[Son Ilsung]
[Lvl : 15]
[Strength : 185]
[Stamina : 224]
[Health : 1046]
[Agility : 585]
[Mana : 840]
[Magic Lvl : 16]
[Intelligence : 390]
The measurements of his stats surprised Ilsung. They were something akin to a video game character screen, but it made sense. They included all the statistics one would need to completely gauge the overall ability of anyone.
[New Achievements Awarded. Open ?]
*Yes* as Ilsung thought unconsciously, a new tab opened.
[Achievements]
[Dimension Hop Lvl 1]
[Proto-Mage]
[Realm Guardian]
[Librarian Lvl 3]
[Limit breaker]
[Collect Rewards?]
*Yes*
[Skill : Stat Visibility]
[Skill : Crafter]
[Magic : Pulsar]
Though there were no details for any of the rewards or achievements, Ilsung could guess what they were, and since he would know when he would use them, he decided not to think too much about them.
As Ilsung was blankly staring at the wall, the people around him understood what he was doing. They each began to say 'Status'.
As the surprise of the game-like interface, which was promised to them by the Arken, waned, they were now looking at the big blue dot that appeared for all of them.
[Main Quest Recieved]
[Survive The Break].
The room once again fell silent.
Ilsung stood up. With his right hand and foot forward and his left hand behind his chest, he struck a combat pose. He put his left foot forward and punched the air with his left hand.
A shock wave erupted, pushing Eun and the servants backward, but the windows that were just 10 feet straight ahead of him cracked. The blast of air and the loud crack of the window glass took everyone by surprise.
Ilsung could feel it. Though he didn't punch anywhere close to his full strength, he knew that he was now quite strong, but it was far from the strength of his original body from before the dimension imprisonment.
Ilsung smiled. "Looks like the Angels made us stronger"
Before anyone could say anything, Ilsung ran towards the door "I'll be back later.."
As soon as the door closed behind him, Ilsung vanished. He was running at great speed along the long road connecting his house to the city. His house was located outside the city, there were plenty of fields and empty grounds. He didn't need to be careful anymore.
As his muscles warmed up, his speed increased. He was now running at Mach 1, a sonic boom erupted as he broke the sound barrier.
*I'm faster than I was in Farvin, no doubt about it*
As he concentrated on the mana around him, which was absent before, it was now filling his body, his mana reserve which was at a low was now coming to fill.
Ilsung smiled. *If only I could return now* before he could revel in his fantasy, the current situation has come to the forefront of his mind.
Did he travel to a future dimension and was somehow locked out from traveling back? Was it an alternate world? Maybe it was several millennia since they were imprisoned and maybe the Arken succeeded the old Angels. Maybe Earth was just another world controlled by them, and now a barrier was set up between the worlds.
There were a lot of possibilities, but the previous gloom he had when he last pondered about it, was now absent, he was now distantly hopeful.
Ilsung came to a stop in the middle of a field. Beads of sweat were now forming on his face from the running.
*I should head to the office*
Ilsung stretched his body. Dust and soil began to rise as he began running at nearly Mach 1 speed. He arrived at the office in a matter of seconds, surprising the police standing around the barricades throughout the city, they didn't know what went past them but they were sure something or someone did indeed go past them at superhuman speed as a torrent of air passed around them making a huge noise.
Entering his office, he sat down in his chair and collected his thoughts.
*With mana flowing in this world I can now use some decently powerful magic without fear of depleting my mana reserve. But for tier 6 magic and above, the mana reserve I currently possess is inadequate. I guess the breaks should contain monsters, I can harvest them to use molting magic to reconstruct this body into a stronger one, which should also improve the mana compatibility and increase my mana reserve*
"Let's find out if the breaks have started"
Ilsung turned on the computer in his office and searched the web for news of breaks, he had a few forums and government sites open along with local and national news channel feeds. He quickly found out about the large cave-like structures that sprung up out of thin air in major cities in the world. Strict measures are being taken to prevent the information about the dungeon locations from leaking.
The Korean Government has announced that army and military personnel with strength and magic above a certain threshold will be released from service and will undergo secret training in preparation for the upcoming breaks.
Information regarding the details of the break and what it entails, along with a detailed plan for ensuring the security of the country was set to be released soon.
*I should prepare by analyzing the speed and volume of magic spells I can cast, I also have to ensure that the magic that I know works here*
The magic system used by Ilarion works by using mana to form inscriptions or by converting mana to elements and elemental effects. Once it's properly mastered, the complex inscriptions and formulas required can be recalled with a single thought.
*I'll test my magic on my way home, but before that, I have to prepare some weapons. Even though I can use magic to a very high degree, Strength and speed are my bread and butter after all.*
After searching the web, Ilsung found a reputable midsize industrial supplier.
"Hello, I'm calling from a newly formed company called Black Matter, based here in Seoul, I have an urgent order for various machining equipment and materials..."
~~
While the governments of various nations have more or less succeeded in keeping the unrest and panic to a minimum by using a heavy-handed approach to censor groups that would otherwise have led to an uproar, these governments themselves were in a state of panic over the disappearance of their entire fleet of military aircraft and large arms, along with tanks.
The U.S.A. by use of its financial might and threat of nation-ending sanctions has managed to force a non-aggression pact on the nations of the world, backed by its remnant naval ships which are the only type of large military equipment that hasn't disappeared. Though it's unclear if the remnant ships are still armed and if the ship-based nuclear ICBMs and nuclear missiles are still functioning.
As naval military assets are the only functioning potent military equipment, Russia, which previously had an ungodly number of nukes is now devoid of these which it used to terrorize the world. Its aggression has thus been neutered and has been forced to accept the non-aggression pact. Though Russia has a large number of submarines and Warships, due to rampant corruption over the last decade, they have fallen into a state of deterioration. It's just a matter of time before the aging ships and armaments cease to function.
