Chapter 73
There was a popular saying that humans used only 10% of their brains throughout their lives.
Of course, it was nothing more than a myth that had been proven false.
Humans used almost every part of their brains throughout their lives.
However,
it was true that the parts of the brain one could use at any given moment were limited.
That was probably where the saying had become distorted.
And then I had far surpassed that limit...
and was using 100% of my brain.
Then, to my surprise, my horizons expanded.
New neural pathways sprouted, and the pathways that had grown connected to one another.
How many pathways had grown, and how many of them were connected to each other.
That was what determined intelligence—the limits of one's intellectual ability.
How much time had passed?
By the time I could handle the trillions of Gluttony individuals I had scattered around...
the neural pathways that had continued to grow finally stopped.
The temporary headache was long gone.
I was almost a little disappointed.
If only they could grow just a little more...
[The conditions for your class's first awakening have been met.]
[You have undergone your first awakening.]
[The skill ‘Misian’ is affected by your awakening!]
[Misian (Awakened)]
Description: A spell created by the legendary necromancer Avicenna. It allows the caster to observe the microscopic realm and identify the traits of microscopic entities. The higher the caster's proficiency, the smaller the area they can observe. Its functions have been expanded through awakening. The caster can remotely observe the microscopic realm by using the perceptive abilities of their undead. The larger the number of undead, the wider an area they can examine.
... The description was a little complicated.
Put simply, Misian used to be limited to places I could see with my own eyes. Now, I could use the bacteria under my command to observe things remotely, too.
Seeing is believing, and doing beats seeing.
There was no better way to understand it than to try it out.
I nodded and used the Awakened Misian skill...
“Wow.”
The images sent by the bacteria I'd scattered throughout the city layered over one another, forming something like a 3D map before my eyes.
To my surprise, the interface looked like a familiar map app: I could zoom in and out with two fingers, and move around by dragging my whole palm.
It probably looked this way because this was the kind of ‘map’ I was most familiar with.
All right, then. Let's put it to proper use.
“Hey, could I borrow a radio?”
“Pardon?”
I asked a passing paramedic for a radio, picked it up, and broadcast over every channel.
“This is Kim Segyun. From now on, I'm taking command. Follow my orders and rescue the people.”
The lightly injured, who could walk on their own, had already made it outside.
Gluttony had opened a path for them at my command.
All that remained were the seriously injured, who couldn't get out even with a path cleared, and people trapped on upper floors or in other places that made it difficult for them to walk out.
Over the radio, I directed the rescue teams nearest to them to their locations.
Since I was looking at a real-time map of the city, it wasn't particularly difficult.
Now that my perceptive abilities had increased by leaps and bounds, I could even pick up the slightest visual clues.
And besides...
Moving people around individually and giving them orders based on the 3D map's information.
People around my age had probably done that plenty of times.
Right.
It wasn't much different from a strategy simulation game.
It was even a genre of game that had once swept all of Korea.
**
Lucia, considered one of the world's strongest spirit summoners.
No matter how powerful she was...
“Hngh!”
There was definitely a limit to how much mana she could use.
Spirit summoners were one of the classes with exceptionally high mana efficiency, unlike mages...
but even with that efficiency,
it wasn't easy for a human to stand against ‘nature’ itself.
Riding the wind spirit Iris, she continued using earth spirits to build barriers and steer the lava away from the city as much as possible.
KABOOM!
When she saw another torrent of magma pour out amid a thunderous explosion, her face turned pale.
Already pushed to her limit, she gritted her teeth, then...
“Iris, lower the atmospheric barrier.”
The translucent eagle shook its head with a screech.
It had enough intelligence to refuse to blindly obey an order that would put its summoner in danger.
But...
“We have no choice. I need to conserve even that mana.”
Until now, she had used the atmospheric barrier to block all the radiant heat from the lava...
but she wanted to save that mana so she could control the flow of the lava pouring out anew.
