reaping dual benefits was truly satisfying.
At present, Han Yujin was already an object of sufficient fear without needing to wield the whip harshly. Therefore, if punishments became necessary in the future, it would be more advantageous to employ measures that took away the carrot, so to speak.
He could not afford to become someone who inspired only fear and terror. He needed to draw forth recognition and respect. Only then could he more smoothly advance various endeavors and accumulate Karma.
While these thoughts ran through his mind, all the students crossed the rift and set foot upon the African continent. They arranged themselves in orderly fashion yet could not hide their astonishment as they looked around.
Having just passed through a spatial movement gate that seemed straight out of a science fiction film, their surprise was only natural. Some, burdened with too many thoughts, appeared to be contemplating from multiple angles the worldwide impact that would follow once this miraculous spatial movement gate technology became widely available.
Unfortunately, this transmission array would not be easy to distribute. One needed to understand that even within the Luminous Galactic Empire, warp gates of this type were exceedingly rare.
After confirming that everyone had crossed, Han Yujin drew their focus.
Knowing it sounded like nagging, he repeated the warning out of concern.
Unlike before, he was now using casual speech, yet none of them found it strange or questionable. In dangerous real combat, it was perfectly common for a superior's words to become short and rough. Moreover, it would have felt far more awkward for Han Yujin, a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, to use polite speech with them.
After speaking, his figure became enveloped in mysterious light and vanished without a trace. The students, freshly astonished once more, immediately began reading the atmosphere.
The first to move this time was Ethan Cross.
He skillfully deployed the Wind Riding Technique and raced toward the hilly region visible in the distance. As if stimulated by his action, several S-class hunters followed suit, beginning to scatter in every direction.
"Heh heh heh."
One among them even let out a laugh as he boldly charged forward. Most merely glanced at him, but the few with truly exceptional intelligence networks were visibly startled.
'Han Yujin's friend, Park Heewon...?!'
Someone thought in shock, continuing to stare at the receding figure.
They had no idea when Park Heewon had joined their group. He had clearly never received training alongside them at the academy.
"Hmm...!"
Soon regaining his composure, the man moved to take the test himself.
In this way, all the students scattered in every direction, each carrying their own thoughts.
The jade plaques serving as emergency signal flares were objects that operated with a faint trace of Han Yujin's divine sense embedded within them.
With the mental power and cognitive abilities of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, tracking and observing this many people was entirely feasible. Moreover, with the fusion intelligence spirit Elb present, the task became far easier.
So easy, in fact, that he barely needed to pay it any attention. Thus, the moment the test began, he flew toward the entrance of the African Great Rift.
As a side note, he had long since withdrawn his divine sense from the jade plaques of the expelled individuals, rendering them completely useless.
At the same time.
Ethan Cross, who had moved first, did not slow his speed in the slightest. He wasn't even deploying the Concealment Technique to hide his presence.
It was as if he were deliberately offering himself as bait, and that behavior soon produced results.
Just as he was about to pass a randomly excavated and devastated pit, a monster burst out and charged at him. It wore dark brown scales like armor, possessed a gorilla's body fused with a lizard's head, and let out a thunderous roar.
Kwaaaaaak—!!
The heavy roar was genuinely threatening. The aura the creature emitted was at a level where even a veteran A-class hunter would not easily prevail in single combat.
The fact that such a monster could be encountered so casually outside the Great Rift—rather than within it—served as proof of the African continent's danger. Yet Ethan Cross showed no fear whatsoever.
The instant his gaze met the monster's glistening yellow eyes, a power similar to the divine sense piercing technique of the Repair World shot forth. It pierced the monster's soul and tore its mind to shreds. Immediately afterward, flames from a Fire Bullet Technique—fired at some unknown moment—flashed, triggering an explosion.
Kwaang—!!
A deafening noise and vibration erupted as a heat-laden gust of wind burst outward.
The monster, already driven to the brink of death by Ethan Cross's awakening ability, took the Fire Bullet Technique directly to its torso. More than half its body crumbled into ash.
'Hmm.'
He realized he had overused his firepower. At the same time, he understood that the Fire Bullet Technique was far stronger and more practical than he had felt while practicing in the training hall.
This was partly because the academy's training hall had been constructed so exceptionally well.
The hall contained an area where stone slabs serving as targets for attack spell practice moved rapidly. Han Yujin, intending to use the facility for a long time, had built everything with extreme durability. As a result, no matter how fiercely the students fired their Fire Bullet Techniques, the targets never broke or malfunctioned.
Therefore, even though they had personally experienced being struck by the technique within the illusion on the first day of class, miscalculations were only natural.
While glancing at the monster's corpse and reflecting on these matters, he continued racing forward without pause, almost as if flying.
'Only one so far.'
He was determined to claim first place in this examination. He had no intention of tolerating anyone other than the absolute being Han Yujin standing above him.
'Park Seryong, no matter how long you've assisted Han Yujin, I will soon take that position for myself.'
Confident in his own talent without the slightest doubt, he accelerated even further.
