Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 252

As the concentration of mana increased, dungeons indeed appeared more frequently. And that was the trigger for the end of the world.

Adam Bronze knew that.

The problem was that he could not stop people from using mana altogether, and neither could anyone else.

?Proof? The God I dealt with guarantees it. Where do you think I got the blueprint for the dimensional barrier generator I created? I bought it from the [Limping_master_of_fire_and_hammer]. Now, do you believe me??

Adam glanced at the chat. It was absolute mayhem.

-I thought that was just a conspiracy theory!

-So it’s true… I can’t believe the world would be destroyed by using too much mana!

-Does that mean the dungeon that opened behind my house was also because of this?

?Read the room, duuude.

?I’m being serious!

?Nope, you’re definitely trolling.

-Wait, can we not stop the increase in mana concentration?

?Then we’ll have to stop using mana right away and start using nuclear energy again.

?Nuclear energy, huh…

?That is why I have decided to save this planet, folks!?

-He just declared that he is going to be the guardian of Earth! This is amazing!

-Umji!!!!

-So, how will he protect it?

?I don’t think we need to worry about that. He even killed those Cyclops for us!

?Umji solved the problem that even the almighty Americans couldn’t solve!

?That orbital bombardment is scary a f. I don’t think there is any Hunter who can do that.

?The scary Hunter that makes America freak out and Japan faint is a Korean?

-Umji is so handsome, as usual~

As the frenzied comments passed by, Ji-Cheok stuck to his guns and did what he had to do.

?This is how!?

A giant pillar was summoned and dropped down beside Ji-Cheok. It looked somewhat like his orbital bombardment spears—it was made of metal and shaped like a helix, and as soon as it appeared, it started drilling into the ground by itself.

?A spiral pillar that is thirty-five meters tall and five meters thick! What it does is pretty straightforward: it sucks out the mana from the surroundings, and it does that very fast.?

The spiral pillar dug in for a while, then stopped and began to glow. A bluish barrier formed and spread around it, and the plants within range rapidly withered.

?It also uses the mana to create a dimensional barrier around itself. However, since its only resource is the mana around it, the dimensional barrier is not very big. It only covers a one-hundred-meter radius.?

It was an object that automatically created a dimensional barrier. However, it sucked up mana power around it, so it could not be used in a city.

In the modern world, there were just too many things that were powered by mana.

An example was the sewage treatment system. Purification skills had been the staple method for sewage treatment for a long time—they were easier to use, faster, and more reliable than the technology-based treatment methods.

That was not all. Airplanes were also permanently equipped with skills like levitation and weight reduction. All of this was accomplished by Mages, Arcane Engineers, or Alchemists.

Cars, cellphones, computers, and even things like power plant reactors had mana infused in them. Some companies’ servers were equipped with cooling spells and skills to control overheating. Some crazy people even used holy buffs on their computers, just so they could brag about their PC having godlike speed.

The biggest problem was mana reactors. Modern power plants had mana reactors at the core—equipment that absorbed the energy of Magic Stones to generate electricity, and they had long since made nuclear power plants obsolete. Nowadays, countries just used Magic Stones to spin electric turbines.

Funnily enough, even though they lived in this magical★ world, humans were still using that magical power to boil water and turn turbines. There was still no more cost-effective way to generate electricity.

In other words, humanity was still living in the steampunk world, even though they had already gone through both an A.I. revolution and a magical★ revolution.

In other words, if this pillar was installed anywhere near modern society, humans might as well just live in the stone age.

?Of course, that’s just a bonus ability. The main ability of this mana-sucking pillar is something else.?

On top of the spiral pillar, a flame was burning wildly, making the pillar look like a giant torch.

?This is the Mana Ignition Flame. Just like the name suggests, it literally burns mana. Of course, that yields a huge amount of energy. You might wonder what it can do with that huge amount of energy, right??

Ji-Cheok smirked, raising a finer and pointing to one side.

?The energy will take care of monsters that approach the pillar. Automatically.?

A gigantic creature burst through the Manaforming Forest. It was a monstrous reptile, ten times larger than a normal crocodile. It had eight legs and its face looked like a cross between a Komodo lizard and a crocodile, with a crocodile body and eight eyes. It was a beast popularly known as the Basilisk.

It was a very powerful monster, hunted in raids by Hunters of at least level 80. Its specialty was Petrifying Breath. Strangely, it preferred turning things into stone before eating them.

As soon as it appeared, however, a beam of light at least a meter across shot from the flames burning on top of the spiral pillar.

Zoom~

Fizzzzzzzzz~

The Basilisk did not even have time to scream as it was burned, carbonized, and vaporized completely, leaving not a shred of bone behind. Even the ground was scorched to the extent that it almost melted.

?See? The energy collected from burning mana can be released like this to completely vaporize any monster that tries to attack this mana-burning spiral pillar. Very nice, right??

“That’s… How is that possible?” Adam asked in astonishment.

He knew the concept of mana ignition, and it was pretty simple—rather than being converted into a spell or a physical ability, mana was just burned directly. The energy released was orders of magnitude more powerful than normal mana use.

