The All-Time Best Talent was F-Class Purification - Chapter 78

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

78
Chapter 78 – An Elite Talent Awakened as an F-Rank Purifier
“Purification.”
I concentrated every last ounce of mana in my palm. My target wasn’t the robot itself—it was the mana stone embedded within.
Whoooosh—!
A white wave surged through my palm and penetrated straight into its core. I forcibly drained the high-concentration mana the mana stone held and neutralized its properties.
The machine thrashed more violently, slamming its back against the wall again.
Crack!
This time, I was certain bones had fractured. At least one or two ribs were gone. Every breath felt like a knife stabbing through my chest, but I didn’t release my grip.
Screeeech—!
Its engine sound warped unnaturally. The blue light blazing from its chest began to dim. The mana stone’s energy was leaking away like a punctured fuel tank. Some of it flowed into my body; the rest scattered into the air.
[WARNING: Power Source Depleting]
[WARNING: Mana Levels Critical]
[SYSTEM FORCED SHUTDOWN….]
Sputter… thud.
The golem’s violent resistance weakened. The engine’s light flickered one last time, shifting from brilliant blue to dull gray before extinguishing completely.
Click.
All tension drained from its joints. It became nothing more than a heavy steel mass, hanging limp from the pipe.
“Huff… huff….”
I finally tore myself away from it. My entire body throbbed. Each breath felt like my chest was tearing apart. At least two ribs had cracked.
I tapped the robot’s motionless head. No response. It was just scrap metal now.
“That must have been an expensive stone.”
The mana stone inside was now nothing but a lifeless pebble. Anything powered by mana was my sustenance—whether it was a robot or a monster made no difference.
I clenched and unclenched my trembling hands, testing my senses. My fingers moved. My legs moved. My bones were damaged, but I wasn’t incapacitated.
Now there was nothing in my way.
I looked upward. Twenty meters above my head, an enormous circular bulkhead door awaited me. I just had to open that door.
Squeezing out my last reserves of strength, I climbed the ladder. Twenty meters felt like two hundred. Each time I lifted my arms, my ribs screamed in agony. My vision blurred and cleared in alternating waves.
‘Just a little further.’
My hand touched cold metal—the inspection platform directly beneath the bulkhead door. I hauled myself up and stood on it. Only creaking sounds echoed around me.
Before me loomed an enormous door. A circular steel gate at least five meters in diameter, held shut by dozens of locking bolts, with a red warning light blinking on the electronic panel at its center.
[ZONE 4 – NEO SEOUL (DISTRICT 7)]
[AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY]
Neo Seoul. The floating city built after the Cataclysm—a massive plate suspended above the contaminated ground below. This single thick steel door separated hell from heaven.
When I placed my hand on the panel, a cold rejection message appeared.
[ACCESS DENIED]
[Security card or biometric authentication required.]
Of course. I was an uninvited guest without an ID card. As a Class-1 secure zone managed by Dominion, crude hacking wouldn’t work.
But I had a method. I’d just proven it moments ago.
‘This is just another machine powered by mana.’
I placed my palm over the power cover of the locking mechanism. Through the thick alloy, I felt a faint vibration—the mana circuit maintaining the locking bolts.
“Purification.”
I closed my eyes and concentrated. My palm adhered to the door’s surface. My mana infiltrated the machine’s interior like a straw piercing through a drink.
Whirrrrr—
I felt mechanical resistance. The security system thrashed against the external intrusion. But a fixed door could never overcome the will of a living human. I drew power from my core. In one breath, I drained the mana from within the locking mechanism.
Click. Click. Hisssss—
With a sharp burst, the red glow of the panel extinguished. The locking bolts, held fast by powerful magnetism, lost their grip and loosened with an audible groan.
Clunk.
The lock disengaged. But the door didn’t open. Years of neglect had hardened the hydraulic system and seized the hinges.
