Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

Chapter 150: Incompatibility

Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

150 – Incompatibility

As Myung-jun entered the test room by smashing through the wall while inside the Knights, the space revealed itself to be a giant dome-shaped area designed to be 40 meters high for testing the jump and flight abilities of Awakeners with superhuman powers.

Of course, the space wasn’t designed with the entry of the Knights in mind, hence the entrance was too small, forcing Myung-jun to break through the wall to enter. However, the area was spacious enough for combat inside, so Myung-jun, still in the Knights, immediately charged at Alex.

Following Keeper’s advice that ‘there is no more foolish combat tactic than giving a magician class Awakener time to cast,’ Myung-jun’s Knights rushed towards Alex with terrifying momentum. In response, Alex quickly spread his palm out.

A warning sounded from Myung-jun’s cockpit.

[Warning. Level 3 psionic wave detected. Deploying anti-psionic field.]

Instantly, translucent ripples of energy spread out from the Knights Myung-jun was in, and the magic circle that Alex had deployed from his hand shattered like glass upon colliding with the anti-psionic field’s waves.

“What?! What is this?!”

“Damn it! It’s a grand magic barrier! Alex! Open me up!”

In just 0.1 seconds, as Alex opened the spellbook he was holding, the greatsword wielded by Myung-jun’s Knights struck the spot where he had been standing, sending fragments of the shattered floor flying in all directions.

[Warning. Level 7 psionic wave detected.]

As the warning echoed in his ears, Myung-jun, inside the Knights, turned his head and saw Alex gasping for breath about 10 meters from the point of attack.

“Short-range warp?”

“It’s teleportation.”

The voice that answered Myung-jun’s question didn’t come from the still panting Alex but from the spellbook he was holding. Myung-jun immediately maneuvered the Knights to pursue Alex.

“Damn it, stop! Let’s talk, even if just for a moment!”

The Grimoire, the spellbook Alex was holding, cried out desperately, to which Myung-jun replied.

“Talk? Sure! But if you wanted to talk, you should have tried that before attacking my colleagues on your own initiative!”

“Damn it!!!”

Suddenly, the pages of the Grimoire began to tear at an incredible speed, and numerous sheets of paper started to fly into the air. It was a wonder how so many pages could pour out from such a small book.

As the papers began to cluster together in the form of a shield with a strange green magic circle, Myung-jun shouted.

“Enhance the output of the anti-psionic field! Adjust the level of the Nemesis Force Blade to 9!”

[The output level of the anti-psionic field has been raised to level 8.]

[The level of the Nemesis Force Blade has been adjusted to 9.]

[Due to the output adjustment, some functions of the unit have been downgraded.]

At that moment, a much clearer form of translucent waves, stronger than before, collided with the shield produced by the Grimoire.

The giant paper shield began to crumple inward at the edges as it emitted a tremendous amount of green flames.

When the weakened shield clashed with the Knights’ greatsword, which was emitting a deep blue light, the shield began to tear in half with a sound like ripping through thick metal with sheer force.

“Aaaaahhh!”

The Grimoire screamed as the shield, made from some of its own pages, failed to hold for even two seconds before splitting in half.

As the blade that had split the shield in two rushed towards Alex, he teleported in the opposite direction with a flash of light.

“Arghhh!”

Within the influence range of the ‘anti-psionic field,’ which distorted the mana flow within a certain area, the Grimoire forcibly cast the spell, spewing out hundreds of pages onto the floor as if it were vomiting.

The pages, having borne the cost of the spell, turned to ash and vanished as soon as they touched the ground.

“Grimoire!! Are you okay?!”

“Does this look okay to you?! Damn it, why is there an Origin here?!”

“Can we escape?”

“With this much backlash from short-range teleportation, long-range teleportation is impossible. We need to somehow stop the opponent first…”

The Grimoire spoke in an anxious voice.

Even as Alex and the Grimoire conversed, Myung-jun was using the search system to locate them.

Although they hastily activated a concealment spell to hide their position, it wouldn’t last long.

The edges of the pages scattered around them for the concealment spell were already burning black.

Alex, who had stormed into Liberty City relying solely on the Grimoire, spoke in a resentful tone.

“That’s why I said we should contact them properly before entering.”

“How was I supposed to know the opponent would also have an Origin?”

“You said it would be easy to deal with them because of the counter attribute!!”

“If it were any other Origin, I would have won! But that’s ‘Cain’s Legacy’!”

“What the hell is that, you crazy spellbook!”

“There’s no time to explain now. We need to escape from here first.”

“How? We can’t teleport.”

“Just buy me some time. It’s difficult to cast the spell properly, but if we make some sacrifices, it’s not entirely impossible.”

“Buying time in this situation…”

In a desperate situation, Alex racked his brain.

Then he spoke to the Grimoire.

“I don’t know if it will work, but let’s try this.”

Hearing Alex’s plan, the Grimoire responded.

“Let’s do it. But if we succeed in escaping, we’ll have to lay low for a while. Just getting out of this crazy place will seal a lot of our power.”

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“Should I increase the scan level?”

[Lowering the level of the anti-psionic field to perform the suggested action may allow the opponent to escape.]

“Then continue the search.”

[Confirmed.]

Unlike the tense state he was in when he first burst into the test room, Myung-jun was gradually regaining his composure.

Although he was currently facing a magician class Awakener, which was his counter attribute, the situation was overwhelmingly in his favor.

Keeper, who had been watching the battle between Myung-jun and Alex, spoke to Myung-jun.

