Chapter 122 – Of Course It Makes Sense~ (2)
The story goes back to the day I met the volunteers for the first time, three days before I heard from the volunteers.
The minimum working condition for the ‘cage’, the largest concentration camp in Atipia, is D rank or higher in combat power as a measurement standard in ‘Metaverse City’, and the maximum combat power that humans without special abilities such as magic or divine power can produce is B rank. When you think about it, it was by no means a low figure. However, it was difficult to say that the position of guard was a very good job compared to the required combat power.
The salary paid is 150,000 credits per month, which is not too high considering the poor working environment compared to the risk of managing heinous criminals at the level of dehumanization, which are increasing day by day. Of course, even that was the result of the director of Break Wing taking extra care of it. Despite the number of people who have retired or been hospitalized due to injuries every week due to all sorts of dangerous situations, the problem of lack of employment in the ‘cage’ has not been highlighted to the extent of being very serious. Because there were people who were hired.
Few of the new staff wanted to work at the prison in the first place. Most of them aimed at lucrative jobs such as escorting high-ranking officials, but were eliminated due to lack of qualifications, and after wandering around looking for other options, they were forced to choose this ‘cage’ as the last option. And their lack of qualifications, the majority of them were fighting power.
High-ranking officials want a reliable and strong escort, but not all of them meet that condition. No matter how hard people tried, no matter how hard they tried, humans who were talented in magic or who did not receive protection from the gods could not achieve grades higher than B rank in combat power, based on the ‘Metaverse City’ measurement standard, and the minimum condition that the wealthy dignitaries in question wanted was A rank in combat power. It was over. Therefore, those who failed to hire escorts for high-ranking officials paid attention to the next area of focus, low income stability and risky, but ‘explorers’ who could hit the jackpot if successful.
Of course, explorers who set out on large-scale journeys risked their lives to earn money, so the required combat power was very high, even if not as high as that of high-ranking officials, and it was impossible for people below C rank to join the journey. In the first place, even in the ‘guild’, it was also a factor that they did not allow the journey unless they had at least B rank or higher combat power due to safety issues. The place where those who were filtered out once more reached a ‘cage’ where the profit was small compared to the risk, but always hired people.
To put it simply, the guards working in the ‘cage’ are all capable of earning time against the heinous prisoners, but that’s all. That’s why they were all the more dissatisfied with their miserable lives, jealous of those who were more talented and lucky than themselves. For those who have been chosen by God and have no divine protection and no magical talents, my experiment that anyone can exceed the minimum combat power rank B as long as they have strong mental power is worth the challenge even if it involves some risk. It happened.
Ah, combat power rank B or higher was based on the first subject, ‘Black Knight’ Ed. Even though it is only a defense-specific ability, if ‘Black Knight’ is estimated to be B rank, a person with stronger mental power than Ed may gain stronger power.
So, first of all, I slowly looked at the four guards selected by the director of Break Wing prison in my prison.
Jean Sen. Gender male, age twenty-two. A newcomer from the underground city of Landfeel, with a C rank in combat power. And the only ex-convict.
White glass. Twenty-year-old woman. Although she is a foreigner, unfortunately, she has no magical aptitude, and her protection is non-combat, so her combat power is D-rank, the lowest among her applicants.
Thomas Logan. I am a man and I am twenty-four. A new race born in Skylon. He is the eldest among the four applicants, and his work evaluation is not bad. His combat power is C rank.
Jennie. I’m a woman and I’m twenty-one. Similarly, new people from Skyron. Combat power is C rank.
This is an approximate profile of four applicants. In addition to that, detailed body data such as height, weight, and three sizes are written, but it doesn’t matter, so pass. Except for one girl from a foreign country, all the rest are C ranks. Of course, that doesn’t mean that their actual fighting skills won’t be the same.
“Then, let’s start the program soon. Come on, everyone, spread your hands out wide.”
I placed ‘seeds’ on each of the four palms.
“That’s the important element in this experiment, and the ‘seed’ that will become your strength. The seed will grow little by little, using your mind… Mainly ‘desire’ as fertilizer, going through a certain period in your body. And when that seed sprouts and blooms, you will gain the strength you so longed for. However, there are a few things to be aware of at this time. I won’t explain it twice, so please read it carefully. First…
But before I could finish my words, Zhang Sen swallowed the seed from her hand in one bite.
