Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert - Chapter 399



Only Noblemtl

Episode 399

Zeon and Levin left the house and headed to the goblin market.

Because Yoo Se-hee sent someone to call them in the morning.

“Are you here?”

Yoo Se-hee greeted the two with a pale face.

Zeon asked her.

“Did you stay up all night?”

“Oh! How did you get there… … . It’s so swollen?”

“Yes!”

“Damn it! Because of that kid… … .”

“That kid?”

“I mean, a baby gorilla.”

“What’s going on?”

“Let’s go together. You’ll understand much faster when you see it than when you hear it explained.”

Yoo Se-hee took the two people down to the basement.

As we neared our destination, the smell of blood was strong.

“It’s a place where demons are dismantled. You can think of it as a kind of slaughterhouse.”

“I see.”

Since it was a fact he already knew, Zeon simply nodded calmly. Levin, on the other hand, was frowning.

Because I couldn’t come to my senses because of the terrible smell of blood.

Yoo Se-hee snickered as he looked at Levin like that.

“What is this guy doing making an impression on you?”

“I’m also sensitive to smells.”

“Get your money’s worth.”

“Hehe!”

“Tsk!”

Yoo Se-hee clicked his tongue and opened the front door. Then, a large secret room appeared.

On the workbench inside the secret room, the corpse of a crescent gorilla was lying on a large table.

The crescent gorilla’s stomach was cut open and spread wide open as it lay on its back.

“Is this the magic light?”

“That’s right!”

“Is there a reason to cut open the ship like that? All the internal organs would have been swept away by the sand?”

“I thought so too, but I guess not.”

“Yes?”

Jeon tilted his head slightly at Yoo Se-hee’s answer.

Because I didn’t understand.

Yoo Se-hee said as he approached the crescent gorilla.

“It would be better to see it with your own eyes.”

“… … .”

Zeon nodded and looked into the stomach of the crescent gorilla that had opened up.

For a moment, a strange light appeared in his eyes.

“What is this?”

“Is this your first time seeing this? Me too! I can’t believe this thing is stuck to my heart.”

What they were looking at was the heart.

All the other organs were completely torn away, but the heart was intact. But there was something stuck in the center of the heart.

“Eh! Is this really a magic stone?”

Levin was excited.

As he said, there was a magic stone embedded in his heart.

That’s why I didn’t even know that it was maintaining its shape without being ground up by Xeon’s sand mixer.

Zeon frowned.

“It doesn’t look like an ordinary magic stone, but this is… … .”

“I took the magic stone from the crescent gorilla and stabbed it directly in the heart. You crazy bastards!”

“These guys are really crazy.”

Levin agreed with Yoo Se-hee’s words.

Neo Seoul developed mines to secure a stable supply of magic stones, but in fact, they also come from demons.

However, unlike magic stones mined from mines, magic stones from demons have unique characteristics.

The properties of the magic stone also change depending on the properties of the demon.

Although the purity, quantity, and efficacy of the magic stones from the demons are incomparably higher, they are not suitable for facilities such as magic stone power plants that require consistency.

Because every time you supply magic stones, you have to adjust the settings of the power plant. That’s why Neo Seoul preferred magic stones from mines over magic stones from demons.

Because of these circumstances, not much research has been done on the magic stones that came from the devil.

Levin said with a serious expression.

“If you hit the devil’s magic stone into the heart, will it all turn out like this?”

“Then many people must have already used this method. They must have processed the magic stone in a special way or adjusted their body.”

“These guys are absolutely crazy. How did they come up with this?”

“It’s clear that these guys have thrown humanity into the gutter.”

Levin bit his lip at Yoo Se-hee’s answer.

He believed that even though the world was in ruins and humanity was at rock bottom, there was still a line that had to be protected. However, those who struck the demonic stone into Magwangryang had crossed that line far beyond.

“Could it be that all the people in that place called Jijeoseong have been transplanted with the magic stone’s hand?”

“That can’t be it.”

Thud!

Zeon answered, clutching the heart that had the magic stone embedded in it.

“Why do you think so?”

“This magic stone came from the leader. Such magic stones can’t be common.”

“That’s right. Magic stones only come from leader entities or B-class or higher demons.”

Levin was convinced.

Yoo Se-hee said as she took the heart from Jeon’s hand.

“I guess you could say that only the elite received the transplant.”

“Yes! The power they display will probably vary depending on the type of magic stone they received.”

“Ha! Those beggars are using all their might.”

As Yoo Se-hee exerted strength in his hand, the heart turned to dust and disappeared, leaving only the magic stone.

When I looked closely at the magic stone, I saw countless lines engraved on its surface.

“I carved a magic circle into this small magic stone.”

“That magic circle probably made the magic stone transplant possible.”

“I’ll have our kids research this. Is that okay?”

“Yes!”

Yoo Se-hee took the magic stone in response to Jeon’s answer.

Levin said with an expression that said he simply could not understand.

“What kind of place is the Underworld? They transplant magic stones into humans.”

“If we look at humanity, this place is no joke either.”

“Yes?”

Levin looked puzzled at Yoo Se-hee’s words.

“There are also people who cut off healthy limbs and transplant them with machines.”

“That is… … .”

