The All-Time Best Talent was F-Class Purification - Chapter 83

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

83
Chapter 83 – An Elite Talent Awakened as an F-Rank Purifier
“The situation isn’t looking good.”
Han Su-jin sighed heavily.
“Our faces are compromised, and they have S-rank ability users plus soldiers at their command. If we step outside right now, we’ll be discovered within five minutes.”
She was right. Especially for S-rank hunters like Seo Eun-ha and Han Su-jin—even breathing caused a distinctive, massive mana wave to emanate from them, triggering detection devices. No amount of disguise could conceal that energy signature.
“If only we could suppress our mana somehow…”
Han Su-jin’s murmur hung in the air. Her words made me pause, my mind racing.
Suppressing mana.
Standard concealment skills couldn’t mask an S-rank’s aura. But what if I reversed my purification ability?
A mana wave was essentially the scent of energy flowing from the body. The stronger the hunter, the more potent that scent became. S-rank hunters radiated presence from a distance, as if wearing invisible perfume.
‘What if I erased that scent?’
Purification was the ability to erase contamination. Since a mana wave was a form of emission, couldn’t I neutralize it?
“It might be possible.”
I retrieved a C-rank mana stone fragment from my pocket—something I’d picked up while passing through the sewers earlier. I placed it on my palm and examined it. Its low purity gave it a murky glow.
“Eun-ha, could you give me your hand?”
“My hand? Why suddenly?”
“I want to run an experiment.”
Seo Eun-ha looked puzzled but extended her hand anyway. I placed the mana stone on her palm and covered it with my own.
“Let a little mana flow through. Not combat-grade—just your natural mana output.”
“Like this?”
Whooom—
Crimson heat bloomed from Seo Eun-ha’s hand. The aura of an S-rank flame mage. The air shimmered. At this rate, detection devices within a 1-kilometer radius would trigger immediately.
“Purify.”
I immediately channeled my mana into her.
The principle was simple: not erasure, but neutralization. Like smothering a strong perfume scent with odorless deodorant, I softened and dulled her sharp mana signature. I made her mana’s color transparent.
Shhhhh—
The mana stone glowed white. Seo Eun-ha’s crimson heat subsided. No—the heat remained, but the sensation of external emission vanished. Visually, flames still flickered, yet to mana senses, nothing could be detected. A bizarre state of existence.
“Huh…? What is this?”
Seo Eun-ha’s eyes widened in astonishment.
“My mana… I can’t feel it. I’m clearly using it, but it’s not leaking outward.”
Park Jae-jung jolted upright in shock.
“Is this even possible? The aura completely vanished?”
“The mana itself remains unchanged. I’ve only neutralized the emitted wave. It’s like…”
Before I could finish—
Crack! Clang!
The C-rank mana stone in my hand shattered with a deafening sound. The uncontained heat surged toward us.
“Ow!”
Seo Eun-ha hastily withdrew her hand, wiping sweat from her brow.
“As I thought… a C-rank stone fragment isn’t enough.”
“Did it fail?”
“No. I confirmed the possibility.”
I brushed away the crumbled powder. Small burn marks remained on my palm, but I didn’t mind.
“The stone’s durability simply couldn’t withstand S-rank mana. If we could obtain higher-purity mana stones or raw purification crystals… we could create an item that would let us masquerade as ordinary people, at least temporarily.”
“Masquerading as ordinary….”
Seo Eun-ha’s eyes sparkled. An S-rank Hunter concealing their mana, walking freely through the city. It was the only key to piercing Dominion’s iron-clad surveillance network.
“This is promising. Once that’s finished, we could get right up to Kang Chang-gyung’s doorstep.”
“However, it won’t be perfect. There will be time limits, and if we use our abilities, we’ll be exposed immediately. It’s strictly for movement.”
“Still, that’s a hundred times better than nothing.”
Park Jae-jung nodded in agreement.
“But let’s rest today.”
I leaned my chair back.
“Everyone’s exhausted. If we force ourselves to do anything now, we’ll only cause problems.”
My teammates nodded silently. As the tension lifted, a sudden wave of fatigue seemed to crash over us. Han Su-jin was already nodding off, and Park Jae-jung’s eyes looked hollow.
“Tomorrow morning, let’s go gather materials. Park Jae-jung, are there any places around here that deal in mana stones?”
“There are. It’s a black market, though. There are several illegal mana stone dealers in the basement of Guro Market.”