“It’s too long to explain. Well, anyway, the most important thing is that you gain strength by putting this inside your body, right?”
He’s a quick-tempered guy. Maybe it’s because he’s from Landfill, so he doesn’t seem to care too much about side effects. Well, I heard that Landfill is a place where the air is very polluted and all kinds of dangerous drugs are traded casually. It’s arranged
“Well, that’s good. Then Mr. Sen, you should be everyone’s guinea pig.”
“What?”
“First of all, this is a warning.”
Skill: [Emotional Amplification – Uncontrollable Desire]
“…Um? Uhhhhh…!”
Zhang Sen’s face darkened in an instant, and soon he staggered like a person suffering from seasickness, or like someone who was so drunk that he couldn’t stand his body. While the other guards were puzzled by his sudden strange behavior, I used the skill again when he revealed to me the meal he ate this morning and the undigested food for yesterday’s dinner.
Skill: [Emotional Amplification – Uncontrollable Desire]
“Ugh, aaaaagh!”
When he used the skill again, Zhang Sen screamed and fell to the floor, shaking his body. Eventually, his left arm was split in two based on the middle finger of his left hand, and the torn off part regenerated, making three arms attached to his body.
“The seeds you swallow grow using the host’s desire as nourishment. Depending on the growth stage, it can be divided into germination, growth, flowering, and fruition. And now, Zhang Sen’s condition is the growth stage. In some way, the powers you have take on a form that you can see with the naked eye. In the case of Mr. Zhang Sen, an extra organ has been added.”
“Keuk… My ability is that I can only add one more arm…?”
“Ah, don’t get me wrong. Growing an arm is not an ability. That arm is just a visible form of your ability. Now that you’ve grown it suddenly, your body is rejecting it, so it’s very painful, and it’s very painful. Words must be difficult to understand, so…”
I canceled the skill, and as the cracked and stretched arms slowly disappeared, Zhang Sen’s arms returned to form two. He gasped heavily and looked up at me with eyes full of fear, as if he had been brutally tortured to tear the flesh of his fingers with nail clippers.
“We’ve restored it to its original state. If Zhang Sen doesn’t increase his discipline beyond this point, he won’t be able to control his powers, and he may have the same terrible experience as he does now. Keep that in mind.”
“…I’ll keep that in mind.”
The poor guard, who had been squealing half a word, at once politely and respectfully listened to my words. The effect is certain. As expected, rather than persuading a person a hundred times with words, it is faster to experience it with the body.
“It’s you, not me, who determines the abilities you will have. Even if you grow up in the same environment, the appearance of the flower that blooms will be completely different depending on the host’s mindset and what it desires. So have your desire, please. Let’s have a wholesome desire that doesn’t go against the law, you know?”
“”…Yes Yes.””
*
The next day, only one of the experimenters who swallowed the seed began to show their abilities in earnest. And the main character was none other than Jean Sen. Perhaps thanks to the painful experience of the forced awakening the previous day, it seems that he already has a sense of his abilities. The delinquent student who looked like he skipped class and smoked in the back of the bathroom with his gang had won first place in his class. Since the progress is different from each other, education must also proceed individually. Zhang Sen, who was the only one who had awakened his ability, entered ability control training in earnest, and the other three subjects… No, three students conducted mental classes to awaken their abilities.
“Heh, heo-eok… It’s getting too much now…!”
“Now, student. Let’s do five more. Just five more.”
“That, that’s the third time now! How long are you going to make it!”
“Well, of course, until you reach the limit? You know the principle of overload? The principle of injuring muscles with stimulation beyond everyday life and growing when they regenerate. The power of mental power. So, by pushing that mental power to the limit, the main goal is to raise the power and duration of the ability to a level that can be used in actual combat. So, don’t talk nonsense and throw it again quickly.”
“Under…”
Zhang Sen let out a deep sigh as if the world was collapsing, then pulled out the fruit stick stuck in the wall. Then, following my directions, she threw the small knife in her hand at the target painting on the wall. The blade, which had been spinning and flying straight toward the target, arrived about halfway to the target point, when Zhang Sen used the ability he had just awakened today, and the blade deviated from its original trajectory. And the movement wasn’t simply the kind of thing that could be achieved with special hand techniques.
