He didnât know exactly how far reaching Arema Steelworkerâs control over the golems went, but Lee Shin Woo and Jin tacitly agreed that they would be careful with their words and actions within the train.
In the middle of the odd silence, the train gradually began to slow down. After that, they received a signal that theyâd arrived at their destination. They had really traveled from the west end of the Empire to the south end instantaneously.
âWould anyone believe us if we told them?â
âProbably notâŚâ
If all of the heroes were able to use this subway line, the territory of the Empire might change immediately. The system was that revolutionary.
âIs the Undead Emperor unaware of this facility?â
Itâs because he was unaware of it that this facility had remained safe all this time. He could tell, through the examination of the Original Core, that Arema Steelworkerâs authority in terms of golem manufacturing was extremely high.
The Emperor had probably trusted in his absolute loyalty and seemed to have entrusted Arema Steelworker with manufacturing the golems, as well as overseeing all the operations. Back then, he had to have absolute trust in them, as they were under a master-servant relationship.
âWeâre screwed.â
At that moment, Jin spoke in a slightly trembling voice. The land was teeming with golems beyond the automatically opening door. Considering the fact that they were all level 4 Bronze Golems and were armed with weapons, he could tell that they possessed Attack Type Cores.
But Lee Shin Woo had already expected that, so he had activated his general administrator seal.
[Confirming general administrator.]
[Welcome.]
A few of the golems spoke mechanically and greeted them. Lee Shin Woo wondered if he could, so he ordered them to stand in line, but they wouldnât follow such a detailed order. A general administrative authority only made it so that they âwouldnât attack himâ, thatâs all.
âWell, I suppose it canât be helped. Work hard and get through them. Oh, and make sure you choose the right place.â
âYou demon!â
Lee Shin Woo acted as though he would break apart the seal any minute now, and Jin hastily stepped into the subway train door. Heâd desperately moved there to force a 1 on 1 confrontation! Lee Shin Woo, without even giving him any time, erased the seal, and at that very moment, the golems turned their attention to them.
[Detecting a trespasser. He has infiltrated into a critical facility. Reporting to code name, A.S.]
[Communication blocked. Assessing the situation. Proceeding to eliminate the trespasser.]
When the golems were blocked by Arema Steelworker, Lee Shin Woo sensed a portion of the flow of mana in the entire area snap. And what did he realize from that? He realized the way in which Arema Steelworker blocked communication with them.
âHe doesnât block communication with each golem, but blocks communication by region, huh.â
In other words, this area was now safe from Arema Steelworkerâs gaze. The moment he realized that, Lee Shin Woo recreated the general administrator seal and turned the golems away. Jinâs eyes blazed with indignation, and he turned around and yelled.
âAre you training me like a dog!?â
âI have to feed you something tasty before the training starts.â
âUgh.â
Jin, seeing the Bone Original Core that Lee Shin Woo had been saving, spoke awfully, as though heâd eaten an entire lemon whole. Lee Shin Woo kindly motioned for him to come over with his hand, and Jin looked as though he was a criminal being offered poison, as he slowly walked over.
âBut can you take that out now?â
âThe connectionâs been completely cut in this region. We can talk comfortably now.â
âReally? By the way, Lee Shin Woo. How the hell were you able to stand in front of a level 8 golem and lie without even blinking!? He was a level 8 golem!â
That was probably something heâd really wanted to say. He was more shocked than awed by what he had seen. Lee Shin Woo just chuckled and replied.
âWho cares? They lied to me too. They definitely oppose the Emperor, but donât trust anything other than that.â
âReally!? They sounded like they were going to cryâŚ!â
âAnyone can make something like that up.â
It seemed as though Jin had taken everything that theyâd said as the truth. Lee Shin Woo looked at him pitifully, and then Jin put great effort into turning his head and spoke as if he were justifying himself.
âWe arenât enemies, so it didnât seem like there was any reason to lie to each otherâŚâ
âThere are things you have to keep from your allies as well. And though we have a common enemy, thereâs no guarantee that theyâre not our enemies as well.â
âYou sure spoke bravely to that golem.â
âSince our growth is a pressing matter. Moreover, I was able to say that to him because he doesnât know how fast our growth is.â
He replied calmly, and continued on.
