Chapter 35: Chapter 35- Energy Cores
As Talon stood up on his feet, he was met with Hyun-Jae's strong glare. Instinctively, he flinched at her look.
'Shhh, she's pissed.' Clenching his teeth, he awkwardly started scratching the back of his head. When he executed the plan, he didn't count on Hyun-Jae's reaction later. The girl was clearly pissed by the reckless idea that Talon came up with.
"Mmm... I'm sorry but I really couldn't think of anything else we could've done there." Talon said with an apologetic tone.
However, Hyun-Jae didn't reply and kept rhythmically tapping her foot on the ground. Nobody knew what was going through her head. In the end, she sighed and shook her head slowly.
"It would be unfair for me to get angry at you. We would've not escaped if it wasn't for your idea. As reckless as it is. So, thank you." She said as her expression returned to normal.
Talon was taken aback for a second before he smiled slightly. "It was nothing, really."
"But, I still think we should have a good discussion about this. What should and shouldn't be done on a whim, I mean." Hyun-Jae added.
"Good discussion..." Talon naturally felt the hidden meaning behind 'good discussion'. Sighing inwardly, he smiled and nodded.
"Sure. It's only fair that we know what the other would and wouldn't do since we'r-"
"We're a team, no?" Hyun-Jae asked back with a playful look on her face. Then, she extended her first forward at Talon.
The latter looked at her eyes for a moment before he shifted to her fist. For a moment, he didn't move. Eventually, he smiled and extended his fist forward.
"We're indeed a team."
*Tap*
The two stared at each other for a while. Even though they only got to know each other for a few days, the bond they created was very strong. If Talon was told that he would be working with the famous Ran Hyun-Jaa herself, he would question what kind of alcohol that person drank.
Hyun-Jae was simply akin to a goddess on the campus and he was a poor young man who was trying to make ends meet while still studying. The difference between them was unimaginable.
Yet, ironically, the two were now teammates working for the same goal.
'This world is one ironic place.' Talon thought to himself.
"Should we move then?" Hyun-Jae said as she turned around to look at the other side of the street. Standing tall were the walls of the campus. Behind them, multiple buildings could be seen still intact.
The reason for that was the anti-earthquake mechanism that was integrated into the buildings to keep them from falling in case of catastrophes.
"It's nice to see the campus still relatively fine after everything," Talon commented as the two carefully crossed the road toward the entrance. There weren't that many monsters around the place which gave Talon a weird feeling.
Seoul's National University had at least 30 thousand students. Most of them live on the campus grounds. Not to count the staff, the professors, and the workers that are there every day.
The number could easily reach 50 thousand people.
'50000 potential monsters...' Talon shuddered just thinking about that number and what it could mean.
The university was the perfect place for Dimension Walkers to thrive and get stronger... Way stronger.
"Hey, Acrypha. What do you think we could find inside?" Talon decided to ask.
"Hm?"
"Like, how strong could the monsters be?"
"... I'm inclined to say that you should really be ready to see the most unexpected things. Monsters that reach level 15 or even level 20 could exist there."
"Level 20?!" Talon blurted out in shock. He was barely level 10 and yet monsters double his level could exist this quickly?
"Yes. Don't forget about that smiling octopus. Whatever did that to it isn't a weak monster." Acrypha explained as she crossed her arms under her plentiful breasts.
'Yeah, that thing didn't look weak and yet it was distorted to that degree.'
"Psst, Talon. From here." As the young man was talking with his otherworldly companion, he heard Hyun-Jae calling his name from the other side of the street.
Quickly, he moved toward her where he found her crouched near the wall and peeking through a crack.
"The entrance seems to be quiet. I can see a few random monsters here and there but nothing too bad." Hyun-Jae said as she pointed through the hole. "The reception building is not that far away and it seems to be quiet."
"We can use the rooftop of that building to scan the area and get to know the situation better." She added.
"Sounds like a plan to me. Should we move?"
"Any time you're ready," Hyun-Jae replied with a small smile.
"Underestimating me is a bad idea, Hyun-Jae. I'm always ready." Talon replied as he stood up and quickly climbed on top of the wall as he stared at the far distance.
Then, he jumped down inside the campus grounds. Hyun-Jae followed suit and the two started making their way to the entrance building.
