Seo Jiwoo

As my hand touched the old wooden sliding door, which was at least a decade old or maybe more, it made a low creak as I began to open it.

I slowly opened the door and from my behind I heard Ryuya saying something.

“Huh...Jiwoo, where are—huuaammm—going so early in the morning?” Ryuya asked with his eyes half closed. I looked above my shoulder and saw Ryuya was still half asleep, as he tried to keep his body from not falling back into the warm embrace of his futon which he laid in.

I held up a finger and signalled him to speak quietly. “Quiet! I will be back before the assembly starts, so if the instructors ask about me, tell them I slept in or something.”

Ryuya yawned, giving me a half-asleep nod, as he went back to sleep. “You also came back late the day before yesterday, and barely made it in time for yesterday’s museum tour.”

He muttered, as he quickly went back to sleep.

‘Stupid child, I am not here to have fun, or waste my time, unlike you,’ I inwardly voiced, looking at Ryuya’s sleeping figure. His sleeping position was kind of weird.

He had tightly embraced his pillow, and one foot laying far from his other. His kimono was a mess and his sheets were pulled to the side entirely.

“Hehe, Amelia,” Ryuya began to sleep talk as a weird smug plastered over his face. I sighed as I gazed at the youth.

Seriously, this guy was an impossible case. I was kind of skeptical now, on how did this blockhead of a guy become the lock’s number one ranked?

Perhaps he bribed the board of the academy into accepting him and giving him the first rank position. Well, judging from the influence Ryuya’s family held in the hunters society, it could be possible.

But still, I don’t think Ryuya was the type of guy to bribe people. And he was strong. This bastard was close to breaking through to the rank. Well among the first years, the only students who I think were the closest to breaking through the rank and on to are: Ryuya, Lucas, Han and Jiyoung.

But it might take them a few more months or at best weeks to successfully do so. The breakthrough depends entirely on the speed and amount of mana you could absorb and refine, as well as the construction of one’s mana channels and veins. And the speed to do so varied differently for each person.

But the closest person in my thought was Jiyoung in her breakthrough.

But with a shrug, I exited the room and slid the door shut, quietly.

Then I turned to my left and made my way through the wide corridor of the inn. The corridor was wide and clean, not one speck of dust visible. There were paintings of rich and calming art hanged along both sides of the walls.

I checked my watch, just to make sure I wouldn’t be late for my meeting. It was barely six in the morning. I had a little bit more time left until the deal expires.

The wooden floor lightly creaked—due to age—as I soon went down the stairs.

I strode closer to the entrance of the inn, sneakily, without making any noise whatsoever.

The area in the hallway where the reception was, was deserted, no receptionist sitting. I hurried to the entrance and quickly exited. I wore my shoes on, and sneakily exited through the wide and tall wooden gate, which had many carvings and art like designs.

***

I peered down at the system interface which was hovering in front of me, as I made my way through one street and into another. The sky was dimly lit with a beautiful azure luster, as I focused at the advancements I had made only in a few days. And a few things had changed about my skills.

----

----

NAME: SEO JIWOO (???)

HP: 27890

LEVEL: 73

STRENGTH: 127

STAMINA: 138

AGILITY: 122

VITALITY: 129

INTELLIGENCE: 95

MP: 12778

POINTS: 3250

_____________

FATIGUE: 4

_____________

【PASSIVE SKILLS】

[PERSEVERANCE] [LV. 4]

[PROFESSION]: [Swordsmanship] [LV: 3]

[Crescent Moon Style]

[Regeneration] [LV: 2]

[Pain Resistance] [LV: 2]

_____________

【SKILLS】

[{D} Acausality] (Sealed)

This skill allows the user to tamper with the flow of time. Allowing the user to stop time for a brief moment.

Note: An equivalent amount of the host’s Mana will be drained as long as the skill is active.

Cool down: 2 weeks

______________

【Returnee’s Privilege】 [Time: ??? ] [Synchronisation 35%]

–MIND’S EYE (Sealed) (Unlocked: 60% )

Allowing the host to slow down the flow of time from their perspective. The host can also observe the energy signature produced by any living being and object, and the ambient structures of mana and its pure forms...???

