<Chapter 28. Kratia's Quest - 8>

"So you really did bring it with yo... Huh?"

Prince greeted Lee Shin Woo upon his return a few hours later atop Jin and tilted her head.

"It's strange. The energy the horse is emanating feels a lot stronger than before."

"You see, whenever I get stronger, this guy is affected too, allowing him to run even faster on the battlefield. I believe it may be because of that skill."

"That's freaking awesome!"

Of course, it was a lie, as Jin had gotten stronger all on his own, but Prince fell for it and was amazed. It was easier to convince her of that (a skill that allows a horse to be influenced by its master and increase its abilities) than to say that a horse had absorbed bones and raised his stats by almost 1,200 in a short period of time (it was laughable for Lee Shin Woo as well).

'My body still feels stiff... My whole body aches. I want to lay down and sleep. Even though I can't sleep.'

'I still have some time before we fight, so in the meantime, I have to get used to my changed body.'

Whenever Lee Shin Woo's stats increased, he would adapt to his new body in live combat, but Jin had increased his stats too much, so his body should feel stiff for the time being. Because that wasn't something Lee Shin Woo could help with, he had no choice but to leave that to him.

"Shin Woo, before we go in, I analyzed the condition of the facility."

"Oh. How?"

"Let me explain."

Lee Shin Woo got off of Jin's back, and after he'd allowed Jin to move freely, he approached Kratia and Prince.

Rem sat on his shoulder, who like Jin, had absorbed countless bones and had become incomparably stronger than before, but Prince still hadn't noticed it. That was a how scary a disguise which made use of a person's fixed perception was.

"I sounded confident, but honestly, I wasn't able to figure out everything."

"How about destroying a bit of it from the outside?"

Lee Shin Woo believed that when one's mind couldn't solve an issue, using one's body wasn't a bad idea. As if she had already considered his offer, Kratia laughed subtly and shook her head.

"If you do that, then it'll negatively affect this space."

"That Royal Magician Leader bastard designed everything so particularly."

"It's out of that man's hands, so the place has grown. I acknowledge the thought and the plan behind the facility, but in terms of the important facets of magic, safety and stability, he gets a zero."

Kratia's assessment was merciless. Prince, who thought that attacking with everything they had was their best move, attempted to offer up a counterargument, but no one acknowledged her, so her cheeks puffed up. It seemed like she had completely given up on trying to act like an adult male.

"But because the facility's system was continuously exposed as we fought, I was able to backtrack and look into the system, allowing me to roughly know the structure and the number of monsters inside the facility."

"Huh!?"

"So what you're saying is..."

The 'system' that Kratia was talking about was also Lee Shin Woo's objective: the artifact. She had wanted to conquer the facility and take the artifact, therefore she had taken care of the magic traps and analyzed the training facility's magic, so the artifact was already within reach.

"That's plenty. I don't even know where it is yet."

"You just couldn't focus on anything else since you were facing off against so many monsters, Shin Woo."

"Well, you're not wrong."

Since he had planned on training Mana Bone, Bursting Thunder, Lightning Shadow, and Lightning Sprint from the very beginning. He had wondered whether progressing with her plan had been a good idea, but he had trust in her, as she possessed a similar level of magic control as Lee Shin Woo... and his faith was well rewarded.

But there was still one person who couldn't follow along with their conversation.

"Wait a sec. Are you saying that you hacked into the artifact, which is controlling the entire facility?"

"Yep."

"How did you... I'm pretty sure a level 8 Archmage created that artifact!"

"You can't do anything if you're only concerned about levels. Anyway, look at this."

Kratia said firmly, which made Prince go silent, and stretched her hand towards the floor. She began to draw a rough map of the facility's interior. Her movements were so precise that it was as if she had scanned and printed a cross-sectional diagram.

"As you can see, the space is quite narrow. Because they used a spatial technique which is one level higher than the ones they used on the previous facilities, I believe the density of the mana in that limited space is increasing. Perhaps it being a training facility is just a facade, and this space was created whenever Feotane Von Seldin made progress in his spatial magic and wanted to test it out."

"The density of mana is increasing... Is it like how the mana is strengthened in a dungeon?"

"Yeah, but there are more than twenty of them here... If we take into account the distortion caused by the passage of time, then it could be much higher."

It was astonishing. The reason Lee Shin Woo had been able to use as much magic as he wanted was because of this training facility's specificity. If more mana was amassed in a narrower space, then... Just the thought of it made him feel dizzy.

"The density of mana is so high that contrary to our calculations, our magic might not activate. Our top priority is to adapt to the mana density inside as quickly as possible and be able to control it efficiently. Remember that."

"Ok. We could say that you're a spatial magic professional by now."

"He's right. ...It's frustrating, but you're better than me. Since spatial magic is considered a level higher than elemental magic, has high offensive capabilities, and is at the Archmage level."

He had gotten a feeling for it as he'd passed the training facilities, but as he thought, there were still several people who were well out of his league. Lee Shin Woo still didn't understand how spatial magic worked in the least.

Would he understand spatial magic, at least a little bit, if he absorbed the Bone Gate? But he couldn't even get a feel of when that would be possible. It seemed like Prince was feeling that same uneasiness as well.

"...Will we be able to clear the final training facility, the one he planned out and created, and was then left for dozens of years to develop in an unfathomable way? Ouch!"

"Doubts don't help in the pursuit of magic. If you start to think negatively now, you'll never be able to advance forward."