"We're back to school sooner than expected." Talon joked as he looked around.
"Too bad vacation was over way quicker than expected."
Hyun-Jae chuckled at his words as she suddenly noticed a monster rushing toward her. With a simple move, she sliced their head off, dropping what seemed to be the monster's core.
Because of their situation, neither of them had the luxury of collecting these monster cores even though they were really useful. So, when Hyun-Jae found an opportunity, she picked up the core.
"Let's start collecting these from now on." She said as she pocketed the core.
"Good idea."
At that moment, Talon was attacked from the other side. A simple slash ended the monster's life.
[Ding!]
[You have....]
The monster dropped a shiny core too so Talon picked it up and examined it.
'Hmm, these look different from the other cores.' Talon thought to himself.
The color of this one wasn't blue, red, or green like the ones before. It was instead purple in a color, a dim purple color.
"Those are Energy Cores," Acrypha said as she looked at the core.
"Energy Cores?"
"When a Dimension Walker evolves. Its core develops and gets infused with Aetheris. When that happens, it becomes impossible for the core to be empty or grey like the ones you saw before. Hence why you would get one of these every time you kill an evolved monster."
"Oh, and are they of any use?" Talon asked.
"They're really useful. Energy Cores are used for blacksmithing and to level up weapons. They're in fact the only method known to upgrade your weapons and armor."
"Oh! Wait, these things can do that? That means I can level up my spear finally?"
Acrypha nodded her head. "Exactly. Although you will need a lot of those to max its level. Also, the higher you level up your spear, the better the required quality of the Energy Cores needed to upgrade becomes."
"That's fair. I will have to start killing and collecting more of these things then."
Pocketing the core, Talon looked around him. Some monsters were lurking around the reception building. They seemed weak so he decided to take the opportunity.
"Let's kill them all before entering the building. These cores seem useful." Talon explained as he rushed ahead.
"Ok..."
So, with that, the duo rushed toward their targets and started killing them one after the other and collecting all the cores that dropped.
The process was very easy and swift, barely taking a few minutes of their time. By the end of it, they had a pile of Energy Cores in their hands all shapes and sizes, and an equally big pile of bloody carcasses all around the place. Their purple color also varied in intensity and brightness.
"Mmm, I think we need a bag to carry all of these."
"Where are we going to find a bag?" Hyun-Jae asked.
"I don't know... Maybe we would find something inside the reception building." Talon said as he pointed at the building.
So, the two decided to stop their hunt for now and approached the gates of the building which were expectedly locked. Perhaps when everything started, people locked themselves inside the building in fear of Dimension Walkers.
"Hmm... The door is locked and the windows are also closed."
"I doubt there is another way inside."
Talon and Hyun-Jae looked at each other for a moment and oddly, they seemed to understand what the other person was thinking of.
***
A few seconds later.
*BANG*
A loud sound of glass bursting echoed in the area. Talon had picked up a rock and thrown it at one of the windows, breaking it to pieces.
Then, to finish it off, he kicked the window powerfully, destroying whatever was left of it intact.
"Was that too loud?" Talon asked.
"Probably? Who knows?" Hyun-Jae shrugged. They had no other choice in the first place. The plan to be sneaky was never possible considering their situation.
After that, the girl approached the window and peeked inside. The palace was quiet and dim with no sight of monsters inside. So, she jumped inside followed by Talon.
Turning her phone's torch on, Hyun-Jae directed it at the room.
"Is this the kitchen?" Talon asked.
"Seems so. I think we can find a bag here."
So, the two started searching around the place. Even though the earthquake wrecked the whole kitchen, it was still at least intact somehow.
Hyun-Jae started opening shelves in search of a bag while Talon looked around the counter and the fridge.
"Oh!!"
Suddenly, Talon made a loud sound which alerted Hyun-Jae.
"What?!" She asked.
"I found some snacks!" Talon exclaimed excitedly as he pulled out bags of chips, candies, and other snacks that he found in the fridge. "These look really nice. Want some?"
"..." Hyun-Jae stared at him with a deadpan expression.
'I want to punch him.' She thought to herself.
"What?"
(A//N: Thanks to everyone who supports the book with power stones and golden tickets, you guys are the best:) )
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l