–LEAP (Sealed)

This skill allows the user to teleport to a specific location after empowering an image in their mind. The wormholes (pathways) spiralling in the atmosphere, connecting to a specified location by the pulse of mana, making a gate like connection for the host to teleport through. But as the host’s understanding and insight increases, the host can teleport without any external interference—empowering any location. Allowing the pathways to guide the host to wherever the host wishes to teleport too

Each wormhole contains information about a different location, but connecting every path to every other.

Cool Down: 2 hours

–????

–????

–????

______________

【????】

–????

______________

----

----

I didn’t get the chance to get a good look at my abilities before, as I was completely immersed yesterday and the day before that, in making the cure for mana repulsion. But I had somehow made the cure, barely that was.

But now that I think about it, my stats and other abilities had increased more than I had expected.

I had gained a new passive skill, and the two previous passive skills of mine had levelled up. But the think which I was the most intrigued about was that, acausality's rank had went up.

It had now become a rank skill. But why? How? It was an rank skill when I had first bought it from the system shop.

Was it a growth type skill?

But as far as I had heard, the rank of a skill can’t be changed or altered, but your adaptability with the skill can make its effects stronger and more effective. It completely depended on how you utilised a skill.

But for it to actually increase in rank. This was an interesting and subtle development.

And all of my skill were sealed for some particular reason. I wanted to better understand these phenomenon’s, but felt like whenever I tried to form a conclusion, I was walking through a bright path, but with my eyes closed.

The information, power and answers were all there for me to grasp, but I was the one who was lacking in understanding them.

Same was the case with Mind’s Eye. I had never unlocked its ability which allowed me to see the individual particles of mana and demonic energy in my past life.

Same scenario with leap! After gaining more insight in the workability of the skill and how the pathways reacted—and my awareness to now sense and hear them without seeing them—, I was now able to use it in a more proficient way, which was less of a burden and hassle to me. Which allowed me to teleport in a more profound way, without the limitations which bounded me before—of empowering a location on my now.

And now, the cool down on it had shortened by one hour.

But, I felt like I could do more with my skills now, but I knew perfectly well I was still lacking in many ways, even now. Just like acausality, I had began to feel that there was a deeper power which could be wielded, when I was utilising leap after regressing, but I had never tried to.

I had bounded my understanding to the blunt methods which had been taught to me in my past life. But I knew now, that if I needed to make progress and grow, I needed to replace those old rudimentary methods with new, more efficient one’s, to break out of those shackles, restraining my horizon.

Because I needed to become stronger than my past self. I was somehow able to rival the demon king’s power, but deep down I knew it still wasn’t enough to defeat him.

‘Enough power to protect everyone I care for,’ I thought waving the interface away from in front of me. All I have ever wanted was enough power. Power which could allow me to protect the few which I held close to my heart.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

I quickly moved into the same alleyway which led me to the entrance of the night club I had gone to before.

The same gut-wrenching smell of piss and litter. I thought covering my nose, as I swiftly strode through the alleyway.

Afterwards I quickly made my way deeper into the alleyway and now stood outside of the rusty door.

I pulled my mask out of the inventory and wore it on, sequentially opening the door and making my way down.

After a short descend, I reached the scarlet door from before, and pushed it open.

I walked closer to the entrance of the night club, as the sound of music and peoples boisterous noise entered my ears.

But as I was about to withdraw my card from the inventory, the bulky guard—whom I had seen when I had came here before—stepped to the side and slightly bowed his head in a gesture of respect, as he gestured from his big bulky hand for me to enter.

It must have been Loki’s doing. I thought making my way inside the club.

I walked closer to the stairs leading to second floor, and the guards here as well didn’t stop me. They gave me a drifting gaze as they stepped to the side, with their arms clasped behind their back.

“Welcome!” I lifted my head and looked up at the individual who had called out to me.

It was Loki. I quickly made my way up to the second floor and then began following him from behind. I focused my gaze on Loki’s mask for a residing second, as I pulled my gaze away towards the elevator in sight—just ahead.

“You have it with you, don’t you?” Loki asked with wariness in his voice, the doors of the elevator hummed open and we stepped inside.

“If I didn’t have it, would I have dared come back here,” I nonchalantly replied in a scoffing tone, as the doors of the elevator hummed closed.

Loki gave me a slight wrinkle of his nose, which was perfectly felt even through the fox mask he was wearing.

