The All-Time Best Talent was F-Class Purification - Chapter 7

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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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7
Chapter 7 – An Elite Talent Awakened as an F-Rank Purifier
The next morning at 4:30 AM.
My eyes snapped open before the alarm even sounded, my nerves wound tight with anticipation. Though I’d spent only one night on Park Jae-jung’s worn sofa in the Hideout’s living room, my body felt refreshed. The simple fact that I was no longer alone had lifted the suffocating weight of anxiety that had pressed down on me.
When I emerged into the living room, Park Jae-jung was already waiting, fully prepared. His eyes were bloodshot from a sleepless night, yet they burned with sharp, focused intensity.
“Are you ready, sir?”
“Yes. I can depart whenever you are.”
I nodded and conducted a final check of our equipment. The F-rank armor that had felt loose and cumbersome yesterday now fit my body like a second skin. The short sword, reforged to E-rank, emanated a cool aura from my waist.
Behind me, Park Jae-jung silently bore a 100-million-won B-rank shield—the Gigass Shield. Even in the darkness, it radiated a subtle blue luminescence that inspired confidence.
We climbed into the worn truck. 5 AM. The Floating City remained shrouded in thick darkness and silence, the artificial sun still asleep. Park Jae-jung expertly navigated the steering wheel, bypassing the Lower District and heading toward the massive cargo gate leading to Ground Level.
“The Chemical Complex is on Ground Level. The official gate procedures are too complicated, so I’ll take an unofficial route I know.”
The truck slipped into the shadows of the city’s enormous pillars, following the blind spots of the surveillance cameras.
After a long drive, the truck stopped at an abandoned Sewage Treatment Plant on Ground Level, overgrown with weeds. Park Jae-jung stepped out and pulled on a gas mask.
“From now on, absolutely do not remove your gas mask. We have no idea what toxic substances might be floating in the air.”
I donned my own mask. Even through the filter, a sharp metallic taste stung my nostrils. This was no ordinary stench. The acrid chemical smell still felt like the reek of death that had festered for ten years.
When Park Jae-jung opened the massive manhole cover, a vertical shaft of impenetrable darkness yawned beneath us.
“This passage connects directly to the Underground Facility beneath the Old Incheon Chemical Complex. After the Calamity, the government secretly carved this as an emergency evacuation route. Almost no one knows about it now.”
We secured high-tensile wire to the structure and descended one by one into the darkness. After descending dozens of meters, my feet touched solid ground. In the beam of our flashlights, massive pipelines encrusted with rust-red corrosion and intricate instrument panels stretched before us. It was a forgotten space of humanity, perfectly frozen in time for ten years.
“Stay quiet. Don’t make any sound from here on.”
Park Jae-jung whispered directly into my ear. A portable contamination meter hung from his hand, its needle trembling faintly toward the red zone.
[Energy Spectral Analysis: Corrosive Contamination Level 78%]
The number I’d seen on the monitor yesterday had become reality, crashing down upon us. Unidentifiable green slime spread across the walls and floor like moss. Park Jae-jung pointed to it.
“Traces of Corrosive Slime. The moment you step on it, the soles of your boots will dissolve. I’ll lead the way—follow my footsteps exactly.”
Like a seasoned veteran, he found the safest route and advanced silently. I stayed close behind him, every nerve alert and focused.
At the end of the corridor, we encountered our first threat.
“Psst.”
Park Jae-jung gestured for me to stop. He pressed himself against the corner of the wall and peered carefully inside. I leaned over his shoulder to look. A vast chamber—what had once been a Central Control Room for some facility. Four reptilian monsters prowled the space on all fours.
“Acid Spitters. E-rank monsters.”
Park Jae-jung lowered his voice to a whisper.
“They spit powerful acidic liquid from range. They’re weak in close combat, but approaching them is difficult.”
They seemed to be on patrol, moving along a set path. Park Jae-jung observed their movements for a moment, then spoke quietly to me.
“When the glands beneath their jaws swell, that’s the signal they’re about to spit acid. A frontal assault is too dangerous. I’ll pin their attention while you use the blind spot above to strike from behind. I’ll create the timing.”
It was a textbook strategy. But I shook my head.
“No. That’s too dangerous for you. There’s no way a shield alone can withstand the concentrated fire of all four of them.”
He looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“Then what do you propose?”
I studied their patrol route and the complex network of corroded pipes twisted across the ceiling. A plan formed rapidly in my mind.
“Cover me, Park Jae-jung. I’ll move first.”
Without waiting for a response, I silently scaled the wall and climbed onto the thickest pipe near the ceiling. Park Jae-jung was startled by my sudden action, but quickly grasped my intent and raised his shield into a protective stance.
I crept silently across the pipe, passing directly above the monsters’ heads. Then I stopped at the exact point where their patrol routes intersected. Moments later, all four Acid Spitters converged directly beneath me.
I pulled a flare from my waist and made a sharp gesture toward Park Jae-jung.
‘Now.’
I detonated the flare and hurled it beneath their feet. Simultaneously, Park Jae-jung slammed his shield against the wall with tremendous force, creating a deafening noise. Startled by the sudden light and sound, the creatures descended into chaos, stumbling about in confusion.
I seized that moment without hesitation, leaping down from the pipe and vaulting across the heads of the disoriented beasts in succession.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
Four touches, four annihilations. The four E-rank monsters crumbled to dust without so much as a scream.
“Impressive.”
Park Jae-jung’s voice carried genuine admiration. It wasn’t merely my monster elimination that had astonished him—it was the tactical brilliance: reading the terrain, leveraging our tools, assigning precise roles to my partner, and orchestrating maximum efficiency with minimal risk.
“This much should at least earn us the title of a proper five-versus-five team.”