“They’re all the same. They’re all doing it to survive and become stronger in their own way. The problem is the purpose. If it’s something you do to protect yourself and your family, it’s a sacrifice, but if it’s something you do with the intention of killing and stealing from others, it’s giving up your humanity. It looks like these are the latter. The problem is that we don’t know how many of these guys have come in.”

Yoo Se-hee felt her head start to hurt, so she rubbed her temples with her hands.

Jeon looked at Yoo Se-hee like that and said.

“With one dead and one tailed, they’ll go deeper into hiding.”

“Ah!”

Suddenly Levin let out a gasp.

“Why?”

“Then maybe they’ll hide in the crocodile den?”

“Maybe so… … .”

“I should go to Jetoya Village right now. They might be after us. If you spot them, please contact me.”

“Okay.”

Levin left the goblin market right away.

Yoo Se-hee, who was left with Jeon, grumbled.

“What a mess this is caused by those beggars from the outskirts.”

“The problem is that they are not ordinary beggars.”

“Yes! Not your typical beggar.”

“They are learning about us now. To catch them, we have to learn their physiology and habits.”

Zeon knew that in order to catch the evolving enemy, he had to evolve accordingly. So from now on, he was going to dig into them in earnest.

＊＊＊

“The slums are noisy.”

Jin Geum-ho looked at Seo Tae-ran’s report with an indifferent expression.

“Really?”

“Yes! It seems like people related to Jang Woo-hang are causing trouble.”

“It was a blatant lie that I came alone.”

“I think so.”

“Hmm! I really can’t trust those guys. They lie as easily as eating.”

“Are you okay?”

“What?”

“If it were Lady Xiaolun, she would definitely use him to plot something… … .”

“Jang Woo-hang would be the same.”

Jin Geum-ho got up from his seat and walked to the window.

The southern district in the distance came into his sight.

The southern district had its own unique characteristics.

It still maintains its own style, just like the Chinatown that existed in this land in the old days. That’s why it stands out even from afar.

Not just the South District.

Other districts also built buildings that suited their own characteristics and maintained their identities.

Jin Geum-ho didn’t think that kind of autonomy was a bad thing.

Because I believe that diversity is the foundation for the development of a city or even a country.

So, we made it a rule not to get involved in events in each region unless there are serious issues.

Thanks to this, each district was able to develop with its own system. However, the rulers of each district do not like interference from the city hall, thinking that if favors continue, it is a right.

More and more places were trying to escape the influence of the city government.

The representative place was the southern region ruled by Xiaolun.

The southern district consistently maintained a closed policy, as if it would not tolerate the influence of the city hall.

They only strengthened their solidarity among themselves without much exchange with the outside world.

Because of that, even the city hall can no longer keep track of everything that is going on inside the southern district.

“Keep an eye on the southern sector, and strengthen security in the city hall and central sectors. In particular, make sure that no unauthorized persons have access to key facilities.”

“Yes! I will do so.”

There are four districts: East, West, South, and North, but key facilities such as the Magic Stone Power Plant and the Magic Engineering Research Institute are all concentrated in the central district where the city hall is located.

It doesn’t matter what happens to other areas.

Even if it falls down, it can be rebuilt. But the central area is different.

If this key facility collapses, the entire Neo Seoul will collapse.

That is why it was a place that was especially careful about its borders even on a regular basis.

“I think security is enough here, let’s go down to the basement.”

“If it’s underground, is it a punishment from heaven?”

“Yeah!”

“I will serve you.”

Seo Tae-ran got on the elevator with Jin Geum-ho.

The high-speed elevator transported them deep into the city hall’s basement in an instant.

As the elevator doors opened, a massive research facility appeared before them.

A large number of researchers were busy moving around.

The two men walked past them and towards the large object in the middle of the lab.

As Jin Geum-ho looked up at the huge, round pillar-shaped object, the person in charge came running in a hurry.

“How did you come here without even calling?”

“What happened to the Kraken’s heart?”

“Equipped successfully.”

“If so, is the output all resolved?”

“I managed to barely make it to the baseline.”

Jin Geum-ho smiled at the manager’s answer.

“I barely made it through the tough times.”

“There are still many hurdles to overcome, but since we have overcome the most important hurdle, things will be a little easier from now on.”

Moby Dick’s heart alone wasn’t enough to produce enough power, so he processed the heart of the Kraken and installed it.

Using two hearts with different properties has resulted in numerous problems.

The mana circuits would often burn out due to mana synchronization issues, and the equipment that had been developed with difficulty caused problems.

That’s why researchers worked day and night to solve the problem.

Thanks to this, researchers have been unable to enter their homes for several months already.

Still, the researchers’ faces were full of energy.

Because I finally got over the hump and succeeded in synchronizing the mana of my two hearts.

“Good job.”

“It’s all thanks to the market’s support.”

“How’s the rest of the development going?”

“It’s going smoothly. But… … .”

“What is it?”

“Since we are developing with only theory, testing is necessary.”

“It’s a test… … .”

“As you can see, we can’t test it here. We have to use it ourselves to find out the problems and improve them.”

“I see!”

Jin Geum-ho nodded.

It was something that Neo Seoul was developing by risking everything.

There couldn’t be even an inch of error.

“Let’s look for a suitable target.”

Jin Geum-ho’s eyes shone colder than ever.

Seo Tae-ran flinched at the sight of his gaze.

Because every time Jin Geum-ho looks at me like this, I know something terrible has happened.