We didn’t say another word to each other, as we exited and soon reached for the door of Moebius’s office.

Loki knocked twice and soon we entered. The room was more brightly lit unlike the last time I had been here.

I heard the weak noise of dry coughs coming from up ahead where the couches were placed and on one was Moebius seated.

I walked closer to the couch and took a seat, easing myself into the comfortable couch.

Moebius—Iketeru Kosuke—straightened in his seat, his pale skin looking even more sickly and dry than the last time I had seen him. His condition had gotten even worse in the last two days. I thought taking my mask off and placing it over my lap.

I eyed his appearance for a swift second. His grey hair were dishevelled, and his eyes looked just as they had before, maybe a little more duller.

Moebius gave out another dry cough as he began to speak with his hoarse voice. “So boy, how long are you going to make this old man wait?” He voice came out half stern, half impatient.

I pulled a small flask out of the system inventory and gently placed it over the table which laid in front of me. There was a pale greenish liquid inside the flask, which was the cure.

Moebius leaned an inch forward and grabbed the flask. Taking the flask in his hand—like when a mother gently picks up her child—, he lifted the flask and keenly observed it—with a rather disinterested look in his dull eyes—as if it was just some random potion which could be bought from anywhere.

“And this sewage like liquid is supposedly the miracle drug which will hopefully cure my incurable condition?” Moebius warily said, as he leaned in his seat. His eyes darting back and froth between the flask and me.

I simply nodded my head, blinking my eyes for a longer moment.

Moebius took the lid off and brought the flask close to his mouth, as he smelled the contents inside first.

I inhaled deeply, as Moebius paused, giving me a quick look then chugging the potion down.

Retrieving the ingredient for making the cure was easy enough, but making it was just a damn big hassle. I only had a vague idea on how to make the cure, as I hadn’t completely memorized the formula released in the past, because I wasn’t that interested in it in the past, but somehow, the end product turned out to be better than I had envisioned.

But not as perfect as the original cure. Whoever had created the recipe for this cure was a genius. I would really like to meet that person and recruit him if possible.

But seriously, I had to spent two nights, without sleep to make this thing. Due to that I barely made it in time for yesterday’s tour.

A few minutes went by, but nothing happened. Moebius simply sat, an impatient expression plastered over his sickly pale face, waiting for some kind of magic to happen, but in fact, nothing did.

Moebius’s brows began to furrow, as his face began to twist in a darker shade.

“I knew he was bullshiting,” Loki grumbled, as he grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, and tried to lift me up from my seat, but as my mana surged inside my body, the weight of my body and mana pushed downwards.

But in that moment, Loki turned to look at Moebius, as the old man coughed violently and stumbled from his seat and on to the floor. His sunken figure laid on the floor as he kept on coughing, holding on to his chest with one hand, as his face twisted into a deep painful frown.

“SIR!” Loki shouted as he released me from his grasp and lurched at the sickly man.

I felt a swift tremble in the atmospheric mana, as I bobbed my head to my left, and dodged the swift thrust of the spearhead from the guard which drew an arc near my throat.

But I barely dodged, as a trail of blood dripped down from my neck.

But this time I fought back. In a swift motion, I grabbed the spear by its intersecting part and twisted the weapon, making the guard’s grip to loosen over it. Then I shot one foot at him. The air ruffled as I channelled my mana and with my now increased speed, my foot connected with the guard’s sternum as he gnashed and stumbled a step back.

I took this time and pulled my body into a stance, ready to intercept any attempted attacks coming at me.

The guard took a moment, surprised. But lurched in my direction without wasting another moment, shifting his spear from his right to the left. But his knitted brows hinted he was in pain.

I took a sharp breath, pushing one foot in front of the other.

“STOP—!” But a loud voice which boomed inside the office made the guard to stop mid-way. He kicked back, as he withdrew to some distance.

I turned my gaze away from the guard—but still keeping an eye out for him—and looked at Moebius, whom Loki was supporting to his seat again.

“That’s enough!” The old man grumbled, but with more strength in his words.

He heaved for breath, took back his seat and gestured for me to take the seat on the couch once again, but his gesture indicated more of an apology than an order.

