The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 229

227. The City of Day (3)

“Are there many monsters outside the wall?”

I showered him with praise and admiration, peppering him with questions. “You must work so hard in such a remote place. It’s reassuring to know that a guard like you is protecting the wall,” and so on.

“Of course, there are many. We only deal with monsters that appear inside the city or cross the barrier. Very rarely, if monster byproducts, especially meat, are scarce, we go out hunting.”

Meat… wait a minute. Could the meat in the sandwiches and restaurant dishes be monster meat? Even back home, edible monster meat was considered a delicacy.

‘Could monster meat be the main food source here?’

The outside is a wasteland, and although the city is large, I didn’t see any farms on the way here. Raising livestock for meat requires vast land and consumes a lot of feed. If they replace that with monsters that grow and appear on their own, they could significantly reduce the facilities needed to maintain the city.

‘The sandwiches also had very few vegetables compared to the amount of meat.’

With little farmland, fresh vegetables are expensive, and monster meat is cheap. They probably get energy from mana stones or something similar, so the power generation facilities would be small-scale.

In other words, this city is practically a self-sufficient small nation.

‘So, going to another city is like going to another country.’

Judging by the state of the outside, exchanges probably aren’t frequent. A world made up of several city-states. This place, Solemnis, seems relatively peaceful, but I can’t know what Acates City, where Yoohyun is, will be like.

“That’s a cool weapon! Does it use magic power too?”

I asked, looking at the weapon that resembled a large-caliber cannon. The guard nodded, saying it used a lot of mana.

“If it hits directly, it can even damage S-class monsters.”

“Wow. Do S-class monsters appear here often?”

“Not very often. Usually, it’s B to A-class.”

“What about C-class and below?”

“C-class and below are usually eaten by B-class monsters at night, and they burn up when the sun rises, so they’re rare.”

Burn up, you say? I almost repeated the question. C-class and lower monsters in this area can’t withstand sunlight. Knowing that, it makes sense to only treat B-class and higher as guards. I thought it was a waste of manpower, but if C-class and lower monsters are practically nonexistent, using them for mana charging is efficient… hmm, still feels bad.

At least treat them like people. Even the term ‘fuel tank’ is too much.

I asked in detail about the barrier defense. Is the wall just a simple wall? Are there any devices to prevent monsters from climbing it? Are there hidden moats under the wall? The kind guard explained everything in detail to the new guard. I was so grateful.

“That’s amazing. Oh, do you know anything about Acates City? I heard it’s relatively close from here.”

“It’s the closest after Lanchea. Even so, it’s a two-day drive by car. We hardly get any news from other cities, so I don’t know much, but I heard the treatment of guards isn’t very good in Acates City.”

“Really? It’s different from here?”

“Every city is different. Rumor has it that the Mu [priest-like figures] of Medsang City are worshiped like gods.”

Medsang is Mu, huh. More than that, the treatment of guards in Acates City isn’t good, so if Alpha is really Yoohyun, I wonder if he’s okay. Even so, they’d treat an SS-class well, right?

…If you mess with my brother, you’re in for it. I’ll flip everything over.

‘I’m worried about Yerim and Noah too. I need to find them quickly.’

Even if it’s not their real bodies, it feels just like reality, so there’s no good in them experiencing bad things.

After the barrier tour, a B-class guard drove me inside the city. Everyone was so kind that I felt bad.

The next place I headed to was none other than the Solemnis Historical Archives. As I entered the archives building, I saw children gathered in the lobby. They were around six or seven years old, about kindergarten age back in Korea.

“Oh! It’s the C-class guard from TV! Right?”

A girl shouted, and then a boy clapped his hands.

“That’s right! The black hair, black eyes, and red thing on his ear!”

“It’s real! It’s real!” the children exclaimed as they rushed towards me. It’s amazing even though I wasn’t directly on TV, just mentioned. Is this the Sigma effect?

“Kids, you shouldn’t do that.”

“You have to listen to the teacher.”

The instructors stopped the children. Uniquely, two of the three were Awakened, and one was B-class. Looking at the mana size, the D-class is a fuel tank… I guess they put guards to protect the children.

‘There might be monsters left that they couldn’t handle at night.’

Maybe even C-class and below can survive if they avoid the sunlight well? That’s probably why they tightly shut the building doors and windows at night.

Curious eyes sparkled everywhere. They were just children on a normal outing. Without any fear or apprehension, their round, chubby cheeks were full of life.

In a world that has already been destroyed.

Even though I thought it was just information from the past, it felt strange. It’s too realistic. I don’t know how much longer this world lasted. Judging by the well-organized and peaceful city of day, it might have avoided destruction for quite a long time.

‘…Anyway, it’s not real.’

I don’t need to worry. Even as I thought it was a fake world that I would soon leave, their smiling faces pricked my heart for no reason.

…Games are better on the monitor. Virtual reality could cause a massive amount of mental problems.