Meanwhile.
An S-class hunter whose ambition rivaled even Ethan Cross's—Eric Weiss—happened to encounter a rather powerful monster and was engaged in combat.
Kwarurung—!!
His awakening ability, blue-white lightning, shot forth and struck a scorpion monster covered in a black-green carapace. The thunderous crackle and the countless spreading sparks of electricity were extremely threatening, and their effect was equally devastating.
Kiiiik...!
Even as its internal organs were electrocuted, convulsing and burning, the scorpion monster relied on its ferocious instincts to swing its foreleg and thrust its tail.
Yet Eric Weiss lightly evaded the attacks using the Wind Riding Technique, then drew up his lightning once more while simultaneously deploying the Fire Bullet Technique.
In that instant, the Fire Bullet Technique—which should have been spherical—melted into the lightning and began burning with a far more terrifying intensity.
The technique he had inwardly named Blitz Inferno then shot forward.
Pakkwaang—!!
Kiaaaaaak...!!
Accompanied by a much louder thunderclap than before, the horrifying heat-infused lightning mercilessly incinerated and melted the scorpion monster's entire body.
As ashes scattered and a terrible stench spread, Eric Weiss paid it no mind whatsoever. Instead, he grew greatly excited.
'This effective?!'
As expected, the training hall's durability had prevented him from truly feeling its power. He was so delighted he nearly forgot his surroundings.
Of course, he soon regained his senses, briefly examined the monster's corpse, then deployed the Wind Riding Technique once more and continued moving.
'First place in this test belongs to me...!'
With the unique technique Blitz Inferno he had developed, he was certain he could achieve results no one else could match.
"Oh..."
Click—! Click—!
Han Yujin, having entered the interior of the Great Rift, remained immersed in the sight before him even as he continued observing the test participants with Elb's assistance. He could not help but sigh in admiration.
As expected, seeing it in person was worth a hundred explanations. Text and images alone could never properly capture this spectacle.
It was an overwhelmingly vast underground space.
So enormous that calling it "vast" felt entirely appropriate despite being underground. Countless light-emitting crystals grew across the cave ceiling, making it seem as though the sun itself had risen. Water vapor rose like clouds in various places, lending the scene a dreamlike quality.
In the distance, beautiful waterfalls cascaded downward. Vegetation of various shapes and colors grew everywhere, making it difficult to believe this was truly an underground space.
However.
There were also many monsters that prevented one from describing the place as merely beautiful.
These creatures made no attempt to conceal their vicious nature, digging wildly through the earth. Yet the vegetation remained lush because the plants themselves were a type of monster possessing abnormal vitality.
'Even S-class hunters cannot afford to let their guard down here.'
After observing the monsters' auras, Han Yujin thought that this place truly deserved its reputation as a demonic realm.
Soon, he deployed the Five Elements Heavenly Escape Art and began a proper exploration of the interior.
Thanks to his exceptional abilities as a Nascent Soul True Person, and because this was a location that had never undergone proper exploration, he discovered a special ruin in merely twenty minutes.
It bore clear traces of civilization—seemingly a kind of temple or monastery.
Judging by its architectural style, it did not appear to belong to the Immortal Path Sanctuary or Primitive Sanctuary. It more closely resembled structures from the Divine Demon Sanctuary or Magic Sanctuary.
Plant-type monsters that looked anything but gentle were growing throughout the area, but he concealed his presence using Monghwan Yusim and entered the interior without encountering any interference.
His widely extended divine sense investigated everything without being detected by any entity. Immediately afterward, his figure became enveloped in light and descended into even deeper underground regions.
The place where he stopped was within collapsed earth.
Everything was buried in soil and sediment, yet having deployed the Five Elements Heavenly Escape Art, he roamed freely through what had once been a basement without any hindrance.
The objects he picked up moved as though passing through empty air, ignoring the surrounding soil entirely. In this manner, he comfortably examined a fist-sized regular octahedron crafted from the bones of some unknown beast.
'It's a kind of jade record.'
Unlike those from the Repair World, this object had been created with special magical materials added. It bore similarities to the Liber he had encountered during his adventures in the Galactic Empire.
After confirming there was no danger, he examined the knowledge contained within the object.
Realizing it was a kind of handwritten journal composed by someone, he immediately looked around with evident interest.
His widely spread divine sense detected silver ores buried throughout the area. They were the precious metals unique to the Magic Sanctuary, known as Lunarium.
In other words, this Great Rift was a location filled with valuable magical metals, perfectly befitting its nature as an underground space.
'Closing it off is out of the question.'
Sealing away a Great Rift like this would result in enormous long-term losses for Earth. He needed to ensure that Earth humanity could develop their capabilities, manage the risks, and proceed with development.
While they built those skills, he could simply pay closer attention to the situation.
'And this information...'
While it offered no immediate practical benefit, there was information that greatly piqued his interest.
It concerned the names of the other universe forces he had heard of several times before, along with accounts of various incidents they had caused within the Magic Sanctuary.