However, that did not mean it was a useful kind of energy. The biggest problem was that the energy from burning mana could not be stored. Yet, Ji-Cheok had somehow made it happen! If this was actually what he had done, it was as revolutionary as building in real life something straight out of a science fiction novel!

The Obliteration Reactor had been created!

“This is amazing. I wonder how Um Ji-Cheok created something like that.”

The scene unfolding in front of their eyes made even Oswald’s poker face crumble!

“Call him NOW. Tell him that we are going to actively participate in defending the world. That thing is worth it.”

“Understood.”

Adam Bronze was more serious than ever. However, he was certainly not the only one interested in what Ji-Cheok had to offer.

The Obliteration Reactor, or the Engine of Annihilation, as some called it, was true to its name. It outputs power that could rival nuclear fusion, or even surpass it.

That was why it was inevitable that some of those who were loyal to their selfish desires would move quickly.

? ? ?

“Every time I livestream these days, I get around one hundred million Likes. Maybe I should just stick to livestreaming.”

?That would not be a bad idea. You have already gathered forty billion Likes.?

“Alright. I will do a livestream whenever I get the chance. I will do mukbangs, fortune-telling videos, unboxing videos, and anything that will get me more Likes.”

?Are you going to do your training strictly in the Training Space of the God of War??

“Yes. I may have gained an extra two thousand hours, but I still need to save time. Let’s keep laying these out across Africa, shall we?”

Ji-Cheok tapped the spiral pillar he had set up and flew into the sky. He pulled out his Mono Bike G, pushed down the accelerator, and raced away!

Vroom!

As he flew through the air at super speed, he pulled out a bunch of things that he had prepared in advance from his Shadow Pouch and hurled them at the ground.

Thud! Thud!

The spiral pillars of mana-burning were placed into the ground at regular intervals. And as soon as monsters approached the spiral pillars, the pillar began to shoot out beams of heat that it had gathered through the burning of mana.

‘Good! This is Good!’

?You got a call from A/B. He wants to know how you stored the power produced by igniting mana.?

“Why is he asking me that?” Ji-Cheok asked as he continued on his Mono Bike G.

‘Isn’t this something simple that he should know? How does he not know this?’

?He says it is the key to building the Obliteration Reactor.?

“Obliteration Reactor? Oh, I know what that is. That’s a device that destroys matter to create massive amounts of energy. That guy must be mistaken… What I just showed has nothing to do with that..”

?I agree, Master. You just applied a simple Heat Storage magic spell on your pillars.?

Heat Storage was a spell that gathered heat, which was energy, in one place. It was also available as a skill. Some people used this to keep themselves warm. It was kind of like a magical version of a thermos.

Since it was a magic spell, it was scalable, and incredibly powerful when used properly. If the pillar kept storing heat in one spot, it was going to rise to a very high temperature. So, as long as it kept burning mana, he could use it for a lot of different things. As the name ‘mana ignition’ implied, the easiest way to do things was just to convert mana into heat. The heat was powerful enough for each pillar to be compared to an industrial steel melting furnace.

‘Literally, all it does is convert mana into heat, and then use that heat for death beams and whatnot.’

In other words, Ji-Cheok could not build the Obliteration Reactor or anything of the kind.

?Adam says he is going to take an active role in defending this planet.?

“Tell him that regardless of what he does, I can’t make an Obliteration Reactor.”

?I do not think he is going to believe you…?

Cheok-Liang communicated with others via messenger on his behalf, which was why they could communicate so quickly.

“Then just tell him how it works. It won’t help us much to trick him into joining us anyway.”

?Okay. I will do— Master! It is an emergency!?

“Huh? Why? What’s going on?”

?Take a look at this!?

[Dimensional fusion completion and Tutorial end time: 12,003 hours.]

[Dimensional fusion completion and Tutorial end time: 11,980 hours.]

[Dimensional fusion completion and Tutorial end time: 11,790 hours.]

“Wait… What the hell is going on?”

The clock was ticking far faster than it should have. Ji-Cheok checked the mana concentration value and saw that it was increasing abruptly.

‘I’m literally burning mana, but somehow, time is speeding up! What the hell is this?’

“Cheok-Liang! I need you to find out why that’s happening!”

?I just did. Look at this!?

Cheok-Liang showed him a video. Ji-Cheok stopped the Mono Bike G and watched the video while floating in the sky.

“Jesus…”

The city was burning. It was not just normal flames—the city was engulfed in eerie violet flames. People were fleeing in panic as everything burned around them.

Ji-Cheok was watching a video streamed by a GodTuber.

?Monsters! Monsters are here! They’re not coming out of a dungeon! Do you see that? Do you see it? The corpses are disappearing! As they disappear, the monsters come out! Oh, God…AHHH!!?

The GodTuber screamed and ran away. He seemed to be a Hunter as his hands were glowing blue. The monster charging at him looked like a bipedal reptile, but more like a dinosaur than a Lizardman.

Moments later, the GodTuber’s throat was bitten off and he died. And that was where the video ended.

1. A popular term in Korean sci-fi novels referring to a hypothetical device that converts matter directly into energy with perfect yield.

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