Chapter 254: Scout (1)
‘Well, it doesn’t matter if I’m not here anyway.’
Numerous new warriors were trained in those forty-four days. They would be sufficient to replace the spacecraft, Lynn.
’Then there are eleven days left before the penalty ends and sixteen until the duel.’
Finishing the calculation in his head, Yoon-seok decided to move as originally scheduled for the rest of his time. It was too much to meet all the nominees, but he could at least check one person. The King of Steel Kerixis Jagun Alzbehiyan Bernille.
’They said he returned to the royal palace a few days ago after a long absence.’
Yoon-seok was a little burdened to be meeting the companion nominees right away. Rankers were an unpredictable species. Even without techniques such as Asnat’s {Voracity}, they could fight just for fun, and the King of Steel was the kind to do so. So, Yoon-seok wondered if it would be wise to meet him with his various skills sealed.
But…
’It’ll be okay if it’s King of Steel.’
Skills didn’t work on the King of Steel, so the penalty was meaningless anyway. In addition, the Last Command that led him to victory was replaced by the Compressed Muscle of {Transcendental Muscles}. In addition, since it wouldn’t be in the arena, he could leave if the situation became unfavorable.
‘Okay, let’s meet. And if I have time, I can see another one.’
Yoon-seok returned to the tower after saying goodbye to Ashton. And he immediately froze.
「Moving to the waiting room on the 23rd floor.」
Broken walls from side to side. Workout equipment arranged in harmony. Although there was no problem with the space itself…
“I guess they’re finally here? Hey, he’s the one, right?
“Yes, yes! T-That’s right. Madam!”
A strange man and woman were in Yoon-seok’s waiting room. The human man gave off a pathetic impression, and the devil woman had brilliant silver hair. Yoon-seok’s gaze followed her wagging tail.
“…”
Sitting in a seductive posture on the titanium bench, she had her feet raised on the steel set-up he had for doing sit-ups with heels on, too.
Who are these two? He didn’t know this rude devil woman, but that human looked familiar…
’Oh, next door.’
Only then did he recall. Yoon-seok wondered why he looked familiar, but he was the guy who lived next door. He kept stuttering whenever he tried to talk to him, so he wondered if he had mental issues…
’The heck? He’s talking normally.’
Anyway, that wasn’t the point. Just as this man was his neighbor, this woman was also. However, the difference was that this woman was a top ranker from the duels.
“I heard you were the one who smashed the wall in my house.”
The magic instilled in her voice whirled around the air. It was only then that Yoon-seok realized why she was waiting for him.
’Is she the one of the empty waiting rooms’ owner?’
He did ask for understanding (?) from those present, but the vacant owner returned and came to protest after realizing what happened. But this was this, and that was that.
“First, put your feet down.”
Yoon-seok put magic in his voice to not be pushed back. This woman knew magic was the best means to smooth a conversation. The woman smiled.
“…What a funny guy.”
The woman stood. Yoon-seok quickly brushed off the dirt from where she was putting her feet up before turning to regard her.
“…I’ve done something wrong so that I won’t ask for an apology.”
“…What?”
“I hope we can use honorifics with each other from now on.”
“…No, wait. I-I did something wrong?”
Since they both made a mistake, they were even. However, it seemed that she didn’t even understand this simple logic.
“I’ll find a way to fix the wall as soon as possible.”
“No, no, no… wait a minute…”
“I have something to do, so…”
“When people talk…”
Yoon-seok opened his subspace bag and took out a Seheranbad ticket.
“You have to listen! You punk!”
The woman rushed in, and her sharp nails tore the ticket Yoon-seok held in half. At the same time…
「Returning to Seheranbad.」
Surrounded by lights, the woman quickly disappeared.
“…”
“…”
A strange silence filled the waiting room. It was a one-day ticket, so it would probably take a day for that devil to return.
“…Uh, uh uh, uh.”
The man who could express his opinion clearly just moments before suddenly began to stutter. However, perhaps he didn’t completely lose his language skills? He stuttered with a pale complexion and stepped back awkwardly.
“F-Fortunately, i-it seems to have ended smoothly, so I-I’ll get going now.”
“Okay.”
Yoon-seok nodded and watched him leave. Was he thinking about his family back at home? The man returned to his waiting room through the broken wall and swiped the tablet in a hurry, then ripped up a ticket.
Tearrrrrr.
Yoon-seok stood alone in the waiting room for a while.
“…What was that?”
It felt like something had just happened… but he didn’t know what exactly. However, it ended without further problems, so he didn’t have to care anymore. Yoon-seok slowly approached the broken wall.
‘I have to solve this somehow.’
At the time, he was annoyed by the Tower penalty, so he made an impulsive decision to smash the walls. Of course, that judgment proved beneficial, but… some people suffered from his actions, like the woman just now, so he needed to take responsibility for what he did.
’I don’t want them to come in and dirty my workout equipment.’
Yoon-seok touched the edge of the broken wall. He had countless skills related to breaking, but none of them could fix this. Well, they were sealed anyway.
’In the end, do I have no choice but to create a skill that can fix the wall by synthesizing later on?’
Yoon-seok clicked his tongue. However, something crossed his mind when he was about to let go.
’Hold on, blocking the wall…?’