The blade that had been flying from the rotation returned to the direction it flew from. Rather than returning by making a U-turn in the air like a boomerang, he flew straight and changed the direction in the opposite direction. And in the process, there was not even the slightest deceleration, and the erratic trajectory change of the blade was not an end at once. The blade that returned to the owner who threw it changed direction again just before it touched Zhang Sen’s hand, and flew to the original target… And hit a position slightly off center.
“Huh…!”
And Jean Sen, who was tired of that alone, let out a rough breath as if he was about to die, and sweat poured from his back and forehead like rain.
“I-I can’t do it any more. It’s not an act, I really can’t do it anymore. Please… Please let me rest. No, please let me rest, sir…!”
At first, a declaration of surrender came out of the mouth of a person who confidently threw a knife, saying that he could do it as many times as possible, but I shook my head with a friendly smile.
“You still have four rounds left, right? Only four rounds. Now, let’s try harder, shall we?”
“Khaaaaa…!”
The ability Zhang Sen awakened is [Distortion Acrobatics]. The ability to distort the various laws applied to projectiles thrown by one’s hand and move the projectiles as desired.
The erratic trajectory of the blade he had just thrown seemed like nothing much, but in fact, the law of acceleration, the law of inertia, and the law of action and reaction were ignored in the process. If Newton had been watching, it was a sight that would have shed tears of blood.
The number of times the blade can change its trajectory while flying is 2, and the number of times it can stop midway is 1. And the pause time is about 10 seconds. This is the limit of Zhang Sen’s ability as of now. Right now, the objects thrown are only excessive, but even if they become tomahawks, their destructive power increases several times. When you think of a throwing ax that doesn’t fall to the ground and flies round and round in the air and smashes people’s heads… Uh huh.
“Heo-euk, heo-eok…! I-I can’t do it anymore…!”
“No? You still have one left, right?”
“Aaaaagh…!”
As he trudged back to the throwing position while pulling out the fruit sticks stuck in the wall, Zhang Sen’s face became haggard to the point of reminiscent of a zombie, and the other three students watching him stiffened with tension and swallowed dry saliva. The reason they couldn’t blindly look at them with sympathy was because they knew very well that Jean Sen’s present appearance was their future.
It was a volunteer experiment because he wanted to awaken his ability, but it would be quite impressive to see the first hitter who awakened his ability scream like he was going to die. Especially the way Jang Sen, who had a rough temper and had poor relationships with people around him, obediently obeyed me, who had no means of force, even after killing himself.
That’s natural. The ability that they awaken is the power of the person’s mental power materialized, but it is my ability to put physical force into their mental power. And since my ability is to activate desire as a medium and to control desire, these are two things… If I make up my mind, I can make their abilities run wild or get rid of them again. In other words, it is an absolute top-down relationship that cannot be reversed.
And if you include this third ability, which I haven’t told the warden yet…
“Whoa, whoa… No, please…!”
It was not very nice to see a grown man weeping sadly, shedding chicken droppings-like tears, and the possibility of breaking the will of the other three students was very high. Showed mercy with
“You seem to have practiced enough, so shall we do this for today?”
“Thanks, hehe, thank you…! Thank you…!”
How desperate he must have been, how he expressed his gratitude for my mercy, even putting his head on the floor. But Zhang Sen would not know. Starting tomorrow, I plan to add 10 more skill training sessions per day.
“…Ah.”
A flash of bright light came out from among the students who were doing mental training. It was a sign that another person had awakened a new ability. And the main character…
“Ahhh…”
“Congratulations, Miss Jenny. You’ve awakened your abilities the second time around.”
“Go, thank you. Well, now…”
“Well then, come this way.”
At those words, Zhang Sen, who was lying on her floor and gasping for breath, sent her sympathy and empathy toward Jenny, who had become her contemplation. And since I was my student and a very fair person who didn’t particularly lower the intensity of training just because the test subject was a woman, it didn’t take long for Miss Jenny’s beautiful voice to tear apart.
