The All-Time Best Talent was F-Class Purification - Chapter 101

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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101
Chapter 101 – An Elite Talent Awakened as an F-Rank Purifier
Leaving the Steel Alliance soldiers sprawled across the corridor floor behind me, I halted just as my foot touched the first step of the staircase.
A faint vibration transmitted from above.
One, two. Counting the rhythm, it was at least two full squads or more. The main force had already mobilized after confirming their vanguard had gone silent.
‘Charging up recklessly now would be suicide.’
The direction of counterattack should indeed be upward. But not yet. Before reaching ground level, I needed to first assess their force deployment and secure a safe stronghold. Throwing myself into an endless stream of soldiers without a plan wasn’t tactics—it was mindless assault.
“We should postpone going up for now.”
I spoke quietly toward the others. Seo Eun-ha furrowed her brow to protest, but when I gestured with my chin toward the vibrations above, her expression hardened.
“Dr. Junk. Is there anywhere near ground level in this district where we can hide safely?”
Dr. Junk scratched his head with his mechanical prosthetic and muttered thoughtfully.
“There’s an abandoned junk shop I bought years ago at the edge of Black Market District 4. It has a warehouse in the basement, and since it’s an unlicensed building, it’s not even registered in the city’s official database. Mana scans won’t pick it up.”
“Let’s move there.”
We moved without hesitation. Park Jae-jung, having broken through his limits and been rebuilt, led the way, while I covered our rear, eliminating any possibility of being tracked.
Our newly arrived stronghold was a space Dr. Junk had maintained as an emergency refuge after leaving Blue Tower. The warehouse interior, lined with weathered shelves and thick with dust, paradoxically proved its safety through the evidence of long abandonment.
Dr. Junk connected power to a corner breaker box and inserted the stolen silver chip, bringing up a holographic display. A three-dimensional map of Neo Seoul materialized in blue light, with a massive building standing prominently in the center of District 7 Commercial Zone blinking red.
“Blue Tower Data and Logistics Center.”
Dr. Junk tapped the screen as he spoke.
“A mid-level branch of Blue Tower and the heart where bioexperimental data and illegal funds flow between Blue Tower and Dominion.”
I stared quietly at the red dot on the screen.
“Who’s in charge?”
“Blue Tower’s Fourth Executive Director. Ryu Jin-hwan.”
Dr. Junk swallowed hard and continued his explanation.
“He’s no mere vault keeper. That man’s mind is equivalent to a supercomputer. His unique skills are ultra-parallel computation and subspace storage. He directly controls all security systems of this massive fortress with his own brain, and stashes all the dirty ledgers and slush funds in subspace.”
“A non-combat class executive, then.”
I spoke matter-of-factly, and Seo Eun-ha let out a small laugh.
“Don’t underestimate that. Do you really think Blue Tower would leave their money manager as just a desk jockey?”
“You’re right.”
Dr. Junk nodded, looking toward Seo Eun-ha.
“Underestimate a non-combat executive and your head flies off first. Ryu Jin-hwan is an obsessively paranoid man.”
As Dr. Junk tapped the keyboard, the defensive structure of Blue Tower’s interior overlaid the hologram.
“Within a 20-meter radius of Ryu Jin-hwan’s office, Blue Tower’s elite guard unit—the Armored Guard—always shadows him like his own reflection. All of them are combat mages on par with A-rank hunters.”
Park Jae-jung crossed his arms and asked quietly.
“Is that all?”
“Of course not.”
Dr. Junk laughed bitterly.
“Ryu Jin-hwan’s heartbeat and brainwaves are directly connected to the building’s main core. The moment he senses any threat and his heart rate spikes, the entire structure seals shut and lethal neurotoxin is dispersed throughout his office. A mutual murder-suicide defense system, if you will.”
“But wouldn’t he die too?”
Han Su-jin asked quietly.
“Ryu Jin-hwan alone has an antidote serum. In short, to capture him, you’d need to neutralize his guard unit in an instant without him noticing, and apprehend him before his brainwaves destabilize.”