Smaller rogue nations and dictatorships have fallen into disarray and the winds of political change fanned by the U.S.A. could be felt by their citizens. It's just a matter of time before they either become puppets of America or the political system pivots to some form of democracy.
~~
Four days later, the government of Korea published key information regarding the break. It's said that various cave-like dungeons have sprung up in major cities and areas all around the world, including Korea. The dungeons have a translucent blue entrance on which a countdown timer could be seen, once the timer runs out, whatever is inside will be able to come out. The locations of these dungeons in important cities have been revealed, while other locations remain a state secret.
The information published by the government also revealed that key leaders of the nation have additional information revealed to them by the system.
The government has announced that people 18 and older who haven't been drafted will be tested for combat ability and those who reach a certain level will be allowed to enter special training academies where they will be trained further and ranked and classified.
~~
"I just got word that the testing will be fast-tracked in major cities, it will be starting tomorrow, it seems you can choose whether to attend the Academy or not, but the testing itself seems to be mandatory, at least in the major cities, it will be best if you can both finish the test as soon as possible. I have a few friends in the company that's going to organize and conduct the testing here in Seoul, I got you both an early time slot, you will have to leave by 7 in the morning tomorrow."
Ilsung nodded "Yeah, sure dad."
Ilsung's stepsister Jung-Hwa said "Ok."
After finishing lunch, Ilsung headed to their family farm which was around 14 Kilometres from his home, he had the equipment and materials delivered there, which arrived this morning, he paid a small fortune for all of the equipment and to have it up and running inside the small warehouse which he had it built by a prefab company, the assembly was finished the day before.
It's been nearly a week and due to various measures implemented by the national and world banks, the currency of large and medium democratic countries has been more or less stable, with only a small fall in value, if any. Sensing that the Korean Won is likely to be stable, he deposited the gold which his father converted from cash and assets in his account, and had it converted to Won since he had to spend a lot on the equipment and facilities.
~~
The smell of fresh paint and industrial grease wafted toward Ilsung. He also had a small automation facility installed, he entered the room and turned on the computer.
After running a full systems check, he went to the materials area where he could find metal sheets and ingots of various dimensions and various alloys, he picked a quarter-inch thick sheet of manganese boron steel, loaded the sheet into the sheet stamp machine and put a dagger-shaped die on the base plate, he pressed the button to activate it.
A loud mechanical sound reverberated in the warehouse and a dagger-shaped metal piece came out of the machine, he repeated the process 7 more times, each time readjusting the metal sheet and putting in a new metal sheet after he made two pairs of daggers.
Though hammer-forged weapons would be slightly more durable and retain their edge better, Ilsung decided the time and skill required aren't worth it, especially since the alloy used is already highly specialized for durability.
Next, he brought a half-inch high carbon stainless steel plate along with a die and stamped an oval crossguard for each of the daggers.
He loaded the unfinished daggers along with the crossguard into the CNC machine.
He returned to the automation room, after selecting the type of material and inputting the dimensions of the dagger, he programmed the CNC using G-code and then pressed start.
The 3-axis milling machine cleanly milled the rough dagger cutouts into a proper dagger and gave a rough edge to the tip and edges of the dagger. The tang of the dagger was also smoothed and shaped.
After finishing with the daggers, he loaded the crossguard which were finished much faster than the daggers.
He then proceeded to load the daggers into the auto furnace and after adjusting the parameters for temperature and time, the daggers were first heated to the set temperature and then quenched in oil, after which, the tempering cycle started, which lasted for 4 hours, after finishing with the daggers, the process was repeated for the crossguard, which was much faster compared to the daggers.
He finished the daggers by fine grinding and sharpening the daggers and then polished them to a mirror finish, the crossguard was given a simple polish.
He fit the oval crossguard by lightly hammering it from the bottom onto the dagger. He then glued two scales of ash wood which were ergonomically shaped, after the two scales fit in place, he through-pinned the handles and then ground off the pin protrusions, and then sanded and oiled the wooden handle and the blade of the dagger.
Finally, he put each of the daggers into a machine, which heated and molded a Kydex sheath for the daggers, which fit the daggers like a tailored suit. As he looked at the daggers which were lying on the table, he couldn't stop grinning.
*After I use mana and enchant them, every one of them will be a true masterpieces.*
As it was already well into the evening, Ilsung put the sheathed daggers into a bag and left the warehouse the same way he came, by running.
After reaching home, he took a bath, and before going down for dinner he decided to enhance the daggers with mana. He mentally drew an inscription and projected it onto the floor using mana, he placed the daggers inside the inscription. As he rotated the inscription for activation, it increasingly absorbed more and more mana from his body and forced it into the dagger and the sheath, this slowly turned them conducive to mana flow and made them stronger and more durable by compacting the material and further reducing the internal stress of the metal blade.
The process consumed nearly 1/4 of his mana as the mana infusion came to a near standstill. He dispersed the inscription and projected a different inscription. This was for enchanting items, since the daggers now have a mana flow, they can be enchanted with magic. He cast 'Mana Amplification' and 'Frostfire' through the enchant inscription. As the enchantment came to a finish, only 10 percent of his mana remained.
He was exhausted, he wanted to finish his dinner and go to bed early. Though he used almost all of his mana, it wouldn't be long before it recovered to full.
He went down for dinner, and he ate alone, as his father went to meet a friend to discuss a potential business partnership. Jung-Hwa finished her dinner early and went back to her room, while Eun and some of the servants were busy organizing the supplies that were delivered previously.
After returning to his room, he lay on his bed. Sleep overtook him.
~~
END OF CHAPTER 6