From here on, it wasn’t magic. This was the realm of pure strength.
I grasped the manual operation wheel with both hands. Cold metal bit into my palms. My bleeding fingers screamed in pain.
“Hnnngh—!”
I poured everything into it, my gums grinding. My back muscles swelled taut. Veins bulged as if they’d burst, and my joints shrieked. Cracked ribs pierced my flesh. Blood flooded my mouth.
Screeeeeech—!
A bone-chilling metallic shriek echoed through the Tower’s interior. The immobile wheel began to turn—slowly, incrementally.
‘More… more…!’
Park Jae-jung’s face flashed before me.
‘Director, go ahead. I’ll hold the rear.’
Those were his words. A man more than ten years my senior had called me “Director” and entrusted me with his back. I gritted my teeth at the memory of that heavy silhouette.
‘Tae-hyun, we’ll definitely meet again.’
Han Su-jin’s tear-streaked face. She’d always lagged behind due to her weak stamina. Yet she never gave up, following with unwavering resolve.
‘You bastards. I’ll make you pay.’
Seo Eun-ha’s fiery temperament. Her face grinding with resentment. I worried she’d do something reckless with that temper of hers.
‘Right now, they’re being hunted.’
If this door didn’t open, they’d be trapped forever. If I gave up here, no one would save them.
“Open—!”
I turned the wheel with my last ounce of strength.
Clang—!
The wheel rotated to its limit and stopped. Simultaneously, the pressure differential released with a hissing sound.
Creeeeak….
The massive bulkhead door rose slowly upward. A gap widened. Through that opening poured not the stale air of the Tower, but something entirely different.
Acrid city smog. The scent of food waste. And the cool smell of rainwater.
The smell of a world where people lived.
“Hah… hah….”
On trembling legs, I passed through the open gap. Where my feet landed wasn’t the Tower’s interior. It was a narrow Underground Maintenance Tunnel finished in concrete—a buffer zone connecting to Neo Seoul’s Underground Sewage System.
I collapsed flat on the floor. An old fluorescent light overhead flickered painfully. My eyes, accustomed only to darkness, stung.
“I made it….”
I’d finally ascended. From that hellish Lower District, through the Tower teeming with monsters. The moment when six hundred meters of vertical climbing ended.
Just one minute. I wanted to close my eyes for just one minute. My entire body screamed. My ribs ached and my fingertips were soaked in blood. Every muscle convulsed.
But there was no time to rest.
I staggered to my feet and walked toward the ladder at the corridor’s end. Just one manhole cover above that ladder, and I’d reach the city.
Thud. Thud.
Footsteps echoed through the corridor. Work clothes soaked in water and caked with grease. An old short sword hanging from my waist. A face smeared with blood and sweat. Anyone would have found my appearance suspicious, but it didn’t matter.
I grabbed the ladder and climbed. Above my head, the patter of rain grew louder.
Thunk.
I pushed the manhole cover up with my shoulder. The heavy metal lid slid to the side. Cold night air struck my face.
I slowly poked my head out into the open.
Whoosh—
Rain was falling. Not the sticky, acidic rain that fell in the Lower District. This was transparent, clean rainwater that glistened as it caught the light of neon signs.
I crawled out of the manhole and closed the lid behind me. Kneeling on one wet knee, I surveyed my surroundings.
It was a familiar landscape. A narrow back alley wedged between towering buildings. Trash bins and air conditioning units. Just a month ago, I would have walked through alleys like this without a second thought.
Just a month. It felt like a past life.
My reflection appeared in a puddle. It was grotesque. A face where blood, grease, and sweat had merged into one. Only my eyes shone with light. I was completely different from who I used to be.
‘Is this really me?’
A bitter laugh escaped me. I looked like a monster that had crawled up from the Lower District.
Beyond the alley, the Main Street looked exactly as it always had.
Flash—flash—
Dazzling holographic advertisements adorned the night sky.