A perfect fortress. A paranoid ruler who showed no weakness.
“The problem isn’t just what’s inside the building.”
Park Jae-jung, peering through the window gap, spoke with grave weight.
“The situation outside is dire. Twenty-six billion won. Every bounty hunter in the Black Market has crawled out of the woodwork after the bounty on our entire party. They’ve set up camps in every alley.”
“That’s not all.”
Han Su-jin quietly pointed to the old television screen in the corner. Though the sound was muted, Neo Seoul’s main news broadcast showed armed soldiers streaming across the screen without pause.
“Dominion soldiers are controlling the entire street. The Steel Alliance is using neutrality as an excuse to deploy drones and comb through the streets like they’re searching for lice. Three factions are tearing apart the entire city just to catch us.”
It was Han Su-jin, who had collapsed on the sofa and fallen asleep after the surrogate surgery. The compressed mana lingering in the platinum ring had apparently aided her recovery during our movement. Though her complexion hadn’t fully returned, her voice carried strength.
Dominion’s overwhelming military might, the Steel Alliance’s flawless mechanical surveillance network, and bounty hunters who could emerge from anywhere at any moment. A triple layer of surveillance, woven like a spider’s web, was strangling even the space where we breathed.
I turned to look at Han Ae-ri, who was quietly polishing her twin blades in the corner. Ever since losing our comrades, her eyes had changed. Not broken—rather, they’d grown colder.
“Everyone is wearing the concealment pendants I made for you before, correct?”
Just before heading to the Hospital Research Building to meet the Lee Seung-ryong Party, I’d crafted one for each party member as a precaution. A masterwork that neutralized the vast mana wavelengths of S-rank hunters to civilian levels, deceiving mana detection networks.
My comrades pulled out transparent mana stone necklaces hidden beneath their outer clothing. Han Ae-ri didn’t have a pendant, but what needed to be done now was concealing B-rank and higher S-rank and A-rank mana.
“We can avoid mana detection with these pendants. But they won’t block visual surveillance or thermal imaging cameras. Abandon any thoughts of brute force. We’re going to exploit their own sight against them.”
“Exploit their sight?”
Seo Eun-ha asked back. I began drawing lines on the old whiteboard in the corner of the warehouse with charcoal.
“Too many watchful eyes means they’ll obstruct each other’s movements while maintaining mutual vigilance. Dominion pushes forward recklessly, the Steel Alliance moves only by protocol, and bounty hunters lurk irregularly for profit.”
I looked over my comrades one by one.
Since awakening after absorbing the contamination energy in the sinkhole, invisible mana currents and human behavior patterns had begun reading to my eyes like one massive equation. My temples throbbed as my brain processed the overwhelming information, but I forced my expression to remain rigid.
“When three groups with different temperaments move in one narrow area, blind spots inevitably form where their wavelengths collide. Aeri will pierce through that gap first and open the path. Then we follow and move to the front of Blue Tower.”
We left Dr. Junk deep in the warehouse and headed for ground level. As the door opened and we stepped outside, cool, damp air rushed into my chest.
Whoooosh.
Cold rain was falling. Brilliant neon light scattered across the rainwater, creating an eerie palette of colors.
I crouched low behind a garbage heap at the alley’s mouth, holding my breath as I surveyed the main street.
Whirrrr—whirrrrr—
Three silver-gray drones from the Steel Alliance swept the ground from above, their red laser scanners crossing in patterns.
Below them, black armored vehicles from Dominion rolled slowly down the road, their headlights flashing, while in the dark shadows of the opposite alley, a ragtag group of bounty hunters armed with crude magical artifacts smoked cigarettes with gleaming eyes.
It was suffocating pressure. A single footstep, one wrong splash in the rainwater, and bullets and magic would rain down from all sides.
I pulled my hood deep and pushed my kinetic vision and senses to their absolute limit. The trajectory of falling rain, the motor rotation cycle of the drones, the angle and timing of the Dominion soldiers’ head turns, the intervals at which the bounty hunters’ cigarette flames flickered.
