Just like how I hit Level 30 and became a War Chef.
When Minjae reached Level 30,
a lot changed for him, too.
Most importantly—
this.
[Lowest-Grade Electric Dominion]
A newly acquired trait.
"Dominion...."
I’ve seen a countless number of element-related traits.
I myself am working with the trait High-Grade Fire Affinity.
But—
among all of those, I’d only ever seen a trait with “dominion” in its name once.
[Water-Attribute Dominion]
The Pontiff of Dasmur.
He had a trait that ruled over water.
The pressure that ability carried was immense.
I borrowed the power of [Absolute Palate] and got to use it for a moment,
but only after squeezing every last drop of mana out of my body could I barely, barely imitate it.
A trait that even shares a naming scheme with that one isn’t going to be ordinary.
It’s only a hypothesis, but—
affinity, immunity, interference, and so on—
this exists as a far, far superior tier above the other element-line traits.
Even Minjae already had [High-Grade Electric Affinity].
And alongside it he gained [Lowest-Grade Electric Dominion].
The dominion line of traits is so strong on its own that,
only now that another trait has reached a high grade
does it make sense he’d pick this up at the lowest grade.
"The problem is, it’s still lowest-grade."
Minjae said,
"If this thing were as unimaginably massive as when you first ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) saw it... no. Even if it were short of that—just a bit stronger than it is now—this trait would have meant nothing."
But.
That hypothetical doesn’t matter.
"Right now it’s weakened to the point of practically dying."
Therefore—
the trait Minjae just acquired has very real weight.
[Salmo-neus, the Lightning-Eater]
This thing is a lifeform made of electricity.
Which means—
"Hah-hah."
Minjae’s Lowest-Grade Electric Dominion.
It can’t slip free of that influence.
"Take a look at this guy, Youngjun."
[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]
[Salmo-neus, the Lightning-Eater]
[Vassalized State]
[Ruler — Lee Minjae Lv.30]
Just like how "Ariella" became my vassal,
Salmo-neus—who eats electricity—
"Seen like this, isn’t it kind of cute?"
"...."
The gigantic serpent that ruled the island and spat out devastating lightning—
that thing had become Minjae’s vassal.
****
"Heh heh...."
"...."
"Look at this little guy’s antics. Cute thing."
"Uh, uh-huh."
Through the trait [Lowest-Grade Electric Dominion],
Minjae had Salmo-neus under complete control.
Around his body,
—skrrrk—
a transparent serpent coiled and circled.
Yellow sparks crackled across its whole length.
Honestly, it’s not cute.
A snake is still a snake.
It’s a little gross if anything, not cute.
But—
it is cool.
I had to give him that much.
Minjae’s magic already had a flashy appeal.
Even when we first explained Awakening to the unit,
unlike my plain knife work,
the moment Minjae raised blue electricity around his body, the whole unit accepted Awakening as real.
And now,
with that obviously mystical monster orbiting him—
someone’s tossing cooking tools with his new skill while this guy’s handling a snake made of lightning?
Isn’t that a bit unfair?
"Is that thing under your dominion forever?"
"I’d like that, but no. If it keeps feeding on energy and gets stronger beyond what my trait permits, it’ll regain its freedom. But—"
Minjae grinned.
"I just won’t allow it to grow strong enough to break my dominion."
"I see."
Through the [Electric Dominion] trait, he’ll only permit it power that can’t escape his control.
In other words—
the stronger Minjae’s [Electric Dominion] gets,
the more strength he can allow Salmo-neus.
That thing will, alongside Minjae’s growth,
regain its original might.
"Okay. Bragging session ends here."
Sergeant Lee Minjae, happily stroking Salmo-neus,
switched to a slightly more serious tone.
"Having it as a vassal is nice, but what really matters is the effect we get from it."
He was right.
No matter how cool it looks,
if its abilities are duds, it’s just a shiny lemon.
What it can do is what matters.
"Luckily, it’s not a total dud."
"Meaning?"
"It’s got a handful of decent functions. For example—"
Bzzzzzt—
Minjae fired lightning into Salmo-neus’s mouth.
"Like this, I can pre-store my lightning in it."
A moment later,
Salmo-neus seemed to shrink,
and lightning began to ripple around Minjae’s body.