I took the seat and crossed my arms, as the guard from before strode closer to his master, standing behind him with his chest puffed—like a bear—to appear intimidating, but his brows were sharply knitted together which indicated he was in pain from the blow he had received from me before.

Moebius wiped in lips with the long sleeve of his coat, as he slightly bowed his head, something which I hadn’t expected from someone like him.

He lifted his head slightly, then spoke. “I apologise for the brash actions of my guard.”

“Its fine,” I firmly said. Slightly irritated.

But Loki wanted to interject with some complaint, but Moebius stopped him with a sharp look.

“Sir...h-how are you feeling?” Loki asked kneeling in front of the sickly man, as he searched his Master’s eyes. He had taken his mask off now and it laid over the floor.

The youth’s sharp features displayed a deep warmth and worry laced over his face. His brown eyes the same, which contained worry and nothing else for the old man.

Moebius placed his hand over the grown man’s head and pated it twice, gently, as he assured the youth. “I am feeling much better now. I can feel the mana around me more strongly, and the pain...its almost gone. I can barely feel it now.”

The colour of his skin looked more healthy and more white after ingesting the potion in his body. His dull eyes now displayed a more vigorous fire in them, but the potion wouldn’t just heal his destroyed body in just an instance. It would at least take him a few months to become perfectly healthy.

Activating Mind’s Eye, I looked around Moebius’s body, the tiny sparks of mana which roamed in his body, now moved more freely after taking the potion. But some of the areas in his mana channels were still clotted, but the effects of the potion was steadily healing those said areas, and filtering the clotted mana which had kept stuff there for god knows how long.

“It will take a while for you to recover from the damage your body underwent because of your condition, but...” I paused, inhaled a quick breath, then looked straight into Moebius’s eyes. “But I assure you, your condition will be completely cured.”

I pulled two more flasks out of the inventory and gently laid them over the red wood table.

“Take these two with a gap of two weeks in between.” I turned to look at Loki and continued. “And help him train and refine his mana channels, he won’t be able to do it on his own for the time being

Loki nodded back, as he stood straight and slightly bowed his head at me. “Thank you, and I apologise for my behaviour from earlier."

I leaned into the seat, looking at the youth with a nonchalant look. “I didn’t do it for your gratitude.”

Loki lifted his head and shot me a quick sneer, but I shrugged it away. But Moebius had already understood the meaning of my words.

He crossed his legs, leaning into the couch, taking a long breath, as if it was his first in many years. “I am a man of my word. I never go back on something I say, we made a deal and I will respect the terms which we both agreed upon.”

“Loki, bring that,” Moebius said, turning to look at the youth. He turned over his heel and quickly walked closer to the desk and brought something back.

It was a dark wooden box, with a scorpion like symbols over its smooth shiny surface which reflected the dim light of the roo . Loki laid the box in front of me on the table.

“What’s this supposed to be?” I asked with a raise of a brow.

“Open it,” Moebius voiced, gesturing for me open to the wooden floor.

I did as he said and opened it. There was a platinum card with a triangle printed on it, inside the box. I took it in my hand as Moebius began to speak. “Take this as a gift from me. I am not trying to make you own me or anything, its just a token of my sincere gratitude...and to build a better relation with a man worth doing business with.”

The card I held in my hand, was the black market’s premium platinum card. A card which was even harder to obtain than the five star VIP card, that only a selective few possessed.

“Fine I will take it.” I wearly said, storing it inside the system inventory and leaving my spot from the couch.

“Wait, how about we all share a quick drink?” Moebius asked suddenly.

“Don’t have time to! If I arrive late, the Instructors will get suspicious,” I said back, then turned to look at the youth standing beside Kosuke. “Loki lead the way.”

***

“Here,” I said, handing Koji a phone and a tub of ice cream.

“What’s this for?” He asked, not giving much attention to the phone, rather pouring it all on the ice cream in his hand. He sat down on his bed and began eating the ice cream with a delighted expression.

“There is mine and Salvador’s number saved in that phone,” I said. “Salvador is the name of the guy who works for me. If you need any help or something just ask him.”

“Salvador, pfft...what a lame name.” Koji scoffed taking a big scoop of the ice cream.

“Yeah, I know!” I said with a wry smile.

“There is also the address of the place mentioned in the phone where you need to go to once you arrive in Korea, okay!”