Vast information poured into my brain, triggering severe headaches. But I had to endure. I needed to read the precise moment when these massive gears meshed together, creating a fleeting gap.
Ten minutes. Twenty minutes.
My eyes, lying prone in the cold rain, dilated microscopically.
Found it.
“Aeri.”
I whispered so quietly it was buried in the sound of rain. Han Ae-ri approached like a shadow.
“When the Steel Alliance drone turns right and the sensors overlap, the Dominion vehicle’s searchlight will shine toward the bounty hunters. That’s when they squint and lower their heads. Exactly four seconds of blind spot. Three, two, one. Now.”
Tap.
Not even the sound of splashing rainwater escaped. The instant the signal dropped, Han Ae-ri shot into the darkness. Seo Eun-ha, Park Jae-jung, Han Su-jin, and I followed.
Dominion’s intense light swept the opposite side, and the hunters cursed and shielded their eyes—those four seconds of gap. Han Ae-ri was already nestled in the shadows behind a ventilation shaft of the opposite building, perfectly concealed, and we were pulled into the blind spot she’d secured.
“Phew…”
Han Su-jin held her mouth shut as she exhaled in ragged gasps. Her heart was pounding as though she’d sprinted at full speed, despite having moved only ten meters.
We advanced with agonizing slowness and meticulous precision, narrowing the distance inch by inch. Han Ae-ri led the way, erasing every trace of our presence, and we followed in her footsteps.
Sometimes we crawled through the sewers; sometimes we clung to narrow ledges on the building’s exterior, waiting for patrol teams to pass. It was a suffocating dance that devoured patience and concentration to their absolute limits.
After moving for some time, an overwhelmingly massive structure materialized beyond the mist, completely dominating our field of vision.
A colossal fortress of smooth blue special alloy, featureless and windowless—a perfect rectangular prism. It was the Blue Tower Data and Logistics Center.
But the moment I laid eyes on the building, I couldn’t help but clench my teeth.
“This is… insane.”
Park Jae-jung spoke quietly, tightening his grip on his shield.
The Blue Tower’s outer defenses exceeded even Dr. Junk’s warnings. Dozens of densely packed mana turrets lined the top of a ten-meter-high barrier encircling the building, and at the entrance, four-legged combat robots capable of tearing through tank armor prowled with menacing growls.
Most devastating of all was the massive, semi-transparent mana barrier in the shape of a dome enveloping the entire structure.
“An approach detection barrier.”
Seo Eun-ha whispered, her face drained of color as she gripped her pendant.
“A multi-layered composite barrier that detects not just mana flow, but mass and body heat as well. That concealment pendant won’t help. A single ant touching it would trigger sirens throughout the building and make those turrets rain fire.”
Seo Eun-ha was right. That barrier wasn’t something we could break through by force or deceive. The mana stones required to maintain such a colossal barrier would cost an astronomical sum. It revealed just how desperately Ryu Jin-hwan clung to his own life and his data.
“What do we do, Guild Master? No matter how I look at it, there’s no way inside.”
Park Jae-jung’s eyes grew heavy and despondent. Even Han Ae-ri gripped her twin blades tightly, her tension evident. All eyes turned toward me.
I refused to surrender. No perfect shield exists in this world. Every corruption and barrier I’d destroyed had proven that.
I stared intently at the barrier and drew mana from deep within my dantian—infinitesimally, almost imperceptibly.
I had to change my thinking. Not destruction. Not deception.
What is the true nature of that barrier? After the Cataclysm Day, a structure powered by corrupted mana stones, woven from human desire and fear. At its core lies corrupted energy.
I can purify it.
I cannot erase everything at once. But if I can make a single thread of mana composing the barrier disappear for just an instant—in one fleeting moment. A single ant-hole would be enough.
Instead of drawing my dagger, I slowly peeled off my wet gloves and extended my bare hand. The pure white purification mana gathering at my fingertips mingled with the rain, creating a faint shimmer.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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