"My specialty is fighting, alright...!?"

It seemed like that got a reaction out of her, as Prince quickly said softly, 'So you can leave the monsters to me', and requested the monster information from Kratia.

She had boasted about how great and smart magicians were in the chatting channel, yet in front of Kratia, she couldn't say a thing, which was both adorable and pitiable. It seemed as though Kratia was well aware of how nervous Prince was, as she firmly nodded her head and spoke.

"We'll be stronger in that space, but the monsters and the magic traps will probably become even stronger. ...The biggest problem will be the monsters."

Was she saying that there would be more than 100,000 monsters this time? Kratia explained to the anxious Lee Shin Woo and Prince.

"I think there are only three of them."

"...Shit."

They would've been like 'Oh, alright' if she had said there were 30,000 of them, but there were only three? Lee Shin Woo said stiffly.

"If there is a level 8 monster..."

"If that's the case, then we should just blow up the facility and hope that the monster kills one of the 12 generals!"

Prince responded hysterically. Kratia smiled bitterly and explained.

"Don't worry so much. The reason there were so many monsters in the previous facilities was because the space was warped and several monsters were led there."

"But it doesn't seem like it'll be that easy."

"Yeah. So..."

Kratia undid the magic formula and explained it simply. Feotane Von Seldin gathered elite monsters from a few of the dungeons and left them in the final facility. The maximum number of monsters was limited to three, so the monsters would fight against each other and only the strong would've survived.

At this point, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the monsters created the training facility, not a magician! In any case, the monsters that had repeatedly fought against each other for dozens of years would be...

"They're all level 7 elites. Each of them is probably as strong or stronger than the Metal Ape Chimera that you fought before."

There were three high rank level 7 elites that were proficient in combat and had spent dozens of years in a super dense mana zone. Even Lee Shin Woo would have to hesitate with those odds. Taking down a general might be easier.

No, he had already thought that when he had fought against the tens of thousands of level 6 monsters.

"...I'll go."

"You can't win as you are. That's why I'm planning to use the magic traps."

Kratia said, and both Prince and Lee Shin Woo tilted their heads as though they couldn't understand at first. However, Prince soon shook her head and yelled.

"The magic traps are aiming for us!"

"My plan is to turn those magic traps onto the monsters. If that happens, then there's definitely a chance we can win. No, actually, it may be our easiest win yet."

"That isn't even possible! Fine, so you defeated the level 7 monster before. Let's say that you could do it because you're a level 7 magician and Lee Shin Woo has that unbelievable stamina and skill. But you want to take on three of those monsters at the same time? You're going to use those magic traps, which are meant to kill us, on the monsters?!"

"If you don't want to do this, you can stay out of it."

Of course, it may be a bit more difficult, but Prince wasn't necessary for their plan. Prince looked at Kratia, who spoke so positively, and became even more despondent.

"You can relax a bit, you know. You're already plenty str... From my point of view, you're so strong that I can't understand it. If there's an insurmountable wall, can't you just go somewhere else, and slowly and safely build your strength?"

"If you don't want to do this, you can stay out of it."

Kratia declared once more. It was an obvious reaction, as she had never thought that they wouldn't be able to clear the training facility.

However... Lee Shin Woo couldn't figure out where her overflowing confidence was coming from. Perhaps it was because it was a magic training facility, but once she had returned here, it seemed like there were a lot of things on her mind, so he asked Kratia.

"Kratia, I can understand you wanting to hack the magic traps. But there are so many magic traps, so how are you going to..."

"Rem."

"Mm... Ah."

"Huh?"

Kratia said briefly, and Prince couldn't understand her at all, but... at that moment, it looked like Lee Shin Woo had figured out the answer. In fact, he questioned why he hadn't thought of that.

'Is it possible, Rem?'

'I told you before that there were several magic traps that used a golem's system. Of course, there are several of them that do not use such a system, so I cannot do it by myself. However...'

Rem looked at Kratia and confidently nodded its head.

'If that human helps, then... Yes. It's certainly possible. But I think that we need to see if we can work together first.'

'Alright.'

Lee Shin Woo slightly nodded his head and Rem flew from Lee Shin Woo's shoulder to Kratia's. Once she realized that, Kratia nodded her head in satisfaction and stood up.

"I'll practice and come back. In about three days."

"Ok, I trust you. My horse and I have to train from the beginning anyway."

"Wait, what's going on? What is a Rem anyway? What, is that some sort of code that only you guys know about or something?"

"Senior."

Kratia and Rem went back to the facilities that they'd already cleared, and after he saw them off, Lee Shin Woo calmly called for Prince.

"I will help you so that we clear the training exercise and you reach level 7. ...In exchange, I would like you to draw up a contract with me."

"W-What's with this all of a sudden! Did you use your magic on her!?"

"It's not really a tough contract, Senior."

Prince saw Lee Shin Woo, who suddenly changed his attitude and was approaching her, and yelled in fear.

"I-I'm saying this in advance, but I have someone I like already, so...!"

"Yes, I know already, so don't worry. Then, shall we start with a privacy clause, Senior?"

He smiled gently and said. Lee Shin Woo's hand was covered in darkness mana. It seemed like Prince had instinctively felt the darkness, as she began to shake! Lee Shin Woo thought that this would be a pretty good way of making every hero be on his side, and smiled once more.

Thirty minutes later, their contract was safely established.