Dominion Guild – Your Safety is Our Responsibility. New Magic Stone Engine Released! Hunter Academy Now Recruiting.
The brilliant text shone clearly even through the rain.
I used to pass by advertisements like these without a second thought. I considered them just part of the city. But now it was different. While people in the Lower District starved to death and were torn apart by monsters, this place shone with such peaceful light. The reality of it filled me with revulsion.
Even the sounds were different. Or rather, I heard them differently now. The sound of cars. People’s laughter. Cheerful music drifting from somewhere. The ambient noise of peaceful everyday life that I once took for granted. After spending two weeks in the Lower District, I could see how hollow this peace truly was.
The smells were the same. Coffee. Grilled meat. Bread. Once, these were just the scents of the city. But after smelling rat meat and Contaminated Water, these fragrant aromas felt like sin. My stomach growled. When was the last time I’d eaten proper food?
I walked slowly toward the alley entrance. People with umbrellas hurried past. Clean clothes. Neat shoes. Bright expressions. I used to be like them. Knowing nothing, caring about nothing.
‘Under the same sky.’
No, not the same sky. This place is above the sky, and that place is below it. A thick steel plate lies between them. The people above the plate have no interest in what happens below it. I didn’t either.
Anger surged within me. But part of that anger was directed at my past self.
I retreated back into the alley and hid myself in the shadows. If I walked down the Main Street looking like this, I’d be reported immediately.
That’s when it happened.
The large display screen on the Main Street changed. The cheerful advertisement music stopped, and a red emergency news banner appeared.
[Breaking News: Terrorist Organization Moonglade, Encirclement Tightens]
I stopped in my tracks. My face and photos of my comrades filled the screen.
“…Police and the Dominion joint task force have sealed off Neo Seoul District 7, where the remnants of Moonglade are believed to be hiding… We await information from citizens.”
District 7. Right here. Somewhere in this district where I’d just emerged, Park Jae-jung and the others were hiding.
“Because of those bastards, my children are too scared to go outside.”
A woman passing by spoke to her companion. She was a middle-aged woman with an umbrella.
“They really need to catch them fast. Prices are going up because of those terrorists.”
“I know. I heard the Dominion Guild is working hard on it.”
They glanced at the display screen and quickened their pace. The screen with my face on it. The face of a terrorist.
My teeth clenched. What did we do? We risked our lives trying to save people. And we’re called terrorists? It was the Dominion that killed them?
But those people don’t know. They have no way of knowing the truth. Because the Dominion controls the media.
I clenched my fist. Rainwater streamed down my knuckles.
The screen on the digital billboard changed. A man in a pristine suit was being interviewed. Gold-rimmed glasses. Eyes cold as a serpent’s. Kang Chang-gyung. Strategic Planning Director of Dominion.
“Citizens, rest assured. Those terrorists will soon face the judgment of the law. Dominion will pursue them to the very end.”
His eyes were laughing. The arrogant gaze of a director who reveled in watching the world move according to the script he had written.
‘Go ahead. Laugh.’
My fingernails dug into my palm. Blood seeped out. But it didn’t hurt. Rage had numbed the pain.
‘Let’s see how much longer you can smile.’
I wanted to rush out immediately and wring Kang Chang-gyung’s neck. But not now. There was something I had to do first.
Park Jae-jung. Han Su-jin. Seo Eun-ha. My people who hadn’t been captured yet.
They said the net was closing in. Time was running out. I had to find them. I had to save them. Revenge could wait.
I pulled my hood down low. Wet hair clung to my forehead. I walked deeper into the alley. Into the darkness.
“Rest assured?”
I muttered quietly. The sound of the news broadcast fading behind me grew more distant.
“Don’t be mistaken, Kang Chang-gyung.”
I walked through the rain. The brilliant lights of Neo Seoul glittered behind my back. But ahead of me, there was only darkness.
That’s fine. I was used to the dark.

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