"And I can pull the stored lightning back out."
"...!"
"Well. Maybe that’s not the game-changer. It’ll boost my personal combat output, sure, but it won’t mean much for the Legion’s overall power right now."
Not wrong.
The Legion has grown formidable.
The power of one member is minor compared to the Legion as a whole—
unless you’re skyrocketing like Gwangil.
The truly important function
lay elsewhere.
"Let’s see... there it is."
Minjae headed for his quarters.
He rummaged through the kit piled in the corner,
then pulled out one item.
"...What’s that?"
"Feels unfamiliar, right? Funny—we used to handle these every day."
In his hand—
a small rectangular device.
"A smartphone?"
A smartphone.
"Back before we left the unit, was it?"
"Yeah."
"Remember how I and the other electricity-line mages tried to charge things with magic?"
Ah.
We did try that once.
In the absolute infancy of Awakening—
when we didn’t even understand the basic structure of each other’s abilities—
I remember the electricity-line mages being especially hyped.
If we can supply power to computers and everything else, problem solved, that kind of thinking.
And the result—
"Was a spectacular failure."
We ended up frying the handful of electronics the unit still had.
The reason was simple.
"Electronics are more delicate than you think. None of us mages had control fine enough to charge such sensitive devices precisely."
"...Wait. Don’t tell me—"
Grin.
"This little guy here is a lifeform made of electricity."
Minjae’s hand.
The smartphone in that hand—
"No matter how minute the adjustment, for it this is as natural as breathing."
[...Charging.]
[1%]
The screen lit.
"...!"
A scene I could hardly believe even with my own eyes.
Seeing that,
I could feel what kind of threshold
he’d crossed.
I couldn’t hold back my shock.
I muttered under my breath.
"Human battery...!"
"...That sounds a bit off, doesn’t it?"
****
Either way,
we succeeded at the first objective—seizing the power plant.
"...You really retook it?"
"It hasn’t even been a week since we asked...?"
The Awakened trembled with astonishment.
One of them had actually worked here before:
a former plant employee.
A technician.
Lieutenant Kim Hyunsik looked at him and said,
"As promised, we’ll be taking authority over this plant."
"Y-yes, sir."
"Since that’s the case, we’ll also need you—the ones who’ll manage this place—to join our guild. Will that be acceptable...?"
"It—it’d be an honor!"
From the look on the man’s face,
“honor” wasn’t just polite talk.
"Unexpected. I figured few would want to join our group."
"That was back then. Back then, a lot of us doubted whether we could trust the Legion."
"And now?"
"Of course not. And that’s not all."
Huh?
"Truth is, the city’s been buzzing with rumors."
"What rumors?"
"...That the Legion’s entered an elite-reform phase, so it’ll be harder to get in from now on."
Ah.
That’s what we’d only recently told the other Awakened.
Maybe it’s because there’s no entertainment anymore...
Rumors sure travel fast.
"G-given what was discussed last time and all—letting someone like me join a group like that, why would I refuse?"
"I’ll warn you upfront. Being the most junior in our unit isn’t easy."
"Leave it to me. I did my full term as a sergeant before discharge."
And so the technician joined up.
Under his lead—
"Move it, people!"
"Bring the materials!"
With the engineers cooperating,
after the day of doom,
in a city whose civilization was broken and whose nights had lost their light—
the city’s
power-restoration work began.
****
The Awakened settled in the city.
They were spending the days in a frenzy, preparing to survive the winter.
"At least thanks to the Legion, we don’t have to worry about food."
One Awakened group.
Its members were checking the supplies they’d secured.
"When you think about it, it’s kind of strange."
"Hm? What is?"
"In a world like this, food should be the biggest problem."
It had been, until recently.
Back in the dungeon, we even went to war over rations.
Because of that war,
the bad blood between those who left the dungeon still hasn’t fully gone away.
"And now food’s the least of our worries."
But not anymore.
Thanks to the combat rations the Legion released into the city,
the people here, at least, didn’t have to worry about eating.
The problem was—
"Fuel."
"We tried to gather it, but it’s hard."
The cold the winter would bring.
That itself.