âIn any case, we got everything we wanted; maybe even more.â
âA way to contact them.â
They said theyâd only use the train, but as they come and go, the golems would inevitably take an interest in them again. Arema Steelworker knew that as well.
Lee Shin Wooâs final goal was to constantly use the train, give them a strong impression, gain their trust, and ultimately, forge a deep connection with them. If itâs possible, a contract with them as well. Hearing that, Jin was frightened and replied.
âIn other words, doesnât that mean that weâll remain visible to them, and theyâll be watching us?â
âLife is like that. Isnât it a worthwhile risk?â
âYouâre really bold, arenât youâŚâ
âIf I wasnât, I wouldnât be able to act. Hurry up and come over here.â
âDamn it. I hate things that hurt.â
Lee Shin Woo had his fill of Jinâs admiring gaze and placed the Bone Original Core atop Jinâs forehead. And like an oral surgeon about to perform root canal surgery on a patient, he lied gently.
âIf it hurts, just say so. Bone Reinforcement!â
âUghhhhhhhhhh!â
Of course, there was nothing he could do, even if Jin said that it hurt. All he could do was place a hand on Jinâs back, share the pain through their connection, and help him to fully absorb the core. Since heâd already absorbed the core once before, it was quite easily for him.
[Strength has increased by 2, and Magic by 3.]
âWhat a gold mine.â
Though heâd already absorbed the information from the Original Core, there was quite a bit of newfound memories remaining within.
[You cockroaches. Why donât you just give up?]
[Our duty is one of honor. Itâs all for the sake of the Emperor.]
âHoo.â
âGahhhhhhhhh.â
Lee Shin Woo shouldered all of the memories that Jin couldnât handle, and the massive quantity of mana knowledge, as well as the method to harmonize the body and mana were poured into Jin.
It was ridiculously easier than when heâd absorbed the core, but it seemed as though even this was difficult for Jin as he had gritted his teeth.
âIt hurts! Just a little⌠Just a little slower!â
âIf I slow it down any further, youâll lose all the memories. Itâll be tough, but endure it just a little while longer.â
As expected, even if he told him it hurt, there wasnât anything he could do about it. He shouldâve known since heâs been to a dentist before! Tears flowed from his eyes at Lee Shin Wooâs betrayal as all the information from the core was being shoved into his brain. It had taken less than five minutes, yet it had felt like an eternity to him.
âUgh, ughâŚâ
âYou alright?â
âIâm not ok.â
After he had finished completely absorbing the core, Jin gasped like Lee Shin Woo had, even though nothing came out, and gritted his teeth. Lee Shin Woo asked gently.
âHow much did your stats increase?â
âStrength by 9, agility by 15, health by 7, and magic by 13⌠Plus, most of my skills increased by 2 or 3 levels eachâŚâ
âIt was good that you absorbed it, right?â
âYeah. Damn itâŚâ
Even if he considered that Jinâs agility increased by a factor of three, it was a ridiculous increase in stats. The Original Core really was a gold mine.
Of course, the more he absorbed it, the less its effects would be, but it certainly remained an attractive material nonetheless. Lee Shin Woo inspected the outside, filled to the brim with golems, and spoke excitedly.
âBy the time weâve gone to all the points on the map, we should both be level 5.â
âIâm not going to go through Bone Reinforcement for another month.â
âShouldnât we shoot for level 6 in a month?â
âNo, you demon!â
How much information could there have been for Jin to still be unable to steady himself and totter around? Lee Shin Woo knew what to do in this situation.
âNow, go out and fight.â
âYou really are a demon!â
âThe information in your head hasnât been fully organized yet, so you should gradually adapt to the knowledge and experiences by actually using them in the field. Iâve already gone through this before, so just listen to me.â
âUghâŚâ
Finding no alternative, Jin followed Lee Shin Wooâs orders to the letter. Whenever the seal stopped radiating light, the golems would emit a mechanical sound, and come rushing over to them from all over! But at the very least, there werenât any golems equipped with long distance weapons!
