"Hello?"
"Hey Min-Cheol . Where are you?"
"In front of the association building . When do you think you'll finish?"
"This stuff isn't important to listen to . I'll be escorting your mother outside in 10 minutes . "
"Ok . I'll be in front of the subway . Exit 3 . "
Due to the heavy amount of security around the association building, I decided to wait by the subway .
I had wiped all the blood off me, as well as getting a change of clothes .
But I could not hide the scent of blood that permeated my skin .
I looked around my surroundings briefly .
Soon, I saw my mother and Jong Ho exiting .
"Oh my . Why are you so smelly . "
"I went hunting . How was the debate?"
"Don't even ask . You can't go around hitting people, okay? Especially beating the weak to death, to the point where you can't even recognize their corpses . I don't know where the world is headed towards . "
At my mother's words, my heart became heavy .
Didn't I just kill over 500 members of the guild?
But I do not regret today's events in the slightest .
I had to get tougher, both physically and mentally .
To protect what is mine, I could take on more .
"Hey . What do you think I think of you . Mom already knows . You won't hurt anyone first . "
"You're wrong . Even if a regular person attacks first, you have to solve it with words . "
"Ok! I got it, I got it . Guess you had quite the fun, since you're still talking . Let's go home already . I'm hungry . "
* * *
After coming back home and finishing the meal, I talked to Jong Ho about Jin .
I needed a plan to deal with him .
He already fully understood my abilities .
But I had no information regarding his abilities or the superiors above him .
And I can handle their attacks to some degree .
But I could not guarantee the safety of my mother when I leave to hunt .
Jong Ho was surprised at my infinite mana ability, as he heard it for the first time .
He did guess that my mana regeneration rate was insanely high .
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Why would I trust him so much to the point where I'd share my ability?
It's a bit embarrassing, but I had the midget do a background search on Jong Ho using a mid-ranking assassin .
All I could find out was that he was a better man than I thought he was .
That's why I trust him with my mother during the Noblesse incident .
I teased him about how I could not hide the truth from him, but I couldn't hate him .
Jong Ho shifted the topic to the battle's events .
"An attack through 3 level 100 shields? Definitely something else for sure . "
"I don't care about how amazing he is . I'm worried for my mother's safety . The day we meet again is going to be his funeral . "
My rare look of seriousness must have made him feel awkward, because he waited until I finished .
"But there one thing that I found amusing . "
"What would that be?"
"Hyung, think about it carefully . If someone that skilled attacked, wouldn't they aim for the heart or through the head?"
"That's true . "
"But he aimed for my stomach . Definitely an injury I could die from, but not something you'd die instantly from . "
"Hm… . "
"Due to the 3 shields I had on, the attack angle got shifted? That's possible . However, I felt it for sure . That he aimed for a non-vital spot on purpose . "
"Their income line the Noblesse guild is heading towards annihilation, so why would he not finish you off in one hit? Don't you think his attack missed its mark?"
"As I said before, he already knows about my ability . If I take that into account, I'm guessing that he needs my infinite mana ability . "
Soon as I finished talking, I pulled out my smartphone .
It was to show what I filmed on the 15th underground floor .
Jong Ho's expression turned serious, and he began to focus on the smartphone .
"What is this?"
"It's the Noblesse's 15th underground floor . Do you have any idea what this machine is?"
"Ah… where did I see this . "
Jong Ho was trying to think of something .
"I became sure of something after looking at this . "
"Sure of?"
"The thing which they're extracting out of all those people . It's mana . "
"Mana? So they extract all the mana and send it to the portal? For what reason?"
"That I do not know . But the mana required will be something that even mana from hundreds of people cannot complete . Due to how much they need my ability, they can't act rashly . "
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"If what you say is right, you'll be okay for a while . But they'll probably point their sword as you, just like how Noblesse did . "
"Of course I'll have to get enough power to rip them apart . And before I do that, I need to guarantee my mother's safety . So I could be at ease and focus on getting stronger . "
"There is a simple method . ���
"What's that?"
"You just have to cast a skill on your mother . "
"You can't cast anything but attack skills on regular people though?"
That was true .
Including the Status Negation that Park Hyun used, as well as heal, attack and defensive buffs, etc . could not be used on anyone but the Awakened .
There was no way Jong Ho didn't know this .
But Jong Ho isn't the type to just make up nonsense .
I prayed that what he was about to say was the solution I needed .
"Recovery or buff skills are impossible . But attacks are fine, right?"
"… What do you mean?"
I couldn't help but be surprised at what Jong Ho said .
However he continued on without his expression changing in the slightest .