‘See, it was good to follow my advice, right?’

Myung-jun, who didn’t want to put a big hole in the wall of the test chamber that Soo-jeong had painstakingly built, initially intended to use the Elimination Suit he had used against Moon Hee-cheol to deal with Alex.

However, Keeper, reading Myung-jun’s thoughts, advised him to take the original ‘Cain’s Legacy,’ the Knights.

‘It’s better to take Cain’s Legacy, not the equipment Soo-jeong made using Cain’s Legacy’s technology. Cain had to face an enormous number of magicians while challenging the gods.’

“So, you’re saying Cain’s Legacy has techniques to defeat magicians?”

‘That’s right. And the power of the grand magic system installed in the Knights is strong enough to defeat even a 10-circle magician.’

As per Keeper’s advice, the anti-psionic system installed in Myung-jun’s Knights demonstrated power that did not fall short of the top-tier magic class ‘Grimoire.’

Alex, who had disassembled Byung-tae’s Dog Fight in an instant with all sorts of bizarre phenomena, could not exert any power against Myung-jun.

Finally, when the Knights’ scanning system detected a psionic wave, Myung-jun found Alex holding the Grimoire with his hands raised.

“I surrender.”

Seeing Alex, Keeper spoke to Myung-jun.

‘Don’t trust him. Magicians are inherently cunning.’

‘Then what should I do?’

‘Judging by his abilities, he seems to be a Librarian-type spell caster who needs a spellbook to cast spells. So, make him throw the spellbook away.’

“Throw the spellbook you’re holding.”

Alex flinched and hesitated.

“Otherwise, I will attack.”

When Myung-jun pressed him again, Alex sighed deeply.

Reluctantly, he dropped the spellbook nearby.

“Kick it away with your foot.”

At Myung-jun’s additional command, Alex widened his eyes and looked at Myung-jun.

Then, with a look of resignation, he kicked the spellbook, sliding it far away.

“Is this enough?”

“Knights, scan.”

[A faint psionic wave is detected from the target’s body.]

“My scan shows you’re still using a spell.”

“That’s because of the robe and cloak I’m wearing. They have protective spells cast on them.”

[Scanning… Confirmed. The equipment worn by the target contains body protection and enhancement psionic abilities.]

“I’m not wearing anything underneath… but I’ll take it off if you want.”

As Alex grabbed the belt of his robe as if he were about to strip, Myung-jun said,

“That’s enough. I’m not interested in a man’s naked body.”

With that, Myung-jun first inquired about the man’s identity.

Alex introduced himself in a calm voice.

“My name is Alexander James Orion. Like you, Mr. Myung-jun, I am an Awakener, and I belong to the Librarian class of magician-type Awakeners.”

“Why did you trespass into Liberty City and attack the clan members?”

“Well…”

“Remember that if you don’t answer properly, I might have to cut off your limbs and torture you for answers.”

“…I will answer your questions as sincerely as possible from now on.”

Alex explained that he had been a fervent fan of Myung-jun even before becoming an Awakener.

After becoming an Awakener, he had done his best to become as strong as Myung-jun.

Noticing something odd in Alex’s explanation, Myung-jun asked,

“But it seems like you’ve become too strong too quickly for just effort alone. How did you get so strong without making a name for yourself?”

Myung-jun’s question was very reasonable, as conquering gates was essential for an Awakener to become stronger.

The strength that Myung-jun saw in Alex was something that could only be achieved by either clearing gates of unimaginable difficulty in rapid succession within a short period or by hunting one of the Twelve Heavenly Lords, as Myung-jun had done.

Pointing to the spellbook he had kicked away, Alex explained,

“The reason I could become so strong while remaining unknown is solely because of the spellbook I obtained when I awakened my abilities.”

“The spellbook?”

“My class, Librarian, grants a unique spellbook upon awakening. The strength of a Librarian is determined by the abilities of that spellbook.”

‘That matches the information I have about Librarians. It’s a good class, but it’s highly dependent on luck.’

Hearing Keeper’s confirmation, Myung-jun thought it might be safe to trust Alex’s words to some extent.

As if to dispel Myung-jun’s doubts, Alex provided additional information.

“The name of the spellbook I contracted with is ‘Grimoire.’ It contains every spell that has existed, exists, and will exist, and it has the ability to think and move on its own, allowing it to exhibit powers far beyond the user’s capabilities. It’s practically a cheat-level spellbook.”

Myung-jun thought that if Alex had indeed contracted with such a spellbook, it wouldn’t be surprising for him to become this strong in such a short time.

After all, Myung-jun himself had become the world’s strongest Awakener in an incredibly short period thanks to the cheat-like abilities of ‘Cain’s Legacy.’

However, Alex’s next words explained that his ‘Grimoire’ was not just a simple cheat item.

“And ‘Grimoire’ is the origin of all magical abilities across the entire universe. It is the ‘Origin’ of magic, the only one of its kind in the entire universe, just like your ‘Cain’s Legacy,’ which is the pinnacle of all technology and science and also unique in the universe.”

Myung-jun couldn’t respond.

The moment he heard the word ‘Origin,’ Keeper screamed in shock within Myung-jun’s mind.

‘What the hell?! Origin?! A real Origin?!’

The ‘Origin’ that Alex mentioned referred to the most powerful cheat items in the entire universe, items that could challenge gods by their mere existence, just like Myung-jun’s ‘Cain’s Legacy.’

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