“Mister, have you actually seen Sigma?”

A child tugged at my clothes and asked. The other children also seemed curious.

“Of course, I’ve seen him! Our first meeting is still vivid. Sigma-nim [Mr. Sigma, a respectful title] approached me, who was just passing by, and worried that it was dangerous to walk alone at this hour. He was very gentlemanly and dusted off the dirt on my arm.”

That’s how we first met, and the strong bond between the reward money, shopping, and scattering bills.

“I’ve never seen him!”

“Me neither!”

“He mainly comes out at night. It’s time for good children to sleep soundly.”

“I’m not a baby, I’m seven years old.”

“That’s right, I’m seven years old now, so I don’t sleep early. My younger sibling is a baby, so they sleep a lot.”

Babies are really cute, their hands are this small, they said, wiggling their little hands. Ah, cute. Suddenly, I remembered the old days. When I was that age, my younger brother was really small and cute, a baby who couldn’t do anything alone, so I thought I had to take care of him.

Even in my hazy memories, his small hands were vivid. Babies’ hands and feet are really small, pretty, and amazing. Especially their hands, they’re so small but they move and grab things. How did it get bigger than my hand?

I miss Yoohyun.

Listening to their chattering, it seemed that Sigma didn’t show himself often. It had been a long time since he was on TV. Each household in the shelter was given a private room, but it was so small that it was only big enough for a bed, so it was boring and stuffy.

Even without me asking, the children told me in detail and enthusiastically how they lived. Except for being confined to the shelter for long nights, they seemed to be living more abundantly than I thought.

“Goodbye, Mister!”

“Goodbye!”

I parted with the children and went inside where the archives exhibits were. Admission was free. At the very front, a large view of the city was hung. One side was distorted, but overall, it was close to a square. To the east of the city, farmland occupied a considerable space.

‘Solemnis City. 27 years this year, huh.’

I looked at the exhibits and slowly moved my steps. In the center of the wide exhibition space, a large model was erected. It was a model of a huge blue sphere located in a sunken ground. Sparkling light was constantly emitted.

[Mana Hole]

When I touched the touch screen set up in front of the model, an explanation flowed out.

[The Mana Hole was first discovered 31 years ago. Two years after ferocious beasts called monsters began to appear, the Mana Hole that appeared near the old Incidema border is the first.]

Data photos also appeared on the screen. In the early days, monsters were D-class and below, so armed forces could handle them without difficulty. However, as the number gradually increased, a crisis came.

[Awakened people of B-class and below began to appear one by one. The Awakened hunted monsters easily and quickly, but they often fell into a state of mana shortage.]

The voice said that the Awakened here had very low self-mana recovery. Even if they were high-level Awakened with high magic stats, there was not much difference from low-level Awakened.

‘Isn’t that almost no self-recovery?’

Back home, if you have magic stats of S-class, you can attack up to A-class dungeons without using mana potions much, if you don’t waste skills, that is. But here, magic stats don’t seem to have much to do with mana.

‘…I wonder if other people know this.’

What if the kids don’t know and use mana like usual and get into trouble? Especially Yoohyun and Yerim, they have high magic stats, so they’re the type to wield fire and water freely.

Fortunately, it was revealed that mana could be replenished from the Mana Hole and converted into everyday energy such as electricity, so new cities were built around the Mana Holes in each region, setting up high barriers to block monsters.

[As a result of research on the Mana Hole, the average grade of Awakened has also increased. As Awakening using the Mana Hole became the main method, the number of Awakened produced each year became limited. Half of the Awakening targets prioritize aptitude, and the other half is by lottery.

In particular, in the ‘Special Baptism’ for prospective Awakened with excellent aptitude, Awakened with SS grade are born from the beginning.]

This special baptism can be applied once or twice a year, and it is said that a basic S-class Awakened is born. So, among the current SS-class Awakened, there may be people who were originally S-class but became SS-class with the power of the Mana Hole.

Is Alpha this case? It would be difficult to grow to SS-class in 4 years.

After the basic explanation of the Mana Hole was over, a detailed table of contents appeared on the screen. Among them, I pressed the engraving item with my fingertip.

[Mana Engraving]

[Protection Engraving]

First, I checked the mana engraving.

[Pure mana, not converted energy, cannot be stored in inanimate objects. Except for mana potions that rarely come out as system rewards, there is currently no way to personally carry mana.

As high-level monsters began to appear, the problem of mana replenishment became prominent. The need for mana replenishment during combat increased, and from this time on, research on how to use living things as mana fuel tanks became active.]

At first, livestock were targeted, but even well-trained animals were often frightened and ran away in front of high-level monsters. It was also difficult to carry unconscious animals like luggage. Ordinary beasts that were not human Awakened had low mana storage capacity, so the efficiency was also extremely low.

[Therefore, mana engraving began to be performed on C-class and lower Awakened who were virtually unable to serve as guards. The mana flow path in the human body is diverse, but the largest and main path is the spine.]