"Necromancer has a skill called 'Proof of Oath' that you can use . "
"What's that?"
"Basically you make the target your servant . "
"Wait hyung . I don't think you understand . I… . "
"You can only cast it on targets much weaker than you . A skill that's like a debuff, but it is classified as an attack skill . "
"… . . "
"Originally it's used to transfer all the damage taken by the user to the target, like a human meat shield . But the funny thing is that it also goes the other way around as well . "
"Really? If there is a skill like that, I feel like Necromancer deserves far more praise than the king of VIPs, the tanks . Or even the all-purpose warriors . "
"That's true . But if I didn't know about your ability, I wouldn't recommend this skill . "
"What do you mean?"
"Nobody in the world can use this skill . At least not as of yet . Well, I don't think it would even be used in the future anyways . "
"Is the mana cost that much? How much is it?"
"5 million . Exactly 5 million . If mankind kept evolving endlessly, it would be possible to use . If death doesn't exist, they could continue to level and by using incredible items… cast the skill . But that doesn't apply to you, does it?"
"But if you use that skill, won't you take away their will? Since you could control them . "
"That's true, but that depends on your control . You could take over their minds, or you could just have the effect of the skill on them and leave their mind alone . "
If what Jong Ho said was correct, this was the perfect plan .
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Even if my mother is attacked, all the damage would be transferred to me .
Other than skills beyond being classified with a rank, there is no attack that could go through my Mana Shield .
And it has the benefit of not tampering with the will of the target if desired .
No matter how much it costed, it was something I needed to obtain .
I couldn't hide my excitement as I asked .
"It would be incredibly expensive, right?"
"Yes… incredibly expensive . "
"I only have to Awakened Essences, but would that be enough?"
"Difficult . "
"Where could I get it?"
"Probably in the trash dump behind the market place . "
"Ah . I almost hit you . So a skill that's worthless . "
"Of course, who would buy a skill that's worthless even after you obtain it? If you hunt a Mimic, something crazy like that drops . "
"How did you know this so well?"
"I've been working on the bottom level of society for this long . This is just the basics . "
I headed to the market with Jong Ho .
* * *
It's been a week since I wiped out Noblesse and Park Hyun .
I immediately obtained the skill Jong Ho talked about .
A magician could cast it by using both hands .
Thankfully it wasn't a skill that required constant casting like Mana Shield .
It continued to stay on with just one cast, and only needed to be recasted when you controlled the target .
I needed to test the effect of the skill .
I couldn't just cast the skill on my mother without being safe .
But there was a quick and easy way to find out .
It was Sunday morning .
I headed towards the scream I heard in the kitchen with urgency .
My mother had cut her finger while cooking .
She held onto the finger tightly .
But when she opened her hand, there was no wound, as if the cut never happened .
She was surprised, but thought of it as being fortunate . She didn't seem that suspicious .
I was using Mana Shield .
Even if it was the all cutting rose knife, she would not have a wound .
The news had the 'Disappearance of Noblesse's guild members' as a special feature .
They were treating it as a mystery, since they could not find a single trace of them .
500 were treated as murdered, but there was nothing about the portal .
The Association was not able to find the portal in the building?
The chance of that happening was zero .
And the machine set up around the portal was cleanly removed .
Guess they couldn't let it be exposed through the media .
Through the skill Proof of Oath, I could finally feel a bit more relieved concerning my mother .
But Jin is incredibly skilled .
If he's following an organization, there must be people far more powerful than him .
If they had a skill beyond a ranking? Then I would be done in without any resistance .
I had bought myself some time due to my ability .
I had to use this opportunity to the fullest so that I would not be hit by any attack . That was the amount of growth I needed .
Since level 19 to 21 dungeons could not be hit magic attacks, I went to the level 23 dungeon .
To make the hunting go by faster, I had even obtained the Louver's Necklace at the level 18 dungeon, so I could use both hands without worry .
Using the set effect, I could create a shield using their magical essences .
Anything the dungeon threw at me could easily be blocked by this shield .
I went through the level 18 dungeon for the necklace, but I also leveled .
I had reached level 170, and put all the points into the stamina stat .
There was no reason to put any more points into strength .
Just counting the amount I put in, it was already past 600 .
It was something only a warrior who only put strength stat until level 118 could reach .
Both Banwol Jincheon on both my hands gave a massive stat bonus to my strength already .
Unless a skill or an item that nullified all magic appeared, I planned to put all the points into dexterity and stamina .
That was also the reason to choose the level 23 dungeon .
It was to obtain the defensive gear dropped from that dungeon .
"Jin or whoever it may be, I'll shoot the moment I'm ready . "