“Good. Let’s check it out tomorrow.”
“Understood.”
Park Jae-jung acknowledged and headed toward the sleeping bags. Seo Eun-ha yawned and stood up as well.
“I’m going to sleep too. I really can’t keep my eyes open.”
“Su-jin, you should rest as well.”
I called out to Han Su-jin, but there was no response. Looking over, she was already asleep, leaning against the sofa. Seo Eun-ha chuckled softly and draped her own coat over Han Su-jin.
“She must be really worn out.”
Seo Eun-ha spoke while looking down at the sleeping Han Su-jin.
“It’s my fault. I got unnecessarily angry, and Su-jin kept mediating between us the whole time. She spent all her mana treating Park Jae-jung’s leg.”
“It’s not your fault, Eun-ha.”
“…I know. But still.”
She sighed.
“Tomorrow will be better. Now that you’re here.”
With those words, Seo Eun-ha lay down on the opposite end of the sofa. Not long after, steady breathing filled the warehouse.
“Park Jae-jung, I’ll take the night watch.”
“No, sir. You need to rest too.”
“I haven’t been able to sleep since coming up from the Lower District. That’s an order. Go to sleep.”
I forced Park Jae-jung into his sleeping bag. He murmured apologetically.
“Guild Master… thank you for coming back.”
“….”
“Honestly, I almost gave up. The team leader was captured, you were trapped in the Lower District. Eun-ha blamed herself, and Su-jin kept crying. It was so hard holding on alone.”
His voice trembled.
“But… I’m glad I didn’t give up. Because you came back, Guild Master.”
“…Thank you, Park Jae-jung. For holding on.”
Park Jae-jung smiled faintly. Then he closed his eyes. Within minutes, he too had fallen asleep.
I was alone.
I pulled a chair toward the entrance and sat down. Dagger in hand, I stared into the darkness. Outside, the sound of rain continued. Occasionally, the distant whirring of drones echoed before fading away.
‘Seung-ryong and his group are trapped somewhere.’
Lee Seung-ryong, Lee Chung-hyung, Choi Min-ji, Ju Mi-sung. And Han Ae-ri. Five people. I recalled their appearance from the interview. Empty eyes, robotic speech. Their sense of self crumbling under chemical influence.
‘Han Ae-ri was different.’
She hadn’t spoken a word. Hadn’t read from a script. Whether she was still holding on or had already given up everything—either way, she was different from the others.
‘Team Lead Lee Ji-young is being used as a negotiation chip.’
The Eye of Truth. As long as she possessed that ability, Dominion wouldn’t kill her. But that didn’t mean she was safe. Kang Chang-gyung had no qualms about using people as tools.
‘Kang Chang-gyung is hiding S-rank power.’
Ability type unknown. There were rumors that no one who’d witnessed his skill had ever returned alive. Even Seo Eun-ha had instinctively sensed the threat. An opponent I couldn’t defeat in direct combat.
‘This won’t be an easy fight.’
But I wasn’t afraid. I’d survived the Surface Rift and the Lower District. I’d crawled up 600 meters and lived through that. Compared to that place, there was still light here. I had comrades.
I looked back at my sleeping allies. Seo Eun-ha and Han Su-jin lay side by side on the sofa. Park Jae-jung was snoring in his sleeping bag. They were exhausted, but alive.
‘I will bring them back. All of them.’
Team Lead Lee Ji-young. Seung-ryong and his group. And our honor.
It was dawn in Neo Seoul, where the sound of rain felt like a lullaby.
Morning sunlight filtered through the gaps in the shutter, illuminating the dust-laden air. But that light felt pale and weak rather than hopeful.
The morning of Neo Seoul District 7 began with murky smog created by the acid rain that had fallen all night evaporating.
I rose from the chair and rolled my stiff neck. Though I hadn’t slept all night, purification had broken down fatigue toxins, leaving my mind clear. I rotated my wrists and loosened my shoulders. The tasks for today organized themselves in my mind.
‘High-purity raw mana stones. I need to find those.’
Last night’s experiment had confirmed it. C-rank mana stones couldn’t handle S-rank mana. I needed at least A-rank, preferably S-rank mana stones. Only then could I create a mask to conceal Seo Eun-ha and Han Su-jin’s mana.
“You’re awake.”