I quipped lightly while gathering the fallen Purification Stones scattered across the floor. Our first true teamwork had been flawless.
We pressed forward. When we reached the corridor’s end, an enormous Underground Cavern sprawled before us. The entire floor of that cavern had transformed into a colossal Acidic Waste River, bubbling and churning violently. The path we needed lay beyond that river of filth.
Park Jae-jung’s expression hardened.
“This appears to have no solution…”
His voice had grown rigid. The contamination meter in his hand had long since exceeded critical levels, and before us lay only a massive, roiling pool of acidic waste. A crossing over twenty meters wide—it seemed impossible.
The viscous green liquid bubbled with a sickening sound. The acrid vapors rising from its surface penetrated the gas mask’s filters, stinging my nostrils. A corroded iron rebar fragment that had fallen from the ceiling tumbled into the river, and with a sharp hiss, it dissolved into the smoke and vanished.
Park Jae-jung, veteran that he was, quickly surveyed the surroundings. Yet his expression grew increasingly grim.
“There’s no detour. According to the map, we cannot proceed without crossing this river—the structure allows no alternative. The pipelines above are all corroded; they’ll collapse the moment we step on them.”
He picked up a small stone from the ground and tossed it toward the river’s surface. Like the rebar, it hissed and dissolved the instant it touched the liquid.
“It’s pure corrosive energy. Not merely acidic liquid. Even B-rank alloys would dissolve within five minutes. Building a bridge would be impossible…”
Park Jae-jung fell silent and turned to face me.
‘It seems we’ve reached our limit.’
His eyes spoke the words.
Even a C-rank veteran’s experience and knowledge offered no answer to this obstacle. All our equipment and techniques proved powerless before this primal barrier. The shadow of failure was already creeping over us.
‘Turn back now?’
No. That was impossible. The billion won goal, Mother’s hospital room, and my partner who had wagered everything on me—if I surrendered here, I would plunge back into that desperate life of old.
I gazed down at the E-rank Purification Dagger at my waist.
‘It eliminates contaminants or restores the essence of corrupted matter…’
The system’s definition of my ability.
‘Isn’t this river ultimately just contamination?’
I brushed aside Park Jae-jung’s protests and carefully approached the river’s edge. Then I gently dipped the tip of the Purification Dagger into the bubbling green liquid.
Hisss—
Contrary to my expectation that the dagger would dissolve in a torrent of corrosion, something extraordinary occurred. The acidic liquid touching the dagger’s tip evaporated like water on a scorching skillet, dissipating into white vapor. A small, pristine space began to form around the dagger’s edge.
‘It… it’s working.’
Yet I tempered my excitement. I couldn’t gauge whether my core energy could purify this entire colossal river.
‘I don’t need to purify the entire river…’
I shifted my approach.
‘What I need is a path. A tiny passage where two people can place their feet. And it doesn’t need to last forever—just a few seconds.’
“Park Jae-jung, I’ll create a path for us.”
“Pardon? Boss, what do you mean—”
Before him, I dipped the dagger’s tip into the acidic liquid once more. This time, I channeled my purification energy in a gentle, steady stream. And then, something miraculous unfolded.
As I regulated the purification wave through the short sword, the boiling toxic liquid began to solidify into pure white crystals. The contaminated energy neutralized, causing the matter to temporarily shift its state. It wasn’t complete purification of the entire mass—only partial purification. This was a new sensation: controlling pollution through my will.
Park Jae-jung stared at the phenomenon unfolding before him, his mouth slightly agape in disbelief.
“I’ll purify each point where I step, creating a path as I go. It won’t take long. However, once the purification effect wears off, the path will melt again, so you’ll need to follow closely behind me.”
As I explained the plan, his expression grew complicated.
“Won’t that be dangerous? What if your core energy is completely depleted in the middle of it?”
“That’s why I need you. While I focus on creating the path, you have to protect me from every threat that might emerge from behind.”
He stopped objecting and silently adjusted his grip on the Gigas Shield.
I took a deep breath and extended my hand toward the river.
“Purify.”
Before my feet, the surface of the acidic liquid froze white, forming a solid platform roughly one meter in diameter. I carefully stepped onto it. The platform trembled slightly but held my weight.
‘It works…’
I concentrated my energy again to create the next platform. Create the first platform, step onto it, then create the second. The rhythm became mechanical.
When I created the fifth platform, I heard a sizzling sound from behind. The first platform was beginning to melt. I intensified my focus. My core energy depleted at a terrifying rate. My entire body was drenched in sweat, and my breathing grew ragged inside the gas mask.
Moments later, Park Jae-jung, following my footsteps and watching our surroundings, shouted from behind.
“Representative, seven o’clock! Slimes!”
Several slimes on the opposite bank of the river spotted us and sprayed acidic liquid into the air. I was completely defenseless, focused entirely on creating the path.
Sizzzzz!
It was the sound of Park Jae-jung blocking the incoming acidic spray with his shield. Green vapor rose from the Gigas Shield, but it held firm.
“Keep your eyes ahead!”
His shout seemed to pierce through my gas mask. I clenched my teeth and poured my magical power into the thin ice platform beneath my feet.
“Keep going. I’ll hold them off here.”
Park Jae-jung’s steady words allowed me to focus on creating the path. When I created the final platform and stepped onto the solid ground on the opposite side, I was nearly exhausted, and the path I’d created melted back into the boiling acidic river the moment I crossed it, leaving no trace.
“Haa…”
I collapsed against the wall, catching my breath. Park Jae-jung approached and tapped my shoulder.
“…That was truly remarkable, Representative.”
I steadied my breathing for a moment, then looked up at the massive steel door before us, bearing a nameplate that read [Central Processing Facility]. Despite ten years of passage, the door remained almost untarnished, its imposing presence intact.

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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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