An image of the spine appeared. Among them, a circle of light came on at the back of the neck.

[When an engraving is engraved on a part where mana is easy to extract, the fuel tank can transmit its mana to Awakened within a close distance. This mana engraving can be set for public, team, or personal use.]

Even if you receive a mana engraving, the mana tank may not increase. In this case, you could return to being a regular citizen.

The transfer of mana is basically by mutual consent, but the guard can unilaterally extract it, and it is illegal unless it is an emergency because it is burdensome to the fuel tank. Honestly, even if it’s illegal, if it’s a high-level guard, they’ll just pay a fine.

I also checked the protection engraving.

[Protection engraving is to prevent the outflow of mana and is engraved in the same location as the mana engraving.]

Even if there is no mana engraving, the back of the neck is a weakness, and monsters or Awakened with special skills can steal mana. If mana runs out, even a high-level guard becomes defenseless, so it was a safety device that guards basically engraved to minimize mana leakage.

There were several types of these, and there seemed to be effects that mixed protection engraving and mana engraving.

[High-level guards put mutually applicable mana engravings on protection engravings to replenish each other’s mana.]

If it’s a trustworthy team, it would be good to use in an emergency. It would be difficult to keep a C-class or lower fuel tank close while dealing with high-level monsters.

Anyway, it seemed rare for guards to not have engravings. I’m really going to look suspicious. Should I get an engraving? But I came in with my body, so won’t it remain the same even after going out of the dungeon? Can it be erased?

I roughly looked at other city information. The city is ruled by the mayor and city councilors, who are elected by vote every 5 years, and can be re-elected once. Guards play an important role in protecting the city’s safety, so there are many special cases and they seem to be in a respected position.

And Sigma.

‘Most of the personal information is private.’

Is it for protection? There was only information that the original Sigma died 5 years ago and was replaced by the current Sigma. What’s his real name? It wouldn’t be Seong Hyunjae.

‘Well, he’s someone I won’t see after today anyway.’

Is there a need to think deeply? I know everything I need to know about the monsters and guards in this area.

‘Let’s eat before sunset.’

I need to eat well, rest, and prepare to leave.

* * *

Darkness fell on the city. There was no night view of buildings scattering light. Only streetlights stood lonely, and the surroundings were quiet. The howling of beasts spread far into the deserted streets.

Kwaduk [sound effect], I stabbed the head of a D-class monster with a sword, pressed down on its body with my foot, and pulled it out again. After collecting the points, I lightly jumped over the broken bench. The park is well decorated. When silence fell, the sound of insects that had stopped was faintly heard.

‘I wonder if there are other animals.’

It seems like a difficult environment for wild animals to survive. Are there rats or stray cats in the city? Maybe they were all eaten by monsters. It’s still a world where you can’t raise livestock. If there are pets, they would be the exclusive property of the upper class. Taking dogs or cats into the shelter would be a privilege.

The fountain was stopped. Moonlight shone on the calmly stagnant water.

Goldberg Park Fountain. The quest window sparkled as if saying, this is it! Wait, wait. Not yet.

‘I’ll start when the guests arrive.’

Everything is ready. I changed my clothes too. The precious S-class equipment was neatly stored in the inventory. Just in case, I was only wearing earrings.

I went up to the fountain, walked along the edge, tore open the package of something similar to a sausage bar, and put it in my mouth. Acates City is a two-day drive away. I’m already feeling sad. I ate and rested well today. It has something like cheese in it. It’s delicious.

“Want one?”

I have one more that’s not even opened. I shook the sausage bar towards the man who appeared from the darkness. It was bought with your pocket money, though.

“Hello, Mr. Sigma.”

“Hi, C-class.”

“Don’t approach any further.”

He wasn’t alone. Oh, an S-class. I threw my cash card along with the sausage bar. Sigma’s hand lightly caught them.

“Please put in 100 million L first [currency of this world].”

“The amount of bills that came in under my name today was 320 million L.”

That’s about 4 billion in Korean money [approximately 3 million USD].

“Did you calculate all that stingily? I’d be disappointed if you didn’t have that much money.”

To my words that I think I chose the wrong job, he smiled and handed my card to the S-class next to him. After operating something with the machine, the S-class looked at me.

“Payment has been processed.”

“Thank you. I’m a weak C-class, so please throw it gently.”

The cash card returned to my hand. I carefully put the card in my pocket and took out the disc. A slightly curious gaze is directed at the disc. It seemed they were going to watch what I was going to do for now because I’m a C-class that’s not even a threat.

“This is my gift.”

Smiling kindly, I pressed the middle button on the disc. Immediately after, I felt a sense of space distorting. The golden eyes also slightly widened.

“With all my heart, thank you for the shopping.”

But now it’s time for us to part.

– Grrr.

A terrifying growl filled with momentum was heard from behind me.