Park Jae-jung had already gotten up and was packing his gear. His eyes were hollow, but his gaze was sharp. He rolled up his sleeping bag, shoved it into a corner, and was checking the dagger at his waist.
“What about the others?”
“I let them sleep longer. Even for S-rankers, pushing themselves while mana-depleted will take time to recover from.”
Park Jae-jung gestured with his chin toward the sleeping Seo Eun-ha and Han Su-jin. The two lay against each other on the worn sofa, oblivious to the world. Seo Eun-ha’s crimson hair was scattered across Han Su-jin’s shoulder. To see South Korea’s strongest mage and healer sleeping so defenseless like this…
“The black market you mentioned last night—where is it?”
“Guro Market Basement Level 3. There’s a secret passage behind the adult goods store.”
“Is it far?”
“About 15 minutes on foot from here, but…”
Park Jae-jung trailed off, staring at the massive object propped in the corner. A bundle wrapped tightly in old, oil-stained waterproof cloth and leather. At first glance, it looked like a heap of scrap metal that a junk dealer would carry, but its weight was enough to make the floor tremble.
Gigas Shield.
Park Jae-jung’s alter ego, his shield. A gray alloy surface carved with the emblem of a giant. Countless scars from battlefields were embedded like medals of honor on this overwhelming shield. Seeing how he wrapped it so carefully to keep it inconspicuous made me feel a pang of sympathy.
“Do you have to carry that?”
“It’s my lifeline. Heavy or not, there’s no choice. Actually, I feel incomplete without it on my back.”
Park Jae-jung chuckled and hefted the shield. He slung it across his back like a bundle. As he tightened the straps, thick cords of muscle bulged in his forearms.
“Wait a moment.”
I stopped him.
“We’re Class-1 terror suspects right now. There’s a bounty of billions on us. Do you really think a hat will hide that massive frame?”
“Then how…?”
“We need to make people avoid us because we’re filthy, not because they recognize us.”
I walked toward the waste bin in the corner of the warehouse. As I lifted the lid, a sour stench assaulted my nostrils. Discarded engine oil pooled at the bottom, mixed with dark clumps of grime. When I smeared it on my hands, the sticky texture clung to my skin.
“Come here.”
“Surely you don’t mean…”
“If you want to survive, there’s no choice.”
Park Jae-jung grimaced but approached. I slathered the oily filth across his face and neck—his forehead, cheeks, jaw. I concentrated especially on the features that defined his expression. In moments, his refined appearance transformed into that of a lower-class laborer worn down by grueling work.
“Your eyebrows too.”
“My eyebrows as well?”
“People often recognize others by their eyebrow shape.”
I rubbed the grime across his eyebrows, smudging their distinctive arch. Park Jae-jung squeezed his eyes shut.
“Ugh… it’s going to get in my eyes.”
“Bear with it.”
Then came my turn. Without a mirror, I worked by feel—face, neck, hair. I deliberately tore my clothes into ragged tatters. I even worked grime beneath my fingernails. Details mattered.
“How do I look?”
I asked Park Jae-jung.
“…Perfect. You look like a genuine homeless person.”
“You too, Park Jae-jung.”
We looked at each other and let out quiet laughs. It was absurd—the Guild Master and Vice Guild Master of South Korea’s S-rank Guild standing there caked in engine grease.
“Let’s go.”
I quietly raised the shutter and stepped outside.
The morning market was already alive with activity. Merchants spreading out their wares, laborers hauling materials, customers browsing from dawn. Smoke and food aromas mingled and drifted through the crowds.
But we moved through the shadows, untouched by that vitality. At every corner, I checked our surroundings—rooftops, telephone poles, building edges. Drones could appear from anywhere.
Whirrrr—
When I heard the mechanical sound in the distance, I hunched down and ducked beneath a tent canopy. A patrol drone swept overhead across the market. Its red scanner beam raked across the vendor stalls. I held my breath until the drone faded away.
“…Phew.”
Park Jae-jung exhaled in relief.
“They circle every thirty minutes. We need to time our movements accordingly.”
“Understood.”
We continued walking. A massive display screen stood in the Market Central Plaza. Our faces were plastered across it.
[URGENT WANTED: Terrorist Munglade]
[Lee Tae-hyun – Bounty 5 Billion]
[Park Jae-jung – Bounty 3 Billion]
[Seo Eun-ha – Bounty 10 Billion]
[Han Su-jin – Bounty 8 Billion]

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