Koji was a smart kid so I didn’t need to worry about him arriving in Korea alone. He would most certainly find his way around.

Koji nodded back in acknowledgement, as he took scoop after scoop of the ice cream resting on his lap.

“Then, I need to go back now.”

“Okay, I will be seeing you soon.

***

“—under the advancements of the latest hunter education system, which allows the youth of the next generation to grow and in-depth their knowledge and also allows the young hunters such as you all to—”

I yawned under the constant blabbering of the man who was presumably giving a speech, which was really boring. For the last half an hour he has been blabbering about how astounding the hunter education system has become and how we should become selfless heroes who will one day become the pillars of this world to support it and blah, blah, blah.

I was seated in the middle row section of this huge auditorium, with Ryuya, Jiyoung, Amelia, Han and Derek sitting a row of seats ahead of me.

I turned my head slightly to my right, and saw Claire Heartman—who was seated beside me—listening to the constant blabbering with a innocent expression of approval. Her long cream coloured hair were left loose, but the youth's features were eye-catching. Her looks and skills were awe striking for someone who was on the threshold of the rank.

And to my left was seated Kale Triden. He was an uprising fellow, who had risen to the top hundred ranks just like me after the results of the tournament were made public.

I yawned again, leaning my head back into the seat, closing my eyes for a sharp moment. Seriously, the lack of sleep was somewhat getting to me now, but I was already used to not sleeping for days on end.

“Oy, you’re gonna receive an ear full from Instructor Adam later if you fall asleep,” Ryuya said, turning his head backward.

“I won’t!” I nonchalantly said with a weary sigh, resting my cheek against my hand, as Kale gave me a weird look of surprise.

But being already used to these kind of looks, I didn’t give the youth much mind. I was already used to their glares and threats and curious bullshit. Seriously, they didn’t had the balls to talk with the top ten and now they try to make me an outcast when I have become close to them.

But my eyes drifted at Jiyoung and Amelia who were seated together two seats away from Ryuya.

Well, mostly all of there bullshit talk about me had been due to me talking with Amelia or either Jiyoung. I wanted to sigh, but held back.

Seriously, dealing with children was always a headache for me. If they weren’t as sharp as Koji.

But just in that moment when I tried to hold back the impulse to yawn again, I saw a window pop open in front. There was nothing written over it, no...rather the contents were being generated right now.

I snapped my head left and right, as I felt an ominous feeling emerge from within me. The mana in the air was reacting in a disorderly fashion, which proved my worry to be genuine.

Some eyes turned in my direction for a moment, but they simply drifted back, down at the podium. Everything was normal.

[Warning]

[Warning]

Two window popped open, indicating a warning sign.

“—please welcome Mr. Aogiri Ryunosuke!”

I shot up to my feet as every eye in the auditorium turned in my direction this time. I looked around in every corner of this place. But everything was perfectly normal. My gaze drifted down at the stage, where Ryuya’s father was solemnly walking closer to the podium.

The mana in the atmosphere was definitely reacting in a weird way.

“Jiwoo, what’s wrong?” Jiyoung asked getting up from her seat. But the sudden ominous feeling didn’t leave me.

I felt like something was about to happen. Something terrible.

But then it happened. The mana all around us went into a frenzy as some of the students dropped on the floor unconscious, the pressure around us increased, making some weaker students to choke on their breath. It became harder to breathe. I activated Mind’s Eye and saw that the mana’s particles were moving in a constant, but disordered and frenzied fashion. As if some force was pushing and pulling them.

The space above me ruffled as I lifted my head and saw that the mana was drown in that specific area in this auditorium. The particles converging above me like a whirlpool.

“Run,” I said in a low panicked voice but loud enough for the people around me to understand.

The space above us tore apart, as a reddish sheen began to emanate from the cracked space in the air. The mana furiously made the entire auditorium to quake. But in that moment, a gate opened above us, making the air to ruffle and combust, causing my ears to ring uncomfortably.

I heard loud muffled shouts, desperate squeals, individuals running towards the doors of the auditorium, as they pushed one another, hurrying to the doors to escape.

I buckled for whatever was to come, but everything went blank as my senses and vision blurred out for a moment as I was sucked into the reddish sheen of the enormous dungeon gate coming to life above, together with the rest.