Most are Awakened,
so it’s unlikely anyone will freeze to death immediately from the cold.
But—
this aberrant winter is forecast to be especially brutal.
Awakened or not, the difference is only in how fast the cold gets you.
Without sufficient preparation—
eventually, the winter will strip every last bit of body heat away.
"The submersion cut down the number of trees, and that’s fatal."
"And it’s not like we’re the only ones searching for fuel."
The biggest problem—
everyone knows this.
Not just this group.
"They say this winter will be harsh, and if we’re going to endure it, we’ll need a lot of fuel."
"At least the forests in this whole area are packed with Awakened already. It’s hard to secure the amount of fuel we’ll need...."
"Oil...?"
"If there’s no firewood, there won’t be oil either."
"What about Fire Mages? No workaround?"
"Keeping a flame for one or two minutes is easy. But... maintaining fire for over an hour would mana-burn them. Magic isn’t a cure-all."
There was a solution.
Leave the city,
head for some other region overflowing with fuel.
But—
then we’d be exposed to monsters instead.
To keep warm with fuel,
you end up producing smoke.
Here, at least, the Legion has culled the monsters.
In other regions, the moment you light fuel to endure the cold,
you’re basically broadcasting to the monsters, “I’m right here.”
...Could we even survive that?
Either way,
there was no easy road.
"...At this point,"
"? "
"how about we go visit the Legion?"
Said the group’s leader, face heavy.
But the response wasn’t great.
"Too late."
"If we were going to join, we should’ve done it earlier... now they’re picky about who they take."
"I don’t blame them—they’ve got their own situation, but still...."
As that conversation went on,
someone shouted,
"...Which is why I told you we should’ve just joined right away!"
"What— You were the one who said things were awkward with Taewan’s group and we should be cautious about joining big organizations...!"
"Everyone calm down! Stop fighting over the past!"
They started bickering over how they should’ve joined the Legion sooner.
The leader barely managed to quiet them, sighed, and said,
"Even if joining is hard, visiting should be doable."
"Hm?"
"Let’s ask if we can get the supplies we need to survive. That’s what I meant."
"...Would they hand out precious goods just because we ask?"
"They’re soldiers, aren’t they? They’re already releasing food—something immensely valuable—on what are essentially lenient terms."
In truth, the Legion was making a huge contribution to keeping people alive.
Whether you joined them or not—
no one denied that fact.
"Mm. Can’t hurt to probe."
"Yeah, what soldier’s going to bite our heads off for asking?"
Once they converged on that,
"Okay. I’ll go. Everyone else—keep logging."
"Be careful out there."
The group’s leader left the building and headed for the Legion.
...Begging for supplies, huh.
The thought made his situation feel a little pathetic,
but to survive,
begging wasn’t the hard part.
The problem—
the odds they’ll grant our request are next to zero.
The Legion is fulfilling a soldier’s duty.
But that doesn’t make them a charity.
They don’t have surplus either.
Even the food they provide
comes with the condition that you bring in monsters.
What they’re doing absolutely saves lives,
but cases of them giving things away with no strings attached are rare.
...Nothing to lose by trying, damn it.
He knew the chances were slim,
but if things stayed as they were, everyone would freeze to death.
For the survival of his group, he went to the Legion.
...That fortress is intimidating every time.
Floating on the river—
a massive fortress.
A great bridge leading to the fortress.
Nearby stood gray buildings:
structures the Legion had built.
Those buildings served as posts for patrolling soldiers,
but also housed soldiers in charge of speaking with other Awakened.
"Excuse m—"
The man opened the door to one of those buildings and stepped in.
But—
"Hm? Ah. Here for a consult?"
"...What are you doing?"
"Sorry. We’re almost done—give us a moment."
The soldiers in charge of consultations with Awakened
were crouched in a corner of the building,
fiddling with something.
"Heave-ho! Installation complete!"
"And it’s working great."
They stood, wiping sweat from their brows.
...Sweat? In this cold?
From the spot where they’d clustered,
something was radiating strong heat.
"Right. What brings you here? If it’s about combat rations, fill out this form—"
As the soldiers straightened,
the object behind them that was pouring out heat—
when the man saw it,
his jaw dropped and he whispered,
"...A radiator?"
