Some time had passed since our last meeting; we gathered in the room again afterward to transfer the rest of the information.
Although Jin became more convinced after learning about the healing effects of the sacred fruit, he still completely opposed my idea. His claim was that no living creature on this planet could endure the pain of muscle dissolution and then reconstruction.
And even if I somehow survived that, the pain would render me mentally incapacitated and might change me forever. The problem was that I somewhat agreed with him. I'm not a battle-hardened warrior who has faced injuries all his life, nor do I enjoy pain.
So I knew that simply enduring the pain wasn't an option for me, but the problem was that there was nothing I could do to change it.
First, I have to stay awake throughout the process; otherwise, my body will protect itself using the Commandment of Sloth. And even if I somehow managed to stop any resistance from it, my body would still resist the harmful effect, rendering the process useless.
The other option was to use a anesthetic, which seemed like a good idea until I realized something. For an ordinary anesthetic to be effective in this process, I would need to use enormous amounts of it.
And by enormous amounts, I mean enough to flood my body with it! Such an amount of anesthetic could simply kill me instead of preventing the pain!
To my knowledge, finding an effective anesthetic would require traveling to the nation of the dwarves, where they have the most advanced medical equipment. As for obtaining the anesthetic through the Creator's privilege, the cost is 300 points.
The reason is that the only anesthetic that might work must has additional effects attached, and those effects significantly increased its price.
And annoyingly, there is no other anesthetic that would be effective in this situation. It's really annoying... but there is no other solution.
Although I became stronger quickly due to the materials in the Puppet Society, they also destroyed most of my chances to level up... All that just to make a girl more famous in her society built on slavery…
I felt some anger when I remembered Diana and even more anger when I remembered that the Puppet Society was still standing. I suddenly heard a knock on the door, looked at it with annoyance, and got up to open it. Who could this be? And why are they visiting?
It's really strange; no one had knocked on this door before; they would simply come in. Even Killian used to come in as he pleased. The group I traveled with didn't respect privacy at all.
'What's happening for god's sake...' . I opened the door slowly while thinking, and before I realized, I found a gun had been shoved into my mouth.
'The F*ck...' I was surprised to see a small figure below me, about 1.2 meters tall, with long silver hair reaching down to his neck.
Despite his small stature, he appeared to be an adult at the same time.
'What is a dwarf even doing here...' Before I could react, the dwarf pulled the trigger, and the other end of the gun was inside my mouth.
***
A few moments earlier...
Jin and Elara were sitting at the front of the carriage, exchanging conversations as usual.
Their conversation revolved around memories in the resistance team, and ironically, the two who had the least friendship in the team were the only survivors.
Additionally, Jin and Elara were the only ones who had nothing to look forward to outside, while the others had plenty.
At least, Jin now had a goal and things to do, but Elara was still nearly empty.
After a long time of retrieving their freedom, Elara finally decided to tell Jin about his true identity and past.
He thought it necessary if he wanted to stay in this group at least, as he didn't want to return to those he previously accompanied.
However, when he was about to start telling his story, Jin suddenly stopped driving the carriage.
"What happened?" Noticing Jin's expression becoming more stern, Elara forgot all his chaotic emotions and became serious too.
However, before he could respond, something strange happened.
"Move!" Jin shouted at the top of his lung and then rushed towards Elara.
Elara looked up and noticed a massive metal hammer destroying the carriage roof and almost reaching his head.
He gritted his teeth, then channeled some of his mana into his mechanical arm.
His hand collided with the hammer, but the winner was obvious.
Elara didn't have much physical strength, he barely managed to slow down the hammer with his mechanical hand and enhance his body with his skill, the only reason he survived was Jin's intervention.
A strange gray club appeared out of nowhere, which Jin grabbed, presumably made of his fog.
As soon as the club hit the hammer, the mana collision sent Elara flying towards the back of the carriage.
Elara used the air cannon again to leap high, breaking the carriage roof while doing so. He got a better view of the surrounding area when he exited the carriage; dozens of dwarves surrounded the place.
Most of them wielded highly advanced firearms, and among them were fighters of rank B and A.