The Immortal Muscle of b Transcendental Muscle}. The effect of this ability was none other than blocking what couldn’t be blocked. Wouldn’t he be able to use this?
’No way that’s going to happen…’
Yoon-seok smiled at the thought.
’…Huh?’
Yoon-seok went stiff as he pulled away from the wall. The line of the broken wall where his hand was… it looked smooth and almost elastic, now.
’Muscles…?’
It was small, but it was a muscle. A special grade muscle that combined steel-like hardness and elasticity. Yoon-seok prodded the muscles rising from the wall with his fingertips. Then, in response, the muscles quickly stretched and blocked the wall.
’What is this… these phrases weren’t in the description.’
Dimension Muscle, No-loss Muscle, Immortal Muscle, Compressed Muscle, King Muscle, Existence Muscle, Injection Muscle… none of them had this ability. However, he was only flustered for a second before messages appeared.
「Dimensional Muscle ignores dimension resistance and connects to other dimensions.」
「If the Dimensional Muscle connected to another dimension is destroyed, you suffer the same damage.」
He thought it might be the effect of Immortal Muscle, but it happened due to Dimensional Muscle.
’Then is this muscle a part of my body…?’
In all respects, he didn’t feel like a part of his body was removed. Curious, Yoon-seok tapped the muscle wall with his finger.
’It’s strange.’
It was a very difficult feeling to describe. It was a wall he was touching, but it felt like someone was tickling around his shoulder.
Boom-!
Yoon-seok hit the muscle wall with his fist to confirm further. He felt a firm response, but there was no pain.
“Anyway, that’s good.”
Odd as it was, he found a solution. Yoon-seok drew his sword to check the strength of the muscle wall, using b Divine Ultimatum} to stab it.
Booooooom-!
He felt an incomparable shock in his shoulder, but the Dimensional Muscle in front of him was intact. Yoon-seok smiled wide.
‘Is the breaking something that cannot be broken not applied?’
Was it because of the Square Muscle effect imprinted on Immortal Muscle? Or was it simply because his durability was ridiculously high? Whatever it was, the muscle wall didn’t break even under {Divine Ultimatum}. Of course, it wasn’t completely ineffective; there was a slight scratch, but…
Even that was quickly regenerated by No-loss Muscle.
“…That’s nice”.
Yoon-seok smashed the wall next to the muscles and entered the waiting room of the man who left for his hometown. After continuing to the far end, he started repairing them one by one using Dimensional Muscle.
’Let’s leave this for now.’
Yoon-seok, who succeeded in repairing all the walls in about an hour, looked into Namgoong So-so’s waiting room. Come to think of it; it’d been a while since he last saw her. Did she die during a trial? If so, Asura would be a little sad.
“…It’s harder than I thought.”
Yoon-seok stretched and warmed up. Perhaps because he used many skills, his whole body felt stiff.
’Dimensional Muscle…’
Yoon-seok sat in bed for a while and lost himself in thought. Ignoring dimensional resistance… he never dreamed that this simple effect could be applied in this way.
’Is it a passive skill that can be applied not just in special situations…?’
Just as Yoon-seok could operate Skywrath Energy externally without a skill, Dimensional Muscle was likely to have similar capabilities.
‘This is fun.’
No matter if he met up with the King of Steel or not, Yoon-seok felt the need to study Dimensional Muscle first.
’I’m sure. If I know how to use it properly, I can utilize it better than Immortal Muscle.’
Deciding he would delay his meeting with the King of Steel a while, he sat cross-legged on his steel stand. He reviewed every sense he felt while restoring the wall through the Dimensional Muscle. He couldn’t remember the first attempt, which was an accident, but he could easily recall the rest as he focused on his senses.
‘First, it’s important to have a clear will.’
It wasn’t difficult to create Dimensional Muscle at the desired point. If Yoon-seok put strength in his muscles to connect that space and his body- poof, the muscles were formed.
Then, what about simple movement, not creation or connection?
Swish.
Yoon-seok stretched his hand forward with his leg crossed. This time, unlike before, it felt like he had passed through an invisible threshold.
Tuk.
‘Did I succeed?’
Yoon-seok’s hand vanished and reappeared in front of the tablet about three meters away. Yoon-seok tried to swipe the tablet by moving his fingers.
’It does work.’
This made it possible to swing his fist at awkward angles and hit his opponent from a distance.
‘I guess my body is the only one that can move between dimensions.’
If he was holding a sword, Yoon-seok’s hand couldn’t move through that threshold anymore. Therefore, it was a little unreasonable to use this ability to teleport at any moment. Well, unless he went around naked.
‘Let’s seal it unless I have to use it…’
Yoon-seok thought so and opened his subspace bag. A full day had passed before he knew it as he experimented with Dimensional Muscle, so it was now time to meet the King of Steel.
‘There’s no way he’s returned to the Tower already, right?’
Yoon-seok held up a ticket, and as soon as he was going to rip it in half-
Booooooooom-!
Suddenly, the wall of the waiting room was broken open. The silver-haired devil, who transferred to Seheranbad, made another appearance.
“…You clever human being! Thankfully you’re still here!”
Listening to her angry voice, Yoon-seok’s eyes glinted. Although she broke down the normal wall next to it, not the muscle wall…
That action meant one thing.
‘Interesting.’
Break something that cannot be broken. This woman had a similar ability to {Divine Ultimatum}.