Perhaps her resolve was simply that firm. Iris reluctantly lowered the atmospheric barrier.
Whoosh! An immense wave of radiant heat engulfed her all at once.
The heat was so intense, like being in the middle of a sauna, that her mind went blank for an instant.
But the mental fortitude of a high-level spirit summoner wasn't going to crumble from heat like that.
Gritting her teeth, she put the mana she'd freed up into the earth spirits.
The earth spirits twisted the ground this way and that, creating a channel for the lava to flow through.
Fortunately, after putting up with a little heat, it seemed as if everything was going to work out.
But wasn't there a saying about always being wary when things went smoothly?
A splash of lava shot up and struck a lower earth spirit squarely as it twisted the ground to dodge the flow.
A mid-level or high-level spirit could have withstood lava, but the high temperature dealt a heavy blow to a lower earth spirit.
With a whimper, the little gnome was forcibly unsummoned by the impact.
You might say it was only one lower earth spirit being unsummoned...
But when a spirit was forcibly unsummoned after being struck, it consumed twice the mana required to summon it.
That's why directly unsummoning spirits in danger before they were forcibly unsummoned was an essential skill for any spirit summoner.
The problem was that she didn't have the spare attention to worry about one lower spirit right now...
And the bigger problem was...
she was already using mana to the point of exhaustion.
The extra mana consumed when the spirit was forcibly unsummoned in the middle of all that set off a chain reaction.
“Hngh!”
Lucia was plunged into mana exhaustion in an instant.
As mana exhaustion set in and even her natural mana recovery slowed, she had no choice but to unsummon several spirits.
Because of that...
“I... can't stop it...”
The lava was now flowing uncontrollably toward the city.
At that very moment...
Bang! With an explosive pop, a stream of lava sprayed several meters into the air.
It had exploded after reacting with the rocks.
And that stream of lava was heading straight for Lucia.
Iris blew a gust of wind to change its direction as much as possible, but couldn't prevent a few pieces from splattering onto her.
If they touched her, she would probably suffer serious injuries.
Just as she squeezed her eyes shut at the lava fragments flying toward her face...
... Why didn't it hurt?
Wondering what had happened, she cautiously opened her eyes.
[The caster Kim Segyun's Magmophile individuals are protecting you.]
[Your fire resistance has temporarily increased by 3,000%!]
“Kim... Segyun...?”
At the same time, the lava that had solidified on her face turned into chunks of rock and pattered to the ground.
Unfortunately, the fragments had splashed right onto her face.
But something slippery was wrapped around her body.
And it had protected her from the lava.
Startled, she looked around.
A massive cement barrier rose up, blocking the flow of lava.
Beyond the cement barrier, a familiar face waved to her with a smile.
Seeing that reassuring face, she let out a sigh of relief.
“How did you get here...?”
“I'm pretty fast.”
The bacterium that had used the Sacred Site designation function on my shoes to mark her, just in case, gave her a proud smile.
Since she was headed toward a Sacred Site, it had been able to run here with a 1,000% speed bonus.
It had taken advantage of the fact that the Sacred Site effect could be used on a moving target, too.
“The city...”
“It's fine. We rescued most of the people.”
“What? That quickly?”
“It just happened that way. Here, have one of these.”
The bacterium casually pulled something from its inventory and tossed it to her.
Lucia caught it without thinking, took a drink, and her eyes widened.
[The effect of the Internal Injury Recovery Potion (Lowest Grade) has cured your mana exhaustion.]
Although it was a little cheaper than a potion for external injuries, it was still worth hundreds of thousands of euros, so she was shocked.
“A-a potion...”
“It's a low-quality potion, only good for something simple like mana exhaustion. Don't feel too bad about it.”
Unlike the original potions, the grade of the potions Gyuseon made was determined by adjusting the proportion of nectar.
That actually made them more practical.