Usually, it wouldn't be too bad because of Jin's presence, but what Elara saw at the front made him change his mind. Around five war machines like the one that hit him stood in front of the carriage, each of them at rank S.
The sixth machine was facing Jin at the front of the carriage; Elara could see it leaping out of the carriage in the end.
It seems Jin outmatched it in terms of physical strength at least, he's truly a monster.
***
"What do you think?" one of the dwarves hiding at the back spoke. They were watching the war machines ahead, holding communication devices.
"The white-haired one is extremely dangerous. Allocate five war machines to eliminate him, and have the sixth one kill the rest while leaving one alive. Keep the sound barrier up!"
"Understood!" The person on the right nodded and began relaying the information to the combat squad using his device.
The dwarf wanted to kill everyone except Elara for several reasons: First, Jin was too powerful to capture without significant losses.
Everyone else was rank B or lower, and they likely didn't possess any valuable information due to their weakness. As for Elara, a rank A, he was likely to have some of the important information they wanted and was relatively easier to capture due to the attacking forces.
Three seconds were enough to devise a complete combat strategy capable of achieving the best result; this was the advantage of dwarves over other races.
Their small brains could process information at three times the speed of humans, and their industrial talents were unparalleled. Regarding their mana, it was the least among all the races on earth, but no one dared to mock them for that reason.
Among all the races on earth, including demons, dwarves have the highest number of rank S warriors. Or more precisely, the war machines they created in large numbers could face rank S warriors, a truly terrifying race.
No wonder they could wipe out an entire royal family in one night; they could do almost anything if they prepared well.
***
Facing five combat machines, Jin stood in a fully defensive stance. He wanted to go back to check on everyone's safety, but he felt a severe danger around him. If he turned his back on these machines for even a second, he would surely die. He knew this fact and was completely convinced of it.
The war machines' appearance was terrifying. Each stood three meters tall, their arms and legs shaped squarely, and their skin entirely gray like the metal they were made of.
Their eyes glowed a strange red—a look that made anyone who saw it feel extreme danger—and each machine held a different weapon.
A great sword, a club, a scepter, a spear, and an axe.
All the weapons were incredibly massive; just a touch from any of them could completely crush Jin and erase him from existence.
"My traditional weapons won't do any good..." Jin spoke with a somewhat angry tone. He wanted to finish quickly but couldn't rush.
Any wrong move he make may lead to his end, and he still had many things to live for.
For this reason, he would fight with the best method possible.
Against the terrifying and horrific shapes of the war machines, Jin stood with his white hair and completely serious expression. When he merged with this body for the first time, it was clear that the hair had turned white from old age, but now it seemed naturally white—from birth.
Compared to his previous appearance, Jin now looked more imposing. His appearance alone raised the estimation of his strength among the dwarfs in the back. This wasn't necessarily a good thing but was enough proof of his change.
His clothes were entirely white, matching his hair perfectly. They looked like fabric and even felt soft but were made of incredibly sturdy materials.
He made them himself using the Crafting skill. His skill's benefits clearly extended beyond battles.
Jin took a deep breath as he noticed the war machines starting to move, and in that moment, mana erupted around him.
{Transformation.}
{Crafting.}
He extended his hands to the side, each in an opposite direction, and the air around his hands began to distort and become chaotic. Strange blue mana gathered around his hands and obeyed his commands completely, as if it preferred him over anyone else present.
Then, with a blinding light, two pairs of extraordinarily designed short swords appeared.
They were extremely solid, and their razor-sharp edges reflected the blinding light onto the battlefield.
The handles were wrapped in black, non-slip threads, and the blades were painted white and gold, just like the Morning Stars.
Given that Jin's mastery of the MorningStar Sword Art was still insufficient to use it in battle, he would stick to assassination techniques for now.
Creating the swords took several seconds, and by that time, the machines had already surrounded him in a formation difficult to break out of.
When the five-fold attack began, and things looked very bad, Jin started moving.
He vanished in the next moment, making it extremely difficult to see him after that. As an assassin, the most developed aspect of his body after using the {Personal Assassin} skill was his speed.
If he enhanced himself using his movement skills, he might even keep up with a prodigy s+ swordsman.
Regarding these war machines, dodging them was no problem; the real challenge lay in penetrating their metal bodies.