[Repelling trespasser.]
[Aiding. The space is narrow and we cannot afford to damage the critical facility. Standing by.]
âSteel Body!â
Countless golems swarmed them! Jin, who fought them off, instinctively activated Steel Body. His body was reinforced much faster and much more naturally than before he absorbed the Bone Original Core!
âHeuaap!â
âOoh.â
Jin instinctually kicked the front golem and stepped on it; then, he turned his body around, and swept away the golems in the front with his hind legs in a single stroke. Through Steel Body, his hind legs were strengthened such that they were as sharp and heavy as an axe and all the golems were blown back with one kick!
âGood, youâre doing well! Now you can take on a majority of the golems here!â
âEugeuaaaaa!â
Jin used Lee Shin Wooâs cheers as fuel for his anger, and went on a rampage! Whatâs worse is that even as he fought, he realized that Lee Shin Woo was right about the accumulated knowledge, and got even more pissed off!
On the other hand, Lee Shin Woo marveled at Jinâs fundamental change within such a short period of time, especially when concerning his movements in combat.
âOh, heâs doing much better than Iâd expected.â
Jin wasnât originally this talented, but after establishing a contract with Lee Shin Woo, continuously maintaining a connection with Lee Shin Woo, and being thrust into every kind of situation, he had surpassed his limitations. It was miraculous growth that came about due to their contract!
Lee Shin Woo wasnât even aware of that; instead, he just figured that since Jin was more skilled than heâd expected, he wickedly thought that heâd be able to push him even more from now on.
âHoo, HoooâŚâ
Itâd been 10 minutes since Jin had improved his combat abilities, and eventually, when his Steel Body skill leveled up once more, his front legs had at last touched the ground. There were no longer any enemies left.
âHey⌠I took down all of the golems!â
âWow, there were at least fifty of them. Nice job.â
âI really want to kill you right now.â
âI could die for you at least once. I would have 96 lives left then.â
Lee Shin Woo calmly responded and collected the loot; after that, he applied bone powder on the cracked and cut areas on Jinâs body, as if he were rubbing an ointment, and activated Bone Reinforcement. Jin twisted his body as if it had felt itchy.
âA lot of Perium came out, but thereâre a lot of cores, too. There are 52 Attack Type CoresâŚâ
âCan you complete one core with just that many?â
âThe problem is that we have to be lucky with this.â
Heâd already figured out the composition of the Original Core, but combining the cores to create another Original Core was a different issue entirely. The purpose of reinforcing the core wasnât to match the dislocated sections, but to restore the fundamentally lost sections by combining two cores with similar characteristics. Naturally, there was a failure rate as well.
âBut itâs fine. Since there should be a lot of them still out there.â
âSome of them shouldâve been taken care of by the other heroes.â
âThatâs bad luck. Donât say stuff like that.â
Lee Shin Woo scolded Jin, whoâd said something that might bring misfortune, and lead him out of the passageway. He maintained the general administrative seal with one of his hands, and Jin, who was suddenly doubtful of his actions, asked.
âWhy do you keep creating the seal and then erasing it?â
âIâm practicing.â
âYou already succeeded in making it, though.â
Lee Shin Woo chuckled and replied.
âThatâs not it.â
âHuhâŚ?â
âI feel like I might be able to use it somewhereâŚâ
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Honestly, there was another reason he wanted to keep in touch with Arema Steelworker and his golems. He wanted them to share their plan with him, but catching their attention just seemed much too passive of an approach.
Lee Shin Woo wanted to take a much more active approach. Like he had always done. And in order to do soâŚ
âI want to obtain higher authority than just an ordinary administrator.â
ââŚâ
Lee Shin Wooâs eyes gleamed, and the red goblin fire in his eyes shined wickedly. He was recollecting the seal that Guillotine Steelworker had created in front of the door lock. Jin, whoâd finally realized what Lee Shin Wooâs true intention was, thought it was fine to just laugh.