Using an original potion for simple mana exhaustion or a minor cut was a waste.
In those situations, it was better to use a lowest-grade potion, which could be made in quantities more than ten times greater than the original with the same amount of nectar.
Once her mana exhaustion was cured, Lucia regained a little composure and summoned the earth spirits again.
The earth spirits reinforced the cement barrier the bacteria had made.
The surging river of lava could no longer flow and began to harden where it was.
“Phew...”
“If there aren't any more eruptions, this should be enough.”
“You...”
Kim had an incredible ability to disassemble matter, could grant a fire-resistance buff, and could even create structures like an earth spirit.
Lucia, the master of twelve types of spirits, had never been outdone when it came to versatility.
Even she couldn't compete with Kim Segyun in that regard.
What class did he have, and what abilities was he using?
Questions filled her mind.
**
Hospitals weren't spared from the earthquake's damage, either.
So people were transported to hospitals in the suburbs or other cities, and, naturally, those hospitals were overflowing far beyond their capacity. It was pure chaos.
Just as the hospitals were packed with more patients than they could possibly take, Gyuseon's potions were delivered.
Since the mass-produced lowest-grade potions could treat minor cuts, quite a few patients were fully healed, freeing up space in the hospitals.
While the great disaster in Catania was gradually being brought under control...
I was talking with Zephyros.
─Are you all right? You didn't get hurt anywhere, did you?
“I'm fine.”
─Phew, what a relief. The government went into an uproar when they heard your plane had suddenly landed there. The Italian Association did send a request for cooperation, but... That was reckless. Why would you go there right after the earthquake, instead of waiting a while?
It had been dangerous.
“It was a little dangerous because of the aftershocks.”
─Exactly. Aftershocks can be more dangerous than the main quake.
“Still, I'm satisfied. We managed to save a lot of people.”
I felt pretty proud of myself.
No matter how bad the people I'd disassembled in South America were, having dismantled over a hundred cartel members had still been weighing on my mind.
But after saving so many people, it felt like that had been somewhat balanced out.
And on top of that, my first awakening had been an unexpected achievement.
─The Italian news said you rescued around 80,000 people, didn't it?
“... That's more than I thought.”
... I'd thought I'd saved around 30,000.
─That shows how serious the earthquake was. They said almost everyone would have died if you hadn't been there.
“Good grief.”
That was probably true.
Even with Lucia there, the damage was so extensive that it would have been impossible to handle unless there were two or three Lucias.
─It seems that region has experienced earthquakes of similar magnitude in the past, too. The one saving grace was that the damage was concentrated on one side of the strait. If the other side had been hit just as hard...
It would've been horrifying.
─Oh, and the Italian Hunter Association... No, more specifically, Lucia said she had something to give you.
“Something to give me?”
─She'll probably deliver it in person. I heard she bought it herself with her points. It wouldn't happen to be the Wings of Icarus, would it? That would be amazing.
A present? What was it?
Knock, knock. At the perfectly timed sound of someone at the door, I ended my call with Zephyros and opened it.
“Ms. Lucia. I thought you said you were busy.”
Her earth spirits could do more to help rebuild the ruined city than heavy machinery.
“I am. I just stopped by for a moment because I have something to give you.”
“Something to give me?”
“Yes.”
With a bright smile, she handed me a piece of clothing.
There was a piece of paper on top of it.
‘If you have ever flown through the sky, your eyes on the ground will turn toward the heavens. ─Leonardo da Vinci’
One sentence, painstakingly translated and printed in Korean.
Then, when I touched the clothing underneath...
[Wings of Icarus]
Grade: Relic-grade cloak
Description: An item left behind by the longing of one who wished to fly through the sky.
Effect: Allows the wearer to hover freely in the sky. Flight speed is determined by movement speed.
... What was this?
As I stared at it, dumbfounded, Lucia smiled brightly and said,
“You won't have to be afraid of flying through the sky anymore, right?”